Month: April 2023

China’s ruling Communist Party has granted itself more powers under an amended espionage law, expanding the definition of what constitutes “spying,” amid ongoing raids on U.S. consultancy firms in China. The National People’s Congress passed amendments to the Counter-Espionage Law on April 26 that broaden the scope of material that can be used to back up allegations of spying. “Documents, data, materials, and items related to national security and the national interest,” are now treated as state secrets under the law, state news agency Xinhua reported.  The raids come amid…

The US Chamber of Commerce has warned that mounting Chinese scrutiny of American companies has “dramatically” raised the risks of doing business in the country, as signs emerge that Beijing may be cracking down on some foreign businesses. The powerful US business lobby group, led by chief executive Suzanne Clark, said in a statement on Friday it was “closely monitoring” China’s scrutiny of US professional services and due diligence firms. The warning comes days after the Financial Times reported that Chinese police had raided the Shanghai office of Bain, the…

A human rights lawyer and his family were forced to move out of their home after their landlord shut down their water and electricity – a tactic used recently on other activists as authorities seek to drive dissidents and rights lawyers out of Beijing.  Wang Quanzhang and his wife, rights activist Li Wenzu, have lived in a community in Beijing’s Shunyi district for almost three years. Recently, their landlord asked them to move out, and on Wednesday, the utilities were shut off. “Look at our house. It’s pitch dark,” Li…

Having listened to many officials and government ministers speaking about the global economy in recent months, I have sensed their visceral fear of sounding complacent. The world is uncertain and fragmenting, they say. There are risks of a hard landing. Great power rivalries undermine prospects. We face a world of frequent adverse supply shocks. And things are so bad, we are living through a “polycrisis”. The inevitable conclusion, everyone earnestly agrees, is that now is the time for vigilance. I fully understand why we are hearing this chorus of concern,…

The U.S. and Philippines Friday concluded nearly three weeks of annual military drills known as Balikatan in the south Pacific Ocean near the island chain nation. In a news release, the U.S. military said nearly 18,000 soldiers from both nations took part in the drills, making them the largest in the 38-year history of the military exercises. Balikatan means “shoulder-to-shoulder” or “sharing the load together,” in Philippine Tagalog dialect, a term becoming more appropriate in the past year as relations between the two longtime allies have improved since the election…