Foreign banks’ involvement in initial public offerings in mainland China has fallen to its lowest level in more than a decade, in a sign of the difficulties they face retaining a foothold in the country’s closed-off financial system. So far this year, foreign banks have been involved in just $297mn worth of new listings, or 1.2 per cent of the total. The proportion is lower than in any full year since Dealogic began collecting the data in 2009, when the banks were involved in about half of total listings by…
Day: June 10, 2023
China has used Cuba as spy base for years, US official says
China has been spying from Cuba for some time and upgraded its intelligence collection facilities there in 2019, a Biden administration official said on Saturday, following a report about a new spying effort underway on the island. China had reached a secret deal with Cuba to establish an electronic eavesdropping facility on the island roughly 100 miles (160km) from Florida, the Wall Street Journal reported on Thursday but the US and Cuban governments cast strong doubt on the report. The Biden administration official, speaking on condition of anonymity, said the…
Thousands Fleeing Philippines Volcano Now Fear Typhoon’s Rains
BONGA, Philippines — Thousands of people who fled their homes in the central Philippines to escape a restive volcano must now contend with another threat that’s complicating the ongoing evacuations: monsoon rains that could be unleashed by an approaching typhoon. More than 6,000 villagers have been forced to leave rural communities within a 6-kilometer radius of Mayon volcano’s crater in northeastern Albay province. Thousands more need to be moved to safety from the permanent danger zone, officials said. Others living outside the perimeter have packed their bags and voluntarily left…
The 1989 Tiananmen massacre – as seen by a new generation of watchful eyes
On the anniversary of the 1989 Tiananmen Square massacre last weekend, a group of protesters gathered in London’s Trafalgar Square to pay their respects to the victims of the military crackdown by the Chinese army on peaceful pro-democracy protests. These protesters were of a similar age to the students they commemorated. After decades of political brainwashing under the Chinese Communist Party, which bans any public discussion of the 1989 events, many observers had started to believe that China’s young people had lost touch with the kind of political fervor that…
Shrinking harvest of caterpillar fungus puts squeeze on Tibetan herders
Gathered in the Tibetan highlands, caterpillar fungus can fetch US$18,000 a pound, and in rare cases more than US$50,000 a pound. It’s a traditional medicine used for centuries to treat heart, liver and lung diseases, high cholesterol, low libido and impotence, despite a lack of scientific evidence. But during the May peak harvest season this year, collectors have had a harder time finding the slender brown root-like fungus, known as yartsa gunbu, or “summer grass, winter worm,” yarsagumba or Himalayan Viagra. Tibetans herders who collect the fungus to boost their…
US confirms China has had a spy base in Cuba since at least 2019
The White House and Cuban officials, however, called the report inaccurate. “I’ve seen that press report, it’s not accurate,” White House National Security Council spokesman John Kirby said in an MSNBC interview on Thursday. “What I can tell you is that we have been concerned since day one of this administration about China’s influence activities around the world; certainly in this hemisphere and in this region, we’re watching this very, very closely.” Advertisement The US intelligence community had determined that Chinese spying from Cuba has been an “ongoing” matter and…
Kong Yiji: The memes that lay bare China’s youth disillusionment
In one commentary, state broadcaster CCTV said students should “take off the long gown”, referring to a crucial element of the story, perhaps its most abiding detail. The “long gown” worn by Kong is what divides the rich and the learned from the uneducated poor who wear “short jackets”. So CCTV’s advice, it appears, was that students should swallow their pride, discard the long gown, and find whatever jobs they can. BBC
China’s gaokao exam tests grasp of Xi Jinping Thought, so students can ‘understand the power of truth’
Subsequent tests on liberal arts subjects such as history and geography were also designed similarly, according to experts from the testing authority. A record 12.91 million students sat this year’s gaokao, widely considered the most important set of exams in China – a gruelling, all-important gateway to a college and career of choice under the country’s meritocratic system. Most provinces administered the tests over Wednesday and Thursday. Advertisement The NEEA is responsible for preparing all gaokao test papers, save those administered in the megacities of Beijing, Shanghai and Tianjin, where…
China Has Had a Spy Base in Cuba for Years, U.S. Official Says
A Chinese spy base in Cuba that could intercept electronic signals from nearby U.S. military and commercial buildings has been up and running since or before 2019, when the Chinese base was upgraded, according to a Biden administration official. The official, speaking on the condition of anonymity to discuss sensitive intelligence, said the spy base was an issue that the Biden administration had inherited from former President Donald J. Trump. After Mr. Biden took office, his administration was briefed about the base in Cuba as well as plans China was…
South Africa President Briefs Xi on African Russia-Ukraine Peace Plan
South Africa’s President Cyril Ramaphosa has briefed Chinese leader Xi Jinping on the upcoming visit by African leaders to Russia and Ukraine in a bid to end hostilities, the South African presidency said Saturday. Chinese state broadcaster reported that the two leaders had a phone call Friday. In a statement, South Africa’s presidency said Ramaphosa told Xi he noted the peace plan proposed by China and affirmed African leaders’ support for initiatives aimed at a peaceful resolution of the conflict. “President Xi Jinping commended the initiative by the African continent…