On his first visit back to the Tibetan Plateau in nearly a decade, Sengmo was surprised to hear his youngest nieces and nephews converse in Chinese rather than their native tongue. As a member of the Tibetan diaspora, Sengmo knew about the Chinese government’s campaign to assimilate ethnic minorities in the broader culture, including through the curriculum at boarding schools where students stay for weeks at a time. But it was only after witnessing firsthand how his elementary school-age relatives interacted with one another that he thought: “They will not…
Month: September 2023
China remains uncommitted to Xi Jinping’s attendance at Apec summit as tensions persist
Beijing and Washington are still working on a diplomatic compromise that could open a pathway to Chinese President Xi Jinping attending the Apec summit in San Francisco – but first they must find their way past differences on key issues. The prospective meeting between Xi and US President Joe Biden during the Apec summit in November had been high on the agenda in talks between Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi and US national security adviser Jake Sullivan in Malta earlier this month, sources said. The two had “candid, substantive and…
Alibaba’s Cainiao and AliExpress start ‘5-day global delivery’ service for consumers in UK, Spain, Netherlands, Belgium and South Korea
That global five-day delivery service will soon expand to more countries after its initial run in those five markets, according to a statement from Cainiao on Tuesday. Cainiao and AliExpress first revealed their plans for a speedy cross-border delivery service last June at the logistics unit’s annual summit in Hangzhou, where executives said the five-working-day conveyance would be 30 per cent faster than the industry standard. In South China Morning Post owner Alibaba’s recent financial year to March, Cainiao was already handling the delivery of more than 4 million cross-border…
Chinese TV presenter linked to missing foreign minister had surrogate child in US
A high-profile Chinese television presenter who was in a relationship with the country’s ousted foreign minister had a child last year with the help of a surrogate mother in the US, people familiar with the matter have said. Fu Xiaotian, 40, was in a relationship with Qin Gang, according to six people close to Fu and China’s foreign policy establishment. She told a close associate about the surrogate pregnancy last year, the person told the Financial Times. Two other people familiar with the matter also said she had a child…
Does the US really want a Biden-Xi Apec summit and better relations with China?
Over the past few weeks, Beijing has been engaged in a whirlwind of high-level discussions with Washington and Moscow. After two days in Malta with US National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan, Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi flew to Russia for a four-day consultation with Russian Security Council head Nikolai Patrushev on strategic cooperation. These diplomatic engagements are seen as China’s attempts to support international efforts to stabilise the Asia-Pacific region, as it continues discussions with important, influential countries. Coming after the G20 and Brics (Brazil, Russia, India, China and South…
China’s Top Diplomat Calls on US To Host APEC Summit That Is Cooperative, Not Confrontational
BEIJING — China’s foreign minister called on the U.S. on Tuesday to do what it can to host a cooperative meeting of Asia-Pacific leaders in November, criticizing those who seek to play up a confrontation between democracy and authoritarianism. Wang Yi said the Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation summit in San Francisco in November should promote cooperation rather than provoke confrontation and said the U.S. should show fairness and inclusiveness to create better conditions for a smooth meeting. “We should … oppose advocating for ‘democracy versus authoritarianism’ and imposing our own…
Nomura banker Charles Wang banned from leaving China: report
A veteran Hong Kong-based banker with a leading Japanese financial services group has been banned from leaving mainland China, the Financial Times reported on Monday. Charles Wang Zhonghe, chairman of investment banking for China at Nomura International (Hong Kong) Ltd, was not in detention but banned from travelling outside mainland China, the report said, citing an unnamed source. Bao’s company, China Renaissance Holdings, also one of China’s biggest investment banks, said in early August that Bao was cooperating with Chinese officials in an unspecified investigation. He was last seen in…
Japan gaming: Capcom brings street fighting spirit to mobile games
Receive free Lex updates We’ll send you a myFT Daily Digest email rounding up the latest Lex news every morning. In Japan’s gaming sector, Nintendo and Sony’s PlayStation are seen as the typical combatants. But what of stalwart local rival Capcom? Its successful Street Fighter franchise, a martial arts tournament game launched in 1987, means it merits more attention. Capcom has something new in its arsenal. It will combine monster fighting action from its top-selling Monster Hunter games with the location-based gameplay of the worldwide sensation Pokémon Go. Capcom has…
China, S. Korea, Japan Leaders To Hold First Summit Since 2019
China said on Tuesday it had agreed with Japan and South Korea to hold a summit between the three countries’ leaders “as early as possible,” after a rare meeting between senior diplomats in Seoul. The three-way talks — attended by deputy and assistant ministers from the three countries — were seen as an attempt to ease Beijing’s concerns over Washington’s deepening security ties with Tokyo and Seoul. Beijing described them as a “in-depth discussion on promoting the stable restarting of cooperation.” “It was agreed that carrying out cooperation between China,…
China, Japan, South Korea agree to revive summit at ‘earliest convenient time’
The foreign ministers of China, Japan and South Korea will soon meet and a long-stalled summit will resume at the “earliest convenient time”, the Chinese foreign ministry said on Tuesday. Ministry spokesman Wang Wenbin said an agreement to revive the three-way summit – which has been suspended since 2019 – was reached during talks between senior officials in Seoul earlier in the day. Nong Rong, China’s assistant minister of foreign affairs, and his South Korean and Japanese counterparts, Chung Byung-won and Takehiro Funakoshi, attended the meeting. (From left) Takehiro Funakoshi,…