Day: November 11, 2023

Alibaba, JD.com withhold Singles’ Day sales tally for second year, but strike positive tone amid economic headwinds in China

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Alibaba Group Holding and JD.com said they achieved sales growth during this year’s Singles’ Day shopping festival, but stopped short of disclosing exact revenue numbers for the second straight year, as they grapple with a stop-start economic recovery in China and a brutal price war. Alibaba’s Taobao and Tmall Group said on Sunday its gross merchandise value (GMV) – a measure of the total value of goods sold – as well as the number of orders and participating merchants, all recorded year-on-year growth during this shopping season, which started with…

Xi-Biden Apec summit: ex-US envoy Max Baucus calls for frank talks on Taiwan to ease ties

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Candid exchanges on Taiwan could help to avoid miscalculations when the US and Chinese heads of state meet on the Apec sidelines this week, former US ambassador to China Max Baucus said. Chinese President Xi Jinping is expected to be “very firm” on the Taiwan issue when he meets US counterpart Joe Biden in San Francisco on Wednesday, Baucus said, adding the summit would be helpful for the US to better understand China’s positions on different matters of contention. “China’s non-negotiable position [on Taiwan] is not well understood in America.…

Why the Seoul-Beijing divide over North Korean defectors could scupper attempts to repair ties

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On Monday, South Korean Unification Minister Kim Yung-ho called on China to allow North Korean defectors to choose the country they wish to travel to, and to protect their human rights, during an event co-hosted by the ministry and Washington-based think tank Centre for Strategic and International Studies. “I strongly urge the Chinese government for its coordination so that North Korean defectors in China can be protected of their human rights based on the international norm and be able to travel to the country that they desire,” Kim said in…

South Korea shoots for the stars in Asia’s space race

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South Korea and the US pledged to expand their defence alliance into orbit at their inaugural joint space forum this week, as the countries seek deeper co-operation in response to emerging threats from adversaries including North Korea and China. Seoul and Washington agreed to bolster their partnership in areas spanning defence, commerce and civil space exploration. It comes as South Korea has raised its ambitions for independent launch and surveillance capacities, amid an intensifying Asian space race. “Space is becoming increasingly militarised and weaponised . . . turning [it] into a giant geopolitical chessboard,”…

China’s Communist Party has still not set a date for its annual meeting. Is the Xi-Biden summit part of the delay?

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Other than 2018 – when an extra session for a constitutional amendment disrupted following sessions – third plenums in recent decades have generally been held in October or early November, according to a tally by the South China Morning Post. The third plenum is the most important policymaking assembly by the Central Committee’s 300-plus members in their five-year term. Observers said the delay might be a result of accommodating the summit next week between the US and Chinese presidents. Other factors at play could be the need to find ways…

Resistance Groups Claim Responsibility for Military Jet Crash in Myanmar

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bangkok —  A Myanmar military jet fighter crashed Saturday in a combat zone in the eastern state of Kayah, a military officer and a member of an anti-military resistance organization said. The resistance group said the plane had been shot down, but its claim could not immediately be confirmed. A spokesperson for the ethnic armed group, the Karenni Nationalities Defense Force, said it had shot down the plane during heavy fighting near Loikaw, the capital of Kayah state, which is also known as Karenni. However, an officer in Myanmar’s military,…

Will the largest telescope project on Earth become part of China’s Belt and Road Initiative in the US’ absence?

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But with the completion of the new dishes has come intense media coverage in China – along with claims the project is part of the country’s global infrastructure push the Belt and Road Initiative. “The SKA is a key international scientific research cooperation project of the Belt and Road Initiative,” China Central Television said in a report on August 18. 02:48 Chinese President Xi Jinping unveils 8-point vision for nation’s Belt and Road Initiative at forum Chinese President Xi Jinping unveils 8-point vision for nation’s Belt and Road Initiative at…

Iran and Saudi Arabia Demand Gaza Cease-Fire

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After the Saudi and Iranian leaders finished their speeches, they left the main conference hall for a bilateral meeting. Prince Mohammed’s welcoming of Mr. Raisi amounted to a remarkable departure for the Saudi leader, who once bluntly warned Iran not to pursue expansionist policies in the region. “We won’t wait for the battle to be in Saudi Arabia,” he said in a televised interview in 2017. “Instead, we will work so that the battle is for them in Iran, not in Saudi Arabia.” He also once likened Iran’s supreme leader,…

Chinese Ships Chase Philippine Vessels; US Renews Warning to Defend Manila

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ABOARD THE BRP CABRA —  As a U.S. Navy surveillance plane flew in circles, keeping a close watch, dozens of Chinese coast guard and accompanying ships chased and encircled Philippine vessels in the latest confrontation in one of the most dangerous flashpoints in the South China Sea. At the height of Friday’s four-hour faceoff in the high seas, a Chinese coast guard ship blasted a water cannon toward a Philippine motorboat delivering food and other supplies to Filipino forces on a marooned, rusting warship that serves as the country’s fragile…