Year: 2023

China’s second low-earth satellite megaconstellation to provide broadband internet services began production in Shanghai on Wednesday, amid a push to explore potential in the space technology industry and as competition heightens with SpaceX’s Starlink. The digital-production plant located within the G60 Starlink industrial base, which focuses on commercial satellite production and applications and is backed by the Shanghai municipal government, produced its first commercial satellite on Wednesday, according to authorities in the city’s Songjiang district. By 2024, the factory would launch and operate at least 108 satellites to provide initial…

In response to questions about Taiwan keeping tabs on the PLA, Wu said: “As for the Taiwan military’s capabilities, the PLA is in absolute full control. As always, we will adopt all necessary measures to resolutely defend national sovereignty and territorial integrity.” In recent weeks, Taiwan has accused Beijing of interfering in the elections by flying spy balloons across the Taiwan Strait’s median line and sending PLA warplanes into its air defence identification zone. Wu dismissed the accusations as election rhetoric by the DPP and denied that the median line…

Cutthroat competition in China’s vast e-commerce sector is poised to escalate, as leading shopping platforms JD.com and Alibaba Group Holding’s Taobao offer a “refund only” policy so consumers can keep the goods they had bought but complained about – matching an option that budget online retailer Pinduoduo has had in place since 2021. JD.com on Wednesday updated its platform rules to include the new refund policy covering goods shoppers have received, but they believe do not match up with the product description on the site. The new rules will take…

The conversation between Liu and Brown on Thursday last week was the first of its kind since Beijing cut off high-level military communications in August last year in protest at a visit to Taiwan by Nancy Pelosi, the then House speaker, which Beijing viewed as a major breach of its sovereignty. Wu said: “We expect the US side to walk with us towards the same goal and take concrete actions on the basis of equality and mutual respect to promote a sound and steady development of the China-US military-to-military relationship.”…

Beijing’s top economic planner has sent out an upbeat message about China’s growth prospects in an assessment of a key economic plan amid growing calls to lift expectations for expansion. The world’s second-largest economy has advanced as expected in most aspects outlined in its 14th five-year plan covering economic and social development for 2021-25, according to a midterm assessment from the National Development and Reform Commission (NDRC). Despite several challenges, including technological chokepoints, 16 of the 20 major goals included in the plan are within expectation or better than anticipated,…

Chinese authorities have called for a tougher crackdown on the use of cryptocurrencies as a tool for illegal foreign exchange trading in the latest effort to fend off financial risks. Prosecutors and forex regulators were told to strengthen supervision over foreign exchange, and cases where the Tether stablecoin was used as an intermediary to trade yuan with other currencies were highlighted, the Supreme People’s Procuratorate and State Administration of Foreign Exchange said in a statement on Wednesday. Tether – which is also known as USDT – is pegged to the…