Year: 2023

In 2015, Obama pledged that by 2020, 1 million American students would be learning Mandarin. Students at Walnut Hills Elementary School in Greenville, Michigan, where parents earlier this year successfully rallied to save a Mandarin immersion programme from a phase-out. Photo: Facebook/ Walnut Hills Chinese Immersion Eight years later, to say the dynamics have shifted would be an understatement. Sino-US tensions now cast doubt over business opportunities in the mainland, while record-high proportions of Americans view China negatively. American students – whose numbers in China have declined from over 11,000…

The office of US Trade Representative Katherine Tai on Tuesday announced a further extension of China “Section 301” tariff exclusions on 352 Chinese import and 77 Covid-19-related categories till May 31, 2024. The administration of former US president Donald Trump used Section 301 of the Trade Act of 1974, a statute aimed at combating trade partners’ unfair practices, to launch the China tariffs in 2018 and 2019. The import tariff exclusions include industrial components such as pumps and electric motors, some car parts and chemicals, bicycles and vacuum cleaners. The…

“[The move] is part of our ongoing efforts to protect election integrity and support our community with authoritative information,” TikTok said on its website. 05:27 Taiwan election exposes generational rift over potential reunification with mainland China Taiwan election exposes generational rift over potential reunification with mainland China TikTok users would be directed to the guide once they searched for election-related information, viewed relevant videos, and watched live-streaming content, it said. The company said the guide contained links to Taiwan’s Central Election Commission (CEC) online resources about the election while MyGoPen…

A data analysis by the Inspection Squad for Workplace Gender Discrimination looked at the annual recruitment drive for the national civil service and found more government positions were reserved for men than for women. The report, first published earlier this month, looked into the job requirements for all government positions advertised in October, a month before the annual civil service exam all candidates must pass if they want a permanent government job. The team found that of the nearly 40,000 jobs being advertised many specified that they were “men-only” or…