Author: Media Library

America’s Naval Power Is Waning. That Could Change.

Media Library

The United States might be losing another war — one that could define the country’s security into the next century. Military and commercial power are intertwined. Maritime power, in particular, has always played a crucial part in establishing and maintaining commercial power. America is learning this lesson the hard way. For hundreds of years, the countries that have ruled the waves have ruled the world, as the 19th-century American naval strategist Alfred Thayer Mahan put it. In an age of drones, we can be forgiven for thinking this time has…

China’s succession crisis: a generation of entrepreneurs is retiring, but are their children ready to take over?

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Growing up, Ayu would watch his parents put together hand made leather shoes on the ground floor of their three storey home in the Chinese city of Wenzhou. Their relatives in Europe would send photographs of designer products from Italy for the workers to base their designs on, and in the decades that followed, the tiny family-run workshop transformed into a 700 person factory. “The factory and the home were the same place. I watched them make shoes by hand, piece by piece, using small machines,” Ayu recalls of watching…

Satellite images show attack jets at Chinese military facility in Laos

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Satellite images show attack jets stationed at a new Chinese military facility in Laos, which opened last week and gives Beijing’s air force its first foothold in mainland south-east Asia. Images provided by the commercial satellite provider Vantor show eight light attack aircraft positioned at Ban Keun airport alongside what appear to be more than a dozen military vehicles lined up in rows. The planes’ shape matches that of the Chinese-made Hongdu JL-8 jet, a two-seat trainer that can be deployed in combat to carry bombs. Laos is reported to…

Last chance saloon: EU presses China for a sign to prove trade talks can work

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The European Union’s top trade mandarins depart for Beijing on Wednesday for two days of intensive negotiations but expectations in Brussels are measured as to what the talks will deliver. Maros Sefcovic, the EU’s trade chief, will meet his Chinese counterpart Wang Wentao on Thursday and Friday – three months after their last encounter in Brussels, when the Europeans set an October deadline for signs of a rebalancing in the trading relationship. Non-stop working-level talks have proven… South China Morning Post

EU negotiators head to China hoping to curb cheap imports of hybrid electric cars

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Mood in trade talks said to have changed as EU member states harden demands for protection against Chinese imports EU trade negotiators are heading to China for two days of crunch talks aimed at sealing a breakthrough deal tackling Beijing’s record £1bn-a-day trade surplus by curbing its exports of cheap hybrid electric cars into Europe. Trade commissioner Maroš Šefčovič and his team fly out on Wednesday and will be negotiating up to the wire in talks scheduled to start the following day and continue late into Friday. Continue reading… The…

Climate change and farming gave rise to ‘genetically distinct’ Beijing swan goose: study

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Climate change and agricultural development have brought a new goose population to China with unique migratory patterns, a study has found. In an article on the Chinese Academy of Sciences website, researchers from the CAS Institute of Zoology said they had discovered a “genetically distinct” population of swan geese that emerged in Beijing over the past century. They said the timing of their arrival coincided with environmental shifts in the region during the early 20th century – namely climate… South China Morning Post

China’s DeepZang AI aims to transform Tibetan language tech, promote ethnic unity

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Creators of China’s first Tibetan-language AI model have pledged to speed up upgrades aimed at promoting ethnic integration. Approaches to advancing the large language model, DeepZang, were discussed at a seminar on Monday that brought together representatives from research institutes, universities and enterprises, according to state-run portal Chinanews.com. It said the event held in Hohhot, in China’s northern Inner Mongolia autonomous region, addressed issues such as improving Tibetan… South China Morning Post

In Race With U.S., China Struggles to Recruit Foreign A.I. Researchers

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As the United States and China vie for A.I. dominance, the Trump administration has made it more difficult for companies to hire foreign researchers, while China has made recruiting the world’s best scientists a national priority. Over the past two years, China has flung open its doors to international researchers, introducing a visa for scientists and offering lucrative research grants. Despite those efforts, foreigners are not coming. Worse still for China’s ambitions, the number of Chinese scientists working in the United States has risen rather than declined, according to a…

The Hidden Policies That Power China’s Export Boom

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China has kept its export engine roaring with a combination of tax rebates and a weak currency, helping sustain economic growth at home while sending a surge of Chinese goods into markets abroad. But that strategy is fueling tension with its trading partners. And this week, officials from Brussels arriving in Beijing are preparing to press Chinese officials about a European trade deficit with China that exceeds $1.1 billion a day. Europe’s leaders say China tilts the scale with government subsidies and low-interest loans to its manufacturers, flooding European markets…