The Swiss watchmaker Swatch has apologised and removed an advert featuring a model pulling the corners of his eyes, after the image prompted accusations of racism and calls for a boycott on Chinese social media. Internet users heavily criticised the “slanted eye” gesture made by the Asian male model as racist. In a post on Instagram and the Chinese social media platform Weibo on Saturday, Swatch acknowledged the “recent concerns regarding the portrayal of a model” in the advert and said it had deleted the promotional material worldwide. “We sincerely…
Category: The Guardian
Hong Kong activist Tony Chung says he has been granted asylum in the UK
The Hong Kong independence activist Tony Chung says he has been granted asylum in the UK, two years after fleeing the Chinese region. Chung, 24, revealed the news on his Instagram page on Sunday, the day after the former Hong Kong legislator Ted Hui said he had been granted asylum in Australia. Both Chung and Hui are among dozens of pro-democracy activists targeted with arrest warrants and 1m Hong Kong dollar bounties by authorities. Chung was one of the youngest people to be sentenced to jail under Hong Kong’s draconian…
Dongji Rescue review – epic tale of British PoWs saved by Chinese fishers gets blockbuster treatment
The sinking of the Lisbon Maru, an extraordinary second world war story in which 384 British PoWs were saved from a bombed Japanese cargo liner by Chinese fishers, has recently been excavated in an exhaustive, emotional documentary. In Dongji Rescue, co-directed by Zhenxiang Fei and Guan Hu, this staggering tale gets a blockbuster makeover that involves Imax cameras and an $80m budget. The film opens with the stunning vista of the eponymous island, then under Japanese control. The seeds of discontent are there, as the local Chinese population are forbidden…
Hong Kong pro-democracy activist Ted Hui reportedly granted asylum in Australia
The former pro-democracy Hong Kong legislator Ted Hui, who is wanted by authorities in the Chinese city, has been granted asylum in Australia, he said in a social media post, calling on Canberra to do more for those who remain jailed. The special administrative region, handed back to China by the UK in 1997, has seen dissent quashed since Beijing imposed a sweeping national security law following huge and at times violent pro-democracy protests that erupted in 2019. Hui, a high-profile participant at the time who has since resettled in…
‘Now it’s about personal happiness’: popular Granny Wang dating show belies China’s plummeting marriage rate
The crowd is sweltering under a red and gold awning, but Granny Wang has them rapt. Packed into the space in front of the 62-year-old’s small stage, and spilling out on to the wooden bleachers above, hundreds of people have gathered to hear Granny Wang – real name Zhao Mei – play matchmaker to young men and women at a daily show in a theme park in Kaifeng, an ancient city in central China’s Henan province. One man who volunteers to be set up comes on stage and tells Zhao…
Trump says Xi told him China will not invade Taiwan while he is in office
US president says Chinese counterpart told him ‘I am very patient and China is very patient’ The US president, Donald Trump, has said that his Chinese counterpart, Xi Jinping, told him China would not invade Taiwan while Trump is in office. Trump made the comments in an interview with Fox News on Friday, ahead of talks with the Russian president, Vladimir Putin, over Moscow’s invasion of Ukraine. Continue reading… The Guardian
Tuvalu considers pulling out of Pacific leaders’ summit amid China-linked power struggle
Tuvalu’s prime minister Feletei Teo said his country may pull out of the region’s top political meeting next month, after host nation Solomon Islands moved to block all external partners – including China, US and Taiwan – from attending. The Pacific Islands Forum leaders meeting will be held in Honiara in September. On 7 August, Solomon Islands prime minister Jeremiah Manele told parliament that no dialogue partners would be invited to the annual gathering. Countries outside the Pacific, known as “dialogue partners,” have attended the forum since 1989, to work…
Box, run, crash: China’s humanoid robot games show advances and limitations
A quick left hook, a front kick to the chest, a few criss-cross jabs, and the crowd cheers. But it is not kickboxing prowess that concludes the match. It is an attempted roundhouse kick that squarely misses its target, sending the kickboxer from a top university team tumbling to the floor. While traditional kickboxing comes with the risk of blood, sweat and serious head injuries, the competitors in Friday’s match at the inaugural World Humanoid Robot Games in Beijing faced a different set of challenges. Balance, battery life and a…
Robots run, punch and score at World Humanoid Robot Games in China – video
China is hosting the inaugural three-day World Humanoid Robot Games in Beijing as it looks to showcase its advances in artificial intelligence and robotics. In total, 280 teams from 16 countries are taking part in the event, where humanoids compete in sports such as kickboxing, football and athletics. The Guardian
Weather tracker: Typhoon Podul pounds southern Taiwan
Typhoon Podul crossed southern Taiwan on Wednesday with wind speeds of up to 110mph (177km/h), equivalent to a category 2 hurricane. Podul had developed a week earlier, near the Northern Mariana Islands, and tracked west across the Philippine Sea, achieving typhoon status on Tuesday before making landfall in south-east Taiwan the following day. Podul whipped up high waves along the east coast, where a man died after being swept away while fishing. As the storm travelled overland, it dumped large amounts of rain across the south of the island, with…