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Chinese doctor bewails vanishing obstetrics wards as births plummet

A prominent Chinese obstetrician has taken to social media to lament the closure of obstetrics departments in Chinese hospitals, prompting social media comments that the ruling Chinese Communist Party needs to make life better for young people if it wants to reverse falling birth rates. “Save obstetrics!” wrote Duan Tao, obstetrician at the Shanghai No. 1 Maternal and Infant Health Hospital, in the title of his post to the social media platform Weibo at the end of last month, following a meeting of obstetrics department heads in Shanghai’s Pudong New…

A.I. Leaders Press Advantage With Congress as China Tensions Rise

In recent weeks, American lawmakers have moved to ban the Chinese-owned app TikTok. President Biden reinforced his commitment to overcome China’s rise in tech. And the Chinese government added chips from Intel and AMD to a blacklist of imports. Now, as the tech and economic cold war between the United States and China accelerates, Silicon Valley’s leaders are capitalizing on the strife with a lobbying push for their interests in another promising field of technology: artificial intelligence. On May 1, more than 100 tech chiefs and investors, including Alex Karp,…

Chinese President Xi Meets With US Executives as Investment Wanes

BEIJING —  China’s President Xi Jinping met American business leaders at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing on Wednesday, as the government tries to woo back foreign investors and international firms seeking reassurance about the impact of new regulations. Beijing wants to boost growth of the world’s second-largest economy after foreign direct investment shrank 8% in 2023 amid heightened investor concern over an anti-espionage law, exit bans, and raids on consultancies and due diligence firms. Xi’s increasing focus on national security has left many companies uncertain where they…

US Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen to press China on green energy spending, subsidies that distort global market

American concerns over China’s green energy spending binge will likely dominate the high-level talks between the two global powers in Beijing early next month. Citing excess capacity in industries like solar, electric vehicles and lithium-ion batteries because of huge government subsidies, the problem will be “a key issue” in discussions with senior Chinese officials during her second trip to China in a year, US Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen will say in a speech on Wednesday afternoon. “I will convey my belief that excess capacity poses risks not only to American…

Xi Jinping tells US delegation China’s economy is ‘sound and sustainable’

“China’s reform will not stop and its opening up will not stop,” the Chinese leader said, according to a report on state broadcaster CCTV. “China is planning and implementing a series of major steps for comprehensively deepening reform, and steadily fostering a market-oriented, law-based and world-class business environment. This will create broader room for development for US and other foreign businesses.” Beijing is trying to rebuild business confidence in China amid an economic downturn. Photo: Xinhua The meeting was held at the end of the annual China Development Forum in…

Taiwan’s VP-Elect Reaffirms Ties With Europe in Diplomatic Tour

Taipei, Taiwan —  Taiwanese Vice President-elect Hsiao Bi-khim wrapped up a whirlwind diplomatic tour to Europe last week, triggering Beijing as she made stops in three countries and Brussels and met with dozens of politicians. Analysts and some who attended the meetings say the trip was an example of the type of high-level engagement Hsiao wants to continue after being officially sworn into office in May along with President-elect Lai Ching-te. Hsiao met with parliamentary leaders in the Czech Republic, Poland and Lithuania. She also engaged with more than 30…

Chinese Leader to Dutch PM: Restricting Technology Access Won’t Stop China’s Advance

BEIJING —  Chinese leader Xi Jinping told visiting Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte on Wednesday that attempts to restrict China’s access to technology will not stop the country’s advance. The Netherlands imposed export licensing requirements in 2023 on the sale of machinery that can make advanced processor chips. The move came after the United States blocked Chinese access to advanced chips and the equipment to make them, citing security concerns, and urged its allies to follow suit. An online report from state broadcaster CCTV did not mention the chip machinery,…

Chinese social media platform Weibo removes fake images showing a rapidly ageing Tencent founder Pony Ma

Chinese social media platform Weibo has deleted a number of accounts publishing and spreading a retouched photo of a grey-haired and wrinkle-faced Pony Ma Huateng, Tencent Holdings’ founder and CEO, in the latest example of efforts to protect the country’s top entrepreneurs from online abuse. “A small number of users posted and hyped up false information about companies and entrepreneurs, and even deliberately spread rumours through Photoshopped pictures,” Weibo said in a statement. These “rumour-mongering” behaviours have infringed the legal rights of enterprises and entrepreneurs, and damaged the online environment…

Xi Jinping warns Dutch leader Mark Rutte not to put up barriers after ban on chip technology exports to China

“Artificially creating scientific and technological barriers and fragmenting industrial and supply chains will only lead to division and confrontation.” EU sees 200% surge in Xinjiang imports despite human rights concerns The Netherlands is the home of ASML, the world’s biggest developer of advanced semiconductor equipment for chip makers, and the country has found itself caught in the middle of the tech war between the United States and China as Washington pushes its allies to help exclude Beijing from access to the most cutting-edge semiconductors. The Dutch government has restricted the…

Who is up and who is down on China’s economic team

On March 27th, when Xi Jinping met American business executives in Beijing, it was a rare opportunity for these corporate bigwigs to interact with China’s leader on his home turf. The meeting followed the China Development Forum, an annual economic conference held amid the lakes and willows of a tranquil state guesthouse in the capital. The economic backdrop to the meeting was less serene, thanks to a faltering economy, depressed stockmarket and sporadic regulatory crackdowns. Foreign direct investment has slumped (see chart). Chart: The Economist In the past, such meetings…