China is set to impose a value-added tax (VAT) on condoms and other contraceptives for the first time in three decades, as the country tries to boost its birthrate and modernise its tax laws. From 1 January, condoms and contraceptives will be subject to a 13% VAT rate – a tax from which the goods have been exempt since China introduced nationwide VAT in 1993. The measure was buried in a VAT law passed in 2024 in an effort to modernise China’s tax regime. VAT accounts for nearly 40% of…
Tag: Asia Pacific
Trump urges Xi Jinping to free HK pro-democracy media tycoon Jimmy Lai
Donald Trump has said he wants Chinese leader Xi Jinping to release Jimmy Lai as he voiced sadness over the Hong Kong media mogul’s conviction on national security charges. “I feel so badly. I spoke to President Xi about it, and I asked to consider his release,” Trump told reporters on Monday, without specifying when he asked Xi. “He’s an older man, and he’s not well. So I did put that request out. We’ll see what happens.” The US president had said before he returned to the White House that…
Man who documented Uyghur camps in China may face removal from US after ICE arrest
A Chinese man who left his country after filming at sites of alleged human rights violations against Uyghurs now faces the risk of removal from the United States, according to his lawyer and mother. Guan Heng, 38, underwent an immigration hearing in New York on Monday after being detained by US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) in August, his mother said in an interview. The case could see him taken out of the United States and potentially landing back in China eventually. “I’m really, really worried that things will be…
UK condemns Hong Kong’s ‘politically motivated’ targeting of Jimmy Lai after conviction
The UK government and international rights groups have condemned the conviction of former pro-democracy newspaper owner and British citizen Jimmy Lai in Hong Kong on national security charges. On Monday, Lai, 78, was found guilty in West Kowloon district court on one count of conspiracy to publish seditious publications and two counts of conspiracy to foreign collusion. The charges were brought under the city’s punitive national security law (NSL), introduced in 2020, and a British colonial-era sedition law that has been used in recent years by authorities. The pro-democracy activist…
Hong Kong media tycoon Jimmy Lai convicted of national security offences – video
Jimmy Lai, the Hong Kong pro-democracy media tycoon, is facing life in prison after being found guilty of national security and sedition offences in one of the most closely watched rulings since the city’s return to Chinese rule in 1997. The Guardian’s correspondent Helen Davidson explains what happened The Guardian
The rise and fall of Jimmy Lai, whose trajectory mirrored that of Hong Kong itself
On Monday, a Hong Kong court convicted Jimmy Lai of national security offences, the end to a landmark trial for the city and its hobbled protest movement. The verdict was expected. Long a thorn in the side of Beijing, Lai, a 78-year-old media tycoon and activist, was a primary target of the most recent and definitive crackdown on Hong Kong’s pro-democracy movement. Authorities cast him as a traitor and a criminal. Lai’s trial was one of the last unfinished national security prosecutions of Hong Kong’s high profile activists, over their…
Jimmy Lai verdict: Hong Kong pro-democracy figure convicted of national security offences
Jimmy Lai, the Hong Kong pro-democracy media tycoon, is facing life in prison after being found guilty of national security and sedition offences, in one of the most closely watched rulings since the city’s return to Chinese rule in 1997. The 78-year-old has been in jail since late 2020 on remand and serving several protest-related sentences totalling almost 10 years. Monday’s conviction, in which judges called him a “mastermind” of conspiracies designed to destabilise the Chinese government, could see him given an extra life sentence. Lai had been charged with…
Labubus, TikTok and KPop Demon Hunters: how childhood went east Asian – podcast
From matcha and bubble tea to manga and Studio Ghibli, east Asian culture has become mainstream culture for millions of young people around the world. Jeff Yang, the co-author of Rise: A Pop History of Asian America from the Nineties to Now, describes to Nosheen Iqbal how after decades of American pop-cultural exceptionalism, the Covid-19 pandemic ushered in a new era of interest in east Asian culture, particularly as western attitudes towards subtitles shifted. The pair discuss the influence of social media on young people, the South Korean government’s deliberate…
Jimmy Lai verdict: Hong Kong court to decide on national security charges against pro-democracy figure – live
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Hong Kong’s last major opposition party disbands amid Chinese pressure
Senior DP members previously allege being told to disband or face severe consequences including possible arrest Hong Kong’s last major opposition party has disbanded after a vote by its members, the culmination of Chinese pressure on the city’s remaining liberal voices in a years-long security crackdown. The Democratic party (DP) has been Hong Kong’s main opposition since its founding three years before the financial hub’s return to Chinese rule in 1997. The party used to sweep city-wide legislative elections and push China on democratic reforms and upholding freedoms. Continue reading……