Tag: China News

Fact-checker on China’s Weibo targets US Embassy, Russian state media

Media Library

washington —  This month, when a story claiming Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy had secretly purchased a $24 million castle from the British royal family went viral on China’s Weibo social media platform, something interesting happened. A fake-news function on the platform debunked it as misinformation. Since Russia launched its invasion of Ukraine in early 2022, Chinese social media platforms have been full of pro-Russia false claims and conspiracy theories, some of which the Chinese government has endorsed. Influential Chinese nationalist bloggers, as well as Russia’s state media RT, regularly post…

US calls for transparency from Cambodia over China-backed canal

Media Library

The United States is urging Cambodia to be transparent over a proposed $1.7 billion canal financed by China that is worrying Vietnam due to its potential impact on water resource management. “The Cambodian people – along with people in neighboring countries and the broader region – would benefit from transparency on any major undertaking with potential implications for regional water management, agricultural sustainability, and security,” Wesley Holzer, a U.S. embassy spokesperson in Phnom Penh, told VOA Khmer in an email on Tuesday. The proposed canal has alarmed neighboring Vietnam because…

Chinese linked e-commerce companies shake up US market

Media Library

Two Chinese-linked online marketplaces are shaking up the e-commerce market with extremely low prices, even as the firms face concerns from consumers about labor practices. The rapid rise in popularity of Temu and SHEIN has been so sudden that Amazon now sees the two firms as its biggest rivals, according to a recent report by The Wall Street Journal. China-operated Temu launched in September 2022 and now has 51 million U.S. users, while Chinese-founded fashion and lifestyle retailer SHEIN has almost 14 million U.S. downloads. Christopher Tang, a professor at…

China slaps anti-dumping levy on import of a US chemical amid rising trade tensions

Media Library

China on Friday imposed a levy on imports of an acid from the United States widely used in food, feed, pesticides and medical fields, amid heightened tensions with Washington over bilateral trade. From Saturday, imports of propionic acid from the United States will be subject to a levy of 43.5%, the Ministry of Commerce said in a statement, after a July investigation found the Chinese domestic propionic acid industry was “materially damaged.” A trade dispute between the world’s two biggest economies has been intensifying despite recent diplomatic visits. In a…

Soap operas censored in China for spreading ‘unhealthy family values’

Media Library

China’s movie regulators are rolling out new regulations on minute-long soap operas, a new genre that became popular in China during COVID-19 pandemic but which has been accused of spreading “incorrect values.” Designed for shorter attention spans during the internet age, these mini-soap operas aim to get people watching videos on their phones hooked as quickly as possible. Starting June 1, the soap operas must be registered and reviewed before they can go online. Key minute-long soap operas — those with investment of around $138,000 (1 million RMB) — must…

China rebukes US deployment of missiles in Indo-Pacific

Media Library

Beijing officials are decrying the deployment of U.S. medium-range missiles in the Asia-Pacific region for the first time since the Cold War. China’s Foreign Ministry spokesman Lin Jian, at a regular press briefing Thursday, said China “expresses grave concern” and “strongly opposes the U.S. … strengthening forward deployment at China’s doorstep to seek unilateral military advantage.” The U.S. military on Monday confirmed it had on April 11 placed a mid-range capability missile system on northern Luzon in the Philippines as part of joint military exercises called Salaknib 24. It’s the…

FBI calls out China for making critical infrastructure ‘fair game’ for cyber operations 

Media Library

washington —  Efforts by China-linked hackers to infiltrate computer systems and networks that run key sectors of the U.S. economy — only to lie in wait for an opportunity to strike — appear to predate Chinese cyber operations that sparked warnings by U.S. officials earlier this year. FBI Director Christopher Wray on Thursday said Chinese government efforts to penetrate critical U.S. infrastructure for the purpose of setting up a possible cyberattack go back more than a decade. “China-sponsored hackers pre-positioned for potential cyberattacks against U.S. oil and natural gas companies…

Debt to China fuels anxiety in Kyrgyzstan

Media Library

Previously deferred debt repayments to China are coming due in Kyrgyzstan, raising public concerns in the Central Asian country about deepening financial dependence on its powerful eastern neighbor. The country’s total debt accumulated since independence in 1991 is estimated at about $6.2 billion, or 45% of GDP. That is below the debt ratios of some developed countries but problematic in a largely agrarian economy that has been struggling since a change of government in 2020. About $1.7 billion of that is owed to the Export and Import Bank of China,…

NASA chief warns of Chinese military presence in space

Media Library

Washington —  China is bolstering its space capabilities and is using its civilian program to mask its military objectives, the head of the U.S. space agency said Wednesday, warning that Washington must remain vigilant. “China has made extraordinary strides especially in the last 10 years, but they are very, very secretive,” NASA administrator Bill Nelson told lawmakers on Capitol Hill. “We believe that a lot of their so-called civilian space program is a military program. And I think, in effect, we are in a race,” Nelson said. He said he…