In its most common form, gray or curb market lending in China is channeled through a hui (which translates loosely as “coming together”). A hui is an informal credit association of friends or family members who pool their savings to finance anything from a new home to a wedding reception. It is led by a hui dong, or chairman, who records deposits in a ledger book or even pieces of scrap paper....
Ma Xiaoguang, a spokesperson for the Taiwan Affairs Office (TAO) in Beijing, said his counterparts at the Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) in Taipei were distorting China’s policy on Taiwan, “hyping up the mainland’s so-called military threat and exposing their sinister intention to internationalise the Taiwan issue.” The People’s Republic of China (PRC) has maintained a decades-long claim to Taiwan, despite having never governed the island since Chinese Communist Party leaders established the country in 1949....
During a press conference, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Zhao Lijian said that China has noticed the joint statement from the U.S. and South Korea, following Biden’s meeting with South Korean President Moon Jae-in. “We noted the relevant content of the joint statement of the U.S. and the R.O.K. and are concerned about that. We believe that the development of U.S.-R.O.K. relations should be conducive to promoting regional peace, stability, development and prosperity, rather than the opposite, still less harmful to the interests of third parties including China,” Zhao said during the press conference....
An AAP report released on August 6 found that there had been 380,174 cases among children, representing 9.1 percent of all available cases at the time. Between July 9 and August 6, childhood cases rose overall by 90 percent. The report was based on data from 49 states, Washington, D.C., Puerto Rico and Guam. Texas only reported age in 8 percent of cases, while New York state did not include a statewide breakdown of cases by age, although the report does include data from New York City....
The Leicester City defender made his international debut last month but had returned to the under-21 set-up prior to the news that Shaw, injured in Manchester United’s win over Newcastle United, would not be fit to feature in the upcoming UEFA Nations League double-header. Chilwell has now linked up with the senior England squad again after Shaw returned to United, with fellow left-back Danny Rose also reportedly struggling with a fitness concern....
Hua Chunying, spokeswoman for the ministry, made the remarks during a press briefing Thursday as China seeks to maintain its alliance with Russia while also using its influence to quell its conflict with Ukraine. She said that China opposes any call to war and has tried to reduce tensions in the run-up to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine this week, which was condemned by the U.S. and its Western allies. Hua noted that the U....
In an article published Thursday, Bloomberg News and The Washington Post cited people familiar on the latest developments in ongoing talks between the U.S. and China as saying that Washington’s negotiators have settled on the conditions of a phase-one trade deal with their Beijing counterparts. No legal text has been signed, according to the unnamed sources cited. The agreement-in-principle would delay the next round of planned U.S. sanctions set to enter into force Sunday and scale back some existing measures targeting Chinese goods, according to Bloomberg....
“This bill seeks to exaggerate and spread the so-called ‘China threat’ to maintain global American hegemony, using human rights and religion as excuses to interfere in China’s domestic politics, and deprive China of its legitimate development rights,” the Foreign Affairs Committee of China’s ceremonial legislature, the National People’s Congress, said in a statement. Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Wang Wenbin said the bill was “full of Cold War zero-sum thinking” that “distorts the facts [and] smears China’s development path and domestic and foreign policies....
Global Times, the country’s nationalistic tabloid, published the fiery response by chief editor Hu Xijin a day after the U.S. Navy released a viral photograph showing two commanding officers casually monitoring China’s flagship aircraft carrier Liaoning as it sails by. The picture taken in the Philippine Sea and shared on Sunday was dated April 4. Its caption read: “Cmdr. Robert J. Briggs and Cmdr. Richard D. Slye monitor surface contacts from the pilothouse of the Arleigh Burke-class guided-missile destroyer USS Mustin....
In a study published in the academic journal Central Asian Survey, U.S.-based German researcher Adrian Zenz cites Chinese officials and government-affiliated reports to describe Beijing’s plan to “optimize” the composition of residents living in the country’s northwestern region. Zenz, whose work led China to sanction him and others in March, told Newsweek that world governments must do more to address China’s continued application of draconian policies against its majority Muslim population in Xinjiang....
Days after meeting with U.S. officials in the northern port city of Tajin, Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi welcomed nine Taliban representatives—including the group’s co-founder Mullah Abdul Ghani Baradar—on their two-day trip, during which they discussed the Taliban’s role in ending Afghanistan’s war and other security issues, according to a Taliban spokesperson. “Politics, economy and issues related to the security of both countries and the current situation of Afghanistan and the peace process were discussed in the meetings,” Taliban spokesperson Mohammed Naeem tweeted....
The Navy’s Advantage at Sea report was released Thursday, offering a comprehensive review of American maritime strategy and future challenges. It is the first such document produced since 2015. The introduction of the report explains that it “focuses on China and Russia, the two most significant threats to this era of global peace and prosperity.” Still, the Navy says it is Beijing, not Moscow, that is the greatest cause for concern....
Zhao Lijian, a spokesperson for the Chinese Foreign Ministry, said Washington needed to “adjust its mentality” and a take a rational view of China’s rise. Beijing has accused elected officials in America of exaggerating the threat it poses to the U.S. and its alliance system, particularly in Asia. “China’s goal has never been to surpass or replace the United States or engage in zero-sum competition with the U.S.,” said Zhao....
Saina Nehwal returns to action for the first time since capturing a bronze medal at the Asian Games. The Commonwealth Games gold medallist had opted for rest post the continental games and should be fresh and raring to go. She would need loads of energy in her first round itself as she has been pitted against the World No. 9 Sung Ji Hyun, who is placed just one rung above the Indian in the current world rankings....
In a statement released on Wednesday, China’s Ministry of Public Security announced that authorities had arrested more than 1,100 suspects as well as taking down more than 170 “criminal gangs” during a nationwide crackdown of money-laundering activities. The arrests were made during the Ministry of Public Security’s fifth round of Operation Card Breaking, which sought to end the use of “virtual currencies to provide transfer and money-laundering services for telecommunications network fraud activities....
Pogba leads the way in Premier League Worst Team of the Week In line with multiple reports that emerged on Sunday , CSL teams will be allowed to select five overseas players in their matchday squad of 18 but cannot have more than three on the field at any given time from the 2017 season onwards. Following a meeting of the CFA’s Professional League Council for the Super League, held in Wuhan on Sunday with representatives from the participating clubs present, the association said it was focused on providing a domestic competition that was, “conducive to the development of Chinese football and the training of Chinese players, which is conducive to the improvement of the national team and the healthy, stable and sustainable development of [the] professional league”....
Scores from China, including Uyghurs living abroad, face surveillance and find their families in the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) occupied East Turkistan, also known as the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region (XUAR) or Xinjiang, being threatened to cooperate with the Chinese state. Recently, another interesting fact on this subject came to light. IPVM, a surveillance industry publication shared information with The New York Times about Alibaba’s website for its cloud computing business, showing how clients could use its software to detect the faces of Uyghurs and other Turkic peoples via images and videos....
The Australian Strategic Policy Institute (ASPI) published its new International Cyber Policy Centre (ICPC) report on Tuesday, with major governments including the United States yet to announce a coordinated response to what they consider to be China’s human rights abuses as the world nears the 100-day countdown to the start of the Beijing 2022 Winter Olympics. ASPI researchers Vicky Xu, James Leibold and Daria Impiombato compiled the 60-page, fully sourced report for a project that involved a review of thousands of pages of leaked police files, the authors said in their summary....
