China

Alibaba’s Jack Ma resurfaces after months out of public view
21Jan mmBy Mike TrudellNo Comments
China, Market, World

Alibaba’s Jack Ma resurfaces after months out of public view

After mysteriously disappearing from the public eye, Chinese billionaire Jack Ma resurfaced on Wednesday at a video conference."#JUSTIN: #JackMa not disappear, here we go: Ma just had a video conference with 100 village teachers on Wednesday morning, saying: after #COVID19, we'll meet each other again," tweeted Qingqing Chen of Global Times News, a China state-affiliated media.Ma had disappeared from the public eye after Beijing's aggressive crackdown on his business empire.Chen further added that Jack Ma met with 100 rural teachers in the country through video conferencing."Ma, who used to be an English teacher and founder of #Alibaba, also gives wishes to village teachers via a video on Wednesday," tweeted Qingqing Chen.China state-affiliated media also shared a video in which the billio...
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China: GDP growth slowest in more than four decades
20Jan mmBy Joe RodriguezNo Comments
Asia, China

China: GDP growth slowest in more than four decades

Official data released on Monday has showed that China’s GDP grew at the slowest pace in more than four decades in 2020 after the coronavirus pandemic hit the world.Coronavirus, which has ravaged the world economy, first emerged in central China in 2019. But China also became the first country to bounce back after imposing strict lockdowns and virus control measures.The National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) said last year was a “grave and complex environment both at home and abroad” with the pandemic having a “huge impact”.The 2.3 per cent expansion in 2020 was a marked slowdown from 2019’s revised growth of 6.0 per cent — itself already the lowest in decades — with the country hit by weak domestic demand and trade tensions.In the last three months of 2020, China’s economic rebound continued...
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At just 50.38% efficacy, China’s covid-19 vaccine far less effective than initially reported
18Jan mmBy Joe RodriguezNo Comments
Asia, China

At just 50.38% efficacy, China’s covid-19 vaccine far less effective than initially reported

In a major setback to be the dominant vaccine supplier to developing countries, Brazilian researchers announced that China’s Sinovac vaccine was far less effective than originally touted.According to data made available by Brazil's Butantan Institute, a São Paulo-based public institute, the efficacy of Sinovac’s CoronaVac in a late- stage trials was at just 50.38 percent, nearly 30 percentage points lower than what the initial data showed.The Butantan Institute initially said that late-stage trials had found the CoronaVac vaccine to be between 78 percent and 100 effective.After a number of scientists accused the trial’s organizers of misleading the public, the institute revealed researchers had separated the cases into six categories: asymptomatic, very mild, mild, two levels of moderate, ...
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UK must not do trade deals with rights abusers, says foreign minister hinting at China
17Jan mmBy Mike TrudellNo Comments
China, World

UK must not do trade deals with rights abusers, says foreign minister hinting at China

Hinting at China’s human rights violations in Xinjiang, United Kingdom’s foreign minister Dominic Raab has said that Britain should not engage in free trade with countries that abuse human rights.Last week, Raab said Britain would introduce new rules for its companies to try to prevent goods linked to China’s Xinjiang region entering their supply chains.Some British lawmakers want to go further and are due to consider proposals passed in the upper house of parliament that would give courts the power to stop free-trade agreements with countries if they consider them to have committed genocide.“The bar is being set incredibly high,” Raab said on Sunday. “I mean, frankly, we shouldn’t be engaged in free-trade negotiations with countries abusing human rights well below the level of genocide.”H...
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Tejas Aircraft far better than China-Pak JF-17 fighters: Indian Air Force Chief
15Jan mmBy Joe RodriguezNo Comments
Asia, China

Tejas Aircraft far better than China-Pak JF-17 fighters: Indian Air Force Chief

Indian Air Force chief RKS Bhadauria on Thursday said that the Indian made light combat aircraft Tejas is far better and advanced than the Chinese-Pakistani JF-17 fighter jets and that the latest Indian jet would be better equipped to carry out Balakot-type airstrikes.The Air Chief said the 83 indigenous fighter jets to be inducted into the force would also be equipped with homegrown weapons such as the Astra beyond visual range air to air missiles and other standoff weapons."Indian aircraft Tejas is far better and advanced than the Chinese and Pakistan joint venture JF-17 fighter," IAF Chief Bhadauria said.The Air Chief further said: "In terms of strike capability, it will have the capability of a standoff weapon which will be even beyond the capability we used that time."Noting the appro...
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India, US have common interest in promoting security in Indo-Pacific: MEA
15Jan mmBy Mike TrudellNo Comments
China, World

India, US have common interest in promoting security in Indo-Pacific: MEA

Indian Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) on Thursday said that India and US have a common interest in promoting security and prosperity in Indo-Pacific region and that the ability of two countries to work together has a positive impact in effectively addressing the regional and global challenges.“India and US share comprehensive global strategic partnership and given our substantial bilateral agenda, our growing engagement and convergence on strategic and security interest, both countries have a common interest in promoting security and prosperity in the Indo-Pacific region and beyond. Our ability to work together has a positive impact in effectively addressing the regional and global challenges,” MEA spokesperson Anurag Srivastava said at a media briefing.He was answering a query about t...
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China’s PLA now has precision 3D maps of India border
14Jan mmBy Mike TrudellNo Comments
China, World

China’s PLA now has precision 3D maps of India border

For the first time, China’s People’s Liberation Army (PLA) has completed 3D mapping of its western border including the disputed part with India to pin-point accuracy, according to state media reports.The PLA’s western theatre command (WAC) has begun to deploy the newly built precision “spatial datum” system covering China’s western borders, which will help in building both combat capability and infrastructure.“The PLA recently started deploying China’s first panoramic, high-precision spatial datum that covers the uncharted western border region of the country,” a state media report said.The completion of the two-year PLA project and the deployment comes amid the ongoing months-long Sino-India border friction along the Line of Actual Control (LAC) in eastern Ladakh.It wasn’t immediately cl...
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Two WHO team members stopped from entering China after failed coronavirus test
14Jan mmBy Mike TrudellNo Comments
China, Singapore, World

Two WHO team members stopped from entering China after failed coronavirus test

China on Thursday blocked two members of the 13-member World Health Organisation (WHO) team from travelling to the epicentre of the coronavirus pandemic in Wuhan after they failed the coronavirus antibody test in Singapore.The WHO first tweeted that the international team of 13 scientists examining the origins of the virus that causes Covid-19 arrived in Wuhan.The experts were to begin their work immediately during the two-week quarantine protocol for international travellers.Later, in a separate tweet, WHO said that two members of that team remain in Singapore after they were "tested positive for IgM antibodies".IgM antibodies are among the earliest potential signs of a coronavirus infection and false positives are also possible with such tests."Two scientists are still in #Singapore comp...
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Wall Street closes higher; Georgia election results loom
12Jan By Desk TeamNo Comments
China, Market, World

Wall Street closes higher; Georgia election results loom

NEW YORK :Wall Street shares gained on Tuesday in choppy trading, as investors took advantage of the previous session's slump to buy them back, ahead of the outcome of the Senate runoff elections in the battleground state of Georgia. NEW YORK -Shares on Wall Street ended higher on Tuesday in choppy trading, as investors took advantage of the previous session's slump to buy them back, ahead of the outcome of the Senate runoff elections in the battleground state of Georgia, which will determine the balance of power in Washington. Overall, analysts expect the stock market to consolidate December's gains in January, as asset managers looked to rebalance their portfolios that had been heavily tilted toward equities. The latest polls from data website 538 https://projects.fivethirtyeight....
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Japan to play placeholder role in Asia as Biden gets his house in order
11Jan By Desk TeamNo Comments
Asia, China, Singapore, World

Japan to play placeholder role in Asia as Biden gets his house in order

When U.S. President Donald Trump’s “America First” policy gets the boot on Jan. 20, it will be replaced by Joe Biden’s more outward-looking and cooperative approach in Asia — one in which Japan is widely expected to play an integral part. As Washington looks warily at China’s rise, it will aim for Japan to play a placeholder role as the Biden White House focuses immediately on reining in the coronavirus pandemic that has left about 340,000 dead in the U.S. “They’ll have no choice but to take care of that damage first,” a senior Japanese Foreign Ministry official said on condition of anonymity. “This will be less about (the Asia-Pacific region) being lowered in priority than about repairing that damage.” In the meantime, Tokyo “will continue to act as a ‘placeholder’ for the incoming adm...
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