CiCM 19th February 2025

NEWS IN CHINA

China Issues Action Plan to Stabilize Foreign Investment: The “2025 Action Plan for Stabilizing Foreign Investment,” issued by the Ministry of Commerce and the National Development and Reform Commission details 20 measures to stabilize foreign investment in China. The plan specifies the mechanisms to fulfil various goals like orderly expansion of opening-up, improving the level of investment promotion, enhancing the effectiveness of open platforms and strengthening service support. The measures direct provinces and institutions to support the pilot opening-up policies in fields of telecommunications, biotechnology, medical care and other value-added sectors. They also stress removing restrictions on foreign investment in the manufacturing sector, while opening-up the service industry. To improve the level of investment promotion, the measures emphasise building the “Invest in China” brand, while increasing support for foreign entities to reinvest in China. The removal of restrictions on foreign companies to acquire domestic loans is also being promoted. The notice also encourages the expansion of channels of financing for foreign invested enterprises. Moreover, the measures also advocate for facilitating the flow of people via mutual visa exemption agreements.

China-Portugal-China-EU Cooperation and Development Forum Held: The inaugural China-Portugal-China-EU Cooperation and Development Forum was successfully held in Lisbon, Portugal. The forum coincided with the 50th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic ties between China and the European Union (EU) and the 20th anniversary of the creation of a comprehensive strategic partnership between China and Portugal. The event was organised as a collaborative effort between the European Union Chamber of Commerce in China and the Association of Chinese Enterprises in Portugal. One of the many agendas covered in the event was to jointly explore the paths of cooperation between China and Europe, specifically China and Portugal in the fields of digital enhancement, green transformation, technological innovation and industrial cooperation. The event was attended and addressed by various dignitaries including, Chinese Ambassador to Portugal Zhao Bentang, Director of the Portuguese Trade Promotion Agency Ricardo Arroja and Counsellor Wang Yi of the Chinese Mission to the European Union and former Portuguese Foreign Minister, António Martins da Cruz. The European Chamber of Commerce in China's Automotive Working Group was formally introduced during the conference. The working group is expected to represent companies' opinions, improve the ability of auto and related parts manufacturers to enter the European market, and foster collaboration between Chinese and European automakers in a number of areas, including standard-setting, technological innovation, and compliance response.

Ministry of Education to Regulate Examination and Enrolment by Training Institutions: China's Ministry of Education issued the “Notice on Doing a Good Job in the 2025 General College Enrolment,” which requires the strengthening of arrangements for the 2025 general college enrolment and ensuring that the examination and enrolment is safe, orderly and stable. The notice proposes that concerned processes must maintain just and fair means while enroling students, improve the self-monitoring mechanisms for college enrolment, improve multi-department participation, mutual supervision and restraint mechanism. The notice also stressed that the governance of examination and enrolment training institutions should be enhanced and made strong. Local education administrative departments as well as high schools and colleges must not organise or participate in any form of training activities and paid volunteer application services, nor should they permit individuals from off-campus training institutions to carry out examination and enrolment training. Localities should, the notice specified, strengthen the existing standardized governance of social training institutions. They should further severely crack down on illegal acts such as false propaganda, price fraud, examination cheating and interference with and disruption to the order of examination and enrolment.

Ministry of Civil Affairs Issues Regulations Banning Illegal Social Organizations: The Ministry of Civil Affairs issued the “Measures for the Prohibition of Illegal Social Organizations,” proposing improvement of measures at the institutional level to quell emerging issues in law enforcement practice. These measures are set to take effect on 1st May. The measures detail that three types of organisations will be targeted for rectifications: foundations or private non-enterprise functioning without registration, those that act in the name of social groups after their registrations have been revoked, ones that continue to carry out activities other than the preparatory activities during the preparatory period of social groups. The measures reiterate the division of responsibilities as a response to the lack of clarity between regions, levels and departments. They further improve law enforcement procedures and strengthen cooperation while standardizing law enforcement procedures. The measures also detail that if an illegal social organization with minor circumstances and little social harm, decides to voluntarily disband in a timely manner, the decision to ban them will not be made.

PLA Air Force Incorporates AI in Pilot Recruitment Program: In order to boost precision in selection of candidates, new technologies, including artificial intelligence (AI) have been incorporated into the annual pilot recruitment program for 2025 of the Chinese People’s Liberation Army (PLA). The final selection phase of the PLA Air Force’s 2025 pilot recruitment program has been initiated with AI and other technologies being deeply incorporated into the recruitment process. The final phase consists of medical and psychological evaluations with the medical evaluations including more than 100 different tests, designed to comprehensively predict and assess the candidates’ long-term health. This year’s pilot recruitment selection has integrated cutting edge technologies and equipment like, contact-free 3D body morphology measurement, AI-assisted interview decision-making systems, wearable dynamic electrocardiogram monitoring and so on. The AI-equipped system permits technologies to interpret physical elements and leave the interpretation of human elements to the experts, reported Zhang Yishuang, a pilot recruitment expert of the PLA Air Force. Further he said that the AI plays multiple roles in the recruitment process, helping with precise evaluation, data analysis and acts a bridge for human-machine collaboration by way of interpreting candidates’ physical signals. The selection process has evolved into a model of “data intelligence plus human insight,” helping the accuracy and depth of evaluations. For high school graduates who passed preliminary evaluations, PLA Air Force is establishing evaluation centres nationwide from mid-February to the end of April. In mid- to late-June, additional evaluation centres will be established at various locations for those who did well on China's college entrance exams, or gaokao.

SOCIAL MEDIA CHATTER IN CHINA

Netizens React to Woman Defrauded of 70,000 Yuan: Netizens on Weibo are reacting to the story of a woman by the name of Ms Zhang from Qingdao who took up a part time dubbing job online and was defrauded by 70,000 yuan. After paying Zhang 10 and 15 yuan for her first few dubbing projects, the contracting party told her that she had to recharge her profile to enhance her reputation and acquire more dubbing manuscripts. This money could then be withdrawn by her upon the completion of the task at the time of renumeration. With this assurance she recharged her profile with more than 70,000 yuan. Eventually she realized that something was amiss, discovering that her money was transferred to multiple accounts across the country, the largest of which was made to a media company in Nanjing. Upon receiving Ms Zhang’s report, the local market supervision bureau investigated the account of the company and checked the transaction data, but failed to find the funds involved in the case. According to the company's legal representative, it's possible that someone set up an Alipay account under the business's name and took Zhang's money. Currently, the public security organs have received the clues from the market monitoring bureau. Many netizens on Weibo took to the internet to voice similar ads they have come across, one user saying “There are a lot of such jobs on a certain recruitment website”. One user said that the ads state, "No academic qualifications or experience required, flexible time schedule, high hourly wages, can be done at home.” Another user said that she fell into a similar loop but fortunately did not reach the end Ms Zhang did, stating “I was paid for completing tasks and following public accounts. I did it five times and earned 100 yuan. The sixth task required payment, so I didn't do it anymore.” Others sympathized with the woman, posting comments like, “horrible” or “be aware”.

INDIA WATCH

Article in The Paper Argues That Trump’s F-35 Offer to India Places Pakistan and Turkey on Edge: An article in The Paper has analysed the United States’ President Donald Trump’s offer to sell F-35 fighter jets to India, as announced recently at a joint press conference with Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi. Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi, without directly referring to this offer, highlighted the important role of the United States in India’s defence architecture. However, the article in The Paper argues that angry voices in response to this offer came from countries like Pakistan and Turkey, with Pakistan warning of the military imbalance in the region that might result from the ratification of this deal. The article also states that Turkish government officials were silent, but significant discontent was expressed by sections of Turkey’s society, calling out the double standards and “hypocrisy” of the US. This backlash comes from the dilemma Turkey faced when the US denied Turkey F-35s on the grounds that it could be appropriated by the Russians if Turkey acquired US and Russian military technology. The article claims that anger in Turkey stems from the discovery that India also purchased Russia’s S-400 system, but was able to enjoy Washington’s preferential treatment. The article also states that the US had previously pressed sanctions against India, but later granted New Delhi an exemption under the Countering America's Adversaries Through Sanctions Act, allowing India to continue to acquire advanced American and Russian equipment.

Prepared By

Riddhi Deokar

Riddhi Deokar is a Second-year bachelor’s student pursuing Global Affairs with a minor in Public Policy at OP Jindal Global University. She exudes a strong interest in learning and researching about Northeast Asian and Middle Eastern dynamics, specifically learning about China’s equation with the two regions. She endeavours to contribute to solutions addressing gender issues in the political realm. She pursues her linguistic aspirations, learning French and Mandarin. She is also a TEDx speaker, spreading her message about the theory of 'Relative Happiness'. Understanding varied perspectives and keeping an open mind while analysing and researching global issues is an effort she keeps making.