CiCM 4th June 2024

NEWS IN CHINA

Foreign Ministers of China and Turkey Hold Talks: Chinese Foreign Minister, Wang Yi, held talks with Turkish Foreign Minister, Hakan Fidan in Beijing. Wang Yi expressed the need for strengthening Sino-Turkish ties by calling out both countries’ ancient culture and their importance in the G20. He asserted that mutual respect and equality were the foundational basis of cooperation between China and Turkey and that both countries’ visions were complementary. Wang Yi further asserted China’s support of Turkey’s path of independent development, and steadfast security of its sovereignty and interests. He expressed China’s willingness to maintain exchanges on multiple levels. And expanding imports from Turkey to include high-quality agricultural produce. He also stressed the importance of promoting the Belt and Road Initiative and Turkey’s Intermediate Corridor plan. Fidan reciprocated the sentiments, with an assertion of Turkey’s recognition of the “One China” principle. He confirmed Turkey’s willingness to cooperate with China in multiple sectors (finance, health, education and others). Fidan also expressed Turkey’s appreciation of China’s position on issues such as Ukraine and the Middle East.
Social Insurance Law Inspection Subject to Inspection: China’s Standing Committee of the National People’s Congress launched the enforcement of inspection of the Social Insurance Law. This law, initially introduced in 2011, regulates China’s social insurance system. In order to enforce this inspection, the Social Insurance Law Enforcement Inspection Group held its first meeting to outline the inspection process. This process, as announced, will include the dispatchment of inspection teams to local areas. Their supervision is entrusted to the Provincial Standing Committee. The inspection will be staggered across provinces and will focus six key aspects of social insurance. The Group’s next meeting is scheduled for mid-September where it will review the inspection, discuss a draft law, and revise existing systems according to any new insights gained.
Committee of the Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference Enters Session: The Standing Committee of the 14^th Committee of the Chinese People’s Consultative Conference (CPPC)C commenced its seventh meeting in Beijing. The CPPCC is the top advisory body to the National People’s Congress. The meeting was presided over by Wang Huning, chairman of the CPPCC and a member of the Chinese Politburo. Wang encouraged members to conduct extensive consultations and provide their suggestions on building a socialist market economy. He stressed on the importance of this matter by detailing the significance and benefits of a unified market environment and system. This, he explained, would contribute towards achieving sustained economic development. Over the course of the meeting, several reports were conveyed to the committee on topics like water conservancy, agricultural capacity, low-carbon industrialisation among others. The session is scheduled to last for two and a half days wherein members will engage in discussions on seven topics.
Hong Kong SAR Adds More Trains to Its Railway: The Hong Kong Special Administration Region announced the introduction of two-sets of sleeper trains to the Hong Kong Railway. The Hong Kong Railway is section of the much larger Guangzhou-Shenzhen-Hong Kong high-speed railway. The introduction of these will enable evening routes to and from three important stations. These stations include the Hong Kong West Kowloon Station, the Beijing West Station, and the Shanghai Hongqiao Station. The move is intended to facilitate smoother cross border movement starting June 15, 2024, by reducing travel time by nearly 50%. Furthermore, the new trains have higher capacity for passengers. This combined with the laxed customs clearance procedures will make cross border travel easier and improve connectivity between Hong Kong and the Mainland. This move comes in the light of China’s National Immigration Administration’s introduction of a variety of new policies aimed at improving business and people-to-people engagement in Hong Kong and the other Special Administrative Regions (like Macao).
Policy to Enhance Smart Car Industry Introduced: China’ Ministry of Industry and Information Technology has announced enhanced policy support for the country’s smart car industry to facilitate innovation. This move comes with the intention of accelerating the progress of this emerging industry, and drive the country towards becoming the world’s largest market for self-driving cars. In the short run, the technological innovation being eyed by the government is that of assigning phone numbers to each car. According to an auto expert, this will enable connectivity between vehicles, and allow cars to communicate with each other. This means data relating to fuel usage, parking, traffic lights can be transferred back and forth between devices and vehicles. The Ministry of Industry and Information Technology plans to allocate 1,000,000 such 11-digit network numbers to vehicles to facilitate this innovation. In combination with its existing and growing technology like 5G networks, China aspires to optimise its massive domestic market, and eventually grow into world’s largest market for autonomous vehicles by 2030.The Ministry did not specify a timeline for the implementation of these measure, but it hopes that the development will lead to multibillion dollar opportunities in the future for domestic and international firms.

SOCIAL MEDIA CHATTER

Restaurant Defamation Goes Viral, Gains Attention from the Court: The negative reviews of an affordable Japanese restaurant went viral on Chinese social media site Weibo. The post garnered over 8270 likes, 2,240 reposts, and 587 comments. Following this biting and abrasive review by a supposed customer going viral, the restaurant owner the writer of the post for defamation. Reportedly, the writer, named Zhu, never visited the restaurant and was, in fact, an owner of a competing Japanese restaurant. In court, his case for defence rested on the claims that the food and materials used were real, as were the comments on the restaurant’s ambience. The absence of insulting language and slander also did not make it a case for defamation. The trial ruled in Zhu’s favour, owing to the plaintiff’s inability to provide sufficient evidence to counter the facts of the defendant’s claims. The plaintiff claimed over 90,000 Yuan in damages, but this was overruled by the Shanghai Putuo District People’s Court because the reviews were based on real pictures.

INDIA WATCH

Chinese Media Covers Assam and Manipur Floods: Chinese news agencies China Daily and People’s Daily published articles reporting the floods in the north-eastern Indian state of Assam. They report the 10 districts that have been affected by these floods resulting in more than 600,000 people facing the brunt of the calamity. Recorded death toll according to the Chinese Agencies was 18 people. In addition, several people were noted missing. Both agencies also relayed the response of Indian state agencies in combating the situation. They report that the Assamese state government had set up around 191 relief centres and 108 distribution centres in flood-inflicted areas. The Indian National Disaster Relief Force (NDRF) and State Disaster Relief Force (SDRF) were in action on the ground to carry out rescue and relief. The People’s Daily reported the cancellation of train routes owing to the track infrastructure being compromised. It further reported that the flood had adverse impacts on nearly 577 villages and had wiped out more than 6,000 hectares of crops. Reportedly, these floods are the aftermath of Cyclone Remal which first hit West Bengal and Bangladesh the preceding month.

Prepared By

Akshata Nair

Akshata is an undergraduate student majoring in International Studies at FLAME University. Her primary interests lie in research and cultural perspectives in politics.