CiCM 3rd June 2024

NEWS IN CHINA

Ministry of Foreign Affairs Provides Forceful Response to Recent International Comments on Taiwan: China’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs spokesperson, Mao Ning, provided China’s firm stance in response to recent comments from world leaders. These comments include statements from joint press conference held by the defence ministers of the United States (USA), Japan, and the Republic of Korea (ROK) in Singapore, where they condemned Chinese activity in the Indo-Pacific, called for peace with Taiwan, and opposed China’s territorial claims in the South China Sea. Other statements also include those made by the vice presidents of the US, Japan, and ROK in their recent conference in Washington. Spokesperson Mao Ning responded with the Chinese stance. China opposed this bloc politics, and reasserted that the matter of Taiwan is an internal one. Mao Ning asserted the “One-China” principle and emphasised that support of cross-strait peace and stability requires support of this principle. Finally, on the matter of the South China Sea, Mao Ning expressed China’s commitment to defending its territorial and maritime sovereignty and its disapproval of foreign entities “meddling” within the region. In the matter of the Korean Peninsula, she reiterated China’s consistent and unchanged position, and urged involved parties to refrain from engaging in provocative dialogue and action.
Construction of International Aviation Maintenance Service Platform Commences in Shanghai: China Eastern Airlines began construction for its hangars in the Shanghai Ocean Mountain Special Comprehensive Free Trade Zone. This hangar, destined to be the largest in Asia, is part of a series of seven pivotal development projects. It comes in the light of China Eastern Airlines’ signed agreement with the Management Committee of Lingang New Area of China (Shanghai) Pilot Free Trade Zone. This international aviation maintenance service platform is expected to include three hangars spread across 110,000 square metres. One of these hangars is bound to be Asia’s largest with an expected capacity of nine wide-body machines. Once established, this platform will enable the provision of aviation maintenance to industries as well commercial domestic and foreign aviation customers. This leviathan project has taken up nearly 1.5 billion Yuan in investment. The prospective completion of the project is estimated halfway through 2026.
Chinese Couple Engaging in British Espionage Caught: China’s State Security Agency disclosed the apprehension of a Chinese couple who were reportedly spying for the British Secret Intelligence Agency, MI6. The spies, Wang and his wife Zhou, joined the MI6 in 2015 during their time in the UK. The Ministry of State Security further revealed that the couple, at the time, were in the UK owing to Wang’s acceptance to a UK-China exchange program. The Ministry attributed their compliance to financial incentives provide by undercover MI6 personnel. Over the years, Wang and his wife, being an employees of a central state agencies, conferred intelligence to MI6. It is unclear how the Ministry discovered the espionage links. The UK government neither confirms nor denies any claims pertaining to matters of intelligence. Authorities have declared legal action against the couple, and their case remains under investigation.
Former Top Legislative Official Sentenced to Prison: The former director of a local People’s Congress’s Standing Committee was given a sentence for 15 years in prison for accepting bribes. Fu Zhongwei was a party secretary and director of the People’s Congress of Shenyang City in Liaoning province. He served as deputy director, director of Liaoning Provincial Audit Department, director of Liaoning Provincial Department of Finance, Panjin Municipal Party secretary in addition to his post as director of Shenyang city’s Standing Committee. As per the trial, it is reported that for nearly a decade from 2003 to 2022 Zhongwei illegally accepted property from multiple entities. The total bribe he collected in his tenure totals nearly 65 million Yuan. The official is also said to have taken unfair advantage of his power and multiple offices. The verdict was given by the Harbin Intermediate People’s court which decreed a lighter sentence due to his willing confession of and repentance over the crime, and a recovery of the bribes to the state treasury. The court delivered a final verdict of 15 years of imprisonment and a five million Yuan fine.
Shanghai Academy of Artificial Intelligence for Science Announces New Ecological Alliance: China’s Shanghai Academy of Artificial Intelligence for Science established a novel alliance with 10 institutions in a bid to enhance innovation in the field of meteorology. This alliance includes academic institutions, business enterprises, scientific research institutions and others. Examples of prominent institutions part of this alliance include Fudan University, Lin-gang Group, Alibaba Cloud Computing Co. Ltd among others. This alliance was formed to combat challenges posed by climate change. With the help of AI models like the Academy’s flagship project, Fuxi, the alliance hopes to create an improved system of climate and meteorological forecasts. The latest and improved version of this model, Fuxi 2.0 is expected to be used. The Academy claims it to be superior to existing models used by the European Centre for Medium-Range Weather Forecasts. Through the advancements that will be made by this alliance, involved stakeholders hope to be able to leverage the benefits for technological and industrial gains.

SOCIAL MEDIA CHATTER

Five-Minute Long Chinese Sitcom Trends on Social Media: A new Chinese comedy sitcom has taken Chinese social media, Douyin, by a storm. In an unprecedented move by its creators, the sitcom has a run time of only five minutes per episode. Titled “Take Me Home”, this sitcom has all the components of a major movie including a popular cast and a massive budget. The first episode garnered a million views within the first hour of its release and nearly 20 million views by the end of the day. The episode has nearly 370,000 likes on the platform. The sitcom will have 23 more five-minute long episodes in the style of an ultrashort drama which is heavily popular in China. This test project for a new genre of entertainment was directed by filmmaker Stephen Chow, known widely for hits like “Shaolin Soccer”. Having reportedly been shot in only 13 days, the film has received positive reviews and is considered to have greater depth compared other ultrashort drama sitcoms. Viewers have also expressed approval of the contemporary themes and issues like the Fukushima nuclear wastewater release and Chinese work culture that were touched upon by the sitcom. Critical netizens have expressed their disapproval of the style of humour employed in the sitcom, attributing it to the executive producer. While the Chinese film industry is observing the course this sitcom takes, Douyin is promoting more production of such short-form content. Stephen Chow’s company has reportedly already signed a deal with Douyin for the co-production of several more short-form sitcoms.

INDIA WATCH

Global Times Reports Developments on Indian Rules on Chinese Companies: The Global Times published a report regarding Indian policy on Chinese firms’ stakes in Indian Joint Ventures (JVs). Unlike a few years ago when Chinese companies could choose an automatic investment route, companies need approval from the government of India before they can invest in JVs in India. Further, the article reports that Chinese firms have now been required to reduce their existing stakes in JVs in India. Companies that want to have stake in JVs in India are entirely reliant on approval from the government, the nuances of which vary by case. The Global Times article also elaborated on Chinese dissent regarding reported operational crackdowns on established Chinese firms in India. Despite this, the article acknowledged that bilateral trade and economic cooperation between the countries remained largely unaffected. The article concluded with underscoring the importance of raw materials provided to the Indian manufacturing sector by China and with a call for continued observation of the matter.

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.