China

[Laan Yaa Mo]

One wonders if it is the usual Shanghai-Beijing power struggle or if there is more to it this time? Methinks it has more to do with the incumbent's grasp for a lifetime position at the top of the greasy pole.

[mak]

Made in China.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k_rNaqV8B1c

[Laan Yaa Mo]

Made in China.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k_rNaqV8B1c

That was pretty good.

[parrot]

Perhaps there's a family connection to this place, across from TonKoon Hotel. The gaarden offers a "playground", I suppose for swingers.

[Laan Yaa Mo]

I would not count China's belt and road initiative out yet by a long shot, but it could be under pressure to tighten its belt somewhat.

A weaker China would import even fewer goods and might even focus more on measures to boost exports, creating greater international trade friction. For years now, there has also been speculation about the Chinese yuan overtaking the dollar as the dominant global currency. This has always been implausible, but it will become even less plausible if China stays committed to running big trade surpluses.

These domestic economic weaknesses could curtail China’s plans abroad. Since 2021, China has launched numerous initiatives to attract developing countries into its model of “subsidised capitalism”, adopt its technology and business standards and protocols. This seeks to build on Xi’s signature foreign policy, the Belt and Road Initiative, which sought to fund infrastructure projects across the world.

But financing for Belt and Road peaked in 2017 and has dwindled as Chinese banks had a number of bad debt experiences. This suggests that an economically challenged China will deploy fewer resources on its global investment programmes, diminishing its influence.

https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/is-a ... -lxdh53ll3

[Laan Yaa Mo]

It is obvious that China's spy network is targeting western countries in their quest for global domination as, I suppose, western countries are doing the same in regard to China, The Times published this,

Western intelligence agencies have devoted immense efforts since 2001 to counterterrorism. Both by exploiting consequent inattention and by cynically pretending to share that goal, China has steadily advanced its own interests by espionage against the United States and its allies. Its opportunistic methods have been alarmingly effective. Now The Times reports that a single Chinese spy has used a string of fake profiles on LinkedIn, the business social media site, to try to lure thousands of British officials to provide secret information in return for money or commercial contacts.

There is a danger of under-reacting to this type of threat to national security. Only last month, parliament’s intelligence and security committee concluded that Britain was being subjected to a “prolific and aggressive” campaign of espionage by China. Crucially, this encompasses not only state institutions but civil society.

The spy, whose real name cannot be published lest it jeopardise the security of western agents but who most commonly used the alias Robin Zhang, posed as having legitimate security work in Shanghai and claimed to be a graduate of individual’s College London. In fact he had the dedicated task from China’s Ministry of State Security (MSS) of contacting people through this particular website.

• Exposed: the Chinese spy using LinkedIn to hunt UK secrets

His early targets included defence contractors and civil servants, but he recently turned to figures in think tanks, academia, science and commerce. His tactics included the offer of conference fees, free travel to China and commissions for what he depicted as legitimate commercial arrangements. The concern about his tactics is not that they were sophisticated but that they were prolific. Some of his targets, with no public service experience, may not have realised the value of the information he solicited and were swayed by his importuning.

Countering the espionage operations of a hostile autocracy is inevitably done largely out of public view. But the principles of it need to be widely understood. Above all, China’s spying is unlike that of democratic nations: in conception and execution it is a case apart.

It is a dangerous fallacy that, as all nations engage in espionage, their operations are comparable. In reality, President Xi’s grand strategy is to make China the dominant military, economic and technological power by means (as the Westminster committee report put it) of a “whole-state assault” in intelligence gathering. Under security laws, Chinese business is required to co-operate with the MSS. The state uses apparently benign cultural exchanges for illicit purposes and pressures Chinese citizens abroad — sometimes by blackmail or threats — to pass on information.

The extent of this operation lacks the controls, scrutiny and accountability of the intelligence operations of Britain and its security partners. These activities are naturally secret but they are beholden to civilian control and are clearly distinct from universities and other independent institutions.

The ruthless dedication of an autocratic state that has no such compunction in soliciting information may seem improbable. That is precisely how Beijing succeeds. Contrary to popular belief, China is not, for example, a real technological giant; it just happens to be extremely good at stealing the commercial and scientific secrets of western countries. The intelligence committee report concluded that the Chinese state had insinuated itself throughout the various sectors of the British economy. And the US Federal Bureau of Investigation has assessed that the Chinese state steals more personal and business data of American nationals than every other country combined.

This threat is potent, and the operation exposed by The Times is a sobering warning. Democratic governments have no option but to be very wary of China’s intentions and actions, and very ruthless in thwarting them.

https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/the- ... -tzwx8h6fv

[pipoz4444]

No good times in China





https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8XNGzRevx4o