Interesting news LInks collection…

Xi’s Armada Is Winning the Battle for Energy in South China Sea
Tensions are soaring, but Southeast Asian nations are struggling to push back on Beijing’s contested claims and tap the energy resources their growing economies need.
By Philip Heijmans
April 24, 2024 at 2:30 AM GMT+5:30
This was supposed to be the year that Vietnam reaped the benefits from one of its largest natural gas discoveries.
An estimated 150 billion cubic meters of the fuel, enough to power a city the size of Hanoi for decades, was discovered 50 miles (80 kilometers) from Vietnam’s central coast in 2011. If all had gone to plan, the “Blue Whale” project led by Exxon Mobil Corp. would have gone online late last year.

Why the South China Sea Could Spark a War
Chinese Coast Guard ships regularly fire powerful jets of water at supply boats heading to a Philippines military outpost in the South China Sea. The latest incident in March was the sixth such barrage in eight months. Why are tensions escalating in these waters, almost two years into Ferdinand Marcos Jr.’s presidency? And how are Beijing’s actions making a confrontation with Washington more likely? (Source: Bloomberg)
April 24th, 2024
Gold’s Record-Setting Rally May Have Its Roots in Chinese Frenzy
Spiking trading volumes point to new cohort of investors
Shanghai trading has surged at night, when US data hits
By Mark Burton, Sybilla Gross, and Yvonne Yue Li
April 24, 2024 at 3:31 AM GMT+5:30
Gold’s record-setting rally this year has puzzled market watchers as bullion has roared higher despite headwinds that should have held it back. With prices sagging this week, the explanation may lie in China.
After weeks of debate about whether a mystery buyer was stoking the rally, several prominent figures in the global gold market are coming to the conclusion that the major new driving force is a legion of fleet-footed retail investors on the Shanghai Futures Exchange.

The US and China’s Newfound Friendship Can’t Last
Secretary of State Blinken is off to Beijing to keep a delicate balance, but four issues are set to tip the relationship back into high tension.
April 24, 2024 at 2:08 AM GMT+5:30
By Hal Brands
Ukraine burns and the Middle East simmers, but the Western Pacific appears relatively placid. There hasn’t been a major crisis in US-China relations since the spy balloon fracas of early 2023. Officials in Washington hope the calm will carry on through the 2024 election. Secretary of State Antony Blinken is in China this week, as part of a drumbeat of high-level diplomacy. There, he’ll face four key issues that could send tensions spiraling once again.
In August 2022, a crisis over Taiwan brought fears of a devastating conflict. In early 2023, Balloongate shut down the dialogue that had begun when Presidents Xi Jinping and Joe Biden met in Bali two months before. Since then, however, the relationship has found a bottom.
China shows off nuclear might ahead of top US diplomat Antony Blinken’s visit
Chinese navy releases video showing launch of JL-2 ballistic missile from nuclear submarine in display of its second-strike capability
The footage, shared as part of navy’s 75th anniversary celebrations, comes just days before US secretary of state travels to China
Amber Wang
23 Apr 2024
130 arrested at New York University as Israel-Gaza protests spread across top US schools
Demonstrations are intensifying at colleges like Yale and Columbia, where more than 100 protesters were arrested after university authorities called the police
Pro-Palestinian students area demanding free speech rights, while opponents say the rallies encourage hate speech and antisemitism
Agence France-Presse
24 Apr 2024
Exclusive | EU ‘dawn raids’ target Chinese surveillance kit maker in latest use of foreign subsidies regulation
Authorities said to have entered premises of Dutch and Polish subsidiaries of a mainland firm involved in the manufacture of surveillance equipment
EU ‘carrying out unannounced inspections at the premises of a company active in the production and sale of security equipment’ in the bloc
Finbarr Bermingham
23 Apr 2024
Security for Chinese workers in Pakistan will always be elusive
Closeness between neighbors remains somewhat superficial
Ayesha Siddiqa
April 23, 2024
Like his predecessors, Pakistani Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif has repeatedly promised China that he will protect its workers and investments in his country.
Yet deadly attacks continue to occur as frequently as ever. A suicide attacker rammed his explosive-laden car into a bus last month killing five Chinese engineers. Another attack last week hit a convoy of Japanese workers who police believe had been misidentified as Chinese.
Beijing wants foolproof security for its 1,200 workers building critical infrastructure and teaching in Pakistan. In the face of persistent attacks, Beijing has asked Islamabad to allow it to deploy its own security personnel, but Pakistan has yet to agree.
I have been told that Islamabad came close to accepting Beijing’s demand around 2016 during Nawaz Sharif’s third term as prime minister, but the Pakistan Army blocked the plan. Raheel Sharif, then the military chief, instead created new army and naval units with around 12,000 personnel with the ostensible mission of protecting China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) projects.
Yet these forces have failed to end deadly attacks against Chinese workers in Pakistan in any way. When a suicide bomber killed three Chinese language teachers at Karachi University in 2022, Islamabad made the concession of permitting Beijing to send in its own investigators for the first time while making more promises to provide better protection.
Officials in Islamabad are certainly well aware of the importance of protecting Chinese workers given that Beijing’s support remains critical for Pakistan’s own financial and military security. The country has accumulated about $67 billion in debt with China and Beijing’s forbearance about repayment has so far been vital in keeping Islamabad from defaulting on its international obligations.
A new confrontation looms between Israel and Iran
Although a full-blown war was averted, the outcome of the latest hostilities will unleash a new arms race.
Jonathan Eyal
Global Affairs Correspondent
APR 23, 2024, 09:12 AM
After three weeks during which Iran and Israel have traded missile attacks and blood-curdling threats, everyone is breathing a sigh of relief: the danger of a broader, full-scale regional war between these two sworn enemies has receded.
However, the showdown between Iran, Israel, and most of the region’s Arab governments is only taking a new and even more ominous turn. And the tragedy of the Palestinians, including the current war in Gaza, continues unabated.
Starlink highlights economic security challenges facing democracies
KOTA UMEDA
Apr 23, 2024
The system has stirred a variety of debates over the issue of military application of civil technology.
By looking back at how Starlink has been utilized in the war, this article will discuss today’s military application of civil technologies, the changing role of the private sector over emerging technologies and what kind of challenges the situation is bringing to democratic states.

Yuan internationalization drive hits a local speed bump
Chinese companies reluctant to convert FX earnings into yuan as incentives rise for PBOC to let the currency fall
By WILLIAM PESEK
APRIL 23, 2024
World’s 1st full-fledged cyber war raging since 2022
Cyber operations accompanying Russia’s full-scale Ukraine invasion unprecedented in scale and sophistication
By DAVID KIRICHENKO
APRIL 24, 2024
Iran’s North Koreanization gambit
A massive strategic shift is underway in the Middle East in the wake of the Israel-Iran back and forth attacks
By FRANCESCO SISCI
APRIL 23, 2024
China closing in on laser-propelled fast, stealth subs
China and US locked in underwater race to produce new generation of submarines driven by less-detectable propulsion technologies
By GABRIEL HONRADA
APRIL 23, 2024
Philippines arms up a two-front pushback on China
Biggest-ever Balikatan exercises with US simulate Taiwan war scenarios while pro-Beijing politicos face possible criminal charges
By RICHARD JAVAD HEYDARIAN
APRIL 23, 2024
How US shale keeps sheltering America from the next oil price surge
Middle East turmoil no longer poses such a threat to the world’s thirstiest petrol consumers
Myles McCormick in Houston and Jamie Smyth in New York
APRIL 23, 2024
India seeks to secure critical mineral resources in race for lithium
New Delhi pushes for exploration in Latin America and Africa and auctions domestic mining blocks
current progress 0%
John Reed in New Delhi, Ciara Nugent in Buenos Aires and Harry Dempsey in London
APRIL 23, 2024
EU companies grapple with expiry of Russia sanctions carve-out
Europe-based multinationals will no longer be able to offer professional services to Russian subsidiaries from June
Madeleine Speed and Ian Johnston in London, Courtney Weaver in Berlin and Henry Foy in Brussels
APRIL 23, 2024
How Chinese networks clean dirty money on a vast scale
These shadowy “banks” are becoming the financiers of choice for transnational criminal gangs
APRIL 22, 2024
Desmond Shum on how Xi Jinping beat down China’s red aristocrats
It took one of their own to do it, says the businessman and author
APRIL 22, 2024
US, Russia set for a showdown at UN over nuclear weapons in space
By Michelle Nichols and Joey Roulette
UNITED NATIONS/WASHINGTON, April 23 (Reuters) – The United States and Russia are set to face off over nuclear weapons in space on Wednesday at the United Nations Security Council, which is due to vote on a U.S.-drafted resolution calling on countries to prevent an arms race in outer space.
Russia is expected to block the draft resolution, said some diplomats. The U.S. move comes after it accused Moscow of developing an anti-satellite nuclear weapon to put in space, an allegation that Russia’s defense minister has flatly denied.
North Korea leader Kim’s sister: we will build overwhelming military power
By Reuters
SEOUL, April 24 (Reuters) – Kim Yo Jong, the powerful sister of North Korean leader Kim Jong Un, said the country will continue to build overwhelming and the strongest military power to protect its sovereignty and regional peace, the North’s KCNA news agency reported on Wednesday.
Kim said a series of military exercises by the U.S. military in the region this year starting with live-fire drills conducted with the “South Korean puppet military gangsters” are driving the regional security environment into a dangerous turmoil.
Pro-Palestinian encampments spring up on more US college campuses
By Jonathan Allen and Kanishka Singh
NEW YORK, April 23 (Reuters) – Pro-Palestinian students have set up tent encampments at more campuses across the U.S. to protest Israel’s incursion into Gaza, after mass arrests at similar demonstrations at a handful of mostly East Coast colleges in recent days.
The expanding protests include plans by a coalition of Jewish groups opposing Israel’s actions to close the Brooklyn street where U.S. Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer resides. That protest, on the second night of the week-long Jewish feast of Passover, is one of a dozen the coalition organized in cities around the country.
US charges, sanctions Iranians linked to Revolutionary Guard cyber command
By Paul Grant and Jonathan Stempel
WASHINGTON/NEW YORK, April 23 (Reuters) – The U.S. government on Tuesday announced criminal charges and sanctions against four Iranians over an alleged multi-year cyber campaign targeting more than one dozen American companies, the Treasury Department and the State Department said.
Sanctions were also announced against two companies, Mehrsam Andisheh Saz Nik and Dadeh Afzar Arman, that according to the Treasury Department employed the individual defendants and were front companies for Iran’s Revolutionary Guard cyber command.
Five Eyes countries working to fight critical minerals dumping, Canada minister says
By Divya Rajagopal
TORONTO, April 23 (Reuters) – Canada and its Five Eyes Alliance partners are working on put forward a response to tackle the price manipulation of critical metals, Canada’s Finance Minister Chrystia Freeland said on Tuesday.
The U.S., Britain, Canada, Australia and New Zealand have what is called the Five Eyes intelligence sharing network and the finance ministers from these countries met last Thursday for the spring session of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) in Washington.
Freeland said that she and her counterparts from the Five Eyes Alliance discussed last week on how these countries could “friendshore” their critical minerals supply chain to fight the dumping of critical minerals in the international market by large producing countries, such as China and Indonesia.
Exclusive: China acquired recently banned Nvidia chips in Super Micro, Dell servers, tenders show
By Eduardo Baptista, Fanny Potkin and Max A. Cherney
BEIJING/SINGAPORE, April 23 (Reuters) – Chinese universities and research institutes recently obtained high-end Nvidia (NVDA.O), opens new tab artificial intelligence chips through resellers, despite the U.S. widening a ban last year on the sale of such technology to China.
A Reuters review of hundreds of tender documents shows 10 Chinese entities acquired advanced Nvidia chips embedded in server products made by Super Micro Computer Inc. (SMCI.O), opens new tab, Dell Technologies Inc. (DELL.N), opens new tab and Taiwan’s Gigabyte Technology Co Ltd (2376.TW), opens new tab after the U.S. on Nov. 17 expanded the embargo to subject more chips and countries to licensing rules.
To Be (Visibly) Jewish in the Ivy League
Behavior that would be scandalous if aimed at other minorities are treated as understandable or even commendable when directed at Jews.
By BRET STEPHENS
April 23, 2024

How Progressives Won Over the Democratic Center
The left’s position on Israel has now become the Democratic Party’s, hinting at greater influence to come.
By MARA GAY
April 23, 2024

In Ukraine, New American Technology Won the Day. Until It Got Overwhelmed.
Project Maven was meant to revolutionize modern warfare. But the conflict in Ukraine has underscored how difficult it is to get 21st-century data into 19th-century trenches.
By DAVID E. SANGER
April 23, 2024

Israel Wants Hamas Out of Gaza, but Even Uprooting It From the North Hasn’t Worked
Israeli forces confront a resurgence in areas they had declared cleared
By Margherita Stancati and Abeer Ayyoub
Updated April 23, 2024 6:06 pm ET
Fighting between Israel and Hamas intensified in northern Gaza, the first battleground in the war, where 200 days into the conflict territory is still heavily contested and Israel says thousands of militants remain.
The renewed violence, in areas Israeli forces had previously largely cleared of Hamas, serves as a sobering example of the difficulty of consolidating gains as they prepare an offensive in the southern city of Rafah, the militant group’s last major bastion. It comes as a top State Department envoy warned Tuesday that delivery of humanitarian aid to northern Gaza was particularly critical, despite progress in recent weeks in rendering such assistance throughout the conflict zone.
Germany Detains Lawmaker’s Assistant in Fourth Suspected China Spying Arrest This Week
String of arrests comes as Berlin is seeking to re-engage with China to boost Germany’s flagging economy
By Bertrand Benoit
April 23, 2024 7:22 am ET
BERLIN—Germany arrested a prominent far-right politician’s parliamentary assistant on suspicion of spying for China, the fourth arrest of an alleged China spy in Germany in 24 hours in a development reminiscent of a British spying case that will come to trial shortly.
Germany’s General Federal Prosecutor’s Office said police in Dresden had detained a German national, identified as Jian G., on Monday and searched his home. The arrest came the same day three German nationals were detained following a separate China spying investigation.
Defining Free Speech Down on Campus
Anti-Israel protesters invoke a First Amendment they don’t understand.
By The Editorial Board
April 23, 2024 5:43 pm ET
Universities are supposed to be places where students and faculty can debate politics and other subjects without fear or censure. As the anti-Israel protests spread at Columbia, Yale, Harvard, New York University and elsewhere, however, progressives are claiming that any restriction on the protesters is a violation of free speech.
That isn’t true, and it’s important to understand why. Under its “state action doctrine,” the Supreme Court has ruled that the First Amendment applies to government actions toward citizens. It doesn’t apply to private citizens or institutions except in rare instances when they are acting as government agents.
As University of California, Berkeley law school dean and ardent liberal Erwin Chemerinsky explained recently to anti-Israel students who wanted to protest on his lawn, his property is “not a forum for free speech.”
As a private university, Columbia has the right to set its own rules on speech as part of a contract to teach or study at the school. It does so in a way that is consistent with a public institution’s obligations under the First Amendment. Here’s what Columbia’s Rules of University Conduct say about protests: “Every member of our community . . . retains the right to demonstrate, to rally, to picket, to circulate petitions and distribute ideas” and to “express opinions on any subject whatsoever, even when such expression invites controversy and sharp scrutiny.” The code of conduct protects speakers’ rights even when “ideas expressed might be thought offensive, immoral, disrespectful, or even dangerous.”
U.S. Takes Aim at Chinese Banks Aiding Russia War Effort
Washington says Beijing’s dual-use trade has helped Moscow rebuild its war machine
By Ian Talley and Alan Cullison
Updated April 23, 2024 12:00 am ET
The U.S. is drafting sanctions that threaten to cut some Chinese banks off from the global financial system, arming Washington’s top envoy with diplomatic leverage that officials hope will stop Beijing’s commercial support of Russia’s military production, according to people familiar with the matter.
But as Secretary of State Antony Blinken heads to Beijing on Tuesday, the question is whether even the threat of the U.S. using one of its most potent tools of financial coercion can put a dent in complex and burgeoning trade between Beijing and Moscow that has allowed the Kremlin to rebuild a military badly mauled by more than two years of fighting in Ukraine.
China’s Economy Is ‘Failing,’ U.S. Indo-Pacific Commander Says
Despite a failing economy, there’s a conscious decision to fund military capability, he said
By Peter Landers
April 23, 2024 12:34 am ET
TOKYO—The U.S. military commander in the Indo-Pacific said he didn’t believe the economic growth figures reported by China and described the country’s economy as failing.
Adm. John Aquilino, head of the U.S. Indo-Pacific Command, spoke at a briefing with reporters in Tokyo.
Germany arrests EU Parliament staff member on China espionage charges
PUBLISHED TUE, APR 23 2024
Sophie Kiderlin
A German national has been arrested for allegedly being part of the Chinese secret service and leaking information from the European Parliament, the federal prosecutor’s office said on Tuesday.
The alleged spy reportedly works for German far-right politician Maximilian Krah in the European Parliament.
Separately on Monday three Germans and two U.K. citizens were arrested for allegedly spying for China.
China’s Alternative Order
And What America Should Learn From It
By Elizabeth Economy
May/June 2024
Published on April 23, 2024
By now, Chinese President Xi Jinping’s ambition to remake the world is undeniable. He wants to dissolve Washington’s network of alliances and purge what he dismisses as “Western” values from international bodies. He wants to knock the U.S. dollar off its pedestal and eliminate Washington’s chokehold over critical technology. In his new multipolar order, global institutions and norms will be underpinned by Chinese notions of common security and economic development, Chinese values of state-determined political rights, and Chinese technology. China will no longer have to fight for leadership. Its centrality will be guaranteed.

Marco Rubio: Building a Pro-America Future in our Hemisphere
We must take seriously the opportunities for collaboration presented by countries like Ecuador, El Salvador, Argentina, Paraguay, the Dominican Republic, Peru, Guyana, and Costa Rica.
by Marco Rubio
April 23, 2024
Reconceptualizing Asia’s Security Challenges
Conventional wisdom suggests that economic development driven by a hegemonic power leads to economic prosperity and peace. That may no longer be true.
By Jean Dong
April 22, 2024
Top Chinese General Takes Harsh Line on Taiwan, Other Disputes at International Naval Gathering
Central Military Commission Vice Chair Zhang Youxia said China’s territorial sovereignty “brooks no infringement” and “cannot be challenged.”
By Ng Han Guan and Christopher Bodeen
April 23, 2024
Welcome to World War III
The Western-led “rules-based order” is fraying, but nothing seems to be emerging that might replace it.
By Michael Vatikiotis
April 22, 2024
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Blinken should fasten the ‘first button’ before landing in China: Global Times editorial
By Global Times
Published: Apr 24, 2024
China-US relations should stabilize and improve, moving forward on a path of stability, health, and sustainability. In this regard, there is ample room for imagination and cooperation for both countries. At the same time, China has its own interests to uphold, principles to defend, and bottom lines to maintain. Hopefully the US side remains sufficiently clear-minded and avoids any misjudgments.

China’s Kuaizhou commercial rockets aim 8-10 launches to deploy 30 satellites into orbits in 2024: developer
China’s commercial Kuaizhou rockets aim to carry out eight to 10 orbital launches in 2024, to deploy more than 30 satellites into their designated orbits, Global Times has learned from Hubei Sanjiang Group, a wholly-owned subsidiary of the country’s space contractor China Aerospace Science and Industry Corporation (CASIC) and developers of the rockets, on Tuesday.
By Deng Xiaoci in Wuhan | 2024/4/23
China slashes hypocritical move by US on Ukraine crisis ahead of Blinken’s visit, urging Washington to end blameshifting
China voiced the firm opposition to the hypocritical moves by the US on the Ukraine crisis by enacting massive aid bills for Ukraine while making baseless accusations against the normal trade between China and Russia, which will also be one of the major issues to be discussed during the upcoming visit of US Secretary of State Antony Blinken to China.
By Chen Qingqing | 2024/4/23

China’s cyberspace watchdog launches special campaign to crack down on self-media fabrication and exploitation of heated topics
China’s cyberspace watchdog launched a two-month nationwide special action to crack down on boundless self-media fabricating and leveraging heated topics while mixing real and fake news, after a Chinese vlogger was banned for fabricating a story about a student losing homework in Paris.

By Global Times | 2024/4/24

Chinese lawmakers deliberate law revision to enhance national defense education
Chinese lawmakers on Tuesday started deliberating a draft revision to the Law on National Defense Education. Experts believe that this move is part of the country’s efforts to enhance the citizens’ national defense awareness, as well as providing a stronger legal foundation for advancing national defense education in the new era.

By Yu Xi | 2024/4/23

Drones used to plant 14,000 acres of rice in Aksu prefecture, NW China’s Xinjiang region
“Planting 200 acres of rice in two hours, I wouldn’t have dared to dream of such efficiency in the past,” Xie Feilong, a farmer from Liuyuan town of Aksu Prefecture of Northwest China’s Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region, expressed his gratitude for the use of drones to plant rice this year.

By Xinjiang Daily-Global Times | 2024/4/23

Court rules on China’s first AI voice rights case, sounding alarm for industry
The Beijing Internet Court ruled on Tuesday that a software company had infringed upon a person’s rights after the company used an AI-powered tool to replicate her voice, without her consent, and sold it to other platforms.

By Liu Caiyu | 2024/4/23

China, Cambodia to advance negotiations on Code of Conduct in South China Sea
China and Cambodia stressed their commitment to fully and effectively implement the Declaration on the Conduct of Parties in the South China Sea, and advance the negotiation on the Code of Conduct in the South China Sea for its early conclusion, during Chinese top diplomat’s visit to Cambodia between Sunday and Tuesday.

By Global Times | 2024/4/23

China’s Ministry of Public Security launches nationwide Fox Hunt 2024 campaign to repatriate economic fugitives fled abroad
China’s Ministry of Public Security (MPS) have deployed the public security departments nationwide to launch the Fox Hunt 2024 campaign to repatriate economic fugitives who have fled abroad, the Communist Party of China (CPC) Central Commission for Discipline Inspection (CCDI) said on Tuesday.

By Global Times | 2024/4/23

China lays out five major goals it expects to focus on for Blinken’s China visit
Ahead of the upcoming visit of the US Secretary of State Antony Blinken to China this week, China’s Foreign Ministry introduced five major goals that China is focusing on during this visit, which include making solemn representations and demands on matters such as the Taiwan question, trade and technology restrictions and the South China Sea issue.

By GT staff reporters | 2024/4/23

‘Chinese spy’ hype in UK and Germany aimed at souring atmosphere of cooperation: FM spokesperson
In response to accusations over “Chinese spies” by the UK and Germany on Monday and Tuesday, a spokesperson of the Chinese Foreign Ministry said that the so-called “Chinese spy threat theory” is not new in Europe, every time before or after China-Europe high-level interactions in recent years, there would be such a hype, with a clear intention of smearing and hitting China and souring the atmosphere of China-EU cooperation.

By Xu Keyue | 2024/4/23

US releases human rights report as ‘bargaining chip’ to play tough on China
US Secretary of State Antony Blinken pointed the finger at China’s Xinjiang region in remarks on the US’ “lie-filled” 2023 Country Reports on Human Rights Practices on Monday, one day before his departure for China visit.

By GT staff reporters | 2024/4/23