Guam arrests 7 Chinese nationals who tried to illegally enter US military site during missile test
By Reuters
Seven Chinese citizens were arrested on charges of illegally entering Guam around the time the US Missile Defence Agency conducted a key missile interception test using a new radar, the island’s Customs and Quarantine Agency has said.
The agency said at least four of the people arrested on December 10-11 were found “in the vicinity of a military installation”. Guam has many such installations, including Andersen Air Force Base, where the December 10 missile test was conducted.
“Conducting espionage against US military facilities, especially those with missile launch capabilities, could provide the PRC with potentially valuable intelligence,” the Institute for the Study of War said in a report on Friday, referring to the People’s Republic of China.
Guamanian authorities said that all of the Chinese nationals arrived on the same boat from Saipan, and that the investigation was ongoing.
China’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
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By Reuters
Seven Chinese citizens were arrested on charges of illegally entering Guam around the time the US Missile Defence Agency conducted a key missile interception test using a new radar, the island’s Customs and Quarantine Agency has said.
The agency said at least four of the people arrested on December 10-11 were found “in the vicinity of a military installation”. Guam has many such installations, including Andersen Air Force Base, where the December 10 missile test was conducted.
“Conducting espionage against US military facilities, especially those with missile launch capabilities, could provide the PRC with potentially valuable intelligence,” the Institute for the Study of War said in a report on Friday, referring to the People’s Republic of China.
Guamanian authorities said that all of the Chinese nationals arrived on the same boat from Saipan, and that the investigation was ongoing.
China’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
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Hong Kong animal charities call for stricter penalties for dog poisoning
By Harvey Kong
Animal welfare charities in Hong Kong have called for stricter penalties and greater collaboration between authorities and NGOs to tackle animal poisoning after a former beauty queen said two of her dogs died and a third fell ill after licking meat laced with neurotoxins placed on a path.
The Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals also revealed on Thursday it had assisted police in investigating nine suspected cases of dog poisoning so far this year.
Writing on social media earlier this week, Miss Hong Kong 2020 winner Lisa-Marie Tse Ga-ye lamented the death of her two dogs and the poisoning of a third, which she said occurred after she had taken them for a walk in She Shan village in Lam Tsuen on Sunday.
She said a “very disgusting, horrible and unforgivable person” had placed a “meat feast laced with poison” on the path, leading to the death of her two dogs, Peachy and Summer. She later said her sole surviving pet – Leo – was also suffering from the effects of the poison.
Following the incident, animal welfare groups called for stricter penalties and steeped-up collaboration with NGOs to tackle the issue.
SPCA head of inspectorate Anthony Leung said the charity believed that enforcing harsher penalties for those involved in animal cruelty and poisoning cases would serve as an effective deterrent.
NGOs should “work closely with animal welfare organisations like the SPCA to investigate cases, provide support to affected parties and implement preventive measures”, he said.
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By Harvey Kong
Animal welfare charities in Hong Kong have called for stricter penalties and greater collaboration between authorities and NGOs to tackle animal poisoning after a former beauty queen said two of her dogs died and a third fell ill after licking meat laced with neurotoxins placed on a path.
The Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals also revealed on Thursday it had assisted police in investigating nine suspected cases of dog poisoning so far this year.
Writing on social media earlier this week, Miss Hong Kong 2020 winner Lisa-Marie Tse Ga-ye lamented the death of her two dogs and the poisoning of a third, which she said occurred after she had taken them for a walk in She Shan village in Lam Tsuen on Sunday.
She said a “very disgusting, horrible and unforgivable person” had placed a “meat feast laced with poison” on the path, leading to the death of her two dogs, Peachy and Summer. She later said her sole surviving pet – Leo – was also suffering from the effects of the poison.
Following the incident, animal welfare groups called for stricter penalties and steeped-up collaboration with NGOs to tackle the issue.
SPCA head of inspectorate Anthony Leung said the charity believed that enforcing harsher penalties for those involved in animal cruelty and poisoning cases would serve as an effective deterrent.
NGOs should “work closely with animal welfare organisations like the SPCA to investigate cases, provide support to affected parties and implement preventive measures”, he said.
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China is investigating senior military official Miao Hua. Will it affect the PLA?
By Yuanyue Dang
In 2017, Admiral Miao Hua was a rising general when he became a member of China’s powerful Central Military Commission (CMC) and director of its political work department.
Taking over the party-building, ideology and personnel work of the world’s largest army would give Miao a significant say in senior appointments in the People’s Liberation Army (PLA).
It is a position that wields more real power than China’s defence minister, who is mostly the public face of the military and is responsible for domestic defence education and military diplomacy.
Born in 1955, Miao became China’s youngest serving general when he was promoted in 2015. A year later, Miao, then the political commissar of the PLA Navy, proudly shared his demands for the naval forces in an interview with Outlook (Liaowang) magazine, which is affiliated with state news agency Xinhua. “Eliminate seeking personal gain; eliminate hiring people in violation of regulations,” he said.
It is not clear whether Miao carried this with him to his new position as director of the political work department, but such a public proclamation may jar a little after the Chinese Ministry of Defence’s announcement last month that Miao had been suspended from duty and was under investigation for “suspected serious disciplinary violations” – usually a euphemism for corruption.
Miao’s is the latest case in a wave of anti-corruption operations at the PLA over the past two years that has brought down two former defence ministers and dozens of generals. The vast majority of them worked in the military’s procurement sector or in the PLA’s Rocket Force, its nuclear army.
A number of defence industry executives have also been implicated.
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By Yuanyue Dang
In 2017, Admiral Miao Hua was a rising general when he became a member of China’s powerful Central Military Commission (CMC) and director of its political work department.
Taking over the party-building, ideology and personnel work of the world’s largest army would give Miao a significant say in senior appointments in the People’s Liberation Army (PLA).
It is a position that wields more real power than China’s defence minister, who is mostly the public face of the military and is responsible for domestic defence education and military diplomacy.
Born in 1955, Miao became China’s youngest serving general when he was promoted in 2015. A year later, Miao, then the political commissar of the PLA Navy, proudly shared his demands for the naval forces in an interview with Outlook (Liaowang) magazine, which is affiliated with state news agency Xinhua. “Eliminate seeking personal gain; eliminate hiring people in violation of regulations,” he said.
It is not clear whether Miao carried this with him to his new position as director of the political work department, but such a public proclamation may jar a little after the Chinese Ministry of Defence’s announcement last month that Miao had been suspended from duty and was under investigation for “suspected serious disciplinary violations” – usually a euphemism for corruption.
Miao’s is the latest case in a wave of anti-corruption operations at the PLA over the past two years that has brought down two former defence ministers and dozens of generals. The vast majority of them worked in the military’s procurement sector or in the PLA’s Rocket Force, its nuclear army.
A number of defence industry executives have also been implicated.
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NeurIPS, the ‘AI Olympics’, gets new hurdles in Canada with US-China tech competition
By Ben Jiang
An annual gathering of the world’s top minds in artificial intelligence (AI) is gaining wider attention as it emerges as the new battleground in the competition between the US and China, according to event attendees.
The six-day Conference on Neural Information Processing Systems, or NeurIPS, wrapped last week in Vancouver, Canada, and attracted more than 16,000 participants, with Chinese AI researchers and technology firms making up a notable portion of attendees amid strained ties with Western countries in the field.
Liu Feng attended NeurIPS for the third time this year. The assistant professor in machine learning at the University of Melbourne told the Post on Friday that the “Asian appearance” of the event was noticeably greater this year than in the past.
Chinese universities made up eight of the top 20 institutions with the most accepted papers, according to Paper Copilot, a website that tracks conference papers. That was up from four Chinese institutions last year. One of the two submissions to be awarded best paper went to a team of researchers from China’s Peking University and TikTok parent ByteDance.
Meanwhile, Zhejiang University unseated the Massachusetts Institute of Technology to become the institution with most papers accepted this year, according to Paper Copilot.
Paper Copilot founder Yang Jing, who is currently a PhD candidate at the University of Southern California, said that since OpenAI launched ChatGPT in late 2022, his project has tracked growing participation from Chinese scholars across various AI disciplines, including large language models and embodied intelligence.
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By Ben Jiang
An annual gathering of the world’s top minds in artificial intelligence (AI) is gaining wider attention as it emerges as the new battleground in the competition between the US and China, according to event attendees.
The six-day Conference on Neural Information Processing Systems, or NeurIPS, wrapped last week in Vancouver, Canada, and attracted more than 16,000 participants, with Chinese AI researchers and technology firms making up a notable portion of attendees amid strained ties with Western countries in the field.
Liu Feng attended NeurIPS for the third time this year. The assistant professor in machine learning at the University of Melbourne told the Post on Friday that the “Asian appearance” of the event was noticeably greater this year than in the past.
Chinese universities made up eight of the top 20 institutions with the most accepted papers, according to Paper Copilot, a website that tracks conference papers. That was up from four Chinese institutions last year. One of the two submissions to be awarded best paper went to a team of researchers from China’s Peking University and TikTok parent ByteDance.
Meanwhile, Zhejiang University unseated the Massachusetts Institute of Technology to become the institution with most papers accepted this year, according to Paper Copilot.
Paper Copilot founder Yang Jing, who is currently a PhD candidate at the University of Southern California, said that since OpenAI launched ChatGPT in late 2022, his project has tracked growing participation from Chinese scholars across various AI disciplines, including large language models and embodied intelligence.
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Nip in the air as temperatures drop to single digits in parts of Hong Kong
By Edith Lin
Temperatures dipped to single digits in some parts of the New Territories on Saturday morning but Hong Kong’s weather forecaster said it expected the mercury in urban areas to climb to around 20 degrees later in the day.
The Hong Kong Observatory said the northeast monsoon was bringing generally cold weather to the coast of Guangdong and temperatures over many places fell to 12 degrees or below in the morning.
“Under clear skies, radiation cooling was particularly significant over parts of the New Territories, where temperatures even fell to 8 degrees or below,” the forecaster said.
In remote Ta Kwu Ling and Pak Tam Chung, temperatures dropped to as low as 4.9 degrees. The lowest temperature recorded at the Observatory’s headquarters in Tsim Sha Tsui was 13.9 degrees.
The forecaster issued the cold weather warning at 10.30pm on Friday but cancelled it at 9.40am on Saturday morning.
The Observatory said the weather on Saturday would be sunny and very dry during the day with a maximum temperature of around 20 degrees.
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By Edith Lin
Temperatures dipped to single digits in some parts of the New Territories on Saturday morning but Hong Kong’s weather forecaster said it expected the mercury in urban areas to climb to around 20 degrees later in the day.
The Hong Kong Observatory said the northeast monsoon was bringing generally cold weather to the coast of Guangdong and temperatures over many places fell to 12 degrees or below in the morning.
“Under clear skies, radiation cooling was particularly significant over parts of the New Territories, where temperatures even fell to 8 degrees or below,” the forecaster said.
In remote Ta Kwu Ling and Pak Tam Chung, temperatures dropped to as low as 4.9 degrees. The lowest temperature recorded at the Observatory’s headquarters in Tsim Sha Tsui was 13.9 degrees.
The forecaster issued the cold weather warning at 10.30pm on Friday but cancelled it at 9.40am on Saturday morning.
The Observatory said the weather on Saturday would be sunny and very dry during the day with a maximum temperature of around 20 degrees.
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US congresswoman says Republicans protecting Elon Musk’s Chinese investments
By Reuters
The top Democrat on the House of Representatives Appropriations Committee said on Friday that Republicans in Congress were protecting Elon Musk’s Chinese investments by scrapping provisions restricting US investments.
Representative Rosa DeLauro said in a letter that Musk, CEO of electric car maker Tesla, may have upended the government funding process to remove a provision that would regulate US investments in China given his “extensive investments in China in key sectors and his personal ties with the Chinese Communist Party leadership, and calls into question the real reason for Musk’s opposition to the original funding deal.”
The Republican-controlled US House of Representatives passed legislation on Friday that would avert a midnight government shutdown.
The legislation would extend government funding until March 14, provide US$100 billion for disaster-hit states and US$10 billion for farmers.
Tesla did not immediately respond to a request for comment. Musk posted a number of critical posts about DeLauro on X on Friday including one that said she “needs to be expelled from Congress!”
Musk also said that he was happy with the spending package. “It went from a bill that weighed pounds to a bill that weighed ounces,” he wrote on X.
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By Reuters
The top Democrat on the House of Representatives Appropriations Committee said on Friday that Republicans in Congress were protecting Elon Musk’s Chinese investments by scrapping provisions restricting US investments.
Representative Rosa DeLauro said in a letter that Musk, CEO of electric car maker Tesla, may have upended the government funding process to remove a provision that would regulate US investments in China given his “extensive investments in China in key sectors and his personal ties with the Chinese Communist Party leadership, and calls into question the real reason for Musk’s opposition to the original funding deal.”
The Republican-controlled US House of Representatives passed legislation on Friday that would avert a midnight government shutdown.
The legislation would extend government funding until March 14, provide US$100 billion for disaster-hit states and US$10 billion for farmers.
Tesla did not immediately respond to a request for comment. Musk posted a number of critical posts about DeLauro on X on Friday including one that said she “needs to be expelled from Congress!”
Musk also said that he was happy with the spending package. “It went from a bill that weighed pounds to a bill that weighed ounces,” he wrote on X.
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Moon rocks from China’s Chang’e 6 mission test Apollo views on lunar magnetic field
By Zhang Tong
The strength of the lunar magnetic field may have shot up about 2.8 billion years ago, a Chinese study of samples from the far side of the moon suggests.
The study, published online on Thursday in the journal Nature, challenges the prevailing view that the lunar magnetic field sharply declined around 3.1 billion years ago and has remained weak ever since.
Studies of US Apollo mission samples earlier indicated that a lunar dynamo was relatively active between 4.2 and 3.5 billion years ago before gradually fading. However, the precise timeline and mechanisms of this decline remained subjects of debate.
A dynamo magnetic field, like that of the Earth, is generated by the flow of liquid metal in the planet’s core. This field protects the planet’s atmosphere and water from solar wind erosion. Similarly, the moon’s ancient dynamo might have shielded its surface environment, potentially influencing its early evolution.
While satellite observations and surface measurements confirm that the moon does not have a global dipole magnetic field today, its crust retains extensive magnetisation. This suggests that it might once have had a dynamo-generated magnetic field or a field induced by massive impacts.
The latest Chinese study looked at the first-ever samples from the moon’s far side, collected by the Chang’e 6 mission last year. The researchers – from the Institute of Geology and Geophysics (IGG) under the Chinese Academy of Sciences, in collaboration with the National Astronomical Observatories – analysed 4mm-sized basalt rock fragments returned by the mission.
They said the samples recorded an ancient magnetic field with strengths ranging from 5 to 21 microteslas (with a median value of about 13 microteslas). The value is close to the present level of the Earth’s magnetic field.
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By Zhang Tong
The strength of the lunar magnetic field may have shot up about 2.8 billion years ago, a Chinese study of samples from the far side of the moon suggests.
The study, published online on Thursday in the journal Nature, challenges the prevailing view that the lunar magnetic field sharply declined around 3.1 billion years ago and has remained weak ever since.
Studies of US Apollo mission samples earlier indicated that a lunar dynamo was relatively active between 4.2 and 3.5 billion years ago before gradually fading. However, the precise timeline and mechanisms of this decline remained subjects of debate.
A dynamo magnetic field, like that of the Earth, is generated by the flow of liquid metal in the planet’s core. This field protects the planet’s atmosphere and water from solar wind erosion. Similarly, the moon’s ancient dynamo might have shielded its surface environment, potentially influencing its early evolution.
While satellite observations and surface measurements confirm that the moon does not have a global dipole magnetic field today, its crust retains extensive magnetisation. This suggests that it might once have had a dynamo-generated magnetic field or a field induced by massive impacts.
The latest Chinese study looked at the first-ever samples from the moon’s far side, collected by the Chang’e 6 mission last year. The researchers – from the Institute of Geology and Geophysics (IGG) under the Chinese Academy of Sciences, in collaboration with the National Astronomical Observatories – analysed 4mm-sized basalt rock fragments returned by the mission.
They said the samples recorded an ancient magnetic field with strengths ranging from 5 to 21 microteslas (with a median value of about 13 microteslas). The value is close to the present level of the Earth’s magnetic field.
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Kai Tak Sports Park will revitalise its neighbourhood. Just watch
By Richard Breslin
For anyone arriving into Hong Kong before the summer of 1998, the Kai Tak airport was a taster of “Asia’s world city” before you had even touched down.
While it might have been one of the most challenging landings in the world for pilots, it gave passengers a close-up of Kowloon City in all its glory, from washing hanging out of windows to residents eating their dinner. It provided a sense of the hustle and bustle that was to come from one of the fastest-moving cities in the world.
The airport’s closure in July 1998 removed not only a little piece of modern Asian life but the sense of purpose of a whole neighbourhood. The area had served the baggage handlers, retail workers, chefs and cabin crew who kept Kai Tak running.
March 2025 will see this storied Hong Kong neighbourhood reinvigorated with the opening of the Kai Tak Sports Park. The 28-hectare site promises to be more than just a new home for the annual Hong Kong Sevens; it will bring year-round opportunity to the Kai Tak community.
In addition to being Hong Kong’s largest sports venue when it is completed, Kai Tak Sports Park will follow in a long line of major infrastructure projects which have created stimulus for local economies. At the top of that list is London Stadium in Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park. From its earliest moments, the design of the stadium focused predominantly on what would happen after the 2012 Games finished.
Stratford was one of London’s poorest areas. It suffered rapid deindustrialisation in the 20th century which left it with tens of thousands of people and few jobs. The site chosen for the park was a wasteland between two polluted waterways which had become a dumping ground.
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By Richard Breslin
For anyone arriving into Hong Kong before the summer of 1998, the Kai Tak airport was a taster of “Asia’s world city” before you had even touched down.
While it might have been one of the most challenging landings in the world for pilots, it gave passengers a close-up of Kowloon City in all its glory, from washing hanging out of windows to residents eating their dinner. It provided a sense of the hustle and bustle that was to come from one of the fastest-moving cities in the world.
The airport’s closure in July 1998 removed not only a little piece of modern Asian life but the sense of purpose of a whole neighbourhood. The area had served the baggage handlers, retail workers, chefs and cabin crew who kept Kai Tak running.
March 2025 will see this storied Hong Kong neighbourhood reinvigorated with the opening of the Kai Tak Sports Park. The 28-hectare site promises to be more than just a new home for the annual Hong Kong Sevens; it will bring year-round opportunity to the Kai Tak community.
In addition to being Hong Kong’s largest sports venue when it is completed, Kai Tak Sports Park will follow in a long line of major infrastructure projects which have created stimulus for local economies. At the top of that list is London Stadium in Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park. From its earliest moments, the design of the stadium focused predominantly on what would happen after the 2012 Games finished.
Stratford was one of London’s poorest areas. It suffered rapid deindustrialisation in the 20th century which left it with tens of thousands of people and few jobs. The site chosen for the park was a wasteland between two polluted waterways which had become a dumping ground.
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Running club attracts Hongkongers seeking fitness, friends and sometimes love
By Sammy Heung
While cold winds swept across Hong Kong on a December night, 200 runners dressed as Santa Claus, reindeer and Christmas elves brought warmth and vitality to the scene as they dashed through the chilly air.
The 6km (3.7 mile) Christmas-themed run at the city’s Central Ferry Piers was organised by the Hong Kong arm of international running club Midnight Runners, which was first established in London.
For the club’s members, the event was not just about running, improving speed or building stamina, but also about having fun, making friends and finding a community, thanks to its energetic music, themed runs and welcoming atmosphere.
The turnout for the Christmas event in Hong Kong also represented a rise in the popularity of running clubs, as people sought in-person interactions and placed a greater emphasis on their health in the wake of the Covid-19 pandemic.
Stephanie Sun, 34, was one of the runners who set up the club’s Hong Kong branch in 2019 after spending four months at the one in Barcelona in 2018.
Members increased from 20 to 30 and then reached more than 1,000. It now hosts a session with 200 participants every Thursday at the Central Ferry Piers, as well as other social and charity activities.
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By Sammy Heung
While cold winds swept across Hong Kong on a December night, 200 runners dressed as Santa Claus, reindeer and Christmas elves brought warmth and vitality to the scene as they dashed through the chilly air.
The 6km (3.7 mile) Christmas-themed run at the city’s Central Ferry Piers was organised by the Hong Kong arm of international running club Midnight Runners, which was first established in London.
For the club’s members, the event was not just about running, improving speed or building stamina, but also about having fun, making friends and finding a community, thanks to its energetic music, themed runs and welcoming atmosphere.
The turnout for the Christmas event in Hong Kong also represented a rise in the popularity of running clubs, as people sought in-person interactions and placed a greater emphasis on their health in the wake of the Covid-19 pandemic.
Stephanie Sun, 34, was one of the runners who set up the club’s Hong Kong branch in 2019 after spending four months at the one in Barcelona in 2018.
Members increased from 20 to 30 and then reached more than 1,000. It now hosts a session with 200 participants every Thursday at the Central Ferry Piers, as well as other social and charity activities.
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China faces AI talent shortage in an otherwise booming ‘new economy’ sector, report finds
By Yi Luo
China’s booming artificial intelligence (AI) industry has a plethora of job openings but not enough talent to fill them, according to a recent report from Maimai, a Chinese professional online network similar to LinkedIn.
A quarter of openings among the top 20 “new economy” job types on Maimai this year through October were directly related to AI, the company revealed in a report published this week. Related roles include algorithm engineer, AI engineer, recommendation algorithm engineer, large language model (LLM) specialist, and natural language processing expert.
Cloud computing remains the tightest market, with a supply-demand ratio of 0.27, or roughly four job openings per qualified candidate. Search algorithms follow closely with a ratio of 0.39, or more than two openings per candidate.
AI has emerged as a bright spot in a bleak domestic job market in China’s “new economy”, a term used to describe high-growth sectors such as information technology, healthcare and renewable energy.
In general, China’s job market for the country’s top brains remains tight with two jobseekers jostling for each opening. In the first 10 months of 2024, the ratio further escalated to 2.06, highlighting intense competition among those looking for work, especially in the new energy vehicle industry, which climbed from 1.77 to 2.04, according to the report.
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By Yi Luo
China’s booming artificial intelligence (AI) industry has a plethora of job openings but not enough talent to fill them, according to a recent report from Maimai, a Chinese professional online network similar to LinkedIn.
A quarter of openings among the top 20 “new economy” job types on Maimai this year through October were directly related to AI, the company revealed in a report published this week. Related roles include algorithm engineer, AI engineer, recommendation algorithm engineer, large language model (LLM) specialist, and natural language processing expert.
Cloud computing remains the tightest market, with a supply-demand ratio of 0.27, or roughly four job openings per qualified candidate. Search algorithms follow closely with a ratio of 0.39, or more than two openings per candidate.
AI has emerged as a bright spot in a bleak domestic job market in China’s “new economy”, a term used to describe high-growth sectors such as information technology, healthcare and renewable energy.
In general, China’s job market for the country’s top brains remains tight with two jobseekers jostling for each opening. In the first 10 months of 2024, the ratio further escalated to 2.06, highlighting intense competition among those looking for work, especially in the new energy vehicle industry, which climbed from 1.77 to 2.04, according to the report.
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Thailand’s Eastern Economic Corridor promised a hi-tech utopia. Will it deliver?
By Aidan Jones
Long billed as Thailand’s ticket to a brighter, tech-driven future, the Eastern Economic Corridor (EEC) megaproject is finally gathering steam as billions of dollars pour in after years of delays.
Its backers say 2025 will be a blockbuster year for the sprawling industrial hub that aims to transform the nation’s economic fortunes with well-paid jobs in high-value industries. But concerns persist about whether the megaproject will genuinely benefit local communities or primarily enrich the Asian conglomerates likely to reap the greatest rewards.
At its launch in 2017, officials envisioned a hi-tech utopia: electric vehicles humming along the streets of communities powered by artificial intelligence, state-of-the-art medical facilities catering to an ageing society and tourists alike, and a cornucopia of new attractions to entice visitors.
“Our milestone for this project is to have 100 billion baht (US$2.9 billion) invested in the area each year,” said EEC Secretary General Dr Chula Sukmanop.
And the money is certainly needed. Thailand’s once-thriving economy, which grew an average of 5 per cent annually in the early 2000s, has been battered by two decades of political turmoil and coups, culminating in the pandemic. Southeast Asia’s former growth star now trails its neighbours, with the central bank projecting modest growth of 2.7 per cent this year, and 2.9 per cent in 2025.
Enter the EEC: designed to attract renewable energy, digital tech, advanced manufacturing and other industries, the corridor has been marketed as a solution to Thailand’s economic malaise – complete with a high-speed railway, data centres and port upgrades.
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By Aidan Jones
Long billed as Thailand’s ticket to a brighter, tech-driven future, the Eastern Economic Corridor (EEC) megaproject is finally gathering steam as billions of dollars pour in after years of delays.
Its backers say 2025 will be a blockbuster year for the sprawling industrial hub that aims to transform the nation’s economic fortunes with well-paid jobs in high-value industries. But concerns persist about whether the megaproject will genuinely benefit local communities or primarily enrich the Asian conglomerates likely to reap the greatest rewards.
At its launch in 2017, officials envisioned a hi-tech utopia: electric vehicles humming along the streets of communities powered by artificial intelligence, state-of-the-art medical facilities catering to an ageing society and tourists alike, and a cornucopia of new attractions to entice visitors.
“Our milestone for this project is to have 100 billion baht (US$2.9 billion) invested in the area each year,” said EEC Secretary General Dr Chula Sukmanop.
And the money is certainly needed. Thailand’s once-thriving economy, which grew an average of 5 per cent annually in the early 2000s, has been battered by two decades of political turmoil and coups, culminating in the pandemic. Southeast Asia’s former growth star now trails its neighbours, with the central bank projecting modest growth of 2.7 per cent this year, and 2.9 per cent in 2025.
Enter the EEC: designed to attract renewable energy, digital tech, advanced manufacturing and other industries, the corridor has been marketed as a solution to Thailand’s economic malaise – complete with a high-speed railway, data centres and port upgrades.
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How has Hengqin helped Macau diversify its casino-dominated economy?
By Kandy Wong
Tech entrepreneur Tiago Lei started paying some attention to Hengqin when his alma mater – the University of Macau – leased a large piece of land there 15 years ago for campus expansion.
Around 12km (7.5 miles) west of Macau, the 106 sq km (41 square mile) island in the neighbouring mainland Chinese city of Zhuhai provided “more space to build new dormitories and faculties”, the 40-year-old from Macau said.
With more than three times the current land area of Macau – and almost twice that of Manhattan – it was rebranded as the Hengqin New Area in 2009 and designated in 2015 as a special zone where Macau law would be implemented and incentives offered to attract businesses.
But Lei said “people, including mainland Chinese, didn’t want to live and work in Hengqin back then because it wasn’t convenient”.
That impression of poor infrastructure and living conditions changed as more ambitious plans, including the integrated development blueprint for the Greater Bay Area development zone, covering nine cities in Guangdong province – Guangzhou, Shenzhen, Zhuhai, Foshan, Zhongshan, Dongguan, Huizhou, Jiangmen and Zhaoqing – plus Hong Kong and Macau, were released in 2019.
President Xi Jinping arrived in Macau this week to celebrate the 25th anniversary of the city’s reversion to Chinese administration. During his visit he toured Hengqin and the Macau University of Science and Technology, and witnessed the inauguration of Macau’s new government.
Highlighting the “huge success” of the “one country, two systems” model and hailing its entering of a new stage, Xi said both Macau and Hong Kong should work on maintaining their long-term prosperity while placing the nation’s development interests above all and upholding national security.
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By Kandy Wong
Tech entrepreneur Tiago Lei started paying some attention to Hengqin when his alma mater – the University of Macau – leased a large piece of land there 15 years ago for campus expansion.
Around 12km (7.5 miles) west of Macau, the 106 sq km (41 square mile) island in the neighbouring mainland Chinese city of Zhuhai provided “more space to build new dormitories and faculties”, the 40-year-old from Macau said.
With more than three times the current land area of Macau – and almost twice that of Manhattan – it was rebranded as the Hengqin New Area in 2009 and designated in 2015 as a special zone where Macau law would be implemented and incentives offered to attract businesses.
But Lei said “people, including mainland Chinese, didn’t want to live and work in Hengqin back then because it wasn’t convenient”.
That impression of poor infrastructure and living conditions changed as more ambitious plans, including the integrated development blueprint for the Greater Bay Area development zone, covering nine cities in Guangdong province – Guangzhou, Shenzhen, Zhuhai, Foshan, Zhongshan, Dongguan, Huizhou, Jiangmen and Zhaoqing – plus Hong Kong and Macau, were released in 2019.
President Xi Jinping arrived in Macau this week to celebrate the 25th anniversary of the city’s reversion to Chinese administration. During his visit he toured Hengqin and the Macau University of Science and Technology, and witnessed the inauguration of Macau’s new government.
Highlighting the “huge success” of the “one country, two systems” model and hailing its entering of a new stage, Xi said both Macau and Hong Kong should work on maintaining their long-term prosperity while placing the nation’s development interests above all and upholding national security.
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World must stand firm against blizzard of Trump tariff threats
By David Dodwell
What was initially described as the “amusing distraction” of Donald Trump is perhaps better called chaff – blizzards of metal, glass or plastic that fighter pilots spray out to confuse and deflect enemy pursuit. For the better part of a decade, Trump’s tactic of distraction has been pivotal, his stream of rapid-fire tweets and campaign-trail comments keeping him in the news and throwing adversaries off balance.
The explosion of chaff since his election victory has been both typical and effective in keeping world leaders and media, whether US or international, off balance and irresistibly focused on his agenda priorities.
Nowhere has this been clearer than in Trump’s tariff threats. First it was 60 per cent for imports from China, and 10-20 per cent for everyone else. Then it was 25 per cent for Mexico and Canada unless they reined in migration across the US border and cartel drug-smuggling – with an additional 10 per cent for China if it failed to staunch fentanyl exports. Then it was 100 per cent on Brics economies if they so much as thought about displacing the US dollar as the world’s primary trading currency.
Whether or how such tariffs will be imposed is impossible to predict. Even Trump probably has no clear idea. He has nominated so many tariff advocates to his inner circle that tariffs are highly likely to be central to his trade policy – but that is not the point.
Trump has succeeded in dominating the media narrative months before his arrival in the Oval Office, and triggered a frenzy among the world’s leading trade economists into earnestly – probably pointlessly – calculating the impact of such tariffs.
Alongside his mischievous tariff narrative, Trump’s blizzard of chaff includes vowing to end Russia’s war on Ukraine in a day, threatening to leave Europe in the lurch with Nato, inviting Chinese President Xi Jinping to his January 20 inauguration and promising that “China and the United States can together solve all of the problems of the world”.
via SCMP Full Text Feed
By David Dodwell
What was initially described as the “amusing distraction” of Donald Trump is perhaps better called chaff – blizzards of metal, glass or plastic that fighter pilots spray out to confuse and deflect enemy pursuit. For the better part of a decade, Trump’s tactic of distraction has been pivotal, his stream of rapid-fire tweets and campaign-trail comments keeping him in the news and throwing adversaries off balance.
The explosion of chaff since his election victory has been both typical and effective in keeping world leaders and media, whether US or international, off balance and irresistibly focused on his agenda priorities.
Nowhere has this been clearer than in Trump’s tariff threats. First it was 60 per cent for imports from China, and 10-20 per cent for everyone else. Then it was 25 per cent for Mexico and Canada unless they reined in migration across the US border and cartel drug-smuggling – with an additional 10 per cent for China if it failed to staunch fentanyl exports. Then it was 100 per cent on Brics economies if they so much as thought about displacing the US dollar as the world’s primary trading currency.
Whether or how such tariffs will be imposed is impossible to predict. Even Trump probably has no clear idea. He has nominated so many tariff advocates to his inner circle that tariffs are highly likely to be central to his trade policy – but that is not the point.
Trump has succeeded in dominating the media narrative months before his arrival in the Oval Office, and triggered a frenzy among the world’s leading trade economists into earnestly – probably pointlessly – calculating the impact of such tariffs.
Alongside his mischievous tariff narrative, Trump’s blizzard of chaff includes vowing to end Russia’s war on Ukraine in a day, threatening to leave Europe in the lurch with Nato, inviting Chinese President Xi Jinping to his January 20 inauguration and promising that “China and the United States can together solve all of the problems of the world”.
via SCMP Full Text Feed
Italian deputy PM Matteo Salvini acquitted of migrant kidnapping charges
By Reuters
A court on Friday acquitted Italian Deputy Prime Minister Matteo Salvini of charges of kidnapping over 100 migrants aboard a boat he had blocked at sea for nearly three weeks in 2019, as part of a policy to curb irregular arrivals.
After a three-year trial, judges rejected a prosecutor’s request to hand a six-year jail term to Salvini, the leader of the far-right League party, who is serving as transport minister in Giorgia Meloni’s government.
“I’m happy. After three years, common sense won, the League won, Italy won,” Salvini told reporters, saying that protecting national borders “is not a crime, but a right”.
The verdict came against a backdrop of tensions between the government and the judiciary over migration, after a court questioned the legality of a flagship plan to send asylum seekers to Albania, in cases now pending with the European Court of Justice
Salvini had tried to prevent the Spanish charity Open Arms from bringing 147 asylum seekers to Italy in the summer of 2019, when he was interior minister, as part of his policy of closing Italy’s ports to migrant boats.
The not-guilty verdict was greeted with applause from League politicians who gathered in the courtroom to support their leader. Prime Minister Meloni said it showed the allegations were “unfounded and surreal.”
“Let us continue together, with tenacity and determination, to fight illegal immigration, human trafficking and to defend national sovereignty,” Meloni wrote on social media.
via SCMP Full Text Feed
By Reuters
A court on Friday acquitted Italian Deputy Prime Minister Matteo Salvini of charges of kidnapping over 100 migrants aboard a boat he had blocked at sea for nearly three weeks in 2019, as part of a policy to curb irregular arrivals.
After a three-year trial, judges rejected a prosecutor’s request to hand a six-year jail term to Salvini, the leader of the far-right League party, who is serving as transport minister in Giorgia Meloni’s government.
“I’m happy. After three years, common sense won, the League won, Italy won,” Salvini told reporters, saying that protecting national borders “is not a crime, but a right”.
The verdict came against a backdrop of tensions between the government and the judiciary over migration, after a court questioned the legality of a flagship plan to send asylum seekers to Albania, in cases now pending with the European Court of Justice
Salvini had tried to prevent the Spanish charity Open Arms from bringing 147 asylum seekers to Italy in the summer of 2019, when he was interior minister, as part of his policy of closing Italy’s ports to migrant boats.
The not-guilty verdict was greeted with applause from League politicians who gathered in the courtroom to support their leader. Prime Minister Meloni said it showed the allegations were “unfounded and surreal.”
“Let us continue together, with tenacity and determination, to fight illegal immigration, human trafficking and to defend national sovereignty,” Meloni wrote on social media.
via SCMP Full Text Feed
