Month: March 2024

Vanuatu Police, Aided by US Coast Guard, Say Chinese Violated Fishing Laws

Posted on by SeeEA

SYDNEY — Six Chinese fishing boats were found to be violating Vanuatu’s fisheries law after being inspected by local police who were on board the first U.S. Coast Guard boat to patrol the waters of the Pacific Islands nation, Vanuatu police and officials said.

The infringements included failing to record the fish caught in logbooks, a fisheries official told Reuters, noting it was the first time in several years police could inspect Chinese boats that fish in Vanuatu’s exclusive economic zone and then offload their catch in other countries.

One of the Chinese vessels that police said had breached the law is owned by Chinese state-owned company CNFC Overseas Fisheries, which has a joint venture with Vanuatu’s government called Sino-Van, a Reuters review of ship registration details and company filings showed.

Yakar Silas, principal monitoring, control and surveillance officer with Vanuatu’s Fisheries Department, said penalty notices would be sent to several Chinese companies and their local agents in Vanuatu.

Most violations were by Chinese fishing fleets that fished Vanuatu waters but were based overseas, he said.

“The patrol gave the opportunity to inspect foreign vessels that are fishing in Vanuatu waters and not coming into port and offloading their catch into foreign ports, for example Fiji,” he added. “They are all Chinese vessels.”

The Chinese embassies in Vanuatu and Fiji, where some of the Chinese vessels are based, did not respond to a request for comment.

Sino-Van Director Zhang Junwei said in an email to Reuters that Vanuatu Prime Minister Charlot Salwai is “supportive of the Sino-Van project.” The CNFC vessel depicted in U.S. Coast Guard photographs did not belong to the company’s Vanuatu branch, he added.

The U.S. Coast Guard cutter Harriet Lane patrolled Vanuatu waters for the first time last week. Last year, a Coast Guard vessel on patrol for illegal fishing was refused access to Vanuatu’s port.

China is Vanuatu’s largest external creditor, and Beijing and Washington are jostling for influence and security ties in the strategically important Pacific Islands region. Political instability in Vanuatu last year saw two prime ministers unseated in a matter of weeks.

A decade ago, CNFC formed a joint venture with Vanuatu’s government, promising to open a local tuna cannery to bring greater revenue to the economy beyond the license fees from foreign fleets that fish Vanuatu’s exclusive economic zone.

The cannery has not opened, and Sino-Van only sells frozen fish to the local market, a company director said.

Salwai and Chinese Ambassador Li Minggang visited Sino-Van on Feb. 27, the day after CNFC’s boat was boarded by the U.S. Coast Guard and police on Feb. 26.

A U.S. Coast Guard spokeswoman confirmed the CNFC vessel, Zhong Shui 708, was among six Chinese vessels boarded by Vanuatu police who found infringements.

“The Vanuatu government will be the determining agency on what will happen with the violations,” the U.S. Coast Guard spokeswoman said.

Bianca Simeon, an inspector with the Vanuatu maritime police who boarded the fishing boats, said half of the boats inspected had violations. “They did not properly report the catch in their catch logs,” she told Reuters.
…

your ad here

US Lawmakers Push for ByteDance to Divest TikTok or Face Ban

Posted on by SeeUS

WASHINGTON — A bipartisan group of U.S. lawmakers introduced legislation on Tuesday to give China’s ByteDance about six months to divest popular short video app TikTok or face a U.S. ban, seeking to tackle national security concerns about its Chinese ownership.

The bill is the first significant legislative move in nearly a year toward banning or forcing ByteDance to divest the popular app, after Senate legislation to ban it stalled in Congress last year in the face of heavy lobbying by TikTok.

Mike Gallagher, the Republican chairperson of the House of Representatives’ select China committee and Representative Raja Krishnamoorthi, the top Democrat, are among more than a dozen lawmakers introducing the measure, which is expected to see an initial vote on Thursday.

“This is my message to TikTok: break up with the Chinese Communist Party or lose access to your American users,” Gallagher said. “America’s foremost adversary has no business controlling a dominant media platform in the United States.”

The bill would give ByteDance 165 days to divest TikTok, which is used by more than 170 million Americans, or make it unlawful for app stores run by Apple, Google, and others to offer TikTok or provide web hosting services to apps controlled by ByteDance.

The bill would not authorize any enforcement against individual users of an affected app, however.

“This bill is an outright ban of TikTok, no matter how much the authors try to disguise it,” a company spokesperson said on Tuesday.

“This legislation will trample the First Amendment rights of 170 million Americans and deprive 5 million small businesses of a platform they rely on to grow and create jobs,” the spokesperson said.

A White House National Security Council spokesperson called the bill “an important and welcome step” adding that the Biden administration would work with Congress “to further strengthen this legislation and put it on the strongest possible legal footing.”

The administration has worked with lawmakers from both parties to counter threats of tech services operating in the United States that pose risks to Americans’ sensitive data and broader national security, the official added.

TikTok says it has not, and would not, share U.S. user data with the Chinese government.

The American Civil Liberties Union called the bill unconstitutional, saying lawmakers were “once again attempting to trade our First Amendment rights for cheap political points during an election year.”

The bill, which would require companion legislation in the Senate, will be considered at an Energy and Commerce Committee hearing on Thursday for a vote.

The popularity of the app could make it tough to get legislation approved in an election year. Last month, Democratic President Joe Biden’s re-election campaign joined TikTok.

The bill would give the president new powers to designate apps of concern posing national security risks and subject them to the risk of bans or curbs unless ownership was divested.

It would cover apps with more than a million annual active users and under control of a foreign adversary entity, the bill says.

Concerns about Chinese-owned TikTok sparked efforts in Congress last year to tackle the risks from the short video sharing app or potentially ban it. Late in 2022, Congress barred federal employees from using it on government devices.

Last year the administration backed legislation sponsored by Senator Mark Warner and more than two dozen senators to give it new powers to ban TikTok and other foreign-based technologies if they pose national security threats.

That bill has never been voted on.

The new bill aims at bolstering the legal authority to address TikTok concerns. U.S. courts blocked an effort by previous President Donald Trump to ban TikTok in 2020.

Late in November, a U.S. judge blocked Montana’s first-of-its kind state ban on TikTok, saying it violated users’ free speech rights.
…

your ad here

Brussels Lays Out Plan to Build Up Europe’s Defense Industry

Posted on by SeeEU

paris — The European Union’s executive arm announced a proposal Tuesday that aims to supercharge the bloc’s defense industry’s ability to respond to the war in Ukraine, Russian aggression, and fears of waning transatlantic commitment on the part of the United States. The EU’s 27 member states still need to sign off on the proposals. 

The European Commission’s plan would boost joint European defense procurement and domestic production so more than one-third of the EU’s defense spending will benefit member states. Right now, for example, a sizable chunk of EU material supplied to Ukraine for its war against Russia was produced in the United States.  

Brussels also understands that years of post-Cold War security are over. Today, said European foreign policy chief Josep Borrell, Europe is in danger:  

“Peace is no more a given, unhappily the war is at our borders,” he said. “And the Russian war of aggression has brought a great sense of urgency to step up our industrial defense capacities.” 

The commission wants to earmark about $1.6 billion through 2027 to support its plan. It agrees that will in no way meet its ambitious goals. By one commission estimate, it would cost more than a $100 billion to match Washington’s defense industry.  

The initial investment, said European Commission Vice President Margrethe Vestager, would act as an incentive.  

“The real funding for a stronger defense comes from member states, and that funding will increase over the years to come,”  said Vestager. “So what we can do here is to enable that funding to be spent in a better way, that we get more value for money, and that more, relatively speaking, is being spent in Europe as well.” 

EU countries are finally reversing decades of shrinking defense investments. Many who are also NATO members are expected to meet the alliance’s 2 percent GDP spending target this year.  

Experts said this wakeup call is late in coming. The EU, for example, is missing its March target to deliver 1 million shells it promised Ukraine. That’s now supposed to happen by the end of the year. Meanwhile, Ukrainian forces are struggling — and some European leaders fear Europe may be Russia’s next target.  

Additionally, billions of dollars in aid to Ukraine are stalled in the U.S. Congress. Concerns also are growing that Washington’s support for NATO and Kyiv could decrease if Donald Trump returns to office.

“We have to build up the defense industry, obviously,” said French security analyst Francois Heisbourg. “But things are going more quickly than the time to take to build up the defense industry.”  

EU member states still need to greenlight the commission’s proposals — and that’s expected to take time.
…

your ad here

US Stops Short of Congratulating Indonesia’s Prabowo Subianto on Apparent Election Victory

Posted on by SeeEA

The White House says it looks forward to working with the new Indonesian administration but stopped short of congratulating Prabowo Subianto on his apparent victory in Indonesia’s presidential election last month. Prabowo, for his part, has vowed to continue a policy that allows Jakarta to reap Chinese investments while maintaining security ties with Washington. White House Bureau Chief Patsy Widakuswara has this report.
…

your ad here

Nigeria Starts Trials Against Alleged 2023 Election Offenders

Posted on by SeeAF

Abuja, Nigeria — Nigeria began trials this week for hundreds of people, including members of the country’s electoral commission, accused of committing offenses related to last year’s general elections.

Trials for 190 people, including electoral body officials and members of the major political parties, opened in courts across the country on Monday.

Lawyers from Nigeria’s Independent National Electoral Commission, or INEC, are serving as the prosecutor at the trials, with attorneys with the Nigerian Bar Association providing the defense.

The INEC says the trials will serve as deterrents in future elections.

Godbless Otubure, founder of the pro-democracy nonprofit Ready to Lead Africa, said civic society groups welcome the trials but hope they are not just for show.

“It shows that the recommendations that the [civil society organization] community has been making to INEC to ensure that the sanctity and integrity of the electoral process is protected, is sort of gaining ground,” Otubure said. “A bit slow, but this is a welcome development. What we want to see is beyond just the announcement of trials, it’s securing convictions. We’ll continue to monitor it closely and see what the end product is.”

Defendants are facing charges such as vote buying, stealing and destroying election materials, disorderly conduct at election venues, willful neglect of duty, possession of firearms and election-related violence.

Such infractions are common in Nigeria before, during and after the polls. In last year’s general elections, police say more than 20 people were killed in election-related violence.

Emmanuel Njoku of the nonprofit Connected Development said he hopes some of the main perpetrators will be brought to justice.

“The thing that would achieve the most impact is not just trying these faceless people, there are very popular faces that were caught on live video threatening people not to come out to vote,” Njoku said. “If we can see such people arrested, tried and convicted on the basis of available evidence, that in itself will go a very long way.”

According to the Afrobarometer survey conducted before the polls, less than a fourth of Nigerian citizens had trust in the electoral process. Analysts say irregularities during the polls made matters worse.

Otubure said if the trial results in convictions, it could change the negative public opinions.

“It’s about cause and effect,” Otubure said. “If people part away with ballot boxes, disrupt the electoral process and they go scot-free, you reduce overall public trust. If people get involved in electoral offenses and they are tried and jailed, you begin to build public trust again. It will not solve the age-long challenge of mistrust but it will begin a reconstruction process.”

For now, civil society organizations and observers will be watching to see what happens.
…

your ad here

Germany Blames Human Error After Russia Hacks Call on Ukraine Missiles

Posted on by SeeEU

LONDON — Germany said Tuesday that human error was to blame for Russia obtaining the recording of a phone call among senior German military officials discussing the supply of long-range weapons to Ukraine, denying its government communication systems had been compromised.

In the audio recording, published by the state-owned broadcaster Russia Today on Friday, four senior German officers — including the head of the air force — purportedly discussed supplying Taurus missiles to Kyiv.

Berlin has not disputed the veracity of the recording.

“Our communication systems are not and have not been compromised,” German Defense Minister Boris Pistorius said Tuesday at a news conference in Berlin.

“The reason that the phone call could still be recorded in the ranks of the air force is due to an individual application error. Not all participants adhered to the secure dialing procedure as prescribed. According to current knowledge, data was leaked from the participant in Singapore. He was connected via an unauthorized connection, i.e., virtually via an open connection,” Pistorius said.

The recording was published on the same day as the funeral of the late Russian opposition politician Alexey Navalny, who died in unexplained circumstances two weeks ago in an Arctic prison.

Russian intelligence

The recording has prompted questions about what other intelligence Russia was able to gather, said Marina Miron, a defense analyst at King’s College London’s Department of War Studies.

“What we don’t know is what else do they know. This is the one call that they decided to reveal. And probably Russia knows about all [weapons] deliveries, where they are taking place. And this is very, very serious, specifically in terms of trust when it comes to intelligence sharing between Germany and other partner nations. And I think this, of course, plays into Russia’s hands. Because the idea is not to fight with NATO kinetically — an open war — but to destabilize the alliance from within,” Miron told VOA.

Taurus missiles

Germany has repeatedly refused to supply Ukraine with its long-range Taurus missiles since Russia’s 2022 invasion, citing the risk of escalation with Moscow. However, the audio recording suggested that senior military figures are in favor of supplying the missiles to Kyiv.

“What it shows to me is that there is some sort of a disagreement between the higher command and what they foresee as viable, as opposed to what the political leadership wants. Which calls into question, ‘What is the relationship there?’” Miron said.

In the recording, the officers speculated on whether the Taurus missiles could hit the Kerch Bridge that connects Russian-controlled Crimea to the mainland.

British involvement

The recording also suggested that British military personnel are in Ukraine teaching Kyiv’s forces how to operate the long-range Storm Shadow missiles provided by London.

The British government has not commented.

Russia claimed the recording showed the involvement of the “collective West” in the conflict.

“They constantly insist that the West is not at war with Russia, the West only supplies weapons. Then it turns out that there are Western citizens there [in Ukraine]. They say yes, but they are mercenaries. They retired from military service. Doubtful in the vast majority of cases,” Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said Monday.

Russia’s Foreign Ministry added that the audio proved Germany had not been fully “de-Nazified” — language strongly criticized by Berlin.

Germany has disputed Russia’s interpretation of the conversation, describing it as part of Moscow’s disinformation campaign.

“It is quite clear that such claims that this speech would prove that Germany is preparing a war against Russia is absurdly infamous Russian propaganda,” government spokesperson Wolfgang Buchner told reporters on Monday.

Missile impact

Russia fears that if Ukraine obtains long-range missiles from its Western allies, its logistics and supply lines could be severely disrupted, said Miron.

“I do not think that [German Chancellor] Olaf Scholz will allow Taurus missiles to be deployed to Ukraine.

“So, I think with the release of this recording, the Russians want to make sure this doesn’t happen, because with external pressure, Scholz was able to allow the Leopard tanks to be sent to Ukraine. And they just wanted to avoid such possibilities, because that would create some issues for the Russians,” Miron said.
…

your ad here

Germany Blames Human Error After Russia Hacks Call on Ukraine Missiles

Posted on by SeeEU

Germany said Tuesday that human error is to blame for Russia obtaining a telephone recording of senior German military officials discussing supplying long-range weapons to Ukraine. Berlin denied its systems had been hacked. As Henry Ridgwell reports from London, Western allies fear what other intelligence Russia may have obtained.
…

your ad here

South Sudan Activist in US Charged With Trying to Export Arms Illegally for Coup Back Home

Posted on by SeeUS

phoenix, arizona — A leading South Sudanese academic and activist living in exile in the United States has been charged in Arizona along with a Utah man born in the African nation on charges of conspiring to buy and illegally export millions of dollars’ worth of weapons to overthrow the government back home. 

Peter Biar Ajak fled to the U.S. with the help of the American government four years ago, after he said South Sudan’s president ordered him abducted or killed. Emergency visas were issued at the time to Ajak, now 40, and his family after they spent weeks in hiding in Kenya. He was most recently living in Maryland. 

A federal criminal complaint unsealed Monday in Arizona charges Ajak and Abraham Chol Keech, 44, of Utah, with conspiring to purchase and illegally export through a third country to South Sudan a cache of weapons in violation of the Arms Export Control Act and the Export Control Reform Act. The weapons that were considered included automatic rifles like AK-47s, grenade launchers, Stinger missile systems, hand grenades, sniper rifles, ammunition, and other export-controlled arms. 

Although the criminal complaint was made public by Justice officials, the case was still not available in the federal government’s online system by Tuesday afternoon so it was unknown if the men had attorneys who could speak to the charges against them. 

“As alleged, the defendants sought to unlawfully smuggle heavy weapons and ammunition from the United States into South Sudan — a country that is subject to a U.N. arms embargo due to the violence between armed groups, which has killed and displaced thousands,” Assistant Attorney General Matthew Olsen of the Justice Department’s National Security Division said in a statement. 

“Sanctions and export controls help ensure that American weapons are not used internationally to destabilize other sovereign nations,” said Gary Restaino, U.S. attorney for Arizona. 

A man who answered the telephone Tuesday at the Embassy of South Sudan in Washington said the mission does not have a press officer and the ambassador was traveling and unavailable for comment. 

From 2022-23, Ajak was a postdoctoral fellow in the Belfer Center’s International Security Program at the Harvard Kennedy School, focusing on state formation in South Sudan, according to the program’s website. He has also been a fellow at the Africa Center for Strategic Studies of the National Defense University and a Reagan-Fascell Democracy Fellow at the National Endowment for Democracy. 

Sudan gained independence from Sudan July 9, 2011, after a successful referendum. But widespread inter-ethnic violence and extreme human rights abuses by all sides continue to plague the country. 
…

your ad here

Mixed Reactions in Zimbabwe to New US Sanctions

Posted on by SeeAF

Harare, Zimbabwe — There are mixed feelings among Zimbabwe’s political class after the U.S. removed sanctions against many Zimbabweans and companies on Monday but imposed new ones on President Emmerson Mnangagwa and a few senior leaders.

The sanctions list was introduced in 2001 for alleged election rigging and human rights abuses. At the same time, Washington imposed fresh sanctions on Mnangagwa and other senior leaders, condemning what it called a campaign of rights abuses and corruption in the southern African nation.

On social media, Zimbabwe government spokesman Nick Mangwana praised the removals, calling it a “great vindication” of Mnangagwa’s foreign policy.

But, he said, since Mnangagwa and some companies remain under sanctions, all of Zimbabwe “remains under illegal sanctions.”

But Rutendo Matinyarare, chairman of Zimbabwe Anti-Sanctions Movement — an organization that has been leading calls for sanctions removal — posted a video hailing the changes.

“This is very important,” he said. “The government of Zimbabwe can go and borrow money, Zimbabwean businesses can borrow money, they can buy machinery, they can make payment clearances. We are happy, the most pertinent, the most evil of these sanctions are removed.”

He said there is still work to do, however.

“Now what are we going to do about the sanctions on the president, a number of businesspeople and some ministers?” he said. “We will say and urge the president of the country plus the businessmen there that join us and we will undertake legal action to have these said sanctions removed. We have proved that legal pressure works, and it has worked better than re-engagement because if re-engagement [worked], our president, our vice president and members of our government wouldn’t be under sanctions.”

Zimbabwe’s government blames sanctions for the struggle of the country’s economy since their imposition in the early 2000s.

But critics attribute the decline to corruption and bad policies by Harare.

Lloyd Damba, spokesman for the opposition Movement for Democratic Change, said removal of most sanctions will expose the shortcomings of the ruling ZANU-PF party.

“It is a good thing that these sanctions have been removed, and now we want to see how the economy is going to perform,” he said. “Because you know that these people are corrupt, we know that these people are not competent. We know that these people will never abandon the way of doing things, especially when it comes to looting and stealing. Those things that [have] nothing to do with sanctions.”

Tafadzwa Manenji, an independent international relations commentator based in Harare, argues that keeping the president under sanctions will affect the whole country.

“Those people on the list are the government, so you cannot sanction individuals who are in charge and … say the rest must not be affected by those sanctions,” he said.

In announcing changes to the sanctions regime Monday, President Joe Biden also terminated the official U.S. state of emergency regarding actions and policies of the Zimbabwe government, first imposed in 2003.
…

your ad here

Meta’s Facebook, Instagram Back Up After Global Outage

Posted on by SeeUS

Washington — Meta-owned Facebook and Instagram were back up on Tuesday after a more than two-hour outage that was caused by a technical issue and impacted hundreds of thousands of users globally.

The disruptions started at around 10:00 a.m. ET (1500 GMT), with many users saying on rival social media platform X they had been booted out of Facebook and Instagram and were unable to log in.

“We are aware of the incident and at this time, we are not aware of any specific malicious cyber activity at this time,” a spokesperson for the White House National Security Council said.

At the peak of the outage, there were more than 550,000 reports of disruptions for Facebook and about 92,000 for Instagram, according to outage tracking website Downdetector.com.

“Earlier today, a technical issue caused people to have difficulty accessing some of our services. We resolved the issue … for everyone who was impacted,” Meta spokesperson Andy Stone said in a post on X.

Meta Platforms, shares of which were down 1.2% in afternoon trading, has about 3.19 billion daily active users across its family of apps, which also include WhatsApp and Threads.

Its status dashboard had earlier showed the application programming interface for WhatsApp Business was also facing issues.

Though the outage for WhatsApp and Threads was much smaller, according to Downdetector, which tracks outages by collating status reports from several sources including users.

Several employees of Meta said on anonymous messaging app Blind that they were unable to log in to their internal work systems, which left them wondering if they were laid off, according to posts seen by Reuters.

The outage was among the top trending topics on X, formerly Twitter, with the platform’s owner Elon Musk taking a shot at Meta with a post that said: “If you’re reading this post, it’s because our servers are working.”

X itself has faced several disruptions to its service after Musk’s $44 billion purchase of the social media platform in October 2022, with an outage in December causing issues for more than 77,000 users in countries from the U.S. to France.
…

your ad here

Hungarian President Signs Sweden’s Bid to Join NATO

Posted on by SeeEU

Budapest, Hungary — Hungary’s president on Tuesday signed the law on Sweden’s bid to join NATO, a final technical step before the Nordic country becomes the alliance’s 32rd member.

Hungary’s parliament ratified Sweden’s bid on February 26, ending more than a year of delays that frustrated other alliance members in the face of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.

“Tamas Sulyok, the president of the republic, today signed the decision taken by the National Assembly on February 26, 2024, regarding Sweden’s membership in NATO,” a statement on the presidential website read.

Sweden, which has been militarily neutral for two centuries, will then be invited to accede to the Washington Treaty and officially become NATO’s 32nd member. 

Russia’s invasion of Ukraine two years ago prompted Sweden and neighboring Finland to apply to join the trans-Atlantic bloc, ending their longstanding stance of non-alignment.

Every NATO member has to approve a new country’s membership.

Finland joined in April last year, but Sweden’s bid was stalled by both Hungary and Turkey, with Ankara approving Stockholm’s candidacy only in January.

Though repeatedly saying it supported Swedish membership in principle, Hungary kept prolonging the process, asking Stockholm to stop “vilifying” the Hungarian government.

After a meeting between Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban and his Swedish counterpart Ulf Kristersson in Budapest, the Hungarian leader announced that the two had clarified “our mutual good intentions”.

Hungary also signed a deal to acquire four Swedish-made fighter jets, expanding its fleet of 14 Jas 39 Gripen fighters.
…

your ad here

Princess of Wales Announces First Confirmed Official Duty Since Surgery

Posted on by SeeEU

LONDON — British officials said Tuesday that Kate, the Princess of Wales, will attend a Trooping the Color ceremony in June. It is her first confirmed major official duty since the royal underwent abdominal surgery. 

Kate, Prince William’s wife, has been out of the public eye since January, when palace officials announced that she was admitted to a private London hospital for planned surgery. At the time, they did not provide more details but said she would not return to public duties until after Easter. 

The ceremony is celebrated on June 8 and the weekend that follows. The events, annual highlights in the royal calendar, are pomp-filled birthday parades to honor the reigning monarch and usually draw huge crowds each June to watch the display. The tradition dates back more than 260 years. 

The Ministry of Defense said Kate, 42, will inspect soldiers on parade during the June 8 ceremony. Hundreds of foot guards, horse guards and members of military bands will participate in the spectacle at central London’s Horse Guards and along The Mall, the promenade outside Buckingham Palace. 

The royal family has been under intense media scrutiny in recent weeks because both Kate and King Chares III cannot carry out their usual public duties due to their health problems. Royal officials say Charles is undergoing treatment for an unspecified form of cancer, which was discovered during treatment for an enlarged prostate. 

Kate was discharged from the hospital on January 29 after two weeks for her undisclosed condition. Palace officials have said she wished her personal medical information to remain private. 
…

your ad here

China Unveils Ambitious Economic Growth Target Despite Weak Public Confidence

Posted on by SeeEA

Taipei, Taiwan — China’s top leaders set an ambitious economic growth target of 5% for 2024 Tuesday, vowing to “seek progress while maintaining stability” amid a sluggish economy and weak confidence among investors and consumers. 

Delivering his first work report since assuming the second-most powerful position in China last October, Chinese Premier Li Qiang acknowledged that China faces an environment characterized by opportunities, risks, and challenges but emphasized that favorable conditions still outweigh unfavorable factors, according to China’s official Xinhua News Agency.

In the face of weak economic growth worldwide and the lack of a solid foundation for China to stabilize its economic growth, Li said Beijing will continue to adopt “proactive fiscal policy and prudent monetary policy” to cope with the long list of economic challenges.

According to Li, the Chinese government plans to issue about $139 billion in special treasury bonds over the next few years while offering support to debt-laden local governments and sticking with the strategy of “high-quality growth,” which focuses on driving growth through innovation. 

Li said China would mobilize resources across the country to “promote the construction of a modern industrial system, accelerate the development of new productive forces,” and allow innovation to drive economic growth, according to readouts on China’s state-run Xinhua news agency.

Li’s speech comes as China faces a long list of economic challenges, including an ongoing real estate crisis, low consumer and household confidence, and weak external demand. While Li promised to expand domestic demand and increase efforts to attract foreign investment, some economists say that unless China initiates fundamental economic reforms, these plans may only be “policy slogans.”  

“A lot of the strategic industries in China are controlled by state-owned enterprises and their investment efficiency is quite low,” Wang Kuo-chen, an expert on the Chinese economy at the Chunghwa Institute for Economic Research in Taiwan, told VOA by phone. 

In his view, even if China tries to increase support for private enterprises, state-owned enterprises, or military enterprises continue to control strategic industries in the country, it will be difficult for the Chinese government to emerge from the current economic turmoil.  

“If Beijing doesn’t fundamentally change its economic model, it’ll be hard for China to implement new economic strategies such as high-quality development and new productive forces,” Wang told VOA.  

Despite the doubt expressed by some economists, other analysts say the Chinese government will continue to concentrate resources on technological innovation in the near future.  

“The whole government work report is focusing on modernization with Chinese characteristics and new productive forces,” Wang Hsin-hsien, an expert on Chinese politics at National Chengchi University in Taiwan, told VOA in a phone interview.  

He said a large part of Li’s speech focuses on technological innovation, which may also be Beijing’s response to the U.S.-led effort to restrict its access to some core technologies, such as advanced semiconductor chips. “These policy proposals have a lot to do with challenges that China faces internationally,” Wang said.  

Apart from the outline of Beijing’s economic measures over the next year, Li Qiang also highlighted the need for China to strengthen social security and services, including a comprehensive strategy to cope with its rapidly aging population and measures to tackle youth unemployment.

Since China’s National People’s Congress passed revisions to the state secrets law just days before the “Two Sessions,” Li reiterated the need for the Chinese government to “safeguard national security and social stability.” “[We should] the overall concept of national security while strengthening the national security system,” he said in the speech.  

Some analysts say Li’s speech shows that security remains the top concern for the Chinese government. According to statistics shared by Ruihan Huang, a senior associate at Chicago-based think tank MarcoPolo, the word security was mentioned 28 times in this year’s government work report, which is three times more than last year.

As Li doubled down on the importance of prioritizing national security in his speech, some experts told VOA that such a governance model imposes a cost on the Chinese economy. “When [a government] invests one unit more in security, in the short term, it at least means one unit less in something else, including in growth,” Ian Chong, a political scientist at the National University of Singapore, told VOA by phone. 

While some analysts describe Li’s speech and the content of China’s government work report as “unsurprising,” the Chinese government’s decision to cancel the premier’s press conference at the end of the annual legislative meeting is still a precedence-breaking move that reflects the diminishing power that the premier possesses under the current Chinese political system. 

The Chinese government “has redefined the role of premier as an implementer of decisions made by the Politburo, a top decision-making body, under the general secretary’s leadership,” Dali Yang, a political scientist at the University of Chicago, told VOA by phone. 

As the world now interprets the signals reflected through Li Qiang’s speech Tuesday, Chong in Singapore thinks the outside world’s perception of China will likely remain unchanged in the short term.  

“Ultimately, what investors want is certainty, and for there to be more certainty, there has to be more transparency in data and that compliance is straightforward to follow,” he told VOA. “While Li Qiang talks about confidence, the instruments that allow for confidence aren’t really there.”
…

your ad here

China Unveils 5% Growth Target During Ceremonial Meeting of Parliament

Posted on by SeeEA

China kicked off its annual session of parliament Tuesday in Beijing. VOA’s Bill Gallo, who attended the event, says Chinese leaders are trying to put a positive spin on the many economic problems they face.
…

your ad here

Tesla’s German Plant Halts Production After Suspected Arson Nearby

Posted on by SeeEU

BERLIN — Tesla’s European Gigafactory near Berlin halted production and was left without power after suspected arson set an electricity pylon ablaze in a field close to the site early on Tuesday morning.

Police said the fire brigade was working to put out the fire in the area southeast of the German capital, adding that the blaze had not spread to the Tesla plant itself.

A spokesperson for the U.S. electric vehicle maker confirmed production had stopped and the site had been evacuated. Tesla’s Frankfurt-listed shares were down 2.8% at 1006 GMT.

Police are investigating a possible arson attack in the area, which has been the focus of environmental protests against the Tesla plant’s planned expansion.

They would not confirm media reports that bomb disposal units had been deployed after emergency services found a sign saying “ordnance buried here.”

Workers for energy company E.ON, which is in charge of the plant’s grid connection, are repairing the damage to the high-voltage pylon, which knocked out electricity in the area, the company said.

Tesla’s ambitions to expand its plant, which has a capacity of around 500,000 cars a year, hit a roadblock when local residents voted down a motion to fell trees to enlarge it.

The U.S. EV maker wants to double the site’s capacity to 100 gigawatt hours of battery production and 1 million cars per year, setting it up to dominate the European market.

Environmental activists have built and occupied treehouses in the forested area they expect to be cleared if the expansion goes ahead.

A spokesperson for the Robin Wood, one of the groups that is protesting against the expansion, said they had no knowledge of what could have caused the incident.

“We’re totally surprised by the situation,” the spokesperson said by phone, adding that a full statement would be made later.

Citizens in Gruenheide last month voted against a motion to clear enough forest for the company to build extra logistical spaces like a train station and warehouses, leaving it to local authorities to decide how to proceed.

The plant’s production ramp-up has slowed though the carmaker produced 6,000 cars in a week for the first time in January.
…

your ad here

Republican Voters Clash Over Whether Haley Should Remain in Nomination Race

Posted on by SeeUS

NEW ORLEANS — As the Republican Party primary contests continue into their third month, former South Carolina Governor Nikki Haley is the only remaining challenger to former U.S. President Donald Trump. 

The primaries will determine who is the GOP’s nominee for president and who will challenge President Joe Biden in November’s presidential election.

 

Trump has won all but one of the 11 primaries and caucuses so far, racking up 276 total delegates to Haley’s 43. (Haley earned her first victory in Washington D.C. this past weekend, a contest long predicted to go her way.) With 15 states casting their votes for a nominee on March 5, a day known as “Super Tuesday,” Republicans are divided on whether Haley should remain in the race or get out of the former president’s way.  

 

“If you’re a Democrat, you probably want Haley to stay in the race because she’s distracting Trump from focusing on defeating Biden,” explained Bob Carreto, a Trump supporter from Chalmette, Louisiana. “But if you’re a real Republican, you want her to drop out of the primaries as fast as possible.”

“She’s forcing Trump to spend money defeating her, and it’s not good for the Republican Party,” Carreto said. “But the reality is, she doesn’t stand a chance, so she should just quit.”

Even though Trump has won each of the contests so far, not all voters who could cast their ballot this November for a Republican think Haley should exit.

“I think she’s incredibly brave for staying in the race, especially given that Trump is a maniacal egoist who attacks anyone who challenges him,” Abby LaCombe, an independent voter from Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, told VOA. 

“She’s facing a lot of attacks for refusing to withdraw, and she’s giving people who vote Republican a choice — the ability to choose someone other than Trump, a politician who has shown he has no respect whatsoever for democracy,” LaCombe said.

The Haley campaign did not respond to VOA’s request for comment when asked what Haley would say to those questioning why she is staying in the race.

Uphill battle

The Trump campaign has been insistent on undercutting Haley’s challenge by 

highlighting her many stumbles at the ballot box. In her home state of South Carolina, for example, the former president collected 60% of the vote to her 40%.

Michigan is a more moderate state where independent voters — thought to be more receptive to Haley’s message — are allowed to vote in the Republican primary. Still, in the state’s recent primary, Trump’s margin of victory was even greater (68% to 27%).

“She can’t name one state she can win, let alone be competitive in,” Steven Cheung, a Trump spokesperson, said in a statement last week.

The Haley campaign did not respond to VOA’s request for comment when asked where she believes she can win on Super Tuesday or beyond.

On Sunday’s “Meet the Press” talk show, Haley said, “I think we fight. You’re going to have 16 states and territories that are voting on Tuesday. And so, a lot of people’s voices are going to be heard. And that’s what this has all been about.”

Most political experts, like University of Georgia political scientist Charles Bullock, agree that it will be difficult for Haley to win against the former president.

“I think it’s probably too late for her,” he explained to VOA. “This is Trump’s party, and he controls its voters. It’s a party dominated by an electorate who will stick with him no matter what — probably until he dies or withdraws from public view.”

Bullock, however, sees one way the Republican faithful could abandon him.

“A conviction,” he said. “Polling shows that if he is convicted of one of the several crimes he is accused of, then a substantial number of voters would abandon him. I think it’s possible that Haley is waiting, hopeful she could gather his votes if a conviction takes place.”

Trump faces 91 charges in four trials, including allegations he illegally tried to upend his 2020 election loss, whether he illegally took highly classified documents with him when he left office, and whether he falsified documents related to hush-money paid to a porn actor.

He has denied all the allegations.

Motivation for remaining in the race

A Reuters/Ipsos poll from last month found that 51% of Republican voters said they would not vote for Trump if he was convicted of any of the 91 felony charges brought against him across four criminal trials. A further 25% said they weren’t sure how they would vote in that case.

Fifty-eight percent said they would not vote for Trump if he were serving time in prison in November.

While experts like Bullock believe a Trump conviction might be Haley’s reason for staying in the race, others say she could have other motivations.

Henry Olsen, a senior fellow with the Ethics and Public Policy Center, believes Haley, the former U.S. ambassador to the United Nations, hopes if she can win several states, it will allow her to gain concessions from Trump during the Republican National Convention.

“She’s been spending her time in more moderate states and states where independent voters are also allowed to take part in the Republican primary,” Olsen said, adding, “states like Minnesota, where Marco Rubio beat Trump in the 2016 primary, and Colorado, where moderate Republican Senator Joe O’Dea beat a Trump-supported opponent by a wide margin.”

“Utah, Vermont, Massachusetts and Maine are all in the same boat, and if she can win five states, Republican Party rules will give her more time and clout at the convention to voice her opposition to Trump,” Olsen continued. “Those wins are going to be a stretch for her, but if she gets them, Trump’s team will want to avoid any bad attention at the convention and may be willing to give concessions important to her, like a promise to support NATO.”

Other experts, like David Stack, a political scientist at Cleveland State University, thinks Haley might have one eye set on the 2028 presidential election.

“I just don’t see Haley having a path to the nomination this cycle,” Stack told VOA. “Her best bet for a win on Super Tuesday might be in Vermont, but even there she is down by about 30% in polling.”

“So, the question then is why is she staying in the race?” Stack said. “I think it could be to bolster her name recognition and collect donations for future elections. If she has a good amount of money in the bank after Super Tuesday, that could be a sign she is building a war chest for the future.”

Alternative to Trump

For her part, Haley insists her focus is on the present and that she believes she is the Republican Party’s best chance at unseating President Biden.

“This has never been about me or my political future,” Haley said last week after her defeat in the South Carolina primaries. “We need to beat Joe Biden in November. I don’t believe Donald Trump can beat Joe Biden. Nearly every day, Trump drives people away.”

She added, “I’m an accountant. I know 40% is not 50%, but I also know 40% is not some tiny group. There are huge numbers in our Republican primaries who are saying they want an alternative.”

Jason Winder, a Republican from Uintah County, Utah, says he is one of those voters and is looking forward to casting his ballot for Haley on Tuesday.

“I like the idea of having a choice, and I’m grateful to still be able to show my dissent for Trump by backing someone who wasn’t involved in the January 6 insurrection,” Winder told VOA. “I hope the GOP leadership wakes up. He lost the popular vote in 2016 and 2020, and I think the margins will be even bigger this year. At least Nikki Haley gives us a chance.”

This week, Haley told supporters at a rally in Minnesota that Trump can’t win the general election if he’s losing 40% of the vote, and polling has shown a sizable portion of the Republican Party believe Trump is too extreme to defeat Biden. Nearly nine in 10 Haley voters in South Carolina said they would not be satisfied with Trump as the Republican Party’s presidential nominee.

As a result, support in the form of fundraising dollars and endorsements from moderate segments of the Republican Party continue to find their way to the former governor.

On Friday, Haley received endorsements from two of the party’s most moderate senators, Susan Collins from Maine and Lisa Murkowski from Alaska.

Despite that support, many in the party, including Trump’s most ardent supporters, continue to push Haley to exit the race.

“I actually like Nikki Haley and I would vote for her if she was the nominee,” explained Harvey Wasserman, a resident of Daytona Beach, Florida. “But I’ve voted for Trump twice and I’m going to do it again in the primary. I don’t think she can win, so it’s time for her to give the stage to Trump so he can focus on Biden.”
…

your ad here