sydney — Workers at Australian state-owned submarine builder ASC Ltd began a four-day strike on Wednesday, escalating a campaign for higher wages that threatens maintenance work on the aging submarine fleet Australia must rely on until its nuclear-powered AUKUS replacements arrive in the 2030s.

The 100-hour strike began at noon on Wednesday and includes all of the roughly 350 blue-collar workers at the Osborne Naval Shipyard in South Australia state, where Australia maintains its fleet of Collins-class submarines, according to the Australian Manufacturing Workers Union (AMWU).

The strikes, the latest in a series since May, are adding months of delays to maintenance work on two of Australia’s six Collins submarines, according to the union.

ASC said in a statement it could not comment on submarine availability for national security reasons.

Workers are striking over what they say are discrepancies in pay between those employed by ASC Ltd in South Australia state and Western Australia state.

Unions say the workers in South Australia are paid 17.5% less on average and want ASC Ltd to equalize pay for their workers in the two states.

“Workers are frustrated with the company,” said AMWU South Australia Assistant State Secretary Stuart Gordon, who flagged the possibility of more strikes next week.

“ASC has said it would address pay parity and come to the bargaining table. But clearly the company has refused to do either.”

ASC said unions had rejected multiple offers and it will continue to negotiate in good faith.

The shipyard is vital part of Australia’s naval infrastructure and is where ASC and British firm BAE Systems, will jointly build Australia’s fleet of nuclear-powered submarines, the core component of the 2021 AUKUS pact between Australia, Britain and the United States.

Australia announced last month a $1.4 billion dollar, four-year contract with ASC to extend the life of the Collins class submarines until the AUKUS replacements are ready.
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WASHINGTON — Harrison Li, the son of Kai Li, a Chinese American wrongfully detained in China since 2016, felt a mix of emotions after witnessing the recent return of Americans wrongfully imprisoned in Russia.

Last Thursday, President Joe Biden and the families of those released celebrated the return of three Americans and a permanent resident, including two journalists and an activist, as part of the largest prisoner exchange since the Soviet era.

Kai Li is one of at least three Americans wrongfully detained in China. He was arrested in Shanghai in September 2016 and in 2018 was sentenced to 10 years in prison for espionage, which he has consistently denied. The other two wrongfully detained by China are Texas businessman Mark Swidan and California pastor David Lin.

The U.S. State Department does not disclose the number of wrongful detention cases due to privacy concerns and the sensitivity of efforts to secure the release of wrongfully detained U.S. nationals.

“U.S. citizens are not required to register their travel to a foreign country with us, and we do not maintain comprehensive lists of U.S. citizens residing overseas,” a State Department spokesperson told VOA in an email when asked about the total number of wrongfully detained Americans in China.

For the past eight years, Harrison Li has urged two consecutive U.S. administrations to secure his father’s release.

“Our family is extremely pleased to see the return of Paul Whelan, Alsu Kurmasheva, and Evan Gershkovich back to the U.S. and wish them and their families the best in the long road to recovery,” Li told VOA in a written statement.

“Once again, President Biden has shown his willingness to make difficult decisions that prioritize the safety of Americans unjustly detained abroad … except in China.”

Li expressed frustration over the lack of attention given to his father’s case by the U.S. administration.

“All we can do is once again remind the President that my dad has suffered unjustly for almost 8 years now, and that he must act to ‘finish the job’ before it’s too late,” Li wrote.

Several members of Congress are also urging the Biden administration to secure the release of Americans wrongfully detained in China.

Congressman Michael McCaul, chairman of the Committee on Foreign Affairs, told VOA that Americans wrongfully detained in China and elsewhere deserve to be home with their families.

“One American wrongfully detained abroad is too many,” he said. “As wrongfully detained Americans returned home this week from Russia, we cannot forget about those held around the world, including those in China — particularly Mark Swidan, Kai Li, and David Lin.”

Families call for urgent action

Katherine Swidan, the mother of Mark Swidan, revealed that her son has been on a hunger strike for many days. He has been detained in China since 2012 on narcotics trafficking charges, which he denies.

“Mark’s been on a hunger strike for 115 days. He’s lost a lot of weight, and he’s been sick. His leg was swollen, and they did a very sparse medical exam,” Swidan told VOA.

According to Swidan, U.S. Ambassador to China Nicholas Burns visited her son in the past.

“When he went to see Mark, he told Mark the next time I come to see you, hopefully it will be to bring you home,” Swidan said.

That message left both her and Mark full of hope, but Mark continues to experience disappointment and anger and has had suicidal tendencies.

“When I talked to him, he said he was in a room with, like, nine other people, seven to nine people. He is doing gardening, planting stuff. But he is furious because he doesn’t understand why they are not pushing for him to come home,” she said.

Renewed focus

Peter Humphrey, a former British reporter in China, was arrested in 2013 and sentenced to two and a half years in prison for illegally obtaining citizen information. He was released early in June 2015 due to health reasons and was deported after medical treatment in Shanghai.

Now a nonresident researcher at Harvard University’s Fairbank Center for China Studies, Humphrey uses his experience to assist foreign citizens detained in China and help them contact government officials. He says he has supported some American detainees whose cases remained unreported for fear that publicity would make their situations worse.

Humphrey believes that after last week’s U.S.-Russia prisoner exchange, the United States should refocus its attention on Americans improperly detained in China and elsewhere.

“These people are arbitrarily detained, and the American government should wake up and understand the fact that it is their duty of care to protect American citizens in China who become victims of this false and cruel process of Chinese justice,” he told VOA. “Some talks are happening but not like significant progress.”

Travel advisory

A U.S. State Department spokesperson said the department has no higher priority than the safety and security of U.S. citizens overseas.

“Secretary Blinken, Ambassador Burns, and other senior U.S. government officials continue to advocate for the immediate and unconditional release of wrongfully detained U.S. citizens in meetings with PRC officials,” the spokesperson told VOA. “The U.S. mission in China will continue to offer consular services to every U.S. citizen detained in the PRC.”

The Department of State travel advisory is at Level 3 for mainland China, recommending that U.S. citizens reconsider travel due to arbitrary enforcement of local laws, exit bans and the risk of wrongful detentions.

“The sad facts are that the PRC has blocked U.S. citizens, including college students, minors, businesspeople and tourists from leaving the country. U.S. citizens have been wrongfully detained by the PRC, and the PRC often arbitrarily enforces its own laws,” the spokesperson said.

Family appeals

Nelson and Cynthia Wells, whose son Nelson Wells Jr. was detained in China in 2014 and sentenced to life imprisonment for “drug smuggling” (later commuted to 22 years), have written letters to three consecutive U.S. presidents about their son’s imprisonment but have never received a response.

“We also don’t know if they received the letters,” they said. “I really believe that if we’re high-profile people, well, if we’re famous, or we’re a top athlete, or we have a lot of money, or we have any type of political connections, then we might get some recognition,” Nelson Wells told VOA.

The case has drawn the attention of U.S. Senators John Kennedy and Bill Cassidy, who are advocating for Nelson Wells Jr. to be recognized as “wrongfully detained.” Last October, Nelson and Cynthia Wells spoke with House Speaker Mike Johnson, who assured them he continues to address the issue.
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washington — China has lost a partner with the resignation under pressure of Bangladesh’s long-serving Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina, who during a visit to Beijing last month signed 28 bilateral agreements and agreed to raise ties between the countries to a “comprehensive strategic cooperative partnership.”

Beijing’s official response to her flight into exile was muted, with the Xinhua News Agency quoting the Foreign Ministry describing Bangladesh as a “friendly neighbor” and expressing its hopes that “social stability would be restored soon.”

But on Chinese social media platforms, users have openly praised the courage of the student protesters who drove Hasina out of office, braving a harsh military crackdown that saw dozens if not hundreds of students killed.

“At a moment when democracy and equality were faced with sustained and serious setbacks, the heroic people of Bangladesh used their lives and blood to turn the tide around. The world’s civilizations may be diverse, but they only have one path forward. Best wishes to the Bengalis,” one Weibo user wrote.

Some internet users lamented that Chinese are less willing than their Bangladeshi counterparts to resist government policies.

“They’re much braver compared to the people in China,” a Weibo user wrote.

“Agreed, some Chinese people aren’t even brave enough to leave their communities because of the pandemic,” another replied, a reference to the tight restrictions the Chinese government put in place during the COVID-19 outbreak.

Hours after Hasina fled, Bangladeshi Army Chief of Staff General Waker-Uz-Zaman addressed the people of Bangladesh, promising that the military would investigate the violent crackdown on the student protesters.

“Keep faith in the military, we will investigate all the killings and punish the responsible,” he said, adding that he had ordered the army and police to not open fire on crowds under any circumstances.

The military’s newfound restraint elicited praise from some Chinese social media users.

“I salute the brave Bangladeshi people, I salute the military that stands together with the people. Rights are acquired through fighting. Best wishes to the Bangladeshi people,” a comment read.

Others argued that the past month’s protests were the result of disorder brought upon the country by Western ideology, and that only an ideology such as that of the Chinese Communist Party could bring stability to Bangladesh.

“A handful of ambitious people, plus a small group of mindless fanatics, has shaped and destroyed the fate of everyone,” wrote one Weibo user. “The only way to avoid this result is through iron-fist rule by a party representative of the people. Democracy and freedom accelerate a country’s self-destruction. They are the worst political system.”

Other users applied the government’s own talking points to counter that argument.

“Democracy and freedom are written into socialist values. Who do you think you are, daring to oppose socialist values?” one comment read.

Hasina was Bangladesh’s longest-serving female head of government. She was re-elected for a fourth consecutive term in January elections boycotted by her main political rival. Thousands of opposition members were arrested ahead of the elections. The United States and Britain condemned the election results as untrustworthy.

Although what comes next remains to be seen, China will be watching closely given the amount of money and energy it has already invested in the relationship.

In the July communique announcing the two sides’ upgrade to a comprehensive strategic cooperative partnership, the two countries announced plans to increase defense exchanges and allow for an expanded Chinese role in Bangladeshi infrastructure and economic development.

In the security domain, Bangladesh has been a steady consumer of Chinese weapons. From 2009, when Hasina took power, to 2023, Bangladesh received 12% of Chinese total arms exports, a quantity second only to Pakistan, according to the SIPRI Arms Transfer database.

The two sides also partook in their first military exercise in early May of this year.

Bangladesh joined China’s Belt and Road Initiative in 2016 to receive Chinese financial assistance on various infrastructure projects. So far, China has assisted in the construction of important roads and railways, expansion of the power and communications grids, modernization of seaports and development of a surface water treatment plant.

Katherine Michaelson contributed to this report.
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SAINT-DENIS, France — Three-time world champion Quan Hongchan of China won the gold medal Tuesday in the women’s 10-meter platform at the Paris Olympics to defend her title from Tokyo.

Quan set the tone on her first dive, recording a perfect score of 10 from all seven judges. The dive was a forward 3½ somersaults, setting off wild cheers among a venue packed with Chinese fans.

Chen Yuxi of China took silver, a repeat of their finish three years ago at the Tokyo Olympics.

Kim Mi Rae of North Korea won bronze, adding to the silver medal she claimed earlier in women’s 10-meter synchronized, which was the country’s first medal in Olympic diving.

Quan scored 425.60 points on five dives, compared with 420.70 for Chen and 372.10 for Kim. Caeli McKay of Canada was fourth with 364.50 points.

The two Chinese women teamed up earlier to win the 10-meter synchronized in Paris.

China is aiming for an unprecedented sweep of the eight diving golds. The Chinese so far have won five golds after winning the four synchronized competitions in the opening week of the Games.

Quan and Chen had big leads over the field after the preliminary round on Monday, but those scores do not carry over to the final. It didn’t matter. They piled up the same margin there.
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Bangkok — Japan’s benchmark Nikkei 225 index soared more than 10% on Tuesday, rebounding after a rollercoaster start to the week that sent markets tumbling in Europe and on Wall Street.

European markets were mostly lower, with Germany’s DAX down 0.4% at 17,277.27 and the CAC 40 in Paris 0.7% lower, at 7,098.89.

In London, the FTSE 100 shed 0.4% to 7,974.44.

Those modest declines and gains in Asia suggested a respite from the turmoil of the past two trading sessions, when the Nikkei lost a combined 18.2% and other markets also swooned. U.S. futures showed solid gains, with the contract for the S&P 500 up 0.5% and that for the Dow Jones Industrial Average gaining 0.3%.

Monday’s plunge reminiscent of a crash in 1987 that swept around the world pummeled Wall Street with more steep losses, as fears worsened about a slowing U.S. economy.

The Nikkei gained nearly 11% early Tuesday and bounced throughout the day to close up 3,217.04 points at 34,675.46 as investors snapped up bargains after the 12.4% rout of the day before.

“Calm finally appears to be returning,” Bas van Geffen of Rabobank said in a report. The Nikkei’s 10% gain didn’t make up for Monday’s loss, he said, “but at least it takes some of the ‘panic’ out of the selling.”

The dollar rose to 144.87 yen from 144.17 yen. The yen’s rebound against the dollar after the Bank of Japan raised its main interest rate on July 31 was one factor behind the recent market swings, as investors who had borrowed in yen and invested in dollar assets like U.S. stocks sold their holdings to cover the higher costs of those “carry trade” deals.

Elsewhere in Asia, South Korea’s Kospi jumped 3.3% to 2,522.15. It had careened 8.8% lower on Monday.

Hong Kong’s Hang Seng index gave up early gains to close 0.3% lower at 16,647.34. The Shanghai Composite index, largely bypassed by Monday’s drama, rose 0.2% to 2,867.28.

In Australia, the S&P/ASX 200 advanced 0.4% to 7,680.60 as the central bank kept its main interest rate unchanged. Taiwan’s Taiex was up 1.2% after plunging 8.4% the day before and the SET index in Bangkok gained 0.3%.

On Monday, the S&P 500 dropped 3% for its worst day in nearly two years. The Dow declined 2.6% and the Nasdaq composite slid 3.4%.

The global sell-off that began last week and gained momentum after a report Friday showed that American slowed their hiring in July by much more than economists expected. That and other weaker than expected data added to concern the Federal Reserve has pressed the brakes on the U.S. economy by too much for too long through high interest rates in hopes of stifling inflation.

But sentiment was helped by a report Monday by the Institute for Supply Management said growth for U.S. services businesses was a touch stronger than expected, led by the arts, entertainment and recreation sectors, along with accommodations and food services.

The U.S. economy is still growing, so a recession is far from certain. The U.S. stock market is still up a healthy amount for the year, with double-digit percentage gains for the S&P 500, the Dow and the Nasdaq.

Markets have romped to dozens of all-time highs this year, in part due to a frenzy around artificial-intelligence technology and critics have been saying prices looked too expensive.

Other worries also are weighing on the market. The Israel-Hamas war and other global hotspots could cause sharp swings for the price of oil.

Early Tuesday, U.S. benchmark crude oil was up 12 cents at $73.06 per barrel. Brent crude, the international standard, picked up 3 cents to $76.33 per barrel.

The euro fell to $1.0910 from $1.0954.
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SEOUL, South Korea — North Korea marked the delivery of 250 nuclear-capable missile launchers to frontline military units at a ceremony where leader Kim Jong Un called for a ceaseless expansion of his military’s nuclear program to counter perceived U.S. threats, state media said Monday.

Concerns about Kim’s nuclear program have grown as he has demonstrated an intent to deploy battlefield nuclear weapons along the North’s border with South Korea and authorized his military to respond with preemptive nuclear strikes if it perceives the leadership as under threat.

North Korea’s official Korean Central News Agency said the launchers were freshly produced by the county’s munitions factories and designed to fire “tactical” ballistic missiles, a term that describes systems capable of delivering lower-yield nuclear weapons.

Kim said at Sunday’s event in Pyongyang the new launchers would give his frontline units “overwhelming” firepower over South Korea and make the operation of tactical nuclear weapons more practical and efficient. State media photos showed lines of army-green launcher trucks packing a large street with seemingly thousands of spectators attending the event, which included fireworks.

North Korea has been expanding its lineup of mobile short-range weapons designed to overwhelm missile defenses in South Korea, while also pursuing intercontinental ballistic missiles designed to reach the U.S. mainland.

Kim’s intensifying weapons tests and threats are widely seen as an attempt at pressuring the United States to accept the idea of North Korea as a nuclear power and to end U.S.-led sanctions imposed on North Korea over its nuclear program. North Korea also could seek to dial up tensions in a U.S. election year, experts say.

Kim lately has used Russia’s war on Ukraine as a distraction to further accelerate his weapons development. In response, the United States, South Korea and Japan have been expanding their combined military exercises and sharpening their nuclear deterrence strategies built around strategic U.S. military assets.

Lee Sung Joon, spokesperson of South Korea’s Joint Chiefs of Staff, said during a briefing that the South Korean and U.S. militaries were closely analyzing North Korea’s weapons development and further monitoring was needed to confirm the operational readiness of the missile systems showcased Sunday. He didn’t provide a specific assessment on whether the systems could be placed.

Lee said the missiles are likely to be shorter in range than some of North Korea’s most powerful short-range ballistic missiles, which have demonstrated an ability to travel more than 600 kilometers (372 miles).

The North in recent months has revealed a new missile called the Hwasong-11, which analysts say can travel up to 100 kilometers (62 miles). If deployed in frontline areas, the missiles would theoretically be able to cover huge swaths of South Korea’s greater capital area, where about half of the country’s 51 million people live.

In his speech at Sunday’s event, Kim called for his country to brace for a prolonged confrontation with the United States and urged a relentless expansion of military strength. He justified his military buildup as a counter to the “outrageous” military cooperation between the United States and its regional allies, which he claimed are now showing the characteristics of a “nuclear-based military bloc.”

“Negotiations and confrontation are among our options, but we must be more thoroughly prepared to cope with the latter — this is the review and conclusion we have derived from the 30-odd years of dealing with the United States,” Kim said.

“The United States we are now confronting is by no means an administration that remains in power for a tenure of some years, but a hostile state that our descendants, too, will have to counter, generation after generation. This fact testifies to the inevitability of the steady improvement of our defense capability.”

Kim also said the decision to hold the weapons ceremony while the country was trying to recover from disastrous flooding showed its determination to “push ahead with the bolstering of defense capabilities … without stop in any circumstances.”

The floods in late July submerged thousands of homes and huge swaths of farmland in regions near the border with China.

Russia has offered flood aid to North Korea, in another sign of expanding relations between the two nations. Kim has made Russia his priority in recent months as he pushes a foreign policy aimed at expanding relations with countries confronting Washington, embracing the idea of a “new Cold War” and trying to display a united front in Putin’s broader conflicts with the West.
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Hanoi — A former Vietnamese property and aviation tycoon was jailed for 21 years on Monday for fraud and stock market manipulation worth $146 million, state media said. 

Trinh Van Quyet was among 50 defendants found guilty in what is the latest corruption case targeting the communist country’s business elite. 

A Hanoi court said Quyet, who owned the FLC empire of luxury resorts, golf courses and budget carrier Bamboo Airways, was given the heaviest sentence because he was the leader of the scam. 

“Through the stock market, the defendants proceeded with fraudulence… leading to mistrust for investors and the stock market, causing anger in society,” the Hanoi People’s Court said in its verdict quoted by the Tuoi Tre newspaper. 

“Therefore relevant punishments are required.” 

The 49 others, including two of Quyet’s sisters and four stock exchange officials, were given between 14 years in jail and a 15-month suspended sentence. 

They were charged with fraud, stock market manipulation, abuse of power and publishing incorrect stock market information. 

According to the prosecution indictment, Quyet set up several stock market brokerages and registered dozens of family members to, ostensibly, trade shares. 

But police said while orders to buy shares were placed in hundreds of trading sessions — pushing up the value of the stock — they were cancelled before being matched. 

The court said Quyet had illegally pocketed more than $146 million between 2017 and 2022. 

There were 25,000 victims of the fraud, the court added. 

One stock trader from Hanoi, who identified himself only as Trung, told AFP he lost close to $8,000 after investing in stocks related to the FLC group. 

“What Quyet and others have done, manipulating the stock market, must be duly punished,” he said.  

“I had to accept my losses, and I have tried to learn from this to help my future trading.” 

‘Will haunt me’

In his final words before the court, Quyet said he had dreamed of changing the lives of ordinary Vietnamese by building resorts and housing that would transform communities. 

This led him to “do things that were not within the law.” 

“What I did will haunt me my whole life,” Quyet said, according to the VnExpress news site.  

The court acknowledged that the FLC group had developed and invested in many projects in remote and poor areas, creating thousands of jobs and contributing to economic development.  

The trial began on July 22 and involved 100 lawyers. 

The case is part of a national corruption crackdown that has swept up numerous officials and members of Vietnam’s business elite in recent years. 

In April, a top Vietnamese property tycoon was sentenced to death in a $27 billion fraud case. She has launched an appeal against her conviction.  

Later that month, the head of one of Vietnam’s top soft drinks companies was jailed for eight years in a $40 million fraud case.
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TOKYO — Asia-Pacific business executives urged emerging economies in the region to issue climate bonds indexed to a basket of currencies, which would reduce the risk from foreign exchange fluctuation in raising funds for clean energy transition.

The group of business executives comprising ABAC, which is APEC’s Business Advisory Council, also proposed on Sunday launching a pilot program to develop a voluntary carbon market (VCM) for the Asia-Pacific region.

“What we’re trying to establish is an interoperable, or mutually tradeable, voluntary carbon credit network within the Asia-Pacific region that can accelerate the region’s transition to a low-carbon society,” Hiroshi Nakaso, head of ABAC’s finance and investment task force, told a news conference on Sunday.

Under the program, like-minded countries will conduct cross-border carbon credit transactions on a trial basis to identify problems and possible solutions, Nakaso said.

The Asia-Pacific region lacks cross-border standards or regulatory infrastructure for a voluntary carbon market, a mechanism that channels private financing into climate projects.

The proposals, compiled at a meeting in Tokyo on Aug. 1-4, underscore a growing awareness in Asia about the need for private and public sectors to cooperate in financing the huge cost of energy transition.

ABAC, an Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) advisory council, will present its recommendations at the APEC leaders’ summit to be held in Lima in November. Peru is this year’s chair of APEC, a bloc that accounts for almost half of world trade.

In the list of proposals, ABAC called on governments in the region to issue 10-year bonds with interest and principal payments indexed to a basket of currencies.

Such bonds would give developing nations access to hard currency to buy solar farms and storage facilities, and mitigate risk from exchange-rate fluctuation for lenders, said Tom Harley, one of the task force’s project leaders from Australia.

Asia is among the world’s most vulnerable regions to climate-related natural disasters. It also consists of many economies reliant on fossil fuel or vulnerable to currency market swings, heightening challenges for energy transition.
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WASHINGTON — The U.S. Commerce Department is expected to propose barring Chinese software in autonomous and connected vehicles in the coming weeks, according to sources briefed on the matter.

The Biden administration plans to issue a proposed rule that would bar Chinese software in vehicles in the United States with Level 3 automation and above, which would have the effect of also banning testing on U.S. roads of autonomous vehicles produced by Chinese companies.

The administration, in a previously unreported decision, also plans to propose barring vehicles with Chinese-developed advanced wireless communications abilities modules from U.S. roads, the sources added.

Under the proposal, automakers and suppliers would need to verify that none of their connected vehicle or advanced autonomous vehicle software was developed in a “foreign entity of concern” like China, the sources said.

The Commerce Department said last month it planned to issue proposed rules on connected vehicles in August and expected to impose limits on some software made in China and other countries deemed adversaries.

Asked for comment, a Commerce Department spokesperson said on Sunday that the department “is concerned about the national security risks associated with connected technologies in connected vehicles.”

The department’s Bureau of Industry and Security will issue a proposed rule that “will focus on specific systems of concern within the vehicle. Industry will also have a chance to review that proposed rule and submit comments.”

The Chinese Embassy in Washington did not immediately comment but the Chinese foreign ministry has previously urged the United States “to respect the laws of the market economy and principles of fair competition.” It argues Chinese cars are popular globally because they had emerged out of fierce market competition and are technologically innovative.

On Wednesday, the White House and State Department hosted a meeting with allies and industry leaders to “jointly address the national security risks associated with connected vehicles,” the department said. Sources said officials disclosed details of the administration’s planned rule.

The meeting included officials from the United States, Australia, Canada, the European Union, Germany, India, Japan, the Republic of Korea, Spain, and the United Kingdom who “exchanged views on the data and cybersecurity risks associated with connected vehicles and certain components.”

Also known as conditional driving automation, Level 3 involves technology that allows drivers to engage in activities behind the wheel, such as watching movies or using smartphones, but only under some limited conditions.

In November, a group of U.S. lawmakers raised alarm about Chinese companies collecting and handling sensitive data while testing autonomous vehicles in the United States and asked questions of 10 major companies including Baidu, Nio, WeRide, Didi Chuxing, Xpeng, Inceptio, Pony.ai, AutoX, Deeproute.ai and Qcraft.

The letters said in the 12 months ended November 2022 that Chinese AV companies test drove more than 450,000 miles in California. In July 2023, Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg said his department had national security concerns about Chinese autonomous vehicle companies in the United States.

The administration is worried about connected vehicles using the driver monitoring system to listen or record occupants or take control of the vehicle itself.

“The national security risks are quite significant,” Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo said in May. “We decided to take action because this is really serious stuff.”
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washington — Venezuela’s recent presidential election results have sparked widespread protests domestically and drawn sharp criticism internationally. While the U.S. has thrown its support behind opposition challenger Edmundo Gonzalez, China and Russia swiftly endorsed the incumbent, Nicolas Maduro, who has held power for 12 years. 

On Monday, Venezuela’s electoral council declared that the president had secured 51% of the vote, compared to 44% for Gonzalez. These results starkly contradicted exit polls, which had shown Gonzalez leading by a significant margin. 

 

The Carter Center, which was invited to observe the election, issued a statement that the vote “did not meet international standards of electoral integrity” and declared the outcome “cannot be considered democratic. 

Most Latin American countries, with the exceptions of Bolivia, Nicaragua, Honduras, and Cuba, have either rejected or expressed concern over the official election results. In contrast, China’s reaction has been markedly supportive: President Xi Jinping has fully endorsed Maduro, asserting that Beijing will “firmly support Venezuela’s efforts to safeguard national sovereignty, national dignity, and social stability.” 

“China prefers a stable Venezuela, and what they identify as [a] credible source of stability at the moment is Nicolas Maduro,” Antulio Rosales, an assistant professor of business and society at the York University, told VOA. 

 

“So, even though Maduro may stay in power via non-democratic means, it’s clear that China sees him as a more credible possibility for stability,” he noted. 

 

Evan Ellis, a research professor of Latin American studies at the U.S. Army War College, said the mass investment from Beijing is also a factor. 

“China has a longstanding commercial and political relationship with the leftist regime of Hugo Chavez and now Nicolas Maduro since the early 2000s, including recognizing it as a strategic partner under Hugo Chavez, and upgrading that relationship to all around comprehensive strategic partner last year under Nicolas Maduro,” he told VOA. 

 

Maduro and Xi announced last September that their bilateral relationship had been upgraded to an “all-weather strategic partnership,” the highest level of cooperation between two nations.

China now holds a substantial loan portfolio with Venezuela, representing nearly half of all Chinese loans extended to Latin America and the Caribbean. It’s estimated that China has financed more than $60 billion worth of projects in Venezuela. 

In return, China has secured essential resources from the oil-rich country, including crude oil and minerals, through an oil-for-loan model. 

Strategic importance 

Maduro is also repaying China by staunchly supporting the country on the international stage. His administration has provided unconditional backing to China, including endorsing Beijing’s one-China principle by recognizing Taiwan as an inalienable part of China. Additionally, Maduro supports China’s national security law in Hong Kong, and upholds China’s claims in the contested South China Sea. 

Venezuela is also collaborating with China in expanding social control measures. The Maduro government has acquired the Homeland Card system from China, which includes a unique personalized QR code capable of tracking individual votes and social media usage. 

“Venezuela is important to the full range of China’s ambitions in the Americas, including access to resources, markets in strategic sectors, political strategic objectives, and military options if it ever must fight a war with the United States in the Indo-Pacific,” said Ellis from the U.S. Army War College. 

Antonio C. Hsiang, a research professor at Chile’s National Academy of Political and Strategic Studies, told VOA that Venezuela has become a significant battleground in the U.S.-China rivalry. 

Hsiang argued that Venezuela’s political resistance to the United States and its efforts to undermine U.S. influence within Inter-American institutions serve as a strategic distraction for the U.S. in its own hemisphere, ultimately benefiting China. 

 

Economic liability 

 

The Chinese business community, however, is not as happy with the Maduro government. 

 

Venezuela — once the wealthiest nation in Latin America because of its status as home to the world’s largest crude oil reserves — has seen its current government’s popularity wane significantly. The decline is attributed to an economic crisis driven by falling oil prices, corruption, and flawed policies. 

 

In 2013, a sharp decline in oil prices, a key export for Venezuela, triggered a severe economic and political crisis. The country’s GDP contracted by 75% between 2014 and 2021. Annual inflation surged to upwards of 130,000% in 2018, according to its central bank. These factors culminated in Venezuela’s suspension of loan repayments in 2020, including those to its largest creditor, China. 

“China is not particularly concerned with issues of transparency or corruption domestically [in Venezuela],” Rosales said. “Beijing is more focused on Caracas’ inability to execute some of the projects it has committed to.” He observed that Chinese businesses have stopped further investing into the country. 

It may take weeks or even months to determine whether China’s bet on Maduro will pay off. Rosales suggested that China’s concerns regarding Venezuela, though, are unlikely to shift — even if the opposition party comes to power. 

“China maintains good relations with countries like Chile, which has long been governed by pro-market regimes, as well as with Brazil, which has been led by center-left governments,” he pointed out. 

“It’s important to recognize that, regardless of who is in power, China’s primary concerns will remain the same: long-term stability, the ability to carry out projects, and the capacity to repay debt,” said Rosales. 
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TAIPEI, TAIWAN — Hu Xijin, the former editor-in-chief of China’s state-run tabloid Global Times, has gone silent on social media for a week after his analysis of China’s economic policies triggered a backlash from Chinese state media and other prominent commentators.

Hu, a prominent nationalistic commentator known for his outspoken style on social media, has not shared anything on any of his social media accounts, including the microblogging site Weibo, Chinese messaging app WeChat and X, formerly known as Twitter, since July 27.

His silence comes after his July 22 WeChat opinion article pointing out that the Communist Party had left out a key phrase, “state sector is the mainstay of the Chinese economy,” from the resolution on reforming the Chinese economy adopted by China’s top leadership during the Third Plenum, a closed-door conclave that laid out key economic policies for the next five years.

He claimed that the move, which deviates from the Communist Party’s usual practice of reiterating the slogan in official documents, shows that China is hoping to “achieve true equality between the private and state-owned economy.”

Hu’s comments in the article, which has since been removed from WeChat, triggered widespread criticism on Chinese social media outlets, as some conservative commentators accused him of misinterpreting the resolution, which vowed to “consolidate and develop the state-owned economy.”

In addition to online criticism, China’s state-run People’s Daily also published an opinion article on July 30, reiterating that China’s fundamental position on the state and private sectors has not changed and will not change in the future.

The party “will be able to inject a surging impetus into the promotion of Chinese-style modernization by adhering to and perfecting the basic socialist economic system, promoting stronger and better state-owned capital and state-owned enterprises, and creating a favorable environment and providing more opportunities for the development of the nonstate sector of the economy,” the article said.

Bloomberg News reported that Hu has been banned from posting on social media, citing an anonymous source, but in a brief response to Hong Kong’s Sing Tao Daily, Hu refused to elaborate on his unusual silence.

“Personally, I don’t want to say anything. Just read what’s on the internet. Please understand,” he told Sing Tao Daily.

Some analysts say the incident reflects the Chinese government’s attempt to tighten control over discussions and narratives about China’s economy, which remains sluggish despite the government’s plan to roll out reform following the plenum.

“As the Chinese economy gets into a more precarious situation, the leadership in China becomes increasingly aware that it is a source of instability, so they decide to double down on control over economic and business information,” Dexter Roberts, a nonresident senior fellow at the Atlantic Council’s Global China Hub, told VOA by phone.

Other experts say Hu’s silence, which departs from his usual outspoken style on social media, also shows that he has crossed the line by publicly contradicting party policy.

“His comments have crossed the red line set up by the Communist Party, and the severity of the punishment, which is an outright ban from posting on social media, sends a warning to the rest of China that authorities have zero tolerance for opinions that deviate from the official line,” said Hung Chin-fu, an expert of Chinese politics at National Cheng-Kung University in Taiwan.

In his view, while the resolution mentioned the goal of expanding China’s private sector, development of the private sector still needs to be guided by the party, which means that the state sector will still play a dominant role in that process.

“China’s top leadership will allow some discussions on the development of its private sector, but they don’t want those voices to overshadow the official narrative,” Hung told VOA by phone.

Some analysts say Hu’s silence on social media may be a result that is in line with existing laws in China. “The new Chinese Communist Party Disciplinary Regulations explicitly forbids people like Hu from jumping the gun like he did,” Wen-ti Sung, a political scientist at Australian National University, told VOA in a written response.

While Hu is unlikely to face a total ban on social media, Roberts said, he may become more careful when commenting on topics related to the Chinese government’s policies or sensitive domestic issues in the future.

“There is less and less tolerance for outspoken people like Hu in China these days, so I don’t think something like this [can] happen to him without there being longer-term repercussions,” he told VOA.

Sung said Hu’s case also shows the growing risks Chinese people, including those working for the Communist Party, face when commenting on sensitive issues.

“Hu’s episode probably speaks to how hard it is to know where the red line is for anyone engaging in public political discourse in China today — even for a real insider like Hu, who worked in the party’s propaganda system for 28 years,” he said.
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