0x815

cross-posted from: https://feddit.org/post/3363029

Archived link

The fear of what the future held for Zhang (not his real name) and his children propelled the 39-year-old Chinese citizen from Shandong province on a journey so difficult and dangerous that many struggle to understand why someone from China would embark on it. Most of Zhang’s new neighbours in the European Balkans come from war-torn countries in the Middle East. Until recently, Zhang had a stable job working for a private company in the world’s second-biggest economy, earning an above average salary. But the political environment in China left him feeling that he had no choice other than to leave.

Zhang is one of a small but growing number of Chinese people who are travelling to the Balkans with the hope of getting into the EU by whatever means necessary.

[...]

David Stroup, a lecturer of Chinese politics at the University of Manchester, says that the rapid expansion of China’s surveillance state during the pandemic combined with a gloomy economic outlook were some of the driving forces for this new wave of Chinese migrants.

“The lockdowns created a sense that ordinary people who were just living their lives could somehow find themselves under heavy observation of the state or subjected to long arbitrary periods of lockdown and confinement,” Stroup said.

[...]

Part of the reason that Bosnia is an attractive staging post for Chinese migrants, is that like its neighbour Serbia, it offers visa-free travel. Aleksandra Kovačević, spokesperson for Bosnia’s Service for Foreigner’s Affairs, a government department, said that Chinese people were “gaining statistical significance as persons who increasingly violate migration regulations of Bosnia and Herzegovina”. She said that along with Turkish citizens, Chinese people were trying to use legal entry into Bosnia as a way to “illegally continue their journey to the countries of western Europe”.

[...]

Many ordinary Chinese occasionally feel the rough end of the government’s tight control over public speech. Most learn to keep their head down and, begrudgingly or not, quietly navigate the invisible red lines that dictate what can be freely talked about. But Zhang couldn’t bear it.

[...]

“China’s control over speech is getting tighter and tighter. They don’t allow people to talk about political parties, and no matter if the government is doing a good or bad job, they don’t allow people to talk about it. It is limiting people’s freedom of speech tremendously, and that’s the most important thing I can’t accept,” Zhang says. “The economy is secondary”.

[...]

cross-posted from: https://feddit.org/post/3363029

Archived link

The fear of what the future held for Zhang (not his real name) and his children propelled the 39-year-old Chinese citizen from Shandong province on a journey so difficult and dangerous that many struggle to understand why someone from China would embark on it. Most of Zhang’s new neighbours in the European Balkans come from war-torn countries in the Middle East. Until recently, Zhang had a stable job working for a private company in the world’s second-biggest economy, earning an above average salary. But the political environment in China left him feeling that he had no choice other than to leave.

Zhang is one of a small but growing number of Chinese people who are travelling to the Balkans with the hope of getting into the EU by whatever means necessary.

[...]

David Stroup, a lecturer of Chinese politics at the University of Manchester, says that the rapid expansion of China’s surveillance state during the pandemic combined with a gloomy economic outlook were some of the driving forces for this new wave of Chinese migrants.

“The lockdowns created a sense that ordinary people who were just living their lives could somehow find themselves under heavy observation of the state or subjected to long arbitrary periods of lockdown and confinement,” Stroup said.

[...]

Part of the reason that Bosnia is an attractive staging post for Chinese migrants, is that like its neighbour Serbia, it offers visa-free travel. Aleksandra Kovačević, spokesperson for Bosnia’s Service for Foreigner’s Affairs, a government department, said that Chinese people were “gaining statistical significance as persons who increasingly violate migration regulations of Bosnia and Herzegovina”. She said that along with Turkish citizens, Chinese people were trying to use legal entry into Bosnia as a way to “illegally continue their journey to the countries of western Europe”.

[...]

Many ordinary Chinese occasionally feel the rough end of the government’s tight control over public speech. Most learn to keep their head down and, begrudgingly or not, quietly navigate the invisible red lines that dictate what can be freely talked about. But Zhang couldn’t bear it.

[...]

“China’s control over speech is getting tighter and tighter. They don’t allow people to talk about political parties, and no matter if the government is doing a good or bad job, they don’t allow people to talk about it. It is limiting people’s freedom of speech tremendously, and that’s the most important thing I can’t accept,” Zhang says. “The economy is secondary”.

[...]

Archived link

The fear of what the future held for Zhang (not his real name) and his children propelled the 39-year-old Chinese citizen from Shandong province on a journey so difficult and dangerous that many struggle to understand why someone from China would embark on it. Most of Zhang’s new neighbours in the European Balkans come from war-torn countries in the Middle East. Until recently, Zhang had a stable job working for a private company in the world’s second-biggest economy, earning an above average salary. But the political environment in China left him feeling that he had no choice other than to leave.

Zhang is one of a small but growing number of Chinese people who are travelling to the Balkans with the hope of getting into the EU by whatever means necessary.

[...]

David Stroup, a lecturer of Chinese politics at the University of Manchester, says that the rapid expansion of China’s surveillance state during the pandemic combined with a gloomy economic outlook were some of the driving forces for this new wave of Chinese migrants.

“The lockdowns created a sense that ordinary people who were just living their lives could somehow find themselves under heavy observation of the state or subjected to long arbitrary periods of lockdown and confinement,” Stroup said.

[...]

Part of the reason that Bosnia is an attractive staging post for Chinese migrants, is that like its neighbour Serbia, it offers visa-free travel. Aleksandra Kovačević, spokesperson for Bosnia’s Service for Foreigner’s Affairs, a government department, said that Chinese people were “gaining statistical significance as persons who increasingly violate migration regulations of Bosnia and Herzegovina”. She said that along with Turkish citizens, Chinese people were trying to use legal entry into Bosnia as a way to “illegally continue their journey to the countries of western Europe”.

[...]

Many ordinary Chinese occasionally feel the rough end of the government’s tight control over public speech. Most learn to keep their head down and, begrudgingly or not, quietly navigate the invisible red lines that dictate what can be freely talked about. But Zhang couldn’t bear it.

[...]

“China’s control over speech is getting tighter and tighter. They don’t allow people to talk about political parties, and no matter if the government is doing a good or bad job, they don’t allow people to talk about it. It is limiting people’s freedom of speech tremendously, and that’s the most important thing I can’t accept,” Zhang says. “The economy is secondary”.

[...]

cross-posted from: https://feddit.org/post/3360939

Chinese woman has been arrested in the German city of Leipzig on suspicion of foreign agent activities and allegedly passing on information regarding arms deliveries, the prosecutor general said in a statement on Tuesday.

The suspect, named only as Yaqi X, is accused of passing on information she obtained while working for a logistics company at Leipzig/Halle airport to a member of the Chinese secret service, who is being prosecuted separately, the statement said.

The information passed along in 2023 and 2024 included flight, cargo and passenger data as well as details on the transportation of military equipment and people with ties to a German arms company, it added.

The Chinese Embassy in Berlin did not immediately respond to a request for comment from Reuters.

Tensions have been simmering between Berlin and Beijing over the past year after Chancellor Olaf Scholz unveiled a strategy towards de-risking Germany's economic relationship with China, calling Beijing a "partner, competitor and systemic rival".

cross-posted from: https://feddit.org/post/3360939

Chinese woman has been arrested in the German city of Leipzig on suspicion of foreign agent activities and allegedly passing on information regarding arms deliveries, the prosecutor general said in a statement on Tuesday.

The suspect, named only as Yaqi X, is accused of passing on information she obtained while working for a logistics company at Leipzig/Halle airport to a member of the Chinese secret service, who is being prosecuted separately, the statement said.

The information passed along in 2023 and 2024 included flight, cargo and passenger data as well as details on the transportation of military equipment and people with ties to a German arms company, it added.

The Chinese Embassy in Berlin did not immediately respond to a request for comment from Reuters.

Tensions have been simmering between Berlin and Beijing over the past year after Chancellor Olaf Scholz unveiled a strategy towards de-risking Germany's economic relationship with China, calling Beijing a "partner, competitor and systemic rival".

Chinese woman has been arrested in the German city of Leipzig on suspicion of foreign agent activities and allegedly passing on information regarding arms deliveries, the prosecutor general said in a statement on Tuesday.

The suspect, named only as Yaqi X, is accused of passing on information she obtained while working for a logistics company at Leipzig/Halle airport to a member of the Chinese secret service, who is being prosecuted separately, the statement said.

The information passed along in 2023 and 2024 included flight, cargo and passenger data as well as details on the transportation of military equipment and people with ties to a German arms company, it added.

The Chinese Embassy in Berlin did not immediately respond to a request for comment from Reuters.

Tensions have been simmering between Berlin and Beijing over the past year after Chancellor Olaf Scholz unveiled a strategy towards de-risking Germany's economic relationship with China, calling Beijing a "partner, competitor and systemic rival".

Archived link

Laying out key priorities for the EU's upcoming Clean Industrial Deal, German Economy State Secretary Sven Giegold said on Monday (30 September) he wants the Commission to prioritise renewable energy, taking a tough line on nuclear power and France’s renewable targets.

Alongside a quicker roll-out of renewable energy facilitated by “further exemptions from [environmental impact] assessments,” Giegold outlined several other German priorities for the EU’s upcoming strategy.

Based on the 2030 renewable energy targets, the EU should also set up a 2040 framework, complemented by new, more ambitious targets for energy efficiency, he said.

“It should include new heating standards, a heat pump action plan and a renovation initiative,” he explained, noting a heat pump action plan was last shelved in 2023.

Hydrogen, made from renewables, should be governed by a “a pragmatic framework,” the German politician stressed, reiterating calls from his boss, Economy Minister Robert Habeck (Greens), to delay strict production rules into the late 2030s.

cross-posted from: https://feddit.org/post/3355025

Archived link

Beijing has published its proposed regulations for satellite broadband, including a requirement that operators conduct censorship in real time.

It has been suggested that the constellation system will help run and export the nation's content censorship system, known as the Great Firewall.

[...]

In its latest draft rules, the Cyberspace Administration of China proposes any organization or individual using terminal equipment with direct connection to satellite services is not allowed to "produce, copy, publish, or disseminate content prohibited by laws and administrative regulations, such as content that incites subversion of state power, overthrows the socialist system, endangers national security and interests, damages the national image, incites secession of the country, undermines national unity and social stability, promotes terrorism, extremism, ethnic hatred, ethnic discrimination, violence, pornography, and false information."

It clarifies that terminal equipment includes civilian handheld, portable, and fixed terminals, as well as terminals installed on aircraft, ships, and vehicles – essentially any device that enables users to access satellite communication systems for voice calls, text messaging, and data exchange.

[...]

The draft rules further include articles that would make tracking of providers and users easier. This includes requiring providers to:

• Obtain licenses and approvals, whether telco, radio frequency related or otherwise;
• Collect real identity information from those using its services, as China already requires of telcos;
• Integrate monitoring and supervision into their platforms to allow Beijing's oversight;
• Locate ground facilities – such as gateway stations and Earth stations – and user data on Chinese soil. Any data that does need to go overseas must be processed through a gateway approved by the telecommunications regulatory department of the State Council.

[...]

cross-posted from: https://feddit.org/post/3355025

Archived link

Beijing has published its proposed regulations for satellite broadband, including a requirement that operators conduct censorship in real time.

It has been suggested that the constellation system will help run and export the nation's content censorship system, known as the Great Firewall.

[...]

In its latest draft rules, the Cyberspace Administration of China proposes any organization or individual using terminal equipment with direct connection to satellite services is not allowed to "produce, copy, publish, or disseminate content prohibited by laws and administrative regulations, such as content that incites subversion of state power, overthrows the socialist system, endangers national security and interests, damages the national image, incites secession of the country, undermines national unity and social stability, promotes terrorism, extremism, ethnic hatred, ethnic discrimination, violence, pornography, and false information."

It clarifies that terminal equipment includes civilian handheld, portable, and fixed terminals, as well as terminals installed on aircraft, ships, and vehicles – essentially any device that enables users to access satellite communication systems for voice calls, text messaging, and data exchange.

[...]

The draft rules further include articles that would make tracking of providers and users easier. This includes requiring providers to:

• Obtain licenses and approvals, whether telco, radio frequency related or otherwise;
• Collect real identity information from those using its services, as China already requires of telcos;
• Integrate monitoring and supervision into their platforms to allow Beijing's oversight;
• Locate ground facilities – such as gateway stations and Earth stations – and user data on Chinese soil. Any data that does need to go overseas must be processed through a gateway approved by the telecommunications regulatory department of the State Council.

[...]

Archived link

Beijing has published its proposed regulations for satellite broadband, including a requirement that operators conduct censorship in real time.

It has been suggested that the constellation system will help run and export the nation's content censorship system, known as the Great Firewall.

[...]

In its latest draft rules, the Cyberspace Administration of China proposes any organization or individual using terminal equipment with direct connection to satellite services is not allowed to "produce, copy, publish, or disseminate content prohibited by laws and administrative regulations, such as content that incites subversion of state power, overthrows the socialist system, endangers national security and interests, damages the national image, incites secession of the country, undermines national unity and social stability, promotes terrorism, extremism, ethnic hatred, ethnic discrimination, violence, pornography, and false information."

It clarifies that terminal equipment includes civilian handheld, portable, and fixed terminals, as well as terminals installed on aircraft, ships, and vehicles – essentially any device that enables users to access satellite communication systems for voice calls, text messaging, and data exchange.

[...]

The draft rules further include articles that would make tracking of providers and users easier. This includes requiring providers to:

• Obtain licenses and approvals, whether telco, radio frequency related or otherwise;
• Collect real identity information from those using its services, as China already requires of telcos;
• Integrate monitoring and supervision into their platforms to allow Beijing's oversight;
• Locate ground facilities – such as gateway stations and Earth stations – and user data on Chinese soil. Any data that does need to go overseas must be processed through a gateway approved by the telecommunications regulatory department of the State Council.

[...]

cross-posted from: https://feddit.org/post/3324721

• Indonesia has imposed curbs on cheap imports to rein in e-commerce platforms
• There is growing resentment across Southeast Asia against Chinese e-commerce firms
• Import tariffs can create tensions and hurt some local businesses
• Other countries in Southeast Asia are also cracking down with higher import duties and outright bans on some China imports

The Indonesian government says it wants to protect its local business from cheap Chinese online imports, with a plan to impose import duties of up to 200% on a broad range of goods including textiles, clothing, footwear, cosmetics, and electronics. The measures are largely aimed at Chinese imports, which have surged in recent years as e-commerce platforms gained in popularity.

“If we are flooded with imported goods, our micro, small and medium enterprises could collapse,” Zulkifli Hasan, Indonesia’s trade minister, said in a briefing in July. These businesses make up about 60% of the country’s gross domestic product, and employ around 120 million people, according to government data.

Indonesia is Southeast Asia’s largest e-commerce market, accounting for nearly half the gross merchandise value of the eight top platforms, according to advisory firm Momentum Works. The value of e-commerce sales in Indonesia hit $77 billion last year, authorities say.

Chinese imports had enjoyed low, or zero, duties in Indonesia under regional trade agreements. But as sales of cheap clothes, shoes, and electronics surged online, the government stepped in to protect local businesses. President Joko Widodo has repeatedly raised concerns about low-priced Chinese-made goods, and urged consumers to shun imported products. The country has imposed the strictest curbs on cross-border e-commerce sales in the region. It set a de minimis limit — the threshold below which goods are not subject to import duties — at $100, then lowered that to $75, and then to $3. Authorities also banned shopping on social media platforms last year, forcing TikTok Shop to close. But the platform was back online after about two months, saying it had met the requirements.

Across Southeast Asia, other governments are also cracking down with higher import duties and outright bans on some goods. Malaysia has a 10% sales tax on imported goods priced below 500 ringgit ($106), while the Philippines has imposed a 1% withholding tax on online merchants. In Thailand, the entry of Chinese e-commerce firm Temu has sparked calls for higher tariffs on some imported goods. More taxes and curbs on e-commerce firms may be imminent across the region, Simon Torring, co-founder of research firm Cube Asia, says.

• Indonesia has imposed curbs on cheap imports to rein in e-commerce platforms
• There is growing resentment across Southeast Asia against Chinese e-commerce firms
• Import tariffs can create tensions and hurt some local businesses
• Other countries in Southeast Asia are also cracking down with higher import duties and outright bans on some China imports

The Indonesian government says it wants to protect its local business from cheap Chinese online imports, with a plan to impose import duties of up to 200% on a broad range of goods including textiles, clothing, footwear, cosmetics, and electronics. The measures are largely aimed at Chinese imports, which have surged in recent years as e-commerce platforms gained in popularity.

“If we are flooded with imported goods, our micro, small and medium enterprises could collapse,” Zulkifli Hasan, Indonesia’s trade minister, said in a briefing in July. These businesses make up about 60% of the country’s gross domestic product, and employ around 120 million people, according to government data.

Indonesia is Southeast Asia’s largest e-commerce market, accounting for nearly half the gross merchandise value of the eight top platforms, according to advisory firm Momentum Works. The value of e-commerce sales in Indonesia hit $77 billion last year, authorities say.

Chinese imports had enjoyed low, or zero, duties in Indonesia under regional trade agreements. But as sales of cheap clothes, shoes, and electronics surged online, the government stepped in to protect local businesses. President Joko Widodo has repeatedly raised concerns about low-priced Chinese-made goods, and urged consumers to shun imported products. The country has imposed the strictest curbs on cross-border e-commerce sales in the region. It set a de minimis limit — the threshold below which goods are not subject to import duties — at $100, then lowered that to $75, and then to $3. Authorities also banned shopping on social media platforms last year, forcing TikTok Shop to close. But the platform was back online after about two months, saying it had met the requirements.

Across Southeast Asia, other governments are also cracking down with higher import duties and outright bans on some goods. Malaysia has a 10% sales tax on imported goods priced below 500 ringgit ($106), while the Philippines has imposed a 1% withholding tax on online merchants. In Thailand, the entry of Chinese e-commerce firm Temu has sparked calls for higher tariffs on some imported goods. More taxes and curbs on e-commerce firms may be imminent across the region, Simon Torring, co-founder of research firm Cube Asia, says.