The authors introduce and evaluate an open-source software package and methodological framework for detecting and analysing coordinated behaviour on social media, namely the Coordination Network Toolkit, utilising weighted, directed multigraphs to capture intricate coordination dynamics....
The EU’s climate agenda is in trouble. The Green Deal, which aims to slash the bloc’s carbon emissions by 55% by 2030, had started off promisingly after several major pieces of legislation were adopted, including its ban on the sale of new combustion-powered vehicles from 2035 and new carbon border tax....
Before the British government handed over Hong Kong in 1997, China agreed to allow the region considerable political autonomy for fifty years under a framework known as “one country, two systems.”
In recent years, Beijing has cracked down on Hong Kong’s freedoms, stoking mass protests in the city and drawing international criticism.
Beijing imposed a national security law in 2020 that gave it broad new powers to punish critics and silence dissenters, which has fundamentally altered life for Hong Kongers.
Beijing had been chipping away at Hong Kong’s freedoms since the handover, experts say. Over the years, its attempts to impose more control over the city have sparked mass protests, which have in turn led the Chinese government to crack down further.
In the years following the 2014 protests, Beijing and the Hong Kong government stepped up efforts to rein in dissent, including by prosecuting protest leaders, expelling several new legislators, and increasing media censorship.
Pakistan’s Gwadar port was meant to be a shining success for the prestigious China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC), part of China’s global collection of infrastructure projects and trade networks known as the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI). But almost two decades later, it still sits empty....
Last year, researchers at AidData, the World Bank, the Harvard Kennedy School, and the Kiel Institute for the World Economy in Germany found that Beijing has dramatically expanded emergency rescue lending to sovereign borrowers in financial distress —or outright default- when the China’s Belt and Road Investments have failed.
Essentially, however, China has been bailing out its own banks, the study found. You can download the study here.
TLDR:
China had undertaken 128 rescue loan operations across 22 debtor countries worth $240 billion [by March 2023 when the study was published]. These include many so-called “rollovers,” in which the same short-term loans are extended again and again to refinance maturing debts.
Less than 5 percent of Beijing’s overseas lending portfolio supported borrower countries in distress in 2010, but that figure soared to 60 percent by 2022. Therefore, China’s new funding schemes pivoted away from infrastructure project lending to ramping up liquidity support operations. Nearly 80% of its emergency rescue lending was issued between 2016 and 2021.
China does not offer bailouts to all BRI borrowers: low-income countries are typically offered a debt restructuring that involves a grace period or final repayment date extension but no new money, while middle-income countries tend to receive new money to avoid default. The reason is that these middle-income countries represent 80% or more than $500 billion of China’s total overseas lending, thus posing major balance sheet risks, so Chinese banks have incentives to keep them afloat via bailouts.
Borrowing from Beijing in emergency situations comes at a high price. Rescue loans from the International Monetary Fund (IMF) carries a 2% interest rate, while the average interest rate attached to a Chinese rescue loan is 5% in comparable situations.
Two Chinese-owned solar panel manufacturers have withdrawn from a public procurement tender in Romania after the EU launched a foreign subsidies probe, Brussels said Monday....
Nein, mit ihm hatte niemand gerechnet. Nun aber, da der russische Präsident Wladimir Putin für eine abendliche Überraschung gesorgt hatte, lobt jeder in der russischen Elite Andrei Beloussow (gesprochen: Belo-ussow), Russlands neuen Verteidigungsminister, bislang als Vizeregierungschef für Wirtschaftspolitik bekannt. „Eine...
Onshoring the EV supply chain to Europe would cut the emissions of producing a battery by 37% compared to a China-controlled supply chain, according to new analysis by Transport & Environment (T&E). This carbon saving rises to over 60% when renewable electricity is used. Producing Europe’s demand for battery cells and...
The inner workings of China’s notorious secret police unit and how it hunts down dissidents living overseas – including in Australia – have been exposed by a former spy in a Four Corners investigation, raising tough questions about Australia’s national security....
Yes, there is strong evidence for these practices. Safeguard Defenders, a rights group, published a comprehensive reports on that issues, for example on China’s Consular Volunteers (November 2023):
For at least a decade, PRC Embassies and Consulates have been running consular volunteers in countries around the world. These have been seemingly undeclared to most host nations.
[…]
The network runs through United Front-linked associations and individuals and shows the involvement of the Overseas Chinese Affairs Office (OCAO), on which a January 2022 Federal Canadian Court decision upheld labeling as an entity that engages in espionage and acts contrary to Canada’s interests with concerns over “OCAO’s interactions with the overseas Chinese communities, the information gathered, and the intended use of the gathered information”.
It’s very unlikely that Chinese cars are sold at a loss.
Even if we ignore for a moment that Chinese cars are produced at such low costs not in the least because of the use of forced labour and thus by ignoring even the most fundamental human rights, China will subsidize its EV industry at all costs, also offering dumping prices. China’s ‘industrial policy’ isn’t focused on financial health but on scale to destroy foreign competition to control the market for economic and political gains.
The coordination network toolkit: a framework for detecting and analysing coordinated behaviour on social media (link.springer.com)
The authors introduce and evaluate an open-source software package and methodological framework for detecting and analysing coordinated behaviour on social media, namely the Coordination Network Toolkit, utilising weighted, directed multigraphs to capture intricate coordination dynamics....
We need to talk about Chinese and US influence in Europe’s energy industry, European researchers say (theconversation.com)
The EU’s climate agenda is in trouble. The Green Deal, which aims to slash the bloc’s carbon emissions by 55% by 2030, had started off promisingly after several major pieces of legislation were adopted, including its ban on the sale of new combustion-powered vehicles from 2035 and new carbon border tax....
UK charges three with working for Hong Kong intelligence as cases against Chinese and Russian spies mount across Europe (www.aljazeera.com)
The British police have charged three men with assisting Hong Kong’s foreign intelligence service....
"This model acts as a subsidy for Chinese companies": Pakistan's Gwadar port exposes China's Belt and Road failure (www.dw.com)
Pakistan’s Gwadar port was meant to be a shining success for the prestigious China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC), part of China’s global collection of infrastructure projects and trade networks known as the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI). But almost two decades later, it still sits empty....
Chinese firms exit Romania solar tender after EU probe (www.france24.com)
Two Chinese-owned solar panel manufacturers have withdrawn from a public procurement tender in Romania after the EU launched a foreign subsidies probe, Brussels said Monday....
Andrei Beloussow ist Putins neuer Verteidigungsminister. Krieg sieht er als Basis für wirtschaftliche Erfolge. (taz.de) German
Nein, mit ihm hatte niemand gerechnet. Nun aber, da der russische Präsident Wladimir Putin für eine abendliche Überraschung gesorgt hatte, lobt jeder in der russischen Elite Andrei Beloussow (gesprochen: Belo-ussow), Russlands neuen Verteidigungsminister, bislang als Vizeregierungschef für Wirtschaftspolitik bekannt. „Eine...
China accused of targeting citizens studying abroad for political activism, with some students reporting harassment of family members back home (english.alarabiya.net)
Archived link...
Europäische Batterieproduktion könnte CO2-Einsparungen von bis zu 60 % gegenüber Herstellung in China bringen – Analyse (www.transportenvironment.org) German
Ohne entschiedenes Handeln auf EU-Ebene sind allerdings mehr als die Hälfte der geplanten europäischen Produktionskapazitäten gefährdet. Mehr lesen...
European made batteries could be 60% less carbon intensive than Chinese, researchers urging Europe to support investments (www.transportenvironment.org)
Onshoring the EV supply chain to Europe would cut the emissions of producing a battery by 37% compared to a China-controlled supply chain, according to new analysis by Transport & Environment (T&E). This carbon saving rises to over 60% when renewable electricity is used. Producing Europe’s demand for battery cells and...
Former spy for China's secret police reveals operations targeting dissidents in Australia and overseas (www.abc.net.au)
The inner workings of China’s notorious secret police unit and how it hunts down dissidents living overseas – including in Australia – have been exposed by a former spy in a Four Corners investigation, raising tough questions about Australia’s national security....
Tariffs on China aren't the way to win the EV arms race – getting serious on EVs is (electrek.co)