China
Taiwan accelerates recovery efforts after worst quake in 25 years
Updated April 3, 2024, 11:20 p.m. ET.
Rescue workers are searching for people still missing or trapped in the rubble after the worst earthquake to hit Taiwan in 25 years amid fears that casualties may rise.
Taiwanese authorities said that at least nine people were killed, more than 1,000 injured and nearly 100 people remain trapped in collapsed tunnels, mostly in Hualien County on the east coast, where the 7.4 magnitude earthquake hit on Wednesday morning.
The quake has also severely damaged the infrastructure in the area, with roads blocked with fallen rocks and railway lines to Hualien cut off, just as Taiwanese people began a major public holiday on Thursday.
By mid-day Thursday, the railway line between Yilan and Hualien counties has reopened but many sections of the Central Cross-Island Highway, or Provincial Highway 8, remain closed.
The military has been called in to help with recovery efforts. Two C-130 transport aircraft were dispatched to bring rescue teams and equipment to Hualien.
The official Central News Agency (CNA) reported that ships are being mobilized to bring supplies to the county.
Missing hotel workers
Most of the fatalities, caused by falling rocks, happened in Hualien – a picturesque mountainous area popular with hikers and tourists. The death toll being five women and four men so far.
Rugged terrain and damaged roads have made search and rescue operations harder.
It was reported that 47 employees of a Hualien hotel and 24 tourists are still unaccounted for at Jiuqudong, one of the most scenic sections in Taroko Gorge.
Taiwan’s National Fire Agency said 71 people are still trapped in two mines in Hualien after some tunnels collapsed in the earthquake.
According to the Hualien County Government, more than 600 people including residents and visitors have been placed in temporary accommodation. Shelters have also been set up in New Taipei City to accommodate earthquake victims.
Aftershocks are still being felt across Taiwan, with the government warning that tremors of up to 7 magnitude may occur in the next three days.
The Ministry of Economic Affairs reported that almost 400,000 households were experiencing power outages, as well as water stoppages, nationwide.
Eighty cell phone base stations suffered damage in the earthquake, causing communication disruptions. The National Communications Commission said it would work to repair all the stations by Friday.
Leading semiconductor manufacturer TSMC suspended operations on Wednesday and evacuated workers from some plants.
Despite its strength, the April 3 earthquake has not caused many fatalities thanks to the fact that the epicentre was far from populous urban areas, according to experts. The public’s preparedness also played a factor, after the highly destructive earthquake in 1999 that killed 2,400 people.
‘Thanks, but no thanks’
Taiwan’s Vice President and President-elect Lai Ching-te on Wednesday went to Hualien to inspect the aftermath of the earthquake. Lai, who is to be sworn in next month, said he was “fully committed” to assisting the Hualien county government as it works to shelter those displaced by the quake and rebuild.
“The priority now is to find and rescue those who remain trapped,” he said.
Leaders and senior officials from 47 countries including Japan, the U.S., the U.K. – to name a few – have expressed solidarity and offered assistance to Taipei, according to Taiwan’s Presidential Office.
Tibetan spiritual leader the Dalai Lama also expressed his sympathy to the earthquake victims via a post on Facebook.
Zhu Fenglian, head of China’s Taiwan Affairs Office – the organization in charge of cross-Strait relations – said in a statement that the mainland was “deeply concerned about the earthquake and expressed sincere condolences to Taiwan compatriots affected by the disaster.”
China “is willing to provide disaster relief assistance,” Zhu said.
However, the offer was declined by the Taiwanese authorities. Taiwan’s Mainland Affairs Council said in a statement that “we express our gratitude to the Chinese side for their concern” but “there is no need for the Chinese side to assist.”
Taiwan’s former president Ma Ying-jeou is currently in China on a friendly visit that has been criticized by some legislators from the ruling Democratic Progressive Party (DPP).
Frightened but calm
Taiwanese people have been sharing their own experiences from Wednesday’s earthquake.
A man, who identified himself as Li and lives just 500 meters from central Hualien, told Radio Free Asia’s Mandarin service that his building was seriously damaged and its 200 residents were rescued but now need to be resettled.
“After the earthquake hit, the main door was sealed. I was locked in my room for about half an hour.
“The tremors broke the windows and deformed the building structure, the ceilings collapsed, and the window grills, making it impossible to climb out. I learned that some people couldn’t stand on the road and had to hug trees to steady themselves.”
Another man named Lin described the quake as huge.
“The earth was shaking up and down, left and right for nearly a minute.”
But he kept his cool, saying: “I am so experienced. I am really used to it in Taiwan.”
Lan, a woman who lives in Taipei, told RFA: “I was about to go to work at the time, and I was relatively calm.”
“I think Taiwanese people are actually quite well trained in this regard, we know roughly what to do and just follow the instructions.”
Some people said that they actually learned about the earthquake from mainland Chinese sources. China’s Sina News issued an alert at 8:01 a.m. on Wednesday saying “The China Seismological Network detected an earthquake of 7.4 magnitude near Taiwan, China.”
But there was also disinformation, according to a woman named Li from Taipei: “The first time I saw it, the news was from mainland China saying that an earthquake of magnitude 8.4 was detected in Taiwan.”
“They also talked about suspension of work [in Taiwan]. Fake news was all over the…
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Business
HSBC Chairman to Head Key UK Business Delegation to China
HSBC Chairman Mark Tucker will lead a UK business delegation to China next month to boost trade and investment, amid concerns over national security and improving UK-China relations.
HSBC Chairman Leads UK Delegation to China
HSBC Chairman Mark Tucker will lead a pivotal British business delegation to China next month, marking the first significant visit since 2018. The trip aims to enhance Chinese investment in the UK, guided by Chancellor Rachel Reeves. Tucker, a seasoned financier with extensive Asia experience, is regarded as essential in resetting UK-China relations.
Reviving Economic Dialogue
Tucker will accompany senior bankers in seeking to rejuvenate trade, specifically focusing on financial services. Although there are apprehensions among some UK lawmakers regarding national security threats posed by closer ties to Beijing, the UK Treasury spokesperson confirmed Chancellor Reeves’ upcoming discussions on economic cooperation in Beijing.
A Shift in UK-China Relations
Since suspending most dialogues following China’s imposition of a national security law in Hong Kong, UK-China relations have soured. Nevertheless, the Labour government is prioritizing improved ties with China, emphasizing investment opportunities. Reeves asserts the necessity of a pragmatic approach to benefitting national interests amid ongoing concerns voiced by some lawmakers about security risks.
Source : HSBC Chairman to lead pivotal UK business delegation to China
China
China’s November 2024 Economy: Navigating Mixed Signals and Ongoing Challenges
In November 2024, China’s economy exhibited mixed results: industrial production rose by 5.4%, while retail sales grew only 3%, below forecasts. Fixed asset investment also faltered. Policymakers are anticipated to introduce measures to stimulate domestic demand and combat deflation.
China’s economy showed mixed performance in November 2024, with industrial production and exports showing resilience, while retail sales and fixed asset investment underperformed, amid ongoing challenges in the property sector. Policymakers are expected to implement targeted fiscal and monetary measures to boost domestic demand and address deflationary pressures.
The National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) has released China’s economy data for November 2024, revealing a mixed performance across key indicators. Retail sales grew by 3 percent year-on-year, a significant slowdown from October’s 4.8 percent growth and well below the 4.6 percent forecast. Industrial production, however, showed resilience, rising by 5.4 percent and exceeding expectations of 5.3 percent growth.
The property sector continued to drag on the broader economy, with real estate investment contracting by 10.4 percent for the January-to-November period, further highlighting the challenges in stabilizing the sector. Fixed asset investment also fell short of expectations, growing by 3.3 percent year-to-date, down from 3.4 percent in October.
In November, China’s industrial value added (IVA) grew by 5.4 percent year-on-year (YoY), slightly accelerating from the 5.3 percent recorded in October. This modest improvement reflects continued recovery in key industries, supported by recent stimulus measures aimed at stabilizing the economy.
The manufacturing sector led the growth, expanding by 6.0 percent YoY, while the power, heat, gas, and water production and supply sector grew by 1.6 percent. The mining industry posted a 4.2 percent YoY increase. Notably, advanced industries outpaced overall growth, with equipment manufacturing and high-tech manufacturing rising by 7.6 percent and 7.8 percent YoY, respectively, underscoring the resilience of China’s innovation-driven sectors.
Key product categories showed robust output gains in November:
From January to November, IVA increased by 5.8 percent YoY, maintaining steady growth over the year despite headwinds from a slowing property market and external uncertainties.
| This article was first published by China Briefing , which is produced by Dezan Shira & Associates. The firm assists foreign investors throughout Asia from offices across the world, including in in China, Hong Kong, Vietnam, Singapore, and India . Readers may write to info@dezshira.com for more support. |
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China
Ukraine war: 10% of Chinese people are willing to boycott Russian goods over invasion – new study
Since Russia’s 2022 invasion of Ukraine, some Chinese citizens express dissent through potential boycotts of Russian goods, reflecting a complex relationship despite government support for Russia.
Since Russia invaded Ukraine in 2022, the Chinese government has been criticised for its refusal to condemn the war. In 2024, the economic and diplomatic relationship between the two nations appears stronger than ever.
Because of strict censorship and repression imposed by the Chinese Communist Party (CCP), it is difficult to know the extent to which the general public shares their government’s support of Putin’s regime. But a newly published study I carried out with colleagues found that more than 10% of Chinese people surveyed were willing to boycott Russian goods over the war in Ukraine.
This is a surprisingly large figure, especially since existing surveys indicate that Chinese people hold a broadly positive view of their neighbour. We used a representative sample of 3,029 Chinese citizens for this research, to dig into public attitudes to Russia. The survey was done in 2022 after the Ukraine invasion.
We were aware that due to widespread censorship, our participants might not be willing to give honest answers to questions about Russia’s actions in Ukraine. They might also not feel safe to do that in a regime where disagreement with the CCP’s position is often met with harsh punishment. This is why we asked them to tell us if they would be willing to boycott Russian products currently sold in China.
We felt this question was a good indicator of how much the participants disapproved of Russian foreign policy in Ukraine. More importantly, we were also curious to find out whether Chinese citizens would be willing to take direct political action to punish Russia economically for its aggressive behaviour.
In our study, we split respondents into the three different ideological groups in China: “liberals”, who support the free market and oppose authoritarianism; “the new left”, who sympathise with the policies pursued in China under Mao Zedong; and “neo-authoritarians”, who believe the Russian-Ukrainian conflict is an extension of the rivalry between authoritarian China and the liberal United States. These groups were based on the main political beliefs in China.
We found that liberals were most likely to say they were willing to boycott Russian products. Liberals believe that China should work with, rather than against, western democracies. They also place a high value on human rights and democratic freedoms. Because of their beliefs, they are likely to think that Russia’s actions against Ukraine were unprovoked, aggressive and disproportional.
Chinese and Russian economic and diplomatic relations seem closer than ever in 2024.
American Photo Archive/Alamy
The new left and neo-authoritarians we surveyed were more supportive of Russian products. The new left see Russia as a close ally and believe that Nato’s expansion in eastern Europe was a form of aggression. Neo-authoritarians, on the other hand, believe that supporting Russia, an allied autocracy, is in China’s best interest.
Boycotting Russian goods
Asking Chinese participants if they are willing to boycott Russian products might seem like a simple matter of consumer preferences. However, our study reveals a great deal about the way in which regular citizens can express controversial political beliefs in a repressive authoritarian regime.
Boycotting products of certain companies has long been studied in the west as a form of unconventional political action that helps people express their beliefs. However, in the west, boycotting certain products is simply one of many ways people are able to take political action. In a country such as China, boycotting a Russian product might often be the only safe way to express disagreement with the country’s actions.
This is because citizens do not have to tell others they chose not to buy a product, and their actions are unlikely to attract the attention of the authorities.
Since Russian goods are readily available to Chinese consumers and China is encouraging more Russian exports to reach its market, the Russian economy could be significantly affected by an organised boycott campaign in China. The considerable level of support for a boycott expressed by some of our participants, as well as previous acts of solidarity with Ukraine in China, suggest that such a campaign could already be taking place in the country.
This could harm Russia because it regularly exports a number of different products such as meat, chocolate, tea and wine to China. These goods made up 5.1% of China’s total imports in 2023 – and this figure is likely to increase if Russia becomes more isolated from the west, and therefore more dependent on China for its trade.
While 5.1% of the Chinese market might seem like a low figure, China is home to over 1.4 billion people. In this context, even a small boycott could result in a serious loss to Russian companies.
Our research shows that Chinese citizens don’t always support the official position of the communist party. It also shows that many people there will express even the most unpopular political opinions – if they can find a safe way to do it.
This article is republished from The Conversation under a Creative Commons license. Read the original article.
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