China news roundup / Nachrichten 2024-02-16
Blinken meets with China’s foreign minister
"“The two sides had a candid and constructive discussion on a range of bilateral, regional, and global issues as part of ongoing efforts to maintain open lines of communication and responsibly manage competition in the relationship,” the U.S. State Department said."
--- Translation: 'We talked. Nothing changed.' As usual.
Chinese train maker targeted by EU subsidy probe
"The European Union executive said it is probing CRRC unit Qingdao Sifang Locomotive over its bid for a €610 million Bulgarian public procurement contract to provide electric trains along with maintenance and staff training.
"There are sufficient indications that this company has been granted a foreign subsidy that distorts the internal market,""
--- Sufficient indications... Well, it's a Chinese SOE, so what do you expect? Anyway, at least they started an investigation. What comes of it, we will see. For now, emperor Xi is not amused.
Bankers verified Fake Chinese Income mortgages for banned money laundering suspects in Toronto: HSBC Leaks
"What makes this realtor’s case politically explosive is not just that her network allegedly laundered money from China into Toronto real estate, nor the forged Chinese employment records they used to obtain massive mortgages from Canadian banks, or that they became Ontario landlords by leveraging criminal underground banks servicing Chinese diasporas in Vancouver and Toronto.
Ms. D’s case only surfaced because during the pandemic an HSBC whistleblower, whom The Bureau is calling D.M., uncovered what he believes is systemic mortgage fraud involving Chinese diaspora clients and HSBC Toronto-area branches.
[...] leaked banking documents resulting from D.M.’s internal complaint about Ms. D and another HSBC client that claimed a $700,000 fake Chinese income, prove this “Toronto Method” of real estate money laundering actually started from at least 2013"
--- & it has long been known that this is going on in Canada. So, the authorities & government had more than enough time to act. But:
"Canada’s banking regulator OFSI lacks power to compel big banks to address toxic loans and money laundering of the type that D.M.’s internal documents expose.
This isn’t the case in nations like the United States with strong regulators and laws to protect the fairness of markets.
As it stands in Ottawa, unless a housing market crash exposes banks to financial risks from toxic lending, Punwasi doesn’t believe systemic fraud exposed by the HSBC whistleblower will be addressed by Justin Trudeau’s Liberal government."
--- Trudeau is simply China's useful idiot.
Millions of donkeys killed each year to make medicine
"In a new report, the Donkey Sanctuary, which has campaigned against the trade since 2017, estimates that globally at least 5.9 million donkeys are slaughtered every year to supply it. And the charity says that demand is growing, although the BBC was unable to independently verify those figures."
--- The problem is that donkey reproduction is rather slow, so more donkeys are killed than can be replaced. But that also is not new. The reason for this article is buried deep down in loads of human interest nonsense:
"The proposal for an Africa-wide, indefinite ban is on the agenda at the African Union Summit , where all state leaders meet, on 17 and 18 February."
--- I doubt that this will be implemented. There are too many African politicians on the CCP payroll.
Happy New Year of the Dragon - or should that be ‘Loong’?
"“Loong” has been used in the past to describe dragons, but this year it’s been popularly embraced as the preferred translation of the Mandarin word for a creature long revered in Chinese culture."
--- It's not a translation, but transliteration. For it to be a translation it would have to be word already existant in another language.
"Fierce Western dragons may have been based on evolutionary theories related to mankind’s inner fears, he said, which “resulted in an amalgam creature that could fly, breath fire, cause fear and panic by its presence, and chase on the ground.”"
--- Where do journalists find such idiots? Dragon stories were told millennia before evolutionary theories were developed.
Uyghur Policy Act passes US House
Whisky takes a shot at China's Baijiu-dominated market
--- China Uncensored features the usual weekend news variety:
--- DW News: "Why is the West so desperate to compete with China's solar sector?"
--- CNBC: Cornell professor says China's biggest problem is a lack of confidence in its government
--- CSIS: China’s Role in Democratic Backsliding in Latin America and the Caribbean
Vertrauen in China schwindet
"Das Vertrauen der deutschen Wirtschaft in den Standort China nimmt ab. Nur noch ein knappes Viertel (23 Prozent) der Unternehmen hat „eher großes“ oder „sehr großes“ Vertrauen in die Volksrepublik. Das teilte der Bitkom am Freitag mit. Der Digitalverband führte eine Umfrage unter mehr als 600 Firmen in Deutschland durch. Im Jahr 2020 hatten noch 31 Prozent der damals befragten Unternehmen sich für China ausgesprochen. 39 Prozent vertrauen China aktuell nicht oder nur sehr gering (2020: 35 Prozent)."
--- Keine Ahnung, wie man heutzutage noch großes Vertrauen in China haben kann. Es gibt einfach zuviele Idioten.
