China news roundup / Nachrichten 2024-04-13/14

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China ‘deeply concerned’ after Iran strikes, online commenters largely oppose Israel

"China’s foreign ministry Sunday said it is "deeply concerned" about escalating tensions in the Middle East."

--- Sounds almost like the EU when they don't want to get involved, but show how involved they are.

"Israel said that its air defenses, aided by the United States and other countries, shot down 99% of the 320 warheads which were launched from places in Iran, Iraq, Syria and Yemen."

--- Israeli news with Chinese characteristics? If I am correctly informed, there were 7 impacts on one Israeli base alone. That's already more than 2%.

PRC shadow looms as the Solomons head for election

"The point of all of this is that the PRC and its proxies in Solomons have been preparing for these elections for a long time. A lot of money, effort and intelligence have gone into ensuring an outcome that won’t compromise Beijing’s plans. It may be backing Sogavare, but it is backing many others as well, including at the local levels, at the universities, in schools, in health care. Not only has the PRC gamed this, it’s done this before, in other countries, over decades. Just ask Zimbabwe."

--- Doesn't look good for the Solomons. But maybe not all is lost:

"Another Solomon Islander told The Sunday Guardian: “The average Solomon Islander is fed up with Sogavare’s government. He’s been PM four times. They are fed up with the state of health care, rural infrastructure, education. If they hear the majority of his party retains their seats, it is going to cause disappointments—I hope we don’t go through another riot in the city. But one thing is sure, whatever happens, China is not going to just walk away.”"

--- The question is, of course, whether riots will do any good. I doubt it.

Germany's Scholz trip to China overshadowed by Iran attack on Israel

"The talks could even be helpful given the new escalation to the conflict in the Middle East, where China had kept a low profile until now."

--- Bullshit.

"Meanwhile, the trip is considered a key test of Germany's new "de-risking" strategy towards China, agreed by Scholz's coalition government last year."

--- Phhh... Scholz does not really agree with his own government:

"The German chancellor is accompanied by a dozen top managers. Among them are the chief executives of the car manufacturers Mercedes-Benz and BMW as well as the chemical company BASF."

--- & a bunch of others. So much for de-risking.

Viral video highlights targeting of Hmong women to marry Chinese men

"The Chinese men offer the parents large amounts of money or promise to build a modern cement house, he said.
And they mostly target the Lao women in their early 20s, with fair skin and a small body, a source in Vientiane province’s Thoulakhom district told RFA.
The influx of Chinese people into Laos in the last few years has presented new challenges to the Lao government’s anti-human trafficking efforts, according to several government officials.
Many of the Chinese men obtain all of the required Lao government documents before marrying Hmong women, one Vientiane-based official told RFA. That can make it more difficult for provincial authorities to gauge whether the women will face an abusive situation once they move to China"

--- As if the authorities really cared. This has been going on for at least a decade now. Once the girls are in China, that's it.

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Historic Tibetan Buddhist monastery is being moved to make way for dam

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China reaffirms ties with North Korea in high-level meeting

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The Chinese émigrés leaving the pressures of home for laid back Chiang Mai

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--- China Uncensored features the usual weekend news variety:

--- China Uncensored: China Is Using AI to Hack Elections

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--- DW News: Germany's Scholz visits China as economic tensions remain high

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Wirtschaftsthemen stehen im Vordergrund

"Zwei Tage mit Wirtschaftsterminen, ein Tag Politik - die Prioritäten bei der China-Reise des Kanzlers sind klar."

--- War schon lange klar. Auch beim 'Tag Politik' wird es fast ausschließlich um wirtschaftliche Themen gehen.

Parteipropaganda per künstlicher Intelligenz

"Den Erfolg der internationalen Kommunikation durch die neu aufgebauten Propaganda-Abteilungen will Bandurski von China Media Project noch nicht bewerten. Bisher haben viele der YouTube-Kanäle nur wenige Abonnenten. Unklar ist, wie oft die Apps mit englischen Informationen über China runtergeladen werden. Den Trend aber sieht Bandurski als besorgniserregend, denn durch viel Output werde letztlich auch etwas hängen bleiben."

--- Das meiste davon (hier das Video) ist noch primitiver Schrott, aber man kann davon ausgehen, daß die Qualität in den nächsten Jahren deutlich besser werden wird. & man kann vermutlich auch davon ausgehen, daß die davon ausgehende Gefahr im Westen mal wieder unterschätzt wird. Ähnlich wie TikTok:

Scholz' TikTok-Auftritt ist "ein Fehler"

""Solange die Plattform TikTok und andere Plattformen sich nicht an die Regeln halten und junge Menschen vor Diskriminierung, Hassrede schützen und Desinformation nicht zurücknehmen oder bekämpfen, ist das keine Plattform für den Staat.""

--- Kein Wort davon, daß TikTok im Endeffekt ein Propagandainstrument der KPCh ist. Dämlich.

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--- Welt: "CHINA-REISE: Kanzler trifft Xi Jinping - Scholz und deutsche Autobauer in Handeslskrieg-Zwickmühle"