China’s CCTV slams Western hype of its population decline
Posted: April 20, 2023 Filed under: Uncategorized | Tags: China, population, population dividend 24 CommentsBy Farah Master
April 20, 2023 3:13 PM GMT+8 Last Updated 5 hours ago
Children play next to adults at a park in Beijing, China June 1, 2021. REUTERS/Tingshu Wang (image omitted)
HONG KONG, April 20 (Reuters) – Western media reports on China’s population being overtaken by India deliberately ignores China’s development, using the topic to “bad mouth” it and advocate decoupling, state broadcaster CCTV said on Thursday.
CCTV’s sharply worded commentary said the subtext from Western media in recent years was that China’s development was in “big trouble” and that when China’s demographic dividend disappears, it would decline, and the global economy would also suffer.
“They slandered all the way and China has developed all the way, creating a miracle of sustainable and stable economic development with a huge population.”
India is overtaking China as the world’s most populous nation, and will have almost 3 million more people than its neighbour by the middle of this year, data released on Wednesday by the United Nations showed.
“The United States is stepping up efforts to contain China’s development and advocate further decoupling and found new hype points from the United Nations report,” CCTV said, adding that the West simply equated population size with development achievements.
“Such hype lacks a basic understanding of the law of population development. With the development of human society today, the decrease in birth rate and decline in willingness to bear children are common problems faced by the whole world,” CCTV said, adding that Western developed countries generally faced problems such as labour shortages.
Last year, China’s population fell for the first time in six decades, a historic turn expected to usher in a long period of decline in citizen numbers, with profound implications for its economy and the world.
Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Wang Wenbin said population dividends did not only depend on quantity but also on quality.
“Population is important but talents are also important…China has taken active measures to respond to population aging,” Wang told reporters on Wednesday.
In Beijing’s Guomao business district, Liu, a 40-year old working in finance, said it was an “inevitable phenomenon” that India’s population has exceeded China but that his country’s economic strength would dominate.
“Our economic strength will still exceed,” he said adding that India’s population growth “does not have any major impact on us. It doesn’t affect us much.”
Reporting by Farah Master
Note: This is Reuters’ report I post here for readers’ information. It does not mean whether I agree or disagree with the report’s views.
The next arms race: China leverages AI for edge in future wars
Posted: April 20, 2023 Filed under: Uncategorized | Tags: Beijing, China, Defense, drones 2 Comments
A J-20 stealth fighter jet of the Chinese People’s Liberation Army (PLA) Air Force performs at the China International Aviation and Aerospace Exhibition in Guangdong province, China, in November. | CHINA DAILY VIA REUTERS
BY GABRIEL DOMINGUEZ
STAFF WRITER
Apr 20, 2023
The U.S. has enjoyed superiority in military technology since the end of the Cold War. But this edge is being rapidly eroded by its main rival, China, which seems determined to become a global leader in technologies such as artificial intelligence and machine learning (AI/ML) that could potentially revolutionize warfare.
As Beijing focuses on a defense strategy for what it calls the “new era,” the aim is to integrate these innovations into the People’s Liberation Army, creating a “world-class” force that offsets U.S. conventional military supremacy in the Indo-Pacific and tilts the balance of power.
How important AI has become for China’s national security and military ambitions was highlighted by President Xi Jinping during the 20th Party Congress last October, where he emphasized Beijing’s commitment to AI development and “intelligent warfare” — a reference to AI-enabled military systems.
Not only does China plan to become the world’s leading AI power by 2030, Beijing has also turned to a military-civil fusion strategy to achieve it. This approach has enabled the country to speed up defense innovations by eliminating barriers between China’s civilian research and commercial sectors, and its military and defense industrial sectors.
The results are striking. China already produces the most top AI scientists, with the country hosting the first nine of the world’s top 10 institutions publishing AI-related papers, according to Stanford University’s latest AI Index Report.
Moreover, companies such as Tencent Holdings, Alibaba Group Holdings and Huawei Technologies are reported to be among the top 10 firms conducting AI research.
A nuclear-powered Type 094A Jin-class ballistic missile submarine of the Chinese People’s Liberation Army (PLA) Navy is seen during a military display in the South China Sea in 2018. | CHINA DAILY / VIA REUTERS
Chinese experts are also prolific, publishing 27.5% of all AI journal articles worldwide, while U.S. researchers account for 12%, according to Stanford’s Institute for Human-Centered AI.
But Beijing’s drive for technological supremacy doesn’t stop with AI. China is beating Western democracies in research output in 37 out of 44 technological areas deemed critical for economic growth and military power, such as space, robotics, energy, the environment, advanced materials and key quantum technology areas, the Australian Strategic Policy Institute said in a recent report.
This has led analysts such as Amy J. Nelson, an expert on emerging technologies at the Brookings Institution, to say that on balance, the U.S. and China are already “neck and neck in technological innovation as best we can measure.”
The key, she says, is how these technologies will be operationalized.
“China is renowned for its data collection and thus algorithm development, which will likely define its advantage going forward,” Nelson said.
“The U.S. struggles to reach equivalence in this area, so if China’s data collection efforts make for a measurable improvement to its algorithms relative to U.S. ingenuity, China could take the lead.”
Why does this matter?
Even though the PLA views AI/ML as crucial for driving next-generation warfare, little is known on how exactly it will integrate AI or what operational concepts it will adopt.
Nevertheless, Beijing already stated in its 2019 Defense White Paper that the application of cutting-edge technologies — including AI, quantum information, big data, cloud computing and the Internet of Things — is “gathering pace in the military field.”
China’s technological leapfrogging has caused great concern in Washington and is considered a key factor behind the U.S. decision to impose sweeping restrictions on semiconductor exports to Beijing.
This comes as the edge AI/ML provides on the battlefield is becoming increasingly apparent. From autonomous systems and accelerated data analysis to disinformation operations, intelligence gathering, cyberattacks, and human-machine teaming, experts have found multiple tactical and strategic applications for these technologies.
New recruits of Chinese People’s Liberation Army (PLA) attend a send-off ceremony at a railway station in Ganzhou, China, in March. | CHINA DAILY / VIA REUTERS (image omitted)
“AI will transform the way war is conducted in every domain from undersea to outer space, as well as in cyberspace and along the electromagnetic spectrum,” said the U.S. National Security Commission on Artificial Intelligence (NSCAI) in a 2021 report.
Enablers, multipliers and disruptors
Depending on their use, AI/ML-enabled technologies are broadly classified as force enablers, multipliers and/or disruptors.
For instance, they can serve as enablers as they can improve situational awareness and intelligence capabilities by speeding up the processing of large and complex data sets.
This is because the combination of machine learning with big data provides analytical capabilities that are beyond what humans could do.
“As an increasing amount of data is generated on battlefields, the capacity to analyze and manage large amounts of data faster than an adversary is critical,” said Jean-Marc Rickli and Federico Mantelassi from the Geneva Center for Security Policy (GCSP).
“Not only can AI systems digest, categorize and analyze more data than human analysts, but they may also find correlations in data that escape the human mind,” the experts added, noting that AI-enabled systems can process data from intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance sensors by sifting through massive troves of texts, images and audio, unburdening the work of analysts.
The PLA reportedly aims to use AI to process information from many sources, including from a network of unmanned systems and undersea sensors surrounding China.
These technologies can also be applied to help commanders make better, faster and more relevant battlefield decisions while supporting the planning of military operations, particularly in constrained times.
This is crucial as China expects the tempo of military operations to eventually outpace human cognition, which is why the PLA wants AI to enhance its command-and-control structure and achieve “decision superiority” in “intelligent” warfare, Rickli said.
The idea is for algorithms to help connect the dots where humans alone may not see the full picture.
Aside from information processing, there are other key applications. Nearly all advanced militaries, including those of China, Russia, and the U.S., are selectively experimenting with AI technologies that integrate with robotics and drones.
Chinese J-20 stealth fighter jets perform at the China International Aviation and Aerospace Exhibition in November. | CHINA DAILY / VIA REUTERS
Moreover, they are developing “collaborative combat” systems, integrating human-machine interactions such as unmanned drones flying in-sync with advanced fighter jets, said Michael Raska, coordinator of the Military Transformations Program at the Singapore-based S. Rajaratnam School of International Studies.
Other military uses include cyber operations, detecting and countering advanced cyberattacks, logistics and predictive maintenance applications that can optimize the availability and deployments of military units and assets, added Raska, who is also the editor of a new book titled, “The AI Wave in Defence Innovation: Assessing Military Artificial Intelligence Strategies, Capabilities, and Trajectories.”
Another major area of research and development is autonomous vehicles that evacuate wounded soldiers from the battlefield.
AI can also function as a disruptor in cognitive warfare, for instance, to support disinformation campaigns, meaning that ascertaining the veracity and value of information will become harder.
Advances in natural language processing and deep learning are already leading to more fictitious content, or deepfakes, through either fake text, images or videos, said Rickli.
But these applications might just be the tip of the iceberg, as new uses are bound to emerge.
Raska points out that AI systems could infiltrate a rival’s network and data centers to manipulate algorithms or corrupt data. Furthermore, they could play a key role in lethal autonomous weapons systems, including aerial and underwater drones that could be used in swarms.
There is one key problem, Raska said. These emerging technologies raise the uncertainties of data integrity, bias and reliability issues, which can lead to unforeseen consequences.
Moreover, there is the question of whether existing norms and governance mechanisms would prevent militaries from moving into a new phase of “automation warfare,” where algorithms enable robotic weapons to select and engage targets without human control.
China’s progress in AI will depend upon its capacity to operationalize emerging military systems, which experts say will require overcoming current technological and organizational challenges in testing, training, and operational concepts.
The conclusion is a sobering one for the U.S. and its allies: A new arms race has begun, with no rules and few guardrails.
Unless quick action is taken, the balance of military-technological power will soon shift from West to East, with potentially unforeseen consequences.
Source: the Japan Times “The next arms race: China leverages AI for edge in future wars”
Note: This is the Japan Times’ article I post here for readers’ information. It does not mean whether I agree or disagree with the article’s views.
China’s economy gathers speed, global risks raise challenges to outlook
Posted: April 19, 2023 Filed under: Uncategorized | Tags: China, consumption, economy, factory output 2 CommentsBy Kevin Yao and Joe Cash
April 18, 20236 :52 PM GMT+8 Last Updated 16 hours ago
Summary
China Q1 GDP rises faster than expected after COVID curbs end
Factory output up 3.9% y/y, retail sales up 10.6%
Economy still faces challenges from debt risks, slow global growth
Policymakers pledge to step up support for economy
BEIJING, April 18 (Reuters) – China’s economy grew at a faster-than-expected pace in the first quarter, as the end of strict COVID curbs lifted businesses and consumers out of crippling pandemic disruptions, although headwinds from a global slowdown point to a bumpy ride ahead.
More than a year-long sweeping streak of global monetary policy tightening to rein in red-hot inflation has dented world economic growth, leaving many countries including China reliant on domestic demand to spur momentum and raising the challenge for policymakers looking for post-COVID stability.
Gross domestic product grew 4.5% year-on-year in the first three months of the year, data from the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) showed on Tuesday, faster than the 2.9% in the previous quarter. It beat analyst forecasts for a 4.0% expansion and marked the strongest growth in a year.
Reuters Graphics
Investors have been closely watching first quarter data to assess the strength of the recovery after Beijing abruptly lifted COVID curbs in December and eased a three-year crackdown on tech firms and property. GDP growth last year slumped to one of its worst in nearly half a century due to COVID restrictions.
“Economic recovery is well on track. The bright spot is consumption, which is strengthening as household confidence improves,” said Zhiwei Zhang, chief economist at Pinpoint Asset Management. “The strong export growth in March also likely helped to boost GDP growth in Q1.”
Chinese policymakers have pledged to step up support for the $18 trillion economy to keep a lid on unemployment, but they face limited room to manoeuvre as businesses grapple with debt risks, structural woes and global recession worries.
China’s rebound has so far remained uneven as its investment-fuelled growth of the past to one now reliant on consumption faces challenges.
Consumption, services and infrastructure spending have perked up but factory output has lagged amid weak global growth, while slowing prices and surging bank savings are raising doubts about demand.
China’s exports unexpectedly surged in March, but analysts cautioned the improvement partly reflects suppliers catching up with unfulfilled orders after the COVID-19 disruptions.
NBS spokesman Fu Linghui told a news conference that while it was a good start for the economy, “the international environment is still complex and ever-changing, constraints from insufficient domestic demand are obvious and the foundation for economic recovery is not solid.”
China’s second-quarter growth could pick up sharply due to the year-ago low base effect, Fu said.
On a quarter-on-quarter basis, GDP grew 2.2% in January-March, meeting analyst expectations and up from a revised 0.6% rise in the previous quarter.
Asian shares weakened as a brief post-data lift was eclipsed by signs a full-blown recovery in China was still some way off. China’s bluechip CSI300 Index was up just 0.3%.
People walk at the main shopping area in Shanghai
MODEST GROWTH TARGET
Analysts polled by Reuters expect China’s growth in 2023 to speed up to 5.4%, from 3.0% last year.
The government has set a modest GDP growth target of around 5% for this year, after badly missing the 2022 goal.
Separate data on March activity on Tuesday showed retail sales growth quickened to 10.6%, beating expectations and hitting near two-year highs. But that was led by a low-base effect and there are signs of caution among consumers.
Factory output growth also sped up but was just below expectations.
“Riding on this trend, we expect GDP in the second quarter to reach around 8%, and it won’t be a big problem for China to achieve its growth target for the year,” said Tao Chuan, chief macro analyst at Soochow Securities in Beijing.
“That said, we see some structural problems remain in unemployment rate, property investment and confidence in private sector. These problems need to be solved to support a sustained recovery.”
China’s nationwide survey-based jobless rate fell to 5.3% in March from 5.6% in February, but the jobless rate for those aged 16 to 24 rebounded to 19.6% last month from 18.1% in February.
Image Reuters Graphics
China’s infrastructure investment rose 8.8% in January-March year-on-year – outpacing a 5.1 rise in overall fixed-asset investment, while property investment fell 5.8%.
POLICY SUPPORT
The nation’s central bank, which cut lenders’ reserve requirement ratio in March, said last week it will maintain ample liquidity, stabilise growth and jobs.
On Monday, the central bank extended liquidity support to banks through its medium-term lending facility but kept the rate on such loans unchanged, an indication Beijing isn’t overly concerned about the immediate growth outlook.
The government, which has refrained from taking big steps to spur consumption, is still relying heavily on infrastructure spending to spur investment and economic growth.
“In short, with this GDP report, we believe there is no immediate need for the government to put massive stimulus into the economy,” Iris Pang, chief Greater China economist at ING, said in a note. ($1 = 6.8761 Chinese yuan)
Reporting by Kevin Yao; Editing by Sam Holmes
Note: This is Reuters’ report I post here for readers’ information. It does not mean whether I agree or disagree with the report’s views.
Leaked US assessment says China readying supersonic spy drone unit – Washington Post
Posted: April 19, 2023 Filed under: Uncategorized | Tags: China 3 CommentsBy Kanishka Singh
April 19, 2023 10:07 AM GMT+8 Last Updated 35 min ago
The Pentagon building is seen in Arlington, Virginia, U.S. October 9, 2020. REUTERS/Carlos Barria (image omitted)
WASHINGTON, April 18 (Reuters) – A leaked U.S. military assessment says the Chinese military may soon deploy a high-altitude spy drone that travels at least three times the speed of sound, the Washington Post reported late on Tuesday.
The newspaper cited a secret document from the National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency.
The document, which Reuters could not confirm or verify independently, features satellite imagery dated Aug 9 that shows two WZ-8 rocket-propelled reconnaissance drones at an air base in eastern China, about 350 miles (560km) inland from Shanghai, according to the newspaper.
The U.S. assessment said China’s People’s Liberation Army (PLA) had “almost certainly” established its first unmanned aerial vehicle unit at the base, which falls under the Eastern Theater Command, the branch of the Chinese military responsible for enforcing Chinese sovereignty claims over Taiwan, the newspaper reported.
The U.S. Defense Department did not immediately respond to a request for comment. The Chinese government could not immediately be reached for comment.
The Washington Post said it obtained the assessment of the program from a trove of images of classified files posted on the Discord messaging app, allegedly by a member of the Massachusetts Air National Guard, who was arrested last week.
The FBI on Thursday arrested Jack Douglas Teixeira, a 21-year-old member of the U.S. Air National Guard, over the leaks online of classified documents that embarrassed Washington with allies around the world.
The leaks first became widely known earlier this month, setting Washington on edge about the damage they may have caused. The episode embarrassed the U.S. by revealing its spying on allies and purported Ukrainian military vulnerabilities.
Taiwan president Tsai Ing-wen’s recent meeting with U.S. House of Representative Kevin McCarthy had upset Beijing. China, which claims democratically ruled Taiwan is one of its provinces, says Taiwan is the single most important and sensitive issue in its relations with the United States. Taiwan’s government rejects Beijing’s sovereignty claims.
Reporting by Kanishka Singh in Washington; Editing by Lincoln Feast.
Note: This is Reuters’ report I post here for readers’ information. It does not mean whether I agree or disagree with the report’s views.
China takes swipe at Western ‘friend-shoring’ efforts
Posted: April 16, 2023 Filed under: Uncategorized | Tags: China, friend-shoring, G7, trade cold war, Yi Gang 23 CommentsBy Leika Kihara
April 15, 2023 4:29 AM GMT+8 Last Updated 2 days ago
PBOC Governor Yi Gang attends a news conference in Beijing
WASHINGTON, April 14 (Reuters) – China’s central bank governor on Friday took a swipe at efforts by Western economies to trade more with allies and rely less on the world’s largest goods-exporting country, saying such “friend-shoring” attempts could prevent global supply chain tension from easing.
Reducing their deep dependence on supply chains with China at their center has become a top priority among Western economies as Beijing’s threats to Taiwan heighten geopolitical risks in Asia. The trade disruptions of the pandemic years have also added urgency to the desire to limit their dependence on China.
“The global economy is facing increasing downward pressures,” Yi Gang, governor of the People’s Bank of China, said in a statement to the International Monetary Fund’s steering committee.
“Despite an overall easing of supply chain tensions, they continue to be challenged by protectionist measures such as onshoring, nearshoring, and friend-shoring,” Yi said.
U.S. Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen has recently encouraged “friend-shoring,” or the diversification of supply chains away from China to market-oriented democracies such as India.
Group of Seven (G7) finance leaders on Wednesday pledged to support low- and middle-income countries playing bigger roles in supply chains, a move that would allow advanced economies to whittle down their reliance on China for strategic goods.
The fragmentation of global trade has drawn warnings from international institutions including the IMF.
IMF Managing Director Kristalina Georgieva has warned policymakers of the danger of a new Cold War as they ramp up efforts to secure their industrial supply chains amid geopolitical tensions between major powers.
On the IMF’s quota reform, Yi also called for quota increases that “reflect the relative share of members in the global economy” and strengthen the voice and representation of emerging market and developing economies.
Reporting by Leika Kihara; Editing by Andrea Ricci
Note: This is Reuters’ report I post here for readers’ information. It does not mean whether I agree or disagree with the report’s views.
China and Brazil reset ties with tech, environment accords, agree on Ukraine
Posted: April 15, 2023 Filed under: Uncategorized | Tags: Brazil, BRICS, China, China-Brazil ties, Lula, Xi Jinping 4 CommentsBy Ethan Wang, Ryan Woo and Lisandra Paraguassu
April 15, 2023 2:53 AM GMT+8 Last Updated 13 hours ago
Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva shakes hands with Chinese President Xi Jinping after a signing ceremony held at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing, China, April 14, 2023. Ken Ishii/Pool via REUTERS
BEIJING/BRASILIA, April 14 (Reuters) – Brazil reset its diplomatic ties with China, its largest trading partner, with a state visit on Friday where they agreed to boost investments and cooperation on technology and sustainable development, while urging peace talks in Ukraine.
Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva and several of his ministers signed the accords with President Xi Jinping and other Chinese officials in Beijing.
Xi said China has made relations with Brazil a diplomatic priority and the two countries should deepen practical cooperation in sectors including agriculture, energy, and infrastructure construction, state broadcaster CCTV reported.
“We have an extraordinary relationship with China, a relationship that every day gets more acute and stronger,” Lula said before his meeting with Xi.
Brazil and China need to work together so that the relationship is not merely one of commercial interest, he added.
The two leaders agreed that dialogue and negotiation are the “only feasible way” to resolve the war in Ukraine, according to a joint statement. They called on other countries to play a constructive role in promoting a political settlement between Ukraine and Russia.
Lula’s visit follows four years of rocky relations with China under his far-right predecessor Jair Bolsonaro, when trade continued unaffected but investment by Chinese firms dropped.
In a new focus for bilateral relations, the two countries decided to strengthen cooperation in environmental protection and coping with climate change, and will set up a committee for this in their strategic partnership talks.
They agreed to act together with developing countries in international forums on climate issues while calling for increased financing for sustainable development projects.
China committed to backing clean energy and green hydrogen production in Brazil, but there was no agreement on a bilateral green investment fund that Brazil was hoping would finance and subsidize the development of renewable energy.
China and Brazil did agree to set up a working group to pursue cooperation on semiconductors, strengthening ties with Beijing in areas of sensitive technology.
Information technology has been a sticking point for China’s relations with the United States and European countries that have in some cases banned Chinese products for security reasons.
Brazil, however, is interested in attracting Chinese investment in these areas, despite pressure from the U.S. government in recent years discouraging the use of fifth-generation mobile equipment from tech giant Huawei Technologies.
Officials said Brazil is open to the installation of a Chinese semiconductor factory in Brazil and is interested in developing the technology in cooperation with China.
On Thursday, Lula visited Huawei’s research center in Shanghai and was briefed on its technology, also trying on its virtual reality headset.
Lula said in public remarks in Beijing that his Huawei visit was “a demonstration that we want to tell the world we don’t have prejudices in our relations with the Chinese.”
“No one will prohibit Brazil from improving its relationship with China,” he added.
China overtook the United States as Brazil’s top trading partner in 2009 and is a major market for Brazilian soybeans, iron ore and oil. Brazil is now the largest recipient of Chinese investment in Latin America, driven by spending on high tension electricity transmission lines and oil production.
On Friday, the two countries agreed to encourage their companies to invest in each country in infrastructure, energy transition, logistics, mining, agriculture and high-tech industries.
Brazilian Finance Minister Fernando Haddad said the two were deepening studies to conduct trade in local currencies, noting that the idea of lowering dependence on the dollar had long been on the agenda of the BRICS group of major emerging nations.
Reporting by Ethan Wang, Judy Hua and Ryan Woo in Beijing, Meg Shen in Hong Kong, Lisandra Paraguassu and Anthohy Boadle in Brasilia; Editing by Brad Haynes and Hugh Lawson
Note: This is Reuters’ report I post here for readers’ information. It does not mean whether I agree or disagree with the report’s views.
Tiananmen's Tremendous Achievements 