China Budget Gap Hits Record in Spending Blitz to Offset Tariffs
"China’s budget deficit climbed to a fresh record in the first half, highlighting intensified government efforts to shore up domestic demand as Donald Trump’s tariffs reduce exports to the US."
--- Yeah, right, nothing to do with an ongoing recession in China at all.
"Chinese authorities have front-loaded fiscal stimulus to boost infrastructure investment and household consumption, aiming to support growth in the face of a sluggish property market and mounting deflationary pressures."
--- & what do all of these have to do with Trump's tariffs?
"Total income in China’s two main fiscal books fell 0.6% on year to 13.5 trillion yuan in the first six months. Tax revenue declined 1.2%."
--- That's official numbers only. Reality is probably way worse.
EU-China summit exposes deepening tensions
"While EU leaders raised concerns over China's export surplus flooding European markets with cheap goods, and Beijing allegedly providing support for Russia's war in Ukraine
[...] Revived hawkish rhetoric towards China was evident in a recent speech by von der Leyen, in which she accused China of "de-facto enabling Russia's war economy.""
--- What is hawkish about telling the truth? &, seriously: 'Beijing allegedly providing support to Russia'? Nothing needs to be alleged there, it's pretty obvious.
"They have also agreed to establish what von der Leyen described as an "upgraded export supply mechanism" aimed at fast-tracking licenses for rare earth materials"
--- Which probably won't do much to actually get better access to rare earths.
"Xi told von der Leyen and European Council President Antonio Costa that "there are no fundamental conflicts of interest or geopolitical contradictions” between the two sides and urged the bloc to "properly handle differences and frictions.""
China Premier Links Factory Boom to Hard Work, Not Subsidies
"“Right now, many companies — especially in manufacturing — feel quite deeply that China’s manufacturing capacity is so strong, and the Chinese people are incredibly diligent,” Li said at the closing of an EU-China summit in Beijing on Thursday. “Factories run 24 hours a day.”"
--- Why would they, if deflation persists & they would make losses consistently. Maybe they get pushed by the party & supported by subsidies?
"Li used the occasion to defend against criticism that China used subsidies to boost its manufacturing power, saying the country is not as wealthy as Europe.
“We can’t afford to do that,” he said. “We wouldn’t foolishly use hard-earned fiscal funds to subsidize products and then sell them overseas for foreigners to enjoy. That’s just not something we would do.”"
China's Premier Li proposes global AI cooperation organisation
"Li said AI technologies were rapidly evolving but that there were constraints, such as the lack of high-end computing chips and restrictions on talent exchange. He called for breaking through bottlenecks for open and coordinated innovation."
--- Sounds like US sanctions actually do work (somewhat) & China is unhappy about that.
The False Case for Cooperation With China
"thanks to Trump and other realists pointing out the obvious—that China is not a normal country and is engaged in techno-economic predation—the engagers are now fighting a rearguard action against those calling for competition.
Nonetheless, even after 50 years, engagement remains entrenched, especially outside the Trump administration."
--- Meh. Trump would be just as open to engagement if he would see some personal profit in it.
"The CCP is realist to the core, caring only about China. When it sees the U.S. government requesting cooperation, it sees leverage. The price? The U.S. must back on off key issues, especially Beijing’s predatory trade, tech, and economic behavior that’s harming our economy."
--- Yep.
Microsoft Used China-Based Support for Multiple U.S. Agencies, Potentially Exposing Sensitive Data
"it turns out the Pentagon was not the only part of the government facing such a threat. For years, Microsoft has also used its global workforce, including China-based personnel, to maintain the cloud systems of other federal departments, including parts of Justice, Treasury and Commerce, ProPublica has found.
[...] While Microsoft has said it will stop using China-based tech support for the Defense Department, it declined to answer questions about what would replace it, including whether cloud support would come from engineers based outside the U.S. The company also declined to say whether it would continue to use digital escorts."
--- Turns out, you can trust MS just as much as the CCP. (Not the only reason why you should use Linux at home.)
Taiwan holds controversial vote targeting 'pro-China' lawmakers
"Beijing has also waded into the debate while watching from afar.
Its Taiwan Affairs Office has accused Lai of "engaging in dictatorship under the guise of democracy" and "using every means possible to suppress the opposition"."
--- Exactly! How dare you let citizens vote freely?! That is so dictatorial.
Storms dump a year of rain on North China, Beijing braces for floods
Southern China hit by outbreak of mosquito-borne infection chikungunya
Nvidia addresses AI chip smuggling, says bootleg data centers are a ‘losing proposition’
--- China Uncensored features the usual weekend news variety:
--- WSJ: "How China Is Quietly Bracing for Conflict With India"
EU-China-Gipfel: langfristige Schwierigkeiten nicht ausgeräumt
"Xi hingegen erklärte, zwischen beiden Seiten gebe es "keine grundlegenden Interessenkonflikte oder geopolitischen Widersprüche." Die EU müsse mit Differenzen und Schwierigkeiten "angemessen umgehen".
Es sei zu hoffen, dass die EU den Handels- und Investitionsmarkt offen halte und auf restriktive Wirtschafts- und Handelsinstrumente verzichte, sagte Xi"
--- Anders als China, wie z.B. bei Seltenen Erden.
"Beide Seiten einigten sich zudem darauf, einen gemeinsamen "verbesserten Exportversorgungsmechanismus" , wie ihn von der Leyen bezeichnete, einzurichten. Dieser soll die Vergabe von Lizenzen für den Export Seltener Erden beschleunigen."
--- Was so gut wie nichts ändern wird.
Wir haben einen Wendepunkt erreicht
"Dabei sorgte Chinas Außenminister Wang Yi bei seinem Besuch in Brüssel im Juni erst für Aufregung. Im Gespräch mit der EU-Außenbeauftragten Kaja Kallas erklärte er laut Medienberichten, Peking wolle nicht, dass Russland den Krieg verliere, denn sonst könnten die USA ihren Fokus vollends auf China richten."
--- Aber China unterstützt Russland natürlich in keinster Weise.
Hongkong setzt Kopfgeld für 19 im Exil lebende Demokratie-Aktivisten aus
