China is suppressing coverage of deadly attacks. Some people are complaining online
"More and more topics, from negative news about the economy to LGBTQ+ identity, have become subject to some form of censorship. In the past half year, mass attacks — in which a person kills or injures multiple people with a vehicle or knife — appear to have been added to the list."
--- Bullshit. Censorship has been there all along. Yep, more topics have been target of stricter censorship than before, but these 'mass incidents' have been censored for years. At best you get something like 'an incident happened in xy with a very low number of injured', but the real number of casualties & other victims wasn't published.
"The government may be trying to prevent copycat crimes, experts have said."
"The attacks weren’t always a taboo topic. In the past, authorities released the basic details. Typically, the assailant was described as taking out their anger on society, often over financial losses."
--- Well, OK, that may be the only actual change: They don't mention the motivation for an attack. Then again, even in the past, they often didn't mention that it actually was an attack.
"Local governments want to cover up news that reflects badly on them or their polices, said Jennifer Pan, a Stanford University professor who researches how political censorship and information manipulation work in the digital age. The central government sometimes has other priorities.
“When the issue gains attention despite local censorship efforts, the center has an incentive to preserve the legitimacy of the overall system through responsiveness and acknowledgement of the event and underlying issues,”"
--- Bullshit again. If an attack has become widely known despite censorship, the CCP may acknowledge that something happened, but then quickly local scapegoats are found on which 'underlying issues' can be blamed.
US-China talks restart as hopes grow for trade war truce extension
"On Monday, citing sources on both sides, the Hong Kong-based South China Morning Post reported that the US and China are expected to extend the truce by another three months.
Meanwhile, the Financial Times reported that the US has frozen restrictions on technology exports to China to avoid hurting trade talks and help Trump secure a meeting with President Xi Jinping this year."
--- Moronic. All this probably just so that Trump can claim another 'great deal'.
China Strong-Armed Japan Over Rare Earths. It’s a Lesson for the U.S.
"Tokyo found that partially reducing dependence still leaves Beijing with plenty of leverage. At the same time, complete independence costs billions of dollars, not millions. After the crisis passed and China resumed exports to Japan, the urgency to diversify supplies waned.
That points to the danger of complacency in the U.S. After it was hit by Chinese rare-earth export controls earlier this year, the U.S. recently got Beijing to reopen the spigot as part of a trade deal."
--- That danger is even bigger in Europe. If China really restarts to supply rare earths en masse, most countries & companies will immediately forget their pledges of decreasing dependency.
"Japan’s biggest companies formed partnerships with Chinese magnet makers in the 2010s, reasoning that they could protect themselves from political blackmail if they had friends in China with secure supplies."
--- Moronic. But there are numerous companies in the EU which still believe that would work for them. Just like there are still some politicians who believe China is just as dependent on the EU as vice versa.
China’s latest AI model claims to be even cheaper to use than DeepSeek
"The new model is also open sourced, meaning it is free for developers to download and use."
--- Including Chinese propaganda & underhanded censorship. But - hey - who cares as long as it's cheap:
"Z.ai said that for its new GLM-4.5 model, it would charge 11 cents per million input tokens versus 14 for DeepSeek R1; and 28 cents per million output tokens versus $2.19 for DeepSeek."
--- Similarities to other industries, eg. electric vehicles? Because that's how China operates.
Beyond the Ceasefire: How the US and China Shadowed the Cambodia-Thailand Clash
"After the ceasefire was announced, Trump took full credit, posting on social media: “Just spoke to the Acting Prime Minister of Thailand and Prime Minister of Cambodia. I am pleased to announce that, after the involvement of President Donald J. Trump, both Countries have reached a CEASEFIRE and PEACE. Congratulations to all!”
He added, “I have instructed my Trade Team to restart negotiations on Trade,” furthering his previous assertation that he had made tariff talks contingent on a ceasefire.
China’s involvement was more nuanced. Beijing issued a general call for regional restraint and respect for ASEAN processes while deploying diplomatic observers to the talks. “China is deeply saddened by the casualties inflicted on both sides and expresses heartfelt sympathies,” a Foreign Ministry statement on July 27 said. “China will maintain its fair and impartial position and continue having close communication with both sides, actively facilitate talks for peace and play a constructive role for a ceasefire.”
But when pressed for details on “what help China offered” during a press conference the next day, the ministry spokesperson only repeated the previous statement."
--- Essentially the same bullshit from both Trump & the CCP...
Intense rains lash China as landslide kills four
"The recent floods and disasters have resulted in "significant casualties and property losses" in places such as Beijing and provinces of Hebei, Jilin and Shandong, Xi said, according to state news agency Xinhua."
--- But don't you dare to actually publish the real number of casualties.
'Pro-China' politicians survive Taiwan vote to kick them out
China to offer $500 per child in move to boost birth rate
China investigates head monk of Shaolin 'Kung Fu' temple
--- China Uncensored: "Riots in China"
--- China Uncensored: "China is dangerous"
--- CNBC: "Fmr. U.S Ambassador Nicholas Burns: Expect a U.S.-China trade deal sometime in the fall"
Chinesische Repression mitten in Frankfurt – und keiner schaut hin
"Das Bewusstsein, dass chinesische Akteure im öffentlichen Raum Menschen mit anderen Meinungen unterdrücken, gilt allerdings unter Experten als wenig entwickelt. "Peking profitiert von Schwachstellen auf Seiten der deutschen Bundesländer und Kommunen," schreibt das in Berlin ansässige Merics-Institut. Deutsche Stellen würden das Engagement solcher Akteure oft nicht in einen "strategischen Kontext" stellen.
Offenbar ist das auch in Frankfurt der Fall. Die Süddeutsche Zeitung (SZ) hatte bereits Ende Mai für einen Bericht über die Störaktionen gegen die Demo der Tibet-Initiative bei der Stadt Frankfurt angefragt. Die Zeitung wollte eine Stellungnahme zu möglichen politischen Hintergründen des Events.
Nach diversen Anläufen bei mehreren Dezernenten bekam die SZ vom Dezernat für Internationales die Antwort, bei dem Drachenboot-Festival handele es sich um eine "Sportveranstaltung". Über eine Einflussnahme des chinesischen Staates wisse man nichts. Das war ein Jahr nachdem der hr darüber berichtet hat."
--- Typisch für viele deutsche Behörden, entweder man ist zu naiv oder will chinesische Einflussnahme nicht sehen.
"Nachdem sie an dem 24. Mai bedrängt worden waren, hatte die Initiative die Polizei gerufen, um von ihrem grundgesetzlich verbrieften Demonstrationsrecht Gebrauch zu machen. Die Demo war offiziell beim Ordnungsamt angemeldet und durfte stattfinden. Hinweise, warum die Polizei anrücken musste, finden sich im Polizeiprotokoll allerdings offenbar nicht."
--- Da fragt man sich schon fast, ob die deutsche Polizei womöglich genauso kommi-freundlich ist wie die britische.
China schlägt globales Regelwerk für KI vor
"Im Gegensatz zu den USA werde China die Entwicklung von Open-Source-KI "aktiv fördern", betonte Li. Peking sei bereit, Fortschritte und neue Erkenntnisse mit anderen Ländern zu teilen, insbesondere mit Entwicklungsländern. "Wenn wir uns auf technische Monopole, Kontrollen und Blockaden einlassen, wird künstliche Intelligenz die Domäne einiger weniger Länder und einiger weniger Unternehmen sein." . Chinas Vize-Außenminister Ma Zhaoxu sagte auf der Konferenz, dass China erwäge, den Hauptsitz der vorgeschlagenen weltweiten Organisation für die Zusammenarbeit im KI-Bereich in Shanghai anzusiedeln."
--- Sprich: 'Die Kontrolle soll in China liegen & alle anderen sollen gefälligst ihre Erkenntnisse mit China teilen.'