China Party Congress Economy

Oct 13, 2022

A woman wearing a mask walks past a sculpture depicting poker cards outside a mall in Beijing, Thursday, Oct. 13, 2022. President Xi Jinping, China's most influential figure in decades, gets a chance to stack the ranks with allies who share his vision of intensifying pervasive control over entrepreneurs and technology development at a meeting of the ruling Communist Party that starts this weekend. (AP Photo/Ng Han Guan)

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Comedy takes root in Korea's Russian-speaking community

Lyazzat Khan, a proud resident of Ansan, Gyeonggi Province, has quietly been building an empire of laughter. Originally from Kazakhstan, she is the mastermind behind Event Max, a business that brings Russian-speaking comedians to Korea. For Korea’s Russian-speaking population of nearly 200,000, there is a growing market for entertainment services. Most of these residents are Koryo-saram, or ethnic Koreans from former Soviet Union countries. Many are employed in the country’s light and heavy industry factories, working grueling hours. Leisure services for this group of workers remain underdeveloped, mostly because of the language barrier to accessing Korean entertainment. Over half of Korea’s Russian-speaking population lives in Ansan and Incheon, where in some neighborhoods, it is common to hear Russian spoken on the street. Restaurants and lounges catering specifically to Russian-speakers have sprung up in these neighborhoods since the early 2000s. However, a demand for more community-centered entertainment is on the rise as many businesses were shuttered during the pandemic. Ent

Comedy takes root in Korea's Russian-speaking community

Hong Kong lawmakers back 5-year plan as firms urged to align with blueprint

Hong Kong’s legislature has passed motions supporting the city’s first five-year plan and thanking Chief Executive John Lee Ka-chiu for his latest policy address, while Beijing’s top representative in the city urged mainland Chinese enterprises to align themselves with the government’s blueprint. At the close of a three-day Legislative Council debate on Friday, Chief Secretary Eric Chan Kwok-ki thanked lawmakers for their suggestions, saying they would help improve governance. “The process of...

Hong Kong lawmakers back 5-year plan as firms urged to align with blueprint

Developer of One Stanley pledges 6-year warranty and checks amid steel bar probe

The developer of One Stanley has offered flat owners a six-year structural warranty and free independent property inspections amid an investigation into suspected steel reinforcement deficiencies at the seaside luxury residential development in southern Hong Kong. K Wise, a subsidiary of One Stanley developer K&K Property, addressed the brewing scandal on Friday, a week after allegations of substandard work were reported by a local property media outlet, issuing a statement outlining remedial...

Developer of One Stanley pledges 6-year warranty and checks amid steel bar probe

Travel agencies tout Huanggang Port tours, but security chief urges later visits

Hong Kong travel agencies are offering tours featuring “five-minute clearance” at the revamped Huanggang Port when it opens on Monday, but the security chief has urged those who do not need to use the crossing immediately to delay their visits. Three days before the port’s official opening, the South China Morning Post on Friday found a number of tour packages advertised on social media that promoted the redeveloped border checkpoint as a new attraction for trips to mainland China. An...

Travel agencies tout Huanggang Port tours, but security chief urges later visits

China’s Pacific ties not part of ‘geopolitical rivalry’, Wang Yi tells island leaders

China’s cooperation with the Pacific islands is not part of a geopolitical competition, top diplomat Wang Yi told a delegation of politicians from the region on Friday. The comments come as Beijing and Washington vie for influence in the South Pacific. “China’s engagement with Pacific island countries is a form of South-South cooperation based on mutual assistance and support,” Wang said, according to a statement from the Communist Party’s International Department. “This cooperation does not...

China’s Pacific ties not part of ‘geopolitical rivalry’, Wang Yi tells island leaders

Why a ‘confrontational posture’ won’t help China in the Arctic

China should avoid taking a “confrontational posture” over a new security pact between the United States, Denmark and Greenland as it might end up being excluded from engagement on the emerging Arctic order. That was the warning from Shanghai Jiao Tong University’s National Institute of Strategic Studies (NISS), a Chinese think tank, in a report released on Wednesday. It also said the US was unlikely to turn the northern polar region into its “exclusive strategic backyard”. The report noted that...

Why a ‘confrontational posture’ won’t help China in the Arctic

US lawmakers push green card bill for Hongkongers, but observers doubt success

Two US lawmakers are pushing for a bill that would allow Hongkongers in the country to apply for permanent residency, but authorities and observers have dismissed it as a political move unlikely to succeed. Senator Jeff Merkley, an Oregon Democrat, and Representative James McGovern, a Massachusetts Democrat, announced the Hong Konger Promise of Refuge Act, seeking to provide a pathway to green cards and ultimately citizenship for Hong Kong residents in the US currently protected under the...

US lawmakers push green card bill for Hongkongers, but observers doubt success

Chinese researchers make Arctic-to-Antarctic call using rival to Musk’s Starlink

Polar researchers have used a would-be Chinese rival to Elon Musk’s Starlink to make a satellite video call between the Arctic and Antarctic – the first publicly reported test of the Guowang constellation. The call highlights the growing capabilities of the country’s satellite constellations, according to state media. Beijing has been accelerating the development of its low-Earth-orbit constellations in recent years, particularly as the US-based Starlink showed its wartime value by helping...

Chinese researchers make Arctic-to-Antarctic call using rival to Musk’s Starlink

China agrees to slash EU hybrid car exports in half, putting brake on trade war

The European Union and China have “reached an understanding” that will cut Chinese hybrid car shipments to the bloc by “more than a half”, in a temporary salve to trade tensions that have threatened to boil over into a full-blown trade war. Speaking after marathon trade talks in Beijing, EU trade chief Maros Sefcovic said the deal would see China slash its hybrid car exports “by several million cars” over a four-year period. “This is the first time that China has accepted to moderate its exports...

China agrees to slash EU hybrid car exports in half, putting brake on trade war

Girl filmed carrying beer bags to be placed in temporary care with siblings

A 10-year-old Hong Kong girl filmed carrying heavy bags of beer will be placed in temporary care with her two siblings after welfare assessments found it would “not be suitable” for them to return home following the arrest of their parents on suspicion of ill-treating a child. Secretary for Labour and Welfare Chris Sun Yuk-han said on Friday that the three children were still in hospital for health checks and were expected to be discharged later that day or on Saturday. “Even after the three...

Girl filmed carrying beer bags to be placed in temporary care with siblings

News commentator denies unlawfully revealing police meeting details online

A Hong Kong news commentator accused of violating the national security law has denied exposing police intelligence operations, telling a court that details of his meeting with officers were already public knowledge before he posted them online. Wong Kwok-ngon, 72, who ran a YouTube commentary channel under the pen name Wong On-yin, stood trial at the District Court on Friday. He is the first person in Hong Kong to be prosecuted for allegedly prejudicing an investigation into national security...

News commentator denies unlawfully revealing police meeting details online

China rejects yuan complaints, ‘golden week’ travel, Canton Fair

China’s central bank rejected claims that the yuan is undervalued, rebutting a key European argument amid crunch negotiations ahead of a possible trade war. “China has no need or intent to gain competitive advantages through currency devaluation, nor has it ever resorted to competitive devaluation,” the People’s Bank of China said in a policy paper on Thursday, printed in both Chinese and English (see the full paper on SCMP Plus). “China’s trade growth is driven by its growing industrial...

China rejects yuan complaints, ‘golden week’ travel, Canton Fair

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