The CHN/ China thread

[Jimbuna]

Prigozhin’s fate shows Russian mafia state and Brics despots are not what the world needs

Unsurprisingly, some fantasise about American power being taken down a peg or two.

But be careful what you wish for. Russia’s degeneration into a mafia state – underlined by the violent demise of Yevgeny Prigozhin – shows there are far, far worse countries that could rule the world.

The Brics group, with China and Russia at the helm, says it is ready to lead the planet into a better, Washington-free future.

Brics is already home to 40 per cent of the world’s population and a quarter of global GDP.

On Thursday, we learnt that existing Brics members – Russia, China, India, South Africa and Brazil – are going to admit Saudi Arabia, Iran, Ethiopia, Egypt, Argentina and the United Arab Emirates, thus cementing the organisation’s status as a confederation of the oppressive and the bankrupt.

Iranian President, Ebrahim Raisi, immediately hailed the group’s effort to move away from dependence on the US dollar, a financial state of affairs that allows Washington to apply punishing sanctions on the barbarous regime in Tehran.

Political extremists everywhere are cock-a-hoop. The end of not just American power, but Western influence, is what they dream of.

“The rise of the Global South and multipolarism accelerates, as the obsolete regime of Western hegemony dwindles into irrelevance,” posted “independent journalist” Richard Medhurst on Twitter, in the stilted, sixth-form language of the far left.

How lovely. Just think what awaits. Saudi Arabia’s suspected psychopath Mohammed bin Salman and Egyptian despot Abdel Fattah al-Sisi could put their global stamp on social policies and human rights. The sadistic mullahs in Tehran could advise them on female dress codes. The war mongers in UAE could counsel Putin on the best way of wiping out as many Ukrainian civilians as possible, using the extensive experience the nasty Gulf state has acquired in its destruction of Yemen.

China will be the real power in the group, so none of the Muslim additions are likely to say much about Xi Jinping’s Ughyur Muslim concentration camps.

And of course, in the bright, Brics future, snarling sociopath Vladimir Putin will be in prime position to continue preaching the law of the jungle. Georgia and Moldova will be next to be brutalised and consumed by his post-Soviet sense of entitlement and warped reading of history.
https://www.msn.com/en-gb/news/world...76414bac&ei=10

[ET2SN]

Just a hunch, but I don't think I put this in the wrong thread.

[Reece]

No, I'd be worried, hopefully the authorities look into it!

[Jimbuna]

[mapuc]

There is a saying
"people who live in glass houses shouldn't throw stones"

Scientists have pointed out that China’s own nuclear power plants release wastewater with higher levels of tritium than that found in Fukushima’s discharge, and that the levels are all within boundaries not considered to be harmful to human health.

https://www.theguardian.com/environm...ewater-release

Markus

[Jimbuna]

[Jimbuna]

Not everything is rosy in the house of BRICS apparently.

India has lodged a “strong” diplomatic protest with China after the latter released an official map that shows Indian territories in the Himalayas as its own.

The formal objection has led to doubts over Xi Jinping’s expected visit to Delhi for the G20 summit set to begin next week and comes in the backdrop of a historic border dispute between the nuclear neighbours that has only strained diplomatic relations between them.

On Monday, China’s Ministry of Natural Resources released a map showing the Indian territories of north eastern Arunachal Pradesh and the disputed Aksai Chin area on the western border as Chinese territory.

The map also included Taiwan and the entire South China Sea as Chinese areas.

Indian foreign ministry spokesperson Arindam Bagchi said in a statement that India rejected claims of China’s so-called “standard map”.

“We have today lodged a strong protest through diplomatic channels with the Chinese side on the so called 2023 map of China that lays claim to India’s territory,” he said.

“We reject these claims as they have no basis. Such steps by the Chinese side only complicate the resolution of the boundary question,” he said.

China is yet to comment on the incident.
https://www.msn.com/en-gb/news/world...07eaab4e&ei=17

[Jimbuna]

The more the merrier I suppose.

Amap showcasing China’s territorial sovereignty in the South China Sea has been roundly rejected by Malaysia, the Philippines and Taiwan.

The three nations categorically shot down the legitimacy of the assertions on the map even as Beijing claimed on Thursday that it should be viewed “rationally and objectively”.

The countries have joined China’s regional rival India in objecting to the map that was released on Monday by China’s Ministry of Natural Resources.

The Indian government had earlier on Wednesday lodged a “strong protest” against the map as it showed the Indian territories of northeastern Arunachal Pradesh and the disputed Aksai Chin area on the western border as Chinese territory.

The map also includes Taiwan and the entire South China Sea as Chinese areas.
https://www.msn.com/en-gb/news/world...44ab0e86&ei=10

[Jimbuna]

[Jimbuna]

Why should I or anyone else be in the least surprised?

Chinese banks have been providing major support to Russia leaving the Western world braced for a strong reaction.

Chinese lenders provided this help when Western financial institutions reduced their activities in Russia during the first year of Moscow's invasion of Ukraine.

The efforts of four of China's top banks are part of Beijing's larger strategy to promote the renminbi as a global currency alternative to the US dollar.

According to the most recent official data analysed by the Kyiv School of Economics for the Financial Times, China's exposure to Russia's banking industry increased fourfold in the 14 months leading up to the end of March this year.

Due to the harsh economic environment caused by international sanctions, Chinese banks effectively filled the hole left by Western banks, who faced tremendous pressure from regulatory and political authorities in their respective countries to exit from Russia.

According to Russian central bank data, the Industrial and Commercial Bank of China, Bank of China, China Construction Bank, and Agricultural Bank of China increased their combined investment in Russia from $2.2 billion to $9.7 billion in the 14 months leading up to March.

Notably, ICBC and Bank of China held $8.8 billion of these assets.

Simultaneously, Austria's Raiffeisen Bank, which has the most foreign exposure to Russia, had its assets expand by more than 40 per cent during the same period, rising from $20.5 billion to $29.2 billion.

Raiffeisen, on the other hand, has stated its intention to investigate departure plans from Russia and has cut its assets to $25.5 billion since March.

Russia's ruble has dropped significantly in recent months, leading the country's central bank to intervene to stabilise its value. Until now, the government has used the declining ruble to its advantage.

However, a falling currency raises the possibility of higher prices for regular Russians, prompting the government to take steps to stop the depreciation.

The decline in the value of the ruble can be linked to Russia's decreasing exports, specifically declining revenue from oil and natural gas, along with a rise in imports.

Individuals and businesses that import items into Russia must convert rubles for other currencies such as dollars or euros, putting downward pressure on the ruble's exchange rate.

Russia's trade surplus, which indicates that it sells more items than it purchases, has shrunk.

Russia used to run a significant trade surplus, owing to high oil prices and restricted imports following its invasion of Ukraine.

However, oil prices have fallen this year, and Russia is having difficulty exporting its oil due to Western sanctions, which include price caps on crude oil and allied goods such as diesel.
https://www.msn.com/en-gb/money/othe...86385011&ei=18

[Skybird]

How comes the West lets this happen?


https://www.ft.com/content/a940f22f-...2-f15ec218c3b5

https://www.ft.com/content/792fae47-...9-176b33ccc09a


https://www.ft.com/content/09edaeb9-...c-29eaa654e4d5

[Reece]

locked!

[Jimbuna]

Originally Posted by Reece

locked!

Yep, requires a subscription.

[Aktungbby]

Originally Posted by ET2SN

Just a hunch, but I don't think I put this in the wrong thread.

Originally Posted by Reece

No, I'd be worried, hopefully the authorities look into it!

...that at least has been resolved. Its not subterfugious chinkadero buyers seeking land around Travis AFB, but an investment company, FLANNERY ASSOCIATES, planning a revitalization of a decades-old plan for another new Bay Area city : "Suisun City". Napa Congressman Thompson is looking into the matter. The last thing we need in Solano County is another goddam major city....particularly as the entire county gets its water from next-county Napa's Lake Berryessa-set aside in WWII by the Feds to provide water for WWII related industry to critical 1940"s Suisun Bay industries. The artificial reservoir inundated prime grape-growng Napa farmland incl thd community of Berryessa. Napa gets no water from the reservoir...and WWII's been over for 78 year??! With CA droughts prevailing, conditions have generally reduced the levels of reservoirs throughout the state. Water is for farming; not new cities!

Silicon Valley billionaires behind a secretive $800 million land-buying spree in Northern California have finally released some details about their plans for a new green city, but they still must win over skeptical voters and local leaders.

After years of ducking scrutiny, Jan Sramek, the former Goldman Sachs trader spearheading the effort, launched a website Thursday about "California Forever." The site billed the project as "a chance for a new community, good paying local jobs, solar farms, and open space" in Solano, a rural county between San Francisco and Sacramento that is now home to 450,000 people.

He also began meeting with key politicians representing the area who have been trying unsuccessfully for years to find out who was behind the mysterious Flannery Associates LLC as it bought up huge swaths of land, making it the largest single landholder in the county.

An all-star roster of Silicon Valley entrepreneurs and venture capitalists are backing the project, including philanthropist Laurene Powell Jobs, LinkedIn co-founder Reid Hoffman, and venture capitalist Marc Andreessen. The New York Times first reported on the group's investors and plans.

California Forever, the parent company of Flannery, has purchased more than 78 square miles (202 square kilometers) of farmland in Solano County since 2018, largely in the southeastern portion of the county, with parcels stretching from Fairfield to Rio Vista. According to the website, Sramek fell in love with the area over fishing trips and he and his wife recently purchased a home in the county for their growing family. he project issued a poll to residents last month to gauge support for "a new city with tens of thousands of new homes," solar energy farm and new parks funded entirely by the private sector.

But to build anything resembling a city on what is now farmland, the group must first convince Solano County voters to approve a ballot initiative to allow for urban uses on that land, a protection that has been in place since 1984. Local and federal officials still have questions about the group's intentions.

Two area congressmen who sought for years to find out whether foreign adversaries or investors were behind the buying spree around a U.S. Air Force base vital to national security and the local economy are furious that Flannery kept its identity hidden for so long. The website say 97% of its funding is from U.S. investors and the rest are from the United Kingdom and Ireland.

"The FBI, the Department of Treasury, everyone has been doing work trying to figure out who these people are," U.S. Rep. Mike Thompson, who represents much of the county, said this week after meeting with Sramek. "Their secrecy has caused a lot of problems, a lot of time, and a lot of expense." The investment group said secrecy was required until enough land was purchased, in order to avoid short-term speculation, but that it is now ready to hear from Solano households via a mailed survey and creation of a community advisory board. Past surveys showed parents were most concerned about their children's future, the website said.

"Instead of watching our kids leave, we have the opportunity to build a new community that attracts new employers, creates good paying local jobs, builds homes in walkable neighborhoods, leads in environment stewardship, and fuels a growing tax base to serve the county at large," it said.

California is in dire need of more housing, especially affordable homes for teachers, firefighters, service and hospitality workers. But cities and counties can't figure out where to build as established neighborhoods argue against new homes that they say would congest their roads and spoil their quiet way of life.

In many ways, Solano County is ideal for development. It is 60 miles (96 kilometers) northeast of San Francisco and 35 miles (56 kilometers) southwest of California's capital city of Sacramento. Solano County homes are among the most affordable in the San Francisco Bay Area, with a median sales price of $600,000 last month.

But Princess Washington, mayor pro tempore of Suisun City, said residents deliberately decided to protect open space and keep the area around Travis Air Force Base free of encroachment given its significance.

She's suspicious that the group's real purpose is "to create a city for the elite" under the guise of more housing.

"Economic blight is everywhere. So why do you need to spend upwards of a billion dollars to create a brand new city when you have all these other things that can be achieved throughout the Bay Area?" she said. "Flannery Associates is using secrecy, bully and mobster tactics to force generational farm families to sell," said Rep. John Garamendi (D-Walnut Grove) during an informal hearing Tuesday.

After meeting with the company's founder this week, Rep. Mike Thompson (D-St. Helena) released a statement Wednesday echoing community concerns.

“After the meeting, it is clear that they don’t have a plan; they have a vision," Thompson said. "The secrecy under which they operated caused consternation and concern from residents, local elected officials, and federal agencies, and while they explained their rationale, I do not believe the secrecy was necessary. Honesty is the best policy, and they need to begin to work with our community and local leaders if they want to advance their ideas."

According to The New York Times, in order for the project to ever come to fruition, it would likely require Solano County voters to get the last word at the ballot box.

BOTTOM LINE: Silicon Valley investors, having totally ruined the South Bay (Santa Clara County) now seek to do the same to the tranquil rural North Bay which my wife and I fled to some 30 years ago from overgrown, over trafficed San Jose....Let's hope this loses at the ballot box! https://napavalleyregister.com/news/...8cdcb3a5c.html

But to build anything resembling a city on what is now farmland, the group must convince Solano County voters to approve a ballot initiative to allow for urban uses on that land, protected since 1984. Local and federal officials still have questions about the group's intentions.

Two area congressmen who sought for years to find out whether foreign adversaries or investors were behind the buying spree around a U.S. Air Force base vital to national security and the local economy are furious that Flannery kept its identity hidden for so long. The website says 97% of its funding is from U.S. investors and the rest are from the United Kingdom and Ireland.

https://abcnews.go.com/Technology/wi...ters-102866927

Thompson, the congressman, was unimpressed after meeting with Sramek, saying that the developer was vague on details and failed to display an understanding or appreciation of the county or its values.
Asked how he would help residents finance new homes, Thompson said Sramek told him he planned to use “all of his knowledge as a finance guy” to generate savings. Development in California is convoluted, but Thompson said Sramek told him they're hoping for expedited permitting "because their project is so good and their intentions are so great.”
“He doesn’t have a plan, he’s not there yet,” Thompson said.

Flannery Associates has been quietly buying up farmland worth $800 million in Solano County, where Fairfield is located, court documents obtained by Insider show. A website for the plans shows its parent company, California Forever, wants to build a "walkable community".
City of Fairfield Mayor Moy told Bloomberg that "this is no way to go about any kind of development," adding: "We're going to do everything we can to stop this."
The company is being backed by billionaire investors including venture capitalist Marc Andreessen, LinkedIn cofounder Reid Hoffman and Laurene Powell Jobs, Steve Jobs' widow, The New York Times first reported.
The Silicon Valley elites have purchased about 52,000 acres of land around Travis Air Force Base since 2018, leaving "no part that isn't touched by Flannery," Moy told ABC 7 News.
Speaking to CNBC about the Flannery plan, Moy said the Air Force base "can't function" with a settlement encroaching on it.
"Here's my suggestion: these billionaires take their billions of dollars and go back down to Silicon Valley and build high-rise apartments there that are low income so that their employees can work and live in the same area," Moy said.
She claimed a local law would stop Flannery from going ahead with its plans to build the new city near San Francisco and expected the company would try to overturn it. However, that would require the support of local politicians, whom Moy said were "not very happy with them."

[Rockstar]

Analysis: Xi reprimanded by elders at Beidaihe over direction of nation

G20 absence hints at turmoil in Chinese domestic politics

https://asia.nikkei.com/Editor-s-Pic...tion-of-nation

KATSUJI NAKAZAWA, Nikkei senior staff writer
SEPTEMBER 5, 2023 20:42 JST

Katsuji Nakazawa is a Tokyo-based senior staff and editorial writer at Nikkei. He spent seven years in China as a correspondent and later as China bureau chief. He was the 2014 recipient of the Vaughn-Ueda International Journalist prize.

There are signs of turmoil in Chinese domestic politics.

On Monday, it was announced that President Xi Jinping will not attend an upcoming summit of the Group of 20 major economies in India. Premier Li Qiang will take his place.

This will be the first time that Xi has skipped a G20 summit, to which he has consistently attached importance as China's top leader.

A precursor seems to have been this summer's Beidaihe meeting, the annual get-together of incumbent and retired leaders of the Chinese Communist Party at the seaside resort of Beidaihe, Hebei Province.

The informal discussions are never officially disclosed, but details of this year's closed-door talks have begun to emerge. In short, the conclave had a significantly different feel from the previous 10 Beidaihe meetings that have taken place since Xi became general secretary of the party in 2012.

Sources said that at this year's gathering, a group of retired party elders reprimanded the top leader in ways they had not until now. Xi later expressed his frustration to his closest aides, according to the information gathered.

This Beidaihe meeting was held without the presence of the most prominent of party elders. Former President Jiang Zemin died at the age of 96 last November, and Xi's immediate predecessor, Hu Jintao, now 80, has seldom been seen since being unceremoniously escorted out of the Great Hall of the People at the party's national congress last October.

These absences might have helped create a desirable situation for Xi. But the matter was not that simple.

China today is not in the best shape. Its economy is receding in ways unseen since "reform and opening-up" began in the late 1970s. The real estate sector is in shambles, symbolized by the struggles of major developer Evergrande Group. The youth unemployment rate deteriorated to such an extent that Chinese authorities this summer stopped releasing figures.

The military is mired in commotion in the wake of two top Rocket Force generals being purged, the firings coming to light in July.

Foreign Minister Qin Gang has been removed from that post for unknown reasons, with suspicions continuing to ripple through the ministry.

The turmoil has worried many of the elders who ran the party during China's economic ascent.

Sources said that ahead of Beidaihe, party elders convened their own meeting to summarize their opinions before conveying them to the current leaders. The meeting was likely held in the suburbs of Beijing.

Afterward, only several of these elders traveled to Beidaihe to convey their consensus to the current leaders. The face-to-face meeting with the current leaders, including Xi, took place on a single day, the sources said.

The gist of the message was that if the political, economic and social turmoil continues without any effective countermeasures being taken, the party could lose public support, posing a threat to its rule.

We cannot have more turmoil, the elders pointed out.

The central figure of the elders was Zeng Qinghong, a former vice president and one of the closest aides to the late former President Jiang.

Zeng played the most important role in paving the way for Xi, once a little-known figure, to quickly take the helm of the party.

Now 84, Zeng remains influential within the party and enjoys a wide network of personal connections. Some say that in the wake of Jiang's death, Zeng has a bigger role to play.

Thus Xi's rough summer began. After receiving the unexpectedly harsh criticism from the elders, Xi huddled with close aides he has promoted to key posts. According to information that has begun to trickle out, Xi vented his frustration, pointing fingers at his three predecessors -- Deng Xiaoping, Jiang and Hu.

"All the issues that were left by the previous three leaders are on my shoulders" he is believed to have said. "I've spent the last decade tackling them but they remain unresolved. Am I to blame?"

He also is believed to have told his aides that it was now their job to resolve these leftover issues.

The venting left his aides shaken, especially Premier Li, No. 2 in the party hierarchy.

Li is in charge of an economy that is facing significant headwinds.

One of those headwinds is the country's deteriorating relations with much of the outside world. Trade is sluggish, and foreign investment in the country is declining sharply.

Xi's decision to forgo the upcoming G20 summit in India is likely an attempt to avoid losing face.

There is a possibility that China's economy, and how it weighs on the global economy, might be discussed. Premier Li, who is in charge of China's economy, should travel to India to address these concerns, the inner circle has likely concluded.

But the skipping of the G20 follows another no-show. In late August, shortly after the Beidaihe meeting ended, Xi failed to appear at a business forum held on the sidelines of the BRICS summit involving Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa, held in South Africa. His speech was read out by Chinese Commerce Minister Wang Wentao.

One take is that Xi did not attend the forum because there were concerns that he might be asked direct questions about the poor performance of the Chinese economy.

Another major factor behind Xi's G20 absence is that no breakthrough in stalled relations with the U.S. appears on the horizon. While there is hope in Washington that the visit to China by U.S. Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo late last month served as one step toward a more stable relationship, this is not how the Chinese side sees it.

From Beijing's standpoint, Raimondo came bearing no gifts.

With neither the U.S. nor China able to make major concessions on important economic issues, it is difficult for Xi to justify a friendly meeting with U.S. President Joe Biden. Under the current circumstances, it is unclear whether Xi will be able to travel to the U.S. in November for the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation forum in San Francisco. His absence from that gathering would raise even more red flags.

The butterfly effect of Chinese politics never ceases to amaze. On Thursday, days after the Beidaihe meeting is thought to have closed, former Premier Li Keqiang made his first public appearance since being forced to retire in March.

The former No. 2 was smiling broadly when he appeared at the World Heritage Mogao Caves, also known as the Caves of the Thousand Buddhas, along the ancient Silk Road in Gansu province.

He was greeted by fans who chanted "Ni hao [hello], premier! Ni hao!"

Li Qiang has since taken over as premier and will be heading to the G20 summit in India in Xi's stead. But for the people at the caves, Li Keqiang was still very much their premier.

The video of Li Keqiang's appearance was widely dispersed on Chinese social media before being deleted by authorities.

It was a symbolic event. Li Keqiang is still a popular politician, and the cheers for him at the World Heritage site were not fake.

Now retired, Li Keqiang certainly was at the gathering of elders before the Beidaihe meeting.

Xi, the man who pushed Li into retirement, was absent from public view for many days this summer, busy having to address the harsh reprimand from the elders.