New Zealand raises concerns with China on South China Sea, Taiwan - CNA

New Zealand Foreign Affairs Minister Nanaia Mahuta said on Saturday (Mar 25) she had expressed concerns over the South China Sea and tensions in the Taiwan Strait during talks with her Chinese counterpart at the end of a visit to Beijing.

Mahuta also said in a statement she "noted New Zealand’s deep concerns regarding the human rights situation in Xinjiang and the erosion of rights and freedoms in Hong Kong", during her meeting with Chinese Foreign Affairs Minister Qin Gang.

"Nanaia Mahuta expressed concerns over developments in the South China Sea and increasing tensions in the Taiwan Strait," the foreign minister's statement said.

Mahuta said she reiterated New Zealand’s condemnation of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. China is a key ally of Russia and both have criticised the US and NATO for undermining global stability.

Mahuta arrived in China on Wednesday for the four-day trip, the first by a New Zealand minister since 2019, and also met China's top diplomat Wang Yi as well as business and women leaders.

Wang told Mahuta that China and New Zealand had always respected and trusted each other, according to a statement by the Chinese foreign ministry.

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2023-03-25 02:19:00Z
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Rahul Gandhi, the 'prince' of Indian politics who lost his parliament seat - CNA

At the heart of his central role in opposition politics is the fact that his party has ruled India for 54 of its 75 years since independence from Britain, and his father, grandmother and great-grandfather were prime ministers for more than 37 of those 54 years.

Congress was the largest national political party with a footprint across the country of 1.4 billion people until it was overtaken by the BJP in 2014.

Although now a shadow of its former self, the Gandhi family - which includes Rahul's Italian-born mother and former party chief Sonia, and his sister Priyanka - still dominates Congress and commands fierce loyalty.

It is this potent lineage and legacy that Modi and his party seek to attack when they say dynastic politics has no role in a democracy, analysts say.

Even though Congress withered in 2019, winning less than 10 per cent of the 545 seats in the lower house, it commanded nearly 20 per cent of the vote - the largest for any opposition group - against the BJP's 38 per cent.

Congress is the ruling party, or the main opposition in about half a dozen important states.

NON-SERIOUS POLITICIAN?

Gandhi entered politics and was first elected to parliament in 2004 from his family borough of Amethi in the northern heartland state of Uttar Pradesh.

He repeated that victory in 2009 and 2014 but suffered a shock setback in 2019 when he lost the seat. However, he had also contested a seat in the Kerala state and won there to return to parliament.

Gandhi's attendance in parliament has been far below the average. His frequent absences from the chamber, and the country, have been the focus of the media and drawn BJP accusations that he is a "non-serious" politician.

Outside parliament, he has often reminded his supporters of his family's commitment and sacrifices, talking about the assassinations of his grandmother, then prime minister Indira Gandhi, and his former prime minister father, Rajiv Gandhi.

Of late, he has been stirring controversy with criticism of the BJP.

In Britain last month he said in a speech that democracy was in danger under Modi, angering the BJP whose members demanded an apology or said he should face exclusion from the chamber.

On Thursday, after his conviction, he simply posted on Twitter some words in Hindi from freedom movement leader, Mahatma Gandhi, who is not a relation.

"My religion is based on truth and non-violence. Truth is my God, non-violence the means to get it. - Mahatma Gandhi".

Single at 52, Gandhi is known to be a fitness and martial arts enthusiast and has been seen cycling in New Delhi accompanied by security men.

His conviction and disqualification from parliament is now "make or break" for him, said Neelanjan Sircar, a senior visiting fellow at New Delhi's Centre for Policy Research.

"Will he be able to make the argument that 'I am being targeted by a government that does not necessarily represent the interest of all Indians', or is he going to be seen as somebody who is not a capable politician and therefore has been outplayed by the BJP," Sircar told Reuters.

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2023-03-24 13:50:46Z
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TikTok ban will make US-China tensions 'even worse', analysts say - CNA

In December last year, TikTok and its parent company ByteDance admitted that ByteDance employees had inappropriately accessed the IP addresses of American users, including journalists writing critical stories about the company.

The Justice Department is investigating whether that amounted to improper surveillance of Americans.

China’s data security laws also state that it can demand data from its corporations, said Assoc Prof Chong. 

“Unless ByteDance and TikTok have some legal carve-out in the PRC, which is unlikely, they remain subject to those laws as well as those of any jurisdiction in which they operate,” he told CNA. 

“Left unresolved, this point is likely to be a major obstacle to the resolution of differences TikTok has with the US government.” 

Washington also has concerns about disinformation, propaganda and child safety on social media platforms, said Assoc Prof Chong, noting TikTok's claims of enhancing content moderation.

For its part, China has also removed access to the Twitter platform and ejected Google services and Facebook from its borders. 

What's happening with TikTok has some precedent and is “just the current round of contention over technology”, said Assoc Prof Chong. 

“In some respects, this tit-for-tat behaviour is common to contested relationships.”

Dr Lim Tai Wei, an adjunct senior research fellow with NUS’ East Asian Institute, said the spectre of a TikTok ban has been around since Donald Trump was US president.

“It will add on to the coterie of issues that are part of the decoupling, Cold War-like relations between the two superpowers,” he said. 

A TikTok ban will likely further advance the tech decoupling between the two countries, and could move the competition from semiconductor chips to the digital realm, Dr Lim added. 

Amid the decoupling, any move to ban TikTok also sends a signal of “you are either with China or the US”, said Asst Prof Ho.

Dr Chen said the US has accepted "asymmetrical" use of Chinese tech companies for many years now.

The present-day frostiness between US and China is what is facilitating the push for a TikTok ban, he added. 

“If the relationship is friendly, beneficial to both sides like what it was before, I do not think this kind of thing would happen."

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2023-03-24 11:40:23Z
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China says does not ask firms for foreign data as TikTok row grows - CNA

PROJECT TEXAS

A ban would be an unprecedented act on a media company by the US government, cutting off the country's 150 million monthly users from an app that has become a cultural powerhouse - especially for young people.

"TikTok has repeatedly chosen the path for more control, more surveillance and more manipulation. Your platform should be banned," committee chair Cathy McMorris Rodgers said.

Supporters of TikTok and free speech activists criticised the hearing as political theatre and urged against an outright ban.

"Taking a bludgeon to TikTok, and by extension to Americans' First Amendment protections, is not the right solution to the risks that TikTok poses to the privacy of Americans and to the national security of the United States," said Nadine Farid Johnson of PEN America, which defends free speech.

And Beijing noted on Friday that "some in the US congress stated that seeking a ban of TikTok is a xenophobic political persecution".

TikTok still hopes to appease the authorities.

Chew's testimony promoted the company's elaborate plan - known as Project Texas - to satisfy national security concerns, under which the handling of US data will be ring-fenced into a US-run division.

But lawmakers poured doubts on the project, saying it would do nothing to remove their concerns that TikTok was vulnerable to China.
 

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2023-03-24 08:49:00Z
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Certis officer hit by car at Tuas Checkpoint, suffers severe head injury - The Straits Times

SINGAPORE – An auxiliary police officer suffered severe head injury after he was hit by a car at Tuas Checkpoint in the early hours of Friday morning.

The Immigration and Checkpoints Authority (ICA) said on Friday that it was alerted to the accident involving a Singapore-registered car at 12.55am.

“Preliminary investigations reveal the car driver was driving at a high speed before hitting the auxiliary police officer stationed outside the observation post at the entry of the departure car zone at Tuas Checkpoint,” it added.

The Singapore Civil Defence Force and Traffic Police were called to the scene immediately. The officer, who is employed by Certis, and the driver were taken to the National University Hospital.

ICA and Certis are in contact with the officer’s family to provide the necessary support. Police investigations are ongoing.

ICA said in a Facebook post at 3am that the accident had blocked all three lanes leading towards the departure car and motorbike zone at Tuas Checkpoint. It urged motorists to use the departure cargo lanes instead and to expect delays.

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2023-03-23 22:34:33Z
CBMibmh0dHBzOi8vd3d3LnN0cmFpdHN0aW1lcy5jb20vc2luZ2Fwb3JlL2NlcnRpcy1vZmZpY2VyLWhpdC1ieS1jYXItYXQtdHVhcy1jaGVja3BvaW50LXN1ZmZlcnMtc2V2ZXJlLWhlYWQtaW5qdXJ50gEA

Xi's Moscow visit risks further emboldening Putin: Analysts - CNA

China's peace plan was "obviously very strongly in Russia's favour", she said, adding that Beijing was ready to give Moscow "time to end the war in its favour", albeit with implicit backing rather than pro-active support.

"Certainly, Putin would have wished for more - especially on a gas deal with China - but the optics of the visit were so important to him that he accepts Russia's increasing dependence on China," she said.

"GIFT TO PUTIN"

The visit was "perceived by the non-Western world as a counterweight to the decision" of the ICC, said Alexander Baunov, senior fellow at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace.

It's "as if the Chinese leader had broken the curse on Putin" after the warrant was issued, he said.

Sam Greene, director of democratic resilience at the CEPA think tank in Washington, described the visit as a "gift" to Putin - unless there is a new twist like telephone talks between Xi and his Ukrainian counterpart Volodymyr Zelenskyy, though none have been announced.

It is "essentially permission from Beijing to keep fighting. It is, though, Xi's only gift to Putin", Greene wrote on Twitter.

China has not applied Western sanctions against Moscow, instead increasing its imports of hydrocarbons from Russia and maintaining economic interests in Russia during the invasion.

Xi's recent peace proposals have largely garnered scepticism on the West, in particular the United States.

For Antoine Bondaz, a specialist in Chinese foreign policy at the Foundation for Strategic Research (FRS), "what is at stake today for China in the war in Ukraine is not the future of Ukraine... It's the Sino-American rivalry and the desire to discredit Western countries".

Xi's trip to Moscow represents "anything but distancing" by China from Russia, he added.

"MARRIAGE OF CONVENIENCE"

While Xi and Putin sought to emphasise their friendship and respect in their meetings - addressing each other constantly as "dear" - China is very much the senior partner.

Its population and economy dwarf those of its neighbour, where thinly populated regions in the Russian far east keep a wary eye on booming Chinese megacities on the other side of the Amur river that forms part of their border.

Xi's support is crucial for Putin as he insists that it is only the West that opposes his invasion of Ukraine, and not the international community as a whole.

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2023-03-23 13:52:42Z
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Singaporean TikTok CEO testifies before US Congress over company's China ties - The Straits Times

In his opening remarks, Mr Chew distanced himself and the company from the Chinese government by telling Congress lawmakers he was born in Singapore and attended college in Britain and the US, where he met his wife.

He added that TikTok’s headquarters are in Los Angeles.

In defending the social media platform, Mr Chew pointed out TikTok’s benefits to children and young people.

He said educational videos, such as those on mathematics and science, have been watched more than 116 billion times on the platform.

On the issue of collecting data, Mr Chew said TikTok does not collect more data than other tech companies, saying the app neither collects precise GPS location information nor health data.

Tiktok is committed to being very transparent, he added.

“We do not promote or remove content at the request of the Chinese government”, he said, adding that “it is our commitment to this committee and all our users that we will keep (TikTok) free from any manipulation by any government.”

But the top Democrat on the panel, Representative Frank Pallone, argued with that statement.

He said: “My problem here is, you’re trying to give the impression that you’re going to move away from Beijing and the Communist Party ... but the commitments that we would seek to achieve those goals are not being made today.”

“You’re gonna continue to gather data, you’re gonna continue to sell data ... and continue to be under the aegis of the Communist Party,” Mr Pallone added.

Mr Chew’s testimony before Congress will also cap a week of actions by the Chinese company aimed at convincing Americans and their lawmakers that the app creates economic value and supports free speech.

TikTok has more than 150 million Americans users.

It has faced sharp accusations that its US user data would be shared with the Chinese government and that it fails to adequately protect children from harm.

TikTok has said it has spent more than US$1.5 billion (S$2 billion) on what it calls rigorous data security efforts under the name Project Texas.

TikTok would remain owned by ByteDance, but would put all of the data generated by American users on domestic servers operated and run by Oracle, the software giant in Austin, Texas.

Only Oracle and US-based TikTok employees would have access to the accounts and data of American users, TikTok said.

It also says it rigorously screens content that could harm children.

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2023-03-23 13:27:49Z
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