Beijing Speaks Out Against US’ Cyber Deployments
Beijing opposes Washington’s deployment of cyber forces in China’s neighbouring countries and condemns its disinformation campaign, the Foreign Ministry said in a statement on Thursday. A spokesperson for the ministry made the remarks after WikiLeaks revealed the United States carried out cyber-thefts against 35 Japanese targets, including some members of the Japanese cabinet. While carrying out cybertheft against other countries in the world, the U.S. also attempted to deploy cyber forces in the name of capacity-building to infiltrate countries’ cyber systems, according to the statement. The U.S. even spread disinformation about “Chinese hackers” in order to induce or coerce countries, particularly those around China, to receive U.S. cyber force deployments, the spokesperson said. Those countries are “inviting a wolf into their house,” the spokesperson said, as it not only endangers their own cyber-security, but also turns themselves into a beachhead for the US government’s cyberattacks against China without their knowledge. The nature of US deployment of cyber forces is no different from deploying intermediate-range missiles and anti-missile systems, the spokesperson said, adding the move is essentially tying China’s neighbours to the chariot of the U.S., gravely harms China’s strategic security interest and can easily cause major risks of miscalculation.
Source: Ecns
Govt Claims China Faces No Deflationary Risk As Demand, Confidence Recover
Despite challenges at home and from abroad, China’s economy has sustained growth momentum with market demand and business confidence moving on a recovery trajectory, laying no ground for deflationary risk, experts have said. The country’s consumer price index (CPI), a main gauge of inflation, logged a 0.3 percent year-on-year decline in July, after coming in flat in June compared with the same period of last year. Chinese authorities, economists and analysts said the current low-price level is temporary, and its impacts should not be exaggerated. A closer look at the July CPI data released by the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) on Wednesday suggests that the decline in annual terms will likely prove a short-term phenomenon. The NBS statistician Dong Lijuan attributed the decline to a high base in the corresponding period of 2022. The food prices decreased by 1 percent year on year, dragging down the CPI by about 0.18 percentage points. The food price decline was mainly due to the abundant supply of pork, China’s staple meat, as well as seasonal fruits and vegetables on the market.
Source: Xinhua
China Attacks US’ ‘Unilateralist Bullying’ In WTO Obligation Report
China’s Ministry of Commerce (MOFCOM) issued a report on Friday on the US’s fulfillment of its WTO obligations for the first time. The report attacked Washington for “destroying the multilateral trade mechanism, exercising unilateralist bullying, manipulating double standards in industrial policy and disrupting global industrial and supply chain.” Chinese observers cited a lengthy list of Washington’s bullying affronts, ranging from the recent curbs on Chinese high-tech investment, pressuring its allies to join its semiconductor ban against China, the inflation act that siphons its partners’ competitive tech industries, to the prolonged trade war the US waged against China five years ago. On the other hand, the US has been releasing reports on China’s WTO Compliance every year. In a 70-page report in March, the USTR alleged that China has not fulfilled the commitments it made when joining the WTO. China’s MOFCOM dismissed the report at that time, saying it lacks both legal and factual basis.
Source: Global Times
China Coast Guard Expels Philippine Ships From Territorial Waters
The China Coast Guard has said that it expelled on Saturday two repair ships and two coast guard ships from the Philippines that trespassed China’s territorial waters near Ren’ai Jiao, part of the Nansha Islands in the South China Sea. The China Coast Guard has implemented necessary controls in accordance with the law and stopped Philippine ships carrying illegal building materials, a spokesperson for the China Coast Guard said in a statement. “We urge the Philippine side to immediately stop its infringing activities in these waters,” the spokesperson said, adding that China has indisputable sovereignty over the Nansha Islands and their adjacent waters including Ren’ai Jiao. “The China Coast Guard will continue to carry out law enforcement activities in waters under China’s jurisdiction according to law,” the spokesperson said.
Source: CGTN
Protest Takes Place Against Pro-Independence Leader In Taiwan
More than 600 Taiwan residents gathered around Taiwan’s leader’s office in Taipei on Friday, to protest the island’s deputy leader Lai Ching-te’s planned visit to the United States this weekend. The people shouted slogans accusing Lai, also Taiwan’s ruling Democratic Progressive Party’s 2024 leadership candidate, of relying on the US to seek “independence” and causing harm to Taiwan. Lai, who has openly branded himself as a pragmatic advocate for “Taiwan independence”, will reportedly stop in the US on his way to and from Paraguay as part of a seven-day trip starting on Saturday. Wu Jung-yuan, Chairman of Taiwan’s pro-reunification Labor Party, said Lai’s visit to the US is an attempt to collude with Washington to meddle in cross-Strait affairs, which should be opposed by Taiwanese people. “Taiwan is part of China, and cross-Strait affairs are internal matters for the Chinese people. Why should the US intervene?” he said, adding that, “Advocating against outside intervention is the best way to show our love for Taiwan.”
Source: China Daily
China Mulls Regulating Facial Recognition To Bolster Data Privacy
China’s digital economy has seen explosive growth in recent years with the widespread application of facial recognition technology. As of December 2022, the number of internet users in China reached 1.067 billion, with an internet penetration rate of 75.6 percent. However, the proliferation of facial recognition technology has also posed increased challenges for personal information protection due to irregular usage. Experts believe that the draft regulations are a response to tackle the misuse of facial recognition technology. “Facial recognition technology, with its unparalleled technological advantages, has become an effective means to promote digital economic development and social governance,” says Hong Yanqing, a professor at the School of Law, Beijing Institute of Technology. “However, at the same time, facial recognition technology not only captures citizens’ facial information but also has the ability to further identify individuals, track their movements, and more. The integration and correlation of these pieces of information could easily lead to personal data breaches, posing a threat to both privacy and property rights,” Hong added.
Source: People’s Daily
