TheNewsGuru

Tag: China

  • Nigeria announces deal with China to battle Boko Haram

    The Federal Republic of Nigeria and Peoples Republic of China on Thursday signed a Memorandum of Understanding to offer assistance to the Armed Forces of Nigeria to strengthen its counter-insurgency measures.

    The Nigerian government had sought assistance of China in tackling Boko Haram.

    Minister of Defence, Mansur Muhammad Dan-Ali and the Chinese Ambassador to Nigeria, H.E Dr Ziyou Pingjian signed the MOU in Abuja on behalf of their countries.

    However, details of the deal was not disclosed.

    Colonel Tukur Fussy, the minister’s spokesman, in a statement, said the signing of the MOU was a follow up to the visit of President Muhammadu Buhari to China in September, 2018.

    During the meeting, Buhari held discussions on infrastructure financing for strategic projects and gratis for the Armed Forces was held with the Chinese President, Mr Xi Jinping.

  • US issues fresh travel warning after China detentions

    US issues fresh travel warning after China detentions

    The US state department has urged Americans to “exercise increased caution” when travelling to China after a spate of high-profile detentions.

    Its updated advice says dual US-Chinese nationals are at particular risk from so-called exit bans that prevent them from leaving.

    Canada also revealed that 13 Canadians had been detained since 1 December.

    On that day, a top Chinese executive was arrested in Canada at the request of US prosecutors.

    Huawei chief financial officer Meng Wanzhou was detained in Vancouver and faces extradition to the US to face fraud charges, which she denies, that are linked to allegations of avoiding US sanctions on Iran.

    China has dismissed the US travel warning as unjustified.

    “To be frank, the issuance of such a travel advisory by the US side does not hold water,” foreign ministry spokesman Lu Kang said.

    “From January to November 2018, 2.3 million visits to China were made by Americans, which means 70 per 10,000 American people made the trip, a ratio far higher than that of the Chinese visiting the US.

    “So, this figure is a testament to China’s safety.”

  • China allows first-ever U.S. rice imports ahead of trade talks

    China has opened the door to imports of rice from the United States for the first time ever in what analysts took to signal a warming of relations between the world’s two biggest economies after a frosty year marked by tensions and tit-for-tat tariffs.

    The green light from Chinese customs, indicated in a statement posted on the customs authority’s website on Friday, comes in the run-up to talks between the countries in January after U.S. President Donald Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping agreed to a moratorium on higher tariffs that would affect trade worth hundred of billions of dollars.

    It was not immediately clear how much rice China, which sources rice imports from within Asia, might seek to buy from the United States. But the move, which comes after years of talks on the matter, follows pledges from China’s commerce ministry of further U.S. trade openings earlier this week.

    “I wouldn’t be surprised to see importers trying to move rice into China from California but I don’t know if it will be in breathtaking quantities right away,” said Stuart Hoetger, an analyst and physical rice trader based in California.

    As of Dec. 27, imports of brown rice, polished rice and crushed rice from the United States are now permitted, as long as cargoes meet China’s inspection standards and are registered with the U.S. Department of Agriculture.

    USDA on Dec. 11 forecast total U.S. rice production at 6.93 million tonnes while Chinese rice imports were estimated at 5 million tonnes.

    U.S. rice futures had little reaction to the announcement, with front-month prices RRc1 declining by 14 cents to $9.99 per cwt, the lowest since Oct. 1.

    “The permission for U.S. rice suggests an improving U.S. and China relationship,” said Cherry Zhang, an agriculture analyst with consultancy JCI. Zhang said she expected any imports would likely be ordered by state-owned companies.

    Officials at a government-affiliated think-tank in Beijing said the price of U.S. rice was not competitive, compared with imports from South Asia, and said the move to formally permit imports from the United States should be interpreted as a goodwill gesture.

    China opened its rice market when it joined the World Trade Organization in 2001, but a lack of phytosanitary protocol between China and the United States effectively banned imports, according to trade group USA Rice.

    Nonetheless in July, China formally imposed additional tariffs of 25 percent on U.S. rice, even though imports were not permitted at the time.

  • Huawei CFO faces extradition to US, after arrest in Canada

    The chief financial officer of China’s Huawei Technologies faces extradition to the United States after she was arrested in Canada, Canadian officials said Wednesday.

    Meng Wanzhou, a senior executive who is also the daughter of the tech giant’s founder, Ren Zhengfei, was arrested in Vancouver on December 1, according to Canada’s Department of Justice.

    A bail hearing has been set for Friday. The department declined to provide other details, citing a publication ban. US Justice Department spokesman Marc Raimondi declined to comment on the matter.

    A spokesman from the Chinese Embassy in Canada confirmed the arrest of Meng and said in a statement that Beijing “strongly protests over such kind of actions which seriously harmed the human rights of the victim.” China has lodged a protest to the United States and Canada, urging them “to immediately correct the wrongdoing,” the spokesman said.

    Meng was arrested when she was transferring flights in Canada, said Huawei spokesman Chasen Skinner.

    “The company has been provided very little information regarding the charges and is not aware of any wrongdoing by Ms. Meng,” Skinner said. “The company believes the Canadian and US legal systems will ultimately reach a just conclusion.”

    Meng is expected to face charges in the Eastern District of New York in Brooklyn.

    US authorities have been investigating Huawei since 2016 for violations of export controls and US sanctions related to Iran and other countries. It is unclear how Huawei might have violated sanctions.

    The arrest comes at a tense moment in US-China relations. Over the past year, China and the United States have engaged in a tit-for-tat trade war that has shaken markets around the world and hurt ties between the world’s two largest economies.

    President Donald Trump last week met with Chinese President Xi Jinping on the sidelines of the Group of 20 summit in Argentina, hashing out a trade war cease-fire. But just days after they met, Chinese and US officials relayed conflicting details about the deal.

    At the heart of the dispute is a White House claim that China violates the rules of global trade through forced technology transfer and cyberwarfare. There have been growing calls for the United States to increase its scrutiny of Chinese firms, including Huawei, on the grounds of national security.

    US officials have long suspected that Huawei, a major smartphone maker, maintains ties to China’s communist leaders. Ren, Huawei’s founder, is a former officer in China’s People’s Liberation Army.

    Last year, Huawei’s chief rival, ZTE, pleaded guilty to violating US sanctions against Iran and North Korea and paid $892 million (roughly Rs. 6,300 crores) in fines imposed by the Justice, Treasury and Commerce departments.

    In April, the Commerce Department found ZTE to be in violation of its 2017 settlement and barred US companies from exporting to the firm for seven years. Such a prohibition, colloquially referred to as a “death penalty,” was thought to be severe enough to put the firm out of business.

    Xi reportedly asked Trump to intervene, and Trump pressed Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross to reconsider the punishment. In July, Commerce lifted the ban but imposed a number of new restrictions on the company, including another fine.

    Trump saw his intervention in the ZTE case as a bargaining chip with China on other trade issues.

    ZTE and Huawei equipment have been banned from use by the US government and its contractors after Trump signed into law in August a bill containing the ban.

    The two firms are largely cut out of the US market. In 2012, the House Intelligence Committee issued a scathing report on the two firms that warned that they “provide a wealth of opportunities for Chinese intelligence agencies” to spy on US companies or agencies that use their equipment.

    The panel also urged that the federal government block mergers of US firms with the two Chinese companies after reviewing their alleged ties to Chinese military and intelligence agencies.

    The firms are caught up in a global competition with the United States for control of the world’s burgeoning 5G telecommunications networks.

    On Wednesday, British telecom firm BT has said it will not use Huawei equipment in its 5G network. Last week, New Zealand did the same. In August, Australia banned Huawei and ZTE from its 5G networks.

     

  • Breaking: Paper reveals foremost Chinese billionaire political leaning

    Breaking: Paper reveals foremost Chinese billionaire political leaning

    Chinese billionaire, Jack Ma, co-founder and executive chairman of e-commerce giant, Alibaba Group, a multinational technology conglomerate, has been identified as a member of China’s Communist Party.

    TheNewsGuru (TNG) reports the Chinese business magnate, investor, and philanthropist was identified as a member of the Communist Party by the People’s Daily in a list of people credited with helping to modernize China’s economy.

    The revelation by the party-run People’s Daily puts to bed public assumption that the billionaire was politically unattached.

    According to reports, the Communist Party is seeking to re-establish its pre-eminent role under President Xi Jinping, and this has been seen as a move to burnish the party’s image.

    Along with Ma, Pony Ma, chief executive of Tencent Holdings Ltd., and Robin Li, chief executive of Baidu Inc. were also listed as people credited with helping to modernize China’s economy.

    However, neither Pony Ma nor Robin was identified by the People’s Daily as party members.

     

  • China sends 5 satellites into orbit via single rocket

    China sends 5 satellites into orbit via single rocket

    China on Tuesday launched a new space environment research satellite and four nanosatellites on a Long March-2D carrier rocket from the Jiuquan Satellite Launch Centre in northwest China.

    According to the centre, the satellites have successfully entered their pre-set orbit.

    Shiyan-6 will be used for conducting space environment exploration experiments.

    The term nanosatellite refers to a small artificial satellite, weighing between one kg and 10 kg.

    Among the four nanosatellites, Tianping-1A and Tianping-1B will be used for equipment calibration on ground control stations, while Jiading-1 is the first satellite of the Xiangyun satellite constellation in low earth orbit.

    A software-defined satellite, developed by the Innovation Academy for Microsatellites, the Chinese Academy of Sciences, will be used for conducting experiments on open-source satellite software research and development on Android platforms.

    Compared to traditional satellites, a software-defined satellite is more flexible and reconfigurable.

    A report says it enables its operator to capture diverse markets with its ability to change things like frequency band and coverage areas on demand.

    It is the 292th mission of the Long March carrier rocket series.

     

  • Google suffers services interruption as traffic reroutes to China, Russia

    Google suffers services interruption as traffic reroutes to China, Russia

    Google on Monday suffered interruption of services due to a configuration error made by an internet service provider in Nigeria during a network upgrade that resulted in traffic being rerouted to China and Russia.

    TheNewsGuru (TNG) reports MainOne, a major internet service provider, confirmed the development, but said “we are not aware that any Google services were compromised as a result”.

    “In the early hours of Tuesday, MainOne experienced a technical glitch during a planned network upgrade and access to some Google services was impacted. The error was accidental on our part; we are not aware that any Google services were compromised as a result. We promptly corrected the situation at our end and are doing all that is necessary to ensure it doesn’t happen again,” the ISP said.

    Prior to MainOne’s explanation, there have been speculations that Monday’s 74-minute data reroute to China and Russia might have been intentional, in what has been described as data hijacking.

    According to experts’ analyses, the type of traffic misdirection involved can knock essential services offline and facilitate espionage and financial theft. They can also be used to block access to information by sending data requests into internet black holes. Experts say China, in particular, has systematically hijacked and diverted U.S. internet traffic.

    However, according to MainOne’s spokesman, Tayo Ashiru, the problem was as a resulted of human error, saying “Everyone is pretty confident that nothing untoward took place”.

    He said engineers mistakenly forwarded to China Telecom addresses for Google services that were supposed to be local. The Chinese company, in turn, sent along the bad data to Russia’s TransTelecom, a major internet presence.

    Ashiru said MainOne did not yet understand why China Telecom did that, as the state-run company normally doesn’t allow Google traffic on its network.

    Explaining why the traffic rerouting resulted in disruption of Google services, Alex Henthorn-Iwane, an executive at the network-intelligence company, ThousandEyes, said the traffic diversion into China created a detour with a dead end, preventing users from accessing the affected Google services.

    He said Monday’s incident offered yet another lesson in the internet’s susceptibility to “unpredictable and destabilizing events. If this could happen to a company with the scale and resources available that Google has, realize it could happen to anyone.”

    The diversion, known as border gateway protocol route hijacking, is built into the internet, which was designed for collaboration by trusted parties – not competition by hostile nation-states. Experts say it is fixable but that would require investments in encrypted routers that the industry has resisted.

    ThousandEyes said the diversion at minimum made Google’s search and business collaboration tools difficult or impossible to reach and “put valuable Google traffic in the hands of ISPs in countries with a long history of Internet surveillance.”

    Most network traffic to Google services – 94 percent as of Oct. 27 – is encrypted, which shields it from prying eyes even if diverted. But work was interrupted on services like G-Suite, which Google CEO Sundar Pichai in February said had more than 4 million businesses as customers. G-Suite and Google Cloud combined generate about $4 billion in revenue each year.

    Google did not quantify the disruption other than to say in a statement that “access to some Google services was impacted.”

    The internet giant also said it had no reason to believe the traffic hijacking was malicious.

    Google Search, cloud hosting, and G-Suite collaborative business tools were among services disrupted.

     

  • President Xi calls for global cooperation to create ‘fairer’ internet

    President Xi calls for global cooperation to create ‘fairer’ internet

    President Xi Jinping of China on Wednesday called for greater global cooperation to develop the internet and make it more “fair and equitable”, as Beijing seeks to bolster its global role in shaping the web.

    The speech was read out on Xi’s behalf at China’s main internet conference in the northern city of Wuzhen, a tightly-controlled event organized by the cyber ministry that oversees the domestic internet and censors online content.

    “There is an urgent need for us to speed up the internet economy and work for governance that is more fair and equitable,” Xi said.

    Technology and the internet are key battlegrounds in a trade war between China and the United States, with a spotlight on U.S. complaints about intellectual property theft and China’s ambitions to become a global leader in cutting edge tech.

    China and Xi have pushed for a bigger role in global internet governance and called on nations to respect Beijing’s “cyber sovereignty”, an idea that countries should be free to control and censor their internet infrastructure as they see fit.

    Foreign websites such as Alphabet’s Google and Facebook are blocked in China, where authorities also tightly control online content and censor or punish those who post material seen as opposed to “core socialist values”.

    Xi’s comments also come as China’s technology and internet firms have taken a hit from rising uncertainty linked to the trade tensions between Washington and Beijing, and also greater involvement of the Chinese state in online industries.

    Baidu Inc and Alibaba Group Holdings Ltd both recently revised down their full-year sales forecasts, citing economic uncertainty.

     

  • Nigeria gaining ‘nearly nothing’ from China trade – Agbakoba

    Nigeria gaining ‘nearly nothing’ from China trade – Agbakoba

    A former President of the Nigerian Bar Association (NBA), Dr Olisa Agbakoba (SAN), on Thursday lamented Nigeria’s trade imbalance with China.
     
    Agbakoba warned that the country was losing business opportunities by not taking advantage of its bilateral relations with the Asian superpower.
     
    According to him, the country’s large population provides a ready market for Chinese goods, but Nigeria, being import-dependent, gets “nearly nothing” in return.
     
    He spoke at the annual conference of the Nigerian Institute of Chartered Arbitrators (NICArb), which held at Oriental Hotel, Victoria Island, Lagos.
     
    The conference’s theme was, “Enforcement of arbitral awards and economic growth in West Africa.”
     
    Agbakoba said: “The trade between Nigeria and China is so skewed in favour of China and we are getting nothing; we are import-dependent; everything is imported. If everything continues to be imported where is our hope? We import toothpicks from China.
     
    “I was listening to the Director-General of NAFDAC (National Food and Drugs Administration and Control) today (Thursday) talking about drugs; we import everything. This has just got to change.”
     
    He warned Nigeria to be wary of becoming overexposed to Chinese loans in a way that could affect its sovereignty.
     
    Agbakoba said: “The other day I saw in Zambia, the head of Zambian Police decorating a Chinese policeman who had taken over the Zambian Police because Zambia defaulted on a loan. So, there are wider implications.
     
    “There is no way we can develop if we don’t take an interest in the immediate environment.”
     
    The rights activist lamented that the country was losing jobs and revenue from a failure to enact a national arbitration policy, as obtainable in China, Singapore and most Western countries.
     
    He observed that despite the existence of a highly competent arbitration community in Nigeria, most of the high-value disputes involving companies operating in Nigeria are still being taken abroad to be resolved by foreigners.
     
    He explained that a national arbitration policy could compel multinationals doing business in Nigeria to put a clause in their contracts stipulating that all arising disputes must be resolved in Nigeria.
     
    Agbakoba said: “When (former) Governor (Babatunde) Fashola was in office and I was the NBA President, I approached him and there were some policy initiatives by (former) Governor Fashola, to the effect that all the trades and transactions within Lagos State had embedded in them an arbitration clause making Lagos the venue and that created jobs.
     
    “We can’t sit down here and be training as arbitrators and becoming fellows and we don’t have jobs. The key thing in arbitration is to have work to do.”
     
    Also speaking, the 2nd Vice-President of NICArb, Prof Fabian Ajogwu (SAN), shared in Agbakoba’s concern that Nigerian-origin disputes were being taken abroad for resolution “to the detriment of jobs and wealth creation in Nigeria”.
     
    He blamed the trend on “the consumption attitude” of Nigerians and speed with which Nigerian courts set aside arbitration awards.
     
    The conference had in attendance the Presiding Justice, Court of Appeal, Lagos Division, Justice Mohammed Garba, who represented appeal court President, Justice Zainab Bulkachuwa.
     
    Also in attendance were the President, National Industrial Court, Justice Babatunde Adejumo; and Mr Muniru Liadi, who represented NBA President, Mr Paul Usoro (SAN)

  • Resetting diplomatic ties with China over death capsules – Phillip Afaha

    Resetting diplomatic ties with China over death capsules – Phillip Afaha

    By Philip Afaha
    Last week Nigerians woke up to the sordid news that china has chosen to export cannibalism to Nigeria.
    Whatever informed their choice of Nigeria as the destination for such bestiality is not known to us, but one is wont to conclude that the world has started to take advantage of our weakness, cowardice and apparent lack of knowledge of how the current civilisation works- you either upgrade or dominate, or you will be dominated by others.
    The recent cargoes of human remains as capsules and stew represent the worst insult we should accept as a people. Come to think of this, China grind her death bodies into powder and sell to us as drugs?, China makes stew of her embalmed corpses and ship to us for our meals?. We now know where the cancers are coming from.
    It appears cancer and indeed most of the dangerous diseases ravaging the African economies and populations may actually be manifestations of biological weapon attacks on black Africans by the developed world. The idea could be to destroy their economies, damage their resolve to break even, offer palliatives and take over their resources.
    One may be accused of provoking a conspiracy theory or some anti-China sentiments, but across the length and breadth of Africa there are cries of the new colonialism by China. The stark reality is that China is desperately pushing into Africa with reckless abandon.
    Their recent moves is only reminiscent of the 1885 scramble and partition experience that resulted in the colonialism and bastardization of Africa.
    In some countries there are stories of total take-over of public utilities and governance infrastructures as political leaders fall over one another to get loans and financial favours from Beijing.
    This craze for Chinese monies comes against the warnings from the intelligentsia and the western world who see through the traps and long term imperialistic motifs of these gestures.
    China has proven that it is not a fair trader, not even when it is dealing with weaker states. China is taking undue advantage of the sorry state of affairs and instability in Africa to take its turn in the rape that was initiated by the Caucasian cousins some in form of slave trade and slavery some centuries ago.
    The aggressive manner with which china seeks to exert its influence in Africa should be taken with a pinch of caution. Those who think that china is a father chrismas are wallowing in destructive self deceit.
    It is instructive that the Trump administration has repeatedly alerted the world and challenged the Chinese foul tactics when it comes to trade. With the recent happenings in Africa there appears to be a sense in the American posture.
    The latest trade in human flesh should alert the developing world of the dangers of swallowing the financial baits and allowing the Chinese to have a field day in their trade relations.
    The United States of America is resetting their trade terms with china ostensibly to forestall a similar decline to infamy as the Nigerian case.
    It is an irony that while china will be the first country to flout rules and abuse free market; it is on record that it is the most difficult country to export to.
    It operates the harshest and draconian regulations to protect its market and domestic products. It is sad that the same offence that earns Nigerians death sentences and life imprisonment in china are the same things Chinese are perpetrating and walking free in Nigeria.
    The Nigerian government should not pride itself that it has issued public warning on the human stew and capsules from china.
    Government should not feign ignorance of this scandal or treat it with the usual callously the way it brushed off the plastic rice saga, fake drugs and claims of organ harvesting of young Nigerians by Asians that is now dominating the social media.
    The Chinese ambassador to Nigeria should be summoned to explain this evil, and stop further shipment of products that insults our culture and endangers our health as a people. Customarily the Ambassador will try to absolve Beijing of culpability and blame such on rogue merchants but at least a strong government-to-government message would have been sent to China and her people that Nigeria rejects and frowns at such abuse of the Nigerian people. That is the hallmark of citizen diplomacy
    Nigerians will not forgive China if they fail to stop this abomination from their end, and we will not equally forgive our leaders if they fail or even delay to call China to order.
    The Indo-Nigerian relation is a good thing but international trade should be conducted with some modicum of morality, and diplomacy demands mutual respect.
    The Nigerian government should stand up to china on this saga. China must at least pretend to show respect. We are not cannibals!
    Enough of this rape.

    *Dr Philip Afaha Is The Head Of The Department Of History And Diplomatic Studies, University Of Abuja