TheNewsGuru

Tag: China

  • President Buhari congratulates Chinese leader on re-election

    President Buhari congratulates Chinese leader on re-election

    President Muhammadu Buhari has congratulated the Chinese leader, President Xi Jinping, on his historic re-election for a third term as leader of the Communist Party of China.

    The President’s congratulatory message is contained in a statement issued by Malam Garba Shehu, the Senior Special Assistant to the President on Media and Publicity on Monday in Abuja.

    Buhari said “I hope your re-election would pave the way for deeper and enduring partnership and strategic cooperation that would be mutually beneficial to our two countries.

    “I believe that the development of infrastructure, such as railways, dams and roads construction, power generating plants, as well as trade exchanges would receive strong boost.”

  • Without Buhari Nigeria would have been partly sold – Yahaya Bello

    Without Buhari Nigeria would have been partly sold – Yahaya Bello

    The Governor of Kogi State, Yahaya Bello has stated that Nigeria would have been partly sold.

    He said the intervention of President Muhammadu Buhari and the All Progressives Congress (APC) government halted it.

    The governor made the comment when he was interviewed on Arise TV.

    Bello was asked what the ruling APC intends to do about the state of the economy and unemployment.

    His attention was called to the over 50 per cent rate and the 13,000 healthcare workers who have relocated to the United Kingdom in two years.

    Bello replied: “The statistics or the numbers you just read out, where are they coming from? What are the processes?

    “Most of the times, we question the statistics because I am most affected sometimes in Kogi State

    “For instance, the NBS (National Bureau of Statistics), or in the media, or out there, people say you’re owing salaries.

    “Even one particular elite put it on his Facebook that I am owing salaries up to 18 months.

    “He pulled down the information within hours. There are some information out there that are misleading.

    “I am not saying that are there no work to be done on unemployment, improvement of our economy,

    “The next thing is: which of the countries of this world is having it rosy now?

    “In fact, if anything, without this administration of President Muhammadu Buhari, under APC, probably, Nigeria would have been partly sold…

    “..to either Chinese or any other person outside this country, because of the way the economy was managed before we came on board in 2015.

    “In every system, there are saboteurs, there are Judas. We have them abound within and outside this APC administration of President Buhari”, Bello added.

  • $92.39m bribe: Former minister gets death sentence

    $92.39m bribe: Former minister gets death sentence

    Sun Lijun, former vice minister of public security, was on Friday sentenced to death with a two-year reprieve for taking bribes, manipulating the stock market, and illegally possessing firearms.

    Sun was also deprived of his political rights for life, and all his personal assets were confiscated, said the Intermediate People’s Court of Changchun in northeast China’s Jilin Province.

    The court established that Sun received money and valuables totaling more than 646 million yuan (92.39 million U.S. dollars) by taking advantage of various positions he held between 2001 and April 2020.

    The court also found that Sun manipulated stock trading in the first half of 2018, helping some other people avoid a loss of 145 million yuan.

    Sun also illegally possessed two guns, the court added.

    The sum of bribes Sun had taken was specially huge, and his crimes caused a specially heavy loss to the interests of the state and people, said the court.

    It added that the circumstance of his crime in manipulating the stock market was particularly serious, and that in illegally possessing firearms was serious.

    The court said that Sun was granted a lenient sentence, considering that he had provided investigators with clues to other major cases, contributing to a major meritorious service for the investigation.

    It said he had also confessed to all of his crimes, including some acts of bribe-taking that investigators were not initially aware of.

    It added that he had shown repentance and had been cooperative in returning his illegal gains.

    After the two-year reprieve for his death sentence, Sun’s sentence can be commuted to life in prison in accordance with the law, but no further reduction or parole shall be given to him, the court said.

  • UN tasks envoys on investment in infrastructure to boost Africa’s market growth

    UN tasks envoys on investment in infrastructure to boost Africa’s market growth

    Mr Siddharth Chatterjee, Coordinator of the United Nations Development System in China, has stressed the need for adequate investment in infrastructure development to boost the market growth in Africa.

    Chatterjee said this a reception for new Ambassadors and their spouses organised by Amb. Baba Ahmad Jidda, Ambassador of Nigeria to China.

    Chatterjee said, “If you have to maintain your philosophy of growth, you have to invest in Africa now, because this is s population that will hit $2.5 billion by 2050.

    “It is going to be the biggest market of producers and consumers; it is the youngest continent in the world.
    “The middle age of African is 18, whereas the middle age of China is already 47, the middle age of Sweden is 49,

    you have to shape and nurture those markets now. “To do that, you have to invest there, I think we have to get the UN involved, in terms of providing basic infrastructure.

    “The UN has not been fully utilised in your respective countries, it is an untapped potential that you still have that lot of different agencies, programmed and social policy experts.”

    He further said there was the need for focused group discussion on issues that bordered on development of the continent to chart the way forward.

    He said the African Development Bank had predicted that by 2030, agro-business in Africa would actually grow up to One trillion dollars

    “The continent has 60 per cent of arrable land and then, we are currently net importers of 100 billion dollars worth of food yearly.

    He said 40 or 50 per cent of agriculture products was post-harvested, adding that “we have to look at the China-Africa bridge, to bring in the technology and innovation.

    “The second area is in the place of health. “Actually, companies can make profit of these if we can achieve economy of scale and bring the cost down, heathy Africa means healthy market.

    “This implies that there are enormous opportunities which are already starting to take place,” he added.
    He said while Chinese prioritised artificial intelligence, digital printing technology and precarbonated housing, Africa could equally build its young population to start producing too.

    The Coordinator said although there were 25 UN Agencies, funds and programmes, the organisation would remain committed to invest in Africa’s growth through its cooperation.

    In a separate interview, Amb. Martin Mpana, Dean of the Group of African Ambassadors and Ambassador of Cameroon to China, commended the UN investment in Africa initiative to be apt.

    Mpana said, “It is on the right track and that is what we want and wish to work for; the question of investment is a little bit difficult.

    “Global economy is a bit contracted, not in a recession but we are not far from it, so you can imagine that fear is in each country.

    “Those that are financial institutions are are a little bit nervous, they do not know what to do and you know African countries are really indebted.

    “We do welcome investment wherever they come from because definitely, Africa needs financial means to invest in infrastructure,” Mpana said.

    He reiterated that investment was needed to build infrastructure, connect countries, build roads, airports, as well as other facilities in line with growing population.

    He said although there was the need for funds, such should be judiciously utilised to achieve targets on the continent.

  • China advocates rule of law to tackle substandard products in Africa

    China advocates rule of law to tackle substandard products in Africa

    Wu Peng, Director-General of the Department of African Affairs of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of China, has stressed the need for the Rule of Law to tackle issues about substandard products in Africa.

    Wu said this at his interactive session with African Journalists under auspices of the China Africa Press Centre (CAPC) Programme 2022, which began in June in Beijing.

    He decried the situation where there was alleged production of substandard products between China and Africa trade that has become important for collective efforts to tackle such problems.

    Wu said, “If some Chinese in Africa violate the rule of law they must face consequences, no doubt about it.

    “Our Chinese Government always advocates that our nationals must respect African people, respect your culture and follow the rule of law of local country.

    “We also encourage all our Chinese nationals and companies living and working in Africa to contribute through social responsibility to their local community.

    “Certainly, there are always some bad apples who do bad things, I condemn this kind of behaviour, but isolated cases do not represent all Chinese, just like we will count African people in China.

    “We cannot just consider some crime that happened in China by an African to represent Africans; the same thing applies if Chinese nationals violate the Rule of Law we condemn it.”

    He reiterated China’s respect for Africa, saying “we also respect our own Rule of Law to handle these kinds of cases”.

    According to him, there is no need to trade this kind of thing into a political level or at bilateral relations levels, there are isolated cases according to Rule of Law of African countries.

    “I think this is a commercial issue, we noticed many African businessmen go into China for procurement and do lots of shopping for stuffs and then bring back to Africa.

    “Such people even do such through the use of e-commerce to buy some stuffs back to Africa; whether these kinds of stuffs are made in China, the quality is good or not, it must reach the national standard.

    “From our Chinese official point of view, we have an inspection procedure of goods exported to China; of course, I cannot deny this because sometimes the price is different.

    “Some quality of the products cannot reach the expectations of the African consumers; I think China and Africa need to work together to change the situation.

    “We do not like it at all, let us work together to fight against counterfeit or smuggling and such bad things; we do not like it at all, we should uphold the Rule of Law to fight against it,” he added.

    He observed such incidence had changed a lot in recent years, adding that at African shopping centres one could find a lot of high level Chinese products and even, around the world.

    He further said that Chinese products now enjoyed the reputation of low price but high quality amidst some isolated cases, which were not good for the reputation of Chinese products.

    He, however, expressed displeasure, saying such acts often portrayed Chinese products in a bad light to the outside world.

    No fewer than 90 journalists from 67 countries across Africa, Middle East, Europe, Latin America, and Asia Pacific, are participating in the programme, which began in June.

    The programme, which is being hosted by the China Public Diplomacy Association (CPDA), is expected to end in November.

  • Here are the 4 ways China is expanding its surveillance state

    Here are the 4 ways China is expanding its surveillance state

    Under its one-party socialist republic system, China is already one of the most closely monitored societies in the world.

    However, a new report from the New York Times suggests that current surveillance methods are drastically expanding to maximize what the state can discover about a person’s identity, activities, and social connections.

    After analyzing over a hundred thousand government bidding documents acquired by digital magazine ChinaFile, here are four of the report’s key findings.
    Phone trackers

    The use of phone trackers is now universal within China. The documents reveal that all of China’s 31 mainland provinces employ them, with areas containing the oppressed Uyghur ethnic minority population being of particular interest.

    The trackers excel at exploiting weak security methods to gather information from phones in their surrounding area. In 2017, for example, they trawled popular Chinese social media apps to collect phone owner’s usernames, while police in a county in Guangdong even used them to detect Uyghur-to-Chinese dictionary apps on phones to locate Uyghur community members.

    The devices, also known as Wi-Fi sniffers, are becoming increasingly sophisticated, able to detect an individual’s digital footprint, as well as their real-time location.
    The last seven years have seen a huge expansion across the nation, and there’s a fear that there’ll be an exponential growth over the coming few years.

    Facial recognition technology

    Identifying a person by their unique set of facial features has been a possibility for many years now, but it’s only now that businesses and authorities can use it on a widespread scale.
    While private companies retain the right to use it for customers who voluntarily sign up to it – think those who have a need for tight security, like banks or online casinos – the Chinese government has plans to make it mandatory across the nation.

    Not just that, many individuals won’t be aware that their faces are being scanned. Chinese police are choosing strategic locations which maximize the amount of data the FR-powered cameras can collect. These include shopping malls, cinemas, restaurants, but also private spaces like hotels and residential buildings. There are several incidences of officials demanding access to hotel cameras, with staff facing heavy sanctions if they fail to comply.

    Facial recognition cameras feed data back to powerful analytical software that’s aggregated and stored on government servers. In a nation whose number of surveillance cameras accounts for over half the world’s total – that’s a lot of data.

    DNA and voice samples

    Working in conjunction with facial analysis are sound recorders that police carry attached to their on-body FR cameras.

    According to another bidding document, the police were seeking devices that could record a 300-foot radius around them. They would then be able to upload material to a database of voice samples which would allow them to pinpoint suspects quicker.

    On top of this, police are actively collecting an extensive collection of male DNA samples. The male Y chromosome undergoes far fewer mutations as it’s passed along generations, making it easier for authorities to trace family paternal lines.

    Iris scanners, too, can be linked to DNA databases to find the names of potential criminals. One such system has the capacity to hold 30 million iris samples, with many more potentially in the offing – the New York Times believes as many as 25 provinces could have such databases.

    Comprehensive citizen profiles

    One major drawback in China’s surveillance system has been the difficulty in centralizing all of the data it collects.

    However, according to the findings, the country is well on the way to solving this issue, drawing all of the different personal details of its citizens together in the form of comprehensive profiles.

    Megvii, the country’s largest surveillance contractor, is developing a software that collates information, such as a person’s clothing, vehicles, mobile device, and social connections, to create a complete personal dossier that the authorities can generate for anyone within national borders.

    In short, it’s only a matter of time before Chinese officials are just a few clicks away from everything they need to know about a suspect.
    For the country’s 1.4 billion citizens, the age of super surveillance appears to have begun.

  • U.S. lawmakers defy China’s outrage, meets with Taiwan leader

    U.S. lawmakers defy China’s outrage, meets with Taiwan leader

    Five U.S. lawmakers visiting Taiwan on Monday met Taiwan President Tsai Ing-wen and other lawmakers in a show of support for Taiwan amid escalated tensions across the Taiwan Strait.

    The US congressional delegation arrived on Sunday for a surprise two-day visit, which followed a trip earlier this month by Nancy Pelosi, the speaker of the U.S. House of Representatives.

    China increased pressure on Taiwan both militarily and economically after Pelosi’s 19-hour visit to Taipei on Aug. 2-3.

    The delegation includes Republicans and Democrats and is made up of Senator Ed Markey and Representatives John Garamendi, Alan Lowenthal, Don Beyer and Aumua Amata Coleman Radewagen.

    Local TV reports showed the lawmakers entering the presidential office to meet with Tsai on Monday then heading to the parliamentary building nearby.

    Legislator Lo Chih-cheng of the ruling Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) told reporters that issues discussed at a meeting with U.S. lawmakers include future Taiwan-U.S. military cooperation.

    Lo said the U.S. group’s visit at such a sensitive time, coming shortly after China’s large-scale drills near Taiwan, shows that Beijing cannot prevent leading political figures from around the world from visiting Taiwan.

    “Their arrival also delivers an important message that American people are standing with Taiwanese people,” Lo said.

    Tsai’s office has not released any details about the meeting.

    “I’m travelling to Taiwan with a bipartisan congressional delegation to reaffirm U.S. support for Taiwan and encourage stability and peace across the Taiwan Strait,” Markey said on Twitter.

    In Beijing, China’s Defence Ministry spokesperson Wu Qian said on Monday that the visit by the U.S. delegation undermined China’s sovereignty and territorial integrity.

    Taiwan has had an independent government since 1949, but China considers the island part of its territory.

    Beijing rejects official contacts between other countries and Taipei.

  • Another deadly disease ‘Langya’ Virus hits China, many infected

    Another deadly disease ‘Langya’ Virus hits China, many infected

    The Asian country of China is presently hit with another virus known as Langya henipavirus or LayV.

    Recall that COVID-19 that ravaged the world in 2022 originated from China and it shook the world and crumbled the economies of many great nations.

    According to Reports, nearly three dozen people in China have been struck by this new disease from the same family of deadly Nipah and Hendra viruses, although it has not been confirmed if it can be transmitted from one person to another.

    The virus was found thanks to an early detection system from feverish people with a recent history of exposure to animals in eastern China. The patients, mainly farmers, also reported fatigue, cough, loss of appetite, and aches, with several developing blood-cell abnormalities and signs of liver and kidney damage. All survived.

    The New England journal of medicine publication, states that out of 35 patients who tested positive 25 of them have not been in contact or have a common exposure history.

    The reports further explain that human infection may be very sporadic.

    Tests detected the virus in 27% of shrews, a known vector for similar henipaviruses, suggesting the small, furry mole-like mammals may be a natural reservoir, they said.

    Beijing researchers have noted that there should be further investigation on the health cases to unravel more findings about the new disease.

    Meanwhile, since the disease was discovered, in Singapore and Australia. Taiwan’s Centers for Disease Control have come out publicly to state that they are paying attention to the report and would start carrying out screening for the virus.

     

  • Just In: China severs ties with US over Pelosi’s visit to Taiwan

    Just In: China severs ties with US over Pelosi’s visit to Taiwan

    China has announced cutting of ties with the United States to protest recent visit of the Speaker of United States House of Representatives, Nancy Pelosi to Taiwan.

    The recent visit of Pelosi, though among America’s President Joe Biden was said to be against had drew the ire of China which saw it as an affront on her sovereignty and meddlesomeness from a top foreign government official.

    As a response to the visit, China severing relations with America with her Ministry of Foreign Affairs on Friday announcing countermeasures.

    A statement by the Ministry said the country was incest that despite China’s strong protestation against the visit Pelosi still went ahead.

    The statement read: “In disregard of China’s strong opposition and serious representations, Speaker of the U.S. House of Representatives Nancy Pelosi visited China’s Taiwan region. On 5 August, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs announced the following countermeasures in response:

    “Canceling China-U.S. Theater Commanders Talk; Canceling China-U.S. Defense Policy Coordination Talks (DPCT); Canceling China-U.S. Military Maritime Consultative Agreement (MMCA) meetings.

    “Suspending China-U.S. cooperation on the repatriation of illegal immigrants; Suspending China-U.S. cooperation on legal assistance in criminal matters; Suspending China-U.S. cooperation against transnational crimes; Suspending China-U.S. counternarcotics cooperation; Suspending China-U.S. talks on climate change.”

  • China imposes sanctions on U.S. house speaker Pelosi

    China imposes sanctions on U.S. house speaker Pelosi

    China has imposed unspecified sanctions on Speaker of the U.S. House of Representatives Nancy Pelosi and her immediate family members, the Foreign Ministry said in Beijing on Friday.

    “In disregard of China’s grave concerns and firm opposition, Pelosi insisted on visiting China’s Taiwan region.

    “This constitutes a gross interference in China’s internal affairs,’’ the ministry statement said.

    “It gravely undermines China’s sovereignty and territorial integrity seriously tramples on the one-China principle, and severely threatens peace and stability across the Taiwan Strait.’’

    “In response to Pelosi’s egregious provocation, China decides to adopt sanctions on Pelosi and her immediate family members in accordance with relevant laws of the People’s Republic of China.’’

    Pelosi had visited the self-governing democratic island earlier in the week, prompting Beijing to launch air and sea military drills with live fire in the waters off Taiwan.