Tang was appointed as justice minister in April 2020, taking over from Fu Zhenghua, a former top police officer who was also placed under investigation a year after he stepped down from the same post.

‘Not even one’: China pulls up lower-level corruption fighters over lack of cases

Wu Yingai, who was justice minister from 2005 to 2017, was stripped of her party membership four months after stepping down, after it was discovered that a senior law official had secured promotions using fake credentials.

Tang was removed from the post of justice minister in February 2023, a month before he was transferred to the political advisory role in Jiangxi province.

It is extremely rare for key Chinese ministers to be left out of the top decision-making body.

In 2016, after being sidelined for five years in a local political advisory body, Tang was appointed mayor of Ningbo after the downfall of the previous mayor, Lu Ziyue, and became the city’s party boss just three months later.

Chinese football officials given long jail terms over corruption scandal

His rapid political rise continued with a promotion to the post of provincial party leader of Zhejiang in 2017, and then becoming an alternate member of the Central Committee – the party’s elite ruling body – five months later.

Tang was transferred to northeast China’s Liaoning province in 2017 to be deputy party chief, and appointed governor of Liaoning in 2018, a role he held for two years before being promoted to justice minister.

Indonesian President-elect Prabowo Subianto visited Beijing on Monday on his first foreign trip since his election, and was quoted by Chinese state media as telling President Xi Jinping he aimed to continue the close ties under predecessor, Joko Widodo.

Prabowo “fully supports the development of closer Indonesia-China relations and wishes to continue President Joko’s policy of friendship with China,” China’s CCTV quoted Prabowo as saying.

The new Indonesian government will promote the alignment of development strategies between the two countries and push for more results in cooperation in fields such as the economy, trade and poverty alleviation, he said.

A Dubai prince who made waves after announcing plans to set up a new family office in Hong Kong with a US$500 million investment pledge abruptly postponed its opening scheduled for Thursday.

3. In rare monetary policy shift, Xi tells China central bank to buy treasury bonds

With the world’s second-largest economy at a critical juncture of fuelling growth in its bid to become a global financial superpower, a new book details some of Xi Jinping’s thoughts on finance, dating back to late 2012. “The People’s Bank of China must gradually increase the trading of treasury bonds in its open market operations,” the snippet reads in Excerpts of Xi Jinping’s Speeches on Finance Work.

4. China and US battle fiercely on yet another tech front: patent applications

According to 2023 UN data, Chinese inventors led in international patent applications for the second year running, posting some 14,000 more than the second-place US, as the two giants increasingly face off over technology, innovation and global bragging rights.

5. ‘It’s subjective’: is Singapore really Asia’s happiest country?

While the latest edition of an annual UN-sponsored report found Singapore to be Asia’s happiest country for the second year in a row, its survey data showed that the city state’s younger citizens rated their quality of life significantly worse than older generations.

6. Hong Kong officials sorry for national anthem blunder at triathlon event

Organisers of Sunday’s Triathlon World Cup in Hong Kong have apologised after the wrong national anthem was played during the women’s medal ceremony.

7. Millionaire boss of famous China snack brand hides wealth from son for 20 years

The son of the owner of a well-known snack brand in China said he did not know his family was wealthy until he graduated from university, a story that has stunned mainland social media.

American students in China have not experienced significant threats to their safety, and the US State Department must make its travel advisory for the country more specific, scholars said on Thursday.

“And so we need a more specific travel advisory” to clarify the high-risk groups, she continued, noting that US universities are afraid to send students to China given the current advisory for mainland China.

Set to “level three” on a four-level risk scale, the State Department designation urges visitors to “reconsider travel” and cites an arbitrary enforcement of local laws, “including in relation to exit bans, and the risk of wrongful detentions”.

US panel asks State Department to set Xinjiang travel advisory at highest level

The department has not provided public estimates of numbers of Americans experiencing exit bans or wrongful detentions, while safety concerns have plagued students, businesses and even tourists considering travels to China.

But the Chinese embassy in Washington as well as US and Chinese scholars have urged the State Department to get rid of the level-three designation.

“I have never heard of any case of an American student who had the problem entering China at the airports,” said Xie Tao, a dean and professor at Beijing Foreign Studies University – adding that he had heard the opposite for Chinese students attempting to enter the United States.

‘Stop harassing’ Chinese students at the border for no reason, China tells US

“This fear and the worry about travelling to China is completely overblown,” he said.

Seligsohn said that the detention cases she knew of involving US citizens appear to only involve businesspeople.

“If there are non-businesspeople who have been detained, [State Department officials] should say so,” she said.

Calls to ease the US travel warning for mainland China come as both sides stress the importance of people-to-people exchanges – something that Chinese President Xi Jinping and US President Joe Biden both acknowledged at their in-person meeting in November.

Scholars speaking at Thursday’s event noted the immense benefits of academic exchange and the loss that would come with what they called the “over-securitisation” of the bilateral academic relationship.

“China has been the most important collaborator of US scientists in life sciences to 2013. And it’s increased not only publications, but citations,” said Scott Rozelle of Stanford University, referring to research from the University of San Diego.

The 120-page report released on Thursday includes essays from 26 scholars and experts from domains ranging from artificial intelligence to environmental science, and is an attempt to offer solutions that strike a balance between national security concerns and advancing scholarly exchange.

Speaking virtually on Sunday at a conference jointly held by Duke University and the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Ambassador Burns similarly de-emphasised the travel risk for American students headed to China. He acknowledged, though, that the State Department advisory reflected real concerns.

“We have not seen students have problems,” he said, while highlighting Chinese government raids on American firms and the wrongful imprisonment of some Americans.

“We are encouraging American students to come to China, and we’re working institution by institution” to make that happen, he added.

The fast-tracked Safeguarding National Security Ordinance, which came into force last Saturday, has triggered fresh calls from the US Congress for new sanctions to be slapped on city officials and Hong Kong trade offices in the US to be stripped of special privileges.

But Jannuzi noted that US Secretary of State Antony Blinken did not hint at any new sanctions in a statement issued the day before the new law’s enactment, expressing only “deep concern” and pledging to “stand with” the people of Hong Kong.

“It’s likely that Washington is in wait-and-see mode,” he told the Post in an interview after a seminar on Thursday afternoon at the University of Hong Kong.

“They want to see how the new security law is actually implemented because on paper it says one thing, but it will not be until you begin to see actual cases move through the court system that Washington would be in a stronger position to evaluate the actual substance of how this law might change life in Hong Kong.

“I’m confident that the State Department and the US government will judge Hong Kong based on its conduct, not based just on media reports or words on paper.”

Hong Kong has ‘practical plans’ to counter Article 23 law sanctions: officials

Hong Kong officials have said the new law is “defensive” in nature and the circumstances differ from the Beijing-decreed national security law, which was imposed in June 2020 in the wake of the 2019 social unrest and led to the arrests of 47 opposition figures and former media mogul Jimmy Lai Chee-ying.

The new legislation, mandated under Article 23 of the Basic Law, Hong Kong’s mini-constitution, is already affecting prisoners convicted of national security offences as they are unlikely to be granted early release for good behaviour.

Jannuzi said the US, in considering new sanctions, would watch closely to see if Hong Kong authorities were applying the legislation fairly, and whether cases would be adjudicated in line with the rule of law.

The veteran China watcher said he first visited Hong Kong in 1984 and was impressed by the “very dramatic” contrast between the then British colony and mainland China.

Jannuzi, noting he had visited the city more than a dozen times since then, said Hong Kong remained a “valuable bridge” between the US and its understanding of the rest of China. He said he expected Hong Kong to remain a special place for Americans doing business in Asia.

He said he believed Biden “in his heart” still had a long-standing commitment to Hong Kong’s special qualities. But Americans were beginning to “forget” Hong Kong was special as the city could not escape the consequences of the “US-China strategic rivalry”, he said.

Jannuzi said at the seminar that mistrust between the world’s two largest economies was largely a product of structural domestic problems faced by Americans, which had sapped US politics of an appetite for globalism.

Hongkongers who back critics of domestic national security law could be in breach

But Hong Kong could still do itself some favours, he told the audience, which included Regina Ip Lau Suk-yee and Bernard Chan, respectively the current and former convenors of the city’s key decision-making Executive Council.

“The best thing that Hong Kong can do is to continue to celebrate everything that makes Hong Kong special,” he said.

“Whether that’s your tolerance for different faiths, or your inclusivity as a society with respect to LGBTQ rights, or your willingness to embrace a diversity of views, or your willingness to have a robust debate.”

He added: “Celebrating what makes Hong Kong special is like a muscle that needs to be exercised in order to keep a fit body. You need to exercise every day.

“Keep those muscles strong and I think America will notice that – I hope so, I hope so.”

Biden will face his predecessor Donald Trump in a US presidential election rematch this November after both secured enough nominations from their parties earlier this month.

Jannuzi told the Post the bipartisan consensus among Republicans and Democrats was that the US-China relationship was competitive and there were persistent tensions over human rights and security. But he also noticed that Biden had been trying to stabilise ties in the past eight months.

“If Biden is re-elected, I think you will see continued commitment to dialogue and engagement with Beijing. If Trump is elected, I’m less certain,” he said.

Joe Lieberman, who made history as the first Jewish vice-presidential candidate for a major US party and lately returned to the spotlight as a leader of a push for a third candidate in the 2024 election, died on Wednesday, US media reported.

Lieberman died in New York City at the age of 82 “due to complications from a fall”, his family said in a statement carried by US media.

The Democrat-turned-independent, who was never shy about veering from the party line, was hired by Chinese telecommunications company ZTE in 2018.

A long-time senator from Connecticut, Lieberman was most famous for his role at the heart of one of the most tense US elections in history, when he ran for vice-president in Democrat Al Gore’s 2000 bid.

Gore lost amid dramatic scenes to then Texas governor George W Bush, with the decision coming down to a disputed vote count in Florida and a Supreme Court ruling ultimately giving Bush the electoral college majority.

Lieberman was the first Jew to be chosen on one of the country’s major party tickets.

He was famous for his independent streak in sharply divided Washington politics.

He unsuccessfully sought the Democratic presidential nomination in 2004 but was then considered seriously by Republican candidate John McCain as a running mate when he mounted his own failed bid for the presidency in the 2008 race won by Barack Obama.

Ex-US senator Lieberman’s ZTE work makes him foreign agent, complaint says

A national security hawk, Lieberman broke with many in his Democratic Party over support for the 2003 invasion of Iraq, while also ardently supporting liberal social views – including on gun rights and abortion.

In 2006, Lieberman lost the Democratic primary to get reelected to the Senate. However he still won the contest that year, keeping his seat, by running as an independent.

In 2018, Lieberman was hired by Chinese telecoms company ZTE as it tried to fend off concerns that it posed a threat to US security. At the time, the former senator told Politico he was hired to conduct an “independent” national security assessment of its products.

He subsequently filed as a lobbyist for ZTE, according to media reports. But suspicion continued to build in Washington against the company, and in 2022 the US government banned sales or import of equipment made by ZTE on national security grounds.

In 2023, Lieberman returned to high-level politics as one of the most visible faces of No Labels, which says it wants to give Americans a feasible third choice in presidential elections.

President Joe Biden’s supporters have repeatedly warned that the organisation could eat into the Democrat’s base, thereby risking handing what is expected to be a tight election this November to Donald Trump.

Lieberman’s independent streak and especially his needling of Democratic presidential nominee Barack Obama during the 2008 presidential contest rankled many Democrats, the party he aligned with in the Senate. Yet his support for gay rights, civil rights, abortion rights and environmental causes at times won him the praise of many liberals over the years.

Donald Trump hit with gag order in New York hush-money criminal case

Lieberman came close to winning the vice-presidency in the contentious 2000 presidential contest that was decided by a 537-vote margin victory for George W Bush in Florida after a drawn-out recount, legal challenges and a Supreme Court decision. He was the first Jewish candidate on a major party’s presidential ticket and would have been the first Jewish vice-president.

He was also the first national Democrat to publicly criticise President Bill Clinton for his extramarital affair with a White House intern.

In announcing his retirement from the Senate in 2013, Lieberman acknowledged that he did “not always fit comfortably into conventional political boxes”.

Lieberman’s strong support of the Iraq War hurt his statewide popularity. Democrats rejected Lieberman and handed the 2006 primary to a political newcomer and an anti-war candidate, Ned Lamont.

Defying Democratic leaders and friends, Lieberman ran successfully for re-election as an independent and drew support from some Republican allies. Lieberman won praise from the White House and fundraising help from prominent Republicans, such as then-New York Mayor Mike Bloomberg, who himself later ran as an independent.

Lieberman made his Senate experience and congressional clout a strong selling point, saying he would fight hard for the state’s defence jobs and its fair share of federal largesse. The strategy paid off.

Eastern Court Magistrate Stephanie Tsui May-har on Wednesday rejected probation for 20-year-old Wong Tsz-shing, who in mitigation said he was simply “messing around” by inputting personal details of donors without their consent. He was released on bail, pending an appeal against the sentence.

The University of Hong Kong student earlier pleaded guilty to one count of criminal damage and had been remanded for two weeks.

Tsui said his actions had “severely undermined the public interest” even though the Department of Health did not process the invalid applications submitted on May 23 last year.

“The real victim here is the patient in need of [an organ transplant]. The Centralised Organ Donation Register is a vital system and it is unacceptable that [the defendant] wanted to mess with it,” she said.

Wong’s counsel said the defendant had not committed the offence out of hatred towards any particular targets or dissatisfaction with the government, asking the court to take these factors into account in sentencing.

Wong earlier told the court he had formed his opinion on the Hong Kong government proposal for the cross-border donation mechanism with mainland China, put forward in May last year, after reading about it in the news.

Family, doctors appeal for heart donation to save Hong Kong man’s life

The mechanism is expected to be set up to match patients in need of transplants with potential donors.

But Tsui declined to accept any mitigating factors, saying they did not reduce Wong’s culpability as he attempted to interfere with the system “not once but twice”.

She opted instead for a prison term, with a sentence discount to reflect his timely guilty plea.

Wong appealed against the sentence and immediately applied for bail, which Tsui granted.

Hong Kong organ donor register hits new high; more than 360,000 people signed up

The authorities recorded an unprecedented number of withdrawal requests in the donor register between May 22 and 25 last year, with more than 28,000 applications received via the system or by post.

More than 75 per cent of the applications were found to be invalid, as some applicants had never registered for organ donation.

The design of the online system provides no means for individuals to instantly check their status on the central registry’s website.

Wong put in names including lawmaker Junius Ho Kwan-yiu and former chief executive Carrie Lam Cheng Yuet-ngor to the system.

Police found Wong’s IP address through firewall records and made the arrest on June 5, 2023.

Japanese Ambassador to China Kenji Kanasugi on Tuesday met with a Japanese employee of Astellas Pharma who has been detained by Chinese authorities on suspicion of espionage, diplomatic sources said.

It is the second time that Kanasugi has met with the man in his 50s working for the Japanese drugmaker since assuming his current post in December last year.

With this month marking one year since the man was held, Kanasugi told him about the Japanese government’s efforts to realize his early release.

The meeting was held in Beijing for about 30 minutes. The man had no particular health problems, according to the sources.

Earlier this month, Chinese authorities told Japan that they started discussing whether to indict him. They are expected to make a decision within a month in principle, or in about six months at the longest.

The man was held in Beijing in March last year, just before his scheduled return to Japan. He was arrested in October last year on suspicion of violating the anti-espionage law, according to the Chinese government. But it has not given further details.

The Japanese government has called on China to release him as soon as possible.

Prime Minister Fumio Kishida directly asked for his release in a meeting with Chinese President Xi Jinping in November last year.

The hi-tech SSF branch, which integrates “strategic functions” across the entire PLA and relies heavily on civilian innovation support such as AI development, is playing an increasingly critical role in the military’s preparations for future “intelligence warfare”, analysts said.

However, the branch’s heavy reliance on high tech could also make it more vulnerable to US restrictions, they said.

Space, cyber and Taiwan

Created in 2015, the SSF oversees two departments: a “space force” and a “cyber force”.

The space force – known as the Space Systems Department – operates several satellite launch centres as well as training bases across China. It manages communication and intelligence satellites, which provide space-based reconnaissance, and uses the BeiDou satellite navigation system to help with military operations.

Much like the US Cyber Command, China’s cyber force – known as the Network Systems Department – is responsible for defending and attacking computer networks, electromagnetic defence and offence, and collecting intelligence by intercepting signals.

“Seeing how Russia has struggled with joint operations and combined arms in Ukraine, the impetus for China to figure out joint operations in peacetime is really important,” Bresnick said.

According to publicly available information, the SSF in recent years has provided electromagnetic and cybersecurity training, as well as joint operations with other forces.

New attack helicopter seen as vital in any PLA operations against Taiwan, India

The coordinated training efforts, including a simulated “joint blockade” of the island, enhanced the “integrated and joint operational” capabilities of the PLA, state news agency Xinhua said at the time.

In February, the SSF reportedly held training exercises using countermeasures in response to simulated drone attacks and network penetration by “enemies”, according to a report by military mouthpiece PLA Daily, which provided few other details.

The force has also previously conducted exercises involving “electromagnetic confrontation”, for instance when a ground force unit under the Central Theatre Command took part in a drill which the report described as breaking the “barriers” of different military branches.

Beijing denies it carries out such cyber espionage activities and has labelled the US “the hacker empire”.

Guam’s defence is top priority in Pacific amid China military inroads: Pentagon

Another Pentagon report stated that as of March 2022, China’s intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance (ISR) satellite fleet contained more than 290 systems, second in quantity only to the US.

Most of those ISR systems could help to monitor, track and target US and allied forces worldwide, especially throughout the Indo-Pacific region, the report said.

The SSF is also an umbrella for Base 311, a centre headquartered in Fujian province, which is primarily responsible for psychological warfare in Taiwan-related operations.

The heart of the PLA’s modernisation

According to experts, the SSF is at the heart of China’s military integration and modernisation plans.

“The Strategic Support Force provides intelligence and information support to other services as it controls reconnaissance, communications and other strategic measures and systems, and could also offer electronic support in operations,” said Fu Qianshao, a military analyst and former PLA officer.

No immediate risk of war with Manila over South China Sea: Beijing think tank

The information gathered from space, air and land-based assets is then sent to joint command and control operations for final decisions on actions or responses. This “dominance of information” can be the critical difference on a battlefield, as the war in Ukraine has shown, Fu said.

Lu Li-shih, a former instructor at the Taiwanese naval academy in Kaohsiung, said the SSF’s surveillance role enables target detection and precise strikes.

“With its spy satellites, the PLA can know the situation in the East China Sea, Taiwan Strait and South China Sea. It could clearly monitor [the locations of ] US aircraft carriers and its strike groups in the regions, which is the responsibility of the SSF,” Lu said.

The SSF is “definitely more experienced and competent” than it was in 2016, according to James Char, a research fellow from Nanyang Technological University.

The SSF, which reports directly to the CMC, the military’s top decision-making body, is headed by General Ju Qiansheng, who has been commander of the force since 2021.

Char added that Xi, who is also chairman of the CMC, “wants his troops to gradually pivot from full mechanisation to having the ability to conduct modern ‘informatised’ operations, before engaging in ‘intelligentised’ warfare in the future”.

“Operations showed in most recent regional wars” that “intelligent and unmanned” equipment had proved to be decisive in winning conflicts, the PLA Daily said in a recent article, without explicitly naming the ongoing wars in Ukraine and Gaza.

High-altitude tunnel becomes new flashpoint in rising India-China tensions

High tech and US curbs

The SSF heavily relies on hi-tech talent recruitment, cooperation with academic institutions, and the country’s private sector as part of its military-civil fusion strategy.

More than 80 per cent of the technologies used in China’s military come from civilian sectors, according to Yue Gang, a retired PLA colonel.

The SSF serves as an “important” force to integrate emerging technologies and will be key to winning future wars, Yue said, adding that SSF has a higher “degree of informatisation” than other military branches, making it a “pioneer” in transforming the PLA into an information-based military.

“Its role and status are becoming more important”, Yue said.

03:03

Taiwan simulates attack from mainland China as island’s military conscripts begin extended service

Taiwan simulates attack from mainland China as island’s military conscripts begin extended service

According to the PLA’s weapon procurement website, the SSF has sought to buy various types of hi-tech equipment, including AI models to collect specific patterns using a collection of data sets, chipmaking and testing services, and “honeypot” software to be used as decoys in cybersecurity.

The SSF accounts for more AI-related equipment contracts than any other PLA branch, according to a 2021 report by the Centre for Security and Emerging Technology at Georgetown University in the US.

In its March recruitment advertisement, the SSF said it was looking to fill some 500 positions with talent from top-tier universities with majors in computer science, artificial intelligence and big data, and aerospace technologies.

Does Sora matter in the ever-moving AI race? Could it break down barriers?

Fu said that China would “scale” the military use of AI in the SSF and its other forces, as the advancement of weapons progresses.

“It might not work if China uses only state-owned companies and departments, so it must rely on the strengths of the private companies … to improve quality, reduce costs and save time,” Fu said.

“The problem now is [the US] has cut off China’s access [to these technologies], in semiconductors and artificial intelligence, they know exactly where your weak spot is,” said Ni Lexiong, a Shanghai-based military analyst.

The strained relations between China and the Western countries and their restrictions on hi-tech “has definitely impacted the weapons and equipment,” Ni said.

China’s efforts to counter the downbeat narrative about a structural slowdown in the world’s second-biggest economy have received a boost in the form of enthusiastic endorsements from chief executives of top global companies.

“I love it here, I love the Chinese people,” gushed Apple Chief Executive Tim Cook on Sunday, days after he opened an expansive new retail store in Shanghai and pledged a fresh investment in applied research in the country.

“It’s so vibrant and so dynamic here,” Cook told journalists as he entered the opening session of the China Development Forum, a top annual gathering of business leaders and Chinese officials.