Red Lanterns

The government plans to raise the retirement age to 65 by 2045. But China’s pension system is already not working. While white collar employees and civil servants benefit from social security coverage, rural migrants in the cities are subjected to various forms of discrimination. Young people are also concerned about high levels of unemployment.

The Centre for Research on Multinational Corporations and the China Labour Bulletin release a report that highlights the latest trends involving Chinese labour. The China Labour Bulletin has monitored labour actions across the country since 2011. In 2023, protests over non-payment of wages and factory closures jumped tenfold over the previous year. Several factors are at play, like higher labour costs, the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, and the trade wars between China and the West.

In the “Hong Kong 47” trial, the Court convicts defendants accused of organising primaries in 2020 ahead of elections to the local legislature to win a majority that could vote against then Beijing-appointed Chief Executive Carrie Lam’s budget. Scores of people are in jail for this "crime". Meanwhile, Jimmy Lai’s trial is still underway, but the verdict is a foregone conclusion.

Cranes and excavators are back at work after they were halted in June 2020 following local opposition and academic criticism, social media in China report. Ostensibly, the goal is to modernise rural life by merging a fifth of 70,000 villages, forcing people into new neighbourhoods on the outskirts of medium-sized cities. Anyone who fails to comply can expect violence.

A journey of 10,000 kilometres extolled by Beijing as an opportunity for development (and revenge on Italy's exit from the Belt and Road Initiative). But cotton and tomatoes from Xinjang are at the heart of the ‘policy of poverty alleviation through the transfer of labour’, which according to numerous reports is a form of forced labour.

Former Foreign Minister Jeremiah Manele will be the new prime minister. Analysts expect him to adopt a less confrontational approach despite ties to China. Pacific nations are torn between loyalty to their Western partners and agreements (especially on security) with China.

Four people have been arrested recently in Germany, including a close aide to a leading member of the Alternative für Deutschland party who is running for re-election to the European Parliament. Joint research programmes between German universities and Chinese institutes connected to the country’s military have come in for closer scrutiny. For a spokesman for China’s Foreign Ministry, China is the victim of “defamation”.

After President-elect Prabowo's visit to Beijing, China’s foreign minister travelled to Jakarta to discuss Chinese involvement in the infrastructure of Indonesia’s new capital Nusantara, a project that follows the building of a high-speed train between Jakarta and Bandung.

Municipal authorities in Chongqing have promoted the initiative for the spring festival when Chinese visit the graves of their dearly departed. However, paying homage to the late Li Keqiang has been banned. The former premier, who died suddenly last October, was once seen as a counterweight to Xi Jinping.

Three Chinese-funded infrastructure projects in Pakistan have been hit in seven days. Pakistani Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharf is set to visit to China next month to boost the economic ties but, for analysts, new projects are not likely to materialise. While the latest suicide bombing has not been claimed, several groups have reasons to go after the Chinese.

An "incident” involving a journalist covering the "Two Sessions" in Beijing shows the extent to which digital controls are used to silence dissatisfaction due to the real estate market crash.

Due to rising political tensions and diversification strategies, only 11.4 per cent of Taiwan’s foreign investment went to mainland China last year, down from 83.8 per cent in 2010. Chinese investments in the island are also down. In 2022, China accounted for 34 per cent of Taiwan’s overall foreign investment, down from two thirds a decade ago. US lawmakers start visit in Taiwan.