China's March shipments of foreign-branded cellphones drop almost 50%
BEIJING, May 12 (Reuters) - Chinese shipments of foreign-branded cellphones, including Apple Inc's (AAPL.O), opens new tab iPhones, dropped by 49.6% year on year in March, according to data released on Monday by a government-affiliated research company.
Calculations based on the data from the China Academy of Information and Communications Technology (CAICT) showed that March shipments of foreign-branded phones in China decreased to 1.887 million units from 3.747 million a year earlier.
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Telegraph
36 minutes ago
- Telegraph
The West tried to make North Korea a pariah – but it's never been stronger
Kim Jong-un sits captivated. Leaning forward with binoculars raised, the North Korean dictator watches tanks manoeuvring over sandy terrain and troops rappelling down from helicopters. Occasionally, he turns to one of the uniformed officers behind him to point something out or ask a question. The scene, captured on video and shared by North Korea's state media last month, offered a rare glimpse into the secretive regime's expanding military capabilities. The isolated country, known for its intensely authoritarian regime, boasts the world's fourth-largest military, with nearly 1.3 million troops. It also has 50 nuclear warheads, with plans to build 150 more by 2027. A recent assessment from the US department of defence found North Korea had reached its 'strongest strategic position' in decades. 'North Korea has never been as strong – strong militarily as well as strong in oppressing its civilian population – as it is right now,' said Joanna Hosaniak, deputy director general of the Citizens' Alliance for North Korean Human Rights. This is, in part, thanks to a new mutual defence treaty signed between North Korea and Russia in November last year. But it is also down to its increasing ability to source foreign income through hacking and forced labour, despite Western sanctions, as it wages an information war against its enemies and its own population. Taken together, these three factors are allowing North Korea quietly to transform itself. Shopping for an upgrade Since striking a deal with Russia, North Korea has supplied Moscow with 15,000 soldiers, 100 ballistic missiles and millions of munitions to help Moscow wage war against Ukraine. In return, the Kremlin allowed Pyongyang to have its pick of sophisticated hardware – a huge boost for a regime that commands predominantly outdated, Soviet-era weaponry. While North Korea still has a long way to go in terms of upgrading all of its inventory, the newly strengthened ties with Moscow have reinforced the regime's strength and power. With a defence budget less than one per cent the size of China's, North Korea has had to choose between conventional and nuclear weapons. Kim has largely sided with the nuclear program. Earlier this year, a new intercontinental ballistic missile site was detected near Pyongyang where Kim's 'Winter Palace' once stood, marking the latest developments in the country's nuclear progress. Expanding these capabilities has allowed North Korea to create an effective deterrent against the US, especially in case of any future conflict with South Korea, but it has done this at the expense of upgrading conventional weapons like tanks, warships and fighter jets. 'North Korea has a lot of conventional military power – lots of troops, lots of tanks, but the aircraft are 1950s era,' said Michael Cohen, an associate professor at the Australian National University. 'I suspect Tom Cruise has had more time flying them than the North Korean pilots.' A year before Kim and Russian President Vladimir Putin signed their defence treaty, Kim visited a rocket launch pad at the Vostochny Cosmodrome in far eastern Russia. Leonid Petrov, a leading North Korea expert and dean of the International College of Management in Australia, described the visit as a 'shopping trip' for Kim as he 'named the price for sending North Korean troops and conventional armaments' to Russia. North Korea has since received an unspecified number of short-range air-defence systems and 'advanced electronic warfare systems including jamming equipment' from Russia since the visit, according to South Korea's Yonhap News Agency. Pyongyang has also recently shown off a number of new weapons that closely resemble Russian arms, including a supersonic cruise missile, drones, and a new fighter jet. Satellite images have also shown a rapid expansion of North Korea's drone programme. A report from the Centre for Strategic and International Studies said that North Korea was 'likely incorporating Russian battlefield experience' as it enhanced its drone capabilities. 'North Korea is now getting unlimited access to Russian natural resources, technology, military and ideological support,' said Dr Petrov. Bringing in cash North Korea is subject to dozens of sanctions, imposed by the United Nations, the European Union and governments including the United Kingdom, which aim to cut off Pyongyang from the international banking system as well as arms sales. While Russia has become an increasingly important partner in circumventing these restrictions, Pyongyang's relationship with China has also helped keep it afloat. Beijing is believed to have provided Pyongyang with military and nuclear expertise and a huge chunk of its foreign currency. 'China has been bankrolling the North Korean regime for a long time. About 95% of North Korean trade was with China for decades,' said Dr Petrov. Ms Hosaniak explained that North Korea is able to produce commercial goods domestically at a very cheap rate in forced labour camps, then sell them to the international market through China. She said: 'These goods can be sold in the EU, the UK…There are no restrictions, as long as the labels say 'Made in China', although the goods were produced in North Korea.' Companies facilitating this trade almost always need to have state backing to do so. 'In order to trade with North Korea you have to have an official North Korean trading partner so this is really a government-to-government kind of business that is operated by so-called private businesses,' Ms Hosaniak said. Beyond commercial ties with China, the North Korean regime has also brought in cash through cyber theft, especially from overseas workers. Local news outlet Daily NK reported that dozens of researchers from North Korea had been sent to China and Southeast Asia earlier this year to carry out attacks against cryptocurrency exchanges, engage in illegal cryptocurrency mining and target network firewalls. Pyongyang was also revealed to be carrying out an illegal scheme known as 'laptop farming', in which dozens of laptops in the US were being remotely controlled by thousands of North Koreans using stolen identities. Through these increasingly refined schemes, North Korean hackers have stolen an estimated $6 billion (£4.4 billion) in cryptocurrency, according to analysis firm Chainalysis. Shattering illusions As Kim expands his country's defence and revenue streams, he also has to contend with a population of over 25 million people. The most effective way of doing this is to wage a full blown information war. 'The more information that North Koreans get, the more they would know that their government isn't being entirely truthful and life perhaps is better on the other side,' said Shreyas Reddy, the lead correspondent at local outlet NK News. Before the advent of the internet, it was significantly easier to do this, but now Pyongyang has had to develop its own technology and enforce new, draconian laws. A key way that outside information has entered the country was through USB sticks and CDs. These contain a wide variety of media, from South Korean media to much more sensitive information about human rights and politics. The COVID-19 pandemic dealt a major blow to these efforts, as North Korea shut its borders and erected an electric fence between it and China. A new law introduced in 2020 also increased the punishment for anyone caught consuming or sharing foreign media and in 2023, Kim outlawed common South Korean phrases and made it illegal to speak in a South Korean accent. 'Videos smuggled out of North Korea show people being punished severely for these sorts of incidents and we've heard unverified reports about executions or other permanent punishments for watching or accessing foreign culture,' said Mr Reddy. The constant evolution of censorship and propaganda efforts have allowed Kim to retain an upper hand in the long-standing information war upon which his reign depends. Most experts agree that North Korea will continue on the same trajectory. Kim is only 41 years old and has put in place numerous mechanisms to ensure that his grip on power remains ironclad, while also posing a major threat to enemies abroad. His newly cemented partnership with Russia, forged from shared isolation, is the latest of these efforts. 'Politically, economically, militarily, it makes them stronger,' said Dr Petrov. 'Both need this alliance. It's a mutually beneficial symbiosis of dictatorial regimes, which have been at war with their neighbours for many years.'
The Guardian
43 minutes ago
- The Guardian
As US retreats, is there a ‘soft power' opportunity for UK?
The US is retreating from international cooperation, cutting support for free media abroad and reducing financial aid. Russia and China are spending up to £8bn on their global media activities to boost their influence. Amid these global tensions, the UK government recognises the dangers of a western retreat – but is struggling to fund a response. With such huge shifts in world politics, it is no wonder that some politicians fear the west is losing the 'soft power' battle – a phrase coined by the academic Joseph Nye in the 1980s to describe the ability to influence other nations through attraction and persuasion rather than coercion. While it may seem a frustratingly abstract concept, recent world events suggest its use has very real consequences. China was viewed favourably by 29% of people studied across 18 countries in 2021. After huge soft power efforts, the figure has now increased to 40%, according to a study by the BBC and Tapestry Research. The study separately surveyed a group across 10 countries made up of people involved in business decisions. Among that group, China's favourability had increased from 39% to 51%. It found that watching CGTN or RT, the respective state broadcasters of China and Russia, made viewers more favourable to those countries. Meanwhile, Donald Trump has been defunding independent media overseas such as Voice of America, known for delivering independent journalism to countries with restricted press freedoms. Overseas aid is being targeted. Over a longer period, Britain's traditionally potent soft power has been misfiring. 'The UK's soft power has been in decline roughly since Brexit, for the last 10 years, but we're still a top-tier player,' said Jonathan McClory, an expert on soft power who recently authored a report on the issue for Labour Together, a thinktank with close ties to Downing Street. 'We haven't managed to establish a compelling narrative of who we are and where we're going since Brexit … We've got a proper change in government, which gives the opportunity to do that. We have a willing audience, but we have to say what it is we're good at and act accordingly,' McClory said. UK ministers have recognised the urgency of the situation and also realise the opportunity for Britain's economy in fostering stronger international ties. The government set up a soft power council earlier this year and populated it with figures from across media, education, defence and beyond. It was a widely welcomed initiative, plugging in soft power to the top of government. A formal strategy is expected to follow this autumn. However, there is also a conflict at the heart of government. It is clear to most insiders that even the best-designed strategy will require funding. Key soft power institutions are struggling to cope with financial pressures, most notably the BBC World Service, the British Council and universities. Members of the newly formed soft power council are treading carefully, conscious that many ministers are sympathetic to the need for funding but have a tough task in securing it from the chancellor, Rachel Reeves, who is facing a myriad of pressing demands. Tristram Hunt, the director of the Victoria and Albert Museum and a member of the council, said: 'There is an importance in a growing age of autocracy to have that voice [of liberal, democratic values] heard. Budgets are strained and it's hard. We can't pick up all the slack left by a retreating America. But if we believe in these values, it's important to be on the front foot with them as far as we can.' Others on the council are more bullish, arguing that the US retreat creates a strategic opening for Britain. 'We have this incredible opportunity,' said Neil Mendoza, who served as a culture commissioner under the previous government. 'You have a threat on the one hand but also this opportunity because America has withdrawn. It is also cheap as chips – and can work in close partnership with hard power. Why wouldn't you invest in soft power?'
Reuters
2 hours ago
- Reuters
Marelli considering filing for Chapter 11 in US, Kyodo reports
TOKYO, June 7 (Reuters) - Marelli Holdings, a Japanese auto parts supplier owned by private equity firm KKR (KKR.N), opens new tab, is considering filing for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in the United States, Kyodo news agency reported on Saturday, citing unnamed sources. Marelli, a key supplier to embattled Japanese automaker Nissan Motor (7201.T), opens new tab, is looking into the Chapter 11 option to ensure its business operations won't be halted even if its restructuring talks with creditors fall through, Kyodo said. Marelli said in a statement in response to Reuters that it does not comment on market rumours or speculation. Marelli is in negotiations with lenders to secure additional loans and intends to operate as usual while those talks are underway, the company also said.
