Hong Kong police accuse a mobile game app of promoting armed revolution
HONG KONG — Hong Kong police on Tuesday accused a mobile game application of advocating armed revolution and promoting secessionist agendas, saying that those who publish it or share it with others online may risk violating national security laws .
The announcement — the first to publicly denounce a gaming app — indicates that authorities are widening the crackdown that has followed anti-government protests in 2019 . Authorities have crushed or silenced many dissenting voices through prosecutions under the 2020 national security law imposed by Beijing and a similar, homegrown law enacted last year.
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Yahoo
28 minutes ago
- Yahoo
Xi Plays Long Game on US-China Trade as Trump Seeks Quick Wins
(Bloomberg) — While Donald Trump hailed the outcome of trade talks in London, Xi Jinping walked away with an understated strategic gain: a negotiating process that buys China time and helps defuse the threat of more harmful tariffs and technology curbs. Shuttered NY College Has Alumni Fighting Over Its Future Trump's Military Parade Has Washington Bracing for Tanks and Weaponry NYC Renters Brace for Price Hikes After Broker-Fee Ban NY Long Island Rail Service Resumes After Grand Central Fire Do World's Fairs Still Matter? Shortly after two days of negotiations wrapped, Trump declared Wednesday on social media that a deal had been 'DONE' to restore the flow of critical magnets from China, and pledged to lift curbs on student visas. Hours earlier, US Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick revealed Washington would unwind its recent tech curbs, if niche metals essential to US auto and defense firms now flowed fast enough. China's focus was very different. A People's Daily commentary on Thursday — Beijing's most substantial comments so far on the talks — made no mention of export controls. Instead, the Communist Party mouthpiece touted an 'institutional guarantee' established in Geneva for the two sides to bridge differences via a 'consultation mechanism.' In a long-awaited leaders' call before the London negotiations, Xi told Trump the importance of using this channel, it added. The contrast illustrates a disconnect in how the world's biggest economies want to manage their trade dispute, and broader rollercoaster relationship. While Trump seeks quick deals done directly with top leaders, Xi favors a framework led by his lieutenants that wards against being blindsided. Such haggling could drag on for years, with the 'Phase One' deal from the first trade war taking most of Trump's first term. 'Xi is playing a longer game on US-China trade. His time in office is simply much longer than Trump's,' said Christopher Beddor, deputy China research director at Gavekal Research. 'That's not to say there's never any short-term thinking, but the lack of term limits presents very different incentives than for Trump.' While slow-walking negotiations allows China the chance to assess how hard a bargain Trump drives with other nations, the lingering uncertainty is bad for business, he added. Xi showed last week he can be flexible, getting on the phone with Trump as ties spiraled, breaking from the protocol to set up such an interaction. In the Biden era, then National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan and Foreign Minister Wang Yi would huddle in foreign locations for days before their leaders spoke directly, managing outcomes and expectations. While the Geneva talks last month wrapped with an identical US-China statement, suggesting a degree of alignment, that accord quickly fell apart over US claims China reneged on a promise to release shipments of rare earths. Beijing says it always intended to keep in place a permit process, which American companies complained moved so slowly some factories were forced to pause production. The lack of a detailed read out from either side this time around has left much in doubt, including on what Beijing committed to on the export of niche metals used in everything from fighter jets to electric vehicles. Lutnick told CNBC on Wednesday that China was going to approve 'all applications for magnets from the United States companies right away' — a sweeping claim that appeared to leave plenty of room for disappointment. Chinese Commerce Ministry spokesman He Yadong pledged his country would 'fully consider the reasonable needs and concerns of all countries in the civilian sector,' at a regular press briefing in Beijing on Thursday, adding that approval work was being strengthened. 'The Chinese incentive is also to keep cards close to their chest, and not make a lot of proclamations about what they have or have not committed to,' said Arthur Kroeber, founding partner and head of research at Gavekal. 'There is a lot of leeway for them within the whole export licensing regime.' One approach could be to restart enough export licenses so commercial buyers aren't stymied, but not so much that firms can stockpile, thus blunting Beijing's future leverage, he added. Adding to the fuzziness, Trump declared on social media that China now faces a 55% charge, a number that appears to include levies introduced during his first presidency. It also combines a 10% baseline duty imposed by Trump and a 20% tax tied to fentanyl trafficking — an area where Beijing was seen as having room to negotiate if it stepped up scrutiny of its companies. Lutnick cast doubt on that, and raised questions about the nature of future negotiations, saying that tariffs on China would 'definitely' stick at their current level. That suggests a 90-day pause set to expire in August on Trump's blanket 145% rate was now irrelevant. Such a position also dilutes the incentive for Beijing to offer concessions in future trade talks, if tariffs can't budge. While China has felt the pain from US levies, with exports to the world's largest economy plunging 34% in May, Trump appears to be in the bigger hurry to get a deal. His administration is facing a self-imposed July 9 deadline to either strike pacts with dozens of global trading partners or reimpose sweeping tariffs. In a sign of the Republican leader's growing impatience, he warned Wednesday that he will soon send letters to countries saying, 'this is the deal, you can take it or leave it.' Exemplifying that willingness to keep things moving, Trump's team in a rare move this week put export controls on the negotiating table — previously, such tools have been justified with national security concerns, and were largely off limits. Watering down that rationale could open the door to more cooperation, and advance Trump's stated goal to 'open up China to American trade.' Still, China is unlikely to agree to large purchases of goods that compete in areas where Beijing is looking to build self sufficiency and nurture its own national champions. Rebalancing their economies, a concept touted by US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent, could involve attracting more Chinese investment into the US. Policy whiplash by the Trump administration might deter many Chinese companies from pouring money into the US economy, even if Xi were to encourage them to do so. Addressing these issues will take time, presumably requiring long discussions using the mechanism that China and US included in what Beijing called their 'hard won' agreement. 'Some people say that the result of the London talks was just a framework,' said Zhu Junwei, a former researcher in the People's Liberation Army who is now director of American research at Grandview Institution in Beijing. 'It's better to have a framework than have nothing.' —With assistance from Jing Li and Lucille Liu. American Mid: Hampton Inn's Good-Enough Formula for World Domination New Grads Join Worst Entry-Level Job Market in Years The Spying Scandal Rocking the World of HR Software US Tariffs Threaten to Derail Vietnam's Historic Industrial Boom The SEC Pinned Its Hack on a Few Hapless Day Traders. The Full Story Is Far More Troubling ©2025 Bloomberg L.P.
Yahoo
an hour ago
- Yahoo
China ready to drop all tariffs on African imports
China has said it is ready to drop the tariffs it charges on imports from all 53 African countries with which it has diplomatic relations. The move, announced at a China-Africa co-operation meeting, comes as the continent is facing the possibility of increased tariffs on its products entering the US. China is Africa's largest trading partner – a position it has held for the last 15 years – with Africa exporting goods to the Asian nation worth around $170bn (£125bn) in 2023. A joint ministerial statement criticised "certain countries' [efforts to] disrupt the existing international economic and trade order" through the unilateral imposition of tariffs. It then called on the US to resolve trade disputes on the basis of "equality, respect and mutual benefit". The zero-tariff move, when implemented, will be an extension of the deal made last year for China to drop tariffs on goods from 33 African nations classified as "least developed". The expanded list will include some of China's largest trading partners on the continent, including South Africa and Nigeria. China has not said when the decision will come into effect. Eswatini is the only African state excluded from the s zero-tariff announcement as it recognises Taiwan as an independent country, whereas China regards it as a breakaway province. China currently imports a lot of raw materials from Africa, notably from the Democratic Republic of Congo and Guinea. In April, President Donald Trump caused consternation among US trading partners by announcing high tariffs on its imports form many countries, including a 50% rate for Lesotho, 30% for South Africa and 14% for Nigeria. How jeans and diamonds pushed Lesotho to the top of Trump's tariffs list The implementation has been paused until next month, though the temporary halt could be extended further for countries that are negotiating "in good faith", according to US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent. In 2024, the US imported $39.5bn-worth of goods from Africa. Some of that was brought in under the zero-tariff deal known as the Africa Growth and Opportunity Act (Agoa) which now looks under threat if the Trump administration goes ahead with the imposition of fresh charges. China's mission to win African hearts with satellite TV China's Belt and Road Initiative: Kenya and a railway to nowhere The cheap Chinese shop at the centre of Kenya row Go to for more news from the African continent. Follow us on Twitter @BBCAfrica, on Facebook at BBC Africa or on Instagram at bbcafrica Focus on Africa This Is Africa
Bloomberg
an hour ago
- Bloomberg
Xi Plays Long Game on US-China Trade as Trump Seeks Quick Wins
While Donald Trump hailed the outcome of trade talks in London, Xi Jinping walked away with an understated strategic gain: a negotiating process that buys China time and helps defuse the threat of more harmful tariffs and technology curbs. Shortly after two days of negotiations wrapped, Trump declared Wednesday on social media that a deal had been 'DONE' to restore the flow of critical magnets from China, and pledged to lift curbs on student visas. Hours earlier, US Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick revealed Washington would unwind its recent tech curbs, if niche metals essential to US auto and defense firms now flowed fast enough.
