Nearly 1.8m tourists from China visit M'sia in first five months of 2025
Deputy Tourism, Arts and Culture Minister Khairul Firdaus Akbar Khan said that after the policy took effect in 2024, Chinese tourist arrivals rose significantly, from 1.6 million in 2023 to 3.4 million last year.
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
The Star
2 hours ago
- The Star
China's Huawei launches ICT competition in Uganda to empower local talent
KAMPALA, Aug. 11 (Xinhua) -- Chinese technology giant Huawei on Monday launched the nationwide 2025-2026 information communication technology (ICT) competition in Uganda to boost local talent. Huawei said in a statement that the competition aims at encouraging young talent to excel through structured training, industry-level exposure, and competitions, while driving digital transformation. Under the theme of "Connection, Glory, Future," the competition is expected to gather higher educational institutions, training institutions, and technology enthusiasts to help the ICT talent ecosystem thrive. While launching the competition, Uganda's Minister of Education and Sports Janet Museveni hailed China and the technology giant for partnering with Uganda in the field of ICT. "Our young people have not only participated in the Huawei programs, in and out of the country, but they have also excelled," said the minister. Zhang Lizhong, Chinese ambassador to Uganda, commended Huawei for its commitment to Uganda's ICT talent ecosystem and the company's initiatives like DigiTruck, Seeds for the Future, ICT Academy, and ICT Competition, which bridge the digital skills gap. Huawei's Eastern Africa Multi-Country Regional Chief Executive Dong Xuefeng said embracing technology is instrumental in encouraging digital growth and fostering environments where innovation can thrive. Blessed Nanyonga, a beneficiary of the Seeds for the Future program, said the program has given them hands-on experience in emerging technologies such as 5G, artificial intelligence, cloud computing, networking, and problem-solving, enabling them to develop innovative solutions to real-world challenges. "We cannot wait to apply the knowledge and insights gained from this program to contribute to sustainable development, social impact, and youth empowerment in Uganda. Surely as Ugandans, we are not being left behind," Nanyonga said.
The Star
2 hours ago
- The Star
Hybrid rice project launched at Nepal's sci-tech park
KATHMANDU, Aug. 11 (Xinhua) -- Experimental seedlings of hybrid rice varieties were transplanted into Nepal South Agricultural Science and Technology Park on Monday, as part of efforts to help the South Asian country achieve food self-sufficiency. The first batch of 37 high-yield varieties will land at the hybrid rice demonstration zone of the park, which is located in the town of Rampur in Bharatpur city in south-central Nepal. Speaking at the inauguration ceremony, Chinese Ambassador to Nepal Chen Song described the project as the result of hard work for more than two years, calling it another progress in agricultural cooperation between the two countries on the 70th anniversary of diplomatic ties. Chen noted that improving agricultural productivity and enhancing food self-sufficiency has become a global focus, and the promotion of China's hybrid rice technology is a key area in global agricultural technology cooperation and a key component of China's current global governance approach. "China hopes to help more developing countries, including Nepal, achieve food self-sufficiency through international cooperation and technological exchange, thereby promoting the shared development of global agriculture," added Chen. Agriculture is the backbone of Nepal's economy and provides a livelihood to a large portion of the population. "I believe that by using improved varieties of seeds, farmers will be able to increase their production, contribute to poverty alleviation, and achieve the goal of sustainable development by becoming self-reliant in rice," Mayor of Bharatpur Renu Dahal said at the inauguration ceremony. "These seeds will provide the potential for self-reliant agriculture, prosperous farmers and food security in the future," she added, expecting the program to reach farms in the local district as well as across the country. The park was developed with the support of China-South Asian Countries Poverty Alleviation and Cooperative Development Center and implemented by Nepal's Agriculture and Forestry University based in Bharatpur and Chongqing Academy of Agricultural Sciences.
The Star
3 hours ago
- The Star
Nvidia, AMD to pay US 15% of China AI chip sales
(FILES) People attend a Nvidia production preview exhibition in Taipei on May 21, 2025. Chinese authorities summoned US technology giant Nvidia on July 31, 2025 to discuss "serious security issues" discovered involving its chips, the country's top internet regulator said. (Photo by I-HWA CHENG / AFP) New York: Nvidia Corp and Advanced Micro Devices Inc (AMD) have agreed to pay 15% of their revenues from Chinese artificial intelligence (AI) chip sales to the US government in a deal to secure export licences, an unusual arrangement that may unnerve both US companies and Beijing. Nvidia plans to share 15% of the revenue from sales of its H20 AI accelerator in China, according to a person familiar with the matter. AMD will deliver the same share from MI308 revenues, the person added, asking for anonymity to discuss internal deliberations. The arrangement reflects US President Donald Trump's consistent effort to engineer a financial payout for America in return for concessions on trade. His administration has shown a willingness to relax trade conditions like tariffs in return for giant investments in the United States – as with Apple Inc's pledge to spend US$600bil on domestic manufacturing. But such a narrow, select export tax has little precedent in modern corporate history. Beijing, which has grown increasingly hostile to the idea of Chinese firms deploying the H20, is unlikely to warm to the idea of a chip tax. Yuyuantantian, a social media account affiliated with state-run China Central Television that regularly signals Beijing's thinking about trade, on Sunday slammed the chip's supposed security vulnerabilities and inefficiency. 'This seeming quid pro quo is unprecedented from an export control perspective. The arrangement risks invalidating the national security rationale for US export controls,' said Jacob Feldgoise, a researcher at the Washington-based Centre for Security and Emerging Technology. It 'will likely undermine the US' position when negotiating with allies to implement complementary controls,' he added. 'Allies may not believe US policymakers if they are willing to trade away those same national security concerns for economic concessions – either from US companies or foreign governments.' A Nvidia spokesperson said the company follows US export rules, adding that while it hasn't shipped H20 chips to China for months, it hopes the rules will allow US companies to compete in China. AMD didn't respond to a request for comment. The Financial Times earlier reported the development. It followed a separate report from the same outlet that the Commerce Department had begun issuing H20 licences last week, days after Nvidia chief executive officer Jensen Huang met with Trump. Huang has lobbied long and hard for the lifting of restrictions, arguing that walling China off will only slow the spread of American technology and encourage local rivals such as Huawei Technologies Co. 'It's a strategic bargaining chip' that tightens Washington's grip on a critical tech sphere during trade negotiations with China, said Hebe Chen, an analyst with Vantage Markets in Melbourne. 'Over time, this hurdle for chips entering China will likely deter Nvidia and AMD from deeper expansion in the world's largest chip-importing market, while giving local Chinese producers a clear edge to capture market share and accelerate domestic semiconductor innovation,' Chen said If Washington goes ahead with the tax, it should funnel some capital to the United States – but not an enormous amount in relative terms. Both Nvidia and AMD have said it'll take time to ramp back up production of their China-specific products – even if orders return to previous levels, which is uncertain. Nvidia raked in US$4.6bil of revenue from the H20 in its quarter ended April 27 – days after new restrictions on shipping the AI accelerator to China were imposed. It said it had been unable to ship US$2.5bil of H20 China revenue in that period because of the new rules. That implies it would have gotten more than US$7bil in H20 sales to China during the period. If it can return to that level, the US government will stand to get about US$1bil a quarter from its deal. AMD could generate US$3bil to US$5bil of revenue this year if restrictions were lifted, Morgan Stanley estimates. Chinese alternatives such as Huawei's Ascend chips now account for 20% to 30% of domestic demand, it reckoned. 'The US government clearly needs the money given its deficits and eagerness to collect tariffs,' said Vey-Sern Ling, managing director at Union Bancaire Privee in Singapore. 'But the complication is China's accusations about H20 chips containing backdoors, which could be a negotiation tactic to highlight that the country is not that 'hard up' for US chips,' Ling added. — Bloomberg
