Latest news with #Beijing-owned
West Australian
16-07-2025
- Business
- West Australian
Anthony Albanese defends Darwin Port stance from Great Wall of China, Australian businesses won't be iced out
Prime Minister Anthony Albanese has dismissed suggestions Australian businesses could be iced out of the Chinese market over the Government's decision to put the strategic port of Darwin back into Australia's hands. Chinese objections to Labor's election promise to overturn the awarding of a 99-year lease of the port to the Beijing-owned Landbridge group have loomed over Mr Albanese's red carpet reception in China this week, with state media repeatedly highlighting the controversy. Mr Albanese on Wednesday confirmed that the sale of the port had not been raised directly with him in talks with Premier Li Qiang or Chinese President Xi Jinping, who offered a rare lunch invitation to the Prime Minister and fiancee Jodie Haydon. Mr Li continued the charm offensive at a roundtable of Chinese and Australian business leaders in the imposing Great Hall of the People on Tuesday but alluded to the point of contention by urging Australia to create a 'non-discriminatory business environment.' 'We hope that the Australian side will treat Chinese enterprises visiting Australia fairly and properly solve the problems encountered by enterprises in market access, investment review, and other aspects,' Mr Li said. The Global Times, a state-run media outlet, was more direct. 'At present, there are specific issues between China and Australia that need to be discussed, such as the lease of Darwin Port and the expansion of the China-Australia Free Trade Agreement,' it said. 'There are also practical obstacles, especially the tendencies toward 'pan-politicisation' and 'pan-securitisation,' as well as interference from third parties,' it continued in an otherwise glowing account of Mr Albanese's trip so far. Asked during a press conference on the Great Wall of China on Wednesday if he was prepared for Australia to be put back into the deep freeze on the issue, Mr Albanese responded with a straight, 'the answer is no.' The Prime Minister's six-day trip has been centred on repairing business and trade ties after a diplomatic spat under the Morrison government triggered a series of damaging import bans on key commodities, which have since been lifted. Labor has stressed, however, that it will not budge over the cancelling of the Landbridge lease for national security reasons. Mr Albanese told reporters that this was a long held position 'shouldn't come as any surprise.' However, Chinese officials have long protested over changes made to the Foreign Investment Review Board under the previous Government after the port lease was awarded to a Chinese-state owned operator by the Northern Territory authorities. That decision was viewed by many at the time, including in Washington, as a strategic mistake that compromised national security. The Government has rejected Beijing's suggestions that Chinese companies are now being unfairly targeted by rules requiring greater scrutiny in sensitive investment areas. Ahead of Mr Albanese's trip, the Government indicated it would not be prepared to ease restrictions or to accede to Chinese requests for greater cooperation on artificial intelligence capabilities. 'We have a case by case issue when it comes to foreign investment,' said Mr Albanese. 'It is viewed not on the basis of any one country, but on the basis of an objective assessment of our national interest.' He added, 'One of the things that I emphasise - I say the same thing in Beijing as I say in Bankstown, which is that the Australian Government supports free and fair trade. It's in the interests of the world to have free and fair trade, and we'll continue to engage that way.' The Prime Minister also revealed Communist Party Chairman Zhao Leji had agreed to an invitation to lead a National People's Congress delegation to Australia. 'It is very clear that it is in our national interest for us to have a positive relationship with China, where there are differences, to talk about them, but not be defined by them,' he said.
Yahoo
29-05-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
TuSimple Reportedly Shared Self-Driving Data With China
TuSimple—now known as CreateAI—shared sensitive data with a Beijing-owned company after it signed an agreement with the U.S. government promising to stop sharing such data with firms in China, the Wall Street Journal reported Tuesday. In February 2022, TuSimple signed the agreement, targeted at protecting national security. It had six months to begin complying with the order, which stipulated the company would disentangle its business and its burgeoning technology from The Committee on Foreign Investment (CFIUS) was responsible for ensuring TuSimple's compliance with the agreement. More from Sourcing Journal US-Based Chinese Logistics Firms Caught Using Counterfeit USPS Labels FedEx Freight Taps New CEO, Chairman Ahead of 2026 Spinoff Yellow Nets $14M in Terminal Sales, Sets Up Saia to Further Expand US Footprint WSJ reported TuSimple sent data to Chinese autonomous vehicles a week after the agreement was signed by both entities. According to WSJ, the interagency body found that TuSimple's data sharing didn't violate that agreement; nonetheless, it did find other contraventions, which saw TuSimple paying a $6 million settlement fee, albeit without accepting fault for the issues CFIUS reportedly found. The Journal further noted that TuSimple in 2021—prior to the CFIUS agreement—brokered a deal between Chinese companies Foton and Hydron that would see the two developing autonomous trucks together, while Hydron shared an office with TuSimple. The publication further noted that TuSimple subsequently shared documents detailing how to build the autonomous vehicles it had built in the U.S.—including information about brakes, chips, steering, servers and powering the vehicle and noted that the sharing continued after the CFIUS agreement had been signed, until the compliance period officially began. WSJ reported that one of TuSimple's founders denied having sent any such information to Hydron and denied any involvement with Foton, despite the Journal having seen evidence to the contrary. TuSimple's tango with CFIUS was far from its only regulatory ruckus during this time; the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) also investigated TuSimple in 2022, with a special interest in the relationship between the company and Hydron. Public documentation shows that TuSimple indicated it had come to a settlement agreement with the SEC that just needed to be finalized, but the CFIUS investigation—and another investigation brought against TuSimple by the Commerce Department because of its purported relationship with technology giant Nvidia. But TuSimple, in the form that it was then, is long gone. In January 2024, the company announced that it would delist from the Nasdaq, citing cost-value imbalances. That move came after layoffs and issues with venture capital funding, which later saw TuSimple auctioning off 10 of its autonomous big rigs. In its place is CreateAI, which leverages generative AI to create video content. That venture, stood up in December 2024, comes after TuSimple vacated the U.S. market; the company told TechCrunch that despite its efforts to operate an autonomous vehicle business in China, its agreement with CFIUS made such an attempt extremely difficult. CreateAI is funded by some of the money left in TuSimple's wake But CreateAI isn't the only venture that TuSimple alumni are involved with; according to WSJ, Xiaodi Hou, one of the company's founders, has started a new company based out of Texas called Bot Auto. He has recruited ex-TuSimple employees. Sourcing Journal could not reach CreateAI, formerly TuSimple, for comment.
Daily Mail
28-04-2025
- Politics
- Daily Mail
Beijing seizes disputed reef with troops raising flag near military base... before Filipino troops unfurl their own banner on another island amid growing South China Sea tensions
The Beijing coast guard has seized a disputed island in the South China Sea, escalating a long-running territory dispute with the Philippines. Chinese coast guard officers 'implemented maritime control' over Tiexian Reef, part of the Sandy Cay reef, in mid-April, state broadcaster CCTV said Saturday. Photographs show four officers posing with a Chinese flag on the reef's white surface, in what state media described as a 'vow of sovereignty and jurisdiction'. The Philippine Coast Guard on Monday responded by releasing its own photograph showing Filipino sailors holding the country's flag over the same disputed reef during an early morning mission the day before. A Philippine statement said that a joint coast guard, navy and maritime police team on rubber dinghies had landed on the three sandbars that make up Sandy Cay. Manila also denied that the reef was under under Beijing's control, branding the CCTV report as 'irresponsible' and claiming the status quo was unchanged. A Chinese coast guard statement has described the Philippine landing as 'illegal' and said that officers had gone ashore 'to conduct on-site verification and enforcement measures.' It didn't specify what those steps entailed. The Sandy Cay reef lies near Thitu Island, or Pag-asa, where the Philippines stations troops and maintains a coast guard monitoring base. There is no apparent sign that China has permanently occupied or built a structure on the reef. The Philippines and China have been engaged in months of confrontations over the South China Sea, which Beijing claims nearly in its entirety despite an international ruling that its assertion has no legal basis. Commodore Jay Tarriela, a Philippine coast guard spokesperson, said in a statement posted to X on Monday that its military had landed on Sandy Cay. The statement featured video and photos, including one showing personnel displaying a Philippine flag on one of the sandbars. 'This operation reflects the unwavering dedication and commitment of the Philippine Government to uphold the country's sovereignty, sovereign rights and jurisdiction in the West Philippine Sea,' the statement said. The move came three days after the Beijing-owned media published photos of Chinese coast guard officers on Tiexian Reef in mid-April holding up a Chinese flag and cleaning up plastic bottles and other debris. The Chinese coast guard statement on the subsequent Philippine landing said that China holds 'indisputable sovereignty' over the Spratly islands, including Tiexian Reef and the surrounding waters. 'There is no truth whatsoever to the claim of the China Coast Guard that the (Sandy Cay sandbanks) have been seized,' National Security Council spokesman Jonathan Malaya told a Monday press conference. 'It's in the interest of the People's Republic of China to use the information space to intimidate and harass,' he said, calling the Sandy Cay report a 'made-up' story that had been 'irresponsible' to disseminate. In recent months, Beijing and Manila have blamed each other for causing what they describe as the ecological degradation of several disputed landforms in the South China Sea. US and Philippine forces are currently conducting joint exercises that Beijing has said constitute a threat to regional stability. Chinese warships have been spotted in Philippine waters since those bilateral 'Balikatan' exercises kicked off last week, with aircraft carrier Shandong reportedly coming within 2.23 nautical miles (about four kilometres) of northern Babuyan Island. Last year, Beijing and Manila exchanged accusations of intentionally ramming coast guard vessels in disputed waters of the South China Sea. The collision in August near the Sabina Shoal was their fifth maritime confrontation in a month in a longstanding rivalry. Manila claimed China Coast Guard vessel 5205 'directly and intentionally rammed the Philippine vessel' without provocation. The ramming damaged the 97-metre (320-foot) Teresa Magbanua, one of the Philippines' largest coast guard cutters, but no personnel were injured. A spokesperson for China's coast guard said in a statement a Philippine ship, 'illegally stranded' at the shoal, had lifted anchor and 'deliberately rammed' a Chinese vessel. Manila claimed China Coast Guard vessel 5205 'directly and intentionally rammed the Philippine vessel' without provocation Beijing claims almost the entire South China Sea, including parts claimed by the Philippines, Brunei, Malaysia, Taiwan and Vietnam. Portions of the waterway, where more than £2trillion worth of trade passes annually, are believed to be rich in oil and natural gas deposits, as well as fish stocks. The Permanent Court of Arbitration in 2016 found China's sweeping claims had no legal basis, a ruling Beijing rejects.
Yahoo
01-04-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Chinese developer under scrutiny over Bangkok tower quake collapse
A Chinese construction company is facing questions over the deadly collapse of a Bangkok skyscraper -- the only major building in the capital to fall in a catastrophic earthquake that has killed more than 2,000 people in Thailand and neighbouring Myanmar. The 30-storey tower, still under construction, was to house government offices, but the shaking reduced the structure to a pile of rubble in seconds, killing at least 13 people and injuring nine. It was the deadliest single incident in Thailand after Friday's 7.7-magnitude quake, with the majority of the kingdom's 20 fatalities thought to be workers on the building site and hopes fading for around 70 still trapped. Sprawling Bangkok bristles with countless high-rise blocks, but none have reported major damage, prompting many to ask why the block under construction gave way. "We have to investigate where the mistake happened," said Thai Prime Minister Paetongtarn Shinawatra, who has ordered a probe into the materials and safety standards at the construction site. "What happened from the beginning since it was designed? How was this design approved? This was not the first building in the country," she told reporters on Saturday. The development near Bangkok's popular Chatuchak market was a joint project involving China Railway No. 10 Engineering Group (Thailand) -- an offshoot of China Railway Group (CREC), one of the world's largest construction and engineering contractors. - Questions raised - Testing of steel rebars -- struts used to reinforce concrete -- from the site has found that some of the metal used was substandard, Thai safety officials said on Monday. Industry Minister Akanat Promphan announced that a committee would be set up to investigate, saying one supplier of the steel had failed safety tests in December and may have its licence withdrawn. He did not name the supplier. Professor of Civil Engineering at King Mongkut's Institute of Technology Ladkrabang Suchatwee Sunaswat said there were questions to be answered. "We have to look at the design. At the beginning, how they calculate, how they design. And in the rescue mission, how they collect evidence at the same time," he told reporters on Saturday. - Safety complaints - The local partner in the project, Italian-Thai Development (ITD) offered condolences on Monday to quake victims but said it was "confident" the incident would not impact its other projects. Beijing-owned building conglomerate CREC is one of the world's largest construction and engineering contractors, with projects in more than 90 countries and regions, according to its website. The Bangkok construction collapse is not the first time CREC and its subsidiaries have come under fire after deadly incidents. A tide of anger was unleashed at authorities in Serbia following the deaths of 14 people when a roof collapsed in November last year at a train station built by CREC subsidiaries -- largely focused on reports of alleged shortcuts made with building projects. Roisai Wongsuban of the Migrant Working Group advocacy organisation said there have been a large number of complaints from migrant workers employed by Chinese companies in Thailand about lax safety standards and poor labour rights. "For Chinese companies we can't see the human rights due diligence, to see if labour standards are being met," she told AFP. "There is always a power imbalance between employer and employee." Bangkok's construction boom is powered by an army of labourers, a large proportion of them migrant workers from Myanmar, toiling on hot building sites for low pay. The Migrant Working Group has called on Thailand's labour ministry to hold the employers involved in the construction project criminally liable if they have failed to meet health and safety laws. - China sensitivities - AFP has asked China Rail No. 10 Engineering Thailand and CREC for comment but has not had a response. An announcement celebrating the completion of the main structure at the Chatuchak construction site posed on China Rail No. 10's official WeChat channel was deleted soon after Friday's quake. AFP archived the post shortly after the tremors hit but before the page was removed. Local media said that four Chinese nationals were apprehended on Saturday for attempting to retrieve documents from the collapse site. But China is the largest source of foreign direct investment in Thailand, injecting $2 billion into the kingdom in 2024, according to Open Development Thailand, and the government typically handles anything linked to Beijing with kid gloves. Paetongtarn said an investigation into the collapse launched on Monday would not be "specific to one country". "We do not want one particular country to think we are only keeping eyes on (it)," she said on Tuesday. At a small shelter near the site on Monday, 45-year-old Naruemol Thonglek waited for news of her boyfriend, electrician Kyi Than, who was missing under the enormous mound of concrete and twisted metal being lifted by mechanical diggers. "I'm devastated," she told AFP. "I've never seen anything like this in my entire life." sjc-ci/pdw/dhw
