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AFP
2 days ago
- Politics
- AFP
Video of firework display in China falsely linked to India-Pakistan conflict
"Pakistan's victory celebration in China," reads the sticker text on a TikTok video posted on May 15, 2025. The clip shows an elaborate drone and fireworks arrangement in the shape of a crescent moon. It surfaced days after a May 10 ceasefire halted four days of intense fighting between nuclear-armed rivals India and Pakistan, which was triggered by a deadly attack on tourists in the Indian-administered side of Kashmir in April (archived link). New Delhi accused Islamabad of backing the assault, a charge the latter denies. More than 70 people on both sides were killed in the jet fighter, missile, drone and heavy artillery attacks, with both sides now claiming victory in the worst violence between the neighbours in decades (archived link). China is Pakistan's largest arms supplier and Foreign Minister Mohammad Ishaq Dar confirmed that Islamabad used Chinese jets in the conflict (archived link). Image Screenshot of the false TikTok post, captured on June 3, 2025 The same footage was also used in similar posts on X, Facebook and Instagram. But the fireworks display predates the latest conflict -- it was put on by a Chinese city known as the birthplace of fireworks that hosted similar shows in April. A reverse image search on Google using keyframes from the falsely shared video led to a similar clip shared on the official X account of the Chinese embassy in the United States on May 5 (archived link). "Hunan Liuyang's fireworks show just took it to the NEXT LEVEL. Witness "White Moon Blooms" pierce the night as galaxy glitter cascades over rippling waters," reads the video's caption. Liuyang city in China's central Hunan province is considered the birthplace of fireworks (archived here and here). Image Keyword searches on TikTok sister app Douyin found the video shared by the Chinese embassy was posted by a Hunan-based user on April 26. The user also shared various videos of fireworks displays in Liuyang. Image Screenshot of the Douyin post from April 26, 2025 A subsequent keyword search for "Liuyang" and "white moon blooms" on Douyin also found dozens of similar videos of the drone and fireworks display, with no mention of Pakistan. Image Screenshot of search results for "Liuyang" and "white moon blooms" on Douyin The city hosts several drone and fireworks displays each month, but a keyword search on Douyin led to videos of the full display on May 10 -- when the ceasefire came into effect -- which was themed around Mother's Day and did not feature a crescent moon. AFP has debunked other false and misleading claims related to the conflict between Pakistan and India here.
Forbes
01-04-2025
- Business
- Forbes
The 10 Richest Chinese Billionaires 2025
Despite escalating trade tensions with the U.S., China's stock markets still soared since last year's list of the World's Billionaires. The Hang Seng Index rallied almost 20% as officials promised greater economic support, while DeepSeek's January release of a highly affordable AI model reignited investor interest in the country's technology sector. As a result, the collective fortune of Chinese billionaires on Forbes' 2025 ranking reached $1.68 trillion–up 26% from $1.33 trillion a year ago and also exceeding 2023's total of $1.67 trillion. That optimism translated to a rising number of billionaires for the country. This year, there are 450 mainland Chinese members of the three-comma club, up from 406 last year but still well short of the 495 reached in 2023. Mainland China accounts for the second-largest number of billionaires globally, behind the U.S., which has 902 billionaires. Mainland China doesn't include passport holders from Hong Kong or Macau, whom Forbes lists separately, such as Li Ka-shing, Hong Kong's richest with $38.9 billion net worth. Counting those billionaires, greater China has 516 members, up from 473 in 2024 but still down from 562 in 2023. In all, there are 3,028 billionaires on the planet, worth a collective $16.1 trillion. While 23 from last year's list fell off, there are 31 newcomers in mainland China and 37 returnees, or members who made the list in the past, fell off and have now returned to the ranks with a net worth of at least $1 billion. One notable newcomer is DeepSeek founder Liang Wenfeng, who has trained one of the world's best-performing AI models at a fraction of the costs spent by rivals including OpenAI. Liang, 40, has an estimated net worth of $1 billion based on his ownership in DeepSeek and hedge fund High-Flyer. The ten richest Chinese citizens, meanwhile, are worth a collective $400.5 billion, up from $304 billion last year, and higher than the $311 billion reached in 2023. Beverage giant Nongfu Spring chairman Zhong Shanshan, who was China's richest person for four consecutive years, ceded the prime spot this year to ByteDance founder Zhang Yiming. Zhong, now at No. 2, has a net worth of $57.5 billion, down from $62.3 billion in 2024. China's wealthiest person for the first time, Zhang boosted his fortune by more than 50% over the past year, to $65.5 billion. Despite uncertainties over the fate of TikTok in the U.S., privately held ByteDance has seen its valuation increase above $300 billion from $217 billion last year as investors are encouraged by the potential of its AI technology. Its Doubao chatbot app has attracted 82 million monthly active users (MAUs), making it the world's second most popular AI chatbot in February after OpenAI's ChatGPT, which had 401 million MAUs, according to a Hunan-based website that tracks AI products globally. DeepSeek's chatbot ranked No. 4 with 62 million MAUs. In total, eight out of the top ten richest billionaires in China have seen their fortunes increase. The wealth of Xiaomi founder Lei Jun soared 300%, to $43.5 billion, as the company's electric vehicle venture sees higher demand for its cars. But one Xiaomi vehicle under driver-assistance mode was involved in a deadly crash that happened on a Chinese highway on March 29, which caused the stock to fall as much as 6.1% on Tuesday amid worries this may dent future growth. Alibaba cofounder Jack Ma has seen his net worth increase to $28.6 billion from $24.5 billion in 2024. Ma was among a cohort of Chinese entrepreneurs invited to meet President Xi Jinping this February, when the leader used the rare meeting to strongly signal his support for the private sector. Lu Xiangyang teamed up with his cousin Wang Chuanfu to start BYD in 1995. A former employee of the People's Bank of China, Lu is now vice chairman of the company, which has grown from an obscure battery maker to the world's largest electric vehicle firm by deliveries. Lu, who derives his fortune primarily from a BYD stake, also runs his own investment firm Youngy Investment Holding Group. The Guangzhou-based company's assets include stakes in BYD and a lithium mine in the Chinese province of Sichuan, according to its website. BYD chairman and CEO Wang Chuanfu led his electric vehicle maker to surpass Elon Musk's Tesla in global sales in 2024. The company's total revenues surged 29% year-on-year to $107 billion, above Tesla's $97.7 billion. BYD, which makes plug-in hybrids as well as pure electric models, shipped 4.27 million cars worldwide. This year, Wang plans to ship 5.5 million vehicles globally as he aims to capture more markets overseas. Chinese auto brands are 'no longer playing catch-up,' the mogul wrote in the company's 2024 annual report. 'With a bold, trailblazing mindset, the group is leading the charge, partnering with other Chinese brands to expand globally.' He Xiangjian stepped down as chairman of home appliance giant Midea Group in 2012, but still holds his wealth primarily from a company stake. Midea's Shenzhen-listed shares have risen almost 20% over the past 12 months, as China's subsidy program for consumer trade-ins is believed to benefit the company. Riding on the momentum, Midea last September raised $4 billion in its upsized Hong Kong share sale. The company intends to use the proceeds for global expansion, upgrading its supply chain and enhancing its distribution network, according to its prospectus. After keeping a low profile over the past few years, Alibaba cofounder Jack Ma returned to the spotlight in February. He met Chinese President Xi Jinping that month when the government invited him and other business leaders, including DeepSeek founder Liang Wenfeng, to a symposium in Beijing. Ma and the others were encouraged to expand and contribute to China's economy. The e-commerce behemoth, now led by chairman Joe Tsai and CEO Eddie Wu, has made a series of breakthroughs in AI. Its Qwen series of models have surpassed some of OpenAI's in performance, the company says, and its technology has been chosen by Apple to power the American company's forthcoming AI services for iPhone users in China. To support its AI endeavors, Alibaba announced this February it will invest $53 billion over the next three years in related infrastructure. Ma stepped down as chairman in 2019 but still holds a stake in the company. NetEase founder William Ding is trying to resuscitate growth at his gaming giant, as the lack of new titles and cut-throat competition have caused 2024 sales to grow a meager 1.7% year-on-year to $14.4 billion, while net income was essentially flat at $4.1 billion. Ding has reportedly reshuffled the management ranks behind Eggy Party, a casual mobile game that has become one of the company's most successful titles since its release in 2022. The company should find renewed growth in the first half of 2025, thanks in part to Marvel Rivals, a shooter game developed in collaboration with Marvel Games and released in December, according to a February research note from Hong Kong-based Blue Lotus Research Institute. PDD Holdings' founder Colin Huang moved down two spots to No.5 this year, as the e-commerce behemoth battles stiff competition and faces geopolitical challenges. The headwinds are particularly pronounced in its 2024 fourth quarter results. The Temu parent posted in March a 24% year-on-year rise in revenues to $15.2 billion for the period – marking its slowest pace of quarterly expansion in years. As the company hands out consumer coupons and reduces merchant fees amid fierce competition with rivals including Alibaba, its net income grew only 18% year-on-year to $3.8 billion – down from the blistering pace of two-fold increases seen in the fourth quarter of 2023. While faster growth in early 2024 still helped full-year sales increase 59% to $54 billion and net income jumped 87% to 15.4 billion, PDD Holdings faces mounting uncertainties in its overseas expansion. Temu, its international arm that acts as a key growth driver, is confronted with the threat of possible changes to a U.S. policy that exempts items worth less than $800 from tariff charges. Temu has grabbed market share from Amazon thanks to dirt cheap goods, such as $8 shoes, that are largely shipped from China. Lei Jun's wealth grew by three-fold to $43.5 billion amid investor optimism over Xiaomi's electric vehicle business. Before the March 29 crash, the company chairman and CEO raised Xiaomi's 2025 EV delivery target to 350,000 units from 300,000, as demand for its Telsa Model 3 competitor the SU7 sedan—which has a starting price of 215,900 yuan ($30,000) in China — has far outstripped supply. To shorten the waitlist for the car, which can still stretch into eight months, Xiaomi is reportedly expanding the size of a planned second factory in Beijing. Earlier in March, the Hong Kong-listed company raised $5.5 billion in an upsized share sale to fund its business expansion and technology research. Tencent's Hong Kong-listed shares nearly doubled over the past 12 months amid a broad rally of China's technology-related companies. They might have more room for growth, as Ma invests for the future. The Chinese tech giant will spend $1.3 billion for a 25% stake in a newly created entity that hosts some of Ubisoft's (a French game maker) most popular assets, including Assassin's Creed; Tencent aims to turn the video game franchises into 'long-term evergreen game platforms,' according to a statement released in March. The company is also bullish on AI as it starts to integrate its proprietary AI technologies into WeChat, providing functions such as AI-powered search to the messaging app's nearly 1.4 billion users. Its separate AI app, the Yuanbao digital assistant, can perform more tasks like taking phone calls and generating content summaries. It has shaped out to be a tough year for Nongfu Spring founder Zhong Shanshan, who was China's richest man from 2021 to 2024. In sharp contrast with previous years, when sales grew by double digits, 2024 revenues were essentially flat at $5.9 billion. Net income, which came in at $1.7 billion, barely grew either. The Hong Kong-listed company is feeling the fallout from a public opinion crisis earlier last year, when nationalist consumers vowed to boycott its bottled drinks as they criticized Nongfu Spring for being 'pro-Japan' because the packaging of certain products supposedly resembled Japanese architecture. And as the company launched purified water products that sell for less than $0.14 per bottle to attract frugal shoppers, earnings took its own hit as well. Although TikTok's fate still hangs in the balance in the U.S.— where it faces an April 5 deadline to be sold or banned — parent ByteDance is seeing its valuation increase to $312 billion in private markets. This is partly due to the AI craze, as investors bet the next breakthrough may still come from China, after DeepSeek in January released a highly affordable model that shocked Silicon Valley. Zhang stepped down as ByteDance chairman in 2021 but still plays a key role in the company's AI strategy that ranges from capital expenditure to hiring. The reclusive mogul wants artificial general intelligence (AGI), or AI to match or surpass human intelligence, according to state-affiliated news outlet The Paper.
