VOI - Voice of Indonesia | RRI - Radio Republik Indonesia

The Biden administration on Tuesday imposed new trade restrictions on five Chinese companies for allegedly aiding in the repression of the Uyghur Muslim minority but China rejected the accusation as "lies" aimed at constraining it.

According to Hikvision's 2021 half-year report, at least four of the companies facing new curbs belong to the Chinese surveillance camera maker including Luopu Haishi Dingxin Electronic Technology Co, Moyu Haishi Electronic Technology Co, Pishan Haishi Yong'an Electronic Technology Co and Urumqi Haishi Xin'an Electronic Technology Co.

Yutian Haishi Meitian Electronic Technology Co Ltd was also added.

Hikvision did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

The companies "have been implicated in human rights violations and abuses in the implementation of China’s campaign of repression, mass arbitrary detention and high-technology surveillance against the Uyghur people and members of other Muslim minority groups," in the Xinjiang region, the Commerce Department said in a posting in the Federal Register.

Chinese foreign ministry spokesperson Mao Ning said the United States "wantonly suppresses Chinese firms with lies and politicises normal business and economic cooperation" and its move is aimed at destabilising Xinjiang and using the issues to constrain China.

"The idea that there exists so-called repression of Muslim minorities in Xinjiang has long been debunked," Mao said at a regular briefing on Wednesday.

She also said that China would take all necessary measures to defend the legitimate rights and interests of Chinese firms.

Being added to the entity list means U.S. suppliers must get a special and difficult-to-obtain license before shipping goods to those companies.

The United States has increasingly used the list to target Chinese firms.

Hikvision was placed on the U.S. trade blacklist in 2019 for being implicated in human rights violations and abuses in the implementation of what rights groups and Uyghur activists say is China's campaign of repression, mass arbitrary detention, and high-technology surveillance against Uyghurs and other Muslims in Xinjiang. (Reuters)

China's commercial capital Shanghai saw its population fall in 2022 in the first decline in five years, official data showed, after authorities imposed draconian COVID-19 lockdowns and more than 250,000 migrant workers departed.

The data, published by Shanghai's statistics bureau on Tuesday, showed the densely-packed hub had 24.76 million people last year, compared with 24.89 million people in 2021.

Shanghai's figures came after Beijing also posted its first population drop since 2003.

Both cities are in line with national trends. China's population fell last year for the first time in six decades, weighed down by rising living costs especially in big, sprawling urban hubs, weak economic growth, and changing attitudes towards raising a family.

Around 60% of people living in Shanghai said they wanted just one child or none at all, according to an official survey by the bureau. More than 28% of Shanghai residents polled said they did not plan to have an additional child because of the high childcare costs.

Shanghai's birth rate dropped to 4.4 per 1,000 people from 4.7 a year earlier, while its death rate increased to 6.0 per 1,000 people from 5.6 due to a rapidly ageing population.

China last year recorded its lowest ever birth rate, of 6.77 per 1,000 people.

Around 18.7% of Shanghai's population is older than 65, above the national average of 14.9%.

Many women in Shanghai were put off having children during a stringent COVID lockdown in April and May last year, which demographers said could have profoundly damaged their desire to have children.

Concerned by China's shrinking population, political advisers to the government have made more than 20 recommendations to boost birth rates, though experts said the best they can do was to slow the population's decline. (Reuters)

South Korea will host a third "Summit for Democracy", President Yoon Suk Yeol said in a statement with U.S. President Joe Biden on Wednesday.

"The United States and the Republic of Korea share deep bonds, rooted in our common democratic values and respect for human rights, and we are committed to further strengthening our robust political, economic, security, and people-to-people ties," the statement said.

The plenary session of the second summit is to be held on Wednesday, involving 120 countries, civil society groups and technology companies in an event critics say illustrates the halting progress the Biden administration has made in advancing human rights and democracy as a focus of its foreign policy.

The second summit is being co-hosted by the United States, Costa Rica, Zambia, the Netherlands and South Korea.

It was not immediately clear when the next summit will be held or whether other countries will co-host the meeting. (Reuters)

External pressure will not stop Taiwan engaging with the world, President Tsai Ing-wen said on Wednesday as she left for the United States, hitting a defiant note after China threatened retaliation if she met U.S. House Speaker Kevin McCarthy.

China, which claims democratically-ruled Taiwan as its own territory, has repeatedly warned U.S. officials not to meet Tsai, viewing it as support for the island's desire to be seen as a separate country. 

China staged war games around Taiwan last August when then-U.S. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi visited Taipei, and Taiwan's armed forces have said they are keeping watch for any Chinese moves when Tsai is abroad.

Tsai is going to Guatemala and Belize, transiting through New York first and Los Angeles on the way back. While not officially confirmed, she is expected to meet McCarthy while in California.

"External pressure will not hinder our determination to go to the world," she said at Taiwan's main international airport at Taoyuan, in a veiled reference to China. 

"We are calm and confident, will neither yield nor provoke. Taiwan will firmly walk on the road of freedom and democracy and go into the world. Although this road is rough, Taiwan is not alone," added Tsai, who is due to arrive in New York early Wednesday afternoon.

Speaking in Beijing shortly before Tsai left, Zhu Fenglian, spokesperson of China's Taiwan Affairs Office, said Tsai's "transits" of the United States were not just her waiting at the airport or hotel, but for her to meet U.S. officials and lawmakers.

"If she has contact with U.S. House Speaker McCarthy, it will be another provocation that seriously violates the one-China principle, harms China's sovereignty and territorial integrity, and destroys peace and stability in the Taiwan Strait," she said.

"We firmly oppose this and will definitely take measures to resolutely fight back," Zhu added, without giving details. 

Tsai's transits will come at a time when U.S. relations with China are at what some analysts see as their worst level since Washington normalised ties with Beijing in 1979 and switched diplomatic recognition from Taipei.

Taiwan is China's most sensitive territorial issue and a major bone of contention with Washington, which, like most countries, maintains only unofficial ties with Taipei. However, the United States government is required by U.S. law to provide the island with the means to defend itself.

NO REASON TO OVERREACT

The United States says such transits by Taiwanese presidents are routine and that China should not use Tsai's trip to take any aggressive moves against Taiwan.

The United States sees no reason for China to overreact to planned transits of the United States this week and next month by Taiwan's president, senior U.S. officials said ahead of Tsai's departure.

A senior U.S. official said that in her previous transits Tsai had engaged in a range of activities, including meetings with members of Congress, the Taiwanese diaspora and other groups.

"So there's absolutely no reason for Beijing to use this upcoming transit as an excuse or a pretext to carry out aggressive or coercive activities aimed at Taiwan," the official said.

Taiwanese presidents routinely pass through the United States while visiting diplomatic allies in Latin America, the Caribbean and the Pacific, which, although not official visits, are often used by both sides for high-level meetings.

Taiwan's government rejects China's sovereignty claims, and while Tsai has repeatedly offered talks with Beijing she has also said only Taiwan's people can decide their future.

Tsai's trip has unnerved security agencies in Taiwan, who worry that China could launch a series of influence campaigns including spreading misinformation on social media platforms to sway public perceptions of Tsai's U.S. transit, according to an internal memo by a Taiwan security agency, a copy of which was reviewed by Reuters.

The note said China had used large-scale influence campaigns including cyber attacks against Taiwan during Pelosi's visit last year, and Taiwan authorities expected Beijing to deepen its "cognitive operations" in the coming days.

China's Taiwan Affairs Office did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

China claimed another diplomatic victory over Taiwan on Sunday when one-time loyal Taiwan ally Honduras switched diplomatic recognition to Beijing. Only 13 countries now maintain formal ties with Taiwan.

China says that both it and Taiwan belong to "one China" and that as a Chinese province the island has no right to any sort of state-to-state ties. Taiwan strongly disputes that view. (Reuters)