Day: August 3, 2022

The government of Japan has provided 24 scholarships to Lao students to study in Japan for master’s degrees and PhD’s Master levels in different subjects.

A reception for students and senior fellows of the “Project for Human Resource Development Scholarship by Japanese Grant Aid (JDS)” and the “Young Leaders Program (YLP)” was held at Ambassador Residence of Japan in the Vientiane Capital on the 29th of July.

The reception was held to mark both the departing of students travelling to Japan to enhance their knowledge.

The students departing will be supported by two Japanese Government scholarship

programs, the Project for Human Resource Development Scholarship by Japanese Grant Aid (JDS) and the Young Leaders Program (YLP).

JDS grants scholarships for two years for master’s degree and three years for doctoral degree to Lao government officials engaged in socio-economic development to study at the graduate level in Japan. Since the beginning of the Japanese Fiscal Year (JFY) in 1999, when the program started, more than 460 Lao officials have been granted scholarships through this program.

YLP aims to foster junior government officials in becoming future national leaders.

Since JFY 2001, when the program started, around 70 Lao government officials have been beneficiaries of this program, which offers one-year scholarships to study for a master’s degree

in one of five fields, namely public policy, local public policy, business administration, law and health administration.

At the reception, Ambassador Kobayashi congratulated the departing students and

asked them to make the most of this great opportunity to develop themselves through studying in new surroundings. He expressed his hope that they, as leaders for the future of Lao s, would

accumulate knowledge and experiences in order to contribute to the development of Laos in the future. Furthermore, He added that each of them would also be expected to be a bridge between the two countries.

On behalf of the departing students, Mr. Sombath DOUANGSAVANH, an official from Ministry of Labour and Social Welfare who will study disaster risk management policy at the University of Tsukuba, and Mr Anousack MANIVANH, an official from Ministry of Labour and Social Welfares who will study public policy at the GRIPS (National Graduate Institute for Policy Studies), expressed their appreciation to the Government of Japan and reaffirmed their strong will for academic achievement.

The reception was attended by the Lao government officials including H.E. Assoc. Dr. Phout SIMMALAVONG, Minister of Education and Sports, and President of Lao –Japan Friendship Association, and Hon. Mrs Thoummaly VONGPHACHANH, Chair of Culture and Social Affairs Committee of the National Assembly, and President of Lao-Japan Parliamentary

Friendship Group.

In addition, several Vice Ministers, Director Generals, Deputy Director Generals, as well as many senior fellows and successful graduates from Japanese universities under these schemes attended.

Source: Lao News Agency

The Spokesperson of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Lao PDR issued a statement on Wednesday stating that the Lao PDR has been following and is concerned over the development in the Taiwan strait, including a provocative action, which may lead to a tension in the region.

The Lao PDR, as always, is of the view that peace and stability in all regions in the world, including the Asia-Pacific region is a decisive prerequisite and fundamental foundation for cooperation and development of countries in the region and the world.

The Lao PDR reaffirms its consistent policy of supporting “One China Policy” and that Taiwan is an inalienable part of China, and opposes any intension aiming at creating a situation for “two China” or “one Taiwan”. The Lao PDR reiterates its support for the policy of the Government of the People’s Republic of China on the national unification by peaceful means.

Source: Lao News Agency

Angry residents of an apartment building in Vietnam’s Ho Chi Minh city have been ordered to take down banners accusing the owners of neglecting the building’s upkeep while profiting from years of management fees.

Residents of the Khang Gia apartment block in the city’s Tan Phu district are concerned about the structural quality of the building and its fire resistance. They have petitioned authorities to make improvements for eight years but say nothing has been done.

Frustrated at the authorities’ inaction, many residents hung banners from their balconies saying “Our petitions have been binned,” “Return our maintenance fees,” “Eight years of inaction on fixing our problems,” and “Give residents the title deeds to their apartments.”

Rather than answering their complaints or discussing them with residents, the Secretary of the Party Committee of Tan Quy ward came to the apartment, backed by police and militia, and ordered residents to take the banners down.

“Tenants hung banners with words that do not offend the government and are not intended as incitement,” said Nguyen Manh Hung, who heads the management board at the apartment block.

“But when residents hung them up many local officials came with police and militia as well as ward and district civil officers. They tried to storm the apartments that put up banners. When I asked what they were going to do, they said they would order the residents to take the banners down.”

Hung said the government should have worked with the apartment block’s investors to solve the problems but instead sent a mob to try to get the banners removed. He said that when officials ordered residents to take down the banners, they were asked when they would address the issues. He said the officers remained silent and left.

RFA called the People’s Committee of Tan Quy ward and Tan Phu district to verify the information provided by Nguyen Manh Hung, but none of the calls was answered.

According to documents written by the Department of Construction of Ho Chi Minh City and the People’s Committee of Tan Phu district, Khang Gia Real Estate Development and Investment Company was given permission to build and rent out a 232 apartment block.

The company built almost twice as many apartments, which residents say has made the building structurally unstable.

The local government said it had decided to forcibly dismantle 72 apartments and commercial units but nothing has happened in the eight years since it made the pledge.

Hung said about 1,500 residents have said they feel insecure due to the illegal construction on the ground floor and mezzanine levels.

He added that the extra apartments and commercial units have no fire prevention facilities and therefore pose a threat to the entire building.

The maintenance fee, which is 2% of the building’s valuation, has been kept by the Khang Gia company, rather than handed over to the apartment’s management board to fix elevators, fill in cracks and perform other repairs.

“Local authorities must investigate the investor’s appropriation of the maintenance fund,” Hung said. “However, they have not done that for years. Now the investor has disappeared after being probed for wrongdoings in other projects. I don’t know why they didn’t investigate. Maybe they have covered-up the case for some reason but doing nothing is not in line with the law.”

The Lao Dong Online news site wrote in December 2020 that Khang Gia Company general director and legal representative Trinh Minh Thanh had gone into hiding. It said he was wanted for the crime of “financial fraud” for taking millions of Vietnamese dong from people for apartments they did not receive. The company office is no longer at its registered business address.

RFA called Khang Gia Real Estate’s hotline, listed on its website, but the person who answered denied working for the company and said it was a wrong number.

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President Joe Biden virtually joined Michigan Governor Gretchen Whitmer Tuesday to celebrate the CHIPS and Science Act, which aims to boost U.S. competitiveness against China by allocating billions of dollars toward domestic semiconductor manufacturing and scientific research.

“This bill makes it clear the world’s leading innovation will happen in America. We will both invent in America and make it in America,” Biden said. He was scheduled to join the event in person but had to remain in isolation after testing positive for COVID-19 again on Saturday in what his physician described as a “rebound” case.

In the coming days, Biden is expected to sign the legislation, which passed in a 243-187 vote in the House of Representatives and 64-33 vote in the Senate last week.

The $280 billion act includes $52 billion in incentives for domestic semiconductor production and research, as well as an investment tax credit for semiconductor manufacturing. Advocates say it will allow the U.S. to catch up in the global semiconductor manufacturing race currently dominated by China, Taiwan and South Korea.

Last year, a semiconductor shortage affected the supply of automobiles, electronic appliances and other goods, causing higher inflation globally and pummeling Biden’s public approval among American voters.

Michigan, a major hub for the American auto industry, has been one of the states hardest hit by the semiconductor shortage.

“This bill will mean humming factories and lower costs on electronics, medical devices, farm equipment and cars for working families,” Whitmer said.

The act includes $4.2 billion to fund defense initiatives and the U.S. mobile broadband market, particularly efforts to promote non-Chinese 5G equipment manufacturing.

Catching up with China

The U.S. share of global semiconductor manufacturing capacity has decreased from 37% in 1990 to 12% today, largely because other governments have offered manufacturing incentives and invested in research to strengthen domestic chipmaking capabilities, according to a state of the industry report by the Semiconductor Industry Association.

Now China accounts for 24% of the world’s semiconductor production, followed by Taiwan at 21%, South Korea at 19% and Japan at 13%, the report said.

With the CHIPS Act, the administration hopes to bring as much semiconductor manufacturing to the U.S. as practically possible, said Bonnie Glick, director of the Krach Institute for Tech Diplomacy at Purdue University.

“And what can’t be reasonably onshore, either because it’s cost prohibitive or other allied countries simply do it better, we can ally-shore manufacturing and support that,” she told VOA.

The two allies the administration has leveraged are South Korea and Japan, both of which Biden visited in May. In Seoul, he toured a Samsung computer chip factory that is the model for a $17 billion facility that the South Korean technology giant is setting up in the U.S. state of Texas.

Last week, the U.S. and Japan launched a new joint international semiconductor research hub under a “bilateral chip technology partnership” to bolster manufacturing for 2-nanometer chips as early as 2025.

Washington has also persuaded Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Ltd. (TSMC) to open a U.S. foundry to produce advanced semiconductors. The $12 billion facility in the state of Arizona was completed last month and is scheduled to start production of 5 nm chips by 2024. TMSC also has plants in China.

“We’re back in the game,” Biden said Tuesday. “Remember, we invented these chips, we modernized these chips, we made them work, and there’s a lot more we can get done.”

The CHIPS Act has laid out a clear strategy for Washington, said Volker Sorger, Professor at the George Washington University and co-founder of Optelligence Company.

“Gain autonomy and eliminate political dependencies on these global supply chain values,” Sorger told VOA.

That strategy puts the U.S. on a collision course with China, which also aims to be the global leader in semiconductors. In 2015, Beijing launched the Made in China 2025 project, which aimed to increase chip production from less than 10% of global demand at the time to 40% in 2020 and 70% in 2025.

The Made in China 2025 program and the People’s Liberation Army’s goal of military-civil fusion make it “overtly clear that Beijing is seeking to dominate global technology and supply chains through anti-competitive trade practices and infiltration of dual-use technology research,” Glick said.

The U.S. government has been pushing for stricter export regulations to China by prohibiting export of equipment needed for manufacturing chips at 14 nm and below. “That would mark an escalation from the previous ban covering 10 nm and below,” Glick added.

Taiwan’s strategic importance

Taiwan — a self-governed island that Beijing claims to be its breakaway province — lies at the heart of the increasingly tense U.S.-China rivalry.

Taipei has dominated manufacture of the world’s most high-tech chips, accounting for 92% of the global production of 10 nm or smaller semiconductors, essentially creating what some observers have characterized as a “silicon shield” that ensures American support in the event of a Chinese attack, as well as a deterrence to such a move.

A military conflict over Taiwan could disrupt TMSC’s semiconductor production and have disastrous effects on global manufacturing.

U.S.-China tensions are already spooking technology investors. TSMC shares fell nearly 3% on Tuesday as U.S. House of Representatives Speaker Nancy Pelosi landed in Taipei in a visit she said demonstrated American solidarity with the Taiwanese people.

Beijing has condemned the visit, the first by a U.S. House speaker in 25 years, as a threat to peace and stability in the Taiwan Strait.

Rare earths

The CHIPS Act does not include provisions to secure supply chains of rare earths — and other critical minerals used in semiconductors and other high-tech elements — to reduce the nation’s dependence on China, a major producer of these elements.

“I don’t know that we have developed a coherent strategy on accessing both rare and nonrare elements,” Glick said.

Last June, following Biden’s executive order to improve supply chains, the administration released a report concluding that the U.S. was overly reliant on China for critical minerals. Currently, China controls 87% of the global permanent magnet market, 55% of rare earths mining capacity and 85% of rare earths refining.

Earlier this year, the administration announced actions it said would bolster the supply chain of these elements, including a contract for U.S. company MP Materials to process heavy rare earth elements at its California production site — the first processing and separation facility of its kind in the nation.

Source: Voice of America

Southeast Asian governments on Wednesday urged China and rival superpower the United States to hold back from “provocative actions” that could inflame tensions, saying they were watching the situation around Taiwan after U.S. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s controversial visit.

From Manila to Jakarta, Bangkok, Hanoi and other capitals, governments across the region reiterated their support for the One China Policy, under which Beijing is recognized as the sole government of China.

The United States also holds this policy, but maintains close unofficial ties with Taiwan and is obligated to provide defense support. Washington only acknowledges China’s sovereignty claim over Taiwan rather than endorsing it.

The foreign ministry of Indonesia, Southeast Asia’s largest country, expressed grave concern about the “increasing rivalry among major powers,” without naming the U.S. and China.

“If not managed well, it may lead to open conflict and disrupt peace and stability, including in the Taiwan [S]trait,” Jakarta said in a statement as it called on “all parties to refrain from provocative actions that may worsen the situation.”

“The world is in dire need of wisdom and responsibilities of all leaders to ensure peace and stability are maintained,” said Indonesia, which has faced its own territorial tensions with China in waters around the Natuna Islands in the far southwestern reaches of the South China Sea.

In Bangkok, Thailand’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs expressed similar concern in the wake of Pelosi’s visit to Taiwan.

“We do not wish to see any actions that would aggravate tensions and undermine peace and stability in the region,” ministry spokesman Tanee Sangrat said.

“We hope that all parties concerned exercise utmost restraint, abide by international law and principles of respect for sovereignty and territorial integrity and resolve their differences through peaceful means.”

As the military jet carrying Pelosi and her delegation touched down in Taipei on Tuesday evening after a flight from their previous stop in Kuala Lumpur, China’s People’s Liberation Army (PLA) announced live-fire drills at six locations around Taiwan, some overlapping the island’s sovereign territorial waters.

In addition, 21 Chinese military aircraft, including 10 J-16 fighter-jets and two reconnaissance airplanes, flew into Taiwan’s air defense identification zone (ADIZ).

While in Taipei, Pelosi visited Taiwan’s parliament before meeting with President Tsai Ing-wen who called her “one of Taiwan’s most devoted friends.”

During a brief speech following their meeting, Pelosi praised Taiwan for its resilience.

“America’s determination to preserve democracy here in Taiwan and around the world remains ironclad,” the house speaker said, adding that the U.S. “will not abandon our commitment to Taiwan.”

Pelosi was the first senior-most American official to visit Taiwan in 25 years. In the days leading up to her visit, Beijing had issued stern warnings against it, claiming that the trip would encroach on Chinese sovereignty.

The Philippines, which has also had confrontations with China in the South China Sea and maintains a Mutual Defense Treaty with the United States, said it was tracking Pelosi’s visit over concerns that it could escalate tensions with Beijing. The Pelosi-led U.S. delegation left Taiwan Wednesday evening and traveled on to South Korea.

“Our military and our DFA (Department of Foreign Affairs) are closely monitoring the situation as they would in any other similar circumstance,” said Trixie Cruz-Angeles, spokeswoman for President Ferdinand Marcos Jr.

“On matters of international relations, reactions are studied. We don’t make knee-jerk reactions because they could adversely affect international relations,” she said, stressing that “loose words” could impact Philippine-China relations.

Cruz-Angeles said China’s envoy to Manila, Huang Xilian, had reminded officials to adhere to the One China Policy.

“There is only one China in the world. Taiwan is an inalienable part of China’s territory,” Huang said Tuesday ahead of Pelosi’s visit.

The Chinese ambassador said he hoped the Philippines would “handle all Taiwan-related issues with prudence to ensure sound and steady development of China-Philippines relations.”

Malaysia’s foreign minister, meanwhile, said his government wanted to ensure peace, stability and prosperity in the region as officials in Kuala Lumpur seek to maintain good relations with their counterparts in Beijing and Washington.

“[W]e want everyone concerned to look at the situation and address it in the best way because we appreciate and we’ve put a lot of value in both the U.S. and China when it comes to trade and technology in the region and want to be friends to both,” Minister Saifuddin Abdullah said from Phnom Penh, where foreign ministers from the Association of Southeast Asian Nations were assembling for the ASEAN Regional Forum Meeting and meetings this week with the top Chinese, American and Russian diplomats, among others.

‘Maximum restraint’

Late on Wednesday, the foreign ministers of the 10 ASEAN members-states prepared a collective statement about “the cross strait development.”

The bloc, it said, was “concerned with the international and regional volatility, especially in the recent development […] adjacent with the ASEAN region.”

That situation “could destabilize the region and eventually could lead to miscalculation, serious confrontation, open conflicts and unpredictable consequences among majors powers,” the top ASEAN diplomats said.

Elsewhere, officials in Cambodia, the Lao People’s Democratic Republic, Myanmar and Vietnam reaffirmed support for One China policy while also calling for peace and stability in the region.

“The Lao PDR reiterates its support for the policy of the government of the People’s Republic of China on the national reunification by peaceful means,” it said in a Facebook post.

The military government in Myanmar, for its part, reaffirmed its belief that Taiwan is “an integral part of the People’s Republic of China” while expressing concern over Pelosi’s visit, “which is causing escalation of tensions on the Taiwan Straits.”

“Myanmar calls all concerned parties to deescalate the tensions through constructive dialogue and peaceful negotiation for peace and stability across the Taiwan Straits,” the junta said in a Facebook post.

China has become the largest source of foreign investment in Myanmar since Western businesses pulled out after the February 2021 military coup.

Like a frontline soldier

In northern Thailand, an analyst at Chiang Mai University lauded Pelosi while casting doubt on some media reports suggesting that her Taiwan visit could have ignited a new cold war.

“As the U.S.’s third most influential figure after President Joe Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris, Pelosi could have laid a milestone on the U.S.’s new approach in Asia. Her trip to Taiwan is a strong political gesture and is vitally important for the relationship of the U.S. and East Asia in the future,” Isa Gharti told BenarNews. “She is like the first U.S. soldier who lays milestones to locate flash points.

“By reading some analysis lately, I am surprised that they think this is the start of a new cold war,” he said. “I don’t think so because the superpowers have yet to get their economies recovered and cannot afford to lose any partners.”

Radio Free Asia –Copyright © 1998-2016, RFA. Used with the permission of Radio Free Asia, 2025 M St. NW, Suite 300, Washington DC 20036Radio Free Europe–Copyright (c) 2015. RFE/RL, Inc. Reprinted with the permission of Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, 1201 Connecticut Ave NW, Ste 400, Washington DC 20036.

British bank and financial services giant HSBC, a longtime presence in East Asia, has become the first foreign lender to install a Chinese Communist Party committee in its investment banking subsidiary in China.

HSBC’s China investment bank, HSBC Qianhai Securities, established a CCP committee after the lender increased its stake in the joint venture from 51% to 90% in April.

Some experts are concerned that the move might expose HSBC to increased influence from Beijing. But other analysts told VOA Mandarin that the development isn’t a big deal, saying there is little evidence that these party committees exert substantial influence in privately owned companies.

“The establishment of a party committee at HSBC may be super important, or it may be entirely irrelevant and not worth the attention it’s getting,” Scott Kennedy, a senior adviser at the Center for Strategic and International Studies in Washington, told VOA Mandarin in an interview.

“The vast majority, as far as I can tell, really don’t do anything. They haven’t affected the normal procedures for corporate governance,” he said. “But in Xi Jinping’s China, nothing is impossible.”

Founded during a growth phase

Founded as the Hongkong and Shanghai Banking Corporation, Ltd., HSBC was established in Hong Kong in March 1865, and opened its doors in Shanghai one month later. It launched at a time of burgeoning trade among China, India and Europe.

China’s legal requirement that all companies with more than three party members must establish a party committee dates back to the 1993 PRC Company Law, according to Gabriel Wildau, a managing director at the consulting company Teneo. But before Xi became the CCP’s general secretary in 2012, this requirement was lightly enforced, especially for private and foreign companies.

“Under Xi Jinping, enforcement has intensified, and the share of private companies with party cells has increased,” Wildau wrote in an email to VOA Mandarin, referring to China’s president since 2013. Xi has expanded the party’s influence over the economy in many ways, apparently based on his sense that both state-owned and private companies were often operating business models that undermined the party’s political, economic and social objectives, Wildau said.

Seven international banks control investment banking operations in mainland China, including HSBC, Goldman Sachs, JPMorgan, Credit Suisse, Morgan Stanley, UBS and Deutsche Bank, according to the Financial Times. So far, only HSBC has set up a CCP committee, according to the report.

Dennis Kwok, a partner at Elliott, Kwok, Levine & Jaroslaw, a New York City law firm, thinks establishing a party committee risks exposing HSBC to increased party reach.

“What China is doing is that it is opening its financial market to foreign firms, and you see a lot of investment banks and other financial institutions have shown great interest in going into the China market. But at the same time, China is also using these party cells to increase their control and influence of these financial institutions,” Kwok said in an interview with VOA Mandarin.

After a lengthy period of political and economic isolation under Mao Zedong, Deng Xiaoping began opening China to foreign companies with the launch of his reform and opening policy in 1978.

Following the establishment of this HSBC committee, foreign companies should reevaluate the risks associated with doing business in China, Kwok said.

“This is the time to reassess your risk exposure. This is the time to do a stress test on your operations on the ground to see if you are managing the legal and political risk in the right way,” said Kwok. “And if things don’t go your way, can your international operation handle any political or legal crises that emerge from China?”

The development also drew the attention of some high-level U.S. politicians.

Florida Republican Senator Marco Rubio, long known for his anti-Beijing stance, criticized the move. “Communist party committees are not just for show. They exist to influence, monitor, and ultimately control the company,” he said on July 21. “Investors need to be aware.”

But multiple China analysts with whom VOA Mandarin spoke were less concerned.

One reason is because these committees are relatively common in China, and they don’t appear to do much in practice, according to Teneo’s Wildau, a former Shanghai bureau chief for the Financial Times.

“My sense from Chinese corporate executives and investors is that party organizations rarely intervene in substantive decision making and are often quite irrelevant in practice. Often they do little more than organize occasional ideological study sessions,” Wildau wrote.

Still, he recognizes that foreign business leaders and investors are concerned that party cells may grow more assertive and influential. “But I don’t think we’re at that point yet,” Wildau said.

The Chinese embassy in Washington did not respond to VOA’s request for comment.

In a statement, HSBC told the Financial Times that “[e]mployees of private firms in China are able to form a Party branch. These branches are common and can be set up by as few as three employees. It is important to note that management has no role in establishing such groups, they do not influence the direction of the business, and have no formal role in the day-to-day activities of the business.”

What distinguishes this particular party committee from others is the fact that HSBC is such a significant stakeholder in HSBC Qianhai Securities, according to Wildau.

Up until now, party committees have usually been in companies that are more equally Sino-foreign joint ventures, Wildau said. The fact that HSBC now owns a 90% stake in HSBC Qianhai Securities and still established a party committee makes it look “like a milestone,” he said.

Hoping for ‘business as usual’

“Still, HSBC and foreign banks probably hope that establishing the committee will be a box-ticking exercise that doesn’t disrupt business as usual,” Wildau wrote. “That a party committee has been established tells us very little about what influence it will have, if any.”

Victor Shih, a professor at the University of California, San Diego, agrees that some responses to the development have been “a bit of an over-reaction,” but says it’s still something people should be aware of.

“Most of the time it is for show, but in an emergency situation, when the party would like to mobilize all resources, these committees potentially serve as the links between the party and resources in society,” Shih wrote in an email to VOA Mandarin.

Political developments in Hong Kong, like the controversial 2020 National Security Law, also inform this move, Shih said, since HSBC makes almost all of its profit in that city.

“The bank has had to walk a tight line in the run-up to the Hong Kong national security law and in the aftermath of its passage,” Shih wrote. “HSBC’s eagerness to announce the formation of a party committee might be related to its desire to score points with the Chinese government.”

Source: Voice of America