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☆ Paw patrol: China’s most popular new police officer is a corgi
▼ + stars: | 2024-03-29 | by ( Jessie Yeung | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +3 min

CNN —China’s most popular new police officer is making waves on social media with his stubby legs, wide grin and wagging tail. Fuzai is a reserve police dog and started training when he was two months old, according to state media. Weifang public security bureau/DouyinSome of these peers are featured on Fuzai’s official account on Douyin – the Chinese version of TikTok - with the account run by Weifang police. Weifang public security bureau/DouyinAt the end of the line is Fuzai – strapped to the back of an officer, paws dangling, like a fuzzy backpack. The country’s police forces range from public security departments and neighborhood patrols to more heavy-handed state security and paramilitary forces as well as a highly secretive civilian spy agency.

Persons: CNN —, ”, pooch, Fuzai, –, Wang Yanan, emojis Organizations: CNN, corgi, Weibo, bloodhound, China Daily, Chinese Communist Party Locations: Shandong, China, …, Liaoning

☆ Exiled Chinese bloggers urged people back home to unfollow them, claiming police are checking individuals 'one by one'
▼ + stars: | 2024-02-27 | by ( Joshua Zitser | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +3 min

In separate posts, 2 Chinese bloggers in exile asked their social media followers to unfollow them. One of the dissidents, Li Ying, posted screenshots claiming his followers had been interrogated. AdvertisementTwo Chinese bloggers in exile have urged their followers in China to unfollow them, claiming that police are checking them "one by one" and even interrogating some individuals. Li's account has over 1.4 million followers, down about 200,000 from Sunday. An analysis of the documents by the Journal suggested that the firm, I-Soon, appeared to have a range of targets, including exiled Chinese dissidents.

Persons: Li Ying, —, Wang Zhi'an, Wang, Li, he'd Organizations: Service, NBC, YouTube, China Central Television, Beijing, Associated Press, AFP, NBC News, Street Locations: China, Japan, Italy

☆ Morning Bid: Stocks stall after VIX hits pre-COVID low
▼ + stars: | 2023-11-27 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +5 min

Traders work on the floor at the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) in New York City, U.S., November 17, 2023. As U.S. markets return in earnest from the long Thanksgiving weekend, Friday's shortened session threw up a remarkable milestone. Ten-year Treasury yields hovered just under 4.50% first thing, about 10 basis points up from Wednesday's intraday low. Deutsche Bank on Monday said it expected a whopping 175bp of Fed rate cuts in 2024 as a mild recession there hits - leaving the policy rate at just 3.63% at yearend. They do not reflect the views of Reuters News, which, under the Trust Principles, is committed to integrity, independence, and freedom from bias.

Persons: Brendan McDermid, Mike Dolan, Wall, Friday's, Jerome Powell, MSCI's, Christine Lagarde, Bernadette Organizations: New York Stock Exchange, REUTERS, Mike Dolan Global, Treasury, Federal Reserve, Fed, Deutsche Bank, Property, Zhongzhi Enterprise Group, Chaoyang Public Security, Health, Beijing, Exchange, Reuters, Beijing Stock Exchange, Dallas Fed, . Treasury, Central Bank, Sciences, Share, Graphics Reuters, Thomson Locations: New York City, U.S, China, yearend, Asia, European, Gaza, Beijing

☆ Beijing police launch investigation into troubled wealth manager Zhongzhi
▼ + stars: | 2023-11-25 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

The office building of Zhongrong International Trust, a trust company partially owned by Zhongzhi Enterprise Group, in Beijing, China August 22, 2023. REUTERS/Florence Lo Acquire Licensing RightsSHANGHAI, Nov 25 (Reuters) - Beijing police are investigating suspected crimes committed by Zhongzhi Enterprise Group, a leading Chinese wealth manager, according to a social media post published by the Chaoyang Public Security Bureau on Saturday. Zhongzhi did not immediately reply to an email request for comment after normal business hours on Saturday. Zhongzhi apologised to its investors in a letter issued on Wednesday that said it had total liabilities of about 420 billion yuan ($58 billion) to 460 billion yuan ($64 billion), compared to estimated total assets of 200 billion yuan. The post did not specify what crimes Zhongzhi or the individuals were suspected of having committed.

Persons: Florence Lo, Zhongzhi, Casey Hall, Mark Potter Organizations: International Trust, Zhongzhi Enterprise Group, REUTERS, Rights, Chaoyang Public Security, Thomson Locations: Beijing, China, China's

☆ SenseTime's former IP rights employee under investigation
▼ + stars: | 2023-09-28 | by ( Josh Ye | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +1 min

Hong Kong, Sept 28 (Reuters) - Chinese tech company SenseTime (0020.HK) said on Thursday a former employee of its intellectual property division is now under police investigation. Without elaborating on details, a SenseTime spokesperson told Reuters via messaging app WeChat, "a former employee of [the] intellectual property division is currently under investigation by the Public Security Bureau due to suspected commercial related case." The state-backed Shanghai Securities News said the suspect is a former executive director of intellectual property rights. The report added that the suspect is now subject to "mandatory measures" due to economic problems but it did not specify which economic problems are under investigation. Reporting by Josh Ye in Hong Kong, Ella Cao in Beijing and Meg Shen in Hong Kong.

Persons: SenseTime, Josh Ye, Ella Cao, Meg Shen, Jane Merriman, Ros Russell Organizations: HK, Public Security, Shanghai Securities News, Thomson Locations: Hong Kong, Beijing

☆ Huang Xueqin: Chinese activists expected to appear in secret trial as civil society crackdown deepens
▼ + stars: | 2023-09-21 | by ( Nectar Gan | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +5 min

Independent journalist and #MeToo activist Huang Xueqin and labor rights activist Wang Jianbing were detained by authorities in the southern city of Guangzhou in September 2021. Rights advocates say Huang and Wang are unlikely to receive a fair trial in a judicial system controlled by the party with a conviction rate above 99.9%. Wang Jianbing, a labor rights activist, was detained along with #MeToo activist Huang Xueqin in September 2021. #FreeXueBing/AP/FILE‘Isolated atoms’A close friend of Huang told CNN the journalist had suffered significant weight loss in detention and stopped menstruating for months. In the months following their detention, more than 70 friends and supporters of Huang and Wang were summoned by the police for questioning, according to supporters.

Persons: Huang Xueqin, Wang Jianbing, Huang, Wang, ”, William Nee, “ Huang, ” Nee, menstruating, Huang’s, –, “, it’s, ’, Sarah Brooks Organizations: Hong Kong CNN, Communist, People’s, CNN, Rights, Human, Guangzhou Public Security, University of Sussex, Authorities, Human Rights, Amnesty Locations: China, Hong Kong, Guangzhou, United Kingdom, “

☆ Workers Plow Through Great Wall of China, Leaving a Hole
▼ + stars: | 2023-09-05 | by ( Livia Albeck-Ripka | More About Livia Albeck-Ripka | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

Two workers have been detained in northern China after local authorities said they plowed through a section of the country’s Great Wall with an excavator, leaving a gaping hole. The security bureau said it was first notified of the hole in a section of wall, near the township of Yangqianhexiang, about 215 miles east of Beijing, on the afternoon of Aug. 24. Law enforcement officers rushed to the scene to find that a piece of the wall, believed to have been constructed by the Ming dynasty between the 14th and 17th centuries, had been severely “excavated and damaged by large-scale machinery,” the bureau said. The man, named in the release as Zheng, and the woman, named as Wang, are from the autonomous region of Inner Mongolia in the country’s north and were taken in for investigation, the bureau added. They have been charged with destroying a cultural relic, The China Daily, a state-owned media outlet, reported.

Persons: Zheng, Wang Organizations: Public Security Bureau Locations: China, Youyu, Yangqianhexiang, Beijing, Inner Mongolia

People sort items outside a supermarket, after the rains and floods brought by remnants of Typhoon Doksuri, in Beijing, China August 2, 2023. Zhuozhou borders Beijing, which was inundated with the most rainfall in 140 years between Saturday and early Wednesday, official data showed. Residents forced to leave their homes were temporarily resettled in high-rise buildings, but lacked access to electricity and water, local media reported. Many Zhuozhou residents took to social media to complain about how long rescue and recovery efforts were taking. Nearly 100 employees were trapped without food and water, and a toxic gas leaking from a neighbouring tape factory complicated rescue efforts, local media reported.

Persons: Doksuri, Tingshu Wang, Liz Lee, Ryan Woo, Ella Cao, Miral Organizations: REUTERS, Weibo, Global Times, Thomson Locations: Beijing, China, Tingshu Wang BEIJING, Zhuozhou, Paris, Hebei province, Hebei, Weibo, Yongding River, Shanghai

It was by a young Chinese pitch invader, eager to meet his hero, the seven-time winner of the Ballon d’Or. Videos that have gone viral on Chinese social media show the young fan leaping from the stands before sprinting toward the Argentine striker – who like him was wearing the number 10 jersey – and giving him a hug. A Chinese fan runs onto the pitch to hug soccer superstar Lionel Messi during a friendly match between Argentina and Australia at the Worker's Stadium in Beijing on June 15. Ng Han Guan/APWith the crowd cheering three security guards then give chase, the first of them falling over as the young fan evades his grasp. On Chinese social media, many users – football fans or otherwise – celebrated the young fan’s sprint across the grass pitch as a liberating moment.

Persons: Lionel Messi –, –, Messi, Lionel Messi, Ng Han Guan, Emiliano Martinez, ”, Thomas Peter, ” “ Messi, I’m, flailing, “ Organizations: Beijing CNN, Australia, Argentine, Workers, Global Times, Messi, Reuters, FIFA, De Football Association, Indonesia Locations: Beijing, Argentina, Australia, China, Jakarta

“Messi” soon became the top trending topic on Chinese social media platform Weibo, while video footage showed hundreds of fans swarming the team’s hotel entrance in the hope of catching a glimpse of their idol. Argentina’s pre-match training session was delayed for safety reasons Sunday after “outrageously passionate” fans made it impossible for the team to leave their hotel, Global Times reported, citing game organizers. One fan was so eager to meet Messi that he spent 10,000 yuan ($1,400) on rooms at multiple Beijing luxury hotels in the hope of seeing the star, Global TImes said. AFA/Handout/ReutersSeveral unofficial Weibo accounts also claimed to offer VIP stadium passes, front-row seats for the game and autographed Argentina jerseys at inflated prices. Argentina will next travel to Jakarta for a friendly against Indonesia on June 19, though it is unclear if Messi will join the squad for that game.

Persons: Hong Kong CNN — Lionel Messi, scammers, “ Messi, ” Messi, “ Messi ”, Argentina’s, “, Messi, ” Argentina's Lionel Messi, d’Or, Germain Organizations: Hong Kong CNN, Australia, Weibo, Global Times, Workers, Beijing, AFA, Reuters, Messi, Barcelona, Major League Soccer, Inter Miami, Paris Saint, Indonesia Locations: Hong Kong, Argentina, Beijing, China, United States, Jakarta

No one was present when Reuters visited the Hong Kong office of Mintz during business hours, with the doors locked and lights off. China's State Council Information Office, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the Hong Kong and Macau Affairs Office did not respond to Reuters requests for comment. The Hong Kong government said it did not comment on individual business decisions. Rights groups accuse Beijing of abuses against mainly Muslim Uyghurs in the western region of Xinjiang, including the mass use of forced labour. Reporting by James Pomfret in Hong Kong, Engen Than in Shanghai and Hong Kong Newsroom; Editing by Lincoln FeastOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

[1/3] The U.S. corporate due diligence firm Mintz Group's office is seen in Hong Kong, China, May 18, 2023. No one was present when Reuters visited the Hong Kong office of Mintz during business hours, with the doors locked and lights off. China's State Council Information Office, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the Hong Kong and Macau Affairs Office did not respond to Reuters requests for comment. The Hong Kong government said it did not comment on individual business decisions. Reporting by James Pomfret in Hong Kong, Engen Than in Shanghai and Hong Kong Newsroom; Editing by Lincoln FeastOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

Hong Kong CNN —Fang Bin, a retailer turned citizen journalist who documented the early outbreak of Covid-19 in Wuhan, has been released after more than three years detention in China, a family member told CNN. In one video, Fang, a Wuhan resident who sold clothing, showed hospital corridors crowded with patients and their desperate relatives. Rights groups had repeatedly called for Fang’s release and information about his case and of others who were also detained after sharing information about Wuhan outbreak. Both had reported on China’s initial Covid outbreak in Wuhan in early 2020. Authorities have never confirmed how many people had been detained or prosecuted in connection with sharing information on the pandemic.

"Since Xi Jinping took power in 2012, China has expanded the legal landscape for exit bans and increasingly used them, sometimes outside legal justification," the Safeguard Defenders report reads. Attention on the exit bans comes as China-U.S. tensions have risen over trade and security disputes. The Reuters analysis of records on exit bans, from China's Supreme Court database, shows an eight-fold increase in cases mentioning bans between 2016 and 2022. Most of the cases in the database referring to exit bans are civil, not criminal. Some activists say the wider use of exit bans reflects tighter security measures under President Xi.

The protests, unprecedented in President Xi Jinping's decade in power, began in late November in cities across China. They were suppressed by police within days but helped hasten the end of three years of tough COVID restrictions, sources have previously told Reuters. The Ministry of Public Security and the Beijing Public Security Bureau did not immediately respond to a request for comment. Human Rights Watch had reported the pair were among four protesters detained in December and charged with "picking quarrels and provoking trouble", which carries a sentence of up to five years. Reuters could not independently verify the total number of protesters who were detained by police or have been charged and remain in custody.

"The EU requested to the Chinese authorities their immediate and unconditional release," the spokesperson said. "China's ongoing crackdown on human rights activists and lawyers is a well-known EU concern, which we raise at all levels." Yu Wensheng, 55, is a human rights lawyer who last year completed a four-year prison sentence for "subversion of state power". He was among more than 300 rights lawyers and activists arrested in a 2015 crackdown. The EU delegation in Beijing said on Friday three other human rights lawyers, Wang Quanzhang, Wang Yu and Bao Longjun, had been placed under house arrest.

Four months later, 26-year-old Huang fled to Germany and decided to speak out in support of fellow demonstrators, some of whom remain in detention. "I feel like I need to speak up for Cao Zhixin and the other detained protesters... China has not commented officially on the protests, whether they triggered the end of the zero-COVID policy or subsequent detentions. He was then sat near the front of a police bus full of other detained protesters. "As long as one protester is still detained, the world cannot stop paying attention to the white paper movement."

CNN —Chinese police have detained 12 people over a hospital fire that killed 29 people, mostly elderly in-patients, in Beijing Tuesday, one of the deadliest fires in the Chinese capital in recent years. The blaze that engulfed an inpatient building of the Changfeng Hospital was caused by renovation work of its interior, where sparks from the construction ignited flammable paint, said Zhao Yang, an official at Beijing’s fire department, on Wednesday. The hospital director and construction workers were among 12 suspects held on suspicion of major negligence, said Sun Haitao, an official with the Beijing Public Security Bureau. As of Wednesday, 39 injured remain in hospital, with three in critical condition, said Li Ang, deputy director of the Beijing Municipal Heath Commission. One person was seen jumping from one level of the building to the lower terrace.

☆ US due diligence firm Mintz Group says staff detained in China after office raid
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-24 | by ( Michael Martina | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +3 min

WASHINGTON, March 23 (Reuters) - U.S. corporate due diligence firm Mintz Group said on Thursday its Beijing office was raided by authorities and five Chinese staff were detained, stoking worry among foreign companies in China just as its capital hosts an international economic forum. "We can confirm that Chinese authorities have detained the five staff in Mintz Group's Beijing office, all of them Chinese nationals, and have closed our operations there," the company said in an emailed statement to Reuters. "Mintz Group has not received any official legal notice regarding a case against the company and has requested that the authorities release its employees," the company said. 'RED ALERTS'As per Mintz Group's website, the Beijing office is its only one in mainland China. Western due diligence companies have gotten into trouble with Chinese authorities before.

☆ Reuters reporters' online accounts faked to approach China activists
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-28 | by ( James Pomfret | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +5 min

[1/3] The Chinese flag is seen across the Victoria Harbour during sunset, in Hong Kong, China October 12, 2022. The impersonator or impersonators were seeking information about a group linked to protests the same month against China's strict COVID-19 controls, according to screenshots and several accounts provided to Reuters. An Australia-based Chinese activist and dissident artist known as Badiucao first disclosed the impersonations on Saturday on Twitter. "Hello everyone," an imposter wrote in a Telegram chatroom, according to screenshots seen by Reuters that were provided by Badiucao. Telegram did not respond to Reuters requests for comment on the impersonations of the journalists' accounts on that platform.

Though the reasons for Bao's disappearance are unclear, his case follows a series of incidents in which high-profile executives in China have gone missing with little explanation during a sweeping anti-corruption campaign spearheaded by President Xi Jinping. China Renaissance said on Thursday in a stock exchange filing that it had no information that Bao's "unavailability" was related to its business, and that its operations were continuing normally. A spokesperson for Beijing-based China Renaissance declined to comment on specific details and referred Reuters to its exchange filing made on Thursday. "What happened to China Renaissance highlighted the key man risk with some Chinese companies," Li Nan, professor of Finance at Shanghai Jiaotong University, said. key man risk generally refers to the threat posed to a company from over-reliance on a limited number of personnel for decision making.

☆ Police in China arrest gang who laundered $1.7 billion via crypto even after Beijing's crackdown
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-12 | by ( Arjun Kharpal | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +2 min

The gang are said to have used various different cryptocurrency trading accounts to convert the money back into Chinese yuan. Police in China arrested 63 people accused of laundering as much as 12 billion Chinese yuan ($1.7 billion) via cryptocurrency, amid Beijing's intense crackdown on the trading of digital coins. The authorities said more than 130 million Chinese yuan worth of proceeds was confiscated from the gang. Chinese users have typically turned to overseas-based exchanges to trade cryptocurrencies, but this became harder as the crackdown from authorities intensified last year. The authorities said two of the suspects had fled to Bangkok, Thailand, but were persuaded to return to China.

☆ Covid protests escalate in Guangzhou as China lockdown anger boils
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-30 | by ( ) www.nbcnews.com time to read: +6 min

TwitterSocial media posts said the clashes took place on Tuesday night and were caused by a dispute over lockdown curbs. China Dissent Monitor, run by U.S. government-funded Freedom House, estimated at least 27 demonstrations took place across China from Saturday to Monday. In Zhengzhou, the site of a big Foxconn factory making Apple iPhones that has been the scene of worker unrest over Covid, officials announced the “orderly” resumption of businesses, including supermarkets, gyms and restaurants. Data on Wednesday showed China’s manufacturing and services activity for November posting the lowest readings since Shanghai’s two-month lockdown began in April. Chinese stocks were steady, with markets weighing endemic economic weakness against hopes that the public pressure could push China to eventually reopen.

Two protesters told Reuters that callers identifying themselves as Beijing police officers asked them to report to a police station on Tuesday with written accounts of their activities on Sunday night. "We are all desperately deleting our chat history," said another person who witnessed the Beijing protest and declined to be identified. Simmering discontent with stringent COVID prevention policies three years into the pandemic ignited into protests in cities thousands of miles apart over the weekend. Officials say the COVID policy has kept the death toll in the thousands, avoiding the millions of deaths elsewhere. In an editorial that did not mention the protests, People's Daily, the Party's official newspaper, urged citizens to "unswervingly implement" COVID policies.

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