Sepia
@Sepia@mander.xyz
- Submitted 39 minutes ago to globalnews@lemmy.zip | 0 comments
- Comment on Hong Kong student urging probe into deadly fire leaves police station 3 hours ago:
So can he demand accountability now? Or will this be again seen as ‘crossing the line’?
- Comment on Why China Can’t Sort Out Its Property Market Mess 7 hours ago:
Lemmygrad.ml [users] frequently share posts that support authoritarian regimes, as seen in their support for China, North Korea, and Russia. Moreover, their support can extend beyond backing these authoritarian regimes, even cheering on their violent actions, as evidenced by their posts on the Russian invasion of Ukraine …
Lemmygrad.ml … also serves as a hub for left-wing extremist subreddits that faced restrictions from Reddit. [There is] an increase in user activity and toxicity levels on Lemmygrad.ml following the migration of r/GenZedong and r/GenZhou. Furthermore, our analysis of the content revealed posts supporting authoritarian regimes, endorsing the Russian invasion of Ukraine, and exhibiting anti-Zionist and antisemitic rhetoric. Our findings underscore the importance of studying left-wing extremism on decentralized platforms alongside right-wing extremism to gain a comprehensive understanding of the full spectrum of political extremism on the Decentralized Web …
- Comment on Why China Can’t Sort Out Its Property Market Mess 9 hours ago:
The degree of Chinese propaganda in this thread is astonishing even for Lemmy. It’s almost hilarious how the reality (may it be intentional or unintentional) just to make the West look bad and China portraying as the big and only.
There is a lot wrong in ‘the West’ with housing, and countries offering sometime reasonable solutions, and sometimes not. But China has a long way to go also in this respect as the housing condition for a large portion of Chinese people is devastating.
As one research study (here is the archived link) says:
Depending on how one defines homelessness, China has either a very tiny homeless population or an extremely large one. Compared to other countries, there very few vagrants: people living on the streets of China’s cities without means of support. But if one counts the people who migrated to cities without a legal permit (hukou), work as day laborers without job security or a company dormitory, and live in overcrowded and unsanitary conditions on the edge of cities, there are nearly 300 million homeless.
Unlike the ‘communist’ agenda of China that is conveyed here in this thread, a study’s conclusion is:
Free market fundamentalism is responsible for the emergence of this sort of homelessness in China.
Another commentary concludes,
China is confronted with a housing paradox. The housing market is crashing, yet more than a fifth of the Chinese population is homeless.
It’s really is to find reliable and very good sources on homelessness in China.
It also tells you a lot that as anger mounts in Hong Kong over apartment fires, Beijing warns against ‘anti-China disruptors’ – (archived link).
But I understand that you cannot discuss this here. As some sort of projection of their own behaviour, they accuse others of ‘propaganda’ and ignore the facts. It is likely this why Lemmy is still a niche and, as long as this sentiment prevails, will never meaningfully grow imo.
- Submitted 23 hours ago to globalnews@lemmy.zip | 0 comments
- Submitted 1 day ago to globalnews@lemmy.zip | 0 comments
- Comment on Why China Can’t Sort Out Its Property Market Mess 1 day ago:
Oh, yes, sounds very impressive. But don’t make the mistake that ‘ownership’ in China means the same as in Western democracies.
In 1949, when the People’s Republic of China was founded, all land was nationalized. Although the (most) residents didn’t pay rent, the government owned all the land.
In 1980, Deng Xiaoping changed the law and formalized the ownership, but this didn’t change the fact that the land was -and sill is- owned by the state. Property rights in mainland China are some sort of ‘lease rights’ (IIRC 70 years for private property and 50 years for commercial property).
It is true that by this law, most of Chinese citizens indeed have been ending up with property/lease rights. But be aware that the government can revoke this right at any time for no reason as the government still owns the land.
- Comment on Why Hong Kong’s latest fire is so deadly—and not the city’s first 1 day ago:
Probably, I am not an expert in construction, but several reports (including this one) say there is a lack of security. Another one is economic struggle as the article also suggest. Many people wouldn’t live in these homes if they had a choice, but homelessness is on the rise in Hong Kong.
… “Every night on the streets is an emergency. This is a very wealthy city — but one in five at this moment are experiencing food insecurity,” ImpactHK founder Jeffrey Rotmeyer told Al Jazeera.
“These are scary times. We’ve seen the percentage of females on the street double [since the pandemic], and we’ve seen about a 25 percent increase overall. And we are seeing homeless communities pop up in new areas" …
- Submitted 1 day ago to globalnews@lemmy.zip | 3 comments
- Submitted 1 day ago to globalnews@lemmy.zip | 1 comment
- Comment on Why China Can’t Sort Out Its Property Market Mess 2 days ago:
No, it effects ‘ordinary’ Chinese people as many invested their life savings hoping to pay for a house or an apartment for themselves and their children. Their money is now gone for property that will never be built, or is half-build and’ll be finished.
As the article says:
Money flooded into real estate as the emerging middle class leapt upon what was one of the few safe investments available, pushing home prices up sixfold over the 15 years ending in 2022. … At its peak, the sector directly and indirectly accounted for about a quarter of domestic output and almost 80% of household assets.
The consequences are dire:
With household debt at a high of 145% of disposable income per capita at the end of 2023, homeowners are increasingly under financial pressure. The country’s residential mortgage delinquency ratio – which tracks overdue mortgage payments – jumped to the highest in four years as of late 2023. Some homeowners are being forced to sell their properties at a discounted rate, which is only exacerbating the problem … the situation could deteriorate further in 2026 as households struggle to repay mortgages and other loans.
The data for these inferences comes from official Chinese sources - which is, once again, a very bad sign given as China’s official statistics are ‘opaque’ to say the least. The article reads:
The property sector’s drag on inflation could even be greater than official data suggest [because] the methodology used to determine China’s official Consumer Price Index understates falling rents, and, by extension, the broader deflationary impact.
It could even be worse than the data suggests.
And it definitely effects a large number of Chinese people of the middle class, just like you and me.
- Submitted 2 days ago to globalnews@lemmy.zip | 0 comments
- Submitted 2 days ago to economics@lemmy.world | 1 comment
- Submitted 2 days ago to globalnews@lemmy.zip | 25 comments
- Submitted 6 days ago to earthscience@mander.xyz | 0 comments
- COP30: The ‘axis of obstruction’ — Saudi Arabia, Russia and China — blocked the Belém road map as climate experts fear the growth of an anti-action consensuswww.thetimes.com ↗Submitted 1 week ago to earthscience@mander.xyz | 0 comments
- Comment on Dutch court upholds asylum denial for US transgender woman 2 weeks ago:
A similar case recently happened in Germany, where the country’s authorities face heavy criticism after admitting that a 56-year-old Uyghur asylum-seeker was mistakenly put on a plane to China instead of to Turkey.
According to reports (one is here), the woman, Reziwanguli Baikeli, had fled China’s Xinjiang region in 2017, lived in Turkey for several years and joined her daughter in Germany in 2024. Uyghurs are recognised by Germany as a group at extreme risk of persecution; informal guidance says they should not be returned to China.
Experts call for Germany (and possibly the whole of Europe) for a federal “white list” of countries to which deportations are categorically barred, similar to policies already used in Sweden and the Netherlands.
- Comment on Taiwan’s foreign minister says closer ties with Israel align with the island’s interests 2 weeks ago:
Yeah, mainland China - the other China, so to say - shows a similar stance. Despite critical voices of Beijing regarding Israel’s war in Gaza, ties between China and Israel have in many ways proven resilient. Bilateral trade rose to USD 16.3 billion in 2024, up almost 12% from 2023, for example.
Despite Israel having banned Chinese suppliers from sensitive military procurement, commercial ties improved as trade data shows. In addition to U.S. companies, Chinese technology firms are a decisive supplier of Israel surveillance tech in Gaza and the West Bank (you’d easily find many reports on the web about that).
- Submitted 2 weeks ago to globalnews@lemmy.zip | 1 comment
- China's investment spree in UK gave it access to military-grade technology, report sayswww.bbc.com ↗Submitted 2 weeks ago to unitedkingdom@feddit.uk | 0 comments
- Submitted 2 weeks ago to globalnews@lemmy.zip | 18 comments
- Comment on Russia attacks Kyiv with fires, injuries, and ongoing strikes reported 2 weeks ago:
As an addition:
Russian drone slams into block of flats in deadly wave of strikes across Kyiv - [includes some short video]
A Russian drone has slammed into a block of flats in eastern Kyiv, killing six people and wounding dozens of others, during a wave of strikes throughout the Ukrainian capital.
- Comment on EU ministers agree customs fee to crack down on parcels from Chinese companies such as Shein and Temu 2 weeks ago:
There are many reports by consumer protection agencies across Europe and the world on toxic and dangerous products sold on Temu, Shein & Co (one is here, and, no, Chinese companies have their own supply chains and their own sweatshops, European companies that sold these unsafe products would immediately be closed by authorities).
- EU ministers agree customs fee to crack down on parcels from Chinese companies such as Shein and Temuwww.independent.ie ↗Submitted 2 weeks ago to globalnews@lemmy.zip | 3 comments
- Submitted 2 weeks ago to globalnews@lemmy.zip | 1 comment
- Comment on Spain’s Chinese Gamble: A Risk Europe Cannot Ignore 2 weeks ago:
As an addition:
European partners criticize Spain’s relationship with China as the Kings dine with Xi Jinping
Germany, France, Italy, and the Netherlands have shown their concerns towards the Asian country, an attitude and positioning that sharply contrasts with Spain’s approach
… “The Italian Minister of Economy, Giorgetti, already called on the European Union to adopt a united stance against China to curb the threat to our industry. A similar sentiment exists in Germany, where the government coalition is taking the lead in reviewing the trade policy between China and Germany. The Netherlands has made a decision regarding Nexperia, and France is considering measures against Shein,” these same sources elaborate …
Regarding the case of Shein, French authorities ordered the inspection of up to 200,000 packages from the company last week to check for possible violations of regulations, a measure intertwined with the Paris Prosecutor’s decision to initiate an investigation for “dissemination of images or representations of minors of a pornographic nature” affecting this same company, as well as the Chinese platforms AliExpress and Temu …
The European Commission prefers not to comment at this time. In the past, they were very critical of Pedro Sánchez’s government, especially when the Prime Minister visited China and requested not to impose tariffs on Chinese electric cars during EU-China negotiations …
- Submitted 2 weeks ago to globalnews@lemmy.zip | 1 comment
- Submitted 2 weeks ago to globalnews@lemmy.zip | 0 comments
- Comment on As U.S. and E.U. Retreat on Climate, China Takes the Leadership Role 2 weeks ago:
We could all hope that China would lead the world in climate change as the country is the world’s biggest polluter (with coal consumption still on the rise as I wrote just in another thread).
However, China’s is far away of any leadership when it comes to reduce carbon emission.
The scientists from the Climate Actions Tracker call China’s recent announcement to cut its greenhouse gas emissions by 7% to 10% by 2035 as ‘disappointing’ as China - given the country’s size and economy - would need to cut emissions by around 30% for the world to be on track to the Paris goal.
According to the scientists, no country is on track to Paris, but while the EU and Brazil’s climate actions are insufficient, China and India’s are considered highly insufficient.
So it doesn’t look like leadership.
- Comment on UK to advance targeted science cooperation with China 2 weeks ago:
That leads the UK in the wrong direction.
Contrary to that, the EU is set to ban Chinese universities from half of Horizon Europe, including health care and defense research in the 2026-27 research programme. Here is a paywalled report on it or the original EU Horizon draft paper (opens pdf) stating that, “Legal entities established in China are not eligible to participate in Innovation Actions in any capacity.”