Semua Kabar

Dong Jingwei, head of Beijing’s Office for Safeguarding National Security in the city, calls for vigilance at event to mark fifth anniversary of law

Beijing’s national security chief in Hong Kong has called for vigilance against “danger and chaos” lurking even in times of peace and stability, while pledging to work with the local government to crack down on such threats.

The remarks by Dong Jingwei, the head of Beijing’s Office for Safeguarding National Security in Hong Kong, were delivered after a flag-raising ceremony on Monday morning to mark the anniversary of the implementation of the national security law in 2020.

No 2 city official Eric Chan Kwok-ki, security minister Chris Tang Ping-keung and police chief Joe Chow Yat-ming were among 150 people who attended the event.

Dong said that Hong Kong society had bid farewell to turmoil and had restored stability in the past five years, with the domestic security law enacted in March last year further strengthening the legal system for safeguarding national security.

He added that the legislation also safeguarded the legitimate rights of investors both at home and abroad, and continuously reinforced Hong Kong’s unique advantages.

“Hong Kong’s transition from chaos to stability, and from stability to prosperity, could not have been successful without the strong leadership of the central government, the diligence of the city’s governing team and the concerted efforts of the Hong Kong people,” he said.

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Membership rose to 100.27 million in 2024, official data shows, but rate of growth remains low as party seeks to ‘get the right people’

In keeping with tradition, the membership data for the previous year was released a day ahead of the July 1 celebrations marking the party’s founding in 1921.

According to the COD, the party had 100.27 million members by the end of 2024, a net increase of 1.09 million, or 1.1 per cent. That compares with 1.2 per cent growth in 2023 and 1.4 per cent in 2022, indicating continued slowing.

China’s ruling party continues to be the world’s No 2 political party by membership strength, after India’s ruling Bharatiya Janata Party – which claimed to have crossed 140 million members last week.

As of September 2024, the Democratic and Republican parties in the United States had 45.1 million and 36 million registered voters respectively, ranking them as the world’s fifth and sixth largest political parties by membership.

Unlike registered voters in Western political systems, who may only have a loose affiliation with their endorsed political party, including casting votes and making occasional donations, Communist Party members in China are subjected to much tighter regulations. This includes membership fees of up to 2 per cent of their monthly pay, which goes into the party funds, and regular attendance at party meetings and basic organisational “cell” activities.

A total of 42 companies raised US$13.5 billion on the main board of the Hong Kong stock exchange during the first half, LSEG data shows

A total of 42 companies raised US$13.5 billion on the main board of the Hong Kong stock exchange during the first half, according to data released on Monday by the London Stock Exchange Group (LSEG). Nasdaq was second with US$8.85 billion, while the New York Stock Exchange ranked third with US$7.52 billion, according to LSEG data.

“This resurgence has been supported by a substantial increase in active participation from international investors and significant Southbound inflows, further enhancing the market’s overall appeal,” Ho said. “A key factor sustaining this high level of activity is the robust post-listing performance, [where] the average IPO investors could enjoy a return exceeding 30 per cent.”

Hong Kong jumped 12 spots in the first six months from a year earlier, capping the best first half since 2021, when proceeds surpassed US$30.28 billion, before the city’s stock market went into a deep freeze in a post-pandemic economic slump.

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China’s first 3-on-3 autonomous AI robot football match kicks off

The first autonomous AI robot football match to be held in China kicked off on June 28 in Beijing. A Tsinghua University team beat a team from China Agricultural University 5-3.

Cliffside figure which looks like Japanese cartoon superhero was created by artist who learned how to sculpt in space of just two months

A giant stone statue called “Ultraman Grotto” which was crafted by a man in China has captivated social media and triggered an official investigation.

The 2.8 metre-high sculpture has a head like the Japanese superhero Ultraman and a body that adopts a sitting Buddha gesture.

It is located on a cliff face in Anyue County of Sichuan province, in southwestern China, the news outlet Shangyou News reported.

In early June, a blogger surnamed Zhou released a video introducing the sculpture which he spent two months creating at a cost of 3,000 yuan (US$400).

He said he did all the work, from putting up the scaffold, carving the gigantic hole with an electric hammer and crafting the sculpture with professional tools.

Zhou learned his trade from a local craftsman during a one-month stint under him at the beginning of this year.

He then began his Ultraman project as he wanted to leave “some trails”.

Researchers from China and US found that a drug commonly used to treat diabetes slowed down progression of hearing loss in macaques

The researchers also found that it was possible to slow down age-related hearing loss in the monkeys by using a common diabetes medication called metformin, which they said had potential as a clinical treatment for the condition.

“Our study provides an in-depth characterisation of cellular and molecular ageing patterns in primate cochleae at an unprecedented single-cell resolution,” the team said in a paper published in the peer-reviewed journal Nature Aging on June 20.

“These findings lay the foundation for the development of new treatments for presbycusis and provide the possibility of personalised medicine,” said study author Wang Si, a professor at the Capital Medical University-affiliated Xuanwu Hospital in Beijing.

The recruitment highlights the rising global recognition of Chinese talent in AI development

Meta’s hiring of Zhao Shengjia, Ren Hongyu, Yu Jiahui and Bi Shuchao, reported by US tech news outlet The Information, was partially confirmed by Alexandr Wang, head of Meta’s AI unit and former CEO of Scale AI, in a social media post over the weekend.

Wang expressed enthusiasm for collaborating with the four researchers “towards superintelligence”. Meta and OpenAI did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

As of Monday, the researchers had kept their OpenAI titles in their social media profiles. The recruitment, also reported by Bloomberg News, comes as Meta founder and CEO Mark Zuckerberg invests billions of dollars to attract top talent.

According to OpenAI founder and CEO Sam Altman, Meta has offered bonuses of up to US$100 million to entice engineers to switch companies. Earlier this month, Meta acquired a 49 per cent stake in Scale AI for US$14.2 billion to bring Wang on board.

The hiring highlights the depth of Chinese talent at leading American AI firms. All four researchers share a similar academic trajectory, having completed their undergraduate education at prestigious Chinese universities before pursuing further studies in the US, according to their LinkedIn profiles and social media accounts.

Dozens of localities violated conditions of receiving funds, such as for large-scale equipment renewals and consumer goods trade-ins, top audit watchdog finds

China’s top audit watchdog has revealed that tens of billions of yuan in funding were misused by localities amid a roll-out of stimulus measures and flagship projects that the nation adopted last year, as Beijing injected trillions to boost China’s economy.

The revelation – resulting from an assessment of the central government’s budget execution last year, as well as of other fiscal revenues and expenditures in 2024 – was spelled out in a report submitted by National Audit Office auditor general Hou Kai to the top legislature last week.

For the country’s key stimulus package, featuring subsidies for large-scale equipment renewals and consumer goods trade-ins, nearly 20 billion yuan (US$2.8 billion) was fraudulently claimed or misappropriated, according to the disclosed data report.

This includes nearly 3.8 billion yuan that was fraudulently claimed under the programme last year. For example, Xiamen University applied and got approval for 1.7 million yuan for new treadmills and barbells for its gymnasium in the name of “advanced teaching and tech equipment”.

Meanwhile, more than 15 billion yuan was misused during implementation, the report said, with four provinces using 7.06 billion yuan to cover basic public spending – from civil-service wages to essential social welfare – or other unrelated projects, and six provinces falsely recording 8.3 billion yuan as spent. Some enterprises were also involved in subsidy fraud, it added.