China state media blames Hong Kong protests on 'lawlessness'

SHANGHAI - Protests in Hong Kong over planned new extradition laws with China are "hammering" the city's reputation, with outbreaks of "lawlessness" undermining rule of law, Chinese state media said in editorials published on Thursday.

Hong Kong riot police and protesters braced for possible further clashes on Thursday after a day of violence over the extradition bill that would allow people to be sent to mainland China for trial.

Police fired rubber bullets, tear gas and pepper spray in a series of skirmishes to clear demonstrators from around the city's legislature. It was some of the worst violence in Hong Kong since Britain handed it back to Chinese rule in 1997.

The Hong Kong Hospital Authority said 72 people had been hospitalized by 10 p.m. on Wednesday.

The English-language China Daily said the new amendments were in line with international conventions but "the opposition camp and its foreign masters seem willing to oppose it for their own purposes at the expense of the city's rule of law, public safety and justice."

"It is lawlessness that will hurt Hong Kong, not the proposed amendments to its fugitive law," it said.

The state-owned tabloid The Global Times blamed "radical opposition forces" and "the Western forces behind them" for hyping up and politicizing the amendments.

"Playing with uncontrolled street politics is to push Hong Kong to backwardness and disturbance," it said. "This is not a wise direction for Hong Kong."

Hong Kong has been rocked by three nights of violence since a protest on Sunday drew what organizers said was more than a million people.

source: news.abs-cbn.com

Trading blows: Canada next in China's crosshairs?

BEIJING - Canada's arrest of a top executive of Chinese telecom giant Huawei has put the country in the crosshairs of Beijing, which has warned of "grave consequences" over the case.

China's foreign ministry issued the warning after it summoned Canada's ambassador on Saturday and called for the release of Huawei's chief financial officer, Meng Wanzhou, who was held on a US warrant on charges related to alleged sanctions-breaking dealings with Iran.

While the ministry did not spell out what the consequences might be, Beijing has long used economic measures to punish countries that offend it.

AFP takes a look at what Canada could face, and what other nations have endured in the past:

China's state-run Global Times, a nationalist tabloid, cited experts as saying the consequences may include trade sanctions, a degradation in bilateral ties and fewer visits to Canada by Chinese tourists and businesspeople.

Canada exported goods worth US$18.2 billion to China last year, and it would be "very easy" for Beijing to shut down key energy and agricultural products with bans or boycotts, said Shaun Rein, the founder of Shanghai-based China Market Research Group.

The spat could also endanger exploratory talks on a free trade agreement between Ottawa and Beijing that have been ongoing for two years.

"I think the free trade agreement is definitely in a precarious situation, because Canada needs it with China more than China needs it with Canada, economically," Rein said.

China could also hit back by detaining an executive from a large Canadian company, Rein added.

Last year, after Seoul agreed to deploy a US missile defense system that Beijing considered a threat to its own military capability, Beijing banned Chinese tour groups from going to South Korea.

South Korean retail giant Lotte Group, which provided land for the THAAD system, became a target of Chinese nationalist sentiment, as online shoppers and internet trolls launched a boycott and protestors gathered in front of stores, costing Lotte hundreds of millions of dollars.

Several Chinese companies also joined the boycott and Chinese authorities closed nearly two dozen Lotte retail stores across the country, citing safety regulations.

In 2010, China froze ties with Norway and suspended talks on a bilateral free trade deal after the Nobel Committee awarded the Peace Prize to jailed Chinese dissident Liu Xiaobo.

The spat hit Norway's salmon producers hard, with exports to China plummeting in following years.

Relations returned to normal six years later, after the Norwegian government said that it fully respects China's development path and social system, and pledged not to support actions that undermine Beijing's core interests.

More recently, Taiwan has experienced a sharp drop in mainland tourists as cross-strait relations have worsened under President Tsai Ing-wen, whose party traditionally advocates independence from China.

In contrast with a boom in mainland tourists under her Beijing-friendly predecessor Ma Ying-jeou, the island suffered a 42 percent drop after Tsai took office in 2016.

Tourism operators attributed the decline to a more negative portrayal of Taiwan in Chinese media, along with scaled-back promotion of tours by major Chinese travel agencies.

source: news.abs-cbn.com

China preparing list of retaliatory tariffs on US imports - Global Times

BEIJING - China will soon announce a list of retaliatory tariffs on United States exports to China to counter an expected announcement from the United States of proposed new tariffs on Chinese imports, the Global Times said Wednesday.

The Chinese list will target a large number of major U.S. imports to China, said the English-language editorial.

The widely-read state run Global Times is run by the ruling Communist Party's official People's Daily, although its stance does not necessarily equate with Chinese government policy.

Trade tensions between the two countries flared last week after US President Donald Trump imposed tariffs on steel and aluminium imports and targeted China by announcing plans for tariffs on up to $60 billion of Chinese goods.

Alarm over a possible trade war between the world's two largest economies has chilled financial markets as investors anticipated dire consequences should trade barriers go up due to Trump's bid to cut the US deficit with China.

Markets are now waiting for the US to publish a list of Chinese products that could be targeted with additional tariffs after a US inquiry found China guilty of intellectual property theft and unfair trade.

"Compared to China's list, the US list hurts itself more than China. The tougher the move, the stronger the impact on Washington," said the Global Times in its editorial.

"This will deal a heavy blow to Washington that aggressively wields the stick of trade war and will make the US pay a price for its radical trade policy toward China," the tabloid outlet said.

The Global Times said the United States was naive to think it could make China agree to unreasonable demands as China's economy is strong and stable, while it has "weathered bluster before from previous US administrations".

(Reporting by Elias Glenn; Editing by Michael Perry)

source: news.abs-cbn.com

Apple stock extends losses after China warning on Trump

SAN FRANCISCO - Apple's stock extended recent losses on Monday after a warning that iPhone sales could suffer if President-elect Donald Trump follows through on campaign threats to impose new tariffs on China.

Apple is among several major technology stocks, including Amazon.com, Facebook and Alphabet, selling off since Tuesday's election as investors shift funds into financial and public works companies seen benefiting from deregulation and infrastructure spending under President-elect Trump.

In a continuation of that trend, the Cupertino, California company's stock fell 2.5 percent on Monday, bringing its loss since Tuesday's election to almost 5 percent, compared to the S&P 500's 1.16 percent advance.

Adding to concern for Apple investors, an op-ed published in the China government-backed Global Times on Sunday warned of "tit-for-tat" retaliation should Trump follow through on a campaign pledge to impose 45-percent tariffs on all imports from China.

"A batch of Boeing orders will be replaced by Airbus. US auto and iPhone sales in China will suffer a setback, and US soybean and maize imports will be halted," the op-ed said.

China has already become a disappointment for Apple, failing to deliver rapid growth that the company hoped would make up for slower iPhone sales in the United States and other mature markets.

Revenue from China slumped 30 percent in Apple's September quarter, worse than the Americas' 7 percent decline.

Apple's China sales could be hurt by potential trade conflicts as well as the country's weakening currency, said Rosenblatt Securities analyst Jun Zhang by email. He said he believes China iPhone sales fell in October, even after fixing supply issues affecting the iPhone 7 Plus.

Synovus Trust Company Senior Portfolio Manager Daniel Morgan, who owns $33 million worth of Apple shares, warned not to read too much into Trump's campaign trail threats against China, at least in the near term.

"You just don't just jump in and start rewriting trade agreements," Morgan said.

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