China Ramps Up Coal Power Despite Carbon Neutral Pledges
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Certain non-Tesla vehicles in China can now charge at selected Superchargers, the company said Tuesday. The expanded access will also be available at certain destination charging points, which are wall connectors available in public locations. To start, 10 Supercharging stations across Beijing and Shanghai, as well as 120 destination charge points in 25 provinces and […]
Tesla expands non-Tesla Supercharger access to China by Rebecca Bellan originally published on TechCrunch
On April 24th, 2023, reports circulated that Blizzard Entertainment was being sued by former Chinese publishing partner NetEase after servers shutdown in January when the two failed to reach a continuation agreement. However, a day later, it turns out that NetEase was in fact not suing the company — instead, as reported by PC Gamer, the suit is being brought by a single individual who is known to be a serial litigant with no history with NetEase. It appears the court documents listened NetEase erroneously; the company does not have anything to do with the lawsuit. Originally, MMO-focused gaming website Wowhead noticed the suit.
Since this story was originally published, those court documents have been re-published to reflect that the suits are coming from a Yang Jun; all mentions of NetEase have been removed.
“We haven’t received the lawsuit yet, but we are confident we aren’t in breach of any licensing agreements. The terms NetEase appears to be complaining about reflect standard industry practice and have been mutually-beneficial for years,” an Activision rep wrote in a statement to Engadget prior to the discovery that NetEase was not involved in the lawsuit. “While this persistent campaign by one former partner is disappointing and puzzling, it’s important to note that we have enjoyed nearly two decades of positive experiences operating in China, and remain committed to serving players and protecting their interests.”
Blizzard and NetEase were successful partners for the past 14 years before negotiations broke down to renew the long-term licensing agreement. This led to a complete cessation of all Blizzard games and services in the region, including popular properties like World of Warcraft, Overwatch 2, Starcraft and Diablo III, among others. Millions of Chinese players lost access to their accounts and related data. Some started fresh with new accounts in other regions, but most (112 million people) opted for a refund.
The agreement did not end amicably, with reports of NetEase staffers tearing down the Blizzard offices and livestreaming the destruction of a World of Warcraft statue. NetEase’s president of global investment and partnership, Simon Zhu, also seemed to call out a high-ranking Blizzard staffer as a “jerk” in a LinkedIn post. Despite the seeming animosity, though, the lawsuit does not come from NetEase.
Update, 4/24/23, 3:30PM ET: This story and its headline have been updated to indicate that this lawsuit hasn’t been confirmed yet, as Activision itself nor Engadget has seen a copy of the lawsuit yet.
Update, 4/25/23, 11:30AM ET: A full statement provided by Activision has been added to the story.
Update, 4/25/23, 2:35PM ET: This story and its headline has been updated to reflect the recent development that NetEase was erroneously named in this lawsuit.
This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/china-court-documents-incorrectly-showed-activision-was-being-sued-by-former-partner-netease-183534200.html?src=rss
FOREIGN Secretary James Cleverly will reportedly warn of a new Cold War with China as he urges Beijing to come clean about its “biggest military build-up in peacetime”.
In a set-piece address to be delivered at Mansion House in London today, he will urge Beijing to be open about its intent behind its military expansion, the Telegraph reported.
China is said to be building up its military forces and is expected to have 1,500 nuclear warheads by 2035[/caption]
Foreign Secretary James Cleverly, seen here in March, will air his concerns in a Mansion House speech today[/caption]
However, Mr Cleverly will also argue Britain must continue to engage with China and it would be a betrayal of British interests to isolate the nation.
He will say: “At this moment, China is carrying out the biggest military build-up in peacetime history.
“I urge China to be equally open about the doctrine and intent behind its military expansion, because transparency is surely in everyone’s interests and secrecy can only increase the risk of tragic miscalculation.”
He will add: “It would be clear and easy – perhaps even satisfying – for me to declare a new Cold War and say that our goal is to isolate China.”
“Clear, easy, satisfying – and wrong. Because it would be a betrayal of our national interest and a wilful misunderstanding of the modern world.”
China is expanding its nuclear missile silos and the Pentagon believes at current pace it will probably have a stockpile of 1,500 nuclear warheads by 2035.
The speech comes amid growing tensions with Beijing over fears it will launch a bid to take over Taiwan, just as Russia has tried to do in Ukraine.
Earlier this month, experts raised fears China had been cutting Taiwan’s internet cables as part of a “dry run” in attempts to terrorise the country ahead of a possible invasion.
Beijing has been accused of deploying its “dark fleet” of spy ships disguised as cargo vessels or fishing boats to carry out the attacks.
The self-governing island is regarded by China as being part of its territory and has vowed to re-unite it with the mainland by force if necessary.
Recent months have seen an upsurge in Chinese military activity around Taiwan with warplanes and ships simulating sealing it off.
But beneath the radar and away from its bellicose threats and sabre rattling, China has been preparing the ground for the isolation and ultimate capture of Taiwan.
Residents of the Taiwanese islands of Matsu, which are just 10 miles from the mainland, recently found that the internet cables connecting to Taiwan proper had been cut – again.
A Chinese fishing boat and a cargo ship seen lurking in the area were fingered as suspects for what would have been the 27th such incident.
Rick Fisher, an expert on China’s military from the International Assessment and Strategy Center, said the cutting internet cables is a key part of any invasion strategy.
“In order to achieve an effective blockade of Taiwan and to maximize psychological pressure to force an early surrender, the severing of undersea communication cables would be a very high priority for the early stages of a Chinese invasion.
“Any pre-war cutting of undersea communication cables to Taiwan’s offshore islands would constitute practice for the People’s Liberation Army.
“There is considerable military value for China in cutting undersea communication cables from Taiwan’s offshore islands near the coast of China, as they host valuable Taiwanese intelligence gathering sensors.”
An investigation in 2021 found evidence that China’s state-owned fishing fleet maybe a front for intelligence operations.
The Chinese military’s DF-41 intercontinental ballistic missiles[/caption]
Chinese soldiers assembling during military training in the Xinjiang region[/caption]
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On Monday, the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of New York alleged that the Chinese government used all sorts of techniques to harass and spy on Chinese dissidents living in the United States. This included a massive bot farm on Twitter, harassing dissidents on Zoom calls, and even physically setting…
The two-count complaint charges 34 MPS officers with conspiracy to transmit interstate threats and conspiracy to commit interstate harassment. All the defendants are believed to reside in the PRC, and they remain at large. As alleged, the officers worked with Beijing’s MPS bureau and are or were assigned to an elite task force called the “912 Special Project Working Group” (the Group). The purpose of the Group is to target Chinese dissidents located throughout the world, including in the United States. […] The complaint alleges how members of the Group created thousands of fake online personas on social media sites, including Twitter, to target Chinese dissidents through online harassment and threats. These online personas also disseminated official PRC government propaganda and narratives to counter the pro-democracy speech of the Chinese dissidents. As alleged, for example, Group members created and maintained the fake social media accounts through temporary email addresses, posted official PRC government content, and interacted with other online users to avoid the appearance that the Group accounts were “flooding” a given social media platform. The Group tracks the performances of members in fulfilling their online responsibilities and rewards Group members who successfully operate multiple online personas without detection by the social media companies who host the platforms or by other users of the platforms.
The investigation also uncovered official MPS taskings to Group members to compose articles and videos based on certain themes targeting, for example, the activities of Chinese dissidents located abroad or the policies of the U.S. government. As alleged, the defendants also attempted to recruit U.S. persons to act as unwitting agents of the PRC government by disseminating propaganda or narratives of the PRC government. On several occasions, the defendants used online personas to contact individuals assessed to be sympathetic and supportive of the PRC government’s narratives and asked these individuals to disseminate Group content. In addition, Group members took repeated affirmative actions to have Chinese dissidents and their meetings removed from the platform of Company-1. For example, Group members disrupted a dissident’s efforts to commemorate the Tiananmen Square Massacre through a videoconference by posting threats against the participants through the platform’s chat function. In another Company-1 videoconference on the topic of countering communism organized by a PRC dissident, Group members flooded the videoconference and drowned out the meeting with loud music and vulgar screams and threats directed at the pro-democracy participants. “These cases demonstrate the lengths the PRC government will go to silence and harass U.S. persons who exercise their fundamental rights to speak out against PRC oppression, including by unlawfully exploiting a U.S.-based technology company,” said Assistant Attorney General Matthew G. Olsen of the Justice Department’s National Security Division. “These actions violate our laws and are an affront to our democratic values and basic human rights.”
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In an 89-page complaint unsealed on Monday, the Justice Department alleges 34 current and former members of China’s 912 Special Project Working Group carried out a multi-year campaign to harass critics of Xi Jinping’s regime and discredit American policies. The task force, part of China’s domestic security agency, created thousands of fake social media profiles, including on Twitter and Facebook, to target Chinese dissidents in the US.
Judging from screenshots shared by the Justice Department, many of the profiles did not have more than a dozen accounts following them, but a common thread among them is that they tried to pass as authentic American voices. As The Wall Street Journal points out, one account claimed to be “Susan Miller,” a woman from New York. Another said they were “Julie Torres,” a native of Wisconsin. According to the Justice Department, China’s Ministry of Public Security tracked the performance of the agents involved in the operation and rewarded those who successfully ran multiple online personas without being detected by Twitter and Facebook.
In addition to targeting Chinese dissidents, the group, taking a page from Russia’s disinformation playbook, sought to discredit the US government by exploiting divisions among the American public. For instance, it spread disinformation about George Floyd, the Black Man whose murder by Minneapolis police in 2020 sparked Black Lives Matter protests across the country. The group also amplified Russian propaganda about the war in Ukraine.
“As alleged, the PRC government deploys its national police and the 912 Special Project Working Group not as an instrument to uphold the law and protect public safety, but rather as a troll farm that attacks persons in our country for exercising free speech in a manner that the PRC government finds disagreeable, and also spreads propaganda whose sole purpose is to sow divisions within the United States,” said US attorney Breon Peace, referring to the acronym for the People’s Republic of China.
According to the Justice Department, all 34 of the agents remain at large. This isn’t the first time the US has detailed an effort by China to target overseas dissidents. At the end of last year, US Attorney General Merrick Garland detailed a case involving a multi-year campaign by Chinese operatives to force a US resident to return to China.
This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/doj-alleges-china-used-a-troll-farm-to-target-chinese-government-critics-in-the-us-201403325.html?src=rss