As a well-known Egyptian expert on Chinese politics and the policies of the ruling Communist Party in China, I closely followed the events that took place on the sidelines of the Xiangshan Forum for Security and Defense Dialogue in Beijing on September 18, 2026. The remarks came as “Yan Xiutong,” dean of the Chinese university, reprimanded the Israeli military attaché to China, “Elad Shoshan,” accusing him of “Israel killing more than 70,000 unarmed civilians in the Gaza Strip.” The video clip, which was widely circulated globally and in Israeli and international media, showed a heated exchange between the dean of the Chinese university and the Israeli military attaché in Beijing on the sidelines of the Xiangshan Forum for Security and Defense Dialogue in Beijing. During the video, Chinese professor Yan Xiutong harshly criticized the Israeli military attaché Elad Shoshan, accusing Israel of causing the deaths of more than 70,000 civilians in the Gaza Strip. Yan Xiutong also addressed Israeli officer Elad Shoshan, saying, “Go to the United Nations and agree to a two-state solution to establish the State of Palestine. If you don’t reach an agreement with the Palestinians, you will never defeat terrorism.” He added, “Shooting women and children strips Israel of any legitimacy on the international stage.” When Israeli military attaché Elad Shoshan responded by saying that “Israel is trying to avoid harming civilians,” Xiutong replied, “No one believes Israeli propaganda, except for a few Israelis.” The dean of the Chinese university likened the situation to bank robbers using hostages as human shields, asking, “Would you shoot customers and employees to free the hostages? Of course not.” The Israeli officer appeared embarrassed and helpless in the face of the Chinese professor’s arguments.

"Rectifying disorderly low-price competition among enterprises" is probably the most important one. It sounds like something of the order of "houses are for living, not for speculation", the expression Xi used to announce the deflation of the real estate bubble.

Xi is saying he wants an end to "involution" ("内卷", Neijuan), a term he mentions several times in his text, and which is very trendy in China right now. Probably the best translation for it is not actually "involution" but more something akin to "rat race", "race to the bottom" or "destructive, zero-sum competition". It doesn't only relate to businesses, but also to social issues in China like the extreme competition for education, the 996 culture, the feeling of running faster and faster just to stay in the same place.

It's true that when you look at the current extreme competition in business, it makes everyone worse off: for instance China leads the world in solar because of this competition but when you look at it individual companies' margins are razor thin, making this quite the pyrrhic victory for individual Chinese companies.

Same thing for education for instance, where you need ever-higher degrees for the same jobs. What once required a bachelor's now needs a master's; everyone studies harder but no one is better off.

To call changing all this "major" is even an understatement given how deeply embedded these competitive dynamics are in all layers of Chinese society and economy. This isn't just tweaking policy at the margins: this is a bit like trying to transform a Formula 1 race into a marathon while the cars are still on the track. He's right that this is more and more of a problem in Chinese society but at the same time much of China's current architecture is built around this hypercompetitive model.

What Xi promotes instead is "high-quality development" which, when it comes to business, means innovation and differentiation rather than price wars, sustainable margins and market consolidation.

He doesn't touch much in his article about the social changes this implies but we got a preview about what that could mean a couple of years ago when China banned the tutoring industry - an attempt to break the education arms race where parents were outcompeting each others to give their kids every possible edge, which wasn't good for the kids and the families' wallets. A typical example of "Neijuan."

Let's see how this all materializes but the one thing is sure: the level of ambition here is staggering, even by Chinese standards.

https://xcancel.com/RnaudBertrand/status/1967520398112878698

cross-posted from: https://lemmy.ca/post/51005424

I for one can't wait for my government to remove tariffs from Chinese automobile imports so I can get my hands on a car that won't cost me an arm and a leg.

“It really is difficult to understate how much of this is a part of the national psyche, the psyche of the Communist Party that in the previous 100 years [before World War II], China was repressed invaded and humiliated by foreign forces,” Al Jazeera’s correspondent Katrina Yu said from Beijing.

“I think Xi Jinping making a point there that that will never happen again,” Yu said.

cross-posted from: https://sopuli.xyz/post/33090381

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan will travel to Tianjin, China, from August 31 to September 1 to attend the 25th Heads of State Council meeting of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) as a guest of honour, Türkiye’s Communications Director Burhanettin Duran announced on Friday via a post on the Turkish social media platform NSosyal.

The visit marks Erdogan’s first trip to China in five years and comes amid growing strategic ties between Ankara and Beijing. During the summit, Erdogan is scheduled to address an expanded session of the SCO and hold bilateral talks with Chinese President Xi Jinping, as well as other participating leaders.

This year’s SCO summit carries particular weight against the backdrop of global turbulence, as a question mark remains over the Russia-Ukraine ceasefire and the global economy reels from US President Donald Trump’s tariff policies.

“By participating in the SCO Summit, Türkiye aims to assert its presence, strengthen bilateral ties, and engage multilaterally within the framework of the organisation,” said Mehmet Ozkan, Professor of International Relations at the Joint War Institute at Türkiye’s National Defence University.

“Türkiye does not see the SCO as a bloc dominated by any single country,” he told TRT World. “Rather, it sees the organisation as a potential rising multilateral alternative to the Western-dominated international order,” he said.

As China prepares to host the annual SCO summit starting Sunday, it is expecting a fuller house than ever of leaders from the region and beyond. Modi will visit China for the first time since 2018, amid a rapprochement that began late last year but has been propelled further by United States President Donald Trump’s 50 percent tariffs on Indian goods, which have forced New Delhi to seek stronger partnerships with Beijing and other players in Eurasia.

At a time when much of the world is grappling with the chaos unleashed by Trump’s tariffs and threats, analysts expect the SCO conclave to serve as a platform for Xi to project his country as a stabilising force, capable of uniting the Global South to counterbalance the West, particularly the US.

China’s Assistant Foreign Minister Liu Bin told a news conference in Beijing last week that the summit would be “one of China’s most important head-of-state and home-court diplomatic events this year”.

https://archive.ph/MuElj

The National Immigration Agency said in a press release it launched an investigation immediately after learning of the video. It confirmed that both individuals involved were Japanese nationals who had entered Taiwan visa-free.

The NIA said the men violated Article 18, Paragraph 1, Clause 13 of the Immigration Act, which bars actions that “endanger the interests of the nation, public safety, or public order.” It ruled the incident required compulsory deportation and follow-up entry control.

Local media reported that one of the men is an online influencer and the other a Japanese-language teacher. Their actions were suspected to be an attempt to boost online traffic and influence among Chinese viewers.