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Archived

Wage arrears among Russian companies surged in early 2025, reflecting growing financial pressures on businesses across several key industries, according to a report from the General Confederation of Trade Unions obtained by the pro-Kremlin daily Izvestia.

While official government statistics indicate that wage arrears increased from 500 million rubles ($6 million) in January to 1.5 billion rubles ($18 million) by March, the trade union report estimates the actual total to be significantly higher — reaching 2.4 billion rubles ($30 million) in the first quarter of the year.

The largest arrears were recorded at DSK, a road construction company in the Tver region, which owed 608 million rubles ($8 million) to 3,657 employees as of late March.

[...]

cross-posted from: https://lemmy.sdf.org/post/37845691

Archived

The Philippines and Lithuania signed an agreement to build a security alliance resulting from their mutual alarm over what they perceive as growing aggression threatening their regions by countries such as China.

The memorandum of understanding signed Monday in Manila by Philippine Defense Secretary Gilberto Teodoro Jr. and his Lithuanian counterpart, Dovilė Šakalienė, would foster defense cooperation particularly in cyber security, defense industries, munitions production, addressing threats and maritime security, the Department of National Defense in Manila said.

Šakalienė described Lithuania’s alarm over an emerging “authoritarian axis” of Russia, China, North Korea and Iran, which she raised in an international defense forum in Singapore last month. The emerging alliance needed to be confronted by a unified response from pro-democracy countries, she said.

“What we see now is that authoritarian states are really cooperating very efficiently,” Šakalienė said at a news conference with Teodoro. “One of the worst results is the cooperation on Ukraine.”

[...]

Šakalienė cited China’s actions toward Taiwan and Filipino fishermen in the disputed South China Sea, which Beijing has claimed virtually in its entirety. The Philippines, Vietnam, Malaysia, Taiwan and Brunei have been involved in prolonged territorial standoffs but confrontations between Chinese and Philippine coast guard and naval forces have particularly spiked in recent years.

[...]

The Philippines has adopted a strategy of shaming China by documenting Beijing’s assertive actions in the disputed waters, a key global trade route, to rally international support.

“We see these horrifying materials, videos of how they are threatening Filipino fishermen, how they are treating people who are simply making their living in their own waters, in their own territory,” Šakalienė said. “If they work together to threaten us, then we must work together to defend ourselves.”

[...]

Šakalienė expressed support to former Filipino senator Francis Tolentino while in the capital for talks aimed at deepening defense ties between the two countries.

Tolentino was sanctioned by China on Tuesday for his strong criticisms of Beijing’s acts of aggression and for his work on two new laws, which demarcated Philippine territorial zones, including in parts of the South China Sea that Beijing claims.

Šakalienė said she and her family had also been sanctioned by China and banned from entering the country for her strong criticisms of China’s aggression and human rights record.

[...]

Šakalienė said that in the Baltic Sea, Chinese ships and crew members have helped suspected Russian fleets damage undersea oil pipelines, and data and electricity cables belonging to rival European nations like Lithuania by dragging steel anchors on the seafloor. She warned that such acts of sabotage could also be carried out in Asia by China and Russia.

[...]

cross-posted from: https://lemmy.sdf.org/post/37845691

Archived

The Philippines and Lithuania signed an agreement to build a security alliance resulting from their mutual alarm over what they perceive as growing aggression threatening their regions by countries such as China.

The memorandum of understanding signed Monday in Manila by Philippine Defense Secretary Gilberto Teodoro Jr. and his Lithuanian counterpart, Dovilė Šakalienė, would foster defense cooperation particularly in cyber security, defense industries, munitions production, addressing threats and maritime security, the Department of National Defense in Manila said.

Šakalienė described Lithuania’s alarm over an emerging “authoritarian axis” of Russia, China, North Korea and Iran, which she raised in an international defense forum in Singapore last month. The emerging alliance needed to be confronted by a unified response from pro-democracy countries, she said.

“What we see now is that authoritarian states are really cooperating very efficiently,” Šakalienė said at a news conference with Teodoro. “One of the worst results is the cooperation on Ukraine.”

[...]

Šakalienė cited China’s actions toward Taiwan and Filipino fishermen in the disputed South China Sea, which Beijing has claimed virtually in its entirety. The Philippines, Vietnam, Malaysia, Taiwan and Brunei have been involved in prolonged territorial standoffs but confrontations between Chinese and Philippine coast guard and naval forces have particularly spiked in recent years.

[...]

The Philippines has adopted a strategy of shaming China by documenting Beijing’s assertive actions in the disputed waters, a key global trade route, to rally international support.

“We see these horrifying materials, videos of how they are threatening Filipino fishermen, how they are treating people who are simply making their living in their own waters, in their own territory,” Šakalienė said. “If they work together to threaten us, then we must work together to defend ourselves.”

[...]

Šakalienė expressed support to former Filipino senator Francis Tolentino while in the capital for talks aimed at deepening defense ties between the two countries.

Tolentino was sanctioned by China on Tuesday for his strong criticisms of Beijing’s acts of aggression and for his work on two new laws, which demarcated Philippine territorial zones, including in parts of the South China Sea that Beijing claims.

Šakalienė said she and her family had also been sanctioned by China and banned from entering the country for her strong criticisms of China’s aggression and human rights record.

[...]

Šakalienė said that in the Baltic Sea, Chinese ships and crew members have helped suspected Russian fleets damage undersea oil pipelines, and data and electricity cables belonging to rival European nations like Lithuania by dragging steel anchors on the seafloor. She warned that such acts of sabotage could also be carried out in Asia by China and Russia.

[...]

Archived

The Philippines and Lithuania signed an agreement to build a security alliance resulting from their mutual alarm over what they perceive as growing aggression threatening their regions by countries such as China.

The memorandum of understanding signed Monday in Manila by Philippine Defense Secretary Gilberto Teodoro Jr. and his Lithuanian counterpart, Dovilė Šakalienė, would foster defense cooperation particularly in cyber security, defense industries, munitions production, addressing threats and maritime security, the Department of National Defense in Manila said.

Šakalienė described Lithuania’s alarm over an emerging “authoritarian axis” of Russia, China, North Korea and Iran, which she raised in an international defense forum in Singapore last month. The emerging alliance needed to be confronted by a unified response from pro-democracy countries, she said.

“What we see now is that authoritarian states are really cooperating very efficiently,” Šakalienė said at a news conference with Teodoro. “One of the worst results is the cooperation on Ukraine.”

[...]

Šakalienė cited China’s actions toward Taiwan and Filipino fishermen in the disputed South China Sea, which Beijing has claimed virtually in its entirety. The Philippines, Vietnam, Malaysia, Taiwan and Brunei have been involved in prolonged territorial standoffs but confrontations between Chinese and Philippine coast guard and naval forces have particularly spiked in recent years.

[...]

The Philippines has adopted a strategy of shaming China by documenting Beijing’s assertive actions in the disputed waters, a key global trade route, to rally international support.

“We see these horrifying materials, videos of how they are threatening Filipino fishermen, how they are treating people who are simply making their living in their own waters, in their own territory,” Šakalienė said. “If they work together to threaten us, then we must work together to defend ourselves.”

[...]

Šakalienė expressed support to former Filipino senator Francis Tolentino while in the capital for talks aimed at deepening defense ties between the two countries.

Tolentino was sanctioned by China on Tuesday for his strong criticisms of Beijing’s acts of aggression and for his work on two new laws, which demarcated Philippine territorial zones, including in parts of the South China Sea that Beijing claims.

Šakalienė said she and her family had also been sanctioned by China and banned from entering the country for her strong criticisms of China’s aggression and human rights record.

[...]

Šakalienė said that in the Baltic Sea, Chinese ships and crew members have helped suspected Russian fleets damage undersea oil pipelines, and data and electricity cables belonging to rival European nations like Lithuania by dragging steel anchors on the seafloor. She warned that such acts of sabotage could also be carried out in Asia by China and Russia.

[...]

cross-posted from: https://lemmy.sdf.org/post/37843200

Archived

The EU's top foreign policy official, Kaja Kallas, issued a sharp warning to Beijing not to undermine Europe's security.

“China is not our adversary, but our relations are under growing strain in the security field,” Kallas said before meeting with Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi.

“Chinese companies are Moscow's lifeline, supporting the war against Ukraine. Beijing is conducting cyberattacks, interfering in our democracies, and trading unfairly. These actions harm European security and jobs,” she added.

Wang's visit to Brussels — after which he will travel to Berlin and Paris — comes about three weeks before the summit between Chinese President Xi Jinping and leading EU representatives in Beijing.

[...]

Trade tensions between Brussels and Beijing have deepened over allegations of unfair trade practices.

The 27-member bloc continues to condemn the flow of vital technologies that reach the Russian military via China.

[...]

cross-posted from: https://lemmy.sdf.org/post/37843200

Archived

The EU's top foreign policy official, Kaja Kallas, issued a sharp warning to Beijing not to undermine Europe's security.

“China is not our adversary, but our relations are under growing strain in the security field,” Kallas said before meeting with Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi.

“Chinese companies are Moscow's lifeline, supporting the war against Ukraine. Beijing is conducting cyberattacks, interfering in our democracies, and trading unfairly. These actions harm European security and jobs,” she added.

Wang's visit to Brussels — after which he will travel to Berlin and Paris — comes about three weeks before the summit between Chinese President Xi Jinping and leading EU representatives in Beijing.

[...]

Trade tensions between Brussels and Beijing have deepened over allegations of unfair trade practices.

The 27-member bloc continues to condemn the flow of vital technologies that reach the Russian military via China.

[...]

Archived

The EU's top foreign policy official, Kaja Kallas, issued a sharp warning to Beijing not to undermine Europe's security.

“China is not our adversary, but our relations are under growing strain in the security field,” Kallas said before meeting with Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi.

“Chinese companies are Moscow's lifeline, supporting the war against Ukraine. Beijing is conducting cyberattacks, interfering in our democracies, and trading unfairly. These actions harm European security and jobs,” she added.

Wang's visit to Brussels — after which he will travel to Berlin and Paris — comes about three weeks before the summit between Chinese President Xi Jinping and leading EU representatives in Beijing.

[...]

Trade tensions between Brussels and Beijing have deepened over allegations of unfair trade practices.

The 27-member bloc continues to condemn the flow of vital technologies that reach the Russian military via China.

[...]

Archived

[...]

China's ruling Communist Party has appointed the head of an ethnic affairs panel as its new party secretary in the vast northwestern region of Xinjiang, the official news agency Xinhua said on Tuesday.

Chen Xiaojiang has also held a vice ministerial role since 2020 in the party's United Front Work Department [...] The department runs influence operations related to ethnic minorities, religious groups and on the Taiwan issue at home and abroad.

[...]

In 2022, the United Nations reported finding "serious human rights violations" against mainly Muslim Uyghurs and other minorities in Xinjiang under China's national security and counter-terrorism policies, as well as forced labour accusations.

[...]

cross-posted from: https://lemmy.sdf.org/post/37784756

Archived

According to The China Story, created by the Australian Centre on China in the World (CIW) at the College of Asia and the Pacific, Australian National University (ANU). there are more Australians missing in China than any other country.

Since 2009, there have been a number of high-profile cases of contentious arrests and imprisonments of Australian citizens in China. Australian journalist Cheng Lei was arrested and detained for three years before her release in 2023. [...] Rio Tinto executive Stern Hu, travel entrepreneur Matthew Ng, technology educator Charlotte Chou (released in December 2014) and medical inventor Du Zuying (released in July 2014) have been imprisoned on charges of bribery, embezzlement and fraud allegedly targeting their China-based employers or partners. (Du was released in July 2014 and Chou in December 2014).

[...]

Sophie Richardson is the Washington-based co-executive director of Chinese Human Rights Defenders (CHRD), a coalition of Chinese and international human rights non-governmental organizations. From 2006 to 2023, she served as the China Director at Human Rights Watch.

She reflects that “many people assume that because the Chinese government have written things down on paper and called them laws, they’ll abide by them, but that’s often not the case.”

“For foreign lawyers who set up offices in Beijing or Shanghai, it’s often not until things go dreadfully wrong that people come to realise the law is an instrument of Xi Jinping’s political power, used when and how he and his allies see fit.”

Richardson says, “I’m not sure anyone could definitively answer about the numbers of people detained. In some cases, families don’t want to publicise that their family member has been detained. The number of foreigners detained pales in comparison to Chinese citizens. The scope and scale has been identified by the Working Group on Arbitrary Detention, which is one of the UN expert bodies, as a crime against humanity.”

Richardson explains that under Article 36 of the Vienna Convention on Consular Relations (VCCR) requires governments that have detained foreign citizens to notify the governments of those citizens, along with notifying the foreign national that they have a right to contact their consulate, and enabling this.

“That’s routinely ignored,” says Richardson, “Some countries also require that their government be informed. That means people have to know to request [contact with their consulate], and that the people detaining you will convey that information.”

[...]

[The Australian government] defines enforced disappearances as occurring “when individuals are deprived of liberty against their will with the involvement of government officials (at least by acquiescence), which includes a refusal to acknowledge the deprivation of liberty or concealment of the fate or whereabouts of the disappeared person.”

The 2023 US Department of State China Human Rights Report found that disappearances were standard practice by Chinese authorities at a nationwide, systemic scale. The typical method is Residential Surveillance at a Designated Location (RSDL), which the UN has consistently stated is ‘not compatible with international human rights law’. RDSL enables authorities to detain individuals in an undisclosed location for up to six months, without trial or access to a lawyer.

There is a lack of official data on how prevalent RDSL is, or the conditions that victims are subjected to, but INGO Safeguard Defenders estimated that between 55,977 and 113,407 people were placed into RSDL, prior to trial and verdict, from 2015 to 2021. Those numbers do not account for cases where no trial proceeded.

[...]

Human rights NGO Safeguard Defenders, founded in 2016, has released a handbook Missing In China, designed to guide people through the steps when a family member, colleague, or friend has been arbitrarily detained by the PRC. It will also be made available in Chinese and Japanese.

[...]

Archived

According to The China Story, created by the Australian Centre on China in the World (CIW) at the College of Asia and the Pacific, Australian National University (ANU). there are more Australians missing in China than any other country.

Since 2009, there have been a number of high-profile cases of contentious arrests and imprisonments of Australian citizens in China. Australian journalist Cheng Lei was arrested and detained for three years before her release in 2023. [...] Rio Tinto executive Stern Hu, travel entrepreneur Matthew Ng, technology educator Charlotte Chou (released in December 2014) and medical inventor Du Zuying (released in July 2014) have been imprisoned on charges of bribery, embezzlement and fraud allegedly targeting their China-based employers or partners. (Du was released in July 2014 and Chou in December 2014).

[...]

Sophie Richardson is the Washington-based co-executive director of Chinese Human Rights Defenders (CHRD), a coalition of Chinese and international human rights non-governmental organizations. From 2006 to 2023, she served as the China Director at Human Rights Watch.

She reflects that “many people assume that because the Chinese government have written things down on paper and called them laws, they’ll abide by them, but that’s often not the case.”

“For foreign lawyers who set up offices in Beijing or Shanghai, it’s often not until things go dreadfully wrong that people come to realise the law is an instrument of Xi Jinping’s political power, used when and how he and his allies see fit.”

Richardson says, “I’m not sure anyone could definitively answer about the numbers of people detained. In some cases, families don’t want to publicise that their family member has been detained. The number of foreigners detained pales in comparison to Chinese citizens. The scope and scale has been identified by the Working Group on Arbitrary Detention, which is one of the UN expert bodies, as a crime against humanity.”

Richardson explains that under Article 36 of the Vienna Convention on Consular Relations (VCCR) requires governments that have detained foreign citizens to notify the governments of those citizens, along with notifying the foreign national that they have a right to contact their consulate, and enabling this.

“That’s routinely ignored,” says Richardson, “Some countries also require that their government be informed. That means people have to know to request [contact with their consulate], and that the people detaining you will convey that information.”

[...]

[The Australian government] defines enforced disappearances as occurring “when individuals are deprived of liberty against their will with the involvement of government officials (at least by acquiescence), which includes a refusal to acknowledge the deprivation of liberty or concealment of the fate or whereabouts of the disappeared person.”

The 2023 US Department of State China Human Rights Report found that disappearances were standard practice by Chinese authorities at a nationwide, systemic scale. The typical method is Residential Surveillance at a Designated Location (RSDL), which the UN has consistently stated is ‘not compatible with international human rights law’. RDSL enables authorities to detain individuals in an undisclosed location for up to six months, without trial or access to a lawyer.

There is a lack of official data on how prevalent RDSL is, or the conditions that victims are subjected to, but INGO Safeguard Defenders estimated that between 55,977 and 113,407 people were placed into RSDL, prior to trial and verdict, from 2015 to 2021. Those numbers do not account for cases where no trial proceeded.

[...]

Human rights NGO Safeguard Defenders, founded in 2016, has released a handbook Missing In China, designed to guide people through the steps when a family member, colleague, or friend has been arbitrarily detained by the PRC. It will also be made available in Chinese and Japanese.

[...]

cross-posted from: https://lemmy.sdf.org/post/37781918

Archived

Russia has decided to classify data on the state of the economy and foreign trade as a state secret. From now on, only individual indicators that are favorable to the authorities will be disclosed in order to calm the public, UNIAN reported.

According to data from the Foreign Intelligence Service of Ukraine, serious crisis processes are observed in the coal mining, oil refining, construction, automotive and logistics industries of the Russian Federation, which in general provide about 17% of revenues to the federal budget.

[...]

The EU extended sanctions against Russia for another six months.

Due to Moscow's continued actions destabilizing the situation in Ukraine.

[...]

The report comes as defense drives Russia’s industrial growth while civilian production contracts.

Russia’s industrial sector, fueled by the defense sector, grew by 1.6% in May and 1.8% over the last year after accounting for seasonal factors, state statistics service Rosstat has reported.

[...]

Civilian industries have reported widespread contractions, leading analysts to warn that Russia’s economy has become disproportionately driven by the military-industrial complex in the fourth year of its invasion of Ukraine.

Tverdye Tsifr (“Hard Numbers”), a Telegram channel that reports on financial data, noted a 42% surge in the output of “miscellaneous transport equipment” and a 14% increase in finished metal products over the last month, compensating for weaker performance in March and April.

Clothing production increased by 12%, and production of electronic and optical products, computers and pharmaceuticals rose by 9%.

[...]

Analysts from Russia’s largest private bank Alfa-Bank described the May results as evidence of a highly segmented economy.

Previously, “when civilian growth was weak and defense growth was robust, all sectors expanded to some degree,” wrote MMI, a Telegram channel that analyzes Russian and global microstatistics, of the new divergence between military and civilian industry.

“Now, all civilian industries have recorded declines, while defense output has accelerated. There are not enough resources to go around for everyone, so someone has to cut back,” it said.

[...]

Rosstat reported that the producer price index for industrial goods shrank by 1.3% in May and by 2.8% since the start of the year.

A sustained decline in industrial prices, Promsvyazbank warned, “signals the real economy’s diminished resilience to high interest rates.”

[...]

According to the government-affiliated CMACP analytical center, industrial growth has been mostly concentrated in the defense sector, with civilian industries remaining stagnant since mid-2023.

[...]

Archived

Russia has decided to classify data on the state of the economy and foreign trade as a state secret. From now on, only individual indicators that are favorable to the authorities will be disclosed in order to calm the public, UNIAN reported.

According to data from the Foreign Intelligence Service of Ukraine, serious crisis processes are observed in the coal mining, oil refining, construction, automotive and logistics industries of the Russian Federation, which in general provide about 17% of revenues to the federal budget.

[...]

The EU extended sanctions against Russia for another six months.

Due to Moscow's continued actions destabilizing the situation in Ukraine.

[...]

The report comes as defense drives Russia’s industrial growth while civilian production contracts.

Russia’s industrial sector, fueled by the defense sector, grew by 1.6% in May and 1.8% over the last year after accounting for seasonal factors, state statistics service Rosstat has reported.

[...]

Civilian industries have reported widespread contractions, leading analysts to warn that Russia’s economy has become disproportionately driven by the military-industrial complex in the fourth year of its invasion of Ukraine.

Tverdye Tsifr (“Hard Numbers”), a Telegram channel that reports on financial data, noted a 42% surge in the output of “miscellaneous transport equipment” and a 14% increase in finished metal products over the last month, compensating for weaker performance in March and April.

Clothing production increased by 12%, and production of electronic and optical products, computers and pharmaceuticals rose by 9%.

[...]

Analysts from Russia’s largest private bank Alfa-Bank described the May results as evidence of a highly segmented economy.

Previously, “when civilian growth was weak and defense growth was robust, all sectors expanded to some degree,” wrote MMI, a Telegram channel that analyzes Russian and global microstatistics, of the new divergence between military and civilian industry.

“Now, all civilian industries have recorded declines, while defense output has accelerated. There are not enough resources to go around for everyone, so someone has to cut back,” it said.

[...]

Rosstat reported that the producer price index for industrial goods shrank by 1.3% in May and by 2.8% since the start of the year.

A sustained decline in industrial prices, Promsvyazbank warned, “signals the real economy’s diminished resilience to high interest rates.”

[...]

According to the government-affiliated CMACP analytical center, industrial growth has been mostly concentrated in the defense sector, with civilian industries remaining stagnant since mid-2023.

[...]