标签： Asia

BEIJING — At a national working conference held in Beijing on Monday, Liu Guozhong, Chinese Vice-Premier and member of the Political Bureau of the Communist Party of China Central Committee, outlined key priorities for the nation’s poverty alleviation consolidation efforts, calling for steady progress in rolling out regular assistance mechanisms to protect hard-won anti-poverty achievements.

Addressing attendees, Liu emphasized that preventing large-scale returns to poverty remains a core policy priority, even years after China achieved its goal of eradicating extreme poverty. He noted that 2026 marks the inaugural year for the full implementation of the regular assistance framework, making targeted, forward-thinking action particularly critical this year.

To meet the framework’s goals, Liu urged policymakers to strengthen targeted, timely support for vulnerable groups, prioritize development-driven assistance models that empower communities rather than providing only short-term aid, and expand employment assistance through diverse, multi-channel initiatives tailored to local labor market needs.

He also stressed the necessity of ramping up support for China’s less economically developed regions, further refining the national social security system to cover at-risk populations, and boosting the effectiveness of long-standing East-West regional cooperation schemes and targeted support programs led by central government departments.

The conference concluded with a tangible step forward in advancing this cross-regional cooperation: eight provincial-level administrative regions in eastern China signed formal assistance agreements with 10 provincial-level regions in western China, cementing new partnerships for shared development and poverty prevention work over the coming term.

On April 24, the United States escalated tensions over Iranian oil trade by blacklisting a major Chinese independent refinery and dozens of shipping-linked entities, triggering a sharp rejection from both the targeted firm and the Chinese government, which has pledged to protect domestic companies operating under international law.

The U.S. Treasury Department’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) added Hengli Petrochemical (Dalian) Refinery Co Ltd to its Specially Designated Nationals and Blocked Persons (SDN) List, labeling the facility — China’s second-largest independent “teapot” refinery — as one of Iran’s most critical crude oil customers. OFAC claims the Dalian refinery generated hundreds of millions of dollars in revenue for Iran’s military through its crude purchases, alleging that since at least 2023, the company has taken delivery of more than five million barrels of Iranian crude carried by multiple already sanctioned shadow-fleet tankers.

Alongside the action against Hengli (Dalian), OFAC sanctioned roughly 40 vessels and shipping companies that Washington alleges form part of Iran’s informal shadow fleet for oil shipments. The targeted entities have registrations across multiple jurisdictions, including Hong Kong (China), mainland China, the United Arab Emirates, Vietnam and Malaysia. OFAC specifically named five Hong Kong-owned vessels linked to alleged Iranian oil cargo movements: Lisboa, owned by Lisboa Shipping Company Limited, which it says delivered more than 2.5 million barrels of Iranian naphtha to the UAE between July 2025 and January 2026; Lynn, owned by Ting Tao Company Limited, which conducted ship-to-ship crude transfers off Malaysia before delivering cargo to China; Stellar Beverly, owned by Yegua Trading Limited, which transported over two million barrels of Iranian crude to China in 2025; Covenio, owned by Extensive Shipping Limited, which moved more than six million barrels of Iranian oil to China since early 2025; and Golden Sunrise, owned by Xifoides Group Limited, which has carried several million barrels of Iranian crude since mid-2025.

Hengli Petrochemical Co, the Shanghai-listed parent company of the sanctioned Dalian refinery, has forcefully denied all allegations, stating that it has operated in full compliance with all applicable national and international regulations throughout its history. The company emphasized it has never engaged in any trade with Iran, and all of its crude suppliers provide formal certification that their crude supplies originate from jurisdictions not subject to U.S. sanctions.

“The U.S. Treasury’s decision to place Hengli (Dalian) on the SDN List lacks both factual and legal basis, and constitutes an unlawful unilateral sanction,” the company said in an official statement. “We firmly oppose these groundless allegations and unlawful measures, and will take all necessary steps to safeguard the legitimate rights and interests of the company and its shareholders.” Hengli added that its operations remain fully normal as of the statement, with production utilization holding at high levels, output and sales proceeding according to plan, crude inventories sufficient to cover more than three months of operations, and ongoing procurement activities unaffected by the sanctions.

The Chinese Foreign Ministry has echoed the company’s rejection of the U.S. action. Spokesperson Lin Jian told a regular press briefing on Monday that “China opposes illicit unilateral sanctions that have no basis in international law. We urge the U.S. to stop willfully slapping sanctions and using long-arm jurisdiction. China will firmly defend the lawful rights and interests of Chinese companies.”

The Dalian refinery at the center of the dispute is part of the empire built by Fan Hongwei, who currently ranks as the eighth-wealthiest self-made woman in the world and was named China’s richest woman by Bloomberg in 2022. Fan and her husband Chen Jianhua launched their business career in 1994 by purchasing a near-bankrupt textile mill in Suzhou, growing the business dramatically during the 1997 Asian financial crisis through strategic capacity expansion and discounted equipment acquisitions. In the early 2000s, the group moved upstream into chemical production to secure its raw material supply, investing heavily in purified terephthalic acid (PTA) manufacturing to cut operational costs. In 2010, the group outbid multiple state-owned energy firms to win approval for the 20-million-metric-ton Dalian refining and petrochemical complex on Changxing Island, completing the company’s vertically integrated business model and establishing it as one of China’s largest private energy and manufacturing powerhouses. Financial results released by the parent company in mid-April 2026 show 2025 full-year revenue fell 14.9% year-on-year to 201 billion yuan (equivalent to roughly US$28 billion), while net profit edged up 0.4% to 7.1 billion yuan.

Observers note the timing of the new sanctions, which comes as reports have emerged of potential renewed peace talks between Washington and Tehran. Jiangsu-based political commentator Hua Xiangming argues the sanctions are a deliberate move by the U.S. to gain negotiating leverage ahead of any talks. “Targeting foreign refineries and freezing overseas assets to strengthen bargaining power reflects a typical form of hegemonic politics,” Hua said, adding that such actions abandon all pretense of commitment to free trade and open market principles.

Hua also pointed to the lack of transparency around the U.S. claims, noting that while Washington alleges the sanctions relate to billions of dollars in Iranian oil purchases, no detailed evidence has been made public. He warned that the increasing weaponization of the U.S. dollar for geopolitical goals is accelerating global de-dollarization trends. “The dollar’s share of global foreign exchange reserves has already fallen below 60%, a multi-decade low. Countries now see that relying on dollar settlement carries the risk of asset freezes and financial coercion,” Hua explained. “Alternatives are already emerging, from non-dollar oil pricing mechanisms to new cross-border payment channels such as China’s Cross-Border Interbank Payment System (CIPS), which are speeding up global efforts to reduce dependence on the dollar.”

The latest sanctions action builds on earlier U.S. pressure on global financial institutions over Iran-related transactions. On April 15, U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent confirmed Washington had issued warnings to banks across multiple jurisdictions, including two banks based in Hong Kong, that they could face secondary sanctions if they process transactions linked to Iranian oil trade. On April 21, British outlet The Telegraph reported that a U.S. federal court in New York has ordered five major global banks — HSBC, Standard Chartered, JPMorgan, Citibank and Bank of New York Mellon — to turn over internal documents as part of a civil investigation into alleged Iran sanctions evasion. None of the banks have been accused of wrongdoing, and are only required to cooperate as correspondent banking service providers.

U.S. media, citing anonymous Treasury Department sources, has reported that Iran routed approximately US$9 billion in oil-related transactions through U.S. correspondent bank accounts in 2024 via a network of front companies, with most of that activity centered in Hong Kong, Oman and the UAE. A Henan-based financial commentator described the $9 billion figure as a “hot potato” for global financial institutions, noting that banks are now forced to spend months combing through transaction records to identify Iran-linked flows, disrupting normal business operations, raising compliance costs, and creating significant operational strain for institutions prioritizing stability. In response to the new risk environment, the commentator expects banks to tighten compliance scrutiny for all Middle East-based clients, particularly those with any potential ties to Iranian trade. Over the medium to long term, however, the commentator predicts Iran will develop alternative transaction channels to continue moving funds, while global oil traders will increasingly shift to settlement in currencies such as the euro and Chinese renminbi to reduce their exposure to U.S. dollar-related financial risk.

MELBOURNE, Australia — The Australian government has tabled a groundbreaking new legislative proposal that would impose a revenue-based tax on three major global digital platforms — Meta, Google, and TikTok — to compensate local news creators for their journalistic work, marking the nation’s second attempt in three years to enforce fair compensation for news content shared on big tech services.

Unveiled on Tuesday, the draft legislation will be submitted to Australia’s Parliament by July 2. The policy, dubbed the News Bargaining Incentive, is structured to push large platforms to negotiate voluntary commercial deals with domestic news organizations. Under the framework, any qualifying platform that declines to strike such agreements will face a 2.25% levy on their annual Australian-generated revenue. If platforms do agree to compensate publishers for news content, they will qualify for tax offsets that reduce their overall financial obligation.

This proposal comes in response to the failure of Australia’s 2021 regulatory framework, the News Media Bargaining Code. That original law required platforms to negotiate payment for news content with publishers, threatening binding arbitration if no deal was reached. While most major platforms opted to strike initial deals to avoid arbitration rather than face judicial price-setting, many have since refused to renew agreements, opting instead to remove news content from their platforms to avoid payment obligations.

The Australian government projects the new incentive scheme will generate between AU$200 million and AU$250 million (US$144 million to US$179 million) annually — a figure that matches the highest annual total of platform payments to news outlets under the original 2021 code. Collected funds will be distributed to local news organizations proportional to the number of journalists each outlet employs, according to Communication Minister Anika Wells.

Prime Minister Anthony Albanese defended the policy, arguing that journalistic work must be fairly compensated rather than exploited by multinational corporations for profit. “It shouldn’t just be able to be taken by a large multinational corporation and used to generate profits for that organisation with no compensation appropriate for the people who produce that creative content,” Albanese told reporters. “We think that investment in journalism is critical to a healthy democracy.” The prime minister also pushed back against potential criticism from the U.S. — where all three targeted firms are based — noting that Australia is a sovereign nation acting in its own national interest.

Not surprisingly, the proposal has drawn sharp pushback from the targeted digital giants. All three argue the plan is an unfair “digital services tax” that misrepresents the value exchange between platforms and news publishers, and will not create a sustainable future for the Australian news sector.

Meta argued in an official statement that news organizations voluntarily share content on its platforms because they benefit from the distribution and audience reach the company provides. “The idea that we take their news content is simply wrong,” the company said, adding that the tax would apply even if platforms host no news content at all, calling the policy “a government-mandated transfer of wealth from one industry to another” that would only create a news sector dependent on government subsidies rather than sustainable innovation.

Google echoed the criticism, saying it already maintains active commercial agreements with Australian news creators. The company also pointed out that the policy arbitrarily excludes other major digital platforms active in Australia, including Microsoft, Snapchat, and OpenAI, despite the changing landscape of how consumers access news. “It ignores the fact that Google already has commercial agreements with the news industry, misunderstands how the ad market changed and mandates payments from some companies while arbitrarily excluding platforms,” Google’s statement read. TikTok has not yet issued a public response to the proposal as of Tuesday.

A highly contentious proposal to install a bronze memorial honoring World War II-era ‘comfort women’ — the systemic victims of Japanese military sexual slavery — has been struck down by local authorities in Auckland, New Zealand, following direct diplomatic pushback from Tokyo.

The planned monument, which would have mirrored the design of dozens of similar memorials across the globe by depicting a seated young girl beside an empty chair to represent all unrecognized victims, was a gift to New Zealand from the Korean Council for Justice and Remembrance, a South Korean non-profit that has spent decades advocating for acknowledgement and redress for the surviving comfort women and the legacy of the atrocity.

Historians estimate that between 1932 and 1945, more than 200,000 women and girls from across occupied East and Southeast Asia were forced into sexual servitude in Japanese military brothels. The majority of those victims were Korean, with additional large groups hailing from mainland China, the Philippines, Indonesia, and Taiwan. Only a handful of survivors are still alive today, and the movement to erect public memorials is framed by advocates as a way to preserve the historical record of the atrocity for future generations.

Japan’s Embassy in Wellington had publicly warned Auckland Council that installing the statue in a public municipal garden would risk severe damage to bilateral diplomatic relations between Japan and New Zealand. In a formal letter to council leadership, Japanese Ambassador Makoto Osawa argued that the memorial would deepen social rifts in New Zealand’s diverse, multiethnic society, particularly between the country’s resident Japanese and Korean communities, who currently coexist peacefully.

Osawa emphasized that Tokyo does not seek to deny or minimize the history of military sexual slavery during World War II, noting that successive Japanese governments have engaged in sustained diplomatic efforts to address the issue with South Korea over the decades. The ambassador’s pushback echoed a longstanding Japanese policy of opposing public comfort woman memorials in allied countries, a stance that has already triggered diplomatic friction in other parts of the world. In 2018, Osaka cut official sister-city ties with San Francisco after the US city installed a permanent comfort woman memorial in a public park, a move that reflected the depth of Tokyo’s opposition to such monuments.

In its official explanation for the rejection, Auckland Council’s Land and Property Advisory head Kim O’Neill told the BBC that the recommendation to turn down the proposal grew out of public consultation, which showed a clear lack of broad community support for the project. The rejection was later formalized in a vote by the Devonport-Takapuna Local Board, the local governing body with jurisdiction over the proposed site.

New Zealand’s national government previously confirmed that Japan had submitted formal diplomatic representations on the statue proposal, but emphasized that decisions around public monuments and memorials fall entirely under the purview of local government and community stakeholders, rather than the national executive. The outcome has reignited debate around the balance of diplomatic courtesy, historical memory, and grassroots advocacy, as activists vow to continue pushing for a public memorial to honor the victims of Japanese military sexual slavery in New Zealand.

Against a backdrop of explosive growth in China’s gig economy and rising concerns over unfair working conditions for flexible employees, China’s top governing bodies have introduced a landmark policy framework designed to safeguard the legal rights and interests of workers in new forms of employment. The policy, made public on April 27, 2026 by the General Offices of the Communist Party of China Central Committee and the State Council, addresses widespread industry abuses that have accompanied the sector’s rapid expansion, when more than 240 million people now work in flexible roles across the country. According to data from the National Bureau of Statistics, approximately 84 million of these workers hold positions in emerging occupations including food delivery riders, ride-hailing drivers, parcel couriers and online livestreamers. The new regulation sets clear, phased goals for industry reform: by 2027, all gig workers are expected to benefit from standardized labor protocols, safer working environments and fully enforceable legal rights protections. Over a three to five-year implementation window, the entire regulatory system will mature, fostering more harmonious labor relations, greater social recognition for flexible occupations, and enabling comprehensive personal development for gig workers. A key innovation introduced by the policy is the nation’s first mandatory algorithm filing system, which requires all digital employment platforms to complete regular third-party reviews and verification of their operational algorithms. The regulation explicitly guarantees gig workers three core algorithm-related rights: the right to be informed of algorithm rule changes, the right to participate in rule-setting discussions, and the right to voice opposition to unfair algorithm design. When platforms adjust core algorithm parameters that directly impact workers’ livelihoods — including income distribution rules, service pricing structures and estimated delivery timeframes — they are legally required to solicit and consider feedback from trade unions and elected gig worker representatives. The policy also targets the harmful “involution-style” cutthroat competition that has become endemic in the platform economy, where extreme price wars and efficiency overemphasis have suppressed worker wages and intensified job-related stress. Regulatory authorities are directed to strictly prevent infringement on new employment groups’ rights, with mandates to investigate unfair commission schemes, unequal distribution of customer order traffic, and abusive exercise of market dominance by large platforms. To address gaps in social support for mobile flexible workers, the policy expands access to basic public services tied to workers’ habitual residence rather than formal household registration, allowing social service coverage to follow workers as they relocate across provincial and municipal boundaries. It also calls for strengthening the national social security system, including expanding pilot programs for mandatory work-related injury insurance and gradually incorporating gig workers into the national housing provident fund system that provides subsidized housing support. Industry and labor experts have praised the policy as a transformative institutional innovation for modern labor governance in China. Tang Daisheng, a professor of economics and management at Beijing Jiaotong University, noted that the framework replaces the previous unregulated ecosystem driven by uncontrolled capital expansion and opaque algorithmic optimization with a new, fairer operating environment. Under the new system, platforms are required to operate in full compliance with labor laws, algorithmic decision-making is transparent and equitable, and gig workers are guaranteed access to decent, dignified work. “The policy directly targets the current practice where large platform companies seize market share through destructive subsidy wars, a race to the bottom that leaves workers with meager incomes and systematically eroded rights,” Tang explained. “This reform will force platforms to shift their competitive focus to improving service quality and user experience, rather than increasing profits by squeezing gig workers.” Tang added that the mandatory algorithm filing system requires platforms to disclose core algorithm logic, underlying data sources and decision-making rules to regulators before new algorithms are deployed, shifting the previous reactive regulatory model — where intervention only occurred after worker rights were already violated — to a proactive prevention-focused governance model. This new structure allows regulators to trace violations directly to their source and hold platform leadership legally accountable for abuses. The policy builds on earlier regulatory actions to curb unfair platform practices: in July 2025, the State Administration for Market Regulation summoned executives from three of China’s largest food delivery platforms — Taobao Instant Commerce (formerly Ele.me), Meituan, and JD.com — to demand compliance with e-commerce, anti-unfair competition, and food safety laws. The summons was issued in response to a rampant industry price war that included low-threshold consumer coupons, free delivery vouchers and even zero-cost promotional items that put extreme downward pressure on rider earnings. For gig workers already navigating grueling daily schedules, the new rules bring long-awaited relief to longstanding grievances. Yan Dongjian, a Meituan delivery rider based in Beijing, told reporters he works 12-hour shifts even during slow business seasons, earning roughly 400 yuan ($59) per day. During the busier winter peak season, his daily income can climb to 500 to 600 yuan with platform performance incentives. “The biggest challenge we face is traffic safety,” Yan said. “Road accidents are extremely common. We’re all just here to earn a living, but the platform-imposed delivery time limits are unreasonably tight.” He explained that a typical 25 to 26-minute delivery window already includes time spent waiting for restaurants to prepare orders, leaving almost no buffer for unexpected delays. If a restaurant falls behind on cooking, riders are automatically penalized for lateness, creating constant, high-stress pressure throughout every shift. Yan noted that the new regulations will curb one of the most common worker grievances: arbitrary fine deductions from platform operators. “Platforms used to dock pay for any small delay with no room for appeal. Now they won’t be able to do that as easily,” he said. Yang Bin, a Beijing-based ride-hailing driver who now takes nearly all of his passenger orders through mobile platform apps, echoed the widespread hope for meaningful change, while noting that consistent implementation will be the key to success. Yang has long raised concerns about unfair order dispatch algorithms that allocate more high-value trips to a small subset of drivers, leaving many full-time drivers with inconsistent incomes. “If the new rules are actually enforced, and every driver gets fair treatment with more balanced order distribution, this will be a huge win for all of us,” Yang said.