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People’s Daily: Southern Europe’s Economic Recovery Offers Lessons on Economic Opening for Europe

People’s Daily published an article describing the economic success of four Southern European countries—Portugal, Italy, Greece, and Spain.

The article says that the European debt crisis more than a decade ago pushed the four economies into severe fiscal and economic difficulties, but they have since staged a significant recovery. Spain’s GDP grew 2.8 percent in 2025, well above the euro-area average, while Italy maintained strong manufactured-goods exports and Greece and Portugal recorded government surpluses.

The article argues that their recovery has been driven by structural reforms and greater openness to international trade and investment. It highlights cooperation with China as an example. After Chinese shipping company COSCO became involved in the operation of Greece’s Piraeus Port, it upgraded the port and expanded its shipping network, turning the once-struggling facility into a major Mediterranean logistics hub and creating thousands of jobs. In Spain, Italy, and Portugal, Chinese companies have also invested in renewable energy, infrastructure, logistics, and advanced manufacturing, bringing capital, technology, and access to broader markets while supporting industrial upgrading and job creation.

The article concludes that economic openness can bring greater benefits than protectionism, suggesting that European countries should avoid policies aimed at restricting economic ties with China.

Source: People’s Daily, August 24, 2026
https://world.people.com.cn/n1/2026/0824/c1002-40784672.html

Briefings | | |   Economy/Resources Geo-Strategic Trend

Analyst Warns China May Face the Worst “Latecomer Disadvantage” in Asia

Economic commentator Sun, who specializes in economic history and political-economic trends, said in a YouTube video that China may face the most severe version of what he calls the “latecomer disadvantage” confronting many Asian economies. The concept suggests that countries can achieve rapid growth by adopting existing technologies and accelerating industrialization and urbanization, but this compressed development can also accelerate demographic aging and expose weaknesses in underlying institutions.

Sun points to Japan as an example and cites UN projections that Asia is becoming the world’s oldest region, with people aged 65 and above expected to account for one-quarter of Asia’s population by 2050. He argues that rapid urbanization and industrialization have contributed to falling birth rates and accelerated population aging across Japan, the Asian Tigers, and China.

He warns that as aging and slower growth intensify, governments may respond with increasingly aggressive stimulus measures that fail to address underlying demographic problems while creating new risks. He identifies excessive government debt, loss of confidence in the currency, and eventual financial and social instability as potential consequences, arguing that China could be the Asian economy that suffers the most.

Sun concludes that the experience of Asian economies shows that “learning from the West requires learning the whole system, not just half of it.” In his view, rapid economic development cannot be sustained without the broader legal, social, and institutional foundations that support mature Western economies.

Source: Epoch Times, August 17, 2026
https://www.epochtimes.com/gb/26/8/16/n14831003.htm

Briefings | | |   Economy/Resources

China Claims Resilience to Iranian Crude Disruption, but Its Arguments Are Questionable

China is playing down the impact of disruptions to Iranian oil exports, despite Iran supplying a significant share of China’s crude imports. People’s Daily recently published an article titled “The Energy Supply Must Remain in Our Own Hands,” arguing that China has demonstrated “remarkable resilience” despite the prolonged closure of the Strait of Hormuz and disruptions to Middle Eastern energy supplies.

The first part of the article focused on Shandong Province, home to many of China’s small, privately owned “teapot” refineries. It claimed that Shandong has sufficient oil supplies for two main reasons: First, although imports from the Middle East have declined this year, Chinese companies avoid significant disruptions via strengthened energy cooperation with countries including Brazil and Canada. Second, technological advances at the Shengli Oilfield in Shandong, including improved recovery rates and expanded shale-oil production, have increased domestic oil output to 23.71 million tons in 2025, a recent high.

However, Chinascope’s research suggests that making up the Iranian crude loss could be difficult. Chinese media outlet Sina reported that Shandong’s independent refineries rely heavily on crude from the Middle East, Africa, and Russia, importing more than 100 million metric tons in 2024 {2}. Reuters estimates that China receives about 1.4 million barrels of Iranian crude per day, equivalent to roughly 70 million metric tons annually {3}. China imported about 108 million tons from Russia and 44 million tons from Brazil in 2024 {4}, while Canadian crude imports reached 15.5 million tons in 2025 {5}. It would therefore be difficult for increased imports from Brazil and Canada to quickly replace the volume of Iranian oil potentially lost because of U.S. sanctions.

The second argument—rising domestic production—also appears insufficient to offset the potential shortfall. Shengli Oilfield’s output increased from 23.45 million tons in 2023 {6} to 23.59 million tons in 2024 {7} and 23.71 million tons in 2025. The 2025 increase was only about 120,000 tons, or 0.5 percent, from the previous year. That increase is negligible compared with the potential loss of Iranian supplies. Even Shengli’s entire annual production is only about one-third of the roughly 70 million tons of Iranian crude China imports annually.

These figures suggest that Beijing’s claim of “oil resilience” may be overstated and serves more as a propaganda message.

Sources:
1. People’s Daily, August 24, 2026
https://paper.people.com.cn/rmrb/pc/content/202608/24/content_30176622.html
2. Sina, December 29, 2025
https://finance.sina.com.cn/roll/2025-12-29/doc-inhemcnw8134191.shtml
3. Reuters, January 20, 2025
https://www.reuters.com/markets/commodities/chinas-crude-oil-imports-top-supplier-russia-reach-new-high-2024-2025-01-20/
4. Guru Focus, March 10, 2026
https://www.gurufocus.com/news/8692925/china-buys-155m-tons-of-canadian-oil-in-2025-as-shipments-jump-168?utm_source=chatgpt.com
5. Reuters, August 21, 2026
https://www.reuters.com/business/energy/iranian-oil-offers-chinese-buyers-fall-us-blockade-bites-sources-say-2026-08-21/6. China National Radio, January 14, 2024
https://news.cnr.cn/native/gd/20240114/t20240114_526557375.shtml
7. National Bureau of Statistics, January 17, 2025
https://www.stats.gov.cn/sj/zxfb/202501/t20250117_1958326.html

Briefings | | |   @CS Economy/Resources

China Tightens Restrictions on Catholic Activities

Chinese Catholics reportedly face growing restrictions on religious activities in Shanghai and Beijing, including access to religious books, pilgrimages, online prayer services, and Catholic funeral rites. In Shanghai, the religious-items store at Xujiahui Cathedral has reportedly stopped selling the Bible, theology books, and commonly used Catholic prayer books. Similar reports indicate that some Beijing churches have also removed Bibles from sale.

Restrictions reportedly extend to collective pilgrimages, with a Beijing-area priest saying that parish groups now need government approval to travel to churches in other regions. Catholic online activities have also been affected. A Chinese Catholic platform reportedly stopped livestreaming the Rosary from Lourdes in December 2025, cutting off an important source of religious content, particularly for older Catholics.

On August 18, a Shanghai Catholic reportedly said that funeral homes across the city had stopped allowing Catholic funeral rites beginning this month, suggesting that the restrictions may now extend beyond religious activities during believers’ lives to Catholic end-of-life and funeral practices.

Source: Epoch Times, August 20, 2026
https://www.epochtimes.com/gb/26/8/20/n14833207.htm

Briefings | | |   Government/Politics Social Stability

Peru’s New Government Avoids Mentioning China and Chancay Port

Peru’s new government has emphasized trade openness and closer ties with the Asia-Pacific but notably avoided mentioning China or the Chancay Port in its first comprehensive policy address. Prime Minister Luis Galarreta said the government would seek to bring the Peru-Hong Kong free trade agreement into effect in 2026, pursue new trade agreements, and position Peru as a trade and investment hub between South America and the Asia-Pacific.

The omission of China is notable because China is Peru’s largest trading partner and a major investor in mining, energy, and infrastructure. Peru exported about $32 billion worth of goods to China last year, while the $1.3 billion Chancay deep-water port, built and operated by Chinese state-owned COSCO Shipping, has become a symbol of Beijing’s growing influence in Latin America and a focus of U.S.-China competition.

The omission does not necessarily signal a major shift in Peru’s China policy. President Keiko Fujimori and Foreign Minister Carlos Espá have emphasized attracting investment and maintaining strong relations with China. It remains unclear whether the government deliberately avoided sensitive China-related issues or simply focused its first policy address on domestic priorities.

Source: Liberty Times (Taiwan), August 21, 2026
https://ec.ltn.com.tw/article/breakingnews/5547601

Briefings | | |   Economy/Resources

Lawyer Who Helped Save WeChat in U.S. Says WeChat Censored and Banned His Account

A Chinese-American lawyer who uses the online name “Silicon Valley Lawyer Zhu” said on YouTube that his WeChat account was permanently banned despite his role in successfully challenging the Trump administration’s 2020 attempt to restrict WeChat in the United States. Screenshots he shared show that his account was marked “login restricted and cannot be unblocked” for allegedly committing multiple violations. The lawyer said Tencent did not specify which rules he had violated or who had reported him, and he speculated that the ban may have been related to his criticism of China’s COVID-19 lockdown policies.

In August 2020, the Trump administration issued an executive order seeking to prohibit U.S. transactions involving WeChat, potentially forcing the app out of the U.S. market. Attorney Keliang “Clay” Zhu and four other Chinese-American attorneys subsequently formed the U.S. WeChat Users Alliance and challenged the restrictions in federal court, arguing that they violated the First Amendment’s protections for freedom of speech. A federal judge issued an injunction blocking the restrictions, and the legal battle continued until the Biden administration revoked the Trump-era restrictions in January 2021.

The lawyer now says that while he helped defend WeChat in the United States on free-speech grounds, his own WeChat account was later permanently banned by Tencent. This shows an apparent ironic contradiction between defending a platform’s access to free expression in the United States and its restrictions on users’ speech under communist China’s censorship system.

Source: Aboluo, August 22, 2026
https://www.aboluowang.com/2026/0822/2424176.html

Briefings | | |   Government/Politics

DeepSeek Cited Fabricated Research to Support Health Claims, Blogger Found

A health-content creator recently raised concerns about DeepSeek’s reliability after the AI generated apparently fabricated scientific evidence while helping her write a social media post about chewing and cognitive health in older adults. Asked to base the content on scientific data, DeepSeek claimed that elderly people who chewed more than 30 times a day had a 42 percent lower risk of cognitive decline and provided a purported research citation. The creator, who had reviewed extensive literature on the subject, did not recognize the finding and searched multiple academic databases but found no corresponding study.

When she asked DeepSeek again for scientific evidence linking chewing to improved cognition, the AI generated a longer list of purported research findings, including a claim that chewing was more effective than aerobic exercise twice a week in preventing dementia. Unable to verify the claims, she asked DeepSeek to provide the original English-language papers.

DeepSeek then acknowledged that some of its earlier statements were problematic but supplied three supposedly authoritative studies, including paper titles and DOIs. The creator searched for each title and DOI but could not locate any of the papers as described. Some of the DOIs did not exist, while others corresponded to completely different papers. She concluded that the scientific evidence previously provided by DeepSeek was largely fabricated.

Source: Epoch Times, August 22, 2026
https://www.epochtimes.com/gb/26/8/21/n14834332.htm

Briefings | | |   @CS Information/Technology

CCP Is “Weaponizing” Passports to Pressure Overseas Chinese to Return to China

Reports from overseas Chinese communities allege that Chinese diplomatic missions are increasingly refusing to renew passports for certain Chinese nationals abroad and requiring them to return to China to obtain new documents. A California-based Chinese national known online as Billy claimed on X that the Chinese Consulate General in San Francisco had recently rejected some passport-renewal applications without warning, including cases involving people from Xinjiang. A visa-services intermediary reportedly said that people who entered the United States irregularly or applied for asylum were particularly likely to have their renewal applications rejected.

The reports also allege that Chinese consular officials have subjected some asylum beneficiaries to additional questioning and document requests. One intermediary claimed that officials questioned applicants about their religious beliefs and the basis of their asylum claims and, in some cases, asked them to sign statements suggesting that they had sought asylum primarily to obtain employment in the United States rather than because of persecution. Such statements could potentially be used by Chinese authorities as “evidence” that applicants had fabricated or misrepresented their asylum claims. Immigration lawyers reportedly warned asylum beneficiaries against returning to Chinese consulates to renew their passports, citing potential risks if their asylum claims became known to Chinese authorities.

The reports further raise concerns that returning to China could expose overseas Chinese to exit bans or other restrictions preventing them from leaving the country again. China recently adopted new exit-control rules, and there have been reports that Chinese authorities have already begun blocking some individuals from leaving the country.

Critics argue that restricting passport services could leave overseas Chinese who do not want to return to China in a vulnerable position, particularly if their passports expire and they cannot obtain valid travel documents. If the allegations are widespread, they would suggest that China is using passport and consular services not simply for administrative purposes but as a tool to pressure overseas nationals to return to China—with those who refuse potentially left without a valid Chinese passport.

Source: Vision Times, August 21, 2026
https://www.secretchina.com/news/gb/2026/08/21/1103709.html

Briefings | | |   @CS Government/Politics