Australian Spy was Sentenced to Death with Two-year Reprieve by Chinese Court
Chinese Football Fans and Hong Kong Government Disappointed as Lionel Messi No-Show in Friendly Match
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Hello from Shanghai, China. Here’s our pick for today’s news：
Australian Spy was Sentenced to Death with Two-year Reprieve by Chinese Court
Chinese Football Fans and Hong Kong Government Disappointed as Lionel Messi No-Show in Friendly Match
1. Australian Spy was Sentenced to Death with Two-year Reprieve by Chinese Court
On February 5, a court in Beijing conducted an open trial of the espionage case involving Yang Jun, a Chinese Australian national. Yang was found guilty of espionage and sentenced to death with a two-year reprieve, with confiscation of all personal assets. Foreign media outlets first reported the sentence and soon confirmed by the Chinese Embassy in Australia and China's Foreign Ministry.
Yang Jun, a graduate of China's top-level Fudan University and a former employee at China's Foreign Ministry in the early 1990s, moved to Australia in 1999 and later acquired Australian citizenship. Yang was a senior fellow at the Atlantic Council, a US-based international affairs think tank. During the early 2000s, he wrote and published a trilogy of spy novels on the Chinese internet, which made him one of the bestselling writers in China under the pen name Yang Hengjun. Yang was arrested in 2019 for his espionage activities in China. Only after his arrest, the Chinese public came to realize that much of his work drew from his own experiences.
2. Chinese Football Fans and Hong Kong Government Disappointed as Lionel Messi No-Show in Friendly Match
Despite the high anticipation of his arrival, Lionel Messi didn't participate in the friendly match in Hong Kong on February 4. On that day, approximately 40,000 Chinese football fans flooded into the stadium with the majority coming to see the Argentine superstar. As the final whistle was blown, furious Chinese fans shouted out "scams" and "refund" to the organizers on-site, expressing their disappointment at Messi's absence. The social media of Inter Miami CF, Messi's home team, was soon swamped by outraged comments hours after the match.
The public discontent over Messi raged on in the following days. Kenneth Fok, a well-known figure in Hong Kong's Legislative Council, openly slammed Messi and his team for their irresponsibility. "It's a shame that the elaborate arrangements we had in place for the team's arrival were trampled on so viciously," Fok wrote on Chinese social media Weibo on February 6.
After being struck by the global COVID pandemic and economic downturn, Hong Kong Government saw the jaunt as an opportunity to revive its tourism. But the absence of Messi has only intensified public outrage. Hong Kong Government "is extremely disappointed that Messi failed to participate in the match as the public expected," said John Lee Ka-chiu, the Chief Executive of Hong Kong SAR on February 6.
2024: How Does China Overcome the US’ Chip Sanctions?
View on website. We are pleased to introduce this insightful article on the chip industry from "The Intellectual," a media platform founded by scholars Rao Yi, Lu Bai, and Xie Yusen, focusing on Science, Humanities, and Ideas. This article offers an in-depth analysis of the challenges and strategic shifts in China's semiconductor industry amid international trade sanctions.
China Unveils the World’s First Hydrogen Engine Aircraft Prototype
On January 29th, the world witnessed a groundbreaking achievement as the first-ever four-seat hydrogen internal combustion aircraft prototype completed its maiden flight at Fakucaihu Airport in Shenyang, Liaoning Province. This remarkable feat was made possible by the collaborative efforts of scientists and engineers from Shenyang University of Aeronautics and Astronautics and the Chinese Academy of Engineering, signifying a major milestone in the advancement of sustainable aviation technology.