Thailand's longan boom faces uncertain future as Chinese tighten grip on market

China imports 95% of its longan from Thailand, with most local buyers acting as nominees for Chinese merchants.

Wittayakorn Boonruang for BenarNews
2024.09.16
Bangkok, Thailand

Workers at a longan drying factory prepare longans to be dried before selling them to Chinese buyers in Phrao district, Chiang Mai, on August 17, 2024.

 Wittayakorn Boonruang/BenarNews

In the lush orchards of northern Thailand, a fruit known locally as "lamyai" has become the unlikely star of an international trade saga. Longan, with its translucent flesh and subtle sweetness, has carved out a dominant position in China's fruit import market. However, this success story comes with a complex web of challenges and risks that threaten the long-term sustainability of Thailand's longan industry.

In 2023, Thailand exported 327,296 tons of longan to China, valued at over US$400 million, accounting for 95% of China’s longan imports. While these numbers showcase success, they also reveal Thailand’s heavy reliance on a single market.

Niwat Kantawong, a 42-year-old dried longan exporter from Chiang Mai's Phrao district, offers a glimpse into the intimate relationship between Thai producers and Chinese buyers. 

"It's as if they're controlling the production themselves," Niwat told BenarNews, an RFA-affiliated online news organization. "They oversee everything we do, staying for months at a time."

Niwat Kantawong, a dried longan export business owner, prepares documents for Chinese buyers at his office in a longan drying factory in Phrao district, Chiang Mai, on Aug. 17, 2024. [Wittayakorn Boonruang/BenarNews]

According to the Ministry of Commerce, in 2023, Thailand’s global longan exports totaled 16.5 billion baht (US$474 million), with China as the top destination, accounting for 12.9 billion baht (US$370 million) or 78% of the total.

This reliance on China highlights a power imbalance, as Chinese buyers, through local “Lhong” or packing houses, control prices and quality standards, leaving Thai farmers with minimal bargaining power.

"The current state of the longan market is completely controlled by Chinese merchants, both for fresh and dried longan," Niwat explains. 

"When demand from China is high, prices are good, and everyone's happy. But when production exceeds their demand, dried longan factories and longan orchard owners struggle. The bargaining power is entirely in the hands of Chinese merchants."

Data from the International Institute for Trade and Development, or ITD, shows that China's fruit imports, particularly tropical fruits, have been steadily increasing since 2016, reaching US$16.85 billion by 2023. ASEAN countries, including Thailand, Vietnam, the Philippines, Malaysia, and Indonesia, are the main suppliers.

Thailand's longan production for 2024 is projected at 1,438,137 tons, a 2% rise from 2023. The northern provinces, especially Chiang Mai and Lamphun, are the key production areas, expected to produce 994,953 tons, or 69% of the total.

Chawanwit Jaikard, a young longan farmer, inspects his longan orchard in Banhong district, Lamphun, on Aug. 24, 2024. [Wittayakorn Boonruang/BenarNews]

Deputy Prime Minister Phumtham Wechayachai emphasized that the government will plan ahead to address potential agricultural issues, while farmers must take responsibility for maintaining the quality of their produce. 

“We aim to solve problems in a timely manner, ensuring people are well cared for and stay competitive in global markets,” told the media in late August. 

He noted that Cambodia, Thailand’s main competitor in longan exports to China, increased its market share from 0.5% to 5% in 2023, highlighting the need to maintain high standards for Thai longan to keep prices competitive.

Chinese control the market

Middlemen play a crucial role in Thailand's longan and other fruit markets, operating through fruit packing houses or Lhong. The Office of Farmers' Reconstruction and Development Fund has noted that some of these packing houses are nominees of Chinese merchants, who may be married to Thai nationals or use Thai fronts while the capital remains Chinese. These operations often create problems, particularly in depressing the prices paid to longan growers.

Chawanwit Jaikard, a 27-year-old new generation farmer growing longan in Banhong district, Lamphun, states, "In the longan purchasing market, even though we have Thai-owned Lhongs, most are actually nominees of Chinese capital. Even for truly Thai Lhong, the final destination of the longan is still the Chinese market."

"The prices are set the same whether it's a Thai or Chinese Lhong. We really can't escape their influence, especially with the government welcoming Chinese investment," Chawanwit told BenarNews.

The pricing power of Chinese Lhong creates uncertainty for farmers, who cannot predict whether prices will cover their production costs. If prices fall in a year when they've already invested, farmers may face losses and debt. Given that longan trees take years to mature and produce fruit only once a year, a single misstep in investment can have long-lasting effects.

"For example, in years with high longan production, Lhong lower their purchase prices or, in extreme cases, stop buying altogether," Chawanwit explains. 

"In years with low production, like 2024, longan prices are good because overall production is lower, so Lhong have to set higher purchase prices to secure products. Then politicians take credit, claiming prices are better because of the government."

A longan orchard in Saraphi district, Chiang Mai, where Chinese middlemen have purchased the entire harvest, on Aug. 4, 2024. [Wittayakorn Boonruang/BenarNews]

Chinese Lhong can set purchase prices and quality standards as they wish, bearing little risk while monopolizing the longan market. Longan orchard owners must accept the fate determined by these buyers. Chawanwit also notes that this situation is leading to a decline in the number of longan farmers.

"Gen Y and Gen Z, like me, often opt for steady salaried jobs or more stable work than longan farming," he says. 

"The memory of family members in debt due to longan farming and the lack of stable income drives younger people to seek work elsewhere. Only some Boomers, Gen X, and a few Gen Y continue longan farming. In extreme cases, some decide to sell their orchards because there's no one to continue the work."

A 2022 research project by Li Jun Wang from Chiang Mai University's Social Science Faculty, titled "'Lhong Jin' and Changing Livelihoods of Longan Farmers in Lamphun Province," found that the entry of Chinese Lhong has greatly impacted local farmers. The study highlights their loss of bargaining power and increased dependence on these buyers.

"While the expansion of Chinese Lhong offered export opportunities, it led to the loss of longan varieties and market monopolization, creating new risks and lifestyle changes for farmers," the study states.

Need for diversification

Donlawat Sunsuk, a researcher at a Thai think-tank, The Glocal, highlights that dried longan has historically been a popular export to China, often seen as a luxury health food and given as gifts during festivals. However, he notes that changing demographics in China may shift consumption patterns, as younger generations may be less inclined to buy longan as gifts. 

“The longan export industry must adapt by developing new products and exploring markets beyond China,” Donlawat told BenarNews.

In late July 2024, Rangsan Maneerat, a member of parliament from Lamphun province, proposed a "Longan Strategy Act" in the House of Representatives. This draft law suggests establishing a "Longan Strategy Committee" to address issues in the industry.

"We want to see solutions to unfair longan pricing, the application of scientific research to develop value-added longan products, and relevant ministries negotiating new markets for longan," the Lamphun MP stated while proposing the draft law in the House of Representatives.

A woman selects dried longan at a supermarket in Fuyang, in eastern China's Anhui province on Feb. 9, 2018. China's factory inflation eased to a 14-month low in January while consumer prices grew at their slowest rate in six months, official data showed in February. [AFP]

Niwat agrees that more diverse processing methods and new markets are the way forward for the entire longan industry. 

"Currently, dried longan fetches the best price, but it's heavily dependent on the Chinese market," he says. 

"If one day they stop buying, the entire Thai longan system could collapse. We should find new processing methods and new markets. I'd like to try making spirits, beer, or wine from longan, so we're not just exporting to China alone."

BenarNews is an RFA-affiliated online news organization.

No details offered on Baltimore’s settlement with opioid manufacturer Johnson & Johnson as civil trial starts


By Alex Mann | amann@baltsun.com
September 16, 2024 

BALTIMORE SUN


Baltimore settled with opioid manufacturer Johnson & Johnson and its subsidiary Janssen Pharmaceuticals on the eve of its trial against that company and two distributors of opioids that the city accused of aggressively marketing the drugs and pumping them into pharmacies here.

The terms of the settlement were not outlined in a joint Sunday night filing informing the court of the agreement.

Johnson & Johnson declined to comment on the settlement.

Bryan Doherty, a spokesman for Democratic Mayor Brandon Scott, confirmed in an email that the city settled with Johnson & Johnson.

“The City cannot at this time discuss any of the specific terms of the settlement,” Doherty said. “It is one of the stipulations of the agreement that we cannot discuss specific terms until” the cases against the remaining defendants conclude.

Before the latest settlement, Baltimore had secured $402.5 million from settlements with various opioid companies.

Baltimore’s remaining claims against opioid distributors McKesson and AmerisourceBergen appear slated to proceed to trial this week. Jury selection began Monday and it could take several days for attorneys to find jurors who are able to preside over a trial scheduled to go through November.

In its 2018 lawsuit, Baltimore alleged Johnson & Johnson and other opioid manufacturers and distributors falsely advertised their drugs to downplay their addictiveness, bribed doctors under the guise of speaking engagements and ignored suspiciously large orders for their products.

Johnson & Johnson produced two opioid medications cited in the complaint: Duragesic, which was a patch form of fentanyl, and Nucynta.

“Janssen sought to expand the use of Duragesic through, for example, advertisements proclaiming, ‘It’s not just for end stage cancer anymore!'” attorneys for the city wrote in the complaint. “This claim earned Janssen a warning letter from the (U.S. Food and Drug Administration), for representing that Duragesic was ‘more useful in a broader range of conditions or patients than has been demonstrated by substantial evidence.'”

Johnson & Johnson regularly made more than $1 billion annually in sales of Duragesic up to 2009, the lawsuit said. Sales of Nucynta and the extended release version of that drug, Nucynta ER, brought in $172 million in 2014.

In a statement before it reached a settlement with the city, a spokesperson for Johnson & Johnson and Janssen said the companies “deeply sympathize with those affected by the impact of opioid abuse and addiction” and cited a 2022 settlement with states and municipalities around the country that “brought immediate financial support to address the opioid crisis.”

Baltimore, hard hit by the opioid epidemic, opted out of that settlement to pursue its claim separately.

The Johnson & Johnson spokesperson said Baltimore’s claims have “no basis in the facts or the law” and that evidence would show “Janssen did everything a responsible manufacturer of these important prescription pain medicines should do.”

The city sued Johnson & Johnson and other opioid companies under the state’s public nuisance statute, arguing that the the businesses manufacturing, marketing and distribution of prescription opioids fueled the illicit opioid epidemic driven by heroin and, later, fentanyl use. The defendants’ actions, the city argues, amount to a level of nuisance that deprived the Baltimore’s residents of public rights.

One of the experts retained by the city, Brendan Saloner, a professor of American health in addiction at Johns Hopkins University’s Bloomberg School of Public Health, calculated that “83% of (opioid use disorder) cases in Baltimore in each year from 2010-2021 are attributable to the misuse of prescription opioids prior to any heroin use,” the city’s lawyers wrote in recent court papers.

The city also said it uncovered internal Johnson & Johnson documents that “acknowledge the link between prescription opioid use and subsequent illicit opioid use.”

“Abusers of [Janssen’s] reservoir patch who experiment and in many cases overdose, sometimes die’ and that ‘in the future’ as the Duragesic market grows, Duragesic ‘might not be safe,’” attorneys for the city wrote of one such document.

Originally Published: September 16, 2024 

Tunisians protest poor governance as election campaigns get underway

Copyright © africanewsAnis Mili/Copyright 2024 The AP. All rights reserved

By Rédaction Africanews

Last updated: 15/09 - 

Tunisia


Demonstrators took to the streets of Tunisia's capital on Saturday to protest against what they say is the deteriorating state of the country, as the presidential campaign season officially begins.

Samia Abbou, a former Tunisian assembly member who took part in the demonstration, said Saied has failed on many important fronts.

Her and other demonstrators slammed both Tunisia’s economic and political woes, carrying signs that grouped together the growing costs of staple items and growing concerns about civil liberties.


In 2011, longtime Tunisian President Zine El Abidine Ben Ali was toppled by nationwide protests that unleashed revolt across the Arab world.

More than a decade later, demonstrator Sghaier Zakraoui said he was worried about the growing number of political figures who’ve been thrown in jail under Saied and said he wants to ensure that there no more attacks on civil rights.

The protests capped off a week in which the North African country’s largest opposition party, Ennahda, said its senior members had been arrested en masse, at a scale not previously seen.

They come as Saied prepares to campaign for reelection on Oct. 6, when he will ask voters to grant him a second term.

When first elected in 2019, Saied used anti-corruption promises to win over people disillusioned with the political controversies that plagued Tunisia’s young democracy in the years that followed the Arab Spring.

Since taking office, the 66-year-old former law professor has gone to lengths to consolidate his own power, freezing the country’s parliament and rewriting the constitution. Throughout his tenure, authorities have arrested journalists, activists, civil society figures and political opponents across the ideological spectrum.

And though he promised to chart a new course for the country, its unemployment rate has steadily increased to one of the region’s highest at 16%, with young Tunisians hit particularly hard.

Tunisians protest against president ahead of election

By Tarek Amara

September 13, 2024

Demonstrators hold signs and chant slogans during a protest against Tunisia President Kais Saied, whom they accuse of trying to rig the October 6 presidential election by detaining and intimidating his rivals, in Tunis, Tunisia, September 13, 2024. 

REUTERS/Jihed Abidellaoui

 REUTERS/Jihed Abidellaoui Purchase Licensing Rights, opens new tabTUNIS, Sept 13 (Reuters) - 

Thousands of Tunisians marched in the streets on Friday to protest against President Kais Saied, whom they accuse of trying to rig the Oct. 6 presidential election by detaining and intimidating his rivals.

The march was one of the country's biggest protests in two years since Saied began ruling by decree in 2021 in a move the opposition describes as a coup.
The protesters chanted slogans including "Out with dictator Saied" and "No fear, no terror, streets belong to the people".

The electoral commission in August eliminated three prominent candidatopens new tab

from the race, citing alleged irregularities in their candidacy filings. The court in charge of election disputes ordered the commission to reinstate them on Sept. 2 but the commission rejected the ruling.

Critics say Saied is using the electoral commission, whose members he appointed, to secure victory by stifling competition and intimidating candidates. Saied denies the accusations, saying he is fighting traitors, mercenaries and the corrupt, and he will not be a dictator.The commission's decision to defy the court meant only three candidates are left in the race -- Saied, Zouhair Maghzaoui and Ayachi Zammel.

Zammel was jailed 10 days ago, accused of falsifying voter signatures on his paperwork, charges he said were manufactured by Saied. He faces 25 court cases on the issue, and lawyers say he may be forced out of the race

The protesters demanded the release of Zammel and all political prisoners, activists and journalists detained for criticising Saied.

"We are in the street to defend freedoms and rights which are at real risk", Bassam Trifi, the head of Human Rights League, told Reuters.

"The electoral commission should respect the court ruling and end restrictions against candidates. Otherwise, it means an undemocratic election", he added.

Major political parties, many of whose leaders are in prison, say Saied's years in power have eroded the democratic gains of Tunisia's 2011 revolution.

CLIMATE CRISIS

What is causing the Biblical deluge in Central Europe?

Central Europe has just seen off-the-scale amounts of rainfall that has flooded cities across the region in an unprecedented extreme weather event. The combination of the hottest summer on record and freezing cold air swirling out of the Arctic created a lethal weather bomb that has just detonated. / bne IntelliNews

By Ben Aris in Berlin September 16, 2024

Central Europe is underwater as it grapples with a Biblical deluge, with record rainfall smashing all records and across countries in what experts are calling a “historic flood event.”

And this torrential downpour didn’t come out of the blue; meteorologists had predicted the disaster days in advance, with weather models flagging an extreme combination of variables leading to severe flooding.

As bne IntelliNews reported in February, torrential rainfall is one of the consequences of the accelerating Climate Crisis. The cause of the flooding has its roots in this year’s hottest summer on record. That has heated both the Mediterranean and the Black Sea to the temperature of bathwater. (video)

That abruptly changed on September 11 when very cold air started pouring out of the Arctic, covering northern Europe and spreading as far south as the Mediterranean and into the Black Sea, where it got trapped by a ridge of high pressure over southern Europe. (video)

Adding to the complexity of the weather pattern, a surge of atmospheric moisture originating from the Black Sea, which is significantly warmer than usual and has created the conditions for a perfect storm of cold, heat and moisture.

“This plunge of cold was part of a cyclonic wave break, essentially cutting off a low-pressure system from the main background flow,” says Scottish meteorologist  Scott Duncan, who posted a series of simulations on social media. “This means a low pressure (storm) can get trapped and sit in the same place for days.”

Duncan added that the situation has been exacerbated by high-pressure systems lingering in the region, effectively trapping the storm over Central Europe. “We should never forget about the proximity of the high pressures. They are really crucial players holding this weather event over Central Europe,” he said.

Austria has been among the worst-hit, with rainfall records shattered across the country, while the higher altitudes have seen heavy snowfall, unseasonably early.

“The rain is still falling, but we already know Austria’s rainfall records are being pulverised,” Duncan said, as torrential rain continues to cause widespread flooding and disruption. In the centre of Vienna the normally placid River Danube has become a torrent of white water barely restrained between its banks as it rages through the city centre.

Austria has been especially hard hit due to “orographic enhancement,” a process where air pushed up the side of a mountain has its moisture squeezed out of it like a sponge, intensifying the rainfall.

“Rain (or snow) events can get an extra kick when there are mountains involved,” Duncan explains.

While the immediate focus remains on managing the flood’s impacts, the scale of the disaster has set alarm bells ringing as this weather event is off the scales. Central Europe has never recorded such extreme weather like this before – not just in September, but for any month of the year.

Rain fall was concentrated in Central Europe

 Op-Ed

Is Joe Biden the “Drill, Baby, Drill” President?

By Benjamin Zycher

The Honest Broker

September 16, 2024

My AEI colleague Roger Pielke Jr. argues in a recent post that “Joe Biden Is the ‘Drill, Baby, Drill’ President,” by virtue of the time trend for U.S. oil production on federal lands (onshore and offshore) for 2008-2023. In summary, Pielke reproduces the data on oil production from federal lands as reported by the U.S. Department of the Interior, showing that such oil production increased by about 129 percent during 2008-2023, over 46 percent during 2017-2023,¹ and by 25 percent in 2023 relative to 2020. Table 1 presents those production data for calendar years 2016-2023 for crude oil (and associated liquids) and natural gas.

Source: US DOI

Fossil energy production from federal lands is the end result of a lengthy process comprising complex preliminary analyses, leasing, exploration, permitting, and development, Pursuit of a lease on specific federal acreage is highly speculative, driven by some perceived potential for fossil production years in the future, under market conditions that are uncertain at best, and which may or may not yield an actual resource economically viable.

After a lease is obtained, geologic analyses — complex, time-consuming, and expensive — proceed, the central purpose of which is a determination of whether a drilling permit is worth pursuing. As a rough approximation, this process of geologic investigation consumes 2-4 years for onshore leases, and 7-8 years for offshore leases because of the enhanced attendant difficulties of engineering and logistical analyses.

Administrative, regulatory, and litigation challenges can lengthen the process, the end result of which might be a determination that a given lease on a given geological formation offers a resource sufficient in size and cost characteristics to be economically viable. Moreover, horizontal drilling requires leases and permits on contiguous parcels, an additional complication often forgotten in the public discussion of federal leasing policies for federal lands.

Accordingly, the mere observation that production on federal lands has increased sharply during the Biden administration period after 2020 provides less support for Pielke’s assertion than one might conclude at first glance. Table 2 presents for fiscal years 2016- 2023 data for federal lands on total leases and acreage, new leases and acreage, and number of drilling permits approved by fiscal year, all as of October 1, 2023.

Source: US BLM

As discussed above, the number of new drilling permits issued in a given year is driven heavily by leases approved in prior years, followed by the geologic and other analyses needed to determine if a drilling permit is worth pursuing. Accordingly, it is leasing activity in prior years that is the central driver of fossil energy production on federal lands during the current year. Analogously, it is leasing activity in the current and/or most recent years that will prove the central determinants of such fossil energy production in future years.² 

The increase in fossil energy production on federal lands observed during the Biden administration clearly is the result in substantial part of strong leasing and leasing acreage activity in 2019-2020. Both fell dramatically during the 2021-2023 period. The central conclusions to be drawn are that Mr. Biden is not the “drill, baby, drill” president, and that fossil energy production on federal lands is likely to decline during the next two to four years.

——

1. It is not clear whether Pielke is reproducing the data from the Department of the Interior for fiscal or calendar years, but the differences are unimportant.

2. Obviously, market conditions — prices, input costs, etc. — also drive production activity.

African free trade pact gives China a chance to deepen its engagement

Expert comment~ Written by Linda Calabrese

16 September 2024

Africa’s continental trade pact offers significant opportunities not only for African economies but also for their foreign trade partners – none more so than the largest, China.

While China is perhaps best known in Africa for funding infrastructure megaprojects, its spending on infrastructure has decreased in recent years, even as it maintains its foreign direct investment (FDI).

To take full advantage of the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA), both elements will be necessary. While tariffs and other trade barriers have fallen, African economies still need the productive capacity to make desirable goods at competitive prices, and the logistics to export them efficiently, if intra-African trade is to increase.

For African countries, the benefits are obvious. Currently, most of the continent’s exports consist of commodities and raw materials that are then processed elsewhere. A larger continental market will have more capacity to process these resources and use them for manufacture, meaning more of their value – and associated job creation – will stay within Africa.

China can also win from this development. By investing in Africa, Chinese companies get a return on their investment; and the opening up of the intra-African market allows them to sell beyond the borders of the country where they set up. We are yet to see any moves in this direction by China, but the AfCFTA becoming operational could be the trigger for such a strategy.
Trade imbalance

China has been Africa’s main trade partner for over a decade. Since 2012, most African imports come from China, and most of Africa’s exports go to China. But China has maintained a trade surplus since at least 2015. In 2023, the value of its exports to Africa was $173bn, and the value of imports was $110bn – with a trade deficit of $63bn, more than half of the value of its imports.

And, while China’s imports from Africa are largely minerals, oil and gas and other commodities, its exports include manufactured products, machinery and equipment.

This imbalance isn’t to China’s advantage. It is becoming a point of tension with African leaders: Uganda’s President Yoweri Museveni, for example, last year noted these skewed trade patterns.

“I would like to encourage China to open their market more for processed coffee and other products, not only raw materials,” he said in November.

Keenly aware of this, Chinese leaders are encouraging more exports from Africa through China, through initiatives like the establishment of ‘green lanes’, or electronic trade platforms to boost the sales of African agricultural products in the Chinese market, thus diversifying Africa’s exports.

The AfCFTA eliminates many tariffs between African countries and removes other barriers to trade. Africa’s internal trade is already more diversified – involving more manufactured products – than its trade with the rest of the world, meaning that the continent’s value-adding industries stand to gain the most from this liberalisation.

Therefore, even though the trade pact is directly concerned only with internal trade, its effect will be to lengthen African value chains and make manufacturing more efficient, serving as a launchpad for countries to export more manufactured products outside the continent, including to China. This will not be an immediate effect but may happen in the longer term.
How China can help

As China stands to gain from this development, there are several things it can do to speed the process along.

First, it can continue to invest in African industry, particularly in value chains that the African Union has identified as particularly promising for the AfCFTA, namely agroprocessing, automotives, pharmaceuticals, and transport and logistics.

This is already underway. Chinese automotive producer BAIC has set up a plant in South Africa. BYD, the world’s largest manufacturer of electric vehicles, plans to set up factories in Morocco (though this may serve to maintain access to the EU market). Fosun Pharma, in partnership with the International Finance Corporation, wants to establish antibacterial and antimalarial production in Côte d’Ivoire.

Chinese capital is also still needed in infrastructure, and here the picture is more mixed. Chinese banks are major financiers of infrastructure in Africa, but in recent years, this finance seems to be drying up. This is due to many reasons, but challenges with debt repayment by many African countries are certainly an important one.

China frames this change as the pursuit of ‘small and beautiful’ projects, intended to be more impactful and sustainable than the mega-infrastructure financed in the past. This is, in principle, a good thing: some of the infrastructure previously financed by China did little to improve trade or economic development.

The AfCFTA presents a unique opportunity for both Africa and China. With well targeted FDI and infrastructure investment from China, the two sides can create a more balanced and mutually beneficial trade relationship that will boost economic growth and development for both sides.


This opinion piece was first published in African Business Magazine on 27 August 2024.

WWIII

Philippines says it did not surrender from Sabina Shoal

Beijing claims it “has indisputable sovereignty” over the disputed South China Sea shoal.

Jason Gutierrez
2024.09.16
Manila

This photo released by the Philippine Coast Guard (PCG) shows the BRP Teresa Magbanua as it arrives at a port in Puerto Princesa city, Palawan province, Philippines, Sept. 15, 2024.

 HO/Philippine Coast Guard/AFP

Filipino officials tried to reassure the Philippine public Monday that they had not surrendered Manila’s claim of sovereign rights over Sabina Shoal to China by withdrawing a coast guard ship from the disputed reef.

The Philippine Coast Guard (PCG) said it pulled its ship out from the shoal’s waters over the weekend and sent it back to port because crew members needed medical care and repairs had to be done to the BRP Teresa Magbanua after a five-month deployment. 

Because of alleged harassment by Chinese ships at Sabina Shoal , the Philippine crew had to ration their food supply and eat rice porridge for weeks, a coast guard spokesman said. 

“We did not surrender [the Sabina Shoal]. It’s wrong to say we surrendered it,” said Commodore Jay Tarriela, the coast guard’s spokesman on the West Philippine Sea (South China Sea), in defending the coast guard’s move. 

The PCG plans to dispatch a ship back to Sabina Shoal as soon as possible in order to guard the South China Sea reef that lies within Manila’s exclusive economic zone, he said.  

“The Philippine Coast Guard, together with the Armed Forces of the Philippines, will never abandon our sovereign rights over these waters,”  he told a news conference.

Philippine Coast Guard personnel carry a crew member off the BRP Teresa Magbanua after the vessel arrived at a port in Puerto Princesa city, Palawan province, Philippines, Sept. 15, 2024. [HO/Philippine Coast Guard/AFP]

Both China and the Philippines have contending claims over the shoal, which is located about 140 km (75.6 nautical miles) from the Philippine island of Palawan and about 1,200 km (647.94 nautical miles) from Hainan island, the nearest major Chinese landmass. The Philippines has sovereign rights to explore Sabina Shoal for natural resources because of its location within Manila’s 200-nautical mile EEZ. 

China refers to Sabina Shoal as Xianbin Jiao and the Philippines calls it Escoda Shoal. For Manila, the reef serves as a rendezvous point for resupply missions to nearby Second Thomas Shoal (Ayungin Shoal), where the Philippines keeps a World War II-era ship to serve as a military outpost and territorial marker.

The Teresa Magbanua, one of the coast guard’s largest and most modern ships, was deployed to Sabina Shoal in April amid reports that China may be trying to reclaim land there. In response, Beijing accused Manila of “illegally grounding” the BRP Teresa Magbanua to “forcibly occupy” the shoal.

In August, Manila claimed that Beijing had harassed its vessels at least five times in waters near the shoal.

Tarriela declined to say if another vessel had been deployed or was about to be sent to replace the Teresa Magbanua at Sabina Shoal. 

Since last month, the coast guard had difficulty resupplying the ship since due to alleged Chinese harassment in area waters, he said. 

In addition to crew members having to eat rice porridge for weeks, the ship’s desalination machine also broke down, forcing them to drink rainwater, according to Tarriela.

“When there is no rain, they even have to gather water from their air-conditioning units. Then they’re just going to boil it and that will be used for drinking,” said Tarriela.

Following Manila’s pullout of the BRP Teresa Magbanua, Beijing’s coast guard said on Sunday that China had “indisputable sovereignty” over Sabina Shoal.

Shades of Scarborough Shoal?

Some analysts believe that the Sabina Shoal situation is similar to what happened at Scarborough Shoal. The South China Sea atoll, approximately 222 km (120 nautical miles) west of the Philippine island of Luzon, is a rich fishing destination for Filipinos.

China took possession of the shoal in 2012, forcing the Philippines to file a lawsuit before a world court. Four years later, the Permanent Court of Arbitration in The Hague ruled in Manila’s favor and dismissed Beijing’s sweeping territorial claims over the South China Sea. Beijing has refused to acknowledge the ruling.

Map showing occupied or administered islands in the disputed South China Sea. [AFP]

Defense and security analyst Sherwin Ona said the government “should maintain a strong presence [in Sabina Shoal] to avoid a repeat of 2012.”

China is engaged in attrition, Ona told BenarNews on Monday. “They’re severely damaging our ships to limit our operational capability. The de facto control of the [Sabina Shoal] is the main goal.”

“They know that our resources are limited. The ramming incidents [in August] show the intention to incapacitate our capital ships,” said Ona, who teaches at Manila’s De La Salle University.

Security analyst Chester Cabalza, however, said it would be a mistake to describe the PCG’s action over the weekend as a retreat. It was necessary, he said, to allow tired coast guard personnel to “recharge.”

“If it’s a retreat for the Philippines, why would we dare to return?” said the analyst at International Development and Security Cooperation, a Manila think-tank, arguing that compared to 12 years ago, Manila could now read “Beijing’s art of deception.”

---

READ MORE

To guard against Chinese buildup, Philippines will not leave Sabina Shoal

Philippine coast guard rejects China’s ‘illegal stranding’ claim

Manila accuses Beijing of island building in South China Sea

 Research shows brain synchronization between humans and dogs

By Pooja Toshniwal Paharia

Reviewed by Danielle Ellis, B.Sc.

Sep 16 2024

Study reveals how mutual gazing and petting synchronize human and dog brains, while autism-related gene mutations in dogs reduce this connection. 

Study: Disrupted Human–Dog Interbrain Neural Coupling in Autism-Associated Shank3 Mutant Dogs. Image Credit: sergey kolesnikov/Shutterstock.com

In a recent study published in Advanced Science, researchers studied cross-species interbrain connections between dogs and humans. They also investigated whether autism-related gene abnormalities in dogs impede social interaction between human-dog pairs.

Background

The human-dog connection has developed with time, with dogs tamed for their protective and hunting capacities. They have become valuable members of households, offering companionship and emotional support. Interspecies partnerships generate mutual benefit but seldom approach the extent of communication between humans and dogs. Dogs can read, comprehend, and react to various human emotions and linguistic signs via facial expressions, behaviors, and voice tones. However, the brain mechanisms underlying interspecies social communication remain unknown.

About the study

In the present study, researchers investigated the brain processes enabling human-dog communication. They explored the influence of autism-related gene alterations in dogs on social interactions between the two species.

Non-invasive wireless electroencephalograms (EEG) concurrently detected brain activity in beagles (research canines) and humans during social interactions. To validate the findings, researchers assessed interbrain correlations between different areas of the brain under three situations. The situations included no social interactions in separate spaces, with social interaction in one room and without social engagement in one room. Social interactions included petting and mutual gazing.

Researchers compared interbrain coupling during complete social interactions (mutual gaze + petting) to partial social interactions (mutual gaze or petting alone) to evaluate the synergistic effects of mutual gaze and petting on interbrain coupling. They also investigated brain activity associations between dogs and human participants from different trials and recorded the brain activities of the two species during social interactions for five days to evaluate the impact of social familiarity on interbrain neural coupling.

Subsequently, researchers conducted an additional five-day investigation to assess the durability or changes in interbrain interactions across prolonged periods. Linear regressions investigated the association between the duration of social interactions and interbrain activity. Generalized partial directed coherence (GPDC) algorithms assessed the directionality of interbrain activity coupling.

Researchers developed an autism spectrum disorder (ASD) model for dogs with SH3 and multiple ankyrin repeat domain 3 (Shank3) mutations using Clustered Regularly Interspaced Short Palindromic Repeats (CRISPR)-associated protein 9 (Cas9) genome editing.

Behavioral studies such as the three-chamber test and human-dog interaction experiments revealed autism-like symptoms in the mutants. Over five days, researchers explored the interbrain neuronal connection between mutant canines and humans. Theta/beta wave ratios (TBR) indicated attention problems in the mutants during the social interactions between humans and dogs.

Researchers also explored the effects of lysergic acid diethylamide (LSD), a psychedelic, on brain function. They delivered a single dosage of 7.5 μg/kg bodyweight of LSD intramuscularly and observed its effects after 24 hours.

Results

Petting and mutual gazing resulted in interbrain synchronization in the parietal and frontal areas of the brain during human-dog interactions, respectively. These brain areas are involved in joint attention. The interbrain association in these brain areas of dogs and humans caused by mutual gazing or stroking alone was much lower than that during combined social interactions, including petting and mutual gazing.

Over five days, the synchronization intensity increased as the human-dog dyad became more familiar. Linear regression analyses revealed a strong positive association between social contact time, interbrain activity correlations, and GPDC values. After a week of social contacts, logistic growth curve regressions revealed that interbrain correlation in the frontal and parietal areas had plateaued. 

Interbrain correlations between humans and dogs in various sessions were much lower than in the same interaction sessions. The findings demonstrate that reciprocal involvement between dogs and humans is vital for interbrain neural connections. During the human-dog social interactions, the human takes the lead, and the dog follows. The mutant canines displayed lower attention and eliminated interbrain connections. A single dosage of LSD corrected the problems.

Conclusions

The study found that interbrain neural synchronizations between family dogs and human beings are identical to those observed during human-human interactions. The frontoparietal network is essential for interbrain activity coordination and sensory information attention. Dogs with Shank3 mutations demonstrated poor brain circuitry and attention, comparable to those with ASD. A single dosage of LSD restored reduced interbrain connection and joint attention in the mutant dogs, indicating that LSD may improve social impairment in ASD patients.

 The findings point to possible interbrain neural activity biological markers for autism spectrum disorder diagnosis and the development of designed non-hallucinogenic LSD analogs to address social deficiencies. Further research into brain coupling may improve the knowledge of the neurological mechanisms that underpin social interactions between regularly developing humans and those with mental illnesses like ASD.

Journal reference:

• Wei Ren, Shan Yu, Kun Guo, Chunming Lu, and Yong Q. Zhang. Disrupted Human-Dog Interbrain Neural Coupling in Autism-Associated Shank3 Mutant Dogs, Adv. Sci. 2024, 2402493, DOI: https://doi.org/10.1002/advs.202402493 https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/advs.202402493?utm_campaign=publicity

A Boy And His Dog (1975) Official Trailer

NEBULOUS AND DUBIOUS CLAIMS

TikTok's future in US hangs in balance as court to hear appeal against ban

RED SCARE REDUX

TikTok will argue in federal court that a US law requiring the app to divest from its Chinese ownership or face a ban is unconstitutional. The law, signed by President Biden, cites national security concerns, but TikTok claims it violates free speech rights. The case may reach the US Supreme Court.


Democratic President Joe Biden, whose vice president Kamala Harris is running against Trump, signed the law that gives TikTok until January to shed its Chinese ownership or be expelled from the US market. (Photo: AFP)

Agence France-Presse
Washington,UPDATED: Sep 16, 2024 12:38 IST
Posted By: Girish Kumar Anshul

In Short

TikTok challenges US law requiring divestment from Chinese ownership

Law gives TikTok until January 2025 to comply or face US ban

Case may reach Supreme Court, with decision expected in coming months

TikTok will attempt to convince a federal court on Monday that a law requiring the video-sharing app to divest from its Chinese ownership or face a ban in the United States is unconstitutional.

The fate of Americans' access to TikTok has become a prominent issue in the country's political debate, with Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump opposing any ban of the wildly popular app.

Democratic President Joe Biden, whose vice president Kamala Harris is running against Trump, signed the law that gives TikTok until January to shed its Chinese ownership or be expelled from the US market.

ByteDance, TikTok's parent company, has stated it has no plans to sell TikTok, leaving the app's legal appeal -- focused on US guarantees for free speech -- as its only optionfor survival.

A ban would likely provoke a strong response from the Chinese government and further strain US-China relations.

A three-judge panel of the US Court of Appeals for the DC Circuit will hear arguments from TikTok, ByteDance, and a group of users. They will primarily contend that the law violates free speech rights.

The judges will decide the case in the coming weeks or months, but regardless of their decision, the case is likely to reach the US Supreme Court.

"There is no question: the Act will force a shutdown of TikTok by January 19, 2025," TikTok's appeal stated, "silencing those who use the platform to communicate in ways that cannot be replicated elsewhere."

TikTok also argued that even if divestiture were possible, the app "would still be reduced to a shell of its former self, stripped of the innovative and expressive technology that tailors content to each user".

TikTok asserts that "the Constitution is on our side", as it pushes for a ruling that would favour the app and its 170 million American users.

The US government counters that the law addresses national security concerns, not speech, and that ByteDance cannot claim First Amendment rights in the United States.

"Given TikTok's broad reach within the United States, the capacity for China to use TikTok's features to achieve its overarching objective to undermine American interests creates a national-security threat of immense depth and scale," the US Justice Department wrote in its filing.

The US argues that ByteDance could and would comply with Chinese government demands for data about US users, or yield to Chinese government pressure to censor or promote content on the platform.

'VOTE FOR TRUMP'

TikTok first faced scrutiny under former president Trump's administration, which tried unsuccessfully to ban it.

That effort was halted when a federal judge temporarily blocked Trump's move, citing in part the potential infringement of free speech rights.

Trump has since changed his position.

"For all of those that want to save TikTok in America, vote for Trump," he said in a video post last week.

In a measure of the app's popularity, Biden's reelection campaign created a TikTok account earlier this year.

Biden has since stepped aside from his reelection bid, but Harris, running in his place, also maintains a presence on the app, having embraced social media as a means to communicate with younger voters.

The new effort signed by Biden was designed to overcome the previous legal hurdles Trump faced, but some experts believe the US Supreme Court will have difficulty allowing national security considerations to outweigh free speech protections.

Much of the US side's national security arguments are sealed, which "complicates efforts to evaluate" them, said professor Carl Tobias of the University of Richmond School of Law.

"However, the US Supreme Court has generally been very cautious about accepting national security arguments when government regulation restricts First Amendment rights, especially involving the internet," he added.

First conviction under Hong Kong's security law for wearing 'seditious' T-shirt

FUCK THE STATE!

September 16, 2024 

Members of League of Social Democrats hold banner outside the West Kowloon Magistrates' Courts in Hong Kong, May 30, 2024, ahead of verdicts in national security case. The banner reads "Exercising Constitutional rights is not a crime."
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HONG KONG —

A Hong Kong man on Monday pleaded guilty to sedition for wearing a T-shirt with a protest slogan, becoming the first person convicted under the city's new national security law passed in March.

Chu Kai-pong, 27, pleaded guilty to one count of "doing with a seditious intention an act."

Under the new security law, the maximum sentence for the offense has been expanded from two years to seven years in prison and could even go up to 10 years if "collusion with foreign forces" was found involved.

Chu was arrested on June 12 at a MTR station wearing a T-shirt with the slogan “Liberate Hong Kong, revolution of our times” and a yellow mask printed with “FDNOL”- the shorthand of another slogan, "five demands, not one less.”

Both slogans were frequently chanted in the huge, sometimes violent, pro-democracy protests in 2019 and June 12 was a key kick-off day of the months-long unrests.

Chu told police that he wore the T-shirt to remind people of the protests, the court heard.

Chief Magistrate Victor So, handpicked by the city leader John Lee to hear national security cases, adjourned the case to Thursday for sentencing.

Hong Kong was returned from Britain to China in 1997 under Beijing's promise of guaranteeing its freedoms, including freedom of speech, would be protected under a "one country, two systems" formula.

Beijing imposed a national security law in 2020 punishing secession, subversion, terrorism or collusion with foreign forces with up to life in prison, after the months-long protests in the financial hub.

In March 2024, Hong Kong passed a second new security law, a home-grown ordinance also known as "Article 23" according to its parent provision in the city's mini constitution, the Basic Law.

Critics, including the U.S. government have expressed concerns over the new security law and said the vaguely defined provisions regarding "sedition" could be used to curb dissent.

Hong Kong and Chinese officials have said it was necessary to plug "loopholes" in the national security regime.