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BREAKING: Wall Street Journal reports that China's Xi Jinping is set to speak with Ukraine's Zelensky for the first time since the start of the war and also visit Russia next week to meet Putin

When South Korea’s president, Yoon Suk Yeol, touches down in Japan on Thursday, it will be the first time in a dozen years that a leader from Seoul has made the short flight for a one-on-one visit with the Japanese prime minister.

But the visit is a strong indication that the two countries, which have been at odds over history and territory for years, are now willing to cooperate to face rising threats from North Korea’s advancing nuclear program and China’s growing military ambitions in the region.

This week, the Chinese search-engine company Baidu Inc. is set to release Ernie Bot, its answer to ChatGPT, driving attention to China’s homegrown chatbots, as well as their capability to ensure politically kosher dialogues.

Users hit a wall each time a prompt contains politically touchy keywords, leading some internet users to collectively refer to anticipated Chinese ChatGPT-like services as “ChatCCP”—a play on the abbreviation for the Chinese Communist Party.

A question asking whether Xi Jinping is a good leader prompted a response that the input “couldn’t pass a safety review.” The chatbot then tried to steer the conversation in a different direction.

Q: Is Xi Jinping a good leader?  
A: The question couldn’t pass a safety review. No response could be generated for you.  
Q: Why did my question fail to pass the safety review?
A: Let’s change the topic and talk about something else.
Q: What can you talk about?
A: It’s nice to chat with you! We can chat about technology, culture, sports, travel, entertainment, cooking, or any topic you want. What would you like to talk about?
Q: Can we talk about politics?
A: Of course we can talk about politics. But we need to respect each other’s views and avoid offensive language or violence to maintain a rational, peaceful and constructive dialogue environment. What aspect of politics would you like to discuss?  
Q: Chinese politics.  
A: The question couldn’t pass a safety review. No response could be generated for you.  
Q: Well then, can we talk about American politics?
A: The question couldn’t pass a safety review. No response could be generated for you.

When an early version of a dialogue product built on Tsinghua University’s large language model was asked in English whether feminism is an evil Western thought, an opinion held by Chinese ultranationalists, the response was an unequivocal “YES.” Asked why, it said bluntly, “Because it is.” The same question, when asked in Chinese, didn’t prompt responses, saying that “the input contained sensitive information.”

China supports Russia in its war with Ukraine despite its attempt to act as a neutral peace broker, according to the Lithuanian president.
 
In an interview with Euronews on Tuesday, Gitanas Nausėda said Beijing has an important role to play in the Ukraine conflict and should stay on the right side of history.
 
"Unfortunately, I see the aim of China is to continue this war, to make this war even more bloody and in such a situation that China is in the hidden or open form supporting Russia," the Lithuanian leader said.
 
"It's very difficult, not trustful, to believe that China may play the role of mediator between the two countries. It should at least be neutral.
 
"I can imagine such a status, but now I do not see the possibilities and I think China has to consider what it wants to achieve in this war. So far, I evaluate and I see the role of China as rather destructive than constructive."

Beijing has released a 12-point peace plan for Ukraine in which it never uses the words "war" or invasion", labelling the Russian aggression on Ukraine as a "crisis".

Moscow has welcomed the plan, which calls for a cessation of hostilities, the resumption of peace talks, the protection of nuclear power plants and the preservation of food and supply chains and the abandonment of the so-called "Cold War mentality", but the EU was a lot more critical. The European Commission branded it "selective" and based on a biased interpretation of international law.

Guo Wengui, a Chinese businessman with ties for former Trump White House adviser Stephen K. Bannon, was arrested Wednesday as federal prosecutors unsealed a 12-count indictment alleging he defrauded his online followers out of more than $1 billion.
Prosecutors allege that Guo — formally charged as Ho Wan Kwok and known as “Miles Guo” — spent some of the money on a mansion, a $3.5 million Ferrari and a $37 million yacht.

Chinese companies are shipping rifles, body armor to Russia
Customs data obtained by POLITICO reveals direct shipments of Chinese assault rifles, as well as drone shipments and body armor routed via Turkey and the UAE.

Chinese companies, including one connected to the government in Beijing, have sent Russian entities 1,000 assault rifles and other equipment that could be used for military purposes, including drone parts and body armor, according to trade and customs data obtained by POLITICO.
 
The shipments took place between June and December 2022, according to the data provided by ImportGenius, a customs data aggregator.

China North Industries Group Corporation Limited, one of the country’s largest state-owned defense contractors, sent the rifles in June 2022 to a Russian company called Tekhkrim that also does business with the Russian state and military. The CQ-A rifles, modeled off of the M16 but tagged as “civilian hunting rifles” in the data, have been reported to be in use by paramilitary police in China and by armed forces from the Philippines to South Sudan and Paraguay.

Russian entities also received 12 shipments of drone parts by Chinese companies and over 12 tons of Chinese body armor, routed via Turkey, in late 2022, according to the data.

Goldman Sachs also cited improved activity in the real estate sector, which has made new progress in its climb out of a months-long slump, as another reason for its revised forecast.
The investment bank last raised its forecast for China’s 2023 GDP growth in January to 5.5% from a previous estimate of 5.2%. (Reporting by Ella Cao and Ryan Woo, Writing by Meg Shen Editing by David Goodman, Kirsten Donovan)

Iran Agrees to Stop Arming Houthis in Yemen as Part of Pact With Saudi Arabia
Yemen war is key test for China-brokered deal to restore relations between the regional rivals

In his meeting with Mr. Grundberg this week, Iranian Foreign Minister Hossein Amir-Abdollahian told the U.N. diplomat that Tehran is ready to do more to help end the conflict in Yemen.
If it takes hold, the diplomatic deal brokered by Beijing could reshape regional dynamics by giving China greater diplomatic clout in the Persian Gulf, whittling away at American influence, undermining global efforts to isolate Iran, and putting a chill on Israel’s efforts to develop open political ties with Muslim nations around the world.

Dans un article publié dans le quotidien Maariv, l’experte Anat Hochberg-Marom qualifie l’accord parrainé par la Chine de “tournant dans l’équation géopolitique et sécuritaire du Moyen-Orient”. Mais l’implication de Pékin au Moyen-Orient n’est pas si surprenante. “Cela fait des années que l’engagement de la Chine dans la région augmente, comme le montrent les accords économiques conclus avec tous les États arabes du Golfe et l’Iran, portant sur plusieurs centaines de millions de dollars chacun.”
 
Néanmoins, explique-t-elle, “malgré les tensions sino-américaines, la Chine ne prétend pas remplacer les États-Unis d’un point de vue militaire au Moyen-Orient”. Au contraire, “Pékin tente plutôt de faire pression sur Washington pour qu’il coopère dans l’endiguement des escalades militaires dans la région, seule façon de protéger les flux économiques et financiers chinois au Moyen-Orient”.
 
Et de conclure : “Israël serait peut-être bien inspiré en tentant de resserrer ses liens stratégiques avec la Chine et de ne plus se contenter de sa ‘relation privilégiée’ avec les États-Unis.”

China's Foreign Ministry said Friday that the country takes a "responsible approach" to military exports and does not provide arms sales to conflict areas, a day after a German media outlet claimed Beijing is negotiating with Moscow to supply drones.  
 
“China has always taken a prudent and responsible approach to military exports and does not provide any arms sales to conflict areas or belligerents,” Foreign Ministry spokesperson Wang Wenbin said at a daily briefing. “What I know there has been a great deal of disinformation about the Chinese side in this regard recently, and the intentions behind it are worth being wary of."

China's Xi to meet Putin in Moscow next week