Social responsibility

The current environment in China is far from conducive for university students to find a job, much less one that matches what they studied. Even if their finances allow and they embark on postgraduate studies, their employment prospects may not always improve when they finally enter the job market. It is not even a question of dropping one’s ego and accepting any job that comes along; structural challenges with the employment market may necessitate making hard decisions and exercising a lot of patience.

Is being “sentenced to death” by online public trial going too far? What recourse is there when accusations are made that turn out to be false? Zaobao’s China Desk looks into the Chinese phenomenon of going public with perceived injustices.

With the deluge of short-form videos on various apps and platforms, the line between fact and fiction can be blurred, with some content creators staging videos just to get views and stir up emotions. To combat this, Douyin has come up with a new rule that creators have to label staged videos as such. How effective will this be in preventing creators from going overboard in generating views?

China’s sudden opening up has taken many by surprise, and it seems that it was not just the people who were unprepared — the government itself appeared not to have planned for the aftermath of lifting all measures, leading to a shortage of medicine and vaccines, and a squeeze on healthcare resources. If anything, the three years of Covid-19 have highlighted the shortcomings of China’s political system. Chinese college student Anthony Shen shares his thoughts.

JD.com founder Richard Liu has been in the news lately following an announcement that the company is set to improve social benefits for rank-and-file employees, while cutting salaries for senior management. While it seems to kill many birds with one stone, is this a long term solution for private firms?

Zaobao correspondent Chen Jing observes that while the lockdown in Shanghai has been lifted, people are still nervous that the sporadic Covid-19 cases could trigger another lockdown. Regulations remain strict and prohibitive, so people are hesitant to say that things have returned back to normal. Furthermore, with the 20th Party Congress coming up, Shanghai’s situation will be a bellwether for the country’s economic recovery.

With its dogged implementation of the zero-Covid policy, China has painted itself into a corner and is now saddled with four shackles that prevent it from changing course. Lu Xi explains the factors involved and suggests how China may slowly begin to extricate itself from its predicament.

The US’s recently enacted Uyghur Forced Labor Prevention Act prohibits the import of Xinjiang-produced goods, leaving US companies in a bind. In response, Walmart and Tesla have taken different approaches. While Sam’s Club under Walmart removed Xinjiang products, drawing the ire of Chinese consumers, Tesla gained cheers for opening a new showroom in Urumqi. Will US companies be forced to choose sides? Zaobao correspondent Chen Jing looks into the matter.

As the ruling Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) wished, the four-question referendum held in Taiwan on 18 December — regarding the building of a third LNG plant near an algal reef, the restarting of the Fourth Nuclear Power Plant, pork imports, and timing of referendums — was not passed. However, they should not be too happy yet, says Chen I-hsin. Recent exposés on party members, not least on President Tsai Ing-wen herself, are draining support from the party. And though the KMT did not achieve enough “yes” votes in the referendums, if they learn from it, they could still make gains in upcoming elections.