Commentary The release from detention and the return to Australia of Cheng Lei was both unexpected and welcome. Ever since the detention and arrest of the 48-year-old television journalist, Australian governments and embassy officials endeavoured to secure her release. It is a credit to the government and our returning ambassador in Beijing, Graham Fletcher, that they have finally succeeded. Ms. Cheng was detained in August 2020, “formally” arrested in February 2021, and charged with providing state secrets to foreign organisations, then her secret trial was repeatedly delayed. But she has now been released following pressure on the communist regime. The charges against Ms. Cheng, which she denied, were unclear, the proceedings were secretive and the verdict was never publicly released. Such is the nature of Beijing’s so-called “rule of law!”...Read more https://www.theepochtimes.com/opinion/release-of-detained-reporter-is-not-proof-that-beijing-has-changed-5510654
SHANGHAI—American Solheim Cup player Angel Yin defeated top-ranked Lilia Vu on the first playoff hole to win the LPGA Shanghai tournament on Sunday for her first tour win. The two southern Californians, Yin and Vu, finished at 14–under 274 on the Qizhong Garden Golf Club course forcing a playoff, where Yin made a birdie at the par-4 18th after Vu had narrowly missed her 20-foot birdie putt. Lilia Vu, of Fountain Valley, Calif., and her caddie react on the 17th green during the final round of the Buick LPGA Shanghai at Shanghai Qizhong Garden Golf Club in Shanghai on Oct. 15, 2023. (Zhe Ji/Getty Images) It was 25-year-old Yin’s first victory in her 159th start, and she shared a warm embrace with compatriot Vu on her breakthrough win.... 
The Chinese-owned AESC Group is growing its foothold in the U.S. market by constructing two new electric vehicle (EV) battery plants in South Carolina and Kentucky, its chief technology officer said on Oct. 15. AESC is a Japan-based EV battery manufacturer formerly owned by the Japanese carmaker Nissan. In 2019, Nissan sold 80 percent of its stake to the Chinese renewable energy company Envision Group. In a recent interview with Nikkei Asia, Chief Technology Officer Hiroyuki Akashi said that AESC has “clear visibility” to expand its operations in the United States while working to meet the U.S. EV tax credit requirements. Mr. Akashi said the company already operates a battery plant in the United States that supplies Nissan Motor, but its expansion efforts in the world’s largest economy have not stopped there....
The Philippine military has called out China to stop “unsafe actions” in the South China Sea, after a Chinese navy ship shadowed and attempted to cut off a Philippine navy vessel conducting a resupply mission late last week. A Chinese People’s Liberation Army Navy (PLAN) vessel came as close as 350 yards as it tried to cross in front of the Philippine ship near Thitu island, Manila’s biggest and most strategically important outpost in the South China Sea, according to armed forces chief Romeo Brawner. “These dangerous and offensive manoeuvres by China’s PLAN not only risk collision but also directly endanger the lives of maritime personnel from both sides,” Mr. Brawner said in a statement on Sunday....