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Football: disappointed by Lionel Messi's attitude, China cancels two Argentina matches on home soil

The world champion was due to play against Nigeria and Côte d'Ivoire on an Asian tour in March, but the uproar caused by his absence and his attitude at a meeting in Hong Kong with his Miami club prompted the Chinese organisers to back out.

Lionel Messi's popularity in China is suffering quite a deflation. On Friday 9 and Saturday 10 February, the country announced that it would not be hosting two friendly matches for the Argentinian national team, following the controversy surrounding the player's tour of Asia with his club, Inter Miami.

The world champions had announced a tour of China from 18 to 26 March, during which they would face Nigeria in the big city of Hangzhou and Côte d'Ivoire in Beijing.

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"A company was in talks with the Argentinian team about coming to Hangzhou in March to play a friendly match.said the Hangzhou Sports Bureau in a statement on Friday evening. For reasons that are well known to everyone, according to the competent authorities, the conditions for the event not to take place have been met and it has been decided to cancel it".

Lionel Messi and his American club drew the ire of fans when the Argentinian remained on the bench during a friendly match against a local team in Hong Kong on Sunday, citing an injury. The spectators, who had paid up to 4,800 Hong Kong dollars (570 euros), expressed their displeasure at the player's absence, and also at his attitude, as he did not address the audience to apologise. The Argentine and David Beckham, co-owner of Inter Miami, were booed in the Hong Kong stadium.

"The Chinese don't lie down".

The controversy flared up again on Wednesday when Lionel Messi played thirty minutes of a friendly match in Japan, where several photos show him all smiles, whereas he appeared to have a closed face in Hong Kong, a semi-autonomous Chinese territory.

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"Many football fans and Internet friends have recently asked us for information about Lionel Messi's match in Beijing".The Beijing Football Association, the body that oversees football in the Chinese capital, said on Saturday. "After verification [by our services], For the time being, Beijing has no plans to organise the match in which Lionel Messi was due to take part".she stressed in a press release.

On the Chinese social network Weibo, the vast majority of Internet users seemed to support the cancellation, despite the immense popularity enjoyed by Messi in China up until then.

"If he doesn't respect his Chinese fans, we can't let him take a penny from the Chinese".reacted one user, in tune with the general tone of the messages. "We gave him our love and he treats us like that. That slap [cancellation] is deserved".wrote another. "A courageous decision, "The Chinese don't lie down". and "Fuck off Messi!" were among the most frequently published comments.

The company that organised the event in Hong Kong, Tatler Asia, promised ticket buyers a refund of 50 %. "Injuries are part of the game and we understand that. However, we were saddened by the fact that the players didn't show enough respect to the supporters present".the company stressed.

A lucrative market for the Argentinian federation

The likely cancellation of the tour of China is a headache for the Argentine Football Association (AFA), which regards the Asian giant as a strategic market. In June 2023, Argentina already played a friendly match in Beijing during a visit that led to lucrative contracts with local companies. The AFA has sponsorship and cooperation contracts with coffee chain Cotti Coffee and Chinese dairy products leader Yili, among others.

"We are fully aware of the importance, uniqueness and enormous growth potential of the AFA in the Chinese market.said Leandro Petersen, the AFA's Sales and Marketing Director, recently.

The Chinese newspaper Global Times, known for its nationalist stance, implied in an editorial this week that the behaviour of Inter Miami and Messi could perhaps have implications for the country. "political motivations. The Hong Kong authorities have regularly been in the crosshairs of the United States and the United Kingdom since the introduction of a national security law in the semi-autonomous territory, which has helped to muzzle political opposition.

Text by Le Monde with AFP

Lunar New Year 2024: What does the Year of the Wooden Dragon have in store for us?

ASIAN TRADITION
Wooden or not, the Dragon is the most powerful animal in the Chinese zodiac, a symbol of luck and success.

The essentials

The Dragon, celebrated by Asian communities as a good luck charm, embodies power, luck and success.
The Year of the Wooden Dragon encourages us to act on our commitments, taking a long-term, mutually supportive view of every action we take.
To take full advantage of the Wooden Dragon's influences, be proactive and open to change. Explore new horizons, trust your instincts and cultivate flexibility to achieve your goals in 2024.

10 January is the big kick-off in the Chinese calendar, with a Lunar New Year begins, under the sign of the Wooden Dragon. After the Water Rabbit in 2023, the predictions for 2024 promise a much more favourable period. In this cycle of twelve years symbolised by twelve animals (Rat, Buffalo, Tiger, Rabbit, Dragon, Snake, Horse, Goat, Monkey, Rooster, Dog and Pig), each year is also associated with one of the five elements: Wood, Fire, Earth, Metal and Water, creating a complex picture of luck and success.

The Dragon, the luckiest animal in the zodiac

Asian communities celebrate Dragon as the good luck animal par excellence. For those born under this sign, power, luck and success are their faithful companions. Dragon representatives are also distinguished by their intelligence and tenacity. They will do anything to achieve their goals, braving obstacles with consuming ambition. Their natural leadership propels them to the top, where they excel. It's worth noting, however, that these natives can find it difficult to deal with criticism.

2024, the year of action

In 2023, if you felt a kind of hibernation, you were in phase with the energy of the Water Rabbit. But with the arrival of the Wood Dragon in 2024, a completely different scenario is taking shape. This year is all about action and movement. The Dragon, a mythical creature of feathers, scales and claws, symbolises bold energy. The spring months in particular will offer a whole host of opportunities. But you'll need to select your projects carefully.

Finances in good shape

On the economic front, prosperity is on the horizon. Wise investments and entrepreneurial initiatives are favoured, while visionary minds will find unexpected allies in their quest for progress. Nevertheless, it is important to remain cautious in this fast-moving environment. Vigilance and wise risk management remain imperatives for any economic player wishing to prosper.

A serene relationship

For singles looking for love, or for couples already in love, the Year of the Wood Dragon offers fertile ground for relationships to flourish. This is because the energy of Wood manifests itself in an atmosphere of calm and gentleness. In this serene atmosphere, hearts open more easily, minds are calmed and empathy flourishes. Benevolence becomes the watchword for interactions.

Commitment as a key value in the coming months

The Year of the Wooden Dragon urges us to act in harmony with our values, taking a long-term view of every action we take. It's a time when the right words and the importance of solidarity take on their full meaning. Despite the challenges that lie ahead, this is a year to strengthen ties and bring cooperation to the fore. Ecology is also at the heart of our concerns, as part of a collective approach for the years to come.

The right attitude to adopt this year

To take full advantage of the energies of the Wood Dragon, it's essential to adopt a proactive attitude that's open to change. Dare to leave your comfort zone, explore new territory and let your instincts guide you. Flexibility and adaptability will be your best assets in this quest for excellence and self-fulfilment. And don't forget the importance of patience and perseverance. While the Dragon can offer dizzying heights, it can also confront you with unexpected obstacles.

Text by 20 Minutes.ch

The Pokémon card market has gone mad

Sales are rocketing, prices are soaring and appraisal firms are no longer able to keep up

If you've got some old Pokémon cards in a drawer, you might want to take a look. Probably the result of a global lockdown that has forced millions of adults to kill time and try to earn a bit of money any way they can, 2020 is already a vintage year for the world's most lucrative licence, which celebrates its quarter-century this year.

Inspired by star YouTubers like American Logan Paul, everyone is selling their old cards in the hope of hitting the jackpot.

Between 2019 and 2020, according to Les Echos in February, the volume of Pokémon cards traded on eBay increased by 574%. And contrary to what capitalism teaches us about the relationship between supply and demand, this increase in volume has gone hand in hand with a stratospheric rise in prices.

In January, a lot of 103 cards dating from 1999 was valued at 750,000 dollars; the following month, a Firecracker went for 418,000 euros on eBay. A final folly? At the moment, eBay is offering an assortment of first edition cards for the modest sum of... 6 million dollars (4.98 million euros).

The craze surrounding the Pokémon cards market, the umpteenth collectibles market to be contaminated by the bitcoinisation of the world, is not entirely new.

But how do you assess their value? For sellers, there are two solutions: they can rely on the "argus" of cards on eBay and assess the value of each card using its serial number and the index of the PWCC auction house, which acts as a reference, or they can have their card assessed by a rating agency.

These companies provide a 'grading' of each card, from 1 to 10, according to a series of precise aesthetic criteria, which accurately assesses its state of wear and authenticates it.

Centring, colours, condition of corners, scratches, stains... the specifications are meticulous. A 1 card is "very poor while a 10+ card is "Collector" - the Grail of the collector. The same card, whether graded 1 or 10, can have its value multiplied by 10.

Tsunami of Pikachus

In the United States, grading is managed by Professional Sports Authenticator (PSA), Certified Guaranty Company (CGC) and Beckett Grading Services (BGS).

In France, Professional Cards Authenticator (PCA) has been doing this since 2016. Two years later, these certified cards were sold for the first time at Drouot. But demand for gradation is growing so fast that even the American behemoths can no longer keep up, Vice reported on 30 April.

Despite a great deal of overtime, the recruitment of dozens of employees and even investment in artificial intelligence solutions for the automatic appraisal of low-value cards, waiting times are getting inexorably longer: it now takes several months, and sometimes almost a year, to have the rarest cards appraised.

The monstrous profits of these companies aren't enough: they simply can't keep up with demand. And without these essential cogs in the wheel, the whole Pokémon card economy is on the rocks.

The sellers, reduced to sending their cards by post with no idea of when they'll get them back, become impatient, annoyed and demand accountability. Twenty-five years on, everyone wants to catch Pokémon - but children have grown up, and so have their priorities.

Korii

Thibault Prévost

Chloé Zhao's victory censored by China

While the historic victory of Chloé Zhao, who won the Oscar for Best Director for her film Nomadland, was reported in all the media in America, in China, her country of origin, there was no trace of her success. Experts attribute this reaction to China's desire to "erase" the filmmaker, who dared to criticise the Beijing regime eight years ago.

On Sunday evening, Chloé Zhao became the first woman of colour to be named best director for her feature film Nomadlandwhich itself won the Oscar for Best Film. A double victory celebrated here as in the United States in the name of diversity, which has been called for for years on both the small and the big screen. But in China, his country of origin, his victory was greeted with a repressive silence.

On Chinese social networks, articles and messages about the ceremony and M^meZhao were quickly silenced. A keyword entitled "Chloé Zhao wins the Best Achievement Award" was censored from digital platforms. When users typed in the keyword, they were met with an error message stating that "in accordance with the laws, regulations and policies in force, the page cannot be found". The two state media, CCTV and Xinhua, also remained silent about his victory.

Not by chance

For researcher Gabrielle Gendron, of the Raoul-Dandurand Chair's Observatory of Multidimensional Conflicts, it is no coincidence that this event is taking place just a few months before the 100th anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights.^e anniversary of the Chinese Communist Party, on 1^erJuly.

"In the run-up to the centenary, China has set in motion a series of political defences to strengthen the loyalty and unity [of its citizens] around the Communist Party", explains Mr. Kouchner.^meGendron. For example, the Chinese authorities have ordered cinemas to show at least two propaganda films a week by the end of the year. They have also encouraged the public to denounce "malicious defamation, attacks and distortions" against China.

On the one hand, Beijing is much quicker with its repression and censorship, and on the other, Chloé Zhao represents treachery in China's eyes.

Researcher Gabrielle Gendron

She is referring to the controversy caused by the director last March. Remarks she made to the American magazine Filmmaker in 2013, describing China as a country "where there are lies everywhere", resurfaced in the midst of the promotional campaign for his film.

"I suddenly went to England and relearned my history. Studying political science at a liberal university was a way for me to understand what was real," she told Filmmaker.

The initial release date of Nomadland in China was 23 April, but the film was never released in cinemas.

"It could have been China's child prodigy. It only took one criticism for it to become a political tool to rally the Chinese people under the Communist government", notes M^meGendron.

Deleted from social networks

Beijing's reaction comes as no surprise to Guy Saint-Jacques, Canada's former ambassador to China. It is part of a decade of authoritarian repression, marked by Xi Jinping's rise to power. "Before 2013, citizens could still express personal opinions. Today, the government would make their lives unbearable", says the diplomat.

And that's what he believes happened to Chloé Zhao. Not only has she become a persona non grata in the eyes of the Chinese government, but the latter has completely erased it from social networks.

A post announcing the director's victory published by the film magazine Watch Movieswhich has over 14 million followers on the Weibo social network, was censored a few hours after it was published on Monday morning. Doubanan application popular with film fans, has banned searches for Nomadland, stating that "the search results could not be displayed in accordance with the laws and regulations in force".

The Chinese regime is extremely authoritarian, but it is also very effective. It can literally wipe out a person's existence.

Guy Saint-Jacques, former Canadian ambassador to China

On social networks, users were creative in congratulating the filmmaker. Some used the initials "zt" (Zhao Ting, her full name in Chinese) to evade the censors.

Tense Sino-American relations

During her acceptance speech on the stage set up at Los Angeles' Union Station, Chloé Zhao quoted a line from a poem she had memorised with her father when she was a child, which translates as: "People, at birth, are good."

For London-based journalist and China specialist Amy Hawkins, M^meZhao testifies that a dialogue between the United States and China is still possible. "The Chinese government and the recent Trump administration have pushed China and the West into increasingly polarised political spheres. Chloé Zhao's success in the West and her adoption by Hollywood undermine the Chinese government's claim that America is fundamentally hostile to the Chinese people," she says.

In this regard, the Global Timesa conservative Chinese newspaper, broke the media silence on Monday by urging Mr. M^meZhao to play a "mediating role" between China and the US and "avoid being a point of friction". "We hope that she can become increasingly mature", wrote the newspaper in an editorial that is no longer accessible.

LÉA CARRIER
THE PRESS

Probe on Mars, astronauts on the Moon... Why China is so keen to win the space race

On Wednesday 10 February, the Tianwen-1 probe arrived in Mars orbit. A new stage in China's conquest of space, analysed on The Conversation.

All eyes on the stars. NASA's Perseverance mission landed on the Red Planet on Thursday 18 February. It is the third mission to arrive on Mars in a week, along with those from the United Arab Emirates and China. The Tianwen-1 probe arrived in the planet's orbit on 10 February. In the spring, it is due to land a remote-controlled wheeled robot on the Martian surface. This mission will enable Beijing to pursue its ambitions for space conquest, which began under Mao sixty years ago. The country "dreams of space", in the words of Chinese President Xi Jinping. For The Conversation, Steffi Paladini, from the University of Birmingham, deciphers these dreams.

Given its achievements over the last decade, it's only logical that China should be looking to win the new space race. Not only has it been the only country to send a probe to the Moon in the last forty years or so - and the first in history to successfully land on its far side - but it has also planted a flag on lunar soil and brought samples back to Earth.

However, the space race, in which several nations and private companies are taking part, is far from over. China is now turning its attention to Mars with its Tianwen-1 mission, which arrived in Martian orbit on 10 February. This successful insertion into orbit - the rover will not land until May - marks a crucial new stage in more ways than one.

Even though Mars is relatively close to Earth, it's a tough target to hit. Nothing demonstrates this better than the figures. Out of 49 missions up to December 2020, only around 20 have been successful. Not all of these failures were the result of novices or first attempts. In 2016, the European Space Agency's Schiaparelli Mars Explorer crashed on the surface of the Red Planet. In addition, persistent technical problems have forced ESA and its Russian partner Roscosmos to postpone its next mission, ExoMars, until 2022.

China is not the only country to get close to Mars. On 9 February, a probe from the United Arab Emirates, Hope, successfully completed the same insertion manoeuvre. It is not a direct competitor of the Chinese mission (the probe will only orbit the planet to study the Martian weather), but NASA's Perseverance rover, which arrived a week later, is undoubtedly.

One factor makes the stakes even higher for Beijing: one of the few countries to have successfully performed the famous in-orbit insertion manoeuvre is India, China's direct competitor not only in space but also on Earth.

India's Mars Orbiter Mission (MOM), aka Mangalyaan, reached Mars in 2014 - it was the first to achieve this feat on its inaugural mission. This is one of the reasons why the success of Tianwen-1 is so important for China's status as an emerging space power: it's a way of reasserting its space dominance over its neighbour. Unlike India, this is not the first time China has attempted a mission to Mars (the previous one, Yinghuo-1, in 2011, failed on launch). This time, however, the chances of success look much better.

The space age 2.0

Different countries have different space development models. The new space race is therefore partly a competition for the best approach. This reflects the specific character of the Space Age 2.0, which, compared with the first, seems to be more diversified and where non-American players, both public and private, occupy an important place, particularly Asian players. If China is leading the pack, so too is its vision.

But there are more important issues at stake. The development of China's space sector is still largely government-funded and military-led. According to the US-China Economic and Security Review Commission, a US congressional committee, China sees space as a "tool for geopolitical and diplomatic competition". Clearly, with cyberspace, the cosmos has become a fundamental new battleground, where the United States is the main - but not the only - adversary. This means that commercial considerations are taking a back seat for many countries, even if they are becoming increasingly important as a general rule.

China has already adopted five-year plans for its space activities. The most recent ended in 2020 with more than 140 launches. Other missions are planned, including a new orbital space station, the recovery of Mars samples and a mission to explore Jupiter.

While the resources committed by the country remain largely unknown (we only know what is included in the five-year plans), US estimates for 2017 are $11 billion, putting China second only to the US itself - NASA's budget for the same year was around $20 billion.

India has adopted a different approach, where civil and commercial interests predominate. Following NASA's model of transparency, the country publishes reports on the activities and annual expenditure (around US$1 billion a year) of its space agency, the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO).

Different in ambition, scope and investment, India's space programme has achieved remarkable successes, such as the commercialisation of affordable launch services for countries wishing to send their own satellites into orbit. In 2017, India made history with the most satellites - 104 - ever launched by a rocket on a single mission to date (all but three were foreign-built and foreign-owned). This record was broken by SpaceX in January 2021, with 143 satellites. Even more impressive is the relatively low cost of India's Mars mission, 74 million US dollars - around ten times cheaper than NASA's Maven mission. Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi said the entire mission cost less than the Hollywood film Gravity.

For geopolitical reasons, this could soon change. The Indian government has published its 2019-2020 annual report, which shows growing military involvement in the space sector. And further missions to the Moon and Venus are planned by India's ISRO, as if to further motivate the Chinese to make Tianwen-1 a resounding success. The space race 2.0 is gaining momentum...

Steffi Paladini, Reader in Economics & Global Security, Birmingham City University. This article is republished from The Conversation under a Creative Commons licence.

Donald Trump no longer wants to talk to Xi Jinping "for the time being".

The relationship between Donald Trump and Xi Jinping has continued to deteriorate since the outbreak of the coronavirus crisis.

I have a very good relationship [with him] but at the moment I don't want to talk to himsaid Mr Trump on Fox Business.

Asked about the various retaliatory measures he could envisage, he was threatening: There are many things we could do. We could break off all relationships.

What would happen if we did?he continued. We would save 500 billion dollars if we broke off all relationshe added.

For weeks, US President Donald Trump has been accusing the Chinese authorities of concealing the scale of the epidemic, which appeared at the end of 2019 in the city of Wuhan (central China), and thus facilitating its spread.

Beijing denies this and claims to have passed on all the information to the World Health Organisation (WHO) and other countries, including the United States, as quickly as possible.

They could have stopped himhe hammered home on Fox Business.

Agence France-Presse

China wants to pull out all the stops at the UN

Showing its role as a major power, China is becoming increasingly involved in a United Nations that has been weakened by the Trump administration's blows. Its financial contributions are increasing, as are the number of posts at the head of the UN's specialised agencies.

Source: swissinfo.ch