Category Archives: Xi Jinping

Chinese president Xi Jinping expected to visit Saudi Arabia next week

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The planned gala reception is in stark contrast to the low-key audience afforded Joe Biden in June, as ties between China and the kingdom grow closer

The Chinese president Xi Jinping is expected to visit Saudi Arabia next week, where plans are under way for a gala reception to match that given to Donald Trump on his first trip abroad as president.

The welcome being prepared for the Chinese leader is in stark contrast with that afforded to Joe Biden in June, when the US president received a low-key reception, reflecting strained ties between the two countries and personal distaste between Biden and the de facto Saudi leader, Mohammed bin Salman.

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‘This is about striking fear’: China’s Taiwan drills the new normal, analysts say

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Show of force by China has eased off, but observers say it will strike ‘fear and a sense of inevitability in Taiwanese hearts and minds’

China’s military drills targeting Taiwan have set a new normal, and are likely to “regularise” similar armed exercises off the coast or even more aggressive action much closer to the island, analysts have said.

China’s People’s Liberation Army (PLA) has been conducting live-fire exercises and other drills in the seas around Taiwan’s main island for almost a week, in a purported response to the controversial visit to Taipei by the US House speaker, Nancy Pelosi.

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China conducts military exercises off Taiwan after warning Pelosi to scrap visit

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PLA carries out ‘live-fire exercises’ after US House Speaker Nancy Pelosi told not to visit the island democracy

China said it was conducting military exercises off its coast opposite Taiwan after warning Nancy Pelosi, the Speaker of the US House of Representatives, to scrap possible plans to visit the island democracy.

The ruling Communist party’s military wing, the People’s Liberation Army (PLA), was conducting “live-fire exercises” near the Pingtan islands off Fujian province from 8am to 9pm, the official Xinhua news agency said. The Maritime Safety Administration warned ships to avoid the area.

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Xi Jinping tells Joe Biden not to ‘play with fire’ over Taiwan in two-hour call

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US president reiterates opposition to undermining peace in Taiwan amid tension over potential Pelosi trip

The Chinese president has warned Joe Biden against “playing with fire” over Taiwan in a highly anticipated phone call that lasted more than two hours on Thursday, as tensions remain high over the House speaker Nancy Pelosi’s possible trip to the island next month.

“Those who play with fire will be perished by it. It is hoped that the US will be clear-eyed about this,” said Xi Jinping, according to a Chinese statement. He also urged the US to implement the three joint communiques that serve as the foundation for relations between the two countries “both in word and in deed”. Xi vowed “resolutely” to safeguard China’s national sovereignty and territorial integrity and said this is “the firm will of more than 1.4 billion Chinese people”.

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Nancy Pelosi’s Taiwan trip ‘not a good idea right now’, says Biden

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US military advises against House speaker’s reported trip as president is due to talk to Xi Jinping for first time in four months

Joe Biden has cautioned against the reported trip to Taiwan next month by the House speaker, Nancy Pelosi, saying the US military had assessed “it is not a good idea right now”.

The Financial Times reported earlier this week that Pelosi would lead a delegation to Taiwan in August to show support for the democratically ruled island, which Beijing claims is a breakaway province. The trip was initially scheduled for April but was postponed due to Pelosi testing positive for Covid at the time.

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China’s Xi Jinping makes rare visit to Xinjiang

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President shown surrounded by smiling and clapping Uyghur residents on first visit in eight years

China’s president, Xi Jinping, has paid his first visit to Xinjiang in eight years, as western nations continue to accuse Beijing of genocide against the region’s mostly Muslim Uyghur population.

State media reported on Friday that the visit from Tuesday to Thursday included stops at a university and a trade zone in the regional capital, Urumqi. A photo from the official Xinhua news agency showed a maskless Xi surrounded by smiling and clapping residents, many of them apparently Uyghurs wearing traditional costumes and Muslim prayer caps.

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Tycoon who disappeared from Hong Kong hotel in 2017 stands trial in China

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Canadian-Chinese businessman Xiao Jianhua will finally stand trial in case linked to President Xi’s corruption drive

China has formally put Canadian-Chinese tycoon Xiao Jianhua on trial, more than five years after his alleged abduction in Hong Kong, which rattled the city and sparked fears about residents being forcibly disappeared.

The Canadian embassy in Beijing confirmed on Monday that Xiao’s trial had begun this week. “Canadian consular officials are monitoring this case closely, providing consular services to his family and continue to press for consular access,” it said in a statement, without providing the location of the trial and charges against him.

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Xi Jinping in Covid scare during Hong Kong handover trip

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Hong Kong legislator tests positive after meeting Chinese president, and city-wide testing begins in Macau to contain its worst outbreak

A Hong Kong legislator who appeared in a group photo with Xi Jinping during his visit to the territory has said he has tested positive for Covid, as Macau kicks off a new round of city-wide coronavirus testing.

In his first trip outside mainland China since the pandemic began, the Chinese president stayed for less than 24 hours in Hong Kong and met only people who had undergone quarantine.

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Xi’s vision for patriotic and prosperous Hong Kong a hard sell for foreign firms

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Analysis: Chinese president emphasises new era of stability but businesses balk at political risks

President Xi Jinping, in his first trip outside mainland China since the Covid pandemic began, declared a new era for Hong Kong, which, in his words had “risen from the ashes”. New priorities have been set for a city that until two years ago was engulfed in street protests: political loyalty, social stability and economic development.

Xi praised the “one country, two systems” policy, and said there was no reason to change it, and it must be “upheld for the long term”. But, perhaps unsurprisingly, his speech, as well as one by new chief executive, John Lee, overwhelmingly emphasised Hong Kong’s convergence with Beijing rather than its divergence.

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Xi Jinping hails China’s rule over Hong Kong on 25th anniversary of handover

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Chinese president says ‘one country, two systems’ will endure and democracy flourishes after unprecedented unpicking of freedoms

Xi Jinping has hailed China’s rule over Hong Kong as he led 25th anniversary celebrations of the city’s handover from Britain, insisting democracy was flourishing despite a political crackdown that has silenced dissent.

After swearing in a new hardline chief executive, John Lee, in a solemn ceremony on Friday morning, the Chinese president laid out his vision for the city and its administrators.

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Hong Kong tightens security as Xi visits for 25th anniversary of handover

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China’s president makes first trip outside mainland since pandemic began as territory prepares to mark milestone

China’s president, Xi Jinping, has made his first trip outside the mainland since the Covid pandemic began, landing in Hong Kong and telling crowds the region had “risen from the ashes” after years of upheaval.

The leader, his wife, Peng Liyuan, and delegates, arrived by high-speed train at West Kowloon station before his scheduled attendance at the inauguration of the city’s new chief executive, and the 25th anniversary of the British return of Hong Kong to Chinese rule.

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Hong Kong handover: timeline

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On 30 June 1997, Hong Kong was returned to China, ending over a century of British rule

1842: Hong Kong was ceded “in perpetuity” - for good - to Britain after China lost the first opium war. This is how the Manchester Guardian told its readers the news.

1860: Peace was short lived though. A second opium war, and another defeat for China, saw the British take the Kowloon peninsula.

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Xi Jinping to visit Hong Kong on 25th anniversary of British handover

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Trip will be president’s first known visit outside mainland China since January 2020 after Covid outbreak

The Chinese president, Xi Jinping, will visit Hong Kong for the 25th anniversary of the city’s handover to mainland China, the state news agency Xinhua reported on Saturday.

The trip will be Xi’s first known visit outside mainland China since January 2020 after the Covid-19 outbreak. He will also attend the inaugural ceremony of the sixth-term government of Hong Kong, Xinhua said.

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China says anti-missile test not ‘aimed at any country’ despite rising tensions

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Ballistic missile interception system trial follows North Korean tests and deployment of US THAAD system in South Korea

China has claimed a successful test of a land-based ballistic missile interception system amid heightened tensions in Asia, in a move its defence ministry described as “defensive and not aimed at any country”.

Beijing has in recent years been ramping up research into all sorts of missiles, from those that can destroy satellites in space to advanced nuclear-tipped ballistic missiles, as part of a modernisation overseen by President Xi Jinping. It came after North Korea conducted a series of missile tests, which prompted South Korea and the US to warn that Pyongyang could conduct a nuclear test at any time.

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Tensions heighten in Taiwan Strait as China acts to extend military operations

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Xi Jinping signs trial order allowing ‘military operations other than war’ beyond China’s borders

China’s president, Xi Jinping, has signed legal orders allowing a trial of military operations beyond China’s borders amid heightened tensions over claims by China’s foreign ministry that the Taiwan Strait is Chinese territorial water.

Official state media reports published this week were light on detail but said Xi had signed orders announcing trial outlines on “military operations other than war”. It said the trials would begin on Wednesday.

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China funnels its overseas aid money into political leaders’ home provinces

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Schools, stadiums or airports help the presidents of countries that receive cash from Beijing tighten their grip on power

China’s financing of overseas projects has disproportionately benefited the core political supporters of incumbent presidents or prime ministers of those countries that receive the funds, according to a new book.

During the 20th century, China was mostly known as a recipient of international development finance. Its overseas development programme was modest – roughly on a par with that of Denmark. But over the course of one generation, as Beijing emerged as the world’s second-largest economy, its footprint began to extend far beyond its borders – often in the form of infrastructure initiatives such as Belt and Road.

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Xi Jinping defends China’s human rights record to visiting UN commissioner

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Leader warns against using issue as ‘excuse to interfere in internal affairs of other countries’ as Michelle Bachelet goes to Xinjiang

China’s leader, Xi Jinping, has spoken with the UN human rights chief, Michelle Bachelet, as she visited the Xinjiang region, warning against the politicisation of human rights as an “excuse to interfere in the internal affairs of other countries” and defending his government’s record.

It comes amid renewed defensiveness in Beijing after the publication of a significant data leak from Xinjiang’s security apparatus, including mugshots of thousands of detained Uyghurs and internal documents outlining shoot-to-kill policies for those who try to escape.

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Moscow set to call referendum on Mariupol joining Russia, says Ukraine

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Kremlin poised to hold referendum in ruined city in bid to secure grip on the region

Moscow is preparing to hold a referendum in Mariupol on whether the city will join Russia, Ukrainian officials have claimed, following the announcement of a similar poll in Georgia’s breakaway region of South Ossetia.

Petro Andryushchenko, an adviser to the port city’s mayor, who is operating in exile, said sources among those remaining among its ruins believed a vote on its future was in the making, even as residents were going without food and water.

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Xi Jinping attacks ‘doubters’ as he doubles down on China’s zero-Covid policy

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President defends ‘scientific and effective’ mass lockdowns despite protests, shortages and damage to economic growth

Xi Jinping has confirmed there is no intention to turn away from China’s zero-Covid commitment, in a major speech to the country’s senior officials that also warned against any criticism or doubting of the policy.

Addressing the seven-member politburo standing committee, China’s highest decision-making body, specifically about the Shanghai outbreak, the president said China’s response was “scientific and effective”. He told officials to “unswervingly adhere to the general policy of dynamic zero-Covid”.

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Chinese article urging country to cut ties with Putin gets 1m views

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Essay on US site republished in China before being censored, reflecting balancing act between Russia and west

When an essay from a prominent Shanghai scholar suggested China needed to cut ties with Vladimir Putin as soon as possible over the Ukraine war, the online reaction was swift.

Despite being published late on a Friday evening in the Carter Center’s US-China Perception Monitor, Hu Wei’s essay soon gained a million views in and outside China, and was republished into Chinese blogs, non-official media sites and social media accounts.

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