Category Archives: China

US says China’s support for Russia over Ukraine puts it on ‘wrong side of history’

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‘China claims to be neutral, but its behavior makes clear that it is still investing in close ties to Russia,’ state department says

Xi Jinping has assured Vladimir Putin of China’s support on Russian “sovereignty and security” prompting Washington to warn Beijing it risked ending up “on the wrong side of history”.

China has refused to condemn Moscow’s invasion of Ukraine and has been accused of providing diplomatic cover for Russia by blasting western sanctions and arms sales to Kyiv.

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Albanese government urged to keep focus on human rights as it rebuilds relationships in Asia

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Thawing diplomatic relations with China shouldn’t mean ‘taking a backwards step with Beijing’, Human Rights Watch says

The Albanese government should not compromise on human rights as it seeks to repair relationships with China and south-east Asian countries, a leading advocacy group has warned.

Human Rights Watch has written to the prime minister, Anthony Albanese, urging him to “impose targeted sanctions against Chinese government officials who are responsible for crimes against humanity” in Xinjiang.

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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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New Hong Kong textbooks ‘will claim city never was a British colony’

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School books will reportedly say China never recognised the treaties that ceded it to colonial powers during opium wars

New Hong Kong textbooks will teach students that the city was never a British colony, after an overhaul of a school subject that authorities have blamed for driving the pro-democracy protests.

According to local reports, the new texts will teach students that the Chinese government didn’t recognise the treaties that ceded the city to Britain after the opium wars. They ended in 1997 when Britain returned Hong Kong to Chinese control, and therefore the texts claim Hong Kong was never a British colony.

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New Zealand to boost maritime security with Solomon Islands amid China focus on Pacific

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‘Small work plan’ is another signal of intensifying security interests in the region, in the wake of Beijing’s security deal with Honiara

New Zealand is developing its own maritime security “work plans” with Solomon Islands, its defence minister has said, months after news of China’s defence pact with the Pacific nation emerged.

New Zealand minister Peeni Henare said in an interview with Newsroom published on Tuesday that the two countries had begun discussions of a work plan, focused on maritime security, after his meeting with Solomon Islands’ national security minister, Anthony Veke, over the weekend.

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Haze Fan: China says Bloomberg staffer released on bail earlier this year

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US media firm says it has not made contact with Fan who was detained in Beijing in 2020 on suspicion of national security crimes

Haze Fan, a Bloomberg News staff member in China who was detained in late 2020, was released on bail early this year, according to a statement by the Chinese embassy in Washington that was dated May and reported by the news organisation on Tuesday.

New York-based Bloomberg said in a news report that it was made aware of the embassy statement over the weekend, and that it had not been able to contact Fan.

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Australia news live updates: Queensland on brink of power outage as eastern states battle big chill; WA to shut state-owned coal plants

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Penny Wong to visit New Zealand foreign minister; at least 31 Covid deaths. This blog is now closed

Lack of reserve notice from energy regulator

It’s going to be a long day by the looks of it when it comes to “lack of reserve” notices and intervention by the Australian Energy Market Operator, such as this early one in NSW:

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Beijing in ‘race against time’ to tackle serious Covid outbreak

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Latest batch of at least 287 cases has raised new worries about outlook for Chinese economy

Authorities in Beijing have warned that a sharp rise in Covid-19 cases linked to a 24-hour bar was critical and the city of 22 million people was in a “race against time” to get to grips with its most serious outbreak since the pandemic began.

The flare-up means millions of people are facing mandatory testing and thousands are under targeted lockdowns, just days after the city started to lift widespread curbs intended to tackle a broader outbreak since late April.

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We needed China deal to protect ‘domestic security’, says key Solomon Islands official

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Exclusive: Collin Beck, who is believed to have been involved in negotiating the pact, offers most comprehensive defence yet of the controversial deal

The controversial security deal struck between Solomon Islands and China that caught the western world off guard was needed to maintain internal security and help fight climate change, a leading Solomon Islands official has said, defending his country’s right to choose its allies.

Speaking to the Guardian in his first interview since the deal between China and Solomon Islands was leaked, Collin Beck, the permanent secretary of foreign affairs and a senior figure in the Solomons government, also said Australia should question whether it had been “fair” to Solomon Islands in its intense scrutiny of the deal.

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Pop star Kris Wu tried in China for alleged rape

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Announcement of closed trial coincides with uproar over unrelated assault at restaurant in Tangshan

The Chinese-Canadian pop star Kris Wu has gone on trial for alleged rape and other offences in Beijing, as China is in uproar over a video showing a group of men physically assaulting four women in the city of Tangshan.

Wu’s closed trial on Friday at the Chaoyang people’s court was reported late on Friday night by Chang’An Net, which belongs to China’s Central Political and Legal Affairs Commission, in turn controlled by the ruling Communist party.

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UN human rights chief to forgo second term amid China trip criticism

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Michelle Bachelet, strongly criticised over Xinjiang visit, cites personal reasons for decision

The United Nations’ human rights chief has announced her decision to step down, citing “personal reasons”, amid weeks of speculation following her recent China trip that drew fierce criticism from activists and western politicians.

Writing on Twitter, Michelle Bachelet, who assumed the office of the UN high commissioner for human rights in 2018, said: “It is time to go back to Chile and be with family.”

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‘Ferocious’ Covid outbreak in Beijing traced to raucous bar

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Cluster comes a week after city eased restrictions, raising fresh concerns over ‘zero Covid’ policy and economy

Authorities in Beijing are racing to contain a Covid outbreak traced to a 24-hour bar known for cheap liquor and big crowds, with millions of people facing mandatory testing and thousands under targeted lockdowns.

The outbreak of 228 cases linked to the Heaven Supermarket bar, which had just reopened as curbs in the Chinese capital eased last week, highlights how difficult it will be for China to make a success of its “zero Covid” policy as much of the rest of the world tries to live with the virus.

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Richard Marles’s ‘full and frank’ meeting with China ends Australia’s diplomatic freeze

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Defence minister says the controversial interception of an Australian aircraft by a Chinese jet last month was discussed, as well as broader issues in the Pacific

Australia’s deputy prime minister, Richard Marles, has had a “frank” hour-long discussion with China’s defence minister in Singapore, marking the highest level in-person contact between the countries in almost three years.

Marles, also the defence minister, said he raised the controversial interception of an Australian aircraft by a Chinese jet last month and broader issues in the Pacific with China’s minister of national defence, Wei Fenghe, during a meeting on the sidelines of the Shangri-La Dialogue ministerial conference in Singapore.

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‘China’s Taiwan’: Beijing’s defence minister rails against ‘smearing and interfering’ US

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Wei Fenghe says ties are at critical juncture and puts onus on United States to improve bilateral relationship

China will “fight to the very end” to stop Taiwan from declaring independence, the country’s defence minister has vowed in a speech amid his counterparts from other countries including the United States.

“We will fight at all cost and we will fight to the very end. This is the only choice for China,” Wei Fenghe told the Shangri-La Dialogue security summit in Singapore, where he called Taiwan “first and foremost China’s Taiwan”.

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Hong Kong NETs – foreign teachers of English – forced to take allegiance oath

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Authoritarian measures are widened to meet Chinese loyalty requirements, despite fears it will worsen teacher shortages

Foreign English-language teachers working in Hong Kong government schools will need to swear allegiance to the city, officials have ordered, as fears grow about the territory’s ability to retain educators in the face of increasing restrictions.

Hong Kong’s education bureau said on Saturday that native-speaking English teachers (NETs) and advisers working in government-run schools must sign a declaration by 21 June in order to continue working.

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Defence minister rubbishes Coalition claims on France compensation deal – as it happened

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Marles brushes off suggestions former Coalition government was close to signing compensation deal with France; nation records at least 24 Covid deaths. This blog is now closed

Interview with minister for NDIS and government services Bill Shorten now. First question is about energy policy.

Shorten says “the real issue about power, in my opinion is for 10 years we’ve had a decade of denial and delay.”

What we are suffering from this winter in the short term is floods of coal mines, outages of a plant which is more than 50 years old, but the real long-term problem is that we haven’t made a plan for transition to renewables, now the chickens have come home to roost.

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Chinese police arrest eight after group of women attacked at restaurant

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Footage shows man striking and dragging woman outside after she pushes him away

Eight people have been arrested over a vicious attack on a group of women at a restaurant in China, police said on Saturday, in a case that has prompted outrage over predatory sexual behaviour.

Footage of the incident widely circulated online shows a man placing his hand on a woman’s back as she shares a meal with two companions at a barbecue restaurant in northern China’s Hebei province.

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Australian defence minister warns China risks sparking arms race

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Richard Marles outlines vision of economic cooperation and military deterrence but warns lack of transparency can upset balance

China’s military buildup must be accompanied by transparency and reassurances to its neighbours or risk triggering an arms race, Australia’s deputy prime minister and defence minister, Richard Marles, has said.

Speaking in Singapore at the Shangri-La Dialogue on Saturday, Marles laid out a vision of economic cooperation balanced with military deterrence, but sounded a warning about militarisation in the Asia Pacific.

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US warns of ‘stark’ stakes in Taiwan Strait if status quo unilaterally altered

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Defence secretary says US does not support Taiwan independence, which China says would prompt it to take island back

The US has warned of “especially stark” stakes in the Taiwan Strait if the status quo is unilaterally altered, as China reiterated its resolve to take the island back if it declares independence.

Speaking at the annual Shangri-La Dialogue security summit in Singapore on Saturday, US defence secretary Lloyd Austin said Washington does not support Taiwanese independence, and the Joe Biden administration “categorically” opposes any change of the status quo.

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China calls theory that Covid originated in Chinese lab ‘politically motivated lie’

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WHO report has said origins of virus are still unknown and recommended further investigation

China has repeated its assertion the theory that the Covid-19 pandemic began with a leak from a Chinese laboratory is “a politically motivated lie”, after the World Health Organization (WHO) recommended continued investigations this week.

“The lab leak theory is totally a lie concocted by anti-China forces for political purposes, which has nothing to do with science,” the Chinese foreign ministry spokesperson Zhao Lijian said at a daily briefing on Friday.

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