Category Archives: China

Top Hong Kong court rules against government bid to expand riot prosecutions

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Lawyers say ruling is ‘highly significant’ and likely to impact future prosecutions amid intensifying national security crackdown

Hong Kong’s top court has quashed attempts by the city’s government to prosecute people for rioting or illegal assembly even without being present at the scene – a ruling lawyers described as a landmark.

The five-judge panel in Hong Kong’s court of final appeal, headed by chief justice Andrew Cheung, unanimously rejected an earlier ruling by a lower appeal court that people, such as supporters, could be criminally liable without being actually present under the common law doctrine of “joint enterprise”.

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‘Reality check’: Global CO2 emissions shooting back to record levels

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Fossil fuels are surging in post-pandemic recovery as scientists warn 1.5C emission limits will be reached in 11 years

Global carbon emissions are shooting back to the record level seen before the coronavirus pandemic levels, new analysis has shown. Scientists said the finding is a “reality check” for the world’s nations gathered at the Cop26 climate summit.

The emissions driving the climate crisis reached their highest ever levels in 2019, before global coronavirus lockdowns saw them fall by 5.4%. However, fossil fuel burning has surged faster than expected in 2021, the international research team said, in stark contrast to the rapid cuts needed to tackle global heating.

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China increasing nuclear arsenal much faster than was thought, Pentagon says

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A US defense department report says Beijing could have 700 warheads within six years and more than 1,000 by 2030

China is expanding its nuclear force much faster than US officials predicted just a year ago, highlighting a broad and accelerating buildup of military muscle designed to enable Beijing to match or surpass US global power by mid-century, according to a new Pentagon report.

The number of Chinese nuclear warheads could increase to 700 within six years, the report said, and may top 1,000 by 2030. The report released on Wednesday did not say how many weapons China has today, but a year ago the Pentagon said the number was in the “low 200s” and was likely to double by the end of this decade.

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Covid live: UK records 217 deaths and 41,299 new infections; US to begin vaccinating children aged 5-11

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UK reports latest Covid data; US to begin giving Pfizer vaccines to children aged five to 11

The number of foreign tourists visiting Spain more than quadrupled in September from a year ago to nearly 4.7 million, official data showed as widespread vaccination and looser travel restrictions enticed back more visitors.

However, Reuters reports that number was still far below the 8.8 million who came to Spain in September of 2019, before the coronavirus pandemic hit.

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Hong Kong activist who tried to seek asylum at US consulate found guilty of secession

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Tony Chung, the founder of a pro-independence group, was taken into custody in 2020 at a coffee shop close to the US consulate

A Hong Kong court has found the former leader of pro-independence group Studentlocalism guilty of secession and money laundering under the city’s sweeping national security law, after a plea bargain.

Tony Chung, 20, was charged with the offences in October last year and denied bail. Chung and two others were detained by unidentified men at a coffee shop near the US consulate early on 27 October. Chung’s supporters said at the time he had been intending to seek political asylum. They said Chung had submitted his paperwork weeks earlier, but fear of an imminent arrest prompted him to seek shelter at the consulate.

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Coronavirus live: 248,000 children out of school in England due to Covid; Greek cases set new record high

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Pupils out of school due to Covid up in week before England half-term; Greece public health body says 6,700 new infections recorded in 24 hours

The Office for National Statistics (ONS) has issued some data in the UK, suggesting that the number of Covid deaths is raising. The bulletin states:

The number of deaths from all causes in the UK in the week ending 22 October 2021 (Week 42) was 12,935, 15.4% above the average for the corresponding week in 2015 to 2019. Deaths were above the five-year average in all UK countries.

Of all deaths registered in the week ending 22 October, 974 involved coronavirus (Covid-19), 82 more than the previous week (a 9.2% increase). Deaths involving Covid-19 accounted for around 1 in 13 deaths (7.5%).

The policy will remain for a long time. How long it will last depends on the virus-control situation worldwide.

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Yahoo withdraws from China as Beijing’s grip on tech firms tightens

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Internet firm cites ‘increasingly challenging business and legal environment’ as reason for exit

Yahoo has announced its withdrawal from the Chinese market in the latest retreat by foreign technology firms responding to Beijing’s tightening control over the industry.

“In recognition of the increasingly challenging business and legal environment in China, Yahoo’s suite of services will no longer be accessible from mainland China as of November 1,” the company said on Tuesday.

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Chinese urged to stockpile amid ongoing Covid outbreak

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Ministry of Commerce website notice posted amid price rises and ongoing Covid outbreak

Chinese families have been encouraged to stockpile daily necessities, prompting panic-buying, amid surging vegetable prices linked to recent extreme weather, fears of supply shortages and an ongoing Covid outbreak.

A notice posted on the website of the Ministry of Commerce late on Monday urged local authorities to stabilise prices and families “to store a certain amount of daily necessities as needed to meet daily life and emergencies”.

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Xi Jinping makes no major climate pledges in written Cop26 address

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President of China, world’s worst emissions source, calls for more support for developing countries

China’s president, Xi Jinping, has called on developed countries to “provide support to help developing countries do better” in dealing with the climate crisis, in a written statement to the Cop26 climate conference that fails to make any new significant pledges.

The Chinese leader also urged all parties to take stronger actions to “jointly tackle the climate challenge”, and said his country would “speed up the green and low-carbon energy transition, vigorously develop renewable energy, and plan and build large wind and photovoltaic power stations”.

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Shanghai Century: Shanghai Spirit – in pictures

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A new exhibition captures the changing face of Shanghai through the past two centuries and the development of the past 30 years, from street photography to fashion shoots, from the intimacy of the lilongs to the grandeur of public facades. The exhibition is presented by Porsche in collaboration with the Shanghai Centre of Photography

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China rejects US intelligence report on Covid origins as ‘political and false’

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Beijing has reacted angrily to the report, which said China was hindering investigations into source of the pandemic

Beijing has lashed out against a US intelligence review into the origins of the Covid-19 pandemic, calling it “political and false” while urging Washington to stop attacking China.

The Chinese foreign ministry’s retort came on Sunday, days after the US Office of the Director of National Intelligence released a fuller version of its findings from a 90-day review ordered by president Joe Biden.

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Xi Jinping calls for mutual Covid vaccine approvals

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Speaking to the G20 summit by video, China’s president stresses vaccine cooperation and economic stability

China’s president, Xi Jinping, has called for mutual recognition of Covid-19 vaccines based on the World Health Organization’s emergency use list, according to a transcript of his remarks delivered to leaders of the Group of 20 leaders’ summit, published by the official Xinhua news agency.

Speaking to the participants in Rome via video link, Xi said China had provided more than 1.6bn Covid shots to the world, and was working with 16 nations to cooperate on manufacturing doses.

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Ai Weiwei: ‘It is so positive to be poor as a child. You understand how vulnerable our humanity can be’

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From living in a dugout in Little Siberia to his friendship with Allen Ginsberg in New York, artist and activist Ai Weiwei reveals what drives his restless creativity

Ai Weiwei is hard to pin down. For the first few minutes of our Zoom call, him bleary-eyed at his computer, I think he’s talking to me from his new base in Portugal. My mistake – it’s Vienna, where he’s planning a show for next March. A year and a half ago, Ai was giving interviews about his new life in Britain; before that it was Germany, the country that offered him safe harbour when he finally left China in 2015, after years of hounding by the authorities and a spell in detention. So where does he actually live?

“Yeah, the question always comes up,” he says sheepishly. He moved to Cambridge so his son, Ai Lao, could improve his English. His son is still there, but in the meantime, “I found a piece of land near Lisbon, so I’m kind of settled there, but that’s only for the past year”.

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‘People are starting to wane’: China’s zero-Covid policy takes toll

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Latest Delta variant outbreak is testing the limits of people’s patience with aggressive containment measures

On Friday, the Beijing Daily published an intricate graphic identifying two people sick with Covid-19 and everyone they had infected, detailing the spread of the latest Delta outbreak in the country. The map came amid growing frustration, some panic, and rare protests over the ramifications of China’s effort to remain a “zero Covid” country.

Since the first coronavirus cases were reported nearly two years ago, China has run a zero-tolerance Covid policy. Its success in preventing the virus from spreading across the vast country serves as a stark contrast to the situations in many western countries. Since last year, fewer than 100,000 cases have been officially recorded, among a population of about 1.4 billion. At least 4,634 have died.

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Vigilante surveillance: the rise of Beijing’s neighbourhood patrols

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Red-armbanded ‘Chaoyang masses’ likened to KGB and MI6 have become a common sight on streets of China’s capital

They are often seen wearing a red armband patrolling residential neighbourhoods of Chaoyang, the biggest district of Beijing, which is home to nearly 3.5 million people. On a sunny late autumn afternoon, they will sit with a group of retirees in the sun and chat away. But when an individual of interest turns up, their attention quickly diverts to them.

In Chinese media and official police statements, these vigilante neighbourhood watchers are called the “Chaoyang masses”. Last week, the state-owned Global Times went a step further, quoting internet users as saying the mysterious group “could match four famous intelligence [agencies], the CIA, MI6, KGB and Mossad”. Some jokingly called it “the fifth largest intelligence agency in the world”.

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‘If we don’t act now it will be too late’, warns Johnson ahead of Cop26

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Prime minister says ‘too many countries doing too little’ amid last-minute talks before summit

World leaders have been warned that Cop26 must “mark the beginning of the end of climate change” amid last-minute talks that could help determine the future of the planet.

With the long-awaited environmental summit due to start on Monday, Boris Johnson issued his plea while saying “too many countries are still doing too little”.

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Global activists gather at Rome G20 to demand tougher action on China

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Beijing must not be let off hook over human rights abuses in return for climate cooperation, say legislators

Legislators from around the world have gathered on the fringes of the G20 summit in Rome to protest against the presence of the Chinese foreign minister, Wang Yi, and urge leaders not to let China off the hook over human rights abuses in return for Beijing’s cooperation on the climate crisis.

Many of those at the Rome counter-meeting have been banned from travelling to China as punishment for campaigning against Chinese repression in Xinjiang.

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Hong Kong doubles down on Covid restrictions to fall into line with mainland China

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Carrie Lam appears willing to sacrifice city’s reputation as an international business centre to please Beijing’s push for zero Covid

It used to be an international business centre, the bustling, vibrant commercial gateway to China and the rest of Asia.

But after weeks of lobbying by Hong Kong’s global business community for the government to ease border restrictions and harsh mandatory quarantine to bring it into line with other trading hubs, the authorities have instead responded with even tougher measures.

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Taiwan has no right to join UN, China says, as US ratchets up tensions

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Beijing furious at US call for island to have ‘meaningful participation’ in international body

China has said Taiwan has no right to join the United Nations, after the US increased tensions with a call for the democratic island to have greater involvement in the world body.

In a statement marking 50 years since the UN general assembly voted to seat Beijing and boot out Taipei, the US secretary of state, Antony Blinken, said on Tuesday he regretted that Taiwan had been increasingly excluded on the world stage.

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US bans China Telecom over national security concerns

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Federal Communications Commission action is the latest pushback against what the US sees as infiltration by Chinese tech firms

The US communications regulator has voted to revoke China Telecom’s licence in America over national security concerns in the latest pushback by Washington against what it deems possible infiltration of key networks by Chinese companies.

The decision by the US Federal Communications Commission (FCC) means China Telecom Americas must now discontinue US services within 60 days. China Telecom, the largest Chinese telecommunications company, has had authorisation to provide telecommunications services for nearly 20 years in the United States.

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