Category Archives: China

Examining Aukus alliance through the lens of history | Letters

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Readers respond to the new pact between the UK, Australia and the US, and its implications

The Aukus pact is not a “new global order” (17 September) but very much an old order; it is colonial gunboats. I do not expect politicians to have read history such as the first Anglo-Afghan war of 1839, but I do expect them to be aware of history in their own lifetimes. Eton may not teach the failures of empire, but China has been very clear about Taiwan since 1950.

When Biden said, “This decision about Afghanistan is not just about Afghanistan. It’s about ending an era of major military operations to remake other countries”, he was committing to another battle in the Pacific. The global dominance of China has been clear for more than 20 years, and yet we are unwillingly signed up to face this new empire?
Simon Allen
St Albans, Hertfordshire

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China’s ugliest buildings: contest to celebrate unsightly architecture begins

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This year’s contenders include a violin-shaped church and a ‘welcome to hell’ glass bridge joining two mountains

An infamous “hall of shame” listing of China’s top 10 “ugliest” buildings has kicked off with 87 bizarre designs in the running, including a violin-shaped church and an Inner Mongolia hotel in the form of a monstrous babushka doll.

Over the past 11 years a Chinese architecture website, archcy.com, has been inviting people to vote in the lighthearted annual contest that it hopes will encourage people to ponder the flexible notion of beauty.

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Japan urges Europe to speak out against China’s military expansion

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Exclusive: in the first piece in a new Guardian series on China and tensions in the Indo-Pacific, Japan’s defence minister says the international community must bolster deterrence efforts against Beijing’s military

Japan has urged European countries to speak out against China’s aggression, warning that the international community must bolster deterrence efforts against Beijing’s military and territorial expansion amid a growing risk of a hot conflict.

In an interview with the Guardian, Japan’s defence minister, Nobuo Kishi, said China had become increasingly powerful politically, economically and militarily and was “attempting to use its power to unilaterally change the status quo in the East and South China Seas”, which are crucial to global shipping and include waters and islands claimed by several other nations.

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Shares in China’s Evergrande plunge again as fears of contagion grow

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Hong Kong stock fell almost 17% amid default fears that are beginning to have a knock-on effect on other markets

Shares in the embattled Chinese property company Evergrande have plunged 17% as investors weigh up whether the group’s massive debt problems could trigger a broader sell off across all financial markets.

Related: ‘China’s Lehman Brothers moment’: Evergrande crisis rattles economy

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Jonathan Mirsky: reporter who went from Mao fan to fierce Beijing critic

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The career of the Observer’s former China correspondent who died last week, was marked by a willingness to review his convictions

Jonathan Mirsky, the Observer’s former China correspondent who has died aged 88, was acutely aware of the mounting danger from the bullets criss-crossing Tiananmen Square on 4 June 1989 as units of the People’s Liberation Army were sent in to break up the protests. He was aware too that he desperately needed to get his copy to London.

Writing about the experience 30 years later, Mirsky admitted that few at first had any sense of the scale of the violence that was being unleashed either on the students in the square. All that, however, was to change quickly.

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The Aukus pact is a sign of a new global order | Rana Mitter

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The deal has upset China, but it also binds the US into European security, in a world where Nato may be less relevant

France is furious. Theresa May is worried. The announcement of the new Australia-UK-US alliance (Aukus) and the ditching of a previous French-Australian submarine deal has led France’s foreign minister, Jean-Yves Le Drian, to term the pact “a stab in the back”, while the former British prime minister is concerned about Britain being dragged into a war over the future of Taiwan.

Oddly enough, Beijing’s reaction has been rather muted. Yes, it has accused the west of a “cold war mentality”, and Xi Jinping has warned foreigners not to interfere in the region, but its warning that China would “closely monitor the situation” was close to a “cut and paste” outrage.

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China vows to resist ‘interference’ as Taiwan welcomes support from Aukus allies

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Australia and US pledge stronger ties, EU calls for trade deal and Johnson refuses to rule out getting involved in a conflict involving the island

China’s president, Xi Jinping, has vowed to resist “interference from external forces” as Taiwan welcomed support from major allies after a US-Australia ministerial forum pledged stronger ties with the island and the European parliament called for a bilateral trade deal.

Speaking at a meeting of the heads of state of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) in Tajikistan via video link, Xi urged members of the grouping to “absolutely resist external forces to interfere [in] countries in our region at any excuse, and hold the future of our countries’ development and progress firmly in our own hands”.

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More US military to deploy to Australia as Dutton dismisses China ‘outbursts’

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Australia’s defence minister says Aukus pact makes region safer and ‘no amount of propaganda can dismiss the facts’

The defence minister, Peter Dutton, has dismissed “outbursts” from China over Australia’s decision to develop nuclear-powered submarines, as he flagged plans for more US military aircraft to deploy to Australia.

Speaking after talks with the Biden administration in Washington, Dutton said Australia was a “proud democracy in our region” and “no amount of propaganda can dismiss the facts”.

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Aukus pact: UK and US battle to contain international backlash

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Nuclear submarine deal with Australia draws criticism from allies and China amid fears of conflict

Britain and the US are battling to contain an international backlash over a nuclear submarine pact struck with Australia amid concerns that the alliance could provoke China and prompt conflict in the Pacific.

Boris Johnson told MPs that the Aukus defence agreement was “not intended to be adversarial” to China. But Beijing accused the three countries of adopting a “cold war mentality” and warned they would harm their own interests unless it was dropped.

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Aukus deal showing France and EU that Biden not all he seems

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Analysis: the western alliance is the main victim – and China will win out unless US can soothe Paris’s anger

Fury in Paris at Australia’s decision to tear up plans to buy a French-built fleet of submarines is not only a row about a defence contract, cost overruns and technical specifications. It throws into question the transatlantic alliance to confront China.

The Aukus deal has left the French political class seething at Joe Biden’s Trumpian unilateralism, Australian two-facedness and the usual British perfidy. “Nothing was done by sneaking behind anyone’s back,” assured the British defence minister, Ben Wallace, in an attempt to soothe the row. But that is not the view in Paris. “This is an enormous disappointment,” said Florence Parly, the French defence minister.

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Diplomacy dialled up to 11: Australia saddles up with US as Indo-Pacific heads for cold war | Katharine Murphy

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Australia didn’t announce the ‘forever partnership’ while Donald Trump was in the White House. What happens if he returns?

Ever flexible, ever the pragmatist, Scott Morrison started thinking about his new “forever partnership” with the United States and Britain 18 months ago while Australia was still tied to a $90bn contract with France to build submarines.

Australia looked to America because of a practical consideration. If the Morrison government was going to jettison the troubled French proposal, and countenance the acquisition of nuclear-powered submarines, the US possessed the technology that would suit Australia’s purposes.

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China warns US-UK-Australia pact could ‘hurt own interests’

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Aukus described as ‘exclusionary’ amid French anger at scrapping of $90bn submarine deal with Australia

China has told the US, the UK and Australia to abandon their “cold war” mentality or risk harming their own interests after the three countries unveiled a new defence cooperation pact.

The trilateral security partnership, named Aukus, was announced on Thursday by the three nations’ leaders via video link, and will include an 18-month plan to provide Australia with nuclear-powered submarines.

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Cold war echoes as Aukus alliance focuses on China deterrence

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Analysis: military alliance is more wide-ranging than Five Eyes agreement and may come to define future approach to Indo-Pacific security

For those who study the history of the cold war, Washington’s new initiative with London and Canberra – known by its acronym “Aukus” – has eery echoes of an intelligence-sharing agreement signed 75 years ago. This agreement is now more commonly known as the Five Eyes partnership.

When the seven-page full text of UKUSA agreement – as it was originally known – was finally released in June 2010, Time magazine called it one of the cold war’s most important documents that “reveals one of the foundations of the special relationship the UK and the US still hold dear”.

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Court rules against woman who became face of China’s #MeToo movement

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Zhou Xiaoxuan, who accused CCTV host of sexual harassment, vows to appeal ‘unfair treatment’

A Chinese woman whose sexual harassment case against a popular TV host sparked a nationwide debate over #MeToo has accused a Beijing court of unfair treatment and vowed to appeal after it ruled against her.

The Haidian people’s court said in a judgment released late on Tuesday that Zhou Xiaoxuan did not meet the standard of proof in claiming that Zhu Jun, her superior at work, sexually harassed her.

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Chinese ambassador to UK barred from British parliament

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Move agreed by Speakers of Commons and Lords follows imposition of sanctions on British MPs by Beijing

The new Chinese ambassador to the UK has been barred from parliament by the Speakers in the Commons and Lords after the imposition of sanctions on British MPs by Beijing.

The new ambassador, Zheng Zeguang, was due to attend a meeting of the broadly pro-Chinese all-party group on China, but after a letter from MPs who were subjected to sanctions by China, including the former Conservative party leader Iain Duncan Smith, the Commons Speaker, Lindsay Hoyle, has said the meeting is not appropriate.

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China property giant Evergrande admits debt crisis as protesters besiege HQ

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Disgruntled investors voice anger at headquarters as company appoints advisers and says firesale of assets won’t cover debts

Property giant China Evergrande Group has said that it cannot sell properties and other assets fast enough to service its massive $300bn debts, and that its cashflow was under “tremendous pressure”.

Only hours after angry investors besieged its Shenzhen headquarters and the company denied it was set for bankruptcy, Evergrande issued a statement to the Hong Kong stock exchange saying that a significant drop in sales would continue this month, which was likely to further deteriorate its liquidity and cash flow.

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Taliban takeover of Afghanistan will reshape Middle East, official warns

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Gulf states are having to reconsider their alliances and especially whether they can still trust the US, says senior source

The Taliban’s takeover of Afghanistan is a shattering earthquake that will shape the Middle East for many years, a senior Gulf official has said, warning that – despite the group’s promises of moderation – the militant group is “essentially the same” as last time it was in power.

Speaking on the condition of anonymity, the official also said that the rapid and chaotic US withdrawal also raises serious questions for Gulf states about the value of US promises of security over the next 20 years.

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Stock market correction of 5%-10% ‘likely before year end’; US inflation expectations rise – as it happened

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Rolling coverage of the latest economic and financial news

Earlier:

Time to wrap up....

Here’s today’s main stories:

Related: Alibaba shares plunge as Beijing ‘seeks to break up Ant’s Alipay’

Related: Stock market pullback likely by year end, Deutsche Bank survey finds

Related: Evergrande investors face 75% hit as company edges closer to restructure

Related: UK cancels Covid vaccine deal with French firm Valneva

Related: Higher taxes could leave low-paid frontline workers £1,000 worse off

Related: EU Brexit controls are pointless bureaucracy, says M&S chairman

Related: Brexit trade barriers added £600m in costs to UK importers this year

Related: Primark hit by ‘pingdemic’ but it says supply crisis won’t lead to shortages

Related: West End theatres bank on staging a revival with big-budget productions

Related: All Sainsbury’s stores to stay shut on Boxing Day as a ‘thank you’ to staff

Related: UK to offer £265m in subsidies for renewable energy developers

European stock markets have shrugged off growth fears and talk of a stock market pullback, to end the day higher.

In London, the FTSE 100 gained 39 points or 0.55% to end at 7068 points. Royal Mail (+3%), Lloyds Banking Group (+2.8%), and hedge fund management group Pershing Square (+2.6%) led the risers.

Spain's Ibex up 1.3%. German Dax up 0.6%
The major European indices are ending the day with gains across the board:

German DAX, +0.56%
France's CAC, +0.2%
UK's FTSE 100, +0.55%
Spain's Ibex, +1.3%
Italy's FTSE MIB, +0.9%
In other markets as European/London traders look to exit:

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Emma Raducanu’s Chinese heritage praised by China’s state media

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News outlet points out that US Open champion once attributed her winning confidence to ‘Chinese style of inner faith’

Chinese state media has said the “Chinese style of inner faith” gave British player Emma Raducanu the confidence to win the US Open over the weekend, but some of the country’s internet users asked: why are we calling her Chinese?

Raducanu, 18, became the youngest grand slam winner since Maria Sharapova won Wimbledon in 2004. The pride in her success was simultaneously shared in China, where her mother was born.

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