Plans of four G20 states are threat to global climate pledge, warn scientists

‘Disastrous’ energy policies of China, Russia, Brazil and Australia could stoke 5C rise in temperatures if adopted by the rest of the world

A key group of leading G20 nations is committed to climate targets that would lead to disastrous global warming, scientists have warned. They say China, Russia, Brazil and Australia all have energy policies associated with 5C rises in atmospheric temperatures, a heating hike that would bring devastation to much of the planet.

The analysis, by the peer-reviewed group Paris Equity Check, raises serious worries about the prospects of key climate agreements being achieved at the Cop26 summit in Glasgow in three months. The conference – rated as one of the most important climate summits ever staged – will attempt to hammer out policies to hold global heating to 1.5C by agreeing on a global policy for ending net emissions of greenhouse gases by 2050.

Continue reading...

Biden races to unite allies against China knowing sooner or later an explosion will occur

US president is being much tougher than expected on Beijing, but a lack of solidarity will undermine his policy’s success

It’s generally accepted in Washington that once-buoyant hopes for the emergence of a free, democratic China, initially sparked by Richard Nixon’s groundbreaking 1972 visit, have sunk without trace. President Xi Jinping’s regime is now described as a “systemic rival”, “strategic competitor” or outright “threat”. The EU, Nato, the UK, and regional allies broadly agree: the era of engagement is over.

What’s lacking is agreement over what comes next. The hole where common policy and joint action should be gapes ever more dangerously amid almost daily collisions on multiple fronts with Xi’s aggressive, authoritarian one-party state. If it’s not about human rights abuses, cyberhacking, or trade, it’s Taiwan, visas, spying, maritime disputes, the Indian border, or alleged hostage-taking.

Continue reading...

Chinese leader Xi Jinping makes first visit to Tibet as president

Visit comes as China tightens control over region’s Buddhist culture and invests heavily in infrastructure

The Chinese leader has made his first visit to Tibet as president as authorities tighten controls over the Himalayan region’s traditional Buddhist culture, accompanied by an accelerated drive for economic development and modernised infrastructure.

State media reported on Friday that Xi Jinping had visited sites in the capital, Lhasa, including the Drepung monastery, Barkhor Street and the public square at the base of the Potala Palace that was home to the Dalai Lamas, Tibet’s traditional spiritual and temporal leaders.

Continue reading...

Low-key US-China meeting will address high tensions in relationship

Visit by deputy secretary of state Wendy Sherman on Sunday follows reported standoff over diplomatic protocol

Amid escalating diplomatic tensions, the US deputy secretary of state, Wendy Sherman, will travel to China this Sunday to meet with senior Chinese diplomats in the highest-level visit since the US climate envoy John Kerry’s trip to Shanghai in April.

Sherman’s upcoming trip will not have the trappings of a fully fledged official visit. She will – according to a Chinese statement – “hold talks” with Xie Feng, a vice-minister in charge of the bilateral relations, and “meet” with Wang Yi, China’s state councilor and foreign minister.

Continue reading...

Hong Kong: five arrested for sedition over children’s book about sheep – video

Five members of a Hong Kong union behind a series of children’s books about sheep trying to hold back wolves from their village have been arrested for sedition. The arrests were made by the new national security police unit, which is undertaking a sweeping crackdown on dissent. The two men and three women detained had 'conspired to publish, distribute, exhibit or copy seditious publications', the unit said

Continue reading...

China refuses further inquiry into Covid-19 origins in Wuhan lab

WHO proposal to audit Chinese laboratories is ‘arrogance towards science’, says health minister

China’s government has refused to cooperate with the second stage of an international investigation into the origins of Covid-19, labelling a proposal to audit Chinese labs as “arrogance towards science”.

Chinese health officials held a press conference on Thursday to respond to last week’s proposal by the World Health Organization that the second phase of its investigation into the origins of the pandemic include “audits of relevant laboratories and research institutions operating in the area of the initial human cases identified in December 2019”, meaning the city of Wuhan.

Continue reading...

China floods: aluminium alloy plant explodes in Henan province – video

Dramatic footage shows the moment an aluminium plant exploded in China's central Henan province after a record-breaking rain storm. Local government officials said Dengfeng Power Group's plant exploded when flood waters from a nearby river breached a wall and entered it

Continue reading...

China floods: death toll climbs as questions raised over preparedness

Public scrutiny has focused on contradictory statements from local media and differences between posts by authorities and public

The official death toll from central China’s devastating floods has risen to 33, as the public began to ask questions about the readiness of authorities for the disaster.

Cleanup efforts were under way in Henan province and the capital city Zhengzhou on Thursday, after a record breaking rain storm flooded the city’s streets and subway, damaged dams and reservoirs, collapsed roads, cut power to at least one hospital and was linked to a massive explosion at a factory in Dengfeng city.

Continue reading...

Deadly rains hit central China as subways flood and tens of millions impacted – video

Heavy rains have flooded parts of central China's Henan province, upending the lives of tens of millions and leaving at least 12 dead. More than 20cm of rain fell in one hour in Zhengzhou, the regional capital, flooding the city's subway system and major roads. The heavy rains began on 17 July before severe downpours on 20 July

Continue reading...

Five arrested in Hong Kong for sedition over children’s book about sheep

Books tried to explain the pro-democracy movement, portraying supporters as sheep surrounded by wolves

Five members of a Hong Kong union behind a series of children’s books about sheep trying to hold back wolves from their village have been arrested for sedition.

The arrests by the new national security police unit, which is spearheading a sweeping crackdown on dissent, are the latest action against pro-democracy activists since huge and often violent protests convulsed the city two years ago.

Continue reading...

Syrian economy lies in ruins and China sniffs opportunity

Analysis: War may be winding down, but with Assad in charge for seven more seven years the country remains splintered

Standing on a podium on Saturday to take an oath of office, Bashar al-Assad declared himself the only man who could rebuild Syria.

His first foreign guest, China’s foreign minister, Wang Yi, seemed to enhance his claim, endorsing the president’s win in a May poll described by Britain and Europe as “neither free nor fair” and laying a marker to help get the job started.

Continue reading...

Death toll rises and thousands flee homes as floods hit China

Torrential rainfall and burst rivers swamp Henan cities, with commuters trapped on subway trains

Days of torrential rain and massive flooding have hit China’s Henan province, bursting the banks of rivers, overwhelming dams and the public transport system and forcing thousands of people to evacuate their homes.

At least 25 people have been killed and seven are missing in the provincial capital, Zhengzhou. The provincial authorities issued its highest level of weather warning. A year’s worth of rain – 640mm – fell in just three days. The city’s weather bureau said more than 552mm of rain had fallen between 7pm on Monday and 7pm on Tuesday, including 202mm between 4pm and 5pm on Tuesday.

Continue reading...

Even as Ardern signals alignment with US, New Zealand still seeks to maintain distance | Pete McKenzie

As the prime minister treads the delicate path between China and the US we shouldn’t overstate the significance of her latest moves

New Zealand has long prided itself on having an “independent” foreign policy that charts a middle path between great powers. It’s an approach for which the prime minister, Jacinda Ardern, and her new foreign minister, Nanaia Mahuta, have voiced strong support. Over the past week, however, Ardern has moved towards a much closer alignment with America.

It’s the latest sign that for small countries caught amid great power competition, independence is increasingly difficult. It also raises the question: is this the end of New Zealand’s “independent” foreign policy, and if so, what comes next?

Continue reading...

US stocks plunge amid coronavirus variant fears – as it happened

That’s all from me today. Here’s a rundown of the day’s biggest politics stories:

Senate majority leader Chuck Schumer will file cloture on a placeholder bill for the bipartisan infrastructure plan tonight, setting up a vote on Wednesday.

Schumer NOW on Senate floor updates the timing of infrastructure legislation: "Tonight in a few minutes, I will file cloture on a shell bill which will act as the legislative vehicle for the bipartisan infrastructure framework. That vote on cloture will take place on Wednesday." pic.twitter.com/FRGPFkeh8d

Continue reading...

US condemns China for ‘malicious’ cyberattacks, including Microsoft hack

Justice department charged four Chinese nationals with hacking as Washington accused Beijing of threatening national security

The US has led allies in a sharp condemnation of China for “malicious” cyberattacks, including a hack of Microsoft Exchange email server software that compromised tens of thousands of computers around the world earlier this year.

Related: UK and allies accuse Chinese state-backed group of Microsoft hack

Continue reading...

Chinese Unesco official defends plan to list Great Barrier Reef as ‘in danger’

Tian Xuejun rejects Australia’s ‘groundless accusations’ that China influenced the finding to score political points

The Chinese host of a United Nations world heritage committee has defended a proposal to label the Great Barrier Reef as “in danger”, and rejected Australian government suspicion that China influenced the finding for political reasons.

It came as the Morrison government sought to use a new report by Australia’s marine science agency to argue there had been widespread coral recovery on the reef.

Continue reading...

Tensions remain high as hopes dashed for breakthrough in China and India stalemate

Military build-up continues ‘like never before’ on both sides of 2,100-mile border despite high-level talks

It was described as a dialogue, the first high-level meeting in months between the Indian and Chinese foreign ministers to address the ongoing border aggressions that have pushed the two nuclear-armed countries to the brink of war.

But those hoping Wednesday’s meeting would help break a year-long stalemate during which 200,000 troops have built up on both sides of the Himalayan frontier were to be left unsatisfied.

Continue reading...

Syria’s President Assad sworn in for fourth term with 95% of vote

Inauguration follows election dismissed by US, UK and other countries as ‘neither free nor fair’

President Bashar al-Assad took the oath of office for a fourth term in war-ravaged Syria on Saturday, after officially winning 95% of the vote in an election dismissed abroad.

It was the second presidential poll since the start of a decade-long civil war that has killed almost half a million people and battered the country’s infrastructure.

Continue reading...

Reasons to be fearful of China’s data-gathering | Letters

We should be suspicious of the role of the Chinese Communist party in the harvesting of genetic data from unborn babies, argues William Matthews

In her column (What does the Chinese military want with your unborn baby’s genetic data?, 10 July), Arwa Mahdawi suggested that the alleged involvement of the People’s Liberation Army (which is directly answerable to the Chinese Communist party) with BGI’s data-gathering (likewise answerable as a China-based company) is essentially equivalent to data-gathering by western companies. To suggest that the former case is worse, she argued, “smacks of Sinophobia”.

As a scholar of China, I cannot agree. While the harvesting of genetic data by any company is frightening and fraught with ethical issues, it should be obvious that this is a false equivalence. It is undoubtedly worse if genetic data is gathered by a company which must also comply with the rule of the Chinese Communist party (CCP) and its military-industrial complex, a regime which harvests and aggregates data on its citizens on a massive scale and uses it directly to implement the most repressive system of social control on earth in Xinjiang.

Continue reading...

Thailand bans public gatherings as Covid cases hit record high

More restrictions are being considered as the country battles its worst outbreak yet

Thailand has imposed a nationwide ban on public gatherings and was considering more restrictions on movement as authorities reported record numbers of new cases and deaths on Saturday.

Despite partial lockdowns in Bangkok and nine other provinces this week, the country’s Covid-19 task force reported 10,082 new coronavirus cases and 141 new deaths, bringing the total number of infections to 391,989 cases and 3,240 fatalities since the pandemic started.

Continue reading...