A roundup of the coverage on struggles for human rights and freedoms, from Colombia to China
Continue reading...Category Archives: China
US military has ‘no plan’ to shoot down debris from Chinese rocket
Defense secretary is hopeful the rocket will land in the ocean; Aerospace Corp said it expects the debris to hit the Pacific near the equator
The US military has no plan to shoot down the remnants of a large Chinese rocket expected to plunge back through the atmosphere this weekend, the defense secretary said on Thursday.
Speaking with reporters, Lloyd Austin said the hope was the rocket would land in the ocean and that the latest estimate was that it would come down between Saturday and Sunday.
Continue reading...Where is New Zealand’s ‘values-based’ foreign policy when it comes to the Uyghurs? | Guled Mire
Other small nations also feel vulnerable to Chinese aggression but it hasn’t stopped them speaking out over the Uyghur genocide
After the Christchurch terror attacks, Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern donned a hijab as she comforted the relatives of the 51 Muslims who were killed simply for practising their faith. The image spread across the world and she was lavished with international praise.
Yet her apparent turning away from the active erasure of China’s Uyghur Muslim minority population may undo that reputation. On Wednesday, New Zealand’s parliament backed away from calling what is happening in Xinjiang a “genocide,” opting instead for the watered-down language of “human rights breaches”.
Continue reading...Beijing accuses G7 ministers of interfering in China’s affairs
Foreign ministry responds to west’s human rights claims, saying countries should ‘face up to their own problems’
China has rejected accusations of human rights abuse and economic coercion, made by G7 foreign ministers, accusing them of “blatantly meddling” in China’s internal affairs, calling their remarks groundless.
“Attempts to disregard the basic norms of international relations and to create various excuses to interfere in China’s internal affairs, undermine China’s sovereignty and smear China’s image will never succeed,” said the foreign ministry spokesperson, Wang Wenbin. “They should not criticise and interfere with other countries with a superior mentality, and undermine the current top priority of international anti-epidemic cooperation.”
Continue reading...Hotlines ‘ring out’: China’s military crisis strategy needs rethink, says Biden Asia chief
Kurt Campbell says Beijing has been increasing military activities without taking measures to reduce the chance of miscalculation
The Biden administration’s top Asia official has warned about the absence of a crisis-communications channel between the US and China at a time of rising military tensions over Taiwan and the South China Sea.
Military and leadership hotlines have been established at various points in the fraught history of the relationship, but Kurt Campbell, the White House Asia “tsar” responsible for coordinating policy across the administration, said Beijing had shown no interest in using them, out of a preference for uncertainty. The hotline simply rings out in “empty rooms”, he said.
Continue reading...Falling Chinese rocket to crash to Earth on weekend as US calls for ‘responsible space behaviours’
Communist party newspaper claims Long March 5B should easily burn up in atmosphere but expert warns pieces will reach Earth
The White House has called for “responsible space behaviours” as a Chinese rocket, thought to be out of control, looks set to crash back to Earth on Saturday, US time.
The US Space Command is tracking debris from the Long March 5B, which last week launched the main module of China’s first permanent space station into orbit. The roughly 30-metre (100ft) long stage would be among the biggest space debris to fall to Earth.
Continue reading...EU ‘suspends’ ratification of China investment deal after sanctions
Massive trade agreement stalls after tit-for-tat sanctions prompted by Chinese policy in Xinjiang
The European Commission has said that efforts to ratify a massive investment deal with China have been in effect suspended after tit-for-tat sanctions were imposed over China’s treatment of its Uyghur population in March.
“We now in a sense have suspended … political outreach activities from the European Commission side,” said the commission’s executive vice-president, Valdis Dombrovskis, on Tuesday. He said that the current state of relations between Brussels and Beijing was “not conducive” for the ratification of the deal, which is known as EU-China comprehensive agreement on investment.
Continue reading...New Zealand draws back from calling Chinese abuses of Uyghurs genocide
Parliament will not debate motion and will instead discuss rights abuses in more general terms
New Zealand’s parliament will not debate a motion that would label the abuses of the Uyghur people in Xinjiang, China, as acts of genocide.
Parliament opted instead on Tuesday to water down the language, and discuss concerns about human rights abuses in the region in more general terms.
Continue reading...New Zealand’s differences with China becoming ‘harder to reconcile’, Jacinda Ardern says
Prime minister has been coming under pressure from allies to take a tougher approach towards country’s largest trading partner
New Zealand’s differences with China are becoming “harder to reconcile,” the prime minister Jacinda Ardern has said, as she called on China “to act in the world in ways that are consistent with its responsibilities as a growing power”.
Ardern’s comments were made as New Zealand’s government comes under increasing pressure, both internally and from international allies, to take a firmer stance on concerns over human rights abuses of Uyghur people in China’s Xinjiang province. Last week, the Act party presented a motion for New Zealand’s parliament to debate whether the treatment of Uyghurs in Xinjiang constitutes genocide – a motion that Labour will discuss this week.
Continue reading...Biden and Xi talk of a clash of civilisations. But the real shared goal is dominance | Richard McGregor
The US president has challenged the idea that the ‘east is rising, the west declining’. Instead, he insists that America’s day is far from done
Finally, we have arrived, not at a clash of civilisations, but at the clash of civilisations. Or so President Joe Biden’s address to a joint session of Congress would have you believe. The US versus China. The west versus the east. Democracy versus autocracy. Biden’s speech last week was rich in laying down markers for Washington in the contest of the century.
“They’re going to write about this point in history,” Biden told a gathering of US television news anchors before his speech, in remarks later released by the White House. “Not about any of us in here, but about whether or not democracy can function in the 21st century.”
Continue reading...US-China doomsday threat ramped up by hi-tech advances, says Kissinger
Former US secretary of state says strained relationship is world’s ‘biggest problem’, as he warns of Beijing’s economic and military might
Former US diplomat Henry Kissinger has said that US-China tensions threaten to engulf the entire world and could lead to an Armageddon-like clash between the two military and technology giants.
The 97-year-old former US secretary of state, who as an adviser to president Richard Nixon crafted the 1971 unfreezing of relations between Washington and Beijing, said the mix of economic, military and technological strengths of the two superpowers carried more risks than the cold war with the Soviet Union.
Continue reading...China begins construction of laboratory in space – video
China has sent into space the core module of its space station at the Wenchang Spacecraft Launch Site in the southern province of Hainan, kicking off a series of key launch missions with one of the goals to create a national space laboratory.
This will enable scientists from around the world to conduct multi-domain space science and technical experiments. The space station should be completed by the end of next year
Continue reading...Biden’s world: how key countries have reacted to the US president’s first 100 days
The new administration has signalled a sharp break in foreign policy from the Trump era – but how is that playing globally?
At the opening of Joe Biden’s online climate summit last week, Europe’s relief was was palpable: “It is so good,” gushed the European commission president, Ursula von der Leyen, “to have the US back on our side.”
Continue reading...Heavenly Harmony: China launches first module of new space station – video
China has successfully launched the first module of its new space station, part of an ambitious plan for Beijing to have a permanent human presence in space. The Tianhe, or Heavenly Harmony, unmanned core module, launched from Wenchang in China’s Hainan province, is expected to become fully operational in 2022, with about 10 more missions required to launch and assemble parts
Continue reading...China launches first module of new space station
The space station is expected to become fully operational in 2022 after about 10 missions to bring up more parts and assemble them in orbit
China has launched the first module of its new space station, a milestone in Beijing’s ambitious plan to place a permanent human presence in space.
The Tianhe or “Heavenly Harmony” unmanned core module, containing living quarters for three crew, was launched from Wenchang in China’s Hainan province on a Long-March 5B rocket on Thursday.
Continue reading...Border dispute casts shadow over China’s offers of Covid help for India
Analysis: some in China see India’s crisis as a diplomatic opportunity but tensions from last summer remain high
As coronavirus rages across India, its neighbour China has made repeated offers of help. Some are asking whether this could be an occasion to ease the tense relations between the world’s two most populous countries following last year’s border skirmishes.
China’s foreign minister, Wang Yi, said this week that Beijing was “ready to provide support and assistance to the Indian people at any time according to the needs of India”. A spokesperson for the Chinese embassy in Delhi said it would “encourage and instruct Chinese companies to actively cooperate”.
Continue reading...Huge sandstorm engulfs towns in China – video
Huge sandstorms swept across areas of Alxa Right Banner in China’s Inner Mongolia autonomous region on Sunday. The sand clouds enveloped buildings in many cities, turning the sky an apocalyptic yellow. The local authorities issued a yellow alert for poor air quality, noting that the conditions could persist
Continue reading...Hong Kong passes law that can stop people leaving
Bar association and activists decry Beijing-type immigration act with ‘exit ban’ powers
Hong Kong has passed a new immigration law that includes powers to stop people entering or leaving the city, raising fears of Chinese mainland-style “exit bans” in the international business hub.
The legislation sailed through a legislature now devoid of opposition, as Beijing has quashed dissent and sought to make the semi-autonomous city more like the authoritarian mainland after huge and often violent democracy protests.
Continue reading...Beijing calls Hong Kong bar association chief an ‘anti-China politician’
Authorities lambast British-born Paul Harris for criticising treatment of pro-democracy campaigners
Beijing and Hong Kong authorities have accused the British-born head of Hong Kong’s bar association of being an “anti-China politician” after he criticised jail sentences imposed on pro-democracy activists.
Paul Harris, a human rights lawyer and the chair of the HKBA, had represented one of 10 people convicted this month for organising or attending unauthorised assemblies during the pro-democracy protests in 2019. The defendants were given a range of suspended sentences or immediate jail terms of up to 18 months.
Continue reading...Russian man ‘trapped’ on Chinese reality TV show finally voted out after three months
Vladislav Ivanov says he regretted his decision to join Produce Camp 2021 but fans refused to vote him out
The reality TV ordeal of a Russian who joined a Chinese boy band show by accident – and made it to the final despite urging fans to vote him off – has finally ended after nearly three months.
Vladislav Ivanov, a 27-year-old from Vladivostok, was kicked out of the Produce Camp 2021 on Saturday after viewers ignored his pleas to leave and backed him all the way to the final.
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