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...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...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...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 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...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...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...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.
Continue reading...A father uses his obsession with the movies to help his daughter when she is unjustly suspected of murder
It turns out that cinephilia is a productive use of time after all. When his computer is searched, Li Weijie, protagonist of this perky Chinese thriller, has watched 838 films in a year – and he uses his superior knowledge of the seventh art to get his family out of a pickle. Chinese but living in northern Thailand, he scrapes by as an internet technician, but his daughter finds herself at the centre of a murder investigation after she accidentally kills the son of a police chief who was trying to blackmail her with smartphone-filmed rape footage.
A remake of the 2013 Malayalam film Drishyam, this big Chinese hit ultimately doffs the cap to Korean cinema: it is Jeong Keun-seob’s 2013 film Montage that inspires Li when he has to provide his family with an alibi.
Continue reading...Investigation finds up to 40% of UK solar farms were built using panels from leading Chinese companies
Solar projects commissioned by the Ministry of Defence, the government’s Coal Authority, United Utilities and some of the UK’s biggest renewable energy developers are using panels made by Chinese solar companies accused of exploiting forced labour camps in Xinjiang province, a Guardian investigation has found.
Confidential industry data suggests that up to 40% of the UK’s solar farms were built using panels manufactured by China’s biggest solar panel companies, including Jinko Solar, JA Solar and Trina Solar.
Continue reading...Peter Dutton says Australia is focused on maintaining good relations with Beijing but China has been ‘very clear’ about its plans for reunification
The Australian defence minister, Peter Dutton, has said a conflict involving China over Taiwan cannot be discounted but he insists the government’s focus remains on having “good relations” with Beijing.
Dutton was on Sunday asked about the prospect of a “battle over Taiwan” following remarks from the former defence minister, Christopher Pyne, and the ex-prime minister, Tony Abbott, about China’s expansionist plans in the region.
Continue reading...A roundup of the coverage on struggles for human rights and freedoms, from Cambodia to Peru
World leaders will be unable to halt climate breakdown without strong action from biggest emitter
The US, the world’s second biggest emitter of greenhouse gases, is now committed to halving emissions this decade.
Joe Biden’s announcement, at a White House virtual climate summit, has thrown the spotlight clearly on the world’s biggest emitter: China.
Continue reading...Analysis: Country has confirmed itself the weak link in the intelligence chain it joined with the US, UK, Canada and Australia
Jacinda Ardern, the New Zealand prime minister from the centre-left Labour party, has offended devotees of the Anglosphere by indicating she is not prepared to take her country into the kind of trade war with China that Australia has found itself facing.
Asserting her country’s sovereignty has potentially deep implications for the “Five Eyes” alliance, the intelligence sharing partnership that emerged after the second world war and blossomed in the cold war. Indeed some say New Zealand has confirmed itself as the weak link in the intelligence chain that it joined with the US, the UK, Canada, and Australia.
Continue reading...Vote does not compel government to act but marks further decline in relations with China
British MPs voted to declare that China is committing genocide against the Uyghur people in Xinjiang province.
The motion passed on Thursday does not compel the government to act but is likely to mark a further decline in relations with China.
Continue reading...Analysis: Xi Jinping is likely to push back against US claim to global leadership, but both know their interests overlap on tackling environment
Observers of the US and China this week may ponder whether a joint call to tackle the climate crisis marks a positive change in their fraught relationship, as the two leaders meet for the first time since Joe Biden was sworn into office.
After four years of Donald Trump, the bilateral relationship has reached its lowest ebb since formal ties were established in January 1979. In both capitals, fear of a “new cold war” is on the rise. Many highlight growing competition, and the opposing nature of the two countries’ political systems.
Continue reading...Foreign minister Marise Payne cancels two deals between Victoria and China under new foreign veto laws
The Morrison government has used its sweeping new foreign veto laws to tear up Victoria’s Belt and Road agreements with China, in what the Chinese embassy has denounced as a “another unreasonable and provocative move”.
The foreign minister, Marise Payne, said she would cancel those two deals, along with two older agreements between the Victorian government and Iranian and Syrian entities, because they were “inconsistent with Australia’s foreign policy or adverse to our foreign relations”.
Continue reading...Meng Wanzhou’s team had sought more time to review new documents after Hong Kong settlement with HSBC
A Canada judge has agreed to delay Meng Wanzhou’s US extradition hearings for three months, according to a ruling read in court on Wednesday, handing the Huawei chief financial officer’s defense team a win.
Meng, 49, was arrested at Vancouver international airport on charges of bank fraud in the US for allegedly misleading HSBC about Huawei’s business dealings in Iran, causing the bank to break US sanctions.
Continue reading...At least four dead and dozens wounded from blast in car park of luxury hotel in the city of Quetta
At least four people have been killed and a dozen others wounded when a powerful car bomb exploded at a top hotel hosting the Chinese ambassador in south-western Pakistan.
The blast took place in the car park of the Serena – a luxury hotel chain throughout Pakistan – in the city of Quetta, the capital of Balochistan province where the military has been fighting a decade-long low level insurgency.
Continue reading...Canberra diplomat tells press club China should not be milked with a ‘plot to slaughter it in the end’
A senior Chinese diplomat has accused the Australian government of triggering a downward spiral in the relationship by “conniving with the United States in a very unethical, illegal, immoral suppression” of Chinese telco Huawei.
Wang Xining, the deputy head of the Chinese embassy in Canberra, told the National Press Club that China had “done nothing intentionally to hurt this relationship”, despite the Australian government’s complaints about Beijing trade actions against a range of export sectors over the past year.
Continue reading...