Category Archives: China

World’s powerful nations must not force allies into ‘binary choices’, Scott Morrison says

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Prime minister says diplomatic difficulties Australia is navigating are ‘a foretaste’ for others around the world

Scott Morrison has used a speech to the British Policy Exchange to call for a more nuanced appreciation of national interest, and more flexibility, when countries pursue relationships with America and China, because “stark choices are in no one’s interests”.

In a section of his speech outlining the challenges of navigating Australia’s fraught relationship with China in an era of escalating geopolitical competition, Morrison on Monday night said “greater latitude will be required from the world’s largest powers to accommodate the individual interests of their partners and allies” because “we all need a bit more room to move”.

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Hong Kong activist Joshua Wong faces jail after guilty plea over police HQ protests

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Joshua Wong urges everyone to ‘hang in there, add oil’ as he, Agnes Chow, and Ivan Lam are taken away ahead of sentencing next week

Hong Kong activists Joshua Wong, Agnes Chow, and Ivan Lam face the prospect of jail after pleading guilty to charges relating to protests outside a police station last year.

The trial was scheduled to begin on Monday, but after pleading guilty they were taken away ahead of a sentencing hearing on Wednesday next week, where they face a penalty of up to five years in prison. Wong said he expected to be jailed.

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Head of Tibet government-in-exile visits White House for first time in six decades

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The visit by Lobsang Sangay, president of the Central Tibetan administration, could further infuriate Beijing

The head of the Tibetan government in exile has visited the White House for the first time in six decades, a move that could further infuriate China, which has accused the US of trying to destabilise the region.

Lobsang Sangay, the President of the Central Tibetan administration (CTA), was invited to Washington to meet officials on Friday, the CTA said. “This unprecedented meeting perhaps will set an optimistic tone for CTA participation with US officials and be more formalised in the coming years,” said the CTA, which is based in India’s Dharamshala.

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Hackers ‘try to steal Covid vaccine secrets in intellectual property war’

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Agencies point finger at state-sponsored hackers from China, Russia, Iran and North Korea

State-sponsored hackers from China, Russia, Iran and North Korea are engaged in concerted attempts to steal coronavirus vaccine secrets in what security experts describe as “an intellectual property war”.

They accuse hostile-state hackers of trying to obtain trial results early and seize sensitive information about mass production of drugs, at a time when a range of vaccines are close to being approved for the public.

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Australia demands China explain why it has been singled out on trade restrictions

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Australia’s trade minister says China should clarify why other nations maintained workable relations despite differences

China should explain why it appears to have singled out Australia with a range of import restrictions that have disrupted trade flows and undermined trust in the economic relationship, the Australian trade minister has said.

With Australia and its largest trading partner locked in a stalemate over how to end the tensions, Simon Birmingham also used a television interview on Sunday to accuse the Chinese embassy in Canberra of taking a number of unhelpful actions this year.

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Human rights must not be ‘trampled’ in global rush for PPE, say MPs

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Calls come after Guardian finds UK sourced PPE from factories in China where North Koreans work in modern slavery

MPs and experts in the procurement of personal protective equipment have said human rights must not be “trampled” in the rush to secure PPE for frontline workers via global supply chains.

The calls come after a Guardian investigation found evidence that the British government had sourced PPE from factories in China where hundreds of North Korean women have been secretly working in conditions of modern slavery.

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Australia’s delivery deaths: the riders who never made it and the families left behind

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Three food delivery riders recently died on the job, and their families are left with uncertain futures, and many questions

Chow Khai Shien died three days before the Melbourne lockdown lifted, holding someone else’s food.

He had been in Australia for five years, having arrived from Malaysia at the age of 31. First he was a student, then a chef, working part-time in a restaurant inside a casino. When the pandemic descended, like many other people around the world, he turned to food delivery – ferrying burgers and chips, burritos, and pizzas, across the city on a small motorised scooter. The car hit him on the corner of King and La Trobe streets at 7pm on a Saturday night.

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China to Australia: stop treating us as a threat or we won’t pick up the phone

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Exclusive: Beijing ministers won’t speak to counterparts until Canberra discards ‘cold war mentality’, embassy says

Chinese government ministers won’t start answering phone calls from their Australian counterparts unless Canberra stops treating Beijing as a strategic threat, a senior embassy official has warned.

China is urging the Morrison government to make a clear decision on whether it sees Beijing as a “threat” or an “opportunity”, setting this up as a key precondition for resuming ministerial-level talks, which have been frozen since early this year.

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UK sourced PPE from factories secretly using North Korean slave labour

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Exclusive: Guardian investigation finds evidence that Chinese PPE factories supplying UK government are breaking UN sanctions

The British government has sourced PPE from factories in China where hundreds of North Korean women have been secretly working in conditions of modern slavery, according to evidence uncovered by the Guardian.

The Guardian’s findings indicate that hundreds of thousands of protective coveralls ordered for the Department of Health and Social Care (DHSC) have come from factories using North Korean labour in the Chinese city of Dandong.

The three-month investigation has also found evidence of North Korean labour being used in factories exporting PPE to the US, Italy, Germany, South Africa, Japan, South Korea, the Philippines and Myanmar.

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China says Five Eyes alliance will be ‘poked and blinded’ over Hong Kong stance

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Foreign ministry rejects calls by western security grouping to reinstate ousted pro-democracy lawmakers

China has rejected criticism by the Five Eyes alliance of its Hong Kong policy, saying it “should face up to the reality” that the former British colony has been returned to China.

Foreign ministry spokesperson Zhao Lijian was responding to a statement on Hong Kong issued by the US, UK, Australia, Canada and New Zealand, which together make up an intelligence partnership known as the Five Eyes.

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Hong Kong breached bill of rights over police scrutiny, court rules

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Amid ongoing unrest, judge calls for establishment of independent complaints system

The Hong Kong government breached its bill of rights on protection from torture and cruel treatments by failing to provide an independent mechanism for complaints about police, the region’s high court has ruled.

The finding comes as a report by international experts who quit a Hong Kong police brutality inquiry last year said officers’ crowd-control tactics had radicalised protesters and worsened perceptions of the force’s legitimacy.

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China warns Australia and Japan over ‘confrontational’ new defence pact

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Australian ministers urge dialogue to resolve dispute as Beijing says countries may pay ‘corresponding price’

Australia and Japan will “pay a corresponding price” if their new defence pact threatens China’s security, Chinese state media has warned, as Scott Morrison insisted the deal should not cause any concerns to Beijing.

The state-run Global Times newspaper declared the new agreement “accelerates the confrontational atmosphere in the Asia-Pacific region” and was aimed against China.

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Hong Kong national security law pits judges against justice officials in activist’s trial

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Justice department pushes to install national security judge in case as three pro-democracy legislators arrested over unruly scenes during debate

Hong Kong’s department of justice has asked that a national security judge take over the trial of an activist, even though he has not been charged with national security offences, in a move that underlines the erosion of the city’s independent legal system.

It came as a senior Chinese official called for “judicial reform” in Hong Kong and three pro-democracy legislators were arrested.

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British diplomat leaps into river to save drowning woman in China

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Stephen Ellison hailed a hero as footage of him rescuing student goes viral on social media

A British diplomat has been hailed as a hero after he dived into a river to save a drowning Chinese woman in a rescue that was filmed and then went viral on social media in China and the UK. The incident happened on Saturday.

Stephen Ellison, 61, consul general in Chongqing, was walking by a river in a nearby village when the woman, 24, slipped on rocks into the deep water.

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EU must assert autonomy in face of US-China dominance, says Macron

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French president says US election chance to pursue sovereignty amid rising populism

European leaders must not let up on efforts to construct an autonomous bloc that is capable of resisting the duopoly of China and the US, Emmanuel Macron has said in his first extended response to the US presidential election.

The French president said the US would only respect Europe if it was sovereign with respect to its own defence, technology and currency. Warning that US values and interests were not quite the same as Europe’s, he said: “It is not tenable that our international policies should be dependent on it or to be trailing behind it.” The same need for independence applied even more to China, he added.

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Citizen journalist facing jail in China for Wuhan Covid reporting

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Zhang Zhan was arrested more than six months ago after reporting on the outbreak

A Chinese citizen journalist detained since May for reporting on the coronavirus outbreak from Wuhan is facing up to five years in jail after being formally indicted on charges of spreading false information.

Zhang Zhan, a 37-year-old former lawyer, was arrested more than six months ago after reporting on the outbreak. She is being held in a detention facility in Shanghai.

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US poll chaos is a boon for the enemies of democracy the whole world over

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While Democrats and Republicans squabble in Washington, injustice and violence reigns from Palestine to Mozambique

Believe it or not, the world did not stop turning on its axis because of the US election and ensuing, self-indulgent disputes in the land of the free-for-all. In the age of Donald Trump, narcissism spreads like the plague.

But the longer the wrangling in Washington continues, the greater the collateral damage to America’s global reputation – and to less fortunate states and peoples who rely on the US and the western allies to fly the flag for democracy and freedom.

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Simon Birmingham urges China to respect ‘spirit’ of new Asian trade pact

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Australia hopes 15-country Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership will help reset economic relations with China

Simon Birmingham has urged China to respect the “spirit” – not just the letter – of the new 15-country Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership.

Australia is hoping the deal, signed on Sunday, will help reset economic relations with China after a rolling series of trade disputes or disruptions widely regarded as retaliation for Australian policies towards China.

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Chinese retailer faces backlash after calling large clothing sizes ‘rotten’

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Customers ‘shocked’ by descriptions of larger items in RT-Mart, prompting apology for ‘inappropriate’ sign

A major Chinese retailer has been forced to apologise after one of its stores classified small clothing sizes as “beautiful” and large sizes as “rotten”.

The signs inside the RT-Mart superstore depicted a size chart with small to medium sizes described as “slim” and “beautiful”, with larger sizes as “rotten” and “horrible”.

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Ma Jun: China has started to ‘walk the walk’ on climate crisis

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US dropped the environmental ball under Trump, but Biden victory means the two countries can work together for a green recovery, says campaigner

Ma Jun experienced a strange role reversal during Donald Trump’s presidency. Over more than two decades as one of China’s top environmental campaigners, American encouragement for Beijing to cut carbon emissions and temper the damage of rapid industrialisation had been part of the background music. Ma never imagined he would see the US renege on environmental commitments while China began to face up to the challenge.

“It’s been frustrating,” says Ma of the past four years as we speak on the phone, the bustle of Beijing audible in the background. “When it comes to environmental collaboration between the governments, it has been hard to do anything.”

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