Donald Trump has said he “approves a deal in concept” that will allow TikTok to continue to operate in the US, after threatening to ban the Chinese-owned app.
Related: China attacks US 'bullying' over ban on Tiktok and WeChat
Continue reading...Document defending camps for Uighurs released days after US blocked some Xinjiang imports
China’s new white paper on forced labour in Xinjiang suggests a government uneasy about growing western pressure over abuses of Muslim minorities in the region
It also gives a rare, if oblique, glance into the scale of government attempts to reshape communities in the region, detailing how 10% of the region’s population were relocated over the past year, after being dubbed “surplus rural workers”.
Continue reading...Beijing white paper says an average of 1.29 million workers a year have gone through ‘vocational training’ between 2014 and 2019
The Chinese Communist party government has defended its system of internment camps for Uighur and other ethnic minorities in Xinjiang, in a white paper that also revealed some details of the breadth of its labour program.
In the document published on Thursday, Beijing called them “vocational training centres” , saying: “Through its proactive labor and employment policies, Xinjiang has continuously improved the people’s material and cultural lives, and guaranteed and developed their human rights in every field.”
Continue reading...Checkpoints prevent anyone entering or leaving city of Ruili; WHO warns against swift reopening in Latin America; New Zealand in recession
China has locked down a city on its border with Myanmar and launched a campaign to test the city’s entire population of more than 200,000 people.
Officials in Ruili in Yunnan province said the city had entered a state of “wartime” defences against Covid-19 after two new cases emerged among travellers from Myanmar. Residents have been ordered to stay at home and authorities have set up checkpoints to prevent anyone entering or leaving Ruili and restricting access to border areas nearby. Most businesses have been closed.
Continue reading...Taipei speaks of ‘real possibility’ of war as US undersecretary for economic affairs pays visit that Beijing regards as provocative
Taiwan’s foreign minister has called for the international community to help defend his country against an intensifying military threat from China, fearing “a real possibility” of war.
The comments from the minister, Joseph Wu, come before the expected arrival on Thursday in Taiwan of the US undersecretary for economic affairs, Keith Krach, with a delegation for a two-day visit.
Continue reading...Defence secretary promises future fleet including unmanned ships that will focus on Indo-Pacific region
The US secretary of defence, Mark Esper, has announced an ambitious plan to expand the US Navy with a range of unmanned and autonomous ships, submarines and aircraft to confront the growing maritime challenge from China.
The Pentagon chief said a sweeping review of US naval power dubbed “Future Forward” had laid out a “game-changer” plan that would expand the US sea fleet to more than 355 ships, from the current 293.
Continue reading...One regiment’s symbolic and often suicidal defence of a warehouse in bombed-out Shanghai is the subject of this tub-thumping war epic
The domestic release of this thunderous Chinese war epic was delayed last year for what trade magazine Variety described as “mysterious political reasons”. It is thought the film displeased Communist party academics by portraying rival Kuomintang army officers during the 1937 Sino-Japanese war in too positive a light. To an outsider, however, The Eight Hundred looks like a paragon of tub-thumping patriotism in its description of heroic Chinese soldiers defending the Sihang warehouse in the battle for Shanghai. Like Dunkirk for Brits, the incident is seen here as an honourable defeat, a moment to galvanise national pride.
Continue reading...President says he has to ‘do something’ about the body after it rules that duties on $200bn worth of Chinese goods breached regulations
The United States has described the World Trade Organization as “completely inadequate” after it criticised the Trump administration’s tariffs on China.
The WTO said on Tuesday that the US breached global trading rules by imposing levies on more than $200bn of Chinese goods in the opening salvo of president Donald Trump’s trade war with Beijing two years ago.
Continue reading...Revival prompts calls to divert boats to help protect native Indo-Pacific humpbacks
Large numbers of dolphins returned to Hong Kong waters within weeks of the Covid-19 crisis shutting down high-speed ferries, and researchers are now calling for protections before the ferries resume.
Indo-Pacific humpback dolphins, also known as Chinese white dolphins and pink dolphins, are native to the Pearl River estuary, but typically avoided the waters between Hong Kong and Macau because of the high volume of high-speed boats.
Continue reading...UK updates travel advice and US urges citizens to ‘reconsider travel’ to Hong Kong
The US and the UK have warned of a risk of arbitrary arrest in China and Hong Kong in updates to their travel advice for citizens.
The US advice urged citizens to “reconsider travel” to Hong Kong, citing an environment in which the central Chinese government “unilaterally and arbitrarily exercises police and security power” in the semi-autonomous city.
Continue reading...Coronavirus deaths pass 925,000; biosafety head at Chinese CDC says vaccine progress ‘very smooth’; South Korea to secure early vaccines for 30 million
As global coronavirus cases neared 30 million on Tuesday, a senior health official in China said she expected a vaccine to be publicly available as early as November this year.
According to the Johns Hopkins University Covid-19 tracker, which relies on official government data, there are 29,190,588 confirmed infections worldwide. Deaths stand at 927,245 and are expected to pass 1 million by October.
Continue reading...Cybersecurity experts concerned by possible intent behind use of big data to compile lists featuring everyone from low-key individuals to the royal family
The personal details of millions of people around the world have been swept up in a database compiled by a Chinese tech company with reported links to the country’s military and intelligence networks, according to a trove of leaked data.
About 2.4 million people are included in the database, assembled mostly based on public open-source data such as social media profiles, analysts said. It was compiled by Zhenhua Data, based in the south-eastern Chinese city of Shenzhen.
Continue reading...China says curbs ‘legitimate and necessary’ as tensions rise
The US has called a decision by Beijing to impose restrictions on all American diplomats on Chinese soil an “escalation”, the latest rebuke in a tit-for-tat dispute over foreign missions.
Relations between the world’s top two economies have deteriorated in recent months, with both sides locked in fierce recriminations over trade disputes, human rights and the origins of the coronavirus pandemic.
Continue reading...Foreign ministry says new rules will apply throughout country without giving any details
China has announced new restrictions on the activities of US diplomats working on the mainland China and Hong Kong, in what it called a justified response to similar measures imposed on Chinese diplomats in the US last year.
In a statement posted online late Friday, a foreign ministry spokesperson said the rules would apply to senior diplomats and all other personnel at the American embassy in Beijing and consulates throughout China.
Continue reading...Family incomes plummet at cooperative that helped empower women as lucrative trade with China is suspended
Female crab farmers in Bangladesh are struggling to feed their families after exports to China collapsed due to Covid-19, a charity has warned.
Despite the crab harvesting season being in full swing in Mongla, southern Bangladesh, continued lockdown across the nation and the closure of lucrative external markets have impacted not only farmers’ livelihoods but also the country’s GDP, which relies heavily on the $43m (£33m) crab export industry, according to the charity Voluntary Service Overseas (VSO).
Continue reading...Annual deaths have dropped to 1990 levels after 2013 peak thanks to concerted action in key cities
It is a long time since images of a smoggy Beijing were in the news. India now leads the World Health Organization’s (WHO) league table of polluted cities.
A new study shows that annual deaths from air pollution in China peaked in 2013 and are now below 1990 levels. Concerted action reduced particle pollution in 74 key Chinese cities by an average of 33% between 2013 and 2017.
Continue reading...China’s state media outlets claim Australian intelligence agents questioned several Chinese journalists and seized their devices
Australia has cancelled the visas of two Chinese scholars because of security concerns, according to reports, adding a new element to the spiralling diplomatic dispute over the treatment of journalists.
Chinese diplomats have also aired claims that Australian intelligence agents have questioned several journalists from Chinese media organisations and searched their devices “in violation of legitimate rights”.
Continue reading...Reporting in China has historically been difficult, but Beijing is now using journalists to retaliate against governments with whom it disagrees
Last Wednesday in the middle of the night, Australian reporters Bill Birtles in Beijing and Mike Smith in Shanghai received simultaneous knocks on the door of their homes. Outside were groups of state security officers, there to inform the journalists they were needed for questioning over a national security matter. In case they were thinking of leaving, they had also been placed under exit bans.
Smith had already packed his bags and Birtles was that night hosting a farewell party, having been warned by Australian government officials of an increased risk to their safety after the recent detention of another Australian journalist Cheng Lei.
Continue reading...Zhong Shanshan’s net worth rises to $51bn as Nongfu Spring shares launch in Hong Kong
The stock market flotation of China’s biggest bottle water company has made its founder the country’s third-richest man, as shares in his company rocketed on their debut in Hong Kong.
At one point the paper fortune of Zhong Shanshan, the biggest shareholder in bottled water company Nongfu Spring, briefly surpassed that of China’s two richest men, Alibaba founder Jack Ma and Tencent founder Pony Ma.
Continue reading...Bill Birtles from the national broadcaster and Michael Smith forced to shelter with Australian diplomats during negotiations for their safe exit
Two Australian foreign correspondents in China have been urgently flown home after a tense diplomatic standoff.
The ABC’s Bill Birtles and the Australian Financial Review’s Michael Smith both left China on Monday night after reportedly being questioned by China’s ministry of state security.
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