Category Archives: China

Blow for Bangladesh’s female crab farmers as Covid stops exports

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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).

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Pollutionwatch: air pollution in China falling, study shows

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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.

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China accuses Australia of raiding its journalists’ homes amid reports Canberra cancelled academics’ visas

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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”.

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How China’s strained relationship with foreign media unravelled

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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.

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Bottled water flotation makes founder China’s third-richest man

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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.

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Two Australian journalists from ABC and AFR pulled out of China after embassy warnings

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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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Disney remake of Mulan criticised for filming in Xinjiang

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Film credits offer thanks to eight government entities in region where rights abuses are alleged

Disney’s live-action remake of Mulan, already the target of a boycott, has come under fire for filming in Xinjiang, the site of alleged widespread human rights abuses against Uighurs and other Muslim minorities.

The film, directed by Niki Caro, is an adaptation of Disney’s 1998 animation about Hua Mulan, a young woman who disguises herself as a man to fight in the imperial army in her father’s stead.

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The problem with Mulan: why the live-action remake is a lightning rod for controversy

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The remake of Disney’s hit animation has triggered pro-democracy and human rights protests in Hong Kong and around the world

It’s an understatement to say that a lot has happened since the trailer for Disney’s live-action Mulan was released last year, shortly after Hong Kong’s draconian national security law was passed without consultation or vote in June. The ongoing assault on democracy in Hong Kong has dominated international headlines, with the arrests of pro-democracy activists, newspaper editors and government legislators. With its original cinema release put on hold due to the coronavirus epidemic, Mulan is now emerging to a vastly different political landscape.

On the face of it, the new Mulan is a missed opportunity for Hollywood to explore Chinese history and identity, a confused and superficial statement about Chinese nationalism. A hodgepodge of Chinese historical mise-en-scène, wuxia-style choreography, cheap orientalism and stilted dialogue, it’s also become a lightning rod for pro-democracy and human rights protests around the world.

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Almost 300 arrests as Hong Kong protesters oppose election delay

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Police fire pepper pellets in one of largest gatherings since national security law imposed

On what was supposed to have been Hong Kong’s election day, hundreds of pro-democracy protesters took to the streets on Sunday, where they encountered a heavy presence from police, who fired pepper pellets and arrested almost 300 people.

It was one of the largest gatherings of protesters since China’s implementation of a sweeping set of anti-sedition laws that a coalition of United Nations expert groups has said risks breaching multiple international laws and human rights.

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Countryside fit for a superpower? Inside China’s colossal rural revamp

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Beneath the veneer of Xi Jinping’s ambitious agricultural plan farming communities remain marred by homelessness, poverty and unstable markets

The official pictures tell a delightful tale. China’s leader, Xi Jinping, is seen touring fish farms, rice paddies and vineyards in Ningxia, ambling through lily fields in Shanxi, and inspecting mushroom- and fungus-growing operations in Shaanxi.

The carefully choreographed images aim to create a vision of his latest signature policy – rural revitalisation. Billions of dollars will be spent on revamping the countryside – increasing prosperity, improving its ecology, and integrating it with the development of China’s shining cities, which had largely left rural areas behind.

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‘Chairman Xi’ seeks only to purge and subjugate. That is his weakness | Simon Tisdall

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From Tibet to Taiwan, China’s leader is intent on wielding absolute power. Instead he is fanning the flames of dissent

It’s often said that power corrupts, and absolute power corrupts absolutely – but does it also induce leaders to act in foolhardy, headstrong and ultimately self-destructive ways? History, especially Chinese history, is full of examples of omnipotent rulers whose unchecked behaviour led to disaster. Xi Jinping, China’s comrade-emperor, is a modern-day case in point. Xi seems to think he can do no wrong. As a result, not much is going right.

Xi’s authoritarian, expansionist policies, pursued with increasing vehemence since he became communist party chief and president in 2012-13, have enveloped China in a ring of fire. Its borderlands are ablaze with conflict and confrontation from Inner Mongolia, Xinjiang, Tibet and the Himalayas in the north and west to Hong Kong, the South China Sea and Taiwan to the east. More than at any time since Mao’s 1949 revolution, China is also at odds with the wider world.

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‘He’s been set up’: the American whose life may depend on US-China relations

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Sentenced to death in China, American Mark Swidan hopes for a permanent reprieve but his fate may hinge on an easing of diplomatic tensions

When Chinese police raided the Guangzhou hotel room of Mark Swidan and arrested him on 13 November 2012, he was on the phone to his mother, Katherine. Swidan had been in China sourcing building materials for his business , Katherine says, and they were discussing booking his ticket home to Houston, Texas, for his wedding, when he said there was a knock at the door.

“I heard banging, then I didn’t hear anything after that,” she recalls.

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US security adviser claims China has taken ‘most active role’ in election meddling

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Robert O’Brien didn’t provide any details, also claiming Beijing had ‘the most massive program’ to influence US politics

China has taken the most active role among countries seeking to interfere in the US election and has the biggest program to influence domestic politics, the US national security adviser, Robert O’Brien, said on Friday, without providing any details.

“We know the Chinese have taken the most active role,” O’Brien told reporters at a briefing.

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Uighur Muslim teacher tells of forced sterilisation in Xinjiang

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Chinese government threatened woman when she resisted in move to suppress Muslim minority birth rates

A teacher coerced into giving classes in Xinjiang internment camps has described her forced sterilisation at the age of 50, under a government campaign to suppress birth rates of women from Muslim minorities.

Qelbinur Sidik said the crackdown swept up not just women likely to fall pregnant, but those well beyond normal childbearing ages. Messages she got from local authorities said women aged 19 to 59 were expected to have intrauterine devices (IUDs) fitted or undergo sterilisation.

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Pro-democracy boycott of Disney’s Mulan builds online via #milkteaalliance

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Liu Yifei, who stars as Chinese heroine, has voiced support for Hong Kong police during suppression of protests

Calls to boycott Disney’s live-action remake of Mulan have been reignited ahead of its release on Friday, with Thai pro-democracy activists joining those vowing to shun the film.

Controversy over Mulan erupted last year, when its star, Liu Yifei, voiced support for police in Hong Kong, who have been accused of using excessive force against protesters.

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Japan coastguard says second person found from capsized cattle ship has died

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Rescuers search for more than 40 crew from ship carrying 6,000 cattle that went down en route from New Zealand to China

A second survivor from a cargo ship carrying 6,000 cattle that capsized off southwest Japan has died after being pulled from the water unconscious on Friday.

The Japanese coast guard said the man had been unresponsive when he was found about 120 km (75 miles) north-northwest of Amami Oshima island and transferred to a hospital.

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Pacific nation of Palau invites US to build a military base to counter China

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Move follows a visit by US defense secretary Mark Esper, who accused Beijing of ‘malign influence’ across the region

The western Pacific nation of Palau has urged the United States military to build bases on its territory – in the heart of a region where Washington is pushing back against growing Chinese influence.

US defense secretary Mark Esper visited the island nation last week as part of a Pacific tour, accusing Beijing of a “malign influence” and “ongoing destabilising activities” across the region.

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Chinese mining firms in Zimbabwe pose threat to endangered species, say experts

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Two companies granted permission to clear land at Hwange national park, home to cheetahs, elephants and rhinos

Rhinos, giraffes, cheetahs and other endangered species face a new threat in Zimbabwe’s Hwange national park: Chinese mining companies.

Zhongxin Coal Mining Group and Afrochine Smelting have received permission from the government to begin environmental impact assessments for drilling, land clearance, road building and geological surveys at two proposed sites inside the park, which is home to almost 10% of Africa’s remaining wild elephants.

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Washington imposes new restrictions on Chinese diplomats in US

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Chinese embassy in US says move, which limits meetings and university visits without approval, contradicts ‘openness and freedom’

The US has put new restrictions on Chinese diplomats in America, barring senior envoys from visiting universities or meeting local government officials without approval, in the latest escalation in tensions between the two countries.

Announcing the latest measures, the state department said it was responding to “significant barriers” on its own diplomats based in China.

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India acts to secure border after Himalaya clashes with China

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Military buildup increases fears of further confrontations between nuclear powers

India has moved troops to the eastern stretch of its border with China since clashes erupted between the nuclear-armed rivals on the western part of their border in the Himalayas in June, a government official said.

The clashes in the Ladakh region in June, in the western part of their border, was the worst violence between the countries in decades and there has been little sign of a reduction in tension, with further military action in the past week.

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