John McCallum had said Meng Wanzhou could make a strong argument against being sent to the US
In an unprecedented move, Canadian prime minister Justin Trudeau on Saturday said he had fired his ambassador to China, who had prompted a political furor with comments about Huawei’s high-profile extradition case.
Related: 'I misspoke': Canada ambassador to China regrets saying Huawei chief had 'strong case'
Continue reading...Canada’s ambassador to China said Meng Wanzhou had ‘good arguments on her side’, in part because of Trump’s remarks
US efforts to extradite a Chinese telecoms executive from Canada may have been stymied by remarks on the case made by Donald trump, according to Canada’s top diplomat in Beijing.
Huawei’s chief financial officer, Meng Wanzhou, was detained at the request of the US on 1 December in Vancouver, over alleged violations of US sanctions on Iran. She is currently under house arrest and the US justice department has until 30 January to file a formal extradition request.
Continue reading...The next 15 megacities #9: Known as ‘the city of a hundred lakes’ until most got paved over, Wuhan has a flooding problem. Can permeable pavements and artificial wetlands soak it up?
Take a stroll down the central Chinese city’s Fan Lake Road or Fruit Lake Street and despite their names you won’t see any large bodies of water – unless it has been raining very hard, that is.
Wuhan was once known as “the city of a hundred lakes”. It had 127 lakes in its central area alone in the 1980s, but decades of rapid urbanisation mean only around 30 survive.
Continue reading...Those breaking the rule could be jailed for up to three years and fined under proposed legislation
Hong Kong is set to introduce a controversial bill on Wednesday that would make disrespecting the Chinese national anthem a crime punishable by up to three years in prison, raising fresh fears about freedom of expression in the city.
Chinese authorities have sought to instil greater patriotism in the former British colony at a time of heightened tension between democracy activists and forces loyal to Beijing, with some in Hong Kong advocating independence from China.
Continue reading...New Zealand academic says Chinese intimidation tactics she has studied are now being used against her
It’s just gone midday at Canterbury University and Professor Anne-Marie Brady is rock-hopping across a crystal clear stream.
The life-long academic takes an overgrown bush track to reach the Okeover community gardens, her eyes scanning the sky for native birds. It’s the height of summer in Christchurch and the garden is filled with rhubarb plants, clumps of chewy spinach and spring onions whose tips have turned white in the sun.
Continue reading...Open letter says the arrests mean diplomats are more cautious about work in China
More than 140 former diplomats and leading China experts have called on Xi Jinping to release two Canadian citizens detained last month as a diplomatic stand-off between Ottawa and Beijing escalates.
In an open letter Chinese president, former envoys to China from Canada, the UK, the US, Australia, Germany, Sweden and Mexico described how the arrests of Michael Kovrig, a Canadian diplomat on leave, and Michael Spavor, a businessman, have sent a chill through the diplomatic community.
Continue reading...Syndicate allegedly handled $1 million of stolen goods in the past year and may have run empire over a number of years
Police in New South Wales allege a Sydney family ran an expansive crime empire that stole and illegally exported thousands of tins of baby formula to China.
Police on Monday said they had arrested six people, including four from the same family, over the alleged coordinated theft of more than 4,000 tins of baby formula, manuka honey and other goods.
Continue reading...Fears China may not be able to help shore up weakening global growth as GDP figures are slowest nation has reported in 28 years
China’s economy grew 6.6% in 2018, its slowest pace in almost 30 years, confirming a slowdown in the world’s second largest economy that could threaten global growth.
After years of breakneck expansion, the world’s second largest economy is losing steam, official data on Monday confirmed. China’s growth in 2018 was the country’s slowest reported rate since 1990 and down from 6.8% growth in 2017.
Continue reading...Deserted high streets show that after decades of breakneck growth, the world’s second largest economy is faltering
Few people are shopping at the Beijing Yintai Centre, a high-end mall in the Chinese capital’s central business district. Store clerks say foot traffic has been low, even when holiday discounts were offered. Office workers walk past empty shops like Hermes, Dolce & Gabbana and Cartier, eating fruit they have brought for lunch.
Li Xin, 33, who works for a security company nearby, likes to check out the selection of handbags. Her favourites are Chanel and Tom Ford. But recently, she has decided to cut back. “This year I didn’t buy any new bags, because everyone has been saying: ‘Winter is coming’,” she said.
Continue reading...Web users report that images have been blurred on Netflix-like iQiyi’s TV shows
Editors of television programmes streamed on China’s Netflix-like iQiyi site appear to be blurring the earlobes of male actors with earrings, according to web users in the country.
Doctored images of male actors on a show called Sisters Flower Shop alongside earlier footage where they were sporting earrings have been posted online. In another show, I, Actor, the earlobes of the actor and singer Jǐng Bórán also appear to have been edited.
Continue reading...Opposition to authoritarian rule reflects increased concern of voters and institutions, Human Rights Watch claims
From Europe to Yemen and Myanmar to the US, authoritarian and populist leaders face an increasingly powerful human rights pushback, according to an influential annual survey of global rights.
Despite mounting pessimism around rights abuses and attacks on democracy by populists on both the far left and far right, the “big news” of the past year was the growing trend to confront abuses by “headline-grabbing autocrats”, said Human Rights Watch.
Continue reading...Cotton plant perishes on lunar far side after sprouting on board China’s Chang’e 4 lander
The appearance of a single green leaf hinted at a future in which astronauts would grow their own food in space, potentially setting up residence at outposts on the moon or other planets. Now, barely after it had sprouted, the cotton plant onboard China’s lunar rover has died.
The plant relied on sunlight at the moon’s surface, but as night arrived at the lunar far side and temperatures plunged as low as -170C, its short life came to an end.
Continue reading...Prime minister should ‘respect the rule of law’, a spokeswoman said after Trudeau criticised a Canadian man’s death sentence
China has expressed “strong dissatisfaction” with Justin Trudeau after he criticised the death sentence passed on a Canadian man convicted of drug trafficking, as the two countries continued to spar over detained citizens.
The Canadian prime minister should “respect the rule of law, respect China’s judicial sovereignty, correct mistakes and stop making irresponsible remarks”, foreign ministry spokeswoman Hua Chunying said on Tuesday.
Continue reading...The next 15 megacities #5: Tourist flock to the Xi’an’s ancient Muslim area – but reports from elsewhere in China of crackdowns and re-education camps are setting nerves on edge
The streets of Xi’an’s Muslim quarter are bustling. Tourists from all over China and the rest of the world throng the small stalls and restaurants for delicacies such as yangrou paomo lamb stew, roujiamo lamb burgers, persimmon cakes and “smoked ice-cream” – a bowl of puffed cereal dipped in liquid nitrogen.
There has been a Muslim community in the capital of Shaanxi Province – at the eastern end of the old Silk Road in central China – since the seventh century. During the Tang dynasty, when the city was called Chang’an, travelling Muslim merchants and some soldiers from central and west Asia made it their home. Many married Chinese Han women, and their offspring became known as Hui, now one of China’s 56 ethnic groups.
Continue reading...Concerns Beijing using case to exert pressure on Ottawa after Canada’s detention of Huawei executive Meng Wanzhou
China’s sentencing of a Canadian to death for drug trafficking threatens to escalate tensions between the two countries and set a dangerous precedent, according to experts.
On Monday, the Dalian Intermediate People’s Court in the northeastern province of Liaoning increased Robert Schellenberg’s sentence from 15 years in prison to the death penalty, concluding the Canadian had played “a key role” in a failed attempt to smuggle 222kg (almost 500lbs) of methamphetamine from China to Australia in 2014.
Continue reading...‘High degree of caution’ recommended after Canadian’s 15-year jail sentence raised to execution, in deepening diplomatic rift
Canada has issued a travel warning to its citizens going to China, in the wake of a Canadian man being sentenced to death over drugs charges.
On Monday a Chinese court upped Robert Lloyd Schellenberg’s sentence from 15 years in prison to execution after he appealed against the court’s December verdict.
Continue reading...China’s Communist party is intensifying religious persecution as Christianity’s popularity grows. A new state translation of the Bible will establish a ‘correct understanding’ of the text
In late October, the pastor of one of China’s best-known underground churches asked this of his congregation: had they successfully spread the gospel throughout their city? “If tomorrow morning the Early Rain Covenant Church suddenly disappeared from the city of Chengdu, if each of us vanished into thin air, would this city be any different? Would anyone miss us?” said Wang Yi, leaning over his pulpit and pausing to let the question weigh on his audience. “I don’t know.”
Almost three months later, Wang’s hypothetical scenario is being put to the test. The church in south-west China has been shuttered and Wang and his wife, Jiang Rong, remain in detention after police arrested more than 100 Early Rain church members in December. Many of those who haven’t been detained are in hiding. Others have been sent away from Chengdu and barred from returning. Some, including Wang’s mother and his young son, are under close surveillance. Wang and his wife are being charged for “inciting subversion”, a crime that carries a penalty of up to 15 years in prison.
Continue reading...The cause of the accident in the country’s northern Shaanxi province is being investigated
Twenty-one people have been killed after a roof collapsed at a coalmine in northern China.
A total of 87 people were working underground in the mine in Shaanxi province at the time of the accident on Saturday afternoon, the official news agency Xinhua reported.
Continue reading...Wang Weijing was arrested on allegations of espionage by Polish authorities
The Chinese telecoms equipment maker Huawei said it had terminated the employment of a Chinese worker arrested on spying allegations in Poland.
Polish authorities arrested Wang Weijing and a former Polish security official on Friday , a move that could fuel western security concerns about the telecoms equipment maker.
Continue reading...China's space agency has released a video of its Chang'e 4 spacecraft landing on the side of the moon permanently hidden from Earth's view. On Friday, the National Space Administration released images from the lunar surface.