Category Archives: China

Weather tracker: cold wave sweeps China as new year approaches

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Temperatures in some areas could fall to more than 10C below seasonal average. Plus, blizzard fears in Alaska

China was hit by snowstorms and a significant cold wave over the weekend, and the extreme conditions are expected to persist as the country approaches the new year on Wednesday.

Temperatures are forecast to drop to more than 10C (18F) below the seasonal average in some areas, with northern regions experiencing the most severe weather. Maximum temperatures in Shenyang are expected to plummet by more than 13C, while Yinchuan could tumble to -8C.

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China’s top diplomat to visit UK in February for talks with David Lammy

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Source says purpose of Wang Yi’s visit is to hold first UK-China strategic dialogue since 2018

China’s top diplomat, Wang Yi, is due to visit the UK next month for talks with the British foreign secretary, David Lammy, the Guardian has learned.

The Foreign Office (FCDO) is drawing up plans to host the Chinese foreign minister in mid-February, according to three people briefed on the plans. The FCDO declined to comment.

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Relatives plead with Thailand not to deport 48 Uyghur men to China

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Detainees fear their return could be imminent despite UN experts urging Bangkok to halt possible transfer

Relatives of Uyghurs detained in Thailand for more than a decade have begged the Thai authorities not to deport the 48 men back to China, after the detainees suggested their return appeared imminent.

A UN panel of experts this week urged Thailand to “immediately halt the possible transfer”, saying the men were at “real risk of torture or other cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment if they are returned”.

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How the world has responded to Trump’s Paris climate agreement withdrawal

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From Europe to Africa and South America, countries reaffirm commitment to tackle crisis

World leaders, senior ministers and key figures in climate diplomacy have, one by one, reaffirmed their commitment to the Paris agreement this week, in response to the order by Donald Trump to withdraw the US from the pact.

The prospect of the world keeping temperatures to 1.5C above pre-industrial levels, as the treaty calls for, was damaged by the incoming US president’s move. Hopes of meeting the target were already fast receding, and last year was the first to consistently breach the 1.5C limit, but the goal will be measured over years or even decades and stringent cuts to emissions now could still make a difference.

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Britain’s response to Russian ‘spy ship’ is game of political messaging – for now

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Deteriorating security environment and incidents in Baltic have forced military reassessment in northern Europe

Submarines normally operate in secret, lurking in the deep. So when the British defence secretary, John Healey, authorised a Royal Navy Astute-class attack sub to surface close to the Russian “spy ship” Yantar south of Cornwall in November, it was unusual enough.

What was even more notable, however, was that the minister went on to tell the House of Commons on Wednesday what he had done. It was, Healey said, conducted “strictly as a deterrent measure”, as was his decision to accuse the Kremlin of spying on the location of undersea communication and utility cables that connect Britain to the world.

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Trump threatens 10% tariff on China and considers EU levy

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Yuan and Chinese stocks fall despite suggestion of lower tariff than president mentioned during campaign

Donald Trump has threatened to impose a 10% tariff on Chinese-made goods arriving in the US from as early as 1 February, adding that he was also considering levies on imports from the EU.

Ordering an investigation into US-China trade on his second day in office, Trump said any penalties on Chinese goods would be “based on the fact that they’re sending fentanyl to Mexico and Canada”.

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Putin and Xi hold video call in show of unity hours after Trump inauguration

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Timing may show two leaders want to coordinate approach in engaging with new US administration over Ukraine

The Russian president, Vladimir Putin, held a video call with his Chinese counterpart, Xi Jinping, in a symbolic display of unity just hours after Donald Trump was sworn in as the 47th president of the US.

Speaking from his Novo-Ogaryovo residence outside Moscow, Putin highlighted the close ties between the two countries, stating that their relations were based on “shared interests, equality, and mutual benefit“, calling Xi his “dear friend”.

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Hong Kong chief justice claims overseas judges have left due to ‘orchestrated harassment’

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Andrew Cheung defends city’s legal processes as ‘transparent, fair and independent’ despite mounting concerns from departing legal officers

Hong Kong’s top judge has claimed the exodus of foreign judges from the judiciary’s benches since the introduction of the national security law is due to escalating geopolitical tensions and “orchestrated harassment”.

The city’s chief justice, Andrew Cheung, made the remarks at the ceremonial opening of the city’s legal year on Monday evening in a speech which acknowledged the changing political environment but otherwise stridently defended the judiciary. Hong Kong has a common law system separate from the Chinese mainland’s, but observers say it is under growing political pressure.

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Why is TikTok working again in the US as Trump takes office?

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App has resumed operations after saying it received assurance over de facto ban, but its future remains uncertain

TikTok is restoring its service in the US after Donald Trump said he would issue an executive order when president to allow the app to continue operating.

It had shut itself down late on Saturday in advance of a Sunday deadline to divest its Chinese shareholders or face a ban, but resumed operations on Sunday, the day before Trump’s inauguration, saying it had received the appropriate assurances from the president-elect.

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Who banned TikTok? Politicians toss culpability like a football

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Claiming a threat from a ‘foreign adversary’, the US has yet to prove China shared propaganda or collected US user data

The United States of America deleted TikTok early on the morning of 19 January. A government formed “by the people, for the people”, in the words of Abraham Lincoln, has made scant evidence available to those people as to why. As those in power at the 11th hour realize how unpopular such a paternalistic move might be, each is doing their best to lay blame with the others.

Why did the US ban an app used and beloved by some 170 million Americans? For fear of China’s propaganda and data collection. It’s a far-reaching, unprecedented move. The text of the Protecting Americans From Foreign Adversary Controlled Applications Act, passed in April and signed by Joe Biden, reads: “This bill prohibits distributing, maintaining, or providing internet hosting services for a foreign adversary controlled application (eg, TikTok).” Both a federal appeals court and the US supreme court have affirmed that rationale as sufficient.

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Thousands of imports enter Australia from firms blacklisted by US over alleged Uyghur forced labour links

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Exclusive: Imports of a range of products, including parts for Sydney Metro vehicles, increase despite US bans on dozens of companies

Australia is allowing thousands of imports from Chinese companies blacklisted by the US over alleged links to forced Uyghur labour, including a supplier of parts to Sydney Metro vehicles, government documents have revealed.

In 2021 the Biden administration passed the Uyghur Forced Labor Prevention Act, and from the following year began outlawing imports from dozens of companies, seizing shipments at the border and releasing a public blacklist of the companies, mostly operating in Xinjiang.

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From GDP to trade, how well equipped is China’s economy for Trump 2.0? | Amy Hawkins

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Beijing has prepared for increased tariffs but its actions will not be enough to offset falling demand from the US

When Donald Trump enters the White House for the second time on 20 January, the view from the Oval Office will look very different to the one he encountered in 2017. A pandemic, the war in Ukraine and a trade war with China have caused ripples through the global economy that are still being felt midway through the decade.

Beijing will be watching closely. Trump has promised to impose tariffs of up to 60% on Chinese imports, partly in retaliation for the flow of fentanyl from China to the US.

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TikTok goes dark in the US ahead of ban

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App no longer available on US Apple and Google stores after supreme court upholds lawmakers’ ban

TikTok stopped working in the US late on Saturday, shortly before a federal ban on the Chinese-owned short-video app was due to take effect.

The app was no longer available on Apple’s iOS App Store or Google’s Play Store. The US Congress passed a law in April mandating that parent company ByteDance either sell TikTok to a non-Chinese owner or face a total shutdown. It chose the latter.

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Chinese rival app Xiaohongshu is overwhelmed by ‘TikTok refugees’ in US

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Social media accounts blocked for breaking Beijing rules as millions of users join up before ban takes effect

Nine invaluable things I’ve learned from TikTok

When Angelica Oung received the notification that her Xiaohongshu account had been blocked for violating the social media app’s code of conduct, her mind started racing.

The only picture she had posted on her account, apart from her profile headshot, was of herself wearing an inflatable polar bear suit, holding a sign saying: “I love nuclear”. What could be the problem with that, wondered Oung, a clean energy activist in Taiwan.

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Uncharted territory for the WHO if Trump withdraws US membership

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WHO is ‘critical in protecting US business interests’, says CEO of firm that may see lean years if Trump carries out vow

The World Health Organization (WHO) could see lean years ahead if the US withdraws membership under the new Trump administration. Such a withdrawal, promised on the first day of Donald Trump’s new administration, would in effect cut the multilateral agency’s funding by one-fifth.

The severe cut would be uncharted territory for the WHO, potentially curtailing public health works globally, pressuring the organization to attract private funding, and providing an opening for other countries to influence the organization. Other countries are not expected to make up the funding loss.

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Xi Jinping sends China vice-president to Donald Trump’s inauguration

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Chinese president declines US president-elect’s unusual invitation but sends special representative Han Zheng

The Chinese president, Xi Jinping, will not attend Donald Trump’s inauguration, but he is sending his vice-president, Han Zheng, as his special representative.

The decision, announced on Friday in China by the foreign ministry, came more than a month after Trump extended the unusual invitation to Xi, a break from tradition since no heads of state have previously made an official visit to the US for the inauguration.

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China’s economy hits 5% growth target but rate among slowest in decades

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Latter part of 2024 ‘recovered remarkably’ after stimulus measures, says National Bureau of Statistics

China’s economy grew by 5% in 2024, in line with government targets but at the slowest rate since 1990 outside the Covid pandemic, according to official data.

Growth accelerated through the year, with an expansion of 5.4% in the final quarter, up from 4.6% in the third quarter, according to Beijing’s National Bureau of Statistics.

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Mike Pence to Trump: cutting Taiwan support would ‘likely spark a new nuclear arms race’

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Former vice-president makes surprise visit to Taipei and predicts that if China annexes its neighbour other Asia-Pacific countries will build nuclear arsenals

Mike Pence called on Donald Trump’s incoming administration to maintain support for Taiwan against the threat of Chinese annexation during a surprise visit to the capital, Taipei, on Friday.

On the eve of Trump’s inauguration for his second term as president, his estranged former vice-president said withdrawing or reducing support for Taiwan – as Trump has repeatedly indicated he is considering – would endanger global security and “likely spark a new nuclear arms race” in the Asia-Pacific region.

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Donald Trump reportedly weighing up TikTok ban delay

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President-elect ‘has warm spot’ for platform and wants political solution to ‘preserve app but protect data’

Donald Trump is considering suspending a TikTok ban in the US with an executive order when he enters the White House on 20 January, according to a report.

The president-elect is exploring an executive order that would postpone enforcement of a sale-or-ban law due to come into force on 19 January, said the Washington Post. The report added, however, that Trump’s legal grounds for suspending a law passed by Congress are questionable.

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A Chinese app is rocketing up download charts – but in Australia, the sudden uptake is not just about TikTok

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Experts say the flood of users to RedNote highlights flaws in the Albanese government’s social media ban

As the TikTok ban looms in the United States, users have flocked to RedNote, also known as Xiaohongshu, a China-based app that looks similar to Instagram.

But in Australia, where there is no imminent TikTok ban, the app is also rocketing up the app download charts. And it doesn’t just tell us about TikTok – it also exposes issues with Australia’s forthcoming social media age ban.

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