Category Archives: China

HK47: dozens of pro-democracy activists jailed in Hong Kong’s largest national security trial

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Members of ‘Hong Kong 47’ – charged in 2021 over involvement in pre-election primary – sentenced to between four and 10 years

Dozens of Hong Kong’s most prominent pro-democracy figures have been jailed – one for 10 years – in the territory’s largest national security trial, after a prosecution that has been widely criticised as politically motivated.

Those jailed are among 47 people, known as the “Hong Kong 47”, who were charged in 2021 under the punitive national security law (NSL) with conspiracy to commit subversion over their involvement in pre-election primaries held in 2020 before the Hong Kong general election. Most have already spent more than three years in jail, but none were released on Tuesday.

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Xi Jinping praises Labour’s economic policy as Keir Starmer discusses human rights concerns

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PM questions sanctions against MPs and plight of Jimmy Lai as China’s president says Starmer ‘fixing foundations’

China’s president, Xi Jinping, has heaped praise on Keir Starmer’s economic policy, as the UK prime minister used their first meeting to raise concerns about sanctions on MPs and the treatment of the pro-democracy campaigner Jimmy Lai.

During their conversation at the G20 summit in Rio, the first meeting between the UK and China’s leaders in six years, Starmer said he would be keen to host a full bilateral meeting with Xi and the Chinese premier, Li Qiang, in Beijing or London as soon as possible, aimed at turning the page on frosty UK-China relations.

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Keir Starmer says he wants ‘serious and pragmatic’ relationship with China – as it happened

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Prime minister says he wants to ‘be clear about issues we do not agree on’ after meeting Chinese president Xi Jinping at G20

Keir Starmer has held his bilateral with Xi Jinping in Rio at the G20, offering to meet his counterpart, the Chinese premier Li Qiang, in Beijing or London at the earliest opportunity.

But the PM also raised human rights issues with Xi, including the sanctions on parliamentarians and the persecution of Hong Kong and British citizen Jimmy Lai.

A strong UK China relationship is important for both of our countries and for the broader international community.

The UK will be a predictable, consistent, sovereign actor committed to the rule of law.

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Starmer aims to build ‘pragmatic and serious relationship’ in meeting with Xi

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Prime minister wants bilateral at G20 to lead to closer ties with China, which he sees as key to faster growth

Keir Starmer will become the first UK prime minister in six years to meet the Chinese president, Xi Jinping, promising to turn the page on UK-China relations by building “a pragmatic and serious relationship”.

Starmer and the chancellor, Rachel Reeves, have been pursuing a thawing of relations with the world’s second-largest economy on pragmatic grounds, suggesting that the UK cannot achieve its growth ambitions without better terms with China.

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Biden heads for last meeting with Xi Jinping before Trump takes office

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Leaders at Apec summit in Peru, with Biden intending to urge ‘stability, clarity and predictability’ through transition

Joe Biden will meet with Xi Jinping Saturday afternoon in what is expected to be the last time the two leaders meet before Donald Trump assumes the US presidency in January.

The two leaders are attending the annual Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (Apec) summit in Peru and are expected to have a meeting on the sidelines of the summit.

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Eight killed and 17 injured after stabbing incident in China

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Incident occurred in eastern city of Wuxi after 21-year-old student went on stabbing spree on Saturday evening

Eight people were killed and 17 others injured when a 21-year-old student went on a stabbing spree in China’s eastern city of Wuxi on Saturday evening, police said.

The incident comes days after a hit-and-run incident in which 35 people were killed and 43 others injured after a car drove into a group of people outside a sports centre in the southern city of Zhuhai.

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Apec nations pivot trade priorities in light of Donald Trump’s proposed trade tariffs

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Anthony Albanese meets with leaders of Peru and Indonesia as middle nations seek to diversify trade away from the US

The prime minister, Anthony Albanese, has hailed “inclusive trade and investment” at a major Asia-Pacific economic forum in Peru where leaders are attempting to push against the protectionist policies favoured by US president-elect Donald Trump.

Speaking at the annual Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (Apec) leaders summit, which assembles 21 of the world’s largest economies, Albanese told a press conference that Apec leaders consistently “spoke about the importance of free and fair trade between our economies to lift up the living standards of people throughout this region”.

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Global plastic production must be cut to curb pollution, study says

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Analysis lays bare huge challenge of mismanaged waste on eve of UN plastic treaty talks in Busan

Global plastic production must be reduced to tackle the immense challenge of plastic pollution, according to an analysis published on the eve of crucial talks to hammer out the world’s first legally binding treaty on plastic waste.

Mismanaged plastic waste, which leaches into the environment and can be harmful to health, will double to 121m tonnes by 2050 if limits are not placed on the production of plastic, according to Samuel Pottinger, the lead author of the research.

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Chinese city still officially in summer as 30-year heat record broken

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Temperatures in Guangzhou fail to drop below level that meteorological service uses to mark change in season

One of China’s biggest cities is still officially in summer, despite it being mid-November, as temperatures have failed to drop below the threshold considered necessary to mark the change in season.

This week, Guangzhou, a hot and humid city of nearly 19 million people in southern China’s Guangdong province, broke a three-decade heat record, according to the local meteorological service. As of Wednesday the city had experienced 235 summer days, beating 1994’s 234-day season.

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Loyalty the key as impulsive Trump picks team for America First agenda

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President-elect’s team has China hawks, an alleged Assad defender and a Fox News host – all have been vocally loyal

As Donald Trump rushes to fill out his cabinet and enact his America First agenda in the United States and abroad, a clear throughline for his foreign policy and national security team has been a vocal loyalty to the president-elect – at least in this election cycle.

The rapidly expanding roster includes established – and some Maga supporters would say establishment – foreign policy hawks, and a neophyte defense secretary who until this week was still a conservative commentator on Fox News.

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British Museum receives record £1bn donation of Chinese ceramics

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Collection of 1,700 pieces dating from third to 20th century is highest-value gift of objects in UK museum history

The British Museum has been given a private collection of Chinese ceramics worth about £1bn, the highest-value object donation in UK museum history.

The 1,700 pieces dating from the third to the 20th century have been given permanently by the trustees of the Sir Percival David Foundation. They had been on loan to the London museum since 2009.

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South African tiger farms illegally smuggling body parts, says charity

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Biggest tiger farms outside Asia are operating freely in South Africa, Four Paws animal charity says

The largest tiger farms outside Asia are operating freely in South Africa, facilitating the illegal smuggling of tiger body parts, according to a report by an animal welfare charity.

Research by Four Paws, which is campaigning to shut down South Africa’s big cat industry, found 103 places in the country where tigers were kept in captivity in 2023 or 2024 or had been kept during the previous three years.

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As China mourns, some question delay in release of information about deadly car attack

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It took authorities more than a day to release details of the incident, in which a man drove his car into a crowd, killing 35 people

In the hours since a 63-year-old man rammed his car into a sports centre in Zhuhai, killing 35 people and severely injuring 43 others, questions have swirled on Chinese social media about why it took authorities so long to reveal the details.

The driver, identified by his family name of Fan, was discovered in the car with self-inflicted knife wounds to his neck. Police said their preliminary investigation suggested he was dissatisfied with the split of assets in his divorce.

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Dozens killed in China after car driven into sports centre

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Man detained after incident on Monday night in Zhuhai, in which 35 people were killed and 43 injured

A driver killed 35 people and severely injured another 43 when he rammed his car into people exercising at a sports centre in the southern Chinese city of Zhuhai, police said on Tuesday.

Police had detained a 62-year-old man at the sports centre in Zhuhai after the ramming late on Monday, on the eve of an airshow by the People’s Liberation Army that is hosted annually in the city.

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China unveils 10tn yuan support for debt-stricken local government

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Cash stops short of hoped-for ‘bazooka option’, with critics calling it ‘an accounting exercise’ that will not bolster growth

China has announced 10tn yuan in debt support for local governments and other economic measures, but stopped short of the “bazooka” stimulus package that many analysts had expected.

The fiscal package included raising debt ceilings for local governments by 6tn yuan (£646bn) over three years, so they could replace hidden debt, which authorities said stood at 14.3tn yuan by the end of 2023.

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Trump’s tariff threats a ‘clear and present danger’ to Australia, Arthur Sinodinos warns

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Former ambassador to US says president-elect’s vow to slap up to 60% tariffs on imports from China would have knock-on effects on Australian economy

Donald Trump’s threats of hefty tariffs on imports – especially from China – pose a “clear and present danger” to Australia that must be taken seriously, according to a former Australian ambassador to Washington, Arthur Sinodinos.

Speaking to Guardian Australia’s Australian Politics podcast, the former Liberal senator and adviser to prime minister John Howard, who was ambassador through Trump’s final year in the White House, warned that the US president-elect’s talk of slapping tariffs of 10-20% on foreign goods and as much as 60% on goods from China cannot be dismissed as bluff.

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Chinese state television lionises Xi Jinping’s father in 39-part serialised drama

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The historical series, Time in the Northwest, chronicles the life of Xi Zhongxun from peasant roots to Communist revolutionary in China

Xi Jinping’s father is the subject of a rousing new historical drama that premiered on Chinese state television on Tuesday.

Funded by the Central Propaganda Department of the Chinese Communist party (CCP), Time in the Northwest chronicles the life of Xi Zhongxun, the father of the Chinese president, who was himself a CCP elder and key figure in the party under Chairman Mao Zedong.

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North Korea’s involvement in Ukraine draws China into a delicate balancing act

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The entry of North Korean troops risks a dangerous escalation in the Russia-Ukraine conflict. It also puts Beijing in a tight spot

In October 1950, barely a year after the Chinese civil war ended, Mao Zedong sent the first Chinese soldiers to fight in the Korean war. Between 180,000 and 400,000 of Chairman Mao’s troops would die in that conflict, including his own son. But it was important to defend North Korea in that battle, Mao reportedly said, because “without the lips, the teeth are cold”.

That Chinese idiom has been used to described China and North Korea’s close relationship for more than seven decades. China sees North Korea as a strategic security buffer in the region, while North Korea relies on its superpower neighbour for economic, political and military support. But that relationship is now under strain thanks to another war which is drawing Communist-rooted countries into a common battle.

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AstraZeneca shares tumble after reports China unit is linked to insurance fraud

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Pharmaceutical’s weight loss pill described as ‘underwhelming’, also piling pressure on share price

AstraZeneca shares tumbled on Tuesday wiping £14bn off the value of Britain’s biggest drug maker, after a report that dozens of senior executives at its China unit could be implicated in an insurance fraud case in the country’s pharmaceutical sector.

Also putting pressure on the share price, early data on AstraZeneca’s experimental weight loss pill published on Monday was described as “somewhat underwhelming” by analysts at Deutsche Bank, who reiterated their “sell” rating on the stock.

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China blocking UK plans in Beijing amid east London mega-embassy dispute

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Exclusive: UK rebuild of Beijing embassy held up as Angela Rayner faces fraught decision on Royal Mint Court site

China is blocking requests to rebuild the British embassy in Beijing while the fate of its controversial mega-embassy in east London is being decided, the Guardian can disclose.

Angela Rayner, the deputy prime minister and housing secretary, faces a politically fraught decision over whether to approve plans for a new Chinese embassy at Royal Mint Court.

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