Category Archives: China

Truss to call for tough sanctions against China if it escalates Taiwan tensions

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Former PM will warn in Tokyo ‘free world is in danger’ in apparent attempt to put pressure on Rishi Sunak

Britain and the rest of the G7 should urgently agree a tough package of sanctions to impose on China if it escalates military tensions with Taiwan, Liz Truss will argue, as she uses her first public overseas speech to pile pressure on Rishi Sunak.

Speaking in Tokyo on Friday, the former prime minister will urge her successor to be more hawkish in standing up to Beijing, warning coordinated action is needed to block “the rise of a totalitarian China” given “the free world is in danger”.

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Biden says three objects shot down over US ‘most likely’ private, and not more Chinese spy balloons – as it happened

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The special grand jury empaneled in the Georgia’s Fulton county worried that at least one of the 75 witnesses it heard from may have lied under oath, according to portions of their report released today.

They also determined “by a unanimous vote that no widespread fraud took place in the Georgia 2020 presidential election that could result in overturning that election,” the jurors wrote in the report’s introduction, which was released along with its conclusion and a brief chapter outlining the perjury concerns.

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Former Australian PM Scott Morrison likens west’s ‘appeasement’ of China to Munich agreement with Hitler

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Speech in Tokyo draws parallel with pre-second world war agreement, and claims credit for urging others to stand up to Beijing ‘bullying’

The former Australian prime minister Scott Morrison has accused the west of “appeasing” Beijing and has claimed credit for rallying other countries to “call out the bullying of the Chinese ­government”.

In a speech to be delivered at a conference in Tokyo on Friday, Morrison is also expected to urge the Albanese government to consider using Magnitsky-style targeted human rights sanctions laws to hold Chinese government officials accountable.

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Journalist held without trial in China said to need urgent medical attention

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Advocates of Huang Xueqin accuse authorities of ‘trying to exert mental pressure and physical torture’

Advocates for a Chinese journalist and activist who has been held in detention without trial for almost 18 months have said she needs urgent medical attention.

Huang Xueqin and Wang Jianbing, a labour rights activist, were detained in September 2021 and formally arrested a month later. They have been accused of inciting subversion of state power, and held in Guangzhou without access to family or lawyers.

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Wuhan welfare protests escalate as hundreds voice anger over health insurance cuts

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Crowds of retirees gather in cities of Wuhan and Dalian to protest against cuts as local government coffers feel strain of years of Covid policies

Crowds of hundreds of older people took to the streets in the Chinese cities of Wuhan and Dalian on Wednesday in escalating protests against changes to the public health insurance system.

The protests were sparked by cuts to monthly allowances paid to retirees under China’s vast public health insurance system. The changes, gradually introduced since 2021, come as local government finances are strained following years of strict and costly zero-Covid policies.

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China claims US balloons flew over Tibet and Xinjiang as spying row rumbles on

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US deputy secretary of state says Beijing is claiming ‘a gazillion balloons by the US over China … That is absolutely not true’

Diplomatic friction has worsened between the United States and China after Beijing claimed, without evidence, that US high-altitude balloons flew over its Xinjiang and Tibet regions, and threatened unspecified measures against US entities for undermining Chinese sovereignty.

Washington and Beijing are locked in a tussle over flying objects after the US military this month shot down what it called a Chinese spy balloon over the coast of South Carolina. Beijing said it was a civilian research vehicle mistakenly blown off course, and that Washington overreacted.

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China’s provinces spent almost £43bn on Covid measures in 2022

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Third of provinces yet to publish data as country looks to revive economy after zero-Covid policy ends

Chinese provinces spent more than £42.8bn on tackling Covid-19 in 2022, according to data released by local governments, with the figure expected to rise as the huge cost of the pandemic hits the world’s second-largest economy.

Although national statistics are not yet available, at least 20 of China’s 31 provinces have published figures on how much money they spent on measures to control the pandemic.

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Kevin Rudd: Australia’s incoming ambassador to US says balloon saga threatens push to ease tensions with China

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Former Labor prime minister says incident has created ‘diplomatic clouds’ that may overshadow efforts to stabilise relationship

The incoming Australian ambassador to the United States, Kevin Rudd, has warned the Chinese balloon saga has created new “diplomatic clouds” that put at risk recent efforts to ease tensions between Beijing and Washington.

In a speech in Brisbane on Wednesday, Rudd also warned against expecting any “softening in China’s ideological cleavage with the west”.

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UK rehearsing economic fallout scenarios if China invades Taiwan

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Exclusive: Whitehall officials planning strategy to tackle disruption to global supply chains in the aftermath of an attack

Whitehall officials have strategised a series of scenarios about the economic fallout that could follow if China were to invade Taiwan, sources have told the Guardian.

Concerns about the major disruption to global supply chains and consequences of any coordinated western response have been examined by civil servants as part of what is said to be routine “forward-scanning” exercises.

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Philippines president summons Chinese ambassador over laser incident

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The Philippines accused a Chinese coastguard ship of directing a ‘military-grade laser light’ at one of its vessels, temporarily blinding a crew member

Philippine president Ferdinand Marcos has summoned the Chinese ambassador to express serious concern over the “increasing frequency and intensity of actions” by China against Philippine vessels.

The meeting came a day after the Philippines accused a Chinese coastguard ship of directing a “military-grade laser light” at one of its vessels, temporarily blinding a crew member and disrupting a mission in the South China Sea.

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Australia politics live: Philip Lowe says RBA ‘still unsure’ how high interest rates will go during Senate estimates grilling

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RBA boss tells Senate estimates about rationale for rate rises as Adam Bandt demands end to new coal and gas projects. Follow live

Around and around we go …

So CBA shareholders are to get a (fully franked) dividend of $2.10 for each of their share – 20% more than the last time dividends were sent out.

We reported strong financial and operational performance in our financial results for the six months ended 31 December 2022. Our cash net profit after tax of $5,153 million reflects the Bank’s customer focus and disciplined strategic execution. Our continued balance sheet strength and capital position creates flexibility to support our customers and manage potential economic headwinds, while delivering sustainable returns to shareholders. A fully franked interim dividend of $2.10 per share was determined, an increase of 20% on 1H22, driven by organic capital generation and a reduction in share count from share buy-backs. Despite the current uncertainty, your Board and management feel optimistic for the future and are committed to delivering for our customers and for you, our shareholders

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Japan says aerial objects spotted in recent years were likely Chinese spy balloons

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Defence ministry demands China’s government ‘confirm the facts’ after analysis of incidents since 2019 find objects were likely used for surveillance

A new analysis of unidentified aerial objects that flew over Japan’s airspace in recent years “strongly” suggests they were Chinese spy balloons, according to Tokyo’s defence ministry.

“After further analysis of specific balloon-shaped flying objects previously identified in Japanese airspace, including those in November 2019, June 2020 and September 2021, we have concluded that the balloons are strongly presumed to be unmanned reconnaissance balloons flown by China,” the defence ministry said in a statement late on Tuesday.

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Three objects shot down after Chinese spy balloon may be benign, White House says

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Flying objects could be commercial- or research-linked, while US military admits first shot at object over Lake Huron missed

Three unidentified objects shot down by US fighter jets since Friday may turn out to be balloons connected to “benign” commercial or research efforts, a White House official said on Tuesday.

The US has not found any evidence to connect the objects to China’s balloon surveillance program nor to any other country’s spy program, national security council spokesperson, John Kirby, told reporters.

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Chinese cameras leave British police vulnerable to spying, says watchdog

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Warning in surveillance commissioner’s report comes after Chinese CCTV cameras banned from government property

British police are leaving themselves open to spying by Beijing because of their reliance on Chinese-made cameras, according to a report from the government’s independent watchdog on surveillance.

Most forces across England and Wales use camera equipment that is either made in China or contains important Chinese components, the biometrics and surveillance camera commissioner has warned.

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Rishi Sunak under pressure from backbench MPs to declare China a ‘threat’ – UK politics live

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Latest updates: amid concerns over suspected spy balloons and as part of review of global security, PM urged to deliver hawkish view

A former British ambassador to the US and national security adviser has questioned whether the UK has a “watertight capability” to deal with suspected Chinese spy balloons.

Asked if prime minister Rishi Sunak is right to suggest the UK has a “watertight rapid response to intercept these kind of things”, Lord Kim Darroch told Times Radio he is not totally confident this is the case.

I’m not, to be honest, but I wouldn’t want listeners to get very worried about that.

I’m not because I think we have under-invested in defence for the last couple of decades – one might argue ever since the end of the cold war – and we don’t have all the kit and equipment that we really need and there are gaps around in the technology our armed forces have.

It’s still, I think, unless we discover something new, it’s still well-known technology and it’s still basically surveillance, still basically spying, and the reality is an awful lot of that goes on everywhere.

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‘Significant’ debris from China spy balloon retrieved, says US military

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Sensors and electronics pulled from waters off South Carolina, says military, after White House says Beijing’s surveillance program dates back years

The US military has recovered “significant debris” from a suspected Chinese surveillance balloon shot down this month, the Pentagon has said, after the White House claimed China had been operating a high-altitude balloon program spying on the US and its allies for many years.

The US Northern Command said in a statement: “Crews have been able to recover significant debris from the site, including all of the priority sensor and electronics pieces identified as well as large sections of the structure.”

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Chinese ship accused of using ‘military-grade laser’ against Philippine vessel

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Philippines coastguard says crew member temporarily blinded and mission disrupted in South China Sea

The Philippines has accused a Chinese coastguard ship of directing a “military-grade laser light” at one of its vessels, temporarily blinding a crew member and disrupting a mission in the South China Sea.

The Chinese ship shone a green laser light twice towards the boat as it sought to deliberately block a resupply mission, the Philippine coastguard said. It also accused the Chinese vessel of making “dangerous manoeuvres by approaching about 150 yards from the vessel’s starboard quarter”.

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UK fighter jets always on standby, Sunak says after US shoots down objects

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Prime minister will do ‘everything it takes’ to keep country safe as Britain conducts security review

UK fighter jets are on standby to shoot down Chinese spy balloons if any are spotted in British air space, the prime minister has said.

Rishi Sunak said Typhoon planes were ready at all times in case the UK came under threat from balloons such as the one US officials said they shot down last week.

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Australia would spot any spy balloon over country, thinktank says, suggesting best way to down one

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Jindalee radar system detects airborne objects from ‘very long range’, while missile from F-35 jet more effective than laser for striking one

Australia’s radar network would be able to spot any spy balloon in its airspace, and a missile fired from a stealth fighter jet would be the most effective way to bring it down, the Australian Strategic Policy Institute (ASPI) says.

The United States has downed four flying objects since 4 February, including a Chinese spy balloon with a payload the size of three buses.

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Chinese foreign ministry says US also flies balloons over China

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Spokesperson says US overreacting and claims it has made at least 10 airspace incursions since start of 2022

China’s foreign ministry has accused the US of flying high-altitude balloons over its airspace more than 10 times since the beginning of last year, as the dispute over surveillance between the two countries continues.

A spokesperson told foreign reporters at a regular press briefing in Beijing that it was “not uncommon” for the US to go into other countries’ airspace, claiming they were aware of at least 10 incursions over China, but gave few other details.

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