Category Archives: China

Anthony Albanese signals to China that Australia is open for dialogue without ‘preconditions’

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Australian prime minister says it ‘would be positive’ if he and Xi Jinping met at Asean summit

Anthony Albanese has sent a clear public signal to the Chinese leadership that Australia is open for dialogue during international summits over the coming days, saying he is prepared to meet his counterpart without “preconditions” .

With the US president, Joe Biden, set to meet the Chinese president, Xi Jinping, at the G20 summit in Bali on Monday, Australia’s prime minister told reporters at the Asean-Australia summit in Cambodia on Saturday a conversation was “not locked in at this point” and he was awaiting “finalisation of any meeting”.

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China eases some Covid rules amid growing discontent and economic pressure

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Quarantine periods shortened by two days but Beijing government ‘will not waver’ from strict zero-Covid policy

China has eased some of its strict Covid rules in an apparent attempt to alleviate economic pressures and cool escalating discontent, though authorities insist their “war” against the pandemic remains unchanged.

The changes include shortening quarantine periods by two days for close contacts of infected people and for travellers arriving in the country, as well as scrapping a rule that penalises airlines for bringing in too many cases.

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Covid cases surge nationally as ‘fourth wave’ hits – as it happened

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Albanese on Xi Jinping: ‘we will no doubt be at the same meetings’

Will Anthony Albanese meet with China’s president Xi Jinping in the coming week? He’s staying mum.

What I want to see with the relationship with China is cooperation where we can, but we of course will maintain our Australian values where we must. So dialogue is always good, a meeting is not locked in at this point in time. But we will no doubt be at the same meetings. The East Asia summit, the G20, and Apec is going to be a busy time in international diplomacy.

Now this act is just disgusting, targeting women who have had a pregnancy termination is about as cowardly as you can get.

I just want to say to those women this morning, we hear you, we are with you, and we love you. If you need help, please reach out and we are absolutely determined to target the criminals who have done this disgusting act.

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Apple limits AirDrop on iPhones in China after filesharing feature was used by protesters

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The AirDrop function was being used to anonymously share digital leaflets with strangers, but has now been restricted on iPhones in China

Apple has limited filesharing features on iPhones in China, a month after reports that anti-government protesters were using the function to share digital leaflets with strangers.

Under the update to the AirDrop function released on Thursday, iPhone users in China can only opt in to receive files from non contacts during a 10-minute window before it automatically shuts off. The feature did not previously have a time limit.

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Biden to meet Xi Jinping at G20 in first face-to-face talks as president

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Taiwan, human rights, and North Korea expected to be discussed as Biden seeks to ‘build a floor’ for US-China relationship

Joe Biden will meet his Chinese counterpart, Xi Jinping, on the sidelines of the G20 summit, the White House has said, in their first face-to-face talks since the US leader became president.

Biden hopes the meeting on Monday will allow him to build a “floor” for relations between the two countries, but he will be honest about US concerns, including on Taiwan and human rights, a senior administration official said on Thursday.

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Speculation grows Anthony Albanese will meet Chinese leader during hectic summit season

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Prime minister to see Britain’s Rishi Sunak and leaders of Cambodia, Indonesia and Thailand and is likely to catch up with Joe Biden

Speculation is mounting that Anthony Albanese will meet either the Chinese premier, Li Keqiang, or the president, Xi Jinping, during the hectic November summit season, which kicks off in Cambodia this weekend.

Australia’s prime minister leaves on Friday for the East Asia and Australia-Asean summits in Phnom Penh before travelling to the G20 in Bali and completing his trip at the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (Apec) summit in Bangkok towards the end of next week.

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China ‘increasingly disruptive global power’, says Canadian foreign minister

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Mélanie Joly hints at new Indo-Pacific strategy and asks firms to be clear-eyed in business with China

Canada’s foreign minister, Mélanie Joly, has said China has become “increasingly disruptive” on the world stage as she hinted in a speech at a new Indo-Pacific strategy expected to be released this month.

Her comments come ahead of several summits that Canada’s prime minister, Justin Trudeau, is to attend, including the Association of Southeast Asian Nations in Cambodia, the G20 in Indonesia, and the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation in Thailand.

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Xi Jinping tells China’s army to focus on preparation for war

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President says China in an ‘unstable and uncertain’ security situation amid tensions over Taiwan

Xi Jinping has told the People’s Liberation Army to “focus all its energy on fighting” in preparation for war, a Chinese Communist party mouthpiece has reported.

Pictures of Xi, who recently secured a third term as party leader, in his army uniform during a visit to a command centre featured prominently on the front page of the People’s Daily on Wednesday.

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Bao Tong, former top aide of Chinese leader Zhao Ziyang, dies at 90

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Senior Communist party official jailed over Tiananmen democracy movement became one of party’s most vociferous critics

Bao Tong, the most senior Chinese Communist party official jailed over the Tiananmen pro-democracy movement, has died four days after his 90th birthday.

The former top aide of the reformist leader Zhao Ziyang, a sympathiser of the student-led movement that was crushed by the military in 1989, died early on Wednesday morning in Beijing, his son Bao Pu said in a brief Twitter post.

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China’s top climate official urges US to ‘clear barriers’ to talks

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US-China relations hit new low this year after Nancy Pelosi visited Taiwan, over which China claims sovereignty

• Cop27 live – latest news updates

China’s top climate official has said the US must take responsibility for any reconciliation between the two countries at the Cop27 climate summit, calling on the US to “clear the barriers” to talks.

Xie Zhenhua, the climate envoy for China, said he had met John Kerry, the US special presidential envoy for climate, in Sharm el-Sheikh, Egypt, where governments and world leaders have gathered for a fortnight of talks on the climate crisis.

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Chinese authorities ‘drop EU council chief’s speech criticising war in Ukraine’

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European diplomats say Charles Michel video referring to Russia’s ‘illegal’ and ‘brutal’ invasion was withdrawn from trade fair

Chinese authorities dropped a trade fair speech by the European Council president, Charles Michel, that was critical of Russia’s war in Ukraine, diplomats have said.

The recorded message by Michel was meant to be one of several from world leaders and heads of international bodies played at the opening on Friday last week of China’s International Import Expo in Shanghai. Three European diplomats said Michel’s speech, which was to have been heavily critical of Russia’s “illegal” war in Ukraine, had been removed, according to Reuters, which first reported the incident.

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TikTok’s ties to China: why concerns over your data are here to stay

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Harvesting data is the norm for social media apps, but the question that many have is where it goes and who has access to it

In 2021 Android phone users around the world spent 16.2tn minutes on TikTok. And while those millions and millions of users no doubt had an enjoyable time watching clips on the addictive social video app, they also generated a colossal amount of data.

TikTok collects information on how you consume its content, from the device you are using to how long you watch a post for and what categories you like, and uses that information to fine tune the algorithm for the app’s main feed.

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China’s super-rich see fortunes plunge as economy slows

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The Hurun Rich list shows the Russia-Ukraine war and Beijing’s zero-Covid measures seriously affecting China’s most wealthy

China’s super-rich saw their wealth fall by the largest amount in over two decades, as the Russia-Ukraine war, Beijing’s zero-Covid measures and falling local stock markets pummelled fortunes, an annual rich list showed.

The Hurun Rich list, which ranks China’s wealthiest people with a minimum net worth of 5 billion yuan ($690m), said only 1,305 people made the threshold this year, down 11% from last year. Their total wealth was $3.5tn, down 18% from last year.

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China taking ‘aggressive’ steps to gut Canada’s democracy, warns Trudeau

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The prime minister’s comments come after a news report that Beijing had funded a ‘clandestine network’ of candidates in 2019

Justin Trudeau has warned that China is “play[ing] aggressive games” to undermine democratic institutions amid reports Beijing actively interfered in Canada’s federal elections.

His comments on Monday came after a news report that Beijing had funded a “clandestine network” of candidates in Canada’s 2019 election and just days after the federal police force said it was actively investigating a secret network of illegal Chinese “police stations” in Toronto.

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China criticises British minister’s visit to Taiwan for trade talks

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Beijing ‘resolutely opposes’ official exchanges between Taipei and UK government, says foreign ministry

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China has criticised the British government for sending the trade minister Greg Hands to Taiwan and said the UK must cease “sending the wrong signals” to pro-independence forces on the self-ruled island that Beijing regards as its territory.

Hands began a two-day visit to Taipei on Monday, during which he is scheduled to meet the democracy’s president, Tsai Ing-wen, and co-host the 25th annual UK-Taiwan trade talks.

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Gavin Williamson has Sunak’s ‘full confidence’, says No10, as Starmer calls for him to be sacked – UK politics live

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Prime minister’s judgment called into question after making Williamson minister again

Keir Starmer has said Gavin Williamson should be sacked, because he is “not fit” be a government minister.

But, speaking to journalists this morning, the Labour leader focused his criticism on Rishi Sunak for giving Williamson a job as a minister without portfolio in the Cabinet Office, with the right to attend cabinet.

It is so disappointing that yet again we’re having a discussion about the prime minister’s judgment, this time in relation to Gavin Williamson. He’s clearly got people around the cabinet table who are not fit to be there. That is because he was so weak and wanted to avoid an election within his own party and I think the only way out of this, because these debates are going to go on, because of the weak position the prime minister is in, I think we should say to the public, they should have a choice - do you want to carry on with this chaos or do you want the stability of a Labour government? That’s why I think there is such a powerful case for a general election.

I think that the prime minister has got people who are clearly not fit for the job around the cabinet table. Gavin Williamson has got history when it comes to breaches of security and leaking, etc. He is clearly not suitable, but the central focus really here is on the prime minister, to ask the question why has he put these people around the cabinet.

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Apple warns iPhone shipments will be delayed due to Covid restrictions at Foxconn plant

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Tech company says customers will experience longer wait times as the plant in China is operating at reduced capacity

Apple has said it expects fewer iPhone 14 Pro and iPhone Pro Max shipments than previously anticipated as Covid-19 restrictions temporarily disrupt production at an assembly facility in Zhengzhou, China.

“The facility is currently operating at significantly reduced capacity,” Apple said in a statement. “Customers will experience longer wait times to receive their new products.”

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China’s ‘unswerving’ zero-Covid rules see no let up

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Unexpected announcement quashes hopes of lifting lockdowns, quarantining and rigorous testing

Health officials in China on Saturday dashed hopes there would be a relaxation of the country’s strict Covid-19 restrictions. At a news conference, they insisted China would “unswervingly” stick to its zero-Covid policy which includes lockdowns, quarantining and rigorous testing aimed at stopping the spread of the coronavirus.

The announcement follows several days’ speculation that they were considering changing a disease containment policy that has disrupted economic growth and daily life, and is increasingly out of step with the rest of the world.

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US accuses Russia and China of protecting North Korea from UN

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China and Russia, meanwhile, accuse US of inflaming tensions with large-scale joint military exercises with South Korea

The United States has accused Russia and China of providing “blanket protection” to North Korea from further UN Security Council action and said the pair had “bent over backwards” to justify Pyongyang’s ballistic missile launches.

The US, Britain, France, Albania, Ireland and Norway requested that the Security Council meet on Friday after North Korea, formally known as the DPRK, fired multiple missiles, including a possible failed intercontinental ballistic missile.

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Rumours of zero-Covid easing spread in China amid anger at restrictions

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Despite relatively low case numbers, there are reportedly about 200 lockdowns across the country

Waves of outrage and frustration over China’s lockdown measures this week have demonstrated widening cracks in the general compliance with the government’s zero-Covid policy.

Rising anger has been driven by the tragic death of a toddler, and highly public problematic lockdowns in the Henan capital, Zhengzhou. Officials were left scrambling to control the narrative, amid swirling rumours of imminent policy shifts and a former government health expert saying on Friday that “substantive changes will happen soon”.

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