China is stepping up efforts to be nice to Taiwan ahead of key elections on Jan. 11, offering better treatment to Taiwanese in China and urging the democratic island to “come home,” but many there only see Beijing wielding a… Read More ›
Month: November 2019
China vows to retaliate with ‘firm counter measures’ over U.S. Hong Kong rights law
China warned the United States on Thursday it would take “firm counter measures” in response to U.S. legislation backing anti-government protesters in Hong Kong, and said attempts to interfere in the Chinese-ruled city were doomed to fail. U.S. President Donald Trump on… Read More ›
China has a new aircraft carrier, but a lack of fighter jets that can use it
Is China’s newest aircraft carrier half-full or half-empty? That depends on how you look at the vessel’s aircraft capacity. The ship, prosaically named the Type 001A for now, is China’s second carrier and the first built in China. The first… Read More ›
Zhu Hailun: The man who was key in China’s detention of 1 million Uighur Muslims
After bloody race riots rocked China’s far west a decade ago, the ruling Communist Party turned to a rare figure in their ranks to restore order: a Han Chinese official fluent in Uighur, the language of the local Turkic Muslim… Read More ›
Hong Kong’s landslide democratic win puts pressure on leader Carrie Lam
Hong Kong‘s leader pledged to listen to public opinion on Monday and referred to deep-seated problems in society after a landslide election victory by opponents of Chinese rule amid months of sometimes violent pro-democracy unrest. Democratic candidates secured almost 90%… Read More ›
Cadence Column: Asia, November 25, 2019
Hong Kong’s election results from yesterday have confirmed the general public’s view: Hong Kongers reject China’s actions. Not that it will make a difference—elected officials don’t hold a majority in Hong Kong’s legislative process. But, pro-Beijing officials were voted-out, replaced… Read More ›
In defence of the student protesters: Carrie Lam’s stupid mask ban, the repudiation of the Hong Kong court and the continuous necessity of the people’s struggle
On Monday, while the police were trying to dislodge several hundred hard-core protesters who had occupied the Hong Kong Polytechnic University since last week, a Hong Kong Court “found that the government’s controversial mask ban is unconstitutional.” Said ruling indeed,… Read More ›
University of British Columbia latest worldwide to recall all exchange students from Hong Kong
The University of British Columbia (UBC) has cancelled its second term for exchange students in Hong Kong as it works to bring those students back home from the territory over safety concerns. Hong Kong’s universities have become the latest battleground… Read More ›
Reuters changes every paragraph, headline in article about Hong Kong protests
Reuters changed an article about the Hong Kong protests Monday, first highlighting allegations that police were threatening protesters with live bullets and later omitting any mention of that news. The original article was headlined “Hong Kong police threaten to use… Read More ›
Green no more: China set for massive coal expansion
China has enough coal-fired power plants in the pipeline to match the entire capacity of the European Union, driving the expansion in global coal power and confounding the movement against the polluting fossil fuel, according to a report. The nation… Read More ›
‘Dictators’: Europe is waking up to threats from China, defence experts say
China’s attempt to gain economic influence in Europe poses major strategic threats to American allies, according to defense officials, including one on the front lines of NATO. “We really need to be careful that, as well, China would not be… Read More ›
China says aircraft carrier on way to South China Sea after Taiwan passage
China’s first domestically-built aircraft carrier is on its way to the South China Sea for tests and to take part in exercises, the Chinese navy said on Monday, after sailing through the Taiwan Strait in a mission denounced by Taipei… Read More ›
Cadence Column: Asia, November 18, 2019
America and China are getting fed up with China and America being fed up with each other. Americans tried patience and negotiations; that didn’t work. China hid its agenda for global domination, denouncing so-called “interference” except when China did the… Read More ›
In solidarity to the brave Hong Kong people
I am writing as a humanist and member of the international community in order to bring to the attention of the global family of nations the cause and the struggle behind the said noble cause of the courageous people of… Read More ›
Leaked documents reveal China’s mass incarceration of Muslim Uighurs in Xinjiang
Hundreds of internal Chinese government documents obtained by The New York Times reveals striking new details about the execution of the country’s mass detention of ethnic minorities over the past three years in the Xinjiang region. The rare leak of… Read More ›
Chinese troops enter Hong Kong streets to “clean up” after protests
Chinese troops came out of the barracks in Hong Kong on Saturday — not to quell protests but to help clean up. It was a move seen by many to try to normalise Chinese troops being on Hong Kong’s streets…. Read More ›
China’s new energy agenda: coal power will be top priority
China has signalled that coal power will be a top priority within national energy policy as the government prepares its next Five Year Plan (2021-25). On 11 October, Premier Li Keqiang chaired a meeting of the National Energy Commission in Beijing that… Read More ›
From Singapore to Sweden, China’s overbearing campaign for influence is forcing countries to resist and recalibrate relations with Beijing
Russia’s efforts to influence elections in the United States and Europe were a wake-up call about the threat of foreign influence in domestic public opinion and politics, blatantly violating norms of non-interference. China is not guilty of Russia’s excesses, but… Read More ›
Beijing’s plan to tighten its grip on Hong Kong could spell the end of China’s economic dream
Although the rapid escalation of violence in Hong Kong seems terrifying enough, things may be about to get much worse. The communique of the recently concluded fourth plenum of the 19th Central Committee of the Communist Party indicates that Chinese… Read More ›
China’s Holocaust of Children
Using the aggressively bland term “one-child policy” is a bit like saying that 1942 Germany had restrictions on Jews. You may never have thought much about how a huge nation enforces a limit of one baby per family, but the… Read More ›
Pneumonic Plague is diagnosed in China
Two cases of the fatal and highly infectious illness, which is related to bubonic plague, were found in Beijing, prompting fears of an outbreak. Two people in China were diagnosed with plague, setting off a panic on Tuesday about the… Read More ›
Engage China, or confront it? What’s the right approach now?
Stephen K. Bannon, the former White House adviser, calls the United States’ relationship with China’s Communist Party an economic and information “war,” while Eric Schmidt, a Google founder, says American interests are entangled with China, our biggest competitor in the… Read More ›
A timeline of Hong Kong’s anti-government protests
Hong Kong police shot and wounded one protester on Monday as chaos erupted across the city a day after officers fired tear gas to break up demonstrations that are entering their sixth month. Following is a timeline of the key… Read More ›
Cadence Column: Asia, November 11, 2019
Hong Kong has presented the world with the ethical question of confronting bullies. Say there is a bully at school who quietly eats whosever lunch he wants, stealing anyone’s homework he wants, until one day someone says something and the… Read More ›
Welcome to China. You probably can’t buy anything, though
On her first trip to China, 30-year-old Courtney Newnham from Portland, Ore., eagerly lined up at a street pushcart to buy a skewer of candied hawthorn berries, a traditional snack. Then she realized nobody was giving the pushcart guy money…. Read More ›
Former Chinese finance minister warns China and US are on brink of ‘financial war’
The growing rivalry between China and the United States is at risk of becoming a “financial war”, a former Chinese finance minister said on Saturday. Speaking at an industry forum in Beijing, Lou Jiwei, chairman of the foreign affairs committee… Read More ›
Trump says U.S. hasn’t yet agreed to roll back tariffs, despite China’s insistence that he has
President Donald Trump dealt a blow Friday to investors who were hoping the United States and China were inching closer toward a partial trade deal that would roll back billions in tariffs. Speaking to reporters, Trump said the US has… Read More ›
China’s tobacco monopoly means big risks for e-cigarette startups
In a glass-walled laboratory, chemists puff on vaping devices as they test liquid nicotine flavors. Nearby, staffers with cartons of instant noodles on their desks tap away at laptops, messaging suppliers and customers. Here at the Shenzhen offices of e-cigarette… Read More ›
China is sabotaging itself in Taiwan
China has a lot at stake in getting its favored candidate across the line in Taiwan’s presidential election in January, so it’s strange that Beijing is doing so much to sabotage Han Kuo-yu’s chances. Without a change in its approach, the… Read More ›
Pro-Beijing lawmaker stabbed while campaigning in Hong Kong
An anti-government assailant stabbed and wounded a pro-Beijing Hong Kong lawmaker who was election campaigning Wednesday, police said, in another escalation of violence surrounding the protests demanding political reforms in the semi-autonomous Chinese territory. Junius Ho has become a hated… Read More ›
China to resume Canada meat purchases as swine fever spreads
Terms of Trade is a daily newsletter that untangles a world embroiled in trade wars. Sign up here. Canada will resume shipments of pork and beef to China, ending a ban imposed in June, as the Asian nation strives to… Read More ›
Chinese bank on verge of collapse after sudden bank run
First it was Baoshang Bank , then it was Bank of Jinzhou, then, two months ago, China’s Heng Feng Bank with 1.4 trillion yuan in assets, quietly failed and was just as quietly nationalized. Today, a fourth prominent Chinese bank… Read More ›
Fire the missiles! The U.S. navy is ready to sink China’s new aircraft carriers
Ah, yes, the “carrier-killer.” China is forever touting the array of guided missiles its weaponeers have devised to pummel U.S. Navy nuclear-powered aircraft carriers (CVNs). Most prominent among them are its DF-21D and DF-26 antiship ballistic missiles (ASBMs), which the… Read More ›
Cadence Column: Asia, November 4, 2019
The crud is hitting the fan on China and the fake trade war. The US and China were ready to sign, until they weren’t. They were going to sign at APEC in Chile, but Chilean society’s peace seems to be… Read More ›
Draft rules issued to allow foreign companies to list in China
China’s justice ministry on Friday published draft rules to allow foreign companies to list on the country’s stock exchanges, with the intention of implementing the changes on Jan. 1. China has long been criticized for barring foreign firms from its… Read More ›
China casts doubt on reaching long-term trade deal with U.S. under Trump
Chinese officials are casting doubts about reaching a comprehensive long-term trade deal with the U.S. even as the two sides get close to signing a “phase one” agreement. In private conversations with visitors to Beijing and other interlocutors in recent… Read More ›
China’s factory activity shrinks for 6th month as trade war clouds outlook
Factory activity in China shrank for the sixth straight month in October and by more than expected, while service sector growth eased as firms grapple with the weakest economic growth in nearly 30 years. The world’s second-largest economy is facing… Read More ›
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