Kaitlyn Lin has had the song “Fate” running through her head for over a decade. She has finally been able to perform and record the piece and is now releasing it to the world. While some people seem to fall… Read More ›
Month: July 2020
China is what Orwell feared
Northwest of Beijing’s Forbidden City, outside the Third Ring Road, the Chinese Academy of Sciences has spent seven decades building a campus of national laboratories. Near its center is the Institute of Automation, a sleek silvery-blue building surrounded by camera-studded… Read More ›
COVID-19 and the new world order
On 1 July 2020, the first real-time conference in Europe past the early-spring lockdown took place at the Diplomatic Academy Vienna. This highly anticipated event, entitled From the Victory Day to Corona Disarray 75 years of Europe’s Collective Security and… Read More ›
A new US tactic: Pompeo suggests to change CCP’s behavior
“…And if we don’t act now, ultimately the CCP will erode our freedoms and subvert the rules-based order that our societies have worked so hard to build. “If we bend the knee now, our children’s children may be at the… Read More ›
Gordon Chang compares China to 1930’s Japan, warns of very dangerous activities by Beijing against US
Author and China expert Gordon Chang warned on Fox Business Network’s “Varney & Co.” Monday that the Beijing government has undertaken “very dangerous activities, especially against the U.S. Navy and the Air Force” in recent years. “When a militant power wants to… Read More ›
Cadence Column: Asia, July 27, 2020
Bail on Hong Kong, jump to Taiwan. That’s the move from everyone. Britain doesn’t bail on Hong Kong, but creates a path for Hong Kongers to bail on Hong Kong. Britain isn’t just walking away. By allowing British Overseas Passport… Read More ›
Stealth UAVs could give China’s Type-076 assault carrier more firepower
The Chinese Navy is building assault carriers to support amphibious operations, like a possible invasion of Taiwan or landings on disputed islands in the South China Sea. The first two ships, called LHDs (landing helicopter docks) in naval terminology, are… Read More ›
Chinese fugitive taken into custody as US claims Houston consulate was a part of espionage network
Senior US government officials said Friday that a Chinese scientist who had been hiding in the country’s San Francisco consulate after accusations of visa fraud is now in US custody and also charged that Beijing has been using its diplomatic… Read More ›
Why is Xi Jinping pitting China against the world?
Xi Jinping has stifled dissent at home and is increasingly willing for China to assert itself abroad. Earlier this week, Chinese leader Xi Jinping held a rare meeting in Beijing with business leaders. Admitting that the Covid-19 pandemic had a… Read More ›
China’s coronavirus recovery drives boom in coal plants, casting doubt over commitments to cut fossil fuels
Far from treating the coronavirus pandemic as a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to speed up decarbonisation and lock in climate goals, there are signs China is falling back on its old playbook of pumping cheap credit into fossil-fuel heavy energy projects to… Read More ›
U.S. wants to build coalition to counter China’s ‘disgraceful’ menace
U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said on Tuesday the United States wants to build a global coalition to counter China as he accused Beijing of exploiting the coronavirus pandemic to further its own interests. U.S. President Donald Trump identifies… Read More ›
China steps up building two more aircraft carriers towards 2035 goal
China is expected to launch its next-generation aircraft carrier within a year and construction on a sister ship for the new giant vessel has been hastened, two sources close to the projects said. The Type 002 aircraft carrier – the… Read More ›
Cadence of Conflict: Asia, July 20, 2020
Hong Kong is seriously considering shutting itself down. Many may argue that Hong Kong is certainly shutting down, but a basic understanding of humanity says that people are resilient. China claims that doing whatever China wants inside Hong Kong is… Read More ›
Deep in the Thucydides Trap, but US-China is far from a ‘hot’ war
The term ‘Thucydides Trap’ has become a hot topic after American political scientist Graham T. Allison published his book ‘Destined for War: Can America and China Escape the Thucydides Trap?’ in 2017. It suggests that a war is likely to… Read More ›
The cold war between U.S. and China just got a lot hotter
So, this is what life feels like “in the foothills of a new Cold War,” as Henry Kissinger has called it.Though perhaps the better metaphor would be “in the trenches,” for this week one could hear the steady din overhead… Read More ›
Risks to Chinese commercial banks manageable
China’s small and medium-sized banks are stable and the risks they face are manageable, according to the China Banking and Insurance Regulatory Commission (CBIRC). With sound fundamentals of capital, provision and profit, city commercial banks have the capability to fend… Read More ›
2025: End Game China – The Balkinization
”Anyone attempting to split China in any part of the country will end in crushed bodies and shattered bones.” – Chinese President Xi Jinping on a state visit to Nepal in Oct 2019. The above statement clearly indicates the nervousness of… Read More ›
US considers travel ban on millions of Chinese Communist Party members
The US is reportedly considering imposing travel restrictions on Chinese Communist party members amid a deepening row, with president Donald Trump saying further sanctions were possible and Beijing vowing retaliation. A draft presidential proclamation would revoke visas for members of… Read More ›
US allies once seemed cowed by China. Now they’re responding with rare coordination
Chinese President Xi Jinping surprised the world with a speech at Davos in 2017, defending free trade and joint action on climate change as then US president-elect Donald Trump argued for precisely the opposite. It might have been an overambitious pitch by Xi… Read More ›
US rejects nearly all Chinese claims in South China Sea
The Trump administration escalated its actions against China on Monday by stepping squarely into one of the most sensitive regional issues dividing them and rejecting outright nearly all of Beijing’s significant maritime claims in the South China Sea. The administration… Read More ›
Cadence Column: Asia, July 13, 2020
China and the US have shown their intentions to the world. The new “National Security Law”, passed and interpreted solely by the Chinese Communist Party, applies to the entire world. China made it illegal for Americans to support calls for… Read More ›
Philippines says no compromise on 2016 South China Sea victory against China
The Philippines will adhere without compromise to a 2016 court victory that nullified China’s claims in most of the South China Sea, its top diplomat said. “The award is non-negotiable,” Philippine Foreign Affairs Secretary Teodoro Locsin said in a statement… Read More ›
China raises flood alert to second highest level
China raised its flood response alert on Sunday to the second highest level as heavy rain battered regions along the Yangtze River, with the eastern provinces of Jiangsu and Jiangxi among the worst hit, state media reported. Flooding in the… Read More ›
Meet China’s Type 055: Beijing’s very own Zumwalt Stealth Destroyer?
The Chinese People’s Liberation Army Navy is preparing to deploy a new, stealthy, heavily armed high-tech class of Type 055 destroyer intended to offer sea attack, air defenses and wartime support to carriers to carriers and amphibs at war on… Read More ›
Trump is a bigot and a hypocrite, but he’s right to condemn China
Donald Trump taints everything he touches. If he supports a cause, he damages it. If he takes a stance, the instinct of most self-respecting liberals is to rush to the opposing side. So when Trump rails against China, a favourite… Read More ›
FBI director says China’s economic espionage threatens free societies
America’s top law enforcement official is warning of the risks to free societies posed by the Chinese Communist Party’s espionage. This theft poses the greatest long-term threat to U.S. economic and national security, he says. In remarks to a Washington… Read More ›
China reverts to its dirty coal ways
Coal-fired power plants that belch pollution and contribute to global warming were supposed to be phased out in a more environmentally sensitive China. In recent years, Chinese officials have spun and won applause for new clean environment narratives at various… Read More ›
China now claims Bhutan’s territory, Bhutan rejects Chinese claims
In yet another new move to claim land in Bhutan, China at the 58th meeting of the Global Environment Facility Council tried to “oppose” funding to a project for the Sakteng Wildlife Sanctuary situated in Bhutan saying that it was… Read More ›
Pyongyang helping Beijing strengthen ties with Seoul
North Korea kept its promise to dismantle its nuclear facilities but still the US refused to lift the economic sanctions. What was worse was that Washington did not allow Seoul to engage in normal trade with Pyongyang within the Korean… Read More ›
Australians at risk of arbitrary arrest in China, Australian government travel advice warns
The Federal Government has issued new travel advice warning Australians they could face “arbitrary detention” if they go to mainland China. The Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade also said Chinese Government authorities have detained foreigners because they were allegedly… Read More ›
Cadence Column: Asia, July 6, 2020
It’s official. China has broken the treaty that allows Hong Kong to be Chinese. The last time Britain accused China of breaking treaty, the Royal Navy opened fire on the Taiwan city of Tainan in 1858. The time before that… Read More ›
The bubonic plague is back again in China’s Inner Mongolia
Authorities in the Chinese region of Inner Mongolia are on high alert after a suspected case of bubonic plague, the disease that caused the Black Death pandemic, was reported Sunday. The case was discovered in the city of Bayannur, located… Read More ›
U.S. operations in the South China Sea show that Washington is ‘not backing down’
The U.S. Navy exercise in the disputed South China Sea over the weekend was about “showing the flag” and sending a message to the region, an expert told CNBC this week. Two U.S. aircraft carriers conducted operations and exercises in… Read More ›
The world is finally uniting against China’s bully tactics
Twenty Indian soldiers are murdered in a surprise cross-border attack by the People’s Liberation Army. A Philippine fishing boat is sunk in its own territorial waters by increasingly predatory Chinese ships. Peaceful pro-democracy demonstrators in Hong Kong are beaten bloody… Read More ›
Hong Kong man accused of terrorism in first use of China’s new security law
A man carrying a “Liberate Hong Kong” sign as he drove a motorcycle into police at a protest against the territory’s Chinese rulers became on Friday the first person charged with inciting separatism and terrorism under a new security law… Read More ›
DHL temporarily suspends Chinese import shipments to India
German logistics company DHL said on Wednesday it had temporarily suspended picking up import shipments from China to India, after border tensions between the countries led to clearance delays. Another prominent freight transporter FedEx Corp has also suspended shipments, according… Read More ›
President Trump has tools to pressure China. Will he use them?
Much of the focus on China in recent months has been over the coronavirus that originated there late last year. But that has hardly slowed Beijing’s assault on fundamental freedoms and human rights, from the brutal repression of the Uighurs… Read More ›
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