A great fire destroyed Rome for six days in the summer of AD 64. Famous Roman historian of that time, Tacitus, recorded that 70 percent of the city was destroyed and half of the city’s residents were displaced. Roman ruler… Read More ›
Xi Jinping
In Beijing’s BRICS summit, Putin is back on the world stage
When Russian President Vladimir Putin dials into the virtual BRICS summit hosted by Beijing on Thursday, it will be his first time attending a forum with the heads of major economies since launching an invasion of Ukraine earlier this year…. Read More ›
Xi’s re-election: Opportunity for the world, curse for China
China is gearing up for the 20th National Congress of the Chinese Communist Party to be held later this year. According to the consensus view, President Xi Jinping’s historic bid for a third term as the party’s General Secretary is assured. The Chinese… Read More ›
China – Autocracy and decoupling technical tests
We have noticed that the embrace with China had become suffocating in the last twenty years. The West universe of consumers and China the factory of the world. We started with modest and low value-added materials and products, to refine… Read More ›
The worse things go for Putin in Ukraine, the more China will back him
China has tried to have it both ways since Russia invaded Ukraine a month ago. It abstained from key votes at the United Nations criticizing Russia’s actions, avoided directly labeling President Vladimir Putin’s assault on Ukraine an “invasion,” amplified Russian… Read More ›
Should India be worried about Russia-China bonhomie ?
Many analysts in the neighborhood of China show anxiety over the Russia-China bonhomie. Their concerns are valid, but the reasons are not. All these countries need not worry but rather be vigilant so that the fast-changing geopolitical vista doesn’t spring… Read More ›
Success or failure, Beijing Winter Olympics is bad news for the world
Fourteen years ago, China conducted the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing. The games were a success, and the biggest beneficiary was Xi Jinping. He was Vice President of China and competing for the presidency with present Premier Li Keqiang. The… Read More ›
Russia and China’s plans for a new world order
The western alliance has threatened the Kremlin with “massive” and “unprecedented” sanctions if Russia attacks Ukraine. But, as the Ukraine crisis reaches boiling point, western efforts to isolate and punish Russia are likely to be undermined by the support of… Read More ›
How China is trying to turn the U.S. against itself
As Congress advances a set of bills to protect against Beijing’s efforts to subvert American democracy, China is using our system of government to block and tackle. On November 12, Reuters reported that Chinese officials have been pressuring American companies,… Read More ›
Chinese geo-strategic expansion in the Levant: A case study of Lebanon
As soon as the People’s Republic of China was established in 1949, China and the Middle East faced a series of challenges. In recent years, China’s influence in the region has expanded due to its economic interests in energy, trade,… Read More ›
Biden and Xi move back from the brink
The three-and-half-hour virtual summit meeting between President Joe Biden and Chinese President Xi Jinping did not, and could not, solve the fundamental problems that have driven the two great powers toward confrontation. But both men clearly wanted to challenge the… Read More ›
Xi Jinping’s Terrifying New China
China’s social media was briefly aflutter this fall about an impressive feat in the popular online fantasy game Honor of Kings. A player had completed a “pentakill,” or five kills in a row, but something just smelled wrong: The user… Read More ›
China’s Xi Jinping a danger to American business
China’s rapid changes will impact many American businesses. Companies in the states import many products from China, and China is the third-largest market for U.S. exports. Financial investments also flow in both directions between the two countries. Changes in the… Read More ›
Xi Jinping’s effort to return to socialism
For decades life in China had evolved around its home-grown version of let-it-rip capitalism. Despite being technically a “communist” country, the government had put its faith in trickle-down economics, believing that allowing some people to become extremely rich would benefit… Read More ›
China on the cusp of a ‘profound transformation’
An ideological split between Chinese President Xi Jinping and the country’s business and cultural elite has come to the fore after a hardline commentary by a known Maoist supporter received official blessing in state media. The widely distributed commentary, laden… Read More ›
Chinese president vows to ‘adjust excessive incomes’ of super rich
China’s president has vowed to “adjust excessive incomes” in a warning to the country’s super-rich that the state plans to redistribute wealth to tackle widening inequality. According to reports in state media, Xi Jinping told officials at a meeting of… Read More ›
Xi’s dictatorship threatens the Chinese state
Xi Jinping, the ruler of China, suffers from several internal inconsistencies which greatly reduce the cohesion and effectiveness of his leadership. There is a conflict between his beliefs and his actions and between his public declarations of wanting to make… Read More ›
Why did Biden’s contain-China G7 dream burst so fast?
President Macron and Chancellor Merkel jointly held a direct talk with President Xi via video conferencing on July 5 Monday, merely four weeks after the release of the G7 communique (VOA 2021 June 13). As regards the two European leaders’… Read More ›
Chinese Communist Party: 100 Years, 10 Big Lies
Could anyone imagine that the Chinese Communist Party’s (CCP) founder Mao Zedong forgot that the first party congress was held on 23 July 1921 in Shanghai? Somehow, 1st July was later designated as the “anniversary of foundation”. Last few days… Read More ›
Nearly 90% in U.S. see China as ‘competitor’ or ‘enemy,’ survey finds
Nearly 9 in 10 U.S. adults see China as a “competitor” or an “enemy” rather than a “partner,” a new survey has found, shedding light on shifting American views of the Asian behemoth. The Pew Research Center survey released Thursday — the first focusing… Read More ›
Biden Brings Human Rights, Military Threats to Fore in Phone Call With Xi Jinping
U.S. President Joe Biden has criticized China’s human rights violations and military aggression against the democratic island of Taiwan, in his first phone call with Chinese leader Xi Jinping ahead of the Lunar New Year celebrations on Thursday. While the phone… Read More ›
Major blow for Biden as French president shatters US alliance dream: EU cosies up to China
Emmanuel Macron has warned new US President Joe Biden he cannot rely on the support of the European Union when it comes to China in an indication that the bloc is ready to cosy up to Beijing. Mr Biden, who… Read More ›
China uses climate change to threaten Joe Biden administration
During his campaign, Biden reiterated his intention to work with Beijing on matters of common interest, such as addressing global warming and the proliferation of nuclear arms, while at the same time confronting its “abusive behavior” in other realms. The… Read More ›
How will Biden deal with China?
Back in 2008, when Joe Biden was on the campaign trail running for vice president, the Democratic senator from Delaware once told fundraisers that the world will “test the mettle” of Barack Obama. Now that Biden has been inaugurated as… Read More ›
Biden administration urges China to toughen it climate targets
Gina McCarthy, the White House’s national climate adviser, did not say what policies would be released. A memo seen by Reuters on Thursday showed Biden will unveil a second round of executive orders as soon as Jan 27 that include an… Read More ›
EU-China pact sparks concern over labor standards, human rights
A major investment pact between China and the European Union, which wrapped up negotiations on the deal this week, has sparked concerns that it will give the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) a free pass on human rights and labor standards,… Read More ›
Claim: China’s Covid-19 recovery is not green enough
In September, the Chinese province of Hubei – where the first outbreak of Covid-19 occurred – announced 90 billion yuan (about US$14 billion) of investment in the coal, electricity, oil and gas sectors over the next three years. Provincial bosses described… Read More ›
America needs Joe Biden to face the grim facts about China
Joe Biden’s not in the White House yet, but Beijing is already targeting his circle — even those close to them. Let’s hope that pushes the next president to rethink his out-of-date approach to the Communist colossus. China plays a… Read More ›
U.S.-China relations haven’t been this toxic since Vietnam
U.S.-China relations have been on a generally downward trajectory since it became apparent during the later Obama years that America’s longstanding policy of diplomatic and economic engagement had failed to bring China around to embrace democratic institutions or accept the… Read More ›
Biden likely won’t reverse Trump’s trade war against China
President Trump’s slash-and-burn rhetoric against China may have brought few lasting economic benefits so far, but it has succeeded in one fundamental way: No administration can now afford to play nice with the United States’ biggest rival. Trump made hostility… Read More ›
Why Trump will blame China for a Biden victory
President Donald Trump’s false claims of voter fraud and conspiracies against him are dominating right-wing media as his supporters attempt to come to terms with an almost certain election defeat. But while the president and his fans are struggling to… Read More ›
Xi Jinping’s Napolean moment – beginning of the end for China
Napoleon Bonaparte (1769-1821), was a French military leader and emperor. Napoleon rose through the ranks of the military during the French Revolution (1789-1799) at a very rapid rate. He seized political power in France in a 1799 coup d’état and… Read More ›
China and Russia: An alliance of convenience or trust?
After years of rivalry and mutual suspicion, the China-Russia relationship has been ameliorated by strong economic, military, and political ties. In 1969, limited but intense clashes between the USSR and China mushroomed the hostility and mistrust till the mid-1980s. It… Read More ›
China’s Communist Party is a threat to the world, says former elite insider
Cai Xia is no stranger to defying expectations. During her years at the Chinese Communist Party’s top training center and think tank, the outspoken professor had surprised many with her liberal ideas and support for democratic reform. More recently, she… Read More ›
US president’s ultimate challenge: stable relations with China
How to handle China and how to maintain America’s position ahead of its economic rival in the global pecking order is a major issue in the 2020 US presidential election. Both candidates – the incumbent Republican Donald Trump and the… Read More ›
2025 End Game – Xi’s China is mirroring Nazi Germany
This is a chronological presentation of the events that led to World War II. It would be incredible to note that there are uncanny similarities between those events, and the events presently taking place in and around China. Our assessment… 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 ›
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 ›
Cadence Column: Asia, June 8, 2020
If China thinks that the poll numbers looking low or that the unrest in America means the Xi doctrine has a widening path on the road ahead, they should think again. But, being Confucian Communist, that’s hard. Trump actually may… Read More ›
Angela Merkel urges Chinese transparency over coronavirus
German Chancellor Angela Merkel on Monday joined a growing chorus of countries demanding China tell the truth about the origins of the coronavirus outbreak. Speaking to reporters in Berlin, Merkel called for the Communist Chinese government to be as transparent… Read More ›
Caught in a superpower struggle: the inside story of the WHO’s response to coronavirus
When a pandemic strikes, the world’s leading experts convene – physically or virtually – in a hi-tech chamber in the basement of the Geneva headquarters of the World Health Organization. It is called the “strategic health operations centre”, or SHOC,… Read More ›
After 70 years of ties, China and Indonesia have a fruitful, complicated relationship
Freelance writer Sylvie Tanaga, 33, has been learning Mandarin since she was a little girl – but her first lessons were held secretly in a church in Bandung, as Indonesias second president, Suharto, had for decades banned Chinese Indonesians from… Read More ›
Cadence Column: Asia, April 6, 2020
The pneumoniavirus is having a detrimental effect on China. While Xi Jinping kicks China’s economy into full swing, the rest of the world is on full alert. Manufacturing moves home—whether to or from China. Countries seek alternate supply sourcing. Taiwan… Read More ›
Coronavirus drives the U.S. and China deeper Into global power struggle
Many experts warn that an international health and economic crisis calls for more cooperation, not confrontation, between Washington and Beijing. When President Trump took the podium at the White House briefing room one afternoon last week, his prepared remarks included… Read More ›
Photo shows “corona” crossed out and replaced with “Chinese” in Trump’s briefing notes
President Trump’s notes from Thursday’s coronavirus briefing show someone crossed out the word “Corona” in coronavirus and replaced it with the word “Chinese.” This picture captured by Washington Post Photographer Jabin Botsford, comes as Trump has stepped up his efforts to scapegoat China for… Read More ›
Coronavirus outbreak tests China’s president Xi Jinping
Xi Jinping is surely having the worst 2020 of any major international leader to date. Much of this can be put down to the knock-on effects of the COVID-19 outbreak in the city of Wuhan and Xi’s belated attempts to… Read More ›
Cadence Column: Asia, March 2, 2020
Wuhan 2019-nCoV will not end the world. But, it is throwing the world into panic. The long-time NIAID director steps out of lock with the president and gives a sobering warning about how viruses actually spread. Bad as the truth… Read More ›
Cadence Column: Asia, February 17, 2020
The 2019-nCoV Wuhan virus isn’t doing any good for Xi Jinping’s public trust. Dissidents inside China are silenced and their social media accounts scrubbed. Joshua Wong issues a call to arms from Hong Kong. Taiwan closes its border and plans… Read More ›
China says Xi Jinping is directing its Wuhan coronavirus response, but he’s nowhere to be seen
Since he first intervened in the Wuhan coronavirus crisis in late January, ordering “all-out efforts” to contain its spread, Chinese President Xi Jinping has been personally directing the country’s response. At least, that’s what state media has been repeatedly emphasizing… Read More ›
Rulers for life? How Russia’s Putin and China’s Xi are posing a challenge to the West
Russia’s Vladimir Putin and China’s Xi Jinping have established themselves as the world’s most powerful authoritarian leaders in decades. Now it looks like they want to hang on to those roles indefinitely. Putin’s sudden announcement this week of constitutional changes… Read More ›
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