Month: April 2021

Apr 8th 2021 CHINA’S LEADERS are trying to reinvent how great powers operate in the Middle East. They have busied themselves in recent years signing trade deals and co-operation agreements with regional powers that are, most of the time, rivals or foes of each other. China talks of its warm ties with Israel and Palestine, and has invited both to send envoys to Beijing for peace talks. In the Middle East, a region where trust is hard to find, China is hailed as a reliable supplier of covid-19 vaccines and…

Apr 8th 2021 LEYUN VILLAGE EVERY SPRING, the Qingming festival brings families together for displays of respect and sorrow at the burial sites of their deceased relatives. Some travel a long way to reunite over the three-day holiday, which ended on April 5th. Among them this year were the Zhaos of Leyun, a village in the lush Daba mountains of Sichuan province in the south-west. For migrant parents like them, there are living relationships that cause quiet grief, too. When their daughter, Lin, was just one month old the couple…

Apr 3rd 2021 BEIJING WEEKS AFTER a team of experts from China and the World Health Organisation (WHO) conducted a joint inquiry into the origins of covid-19, their report, released on March 30th, gave no clear verdict. It said the most probable explanation was that the virus had jumped from animals to humans through an intermediate animal host. But the scientific search for a definitive answer will remain challenging because of geopolitical tensions and China’s attempts at obfuscation. Listen to this story Your browser does not support the <audio> element.…