Month: November 2021

Are African Governments Expecting Too Much From FOCAC?

Chin@Strategy

Advertisement On November 29, the eighth Ministerial Meeting of the Forum on China-Africa Cooperation (FOCAC) commenced in the Senegalese capital of Dakar. In recent remarks, Wu Peng, the director general of the Department of African Affairs of China’s Ministry for Foreign Affairs, signaled that agricultural cooperation, including increased agricultural investment in Africa and increased agricultural trade, will be a central topic of negotiation in Dakar’s conference rooms. This is to be expected – the sector is the backbone for 60 percent of African economic activities. However, it is not a…

China’s Subnational Influence at Work in the New York State Legislature

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Advertisement The Chinese government has a history of leveraging long-established “friendships” with actors at the subnational level to promote and advance its strategic interests. In recent years under President Xi Jinping’s leadership, this appears to have intensified. Countries around the world have raised concerns, with Australia (where the state of Victoria signed a Memorandum of Understanding with Beijing in 2018 to cooperate on the Belt and Road Initiative, with the MoU later cancelled by the federal government), the Solomon Islands (where the Central Province secretly signed a “strategic cooperation agreement”…

Taiwan hopes for ‘robust and close relations’ with Baltic states, Tsai Ing-wen tells visiting lawmakers

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The Baltic lawmakers, including six from Lithuania, arrived in Taiwan on Sunday for the eight-day visit. The delegation is being led by Matas Maldeikis, head of the Lithuanian parliament’s Taiwan Friendship Group, and they will attend a legislative forum in Taipei on Thursday and Friday. President Tsai Ing-wen greets the group of lawmakers from Lithuania, Latvia and Estonia. Photo: Reuters Taiwan does not have diplomatic relations with Europe, except for the Vatican. Beijing – which sees Taiwan as part of its territory, to be brought under its control by force…

Disney+ channel launches in Hong Kong, without the Simpsons Tiananmen Square episode

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An episode of the Simpsons in which the cartoon American family visit Tiananmen Square is absent from Disney’s streaming channel in Hong Kong, at a time when authorities are clamping down on dissent. The missing episode adds to concerns that mainland-style censorship is becoming the norm in the international business hub, ensnaring global streaming giants and other major tech companies. The Hong Kong version of Disney+ started streaming this month and customers soon noticed that an episode of the Simpsons featuring China was absent. Episode 12 of season 16, which…

As U.S. Hunts for Chinese Spies, University Scientists Warn of Backlash

Chin@Strategy

That fear comes as China has started to experience a reverse brain drain. Over the last decade, a growing number of Chinese scientists have been lured back to the country by the promise of ample funding, impressive titles and national pride. More recently, scientists returning to China have cited a hostile environment in the United States as a factor. Westlake University, a research university in the eastern Chinese city of Hangzhou, has recruited an impressive roster of talent, including many who once held faculty positions at top American schools. In…

As China Speeds Up Nuclear Arms Race, the U.S. Wants to Talk

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That appeared to be at the core of Mr. Sullivan’s first concern: establishing lines of communication between the two militaries, of the kind the United States and Russia have had for decades. (He avoided the use of the word “nuclear” in his talk, a reflection of how space, cyberweapons and other high technologies need to be part of the conversation, Mr. Biden’s senior aides say.) On Capitol Hill, the conversation so far is largely about matching the Chinese investment, rather than rethinking the nature of the arms race. “I’m very…

The Guardian view of US foreign policy: the case for democratic dominance | Editorial

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Joe Biden’s foreign policy doctrine views the future relationship between democracies and authoritarian regimes as a competitive one, accompanied by a battle of narratives. Nondemocratic regimes have become brazen in their repression and many democratic governments have regressed by adopting their tactics of restricting free speech and weakening the rule of law. The US, under Donald Trump, was not immune to such trends. One European thinktank warned last week that there remains a risk that the US could slip into authoritarianism. The Biden administration has announced the first of two…

Bee aware: do you know what is in that cheap jar of honey?

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British beekeepers are calling for a requirement on supermarkets and other retailers to label cheap honey imports from China and other nations with the country of origin after claims that part of the global supply is bulked out with sugar syrup. The UK is the world’s biggest importer of Chinese honey, which can be one sixth of the price of the honey produced by bees in Britain. Supermarket own-label honey from China can be bought for as little as 69p a jar. Supermarkets say every jar of honey is “100%…

The W.H.O. Skips Forward Two Greek Letters, Avoiding a Xi Variant

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When the World Health Organization began to name the emerging variants of the coronavirus, officials turned to the Greek alphabet to make it easier for the public to understand the evolution: Alpha, Beta, Gamma, Delta and so on. Now the alphabet has created its own political headache. When it came time to name the potentially dangerous new variant that has emerged in southern Africa, the next letter in alphabetical order was Nu, which officials thought would be too easily confused with “new.” The letter after that was even more complicated:…