The US has imposed sanctions on Chinese painkiller makers – including one man described as the biggest producer of anabolic steroids in the world – as it vowed to step up action to curb the addiction epidemic that killed a record 100,000 Americans last year. With people who are dealing with addiction increasingly turning to cheaper pills bought online from abroad, Joe Biden signed an executive order that makes it easier for the US to target foreign drug traffickers. The actions “will help disrupt the global supply chain and the…
Month: December 2021
Biden’s China Dilemma: How to Enforce Trump’s Trade Deal
“I want the farmers to come tell me, ‘Sir, we can’t produce that much,’” he added. When Mr. Trump signed the trade deal with China in January 2020, those estimates became enshrined as the word of the U.S. government. And though Mr. Biden and his deputies have criticized the trade deal for failing to address many of the most pressing trade issues that the United States has with China, they have since promised to uphold it. In a call last month with President Xi Jinping of China, President Biden underscored…
Will Germany Depart from the Merkel Model on China? Beijing Will Have a Say.
Advertisement Germany’s new coalition government “dares more progress,” promising a set of relatively progressive social, economic, and electoral policies for their country through 2025. Analysts are split on implications for German China policy, but those arguing the Merkel model will persist overlook a key driver of souring sentiment: China’s own behavior. Chancellor Olaf Scholz and his cabinet appear to disagree about the trajectory of German China policy. The battle will be between a status quo, Merkel-like approach of prioritizing economic cooperation and limiting public discussion of democratic values, in the…
Putin and Xi Hold Video Summit
MOSCOW — President Biden may have his alliance of democracies, but Russia and China still have each other. Xi Jinping addressed Vladimir V. Putin as his “old friend,” and the Russian president called his Chinese counterpart both his “dear friend” and his “honorable friend,” as the two leaders held a video summit on Wednesday — a display of solidarity in the face of Western pressure over Ukraine, Taiwan and many other matters. In footage of opening remarks released by the Kremlin, Mr. Putin said he would attend the opening ceremony…
China housing market slumps again as another developer runs into trouble
China’s giant housing market has continued to decline in the past month and another major developer showed signs of financial distress as state-owned enterprises began carving up the carcass of the failing property giant Evergrande. House prices, sales, investment and construction data released on Wednesday all showed renewed signs of the crisis in the market, which accounts up to 30% of the country’s output and which appears certain to drag on the world’s second biggest economy. It comes a day after shares in one of China’s largest developers, Shimao Group,…
Lithuania evacuates its embassy in China
Dec 15th 2021 BEIJING ONE OF THE Chinese government’s favourite pieties is to warn Western democracies against starting a new cold war. A peaceful world needs more “win-win” co-operation, intone Communist Party officials, not more ideological cliques. This winter those words ring hollow in Beijing’s embassy districts. On the diplomatic frontline, it is China that appears to have launched an undeclared cold war. It seems confident of winning. An early skirmish took place on December 15th, when the small Baltic republic of Lithuania withdrew all its diplomats and their dependants…
Cyber review warns UK and west in ‘clash of values’ with Russia and China
Britain and the west are becoming embroiled in a “clash of values” with Russia and China over the rules governing the internet, ministers and spy chiefs have warned in the UK’s first national cyber review published since 2016. Threats to the UK in cyberspace are “evolving and diversifying” they added, and argued that Britain has to improve its offensive cyber capabilities – and its wider digital skills base – to meet the challenge. “Cyberspace will become more contested as state and non-state actors seek strategic advantage,” the review said, with…
Blinken, in Indonesia, Stresses Soft Power to Counter China
JAKARTA, Indonesia — Downplaying direct confrontation between the United States and China, Secretary of State Antony J. Blinken on Tuesday pledged to strengthen relations with Indo-Pacific nations through billions of dollars in American investment and aid and, in doing so, counter Beijing’s regional pull. That soft-power pitch was delivered at Universitas Indonesia in Jakarta, the country’s capital, and continued with a series of agreements on maritime cooperation and education and Peace Corps exchanges. The university was also the site of a speech nearly 60 years ago by Robert F. Kennedy,…
Covid live: France confirms 130 Omicron cases; South Korea has deadliest day of pandemic
At the Commons science committee, Dr Angelique Coetzee, chair of the South African Medical Association has accused the UK of a “knee jerk response” in bringing in a travel ban within 24 hours of Omicron being announced in South Africa last month. It would have been better to get people to wear masks, socially distance and keep away from large gatherings, she added. While proof of vaccination or a negative lateral flow test for certain events could help reduce the spread of the virus, Dr Coetzee said lockdowns were too…
Chloe Kim Is Grown Up and Ready for the Olympic Spotlight
She repeated the words of the Instagram insult. She would not say who wrote them. “It’s definitely one of those things that I wish I didn’t see, but I’m also grateful,” Kim said. “If I didn’t see it, I would have been, like, ‘Oh, cool, we’re still all good.’ It’s helpful for me to know. It definitely made me put my guard up a little more, which I think is OK. You can’t trust anyone.” ‘Chloe time’ The front entry of Kim’s new house was a pileup of shoes, mostly…