China has signalled its willingness to play a mediator role in the conflict between Russia and Ukraine as the war entered its sixth day. In his first phone call with his Ukrainian counterpart, Dmytro Kuleba, since the outbreak of the war, China’s foreign minister, Wang Yi, said on Tuesday that Beijing “laments” the outbreak of the conflict and is “extremely concerned” about the harm to civilians, according to a Chinese readout. State-owned China Central Television said Kuleba asked China to use its influence to help mediate in its conflict with…
Day: March 1, 2022
The Russia-Ukraine War Will Further Fray China-Europe Relations
Advertisement Despite being forewarned, many were still shocked when Russian moved its troops into Ukraine. Although it is difficult to foresee how it will end, this ongoing war will undoubtedly generate far-reaching consequences for the global political landscape and the relations between great powers. China-Europe relations are no exception. There is little doubt that neither Europe nor China wants to see the war happening. The EU and some of its members, particularly France and Germany, strained every nerve to seek diplomatic solutions for the crisis. French President Emmanuel Macron, German…
War in Ukraine Hits Home for Taiwanese
TAIPEI, Taiwan — Since Russia invaded Ukraine, Justin Huang, a 23-year-old recent university graduate in Taiwan, has been gripped by news of the crisis, just like many other people around the world. He has pored over reports about Ukrainians signing up for the military and scrutinized video footage of Russian missiles hitting residential buildings. He has been deeply disturbed by Russia’s brazen disregard for global norms. But for Mr. Huang and many Taiwanese, Russia’s assault is hitting especially close to home. The self-governed island democracy has long faced the threat…
How Nixon’s visit to China 50 years ago changed the world forever
1950s Hostility between China and the US The United States believed that China was an aggressive, expansionist power that threatened the security of its noncommunist neighbours. In fact, the two nations had been enemies in conflicts. During the early 1950s, China and the US were involved in both the Vietnam war and the Korean war. China-US face-to-face meetings Within weeks after diplomatic ties were normalised between Beijing and Washington in 1979 – China’s Deng Xiaoping, as the paramount leader of the country, made his historic state visit to the United…
Could Putin be exploring cryptocurrencies to bypass western sanctions?
As many people do when discussing the complex world of cryptocurrencies, Vladimir Putin kept it simple: “Of course, we also have certain competitive advantages here, especially in the so-called mining.” After events this weekend, when Russia was hit by severe financial sanctions, the Russian president might be considering capitalising on those advantages. Putin was speaking in January, days after the country’s central bank proposed a blanket ban on cryptocurrency trading and mining. In the case of bitcoin, the cornerstone cryptocurrency, mining is the energy-intensive process by which computers verify new…
‘Chained Woman’ Spurs Social Media Movement in China
The Chinese government faces a quandary: how to convince its people that what it said about a chained woman is true. Since a short video of the woman chained in a doorless shack went viral in late January, the Chinese public has taken the matter into its own hands to find out who she is, whether she is a victim of human trafficking and why the apparently mentally ill woman had eight children. The public thought it couldn’t trust a government that was not truthful about her identity and that…