Day: March 18, 2022

In Rare Rebuke, Chinese Denounce Russia’s War in Ukraine

Chin@Strategy

When Hu Wei, a politically well-connected scholar in Shanghai, warned that China risked becoming a pariah if it didn’t denounce Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, he ignited a war of words on China’s internet. Some readers praised Mr. Hu’s article, which spread online last week, seeing its gloomy prognosis about China becoming isolated behind a new Iron Curtain of hostility from Western countries as a welcome challenge to official Chinese soft-pedaling of President Vladimir V. Putin’s aggression. Many others denounced him as a stooge of Washington, unduly critical of Russia’s war…

Omicron is changing China’s covid strategy

Chin@Strategy

Mar 19th 2022 FOR MOST of the covid-19 pandemic, a bargain based on tough love has bonded China’s rulers and people. Leaders have imposed tight controls on an unlucky minority—meaning anyone hapless enough to cross paths or live near someone with covid, or even to be a close contact of these close contacts. Such unfortunates face being quarantined for days or weeks. Right now mainland China is enduring its first big outbreak of the Omicron variant, and the ranks of the unlucky have grown rapidly. At least 40m people are…

Biden Warns China

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Good evening. This is your Russia-Ukraine War Briefing, a weeknight guide to the latest news and analysis about the conflict. Bidens warns China: Don’t help Russia During a two-hour video call today, President Biden told Xi Jinping, China’s leader, that there would be “consequences” if China provided aid to Russia for its war in Ukraine. U.S. intelligence agencies have said that Russia has already requested military and economic aid from Beijing. Biden “described the implications and consequences if China provides material support to Russia as it conducts brutal attacks against…

Confusion and Chaos in Hong Kong as Leaders Fumble Virus Response

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HONG KONG — From week to week as infections barreled through the city, residents in Hong Kong watched the government’s coronavirus policies change. First, officials said they didn’t have plans for social distancing in January, then promptly shut down bars and gyms and banned flights from eight countries. In February, the officials vowed to test every resident, then appeared to abandon those plans this month. And on Thursday, public beaches were closed just three days after Carrie Lam, the city’s leader, raised the possibility of relaxing Covid-19 restrictions. As Hong…

China Weighs Exit From ‘Zero COVID’ and the Risks Involved

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Advertisement Even as authorities lock down cities in China’s worst outbreak in two years, they are looking for an exit from what has been a successful but onerous COVID-19 prevention strategy. A study, interviews with Chinese public health staff, and recent public messaging by government-affiliated experts indicate that China is exploring ways of slowly easing its zero-tolerance approach — with the emphasis on slowly. The latest sign came Monday in an essay published by Zhang Wenhong, an infectious disease specialist who is part of Shanghai’s COVID-19 response team and known…

Russia-Ukraine war: what we know on day 23 of the invasion

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Russia’s bombardment in the east of Ukraine continued on Friday. In the streets of Mariupol, where 350,000 civilians have been stranded with little food or water, Russia’s armed forces were “tightening the noose” around the city, a spokesperson for the Russian defence ministry said. In the eastern city of Kharkiv, Ukraine’s state emergency service said a multistorey teaching building had been shelled on Friday morning, killing one person, wounding 11 and trapping one other in the rubble. The Guardian

China Continues to Underdeliver in Its Plans to Combat the Low Birth Rate

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Advertisement In 2021, China reported a new low in the number of newborn babies: 10.61 million. According to figures from the Chinese National Statistics Bureau, China continues to face a decreasing trend in births due to social changes, increasing costs of childcare and education, and an aging population. The low number of newborns further diminished the net population growth in China, with the country reporting only a 480,000 net growth in 2021. It was the fifth consecutive year for China to see a decreasing birth rate, despite abolishing its long-standing…

The Global Race to Mine the Metal of the Future

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Dionne Searcey contributed reporting. The Daily is made by Lisa Tobin, Rachel Quester, Lynsea Garrison, Clare Toeniskoetter, Paige Cowett, Michael Simon Johnson, Brad Fisher, Larissa Anderson, Chris Wood, Jessica Cheung, Stella Tan, Alexandra Leigh Young, Lisa Chow, Eric Krupke, Marc Georges, Luke Vander Ploeg, M.J. Davis Lin, Dan Powell, Dave Shaw, Sydney Harper, Robert Jimison, Mike Benoist, Liz O. Baylen, Asthaa Chaturvedi, Kaitlin Roberts, Rachelle Bonja, Diana Nguyen, Marion Lozano, Corey Schreppel, Anita Badejo, Rob Szypko, Elisheba Ittoop, Chelsea Daniel, Mooj Zadie, Patricia Willens, Rowan Niemisto, Jody Becker, Rikki Novetsky…

China’s decisive turning point: will it side with Russia and divide the world?

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Joe Biden is due to make a phone call to Xi Jinping on Friday at a potential tipping point in China’s role in the world as it decides how far to go in backing Russia’s war on Ukraine. While China has abstained on United Nations security council resolutions on the invasion, it has sided with Moscow rhetorically, echoing Russian talking points blaming Nato, and recycling conspiracy theories, and the Biden administration believes it has already decided to bail Russia out economically. At a meeting in Rome on Monday between the…