More than two years after China imposed the world’s first Covid-19 lockdown, in response to the virus’s emergence in Wuhan, tens of millions are stuck at home once more. With cases at their highest since early 2020, the leadership is wedded to its zero-Covid strategy. For much of the pandemic, it allowed most people to live without restrictions within the country’s borders, and it certainly saved countless lives. Officially, mainland China’s death toll has remained under 5,000, despite a population of more than 1.3 billion; the UK, with 67 million…
Day: March 29, 2022
Solomon Islands’ Leader Calls Concern Over China Security Deal ‘Insulting’
MELBOURNE, Australia — In a fiery speech confirming that the Solomon Islands has drafted a security agreement with China, the island nation’s leader said on Tuesday that the deal was “ready for signing” and criticized as “insulting” concerns from Australia and New Zealand that the pact could destabilize the region’s security. Prime Minister Manasseh Sogavare’s remarks to Parliament marked the first time he had addressed the leak last week of a draft of the security agreement. The draft — which was shared by opponents of the deal and verified as…
Europe and China at a Crossroads
Advertisement As both sides prepare for the virtual China-EU summit on April 1, China-EU relations have reached an unprecedented stalemate. Reactions to the war in Ukraine and perceptions about the ensuing political crisis differ widely. Although the war is a major concern for Chinese diplomacy, and President Xi Jinping pointed out that “China does not want to see the situation in Ukraine to come to this,” Chinese and European assessments of the situation mostly lie worlds apart. The understanding of the war’s root causes, the assessment of implications, risks, or…
Shanghai’s Lockdown Tests Covid-Zero Policy, and People’s Limits
Even before Shanghai imposed a lockdown to curb a rapidly spreading Covid outbreak, life for many in China’s wealthiest city had been upended by the virus — and the government’s response. Residents raced to hoard groceries in case they were ordered to stay home. Some protested at the gates of housing complexes that were locked with little notice. Others, sent to government isolation facilities, were forced to sleep on the floor because of a shortage of beds. For still others, the city’s Covid-19 restrictions have had life-threatening implications. Some residents…
‘Utter nonsense’: Solomon Islands PM says China is not a threat to regional stability – video
Solomon Islands prime minister Manasseh Sogavare has dismissed foreign criticism of the country’s security negotiations with China as ‘insulting’ and called those who leaked the draft agreement ‘lunatics’, in his first comments to parliament on the proposed treaty. ‘We find it very insulting, Mr Speaker, to be branded as unfit to manage our sovereign affairs,’ Sogavare said ► Subscribe to Guardian Australia on YouTube The Guardian