Advertisement Amid Europe’s worst military crisis in decades, countries around the world faced mounting pressure to choose sides between Russia and Ukraine. China, in particular, has faced outspoken criticism from Western officials and foreign policy commentators, who see Beijing as openly supporting Russia. China has meticulously shunned any provocative language, mostly repeating Russian official statements. It also blamed the United States and NATO for mishandling Russian security concerns, “fuelling the flame” of conflict, and denounced Western sanctions as damaging for the global economy. Chinese social media seemed less timid, with…
Month: March 2022
Is the EU-China Investment Agreement Dead?
Advertisement “We know we are in a complicated phase of relations with China,” European Union trade chief Valdis Dombrovskis said recently, referencing the upcoming April 1 virtual summit between Brussels and Beijing. The summit arrives at an inopportune and awkward time for both sides. Russia’s recent invasion of Ukraine and China’s reluctance to condemn it has caused the EU’s 27 member states to “rethink” their ties with Beijing within a “new global context.” As a result, ratification of the previously much-hailed EU-China Comprehensive Agreement on Investment (CAI) seems less certain…
China Continues ‘Severe and Complex’ Fight Against COVID-19
Advertisement China continues to battle its worst COVID-19 outbreak, driven by the Omicron variant, with health officials on Friday calling the situation “severe and complex.” The country has counted more than 56,000 cases since March 1, according to national health officials, who gave a press briefing Friday. More than half of those cases have been recorded in northeastern Jilin province and include asymptomatic cases as well. The numbers do not include Hong Kong, which tracks its COVID-19 data separately. China continues striving to “achieve dynamic zero-COVID in the short term,…
China Signals It’s Back to Business as Usual With Taliban Government
Advertisement Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi’s trip to South Asia has been full of surprises. After a planned visit to Pakistan to attend the Organization of Islamic Cooperation conclave as a guest, Wang made an unannounced stopover in Afghanistan, before heading to another unannounced stopover in India. From there, he will make his way to Nepal. Wang’s trip to India was unconfirmed until the last minute, but it was widely expected in the region. His visit to Kabul, by contrast, came as a surprise. China does not officially recognize the…
Australian journalist Chen Lei to face court in Beijing on Thursday, sources say
An Australian journalist will face court in Beijing next Thursday on state secrets charges, after being detained for more than 19 months, sources close to the case say. Cheng Lei, who worked as a television anchor for Chinese state media for a decade before being detained in 2020, was formally arrested a year ago on allegations of illegally supplying state secrets overseas. She will be tried in the Beijing No 2 People’s Intermediate Court at 9am next Thursday, Reuters confirmed with sources who did not want to be named because…
China and Solomon Islands Draft Secret Security Pact
SYDNEY, Australia — A leaked document has revealed that China and the Solomon Islands are close to signing a security agreement that could open the door to Chinese troops and naval warships flowing into a Pacific Island nation that played a pivotal role in World War II. The agreement, kept secret until now, was shared online Thursday night by opponents of the deal and verified as legitimate by the Australian government. Though it is marked as a draft and cites a need for “social order” as a justification for sending…
Frustration with Covid response grows in China as daily cases near 5,000
China reported almost 5,000 Covid-19 cases on Friday, as authorities continued to battle an outbreak of the highly transmissible Omicron variant across multiple provinces and as evidence of frustration among the population grew. After the death of a nurse in Shanghai who was denied hospitalisation after suffering an asthma attack, many are angry that China’s Covid responses appear to be causing more deaths than the virus itself. On Friday, health authorities reported 4,988 cases, with rising numbers of asymptomatic infections, which China records separately. There is growing concern in Shanghai,…
China’s Foreign Minister Makes Surprise Stop In Afghanistan
Advertisement China’s foreign minister made a surprise stop on Thursday in Afghanistan’s capital to meet with the country’s new Taliban rulers — even as the international community fumes over the former insurgents’ broken promise to reopen schools to girls beyond the sixth grade. The official Bakhtar News Agency announced that Wang Yi will meet with Taliban leaders “to discuss various issues, including the extension of political relations, economic, and transit cooperation.” The Taliban, who seized power in August 2021 during the last, chaotic weeks of the withdrawal of U.S. and…
China’s Push to Isolate Taiwan Demands U.S. Action, Report Says
The report from the German Marshall Fund, a research group that promotes democracy, laid out similar examples of coercive diplomacy by China in the constellation of United Nations agencies and associated groups. (The authors, Jessica Drun and Bonnie Glaser, both Taiwan experts, said they had received funding from the Taiwanese government for the research but that the views in the report were their own. Separately, Laura Rosenberger, senior director for China and Taiwan at the White House National Security Council, was a senior fellow at the German Marshall Fund.) In…
China finalising security deal with Solomon Islands to base warships in the Pacific
Solomon Islands has signed a policing deal with China and will send a proposal for a broader security agreement covering the military to its cabinet for consideration. According to a copy of the draft security agreement circulating on social media on Thursday, it would allow China to base navy warships in the Pacific, less than 2,000km off Australia’s coast. The arrangements are also likely to worry the United States, which said in February it would open an embassy in Solomon Islands after senior US administration officials expressed concern China wanted…