Nasa criticises China after space rocket makes uncontrolled return to Earth

A Chinese booster rocket made an uncontrolled return to Earth on Saturday, US defense department officials said, as they chided Beijing for not sharing information on the potentially hazardous object’s descent. US Space Command confirmed the Long March 5B rocket re-entered the Earth’s atmosphere over the Indian ocean on Saturday but referred any question regarding potential debris dispersal and impact location to China. The Long March 5B rocket was used last Sunday to launch an uncrewed spacecraft, named Wentian, carrying the second of three modules China needed to complete its…

Jude Howell obituary

My friend and colleague Jude Howell, who has died of cancer aged 67, was a scholar of international development and a specialist on civil society and labour relations in China. Her books on China included China Opens its Doors (1993, with Gordon White and Shang Xiaoyuan), which looked at the modernisation of China’s economy, In Search of Civil Society (1996), which studied market reform and social change in the country, and NGOs and Accountability in China (2018, which she wrote with Shang Xiaoyuan and Karen Fisher). Jude was born in…

Xi Jinping tells Joe Biden not to ‘play with fire’ over Taiwan in two-hour call

The Chinese president has warned Joe Biden against “playing with fire” over Taiwan in a highly anticipated phone call that lasted more than two hours on Thursday, as tensions remain high over the House speaker Nancy Pelosi’s potential trip to the island next month. “Those who play with fire will be perished by it. It is hoped that the US will be clear-eyed about this,” Xi Jinping, according to a Chinese statement. He also urged the US to implement the three joint communiques that serve as the foundation for relations…

UN Human Rights Committee Criticizes Rulings of Hong Kong’s Top Court

Advertisement The United Nations Human Rights Committee, the official watchdog of the implementation of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR), issued strong-worded concluding observations in light of Hong Kong’s human rights violations after the National Security Law (NSL) was enacted. Article 39 of the Basic Law, a constitution-like document in Hong Kong, warrants that the ICCPR and other international human rights treaties remain applicable in Hong Kong. Thus the Hong Kong government has an obligation to fulfill the requirements and recommendations of the treaty bodies. The local…

China’s Wolf Warrior Diplomacy Is Fading

Advertisement In recent years, China has become famous for “wolf warrior diplomacy,” an assertive diplomatic tactic that goes as far as insulting or threatening those deemed to violate China’s interests. Wolf warrior diplomacy has been widely used in the past few years, particularly since the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic. Nevertheless, this assertive diplomatic strategy has undercut China’s global image and further exacerbated its relations with countries across the world, ranging from Europe to Asia. Therefore, a change must be made to better secure China’s interests. Change in the Winds…