Two Chinese defence attaches have been kicked out by Fijian police from a Pacific Islands Forum meeting at which the US vice-president, Kamala Harris, was giving a virtual address. The men were sitting in on a session of the forum’s fisheries agency at which Harris announced the step-up of US engagement in the region, believed to be in response to China’s growing influence. They were sitting with the media contingent, but one was identified as a Chinese embassy official by Lice Movono, a Fijian journalist who is covering the forum…
Day: July 12, 2022
How Did Abe Shinzo Become an Unlikely Subject of Collective Grief in China?
Advertisement It is hard to imagine a Japanese leader who visited the Yasukuni Shrine would be mourned in China when he died – but that’s what happened since the assassination of Abe Shinzo. The killing of Japan’s former prime minister on July 8 tore China’s public opinion apart. One camp, marked by its usual strident nationalist tone, rejoiced at the incident in an unseemly outburst of schadenfreude. Another group, more capable of compassion and empathy, cautioned against gloating over a neighbor’s loss. In China, where consensus is elusive on almost…
China Protests Taiwan’s VP Paying Respects at Abe’s Memorial
Advertisement China has filed a formal protest with Japan over the presence of the Taiwanese vice president at a memorial for assassinated former Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe. China claims Taiwan as a breakaway province to be reunited by force if necessary and objects to any expression of its independent political identity. Foreign Ministry spokesperson Wang Wenbin on Tuesday said Taiwanese authorities had “latched onto the opportunity for political manipulation,” and that Beijing has “made stern complaints with Japan in Beijing and Tokyo and made clear its position.” “Its political…
Hong Kong to electronically tag Covid patients as it adopts China’s health code system
Hong Kong will mandate electronic tracking bracelets for people in home isolation and bring in a China-style electronic health code system as part of fresh measures to curb the spread of the coronavirus. The quarantine bracelets, to be introduced on Friday, will be mandatory for people who have tested positive and are quarantining at home to ensure they do not leave the building during their isolation period. “We have to make sure that home isolation is more precise while being humane,” Lo Chung-mau, the city’s new health secretary said, announcing…
Australia sees climate crisis as a national security issue, defence minister tells US
Australia’s defence minister, Richard Marles, has warned of the use of “force or coercion” in the South China Sea and “intensification of major power competition”, references to China’s rising power in the Indo-Pacific. Marles made the comments in a speech to the Center for Strategic and International Studies on his visit to the US, committing Australia to closer cooperation with the US, higher defence spending and to address the climate crisis in part as a national security issue. It coincided with a separate announcement that the Australian and US governments…