Destruction is imminent across southern Japan and South Korea as super typhoon Hinnamnor barrels northwards through the East China Sea this weekend. The typhoon is so far the strongest tropical storm of the 2022 hurricane season and developed gradually this week out in the Pacific, edging towards the Philippines and Taiwan. By Thursday, maximum sustained winds had reached 160mph, leading to classification as a category 5 tropical cyclone, or a super typhoon. Forecast models suggest that through the weekend and into next week, Hinnamnor will push northwards through the East…
Month: September 2022
Taiwan tycoon to fund 3.3 million-strong army of ‘civilian warriors’ to defend against invasion
A Taiwanese tycoon has announced his plan to train 3.3 million “civilian warriors” and marksmen to defend Taiwan from a Chinese invasion, using one billion Taiwan dollars ($32m) of his own money. The announcement by Robert Tsao, a well-known Taiwanese businessman and founder of United Microelectronics Corp, a major microchip producer, comes amid increasing military activity between Taiwan and China. On Thursday Taiwan’s defence ministry announced its soldiers had shot down a Chinese drone over Taiwan’s Kinmen islands. At a press conference on Thursday, Tsao, 75, said the Chinese Communist…
Wu Yibing’s U.S. Open Run Could Influence Tennis in China
Shortly after Wu Yibing made tennis history on Wednesday by becoming the first Chinese man to reach the third round of the U.S. Open, a tournament that dates to 1881, he was informed that his name was on fire on Chinese social media platforms like Weibo and WeChat. Fans and admirers in China were spreading the word that Wu, a past U.S. Open junior champion, had just beaten Nuno Borges of Portugal in a tough five-set match that lasted nearly four hours. Not only was Wu the first Chinese man…
For China’s Xi and Other Strongmen, Gorbachev Showed Exactly What Not to Do
In much of the West, Mikhail S. Gorbachev is hailed as the farsighted visionary who brought the Cold War to a peaceful conclusion. But for autocratic leaders in other parts of the world, his legacy stands as a cautionary tale of power discarded quickly and, by some estimates, cavalierly, with little or nothing in return. This lesson has been taken most to heart in China, where Xi Jinping is expected to be anointed to a third term as the country’s top leader during a Communist Party congress announced for October.…
Lawyer criticises UN report’s failure to call Uyghur oppression ‘genocide’
The UN’s failure to mention the word genocide in its report alleging serious human rights violations by China against Uyghur Muslims in Xinjiang province is an “astonishing” lapse, according to a leading British human rights lawyer. The 45-page report from the outgoing UN human rights commissioner, Michelle Bachelet, landed minutes before her term ended on Wednesday, outlining allegations of torture, including forced medical procedures, as well as sexual violence against Uyghur Muslims. The report by the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR), concluded the “arbitrary and discriminatory”…
Droning On: China Floods the Middle East With UAVs
Advertisement As countries across the Middle East diversify their arms suppliers in order to meet emerging security challenges, China is poised to fill the growing demand. However, Beijing is doing very little to prevent its technology from falling into the hands of Tehran’s proxies throughout the region. According to U.S. Assistant Secretary of State for Near Eastern Affairs Barbara Leaf, the unmanned armed vehicles (UAVs) used by Iranian proxy militias in recent years have been supplied by China. “Those UAVs that [Iranian] proxies use, they’re Chinese,” Leaf told the Senate…
To China’s Fury, UN Accuses Beijing of Uyghur Rights Abuses
Advertisement The U.N. accused China of serious human rights violations that may amount to “crimes against humanity” in a long-delayed report examining a crackdown on Uyghurs and other mostly Muslim ethnic groups. Beijing on Thursday denounced the assessment as a fabrication cooked up by Western nations. Human rights groups have accused China of sweeping a million or more people from the minority groups into detention camps where many have said they were tortured, sexually assaulted, and forced to abandon their language and religion. The camps were just one part of…
The artists of Dafen can paint like Van Gogh
The village of Dafen was once thought to produce the most oil paintings in the world. Heralded by the press as the “world’s art factory”, visitors marvelled at its many workshops, in which painters churned out mock masterpieces by Van Gogh, Rembrandt and Warhol. Their customers spanned the globe and included retailers, hotels and tourists. But the village, part of the southern city of Shenzhen, was always seen more as a production line than a place of culture. Today the future of Dafen may depend on whether it is able…
American warships go through the Taiwan Strait
They were not the first American warships to sail through the Taiwan Strait in defiance of Chinese warnings. Nor were they the biggest to navigate the waters between mainland China and the self-governing island of Taiwan. But when the uss Chancellorsville and the uss Antietam, two guided-missile cruisers, made the transit on August 28th, the potential for sudden escalation was perhaps greater than at any point in the past 25 years. It was the first such operation since China staged big military exercises around Taiwan after a visit there by…
A weak China may be more warlike than a strong one
When will America and China face the greatest danger of war? Around 2049, when Communist leaders promise a “great rejuvenation of the Chinese nation” and a “world-class military”; or 2035, when they aim to “basically complete the modernisation of national defence and the armed forces”; or 2027, when, according to American military chiefs, China seeks to have the wherewithal to invade Taiwan? Listen to this story.Enjoy more audio and podcasts on iOS or Android. Your browser does not support the <audio> element. Listen to this story Save time by listening…