China and India have called for a negotiated end to the Ukraine war, stopping short of robust support for traditional ally Russia. After a week of pressure at the United Nations general assembly, Russia’s foreign minister took the general assembly rostrum to deliver a fiery rebuke to western nations for what he termed a “grotesque” campaign against Russians. But no major nation has rallied behind Russia, including China, which just days before the February invasion of Ukraine had vowed an “unbreakable” bond with President Vladimir Putin. China’s foreign minister, Wang…
Month: September 2022
HRT: inside the complex global supply chain behind a $20bn market
In the centre of the factory stand 31 reactors: giant metal globes that can hold up to 10,000 litres of liquid each. Every week, gleaming stainless steel drums arrive by truck at this plant on the outskirts of Oss, in the Netherlands. Their contents are poured into the reactors through a funnel, dissolved, and then heated to boiling point. Standing by one of the vast containers, the factory manager, Robert Dam, compares it to a “cooking pot”. Peering inside, we can see the light liquid bubbling away. At Dam’s factory,…
China says US sending ‘dangerous signals’ on Taiwan
China has accused the United States of sending “very wrong, dangerous signals” on Taiwan after the US secretary of state told his Chinese counterpart on Friday that the maintenance of peace and stability over Taiwan was vitally important. Taiwan was the focus of the 90-minute, “direct and honest” talks between the secretary of state, Antony Blinken, and the Chinese foreign minister, Wang Yi, on the margins of the UN general assembly in New York, a US official told reporters. “For our part, the secretary made crystal clear that – in…
Oil Prices Tumble to Their Lowest Level Since January
The U.S. benchmark oil price tumbled below $80 a barrel on Friday for the first time since January as traders grew increasingly worried that much of the world was headed into a recession or was already in one. The steady fall in prices from more than $120 a barrel a few months ago could easily reverse if the European Union severely limits its purchases of Russian oil as it has threatened to do. But for now, the falling oil price has offered consumers some relief from inflation. Oil prices had…
Hong Kong to End Mandatory Hotel Quarantine for Travelers
Advertisement Hong Kong’s leader announced the city would no longer require incoming travelers to quarantine in designated hotels as it seeks to remain competitive and open up globally after nearly two years. Incoming travelers will also no longer need a negative PCR test within 48 hours before boarding a plane to Hong Kong, the city’s Chief Executive John Lee said Friday at a news conference. Instead, they will need to present a negative COVID-19 result from a rapid antigen test conducted within 24 hours before the flight. The measures will…
Major Covid Holdouts in Asia Drop Border Restrictions
HONG KONG — After two and a half years of tight pandemic controls, some of Asia’s last holdouts are opening their borders, as they move to bolster their economies and play catch-up with a world that has largely learned to live with Covid. Hong Kong said on Friday that it would abandon mandatory hotel quarantine for people coming to the city starting next week, following a similar move by Taiwan. Japan said it would drop its daily limit on arrivals and fully open its doors to tourists on Oct. 11.…
China sentences man who attacked women at restaurant to 24 years
The main perpetrator of an assault against a group of women at a barbecue restaurant in China has been sentenced to 24 years in prison, after the case sparked a national debate over gender-based violence. Chen Jizhi started hitting the women after they rejected his “harassment” in the early hours of 10 June in the city of Tangshan in Hebei province, east of Beijing, the court said in a statement. When the women resisted, Chen and a group of his friends attacked them with chairs and bottles, the court said,…
China’s former justice minister faces life in prison amid purge of security officials
Former Chinese justice minister Fu Zhenghua, who had headed several high-profile investigations into corruption, has been jailed for life for accepting bribes, state media says, as a purge of officials intensified ahead of a key Communist party congress. Fu, 67, was handed a suspended death sentence that will be commuted to life imprisonment after two years, with no possibility of parole, according to state media on Thursday. Fu was deputy head of the ministry of public security before becoming justice minister in 2018, and had led many high-profile investigations and…
Top Chinese and Indian envoys meet for BRICS at UN, but hold no bilateral talks to ease border issues
Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov (left), Indian External Affairs Minister Subrahmanyam Jaishankar, Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi, South African Foreign Minister Naledi Pandor, and Brazilian Foreign Minister Carlos Alberto Franco França during a BRICS gathering in New York on Thursday. Photo: Courtesy of @DrSJaishankar via Twitter South China Morning Post
How China’s Extreme Weather Summer Is Affecting Its Security
Advertisement This summer has been China’s driest and hottest since consistent records began being kept in 1961. The severe heatwave resulted in and continues to exacerbate a drought. Even as the heatwave eases, water levels continue to drop in China’s biggest freshwater lake, Poyang Lake, and other parts of the Yangtze River Basin (YRB). Estimates from the South China Morning Post (SCMP) suggest that the current heatwave has affected over 900 million people in more than 17 provinces and an estimated 2.2 million hectares of agricultural land in China. Aside…