Month: September 2022

Some progress in the border dispute between China and India

Chin@Strategy

Xi jinping seemed anxious to make up for lost time on his first trip abroad since the pandemic began. At a two-day summit of the Shanghai Co-operation Organisation in Uzbekistan this month, the Chinese president’s schedule featured a dozen meetings with national leaders. Yet there was one notable omission: India’s prime minister, Narendra Modi. Not only did the two not meet, they did not appear to exchange greetings when they stood next to each other at a group photo. Listen to this story.Enjoy more audio and podcasts on iOS or…

How Xi Jinping might change the Communist Party’s constitution

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When it comes to the top job, don’t expect any surprises at the Communist Party congress in October. There is little doubt that Xi Jinping will secure a third five-year term as party chief. But there will at least be some drama surrounding the party’s constitution. Observers will be watching to see how Mr Xi changes it. Even seemingly arcane revisions may signal that he sees himself on a par with communist China’s founder, Mao Zedong. Listen to this story.Enjoy more audio and podcasts on iOS or Android. Your browser…

Reforms to China’s hukou system will not help migrants much

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China’s netizens are usually cheerleaders for nationalist causes. So the recent showering of praise on Vietnam by some of them has been striking. A bout of it occurred last month when exaggerated news circulated on Chinese social media that Vietnam was preparing to abolish its ho khau system of household registration, which makes it difficult for people from the countryside to obtain social benefits in cities. “Vietnam has completely surpassed China,” wrote one commenter on Weibo, a Twitter-like platform. “The future star of Asia”, enthused another. China’s equivalent of ho…

Chinese police detain ‘godfather of film industry’ over abuse claims

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Chinese police have detained a man over the alleged abuse of at least 19 former students at a prestigious tutoring academy, after a viral article outlined one of the country’s most shocking #MeToo cases in years. Du Yingzhe, 40, was a well-known tutor at Shadow Road, which assists high school students to get into the country’s best art and film schools. On Monday Du was accused by a former student of harassing, grooming and raping students, including some who were underage and a 17-year-old girl who fell pregnant. In a…

China’s Lipstick King reappears, months after Tiananmen ‘tank cake’ row

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China’s leading shopping livestreamer, Li Jiaqi, has returned to online commerce platforms almost four months after his feed was suddenly cut, which viewers suspected was linked to the errant appearance of a tank-shaped cake. Li, also known as the Lipstick King for his ability to move huge amounts of product on his sales channels, briefly appeared on Alibaba Group’s Taobao marketplace on Tuesday evening. The two-hour appearance was unannounced but word quickly spread online about his return. From 7pm to 9pm the audience reportedly grew from about 100,000 to more…

Biden Criticizes Iran and China on Human Rights and Security Issues

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In his speech to the United Nations General Assembly on Wednesday, President Biden criticized the governments of Iran and China for their human rights records, while vowing that the United States would always stand up for those rights. Alluding to the protests that have erupted in Iran over the death in custody of Mahsa Amini, a 22-year-old woman who was arrested by the country’s morality police last week allegedly for violating dress codes, Mr. Biden said the United States stood with “the brave citizens and brave women of Iran, who…

‘We’re on That Bus, Too’: In China, a Deadly Crash Triggers Covid Trauma

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After a bus accident killed at least 27 people being transferred to a Covid quarantine facility on Sunday, the Chinese public staged a widespread online protest against the government’s harsh pandemic policy. It was a moment of collective grief and anger, with a heavy dose of shame, guilt and despair. After nearly three years of constant lockdowns, mass testing and quarantines, people asked how they could give the government the power to deprive them of their dignity, livelihood, mental health and even life; how they could fail to protect their…

China’s Public Opinion Is Shifting Away From Russia

Chin@Strategy

Advertisement At the beginning of the Ukraine war, I wrote an article for The Diplomat telling the world it was impossible for China to support Russia invasion of Ukraine. It has been proved correct by the facts of the war; the developments at the 2022 Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) summit also point in this direction. The Ukrainian war has been going on for seven months, but Russia received little recognition even from the international organizations it leads. In the Collective Security Treaty Organization, for example, only Belarus supports Russia; in…