Not long into the pandemic, Michael Foley, a radio host and licensed marriage officiant in Utah, was contacted with an unusual question: could he officiate a completely online marriage ceremony for a same-sex couple living in China? Foley called the county clerk’s office in Provo, Utah, to find out. Somewhat to his surprise, the office told him that as long as the couple were of age and their identities could be verified, it was legal. Foley has since performed enough online weddings for same-sex couples in China to establish a…
Day: October 6, 2022
Zero-Covid: How Xi’s flagship policy is spoiling his party
The number of domestic tourists prepared to travel is also way down. If you are visiting somewhere and a few coronavirus cases emerge, the city can be locked down. But even if it isn’t, your own city can suddenly decide not to accept you back if you’ve been somewhere with infections. You’re stranded, sometimes for an extended period, and you have to pay for your accommodation and other needs. BBC
China-owned gold mine in Laos ordered to temporarily close
Lao authorities have ordered a China-owned gold mine in the country’s northwestern Oudomxay province to suspend operations pending an inquiry into a series of accidents causing death and injury to miners, Lao sources say. Located in the province’s Pak Beng district, the mine will be permanently closed if its owner, China’s Lao Zin Long company, continues to ignore regulations governing worker safety, the Lao Ministry of Mines and Power said in its Sept. 22 order. Lao mine workers speaking to RFA said that accidents have occurred there in the past,…
What to Watch for at the 20th Party Congress: The Work Report
Advertisement On October 16, China’s biggest political event – the 20th National Party Congress of the Chinese Communist Party – will officially open. Each Party Congress is closely watched for the big leadership reveal at the end, when the new members of the Politburo Standing Committee (PSC) come marching out in hierarchical order. But there is plenty more to watch for, including the lengthy work report evaluating the CCP’s achievements over the last five years. This year especially, with recent precedents at stake, the broader implications of the 20th Party Congress…
UN vote to ignore human rights abuses in China leaves west in dead end
In a display of raw Chinese political power, the UN has voted to turn its back on a report written by its own human rights commissioner that accused Beijing of serious human rights abuses and possible crimes against humanity in Xinjiang province. The 47-strong UN human rights council meeting in Geneva voted on Thursday by 19 to 17 to reject an American-led call for a debate on the report at the next human rights council in spring. Eleven countries abstained. A simple majority was required. The clear and damning report,…
Sino-American relations were in trouble long before Donald Trump
As Communist Party leaders tell it, China’s relations with the West resemble a brawl between heavyweight champions, made vicious by American cheating. This narrative of grievance has been building for years and starts at the top. In July 2018, as China reeled under the first blows of Donald Trump’s trade war, President Xi Jinping hosted European Union leaders in Beijing. In closed-door discussions with his guests, Mr Xi accused America of behaving like a fighter in a “no-rules boxing match”. Since then, Chinese complaints have not been muted by Mr…
Han Chinese seek spiritual salve in Tibetan Buddhism
Chinese tourists celebrated this summer when it was announced that Larung Gar would soon be open to visitors again. Many had long dreamed of seeing the remote Tibetan Buddhist settlement, home to thousands of crimson-robed monks and nuns living in little red huts sprawled around a monastic centre in the mountains of Sichuan province. The sight alone could cleanse one’s soul, bloggers gushed. Too bad, then, that it was closed again a few weeks later, ostensibly to control an outbreak of covid-19. Listen to this story.Enjoy more audio and podcasts…
How retired party officials make themselves heard in China
Song Ping was too young in the 1980s to have been counted among the “immortals”—a jocular term used at the time to describe Communist Party veterans who were playing a big role in politics despite having retired. Perhaps he deserves the title now. At 105 years old, he is still going strong, making him the doyen of the 20 or so former members of the Politburo Standing Committee—the apex of party power—who are still alive. Those fit enough are expected to appear at a five-yearly party congress that starts on…
UN Human Rights Council Rejects Western Bid to Debate China’s Xinjiang Abuses
Advertisement In a close diplomatic victory for China, the United Nation’s top human rights body on Thursday voted down a proposal from Britain, Turkey, the United States, and other mostly Western countries to hold a debate on alleged rights abuses against Muslim Uyghurs and other ethnic minorities in China’s western Xinjiang region. At the 47-member state Human Rights Council, 17 countries voted in favor, 19 were against, and 11 abstained in a vote to hold a debate on Xinjiang at its next session in March. The vote amounted to a…
In Global Slowdown, China Holds Sway Over Countries’ Fates
BEIJING — When Suriname couldn’t make its debt payments, a Chinese state bank seized the money from one of the South American country’s accounts. As Pakistan has struggled to cope with a devastating flood that has inundated a third of the country, its loan repayments to China have been rising fast. When Kenyans and Angolans went to the polls in presidential elections in August, the countries’ Chinese loans, and how to repay them, were a hot-button political issue. Across much of the developing world, China finds itself in an uncomfortable…