Month: March 2023

Chinese Capital’s Population Declines for First Time Since 2003 

Chin@Strategy

The population of Beijing, China’s capital, has fallen for the first time in two decades, official data show, in line with the general trend of the country’s declining numbers, which has stoked concerns about the nation’s economic outlook. According to statistics the government released Tuesday, Beijing’s population had fallen by 43,000 people to 21.84 million by the end of 2022. Most notably, the death rate in the capital surpassed the birth rate. The death rate in Beijing, one of the country’s most populous urban centers, rose to 5.72 deaths per…

More than 100,000 displaced by Myanmar conflict in two weeks

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No one remains in the villages on the east bank of the Sittaung River in Myanmar’s Shwegyin township. Over the past two weeks, junta troops have fired heavy artillery and shells at the 10 tracts in Bago region and threatened their residents, following clashes with ethnic Karen rebels, forcing around 1,500 people to flee to the township seat for safety. As many as 200 refugees are now sheltering in each of the town’s monasteries where they rely on donations for their daily needs. An aid worker who, like others interviewed…

Rohingya Skeptical of Myanmar Refugee Return Offer

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Cox’s Bazar, Bangladesh —  Rohingya refugees said Wednesday they doubted Myanmar was offering a genuine return to their homeland, as a spokesman for the country’s military junta said it would begin welcoming back members of the persecuted minority as soon as next month. A delegation of 17 officials from Myanmar’s junta was in Bangladesh this week to interview potential candidates for return, more than five years after a brutal military crackdown drove immense numbers of Rohingya out of their homes. The visit, brokered by China and partly facilitated by the…

China OKs its First mRNA Vaccine, From Drugmaker CSPC

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BEIJING —  China has approved its first domestically developed mRNA vaccine against COVID-19, CSPC Pharmaceutical Group Ltd 1093.HK said on Wednesday, a major achievement in a country that has declined to use Western COVID shots to support domestic research. China, whose home-grown vaccines are seen as less effective than the Moderna and Pfizer-BioNTech mRNA shots, has been racing to develop vaccines using messenger RNA (mRNA) technology since early 2020. The long-awaited approval comes as infections have fallen sharply across China since it suddenly dropped its strict “zero-COVID” curbs in December,…

Distributors pull plug on Winnie the Pooh cult horror flick in Hong Kong

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Movie distributors in Hong Kong and Macau have canceled screenings of a British-made horror film featuring the popular children’s character Winnie the Pooh, who is banned from China’s tightly controlled internet due to a supposed resemblance to Communist Party supreme leader Xi Jinping. “Winnie-the-Pooh: Blood and Honey” was scheduled to debut in Hong Kong on Thursday after passing the government film censorship process, but was suddenly pulled from movie theaters without explanation, prompting widespread speculation that it was linked to the banning of Winnie the Pooh from the Chinese internet…

Despite Xi’s trip to Russia, dialogue between China and Ukraine is still possible

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Hours after Xi Jinping wrapped up a state dinner hosted in a lavish 15th-century palace, where he extolled Beijing’s “positive role” in Vladimir Putin’s invasion, Russia sent a swarm of drones to Ukraine that killed seven people in a town south of Kyiv. Commenting on the attack, the Ukrainian president, Volodymyr Zelenskiy, wrote: “Every time someone tries to hear the word ‘peace’ in Moscow, another order is given there for such criminal strikes.” In his statement, Zelenskiy made no mention of the Chinese leader’s visit to the Russian capital –…

The revealing appeal of China’s cheapest city

Chin@Strategy

CENTRAL planners have long shaped Hegang, a city in China’s far north. Once, coal and other minerals made Hegang a pillar of socialist industry. When the richest seams were declared exhausted, just over a decade ago, the central government closed many mines and put its faith in green infrastructure. Shanty-towns of soot-blackened miners’ huts were demolished and replaced with brightly painted apartment blocks, marching to the horizon beside new city parks. A high-speed rail line opened last December. There is proud talk of a graphite mine that will supply factories…

Putin should be under no illusion – Xi is not Russia’s knight in shining armour | Olga Chyzh

Chin@Strategy

The three-day visit of Xi Jinping to Russia was packed with action: a crepe and quail meal, photo ops and ceremonial signings. Pomp and circumstance aside, Xi’s visit to Russia did not live up to Putin’s hopes and expectations. As it turns out, the obvious similarities between the two leaders – their autocratic hold on power and their tenuous relationship with the west – do not directly translate into common interests and goals. Xi came and went, making no firm commitments and leaving Putin and his cronies agape with disappointment.…

Talking like ‘capitalist’ South Koreans can lead to prison or death in North Korea

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North Koreans are secretly watching and listening to so many South Korean movies and songs smuggled into the country that they are becoming increasingly worried that they might let a banned word slip – and face prison time or even death for using “capitalist” lingo, sources in the country tell Radio Free Asia. “Residents who are already accustomed to the South Korean way of speaking now feel like they have to practice the Pyongyang dialect,” said a resident in the northwestern province of North Pyongan, referring to the capital.  “They…

Taiwan Confirms Soldier Who Missed Roll Call Is in China

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Taipei —  Taiwan’s Ministry of National Defense is investigating the circumstances surrounding the disappearance of a soldier who was reported missing from his post earlier this month only to be reported found in China by authorities there. The soldier — identified by Taiwanese SET News as Chen Jiaxun, 26 — was stationed on Erdan islet, part of the Taiwan-controlled Kinmen group of islands. Erdan islet is about 4 km to 5 km from the Chinese port city of Xiamen. The post is considered to be on the front line of…