Day: July 5, 2023

Beijing and Asean claimants of South China Sea urged to look for areas of practical cooperation to help bring down barriers

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“These [factors] have created unprecedented difficulties to the ongoing institution and rule-building progress of maritime cooperation and governance in the South China Sea.” The idea of a code of conduct was first raised in the 1990s with China and the Association of Southeast Asian Nations agreeing a vaguely worded Declaration on the Conduct of Parties in the South China Sea (DOC) in 2002. Talks on a more substantive code of conduct began in 2017, but have faced significant delays and a 2022 deadline for reaching a deal has already passed.…

China Cancels Planned Visit by EU’s Top Diplomat

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Advertisement China has abruptly canceled a visit to Beijing by the European Union’s top diplomat, the EU said Wednesday, amid ongoing disagreements between the two powers over trade, human rights and the Ukraine war. Josep Borrell, the EU’s high representative for foreign affairs and security policy, was due to arrive in China on July 10 for talks with Chinese Foreign Minister Qin Gang and other officials, according to an announcement by the EU ambassador to Beijing on Sunday. The European and Chinese diplomats were set to discuss topics including trade,…

Experts: Cambodia Deepens Reliance on China Ahead of Election

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phnom penh, cambodia —  China-funded development projects in Cambodia are a mixed bag for the country as some see them as an opportunity to improve the country’s poor infrastructure while others raise concerns about Cambodia’s economic dependence on China, according to analysts. A month before Cambodia’s national elections, Prime Minister Hun Sen announced the latest major infrastructure project financed by Beijing, an expressway connecting Phnom Penh to Bavet on the country’s eastern border with Vietnam. The 135-kilometer road will cost an estimated $1.37 billion and follows the opening of a…

China accused of scores of abuses linked to ‘green mineral’ mining

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A new report into China’s dominance in the green-energy market has identified more than a hundred allegations of environmental and human rights violations linked to its overseas transition mineral investments over the past two years. China dominates the processing and refining of lithium, cobalt, copper, manganese, nickel, zinc, chromium, aluminium and rare-earth elements – and the manufacturing of technologies like solar panels, wind turbines and batteries for electric vehicles (EV), which require so-called transition minerals. The Business & Human Rights Resource Centre (BHRRC), a corporate watchdog that tracks the local…

US-based scientists of Chinese origin still feel ‘chilling effects’ of Trump’s China Initiative

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“There are questions, however, regarding the extent to which the formal dropping of the ‘China Initiative’ name has been accompanied by substantive changes in the [US] government’s practices that address the chilling effects experienced by scientists of Chinese descent,” the report published in renowned international journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS) last week said. At least 150 scientists had been investigated so far, with criminal charges laid against two dozen of them under the initiative, and “many more investigated in secret”, it said. Advertisement The study was…

FirstFT: Xi warned Putin against using nuclear weapons in Ukraine

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Receive free Chinese politics & policy updates We’ll send you a myFT Daily Digest email rounding up the latest Chinese politics & policy news every morning. Good morning. We start today with a scoop that Xi Jinping personally warned Vladimir Putin against using nuclear weapons in Ukraine, suggesting Beijing remains concerned about Russia’s war even as it offers tacit backing to Moscow. Xi’s warning was delivered during the Chinese leader’s state visit to Moscow in March. Since then, Chinese officials have privately taken credit for convincing the Russian president to…

4 Members of Defunct Pro-Democracy Party Arrested in Hong Kong

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bangkok —  BANGKOK – Hong Kong police have arrested four members of the defunct pro-democracy party Demosisto on suspicion of collusion with foreign forces, a key violation of the city’s national security law. Those arrested were former Demosisto chairperson Ivan Lam, Li Kai-ching, William Liu and Arnold Chung, the South China Morning Post reported. Police officers raided the office of shopping platform Mee, an online app that lists part of the “yellow economy” in Hong Kong, a network of businesses that supported the pro-democracy protests in 2019. The former Demosisto…

International aid groups still unable to deliver supplies to Cyclone Mocha victims

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Nearly two months after Cyclone Mocha devastated Myanmar’s Rakhine state, international organizations are still unable to travel to affected areas to provide humanitarian aid. The acting head of the U.N.’s Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs, Danielle Parry, met with the junta’s minister of relief and resettlement on Tuesday in the capital Naypyidaw to discuss delivery of relief supplies. The meeting followed a U.N. announcement on June 22 that relief activities for cyclone victims have been delayed because of the junta’s decision earlier in June to stop giving practical…

Cambodia declares Meta oversight board members ‘persona non grata’

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Cambodia said it has declared the 22 people on Meta’s oversight board “persona non grata,” barring them from entering the country, after the regulatory group recommended suspending Prime Minister Hun Sen’s Facebook account. If any were in the country – and that was doubtful – they had 48 hours to leave, the statement from the foreign ministry said Tuesday. Hun Sen’s Facebook account, which the hardline leader has used to rally political support, went blank after the June 29 announcement from Meta Oversight Board, which had ruled that a video…