Day: September 18, 2023

On sidelines of UN General Assembly, Sri Lankan president calls Aukus ‘a mistake’ and rejects fears over China

Media Library

Sri Lankan President Ranil Wickremesinghe on Monday declared the Aukus security pact between Australia, Britain and the US “a mistake” while rejecting any concerns over Beijing’s perceived influence on his debt-ridden island nation. “It is a military alliance moved against one country – China,” he said at an event hosted by the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace in New York on the sidelines of the United Nations General Assembly. “I think it’s a strategic misstep. I think they made a mistake,” Wickremesinghe added, describing the alliance as unnecessary. “I don’t…

Where is Li Shangfu? China’s missing defence minister highlights Xi’s total grip on power

Media Library

Three weeks after he was last seen in public, there is still no official confirmation about what has happened to Gen Li Shangfu, China’s defence minister and the latest senior official to be seemingly swept up in China’s political purges. Last week, Reuters reported that Li, along with eight other senior officials, was under investigation for the corrupt procurement of military equipment relating to his time at the helm of the equipment division of the Central Military Commission, the military’s ruling body, between September 2017 and October 2022. US intelligence…

Beijing summons German ambassador after foreign minister calls Xi Jinping a ‘dictator’

Media Library

Beijing has summoned the German ambassador to China after foreign minister Annalena Baerbock called president Xi Jinping a “dictator”, Berlin has said, in the latest flare-up of tensions between the countries. While they are major trade partners, Berlin-Beijing ties have been fraying as some in the German government take a harder line over issues ranging from human rights to Taiwan. Baerbock, who has pushed for a more hawkish line, made the remarks in a Fox News interview on Thursday during a visit to the US. While talking about the Ukraine…

Japanese boy band abuse scandal rocks entertainment industry

Media Library

In a news conference intended to address the sex abuse scandal rocking Japan’s entertainment industry, the 56-year-old former boy band member in charge of the country’s most powerful talent agency was asked if he had ever harassed young male entertainers. “I may have done it or I may not have done it,” said Noriyuki Higashiyama, the new president of Johnny & Associates, this month. “I’m trying to trace my memory, but I really can’t remember many things.” His response, which followed the agency’s delay in acknowledging the sexual abuse perpetrated…

Middle class in China, US fear losing status as key economic segment walk the tightrope

Media Library

There have long been concerns about the so-called middle-income trap, a stage of economic development in which income levels stagnate, preventing a country from joining the ranks of rich nations. China has set a goal of reaching the per capita income level of a medium-developed country by 2035 – with a projected per capita gross domestic product (GDP) of at least US$20,000. Advertisement It is in the process of moving from middle- to high-income as China’s per capita GDP exceeded US$10,000 in 2020. China’s hi-tech ambitions under threat from inadequate…

China and EU Hold Talks on AI, Cross-Border Data Flow

Media Library

China and the European Union held talks on topics including artificial intelligence and cross-border data flows on Monday in Beijing, amid disputes over an EU probe into China’s electric vehicle subsidies. The talks were part of an EU-China High-level Digital Dialogue co-chaired by China’s Vice Premier Zhang Guoqing and the European Commission Vice-President for Values and Transparency Vera Jourova, the first of such dialog in three years, the European Commission said in a statement. The meeting comes as tensions between China and the EU are heightened after European Commission President…

Once hailed as role model, Uyghur entrepreneur sentenced to 15 years

Chin@Strategy

For years, the young Uyghur entrepreneur was held up in Chinese media as a role model for other Uyghur youth – a clean-shaven, smartly-dressed young man who returned to China to start his educational consulting business after getting an MBA in the United States. “Rather than staying abroad, he decided the best place to launch his career was in Beijing,” read a June 2014 article about Abdulhabir Muhammad in the state-run Global Times that included a photo of him in a dark suit and tie, smiling and sitting confidently behind…

China’s aversion to bad news about the state of its economy is both unsettling and counterproductive

Media Library

There seems to be a negative correlation between the Chinese government’s tolerance for bad economic news and the actual state of the country’s economy. Over the past several years, Chinese authorities have been using the same phrase – “stable with good momentum” – to describe the country’s economic performance. To some foreign investors, the narrative about China has swiftly changed from being an attractive investment destination with unlimited growth potential into a landmine full of economic, regulatory and geopolitical risks for investment. That rapid shift in external perception, according to…

Trudeau says India may have been involved in murder of Sikh leader

Media Library

Receive free Canada updates We’ll send you a myFT Daily Digest email rounding up the latest Canada news every morning. Canada’s prime minister said there are “credible allegations” that India’s government was involved in the fatal shooting of a prominent Sikh leader in British Columbia, citing intelligence from national security services. Justin Trudeau on Monday told members of parliament that Canadian authorities were investigating whether “agents” of New Delhi were behind the June killing of Hardeep Singh Nijjar, who was shot dead in Surrey, a suburb of Vancouver with a…

Antony Blinken meets Chinese vice-president Han Zheng on UN sidelines

Media Library

Chinese Vice-President Han Zheng and US Secretary of State Antony Blinken struck conciliatory notes at the start of a meeting they held on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly in New York on Monday. Referring to the visit that Blinken made to Beijing in June, Han said the trip “sent to the whole world the constructive message of China and the United States stepping up engagement and dialogue and working together to stabilise the bilateral relationship”. Han also cited the meeting that US President Joe Biden held with his…