In the third quarter, direct investment liabilities – a broad measure of foreign direct investment that includes foreign companies’ retained earnings in China – suffered a first quarterly deficit since records began in 1998. 2. Li Qiang promises to ‘intensify financial supervision’ Premier Li Qiang took the helm at the Central Financial Commission, a new organ of the Communist Party established to oversee the financial sector. The commission was set up in March under the direct supervision of the party to tighten control over finance as part of a broad…
Month: November 2023
Kissinger: A Player on the World Stage Until the Very End
When China’s leaders wanted to send a message to the Biden administration last summer, they did what came naturally. They called Henry A. Kissinger. Mr. Kissinger was 100 years old by then and had left the government 46 years earlier. But for as long as anyone could remember, the Chinese had venerated him as the secretary of state who forged the landmark diplomatic opening to Beijing. They had used him as a channel to Washington ever since. Knowing him as they did, the Chinese played to his sense of self…
Bridging the Narrative Gap in China-US Relations
By many accounts, orchestrating the recent meeting between Chinese President Xi Jinping and U.S. President Joe Biden on the sidelines of the APEC summit in mid-November was no easy affair. Before it happened, there was considerable uncertainty about whether a meeting would occur and what course it might take. Yet it was clear to observers that both sides needed this summit. As the world’s leading major powers, the United States and China understand the importance of working out a modus vivendi in order to stabilize the relationship and avoid escalating…
China’s top anti-spy agency vows to safeguard critical minerals, slams Western tech containment
Guarding China’s critical minerals is among its most important tasks, the country’s top anti-espionage body said, while slamming the West for its “small yard, high fence” containment drive directed at Beijing. “Critical mineral resources are the important basis for serving the development of new industries. They are the top priority for resource security,” China’s Ministry of State Security said in a post on its official social media account on Thursday. The WeChat post listed lithium, gallium, germanium and rare earths as precious mineral resources – saying they had fuelled the…
Henry Kissinger: China mourns ‘a most valued old friend’
Mr Kissinger, who shaped US foreign policy during some of the most crucial Cold War years, was instrumental in brokering that trip, which many see as a pivotal moment in China’s decision to engage with the West. In 1971, he paid a clandestine visit to Beijing to arrange the meeting. BBC
Kissinger had a consequential, controversial impact across Asia
Henry Kissinger, who died on Nov. 30 at the age of 100, was an influential diplomat and strategist who wielded major influence on U.S. foreign policy for more than five decades. President Nixon’s National Security Adviser Henry A. Kissinger and Le Duc Tho, the chief North Vietnamese negotiator at the Paris peace talks, speak to the media in Paris, June 13, 1973. (Michel Lipchitz/AP) Credited for arms negotiations with the Soviet Union and shuttle diplomacy in pursuit of Middle East peace, Kissinger had a great impact on events across Asia. …
In rare admission, junta chief acknowledges military losses in Shan state
Myanmar’s junta chief Senior General Min Aung Hlaing confirmed the loss of several military outposts in northern Shan state to an ethnic rebel offensive in the region, in a rare acknowledgement of the month-long campaign’s successes. Speaking at a meeting in the capital Naypyidaw on Monday, Min Aung Hlaing admitted that junta forces had “abandoned some posts” in the state due to “Operation 1027,” an offensive launched Oct. 27 by the “Three Brotherhood” Alliance of the Myanmar National Democratic Alliance Army, or MNDAA, the Arakan Army and the Ta’ang National…
China requires job applicants in Tibet to denounce Dalai Lama
Tibetans who want to get public sector jobs must comply with a harsh Chinese rule requiring them to denounce the Dalai Lama, the leader of Tibetan Buddhism. The move would seem to violate China’s constitution, which officially protects the freedom of religion. An official directive from Beijing released this month advertised 554 new public job opportunities in the city of Sigatse (in Chinese Xigaze) for its Village Development Expansion Program. It sought college graduates from the Tibet Autonomous Region with training in medicine, counseling and village development. Those applying for…
Hong Kong Reporter Missing in China, Japanese Outlet Says
An award-winning reporter from the South China Morning Post has gone missing following a work trip to China at the end of October, the Japanese news outlet Kyodo News reported on Thursday, citing unidentified people close to the issue. Minnie Chan, who covers defense and diplomacy in China, has become unreachable after traveling to Beijing to report on the Xiangshan Forum. The three-day international security forum concluded on October 31. Chan’s last story, about China’s response to the Israel-Hamas war, was published on November 1. The South China Morning Post,…
Six more Montagnards wanted by Vietnamese police in Dak Lak attacks
Six Montagnards are wanted on terrorism charges by Vietnamese police for their alleged involvement in deadly attacks nearly six months ago on government facilities in the southern province of Dak Lak, which left nine people dead, state media reported on Thursday. The security investigation agency of the Dak Lak provincial police has issued a special warrant for the six, who are charged with terrorism under Article 299 of Vietnam’s Penal Code. In the early hours of June 11, two groups of about 40 people armed with guns and knives conducted…