Author: Chin@Strategy

Chinese Official Calls U.S. Response to Balloon ‘Absurd and Hysterical’

Chin@Strategy

China’s top foreign policy official on Saturday mocked America’s response to a recent Chinese spy balloon overflight, calling the U.S. actions “absurd and hysterical” and an effort “to divert attention from its domestic problems.” The official, Wang Yi, the Chinese Communist Party’s senior member for foreign affairs, repeated his government’s claim that the balloon, which flew over several U.S. states this month before President Biden ordered it shot down, was a “civilian” craft blown off course by high winds. He made the remarks in a speech to the Munich Security…

US reaction to balloon ‘absurd and hysterical’, says top Chinese diplomat

Chin@Strategy

China’s most senior diplomat has described the shooting down of a balloon by the US as “absurd and hysterical”, as well as an abuse of the use of force. Speaking on stage at the Munich security conference on Saturday, Wang Yi said: “It does not show the US is strong; on the contrary it shows it is weak”. The foreign affairs director said he believed the shooting down was part of an attempt to divert attention from the domestic problems of the Biden administration. He asked the US: “There are…

Beware: we could be entering a dangerous new era of US-China relations | Christopher S Chivvis

Chin@Strategy

Much uncertainty still surrounds China’s balloon spying program and the other mysterious objects that have now been identified over North American airspace. One thing seems certain, however: incidents like these could too easily spiral out of control in the future, ending in disaster. Unless something is done, dangerous waters lie ahead. Unfortunately, both sides are reluctant to do what’s needed. Let’s make no bones about it. It would be better if China didn’t spy on the United States. Any US leader would be hard pressed not to shoot down a…

China’s Balloons Draw Attention to an Overlooked Canada-U.S. Partnership

Chin@Strategy

The interest in balloons, other than the party and clown varieties, has recently reached levels perhaps not seen in Canada since the 19th century. It all began, of course, with a giant Chinese surveillance balloon that floated above British Columbia before drifting around the United States and ultimately being blown up by the United States Air Force over the Atlantic. Since then, three other objects have met a similar fate including one brought down over Yukon and another shot down above Lake Huron. [Read: A Rising Awareness That Balloons Are…

Detained activist fears for missing zero-Covid protesters in China

Chin@Strategy

The detained human rights activist Ding Jiaxi has expressed concern for the young protesters who have disappeared since participating in the “blank paper” protests against zero-Covid that stunned China last year. At least 16 of them are still in police detention, according to names gathered by activists, while Ding himself has been detained for more than three years. On Friday he met his lawyer, Peng Jian, via video link. It was the first time the two had met since Ding was awarded the US state department’s global human rights defender…

North Korea Fires Long-Range Ballistic Missile Into Sea

Chin@Strategy

SEOUL, SOUTH KOREA —  North Korea has fired a long-range ballistic missile into waters off its east coast, South Korean and Japanese authorities said Saturday, in what is the nuclear-armed state’s second provocative missile fire this year. According to South Korea’s Joint Chiefs of Staff, the ballistic missile is suspected to be a long-range missile that was launched from the Sunan area near the capital, Pyongyang, at 5:22 p.m. local time. The military is analyzing the launch’s specifications, such as flight distance, altitude and speed. Japan’s Defense Ministry characterized the…

China looks to reboot Germany, Europe relations, amid Ukraine war fallout

Chin@Strategy

Chinese Foreign Minister Qin Gang told his Belgian counterpart in a call on February 10 that China supported the entry of more “quality” Belgian products into the Chinese market. 02:36 Russia-Ukraine war discussed in Chinese and EU leaders’ meeting amid rising tensions China is trying to restore frayed ties in Europe, according to experts. The European Union does nearly €700 billion (US$746 billion) in annual two-way trade with China and has become a major node in the Chinese 149-nation Belt and Road Initiative to expand commerce through new infrastructure. Advertisement…

In South Korea, Free Subway Rides for the Elderly Become a Political Headache

Chin@Strategy

Seoul, South Korea —  Every day, 71-year-old Park Gyung-sun delivers flowers, documents and other packages around Seoul — a job popular among senior citizens who are entitled to ride the city’s subways for free. The work, dubbed “silver delivery” in South Korea, earns Park, a former market stall owner, up to 700,000 won ($550) a month. The company he works for is just one of two dozen in the capital. “It’s fun and good for my health,” Park told Reuters. “But honestly, I wouldn’t be doing it if subway rides…

FBI lab will get to the ‘guts’ of Chinese balloon – White House

Chin@Strategy

The US has finished work to recover sunken remnants of the Chinese balloon shot down off the coast of South Carolina and the debris reinforces that it was for spying, officials have said. The White House national security spokesman, John Kirby, said the wreckage included “electronics and optics” but declined to say what the US had learned from it so far. “It’s a significant amount [of recovered material], including the payload structure as well as some of the electronics and the optics, and all that’s now at the FBI laboratory…

Impact of the Ukraine war, 1 year on

Chin@Strategy

Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in February 2022 has led to tens of thousands of deaths on both sides and created Europe’s largest refugee wave since World War II. In this multimedia series marking the one-year anniversary of the conflict, we look at China’s response to what Russian President Vladimir Putin called a “special military operation” and its diplomatic, military, and economic impact. South China Morning Post