In the final two years of a US presidency, when Congress has been lost, approval ratings have sunk like a stone and their party has started to think about who’s coming next, the person occupying the Oval Office can feel their power draining away. Domestic legislation, particularly in an era where bipartisan cooperation is almost nonexistent, grinds to a halt. But as the days tick by until the end, and as presidents begin to think about their legacy, there is one part of the job where they still have power:…
Author: Media Library
Typhoon Champi kills one and injures more than 500 in Taiwan as it heads to China
Typhoon Champi swept past Taiwan on Saturday killing one person, injuring more than 500, and uprooting trees and severing power as it weakened and headed north toward the Chinese coast. Earlier classified as a super typhoon and one of the strongest storms in the Pacific this year, Champi was still packing gusts of about 126km per hour (78 miles per hour) near its centre, according to Taiwan’s Central Weather Administration (CWA). The storm was about 150km (93 miles) east of Taiwan, the CWA said, having glanced off the island’s northeast…
North Korea has opened up bridges to Russia and China – in which direction will it go?
For more than a decade, local Chinese residents pilloried it as nothing more than an empty bridge that led to a North Korean vegetable patch on the other side. Fast forward 12 years and dozens of trucks are now traversing the bridge linking China to North Korea, boosting trade for the reclusive regime. But it has also triggered concern that it could intensify a struggle for influence over the North between Beijing and the region’s other major power, Russia. map The New Yalu River Bridge connects the north-eastern Chinese city…
Live K-pop show makes South Korea more real to former North Korean arts troupe singer
Read a version of this story in Korean. A white tiger entered the courtyard outside the National Museum in Seoul. He mugged for the camera and darted up the steps. At the top were the six members of BOYNEXTDOOR, wearing quasi-traditional outfits that mixed elements of hanbok with modern formal wear and a tinge of “bad boy” biker gear. As they danced in unison and sang the opening lines of their hit single “Animal,” the crowd went wild. Sitting in the audience was Cho Mi-young – born in Chongjin, North…
China closes 3 Tibetan schools in 3 months; threatens language, cultural preservation
Chinese authorities have shut down three Tibetan schools in the Golog region of Qinghai province in recent months, leaving the fate of students and teachers unclear, according to sources inside Tibet. The closures of Gangjong Grassland Girls’ School, Jasag Village Primary School and Golog Tadra Orphan School have raised concerns among Tibetans about the future of education that incorporates their language, cultural traditions and community life. Tibetan sources who spoke to Radio Free Asia linked the closures to the Chinese government’s education policies and its promotion of the Ethnic Unity…
Xi Jinping May Have His Own Reasons to Avert a China-Russia-US Summit
U.S. President Donald Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin have put Xi Jinping in an unusual position by expressing interest in a trilateral summit with the Chinese leader at the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) summit in Shenzhen mid-November. Xi’s cautious response so far – Moscow and Washington have confirmed discussion, while Beijing has yet to commit publicly – could help Europe and Ukraine avoid the worst: major powers making decisions about the region in their absence. The idea for a meeting came from Russia and it’s not hard to see…
The China-Taiwan Diplomatic War Is More About Politics Than Economics
Since the Chinese Civil War concluded in 1949, the People’s Republic of China (PRC) and the Republic of China (ROC) have battled endlessly for diplomatic recognition. Due to Beijing’s “One China” principle, states are forced to either pick one side or pick neither. The ROC, now colloquially better known as Taiwan, initially enjoyed an advantage in international recognition due to U.S. anti-communist messaging and generous economic assistance programs. After U.N. Resolution 2758 admitted the PRC to the United Nations and expelled the ROC, the battle for international recognition has tilted…
China’s sanctions on Taiwan allies project its power, but with limited effect
China’s sanctions against foreign officials over their ties with Taiwan help Beijing project power and warn other governments, even as their financial impact and success in curbing engagement remain limited, analysts told Radio Free Asia. Beijing imposed sanctions on Oct. 12 against Paraguay’s information and communication technologies minister, Gustavo Villate, and Belize’s foreign minister, Francis Fonseca. Both countries maintain formal diplomatic relations with Taiwan rather than China. China claims Taiwan is an integral part of its territory and considers it a rogue province. Beijing has sought to persuade governments to…
The Next Chapter of Africa-China Climate Cooperation
Nearly five years have passed since the adoption of the Declaration on China-Africa Cooperation on Combating Climate Change at the Eighth Forum on China-Africa Cooperation (FOCAC 8) in 2021. Since then, discussions have often centered on simple indicators to reflect on the progress made – for example, the number of projects announced, the size of new investments, and the scale of renewable energy commitments. At first glance, Development Reimagined’s China-Africa Climate Action Tracker provides just this. The tracker captures 246 publicly announced climate actions across 50 African countries between 2022…
People evacuate building in Tibet as powerful earthquake strikes – video
Chinese TV footage showed people evacuating a building and debris falling as a magnitude-7 earthquake struck Tibet on Thursday, killing at least 16 people. Search and rescue efforts were under way after at least 339 homes and 20 livestock sheds collapsed in the city of Nagqu. It was the biggest quake in the region in the past five years, according to China’s national broadcaster CCTV The Guardian