Author: Media Library

How Chinese Clean Tech Is Reshaping Ukraine’s Wartime Energy Security

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Russia’s war against Ukraine has shown that energy security is no longer just about access to fuels, pipelines, and large power stations. It also depends on solar panels, batteries, and other distributed energy equipment that can keep homes, businesses, and critical services operating when the electricity grid is under attack. Ironically, most of the equipment helping Ukraine keep the lights on comes from China. Beijing has maintained close strategic ties with Russia. Yet through trade and global supply chains, Chinese-made clean energy technologies are helping Ukraine reduce the vulnerability created…

China Spied on Taiwanese President’s Son – in the US

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News broke earlier this month that the U.S. Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) had arrested real estate agent Wanying “Heather” Zhang for spying on Lai Ting-yu, the eldest child of Taiwanese President Lai Ching-te. Zhang lived in Irvine, California, where she worked as a real estate agent. She was originally from Changsha, China, before emigrating to the United States and naturalizing.  Lai Ting-yu is not a political figure – members of the Lai family tend to keep a low profile. Lai Ching-te’s wife, First Lady Wu Mei-ju, does not often…

Vehicle may have sparked Mongolia wildfire, putting China rescuers on high alert

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A grassland fire in Mongolia has raised fresh concerns in China, underscoring the recurring risk of cross-border environmental hazards. This is not the first time an environmental disaster originating in Mongolia has threatened to cross the 4,700km (2,920-mile) border into China, with the impacts sometimes also affecting the Korean peninsula and Japan. The blaze, which erupted on October 8 in the inland country’s easternmost Dornod province bordering Russia and China, advanced rapidly towards… South China Morning Post

The global economy is muddling through against the odds. But a storm is coming | Larry Elliott

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Finance ministers gathering for the IMF annual meeting know the need for multilateral cooperation to deal with many crises. There is little chance of that Not much has gone right for the global economy this year, and plenty has gone wrong. Two big regional wars are destabilising prices and supply chains everywhere. Businesses and consumers are feeling the effects of a serious energy shock. Rising inflation has made it a lot more expensive for governments to finance their debts. China and the US are at loggerheads over trade. Yet, so…

North Korea and China open new bridge after 12-year delay

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A long-delayed road bridge linking China and North Korea has opened, Chinese state media report, amid rapidly warming trade ties between the two longtime allies. The New Yalu River Bridge spans 3km (1.9 miles) from the Chinese border city of Dandong to Sinuiju in North Korea, and is set to become the main land route for trade between the two countries. Its launch, initially slated for 2014, had been indefinitely postponed after North Korea halted construction of its roads and customs facilities, as relations with Beijing turned frosty. Experts have…

After US accuses Fijian of corruption for China, experts warn of region-wide network

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Beijing’s corruption and influence operations are not limited to Fiji, and similar operations likely exist in other Pacific island countries, experts on the region told Radio Free Asia. The analysis came shortly after Washington accused Fijian national Zhao Fugang of corruption as head of the Overseas Chinese Service Center in Suva. “Zhao abused his public position by paying bribes to Fijian citizens to advance China-based government, business, and criminal interests,” U.S. State Department spokesman Thomas Pigott said in a statement. “His actions constituted significant corruption and adversely affected U.S. interests…

India and China aren’t friends – but Nepal wants to unite them against climate threats

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Nepal’s Prime Minister Balendra Shah used much of his speech at the recent UN General Assembly to warn of the growing threat of climate-related disasters in the Himalayas, recalling the devastating debris floods that struck his country in August. But it was his ambitious proposal to bring together regional rivals India and China, alongside Nepal, to tackle these shared threats that drew particular attention. Shah called for the creation of a Himalayan Climate Resilience Mechanism to strengthen cross-border disaster response and the sharing of scientific data and expertise in one…

As Christmas rush looms, how do China-made toys find their way to the US?

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So, how much of the US retail price does the factory get? “About 20%,” says Wang. On a $30 toy, that’s $6, which has to cover the price of the plastic and other materials, production costs including wages, and what profit the factory makes. Chinese factories typically make a profit of between 3% and 10%, according to Jay Foreman, chief executive of US toy firm Basic Fun. So for a $30 toy that’s between 60 and 18 cents of the $6 the factory charges to make it. Samson Ko is…

America Is in Decline, and Trump Is Leading the Fall

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Many of President Trump’s policies have brought changes to the international order that will last long after his second term ends. On this episode of “The Opinions,” the columnist Lydia Polgreen speaks with the political scientist Rahmane Idrissa and the “Sinica Podcast” host Kaiser Kuo about how the United States and China view global leadership and what their evolving positions mean for smaller nations. Below is a transcript of an episode of “The Opinions.” We recommend listening to it in its original form for the full effect. You can do…