“The girls have demonstrated the great demeanour of Chinese women’s football, showed their desire for victory, and that was the most valuable quality passed on by generations of Chinese women’s football,” said Huang Jianxiang, one of the most famous football commentators in the country, after the first game. BBC
James Palmer, deputy editor of Foreign Policy, said that reappointing Mr Wang to signal continuity “makes no sense” as “Beijing has now reminded these partners that not only can Chinese officials disappear at any minute, but the government will also pretend they never existed. Any achievements or discussions with Qin… now amount to nothing.” BBC
“With a series of major international meetings coming up, Xi defaulted to someone who has relationships with many of his foreign counterparts. In times of uncertainty, China wants continuity and predictability in this position,” said Rorry Daniels, a senior fellow at the Center for China Analysis. BBC
Some analysts said the promotion of Mr Pan, who is not regarded as a close ally of President Xi Jinping, signals recognition by the government that it needs an experienced economist with a track record in crisis management to help steer the country through its economic problems. BBC
Immediately, analysts were watching his behaviour to see how much of a “wolf warrior” he might be in this new role. The wolf warriors were a group of Chinese diplomats who’d taken to social media in loud support of China, even if it meant abusing others as a means of turning attention away from the nation’s woes. BBC
“The absence of censorship makes people wonder if there is any truth to rumours about power struggles, corruption, the abuse of power and positions, and romantic relationships,” Ian Chong from the National University of Singapore told the BBC last week. BBC
“They tell me my daughter is gone but we never got to see the child. All the children had their faces covered with mud and blood when they were sent to the hospital. I pleaded, please let me identify the child. What if, that wasn’t my child?” one man said in a video that has been widely-shared on social media. BBC
Last week, the foreign ministry announced that he would not attend a diplomatic gathering in Indonesia citing citing health reasons, but that line was left out in the official transcript on the ministry’s website. Mr Qin’s predecessor, director of the Chinese Communist Party Central Committee Foreign Affairs Commission Office Wang Yi, went to the meeting instead. BBC
This time the definition includes those who haven’t found a job, or choose to continue education, learn new skills or take a gap year. No matter how hard the job market is, the paper advised people, they must “take action and work hard” – and as long as they do that, they don’t need to worry about being jobless. BBC
Men with low social status, who earn low wages or are unemployed, have little prospect of finding a mate. This has been further exacerbated by the Covid pandemic, during which millions of Chinese spent months locked in their apartments, and a youth unemployment rate that hovers around 20%. BBC