Beijing’s threats to Taiwan are “intensifying” and its preparations to invade are speeding up, Taiwan’s government has said while announcing a $40bn special defence budget and a swathe of measures to counter Chinese attacks. The Taiwan president, Lai Ching-te, said there was “no room for compromise on national security”, and he was committed to boosting Taiwan’s defences in conjunction with US support. “This is not an ideological struggle, nor a ‘unification vs independence’ debate, but a struggle to defend ‘democratic Taiwan’ and refuse to submit to being ‘China’s Taiwan’.” Lai…
Category: The Guardian
Protests erupt in China’s Guizhou province over cremation mandate
Protests have erupted in China’s southern Guizhou province, the latest in a string of rural demonstrations that have seen incidents of unrest increase by 70% compared with last year. The protests in Shidong town started over the weekend in response to a directive from local authorities that people should be cremated rather than buried after their death. Guizhou is a poor, rural province away from the urban hubs of Shenzhen and Shanghai. In unverified footage from the protests shared on X by the protest-tracking account Yesterday Big Cat, a villager…
China’s Xi Jinping raises future of Taiwan in call with Donald Trump
Chinese leader Xi Jinping has told Donald Trump that Beijing’s claims to Taiwan remain unchanged, in a phone call that came amid rising tensions over the self-governing island. Xi told Trump on Monday that Taiwan’s return to China was an “integral part of the postwar international order” forged in the joint US-China fight against “fascism and militarism”, according to the Chinese foreign ministry. China claims Taiwan as part of its territory and has vowed to annex it, by force if necessary. Taiwan’s democratically elected government strongly rejects China’s stance. The…
Japan PM fails to achieve breakthrough in row with China – but polling shows public backs her
When she selected her wardrobe for this weekend’s G20 summit in South Africa, Japan’s prime minister, Sanae Takaichi, took extra care to choose something that – in her words – would “give her the upper hand” in negotiations. But she never got the opportunity to test the theory in what would have been her most pressing engagement – talks with the Chinese premier, Li Qiang, aimed at easing a deepening diplomatic row between the north-east Asian neighbours. Instead, they kept their distance during a group photoshoot on Saturday – setting…
China has brought millions out of poverty. The US has not – by choice
The Chinese did rather well in the age of globalization. In 1990, 943 million people there lived on less than $3 a day measured in 2021 dollars – 83% of the population, according to the World Bank. By 2019, the number was brought down to zero. Unfortunately, the United States was not as successful. More than 4 million Americans – 1.25% of the population – must make ends meet with less than $3 a day, more than three times as many as 35 years ago. The data is not super…
MI5 ‘very relaxed’ about proposed Chinese super-embassy in London, sources say
MI5 officers told the House of Commons speaker at a private meeting that they can tackle the risks of a proposed Chinese super-embassy in London, opening the door to its approval. The Guardian understands that in a meeting held with Lindsay Hoyle in the summer, senior figures from the Security Service indicated they were “very relaxed” about the prospect of a 20,000 sq metre embassy being constructed at Royal Mint Court near Tower Bridge. It is considered that the espionage risks stemming from the large outpost can be managed. China…
The man who froze his wife and got a new girlfriend: a stranger, sadder tale than I expected | Imogen West-Knights
One of the last remaining fun things about the internet is getting to pass judgment on the goings-on in households that you would never hear about otherwise. On Reddit, for instance, there is a whole thriving sub for just this purpose called Am I the Asshole?, where people describe conflicts from their lives and ask strangers to adjudicate on them. This week, a story on the BBC threw up a particularly juicy piece of other people’s business that has been sparking debates on Chinese social media. It starts in 2017,…
Brother Wang, a global manhunt and the Chinese-Mexican drug nexus
Like so many great escapes, it involved a tunnel. One night in July, in the Mexico City neighbourhood where he was under house arrest, Zhi Dong Zhang snuck through a hole into the property nextdoor and escaped from under the noses of the soldiers guarding him. Zhang, an alleged drug trafficker, managed to get to Cuba and then reportedly all the way to Russia – only to be turned back. At the end of October, the Cuban government announced that it had arrested him. The same day he was flown…
‘The English person with a Chinese stomach’: how Fuchsia Dunlop became a Sichuan food hero
Every autumn in the mid-00s, when I lived in China, my friend Scarlett Li would invite me to Shanghai to eat hairy crab. Named for the spiky fur on their legs and claws, the crabs are said to have the best flavour during the ninth month of the lunar calendar. They’re steamed and served whole, with a dip of rice vinegar spiked with ginger. The most prized specimens come from Yangcheng Lake near Suzhou, which is not far from Scarlett’s home town of Wuxi. She had moved to Hong Kong…
Trump’s plan to impose semiconductor tariffs may be delayed, sources say
US officials are privately saying that they might not levy long-promised semiconductor tariffs soon, potentially delaying a centerpiece of Donald Trump’s economic agenda. Officials relayed these messages over the last several days to stakeholders in the government and private industry, according to two people with direct knowledge of the matter and a third person briefed on the conversations. A fourth person following the matter also said the administration was taking a more cautious approach to avoid provoking China. The discussions have not been previously reported. Trump aides are taking their…