Media Board - China@Strategy

China, Russia and the Risk of a New Cold War

March 21, 2023 [email protected]

Edward Wong contributed reporting. The Daily is made by Lisa Tobin, Rachel Quester, Lynsea Garrison, Clare Toeniskoetter, Paige Cowett, Michael Simon Johnson, Brad Fisher, Chris Wood, Jessica Cheung, Stella Tan, Alexandra Leigh Young, Lisa Chow, Eric Krupke, Marc Georges, Luke Vander Ploeg, M.J. Davis Lin, Dan Powell, Dave Shaw, Sydney Harper, Robert Jimison, Mike Benoist, Liz O. Baylen, Asthaa Chaturvedi, Rachelle Bonja, Diana Nguyen, Marion Lozano, Corey Schreppel, Anita Badejo, Rob Szypko, Elisheba Ittoop, Chelsea Daniel, Mooj Zadie, Patricia Willens, Rowan Niemisto, Jody Becker, Rikki Novetsky, John Ketchum, Nina Feldman,…

As War in Ukraine Grinds on, China Helps Refill Russian Drone Supplies

March 21, 2023 [email protected]

The Biden administration vowed last month to crack down on companies that sell critical technologies to Russia as part of its efforts to curtail the country’s war against Ukraine. But the continued flow of Chinese drones to the country explains why that will be hard. While drone sales have slowed, American policies put in place after Russia’s invasion have failed to stanch exports of the unmanned aerial vehicles that work as eyes in the sky for frontline fighters. In the year since Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, China has sold more…

Prominent Hong Kong Democracy Activist Arrested

March 21, 2023 [email protected]

A Hong Kong pro-democracy activist was arrested Tuesday just months after he was released from prison for violating the city’s draconian national security law. Reuters news agency says 71-year-old Albert Ho was handcuffed and taken away from his home in a vehicle, according to a witness. Albert Ho once led the pro-democracy Hong Kong Alliance before he was arrested in 2021 and charged with inciting subversion. He spent more than a year in jail before he was released last August for medical treatment, according to Reuters. Agence France Presse says…

US Economic Leaders Consider China Trip: White House

March 21, 2023 [email protected]

Washington — Washington and Beijing are discussing a potential trip to China by U.S. Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen and Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo, the White House said Monday. It would be the highest level visit between the two countries since relations took a nosedive in February. “Active” consideration of the trips is underway, John Kirby, spokesperson for the National Security Council, told reporters. “We’re having discussions with the PRC (China) right now about a potential visit by Secretary Yellen and Secretary Raimondo to go over there and talk about economic…

Putin Hosts Xi for Second Day of Talks After Welcoming China’s Ukraine Peace Plan

March 21, 2023 [email protected]

Russian President Vladimir Putin hosts Chinese leader Xi Jinping for a second day of talks Tuesday, after Putin welcomed Beijing’s peace plan to resolve Russia’s war against Ukraine and signaled to Western leaders the extent of what they call their “limitless” friendship. Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said Tuesday’s meetings would involve a range of subjects and officials from both countries. In opening remarks before their closed-door talks Monday, Putin said Russia was “slightly envious” of the rapid development of China in recent decades that has boosted it to become the…

Tracking the Chinese Balloon From Space

March 20, 2023 [email protected]

Methodology — Finding the Chinese Balloon in Satellite Images A satellite collects images of the Earth by taking pictures in different wavelengths of light and stitching them together. The satellite photographs the same location on the ground from slightly different vantage points as it moves at high speeds overhead. An object like the Chinese balloon, floating somewhere between the satellite and the ground, looks like it is hovering over different parts of the Earth in each image. This phenomenon, where an object looks like it is in different places depending…

China: Deadly 2022 Plane Crash Still Being Investigated

March 20, 2023 [email protected]

beijing — Experts are still investigating the cause of the crash of a China Eastern Airlines jetliner that killed 132 people one year ago, China’s government said Monday. The March 21, 2022, disaster was a rare failure for a Chinese airline industry that dramatically improved safety following deadly crashes in the 1990s. The Boeing 737-800 en route from Kunming in the southwest to Guangzhou, near Hong Kong, went into a nosedive from 8,800 meters (29,000 feet), appeared to recover and then slammed into a mountainside. Everyone aboard was killed. The…

Putin and Xi Celebrate Ties Unbroken by Russia’s War in Ukraine

March 20, 2023 [email protected]

Standing side by side in a show of partnership unshaken by Russia’s yearlong war in Ukraine, President Vladimir V. Putin and China’s top leader, Xi Jinping, began talks in Moscow on Monday with boasts of their close ties and only understated mention of the conflict itself. Though the war and the schisms it has exposed hung over the meeting, the public comments about it from Mr. Xi and Mr. Putin were muted, notwithstanding the cascading consequences of the past year, including Western sanctions on Russia, energy crises in Europe and…

The ‘dear’ friendship of Putin and Xi… in 62 seconds

March 20, 2023 [email protected]

Russia’s Vladimir Putin has welcomed China’s Xi Jinping to Moscow, as part of a two day visit. Appearing in front of cameras, the leaders called each other “dear friend”. However, the relationship between the two countries has not always been so positive. BBC Russia editor Steve Rosenberg and China correspondent Stephen McDonnell examine the complex history between the two presidents and question what the future holds for the nations. Video by James McFadden and Suneil Asar. BBC

Sri Lanka, Its Economy Reeling, Is Approved for $3 Billion Rescue Loan

March 20, 2023 [email protected]

The executive board of the International Monetary Fund approved a loan worth $3 billion to help Sri Lanka through the financial crisis that has had the nation in a rolling economic and political crisis for more than a year. The I.M.F. had agreed in principle to extend the funds last September — subject to Sri Lanka’s meeting a series of conditions that included tightening its finances and renegotiating the terms of repaying debt it owes to the biggest economies in Asia. Even before the announcement was made, late on Monday…