When Xi Jinping came to power in 2012, he pledged to stamp out corruption all through the ranks of the Communist party. More than a decade later, the pace of investigations has not slowed. Last year, China’s disciplinary authorities opened investigations into more than 1 million people, including more than 100 officials at or above ministerial or provincial level. As Chinese Communist party (CCP) officials prepare for an important meeting this week discipline – and party loyalty – is high on the agenda. For those who try to read the…
Tag: Asia Pacific
Kim Jong-un crosses over newly opened bridge into China
Kim Jong-un has travelled to China over a newly opened bridge marking the North Korean leader’s first known trip abroad in more than a year, South Korean officials have said. A government source told the Yonhap news agency on Saturday that Kim had arrived in the Chinese border city of Dandong, in Liaoning province, after taking a train from Pyongyang to Sinuiju and crossing the New Yalu River Bridge. Yonhap also reported that the Chinese premier, Li Qiang, had travelled to the city. Kim’s trip was not announced in advance…
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…
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
Magnitude-7 earthquake hits China’s Tibet, killing at least 16 and destroying hundreds of homes
A magnitude-7 earthquake has hit China’s Tibet region, killing at least 16 people, injuring 54 and collapsing hundreds of homes in the northern regional city of Nagqu, official media said. Search and rescue efforts continued after the collapse of at least 339 homes and 20 livestock sheds, the Nagqu media office said, citing city government officials. More than 1,600 people from the local county were deployed for rescue efforts. Supplies including 1,000 prefabricated housing units and about 3,000 tents and folding beds as well as torches and winter clothing arrived…
Taiwan charges five men over plot to run over comedian for his Xi Jinping jokes
Taiwanese prosecutors have charged five men over a plot to ram a car into a comedian who made fun of the Chinese Communist party and Xi Jinping. Taiwan has repeatedly accused China of transnational repression to silence critics on the self-governed island, which Beijing claims as its territory and has vowed to take by force if necessary. In one performance, Huang Yi-hao insulted the Chinese leader’s appearance, compared him to Winnie-the-Pooh and tore into his political record. Prosecutors in New Taipei said on Wednesday that an individual from mainland China…
China’s economy grows faster than forecast after AI boom boosts exports
Roaring exports lifted China’s economic growth in the third quarter of this year, with factory output growing much faster than consumer spending. China’s GDP grew by 4.5% year-on-year between July and September, the National Bureau of Statistics of China reported on Monday. The figures were better than economists had expected and up from the second quarter’s growth rate of 4.3%. China’s economy has now grown by 4.6% in the first nine months of the year, putting it on track to hit the government’s 2026 target of 4.5%-5% growth without extra…
Why Britain should reject the lure of cheap – and scary – Chinese AI
There is much to fear from artificial intelligence developed in China and handed to businesses and governments in the west almost free of charge. Every month Chinese AI developers such as DeepSeek and Xiaomi dispatch the latest versions of their “open-weight” models that allow users to take the core software and use it without paying an expensive ongoing licence. In Britain, we love cheap Chinese kit, usually setting aside any concerns about how it was made and who by. The row over whether to allow Chinese electric cars unfettered access…
China’s tourists flock to experience a pretend typhoon as ‘dark tourism’ flourishes
When Leon Lv was looking for somewhere to travel last year, she turned to the Chinese social media app RedNote for ideas. The algorithm took her to videos of people struggling to survive typhoon-strength winds and flash floods. “I never experienced a typhoon. I don’t know how it will feel and what will happen. I just have seen it on the news,” says the 28-year-old from Chongqing in south-west China. “So that’s why I want to go there to have a safe place to experience it and learn something.” She…