U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken is heading to China this week for talks with senior officials in Shanghai and Beijing to discuss a range of issues, including Russia’s war against Ukraine, the Middle East crisis, the South China Sea, and human rights. State Department Bureau Chief Nike Ching has more. Voice of America
Taipei, Taiwan — Analysts say China’s recent opening of two new air routes, with flight paths near two outlying islands controlled by Taiwan, is but the latest move in a broad campaign Beijing has rolled out ahead of the inauguration of Taiwan’s president-elect, Lai Ching-te. Lai, a member of Taiwan’s pro-sovereignty Democratic Progress Party, was elected in January and will be sworn into office on May 20. Su Tzu-yun, a military analyst at the Taipei-based Institute for National Defense and Security Research, says Beijing has been using a combination of…
LONDON — British police on Monday charged two men with spying for China, including one reported to have worked as a researcher in Britain’s parliament for a prominent lawmaker in the governing Conservative Party. Anxiety has mounted across Europe about China’s alleged espionage activity and Britain has become increasingly vocal about its concerns in recent months. The two men, aged 32 and 29, were charged with providing prejudicial information to China in breach of the Official Secrets Act, and will appear in court Friday. “This has been an extremely complex…
QINGDAO, China — One of China’s top military leaders took a harsh line on regional territorial disputes, telling an international naval gathering in northeastern China on Monday that the country would strike back with force if its interests came under threat. The 19th biennial meeting of the Western Pacific Naval Symposium opened in the port city of Qingdao, where China’s northern naval force is based, providing a vivid backdrop to China’s massive military expansion over the past two decades that has seen it build or refurbish three aircraft carriers. The…
China’s ambassador to Canada has left his post and returned to China, a source familiar with the matter said Sunday, with the news emerging during a senior Canadian diplomat’s visit to the Asian nation. Further details into why Cong Peiwu, who has served since 2019, left his post were not immediately available. The Chinese Embassy in Ottawa did not immediately respond to a request for comment. China’s foreign ministry said earlier that Chinese Vice Foreign Minister Ma Zhaoxu held talks with visiting Canadian Deputy Foreign Minister David Morrison and the…
BEIJING — Major rivers, waterways and reservoirs in China’s Guangdong province are threatening to unleash dangerous floods, forcing the government Sunday to enact emergency response plans to protect more than 127 million people. Calling the situation “grim,” local weather officials said sections of rivers and tributaries at the Xijiang and Beijiang river basins are hitting water levels in a rare spike that only has a one-in-50 chance of happening in any given year, state broadcaster CCTV news said Sunday. China’s water resource ministry issued an emergency advisory, CCTV reported. Guangdong…
Washington — TikTok on Sunday raised free speech concerns about a bill passed by the U.S. House of Representatives that would ban the popular social media app in the U.S. if its Chinese owner ByteDance did not sell its stake within a year. The House passed the legislation on Saturday by a margin of 360 to 58. It now moves to the Senate where it could be taken up for a vote in the coming days. President Joe Biden has previously said he will sign the legislation. The step to…
Islamabad — Pakistan criticized the United States on Saturday for penalizing four international companies on charges they are aiding its ballistic missile program. “Pakistan rejects political use of export controls,” said Foreign Ministry spokesperson Mumtaz Zahra Baloch. The reaction came a day after Washington imposed sanctions on three Chinese companies and one Belarus-based firm for their alleged links to Islamabad’s missile development program. “These entities have supplied missile‐applicable items to Pakistan’s ballistic missile program, including its long-range missile program,” the U.S. State Department said on Friday. It noted that the…
Sundsvall, Sweden — German Chancellor Olaf Scholz’s short videos of his three-day trip to China this week proved popular in posts on Chinese-owned social media platform TikTok, which the European Union, Canada, Taiwan and the United States banned on official devices more than a year ago, citing security concerns. By Friday, one video showing highlights of Scholz’s trip had garnered 1.5 million views while another of him speaking about it on the plane home had 1.4 million views. Scholz opened his TikTok account April 8 to attract youth, promising he…
State Department — U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken is heading to China April 24 through 26 for talks with senior officials in Shanghai and Beijing. Blinken’s second trip to China comes as the United States warns it against enabling Russia in its war on Ukraine, with Chinese firms directly supplying critical components for Russia’s defense industrial base. Other pressing matters on the agenda include counternarcotics, bolstering military-to-military communication, establishing talks on artificial intelligence risks and safety, and exploring ways to strengthen people-to-people ties, according to the State Department. A…