“Climate is our biggest war. Climate is here for the next 100 years. We need to focus and … not allow those [other] wars to take our attention away from the bigger fight that we need to have.” Ana Toni, the chief executive of Cop30, the UN climate summit to be held in Brazil this November, is worried. With only four months before the crucial global summit, the world’s response to the climate crisis is in limbo. Fewer than 30 of the 200 countries that will gather in the Amazonian…
Tag: China
China ‘planned car collision’ during Taiwan vice-president’s visit to Prague
Taiwan’s vice-president has said she will not be intimidated after reports by Czech intelligence that Chinese officials planned to stage a car collision when she was in Prague last year. Hsiao Bi-khim visited the Czech Republic in March 2024, in the first overseas visit by her and Taiwan’s president, Lai Ching-te, after winning the election in January. It was reported at the time that a Chinese diplomat had run a red light while following her car – under police escort – from the airport. This week Prague intelligence officials told…
Hong Kong pro-democracy party to disband under pressure from Beijing
The League of Social Democrats, a pro-democracy party with a 19-year history, has announced it will hold a press conference Sunday to announce its disbandment, signaling the disappearance of pro-democracy parties from Hong Kong’s political landscape. “Next year would have marked the 20th anniversary of our founding, but we will not make it to that day,” LSD said in a media notice on Friday. “We are announcing our dissolution.” A source told RFA Cantonese that LSD was warned several times, beginning in April, that it must dissolve before July 1…
Lotus plans to end UK sportscar production, putting 1,300 jobs at risk
Lotus is planning to end production of its sportscars in the UK and shift it to the US, a move that would put 1,300 jobs at risk and represent a major blow to the British car industry. The carmaker’s Chinese owner, Geely, is looking at options including manufacturing its Emira sportscar in the US, and permanently stopping production at its factory in Hethel, Norfolk, according to a person with knowledge of the company’s thinking. No final decision has been made. Workers at the factory, in a former second world war…
US attacks on Iran redraw calculus of use of force for allies and rivals around globe
For US allies and rivals around the world, Donald Trump’s strikes on Iran have redrawn the calculus of the White House’s readiness to use force in the kind of direct interventions that the president said he would make a thing of the past under his isolationist “America First” foreign policy. From Russia and China to Europe and across the global south, the president’s decision to launch the largest strategic bombing strike in US history indicates a White House that is ready to employ force abroad – but reluctantly and under…
Top Chinese general ousted from body that oversees China’s military
A top Chinese general has been purged from the body that overseas the Chinese military in the latest sign that Xi Jinping’s anti-corruption drive has reached the highest echelons of the armed forces. Miao Hua, a senior admiral from the People’s Liberation Army (PLA) navy, was the director of the political work department of the central military commission (CMC), making him responsible for ideology and loyalty within the armed forces. The six-person CMC is one of the most powerful institutions in China and is headed by Xi, China’s leader. On…
Nike says Trump tariff war could cost it $1bn
Nike expects costs to increase by about $1bn (£728m) as a result of Donald Trump’s tariff war, as the sportswear company looks to significantly reduce its manufacturing in China. The market value of the company has plummeted by a third over the past year and it is taking action to reduce the hit, including price increases in the US and sourcing from other countries. “These tariffs represent a new and meaningful cost headwind,” said Matthew Friend, its chief financial officer. “With the new tariff rates in place today, we estimate…
US reaches deal with China to speed up rare earth shipments, White House says, amid efforts to end trade war
The United States has reached an agreement with China on how to expedite rare earth shipments to the US, a White House official has said, amid efforts to end a trade war between the world’s biggest economies. President Donald Trump said earlier on Thursday that the US had signed a deal with China the previous day, without providing additional details, and that there might be a separate deal coming up that would “open up” India. During US-China trade talks in May in Geneva, Beijing committed to removing non-tariff countermeasures imposed…
US state department told to terminate nearly all its overseas pro-democracy programs
The US state department has been advised to terminate grants to nearly all remaining programs awarded under the Bureau of Democracy, Human Rights, and Labor (DRL), which would effectively end the department’s role in funding pro-democracy programming in some of the world’s most hostile totalitarian nations. The review could affect nearly $1.3bn in grants, three state department officials told the Guardian, citing briefings on the results of a Foreign Assistance Review produced by the Office of Management and Budget (OMB). Of 391 active grants, only two were not recommended to…
China breaks more records with surge in solar and wind power
China’s installations of wind and solar in May are enough to generate as much electricity as Poland, as the world’s second-biggest economy breaks further records with its rapid buildup of renewable energy infrastructure. China installed 93 GW of solar capacity last month – almost 100 solar panels every second, according to an analysis by Lauri Myllyvirta, a senior fellow at the Asia Society Policy Institute. Wind power installations reached 26 GW, the equivalent of about 5,300 turbines. While estimates for the amount of power generated by solar panels and wind…