Tag: International Relations

In China, the Police Came for the Consultants. Now the C.E.O.s Are Alarmed.

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The China Development Forum, a high-profile, government-hosted conference with a who’s who of international executives in attendance, was a moment for Beijing to renew its efforts to win over foreign businesses. Businesses from outside China “are not foreigners, but family,” said Wang Wentao, China’s commerce minister. State media reported that the chief executives of Apple, Pfizer and Procter & Gamble were at the forum, held in late March. Many of the dozens of business leaders there were on their first trip to China since the country had closed its markets…

China’s Economic Needs May Take a Back Seat to Security

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To revive its sluggish economy, China set out this year to woo foreign investors and stabilize its ties with the West. But these goals are colliding with what China’s leader, Xi Jinping, considers the paramount priority: bolstering national security in a world he sees as full of threats. Mr. Xi has warned that China must fight back against a campaign by the United States to contain and suppress the country’s rise. In this worldview, foreign rivals are using spies to weaken China’s economy; Russia is not treated as a pariah…

Kiel-Qingdao Sister City Plan Stalled Amid German Wariness of China

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City officials in the northern German port of Kiel were flattered this year when the Chinese port of Qingdao — about 40 times its size — proposed partnering up as a sister city. They rushed to embrace the offer. The two cities had a history of cooperation dating to when the Germans helped their Chinese counterparts develop a sailing venue for the 2008 Olympics in Beijing. Both have substantial commercial ports, sprawling boardwalks and public beaches. It seemed a good match. Almost too good, in fact, for security experts, who noted…

China Does an Awkward Dance with Europe Over Russia-Ukraine War

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China’s top diplomat set out on a three-nation trip Tuesday to persuade European leaders that they can do business with Beijing, even as the Chinese tried to keep faith with their “unlimited partnership” with a Russia that has plunged Europe into war. But arriving in Berlin, Foreign Minister Qin Gang was quickly confronted about the war in Ukraine. “Neutrality means taking the side of the aggressor, and that is why our guiding principle is to make it clear that we are on the side of the victim,” the German foreign…

Canada Expelling Chinese Diplomat Amid Influence Concerns

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Canada said on Monday it was expelling a Chinese diplomat amid reports he had been intimidating and gathering information on a Canadian lawmaker who had been critical of Beijing’s treatment of its Uyghur Muslim minority, a decision likely to increase tensions between Beijing and Ottawa. Mélanie Joly, Canada’s foreign minister, said in a statement that the diplomat, Zhao Wei, had been declared “persona non grata.” Ms. Joly said the decision has been taken “after careful consideration of all factors at play.” “Diplomats in Canada have been warned that if they…

China’s Foreign Minister Meets U.S. Envoy and Urges Washington to Reflect

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China’s foreign minister, Qin Gang, met with the American ambassador to China in Beijing on Monday in a possible hint at a thaw in relations between the two powers after months of growing tension. Mr. Qin told the ambassador, Nicholas Burns, that a “top priority” was to stabilize relations, “avoid a downward spiral, and prevent accidents between China and the United States,” according to China’s official readout of the meeting. The meeting marked one of the highest-level engagements between American and Chinese officials since relations soured in February following the appearance,…

​Leaders of Japan and South Korea Vow to Deepen Ties

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The leaders of South Korea and Japan agreed on Sunday to press ahead with joint efforts to improve bilateral ties despite skeptics at home, declaring that historical differences should not prevent the two nations from working more closely to cope with the growing security challenges from North Korea and China. Before Prime Minister Fumio Kishida of Japan arrived in Seoul to meet President Yoon Suk Yeol and to nurture a fledgling détente, South Koreans had been waiting intently for what Mr. Kishida might say about Japan’s brutal colonial rule of…

Did China Help Vancouver’s Mayor Win Election?

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VANCOUVER, British Columbia — Every day when he arrives at his office in City Hall, Mayor Ken Sim stares at a prominent black-and-white photograph of Chinese railway workers toiling on the tracks in British Columbia in 1884. Mr. Sim, the son of Hong Kong immigrants, said the workers’ weathered faces are a daily reminder of the symbolic importance of his election as Vancouver’s first Chinese Canadian mayor, and of just how far Chinese Canadians have come. Six months ago, his historic landslide victory was widely lauded, viewed as the triumph…

Even as China Reopens, Security Visits Spook Foreign Businesses

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With China’s pandemic restrictions dismantled and its leaders wooing executives flying into the country again, this was supposed to be a springtime of renewed investor confidence in the world’s second-biggest economy. But a drumbeat of government security measures, including a broadening of counterespionage laws, and unannounced visits by investigators to the Chinese offices of several foreign firms have sent a shiver of worry that under Xi Jinping, economic pragmatism could again give way to a heightened focus on state control. International consulting and advisory firms are among those that have…

Your Wednesday Briefing: A Deep Look at Korean Comfort Women

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South Korea’s brutal sex trade The euphemism “comfort women” typically describes South Korean women who were forced into sexual slavery by the Japanese during World War II. But long after Japan’s colonial rule ended, the sexual exploitation continued with Korean and American soldiers. After South Korea’s Supreme Court last year ordered the government to compensate 100 of the comfort women, the victims now aim to take their case to the U.S. Their legal strategy is unclear, as is what recourse they may find. Park Geun-ae, who was sold to a pimp…