China is considering lifting the sanctions it imposed on UK parliamentarians in 2021, in the latest sign of warming relations between London and Beijing. The Chinese government is reviewing the sanctions, which it introduced four years ago in response to what it called “lies and disinformation” about human rights abuses in Xinjiang, according to two UK government sources familiar with the conversations. Asked to comment, a spokesperson for the Chinese embassy in London said: “China has always attached importance to developing relations with the UK. Currently, UK-China relations are showing…
Tag: London
Trump announces US-China trade talks in London next week
Senior US administration officials will meet with a Chinese delegation on Monday in London for the next round of trade negotiations between Washington and Beijing, Donald Trump said on Friday. The meeting comes after a phone call between Trump and the Chinese leader, Xi Jinping, on Thursday, which the US president described as a “very positive” conversation as the two countries attempt to break an impasse over tariffs and global supplies of rare earth minerals. The treasury secretary, Scott Bessent, commerce secretary, Howard Lutnick, and US trade representative, Jamieson Greer,…
Met police ‘maintain concerns’ about China super-embassy plan
China’s proposed “super-embassy” in London would require additional police officers to deal with any large protests involving thousands of people, the Metropolitan police have said before a decision by ministers. Despite having dropped its official objection to the proposals, the Met “maintains concerns” that large protests of more than 500 people outside the embassy would impede traffic and “require additional police resource”, said the deputy assistant commissioner Jon Savell In a letter sent to the former Conservative leader Iain Duncan Smith and to the Home Office earlier this month, Savell…
Ping Pong review – cheerful, far-fetched caper that dives into London’s 1980s Chinatown
There’s a sweet charm to Leong Po Chih’s 1986 mystery-comedy Ping Pong, set in and around the restaurant businesses of London’s Chinatown, now rereleased. It was produced by Film Four, who two years later brought out Mike Newell’s comparably set Soursweet, based on the Timothy Mo novel, although that is more serious. Ping Pong is eminently likable, though for me there is something perhaps a little soft-edged and carefully paced which dampens the energy a bit. It is a cheerfully far-fetched caper that could have taken some influence from the…
Why no concern at prisoners being paid just 50p an hour to work? | Brief letters
Reading another article about Chinese prisoners possibly making products for sale in the UK (Chinese prisoner’s ID card apparently found in lining of Regatta coat, 1 December), I wonder why there is no concern that British prisoners are forced to work for UK companies for about 50p an hour? This work provides no training for release and serves only to enrich private prison contractors.David AdamsDarlington, County Durham How appropriate that on the day you note that Katherine Rundell, the author of The Golden Mole, has won the Waterstones book award…
The London art student whose Chinese political slogan mural caused a storm
When Wang Hanzheng, a Chinese student at the Royal College of Art, attended a graduate show in a warehouse on Brick Lane in east London in July, he found the space crowded, unimaginative and unfit for presenting art. It was with this in mind that at 11pm one night earlier this month Wang and a team of 22 others painted a Chinese political slogan in bold red characters along a nearby wall stretching nearly 100 metres. The artwork – which spelled out the Chinese government’s “socialist core values”, including the…
China’s new London embassy on hold pending Westminster intervention
China has temporarily shelved plans to build a new embassy in London, angrily accusing the British government of not doing enough to force through planning permission for the project. China had been given until Thursday to file an appeal to Tower Hamlets council in east London after the proposals for the embassy were rejected. Beijing bought the Royal Mint Court site for its new embassy in 2018 for £255m, with the plan to move from its long-term but relatively cramped site in Portland Place, near Regent’s Park. Chinese officials appear…
Chinese political slogans spark graffiti free-for-all on east London wall
It began with a group of artists and a propaganda slogan: 24 Chinese characters painted in bold red, stretching nearly 100 metres along Brick Lane in London’s East End. But over the weekend, the Chinese government slogan promoting – ironically or not – the country’s “socialist core values” was swiftly transformed into a forum scrutinising Xi Jinping’s communist rule after garnering attention on social media. Within hours of appearing on Saturday, the slogan was overlaid with references to the bloody Tiananmen Square massacre in 1989, and phrases: “Free Taiwan”, “Free…
London losing out to Paris and Milan over tourist shopping, says Burberry
Burberry has reported a sales surge of almost a fifth thanks to a bounceback in China, but the luxury British fashion brand has warned that London is losing out to rivals such as Paris and Milan, which are enjoying a stronger tourist shopping boom. The British fashion brand, best known for its signature check bags and raincoats, said that global sales grew 18% year on year to £589m in the quarter to 1 July – its fastest growth rate in two years. The company pointed to a strong sales recovery…
British Museum offers to pay translator after plagiarism row
The British Museum has offered to pay a writer for her work after she alleged her poetry translations had been plagiarised in a landmark exhibition. Earlier this week, the museum removed a segment of its China’s Hidden Century exhibition after Yilin Wang said she did not receive any credit or reimbursement for her translations of the work of Qiu Jin, a Chinese revolutionary. On Thursday, the museum said it had apologised for the “unintentional human error” and “offered financial payment for the period the translations appeared in the exhibition as…