Taiwan’s president will visit diplomatic allies Guatemala and Belize next week while also making stopovers in the United States, as it aims to shore up ties in Latin America. Tsai Ing-wen will depart Taiwan on 29 March for the 10-day trip, stopping in New York and Los Angeles while en route to and from the Central American countries, the island’s ministry said on Tuesday. Belize and Guatemala are two of just 14 countries that officially recognise Taiwan over China, and Tsai’s trip comes after Honduras said earlier this month that…
Tag: World news
Putin’s two-day charm offensive with Xi underlines who’s boss
Standing alongside Xi Jinping in the 15th-century Chamber of Facets, one of the most historic ceremonial venues at the Kremlin, Vladimir Putin raised his glass of white wine. He proceeded to make a toast to the “health of our great friend Xi and the deepening of the Russian-Chinese partnership”, before ending his speech with the phrase ganbei, Chinese for “empty glass”. Putin’s speech was a culmination of the Kremlin’s two-day charm offensive with China, aimed at cementing ties between the two countries amid Russia’s growing isolation from the west. From…
Putin welcomes China’s controversial proposals for peace in Ukraine
Vladimir Putin has welcomed China’s proposals for peace in Ukraine at a joint press conference with Xi Jinping in Moscow – a plan the west has warned would allow the Kremlin to “freeze” its territorial gains in the country. Speaking at the Kremlin during a joint news conference after the second day of talks with China’s president Xi Jinping, Putin said Beijing’s peace plan “correlates to the point of view of the Russian Federation” and said that Ukraine’s western allies so far have shown no interest in it. China last…
Xi Jinping invites Vladimir Putin to China at Kremlin meeting – video
Xi Jinping has invited Vladimir Putin to visit China this year in a symbolic show of support after the international criminal court issued an arrest warrant for Russia’s president over accusations of unlawfully deporting Ukrainian children. Putin and Xi held a second day of talks after Putin said he was open to discussing China’s proposals on putting an end to the fighting in Ukraine and the US called on Xi to press him to ‘halt the war crimes’. Xi’s trip to Moscow has been viewed as a major boost for Putin amid international condemnation…
Newly released Chinese Covid data points to infected animals in Wuhan
Newly released data from early in the Covid-19 pandemic has offered a crucial insight into the outbreak’s origins, suggesting that Covid-infected animals were present at a market in Wuhan and could have been a “potential source of human infections”. A pre-print report on Monday by a team of international researchers fleshed out analysis of previously unseen genomic samples collected by Chinese scientists at the Huanan market in Wuhan in the early days of the pandemic. Initially leaked last week after a meeting of the World Health Organization (WHO) committee studying…
‘He is my best friend’: 10 years of strengthening ties between Putin and Xi
A visit by China’s president, Xi Jinping, to Moscow this week has shone a light on his strengthening relationship with his Russian counterpart, Vladimir Putin. The two leaders have met more than 40 times in recent years, growing increasingly familiar, and now refer to each other as “dear friends”. Xi has been described as a great friend by other world leaders before, including Robert Mugabe and Donald Trump, but does not always reciprocate the compliment like he has with Putin. 2013 Xi’s first foreign visit as China’s president in 2013…
Screenings of Winnie the Pooh horror film cancelled in Hong Kong
The screening of Winnie the Pooh: Blood and Honey, a British slasher film due to be released in Hong Kong this week, has been cancelled for technical reasons, movie websites said. Moviematic, which had organised a screening of the film for Tuesday evening, reported the cancellation on its social media pages. Several other websites and media also reported the cancellation of screenings. The movie’s distributor in Hong Kong, VII Pillars Entertainment, did not immediately respond to requests for comment. A ticket-booking link on its Facebook page brought up a message…
Putin and Xi prepare for second day of talks in Moscow as Japanese PM heads to Ukraine
Vladimir Putin and Xi Jinping were set to hold a second day of talks on Tuesday, as the internationally isolated Russian leader said he was open to discussing China’s proposals on the fighting in Ukraine and the US called on Xi to press him to “halt the war crimes”. Xi’s trip to Moscow has been viewed as a major boost for his strategic partner Putin, who is subject to an international criminal court warrant over accusations of unlawfully deporting Ukrainian children. The Chinese leader is expected to continue to position…
‘We’re a bit jealous of China’: Putin greets Xi Jinping in Kremlin – video
In remarks at the Kremlin, Vladimir Putin told China’s leader, Xi Jinping, that Russia was ‘a bit jealous’ of China’s rapid development in recent decades. During a meeting in which he invited Xi to sit close to him – in contrast to the long white table at which he sat with the French president, Emmanuel Macron – Putin said he welcomed Beijing’s proposal to end the ‘acute crisis’ in Ukraine and viewed the plan with respect The Guardian
Armed men kill nine Chinese nationals in Central African Republic
China’s embassy in the Central African Republic has urged its citizens to avoid travelling outside the capital, Bangui, after nine Chinese nationals were killed in an attack by militants at a goldmine outside the city. The embassy said in a statement on Sunday there had been many “vicious” security incidents against workers of foreign mining enterprises in the area, and Chinese citizens still outside Bangui were requested to evacuate immediately. As well as the nine dead, two more people were injured in the attack at the mine run by the…