Hundreds of people gathered near a state funeral home in China on Thursday as former premier Li Keqiang was being laid to rest. Plainclothes and uniformed police lined the roadway leading to the funeral home, blocking traffic and telling people to move along while watching for the presence of unofficial or foreign media. Public tributes to Li have been strictly controlled as the government seeks to prevent a mass outpouring of grief that it regards as a possible trigger for social unrest. But despite censorship targeting “overly effusive” comments and…
Tag: World news
Biden expected to meet with Xi Jinping next month for ‘constructive’ talks
Joe Biden is expected to meet Chinese leader Xi Jinping on the sidelines of a summit in San Francisco in November for “constructive” talks, the White House said on Tuesday. The comments came days after China’s foreign minister made a rare visit to Washington to pave the way for Xi to meet Biden at the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (Apec) summit. China has not yet confirmed that Xi will come. “We’re aiming to have a constructive conversation, meeting between the leaders in San Francisco in November,” the White House press secretary,…
Banks pumped more than $150bn in to companies running ‘carbon bomb’ projects in 2022
Banks pumped more than $150bn last year into companies whose giant “carbon bomb” projects could destroy the last chance of stopping the planet heating to dangerous levels, the Guardian can reveal. The carbon bombs – 425 extraction projects that can each pump more than one gigaton of carbon dioxide into the atmosphere – cumulatively hold enough coal, oil and gas to burn through the rapidly dwindling carbon budget four times over. Between 2016 and 2022, banks mainly in the US, China and Europe gave $1.8tn in financing to the companies…
China’s billionaires looking to move their cash, and themselves, out
Billionaires are notoriously difficult to track. It’s no surprise – the easier they and their assets are to find, the easier they are to tax. But by all accounts, the number of uber-wealthy people in China is in decline. Of the world’s estimated 2,640 billionaires, at least 562 are thought to be in China, according to Forbes, down from 607 last year. With crackdowns on financiers and a roiling political climate, many of China’s rich people are looking to move their money, and themselves, out of the country. China’s elites…
China seeks to stifle public grief for former premier Li Keqiang
Public tributes to China’s former premier Li Keqiang, who died on Friday, are being strictly controlled as the government seeks to prevent a mass outpouring of grief that could lead to social unrest. Li suffered a sudden heart attack in Shanghai and died in the early hours of Friday, according to Xinhua news agency. There have been public displays of grief, particularly in his home city of Hefei, in Anhui province, where hundreds of mourners laid flowers for one of their most significant sons. Social media is awash with tributes…
High interest rates help double HSBC profits
HSBC will hand more than $3bn (£2.5bn) to shareholders, after higher interest rates helped to more than double quarterly profits, despite taking a financial hit on China’s property crisis. The London-headquartered bank said it was launching the share buyback, and pay a dividend worth 10 cents a share, after what its chief executive, Noel Quinn, hailed as “three consecutive quarters of strong financial performance”. The move came as HSBC revealed it had made $7.7bn in pre-tax profits between July and September. While it fell short of average analyst forecasts for…
Why the rusting wreck of a second world war ship is so important to China
It is perhaps the most unlikely kind of military base. For more than two decades, a second world war-era ship, BRP Sierra Madre, has stood deliberately grounded in the remote, shallow waters of the fiercely contested South China Sea, carrying the Philippine flag and guarding against Chinese expansion. But its future is increasingly precarious, and the ship has become a growing flashpoint in one of the world’s most disputed waters. The Sierra Madre, marooned on Second Thomas Shoal, in the Spratly Islands, since 1999, is effectively a shipwreck. Rust has…
Joe Biden and Xi Jinping meeting a step closer, says US
The US and China have agreed to work towards setting up a meeting between Joe Biden and Xi Jinping after the US president met with China’s foreign minister on Friday. Biden has invited Xi to San Francisco in November for the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (Apec) summit. The Chinese president has not yet confirmed he will come. Biden held talks with Wang Yi and other senior US officials in Washington, the White House said, with both countries agreeing to keep up “high-level diplomacy” to try to smooth ties. The two sides…
Li Keqiang obituary
Li Keqiang, who has died aged 68 of a heart attack, was the premier of the People’s Republic of China from 2013 to March 2023. Regarded as a reformist economist, in the decade before his appointment he had figured in many lists of those most likely to be the prime leader of the country after the expected retirement of Hu Jintao. But the final decade of Li’s career was mostly spent in the shadow of the man who eventually prevailed over him, Xi Jinping. Despite this, domestically and internationally he…
Taiwan election may open window for better China ties, report says
Taiwan’s presidential election in January is a window of opportunity to resume dialogue between Taipei and Beijing, reduce tensions and lower the risk of conflict, an NGO has said. A war over Taiwan is not inevitable but “the current trajectory is dangerous”, a report by the International Crisis Group says. Taiwan is now considered the greatest potential flashpoint for conflict between China and the US, which is Taiwan’s strongest supporter. The report calls for all parties to take a step back, clarify their positions and “re-establish a baseline level of…