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…
Tag: World news
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…
Li Keqiang, former premier of China, dies aged 68 – state media
China’s former premier, Li Keqiang, has died, according to state media. He was 68. Li had a sudden heart attack and died in Shanghai in the early hours on Friday morning, according to China’s Xinhua news agency. Li became premier – the second highest ranked position in China’s political system – in 2013 and served for 10 years until March 2023 when he was replaced by Li Qiang. The son of a local official in the impoverished province of Anhui, he rose up the ranks through his involvement in the…
Beyond Utopia review – nail-biting account of how to get out of North Korea
The toxic anti-Shangri-La of North Korea continues to provide a rich seam of material for film-makers: the late Claude Lanzmann recounted his personal experiences there in the 1950s in Napalm and Werner Herzog discussed the North Korean reverence for Mount Paektu in Into the Inferno. There are many more, including Álvaro Longaria’s The Propaganda Game, Ross Adam and Robert Cannan’s The Lovers and the Despot, Morten Traavik’s Liberation Day and Ryan White’s Assassins. So far no documentary film-maker to my knowledge has tackled one of North Korea’s strangest events: Kim…
The new global arms race will lead to catastrophe. The west can pursue it – or choose peace | Carlo Rovelli
In the autumn of 1914 a frantic race to build weapons and decouple economies was under way among the countries of Europe. As the war cry on both sides intensified, a young Albert Einstein, together with the astronomer Wilhelm Foerster, physiologist Georg Friedrich Nicolai and philosopher Otto Buek, signed a Manifesto to the Europeans, inviting scholars and artists, “those of whom one should expect such convictions”, to speak against the escalation, think in terms of a common culture, transcend nationalist passions and call for a “union of Europeans” to prevent…
Xi says China willing to cooperate with US as hopes rise for talks with Biden
The Chinese leader, Xi Jinping, has said China is willing to cooperate with the US as both sides manage their differences and work together to respond to global challenges, raising hopes of a meeting between Xi and the US president, Joe Biden, this year. In a letter delivered at an annual dinner of the National Committee on US-China Relations in New York, Xi said whether or not the US and China could establish the “right” way of getting along would be crucial to the world, according to state media. Xi’s…
Tsingtao beer loses its fizz in South Korea after video of worker appearing to urinate into tank
Restaurants and consumers in South Korea have quickly lost their taste for Tsingtao beer, according to media reports, after a video that appeared to show a brewery worker urinating into a tank at one of the firm’s plants in China went viral. The clip, which has been viewed tens of millions of times on social media since it appeared last Thursday, shows a man wearing a helmet and blue uniform clambering over the side of a high-walled container and apparently relieving himself over its contents. Tsingtao, China’s second-biggest brewery and…
Finland recovers ship’s anchor close to damaged Baltic Sea pipeline
Finnish investigators have recovered a large ship’s anchor from near the spot where a Baltic Sea gas pipeline was extensively damaged and are seeking to establish whether it came from a Chinese container vessel. Finland’s central criminal police (KRP) said on Tuesday that the anchor, weighing 6 tonnes and missing one of its prongs, had been lifted from the seabed using a navy crane. Deep drag marks were found on both sides of the fractured pipeline. The country’s National Bureau of Investigation (NBI), which last week said inquiries were focused…
China sacks defence minister and removes ex-foreign minister from cabinet
China has removed the defence minister, Li Shangfu, and ousted ex-foreign minister Qin Gang from its cabinet, according to state media, in a major reshuffle of top leadership. The news came after months of speculation about the country’s cabinet, including confusion over the abrupt removal of Qin from office in July without explanation and the months-long absence of Li from public view. Both Qin and Li are believed by experts to have been personally selected for their roles by the president, Xi Jinping. State broadcaster CCTV announced the removals in…
Trial of Uyghur film-maker to begin in China this week
A Uyghur film-maker who was arrested in Beijing earlier this year will appear on trial in Xinjiang on Wednesday. Ikram Nurmehmet, 32, was taken from his home by Chinese authorities on 29 May and flown to Ürümqi, Xinjiang’s capital, where he is being held in pre-trial detention on unknown charges, according to his supporters. Born and raised in Ürümqi, Nurmehmet is an independent film-maker based in Beijing, where he lives with his wife and infant son. Hours after his arrest, police called his wife to notify her of his transfer…