China’s assertions that the Taiwan Strait doesn’t qualify as international waters raises tensions over the nautical flash point, through which U.S. warships transit in a symbolic challenge to Beijing’s territorial claims over the democratically governed island. While it’s unclear what Beijing means by “international waters,” the language may be intended to deter the U.S. from
Issued on: 14/06/2022 – 08:03 US National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan met with his Chinese counterpart on Monday, the White House said, describing their lengthy exchange as a “candid” attempt to “manage the dynamic” between the rival powers. Sullivan’s meeting with Yang Jiechi in Luxembourg lasted about four and a half hours, a senior White
China is starting to reimpose COVID-19 restrictions just weeks after major easing in key cities, raising concern the country may once again employ strict lockdowns to control its outbreak. Beijing reported 51 new local cases for Sunday, after having single digit cases on most days last week. The city’s local government said an outbreak linked
A new Chinese study on the ancient populations of Xinjiang purports to show modern-day residents descend from a mix of ethnicities, but scientists and experts on the region cautioned the findings are being used to support China’s forced assimilation policy toward the predominately Muslim Uyghurs. The study from the Institute of Vertebrate Paleontology and Paleoanthropology
Singapore – U.S. Indo-Pacific Command head Adm. John Aquilino has expressed concern that the deteriorating security environment in Asia and beyond is escalating tensions and increasing the potential for miscalculation that could erupt into full-blown conflict. “As I look at what is going on, I see potentially the most dangerous period, certainly in my 30
Issued on: 10/06/2022 – 17:41 Beijing will “not hesitate to start a war” if Taiwan declares independence, China’s defence minister warned his US counterpart Friday, the latest salvo between the superpowers over the island. The warning from Wei Fenghe came as he held his first face-to-face meeting with US Defence Secretary Lloyd Austin on the
Members of the European Parliament on Thursday easily passed a resolution calling the Chinese government’s systemic human rights abuses against the mostly Muslim Uyghur minority “crimes against humanity and a serious risk of genocide.” The EU condemned “in the strongest possible terms that the Uyghurs have been systematically oppressed by brutal measures including mass deportation,
Officials in a Chinese city on the border with North Korea say they can’t figure out where persistent new COVID-19 infections are coming from — and suspect the wind blowing in from their secretive neighbor. Despite being locked down since the end of April, daily cases have been trending up in Dandong, a city of
China appears to be shifting its strategic focus toward Southeast Asia and Africa, Sri Lanka’s President Gotabaya Rajapaksa said, noting that South Asian countries in financial trouble aren’t getting the same attention from Beijing as before. In an interview Monday, Rajapaksa said that Sri Lanka couldn’t tap a $1.5 billion credit line from Beijing and
HONG KONG – In his 1944 classic “The Road to Serfdom,” the Austrian economist and philosopher Friedrich August von Hayek warned that central planning and public ownership would inevitably lead to hardship, oppression and even tyranny, while free markets would naturally maximize general welfare. The same year, in The Great Transformation, the American-Hungarian economic historian
