Worldcrunch
German automobile giant Volkswagen will invest billions in China to manufacture electric vehicles. It has deemed the risk of China invading Taiwan “unlikely,” a peek into the calculations that private-sector conglomerates make, just like state actors.
The move is seen as a coup for China in its efforts to assert itself as a global superpower, while also presenting itself as a responsible and peaceful nation in the eyes of the non-Western world. The agreement is expected to help reduce tensions in the region and revive hopes for peace in Yemen, where the two countries have been fighting a proxy war.
China is spending more money on weapons and defense than ever. The reason is evident: Xi Jinping wants to take Taiwan. Europe should follow the U.S. and support Taipei militarily as the only way to deter Beijing from war.
It’s not just about the current diplomatic impasse between Russia and the West, it’s about the future — and that means China.
To some, tensions between the U.S. and China look like a remake of the U.S.-Soviet Cold War. Yet the West’s nemesis this time is more sophisticated and tied to us commercially in ways Moscow never was. There are, however, also new kinds of danger.
Let’s call it the “war of the balloons”: Four unidentified flying objects have now been shot down by fighter jets in one week over North America. But the mystery of the details should not hide the bigger picture of how far U.S.-Sino relations have sunk in the past 10 days.
The Chinese spy balloon spotted over the U.S. and shot down on Saturday has suddenly brought once-distant fears into America’s backyard, which could set off a kind of “butterfly effect” of a small incident that leads to a much more dangerous showdown.
By shrugging aside Russia’s aggression, India has shown indifference to fears that China could follow Russia’s example.
The past year has added new elements into the showdown across the Taiwan Strait, from Nancy Pelosi’s visit to the war in Ukraine to Xi jinping’s power grab. Now we may be reaching a tipping point that could lead to a military showdown, even if the question of when is still wide open.
The news that China’s population has shrunk for the first time in 60 years, comes as India appears to be outperforming its giant neighbor on a number of fronts. But this reversal of fortune still has too many variables to predict the demise of one or the rise of the other.
That it fools nobody is essential to the plot. That people are dying turns it into tragedy.
An agreement between the Vatican and Beijing was quietly renewed recently. However, China still views Catholicism with a mix of deep suspicion and general distraction. Meanwhile the faithful and pastors are caught between two very different worlds.
Like unpopular leaders in democracies, Chinese President Xi Jinping has decided recently to increase his trips abroad to project an image of power and distract from the ills at home. But the debacle of the country’s strategy on the pandemic is not going away, and there may be real long-term consequences.
Protests that engulfed China quickly faded as the government made a U-turn on its strict Zero-COVID policies, even as police sweeps of demonstrators have left families where their vanished loved ones are. Still, the “Blank Paper Revolution”‘s cry for democracy may have quietly left its mark.
While many Chinese citizens are indeed fed up with the government’s Zero-COVID policy, predicting that a mass revolt is ready to overturn Communist rule is the latest sign of our deep misunderstanding of the Asian superpower. A view from Bogotá of a former Beijing correspondent.
European Council Chief Charles Michel used much of his face-to-face meeting Thursday in Beijing with Xi Jinping to urge the Chinese President to use his sway over Russian President Vladimir Putin “to end the war and to respect the sovereignty of Ukraine.” [shortcode-Subscribe-to-Ukraine-daily-box] Michel’s visit was the first official trip to Beijing by a top […]
China is facing its biggest political protests in decades as frustration grows with its harsh Zero-COVID strategy. However, the real reasons for the protests run much deeper. Could it be the starting point for a new civic movement?
Warsaw says that the missile that hit Poland was probably a Ukrainian air defense missile that went astray. The Russian-made missile fell on the Polish village of Przewodów, near the border with Ukraine, killing two people late Tuesday. [shortcode-Subscribe-to-Ukraine-daily-box] Even though the missile was made in Russia, initial US assessments indicated that it had originated […]
French President Macron used his bilateral meeting with Xi Jinping to try to convince China to take a tougher line with Moscow.
My fear for China’s future has never been greater…
The West must address the degradation of democracy domestically, and worldwide. It’s on the right side in the war in Ukraine. And in China. But what doesn’t ring true is President Biden’s flaunting the democratic cause as a foreign policy stick.
It is now a certainty that the Chinese president, Xi Jinping, will be confirmed in office at the 20th Congress of the Chinese Communist Party, currently being held in Beijing. At 69, Xi may also be named “Chairman”…which would is cause for a certain comparison.
Too much has been put in to the state-sponsored truth that minimal spread of the virus is the at-all-cost objective. Xi Jinping may eventually have no choice but to renounce the harsh measures, but at this week’s Communist Party Congress, the Chinese President was giving no ground.
October 1-2 OUR WEEKLY NEWS QUIZ What do you remember from the news this week? 1. What was the top percentage claimed by pro-Russian forces to have voted in favor of annexation in the referendums in the four occupied regions of Ukraine? 2. Giorgia Meloni will become Italy’s first female prime minister. What is […]
The city in southern China was put under harsh lockdown earlier this month after just a few positive COVID tests. Then a bus carrying quarantined residents crashed, killing 27. The senseless accident left residents more fearful and suspicious of each other than ever.
The façade of unity between Xi Jinping and Vladimir Putin was lifted in Uzbekistan last week. But where exactly does the Chinese head of state stand on the Russian invasion of Ukraine? Beijing is still establishing its place in the world, and it remains in contradiction to the West
Andriy Yermak, the Head of the Office of the Ukrainian President, said on Twitter that a mass burial of soldiers of the Ukrainian Armed Forces had been discovered near the liberated town of Izyum, in the Kharkiv region. Stay up-to-date with the latest on the Russia-Ukraine war, with our exclusive international coverage. Sign up to […]
Vladimir Putin said Wednesday that he wanted to reopen terms of the grain deal signed just over a month ago, which has allowed Ukraine to export its grain via the Black Sea. Speaking at an economic forum in the far eastern Russian city of Vladivostok, Putin accused Kyiv and the West of using the terms […]
In an attempt to counter an aging population, China announced its “three-child policy” last year. It has also cracked down on sex education and contraception. The move has meant that abortion is often the only option for Chinese girls and women in the post-family planning era.
“She’s now the leader of the Western movement recognizing the existence of a democratic Taiwan, aiming to break Beijing’s “one-China principle…” A Taiwanese political scientist argues the 19-hour visit by U.S. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi will have real lasting impact.
In the past 24 hours, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has focused his diplomatic efforts on Germany and China, two nations that remain key to the balance of power in the war in Ukraine. In different ways the two powerhouse countries have been less than clear where they stand in the Russia-Ukraine conflict. Stay up-to-date with […]
A phone call Thursday between Presidents Xi and Biden may have avoided adding tensions to U.S.-China relations, but now all attention will be back on the question of whether Nancy Pelosi lands in Taipei next month for a meeting that Beijing has been warning against and the Chinese media stirs the pot.
Boris Johnson’s resignation is another example of the political crises in the democratic world. But that does not necessarily mean that dictators and despots will win.
The festivities to mark 25 years since the British handover to China of Hong Kong also marked the official arrival of the new leader of Hong Kong, John Lee, who will move things even faster and closer to Beijing.
With an activist Supreme Court creating a gap between democratic rhetoric and reality in the U.S., and Russia and China eager to flex military muscle, the full-force return to hard power looks bound for dominance.
German Chancellor Olaf Scholz, French President Emmanuel Macron and Italian Prime Minister Mario Draghi made a joint visit to Ukraine on Thursday to meet Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky to discuss the country’s EU membership aspirations and further arms supplies to repel Russia’s invasion. Stay up-to-date with the latest on the Russia-Ukraine war, with our exclusive […]
Prime Minister Narendra Modi has not called out Russia for its unprovoked invasion of Ukraine, but not because he wants to help broker a peace. Rather he only has domestic concerns in mind.
China did not expect a protracted and bloody war in Ukraine, which is causing global upheaval and thus major problems for Beijing’s interests. There are growing signs that the Chinese government’s policy of “strategic neutrality” is reaching its limit.
Iranians only have online speculation to guess how much the country’s clerical regime has conceded to China as part of the New Silk Road initiative. There are now reports of 5,000 Chinese security agents being deployed in Iran to “protect” Chinese personnel working in the oil sector.
With both fans and diplomatic dignitaries missing, it’s an Olympics that recalls politically combustible Games of the past. COVID-19, like it did for the Summer Games in Tokyo, will also help haunt the premises. The good news is that the athletes will most likely take over our attention as soon as they hit the ice and snow.