Tag: China

<strong>Unmasking the Chinese Loans: China’s BRI Debt Crisis and Imperatives for 2024</strong>
2Jan mmBy Joe RodriguezNo Comments
China

Unmasking the Chinese Loans: China’s BRI Debt Crisis and Imperatives for 2024

In the realm of global economic dynamics, China has emerged as the preeminent bilateral lender, wielding influence through its ambitious Belt and Road Initiative (BRI). However, behind the façade of economic cooperation lies a landscape rife with challenges, particularly concerning the debt distress faced by some BRI borrowers. Therefore, it is important to critically delve and understand the labyrinth of issues surrounding China's lending practices, exposing the perils and policy choices that will determine its ability to support debtors and avoid entrapment in a web of unpaid debts. China's audacious vision for the Belt and Road Initiative has been met with skepticism and criticism, with the United States expressing justified concerns about its potential to undermine values and inter...
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Taiwan reports another incursion by Chinese warplane: Report
4Apr mmBy Joe RodriguezNo Comments
Asia

Taiwan reports another incursion by Chinese warplane: Report

In yet another instance of Chinese aggression in the South China Sea, a Chinese warplane entered the Taiwanese southwest air defence identification zone (ADIZ) on Saturday.According to a chart provided by Taiwan Defence Ministry, the aircraft flew into the airspace between Taiwan and the Dongsha Islands in the South China Sea, which are controlled by Taiwan.“In response to the incursion, Taiwan’s Air Force scrambled planes to monitor the Chinese aircraft, issued radio warnings and mobilized air defence assets until the Chinese aircraft left the ADIZ,” the ministry added.Air defence identification zones are early warning systems that help countries detect incursions into their airspace. Any aircraft entering such an area is supposed to report its route and purpose to the “host” nation, thou...
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H&M forced to shut 20 stores in China over remarks on Xinjiang cotton: Report
4Apr mmBy Joe RodriguezNo Comments
Asia

H&M forced to shut 20 stores in China over remarks on Xinjiang cotton: Report

Soon after giving out a statement on forced labour in Xinjiang, Swedish fashion retailer H&M was forced to close 20 stores in China.Recently, several companies including H&M and Nike are facing pressure after they said that they were concerned about allegations that forced labour has been used to produce cotton in Xinjiang.The ruling Communist Party lashed out at H&M, Nike and other shoe and clothing brands last week after the United States, the European Union, Britain and Canada imposed travel and financial sanctions on officials accused of abuses in Xinjiang in China’s northwest.H&M has shut down about 20 of its 500 outlets in the communist country. Some of the closures might have been the result of Chinese landlords forcing out the shops, while local consumers vowed to b...
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Biden administration declares Chinese actions in Xinjiang as ‘genocide’
1Apr mmBy Mike TrudellNo Comments
World

Biden administration declares Chinese actions in Xinjiang as ‘genocide’

US President Joe Biden’s administration on Tuesday declared Chinese actions against the Uyghur Muslims and other ethnic and religious minority groups in Xinjiang as ‘genocide’.The US Department of State, in a 2020 report on Human rights practices, said: “Genocide and crimes against humanity occurred during the year against the predominantly Muslim Uyghurs and other ethnic and religious minority groups in Xinjiang”.Chinese authorities’ genocide in Xinjiang was first officially declared by Michael Pompeo during the waning days of the Donald Trump administration. Now, Antony Blinken affirmed Pompeo’s assessment during his confirmation hearing, but the word’s inclusion into Tuesday’s report formalizes the outlook as an official U.S. government assessment.The State Department said the crime inc...
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China used Twitter, Facebook more than ever for Xinjiang Propaganda in 2020: Research
1Apr mmBy Joe RodriguezNo Comments
Asia

China used Twitter, Facebook more than ever for Xinjiang Propaganda in 2020: Research

A new research by the Australian Strategic Policy Institute has said that the Chinese government’s propaganda activity on Twitter and Facebook over its policies toward ethnic minorities in Xinjiang reached an all-time high in 2020, as Beijing sought to portray its approach, including use of widespread internment camps, as beneficial to the remote northwestern region.According to the research, the frequency of tweets about Xinjiang from Chinese state media and diplomatic Twitter accounts increased to an average of nearly 500 tweets per month in 2020, up from about 280 per month in 2019.“Since early 2020, there’s been a stark increase in the Chinese Government and state media’s use of US social media networks to push alternative narratives and disinformation about the situation in Xinjiang. ...
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Chinese consul-general calls Canada ‘running dog’ of US
29Mar mmBy Mike TrudellNo Comments
World

Chinese consul-general calls Canada ‘running dog’ of US

Alleging that the Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau has ruined the friendly ties between China and Canada, Li Yang, the Chinese Consul General in Rio de Janeiro, has said that Trudeau has turned Canada into a “running dog of the United States”.“Boy, your greatest achievement is to have ruined the friendly relations between China and Canada, and have turned Canada into a running dog of the US. Spendthrift!!!” Li Yang tweeted on Sunday.His remark comes a day after China had announced sanctions against two American religious-rights officials and a Canadian MP in response to western countries’ sanctions on Beijing over the issue of human rights abuses in Xinjiang province.However, the United States condemned China’s sanctions and said that Beijing’s attempt to silence criticism of human r...
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Chinese tech firms face US ultimatum over issue of American accounting standards
27Mar mmBy Mike TrudellNo Comments
World

Chinese tech firms face US ultimatum over issue of American accounting standards

Chinese tech firms in the United States could be forced to leave the US market after the country’s Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) started implementing a law to remove foreign firms that did not comply with local accounting standards.Recently, the SEC, which regulates the US stock markets, amended the Holding Foreign Companies Accountable Act to remove from the US stock markets foreign firms that did not comply with local accounting standards.“The SEC has adopted interim final amendments to implement congressionally mandated submission and disclosure requirements of the Holding Foreign Companies Accountable Act (HFCA Act),” the SEC said in a statement.The SEC said that it was “seeking public comment on these submission and disclosure requirements” within 90 days of the date of the...
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US to hold China accountable for human rights abuses: US Speaker
24Mar mmBy Mike TrudellNo Comments
World

US to hold China accountable for human rights abuses: US Speaker

The United States Speaker Nancy Pelosi on Tuesday lauded the sanctions imposed by the Biden administration on China and said that Washington will hold Beijing accountable for human rights abuses against the Uyghurs in Xinjiang as well as against people in Tibet and Hong Kong“The Biden administration’s coordinated sanctions on China are a strong and resounding step to hold China accountable for its barbaric atrocities against the Uyghur people,” Pelosi said in a statement.“America, together with our allies, will continue to hold Beijing accountable for its campaign of human rights abuses, including those targeting the Tibetan people, people of Hong Kong and journalists, human rights lawyers and advocates on the mainland,” she added.Pelosi said that the US Congress will further its actions w...
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Chinese threat to Taiwan ‘closer than most think’: top US admiral
24Mar mmBy Mike TrudellNo Comments
World

Chinese threat to Taiwan ‘closer than most think’: top US admiral

Admiral John Aquilino, who is chosen to be the next commander of US forces in the Pacific, on Tuesday said that China is amassing weapons and systems to militarily overwhelm Taiwan, an action it could be “poised to take” within the next six years.“My opinion is this problem is much closer to us than most think,” he said before the Senate Armed Services Committee, which was reviewing his nomination to lead the US military’s Indo-Pacific Command.He further stated that China considers establishing full control over Taiwan to be its “number one priority”.The current head of the command, Admiral Philip Davidson, told a hearing earlier this month that China could be prepared to take Taiwan, the self-governed democratic island that Beijing claims as its sovereign territory, by force within the ne...
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Over 200 China vessels massed at disputed reef in South China Sea: Philippines
23Mar mmBy Mike TrudellNo Comments
World

Over 200 China vessels massed at disputed reef in South China Sea: Philippines

Amid the ongoing tension due to China’s aggressiveness in the South China Sea, Phillippines on Monday said that over 200 Chinese vessels have massed at a reef in the west Philippine sea.In an announcement posted by the Presidential Communications Operations Office (PCOO) on its Facebook page, the National Task Force on the West Philippine Sea said ships have “massed” at the Julian Felipe Reef, the official Philippine name for Whitsun Reef.Julian Felipe Reef is a large boomerang-shaped shallow coral reef 175 nautical miles west of Bataraza, Palawan, and northeast of Pagkakaisa banks and reefs or the Union Reefs. The reef is claimed by China and the Philippines both.The Philippine Coast Guard (PCG) shared photos dated March 7 showing the ships lined up at the reef. Commodore Armand Balilo, t...
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