Tag: Xi Jinping

Increasing number of foreigners avoid travel to China due to fear of detention: Report
13Mar By Mike TrudellNo Comments
World

Increasing number of foreigners avoid travel to China due to fear of detention: Report

Academics, NGO workers and media professionals have said that they are unwilling to travel to China after the detention of foreigners in the country.China’s President Xi Jinping forges increasingly hostile relations with Western governments and hence, some fear being a target of a possible diplomatic spat between their government and Beijing.Several people pointed to the detention of two Canadians in China in December 2018 – Micheal Kovrig, an NGO worker and Michael Spavor, who organised trips to North Korea – after Huawei executive Meng Wanzhou was arrested in Vancouver on charges filed in the US.Last year, Chinese-Australian TV anchor Cheng Lei, who worked for the state media channel CGTN, was also detained amid worsening ties between Beijing and Australia.Gordon Matthews, a professor of...
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China backs New Delhi’s hosting of BRICS summit; Xi Jinping may visit India
24Feb By Joe RodriguezNo Comments
Asia, China

China backs New Delhi’s hosting of BRICS summit; Xi Jinping may visit India

After months of tension between India and China due to the standoff along the Line of Actual Control (LAC), Beijing has said that it supports India’s chairmanship of the BRICS summit this year.India has assumed chairmanship of the annual summit of the BRICS (Brazil, Russia, India, China, and South Africa) grouping of emerging economies.Chinese President Xi Jinping may visit India later this year for the summit.Asked about Xi’s possible attendance at the summit and whether the border tension would affect their multilateral cooperation, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Wang Wenbin said BRICS had become an influential grouping and Beijing supported New Delhi’s efforts as host.“China attaches great importance to the BRICS mechanism,” Wang said at a regular press conference.“The Chinese side ...
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Taiwan accuses China of ‘bullying’ after Guyana calls off agreement
5Feb By Mike TrudellNo Comments
China, World

Taiwan accuses China of ‘bullying’ after Guyana calls off agreement

Taipei has lashed out at China for “bullying” and “suppression” after Guyana terminated an agreement with Taiwan to set up a representative office in the South American country.Taiwan’s remarks come after the Guyanese Foreign Ministry issued a statement announcing the termination of the agreement soon after China called the accord a “mistake”.On Thursday, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Wang Wenbin responded to the “agreement,” urging Guyana to “earnestly take steps to correct their mistake.”There is only one China in the world and Taiwan is an inalienable part of China, said Wang.“We hope the relevant party will abide by the one-China principle, refrain from any form of official exchanges and establishment of official institutions with Taiwan, take concrete actions to correct the er...
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Under Xi Jinping, China will not be able to join Trans-Pacific Partnership FTA: Japan PM
4Jan By Joe RodriguezNo Comments
Asia, China

Under Xi Jinping, China will not be able to join Trans-Pacific Partnership FTA: Japan PM

As long as China has its current regime, Beijing will not be able to join the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) free-trade agreement, Japanese Prime Minister Suga Yoshihide said on Sunday.Speaking to a commercial broadcaster’s radio programme, Yoshihide said that he believes countries where businesses are run by the state will find it difficult to join the TPP because its regulations are set at levels that are too high for such a business structure to follow.He was responding to Xi Jinping’s recent remarks that China “is positive about joining the pact”.On November 20, China’s President Xi Jinping had said that China is open to joining the Trans-Pacific Partnership trade pact, in a likely move to bolster the country’s presence in Asia while the US focuses on its presidential transition.China...
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China will import over $22 trillion worth of goods over the next decade: Xi Jinping
15Nov By Joe RodriguezNo Comments
Asia, China

China will import over $22 trillion worth of goods over the next decade: Xi Jinping

China is now shifting its focus to expand its imports in order to balance out its inbound and outbound shipments, and internationalize its currency.According to a senior official from a state-affiliated think tank, “China will no longer aim at achieving trade surpluses and solely expanding exports, but will pivot to moderately expanding imports for a balance between inbound and outbound shipments”.“This will not only help China to take the initiative in the new round of economic and trade negotiations, but also help promote the internationalisation of yuan,” said Huang Qifan, vice chairman of the China Center for International Economic Exchanges, during a financial forum.Earlier this month, President Xi Jinping had said that China will import over $22 trillion worth of goods over the next ...
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President Xi Jinping undertakes fresh round of brutal purge in China
4Oct By Joe RodriguezNo Comments
Asia, China, USA

President Xi Jinping undertakes fresh round of brutal purge in China

Millions of Chinese Communist Party (CCP) cadres are potentially at risk of being targeted now as President Xi Jinping has launched a fresh round of purges, as a part of his ongoing anti-corruption campaign.Under the campaign, over two dozen police and judicial officials were investigated, with dozens more removed from their posts in August.A senior ally to Xi’s called for the purge in July, saying it was time to ‘turn the blade of a knife inwards, cure the poison by scrapping it from the bones’ that must cleanse the country’s justice system of corrupt elements and purge officials who only paid lip service to the CCP.A “Yan’an Rectification Movement” style purge of party cadres was first announced by Chen Yixin on July 8 during a meeting of the Central Political and Legal Commission, a pol...
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How floods and Covid-19 slowly distorting Xi Jinping-led China’s superpower dream
1Oct By Joe RodriguezNo Comments
Asia, China

How floods and Covid-19 slowly distorting Xi Jinping-led China’s superpower dream

China is currently facing severe food shortage and is struggling to feed its people, say reports.If reports are to be believed, a number of factors have directly contributed to the food crisis. China's surging population, the growing industrial economy and an increase in consumerism have given rise to demand for agricultural products. Apart from that, floods have played a key part in disturbing China's food stability.According to Chinese local media, the recent floods have cost the country at least $29 billion, affecting 70 million Chinese citizens across 28 provinces.Li Kungang, an official of the Emergency Management Ministry, has warned of another flooding during autumn. "It is the first time that three major river basins experienced a regional or above-average flood since 1998," the of...
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It’s time for western universities to cut their ties to China
11Sep By Brian ThompsonNo Comments
China, Market, USA

It’s time for western universities to cut their ties to China

Western universities now need to close their Confucius Institutes and end their academic cooperation with China. Following the 1989 Tiananmen Square massacre, one of the ways China sought to rebuild its image abroad was by systematically forging partnerships with Western universities. At first, these partnerships mainly focused on research collaboration. Later, they grew to include the Confucius Institutes for language education and the establishment of Western universities’ branch campuses in China.At a time when China was undemocratic but liberalizing, such engagement seemed like a sensible strategy. There have always been uneasy moments in Western universities’ relationships with China, whether prompted by tensions over hosting the Dalai Lama or controversies over university self-censor...
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Nigeria in crisis over China’s debt-trap diplomacy
4Sep By Mike TrudellNo Comments
China, World

Nigeria in crisis over China’s debt-trap diplomacy

The Federal Republic of Nigeria, Africa's largest economy, is in crisis over the possibility of 'losing' its sovereignty to China over debts. The Federal lawmakers of the national assembly are demanding a probe into China's lending practices into Nigeria, in a wake of a sovereign guarantee clause in loan agreements that they consider 'an entrapment of Chinese neo-colonial plans'.Lawmakers fear that the clause could cause Nigeria to sign away its sovereignty in the event of a payment default.According to clauses in Article 8(1) of the Commercial Loan Agreement signed between Nigeria and the Export-Import Bank of China, Nigeria stands to concede her sovereignty to China should there be a default in the repayment of the $400 million for the Nigerian National Information and Communication Tech...
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India can play a crucial role in easing global reliance on China: British lawmaker
31Aug By Mike TrudellNo Comments
China, World

India can play a crucial role in easing global reliance on China: British lawmaker

An influential British lawmaker with the ruling Conservative party, Iain Duncan Smith has said that India could play a crucial role in reversing the alarming strategic dependence of the world’s democracies on China.Sir Iain pointed out that authoritarian China, under Xi Jinping, has made no secret about its ambition to emerge as an unrivalled global power by the middle of the century.“The Chinese government has become even more dictatorial and intolerant in the last few years under President Xi and as far as I can make out by what he has said and by their behaviour, that his government’s plan is that by 2040 or thereabouts, China wishes to be the world’s biggest economy possessing the world’s largest and most powerful military. Those things are what they said they wish to be, and everythin...
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