China’s “Two Sessions” congress that began this week is the country’s most important political event of the year. To understand what’s at stake, it helps to have some fluency in Chinese Communist Party (CCP) parlance. Terms such as “new productive forces” and “new three” appear vague, but they speak volumes about…
Tag: Xi Jinping
Covid-19 Pandemic Timeline Fast Facts | CNN
CNN — Here’s a look at the coronavirus outbreak, declared a worldwide pandemic by the World Health Organization. The coronavirus, called Covid-19 by WHO, originated in China and is the cousin of the SARS virus. Coronaviruses are a large group of viruses that are common among animals. The viruses can…
Ukraine invasion 1 year on: Most Southeast Asian countries missing in action
The first anniversary of Russia’s illegal invasion of Ukraine has largely gone unnoticed in Southeast Asia, despite the war’s economic impact, the potential loss of a key arms supplier, and the dangerous legal precedent that was set. Southeast Asian governments have been self-interested, more concerned about securing wheat and cheap…
China: Xi Jinping’s India dilemma to the fore as he begins a new term in power
This month’s clash between Indian and Chinese soldiers at Yangtse in Arunachal Pradesh, weeks after President Xi Jinping began his unprecedented new five-year term, spells danger of 2023 too ending up as yet another blank year in the bilateral ties which nosedived after the PLA’s misadventures in eastern Ladakh in…
West must seize on the Global South’s state of unease
Nathalie Tocci is director of the Istituto Affari Internazionali, Europe’s futures fellow at IWM, Vienna, and a board member of ENI. Her new book, “A Green and Global Europe,” will be published by Polity. Wars are unpredictable until the end. Yet, since the Ukrainian counteroffensive began liberating swathes of territory…
For China’s Xi and other strongmen, Gorbachev showed exactly what not to do
In much of the West, Mikhail Gorbachev is hailed as the farsighted visionary who brought the Cold War to a peaceful conclusion. But for autocratic leaders in other parts of the world, his legacy stands as a cautionary tale of power discarded quickly and, by some estimates, cavalierly, with little…
Biden faces G20 quandary between joining Putin and Xi or staying home
U.S. President Joe Biden is facing a difficult choice after Indonesia’s announcement that Vladimir Putin and Xi Jinping will attend this year’s Group of 20 summit: join an event with two leaders he has sought to isolate, or skip the gathering and forgo a chance to shape its outcome. As…
China, Japan officials meet amid Taiwan tensions
Japan issued diplomatic protests over China’s firing of missiles into its exclusive economic zone during the drills, which saw Chinese warplanes and navy ships cross the middle zone of the Taiwan Strait that has long been a buffer between the sides. Japan issued diplomatic protests over China’s firing of missiles…
China enforces lockdowns as COVID cases spiral in Xinjiang and Tibet
A sharp increase in the number of coronavirus cases in Xinjiang led China’s government to send a delegation throughout the far-western region to implement controversial zero-COVID policies, further isolating residents there. As of Wednesday, Xinjiang recorded 2,779 confirmed COVID-19 cases throughout Xinjiang, with officials in the capital Urumqi (in Chinese,…
Xinjiang officials use China’s anti-crime campaign to target ‘disloyal’ Uyghurs
Authorities in China’s far-western Xinjiang region used the Chinese government’s 100-day crackdown on criminals and fugitives to target Uyghurs deemed “religious extremists” and “two-faced,” a police officer in a major city said. The campaign was rolled out by Wang Xiaohong, a close ally of Chinese President Xi Jinping who was…