A Tour of China’s Tiangong Space Station

Experiment module Shenzhou crew ship Tiangong space station Tianzhou cargo ship Tianhe core module Experiment module Experiment module Shenzhou crew ship Tiangong space station Tianzhou cargo ship Tianhe core module Experiment module Experiment module Tiangong space station Shenzhou crew ship Tianzhou cargo ship Tianhe core module Experiment module Experiment module Experiment module A new outpost for astronauts will soon be finished in orbit: China’s new Tiangong space station, or Heavenly Palace. Tiangong will be able to support three astronauts, or up to six people during crew rotations. The unfinished station…

China’s Xi, Like Biden Hours Earlier, Turns to Calm Language in UN Remarks

Advertisement Choosing calm language as tensions with the United States grow, Chinese leader Xi Jinping reiterated his nation’s longtime policy of multilateralism on Tuesday, telling world leaders at the United Nations that disputes among countries “need to be handled through dialogue and cooperation.” His remarks came hours after U.S. President Joe Biden said he didn’t have any intention of starting a “new Cold War” — itself a response to criticism from the U.N. chief this weekend that both Washington and Beijing need to make sure their differences and tensions don’t…

Taiwan Applies for CPTPP Membership

Advertisement Taiwan has applied to join the Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership (CPTPP), less than a week after China formally announced its own bid for membership. Deputy Minister of Economic Affairs Chen Chern-chyi made the announcement on Wednesday; a press conference with additional details is expected to follow on Thursday “Applying to join the CPTPP is an important economic and trade policy that the government has worked hard to promote for a long time,” Cabinet spokesperson Lo Ping-cheng said in a separate statement. In many ways, Taiwan is…

Don’t Count China Out of the CPTPP

Advertisement Ever since China first expressed interest in joining the Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership (CPTPP) last November, one particular sticking point has cropped up time and again: How could Beijing meet the CPTPP’s demanding entry requirements? These analyses rush to their conclusions and overlook a crucial point. In recent years, Beijing has clearly demonstrated a willingness to consider trading economic concessions for geopolitical gains – look at how it approached the negotiations on the Regional Comprehensive Partnership (RCEP) and the EU-China Comprehensive Agreement on Investment (CAI). Following…

China Pledges to Stop Building Coal Plants Abroad: Explained

Xi Jinping, China’s top leader, said on Tuesday that his country would stop building coal-burning power plants overseas, a major shift by the world’s second-biggest economy to move away from its support of the fossil fuel. China “will not build new coal-fired power projects abroad,” he told the United Nations General Assembly on Tuesday. The news comes amid a broad international effort to reduce coal use and to keep global temperatures from rising at their current pace, which scientists have warned could be disastrous. The announcement by China, which is…

Beyond Evergrande’s Troubles, a Slowing Chinese Economy

BEIJING — Global markets have watched anxiously as a huge and deeply indebted Chinese property company flirts with default, fearing that any collapse could ripple through the international financial system. China Evergrande Group, the developer, on Wednesday said it reached a deal that might give it some breathing room in the face of a bond payment due the next day. But that murky arrangement doesn’t address the broader threat for Beijing’s top leaders and the global economic outlook: China’s growth is slowing, and the government may have to work harder…