China’s president, Xi Jinping, will appear at the Cop26 UN climate summit in Glasgow next week via video link, the country’s foreign ministry has said, after weeks of speculation over what role Xi might play in the meeting, which opens on Sunday. Xi has not left China since last year, when his country was first engulfed in the deadly Covid outbreak. The foreign ministry said on Friday that Xi would take part in this weekend’s G20 leaders’ summit in Rome via video link as well. Beijing published its long-awaited national…
Month: October 2021
China’s New Climate Pledge Changes Little, in Bad Omen for COP26
China formalized the pledges its leader announced last year, but the country went no further, in an official update of its targets to fight climate change, which were submitted on Thursday with the United Nations climate change agency. It foreshadows a grim start to the international climate talks in Glasgow next week, considering that China’s emissions account for the largest share in the world right now. It reflects the political and economic challenges within China in pivoting away from fossil fuels. China burns more coal than every other country combined…
China’s new climate plan falls short of Cop26 global heating goal, experts say
China has published its long-awaited national plan on greenhouse gas emissions, just days before the opening of the Cop26 UN climate summit. However, the plan revealed on Thursday represents little progress on the previously announced ambitions of the world’s biggest carbon emitter, disappointing observers of the vital climate talks. Emissions would peak by 2030 and be reduced to net zero three decades later, according to the nationally determined contribution (NDC) submitted to the UN. This is widely regarded as too late to ensure the world limits global heating to 1.5C…
China’s Foreign Minister Tries Again to Win Europe Back
Advertisement China’s Foreign Minister Wang Yi is in Europe this week, hoping to stem a downward slide in China-Europe relations. He started his trip in Greece and will visit Serbia, Albania, and Italy from October 27 to 29, ending his trip just ahead of the G-20 Summit in Rome. (China’s President Xi Jinping will not be attending the Rome meeting in person, continuing his 21-month streak of avoiding international travel.) Wang’s Europe tour following a trip to Qatar from October 25 to 26, where he met with a delegation of…
Beijing Olympics: China to Ease Rules for Athletes in Bubble
Athletes traveling to Beijing for the Winter Olympics will be able to skip quarantine if they are fully vaccinated, a signal that China is willing to ease some restrictions to ensure that teams make it to the Games in February. But athletes will still face strict rules, and punishment for violating them, including expulsion, the Beijing Olympics’ organizing committee said on Wednesday. The committee members did not specify what offenses would merit expulsion. But the Beijing Olympics are already shaping up to be the most extraordinarily regulated, large-scale sporting event…
‘Vanity projects’: China to introduce tighter limits on skyscrapers
China has said it will restrict smaller cities from building “super skyscrapers”, as part of a broader crackdown on “vanity projects” and to reduce energy consumption. Skyscrapers taller than 150 metres (490ft) will be strictly limited, and those higher than 250 metres will be banned for cities with a population of fewer than 3 million. The authorities will also limit structures taller than 250 metres for cities with more than 3 million people. This is not the first time Chinese regulators have stepped in to limit the height of skyscrapers.…
China limits construction of ‘super high-rise buildings’
“We’re in a stage where people are too impetuous and anxious to produce something that can actually go down in history,” Zhang Shangwu, deputy head of Tongji University’s College of Architecture and Urban Planning had earlier told the South China Morning Post. BBC
China rations diesel amid fuel shortages
Meanwhile, in the city of Fuyang, about a seven hour drive south of the key transportation hub of Shijiazhuang, Caixin reports petrol stations are limiting purchases or charging drivers surcharges of up to 300 yuan ($47, £34) to fill up their tanks. BBC
Hong Kong doubles down on Covid restrictions to fall into line with mainland China
It used to be an international business centre, the bustling, vibrant commercial gateway to China and the rest of Asia. But after weeks of lobbying by Hong Kong’s global business community for the government to ease border restrictions and harsh mandatory quarantine to bring it into line with other trading hubs, the authorities have instead responded with even tougher measures. At her regular press conference on Tuesday, Hong Kong’s chief executive, Carrie Lam, announced most exemptions from the city’s mandatory and self-funded quarantine periods of up to 21 days will…
China’s Weapon Tests Close to a ‘Sputnik Moment,’ U.S. General Says
General Milley’s reference to a near-Sputnik moment was meant to resonate with a generation that remembers a long-ago Cold War. Sputnik was the launch, in 1957, of a Soviet satellite. It created fear in Washington that the Soviets were getting ahead in the space race, and led to President John F. Kennedy’s declaration that the United States would be the first to land humans on the moon, an accomplishment that was reached in less than a decade. But it also helped spur the nuclear arms race, which was only tamped…