Since the introduction of the national security law last year, authorities have cracked down on dissent in Hong Kong. The legislation, which came after huge pro-democracy protests in 2019, criminalises secession, subversion, terrorism and collusion with foreign forces. BBC
What to Know About Mining in Congo Dionne Searcey and Eric Lipton📍Reporting from Democratic Republic of Congo The price of cobalt has skyrocketed in recent years, and the impact is clear in the cobalt-rich area near Kasulo. Trucks driving vats of chemicals rumble onto giant mines that produce hundreds of thousands of tons of ore. But regular people, and sometimes children, also grab a pickax and start digging. They’re known as artisanal miners, as opposed to industrial miners. NYT
Security officials in one of China’s largest provinces have commissioned a surveillance system they say they want to use to track journalists and international students among other “suspicious people”, documents reviewed by Reuters showed. A 29 July tender document published on the Henan provincial government’s procurement website details plans for a system that can compile individual files on such persons of interest coming to Henan using 3,000 facial recognition cameras that connect to various national and regional databases. A 5m yuan ($782,000) contract was awarded on 17 September to the…
Advertisement On November 29, the eighth Ministerial Meeting of the Forum on China-Africa Cooperation (FOCAC) commenced in the Senegalese capital of Dakar. In recent remarks, Wu Peng, the director general of the Department of African Affairs of China’s Ministry for Foreign Affairs, signaled that agricultural cooperation, including increased agricultural investment in Africa and increased agricultural trade, will be a central topic of negotiation in Dakar’s conference rooms. This is to be expected – the sector is the backbone for 60 percent of African economic activities. However, it is not a…
Advertisement The Chinese government has a history of leveraging long-established “friendships” with actors at the subnational level to promote and advance its strategic interests. In recent years under President Xi Jinping’s leadership, this appears to have intensified. Countries around the world have raised concerns, with Australia (where the state of Victoria signed a Memorandum of Understanding with Beijing in 2018 to cooperate on the Belt and Road Initiative, with the MoU later cancelled by the federal government), the Solomon Islands (where the Central Province secretly signed a “strategic cooperation agreement”…
The Baltic lawmakers, including six from Lithuania, arrived in Taiwan on Sunday for the eight-day visit. The delegation is being led by Matas Maldeikis, head of the Lithuanian parliament’s Taiwan Friendship Group, and they will attend a legislative forum in Taipei on Thursday and Friday. President Tsai Ing-wen greets the group of lawmakers from Lithuania, Latvia and Estonia. Photo: Reuters Taiwan does not have diplomatic relations with Europe, except for the Vatican. Beijing – which sees Taiwan as part of its territory, to be brought under its control by force…
The escape triggered a manhunt for him that generated wide interest on Chinese social media. Authorities progressively increased the reward for information directly leading to his capture to 700,000 yuan(£82,000; $109,000) to bolster chances of him being found. BBC
An episode of the Simpsons in which the cartoon American family visit Tiananmen Square is absent from Disney’s streaming channel in Hong Kong, at a time when authorities are clamping down on dissent. The missing episode adds to concerns that mainland-style censorship is becoming the norm in the international business hub, ensnaring global streaming giants and other major tech companies. The Hong Kong version of Disney+ started streaming this month and customers soon noticed that an episode of the Simpsons featuring China was absent. Episode 12 of season 16, which…