Day: January 25, 2022

China is determined to make the Winter Olympics go smoothly

Chin@Strategy

Jan 26th 2022 CHINESE OFFICIALS like to call Beijing the “double-Olympic city”. No other can boast having staged both the summer games and its winter equivalent, the 24th iteration of which will open in the Chinese capital on February 4th. The winter games will arouse less enthusiasm, in China or globally, than the summer ones in Beijing in 2008. But for Xi Jinping, China’s leader, they are of great symbolic importance. They are also fraught with risk. Overshadowed by diplomatic boycotts, a potential war in Europe involving China’s close friend,…

Liz Truss: why EU praise for foreign secretary may be unwanted

Chin@Strategy

It was only a few months ago that Liz Truss, perhaps best known until recently for her strong feelings about the “disgrace” that is imported cheese, was appointed foreign secretary. Some had questioned Truss’s suitability for the role given a patchy record in the cabinet, but the liberty-loving minister has seemingly already made a mark on the global stage. While Downing Street was battling further claims over alleged lockdown-breaching parties, Truss was the recipient of two eye-catching reviews of her performance at the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office (FCDO). Over…

I.M.F. Forecasts U.S. and China Slowdowns Will Hold Back Growth

Chin@Strategy

The pandemic has changed the way people in many parts of the world spend their money, shifting funds that might have been used for dining, travel and entertainment to goods they can play with, sit on or consume at home. That increased demand, combined with persistent difficulties in moving goods from one city or continent to another, skyrocketing energy prices and labor shortages, has driven up costs. Some of those pressures are expected to wane toward the end of the year — but not everywhere. “In the United States the…

The Dilemma of Hong Kong’s Fixation on Zero COVID

Chin@Strategy

Advertisement In the past couple weeks, Hong Kong’s battle against the COVID-19 pandemic made international headlines in a strange and unexpected way. Facing a virus outbreak in recent weeks, Hong Kong officials implemented a range of measures in response to what was labelled a “fifth wave,” but the one that caught the most attention must be the culling of more than 2,200 hamsters after a COVID-19 case was traced to workers of a pet shop, and traces of the virus were found on 11 hamsters out of the 178 tested.…

U.S. Navy Fighter Jet Accident in South China Sea Injures 7

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An accident aboard an aircraft carrier in the South China Sea injured seven American sailors and led to the pilot ejecting from his F-35 fighter jet on Monday, the Navy said in a statement, calling it a “landing mishap.” The combat aircraft, a F-35C Lightning II, had been conducting routine flight operations before getting into difficulties on the deck of the carrier Carl Vinson, the statement said. The cause of the accident was unclear, but the Navy said it was being investigated. Though such incidents are unusual, it comes months…

Breezy Johnson Will Miss the Olympics With Injured Knee

Chin@Strategy

The American ski racer Breezy Johnson, a top contender for a gold medal at next month’s Beijing Olympics in the women’s downhill, said on Monday that she would not compete in the Games because of torn right knee cartilage she sustained in the second of two high-speed training crashes this month. Saying she was heartbroken, Johnson conceded that she contemplated trying to race despite the condition of her injured knee. “But the doctors told me I could do a lot more damage,” Johnson said in a telephone interview from Germany.…

Fight Club gets a new ending in China – and the authorities win

Chin@Strategy

The ending to David Fincher’s 1999 cult classic film Fight Club has been changed in China, sparking outrage among fans. Film fans in China noticed over the weekend that a version of the Brad Pitt and Edward Norton movie, newly available on streaming platform Tencent Video, was given a makeover that transforms the anarchist, anti-capitalist message which made the film a global hit. In the closing scenes of the original, Norton’s character The Narrator kills off his imaginary alter ego Tyler Durden – played by Pitt – and then watches…