Day: January 28, 2022

Jan 29th 2022 CHINA’S RELATIONS with Russia are the strongest they have been for 70 years. When President Xi Jinping welcomes Vladimir Putin, the Russian leader he calls his “best friend”, to a planned summit just before the Beijing Winter Olympics open on February 4th, powerful interests will bind the two men. China has capital to invest, technology to sell and an ever-growing appetite for oil, gas and other commodities. Russia’s economy, though ailing, complements China’s, offering natural resources that can be supplied via pipelines and railways which are—in happy…

Advertisement Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Hua Chunying announced that China’s President Xi Jinping will attend the Opening Ceremony for the Beijing 2022 Winter Olympics on February 4. Xi will play host to leaders from 25 other countries, who are set to attend the Opening Ceremony, a welcome banquet, and “relevant bilateral activities” from February 4 to February 6. More importantly, Hua included a list of which foreign leaders are coming to the Beijing 2022 Olympics. The full list of leaders who will attend, in alphabetical order by country: Argentina’s President…

Advertisement Although analysts tend to focus on the geopolitical effects of China’s Belt and Road Initiative (BRI), these are incidental rather than its driving force. This is because the BRI is primarily about state-building, a process that involves the creation and maintenance of political and economic institutions. These institutions facilitate the reach of the state and the provision of public goods. When Xi Jinping emerged as the general secretary of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) in 2012, he announced the Chinese Dream of national rejuvenation, the most recent iteration of…

Advertisement 2022 is bound to be a turbulent year for Chinese leader Xi Jinping, as he deals with diplomatic boycotts of the Beijing Winter Olympics, tries to keep the pandemic under control with his draconian zero-COVID policy, looks to revive the economy, and, most importantly, prepares for a precedent-breaking third term as China’s leader. In response to these challenges, the party-state’s enormous propaganda apparatus is ramping up its global disinformation efforts. Although the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) has long engaged in information warfare to manipulate public opinion, hoping to win…

In Cantonese, the main language of southern China and Hong Kong, the New Year greeting is “Gong Hei Fat Choy” (恭喜發財), which means “wishing you prosperity.” In Mandarin, people say “Xin Nian Kuai Le” (新年快乐), which simply means “Happy New Year”. BBC