Day: February 15, 2022

Xi Urges Hong Kong to Get Control as COVID-19 Cases Surge

Chin@Strategy

Advertisement Coronavirus patients lay in hospital beds or open-air tens amid record numbers of infections as Hong Kong doggedly adheres to its “zero-COVID” strategy, and China’s leader Xi Jinping said the local government’s “overriding task” was to control the situation. Hong Kong is facing its worst outbreak of the pandemic, topping 2,000 new COVID-19 cases each day this week. The city government has already instituted strict rules banning gatherings of more than two households. But health care facilities are beginning to overflow, and the city’s Caritas Medical Center was forced…

Taiwan’s Tsai Lifts Import Ban on Food From Nuclear Disaster-Hit Area of Japan

Chin@Strategy

Advertisement On February 9, the Tsai administration in Taiwan announced the lifting of a ban on food imports from prefectures of Japan affected by the 2011 Fukushima disaster. The move was not exactly unexpected, taking place after weeks of speculation. The Fukushima food import ban has long been a stumbling block to closer economic relations between Taiwan and Japan, and the Tsai administration’s move to lift the ban is broadly viewed as angling for admittance to the Japan-led CPTPP. At the same time, lifting the ban would open up the…

Future Fund forced to divest $5m from sanctioned Chinese weapons company

Chin@Strategy

The Future Fund has been forced to divest about $5m in taxpayers’ money from a Chinese state-controlled weapons manufacturer sanctioned for selling arms to the genocidal Myanmar military. Last year, the Guardian revealed that Australia’s sovereign wealth fund had invested $4.9m in five subsidiaries of the Chinese arms conglomerate Aviation Industry Corporation of China (AVIC). AVIC had sold the Myanmar military K-8 light combat aircraft, 16 JF-17M combat aircraft, 40 short-range PL-5E missiles and 24 longer-range PL-12 missiles. The Future Fund divested from AVIC in November, a month after the…

For the Games, Xi Ordered Up a Snow Sports Fever. Will it Last?

Chin@Strategy

Follow our latest coverage of the 2022 Winter Olympics. BEIJING — In the southern Chinese city of Guangzhou, which has sweltering temperatures for much of the year, children are ditching their flip flops for skis and hitting the indoor slopes. Out west, high up on the Tibetan Plateau, Qinghai Province has become an unlikely center for curling, the traditional Scottish sport known as “ice kettle” in Chinese. Over in the northeastern province of Liaoning, a group of retired men gather every day in the winter to strap on helmets and…

Russia-Ukraine crisis a ‘dangerous moment for the world’, warns Truss

Chin@Strategy

The UK foreign secretary, Liz Truss, has warned of a “dangerous moment for the world” as the “highly likely” prospect of a Russian invasion of Ukraine could embolden other countries such as Iran and China to expand their ambitions. Speaking on Sky News, Truss said “we could be on the brink of a war in Europe, which would have severe consequences not just for the people of Russian and Ukraine but for the broader security in Europe”, adding she was “very worried”. Her comments came as last-ditch efforts for a…