WASHINGTON — One of Russia’s most incendiary disinformation campaigns ramped up days ago, when its defense and foreign ministries issued statements falsely claiming that the Pentagon was financing biological weapons labs in Ukraine. Then Chinese diplomats and state media organizations repeated the conspiracy theory at news conferences in Beijing, in articles and on official social media accounts. Now, the Biden White House has taken the extraordinary step of calling out both countries on their coordinated propaganda campaign and saying they might be providing cover for a potential biological or chemical…
Day: March 10, 2022
As it happened: ‘Two sessions’ 2022: Chinese Premier Li Keqiang says Beijing is ‘deeply concerned’ about situation in Ukraine, Hong Kong to delay leadership election because of ‘serious’ Covid situation
This year’s “two sessions” were shortened to six-and-a-half days because of Covid-19, and any comments from Li about Hong Kong’s current outbreak, and the growing controversy over the “dynamic zero” strategy and the city’s mass testing plans, will be closely scrutinised. Ukraine also looms large over proceedings with the wider world wanting to know more about China’s position. While the government work report did not mention the war, the foreign minister faced repeated questions about the conflict on Monday and any remarks on the issue from Li will attract great…
‘A necessary war’: reporting on the Ukraine ‘disagreement’ outside the west
Many an insult has been hurled at Vladimir Putin since he invaded Ukraine a fortnight ago, causing chaos, heartbreak and death. A bloodstained aggressor. A 21st-century Stalin. A total fucking dickhead. Beelzebub. “Look at the face of Putin. You will see the devil,” one US commentator opined on Wednesday as a maternity hospital was bombed in the city of Mariupol. But for the Venezuelan pundit Alberto Aranguibel, Putin’s 24 February invasion was “la guerra necesaria” – the necessary war. The Chinese academic Wang Shuo saw it as “a US-created crisis”.…
War in Ukraine: How Asian economies are divided over Russia sanctions
“Without having the two Asian giants China and India on board on sanctions who account for 18% of Russia’s trade, there is unlikely to be any significant impact on Russia,” says Professor Syed Munir Khasru, chairman of the international think tank, the Institute for Policy, Advocacy, and Governance. BBC
China Maritime Report No. 19: The PLA Airborne Corps in a Joint Island Landing Campaign
The People’s Liberation Army (PLA) Airborne Corps would likely play an important role in a cross-strait invasion through operations behind enemy lines. During the landing campaign, the Corps would conduct paradrops or landing operations onto Taiwan, facilitated by PLA Air Force (PLAAF) aircraft. Once on island, airborne forces would seize and hold terrain and conduct a variety of operations to support the broader invasion. In recent years, the Corps has reorganized to improve its capability for mechanized maneuver and assault, leveraging the PLAAF’s larger inventories of transport aircraft, particularly the…
Penny Wong says better relationship with China possible if Coalition stops ‘playing politics’
Labor’s foreign affairs spokesperson, Penny Wong, says it may be possible for Australia to achieve a diplomatic thaw with China despite the substantial differences between the two countries – if Scott Morrison abandons his “desperate” pre-election weaponisation of national security. The foreign affairs minister, Marise Payne, this week met China’s new ambassador to Australia who has made several overtures for dialogue since arriving in Canberra in January. Subsequently, the shadow minister told the Guardian’s Australian Politics podcast that diplomatic engagement was important. Wong said if Labor won the federal election…
China’s scientists are looking for a way out of the zero-covid policy
Mar 10th 2022 NOT SINCE the early days of the pandemic has China seen so many new, locally transmitted cases of covid-19. More than 400 were reported on March 9th (counting only those that were symptomatic). Clusters have been found in most of China’s provinces (see map). A surge of this size would not trouble most countries. Indeed, many are learning to live with the virus. But in China the new cases are testing the government’s “zero-covid” strategy, which uses mass testing and lockdowns to crush any hint of an…
Some Chinese are daring to criticise Russia
Mar 10th 2022 IT IS IMPOSSIBLE to acquire a mass following on Weibo, China’s Twitter-like service, while being politically careless. A post that annoys the government can result in an account’s sudden closure and with it painful severance from millions of fans. Take Jin Xing, a transgender dancer who was once a colonel in an army entertainment troupe. She had been keeping her page updated with news of her travels in Europe when she took a risk that plunged her into digital darkness. Listen to this story.Enjoy more audio and…
Does China’s Position on the Russia-Ukraine War Matter to African Countries?
Advertisement On March 2, 2022, the 11th ever U.N. emergency session closed with a vote adopting non-binding resolution 377A(V), widely known as “Uniting for Peace,” which reaffirmed the sovereignty, independence, unity, and territorial integrity of Ukraine and demanded the immediate, complete, and unconditional withdrawal of all Russian military forces from Ukraine’s territory. According to analysis by Development Reimagined, 51 percent of African countries voted in favor of the resolution, while the rest abstained or were not “in the room.” Eritrea was the only African country that voted against the resolution.…
China Becomes a Paralympic Sled Hockey Power Behind Russian Coach
BEIJING — All the Russian athletes were kicked out of the Paralympics before the Games began last week, but there is still a Russian here, and he has a chance to win a medal. Nikolay Sharshukov, the little-known Russian coach of China’s national para ice hockey team, has transformed the fledgling squad into a contender in less than five years on the job, molding it in the image of the old Soviet hockey powerhouses. Players like Shen Yifeng, the leading scorer in the tournament, crisscross in front of teammates as…