A “thank you” note posted by the official Weibo account of Russia’s state-controlled news network RT, expressing gratitude to the Chinese for their support, was taken down, as was this Weibo post: “I’m glad that Russia has taken the initiative to undertake the difficult task of fighting the neo-Nazis in Ukraine. The sanctions imposed on Russia are unacceptable.” BBC
Day: March 11, 2022
Xi Jinping places a bet on Russia
Mar 12th 2022 CHINESE COMMUNIST PARTY elites can picture an endgame to the Ukraine war that suits China very well. In Beijing, scholars and high-ranking government advisers predict that today’s shows of Western unity will fade sooner or later, as sanctions fail to break Russia and instead send energy prices soaring. In their telling the conflict will hasten America’s decline and slow retreat from the world. A crumbling of American-led alliances will then usher in a new global order, involving spheres of influence dominated by a few, iron-willed autocracies, China…
China is clamping down on food waste
Mar 12th 2022 BEIJING NO BANQUET IN China is complete without the host loudly calling for more food, even when it is clear that no one can eat another bite. Whether at business meals or family gatherings, to leave a clean plate is to imply that the host provided too little. Cultural issues of “face” also lead to big servings: everyone wants to be more generous than their neighbour. Now, though, these deep-rooted norms are being challenged from the top. Listen to this story.Enjoy more audio and podcasts on iOS…
To meet its ambitious growth target, China turns to stimulus
Mar 12th 2022 HONG KONG THE CHINESE people have the “courage, vision and strength to overcome any obstacle”, said Li Keqiang, the country’s prime minister (pictured), on March 5th in his annual speech to the National People’s Congress, China’s rubber-stamp parliament. Even so, not all of them will have the fortitude to digest his full report on the work of the government, which runs to more than 12,000 words in translation. For their benefit, the government has distilled its message into a 150-second rap video. The film features three animated…
China is squirming under pressure to condemn Russia. It can’t hold out forever | Richard McGregor
Two weeks into Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, and China is still turning diplomatic cartwheels to prevent the war from damaging its global standing, while still preserving its strategic partnership with Moscow. China offers to mediate! China offers aid! China is “extremely concerned” about the safety of citizens! Xi mentions the word “war”! The plethora of headlines alone is evidence for how Beijing has been subtly shifting its language day-to-day to put some distance between itself and Moscow and its increasingly bloody military tactics. But for the moment, such protestations should…
Disabled Chinese Fight for Equal Rights Despite Paralympic Glory
BEIJING — As Li Xiang strapped himself into a seat mounted atop a single ski and raced down the snowy slope, he reveled in the feeling of freedom that had become all too rare after a car accident required him to use a wheelchair as a child. Li, a 24-year-old Alpine skier competing for China in the Paralympic Winter Games, skis to win. But to him, it is also a way to escape the discrimination that he says he often encounters as a person with disabilities in China. “Talking about…
Lockdowns Spread in China as Covid Cases Surge in Shanghai and Other Areas
BEIJING — Cinemas, theaters and museums have closed in downtown Shanghai, and tickets have been refunded. The vast city’s school system announced late Friday that it would switch to online learning. And across China, more than 100 neighborhoods have been labeled medium-risk or high-risk Covid zones, with frequent mandatory testing and partial or complete lockdowns. After two years of posting one of the world’s most successful track records in managing the coronavirus, China suddenly faces a wave of cases. The country’s National Health Commission said Friday that 1,100 new cases…
China’s 2022 Government Work Report Looks Inward to Economic Stabilizers
Advertisement On Saturday, March 5, 2022, China’s 13th National People’s Congress (NPC) convened for their fifth annual Two Sessions. The Two Sessions – the annual meetings of the NPC as well as the Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference – is arguably the most important political event of the year, in which the NPC convenes to vote on key policies pushed forward by the Standing Committee of the Chinese Communist Party in the fall prior. Moreover, the Government Work Report, delivered on the first day by Premier Li Keqiang, provides an…
‘It’s like we are being left to die’: Hong Kong tackles deadliest Covid wave
Staff meetings are often mundane affairs and rarely end in tears. But on Wednesday Ho Hiu-fai, the accident and emergency chief at Hong Kong’s Queen Elizabeth hospital, broke down in front of his team. “It has been so hard for our colleagues to hold up this past month,” he could be heard saying in a video, shortly after the hospital was converted into a Covid treatment facility and 400 non-Covid patients were transferred elsewhere. <gu-island name="EmbedBlockComponent" deferuntil="visible" props="{"html":"","isTracking":true,"isMainMedia":false,"source":"Facebook","sourceDomain":"facebook.com"}” readability=”3″> Allow Facebook content? This article includes content provided by Facebook. We…