In this Monday, Dec. 3, 2018, file photo, a guard tower and barbed wire fences are seen around a facility in the Kunshan Industrial Park in Artux in western China’s Xinjiang region. This is one of a growing number of internment camps in the Xinjiang region, where by some estimates 1 million Muslims are detained, forced to give up their language and their religion and subject to political indoctrination. (AP Photo/Ng Han Guan, File) South China Morning Post
Day: March 23, 2022
China plane crash: Human remains found amid wreckage
According to FlightRadar24, the plane was cruising at an altitude of 29,100ft (about 9,000m), but two minutes and 15 seconds later it was recorded at 9,075ft. The last sourced information on the flight showed it ended at 14:22 local time, at an altitude of 3,225ft. BBC
Sinovac Booster Gives Elderly Stronger Protection Against Omicron, Study Finds
Two doses of China’s Sinovac vaccine offered older people only a moderately high level of protection against severe disease and death from Covid-19, but a third dose significantly bolstered their defenses, according to a new study by scientists in Hong Kong. The study, based on patients infected during the current devastating Omicron wave in Hong Kong, serves as a cautionary note for mainland China, where Sinovac is a pillar of the country’s vaccination program. Many older people there have yet to receive booster shots. For people 60 and older, two…
How Will the Ukraine War End?
U.S. officials have said that Russia appealed to China for military and economic support. Biden warned China’s leader, Xi Jinping, that granting that request would incur “consequences,” though the administration has not specified what those consequences might be. “The administration’s dilemma is that China is the world’s second-largest economy and the origin point of countless global supply chains,” wrote Phelim Kine of Politico. “Unlike Russia, whose relative unimportance to the function of Western economies made it relatively easier to sanction, China is a dominant player in everything from electrical appliances…
‘No Limits’? Understanding China’s Engagement With Russia on Ukraine
Advertisement Vladimir Putin’s last visit to China took less than half a day. The Russian president landed in Beijing on the afternoon of February 4 and left for Moscow the same day, shortly after the evening Opening Ceremony of the Winter Olympics. Putin didn’t even attend the next day’s banquet, at which Chinese President Xi Jinping toasted foreign dignitaries. To fit in with the Russian leader’s tight schedule, Xi arrived at the Diaoyutai State Guesthouse instead of receiving Putin, like the other guests, at the Great Hall of the People.…
In Asia, Covid-19 Rules Fall Away, With a Big Caveat
MANILA — In the Philippines, tens of thousands are crowding into political rallies in Manila, and the zoo there is packed. In India, millions fanned out last weekend to celebrate a Hindu festival. And in South Korea, 15,000 fans descended on a stadium in Seoul for three nights to see the K-pop band BTS perform for the first time since October 2019. Many Asian-Pacific countries are dismantling thickets of Covid rules at bewildering speeds, even though the Omicron variant of the coronavirus is still raging in parts of the region.…
China Eastern Airlines crash: recovery crews find black box recorder
Chinese recovery crews have found one of the two black box flight recorders from the China Eastern Airlines jet that crashed on Monday with 132 people on board, regulators have said. The domestic passenger plane plunged from more than 20,000ft into a mountainous area of Guangxi, sparking an intense bamboo fire and almost disintegrating on impact. Response officials said the circumstances of the crash meant investigators faced “a very high level of difficulty” in establishing a cause. No survivors had yet been found by rescue workers who continue to search…
China’s Wolf Warriors Aren’t the Majority of the Pack
Advertisement “Disinformation magician,” Zhao Lijian, deputy director of China’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs Information Department, tweeted on February 16, with an image implying that U.S. predictions of an imminent Russian invasion of Ukraine were empty warmongering. Once the invasion actually materialized, Zhao pivoted to deflecting criticisms of Russia by accusing the United States of war crimes in the Middle East and stealing Afghan assets. Commentary critical of the U.S. and other countries has earned Zhao and other Chinese diplomats the moniker “wolf warriors” – diplomats who take an antagonistic stance…
China’s Divorce Rate Is Down, but So Are Marriages
HONG KONG — Faced with a soaring divorce rate, the ruling Communist Party in China introduced a rule last year to keep unhappy marriages together by forcing couples to undergo a 30-day “cooling off” period before finalizing a divorce. The rule appears to have worked, according to government statistics released this week, which show a steep drop in divorce filings in 2021. Local officials have hailed the new rule as a success in the country’s effort to grow families and curb a demographic crisis threatening China’s economy. But the party…
A run through the snow, PCR tests and no guests: a wedding in China’s Covid lockdown
When Amanda Liu Chang and Jia Shihan grow old, they can tell their family members of the time they got married in the middle of a pandemic, Liu having to trudge with her wedding dress through the snow. The story began on 19 March when the couple awoke in their respective Tangshan city apartments in China’s Hebei province, looking forward to formalising their three-year romance with family and friends. But unknown to them, authorities had locked down Jia’s gated neighbourhood overnight, banning all residents from leaving, after some had tested…