A final victory for China’s propaganda chiefs

Apr 2nd 2022 ON A FIRST posting to China, two decades ago, Chaguan covered a disaster that was as grim as it was revealing: an explosion that killed 38 children at a school where pupils were assembling fireworks to pay their fees. Reporting that tragedy in March 2001 was made possible by the courage of bereaved parents in Fanglin, a remote village in the southern province of Jiangxi. To alert national leaders to their plight they accepted interviews and identified local officials and teachers who forced children as young as…

Two British judges quit Hong Kong’s top court

Apr 2nd 2022 HONG KONG IN 2016 Leung Kwok-hung, a politician also known as “Long Hair”, snatched a folder of confidential documents from a government official during a meeting at Hong Kong’s legislature. Charged with contempt, his case ended up in Hong Kong’s court of final appeal last year. One of the five judges was Lord Reed, the head of Britain’s supreme court. Listen to this story.Enjoy more audio and podcasts on iOS or Android. Your browser does not support the <audio> element. To anyone unfamiliar with Hong Kong’s tangled…

Deciphering a Tibetan pop star’s self-immolation

Apr 2nd 2022 THE STORY of Tsewang Norbu is shrouded in mystery. The Tibetan pop star set himself on fire in Lhasa, the Tibetan capital, on February 25th. Fans have spent the past month mourning his death. But on March 28th the Chinese foreign ministry suggested Mr Norbu might still be alive. In response to questions about him, the ministry said a man in Tibet had “attempted suicide by self-immolation”—and that he had been taken for treatment immediately. The man had long been “troubled by mental illness” and “had attempted…

Why so many elderly Chinese are unvaccinated

Apr 2nd 2022 BEIJING FOR WEEKS the authorities in Shanghai tried to stem an outbreak of covid-19 with a whack-a-mole approach. Individual buildings were locked down, only for the virus to spread elsewhere. Finally, on March 28th, officials decided to lock down all of the city’s 25m residents in two phases, beginning with the east side of town, home to the main financial centre. People scrambled to buy supplies. Vegetables became scarce. Some bankers began sleeping in their offices. Listen to this story.Enjoy more audio and podcasts on iOS or…

The war makes China uncomfortable. European leaders don’t care

Apr 2nd 2022 BEIJING CHINESE LEADERS wanted the mood to be “business as usual”. But the summit between China and the European Union on April 1st will be anything but normal. That is because Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, and China’s cold-blooded response to it, have exposed the limitations of Europe’s old trade-first China policies. Listen to this story.Enjoy more audio and podcasts on iOS or Android. Your browser does not support the <audio> element. EU leaders approached the summit, which is being held by video-link, with low expectations. They hoped…

Budi Tek, 65, Dies; His Fortune Built a Vast Trove of Asian Art

Unlike many of those collectors, however, he always insisted that he had a civic obligation to display his art. After a few years showing his pieces in a Jakarta cafe, in 2007 he opened the Yuz Museum nearby, making admission free of charge. Even that wasn’t enough. As his collection of works from China grew, he zeroed in on an emerging art district in Shanghai, along the Huangpo River, for an even larger venue. He settled on a portion of an old airfield, and in 2014 opened his second Yuz…

China accused of launching cyber-attacks on Ukraine before Russian invasion

China launched cyber-attacks on Ukrainian military and nuclear targets shortly before the Russian invasion, according to a report. The UK government confirmed that the National Cyber Security Centre is investigating the allegations, which claim that more than 600 websites, including Ukraine’s defence ministry, were subjected to thousands of hacking attempts coordinated by the Chinese government. A UK government spokesperson said: “The National Cyber Security Centre is investigating these allegations with our international partners.” The claims are based on intelligence memos obtained by the Times. Ukraine’s security service, the SBU, alleges…

Europe Asks China Not to Aid Russia’s War in Ukraine

BRUSSELS — The European Union on Friday called on China not to aid Russia’s war against Ukraine or to subvert Western sanctions on Moscow, in the first summit meeting between the two sides in two years. The summit, in separate sessions with Beijing’s leaders, Prime Minister Li Keqiang and President Xi Jinping, came as tensions were high over Beijing’s support for Russia’s war in Ukraine, China’s record on human rights and its trade boycott of Lithuania for hosting a representative office of Taiwan. Europe-China relations have essentially been in a…

China’s Position on Ukraine Will Be Determined by Events on the Battlefield

Advertisement When Moscow ordered tanks to roll into its neighbor’s capital, the world watched with dismay as Beijing stayed silent. The “situation is rather complicated,” read one Foreign Ministry cable to its local embassy; “‘much listening, little speaking’ is necessary.” On the day of the invasion, the Chinese government called for “mutual respect for sovereignty and territorial integrity.” But when the fog of war receded, the Chinese Communist Party’s mouthpiece, People’s Daily, described the friendship between Beijing and Moscow as “eternal and unshakeable.” The year was 1956 and the country…

China-EU Summit Highlights Diverging Paths

Advertisement On April 1, China and the European Union held a much-anticipated summit, their first top-level meeting since the Russian invasion of Ukraine began. First, European Council President Charles Michel and European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen held a virtual meeting with Chinese Premier Li Keqiang; two hours later they talked with China’s President Xi Jinping. The call came just days after China hosted Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov for a multilateral discussion on Afghanistan. In a meeting with Lavrov, China’s foreign minister declared that “China-Russia relations have withstood…