This is a season — an age, really — of American pessimism. The pessimism comes in many flavors. There is progressive pessimism: The country is tilting toward MAGA-hatted fascism or a new version of “The Handmaid’s Tale.” There is conservative pessimism: The institutions, from primary schools to the Pentagon, are all being captured by wokeness. There is Afropessimism: Black people have always been excluded by systemic, ineradicable racism. There is the pessimism of the white middle and working classes: The country and the values they’ve known for generations are being…
Day: May 10, 2022
China’s zero-Covid policy is not sustainable, WHO director general says
The head of the World Health Organization has voiced concerns over China’s effort to eliminate the Covid virus, in a rare rebuke to Xi Jinping’s pledge to achieve “dynamic zero-Covid”. The WHO’s director general, Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, told a media briefing on Tuesday that his organisation does not think China’s Covid policy is “sustainable considering the behaviour of the virus”. “We have discussed about this issue with Chinese experts and we indicated that the approach will not be sustainable … I think a shift would be very important,” he…
Wary of Policy Shift, China Reaches out to South Korea’s New President
Advertisement On May 10, Yoon Suk-yeol was inaugurated as president of the Republic of Korea (ROK). There were a number of foreign guests in attendance, with one of the highest profile being China’s vice president, Wang Qishan. Wang is the highest-ranking Chinese official to attend any South Korean presidential inauguration, a sign of Beijing’s eagerness to persuade Yoon not to follow through on campaign promises to take a harder line on relations with China. Wang has little formal power as China’s vice president, but he is influential due to his…
Beijing accuses US of ‘political manipulation’ in latest Taiwan row
Beijing has accused Washington of “political manipulation” and attempting to change the status quo after the US state department quietly amended its website to remove a line stating it did not support Taiwanese independence. In a delicate geopolitical balancing act, the US has long acknowledged, but not supported, China’s claim to Taiwan under its version of the “one China principle”. However, experts say that policy has been eroded as Beijing has become more assertive. In an updated page on the state department’s online “fact sheet” Washington last week removed some…
As Shanghai’s Covid Cases Fall, China’s Restrictions Tighten
The Chinese authorities are tightening coronavirus restrictions in Shanghai and Beijing, heeding a message from the country’s top leader to double down on the zero-Covid strategy. In Shanghai, where residents have been under lockdown since April 1, private food delivery services were being suspended in some neighborhoods despite cases falling to a six-week low. Some residents were told not to step outside their homes, and that the government would help deliver groceries. In Beijing, where the daily case count rose to 74 on Monday, officials announced that schools would be…
China’s Tianzhou 4 cargo spacecraft docks with space station ahead of next crewed mission
The Long March 7 Y5 rocket, carrying Tianzhou 4, blasts off from the Wenchang Spacecraft Launch Site in south China’s Hainan Province on May 10, 2022. China launched cargo spacecraft Tianzhou 4 on Tuesday to deliver supplies for its space station which is scheduled to wrap up construction this year. Photo: Xinhua South China Morning Post