Advertisement China added a laboratory to its permanent orbiting space station Monday as it moves toward completing the structure in coming months. The Wentian laboratory was launched from the Wenchang space base on the tropical island province of Hainan on Sunday with a large crowd of amateur photographers and space enthusiasts watching. After 13 hours of flight, it successfully docked with the Tianhe living area of the Tiangong space station at 3:13 a.m. Monday (1913 GMT), according to the China Manned Space Agency. Photos distributed by Xinhua News Agency later…
Day: July 25, 2022
China Is Not Russia; Taiwan Is Not Ukraine
Advertisement Russia’s invasion of Ukraine has sparked an avalanche of discussion about the implications for Taiwan. One of the most commonly discussed lessons from the Ukraine War has been that China would need to think more seriously before waging a reunification war against Taiwan, given the setbacks suffered by the Russian invading forces. In my understanding, however, the risk of Beijing launching a cross-strait war was never high to begin with, so the “lesson” has little use. History might repeat itself but not always. To illustrate the differences, we need…
Developers’ shares rise on news of China’s US$12 billion bailout fund for beleaguered sector
China’s property sector has been in a tailspin since the People’s Bank of China (PBOC) enforced its so-called three red lines on developers’ debts in September 2020. The bailout fund will be supported by China Construction Bank and the PBOC, Reuters said. Other banks will follow suit if the pilot scheme works well, aiming to raise the fund up to 300 billion yuan. 01:29 New Evergrande protests amid reports troubled Chinese property giant ordered to raze development The shares of Shanghai-based Cifi Holdings (Group), which is trying to repay its…
Beijing urges British politicians not to ‘hype the China threat’
Beijing has urged British politicians to exercise restraint in their comments on China, saying “hyping the China threat” would not help solve the UK’s own problems. Asked about Rishi Sunak’s comments, where he labelled China as Britain’s biggest long-term threat and pledged to close all UK-based Confucius Institutes, Zhao Lijian, Chinese foreign ministry spokesperson, declined to offer specific comments, saying the election of the next Tory leader is the UK’s internal affair. But he added: “I do want to inform some UK politicians that they can’t solve their own problems…