Blank sheets of paper, mathematical equations and even alpacas: protesters in China have found creative ways to express anger at the government’s zero-Covid measures, unleashing a wave of dissent against long and severe lockdowns, the deaths of factory workers in Urumqi, and the censorship they’re not allowed to talk about. The extraordinary protests, which began over the weekend and spread to cities across China including Shanghai and Beijing, have been characterised by acts of civil disobedience, including clashes with police. The most widely used symbol in the demonstrations has been…
Day: November 28, 2022
Djibouti suspends China and other loan repayments, banks on forgiveness
REDD Intelligence senior credit research analyst Mark Bohlund said the two creditors referred to in the World Bank report were likely to be China and Kuwait, “although it doesn’t matter which the other creditor is, as Chinese debt widely surpasses that owed to other creditors”. Bohlund said Djibouti’s action was unsurprising, given the sharp projected increase in its external debt servicing. “The International Monetary Fund declared Djibouti’s debt as being unsustainable in late 2021,” he said. Advertisement Djibouti owed a total of US$2.68 billion to external creditors as of the…
What Is China’s ‘Zero-COVID’ Policy?
Protests have erupted across China over the country’s strict pandemic restrictions. The demonstrations indicate that many Chinese have grown weary of the lengthy lockdowns and widespread testing that is a part of China’s “zero-COVID” policy. Here is a closer look at the policy. What is China’s COVID strategy? China’s goal in fighting COVID-19 is to keep cases as close to zero as possible. To achieve this, it has implemented mass testing, quarantined the sick in government facilities and imposed strict lockdowns that can span entire cities. When did the policy…
Zero-Covid policy: why is China still having severe lockdowns?
China’s strategy of controlling Covid-19 with lockdowns, mass testing and quarantines has provoked the greatest show of public dissent against the ruling Communist party in decades. Initially, China succeeded in suppressing the virus, but then more transmissible variants emerged, and in recent weeks the outbreak has grown with record numbers of cases reported. Global health experts have criticised China’s methods as unsustainable, so with both cases and public discontent rising, why is China still pursuing its zero-Covid strategy? Vaccines Almost three years on from when Covid-19 was first detected in…
Washington Expresses Support for China Protesters
White House — The White House Monday expressed support for peaceful protests popping up around China — but administration officials did not say whether Beijing should change the strict “zero-COVID” policies that drove the weekend demonstrations. More than a dozen street protests have shaken several Chinese cities in recent days, after a deadly fire killed 10 people in a locked-down apartment complex in northwestern China’s Xinjiang region, home of the Muslim Uyghur people. That fire sparked widespread anger over the nation’s strict COVID controls, which led to protests in the…
Myanmar military, Arakan Army halt hostilities on humanitarian grounds
The military and the ethnic Rakhine Arakan Army announced a ceasefire on Monday, following four months of intense fighting in western Myanmar, although there were no immediate plans for troop withdrawals or changes in political policy, official sources told RFA Burmese. The ceasefire, brokered by Yohei Sasakawa, the chairman of Japan’s Nippon Foundation and the Japanese government’s special representative for national reconciliation in Myanmar, is the latest detente between the two sides in their decade-long, on-again, off-again conflict that has devastated the civilian population of Rakhine state and Paletwa township…
Rishi Sunak says UK’s ‘golden era’ with China is over – video
Rishi Sunak has signalled the end of the ‘golden era’ of relations between Britain and China, using his first major foreign policy speech to warn of the creeping authoritarianism of Xi Jinping’s regime. ‘We recognise China poses a systemic challenge to our values and interests, a challenge that grows more acute as it moves towards even greater authoritarianism’, the UK prime minister said The Guardian
China’s Type 075 amphibious assault ships ready for combat, PLA Navy says
“Since the training programme started, the Guangxi has completed all the subjects of training and built up overall operational capability as an amphibious assault platform,” Captain Xu Ce was quoted by China Central Television as saying in another report. China’s Type 075 ship has a full-length flight deck with room for six helicopters to operate at the same time. Photo: People’s Liberation Army Navy The ship became fully operational in less than a year – a relatively speedy progression, considering the 40,000-tonne Type 075 is a new class with significant…
As Zero-COVID Protests in China Continue, a Battle Erupts Online
washington — As protests continue in cities across China over the government’s harsh “zero-COVID” policy, a separate battle is taking place on social media sites within China and around the world, a fight that is testing the strength of China’s online censorship apparatus, known as the Great Firewall. Some protesters in cities such as Beijing and Shanghai are trying to circumvent government censors who are believed to use an automated system to help block prohibited content. According to Paul Mozur, a reporter for The New York Times, protesters are using…
US embassy in China urges Americans to stock up on daily necessities amid Covid surge and protests
It was not the first time for the US mission in China to issue such an announcement during the pandemic. Embassy officials in April advised American citizens not to travel to Hong Kong, Shanghai and the northeastern Chinese province of Jilin when a two-month lockdown in Shanghai was taking place. Advertisement That statement published two days before the State Department ordered the departure of non-emergency US government employees and their family members from its consulate in Shanghai. As of this week, China’s Covid-19 case numbers have reached new highs since…