The Chinese response came after the US announced visa bans and an assets freeze on three officials, including Chen Quanquo, the Chinese Communist Party chief in Xinjiang, and architect of Beijing’s hardline policies against restive minorities. “The US actions seriously interfere in China’s internal affairs, seriously violate the basic norms …
Read More »Warnings in Kazakhstan of pneumonia deadlier than COVID-19
China’s embassy in Kazakhstan has warned its citizens to take precautions against an outbreak of pneumonia in the country that it says is more lethal than COVID-19. It said in a statement on its official WeChat account late on Thursday that there had been a “significant increase” in cases in …
Read More »Angering China, Australia suspends extradition treaty with Hong Kong, extends visas
Australia said on Thursday it was suspending its extradition treaty with Hong Kong in response to a new security law imposed there and announced measures to attract businesses from the Asian financial hub, provoking an angry response from Beijing. Prime Minister Scott Morrison said the law introduced last week in …
Read More »China Says It Will Join Nuke Talks If US Agrees to Cut Stockpile
A senior Chinese arms control official has offered to enter U.S.-Russia nuclear weapons treaty talks if Washington, D.C., agrees to nuclear parity with Beijing, and offers the official acknowledged will never be accepted. Fu Cong, director-general of the Department of Arms Control at China’s foreign ministry said Wednesday that Beijing …
Read More »China: US holds key to breaking stalemate in North Korea talks
China says the United States holds the key to breaking the stalemate in negotiations with North Korea, amid renewed tensions on the Korean Peninsula due to stalled demilitarization talks. “North Korea and the US are major conflicting parties in regards to the Korean Peninsula issue. The US holds the key …
Read More »Landslide in China’s Hubei buries nine after heaviest rain in years
A landslide buried nine people on Wednesday in China’s Hubei province, the People’s Daily newspaper reported, after some of the heaviest rain in decades brought floods that have killed more than 100 people. The landslide occurred in Huangmei County in the early hours and efforts were being made to rescue …
Read More »China closes tourist spots in Inner Mongolia after bubonic plague case
Authorities in the Chinese region of Inner Mongolia have closed several tourist spots after a case of bubonic plague was confirmed this week. The case was discovered in Bayannur, located northwest of the capital Beijing. Five nearby grassland scenic points have now been closed, with visitors “strictly prohibited from entering …
Read More »TikTok leaves Hong Kong after China security law enactment
TikTok will exit the Hong Kong market within days, a spokesman told the Reuters news agency, as other technology companies including Facebook, Google, and Twitter suspend processing government requests for user data in the region. The short-form video app owned by China-based ByteDance has made the decision to exit the …
Read More »‘At war time speed’, China leads COVID-19 vaccine race
China is forging ahead in the race to develop a vaccine to help control the COVID-19 pandemic, with Sinovac Biotech’s (SVA.O) experimental vaccine set to become the country’s second and the world’s third to enter final stage testing later this month. While a laggard in the global vaccine industry, China, …
Read More »Coronavirus is NOT CHINESE, says famed British epidemiologist
One of the world’s leading epidemiologists thinks the coronavirus may not actually have originated in China, with samples of Covid-19 surfacing from Spain in early 2019. The coronavirus story keeps getting stranger… Dr. Tom Jefferson is a British epidemiologist working for the Cochrane Collaboration’s acute respiratory infections group. He also …
Read More »At least 21 killed, 15 injured as bus filled with school children veers off road, crashes into reservoir in China
At least 21 people have died and 15 have been left seriously injured after a bus carrying high school students veered off a road, broke through a guardrail, and sank into a reservoir in southwest China. The horrific incident happened at approximately noon local time in Anshun, in southwest China’s …
Read More »China slams US for sending aircraft carriers to disputed sea
Beijing has slammed the United States for sending its aircraft carriers to the disputed waters of South China Sea, where the Chinese military was holding naval drills, saying the provocative move is aimed at driving a wedge between regional countries. Addressing a press briefing on Monday, China’s Foreign Ministry spokesman …
Read More »U.S. Navy carriers conduct South China Sea drills as Chinese ships watch
Two U.S. Navy aircraft carriers are conducting exercises in the contested South China Sea within sight of Chinese naval vessels spotted near the flotilla, the commander of one of the carriers, the USS Nimitz, told Reuters on Monday. “They have seen us and we have seen them,” Rear Admiral James …
Read More »Report | France won’t ban Huawei, but encouraging 5G telcos to avoid it
The head of the French cybersecurity agency ANSSI said there would not be a total ban on using equipment from Huawei in the rollout of the French 5G telecoms network, but that it was pushing French telcos to avoid switching to the Chinese company. “What I can say is that …
Read More »China says G4 swine flu virus not new; does not infect humans easily
China’s Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs said on Saturday that the so-called “G4” strain of swine flu virus is not new and does not infect or sicken humans and animals easily, rebuffing a study published earlier this week. That study, by a team of Chinese scientists and published by …
Read More »Russia says China would be needed in expanded G7 summit
Russia is not in talks with Washington about its potential role at an expanded Group of Seven summit later this year, Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov said on Saturday, insisting that China should also be included in the event. His comments to TASS news agency countered those of John Sullivan, …
Read More »US and Chinese naval exercises overlap in South China Sea
The US Navy will send two aircraft carriers and several accompanying warships to the South China Sea in the coming days to participate in a military exercise. The USS Nimitz and USS Ronald Reagan Carrier Strike Groups are conducting dual-carrier operations in the Philippine Sea and the South China Sea,” …
Read More »Cracks in the Trump-Europe relationship are turning into a chasm – Analysis
For more than 70 years, the transatlantic alliance has served as the unshakable foundation of European stability and underpinned the values of the US-led Western order. In 2020, it appears that the relationship is being rethought on both sides of the Atlantic. Earlier this week, the European Union declined to …
Read More »India’s Modi visits Himalayan border where troops clashed with China
Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi flew into the northern Himalayan region of Ladakh on Friday, officials said, weeks after Indian and Chinese troops clashed on their disputed border there, escalating tension between the Asian giants. Modi, who has been under pressure to respond to what India deems Chinese incursions, met …
Read More »Germany fears erosion of Hong Kong’s autonomy, Merkel says
Germany fears that Hong Kong’s autonomy is being “eroded” and Berlin will raise issues such as human rights with China during its presidency of the EU that began this month, Chancellor Angela Merkel said on Friday. “Based on an open dialogue, we also speak about the rule of law and …
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