China – The Singapore Post

Xi’s ability to intimidate runs dry as China fails to subdue Indian troops at LAC

27Oct

By Joanne SerriehNo Comments

China

Xi’s ability to intimidate runs dry as China fails to subdue Indian troops at LAC

Gordon G Chang, a lawyer and commentator said that it is clear that Chinese President Xi Jinping’s ability to intimidate anyone has significantly reduced after Beijing’s failure to tackle Indian troops on the Line of Actual Control (LAC).In an opinion article, Chang said, “the Chinese President has risked his future with the failed high-profile incursions of the People’s Liberation Army (PLA) into more areas of the LAC, the border between India and China”.“Xi is the architect of these aggressive moves into India and the Chinese troops have unexpectedly flopped. The failures of the Chinese Army at the LAC will have consequences and will give Xi an excuse to pick up the pace of replacing adversaries in the armed forces with loyal elements,” Chang said.However, these failures motivate Xi, who

Curbs on Mongolian language teaching prompt large protests in china

4Oct

By Joanne SerriehNo Comments

China

Curbs on Mongolian language teaching prompt large protests in china

After the announcement that the Mongolian language would gradually be replaced by Chinese in schools around Inner Mongolia, thousands of ethnic Mongolians in northern China have gathered outside schools to express their discontent with the policy which favours Chinese.“We Mongolians are a great race as well,” Dagula, a 39-year-old mother of two, said. “If we accept teaching in Chinese, our Mongolian language will really die out.”Images of the protests shared on social media sites showed crowds of parents and students amassing peacefully outside schools, singing and shouting slogans as the authorities looked on.In one video, a woman was shown flipping through the pages of a textbook, decrying the absence of Mongolian language. In another, students in blue and white uniforms shouted, “Mongol

30Sep

By Joanne SerriehNo Comments

China

China’s ‘Malacca dilemma’ remains

According to a media report, amid the border standoff between India and China, the latter has suffered a severe blow from Thailand, which said it will scrap the Kra Canal project that Beijing wanted to build to shorten its access to the Indian Ocean and also delayed the purchase of two Chinese submarines worth USD 724 million giving in to the public pressure.China was pinning its hopes on the Kra Canal project, a proposal to construct a 120-kilometre mega canal cutting through the isthmus of Kra in Thailand.This canal could have been a crucial strategic asset for China, allowing its navy to quickly move ships between its newly constructed bases in the South China Sea and the Indian Ocean without diverting over 1,100 kilometres south to round the tip of Malaysia.This was in line with Beijin...

Chinese President’s visit to Pakistan postponed

30Sep

By Joanne SerriehNo Comments

China

Chinese President’s visit to Pakistan postponed

Yao Jing, Chinese Ambassador to Pakistan has said that the visit of Chinese President Xi Jinping to Pakistan has been rescheduled in view of the COVID-19 pandemic.“The Pakistani and Chinese governments are currently working on a plan to finalise the new date for the trip, which will be announced soon,” Yao said while interacting with media persons at Giga Mall.The Ambassador said that the Chinese President was invited by Pakistan Prime Minister Imran Khan to visit Pakistan. This visit would had taken place in the backdrop of border tensions between China and India in eastern Ladakh for the last few months.The Indian Army, on the night of August 29-30, thwarted an incursion attempt by the Chinese troops to transgress into Indian areas near the southern bank of Pangong Tso near Chushul in La

Tibet’s exile government slams call by Xi Jinping to ‘sinicize’ Tibetan Buddhism

29Sep

By Joanne SerriehNo Comments

China

Tibet’s exile government slams call by Xi Jinping to ‘sinicize’ Tibetan Buddhism

Calling Chinese President Xi Jinping’s proposed policy directions on Tibet “misguided” and “unrealistic”, Tibet’s India-based exile government slammed the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) leader’s call to Sinicize the Tibetan people's Buddhist religion.Xi Jinping has laid out four key policy directions on Tibet which include combating ‘separatism’ and Sinicizing Tibetan Buddhism, at the 7th Central Symposium on Tibet in Beijing on 29 August.“Tibetan Buddhism should be guided in adapting to [China’s] socialist society and should be developed in the Chinese context,” President Xi had said.In response, Lobsang Sangay, political leader of Tibet’s exile Central Tibetan Administration said that China’s efforts to make Tibet’s centuries-old faith comply with China’s culture and political goals are m

China, Russia ‘special’ ties turning weak?

12Sep

By Joanne SerriehNo Comments

China

China, Russia ‘special’ ties turning weak?

A report has suggested that cracks are appearing in the “special and unprecedented” ties between China and Russia over various issues – the major one being India’s suggestion that Moscow join the US-led Indo-Pacific grouping, which is widely seen as anti-China. Although there are other issues which has China agitated - including differences on Vladivostok, sales of Russian arms to India and delays in the delivery of Russian missiles to Beijing – it now seems Russia’s arms sales to New Delhi has irked Chinese public soon after a deadly stand-off between Chinese and Indian troops along the Line of Actual Control (LAC).There has also been a suggestion that Washington wants to embrace its old Cold War adversary as a way of countering growing Chinese might.“While fighting your opponent, how wou

Dealing with increasingly assertive China a common challenge for India, US: Biden’s advisor

4Sep

By Joanne SerriehNo Comments

China

Dealing with increasingly assertive China a common challenge for India, US: Biden’s advisor

Democratic presidential candidate Joe Biden's advisor Antony Blinken, a former deputy secretary of the state said that India and US have a common challenge which has to deal with an increasingly assertive China across the board, including using aggression toward New Delhi at the Line of Actual Control (LAC)."We have a common challenge which has to deal with an increasingly assertive China across the board, including its aggression toward India at the Line of Actual Control but also using its economic might to coerce others and reap unfair advantage. Ignoring international rules to advance its own interests asserting unfounded maritime and territorial claims that threaten freedom of navigation in some of the most important seas in the world," Blinken said during a panel discussion moderated...

Arrest of China’s top banker for graft reveals rampant corruption in CCP

31Aug

By Joanne SerriehNo Comments

China

Arrest of China’s top banker for graft reveals rampant corruption in CCP

The chairman of China Huarong Asset Management, one of China's top bankers, who also served as the Communist Party chief inside the company, Lai Xiaomin has been arrested for taking USD 256 million in cash and gifts. His arrest has revealed the rampant corruption in the government.According to media reports, he was accused of exploiting various professional positions and accepting ill-gotten gains, including money and goods worth 1.79 billion yuan, of which 104 million yuan was eventually not received, between 2008 and 2018, when he headed Hong Kong-listed China Huarong Asset Management and was the director-general of the People's Bank of China's banking supervision department. He is also accused of embezzling public assets worth more than 25.13 million yuan between 2009 and 2018.Meanwhile...

China’s expansionist policies irks Russia; Moscow issues warning

28Aug

By Joanne SerriehNo Comments

China

China’s expansionist policies irks Russia; Moscow issues warning

Irked by China’s aggressive expansionist policies, Russia has issued a warning to the former saying that it will perceive any ballistic missile launched at its territory as a nuclear attack that warrants a nuclear retaliation.Experts believe this reaction is a result of China eating into Russia’s sphere of influence. Beijing’s political and economic rise has irked Moscow at many levels. While others believe that this warning was aimed at Moscow’s rival - the United States.According to reports, the harsh warning came in the official military newspaper Krasnaya Zvezda (Red Star).China’s attempts to undermine Russian influence in the Arctic and Central Asia and its claims in the Russian Far East strongly has angered the Vladimir Putin administration. Russia had also accused China of copying i

China wants to rebuild countryside but first must demolish homes

26Aug

By Joanne SerriehNo Comments

China

China wants to rebuild countryside but first must demolish homes

Over the last several decades, China's population has shifted to cities as its economy expanded. However, more than 40 per cent of its people still continue to live in its countryside. And now, China's Communist Party wants to modernize rural villages by rebuilding them completely.An ordinary farmer from Shandong province along China's east coast, Mr. Liu, witnessed his home in a village near the city of Heze being demolished in January this year.“To demolish my home, about 100 security officers surrounded and subdued me and detained me,” he said.He then called the police. They beat and detained him. Mr Liu has asked to use only his last name because he fears local officials could physically hurt him again.Mr. Liu's village is one of thousands being torn down as China's countryside undergo

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