China

China says onus on US in climate talks with envoy John Kerry
Asia, China, World

China says onus on US in climate talks with envoy John Kerry

BEIJING (AFP, REUTERS) - China said on Friday (April 16) the United States needed to take more responsibility on climate change but welcomed greater cooperation after a visit by envoy John Kerry, state media said. The former secretary of state turned US climate emissary was the first official from President Joe Biden's administration to visit China, signalling hopes the two sides could work together on the global challenge despite sky-high tensions on multiple other fronts. "China attaches importance to carrying out dialogue and cooperation on climate change with the US side," said Vice Premier Han Zheng, according to state news agency Xinhua. "China welcomes the US return to the Paris agreement, and expects the US side to uphold the agreement, shoulder its due responsibilities and make...
These 12 films are good bets at the online Hot Docs documentary festival
Business, China, Politics, World

These 12 films are good bets at the online Hot Docs documentary festival

The pandemic has made us all take stock of who we are as individuals and where we fit in a world increasingly rocked by change. This existential concern is on the minds of many filmmakers, from Canada and 65 other countries, who will take part in Toronto’s annual Hot Docs festival of documentary cinema, running online from April 29 to May 9. (Full program and details are at hotdocs.ca). As the opening night film “A.rtificial I.mmortality” shows, even the very notion of whether humanity is limited to humans is up for debate. Will sentient robots eventually demand their own version of “I” and “we”? Here are my picks for a dozen good bets at Hot Docs 2021, in alphabetical order: A.rtificial I.mmortality Toronto filmmaker Ann Shin’s fest-opening doc challenges viewers to engage with a fas
Sri Lanka faces debit crises.
Asia, China

Sri Lanka faces debit crises.

Sri Lanka is going through a debit crisis regarding which they took a loan from China earlier and on Monday the island said they have secured a $500 million loan from South Korea after a month.The government said South Korea agreed to provide the loan at a concessional interest rate of 0.15 to 0.20 percent, repayable over 40 years with a 10-year grace period."The framework arrangement was signed today," the finance ministry said in a statement.Last month Colombo raised another $500 million loan from Beijing in a desperate bid to shore up its dwindling foreign reserves and ease pressure on the local currency.The People's Bank of China also granted a $1.5 billion currency swap to finance imports from China in February as the rupee hit a record low of 202.73 to the dollar.At the end of April...
China trying to hide
China

China trying to hide

Hong Kong: In Tibet the atrocities og Chines are increasing day by day which are not hidden from the world. China is trying to hide its pogroms against Uyghurs in Xinjiang.Ngodup Tsering, Representative of His Holiness the Dalai Lama to North America, warned, "To me it looks like they want to totally eliminate Tibetans as such."This statement was uttered in a webinar of The Jamestown Foundation think-tank in the USA on 10 March. Tsering also said Tibetan Buddhism was China's first war against religion, and that recently many monasteries had been destroyed or downsized. Tsering warned that China wanted only to "control and destroy" Buddhism. He claimed more than 156 Tibetans have killed themselves by self-immolation so far.Tibet is one of three key "T" issues for the Chinese Communist Part...
China to Deliberately Creating Tensions
China

China to Deliberately Creating Tensions

Chinese Communist Party (CCP) has been accused by Taiwan’s Mainland Affairs Council (MAC), on May 9for deliberately creating tensions in the Taiwanese strait and using “cognitive warfare” to demoralize the Taiwanese people. Presenting its report to legislative Yuan, MAC stressed that Beijing continuously coerces Taipei into accepting its ‘One China’ policy along with the “1992 consensus” asserting that it was the only way to better cross straight relationship. While Taiwan has long been demanding autonomy, China claims sovereignty over the island asserting it to be a “sacred and inseparable” part of the country’s territory.Sharpening its language, the Taiwanese agency highlighted that the People’s Liberation Army (PLA) frequently conducts military drills in the straight, only to safegu
Philippine coast guard holds drills in disputed South China Sea
China, World

Philippine coast guard holds drills in disputed South China Sea

Philippine coast guard holds drills in disputed South China Sea In this undated handout photo received from the Philippine Coast Guard (PCG) on Sunday, coast guard personnel conduct maritime exercises near Thitu island, in the disputed South China sea. (Philippine coast Guard (PCG) / AFP photo) The Philippine coast guard is conducting drills in the South China Sea which an official said Sunday were part of efforts to secure "our maritime jurisdiction" over the disputed waters. The exercises near the Philippine-occupied Thitu Island and China-controlled Scarborough Shoal come amid heightened tensions over the resource-rich sea. The latest diplomatic wrangle between the two countries was triggered by the detection last month of hundreds of Chinese vessels in the Spratly Islands. Most of...
ASEAN leaders tell Myanmar coup general to end killings
Asia, China, Singapore, World

ASEAN leaders tell Myanmar coup general to end killings

JAKARTA, Indonesia - Southeast Asian leaders demanded an immediate end to killings and the release of political detainees in Myanmar in an emergency summit Saturday with its top general and coup leader who, according to Malaysia’s prime minister, did not reject them outright. The leaders of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations also told Senior Gen. Min Aung Hlaing during the two-hour talks in Jakarta that a dialogue between contending parties in Myanmar should immediately start, with the help of ASEAN envoys. “The situation in Myanmar is unacceptable and should not continue. Violence must be stopped, democracy, stability and peace in Myanmar must be returned immediately,” Indonesian President Joko Widodo said during the meeting. “The interests of the people of Myanmar must always b
China’s ‘relatives policy’ emerging as part of broader crackdown on Uyghurs
China

China’s ‘relatives policy’ emerging as part of broader crackdown on Uyghurs

Hong Kong: major constituent of a broader crackdown on Uyghurs and other ethnic minorities in Xinjiang turned out to be the cadres who are sent in the region to promote harmony among people.Chinese media depicts the policy as a blend of community service and education by using rosy images of the home stay programme. However, several people who have fled Xinjiang said that the host families greeting each other as 'relatives' are actually hostages.Over 1.1 the government will conclude that we are against their 'relatives' policy, according to Xinhua news agency.Zumrat Dawut, an ethnic Uyghur from Urumqi, who fled China in 2019 to escape the alleged repression of Muslim minorities in Xinjiang said that the people had to pretend that they were happy, otherwise the government will conclude tha...
China ordered to apply birth control  measures in Xinjiang
China

China ordered to apply birth control measures in Xinjiang

Chines govt not even exempting 50 year old woman in front of its policy of birth control in Muslim community in the region of Xinjiang and ordered that women to be fitted with contraceptive devices,It was no use. The workers threatened to take her to the police if she continued resisting, she said. She gave in and went to a government clinic where a doctor, using a metal speculum, inserted an intrauterine device to prevent pregnancy. She wept through the procedure.“I felt like I was no longer a normal woman,” Ms. Sedik said, choking up as she described the 2017 ordeal. “Like I was missing something.”Across much of China, the authorities are encouraging women to have more children, as they try to stave off a demographic crisis from a declining birthrate. But in the Xinjiang region, China i
World War II-era airstrip in archipelago of Kiribati still eyed by China.
China

World War II-era airstrip in archipelago of Kiribati still eyed by China.

Tarawa, Kiribati: In Kiribati, deep in the Pacific lies World War II-era airstrip in the archipelago on which China has still its eyes, positioned just 1,800 miles from Hawaii.Dave Makichuk, writing in Asia Times said that the two nations re-established ties two years ago and have embarked on new cooperation projects, including infrastructure investment as well as trade and cultural exchanges.This could give Beijing an airbase in an incredibly strategical location, between North America and New Zealand, potentially giving China's military much greater reach throughout a critical and increasingly tense region, The War Zone reported.An UK based news agency first reported on Chinese developments in Kiribati, which also included improvements to a bridge associated with the airstrip, on May 5,...