Tag: Xi Jinping

What’s blocking China’s highway to global dominance?
31Aug By Stuart WhiteNo Comments
Opinion

What’s blocking China’s highway to global dominance?

China is synonymous with authoritarianism, overpopulation, manufacturing, expansionism, and patent infringement. However, the most recent addition, besides concentration camps for Uighurs is the Belt Road Initiative (BRI).The BRI was announced by the Chinese President Xi Jinping in 2013, as an Economic and Maritime Silk Road. This multi-faceted project assimilates infrastructure connectivity, investment and trade cooperation, financial integration, cultural exchange, and regional cooperation between Asia, Europe, Africa, and Latin America. The projected cost of the BRI could reach a gargantuan $1.2–1.3trillion by 2027 as predicted by Morgan Stanley, making BRI the most expensive and expansive International infrastructure project ever taken.The antecedents of the modern-day BRI could be tra
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Chinese Communist Party more assertive, demanding: Report
30Aug By Grace TsoiNo Comments
Politics, World

Chinese Communist Party more assertive, demanding: Report

Top US and European think tanks has cautioned that the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) has emerged more “assertive, demanding, unyielding, confrontational, and punitive” in its international posture.A report titled ‘Dealing with the Dragon: China as a Transatlantic Challenge’, has summarized changing U.S. and European views of, and relations with, China.The contents of report is based on a symposium convened in Berlin, Germany in February 2020, which brought together 43 strategists and China specialists from the United States and 11 European countries for intensive discussions over three days.The first half of the Symposium was structured to probe the debates on both sides of the Atlantic, while the second half was dedicated to “deep dives” into seven specific dimensions of China’s behavior
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New China-Pakistan relationship undermines U.S. in Afghanistan
28Aug By Grace TsoiNo Comments
World

New China-Pakistan relationship undermines U.S. in Afghanistan

In an attempt to secure Beijing's influence in Afghanistan, China and Pakistan have begun an unprecedented intelligence-sharing arrangement, designed to help China exploit its economic investments in Afghanistan while also stifling outcry over its persecution of the Uighur population near China's western border with Afghanistan and Pakistan.The timing of the new relationship has become disturbing as President Donald Trump decides to pull out U.S. forces from Afghanistan. Now, American intelligence officials, who believe China will capitalize on ongoing problems in the administration's effort to secure a peace deal with the Taliban, says that Beijing will further expand its influence into other contested parts of the region."The reality is now dawning within the intelligence community," say...
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India successfully gains allies while confronting China
26Aug By Stuart WhiteNo Comments
Opinion

India successfully gains allies while confronting China

"Appear weak when you are strong, and strong when you are weak”. This is exactly what China seems to have put in action now. China's weakness was highlighted when it failed to effectively handle the outbreak of coronavirus in its initial stages and was caught on the back foot with the U.S., Australia and other countries blaming it and seeking an investigation.So, rather than adopting a remorseful demeanor, China portrayed itself as "strong" by displaying an aggressive attitude. Not only did the Chinese diplomats turn into "wolf warriors," but the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) regime also came down harsh on Hong Kong, displayed belligerence in the Taiwan Strait, South China Sea and East China Sea, and engaged in land border clashes with India.But this time, China seems to have gone too far
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Beijing’s actions along LAC jeopardised Indo-China relations: Chinese dissident
22Aug By Joanne SerriehNo Comments
China

Beijing’s actions along LAC jeopardised Indo-China relations: Chinese dissident

Chinese dissident and son of a former Communist Party leader, Jianli Yang has stated that Beijing’s recent actions along the Line of Actual Control (LAC) have severely jeopardised the cordial relationship that India and China had built over the past years.“The cordial relationship that India and China had built consequent to summit meetings between Chinese President Xi Jinping and Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi in Wuhan in 2018 and Mamallapuram in 2019 has been jeopardised due to China’s actions along the Line of Actual Control,” said Jianli, who is also the founder and president of Citizen Power Initiatives for China.“In its anxiousness to appear strong, China revealed its ugly, untrustworthy side to India. In response, India adopted a string of measures in various spheres–diplomacy,
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China, the artless dodger
17Aug By Stuart WhiteNo Comments
Opinion

China, the artless dodger

Indulging in aggressive behaviour along the Line of Actual Control with India might have brought immediate tactical territorial gains to China, but it has lost a lot more strategically in terms of trust and goodwill. Beijing's responses have also reinforced the fact that its leaders are perennially unrepentant.This is evident in the comments that come from China over the border confrontation on 15 June in Ladakh. Four days after the clash in which both sides suffered lost their soldiers’ lives, Foreign Ministry spokesman Zhao Lijian said, "China hopes that India will work with us, follow faithfully the important consensus reached between the two leaders, abide by the agreements reached between the two governments, and strengthen communication and cooperation on properly managing the curren
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President Xi’s long game: Time to measure what the world is dealing with
14Aug By Stuart WhiteNo Comments
Opinion

President Xi’s long game: Time to measure what the world is dealing with

Over the last six months, President Xi Jinping has become China’s Supreme Leader. The July 15 issue of the Chinese Communist Party journal, Qiushi, has declared that it is the highest duty of all Chinese to “safeguard the core position of General Secretary Xi Jinping”. It then goes on to say that “to safeguard the core position of General Secretary Xi Jinping means only Xi Jinping and no other individual.”In short, there is no other leader and no power-centre other than Xi.It took many years for Mao Zedong to dominate a party that he had literally built and led to victory. Even then, at the height of his power, he was still compelled to share authority at times with others like Liu Shaoqi and Zhou Enlai, and PLA Marshals Zhu De and Ye Jianying.President Xi Jinping, on the other hand, appea
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Xi’s attempted coup against Pakistan
8Aug By Stuart WhiteNo Comments
Opinion

Xi’s attempted coup against Pakistan

In order to expand his direct influence over the political and economic processes of Pakistan, Chinese President Xi Jinping is all set to sideline the democratically elected representatives and civil servants of the people of the country.Since 2016, Xi has been forcing the Pakistani establishment to put pressure on the government (it was Nawaz Sharif’s government back then) to sideline the Planning Ministry’s role in the implementation and monitoring of the multibillion-dollar China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC).He pushed for the creation of a supra-constitutional CPEC Authority that would freelance the management of the predatory infrastructure and power-generation projects under his direct command.The proposal was rejected then, but in 2019, it was again presented before the current
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From aggressor to appeaser, China caught out in consulate reprisal game
6Aug By Stuart WhiteNo Comments
Opinion

From aggressor to appeaser, China caught out in consulate reprisal game

The Trump administration’s order to shutdown China's consulate in Houston caught Beijing by surprise.The United States claimed the Chinese mission had illegally transferred medical research, turned over information to Chinese institutions and coerced fugitive Chinese citizens to return home.Barrels of documents were burned in the courtyard of the consulate before four Chinese researchers were charged by the Department of Justice for allegedly lying about their links to the People’s Liberation Army (PLA).China had 72 hours to decide how it would react. It used up nearly 48 in the hope of a diplomatic reversal. Beijing had to appear strong to placate nationalists at home but avoid provoking America into a deeper economic, diplomatic or even military confrontation that neither side is prepare
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Chinese Consulate in Houston epicenter of espionage: Texas Congressman
4Aug By Grace TsoiNo Comments
World

Chinese Consulate in Houston epicenter of espionage: Texas Congressman

Texas Congressman Michael McCaul has alleged that China’s Consulate General, which the US has ordered to close, is the epicenter of Beijing’s espionage in terms of stealing US’ bio-medical research.“We had three scientists at M.D Anderson that were fired due to allegations of espionage,” McCaul said.The Congressman said the Chinese are actively trying to steal the vaccine for COVID-19.“We also have vaccine research going on at the Texas Medical Centre. We know that they are actively trying to steal that vaccine so that they can claim to the world they have saved them from the very virus they are responsible for,” said McCaul.“…Just like in San Francisco case where you have a scientist under the PLA, their military, come in and now take refuge in that consulate is really unprecedented, but
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