Torbjørn Færøvik's Blog, page 125

Inside the 48 hours that Trump turned on Zelensky

As the long-fraught relationship between President Donald Trump and his Ukrainian counterpart Volodymyr Zelensky ripped apart Wednesday, a question that lingered among allies of both men was whether the fight would dash hopes for a US-brokered peace — or, potentially, help it along.Firing off an angry message on his social media platform, Trump labeled Zelensky a “dictator without elections,”

'We will unite with Kim Jong Un': Conspiracies grip South Korea

On a cold January afternoon, a young pharmacy student, Shin Jeong-min, waited restlessly outside South Korea's Constitutional Court, as the country's suspended president arrived to fight his impeachment. While Yoon Suk Yeol testified, she chanted along with hundreds of his incensed and worried supporters, who have rallied around him ever since his failed attempt to impose martial law. "Release

The A-level student who became an enemy of the Chinese state

Just over a year ago, Chloe Cheung was sitting her A-levels. Now she's on a Chinese government list of wanted dissidents. The choir girl-turned-democracy activist woke up to news in December that police in Hong Kong had issued a $HK1 million ($100,000; £105,000) reward for information leading to her capture abroad. "I actually just wanted to take a gap year after school," Chloe, 19, who lives in

Taiwan May Have Reason to Worry About Trump

U.S. President Donald Trump's administration has framed the meeting as an early step toward ending the war. This has raised concerns in Kyiv and the European Union, which have insisted they be included in any peace talks. True to his dealmaking style, Trump has approached the talks with a more transactional mindset than his predecessor, former President Joe Biden.More than 4,000 miles away in

China Issues New Demands to Trump's America

China had a list of demands for Washington after the State Department removed a line about the U.S.'s opposition to the independence of Beijing-claimed Taiwan from a fact sheet.The government in Taiwan, officially known as the Republic of China, has ruled the island since retreating there after losing the Chinese civil war to Mao Zedong's communist forces. Taiwan has never declared independence—a

How China can really pivot to the Global South

The latest actions from the Trump administration have reaffirmed the imperative for Chinese firms to reduce their dependence on the American market. Trump’s 10% additional tariffs on all Chinese imports have predictably invited Chinese countermeasures. And markets remain fearful that Trump will continue threatening the 60% tariffs on all Chinese goods he promised to impose while on the campaign

Taiwan negotiating new arms deal with US: media

Taiwan is in the process of negotiating a new arms deal worth billions of dollars with the United States, Reuters news agency reported, citing unidentified sources. Meanwhile, the top US military commander in the Indo-Pacific, Adm. Samuel Paparo, has warned that Chinese military drills around Taiwan were actually “rehearsals” for an attack on the island.Three sources familiar with the situation,

Xi Is Making the World Pay for China’s Mistakes

President Trump’s readiness to use coercive tariffs presents a profound threat to the postwar economic and political order, introducing an unpredictability to global commerce that makes it difficult for trade partners to know how to react — and next to impossible for businesses to plan.But he is not the only danger the world economy faces and may not even be the biggest. That may be President Xi

The Guardian view on the US, China and the rest: Trump is opening doors for Xi

Donald Trump’s return to the White House is so far proving more nightmarish for US allies and friends than adversaries. China certainly doesn’t relish a trade war with the US, but it was better prepared than others for Mr Trump’s tariffs, and both sides appear to be leaving room for a potential deal. And, though China’s leader, Xi Jinping, is poised for worse to come, the second Trump term is

China anger as US amends wording on Taiwan independence

The US State Department has dropped a statement from its website which stated that Washington does not support Taiwan's independence - a move which has sparked anger in China. China said the revision "sends a wrong... signal to separatist forces advocating for Taiwan independence", and asked the US to "correct its mistakes".The department's fact sheet on Taiwan-US relations earlier included the