Torbjørn Færøvik's Blog, page 1299

A Little Africa in China

China’s involvement in Africa is widely discussed. Less talked about are the lives of Africans living in China. Read more

British Home Office Reverses Ai Weiwei Visa Refusal

Chinese artist Ai Weiwei has been granted a full six-month UK visa after an order by the Home Secretary Theresa May.The dissident revealed on Thursday that the officials in Beijing would only issue him with a three-week visa after claiming he had failed to declare a "criminal conviction" on his application. Read more

Taiwan students storm education ministry in textbook protest

Hundreds of students in Taiwan have stormed the education ministry, protesting against proposed changes to the curriculum. At least 200 students scaled the building's fences overnight and camped in the compound in the capital, Taipei.The students want revisions to Taiwan's textbooks, which they say promote a pro-China view, to be retracted. Read more

Beijing Is Awarded 2022 Winter Olympics, Despite No Snow and Human Rights Concerns

"The Olympic motto of 'higher, faster, and stronger' is a perfect description of the Chinese government's assault on civil society: more peaceful activists detained in record time, subject to far harsher treatment," said Sophie Richardson, China director at NGO Human Rights Watch (HRW). "In choosing China to host another games, the IOC has tripped on a major human rights hurdle," she said. 

A Voice From China’s Uighur Homeland, Reporting From the U.S.

In December 1994, Shohret Hoshur, then a 29-year-old journalist in a remote corner of the far western Chinese region of Xinjiang, said goodbye to his homeland. After writing two articles in his native Uighur language that incensed the local authorities, he escaped using a false passport he bought for about $600. Read more

China, Southeast Asia to set up hotline for South China Sea issues

China and Southeast Asian nations have agreed to set up a foreign ministers' hotline to tackle emergencies in the disputed South China Sea, a senior official of the ASEAN grouping told Reuters on Friday.China claims most of the potentially energy-rich sea, through which $5 trillion in ship-borne trade passes every year, and rejects the rival claims of Vietnam, the Philippines, Brunei, Malaysia

What China Has Been Building in the South China Sea

The speed and scale of China’s island-building spree have alarmed other countries with interests in the region. Chinaannounced in June that the creation of islands — moving sediment from the seafloor to a reef — would soon be completed. So far China has built port facilities, military buildings and an airstrip on the islands. The installations bolster China’s foothold in the Spratly Islands,

China vs. Its Human Rights Lawyers

The scope of the repression offers a glimpse of a grave situation. The public is questioning the government’s ability to manage the slowing economy, particularly the recent stock market dips, and President Xi Jinping’s anticorruption campaign has caused deep divisions within the Communist Party. In this context, the increasing popularity of human rights lawyers, especially among the

Is the sun setting on China's economy?

There is a risk of exaggerating similarities between Japan 1990 and China 2015, but there are some. Chinese policy makers have undoubtedly read up on the lessons from Japan's spectacular bubble bursting in the 1990s. There is much to learn from Tokyo's mishandling of that financial crisis that prolonged the pain for two decades and counting. Read more

Obama to Push U.S. Trade in Kenya as China’s Role Grows

President Obama’s trip presents a unique opportunity to rebuild the strained relationship between Kenya and the United States, and central to accomplishing that will be shoring up the economic ties between the two nations in the face of competition by China. Read more