Torbjørn Færøvik's Blog, page 1364

Thailand Is Searching for Scores of Uighurs Who Fled China

Thai authorities said Tuesday that they were searching for about 120 ethnic Uighurs who fled China and were detained in southern Thailand by the police earlier this year but escaped this month from a shelter there. Read more

Asia Pushes Hard for Clean Energy

More than $250 billion a year is expected to be poured into the construction of renewable energy production in Asia, representing two-thirds of the region’s total power investment, according to Bloomberg New Energy Finance, an analysis and consulting firm. By 2030, the firm projects that carbon-free sources will provide a third of the region’s electricity, with solar the biggest contributor. 

Australia and China seal major free trade deal

Australian Prime Minister Tony Abbott described the deal as the first China had concluded "with a substantial economy, with a major economy; and it's the most comprehensive agreement that China has concluded with anyone". Read more

Q. and A.: Kung Tsui-chang on Life as the Heir to Confucius

Kung Tsui-chang is a 39-year-old businessman in Taiwan who is the 79th-generation direct descendant of Confucius. He inherited the title of Sacrificial Official to Confucius from his grandfather, Kung Te-cheng, who died in 2008. The position was created by the Republic of China in 1935 after it abolished the title of Duke of Yansheng, a noble rank in Imperial China given to the descendants of

Xi Jinping says China will always seek to resolve disputes peacefully

n an address to the Australian parliament in Canberra on Monday, the Chinese president likened his country to “a big guy in the crowd” who others might view suspiciously, but said China was committed to avoiding conflict. Read more

Australian PM lauds Xi Jinping’s ‘commitment to fully democratic China’

Australia’s prime minister, Tony Abbott, has lauded a brief aside about democracy in Chinese president Xi Jinping’s speech to the Australian parliament as a commitment that China would be fully democratic by 2050. In a wide-ranging address on Monday, Xi referenced democracy in explaining “the Chinese dream”, the slogan he has adopted to describe his goal of national rejuvenation and growing

U.S. muscle, money, influence pivoting to Asia, Obama says at G20

U.S. President Obama opened his appearance at the G20 summit of world leaders in Australia with a speech that had to make Beijing think. Read more

US-China Relations: The Danger of Strategic Misjudgment

In the past six years, U.S.-China relations have become unstable, and there is strong mutual strategic suspicion and mistrust between the two states. There is now a rising concern that the mutual mistrust will develop into mutual strategic misjudgments and mistakes. Read more

How Well Does China Control Its Military?

The PLA detests political intrusion by the party into its own affairs and has subsequently carved out more autonomy for itself. Thus, the claim that in recent years, “civilian CCP leaders seem to have adopted a hands-off approach to the day-to-day affairs of the PLA” seems to plausibly describe the relationship between the military and the civilian leadership. Read more

En nobel mann i India

Kailash Satiyarthi har fått Nobels fredspris for sitt arbeid mot barneslaveri i India. Det er en tildeling for barns rettigheter og rett til utdanning - en pris som har gått til en aktivist som i 30 år har reddet småbarn ut av gruver og fabrikker, og gitt dem en utdanning og muligheten til et verdig liv. Les mer