Torbjørn Færøvik's Blog, page 1415

Here are 3.82 trillion reasons China has a big problem on its hands

China’s central bank, the People’s Bank of China, has the largest stash of foreign reserves of any in the world. But it’s tired of being so loaded. In November, Yi Gang, the PBOC’s deputy governor said, “It’s no longer in China’s favor to accumulate foreign-exchange reserves.” Read more

China-Russia Gas Talks Go Into Overtime

With the passing of 2013, Russia and China have missed another deadline for completing one of the world's biggest energy deals. Negotiations on a 30-year pact to supply China with natural gas have dragged on for over a decade, despite a series of annual goals. Read more

Xinjiang’s Capital Urumqi Faces Water Crisis Fueled by Migration

The capital city of northwestern China’s Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region is quickly depleting its available sources of water and faces a looming crisis made worse by a rapidly growing population and mismanaged environment, experts say. Read more

Heroic Tibetans in Driru County Keeps Tibetan Struggle Alive

Driru, a Tibetan county that has attracted global attention for waging a persistent struggle against a Chinese campaign of forced displays of loyalty, has for nearly a decade been a major center of resistance to Beijing’s rule, analysts say. Residents in the far northeastern county in the Tibet Autonomous Region (TAR) have been burning, dumping, and refusing to fly Chinese flags and protesting

Dalai Lamas besøk: Skammelig av regjeringen

Utenriksminister Børge Brende har ikke bare støttet Tibet-saken aktivt i opposisjon. Han har også ledet Stortingets Tibet-komité og personlig stått med ropert utenfor Stortinget og krevd at Norge skal løfte spørsmålet opp i FN. Nå sitter han i posisjon og får muligheten til å møte det fremste symbolet på sin tidligere hjertesak på hjemmebane, men velger å se en annen vei mens han håper

Trial of Chinese activist Xu Zhiyong may be imminent, says his lawyer

Chinese authorities plan to hold a pretrial hearing for prominent activist Xu Zhiyong on Friday morning, his lawyer said, suggesting that his trial may be imminent. Read more

Nobel winner's wife Liu Xia speaks out from house arrest through her poems

Wife of Liu Xiaobo reads two of her new works in footage screened at international writers' event in New York. The clip shows Liu Xia reading two of her new works at the couple's flat in Beijing last month. She has been held there under tight restrictions since shortly after the announcement that her husband had won the Nobel award in 2010. Read more

This is how China treats the wife of a Nobel peace prize winner

Liu Xiaobo won the Nobel in 2010. Since then, his wife Liu Xia has been under house arrest and lost nearly everything. Read more

Chinese Activists Test New Leader and Are Crushed

The 20 or so activists gathered at an isolated guesthouse on the outskirts of the capital, leaving their cellphones behind to avoid detection by the police. China’s first leadership change in a decade was fast approaching, and the group saw an opening for a movement to fight injustice and official corruption. Read more

American Life Turns Off One Chinese Student

Disillusioned by rampant partying, illicit drugs and racial discrimination, one Chinese student in the United States has held nothing back in telling a Chinese news outlet why he is eager to return home. Read more