Torbjørn Færøvik's Blog, page 15

Torbjørn Færøvik: India Between the Dragon and the Donald

Both leaders were in a jovial mood. “Let the dragon and the elephant dance together,” China’s Xi Jinping told India’s Narendra Modi last week. The Indian prime minister had traveled to Tianjin, a city near Beijing, to attend a summit convened by Xi. Leaders from 25 other countries also joined the discussions under the umbrella of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO), a loose grouping of

How China forgot promises and ‘debts’ to Ukraine, and backed Russia’s war

As Chinese leader Xi Jinping stood beside Russian President Vladimir Putin in Beijing last week, he claimed to be working towards a “true multilateralism” in which nations treat each other as equals and avoid “hegemonism and power politics” – a vocabulary the Chinese president returns to with regularity.China is officially neutral in Russia’s war in Ukraine, and Xi has presented himself as a

China’s grand global plan on full display at SCO Summit

The 2025 Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) summit in Tianjin was by no means a game-changer, but it was a useful bellwether for close observers of China’s shifting foreign policy strategy. Over the past decade, Beijing’s understanding and interaction with the so-called “global order” has undergone a significant transformation — from a historically deferential approach rooted in

US tech companies enabled the surveillance and detention of hundreds of thousands in China

Over the past quarter century, American tech companies to a large degree designed and built China’s surveillance state, playing a far greater role in enabling human rights abuses than previously known, an Associated Press investigation found. They sold billions of dollars of technology to the Chinese police, government and surveillance companies, despite repeated warningsfrom the U.S. Congress

How the AP uncovered US big tech's role in China's digital police state

Over the past quarter century, American tech companies to a large degree designed and built China’s surveillance state, playing a far greater role in enabling human rights abuses than previously known, the Associated Press has found.AP journalists spoke to more than 100 sources, scoured tens of thousands of documents, and obtained several major leaks of internal and classified material, the

Trump Korean land grab: from maritime genius to continental folly

The August summit between US President Donald Trump and South Korean President Lee Jae Myung produced little substance. Yet one remark stood out and echoed far beyond the meeting room. Trump mused aloud that the United States should own the land where nearly 28,500 American troops are stationed.“We spent a lot of money building a fort, and there was a contribution made by South Korea, but I would

China is a threat to world peace, President Lai says

If China annexes Taiwan, ‘it will not stop its expansion there, as it only becomes stronger and has more force to expand further,’ the president said. China’s military and diplomatic expansion is not a sole issue for Taiwan, but one that risks world peace, President William Lai said yesterday, adding that Taiwan would stand with the alliance of democratic countries to preserve peace through

North Korea’s Kim heralds new ICBM rocket engine test as ‘significant’

North Korean leader Kim Jong Un has overseen a test of a new rocket engine designed for intercontinental ballistic missiles (ICBMs) that he described as marking a “significant change in expanding and strengthening” the country’s strategic nuclear forces.The country’s official Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) reported on Tuesday that the successful test marked the ninth and final ground test of

South Korean minister heads to US to resolve fallout from immigration raid

South Korean Minister of Foreign Affairs Cho Hyun was to head to the US yesterday as he sought to resolve the fallout over the detention of hundreds of Korean workers during an immigration raid at a time when Seoul has committed to massive investment plans in the US.Seoul on Sunday said that negotiations to arrange the release of about 300 Korean workers arrested at a Georgia battery plant being

Myanmar’s Suu Kyi faces worsening health in military custody, son says

The son of former Myanmar leader Aung San Suu Kyi said on Friday that his mother is suffering from health problems and needs urgent medical attention, appealing for her release from military custody. Kim Aris told Reuters that the 80-year-old Nobel Peace Prize laureate had asked to see a cardiologist about a month ago, but that he wasn’t able to determine if that request had been granted. “I