Torbjørn Færøvik's Blog, page 162

‘Flying Cars’ Are Part of China’s New Economic Growth Plan

The white drone took off from a platform floating off Shanghai’s coast and zoomed out to sea, returning with a cargo hold full of fresh seafood. The flights to islands 130 kilometers away have cut what used to be an overnight ferry journey down to three hours, meaning fish that previously had to be frozen can now reach restaurants with more of their flavor intact. The service is popular among

Biden tells Quad leaders that China is testing the world at turbulent moment for Chinese economy

President Joe Biden told Indo-Pacific allies on Saturday that he believes China’s increasing military assertiveness is an effort to test the region at a turbulent moment for Beijing. Biden’s comments were caught by a hot mic after he and fellow leaders of the so-called Quad delivered opening remarks before the press at a summit he’s hosting near his hometown of Wilmington, Delaware. He said his

Will Cambodia’s Funan Techo canal be a success?

Cambodia’s plan to build a canal linking its capital to the coast and end dependence on Vietnamese ports has raised a barrage of questions about its economic viability and environmental impact.An RFA reporter traveled the proposed route of the waterway and spoke to residents who will be relocated. First in a two-part series.Mot Yen’s ramshackle kitchen is nestled under an old mango tree. It’s

Uyghur scholar’s prison guard gets 7 years for revealing ‘secrets’

A Uyghur prison guard has been sentenced to seven years in jail for divulging information about the condition of prominent Uyghur political prisoner Ilham Tohti, people with knowledge of the situation said.Gopur Abdurreshit, 51, was arrested on Feb. 1 for disclosing information about Tohti, an economist and professor who is serving a life sentence on separatism-related charges, said a person

China sanctions 9 US firms over military sales to Taiwan

China imposed sanctions on Wednesday on nine U.S.-military linked firms for their sale of equipment to Taiwan and it denounced what it called the “dangerous trend” of U.S. military support for the democratic island. On Monday, the U.S. Defense Security Cooperation Agency announced the sale of aircraft spare parts and related logistics and support worth about US$228 million to Taiwan, adding that

Factlab: Has China not launched a war since 1949?

A claim emerged in Chinese-language social posts that China has not launched a war since 1949.  But the claim is misleading as it is a one-sided historical interpretation. A review of events shows that China has been involved in several major conflicts since 1949, and there are different views about how much of a role it played in starting them. The claim was shared on X, formerly known as

Torbjørn Færøvik: Kinas nasjonalforsamling har de siste dagene vært gjenstand for panegyrisk hyllest. Hvorfor?

Kinas såkalte nasjonalforsamling har de siste dagene vært gjenstand for panegyrisk hyllest. Ikke bare i Kina, men også i Nord-Korea, Laos, Nepal, Mali, Niger, Venezuela og flere andre land. Hvorfor dette oppstyret? Fordi forsamlingen, kjent som Den nasjonale folkekongressen, fyller 70 år. Hvilket betyr at den ble etablert i 1954. Men stopp nå litt: Ble ikke Folkerepublikken Kina opprettet fem år

The US led on nuclear fusion for decades. Now China is in position to win the race

The bustling city of Shanghai marks national celebrations with world-famous light shows, illuminating its skyscrapers with dazzling colors, like beacons of Chinese innovation. It is here that scientists and engineers work around the clock to pursue the next big thing in global tech, from 6G internet and advanced AI to next-generation robotics. It’s also here, on an unassuming downtown street, a

Ten-year-old Japanese boy dies after stabbing in China

A 10-year-old Japanese student has died one day after he was stabbed near his school in southern China. The boy, who was enrolled at the Shenzhen Japanese School, succumbed to his injuries early on Thursday, Japanese officials said. His assailant, a 44-year-old man surnamed Zhong, was arrested on the spot, local police said.Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida has called the attack "extremely

How China’s underground historians have fought the politics of amnesia

Spark was not much of a magazine. Handwritten and mimeographed secretly with a primitive machine at a sulfuric-acid plant in a remote region of central China, the publication began in 1960 and never went beyond two issues. The first was hardly more than a poem and a few articles, critical of Mao Zedong’s ongoing Great Leap Forward campaign. The young men and women involved in the venture were