Torbjørn Færøvik's Blog, page 172

How Could the U.S. Deter Military Conflict in the Taiwan Strait?

In September, China flew 24 warplanes into Taiwan’s air defense identification zone. One of the largest incursions in recent years, the People’s Liberation Army flyover came a day after Taipei applied to join the Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership. Beijing, which applied to the trade pact a week earlier, has opposed Taiwan’s bid. In response, Taiwan’s Foreign

Vietnam imitating China’s island-making in South China Sea

Vietnam has quietly ramped up its military presence in the South China Sea, matching China’s island-building tactics to assert its territorial claims in the hotly contested maritime area. This month, the Wall Street Journal (WSJ) reported that Vietnam has rapidly expanded its presence in the contested Spratly Islands, with high-resolution satellite imagery showing a tenfold increase in artificial

Trump’s China tariffs won’t make America great again

As part of his “Make America Great Again” election campaign, Donald Trump is calling for the imposition of 60% tariffs on goods made in China and a 20% tariff on imports from other nations. His rationale seems simple: tariffs will boost American jobs, reduce the federal deficit, cut food prices and even generate revenues to subsidize childcare. But the former president’s supposed all-purpose

A couple walked from opposite ends of China’s Great Wall and met in the middle. Then they broke up

The Great Wall of China has inspired countless works of art in its more than 2,000-year history. Among the most famous is “The Great Wall Walk,” a dramatic 90-day performance that saw lovers Marina Abramović and Frank Uwe Laysiepen (the late German artist known as Ulay) trek towards each other from opposite ends of the landmark.Abramović began in the east at the so-called “dragon’s head” — where

Chinese authorities are making it harder for citizens to travel abroad or emigrate

Chinese authorities are making it harder for citizens to emigrate in the first place, notably by forcing some citizens to hand in their passports. The South China Morning Post reported in June that “groups covered by the travel restrictions include almost all of China’s civil servants, most employees in the state-owned finance sector and state-owned enterprises, and the leadership at universities

China-Taiwan Weekly Update, October 11, 2024

The People’s Republic of China (PRC) accused Republic of China (ROC, Taiwan) president Lai Ching-te on October 10 of promoting separatism and inciting cross-strait confrontation in his National Day speech. The PRC’s Taiwan Affairs Office (TAO) spokesperson Chen Binhua rejected that the division between the PRC and ROC is about “democracy vs. authoritarianism” and accused Lai of forcing notions of

China defiant over South China Sea skirmishes in ASEAN talks and blames meddling by foreign forces

Southeast Asian leaders stepped up pressure on China to respect international law following clashes in the disputed South China Sea, but Chinese Premier Li Qiang was defiant during annual summit talks on Thursday as he blamed “external forces” for interfering in regional affairs.The 10-member Association of Southeast Asian Nations’ meeting with Li followed recent violent confrontations at sea

From Wild Exuberance to State Control in China’s Art Market

The scholar and journalist Kejia Wu is the author of A Modern History of China’s Art Market, a fascinating book that examines the relationship between the Chinese government’s push for cultural “soft power” and its desire for control. In the book, Wu looks at the rise of contemporary art and a market for it after the end of the Cultural Revolution; the oddity of China’s parallel art systems: one

From China's Past: Unraveling the Mysteries of Life in China’s Ancient Capital

Yinxu, the capital of the Late Shang dynasty (c. 1600–1046 BC), is China’s archaeological holy land. Since the identification of oracle bones near what is today the city of Anyang at the turn of the 20th century, through the first official archaeological digs at the site in the 1920s, and later astounding discoveries like the tomb of the warrior queen Fu Hao, Yinxu has exerted a particular hold

Uyghur filmmaker gets 6 ½ years in prison for ‘separatism’ and ‘terrorism’

Chinese authorities have sentenced a Uyghur filmmaker to 6 1/2 years in prison for “separatism” and “terrorism,” a court official and a person with knowledge of the situation said. Ikram Nurmehmet, 32, and four friends with whom he had studied in Turkey were tried in Urumqi People’s Intermediate Court for alleged connections to Turkey-based organizations seeking independence for East Turkistan,