Torbjørn Færøvik's Blog, page 176

Hong Kong: Academic Freedom Declines Under Security Law

Academic freedom in Hong Kong has severely declined since the Chinese government imposed the draconian National Security Law on the city on June 30, 2020, Human Rights Watch and Hong Kong Democracy Council said in a report released today. The 80-page report, “‘We Can’t Write the Truth Anymore’: Academic Freedom in Hong Kong Under the National Security Law,” documents that long-protected civil

Vietnam says China attacked fishing boat near disputed islands

Chinese personnel boarded a Vietnamese fishing boat off the Paracel Islands in the South China Sea and beat the crew with iron bars, seriously injuring four of them, after a chase by Chinese ships near the islands that both countries claim, a Vietnamese official said.The boat’s skipper, Nguyen Thanh Bien, told the Tien Phong news site that his boat was chased on Sunday by two ships with hull

Håndplukket av Nato – selger til Kina

Teknologibedriften Water Linked fikk millionstøtte av Nato. Samtidig står Natos «strategiske konkurrent» Kina på selskapets kundeliste.Water Linked fikk innpass i det gjeve selskapet bestående av 44 utvalgte bedrifter – som én av to norske. De danket ut 1.300 andre søkere fra hele forsvarsalliansen. Med det sikret selskapet seg drøyt en million kroner i støtte, rådgivning fra Nato og tilgang til

Theodore H. White: Banishing Mao's Ghost. Burnout of a Revolution (1983)

Just out of Harvard and still trying to master the intricacies of Mandarin, Theodore H. White made his way to China and found a land in turmoil. Settling in Chiang Kai-shek's wartime capital of Chongqing (Chungking), then a drowsy Yangtze River port with a population of 250,000, he soon began reporting from there for TIME. One book (Thunder Out of China, 1946), two wars (China against Japan,

China Responds as Biden Approves $567 Million in Arms for Taiwan

China has denounced U.S. President Joe Biden's decision to earmark over half a billion dollars in military equipment for Taiwan. "Let me be clear: Taiwan independence separatism is a dead end, and what the U.S. has done to assist the Taiwan independence attempt by arming Taiwan will only backfire," Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Lin Jian said during the ministry's regular press briefing

Chinese Missile Boat Undertakes 'Alarming' Action

A Chinese navy missile craft shadowed a Philippine civilian ship on Friday in an unprecedented encounter that one analyst described as "alarming." The Fisheries and Aquatic Resources (BFAR) vessel the BRP Datu Romapenet was en route to a South China Sea feature known as Half Moon Shoal to deliver supplies to fishermen.Half Moon Shoal is situated at the eastern edge of the Spratly Islands and

Japan's incoming PM announces snap October election

A mere three days after being elected as the new leader of Japan’s ruling party, incoming Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba has announced plans for a snap election on 27 October. Ishiba, 67, replaced outgoing prime minister, Fumio Kishida, as chief of the Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) on Friday, following a tight race that saw him securing more votes than any of the other eight candidates.Since the

River ‘piracy’ gave towering Everest a growth spurt, scientists say

Thousands of years ago in the Himalayas, a river ate a smaller river and gave an unexpected boost to Everest’s height, scientists have discovered.Mount Everest, or Chomolungma (“Goddess Mother of the World” in the Tibetan language), is one of Earth’s tallest mountains, standing 29,031.69 feet (8,848.86 meters) above sea level. Everest’s origin story began about 40 million to 50 million years ago,

Torbjørn Færøvik: Et glemsomt "Folkets Kina" fyller 75 år

Den store festen er nær. Den 1. oktober fyller Folkerepublikken Kina 75 år. ”Det kinesiske folket har reist seg”, erklærte en stolt formann Mao til folkehavet på Den himmelske freds plass i Beijing. Men ti år senere begynte millioner av kinesere å dø som fluer av sult, sykdom og overarbeid.Det sies at historien skrives av seierherrene. I Kinas tilfelle er det langt på vei sant. Det kinesiske

China spent millions on this new trade route - then a war got in the way

 “One village, two countries” used to be the tagline for Yinjing on China’s south-western edge. An old tourist sign boasts of a border with Myanmar made of just “bamboo fences, ditches and earth ridges” - a sign of the easy economic relationship Beijing had sought to build with its neighbour.Now the border the BBC visited is marked by a high, metal fence running through the county of Ruili