Torbjørn Færøvik's Blog, page 188

Nancy Pelosi Meets With Dalai Lama, Despite China’s Criticism

A high-level U.S. congressional delegation, including the former House speaker Nancy Pelosi, met with the Dalai Lama at his Indian home on Wednesday, a visit that was condemned in advance by China’s government, which considers the exiled Tibetan spiritual leader a separatist.The delegation, led by Michael McCaul, the Republican chairman of the House Committee on Foreign Affairs, arrived on

In Retrospect: Dalai Lama's Acceptance Speech on the occasion of the award of the Nobel Peace Prise, Oslo, December 10, 1989

The 14th Dalai Lama held his Acceptance Speech on 10 December 1989, in the assembly-hall at the University of Oslo. He began his lecture with a few minutes in Tibetan."Your Majesty, Members of the Nobel Committee, Brothers and Sisters:I am very happy to be here with you today to receive the Nobel Prize for Peace. I feel honoured, humbled and deeply moved that you should give this important prize

The International Campaign for Tibet: A REPORT ON THE FUTURE OF TIBET’S PEOPLED LANDSCAPE

Over the years, under the pretext of uplifting the Tibetan people, Chinese authorities have been using their policy initiatives in Tibet to fulfill their objective of strengthening their hold on them and using Tibet as a resource to meet the needs of ever-increasing Chinese consumer markets. This report focuses on two such policy initiatives, rural revitalization and national parks. In 2021,

Taiwan to acquire more than 1,000 armed drones in new US arms sale

The United States has approved the $360 million sale of more than 1,000 small armed drones to Taiwan, as the self-ruled island claimed by China aims to strengthen its asymmetrical warfare abilities with an eye on successful tactics used on the battlefield in Ukraine. Taiwan will receive 720 Switchblade missiles and accompanying fire control systems worth $60.2 million, according to a release from

US blasts ‘aggressive’ China over South China Sea collision with Philippine ship

The United States on Monday condemned China over a collision with the Philippines in the disputed South China Sea, the latest in a series of increasingly fraught confrontations that have raised the potential of a flashpoint for global conflict in the vital waterway. A Chinese vessel and a Philippine supply ship collided near Second Thomas Shoal in the contested Spratly Islands early Monday,

Chinese officials’ attempt to ‘block’ formerly detained journalist mars Australia goodwill tour

Chinese Premier Li Qiang’s four-day visit to Australia this week was set to be focused on repairing long-strained relations between the two countries. But apparent efforts by Chinese officials to stand in front of an Australian reporter during a press briefing have shone a spotlight back on frictions between the countries.Cheng Lei, a TV anchor who was held in detention in China for more than

China is trying to rescue its property market. Prices are still plunging

Prices of new homes in China suffered their biggest fall in nearly a decade last month, in a sign that Beijing’s “historic” real estate rescue has not yet revived demand. Prices in 70 major cities were down 0.7% in May from April, National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) figures showed on Monday. That’s the steepest month-on-month drop since October 2014, according to Reuters calculation. According to

Norway just loosened China’s stranglehold on rare minerals critical to the global economy—and it’s a huge win for Europe and the U.S.

Norway just struck a gold mine. Well, a rare mineral mine. The Norwegian mining company, Rare Earths Norway, just uncovered the largest deposit of rare earth elements in Europe. The discovery has major implications not just for the company, which is certainly poised for a windfall, but for global geopolitics. Rare Earths Norway found the deposit in the Fen Carbonatite Complex located in the

Role of nuclear weapons grows as geopolitical relations deteriorate—new SIPRI Yearbook out now

The nine nuclear-armed states—the United States, Russia, the United Kingdom, France, China, India, Pakistan, the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea (North Korea) and Israel—continued to modernize their nuclear arsenals and several deployed new nuclear-armed or nuclear-capable weapon systems in 2023.Of the total global inventory of an estimated 12 121 warheads in January 2024, about9585 were in

TIDE OF INJUSTICE: Exploitation and Illegal Fishing on Chinese Vessels in the Southwest Indian Ocea

China’s distant-water fleet (DWF) is by far the world’s largest, both in terms of the number of fishing vessels it has and the volume of fish caught, operating across the world’s major fishing grounds. Increasingly, this fleet has been associated with a range of illegal, unsustainable and abusive behaviours towards marine ecosystems and crew alike. These behaviours, when considered alongside the