Torbjørn Færøvik's Blog, page 220

Xi Jinping's conundrum fixing the Chinese economy

The slowdown in China’s economic growth is attracting global attention. The biggest reason is that the real estate industry, which has accounted for a quarter of GDP, is experiencing an unprecedented recession. Compared to 2019, before the coronavirus pandemic, 2023 witnessed a staggering decline in both new home construction and sales, with figures plummeting by 54% and 59% respectively.Due to

'World’s factory' status threatened as supply chain shifts away from China

Globalisation has not receded, and the US’s implementation of the CHIPS and Science Act is attracting foreign capital to the country. Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company (TSMC) is building factories in the US, with the first one due to begin operations in 2025 and the second one possibly starting operations in 2027. Operations at TSMC’s Japan factory are expected to start this year.At the

In Retrospect: Fifty years of China-US relations [Part 2]

In achieving stunning economic growth, there was a fundamental shift in China’s source of national confidence. In Mao Zedong’s era, the mainstream ideology among the Chinese people was to break away from the old world, build a new one without exploitation and with equality for all, unite the global proletariat and create a global revolution. But the Cultural Revolution proved that to be a pipe

In Retrospect: Qincheng, A Twentieth Century Bastille, by Wei Jinsheng (March 1979)

The Chinese dissident Wei Jinsheng spent years in Qincheng Prison outside Beijing. "Qincheng is strictly isolated from the outside world. Only former prisoners, their families, and close friends know about it. The prison is administered by the Fifth Section of the Ministry of Public Security, whose members are solely responsible for it. Regular policemen do not know the nature of Qincheng.

How Cambodia’s Chinese-backed Funan Techo Canal Risks Destabilizing the Lower Mekong Delta

In May 2023, the former prime minister of Cambodia – Hun Sen – led a cabinet meeting that gave the green light to the “Funan Techo Canal”, the first waterway system in Cambodia, which will connect Phnom Penh Autonomous Port to Kep Province of Cambodia. The canal is 180 kilometers long, stretching from Prek Takeo of the Mekong River to Prek Ta Ek and Prek Ta Hing of the Bassac River, and connects

China gives monks a list of things they can’t do after the Dalai Lama's death

In the event of the Dalai Lama’s death, Buddhist monks are banned from displaying photos of the Tibetan spiritual leader and other “illegal religious activities and rituals,” according to a training manual Chinese authorities have distributed to monasteries in Gansu province in China’s northwest, a source inside Tibet and exiled former political prisoner Golok Jigme said.The manual, which lists

Canada asylum-seeker recalls 'all kinds of torture' in Chinese jail

A Chinese rights activist who recently arrived in Canada as a political asylum-seeker has said she and others who complain against the ruling Chinese Communist Party are subjected to "all kinds of torture" at the hands of the authorities. "Only people who have committed a crime should be sent to prison," Wei Yani told RFA in an interview shortly after arriving in Vancouver. "We weren't being

From China's Past: Fifty years of China-US relations [Part 1]

When US President Bill Clinton went to China in 1998, he visited an internet cafe in Shanghai, where he witnessed how the new generation of Chinese youth was using emerging internet technologies to gain new knowledge, establish domestic and international connections, and perhaps even taste the pleasures of online games. Shanghai was the most advanced city in China at the time, and yet there were

Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida addresses Congress amid skepticism about US role abroad

Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida addressed U.S. lawmakers at the Capitol on Thursday, urging them to consider the importance of global commitments at a time of tension in the Asia-Pacific and deep skepticism in Congress about U.S. involvement abroad.Kishida is in Washington this week visiting President Joe Biden as the White House completes hosting each leader of the Quad — an informal

Do China’s ‘Left-Behind’ Children Have a Delinquency Problem?

The tragic murder of a 13-year-old boy by his classmates in the northern province of Hebei earlier last month has once again raised public fears of rising delinquency among China’s 9 million “left-behind” children.Left-behind children are minors whose parent or parents have migrated for work and left them in the care of family in their home communities. Due to a mix of underdeveloped social and