Torbjørn Færøvik's Blog, page 225

Torbjørn Færøvik: Vietnam i skvis mellom Kina og USA

Vietnam og Kina har en lang og uoversiktlig felles grense. Vietnamesisk historie er en endeløs beretning om kinesiske invasjoner, den siste fant sted i 1979. Da blodbadet var over, lå flere titusener soldater igjen på slagmarken. I det nye årtusen krangler kommunistlederne i Hanoi og Beijing om hvem som eier hva i Sør-Kinahavet. Kina gjør krav på 85 prosent av havet, men regjeringen i Hanoi

Torbjørn Færøvik: Japan leter etter nye venner

I skyggen av krigen i Ukraina flyttes brikkene i Asia fortere enn noensinne. Anført av Japan ruster alle Kinas naboer opp, og engstelige stats- og regjeringsledere holder stadige rådslagninger. Det gjelder å være føre var i en farlig tid.Ingen leder er travlere enn statsminister Fumio Kishida, som nå sitter ved roret i Japan. Samtidig med at Kinas president Xi Jinping i forrige måned dro til

Professor Arne Jon Isachsen: Kina er et enmannsvelde

Fra 1992 og frem til 2018 hadde Kina et system der toppledelsen satt på åremål. Jiang Zemin ble plukket ut av Deng og satt til å lede Kina etter at daværende generalsekretær Zhao Ziyang i 1989 ble avsatt fordi han ønsket å gå i dialog med sultestreikende studenter på Tiananmen Square, eller Den Himmelske Freds Plass.8 I 2002 overlot Jiang – om enn noe motvillig – makten til Hu Jintao. Ti år

Torbjørn Færøvik: Kina og Russland er gode venner nå om dagen. Slik har det ikke alltid vært.

Kina og Russland er gode venner nå om dagen. Men forholdet mellom dem har ikke alltid vært like hjertelig. I århundrenes løp har de vært både venner og fiender. Gang på gang har de gått til krig mot hverandre og slukt deler av hverandres territorium. Vil vennskapet vare?Den kinesisk-russiske grensen er 4200 kilometer lang. Før Sovjetunionen gikk i oppløsning i 1991, var den enda lengre, rundt 11

Hong Kong hidden protesters billboard artwork taken down

A digital billboard artwork in Hong Kong which included secret references to local dissidents has been removed. The No Rioters piece by US artist Patrick Amadon had been displayed the past week on the side of a department store in central Hong Kong. The artist revealed the deception last week, which involved inserting names of jailed activists in flashing text that couldn't be seen by the naked

Guo Wengui: How a Chinese tycoon built a pro-Trump money machine

When Chinese tycoon and notable dissident Guo Wengui was charged with masterminding a $1bn fraud, it was only the latest chapter in the saga of a man with connections to powerful people in China, the US and the UK. In early June 2020, at the tail end of the city's first Covid lockdown, a fleet of small planes baffled New Yorkers. They circled overhead towing banners that read: "Congratulations to

TikTok CEO Shou Zi Chew's Congress showdown: Five takeaways

Bruising, damaging, relentless. TikTok CEO Shou Zi Chew faced four-and-a-half hours of questioning at a US congressional hearing on Thursday. As one congressman pointed out, some people run marathons quicker than that. Mr Chew will certainly be feeling it, after a torrid time giving evidence. Many tech execs have stood before Congress, and they often don't get an easy ride. But what was

TikTok is owned by a Chinese company. So why doesn’t it exist there?

TikTok is fighting to stay alive in the United States as pressure builds in Washington to ban the app if its Chinese owners don’t sell the company. But the wildly popular platform, developed with homegrown Chinese technology, isn’t accessible in China. In fact, it’s never existed there. Instead, there’s a different version of TikTok — a sister app called Douyin. Both are owned by Beijing-based

China thinks it’s diplomatically isolating Taiwan. It isn’t

When the Honduran President announced last week her country planned to establish diplomatic ties with China, the ripples were felt far beyond this Central American country of population 10 million. To many, it was the latest confirmation of China’s growing clout on the world stage. The decision by President Xiomara Castro means Honduras will have to sever its relationship with Taiwan, the island

Justin Trudeau Faces Crisis Over Chinese Political Interference in Canada

A Canadian lawmaker has stepped down from Justin Trudeau's governing Liberal Party following allegations he lobbied Chinese diplomats to increase the period that two Canadian nationals were being held prisoner in China for partisan political gain.Han Dong, who now sits as an independent having left the Liberal Party on Wednesday, has strongly denied the claims against him, and vowed to clear his