Torbjørn Færøvik's Blog, page 255

China state media plays down COVID wave severity before WHO meet

China's state media played down the severity on Tuesday of the COVID-19 wave surging over the country, with its scientists expected to give a briefing to the World Health Organization on the evolution of the virus later in the day. China's abrupt U-turn on COVID controls on Dec. 7, as well as the accuracy of its case and mortality data, have come under increasing scrutiny at home and overseas and

Major Chinese cities past Covid peak as wave moves to rural areas, new study projects

The wave of Covid infections sweeping across China may already have peaked in some of the country’s largest cities, including Shanghai and Beijing, according to a new study. The study, published on December 29 in the peer-reviewed journal Frontiers of Medicine, said mathematical modeling predicted the latest wave of infections would pass through China’s major cities by the end of 2022, whereas

North Korea: What we can expect from Kim Jong-un in 2023

North Korea had a record-busting 2022. It fired more missiles than ever before in a single year. In fact, a quarter of all missiles North Korea has ever launched hit the skies in 2022. It was also the year that Kim Jong-un declared that North Korea had become a nuclear weapons state and that its weapons were here to stay. This has raised tensions on the Korean peninsula to their highest since

‘OK, Mexico, Save Me’: After China, This Is Where Globalization May Lead

As American companies recalibrate the risks of relying on Chinese factories to make their goods, some are shifting business to a country far closer to home: Mexico. The unfolding trend known as “near-shoring” has drawn the attention of no less than Walmart, the global retail empire with headquarters in Arkansas. Early last year, when Walmart needed $1 million of company uniforms — more than

Why India and China Are Fighting in the Himalayas

On a freezing December day on a remote Himalayan mountain ridge, Indian and Chinese soldiers foughtwith sticks, stones, clubs and bare fists. Scores were bloodied and injured. The incident, according to the Indian authorities, occurred on Dec. 9, when about 300 soldiers from the People’s Liberation Army of China attempted to occupy Yangtse, a mountainous border post on the disputed India-China

INTERVIEW: JEREMY WALLACE ON THE CHINESE STATE’S “LIMITED, QUANTIFIED VISION”

Jeremy Wallace, associate professor of Government at Cornell University, joined CDT to discuss his new book, Seeking Truth and Hiding Facts: Information, Ideology, and Authoritarianism in China. In a wide-ranging conversation, Wallace traced the rise and fall of what he terms the Chinese state’s “limited, quantified vision.” Wallace explains how the state’s desire to increase productive forces

Xi Jinping estimates China’s 2022 GDP grew at least 4.4%. But Covid misery looms

 China’s economy grew at least 4.4% in 2022, according to leader Xi Jinping, a figure much stronger than many economists had expected. But the current Covid wave may hobble growth in the months ahead. China’s annual GDP is expected to have exceeded 120 trillion yuan ($17.4 trillion) last year, Xi said in a televised New Year’s Eve speech on Saturday. That implies growth of more than 4.4%, which

China’s President Xi battles to save face as Covid U-turn weakens his grip on power

China’s leader Xi Jinping told his country it stands on “the right side of history” in a new year address on Saturday, but experts have warned that the president starts 2023 diminished by his chaotic U-turn on Covid strategy. He may struggle to deflect blame for the human and economic costs of zero-Covid’s failure, and control the national narrative, even if public signs of dissent are

SHRINKING BIRTH RATES ACCELERATE CHINA’S DEMOGRAPHIC CRISIS

While Xi Jinping may profess confidence that “the East is rising and the West is declining,” China’s birth rates are rapidly diminishing. Recently released official statistics suggest continued deepening of looming demographic crises that the government has struggled to avert through various attempts to incentivize marriage and procreation. The endurance of restrictive COVID-19 policies and a

PROTEST SONGS: “URUMQI EAST,” “IF YOU WON’T TAKE THE LEAD,” “CAN’T IMAGINE WHAT YOUR PAIN WAS LIKE,” “DOWN WITH TYRANNY … NO MORE EMPEROR XI!”

The recent protests commemorating victims of the November 24 fire in Urumqi and criticizing harsh pandemic measures and repressive government policies employed a wide variety of protest-themed slogans, artwork, poems, essays, and songs. Some of the songs, such as “Do You Hear the People Sing?” or “The Internationale,” are familiar from previous protests, whereas others are new, referencing