Torbjørn Færøvik's Blog, page 300

Yellen says China should urge Russia to end its Ukraine war

Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen on Wednesday urged China to use its “special relationship with Russia” to persuade Russia to end the war in Ukraine. Beijing “cannot expect the global community to respect its appeals to the principles of sovereignty and territorial integrity in the future if it does not respect these principles now,” Yellen said at the Atlantic Council, a nonpartisan think

China Speaks Out After Joe Biden Accuses Russia of 'Genocide'

China has repeated calls for calm and refused to be drawn into a debate about possible war crimes in Ukraine after Joe Biden accused Vladimir Putin and his troops of committing "genocide." Biden was speaking in Iowa on Tuesday when he used the word for the first time, describing his Russian opposite number as a dictator who "declares war and commits genocide half a world away." The American

Ukraine Crisis Exposes U.S. As 'Bully,' China's Leading Party Paper Says

China is doubling down on its portrayal of the United States as the main cause of the war in Ukraine, with its most prominent newspaper criticizing the West in general and America in particular for attempting to make Beijing pick a side. In Monday's People's Daily, the Chinese Communist Party (CCP)'s flagship paper, a page 3 editorial continues an anti-American series by "Zhong Sheng," the

China Official Compares Taiwan to America's 'Concubine'

A Chinese government agency scrubbed a charged comment by an official spokesperson on Wednesday after he compared Taiwan's relationship with the United States to that of a mistress. Ma Xiaoguang, director of the information bureau at the Taiwan Affairs Office in Beijing, was responding to a March interview featuring Taiwanese Foreign Minister Joseph Wu, who said his country should be considerate

The China-Solomon Islands Security Deal Changes Everything

The controversial new security deal between the Solomon Islands and China has become a prism through which all other components of Pacific geopolitics, indeed the geopolitics of the greater Indo-Pacific, will now be refracted.A draft of the deal, leaked on social media on March 24, set off an immediate firestorm. A chorus of pleas came from domestic and international quarters alike, requesting

China’s Ukraine Response Is All About the US (Not Russia)

Beijing increasingly faces hard choices and high stakes as Vladimir Putin’s war in Ukraine is mired in miscalculations. Xi Jinping raised the stakes of China’s strategic cooperation with Russia with the characterization of relations with “no limits” at their February 4 meeting. China’s partnership with Russia, short of a formal alliance, serves Beijing’s long-term strategic priorities. China’s

Sri Lanka’s Oppressive Stability Starts to Crumble

On the evening of April 2, Sri Lankan President Gotabaya Rajapaksa declared a weekend-long state of emergency on the island after protests erupted outside his Colombo residence. While Sri Lanka is no stranger to periods of state of emergency – the last was imposed as recently as 2018 due to anti-Muslim riots – this time was different.The protests surrounding Rajapaksa’s home followed weeks of

The Death of Hong Kong’s University Student Unions

Not long after the Pillar of Shame was dismantled on the University of Hong Kong campus and covered by bright yellow construction boards, there was another construction project underway not far away. A slogan, painted by the university’s student union on a paved road decades ago and also commemorating the Tiananmen Massacre, was covered with tar by workers, though the university insisted that it

Relatives of detained Uyghurs forced to work in Xinjiang factories

Hundreds of family members of detained Uyghur residents of a small community in northwestern China’s Xinjiang region have been forced to work in local government-run factories, a source with knowledge of the situation and a local police officer said. At least 100 residents from Sheyih Mehelle hamlet in Ghulja (in Chinese, Yining) county have been imprisoned by authorities, a security guard from

US human rights report cites China's violations in Xinjiang, Hong Kong and Tibet

China’s abuses targeting Uyghurs, Hongkongers and Tibetans are among some of the worst human rights violations around the world, the U.S. Department of State said Tuesday.“The Chinese government continues to commit genocide and crimes against humanity in Xinjiang against predominantly Muslim Uyghurs among other minority groups, to erode fundamental freedoms and autonomy in Hong Kong, and to carry