Torbjørn Færøvik's Blog, page 308

Chinese government adviser calls for law to ban ‘fake news’

An adviser to the Chinese government has called for new laws to ban “fabricating and disseminating fake information online”, blaming the rampant disinformation on the internet for polarising Chinese public opinion. Jia Qingguo, a member of China’s highest political advisory body, said he also believed the proliferation of misinformation online had fuelled tensions between China and foreign

UN human rights chief to visit China, including Xinjiang, in May

The UN rights chief has announced that she will make a long-delayed visit to China in May, including to Xinjiang, where activists and western lawmakers say Beijing is subjecting Uyghur people to genocide. “I am pleased to announce that we have recently reached an agreement with the government of China for a visit,” Michelle Bachelet told the UN human rights council on Tuesday.She said the office

Opinion: With America's Eyes on Ukraine, Biden Made Biggest Concession to China Yet

With America's eyes fixed on Ukraine, the Biden administration just gave Communist China its greatest gift yet. In so doing, it caved—by its own admission—to the demands of American progressives, who serve as the Chinese Communist Party's most useful of idiots. In a little-noticed February 23 university speech, Assistant Attorney General Matthew Olsen of the Justice Department's National Security

China Reiterates Friendship With Russia, Says Both Will Bring World 'Peace'

China reiterated its friendship with Russia on Monday, saying that their relationship benefits their respective citizens and can also help bring international "peace." During a press conference, Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi described Russia as China's "most important strategic partner" and said that their joint ties are "one of the most crucial bilateral relationships in the world." He added,

The digital Iron Curtain: How Russia's internet could soon start to look a lot like China's

Like much else about the country, Russia's internet has long straddled East and West. Russian citizens, unlike their Chinese counterparts, have been able to access US tech platforms such as Facebook, Twitter and Google, though they have been subject to censorship and restrictions — the defining feature of China's internet model.But Russia's invasion of Ukraine, which has increasingly isolated the

‘It came too late’: Chinese students who fled Ukraine criticise embassy response

Immediately after Russia invaded Ukraine on 24 February, Yang, a 22-year-old classical music student in Kyiv, called the Chinese embassy in the city to seek help. He tried several times but the line was engaged. “I don’t know why the embassy didn’t tell us the war was going to break out when other countries advised their citizens to leave days before,” he said. Yang then followed his university’s

For Chinese Abroad, a Winter Olympics-Sized Hangover

The curtain may have fallen on the 2022 Beijing Winter Olympics, but its ramifications are still being felt. All Olympics are political to an extent, and this year’s Games were colored as much by identity politics as geopolitics.On one level, the competition was a triumph of international amity and integration. At a time when China’s relations with much of the rest of the world are fraught — and

PCC Warns China Will Be Hit Hard by Climate Change

China will be among the countries hardest hit by global warming and needs to do more to adapt to mounting climate hazards, according to a new report published this week by the United Nations’ Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC). Like many other Asian countries, China will need to find solutions to water and food insecurity, poverty and inequality, and more extreme weather events,

China’s Content Moderators Are Overworked and Chronically Stressed

China wants to keep its cyberspace “clean” — and there’s an army of workers tasked with sanitizing the country’s virtual world. Hired by top domestic internet companies, the so-called content moderators spend excruciatingly long hours scrubbing anything associated with horror, violence, pornography, and information deemed politically sensitive or offensive. They review a barrage of user-generated

George Magnus: China has little to gain but much to lose as Russia’s ally

In just a few days, Russia’s invasion of Ukraine has upended decades of international relations thinking and practices. Nothing will be the same as before. Even the 5,000-word statement on “international relations in a new era” issued by China and Russia just a month ago in Beijing – to make the world safe for autocracy – has been overtaken by events. In this ugly Russian quagmire, China’s role