Torbjørn Færøvik's Blog, page 354

Anders Fogh Rasmussen: China Is Using Economic Coercion as Blackmail. The US and EU Must Fight Back

For decades, Taiwan has been walking a fine line that broadly suited everyone: neither being part of mainland China, nor officially declaring independence. The People's Republic of China could maintain its claim over it. Yet Taiwan was free to develop as a vibrant liberal democracy and modern economy. And the democratic world was able to develop ties with both, so long as they steered clear of

China’s Omicron Outbreak Is Even Worse News for Global Supply Chains

An omicron outbreak in China is sending jitters through supply chains as manufacturers and shippers brace for disruption inside the world’s-biggest trading nation if it can’t contain the fast-spreading variant.In 2020 and 2021, China’s ‘covid-zero’ strategy meant factories could stay open throughout the pandemic to produce everything from health equipment to laptops that global consumers hoovered

Lithuania secures extra $1B pledge from Taiwan amid China blockade

Taiwan Tuesday substantially stepped up its financial pledges to Lithuania with a $1 billion credit fund to bolster the Baltic nation in its showdown with China. The initiative came just days after Taipei announced a $200 million fund to invest in strategic sectors in Lithuania, which is facing a full trade embargo from Beijing. Reacting furiously to warming ties between Vilnius and Taipei, China

Kerry Brown: Uncertainty Ahead For Xi’s China

In 2021 China was, and in 2022 again will be, dominated by the domestic economy, relations with the United States, the COVID-19 pandemic and President Xi Jinping. Despite spectacular bounce-back growth in the first half of the year, China’s economy had slowed dramatically by year’s end. Worries centred on the property market, a perennial concern for over a decade due to fears of overheating.

Hong Kong to draw up own ‘national security’ law

Hong Kong plans to create a host of new national security crimes, the Chinese-ruled city’s leader said on Wednesday, as she presided over the first session of a new legislature that excludes any political opposition. The current national security law was imposed in June 2020 in the wake of mass protests the year before, and outlaws what Beijing deems secession, subversion, terrorism and colluding

Millions more Chinese people ordered into lockdown to fight Covid outbreaks

Millions more people in China have been ordered into lockdown and Hong Kong has banned transit passengers from 150 places as China continues to battle outbreaks across several provinces a few weeks before the Winter Olympics. China’s national health commission reported 110 new locally transmitted Covid-19 cases for Monday, including 87 in Henan province, 13 in Shaanxi, and 10 in Tianjin.The cases

North Korea says Kim Jong-un oversaw third hypersonic missile test

North Korea says it has conducted another hypersonic missile test, under the watch of its leader Kim Jong-un. State media said the missile fired on Tuesday had successfully made a turn before hitting its target in the sea some 1,000km (621 miles) away. It marks North Korea's third reported test of a hypersonic missile, which can avoid detection for longer than ballistic missiles.Mr Kim's presence

Taiwan suspends F-16 fleet combat training after jet crashes into sea

Taiwan's air force on Tuesday suspended combat training for its F-16 fleet after a recently upgraded model of the fighter jet crashed into the sea in the latest of a series of accidents. The island's Defense Ministry said the F-16V, the most advanced type in Taiwan's fleet, went missing from radar screens after taking off from the Chiayi Air Base in southern Taiwan for a training mission over a

'Zero-Covid' China fights to contain Omicron as restrictions tighten in major city

China's northern port city of Tianjin and central province of Henan have further tightened Covid restrictions as the highly contagious Omicron variant continues to spread, posing the gravest challenge yet to the country's zero-Covid strategy. Tianjin, which detected China's first community spread of Omicron on Saturday, is rolling out a second round of mass testing on its 14 million residents on

Chinese Courts to Parents: Talk to Your Kids Once in a While

Chinese courts are issuing the country’s first rulings under a law that makes parents responsible for their children’s behavior after it came into effect Jan. 1. A court in the eastern province of Jiangxi issued the province’s first “family education order” on Saturday, a district court in the provincial capital of Nanchang announced.In a news release, the court said the father, who had been sued