Torbjørn Færøvik's Blog, page 365

Chinese city of Xian sees Covid cases rise as it enters third day of lockdown

The Chinese city of Xian has reported an increase in daily Covid-19 infections and local companies have curtailed activity as the country’s latest hotspot entered its third day of lockdown. Xian, home to 13 million people, detected 75 domestically transmitted cases with confirmed symptoms on Friday, its highest daily count of the year and reversing the previous day’s decline, official data showed

Covid cases rise in Xi’an as China battles biggest community outbreak since 2020

Lockdown restrictions have been tightened in the Chinese city of Xi’an, which is battling the largest community outbreak the country has seen since the initial months of the pandemic when China brought thousands of daily infections under control. Authorities reported 162 new community infections on Monday, up from 158 on Sunday. All but 10 of Monday’s new cases were reported in Shaanxi province,

China replaces Xinjiang party boss associated with Uyghur crackdown

China has replaced the Communist party official widely associated with a security crackdown targeting ethnic Uyghurs and other Muslims in the far-west region of Xinjiang. The state-owned Xinhua news agency said in a brief announcement on Saturday that Ma Xingrui, the governor of the coastal economic powerhouse Guangdong province since 2017, had replaced Chen Quanguo as the Xinjiang party chief.

Japan and China agree to set up defense hotline amid territorial tensions

The defense ministers of Japan and China on Monday agreed to set up a joint communication hotline by the end of 2022, a news release from Japan's Defense Ministry said, amid tensions between the East Asian neighbors. China's Defense Ministry confirmed the hotline agreement in a statement without giving a date for its implementation.The agreement -- reached during a two-hour video conference

China threatens hefty fines for foreign fishermen

The Chinese government has issued a new regulation threatening hefty fines on activities of foreign fishermen in China’s claimed “jurisdictional waters.” The new policy was announced by the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs and the China Coast Guard and became effective on Nov. 26 but was only publicized on the government’s website in Chinese on Dec. 23.The purpose was to standardize the

Laos Unlocked A trip on the maiden journey of the $5.9 billion Laos-China Railway.

As the train sped through the Lao forest at 160 kilometers per hour, I had a flashback to last February, when I traveled from Vientiane to the Chinese border to document the developments at the Boten Beautiful Land Special Economic Zone. Back then, the trip took a total of 18 hours, spanning over two days on the notorious National Road 13, a journey marked by stunning panoramas, potholes, thick

Think tank founder Wang Huiyao on the ‘uphill battle’ to explain China to the world

China needs to do more to explain its system and values to the world, to avoid misunderstanding and mistrust in the West, according to the founder of a Beijing-based non-governmental think tank. In an interview on Talking Post with chief news editor Yonden Lhatoo, Wang Huiyao from the Centre for China and Globalisation (CCG) said he faced an uphill battle when speaking to Western media about

Japan says it won't send government officials to Beijing 2022 Winter Olympics

Japan will not send any senior officials or Cabinet ministers to the Beijing Winter Olympics in February, the government said Friday -- but stopped short of calling the decision a diplomatic boycott. Japan "believes that respect for human rights is important," Chief Cabinet Secretary Hirokazu Matsuno said at a news conference. "We made a decision comprehensively."Tokyo Olympics Chief Seiko

Biden signs bill banning goods from China's Xinjiang over forced labor

 President Joe Biden on Thursday signed into law legislation that bans imports from China's Xinjiang region over concerns about forced labor, the White House said, provoking an angry Chinese condemnation. The Uyghur Forced Labor Prevention Act is part of the US pushback against Beijing's treatment of China's Uyghur Muslim minority, which Washington has labeled genocide.The bill passed Congress

Cyprus: The Next Stop of China’s Belt and Road Initiative

In November 2021, China and Cyprus formally announced their strategic partnership on the 50th anniversary of their diplomatic ties, which is of milestone significance to bilateral relations. The two heads of state decided to upgrade the China-Cyprus relationship to a strategic partnership during a phone conversation. During the call, Chinese leader Xi Jinping said that “the two countries firmly