Torbjørn Færøvik's Blog, page 376

Joschka Fischer: Xi's Backward Odyssey

Momentous changes are casting a long shadow on China. The country’s political system will soon undergo a profound reform, pending final approval (a quasi-formality) at next year’s congress of the Communist Party of China (CPC). President Xi Jinping, the Party chairman and the “navigator” of the country, has decided on a new course, abandoning the principle of collective leadership. Xi is leading

Uganda Surrenders Airport for China Cash

Top Ugandan officials have been boxed into a corner of bother after lenders in China rejected their request to re-negotiate 'toxic clauses' in the $200m (Shs713b) loan picked six years ago to expand Entebbe International Airport. Some of the unfavourable provisions in the loan agreement that Uganda signed with the Export-Import (Exim) Bank of China on March 31, 2015, if not amended, expose

China has undermined Hong Kong’s judicial and parliamentary independence: US report

Changes to Hong Kong’s political system imposed on the city by the ruling Chinese Communist Party (CCP) amid an ongoing crackdown on public dissent have turned the city’s legislature into a “rubber stamp,” and undermined the independence of judges, according to a U.S. government report.“Changes to Hong Kong’s elections and the composition of its legislature now ensure pro-Beijing lawmakers will

Shanghai cancels hundreds of flights, shuts schools over three Covid cases

Hundreds of flights have been cancelled while some schools were shuttered and tour groups suspended on Friday after three Covid cases were reported in Shanghai, as China continues its strict zero-Covid policy. Beijing has largely succeeded in controlling the spread of the coronavirus within its borders through travel restrictions and snap lockdowns, but frequent domestic flare-ups have tested its

Why wiping out Hong Kong's opposition may have cost China a whole generation in Taiwan

In just five years, Lin Fei-fan went from charging into Taiwan's legislature and occupying the building with hundreds of students to a senior job for the island's ruling party. But his story could have been very different if he lived in Hong Kong, where student activists once brought the financial hub to a standstill as they took to the streets to demand democracy and freedoms.Lin says he could

Does India really have more women than men?

Does India really have more women than men now? According to the latest National Family Health Survey (NFHS) data, released by the Indian government recently, there are now 1,020 women for every 1,000 men. Experts advise caution while interpreting the data - the survey covers only about 630,000 of India's 300 million households - and say the real picture will emerge only once we get the census

Widow of former South Korean dictator Chun Doo-hwan offers ‘deep apology’ for brutal rule

The widow of South Korea’s last military dictator has issued a brief apology over the “pains and scars” caused by her husband’s brutal rule as dozens of relatives and former aides gathered at a Seoul hospital to pay their final respects to Chun Doo-hwan. Chun, who took power in a 1979 coup and violently crushed pro-democracy protests a year later before being jailed for treason in the 1990s, died

How China’s ‘common prosperity’ is a step forward

There is no shortage of Western analysts suggesting that President Xi Jinping’s “common prosperity” will set back the Chinese economy by taking wealth from the rich and giving it to the poor. The analysts’ logic, to some extent, was probably based on the Mao Zedong era’s “from each in accordance with ability and to which according to needs” policy.  That policy did disincentivize entrepreneurship

Chris Patten: China Is Holding the Planet Hostage

The verbal emissions at the recent United Nations Climate Change Conference (COP26) in Glasgow were understandably extensive but fortunately less environmentally damaging than the energy path on which the world remains set. Governments reached a fragile agreement that still just about keeps in play the 2015 Paris climate agreement’s main target of limiting global warming to 1.5° Celsius above

Australia mulls major move against China: 'Somebody has to'

China has reacted angrily to reports Australia is considering a diplomatic boycott of Beijing's Winter Olympics, warning such a move would be unsuccessful and be unfair to the athletes. A raft of MPs are urging the Morrison government to boycott the event next year, according to The Sydney Morning Herald.China's Foreign Ministry spokesperson Zhao Lijian issued a warning to Australia on Thursday