Torbjørn Færøvik's Blog, page 385

China and US agree to ease restrictions on journalists

China and the US have agreed to ease restrictions on each other’s journalists amid a slight easing of tensions between the two sides. The official China Daily newspaper said on Wednesday that the agreement was reached ahead of the virtual summit between Chinese leader Xi Jinping and US president Joe Biden held a day earlier. Under the agreement, the US will issue one-year multiple-entry visas to

Full Text: Resolution of the CPC Central Committee on the Major Achievements and Historical Experience of the Party over the Past Century

"Since its founding in 1921, the Communist Party of China (CPC) has remained true to its original aspiration and mission of seeking happiness for the Chinese people and rejuvenation for the Chinese nation. Staying committed to communist ideals and socialist convictions, it has united and led Chinese people of all ethnic groups in working tirelessly to achieve national independence and liberation,

Belt and Road starts and stops in China’s backyard

Laos will never be the same again on December 2, the day the first high-speed train on the Belt and Road Initiative-built railroad is scheduled to roll into the capital Vientiane arriving from the southern Chinese province of Yunnan. Running for 414 kilometers from the border with China, the new line will transform Laos from a land-locked to land-linked country, as the Chinese state news agency

Michael Schuman: Xi Jinping’s Terrifying New China

China’s social media was briefly aflutter this fall about an impressive feat in the popular online fantasy game Honor of Kings. A player had completed a “pentakill,” or five kills in a row, but something just smelled wrong: The user in question was 60 years old, according to the verified account information—hardly the type to be an expert gamer. Even more mysterious, why was this person

Hanne Skartveit, VG: Falsk trygghet i en farlig verden

Historien har vist oss at det sjelden foregår fredelig når en ny stormakt skyver den regjerende stormakten til side. Nå er det særlig situasjonen rundt Taiwan som på et tidspunkt kan utløse en væpnet konflikt mellom USA og Kina. Det har alltid vært et mål for Kinas ledere å overta kontrollen over den lille øya når de mener tiden er inne. USA, på sin side, regnes som Taiwans beskytter.En væpnet

Growing Naval Imbalance Between Expanding Chinese and Aging US Fleets

U.S. Secretary of the Navy Carlos Del Toro issued his strategic guidance to the U.S. Navy and Marine Corps in October, making clear that China was the department’s top strategic priority and an organizing principle for institutional reforms, calling it “the pacing challenge against which we must plan our warfighting strategies and investments.” He warned that China was the department’s most

Biden-Xi talks: US says opposed to 'unilateral effort' to change Taiwan

US president Joe Biden has told his Chinese counterpart Xi Jinping that the US is strongly opposed to "unilateral efforts" to change the status quo or undermine peace across Taiwan. The remarks were made during the two leaders' first virtual summit. Mr Biden and Mr Xi also discussed other controversial issues like China's practices in Xinjiang and Hong Kong. These are the most substantial

Xi's China is closing to the world. And it isn't just about borders

It's been nearly two years since China shut its international borders as part of its efforts to keep Covid-19 out. China tamed the initial outbreak in Wuhan by locking down the city of more than 10 million people, confining residents to their homes for weeks and suspending public transportation.Since then, Beijing has adopted a zero-tolerance playbook to quell resurgences of the virus. Harnessing

'Healthy debate,' but no breakthroughs in Biden's critical talks with China's Xi Jinping

When Chinese President Xi Jinping beamed into the White House on Monday evening fora virtual summit with President Joe Biden, the two men needed no introduction. "We've spent an awful lot of time talking to one another, and I hope we can have a candid conversation tonight as well," Biden said as the talks got underway, sitting at the head of the Roosevelt Room table as Xi's visage was broadcast

Cambodia’s History, Viewed Through Sihanoukville

One of the most beautiful memories I have of Cambodia when I returned to the country in 1992 to work for UNTAC was seeing the ocean and the endless sandy beach of Sihanoukville. This was my first trip to that town on the Gulf of Thailand, renamed after King Norodom Sihanouk in 1958. Between the civil war and the Khmer Rouge regime in the 1970s, I had never had a chance to go there.As a child