Torbjørn Færøvik's Blog, page 392

Xi Jinping’s ‘historical resolution’: what is it and why is it important?

On Monday, top officials of China’s Communist Party will consider and likely adopt a “historical resolution” at the Central Committee’s most important meeting ahead of next year’s national congress.The “Resolution of the CCP Central Committee on the Major Achievements and Historical Experiences of the Party’s Centennial Struggle”, to be discussed at the sixth plenary session of the party’s

Xi Jinping's 'Historical Resolutions'

The sixth plenary session of the 19th Chinese Communist Party (CCP) Central Committee is to be held on Nov. 8, 2021. The plenary session's much-anticipated focus is the consideration and adoption of the "Resolution of the CCP Central Committee on the Major Achievements and Historical Experiences of the Party's Centennial Struggle."Judging from the title, this historical resolution mainly centers

As winter looms, reports of starvation in North Korea

The warnings are stark and coming from inside and outside of North Korea. Defectors based in South Korea have told us that their families in the North are going hungry. There is a concern as winter approaches that the most vulnerable will starve."Problems such as more orphan children on the streets and death by starvation are continuously being reported," said Lee Sang Yong, editor in chief of

Mounting concern over environmental cost of fake snow for Olympics

The mountains that will be the setting of the Alpine events for the forthcoming Winter Olympics in Beijing boast spectacular scenery and breathtaking runs, but lack just one vital ingredient: real snow. Between January and March this year, the National Alpine Ski Centre in Yanqing, about 55 miles north-west of Beijing, had just 2cm of snow. London, Paris and Madrid all recorded greater snowfalls,

China’s Coal Imports Double After Power Shortage Boosted Demand

China’s overseas purchases of coal nearly doubled in October from a year ago as the government leaned on importers to help ease a nationwide power shortage caused in large part by a shortage of the fuel. However, imports of nearly 27 million tons were still 18% below the annual high reached in September -- and at their weakest since May -- after Beijing boosted efforts to raise domestic

First winter snow in northern China threatens to deepen energy crisis

The climate phenomenon known as La Niña has brought early snow amid plunging temperatures across northern China this weekend at a time when the country is struggling with the worst energy crisis in a decade. Large parts of the country, including Beijing, Tianjin, Hebei, and Inner Mongolia, experienced this winter’s first significant snowfall and rain on Saturday, the China Meteorological

Top Pentagon general: ‘We are witnessing one of the largest shifts in geopolitical power that the world has seen’

The world is changing faster than our sluggish political leaders — let alone the public — can manage.The COVID-19 virus and climate change move far more quickly than the international community, as we saw last week at the G-20 in Rome and the COP26 climate summit in Glasgow, Scotland. Back home, rapid social shifts push many Americans to embrace fraudsters who promise to save them. The urgent

Yes, China Has More Warships Than the USA. That’s Because Chinese Ships Are Small.

China possesses the biggest navy in the world by number of hulls, the U.S. Defense Department confirmed in its latest report on Beijing’s armed forces. The People’s Liberation Army Navy has 355 front-line ships in three fleets arrayed along the Chinese coast. The U.S. Navy, by contrast, has 305 front-line ships, divided roughly 60-40 between the Pacific and Atlantic Fleets. Worse for U.S.

Melvyn B. Krauss: Germany's Chinese Kowtow

The Greens and the Free Democratic Party, the kingmakers of Germany’s prospective three-party coalition government, favor confronting China over its human-rights abuses in Xinjiang and its crackdown in Hong Kong. Despite this, Germany’s authoritarian-friendly China policies are unlikely to change when Olaf Scholz, the Social Democratic Party leader who is expected to succeed outgoing Chancellor

Xi Is Running Out of Time: China’s Economy Heads for a Hard Landing

How worried should observers be about China’seconomy? As recently as midsummer, that seemed like an academic question geared to the long term. In recent months, observers who were already concerned were further dismayed whenever Beijing moved to reel in companies considered to be in the vanguard of the “sunrise industries” that China celebrated as the answer to future competitiveness, growth, and