Torbjørn Færøvik's Blog, page 67

Taiwan Readies Soldiers, Civilians for Largest China Invasion Drills

Taiwan began preparations this week for its annual Han Kuang military exercise in response to what its government describes as escalating military pressure from China. The war games—scheduled to last 10 days and nine nights from July 9—are to be the largest ever across Taiwan proper and its outlying islands, officials said. More than 22,000 reservists are due to be mobilized and the exercise is

At 90, Dalai Lama still charts an uncertain future

The Dalai Lama turns 90 years old on Sunday, a milestone birthday for the spiritual leader who transformed from humble origins in the then-remote, inaccessible “Roof of the World” to global statesman and Buddhist leader helming one of history’s longest non-violent resistance movements.As he had promised more than a decade ago, the Dalai Lama announced ahead of his 90th birthday that the

At 90, the Dalai Lama braces for final showdown with Beijing: his reincarnation

For much of the past century, the Dalai Lama has been the living embodiment of Tibet’s struggle for greater freedoms under Chinese Communist Party rule, sustaining the cause from exile even as an increasingly powerful Beijing has become ever more assertive in suppressing it.As his 90th birthday approaches this Sunday, the spiritual leader for millions of followers of Tibetan Buddhism worldwide is

China tells EU it can’t accept Russia losing its war against Ukraine, official says

Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi told the European Union’s top diplomat that Beijing can’t accept Russia losing its war against Ukraine as this could allow the United States to turn its full attention to China, an official briefed on the talks said, contradicting Beijing’s public position of neutrality in the conflict.The admission came during what the official said was a four-hour meeting with

China’s Accelerating Efforts to Internationalize the Renminbi

In recent weeks, a cluster of news reports and commentary has drawn attention to China’s accelerating efforts to internationalize the renminbi (RMB). At the Lujiazui Forum in Shanghai, The New York Times reported that People’s Bank of China governor Pan Gongsheng delivered a pointed critique of global dependence on a single national currency, warning that financial risks stemming from the

Torbjørn Færøvik: China’s Communist Party Surpasses 100 Million Members - But At What Cost?

Now it’s official: Membership in the Chinese Communist Party has surpassed 100 million. The news was released yesterday and featured on the front pages of newspapers. According to the People’s Daily, the number of members at the end of 2024 was 100.27 million. The symbolic threshold was crossed after more than two million Chinese citizens joined the party in the past year. The Communist

Dalai Lama vows he won’t be the last leader of Tibetan Buddhism

The Dalai Lama has announced that he will have a successor after his death, continuing a centuries-old tradition that has become a flashpoint in the struggle with China’s Communist Party over Tibet’s future. Tibetan Buddhism’s spiritual leader made the declaration on Wednesday in a video message to religious elders gathering in Dharamshala, India, where the Nobel Peace laureate has lived since

Iran Pivots Toward China, But Is Beijing Ready To Play Ball? – Analysis

The war with Israel last month decimated a senior echelon of Iran’s military leadership, crippled its air defenses, and exposed the vulnerability of its air force. Within days, Israel had established aerial superiority, paving the way for US air strikes on Iran’s nuclear sites.But the war also tested the limits of Iran’s alliance with Russia, which offered little more than diplomatic support to

TRANSLATION OF CHAI JING INTERVIEW WITH CHINESE CIVIL WAR SURVIVOR GAO BINGHAN, PART 2: “WAR IS ALWAYS A TRAGEDY, SOMETHING I CANNOT ENDORSE.”

Amid recurrent China-Taiwan tensions and rising geopolitical instability, investigative journalist and documentary filmmaker Chai Jing has revisited and updated her iconic 2012 interview with Gao Binghan, a survivor of the Chinese Civil War who escaped with the Nationalists to Taiwan at the age of 13. Now 90 years old, Gao saw his family torn apart by civil war between the Communists and the

Voice for the Voiceless: Over Seven Decades of Struggle with China for My Land and My People

In this unique book offering personal, spiritual, and historical reflections—some never shared before—His Holiness the Dalai Lama tells the full story of his struggle with China to save Tibet and its people for nearly seventy-five years.The Dalai Lama has had to contend with the People’s Republic of China for about his entire life. He was sixteen years old when Communist China invaded Tibet in