China-Policies & politics

1. Coronavirus: China reports 96 new infections, links superspreader to 102 asymptomatic cases

   China reported 96 new Covid-19 infections on Saturday and 119 asymptomatic cases, of which more than half were linked to a superspreader in the northeast of the country, health authorities said.Jilin province, which borders North Korea, reported 63 of the asymptomatic cases, all but one of them related to a 45-year-old tutor who had been touring the region giving lectures on health, the provincial health commission said on Saturday.The man has now been linked to 102 cases in the province, the…

2. South Korea caught in the middle as China, US ‘whales’ face off

   The Korean peninsula has a long history of dealing with invasion and foreign rule, wedged as it is between larger powers Russia, China and Japan. That experience gave rise to a proverb in the country: “When whales fight, it’s the shrimp’s back that gets broken.”South Korea – itself the result of a war 70 years ago that drew in the US and China and split the peninsula into two Koreas – is hardly a shrimp by economic measures, being home to industrial heavyweights like Samsung Group and Hyundai…

3. As exiled Tibetans vote, calls grow for India to help them stand up to China

   In the first week of January, Tibetan refugees across the globe, from New York to the freezing heights of Ladakh along the India-China border, cast their votes to elect a new political leader and members of the Tibetan parliament-in-exile – with the Dalai Lama’s advancing age and the global rise of an increasingly assertive Beijing chief among their concerns.At least three candidates have emerged as clear front-runners to head the Central Tibetan Administration (CTA), which has its seat in the…

4. ‘South China Sea strategic benefit’ if Beijing builds tunnel to holiday island Hainan

   A senior adviser to the Chinese government is calling for a proposed road and rail tunnel between mainland China and its southern island province of Hainan to be put back on the agenda, to boost the island’s economy and help Beijing gain a foothold in the South China Sea.Wu Shicun, the head of think tank the National Institute for South China Sea Studies, said a cross-sea passage project should be added to China’s current or next five-year plan – the blueprint for nation’s development – and…

5. Nearly 100 million Chinese people supplied drinking water with ‘unsafe’ levels of toxic chemicals

   Drinking water provided to nearly 100 million people in China has levels of toxic chemicals that exceed safe limits, researchers have found.A team from Tsinghua University monitored the levels of per and polyfluoroalkyls (PFAS) – man-made chemicals used in everything from fabrics to pesticides – using data from previous studies.By analysing data from 526 drinking water samples across 66 cities with a total population of 450 million, the study found that the concentration of PFAS in more than 20…

6. United States imposes sanctions on six pro-China officials over Hong Kong mass arrests

   The United States on Friday imposed sanctions on six officials including Hong Kong’s sole representative to China’s top lawmaking body over mass arrests of pro-democracy activists in the financial hub.Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, in the latest in a slew of sanctions imposed in the final days of his term and following political violence in Washington, called the crackdown in Hong Kong “appalling”.“We condemn PRC actions that erode Hong Kong’s freedoms and democratic processes and will…

7. At least four suspects released on bail after being accused of helping Hong Kong fugitives flee; others expected to follow, source says

   All suspects still in custody on suspicion of helping a dozen Hong Kong fugitives flee the city last year were expected to be released on bail by Friday night, the Post has learned.At least four of the 11 arrested by the police force’s National Security Department on Thursday morning have already been freed.The eight men and three women, aged 18 to 72, including Kowloon City district councillor and lawyer Daniel Wong Kwok-tung, were detained on suspicion of assisting offenders, a breach of the…

8. The time for China’s rise has come, security chief tells law enforcers

   A Chinese Communist Party official responsible for the country’s security apparatus has told law enforcers that the time for China’s rise has come but the struggle with the US will be a “long protracted battle”.Chen Yixin, secretary general of the Central Political and Legal Affairs Commission – the top agency in charge of law enforcement – said at a study session on Monday that while the world was at a turbulent time, the global environment was to China’s advantage.The session was held to…

9. China shows renewed interest in joining trade pact Trump left in 2017

   Beijing has provided another indication of its interest in joining the Comprehensive Progressive Trans-Pacific Partnership Agreement (CPTPP) by releasing a Chinese translation of its principal documents.Since President Xi Jinping said last year that China was considering joining the pact, formerly backed by the United States, there have been questions whether it would be able to meet its terms of entry regarding state-owned enterprises, labour rights and e-commerce. But Beijing appears to be…

10. US-China trade war deal reaches first anniversary as bilateral mistrust hits ‘all-time high’

    One year after signing the phase one trade deal with the US, China remains far behind in its commitment to buy more American goods, though the agreement has been a vital sticking plaster in a fast deteriorating bilateral relationship, experts said.The world’s two largest economies signed the deal on January 15 last year, effectively calling a ceasefire in a trade war that saw tariffs slapped on billions of dollars worth of products and reorganised global supply chains after it was launched by…