China Watch Thread

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Protests in China are Not Rare – but the Current Unrest is Significant
by Teresa Wright
November 28, 2022

Introduction:
(The Conversation) Street protests across China have evoked memories of the Tiananmen Square demonstrations that were brutally quashed in 1989. Indeed, foreign media have suggested the current unrest sweeping cities across China is unlike anything seen in the country since that time.

The implication is that protest in China is a rarity. Meanwhile, the Nov. 30, 2022, death of Jiang Zemin – the leader brought in after the bloody crackdown of 1989 – gives further reason to reflect on how China has changed since the Tiananmen Square massacre, and how Communist party leaders might react to unrest now.

But how uncommon are these recent public actions? And how do they compare with the massive weekslong demonstrations of 1989?

Having written extensively on protest in China, I can attest that protests in China are not at all uncommon – but that doesn’t make what is happening now any less significant. Alongside similarities between the current street actions and more typical protests of recent years, there are also parallels between the demonstrations today and those in 1989. Yet differences in China’s international status and domestic leadership reduce the chances for liberal democratic transformation now.

The current protests are ostensibly about the Chinese government’s strict “zero COVID” policies. They were triggered by a deadly fire in the northwestern city of Urumqi on Nov. 24, with some residents blaming lockdown rules for hampering rescue efforts. Unrest has since spread to multiple cities, including Beijing and Shanghai.
Read more of The Conversation article here: https://theconversation.com/protests-i ... nt-195622

Read a brief biography and more on the death of Jiang Zemin here: https://www.alternet.org/2022/11/chine ... emin-dead/
Last edited by caltrek on Mon Dec 26, 2022 3:10 pm, edited 2 times in total.
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China's foreign minister signals deeper ties with Russia
Source: AP

today

BEIJING (AP) — Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi defended what he said was his country’s position of impartiality on the war in Ukraine on Sunday and signaled that China would deepen ties with Russia in the coming year.

Wang, speaking by video to a conference in the Chinese capital, also blamed America for the deterioration in relations between the world’s two largest economies, saying that China has “firmly rejected the United States’ erroneous China policy.”

China has pushed back against Western pressure on trade, technology, human rights and its claims to a broad swath of the western Pacific, accusing the U.S. of bullying. Its refusal to condemn the invasion of Ukraine and join others in imposing sanctions on Russia has further frayed ties and fueled an emerging divide with much of Europe.

Wang said that China would “deepen strategic mutual trust and mutually beneficial cooperation” with Russia. Warships from the two countries held joint naval drills in the East China Sea last week.


Read more: https://apnews.com/article/russia-ukrai ... 3199a76a5d
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China reopens borders as lunar new year travel kicks off amid Covid surge

Virus outbreaks tipped to worsen as mainland China opens to Hong Kong, ends quarantine for visitors and millions begin holiday-period travel

Sun 8 Jan 2023 01.44 GMT

China has lifted quarantine requirements for inbound travellers, ending almost three years of self-imposed isolation even as the country battles a surge in Covid cases.

On Sunday, mainland China also opened its border to Hong Kong, dismantling the last pillars of a zero-Covid policy that had shielded people from the virus but also cut them off from the rest of the world.

The containment policy had a huge impact on the world’s second-biggest economy and generated resentment throughout Chinese society that led to nationwide protests just before it was eased.

In the final unravelling of those rules, Sunday saw inbound travellers to China no longer required to quarantine, after almost three years of being subject to varying durations of mandatory isolation.

At Shanghai’s Pudong international airport, a woman surnamed Pang told news agency AFP she was thrilled with the change to the rules.

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2023/ ... ovid-surge
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US tracking suspected Chinese surveillance balloon

1 hour ago

The US is tracking a suspected Chinese surveillance balloon that has been spotted flying over sensitive sites in recent days.

Defence officials said they were confident the "high-altitude surveillance balloon" belonged to China. It was most recently seen above the western state of Montana.

But military leaders decided against shooting it down as there were concerns over the danger of falling debris.

China has not yet commented.

Canada said on Friday that it was monitoring "a potential second incident" involving a surveillance balloon, but did not say which country could be behind it. It said in the statement that it is working closely with the US to "safeguard Canada's sensitive information from foreign intelligence threats".

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-64507225


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wjfox wrote: Fri Feb 03, 2023 7:25 am US tracking suspected Chinese surveillance balloon
1 hour ago

The US is tracking a suspected Chinese surveillance balloon that has been spotted flying over sensitive sites in recent days.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-64507225
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wjfox wrote: Sat Feb 04, 2023 9:57 pm
For some reason I find this oddly funny.
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Republicans Have Manufactured a Controversy Over the Chinese Spy Balloon
by Pema Levy
February 5, 2023

Introduction:
(Mother Jones) A US military fighter jet shot down the Chinese spy balloon off the coast of South Carolina on Saturday, but the Biden administration has a different kind of foe that has yet to be neutralized: attacks coming from Republicans trying to score political points over the floating white orb that appeared in America’s skies.

The balloon first came to the public’s attention as it hovered over Montana early this week. Republicans immediately called on the president to shoot it down. “President Biden should stop coddling and appeasing the Chinese communists,” Sen. Tom Cotton (R-Ark.) tweeted Friday. “It was a mistake to not shoot down that Chinese spy balloon when it was over a sparsely populated area,” Sen. Marco Rubio (R-Fla.) weighed in Friday. Sen. Josh Hawley (R-MO) called for an investigation into the balloon and Biden’s response. Even former Donald Trump advised a course of action on his social media platform Truth Social: “SHOOT DOWN THE BALLOON!”

But once the balloon was shot down, Republicans kept up the criticism, unhappy that the administration had waited days to neutralize it. “The President taking it down over the Atlantic is sort of like tackling the quarterback after the game is over,” Rep. Mike Turner (R-OH), chairman of the House Intelligence Committee, said Sunday on “Meet the Press.”

The White House, meanwhile, has been putting out its own version of the story. “I ordered the Pentagon to shoot it down on Wednesday as soon as possible,” President Joe Biden told reporters on Saturday. But the administration opted to wait because the safest course of action was to shoot down the balloon over water.
Read more here: https://www.motherjones.com/politics/2 ... -balloon/
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China leading US in technology race in all but a few fields, thinktank finds
Source: The Guardian
The United States and other western countries are losing the race with China to develop advanced technologies and retain talent, with Beijing potentially establishing a monopoly in some areas, a new report has said.

China leads in 37 of 44 technologies tracked in a year-long project by thinktank the Australian Strategic Policy Institute. The fields include electric batteries, hypersonics and advanced radio-frequency communications such as 5G and 6G.

The report, published on Thursday, said the US was the leader in just the remaining seven technologies such as vaccines, quantum computing and space launch systems.

“Our research reveals that China has built the foundations to position itself as the world’s leading science and technology superpower, by establishing a sometimes stunning lead in high-impact research across the majority of critical and emerging technology domains,” the report said.
Read more: https://www.theguardian.com/world/2023/ ... tank-finds
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