China Watch Thread

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funkervogt
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Niall Ferguson is pessimistic about China's future and says that the limitations of their political and economic models have been laid bare and won't resolve.
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caltrek
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To China’s Fury, United Nations Accuses Beijing of Uyghur Rights Abuses
by Ken Moritsugu and Jamey Keaten
September 1, 2022

Introduction:
BEIJING (AP via Courthouse News) — The U.N. accused China of serious human rights violations that may amount to “crimes against humanity” in a long-delayed report examining a crackdown on Uyghurs and other mostly Muslim ethnic groups. Beijing on Thursday denounced the assessment as a fabrication cooked up by Western nations.

Human rights groups have accused China of sweeping a million or more people from the minority groups into detention camps where many have said they were tortured, sexually assaulted, and forced to abandon their language and religion. The camps were just one part of what the rights organizations have called a ruthless campaign against extremism in the far western province of Xinjiang that also included draconian birth control policies and all-encompassing restrictions on people's movement.

The assessment from the Geneva-based U.N. human rights office largely corroborated earlier reporting by researchers, advocacy groups and the news media, and it added the weight of the world body to the conclusions. But it was not clear what impact it would have.
Still, among Uyghurs who have fled overseas, there was a palpable sense of relief that the report had finally seen the light of day since many worried that it would never be published. Several saw it as a vindication of their cause and of years of advocacy work.

“The report is pretty damning, and a strong indictment on China’s crimes against humanity,” said Rayhan Asat, a Uyghur lawyer whose brother is imprisoned in Xinjiang. “For years, the Chinese government has said the Uyghurs are terrorists. Now, we can point to them and say, you’re the terrorists.”

Read more here: https://www.courthousenews.com/to-chin ... s-abuses/
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Major fire breaks out at skyscraper in Changsha, China

Fri 16 Sep 2022 10.56 BST

A major fire has broken out in a skyscraper in the central Chinese city of Changsha, state media have reported, adding that the number of casualties is currently unknown.

“Thick smoke is spewing from the site, and several dozen floors are burning ferociously,” the state broadcaster CCTV reported.

“Firefighters have begun work to extinguish the flames and conduct rescues at the scene,” it added.

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2022/ ... gsha-china


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caltrek
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Typhoon Mufia Hit Shanghai and Damaged Vessel Under Construction at Shipyard
September 16, 2022

Introduction:
(The Maritime Executive) Typhoon Mufia left a path of damage and heavy rains as it made landfall four times in China, including passing over key seaports and one of China’s large shipyards near Shanghai. Belgium’s Jan De Nul Group is reporting that it was advised that its newbuild at the COSCO shipyard has sustained damage from the storm.

The typhoon made its first landfall on the coast near Zhoushan late on Wednesday, September 14, and several hours later its second landfall in Shanghai's Fengxian district. Chinese officials are reporting that it was the strongest tropical storm to ever impact Shanghai. Winds were approximately 95 mph with wave heights reported at 16 feet near Shanghai. The storm also brought nearly eight inches of rain to the region.

Jan De Nul said it has been advised that the eye of the storm passed directly over the COSCO Shipping Shipyard in Nantong in the early hours of Thursday morning.

According to the company, the high winds and waves caused their wind turbine installation jack-up vessel, Voltaire, to come loose from its moorings. The 21,500 dwt vessel is currently under construction having been launched in January 2022 and due for delivery during the second half of this year. The massive vessel, which is 555 feet long, will be the largest in the company’s fleet with the capability to operate in waters up to 262 feet in depth and an elevated load of up to 16,000 tonnes. It is designed to support the installation of the largest offshore wind farms.

They are reporting that the vessel safely moored back in the shipyard after breaking loose during the storm. The first sight assessments show limited damage to certain parts of the crane and the helideck. Further assessments are ongoing.

Shanghai officials said they had warned more than 7,400 vessels to take shelter before the storm arrived. Operations in the world’s largest container port were suspended along with all bunkering operations. Flights into and out of the international airport were also suspended.
Read more here: https://maritime-executive.com/article ... - shipyard
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caltrek
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Are China’s Pledges to Green Its Belt and Road Initiative the Real Deal?
by John Vidal
September 20, 2022

Introduction:
(Ensia) In July 2019, China rolled out the carpet for Bangladeshi prime minister Sheikh Hasina. Flown to Beijing by the Chinese government, she was greeted with an honor guard and banquet and received by both President Xi Jinping and Prime Minister Li Keqiang. Three days later, she returned to her capital, Dhaka, with nine agreements worth billions of dollars to build power plants and provide other development assistance.

Hasina’s short visit benefited both countries. Big new infrastructure projects would help lift living standards in Bangladesh, but also enable China to strengthen its influence on its fast-growing neighbor of more than 160 million people.

Those loans and agreements made up one very small part of China’s Belt and Road initiative (BRI) — the world’s largest infrastructure program since the U.S. Marshall Plan helped rebuild Europe after World War II. Launched as a President Xi flagship project in 2013, it involves China flooding the world with investments to construct a trillion-dollar-plus modern “Silk Road” network of many thousands of individual projects along major transcontinental corridors spanning Asia, Africa and eastern Europe.

Between 2000 and 2017, China invested some US$843 billion in 165 countries and more than 13,000 projects, many of them related to the BRI. They include high-speed railway lines, coal and hydropower plants, ports, roads, bridges, and tourism developments. Chinese money has flooded in for dams, hospitals, mines, pipelines, IT cables, and the construction of new cities and parliament buildings. The bulk has gone to transportation and power projects and, according to a report by Morgan Stanley, by 2027 China’s total investment could approach as much as US$1.3 trillion.

But while many world leaders have welcomed BRI as a way to raise cheap loans and receive grants not available from the World Bank or wealthy countries, they are becoming more cautious as the full environmental and social costs of China’s loans become apparent and their countries risk being swamped with debt.
Read more here: https://ensia.com/features/china-belt- ... ilk-road/
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Hong Kong protester 'beaten up at Chinese consulate in Manchester'
Source: telegraph
A Hong Kong pro-democracy protester was apparently beaten inside the grounds of the Chinese consulate in Manchester on Sunday, according to footage circulating on social media.
Read more: https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2022/1 ... anchester/
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Chinese ex-President Hu Jintao escorted out of party congress

October 22, 2022

BEIJING, Oct 22 (Reuters) - Chinese former President Hu Jintao was unexpectedly escorted out of the closing ceremony of a congress of the ruling Communist Party on Saturday.

Hu, 79, Xi Jinping's immediate predecessor, was seated to the left of Xi. He was led off the stage of the main auditorium of the Great Hall of the People in Beijing by two stewards, a Reuters witness at the congress said.

Video taken by AFP showed a steward repeatedly trying to lift Hu from his seat, drawing concerned looks from many officials seated nearby.

China's top legislator Li Zhanshu, seated to Hu's right, gave the former president's folder to the steward, wiping his head with a cloth after Hu finally stood up.

Looking distressed, Hu appeared to resist leaving as the stewards escorted him out, turning back to his seat at one point. On his way out, he exchanged words with Xi and patted Premier Li Keqiang, seated to the right of Xi, on the shoulder.

https://www.reuters.com/world/china/for ... 022-10-22/


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China’s Premier Li to Exit from the Political Stage Next Spring
by Takashi Funakoshi
October 22, 2022

Introduction:
(The Asahi Shimbun) BEIJING--Premier Li Keqiang’s name was not on a list of individuals chosen as members of the Chinese Communist Party’s Central Committee, evidence that the 67-year-old will step down next spring, further solidifying President Xi Jinping’s grip on power.

Both Li and Xi were promoted to the Central Politburo Standing Committee in 2007, but now it turns out the younger Li will be leaving the political stage before Xi.

The roster of new Central Committee members was released Oct. 22 in conjunction with the closing of the Communist Party National Congress.
The revelation means that Xi is all but assured of serving an unprecedented third term as Communist Party general secretary.

Li has championed Xi by overseeing the government administration since he became premier in 2013. But Xi apparently wants no rivals in the top leadership corps.
Read more here: https://www.asahi.com/ajw/articles/14749556
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China's Xi expands powers, promotes allies
Source: AP

By JOE McDONALD
BEIJING (AP) — President Xi Jinping, China’s most powerful leader in decades, increased his dominance Sunday when he was named to another term as head of the ruling Communist Party in a break with tradition and promoted allies who support his vision of tighter control over society and the struggling economy.

Xi, who took power in 2012, was awarded a third five-year term as general secretary, discarding a custom under which his predecessor left after 10 years. The 69-year-old leader is expected by some to try to stay in power for life.

The party also named a seven-member Standing Committee, its inner circle of power, dominated by Xi allies after Premier Li Keqiang, the No. 2 leader and an advocate of market-style reform and private enterprise, was dropped from the leadership Saturday. That was despite Li being a year younger than the party’s informal retirement age of 68.

“Power will be even more concentrated in the hands of Xi Jinping,” said Jean-Pierre Cabestan, a Chinese politics expert at Hong Kong Baptist University. The new appointees are “all loyal to Xi,” he said. “There is no counterweight or checks and balances in the system at all.”



Read more: https://apnews.com/article/xi-jinping-c ... osition_04
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