After spell on sidelines, China looks to pull rug from under NATO in talks between Ukraine and Ukraine
Beijing’s latest move on the global diplomatic stage comes as President Xi Jinping grapples with a host of internal issues, including the unexplained replacement last month of Qin Gang as foreign minister, the abrupt replacement of the top brass at the People’s Liberation Army Rocket Force and deepening woes for the world’s second-biggest economy.
Proximal Origin: The goal of this paper ‘was not to discover origin of Covid, but to supress the lab leak theory’
Throughout the process, the report states, “the authors of Proximal Origin were keenly aware of the influence of Dr Fauci, Dr Collins and Dr Farrar,” with drafts of the paper shared with the three officials – sometimes referred to in emails as the “Bethesda Boys” – on several occasions in early February 2020.
Indeed, the report states that Farrar would “push” for the publication of “Proximal Origin” in Nature Medicine later in February 2020, while Andersen testified that Farrar was the “father figure” of the paper.
US House Committee Report finds top US health official and ‘Bethesda Boys’ colluded to suppress Covid lab-leak theory
According to the US House of Representatives Select Subcommittee report, the “Proximal Origin” paper was used to “downplay the lab-leak hypothesis” and label as “conspiracy theorists” anyone who suggested the virus may have leaked from a lab. The report indicated Fauci and Collins were personally involved in the conceptualisation, drafting and publication of the paper.
After short-lived insurrection in Russia oil prices are firming up as stocks market remains wobbly
Analysts at RBC Capital Markets said one concern was the possibility of martial law in Russia and its effect on the workforce at ports and production facilities. US Secretary of State Antony Blinken said the turmoil in Russia could take months to play out, while Italy’s foreign minister said it had shattered the “myth” of Russian unity.
China’s President Xi Jinping pitches for ‘sound and steady China-US relations’ after meeting US Foreign Secretary Blinken
China has refused to entertain Washington’s bid to resume military-to-military communication channels, citing US sanctions as the obstacle. The two sides appeared entrenched in their positions over everything from Taiwan to trade, including US actions toward China’s chip industry, human rights and Russia’s war against Ukraine.
US foreign secretary Antony Blinken flies to Beijing in effort to sensibly manage tenuous US-PRC relations
In its readout of the Blinken-Qin phone call, China’s foreign ministry said Qin urged the United States to respect “China’s core concerns” such as the issue of Taiwan’s self-rule, “stop interfering in China’s internal affairs, and stop harming China’s sovereignty, security and development interests in the name of competition.”
Trap or collaboration? Fears rise globally about growing Chinese influence in Africa’s security sector
Technical disciplines within the Chinese police system are taught within the larger context of China’s political system. The CCP’s definition of terrorism, for example, derives in part from weiwen. This includes curbing anti-government uprisings and what the CCP calls the “three evils” (san gu shili: terrorism, “splitism” or separatism and religious extremism. This approach, in turn, informs China’s international counterterrorism partnerships.
China’s teetering economic recovery unleashes hordes of hawkers on streets as low wages bite
For decades, street stalls and hawkers – common elsewhere in Asia – have been banned or tightly regulated in many Chinese cities, with authorities seeing them as unsightly. There are signs, however, that local governments are giving hawkers more leeway, a trend expected to continue.
Chaina says Ukraine war raises urgency for unconventional warfare to repulse US threat
Despite the hundreds of billions of dollars poured into defence spending, China’s armed forces do not have much recent experience in a hot war, with its last – and brief – military conflict in 1979 with Vietnam. The ability to win is needed to maintain national security, Wang wrote.
China court sentences US citizen to life in prison for espionage, without specifying offence
The sentencing comes amid growing tensions between China and the US on a number of fronts, from accusations of Chinese spying and human rights abuses, to US efforts to build up military alliances to curb China’s ambitions toward Taiwan and in the Pacific.
