Sunak in China row over Confucius Institute U-turn May 18, 2023 Downing Street has refused to elaborate on Rishi Sunak’s decision not to ban controversial Confucius Institutes from operating in the UK. The Prime Minister previously pledged during his leadership bid to bar the 30 Beijing-linked organisations from running on UK soil. Confucius institutes are Chinese cultural and language outposts. But he has now walked back [...]
China sends warships and jets towards Taiwan April 8, 2023 China has sent warships and dozens of fighter jets towards Taiwan, the island’s government said. The move came in retaliation for a meeting between the US House of Representatives speaker and the president of the self-ruled island democracy claimed by Beijing as part of its territory. The Chinese military announced the start of three-day “combat [...]
Ed Warner: Is China about to bring Russia and its athletes in from the sporting cold? March 30, 2023 The war in Ukraine doesn’t look like ending any time soon. Just as Russia is recalibrating its geopolitical and industrial relations, so the prospect of a conflict stretching years into the future will necessitate a realignment of its place in the sporting world. Asia’s warmth towards the Kremlin points a way back into the international [...]
‘No limits friendship’: Why is China premier Xi in Moscow – and can he help end Russia’s war in Ukraine? March 20, 2023 Chinese leader Xi Jinping has arrived in Moscow on a three-day visit that shows off Beijing’s new diplomatic swagger and offers a welcome political lift for Russian President Vladimir Putin as the fighting in Ukraine slows to a grinding war of attrition. China and Russia have described Mr Xi’s trip as part of efforts to [...]
China ‘withheld information’ about coronavirus in outbreak of pandemic January 26, 2021 China “withheld crucial information” about coronavirus from the World Health Organisation (WHO) in the early days of the pandemic, according to leaked audio recordings. George Gao, director of the Chinese Centre for Disease Control and Prevention, held vital information about the novel virus for almost two weeks before China announced Covid-19’s genomic sequence, according to [...]
Xi Jinping warns against ‘new Cold War’ January 25, 2021 Chinese President Xi Jinping has warned against stoking a “new Cold War”, after Beijing and Washington last week launched tit-for-tat sanctions on each other’s top officials. Speaking at this year’s Digital Davos, Xi attacked both former US President Donald Trump and his White House successor, Joe Biden, warning that confrontation “will always end up harming [...]