Tag: china

China’s economy rebounds after zero-Covid scrapped

by Sébastien RICCI Agence France-Presse BEIJING, China (AFP) — China’s economy grew much better than expected in the first three months of the year as the country reopened after the end of zero-Covid measures, official data showed Tuesday. The figures were the first snapshot since 2019 of the world’s second-largest economy unencumbered by the strict health controls that helped keep the coronavirus in check but battered businesses and supply chains. After years of travel restrictions […]

Fire in Beijing hospital kills 21, newspaper says

(AFP) A fire in a Beijing hospital has killed 21 people, the state-run Beijing Daily said on Tuesday. Emergency response teams first received word just before 1 pm (0500 GMT) that a fire had broken out at the Beijing Changfeng Hospital in the capital city’s Fengtai District, the Beijing Daily report said. The fire was extinguished about half an hour later and rescue efforts continued for about another two hours, by which time a total […]

Electric vehicles are key battleground at Shanghai Auto Show

Shanghai, China | AFP | Tuesday 4/18/2023 China was the road to the future for foreign brands at the Shanghai Auto Show on Tuesday who are racing to catch up with Chinese competitors in the crucial electric vehicle market. EVs now make up one out of four car sales in China, the world’s largest car market, and dozens of new models from domestic and Western brands were unveiled at the first auto show since the […]

China says ‘political manipulation’ behind US arrests

Beijing, China | AFP | Tuesday 4/18/2023 China said on Tuesday that “political manipulation” was behind the arrests of two men the United States accused of setting up an unauthorised Chinese police station in New York. Authorities in the city also charged dozens of Chinese security officials over a campaign to monitor and harass US-based dissidents. “China firmly opposes the US side’s slandering, smearing, engaging in political manipulation, and maliciously concocting the so-called transnational repression […]

Philippines ex-foreign minister who stood up to China dies at 83

Manila, Philippines | AFP | Tuesday 4/18/2023 Albert del Rosario, the Philippines’ former foreign minister who stood up to Beijing in the South China Sea, has died at the age of 83, Manila said Tuesday. Del Rosario, who served under Philippine president Benigno Aquino from 2011 to 2016, died while en route to the United States, the Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) said in a statement that did not specify the cause of death. Born […]

China allegedly gave Australian a spying ‘shopping list’

Sydney, Australia | AFP | Monday 4/17/2023 by Steven TRASK Chinese spies allegedly gave a “well-connected” Australian businessman cash-filled envelopes in exchange for handwritten reports about lithium mining and the AUKUS security pact, a Sydney court was told Monday. Australian police allege that Alexander Csergo sold information to two Chinese spies known as “Ken” and “Evelyn” while he worked in Shanghai as a marketing executive. The 55-year-old — who has spent more than two decades […]

‘I am Taiwanese’: China threat toughens island’s identity

TAIPEI, Taiwan (AFP) — At a barbed-wire museum where political prisoners were once held, visitors lauded Taiwan’s modern-day democracy shaped by its own national identity on the island across from authoritarian China. Taipei’s Jing-Mei White Terror Memorial Park is a stark reminder of the island’s history as a one-party state under the Kuomintang nationalists who fled to Taiwan at the end of the Chinese Civil War in 1949. Secretive courts tried those accused of assisting […]

US says naval destroyer sailed through Taiwan Strait

The United States has sent a naval warship through the Taiwan Strait in a “freedom of navigation” operation days after China staged massive war games around the self-ruled island. The USS Milius guided-missile destroyer “conducted a routine Taiwan Strait transit” on Sunday, the US Navy said, in the first US operation in the waters separating Taiwan from mainland China since January. Beijing launched three days of military exercises around Taiwan on April 8 in which […]

China rocket launch sends debris into sea near Taiwan: Taipei authorities

Taipei, Taiwan | AFP | Sunday 4/16/2023 China said Sunday it had launched a satellite into orbit, with authorities in Taiwan saying rocket debris had fallen into the sea where Beijing announced a no-sail zone this week. Maritime authorities in China’s eastern Fujian province this week banned ships from an area north of Taiwan from 9:00 am (0100 GMT) to 3:00 pm (0700 GMT) on Sunday due to “possible falling rocket wreckage”. Taiwan’s transport ministry […]

Lula says US should stop ‘encouraging’ war in Ukraine

Beijing, China | AFP | Saturday 4/15/2023  Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva said Saturday that the United States should stop “encouraging war” in Ukraine “and start talking about peace”. “The United States needs to stop encouraging war and start talking about peace, the European Union needs to start talking about peace,” Lula told reporters in Beijing at the end of a visit where he met with President Xi Jinping. In that way, the […]

‘Flash drought’ frequency increasing due to climate change: study

by Lucie AUBOURG Agence France-Presse WASHINGTON, United States (AFP) — Dry-spells known as flash droughts, with a surprisingly rapid onset and often devastating impact, are becoming more frequent as human activity warms the planet, according to a study published Thursday. Though droughts are generally thought of as long-term phenomena, some can occur quite suddenly, in a matter of weeks, when the conditions are right. Global warming is a recipe for increasing those special conditions around […]

China to ban ships from area near Taiwan due to ‘falling rocket wreckage’

by Matthew WALSH China will ban ships from entering an area north of Taiwan on Sunday due to “possible falling rocket wreckage”, a provincial maritime authority said, days after Beijing conducted large-scale military drills around the self-ruled island. The area around 160 kilometres (100 miles) from the Taiwanese capital, Taipei, will be closed from 9:00 am (0100 GMT) to 3:00 pm (0700 GMT), the maritime safety administration of China’s eastern Fujian province said Thursday. It […]