Page 22 - Xi Jinping

China to kick off long-awaited $138 bn stimulus bond issues this week

Market participants have been waiting for weeks for details of the issuance pipeline of these special treasury bonds

Hungary, China sign strategic cooperation agreement during Xi's visit

Hungary and China signed a number of new agreements on Thursday to deepen their economic and cultural cooperation during a visit to the Central European country by Chinese President Xi Jinping, a trip meant to solidify China's economic footprint in the region. Xi and Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbn held talks in the capital Budapest as part of the Chinese leader's final stop on a five-day European tour that also took in Serbia and France. During a press briefing following the talks, Orbn praised the continuous, uninterrupted friendship between the two countries since his tenure began in 2010, and promised that Hungary would continue to host further Chinese investments. I would like to assure the president that Hungary will continue to provide fair conditions for Chinese companies investing in our country, and that we will create the opportunity for the most modern Western and the most modern Eastern technologies to meet and build cooperation in Hungary, Orbn said. Beijing has .

Xi's balancing act

China tests EU cohesion on Ukraine and trade

Xi Jinping arrives in Hungary for talks on expanding Chinese investments

Chinese President Xi Jinping arrived in Hungary late Wednesday, the final stop on his five-day European tour, where he's expected to finalize a number of agreements with Prime Minister Viktor Orbn that will deepen China's economic footprint in the region. Xi is set to spend two nights in the Hungarian capital Budapest where he will meet with Orbn and Hungarian President Tams Sulyok. Talks will center on future Chinese investments in the Central European country, which has courted deep economic ties with Beijing even as mainstream European leaders have pursued more protectionist policies to limit its reach on the continent. Orbn, a nationalist populist whose illiberal policies have pushed him to the fringes of the European Union, made his country the first in the 27-member bloc to participate in Xi's signature Belt and Road Initiative. Hungary has straddled a middle ground between its membership in the EU and NATO and a willingness to establish diplomatic and trade relationships with

Chinese President appoints senior diplomat Feihong as new envoy to India

Chinese President Xi Jinping has appointed senior diplomat Xu Feihong as the new Ambassador to India after an unusually long delay of 18 months amid frozen relations between the two countries over the eastern Ladakh military standoff. While there is no official announcement here yet, the Chinese Foreign Ministry has confirmed to PTI that Xu, former Ambassador to Afghanistan and Romania, has been appointed as China's new envoy in India. Xu, 60, is expected to travel to New Delhi soon to take over his new posting. He will succeed veteran Chinese diplomat Sun Weidong who completed his tenure in India in October 2022. Sun, who was China's envoy to Pakistan before his India stint, is currently the Vice Foreign Minister overseeing China's South Asia policy. Xu's appointment which coincides with the ongoing general elections in India comes amid protracted military and diplomatic negotiations between Beijing and New Delhi to resolve the prolonged military standoff. Relations between the

Help us avoid a 'new Cold War': China's Xi Jinping to France's Macron

Xi is in Paris on a state visit before heading to Serbia and Hungary in his first trip to the bloc in five years

Macron prioritises trade, Ukraine as Jinping opens European tour in France

French President Emmanuel Macron will seek to press China's Xi Jinping to use his influence to move Russia toward ending the war in Ukraine during a two-day state visit to France. Both leaders were also expected to discuss trade disputes over electric cars, cognac and cosmetics. Macron's office said talks about diplomatic efforts to support Ukraine and put pressure on Russia are a top priority for France. Discussions will also include the Middle East, trade issues and global challenges including climate change. The European Commission president will join part of the meetings to raise broader EU concerns. France is the first stop on a European trip by Xi aimed at rebuilding relations at a time of global tensions. After France on Monday and Tuesday, the Chinese leader will head to Serbia and Hungary. France hopes discussions will help convince China to use its leverage with Moscow to "contribute to a resolution of the conflict" in Ukraine, according to a French presidential official.

Jinping arrives in Europe to reinvigorate ties at time of global tensions

Chinese President Xi Jinping kicked off a three-country trip to Europe on Sunday with the continent divided over how to deal with Beijing's growing power and the US-China rivalry. European carmakers are losing ground to subsidised Chinese electric vehicles. Diplomats fret about alleged Chinese spies in European capitals. And China's continued defence trade with Russia worries anyone in Europe who supports war-ravaged Ukraine and fears that the Russian army won't stop there. But Europe and China have hefty economic ties EU-China trade is estimated at 2.3 billion euros per day and Xi appears determined to rebuild and deepen relations with European leaders after a prolonged absence prompted by the COVID-19 pandemic. Xi starts Sunday in France, whose president wants Europe to have more economic and strategic independence from other world powers. Then the Chinese president heads to Serbia and Hungary, both seen as China-friendly and close to Russian President Vladimir Putin, and ...

Russia's Putin plans to meet Xi in China days after his new term begins

Putin last month said he was planning to visit China in May, though he didn't specify the exact dates

As Xi Jinping visits Europe, Ukraine, trade likely to be top priority

Ukraine, trade and investment are expected to dominate Chinese leader Xi Jinping's first trip to Europe in five years, as the Asian giant rebuilds its foreign relations after a prolonged absence during the Covid-19 pandemic. Xi will start the tour in Paris on Monday, meeting with French President Emmanuel Macron, who has been stressing the idea of European strategic autonomy from the U.S. On a visit to Beijing last year, Macron courted controversy by saying France would not necessarily always align with the US in foreign policy, an apparent reference to American support for the self-governing republic of Taiwan, which China claims as its own territory to be annexed by force if necessary. After leaving France, Xi will visit Hungary and Serbia, both seen as China-friendly and close to Russian President Vladimir Putin, rebuffing Western criticism of his full-scale invasion of Ukraine. Xi's European visits will be closely followed in Washington for signs of diminishing support for its k

China, Russia should clarify nuclear weapons are not controlled by AI: US

As part of normalising military communications, US and Chinese officials resumed nuclear weapons discussions in January, but formal arms control negotiations are not expected any time soon

China vows reforms at long delayed party conclave amid challenging economy

The central committee typically holds seven plenums between party congresses, which are held once every five years

China's top Covid-19 vaccine scientist expelled from Parliament for graft

China's top scientist, who developed the first inactivated COVID-19 vaccine at the height of the pandemic in the country in 2020, has been dismissed from Parliament for alleged corruption. Yang Xiaoming, the chairman of China National Pharmaceutical Group's vaccine subsidiary China National Biotec Group (CNBG), has been stripped of his membership in the National People's Congress (NPC) due to serious discipline and law violations, official media reported here on Monday. The charge of serious discipline and law violations is a common euphemism for corruption under the ruling Communist Party of China (CPC) disciplinary practice. Yang, 62, is a veteran researcher who headed the CNBG - a vaccine subsidiary of state-owned Sinopharm - and led a team that developed Sinopharm's BBIBP-CorV vaccine, China's first coronavirus shot approved for general use. Coronavirus first surfaced in the Chinese city of Wuhan in March 2020 and later spread to the world, becoming the pandemic of the century

Xi Jinping meets Antony Blinken, seeks US-China partnership over rivalry

Xi Jinping noted some progress since his meeting with US President Joe Biden, but stressed on continued efforts and addressing outstanding concerns

Putin announces plan to visit China in May, his first trip after poll win

Russian President Vladimir Putin said on Thursday he plans to visit China in May, in what could become the first foreign trip for the Russian leader after he extended his rule by six more years in an election that offered voters little real choice. Putin announced the plans for the visit at a congress of the Russian Union of Industrialists and Entrepreneurs in Moscow. He didn't say when exactly it would take place and didn't offer any other details. Putin's inauguration is scheduled for May 7, Russian lawmakers said earlier this week. Last month, the 71-year-old Russian leader secured his fifth term in office in a vote with no real opposition, extending his 24-year rule. Russia's growing economic and diplomatic isolation because of its war against Ukraine has made it increasingly reliant on China, its former rival for leadership of the Communist bloc during the Cold War. According to a recent US assessment, China has surged sales to Russia of machine tools, microelectronics and oth

A third of China's city dwellers face danger of land sinking, says study

About a third of China's urban population is estimated to be at risk due to land subsidence, shows a new finding which researchers said is indicative of a global phenomenon. China's urban area below the sea level could triple by 2120, potentially affecting 55 to 128 million residents, it found. Using satellite data, the research team studied 82 cities, including Shanghai and Beijing, with a collective population of nearly 700 million people. The team, including researchers from the University of East Anglia, UK, found that 45 per cent of the urban land area analysed was sinking, with 16 per cent sinking at the rate of 10 millimetres a year. Hotspots included Beijing and the coastal city of Tianjin, they said. The study estimated that 270 million urban residents could be affected, with nearly 70 million experiencing rapid subsidence of 10 millimetres a year or more. The findings are published in the journal 'Science'. Caused mainly by human activities in cities, land sinking can a

Prez Xi launches Information Support Force, a new wing of Chinese military

Chinese President Xi Jinping on Friday launched an Information Support Force, a new wing of the People's Liberation Army, which he said will be a strategic branch, a key pillar and a vital power in modern warfare for the world's largest military. Xi, 71, who also heads the Central Military Commission (CMC), the overall high command of the Chinese military, besides heading the ruling Communist Party of China (CPC) and the Presidency, said that the establishment of the Information Support Force (ISF) is a major decision made by the CPC and the CMC in light of the overall need of building a strong military. The Information Support Force (ISF) was regarded as the revised version of the PLA's Strategic Support Force (SSF), established in 2015 by the Chinese military to deal with space, cyber, political and electronic warfare to fight what was described as "informationised wars". The leadership and structures of the PLA Space Force and the PLA Cyberspace Force have been rearranged ...

Hong Kong must hold national security line to ensure development: China

Hong Kong in March enacted a new national security law, also known as article 23, that updates or introduces new laws to prohibit treason, sabotage, sedition

Janet Yellen likely to reiterate warnings over China's manufacturing power

With its dominant voice in all of those forums, the US is expected to try to align other countries across Europe, Asia and Latin America to voice concerns over China's output and exports

China's strongman party

The author was one of the journalists who has been at the receiving end of Xi Jinping's tightening control over media