As the system emerges from the Covid trauma and India shifts its sights to long-term targets, attention must turn to the underlying weaknesses that may scupper ambitious aspirations, writes T N Ninan
China has opened its borders to international students recently but the current political situation has impacted the admission rates in Chinese universities negatively
'Xi is actually more worried that a relaxed policy will lead to more deaths among the elderly'
Beijing says it won't set up gates to block access to Covid-hit compounds anymore
Wall Street is heading lower ahead of Monday's opening bell amid widespread protests in China calling for Xi Jinping to step down and an end to one-party rule. Futures for the Dow Jones industrials fell 0.5 per cent and the S and P slipped 0.7 per cent. Crude prices neared a low point for the year partially due to unrest in China, and have fallen for three consecutive weeks. Crude prices are now negative for 2022 and, after soaring above USD 120 in June, a barrel of benchmark US crude can now be had for less than USD 74 per barrel. The upheaval in China is the greatest show of public dissent against the ruling Communist Party in decades. Protestors are railing against policies aimed at eradicating the coronavirus by isolating every case, a policy that may have contributed to the death toll in an apartment fire in Urumqi in the northwestern Xinjiang region. For investors, when it comes to China, trying to predict with any degree the reopening certainty that has no certainty, basis,
Protests against Chinese government's strict Covid measures have intensified with people taking to the streets against President Xi Jinping's harsh zero-Covid policy
China's rare public protests opposing stringent Covid lockdowns turned political on Sunday with protestors shouting slogans against President Xi Jinping and the ruling Communist Party
Chinese President Xi Jinping and his Cuban counterpart pledged mutual support over their fellow communist states' core interests Friday at a meeting further hailing a return to face-to-face diplomacy by Beijing. In comments to Miguel Diaz-Canel Bermudez, Xi said China hoped to strengthen coordination and cooperation in international and regional affairs with Cuba. The two will go hand in hand down the road of building socialism with each's own characteristics," Xi was quoted as saying in a Chinese government news release. China generally defines core interests as the defence of its economic and political development aims, along with control over territory it claims, especially self-governing Taiwan. No specific issues or other countries were mentioned in the Chinese government news release. Diaz-Canel's visit is a further sign of how China is trying to jump-start its in-person diplomacy after a virtual shutdown of such exchanges during the pandemic. Xi, who is also the leader of t
JD's decision came a few days after Chinese President Xi Jinping reiterated "common focus" as the government's aim
Days before the meeting between Xi Jinping and Joe Biden at the G20 Summit in Indonesia, a Chinese delegation of policy advisors and business executives met with their US counterparts in New York
Chinese President Xi Jinping's conversation with Canadian PM Justin Trudeau went viral and his meeting with UK Prime Minister Rishi Sunak was cancelled
India takes on the presidency at a crucial juncture, and the definitions of "success" for the Indian presidency just got updated
US Vice President Kamala Harris spoke briefly with Chinese leader Xi Jinping on Saturday in another step toward keeping lines of communication open between the two biggest economies. Harris and Xi exchanged remarks Saturday while heading into a closed-door meeting at the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation forum's summit in Bangkok. I greeted President Xi before the APEC Leaders Retreat, Harris wrote on Twitter. I noted a key message that President Biden emphasised in his November 14 meeting with President Xi: we must maintain open lines of communication to responsibly manage the competition between our countries. Their exchange closely echoed Biden's comment to Xi at an meeting between the two leaders earlier in the week about China and the US keeping lines of communication open. A brief statement from China's Foreign Ministry also referenced the Biden-Xi meeting at the Group of 20 summit in Bali, Indonesia, which it described as strategic and constructive with major significance in
China and US relations whose relations were not on good terms ever since House Speaker Nancy Pelosi visited Taiwan in August, but now Xi is trying to change China's relationship with America.
Chinese President Xi Jinping has used his first face-to-face meetings with America's Asia-Pacific allies since 2020 to try to forge diplomatic inroads as Washington pushes back against Beijing's influence in the region. Xi has not backed away from China's longstanding claims to Taiwan and most of the South China Sea. But his comments to various leaders at the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation forum in Bangkok this week have focused more on Beijing's pivotal economic role for its neighbours. As China's stature has risen, its diplomacy has grown more nuanced than the high-handed approach that has sometimes sparked resentment in the past. Xi Jinping's diplomatic engagements and the supporting chorus of propaganda messages have sought to put forward a softer, smiling facade in what appears to be an effort to reduce friction and tensions, particularly with the U.S. and European countries that have become increasingly critical, frustrated and committed to competing with China, said Drew .
Chinese authorities faced more public anger Thursday after a second child's death was blamed on overzealous anti-virus enforcement, adding to frustration at controls that are confining millions of people to their homes and sparked fights with health workers. The 4-month-old girl died after suffering vomiting and diarrhea while in quarantine at a hotel in the central city of Zhengzhou, according to news reports and social media posts. They said it took her father 11 hours to get help after emergency services balked at dealing with them and she finally was sent to a hospital 100 kilometers (60 miles) away. The death came after the ruling Communist Party promised this month that people in quarantine wouldn't be blocked from getting emergency help following an outcry over a 3-year-old boy's death from carbon monoxide in the northwest. His father blamed health workers in the city of Lanzhou, who he said tried to stop him from taking his son to a hospital. Internet users expressed anger a
Chinese President Xi Jinping chastised Prime Minister Justin Trudeau at the G-20 summit on Wednesday for leaking details of a prior meeting during which Trudeau expressed concern about Chinese interference in domestic affairs. The two had a brief encounter at an event in Indonesia that news outlets were able to record. A television camera was behind a Chinese interpreter in clear view as the two spoke. Everything we discussed has been leaked to the paper; that's not appropriate, Xi told Trudeau through the interpreter. And that's not ... the way the conversation was conducted, if there is sincerity on your part, Xi said, at which point Trudeau interrupted and stepped toward Xi. In Canada, we believe in free and open and frank dialogue and that is what we will continue to have," Trudeau said. "We will continue to look to work constructively together, but there will be things we will disagree on. Xi looked around as Trudeau replied. Let's create the conditions first, Xi responded
India's presidency must make G20 more relevant
PM Modi took over the "key" from Indonesian president Joko Widodo, India will officially assume the presidency of G20 on December 1
Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Chinese President Xi Jinping shook hands Tuesday at a side event at the G20 Summit here, a gesture drawing some attention because of the strained relations between the two countries over a border clash two years back. A live video feed for the media from the welcome dinner hosted by Indonesian President Joko Widodo for G20 delegates showed the exchange between the two leaders. There had been some speculation over a possible bilateral meeting between the two leaders on the margins of the Group of 20 Summit, which began Tuesday. But the agenda made known by both sides so far does not slot such a meeting. In September, Prime Minister Modi and President Xi came face-to-face at the annual summit of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) in Uzbek city of Samarkand for the first time since the start of the border standoff in eastern Ladakh. There was no report of a handshake or exchange of pleasantries between Modi and Xi at that time.