China

The blogger who reported on the Wuhan pandemic - sentenced two months ago to another four years in prison - has been taken to a new detention centre for ‘education’ sessions. Meanwhile, the former abbot of Shaolin Temple, who fell from grace in July for being too ‘independent’, has now been sent to prison on charges of corruption.

A meeting in Beijing between senior officials from the two foreign ministries failed to solve the heated dispute. The number of tourist cancellations over the weekend reaches early COVID-19 levels. Beijing is also putting pressure on Chinese students, who, faced with visa difficulties in the United States, increasingly opted for Japanese universities.

In prison for a year along with a local shop owner, the former "official" head of a diocese in Zhejiang province has denied corruption charges, maintaining that he acted as a priest. Pressure has ben put on Catholics who wanted to be in court to support him. Some argue that his real 'fault' lies in a pilgrimage to Rome or the failure to support the nomination of a bishop imposed by the Communist Party.

A new, large-scale mining facility, 75 per cent owned by Chinese companies, began operations this week in the hills of southern Guinea. It is expected to have a major impact on the global mining industry, not least because of the quality of the extracted material, which is more suitable for low-carbon steel production.

From a niche hobby introduced by Japan, the trend of dressing up as comic book characters or historical figures from ancient times continues to grow among young people in China, fuelling a market that is now worth over $12 billion. The local variant of “Hanfu” is spreading Chinese national identity among Generation Z.

On the eve of the climate summit, China unveiled its goals for the environmental transition, including a 7-10 per cent reduction in greenhouse gas emissions by 2035 and a further acceleration in the development of renewable energy, a sector in which it is already the global leader. Experts warn that this is still too little to achieve the goals set out in the Paris Agreement.

Over the past five years, Chinese loans and deposits in renminbi abroad have quadrupled, while CIPS (Beijing's alternative to SWIFT) is growing in Central Asia, the Middle East, and other strategic areas. But the plan remains China-centric, because to truly rely on a global currency, Beijing would have to give up control over capital flows, a choice Xi Jinping believes is incompatible with internal stability.

Beijing's business interests in the region – which have grown exponentially with the war in Ukraine – now exceed $90 billion, twice that of Moscow. China supports trade with the conviction that improving living standards can avert any danger of conflict, as seen with the border agreements between Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan

Vatican News remembers the courageous, Hebei-born underground bishop, who died a few days ago at the age of 90. His funeral was carried out under restrictions imposed by the authorities in Jinzhou. As many episcopal sees lay vacant, Fr Dong reappears. Bishop Jia had designated the self-appointed bishop (without Rome's consent) as excommunicated for his disobedience.

Chinese language teaching is increasingly about memorising and repeating sounds and signs, without the meditative beauty that underlies the language. Pronunciation is not a relevant variable in a codified system of linguistic levels since listening is more important. In the efforts to make Chinese "easier to learn" along the New Silk Road, the fine line between culture and propaganda, between ancient Chinese wisdom and sinicisation, is blurred.

Reports from the Busan summit are only about trade deals. While the trial of Lee Cheuk-yan and Chow Hang-tung (imprisoned for more than 1,500 days for Tiananmen vigils) is further postponed in Hong Kong, another independent newspaper is closing in Macau, and Radio Free Asia has come to a complete halt, stifled by cuts in US government funding. Is there still room for the fight for freedom in the era of transactional negotiations?

Informal employment is exploding in North Korea because of a drop in orders from China and lower wages. Tensions are also rising among the workers Kim supplies to China, fuelled by ever-increasing deductions from their wages to ensure revenue for the North Korean regime. Meanwhile, Russia has become North Korea’s new El Dorado, at a cost of extensive linguistic and cultural isolation for workers.