China

| CHINA

According to anonymous sources, the dissident who publicly challenged "dictator Xi Jinping" in October 2022 and inspired the "blank paper" protest against the zero-COVID policy has been tried and convicted. Human rights groups are calling on Beijing to disclose his whereabouts and provide details about his trial. The case comes ten years after the crackdown on 9 July 2015 against Chinese civil rights lawyers, which continues to this day.

by Arundathie Abeysinghe

The largest foreign investment in the history of Sri Lanka has been on hold since the start of the year. Differences between the government over local market share have stopped the Sinopec project in Hambantota. The economic recovery plan has raised fears that it will damage the country’s oil sector and energy security.

| 02/07/2025
| SRI LANKA – CHINA

On the eve of his 90th birthday, the Dalai Lama announced that the Gaden Phodrang Trust will recognise his next reincarnation. Religious tradition will thus be respected while China will be excluded from any role. However, Beijing immediately responded by claiming control over the process. This heralds a future with two Dalai Lamas and a major legitimacy crisis that could turn into a wider geopolitical confrontation.

| 02/07/2025
| CHINA – TIBET
by Vladimir Rozanskij

Gold smuggling is on the rise along the border with China as a means of earning money in one of the poorest areas of the Russian Federation. No licences are required in the People's Republic: any citizen can sell the extracted material to banks in any form, receiving more than double the price quoted in Moscow.

| 01/07/2025
| RUSSIA - CHINA

The Czech intelligence service's complaint against agents of the People's Republic of China, which denies the charges and speaks of “interference in internal affairs”. Meanwhile, today is the deadline for Chinese immigrants in Taiwan to prove that they have renounced their registration in the People's Republic. 2,237 have not yet done so, but authorities promise to ascertain their intentions before revoking benefits for residents.

| 30/06/2025
| TAIWAN - CHINA
by Vladimir Rozanskij

Kazakhstan will sign an agreement with Moscow by the end of the year for the construction of its first nuclear power plant, but it already has plans for a second one to be built together with the Chiona National Nuclear Corporation, which could be completed more quickly. And Tokaert is also leaving the door open to Western consortia for a third plant.

| 30/06/2025
| KAZAKHSTAN

The top officer’s removal from the Central Military Commission marks a new phase in the anti-corruption campaign launched by Xi Jinping in the Chinese military. Considered a trusted ally of the president, Miao was responsible for political loyalty in the military. The affair is just another in a long list of dismissals that include a couple of defence ministers and officials linked to the country's nuclear arsenal.

| 27/06/2025
| CHINA
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| 01/07/2025
| HONG KONG
 
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| 29/06/2025
| ECCLESAI IN ASIA
 
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| 20/06/2025
| VATICAN
 
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| 20/06/2025
| IRAN - AFGHANISTAN
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