According to SIPRI’s latest assessment on nuclear weapons, China will have as many as ICBMs as the United States and Russia by the turn of the decade. Meanwhile, India is no longer focusing on deterring Pakistan, but is developing long-range capability to reach targets across China.
After 12 years in the United States, a young Christian returns home, as many of his peers try to flee to the West. “From a spiritual perspective, China is like a dried-up pond,” he writes, one that “urgently needs your help.”
As the China-EU trade war escalates, Beijing slams EU "protectionism", warning that Europe's interests will be hurt. Meanwhile, for days Chinese media repeated government threats of retaliation against EU food exports to China. The EU move is not going down well in Germany, Hungary, and Sweden. For Chinese firms, duties would mean a US-billion loss.
A 55-year-old man has been taken into custody in connection with the attack, but his motives have not been disclosed. Any reference to the case has been blocked on Chinese social media. Xi Jinping is betting heavily on cultural exchanges to ease geopolitical tensions with the United States, but fewer than 900 Americans are currently studying in China against 290,000 Chinese in the United States.
The semi-official newspaper Global Times rules out a change of course by Brussels in its (strained) relationship with Beijing. Ursula Von der Leyen's re-election would mean a hard-line with Xi. Decisions over e-vehicle tariffs, with Beijing threatening retaliation, are expected in coming days.
The great German Reformed theologian, who passed away a few days ago at the age of 98, nurtured dialogue with cultural Christians in Hong Kong and Beijing. He recognised the dignity and sincerity of another theological journey in China, however controversial, unusual, and even challenged by traditional circles.
According to recent data, free-visa entry for travellers from some European and Southeast Asian countries is beginning to bear fruit with 13.1 million entries in the first quarter of 2024. In order to surpass pre-pandemic levels in 2025, the authorities are working to remove bans on foreigners in budget hotels.
A businessman has been held for four months only for demonstrating in Zhengzhou to get his savings back, Reuters reports. About 600,000 people have been caught up in the scandal. Such extended detention in China is unprecedented for this type of action, but the past two years have seen a sharp increase in economic protests.
The paper pays tribute to the victims on the 35th anniversary of the massacre. In an editorial, it cites an increasingly "restrictive" reality in which even praying may “arouse concern”. In Beijing, access to Tiananmen Square is restricted while the web is censored. Taiwan pledges to respond to "authoritarianism" with "freedom” while a rally is scheduled in the capital. Canada and the United States are set to host memorial ceremonies.
While China is systematically erasing the memory of the brutal repression of student protests on 4 June 1989, 14 prominent participants of that movement are still behind bars, rearrested for their struggle for democracy. Chinese Human Rights Defenders issued an appeal for their release. In Hong Kong there is concern for Jimmy Lai's health.
For the first time since post-COVID reopening, emissions fell in March by 3 per cent. Stabilised thanks to increased solar and wind power generation, they fell by 8 per cent in the steel industry and 22 per cent in construction. Still, several coal powered plants are in the planning stage.
A new report notes that returns from cyber scams generate an estimated at US$ 12.5 billion in a country whose GDP is below US$ 30 billion. This is keeping foreign investors away, weakening economic development. While the authorities have started to crack down, they can only go so far since many of those involved are Chinese nationals, protected by their country’s economic involvement in Cambodia.
In a video message to a conference being held in Rome at the Urbaniana University with participants from the People's Republic of China the history and present of the Church in China on the centenary of the Shanghai Council. ‘Those who follow Jesus love peace, and stand together with all those who work for peace’.
The inauguration speech of the new president, leader of the Democratic Progressive Party who will begin his term of office on 20 May, is awaited. Meanwhile, in the parliament where the Kuomintang - closer to Beijing - has a majority, the debate on a reform of the legislature with greater control over the government has degenerated into a brawl. The challenge of maintaining the status-quo in the face of China pressing for ‘reunification’.
The inauguration speech of the new president, leader of the Democratic Progressive Party who will begin his term of office on 20 May, is awaited. Meanwhile, in the parliament where the Kuomintang - closer to Beijing - has a majority, the debate on a reform of the legislature with greater control over the government has degenerated into a brawl. The challenge of maintaining the status-quo in the face of China pressing for ‘reunification’.
Bishop Pablo Virgilio David, who chairs the Bishops' Conference, calls on faithful to “accompany" the civilian supply mission promoted by the Atin Ito Coalition NGO. About 200 volunteers, 100 fishermen, and five boats evaded China’s naval blockade reaching the disputed Scarborough Shoal.
Zhang Zhan, 40, was a leading human rights advocate in Shanghai. The Christian woman was supposed to be freed today after four years in prison, but her fate remains unknown while her family has been forced into silence. Activist groups following her case fear that, as in other cases, she might be detained under a different form.
A year after his first historic visit to Beijing, the cardinal and a group of aides held meetings in local churches in Guangzhou and Shenzhen, two metropolises in southern China on, like Hong Kong, the Pearl River Delta. He also encouraged meetings among the laity to feel “that we belong to one family”.
Not even pro-Beijing trade unions are marching for workers' rights fearing “unrest”. All the attention is on mainland tourists, for whom the city (weather permitting) will launch a new cycle of fireworks displays at the port with an unprecedented budget.
The Christian lawyer turned 60 on 20 April, but Chinese authorities have refused to provide any information about his fate. Repeated appeals from his wife, human rights NGOs, and UN agencies have been ignored. He is among the many victims of enforced disappearances by China’s communist regime.
The capital’s biennial car show opened yesterday until May, underscoring China’s dominant role in the EV market. In Europe, EU authorities want to stop it, but Chinese vehicles are ready to take on European markets. With competition fiercer as ever, most manufacturers are losing in the price war.
The island is covered by more than 760 statues dedicated to the late leader, from public places to military academies (where he is honoured). For critics, their removal is an attempt to "erase" the past and ties with the mainland. But Chiang’s legacy is tainted by the massacres in several incidents that have never been explored in depth by historians. Meanwhile, his great-grandson Chiang Wan-an, as mayor of the capital, is looking for ways to become a future president.
Manasseh Sogavare and his party took 12 seats. Although six have not yet been called, the ruling party will not have a majority. Other parties want to reduce Beijing's influence. Tensions rose during the campaign, with clashes between rival villages. Negotiations for the next government could take weeks.
Not only Gaza and the war in Ukraine: the global arms race is also driven by Chinese pressure on Taiwan.. The 6.8% growth represents "the highest year-on-year growth since 2009". China, Russia, India and Saudi Arabia among the world's top five with the United States. Beijing's investments are affecting the other Asia-Pacific nations, especially Japan and Taiwan. Israel recorded an increase of 24%.
Developed by the Beijing Institute for General Artificial Intelligence, the humanoid has a "mental and value system” of “a 3- or 4-year-old girl" but could “grow" quickly with experience. Set to debut in a few days at the Zhongguancun Forum, her ability to relate to people is described as her strong point. She could play a role in seniors' care, an increasingly important issue in tomorrow’s China.
Chinese Human Rights Defenders released a report detailing the stories of children and young people victims of human rights violations, like He Fengmei's daughter, who was separated from her mother a month after her birth and kept in a psychiatric hospital in Henan. In another case, a boy is rejected by schools because his lawyer father defends activists. In Xinjiang children are placed in boarding schools as "orphans" to uproot them from their families.
An Evangelical NGO, ChinaAid, reports that a Chinese Christian who tried to use an automatic online translator to read information about the Protestant Reformation was flashed an ominous warning from China’s Internet agency that every “religion must adapt to Chinese socialist society.” China’s repression against house churches not compliant to the patriotic movement face digital scrutiny.
The Archbishop of Hyderabad looks at the media reaction to the declaration released by the Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith on human dignity. The media are “focused on gender theory, sex change, surrogacy etc., but” people who “struggle with poverty, exploitation, discrimination, lack of access to primary healthcare” cannot leave others indifferent.
Pictures, images, and activities that undermine national unity or promote a "separatist ideology" are banned. The Chinese government has long sought to control the choice of Tibet’s next spiritual leader. For his part, 88-year-old Tenzin Gyatso says he is in good health and wants to “live for more than 100 years.” Meanwhile, the fate of the Panchen Lama remains an unsolved mystery.
Founder of a Chinese propaganda website. Meanwhile, the Czech Republic is considering expelling a Chinese diplomat for following Taiwanese Vice President-elect Hsiao Bi-khim during her visit to Prague in March.
