In Shanxi, a court president illegally keeps three Protestant leaders in prison without trial. But the law can also be used to show that religious freedom conforms with the law, this according to Feng Xuewei, a legal expert who worked on China’s entry in the WTO.
The editor-in-chief of AsiaNews recounts his trip back to the Chinese capital, which he had to forcibly leave in 2011 when his visa was cancelled in one of the moments of friction between China and the Holy See. The tale of "a great modern metropolis which, like it or not, shares the uncertainty of a generation struggling to survive with many other cities in the world. A social and existential emergency that transcends the boundaries of political systems and ideologies".
For years, China has been focusing on “minor” sports to get as many gold medals as possible. In Tokyo it won 38 against 39 for the United States. Most successes came in only six sports and mainly by women. This strategy is still pursued today in a highly centralised system with doping casting its long shadow.
The government plans to raise the retirement age to 65 by 2045. But China’s pension system is already not working. While white collar employees and civil servants benefit from social security coverage, rural migrants in the cities are subjected to various forms of discrimination. Young people are also concerned about high levels of unemployment.
After the first forced repatriation by plane, the issue also entered the TV debate between Trump and Biden. The post-Covid economic crisis the main reason. Routes also to Italy via Serbia, with worrying contours of modern slavery.
The Centre for Research on Multinational Corporations and the China Labour Bulletin release a report that highlights the latest trends involving Chinese labour. The China Labour Bulletin has monitored labour actions across the country since 2011. In 2023, protests over non-payment of wages and factory closures jumped tenfold over the previous year. Several factors are at play, like higher labour costs, the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, and the trade wars between China and the West.
After Covid-19, the phenomenon of 'counter-urbanisation' is growing in China, with new resources and talents moving from the cities to rural areas to set up businesses. With a positive economic impact, but not without difficulties in relations between the "newcomers" and the native communities in the villages.
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.”
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.
In the “Hong Kong 47” trial, the Court convicts defendants accused of organising primaries in 2020 ahead of elections to the local legislature to win a majority that could vote against then Beijing-appointed Chief Executive Carrie Lam’s budget. Scores of people are in jail for this "crime". Meanwhile, Jimmy Lai’s trial is still underway, but the verdict is a foregone conclusion.
AsiaNews’s editorial director looks at the conferences that marked a hundred years since the Council of Shanghai. While acknowledging past mistakes, he insists that most missionaries were committed to the good of the Chinese people. The nationalism of the European powers of that time cannot be used to hide China’s nationalism today. When will a Second Chinese Council, free from political interference, be able to speak about the challenges of evangelisation in this land?
Cranes and excavators are back at work after they were halted in June 2020 following local opposition and academic criticism, social media in China report. Ostensibly, the goal is to modernise rural life by merging a fifth of 70,000 villages, forcing people into new neighbourhoods on the outskirts of medium-sized cities. Anyone who fails to comply can expect violence.
A journey of 10,000 kilometres extolled by Beijing as an opportunity for development (and revenge on Italy's exit from the Belt and Road Initiative). But cotton and tomatoes from Xinjang are at the heart of the ‘policy of poverty alleviation through the transfer of labour’, which according to numerous reports is a form of forced labour.
Former Foreign Minister Jeremiah Manele will be the new prime minister. Analysts expect him to adopt a less confrontational approach despite ties to China. Pacific nations are torn between loyalty to their Western partners and agreements (especially on security) with China.
Four people have been arrested recently in Germany, including a close aide to a leading member of the Alternative für Deutschland party who is running for re-election to the European Parliament. Joint research programmes between German universities and Chinese institutes connected to the country’s military have come in for closer scrutiny. For a spokesman for China’s Foreign Ministry, China is the victim of “defamation”.
After President-elect Prabowo's visit to Beijing, China’s foreign minister travelled to Jakarta to discuss Chinese involvement in the infrastructure of Indonesia’s new capital Nusantara, a project that follows the building of a high-speed train between Jakarta and Bandung.
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.
Municipal authorities in Chongqing have promoted the initiative for the spring festival when Chinese visit the graves of their dearly departed. However, paying homage to the late Li Keqiang has been banned. The former premier, who died suddenly last October, was once seen as a counterweight to Xi Jinping.
Three Chinese-funded infrastructure projects in Pakistan have been hit in seven days. Pakistani Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharf is set to visit to China next month to boost the economic ties but, for analysts, new projects are not likely to materialise. While the latest suicide bombing has not been claimed, several groups have reasons to go after the Chinese.
A delegation of 11 representatives of China’s “official” Catholic bodies took part in the assemblies that ratify Xi Jinping's political choices. Bishop Yang Yongqiang, one of the two bishops who attended the Synod at the Vatican, was also present. Bishop Shen Bin told journalists that the new goals for China’s Catholic community are “self-control, self-management, and self-construction”.
An "incident” involving a journalist covering the "Two Sessions" in Beijing shows the extent to which digital controls are used to silence dissatisfaction due to the real estate market crash.
In large enterprises, units linked to the Chinese armed forces are again being formed. Private companies are also following the example of public ones. A way to manage potential unrest in the context of the economic slowdown and to strengthen the Communist Party's control over companies.
Due to rising political tensions and diversification strategies, only 11.4 per cent of Taiwan’s foreign investment went to mainland China last year, down from 83.8 per cent in 2010. Chinese investments in the island are also down. In 2022, China accounted for 34 per cent of Taiwan’s overall foreign investment, down from two thirds a decade ago. US lawmakers start visit in Taiwan.
Philip Chan, 59, is the first to come under the Foreign Interference (Countermeasures) Act, adopted in 2022 to deal with growing pressure from the People's Republic of China (PRC). A real estate developer linked to a Shenzhen-based group, Chan attended the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference in Beijing last year.
The geopolitical confrontation between the United States and China is having serious repercussions on academic research. The number of Chinese students enrolled in US universities is down for the fourth year in a row. Many projects in the fields of artificial intelligence and quantum computing are dual use and can be exploited by the military.
Ten years since the arrest of Ilham Tohti, the symbolic face of the repression against the Uyghur cultural identity, a report slams 18 European tour operators for offering travel packages in Xinjiang. Their “destinations are linked to genocide and crimes against humanity.”
In 1999, Beijing reinterpreted Hong Kong’s Basic Law to deny children born in mainland China to Hong Kong parents the right to reunite with their families. Since then, the PIME missionary has been fighting to resolve an issue that touches 60,000 people. The denial goes against what the Chinese government itself has said.
Chinese authorities have banned the admission of new monks to Khyungbum Lura Monastery, which resisted the People's Liberation Army in the 1950s. While native Tibetans have expressed concern, China has boosted its repression in Tibet, adopting population data collection strategies as in Xinjiang.
The Ministry of State Security has a new task, that of protecting the economy amid slowing growth. The once-mysterious intelligence service is becoming more active on social media against “hostile forces" that might hinder development. At the same time, the authorities are censoring negative comments to boost investor confidence.
This is the GDP target set for 2024 at the conclusion of the Chinese Communist Party's economic conference. At the centre of the proceedings are fears over the real estate sector and obstacles to recovery. The propaganda is functional to the recovery attempt after the post-Covid clouds. Over 8.5 million people on the 'blacklist' for not having repaid bank loans, another 19 million without medical assistance.
