China

When it comes to China's signature zero-Covid health policy, the country's leaders have made it clear: Shanghai is too big to fail.

"It's been (two years since Wuhan) and everything has changed, but it seems nothing has changed," wrote one social media user in a popular comment on Weibo, pointing to the arrival of medics from Wuhan to Shanghai. "I cry when I see Wuhan's support." This disease does not require advanced medical skills, all she needs is care and companionship," Zhu wrote on the Twitter-like social media platform Weibo.Only after repeated tries was Zhu, who is also confirmed to have Covid-19, allowed to enter Shanghai Public Health Clinical Center and stay with her daughter on Monday, Zhu told CNN.Addressing the concerns in a press conference Monday, Shanghai officials said that if the parents of infected children are also positive, they can stay together and receive medical observation and treatment, but kids aged under seven are still required to be sent to Shanghai Public Health Clinical Center for pediatric treatment.Now, as the citywide mass testing rolls out and most of the city remains under lockdown, the looming question is when Shanghai will be able to loosen restrictions.The city's economy has been impacted by the restrictions, as backlogs and travel delays mount. The photos, the Shanghai Public Health Clinical Center, later clarified in a statement, were not of the Covid-19 pediatric isolation ward, but were taken as the hospital was transferring the regular pediatric ward to the outpatient and emergency building, where "more pediatric medical personnel have been deployed." But case numbers have yet to fall in the city, and a similar situation is underway in northern Jilin province, which began more rigorous disease control measures earlier in March. The outbreaks, China's largest in more than two years, mark the first time the country's control measures are tested against the highly transmissible Omicron subvariant BA.2.The challenges have some residents thinking back to the situation two years ago in Wuhan, when China battled its first outbreak of Covid-19. The city stayed under various forms of lockdown for a period of months and medical workers from around the country arrived to help. The People's Liberation Army (PLA) also deployed more than 2,000 military medical workers to Shanghai on Sunday, according to the official PLA Daily.Shanghai under lockdown to battle the worst Covid-19 outbreakShanghai under lockdown to battle the worst Covid-19 outbreak Political pressure has been mounting on Shanghai authorities to both quell the outbreak and address the growing chorus of concerns from residents grappling with the costs and inconveniences of the stringent measures.For weeks, the city has been roiled by social and economic dysfunction, with financial workers forced to sleep in their offices, major port delays heaping pressure on supply chains, and locked-down residents left desperately seeking medical care and other basic supplies.But if residents hoped the measures would soon ease, the arrival of Vice Premier Sun Chunlan to the city over the weekend left little doubt as to Beijing's position. When it comes to China's signature zero-Covid health policy, the country's leaders have made it clear: Shanghai is too big to fail.The city, which is grappling with a record number of daily Covid cases, has become the biggest -- and potentially costliest -- example of China's insistence on adhering to its strict elimination strategy.On Sunday, the ruling Communist Party announced the deployment of thousands of military personnel to the locked-down financial hub to assist in the mandatory screening of all 25 million inhabitants.The plan, which will see every resident take a nucleic acid test starting Monday morning, comes as Shanghai reported a city record of more than 9,000 cases on Sunday.Though the case numbers are small by international standards, the fast-spreading outbreak has placed Shanghai on the front lines of China's uncompromising battle with the virus, as the government doubles down on testing, mandatory lockdowns, and controversial isolation policies that have seen young children separated from their parents if they test positive.Enforcing these measures, while attempting to cater to the needs of a locked-down population has pushed officials to adopt a wartime footing.

2022 was slated to be a pivotal year in China's political cycle. At the Party Congress later this year, the Chinese Communist Party will almost certainly ...

You don’t find a solution to energy independence and defence with billions, you find it with hundreds of billions. “It’s important to get a sense of the scale of China’s antipathy to what is perceives as US hegemony,” Carrie said. “Xi has made it very clear that Taiwan is 'coming back to the fold'. He simply does not accept US dominance of the western Pacific and he needs a legacy. The ‘unipolar moment’ when the USSR collapsed in 1991 was a devastating blow to China and the global communist movement. Both agreed that China is unlikely to provide direct support to Russia. “Beijing is trying to take a dignified position on the fence,” Carrie said. China’s domestic agenda will be its highest priority in 2022, to ensure stability ahead of the Party Congress. “Right now, China faces huge domestic challenges: rising Covid cases, an ailing property sector and ageing demographics,” he said.

Patients sick with non-Covid related illnesses are being kept away from hospitals as anger grows over failure to control Omicron.

They did not manage to send my father to the cancer hospital in the end, because they are only a district-level authority, and they were unable to persuade a municipal-level institution after all.” So much so, we don’t even know when they are going to leave the facility, and no one went to do Covid tests for them either,” he said. “But who has listened to me?” Some Chinese internet users, however, called her “wrong” and “dangerous”. On Saturday, Shanghai Pudong CDC said it was investigating the caller’s complaint. In a revealing phone conversation last week that has been making the rounds online at home and abroad , a official at the Shanghai Chinese centre for disease control and prevention (CDC) said the city’s medical resources were under severe strain. They also urged Shanghai not to separate children from their parents “whatever the circumstances”. Shouldn’t the government adjust their policy accordingly?” “We sincerely accept your criticism and are working hard to improve it.” “Our awareness of the highly infectious and insidious Omicron mutant strain was not sufficient, and our preparation for the significant rise in infections was not comprehensive,” he said. He landed in Shanghai and informed his quarantine hotel and customs officials of his medical needs, but for more than a week he heard nothing. Photos and videos that showed young children separated from their parents at a Shanghai hospital stirred anger on social media over the weekend. He flew home in March in the hope of receiving urgent treatment after damaging his left eye. But in the last few weeks, as case numbers have risen sharply and 26 million people entered a harsh lockdown, mainland China’s most important financial hub has come to a standstill.

The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission has been identifying Chinese companies that could be delisted if they didn't comply with audit requirements.

Harvey Pitt, who was chairman of the U. S. Securities and Exchange Commission from 2001 to 2003, added: "This is clearly an effort by the Chinese government to create an appearance that there will be more transparency. The real devil will be in the details." CNBC's China ADR index, which tracks U.S.-listed Chinese stocks, has jumped about 25% between mid March and April 1.

The invasion of Taiwan, officially the Republic of China (ROC), has been considered by Chinese military planners for decades but only under President Xi ...

It would take days to load this giant force and in today’s satellite-monitored world there would be no way a force of this size could remain hidden. The challenges in keeping a large mechanised force armed, fed and supplied so it can swiftly seize key objectives and fight successfully through heavily defended and populated urban areas would be huge and next to impossible in any timeframe that would guarantee success. The distances they would have to travel to do this would be formidable. In the event of any conflict, large numbers of these would be requisitioned by the military to serve as troop transports. China would be no pushover, however, and several US think-tanks estimate that the US would have to commit as much as 70 to 80 percent of its naval firepower in order to win any conflict with China. These improvements boost the air force’s ability to sustain an air campaign, allowing for more sorties over a potential target and would greatly add to China’s combat power in the region. This is one of the key strategic weapons of the Chinese military and would be used in the opening phase of an attack. In order for China to prevail, it would have to engage multiple US targets, while simultaneously trying to land a large assault force onto the main island of Taiwan itself. The heaviest fighting would be to take well-defended key ports and airfields. Tens of thousands of commandos would be needed to quickly seize them and render the islands’ many defences inert before any invasion could commence. Despite the best efforts of the Chinese navy and air force, the invasion fleet, in the open for hours, would be massively exposed before it even got into a position where it could begin its attack on the Taiwanese shoreline. The Taiwan Strait is 128km (79.5 miles) at its narrowest point between mainland China and Taiwan and much wider if embarkation ports where an invasion force would gather are to be considered.

China reported 13228 cases on Sunday - the highest during the recent outbreak.

The aim of this nucleic acid testing in Shanghai is to help recover the city's dynamic zero-COVID state, experts told the daily. A similar effort is being made in Shanghai where the citizens have been ordered to take twin tests. Another Chinese city, Suzhou, reported a new variant of coronavirus.

Lockdowns to curb an outbreak of Omicron in Shanghai will come at a high cost for the city, and its 'failed experiment' to bring infections to zero while ...

Western diplomats have expressed concern about separating children from their parents as part of COVID curbs - a situation that has arisen in Shanghai as ...

The Australian Consulate General in Shanghai, which was cited in the letters, also declined to comment but said it had been engaging with local authorities on the COVID-19 restrictions. A child's hands are seen on a barrier at an area under lockdown amid the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) pandemic, in Shanghai, China March 26, 2022. A child's hands are seen on a barrier at an area under lockdown amid the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) pandemic, in Shanghai, China March 26, 2022. A U. S. embassy spokesperson declined to comment on Heller's remarks but said that the way embassy staff were treated in the COVID pandemic was "job one" and that the embassy was engaging on COVID-related policy with the Chinese government. Picture taken March 26, 2022. Picture taken March 26, 2022.

Many tragic stories have surfaced from China's pandemic prevention model that is rigid, violent and inhumane.

The flip-flop may indicate that Chinese Premier Li Keqiang disagrees with Xi’s policy and may have tried to exert his own power to lessen the blow to China’s economy. Any deviation, including a policy to “protect the economy at minimal cost,” could cause skepticism about his achievements before Xi gains a third term, which is set to happen later this year. In Shanghai, a woman who cleans a public restroom in a residential complex spent four nights sleeping in the restroom to ensure that it was kept clean. When he experienced internal bleeding, his wife knelt in front of the neighborhood committee and pleaded, “Please save my husband,” but the committee refused to let him leave for treatment and he died the next day. As happened in December and January, Some people reportedly are starving as lockdowns have caused food to become expensive and scarce. The Chinese government has ordered more than two-thirds of the provinces to initiate lockdowns, turning major industrial cities such as Xi’an, Shenyang, Shenzhen and Shanghai into ghost towns and disrupting tens of millions of lives.

Both Boeing and China Eastern have much hanging on an investigative breakthrough. More than 200 of China Eastern's Boeing 737-800 planes have been grounded for ...

The U.S. National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) sent a seven-member team to China to assist in the investigation of the deadly crash last month of a ...

The U. S. National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) sent a seven-member team to China to assist in the investigation of the deadly crash last month of a China Eastern Airlines jetliner that killed 132.

Angry rhetoric over China's deal with the Pacific nation hides the mutual interest all sides have in stability in the Pacific region.

Given Australia’s challenging levels of low trust and influence in the Pacific a rethink about how best to “step-up” is needed. Malaita has said it does not wish to see Chinese companies contracted by the government in the province and has described the switch to relations with China as threatening democracy. Police supporting militants and getting arms to them was a key ignitor of physical violence in the previous civil conflict from 1998 to 2003 and certain sectors such as Parliament are already saying they want no arms in their domain. There is opportunity to pause, reflect and talk. China would lose face and encounter several risks from a rushed progression to military forces in Solomon Islands. In the riots last November, most of the buildings that were burnt down housed businesses run by Chinese people. Australian federal police support includes rearmament of the police with rifles.

Investigators face a formidable challenge in figuring out why China Eastern Flight 5735 crashed on March 21.

The plane was almost exactly vertical and approaching the speed of sound as it tore into the soft earth, with pieces of the aircraft driving as deep as 60 feet into the mud. One of China’s most experienced aviators was among the three pilots in the cockpit. Then it gained 1,200 feet of altitude in about 15 seconds, before a final plunge into a hillside covered in bamboo groves and banana trees.

Admiral Paparo has also backed warnings there is now growing potential for conflict in the Indo-Pacific. Australia has warned that a Chinese naval base in the ...

"And who last year could have predicted where Eastern Europe would be right now. "And there will be learning and there will be adjustments to the extent that they're able to learn from it. He also warned that China would be watching Russia's invasion of Ukraine in the context of its own claims over Taiwan. "There is still a path ahead. Admiral Paparo backed warnings from Defence Minister Peter Dutton of a growing potential for armed conflict in the Indo-Pacific region that Australians needed to be "realistic" about. Mr Marape told the ABC that PNG and other Pacific states were "conscious of what's taking place" in Solomon Islands, and he had had "conversations" with his Solomon Islands counterpart.

The agreement would allow China to send police and military personnel to the Solomons "to assist in maintaining social order". Chinese warships could also use ...

A top American admiral has criticised the potential security pact between China and Solomon Islands, describing it as a "secret" arrangement worrying the US ...

"And who last year could have predicted where Eastern Europe would be right now. "And there will be learning and there will be adjustments to the extent that they're able to learn from it. "There is still a path ahead. He also warned that China would be watching Russia's invasion of Ukraine in the context of its own claims over Taiwan. Admiral Paparo backed warnings from Australian Defence Minister Peter Dutton of a growing potential for armed conflict in the Indo-Pacific region that Australians needed to be "realistic" about. Marape told the ABC that PNG and other Pacific states were "conscious of what's taking place" in Solomon Islands, and he had had "conversations" with his Solomon Islands counterpart.

Alarm over planned security pact belies long-running problems in west's approach to Pacific region.

A decentralized social media campaign challenges CCP propaganda by revealing its dark narratives to a global audience.

The Great Translation Movement declared a partial victory against CCP propaganda on Twitter, citing signs that various levels of the Chinese government halted and censored their propaganda efforts due to the pressure from the campaign. Chinese state media outlet Global Times called the movement “a cognitive war” against China. The overseas edition of the People’s Daily, the CCP’s official mouthpiece, called the translation activities a smear campaign that is doomed to fail. By revealing the notorious side of China’s state propaganda, the movement subsequently became a deterrent to Beijing’s domestic propaganda efforts. The Great Translation Movement offers people who do not understand the Chinese language an opportunity to examine many outrageous propaganda materials and the outcomes of those propaganda efforts. While trying to appeal to international audiences by criticizing issues such as racism and colonialism in Western democracies, China has increased its efforts to cultivate far-right nationalism ideologies as a domestic propaganda tool to justify its policies in Xinjiang, Hong Kong, and the lack of human rights improvements. The Great Translation Movement is believed to have started among users in a subreddit channel named ChonglangTV. Calling itself a lighthouse that forever stands, the subreddit had been an active space for Chinese dissidents to speak against the authoritarian regime but was later banned by Reddit in early March for violating policies concerning personal privacy.

Shanghai reported more than 13000 daily Covid cases for the first time, as a sweeping lockdown of its 25 million residents and mass testing uncovered ...

Volunteers transport bags of vegetables delivered by the government during a citywide lockdown due to Covid-19 in Shanghai, China, on April 3, 2022. Qilai Shen/ ...

But I’ve had the peculiar experience... This copy is for your personal, non-commercial use only. We've detected you are on Internet Explorer. For the best Barrons.com experience, please update to a modern browser.

New Zealand has joined other countries in seeking reassurance from China that parents will be able to stay with their children during COVID isolation ...

The World Bank said on Tuesday that countries in Asia may have to deal with three major economic shocks this year — the war in Ukraine, a sharp slowdown in ...

Shanghai has put all its 26 million residents under lockdown in China's single-biggest city-wide imposition of the restrictions since the pandemic began as ...

The sense of confusion, chaos and helplessness is overwhelming across a city that until recent weeks was a Covid success story. Then we bought it online, but the delivery company was unable to send it to us because they are not delivering anything now.” Over the last few days, numerous mobile phone footage that showed residents protest against confusing lockdown messaging and being unable to buy daily necessities have been circulating online. Suddenly, Pudong was shutdown, and we were unable to get the medication at all. “We must adhere to the general policy of dynamic clearance without hesitation, without wavering.” Yet, as mainland China’s most important financial hub came to a standstill, citizens are complaining about the government’s lack of organisation and preparation.

The U.S. is seeking to realign its commercial ties with China rather than seek a “divorce” between the world's biggest economies, trade chief Katherine Tai ...

The U. S. is seeking to realign its commercial ties with China rather than seek a “divorce” between the world’s biggest economies, trade chief Katherine Tai said.

Frustration is mounting in China's biggest city, but authorities say their controversial "zero-COVID" policy "will continue to guide the country's epidemic ...

The number of new daily infections registered in Shanghai has hit a record 13,000. Drawing particular anger is a policy of separating children, including babies, from their parents when only one or the other test positive. China's government has sent almost 40,000 personnel to Shanghai from other regions – part of the country's biggest coronavirus response to date.

Few took it seriously when Xi Jinping first said he would consolidate control over Hong Kong. We must not make the same mistake when analyzing Xi's plans ...

For Xi Jinping, the bargain is that he will make them proud – proud of their nation, proud of the Communist Party. His China Dream – the ambitions he has laid out and his contract with the Chinese people – is that China will be a world-leading power and that the Taiwan issue will not be left to the next generation. If Putin’s actions in Ukraine woke us up to the potential irrationality of authoritarian leaders, Xi’s actions in Hong Kong should wake the world up to the fact that he means what he says. Hong Kong shows that the same is true of Xi. In 2014, a Beijing state White Paper announced Xi’s intention to exercise “comprehensive jurisdiction” in Hong Kong in ways that would compromise the city’s autonomy. In our view, the key lesson that can be learnt from considering Hong Kong is this: We must all take Xi Jinping’s words seriously and should not underestimate the influence of Chinese nationalism on his foreign and domestic priorities. But these questions have little bearing on what happens in Taiwan. The Americans have been threatening to use their control of SWIFT dollar clearance for several years in the case of a conflict in Taiwan, and China’s military circumstances are profoundly different. It is right that the situation in Ukraine leads businesses and policymakers to take the threat of major geopolitical black swan events, like an intervention in Taiwan, more seriously.

Russia's invasion of Ukraine threatens to complicate Beijing's strained but valuable relations with the west.

The National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) confirmed on Tuesday it is assisting Chinese investigators with the review of the flight data recorder in a ...

Plane debris is seen at the site where a China Eastern Airlines Boeing 737-800 plane flying from Kunming to Guangzhou crashed, in Wuzhou, Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region, China March 21, 2022. Plane debris is seen at the site where a China Eastern Airlines Boeing 737-800 plane flying from Kunming to Guangzhou crashed, in Wuzhou, Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region, China March 21, 2022. On Saturday, a team of three NTSB investigators arrived in China to assist in the crash probe.

To many, this is a defensible approach. Between the end of the initial outbreak in 2020 and the country's mass outbreak of omicron last month, the country ...

Usually, she manages a college dorm in the eastern city of Suzhou. With the current outbreak, the building has been converted into a quarantine site for close contacts of people with COVID-19. So far, the government has been unwavering in sticking to the existing policy. The Chinese government is proud of its COVID-19 track record and sees it as confirmation that its system is superior to that of the United States, where more than a million people have died due to COVID-19. Later this year, at a National Communist Party Congress, Chinese President Xi Jinping is expected to be given a norm-breaking third term as leader of the country. She and her colleagues are also in charge of organizing COVID-19 tests for residents in neighboring communities. The hospital she worked at, where she went intuitively for help, refused to admit her due to a lockdown. In December 2021 and January of this year, in the northwestern city Xi’an, a 61-year-old man and two unborn children died after bureaucratic technicalities delayed access to care. As the virus rages across Shanghai, the city once known for its more science-based and precise COVID-19 control has been sealing off hospitals with infected patients and suspending public transport to limit the virus’s spread. Still, so far, more than 38,000 medical workers have been sent to the city from elsewhere to deal with the outbreak. In early March, COVID-19 came to Bai’s own province, Shandong, on China’s east coast. The approach puts a strain on medical workers, asking them to shoulder immense workloads under tight deadlines and intense pressure to prohibit further infections. In early March, COVID-19 came to Bai’s own province, Shandong, on China’s east coast. In early March, COVID-19 came to Bai’s own province, Shandong, on China’s east coast.

Anything that involves playing a more active role in the region poses substantial challenges to Chinese diplomacy. While China knows that its current limited ...

The 2011 Libyan crisis, in which China evacuated about 36,000 of its citizens, provoked a dramatic change in the way China thinks about its interests overseas and the possible role that the military should play in protecting them. Chinese policymakers are less likely to see the need for urgent policy changes, especially in terms of larger or deeper involvement of the military, compared to in the past. They can adopt different strategies to secure the support of great powers, or to force them to do so. Anything that involves playing a more active role in the region poses substantial challenges to Chinese diplomacy. On the other hand, rising competition with the United States will force Beijing to concentrate its focus on Asia. The common assumption is that although Russia has played a much more prominent role since its 2015 intervention in Syria, superior economic power means China’s influence will steadily grow over time.

Wherever COVID-19 popped up, Bai Xiaohui went. As the deputy head of a major hospital's clinical laboratory, she spent the last two years moving around ...

Usually, she manages a college dorm in the eastern city of Suzhou. With the current outbreak, the building has been converted into a quarantine site for close contacts of people with COVID-19. So far, the government has been unwavering in sticking to the existing policy. The Chinese government is proud of its COVID-19 track record and sees it as confirmation that its system is superior to that of the United States, where more than a million people have died due to COVID-19. Later this year, at a National Communist Party Congress, Chinese President Xi Jinping is expected to be given a norm-breaking third term as leader of the country. She and her colleagues are also in charge of organizing COVID-19 tests for residents in neighboring communities. The hospital she worked at, where she went intuitively for help, refused to admit her due to a lockdown. In December 2021 and January of this year, in the northwestern city Xi’an, a 61-year-old man and two unborn children died after bureaucratic technicalities delayed access to care. As the virus rages across Shanghai, the city once known for its more science-based and precise COVID-19 control has been sealing off hospitals with infected patients and suspending public transport to limit the virus’s spread. Still, so far, more than 38,000 medical workers have been sent to the city from elsewhere to deal with the outbreak. In early March, COVID-19 came to Bai’s own province, Shandong, on China’s east coast. The approach puts a strain on medical workers, asking them to shoulder immense workloads under tight deadlines and intense pressure to prohibit further infections. In early March, COVID-19 came to Bai’s own province, Shandong, on China’s east coast. In early March, COVID-19 came to Bai’s own province, Shandong, on China’s east coast.

“Turkey and Germany – Turkey needs Russian energy. Will Russia eventually be able to split Turkey and possibly Germany away from continued NATO and EU ...

“Overall, forgetting about rare earths and other metals and resources, much of the world is dependent on Russian and Ukrainian grain and fertilizers and energy. 2022 is more likely to be a year of shortages and rising prices and this will create political tensions. This will lead to boosts for the Iranian rail network and a new period of positive geopolitical EU involvement in Iran. That will boost the Caucasus and Central Asian regions if that happens. “As your excellent report says, the impact on Russia of a European cutoff is likely to be minimal. The Russian energy apparatus is mainly set up for export to the west and to Europe. This can be changed, and your great report examines that point, but this takes both time and money. In which case the EU will become purely a market for North American goods and Asia will be reduced to a bit-part player. Now there are more US weapons, more US troops in the EU, and now US gas supplies to the EU and all that has to be paid for. The sticking point though is the United States. If they don’t react to these new developments and start to lift sanctions on Iran, the southern access route between the EU and Asia can become very fragile. This are much more of a necessity now, and especially for Europe as the only remaining routes east. “Russia is ruled more competently than in Soviet times, at least on the economic and banking front. Is Russia pulling troops from their places of theater, including the Caucasus, to help with the Ukraine situation? This means that Putin is aware of Chinese discontent over the war.

The reports and images showing civilian deaths in Ukrainian city of Bucha are "very disturbing", China's ambassador to the United Nations said on Tuesday, ...

Register now for FREE unlimited access to Reuters.com Speaking at a Security Council meeting, Ambassador Zhang Jun repeated Beijing's stance that sanctions are not effective in solving the Ukraine crisis but instead they accelerate the economic spillover. Register now for FREE unlimited access to Reuters.com

Chinese authorities have placed all of Shanghai into a strict lockdown while the country's economy is slowing.

A call between top diplomats from China and Ukraine sends a fresh signal that President Xi Jinping could soon speak with Volodymyr Zelenskiy for the first ...

In the long term, China is intent on using the Ukraine conflict to erode U.S. leadership and sow division in transatlantic relations.

For the global community, the fault lines between democracy and autocracy are framing the future according to two starkly divergent worldviews. On March 20, two days after the video meeting between Presidents Biden and Xi, China’s ambassador to the U.S., Qin Gang, stated, “China’s trust relations with Russia, it’s not a liability, actually it’s an asset in the international efforts to solve the crisis in a peaceful way. In contrast to Russia, the China market remains a magnet for global trade and center of gravity for investment, manufacturing, and supply chains – advantages that China can leverage. Moscow, with help from Beijing, is attempting to rewrite reality in Ukraine, Europe, and more broadly, the global order. Concurrently, in re-affirming the trust between China and Russia, Beijing benefits from Russia as a source of energy security and Moscow’s military-technology expertise, advanced nuclear weapons capabilities, and U.N. Security Council voting power. Following the old playbook, Chinese media censors continue to propagate pro-Russia sentiments, spread disinformation on purported U.S. bioweapon research labs in Ukraine, and stifle Chinese public criticism of Russia’s military action. With China’s support, Russia’s assault on Ukraine is testing the EU-U.S. long-term commitment in countering authoritarian aggression, contradictions, and disinformation. Though China might face short-lived reputational risk for supporting Russia, Beijing likely perceives that the West’s opprobrium will be fleeting and fickle in the near term. Utilizing Marxist-Leninist ideology Mao Zedong exploited natural contradictions inherent in China’s relations with the Soviet bloc. From the CCP’s perspective, Beijing’s identification with Moscow amplifies the credibility of authoritarian rule under Xi’s leadership on the global stage. Xi Jinping raised the stakes of China’s strategic cooperation with Russia with the characterization of relations with “no limits” at their February 4 meeting. China’s partnership with Russia, short of a formal alliance, serves Beijing’s long-term strategic priorities.

In tightly-controlled media space, conflict is an opportunity for Beijing to advance its 'information proxy war'.

We also have to be careful when it comes to Putin and not vilify him in any way,” said Wei. “It is regrettable, but we have been self-censoring,” he admitted. For one, given the group is based in China, it has to abide by the rules that govern the dissemination of information. “State media might have fed the information, but the public sentiment has always been there. While this gives the Chinese government significant control over the information its residents can access and consume, it does not imply its population always falls into line. Those who trust them would have the same fate as Ukraine,” Wu of Doublethink Lab added. As the conflict has continued, Chinese state media have lent their platforms to amplify Russian propaganda. Because without Russia to hold up the West, China will be the next target,” Hu Qingxin, a media veteran now based in Hong Kong, told Al Jazeera. State news agency Xinhua calls the war “a special military operation” and “the Russia-Ukraine crisis” but never refers to it as an invasion. “Russian blood runs in my body,” said Lu in the show in 2019. “This is one of the most consistent frames we have seen throughout. In contrast, many Chinese netizens have mocked Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelenskyy for his background in acting and for allegedly lacking political wisdom. More recently, state outlets doubled down on the Russian conspiracy theory claiming the US is funding the development of biological weapons in Ukraine, including migratory birds that could spread avian viruses in Russia.

China reported 20472 new daily Covid cases for Tuesday, driven by surging infections in Shanghai where local officials are building the world's largest ...

The number of journeys taken over China's three-day Tomb Sweeping Festival holiday tumbled by nearly two-thirds from last year, state media said, ...

Road journeys fell 53% on the year, and were also slightly lower than 2020. Register now for FREE unlimited access to Reuters.com Register now for FREE unlimited access to Reuters.com

Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern has called the security deal between China and Solomon Islands "gravely concerning" - but does New Zealand really need to be ...

"These countries have a whole host of issues they have to deal with, from climate change to governance to accountability to poverty. It's nothing to be too worried about right now, it's just normal relations." New Zealand's Defence Minister Peeni Henare said the agreement took New Zealand intelligence by surprise.

The Chinese government should respect the right to health and other basic rights in its response to the Covid-19 surge in the country, Human Rights Watch ...

“The authorities should listen to people’s pleas and provide appropriate health care for all those in need.” The man wrote in a social media post that he then told the security guard, “I’ll stab you to death, and I don’t care, how’s that?” The father was then admitted. Restrictions such as quarantine or isolation of suspected infectious or infectious people must, at a minimum, be provided for and carried out in accordance with the law. “Separation from my loved ones scares me more than anything else,” a mother whose 2-year-old son had been taken away to be quarantined told the media. A Shanghai nurse, Zhou Shengni, died from asthma after she was turned away from the hospital at which she worked because the emergency room was closed for disinfection and no other facilities had been made available. Authorities in Shanghai have imposed draconian lockdown measures since March 2022 that have significantly impeded people’s access to health care, food, and other life necessities.

Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi had a rare call with his Ukrainian counterpart, Dmytro Kuleba, on Monday. It was the first reported high-level conversation ...

The weapons: Ukraine is making use of weapons such as Javelin antitank missiles and Switchblade “kamikaze” drones, provided by the United States and other allies. A senior Chinese diplomat denied China was helping Russia skirt sanctions and added that Beijing will keep “normal” trade ties with Moscow. We both share the conviction that ending the war against Ukraine serves common interests of peace, global food security, and international trade.— Dmytro Kuleba (@DmytroKuleba) April 4, 2022 The last independent newsletter in Russia suspended its operations Monday. According to U.S. officials, Xi asked Putin to delay the invasion until the Beijing Olympics — which Putin attended — were over. Analysts see the invasion of Ukraine as accelerating the military cooperation between China and Russia.

It will be unrealistic to expect China to shift to “living with the virus” in a year when the Omicron variant is still raging and Beijing is due to hold the ...

Understanding this, the Party’s anti-corruption watchdog and its organisation department have been mobilised to evaluate the performance of cadres in the pandemic fight. But the goal of zero-COVID remains out of sight. Eurasia Group listed the continuation of China’s zero-COVID policy as a top global economic risk in 2022. If the lockdown drags on, huge inconveniences and difficulties imposed upon people’s lives and livelihoods may backfire and lead to widespread discontent. Mass protests, like in Belgium, the Netherlands or the United States, are highly unlikely in Shanghai or other provinces. As one of China’s best-known medical experts during the pandemic, Zhang often advocated for practical and flexible approaches to tackling the virus. Tech giant Tencent took down two videos of a rare protest at a Shanghai housing compound trending on its WeChat microblogging and video publishing platform. He kept a low profile for a while but appeared in press conferences as head of Shanghai’s COVID-19 expert team - until very recently. It looks like China is doubling down on its zero-COVID stance, despite grievances and fatigue among the people with seemingly endless cycles of testing, quarantine and travel restrictions. The reality was simply that many provinces could not keep the number of cases at zero as they had done from 2020 to 2021. Yet his celebrity status came under scrutiny when, in July 2021, he called for long-term coexistence with the virus, deviating from authorities’ hardline zero-COVID approach. Last year, China started adopting the “dynamic zero-COVID” policy to replace its absolute zero-tolerance stance.

The European Union's foreign policy chief described a summit with Chinese President Xi Jinping as a “deaf dialog,” casting doubt on how much cooperation the ...

China reported 20472 new daily Covid cases for Tuesday, as widespread lockdowns and mass testing in Shanghai and other parts of the country turn up a rising ...

Lockdowns imposed over China's worst Covid outbreak has hit manufacturing and may lead to delays and higher prices.

Agustín Carstens, head of the Bank for International Settlements, said higher rates could be required for several years to combat inflation which is 6.2% in the UK. The closely watched Caixin purchasing managers’ index (PMI) dived to 42.0 in March from 50.2 in February. A drop below the 50-point mark separates growth from contraction. “An added risk factor is that after many months of disruption along their entire length, global supply chains are already very stretched. Supply-side strains in the Asia-Pacific region will remain elevated at least through the end of the year, with energy and raw material cost inflation posing the biggest cost pressures for corporate debt issuers, followed by the effects of transportation bottlenecks, according to a new report by Moody’s Investors Service. There are increasing signs that China’s economy is slowing sharply because of the lockdowns. Workers shut down an entire shopping centre in the city where a case had been detected.

Millions of people across China's locked-down financial hub of Shanghai have been desperately seeking medical care and basic supplies like food.

Studies also suggest BA.2 is far more contagious -- though researchers are still studying the severity of this variant. On March 27, the government announced it would launch a staggered lockdown, first targeting one half of the city, then the other half. over Shanghai's policy requiring all Covid-positive patients to be isolated in facilities -- even young children and babies. They did not specify what conditions would qualify as "special needs." And on Wednesday, Shanghai health authorities announced they would amend the policy, allowing parents who test negative to apply for permission to accompany Covid-positive children with "special needs." Since March, China has battled its biggest Covid wave yet, with Shanghai now the largest hotspot.

China has reported more than 20000 Covid-19 cases, the highest daily tally given since the start of the pandemic, as millions in locked-down Shanghai began ...

That took total cases since the pandemic began beyond 22 million, with 130,708 deaths. "Coronavirus is not a cold. A fourth dose of the Pfizer/BioNTech vaccine lowered rates of Covid-19 among the elderly but the protection against infection appeared short-lived, a large study in Israel has found. Mr Lauterbach suggested last week a shift to a voluntary five days of self-isolation with the recommendation of a Covid test at the end of that period. China, the country where the coronavirus was first detected in the central city of Wuhan in late 2019, is among the last remaining places following a zero-Covid approach to the pandemic. The number of infections recorded hit 20,472 infections today, the National Health Commission said in a statement.

Local crises can trigger searching debates over global strategy. Since Russian President Vladimir Putin's forces invaded Ukraine, analysts in Washington ...

China could stand by and see Russia’s war end in a stalemate or defeat, with all the consequences and uncertainties that follow. And rather than congratulating themselves for sanctions imposed to date, the United States and its allies must clearly show that they will dial up the pain as the war goes on. On one side are those who argue that the immediacy and ferocity of Russian aggression compel the United States to treat Moscow as a first-tier rival. If successful, this strategy will leave Russia weaker and more bloodied; it will also put Xi in a no-win situation. On one side are those who argue that the immediacy and ferocity of Russian aggression compel the United States to treat Moscow as a first-tier rival. Nor does this strategy require Washington and its allies to enter the fighting unless Putin, through unacceptable escalation, gives them a reason to do so. A stalemated war in Ukraine would lead to ongoing economic isolation and military attrition for Russia, leaving it badly weakened and less useful as a Chinese ally. This is not a matter of seeking regime change in Moscow, as U.S. President Joe Biden has implied. The audacity of Russia’s war, which aimed to extinguish the independence of a plucky democracy, has provoked a global response that threatens to create problems for China as well. The U.S. defense budget is growing, albeit inadequately; Pentagon warnings that war with China may not be far away suddenly seem more credible. Russia might provide military resupplies or help China overcome the otherwise damaging effects of a U.S. naval blockade. Chinese President Xi Jinping’s regime is simultaneously striving to rewrite the global rules of the road in areas from technological standards to the norms of international institutions.

For more than three weeks, mainland China's count of Covid cases with symptoms has topped 1000 a day and touched regions across the country.

The number of cases and deaths from Covid in mainland China remains below that of other major countries. Tourism revenue for the latest long weekend holiday dropped by 30.9% from the same period last year to 18.78 billion yuan ($2.93 billion), the ministry said. Services businesses generally remained optimistic about growth over the next 12 months. For a third straight month, the data showed services companies were reluctant to hire more staff. "China's [zero-Covid strategy] may save many lives, especially among the elderly, but it also incurs a substantial economic cost and causes collateral damage to people who are unable to obtain normal medical treatment for illnesses other than Covid." The metropolis was supposed to end a two-part lockdown Tuesday, but earlier this week gave no indication of when restrictions would lift.

Chinese officials have said vaccines alone aren't enough and stringent curbs aimed at wiping out the virus are needed to avoid a health care calamity. President ...

The financial hub and gateway to China has prioritized aligning its policy with the mainland in an effort to reopen the border. While local lockdowns cause disruptions and spur complaints on social media, the strategy ensures people in the rest of the country can generally carry on with normal life. A handful dragged on for weeks, such as in the northeastern industrial province of Jilin, and led to shortages of food and medical care. China has given no sign of backing away from its strategy in the hope that reacting forcibly to each flareup will quickly contain it with few economic and social ramifications. The country’s top virus expert said in March that China should stick to its strategy, while fine-tuning some measures to be more targeted and deployed quicker to deal with omicron. Domestically, even the slightest flareup is met with a barrage of targeted testing, contact tracing and quarantines to nip it in the bud, with citywide lockdowns as a last resort. Foxconn briefly suspended operations in March at its Shenzhen sites, one of which produces iPhones. The monthlong lockdown of Xi’an caused disruption for leading chipmakers Micron Technology Inc and Samsung Electronics Co., while Toyota Motor Corp. and Volkswagen AG had to suspend production at factories in Jilin. But abandoning the policy could cause far greater disruptions, at least temporarily, if workers were too sick to show up at work, given how much the world relies on China for everything from raw materials to finished consumer and industrial products. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. cut its forecast for China’s growth in 2022 by 0.5 percentage points due to the increased difficulty of containing the omicron variant. The gloom has added to weak investment and a broader downturn in the property market. The highly infectious delta and omicron variants have made it more difficult for China, which hasn’t gone a day with zero new local cases reported since October. In April the daily tally topped 20,000, surpassing the numbers found in the early days of the pandemic in China, before testing was easily available. In its calculus, the benefits outweigh the costs. But continued flareups this year, including in the financial capital Shanghai, are putting it to the test as never before.

Russia's Ukraine invasion holds important takeaways for China about elite politics, foreign policy, and military affairs.

As outlined above, the war has important lessons for Chinese elite politics, foreign policy, and military affairs. Participants and observers of the conflict are all drawing lessons as the war evolves. Therefore, Chinese foreign policy for the rest of the war will veer on the side of caution. At the end of the day, diplomacy is the art of calculation, deliberation, and deal making. On March 25, the Russian high command announced the goals of the conflict’s first phase were accomplished and the Russian military would focus on the Donbas region’s “liberation” – a scaled-down war objective from the initial “denazification” and “demilitarization” of Ukraine, or the overthrow of Ukraine’s government and destruction of the Ukrainian military. This article offers three speculations on what possible lessons China’s leaders have learned from the event, particularly in areas of elite politics, foreign policy, and military affairs.

In his statement to the Solomon Islands parliament on the draft security agreement between his country and Beijing, Prime Minister Manasseh Sogavare ...

A long-term objective in light of last year’s AUKUS announcement may be to focus Australia’s security concerns closer to home and away from the South China Sea. Although some constitutional provisions require a three-quarters vote, it appears that this change might need only two-thirds of the parliament. On 31 March, the Australian Defence Force’s joint operations chief, Lieutenant General Greg Bilton, spoke publicly of the consequences of a Chinese military presence on ADF operations. Another potential flashpoint is also on the horizon. Nevertheless, privileging the protection of major Chinese projects goes beyond such events and has an ominous ring regionally. Sogavare has an obligation to recognise that his decisions have consequences for others in the region.

China reported more than 20000 Covid-19 cases on Wednesday, the highest daily tally given since the start of the pandemic, as millions in locked-down ...

China, the country where the coronavirus was first detected in the central city of Wuhan in late 2019, is among the last remaining places following a zero-Covid approach to the pandemic. Authorities reported no new deaths, in a country which says only one person has died of the virus in nearly two years. The country’s "zero-Covid" strategy has come under immense strain as cases spike, with around 25 million residents of Shanghai -- China’s largest city and economic engine room -- ordered to stay-at-home as the authorities struggle to contain the outbreak.

Hong Kong's private-sector economic activity slid further into contraction in March as lockdowns in mainland China added more pressure to businesses already ...