Putin, Xi pledge friendship but talks yield no Ukraine breakthrough
Reuters Xi Jinping and Vladimir Putin emerged from two days of talks on Tuesday with warm words of friendship between China and Russia and joint criticism of the West, but no sign of a diplomatic breakthrough over Ukraine. Xi’s visit to Moscow – long touted by the Kremlin as a show of support from its […]
China’s Xi in Russia to meet Putin over Ukraine war
Reuters Chinese President Xi Jinping flew into Moscow on Monday where he was expected to press Beijing’s role as a potential peacemaker in the Ukraine war while Russian President Vladimir Putin hoped for support against Western pressure. Xi will be the first national leader to shake Putin’s hand since the International Criminal Court issued an […]
ICC expected to launch war crimes cases against Russians over Ukraine
Amsterdam, Netherlands/Near Kreminna, Ukraine Reuters The International Criminal Court is expected to seek the arrest of Russian officials for forcibly deporting children from Ukraine and targeting civilian infrastructure, a source said on Monday, in what would be the first international war crimes cases arising from Moscow’s invasion. The source said the arrest warrants could include […]
Li Qiang, Xi confidant, takes reins as China’s premier
Beijing, ChinaReuters Four years before Li Qiang gained notoriety as the force behind the two-month COVID-19 lockdown of Shanghai, the man who became China’s premier on Saturday worked quietly behind the scenes to drive a bold revamp of the megacity’s sclerotic stock market. Li’s back-channelling – sources said he bypassed the China Securities Regulatory Commission, […]
Xi clinches third term as China’s President amid host of challenges
Beijing, ChinaReuters Xi Jinping secured a precedent-breaking third term as President of China on Friday during a parliamentary session in which he tightened his control of the world’s second-largest economy as it emerges from a COVID slump and diplomatic challenges mount. Nearly 3,000 members of China’s rubber-stamp parliament, the National People’s Congress, voted unanimously in […]
Russia attacks Ukraine along frontline from north to south
Kyiv, Ukraine Reuters Russia shelled Ukrainian towns across a long stretch of the frontline from north to south, Ukrainian officials said on Friday, a day after Moscow fired dozens of missiles in its latest barrage against critical infrastructure. Air attack sirens blared overnight into Friday in the capital Kyiv, and Reuters heard several explosions and […]
Essay: Protests against strict COVID-zero policy are sweeping China. It’s anyone’s guess what happens now
In an article first published on The Conversation, DAVID SG GOODMAN, director of the China Studies Centre at the University of Sydney, says while the protests in China are certainly a serious challenge to authority, they should be kept in perspective…
G20 summit opens in Bali with a plea for unity as Ukraine war tops agenda
Nusa Dua, Indonesia Reuters Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy told leaders of the world’s wealthiest nations on Tuesday that now was the time to stop Russia’s war in his country under a peace plan he has proposed. He spoke by videolink to leaders of the Group of 20 nations who have gathered for a summit on […]
Biden and Xi clash over Taiwan in Bali but Cold War fears cool
Nusa Dua, Indonesia Reuters US President Joe Biden and Chinese President Xi Jinping engaged in blunt talks over Taiwan and North Korea on Monday in a three-hour meeting aimed at preventing strained US-China ties from spilling into a new Cold War. Amid simmering differences on human rights, Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, and support of domestic […]
China’s Xi clinches third term, packs leadership with loyalists
Beijing, ChinaReuters China’s Xi Jinping secured a precedent-breaking third leadership term on Sunday and introduced a top governing body stacked with loyalists, cementing his place as the country’s most powerful ruler since Mao Zedong. Shanghai Communist Party chief Li Qiang followed Xi onto the stage at the Great Hall of the People as the new […]