Tag: Beijing

(CNN)Beijing residents who are putting up with extra security checks and traffic restrictions this week for the annual meeting of the country's lawmakers are doing so without the usual compensation of glorious blue skies. The Chinese capital was choking on smog Tuesday morning, even as the city's environment bureau said an orange air pollution warning issued over the weekend was due to be lifted as the situation improved. An orange alert, the second-highest on the city's four-tier system, advises elderly people and children to remain indoors. During an orange alert, outdoor construction work is halted, and limited traffic restrictions are introduced in order to cut down on the amount of pollutants being added to the poisonous air. Beijing is currently hosting the annual meeting of lawmakers known as the "Two Sessions." Sunday was the first day of the annual Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference, a body that nominally advises on laws and policy and whose members include numerous retired officials and celebrities. That puts it in the US Environmental Protection Agency's "very unhealthy" category. In the past, major political events in Beijing have been greeted with blue skies, as the Chinese authorities shut down factories in neighboring provinces and limit traffic to ensure clean air. A study in 2016 said the practice came at a severe cost, however, as production is ramped up to compensate for economic losses incurred during the shut down. This week's pollution will be particularly embarrassing for Beijing's government, as it has actually seen a marked progress in recent years in terms of tackling smog, with numerous measures taken to cut down on pollutants.

As of now, the atheist government in Beijing and the bureaucrats in the Vatican are acting as if they were allies, having signed a deal last September that neither the Vatican nor the communists have released to the public, and that will govern how Catholic bishops are appointed in China. Does China's atheist regime try to force Catholics to act in ways that are contrary to their faith? The State Department said last May: "The CPA does not recognize the authority of the Holy See to appoint Catholic bishops. So, a man appointed as a bishop in China's "official" church could only qualify for that position if he were to pledge support for a party that demands its members be atheists. Yet last Sept. 22, Cardinal Pietro Parolin, the Vatican secretary of state, announced that the Holy See had signed a "Provisional Agreement between the Holy See and the People's Republic of China Concerning the nomination of Bishops." He also indicated that the bishops in China's "official" church had been legitimized. But the Vatican did not release the text of the agreement or explain in detail what is in it. Nor did they tell Cardinal Zen or other faithful Chinese Catholics. "Candidates will be chosen at the diocesan level through the 'democratic election' system that the Chinese authorities introduced in 1957, whereby the priests of the diocese, together with representatives of women religious and laypeople, vote from among the candidates presented by the authorities that supervise church affairs," said America Magazine. That is all he can do," said Cardinal Zen.

The defence secretary, Gavin Williamson, was at the centre of a growing cabinet row on Saturday night as senior government sources blamed him for offending the Chinese and causing the cancellation of a crucial trade visit to Beijing by the chancellor, Philip Hammond. Senior Conservatives said it was time to rein in Williamson, who has earned the nickname Private Pike in Whitehall after a series of gaffes. Treasury insiders said comments the defence secretary had made in a speech last week about sending the aircraft carrier HMS Queen Elizabeth to the Pacific had caused such “clear irritation” in Beijing that the trip scheduled for this weekend could not take place. But sources confirmed that Williamson’s clumsy and undiplomatic language had caused real upset that had been relayed back to London by the Chinese authorities. The result was that a visit that been planned for many weeks – and that would have focused on opening up Chinese markets to UK exports – has been put off until the diplomatic damage is repaired. The remarks incensed the Chinese just days before Hammond was due to arrive for a series of meetings, including one with the Chinese vice premier, Hu Chunhua. Williamson said in his speech that the UK was prepared to use lethal force to deter countries that flout international law – an apparent reference to China’s expansionist ambitions in the South China Sea. Lord Patten said China should be welcomed to the global economic community, although it should play by the same rules as everyone else. He stressed that a careful diplomatic balance had to be struck: “You don’t win deals by cowering whenever China gets cross, nor on the other hand does stamping a foot persuade the Chinese that we are more important than we are.” Another senior Tory said Theresa May should issue an order to “pipe down, Private Pike”. The chairman of the all-party parliamentary group on China, the Tory MP Richard Graham, said: “The crucial thing is that we do need to engage with China, and we do need to be sensitive with the tone, and I suspect that is where the issue is at the moment.” Steve Tsang, the director of the School of Oriental and African Studies’ China Institute, said: “It is a silly thing for Gavin Williamson to have said, particularly when there is no compelling reason to say it now and the ship he was referring to is not even ready to send.” But he added that there was nothing wrong, in principle, with a navy vessel sailing in the South China Sea.

Peter Mattis: The most likely agency is the Ministry of State Security (MSS), China’s civilian intelligence and security service. We do not know how well or how routinely intelligence is shared across agencies—rather than forwarded to the top leaders—but if the MSS is the culprit, then it would be bureaucratically and operationally smoother to use the intelligence to support cultivating channels of influence. FP: The Times report stated that China was targeting individuals close to Trump in order to influence his actions. How sophisticated an understanding does China have of U.S. politics and of the networks of influence around the president? PM: I am not sure the PRC government necessarily understands the politics within and between the political parties, the relationship between branches, or the differences between the federal government and the states. I think the PRC government understands American process better than politics. The foundation for influence is “social affairs work,” which is a Communist Party idea dating back to the 1920s or 1930s. Ostensibly, united front work is the work of the whole party—every party cadre at every level all the time—but that is not really true in practice. Even if the party did not have a 90-year history of social affairs work, thinking about influencing the U.S. system in this way probably would have occurred to them after the Clinton campaign finance scandal in 1996. PM: I would not be surprised if it was tossed around at the working level as something that could be done.

A major speech by U.S. Vice President Mike Pence on Oct. 4 was the clearest, highest-level sign that U.S. strategy was turning from engagement to confrontation. Pence accused China of interfering in the midterm elections to undermine President Donald Trump's tough trade policies against Beijing, warned other countries to be wary of Beijing's "debt diplomacy" and denounced China's actions in the South China Sea. Both sides are trading increasingly sharp accusations over human rights and global hegemony, exposing an ideological divide that pits the two on a path of confrontation with no clear resolution in sight. Xi's aggressive foreign policy and authoritarian ways have altered views of China across the board. "What has happened is a sea change in U.S. perceptions of China," said June Teufel Dreyer, an expert on Chinese politics who teaches political science at the University of Miami. Beijing's outrage at Pompeo, meanwhile, was prompted by his recent warnings to Latin American countries about the dangers of accepting Chinese infrastructure loans that are a key aspect of Xi's signature foreign policy project. "It may not be a clash of civilizations, but it is a long-festering conflict of national, political and economic interest and systems that has reached a point of rupture," Kovrig said. While Chinese companies — often backed by easy credit from state banks — have been snapping up foreign assets, Beijing restricts such foreign purchases in key sectors such as energy, transport and telecommunications. "This includes the international trading system, which is dominated by the U.S." Still, attempts to contain China along the lines laid out during the Cold War would be "difficult, if not impossible," given the broad range of contacts across political, economic and personal spheres, Cheng said. Michael Mazza, a foreign policy expert at the conservative American Enterprise Institute think tank in Washington, said "competition will remain the norm" between the two countries unless China is willing to make significant changes in its domestic, economic and foreign policies.

Amid rising concern about a possible trade war between the US and China, Donald Trump said on Sunday Beijing will ease trade barriers “because it is the right thing to do”, thereby allowing the economic superpowers to settle the disputes that have rattled financial markets, consumers and businesses. However, two of the president’s top economic advisers simultaneously offered mixed messages as to the best approach to China, which has threatened to retaliate if Washington follows through with proposed tariffs. “President Xi [Jinping] and I will always be friends, no matter what happens with our dispute on trade,” Trump wrote on Twitter. Taxes will become Reciprocal & a deal will be made on Intellectual Property. Great future for both countries!” President Trump threatens extra $100bn of tariffs on Chinese imports Read more Trump did not explain why, in a week of economic saber-rattling between the two countries that shook global markets, he felt confident a deal could be made. China has pledged to “counterattack with great strength” if Trump decides to follow through on his latest threat to impose tariffs on an additional $100bn in Chinese goods, after an earlier announcement that targeted $50bn. Beijing also declared that the current rhetoric made negotiations impossible, even as the White House suggested that the tariff talk is a way to spur China to the bargaining table. But he also downplayed the tariff threat as “part of the process” and said he was hopeful China would enter negotiations. Kudlow, who started his job a week ago after predecessor Gary Cohn quit over the tariffs plan, noted that none of the US moves have gone into effect and downplayed the possibility of economic repercussions. But another top White House economic adviser, Peter Navarro, took a tougher tack, declaring China’s behavior “a wake-up call to Americans”.

Come to any event at the Great Hall of the People in the heart of Beijing, and you're bound to see red. As the hulking venue for official pomp and ceremony hosts the annual meeting of China's rubber-stamp parliament this month, flags of scarlet line the building's rooftops, red carpets cover its floors and hostesses in long ruby-colored dresses welcome dark-suited delegates. Red has long be special in Chinese culture, representing good fortune — but not necessarily its rulers. For centuries, China's emperors were equated with the color yellow while they surrounded themselves with walls of deep vermilion. Not until after the Communist Party swept to power in 1949, did red, the universal color of communism, dominate political imagery. During the Cultural Revolution launched by Mao Zedong, the founder of the communist state, young Red Guards wearing red scarves and armbands touted the Little Red Book of his quotations and sang the anthem the "East Is Red" in praise of their leader. Never miss a local story. Sign up today for a free 30 day free trial of unlimited digital access. Today, official government directives are colloquially called "red top" documents and stamped with red-ink seals, while important events are denoted by red headlines in state and party newspapers. An entire class of political elites — including President Xi Jinping — are known as "hongerdai" — the "second red generation" of the party elite.

BEIJING (AP) — Come to any event at the Great Hall of the People in the heart of Beijing, and you’re bound to see red. As the hulking venue for official pomp and ceremony hosts the annual meeting of China’s rubber-stamp parliament this month, flags of scarlet line the building’s rooftops, red carpets cover its floors and hostesses in long ruby-colored dresses welcome dark-suited delegates. Red has long be special in Chinese culture, representing good fortune — but not necessarily its rulers. For centuries, China’s emperors were equated with the color yellow while they surrounded themselves with walls of deep vermilion. Not until after the Communist Party swept to power in 1949, did red, the universal color of communism, dominate political imagery. During the Cultural Revolution launched by Mao Zedong, the founder of the communist state, young Red Guards wearing red scarves and armbands touted the Little Red Book of his quotations and sang the anthem the “East Is Red” in praise of their leader. Today, official government directives are colloquially called “red top” documents and stamped with red-ink seals, while important events are denoted by red headlines in state and party newspapers. An entire class of political elites — including President Xi Jinping — are known as “hongerdai” — the “second red generation” of the party elite. With the ceremonial legislature voting earlier this month to scrap term limits for Xi, who has strived to preserve communist traditions and reassert the party’s leading place in public life, China will likely be red for many years to come. Copyright © 2018 The Associated Press.