The two-tonne copper Pillar of Shame was first exhibited at a Tiananmen Square commemoration in Hong Kong in 1997, the same year Britain handed the city back to China.
In 2021, the University of Hong Kong dismantled and removed the statue “based on external legal advice and risk assessment for the best interest of the university”. It has since been kept in a cargo container on university-owned land.
Danish sculptor Jens Galschiot, who created the work, said he had not been informed about its seizure by police.
Conservative and New Democrat MPs are calling for the expulsion of Chinese diplomats over Beijing’s alleged threat to Conservative MP Michael Chong’s family in China. Dominic LeBlanc, minister of intergovernmental affairs, says these decisions cannot be made hastily but Canadians should have confidence that the appropriate steps will be taken. Former ambassadors Guy Saint Jacques and Dennis Horak also weigh in. 保守党和新民主党议员呼吁驱逐中国外交官，因为北京涉嫌威胁保守党议员迈克尔·庄在中国的家人。 政府间事务部长多米尼克·勒布朗 (Dominic LeBlanc) 表示，这些决定不能仓促做出，但加拿大人应该相信会采取适当的步骤。 前大使盖伊圣雅克和丹尼斯霍拉克也参与其中。
But another set of optics, Beijing’s close rapport with Moscow, has already embedded a deep skepticism in the West over China’s potential role as mediator.
Since Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, Xi has claimed China’s neutrality, but has spoken with Putin five times – including twice in person – without picking up the phone to call Zelensky, despite a years-long strategic-level partnership between their countries.
China has also continued to carry out military exercises alongside Russian forces, with its defense minister visiting Moscow earlier this month and hailing “increasingly consolidated” trust between the two countries.
A vaguely-worded “political settlement” to the conflict released by China on the one-year anniversary of the invasion – and raised by Xi to Zelensky on Wednesday – has been widely viewed in the West and Kyiv as being far more favorable to Russia than Ukraine. It calls for a ceasefire but includes no provision that Moscow first withdraw its troops from Ukrainian land.
Fang was among a number of Chinese people who were targeted by authorities for publicly reporting the events of the world’s first major Covid-19 outbreak and lockdown. He and fellow citizen journalist Chen Qiushi, disappeared from Wuhan in February 2020.
Chen resurfaced in September 2021 in a video broadcast live on his friend’s YouTube feed, saying he had suffered from depression. He did not provide details about his disappearance.
A Chinese coast guard ship blocked a Philippine patrol vessel steaming into a disputed shoal in the South China Sea, causing a frightening near-collision in the latest act of Beijing’s aggression in the strategic waterway.
The high seas face-off April 23 between the larger Chinese ship and the Philippine coast guard’s BRP Malapascua near Second Thomas Shoal was among the tense moments it and another Philippine vessel encountered in a weeklong sovereignty patrol in one of the world’s most hotly contested waterways.
Opinion :
中国人被自动洗脑赞同中国共产党的不良行为。 就像巴甫洛夫的狗一样。The Chinese are automatically brainwashed to sympathize with the bad behavior of the Communist Party of China. Like, Pavlov’s dog.
European countries are demanding answers from Beijing after its top diplomat in Paris questioned the sovereignty of former Soviet republics, in comments that could undermine China’s efforts to be seen as a potential mediator between Russia and Ukraine.
The remarks by China’s ambassador to France Lu Shaye, who said during a television interview that former Soviet countries don’t have “effective status in international law,” have caused diplomatic consternation, especially in the Baltic states.
https://www.cnn.com/2023/04/24/china/china-ambassador-lu-shaye-baltic-soviet-states-europe-intl-hnk/index.html Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Mao Ning, pictured on April 24, when she said that China respects the “sovereign state status” of former Soviet Union countries.
China’s foreign minister stepped up threats Friday against the self-governing island of Taiwan, saying any who go against Beijing’s demand to exert control over the island are “playing with fire.”
七国集团外长承诺将加强对俄罗斯在乌克兰的战争制裁，并批评中国在台湾海峡和争议南海的行动，敦促北京”作为国际社会负责任的一员行事”。 The foreign ministers of G7 have pledged to intensify sanctions against Russia over its war in Ukraine and criticised China for its actions in the Taiwan Strait and disputed South China Sea, urging Beijing “to act as a responsible member of the international community”.
At least two Chinese women who joined historic “white paper” demonstrations in Beijing calling for an end to COVID-19 curbs were released on Wednesday after almost four months in detention, two of their friends told Reuters.
周二，二十年来袭击中国首都的最致命的火灾在一家医院造成29人死亡，但大多数人直到几个小时后才听说这件事，即使如此，由于当局对细节的严格保密，细节也很渺茫。The deadliest fire to hit the Chinese capital in two decades killed 29 people in a hospital Tuesday, but most people didn’t hear about it until several hours later, and even then the details were slim as authorities kept a tight lid on details.
The death toll from a fire at a Beijing hospital has risen to at least 29, with some people seen trapped and using bedsheets tied together to escape the flames. https://t.co/FFXQWx7KlEpic.twitter.com/I3KH8q84LL
Public anger is continuing to mount over the high death toll and initial attempts to clamp down on information about the incident, including censoring footage on social media at first.
A fire at a Beijing hospital has left more than two dozen dead, making it the Chinese capital's deadliest blaze in at least two decades. Dramatic videos on social media show people using tied bed sheets to escape the smoke and flames engulfing the Hospital https://t.co/VotEWSHk7Qpic.twitter.com/3WKSnjvCye
29 people, mostly patients, died in the terrible hospital fire in Beijing's Fengtai District on April 18. According to preliminary investigation, the fire was caused by sparks from renovation and construction work inside the hospital. The hospital director has now been detained. pic.twitter.com/ovfrBsFl3S
Beijing: ‘Worst sandstorm in a decade’ leaves Chinese capital covered in thick brown dust after heavy Gobi Desert winds
Monday 15 March 2021 07:11, UK
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https://imasdk.googleapis.com/js/core/bridge3.568.1_en.html#goog_1728580444Play Video – Beijing choked in dust stormBeijing faces regular sandstorms due to its proximity to the Gobi desert, and issues such as deforestation and soil erosion.
Annalena Baerbock said after a meeting in Beijing with China’s foreign minister Qin Gang on Friday that conflicts must be solved peacefully and that Berlin was monitoring the situation in Taiwan with concern. “A unilateral, violent change of the status quo would be unacceptable for us Europeans,” she said, according to Reuters.
Women’s tennis tour ends Peng Shuai-inspired China boycott Peng dropped out of public view after saying in a social media post in November 2021 that a high-ranking government official forced her to have sex.
The Information Office of the State Council, China’s ruling administrative body, has not responded to requests for comment on the allegations. Zhang is one of the most senior officials in the Chinese Communist Party in recent years, and as such his contact details are not publicly available, so he could not be contacted directly.
Last Saturday, just hours after Xi Jinping sipped tea with Emmanuel Macron while calling for peace in Ukraine, fighter jets flew across the Taiwan Strait in a display of Chinese military might.
Aimed at intimidating Taiwan, China’s drills began the day after a state visit by the French president that marked a high point in Chinese diplomacy.
The jarring juxtaposition was the latest example of the two faces China has presented to the world – a dovish international peacemaker, and an attack dog baring its teeth to defend what it sees as its territory.
Mr Xi and Mr Macron attended a tea ceremony in GuangzhouTaiwan president Tsai Ing-wen’s meeting with US leader Kevin McCarthy infuriated China
Disappearing Billionaires: Jack Ma And Other Chinese Moguls Who Have Mysteriously Dropped Off The Radar
The disappearance last month of technology industry dealmaker Bao Fan has rekindled interest in a recent Chinese phenomenon – vanishing billionaires.
The founder of China Renaissance Holdings – with a client list that has included internet giants Tencent, Alibaba and Baidu – is seen as a titan in the country’s tech sector.
Mr Bao’s case has followed a well-trodden path: he went missing for days before his company announced that he was “co-operating in an investigation being carried out by certain authorities in the People’s Republic of China”.
Jack Ma, the founder of Alibaba, made headlines when he was recently spotted at Yungu School in Hangzhou, where the company is headquartered. He had rarely made a public presence since he irked the Chinese Communist Party for criticizing the country’s financial regulatory system in 2020. “He described them as having a ‘pawnshop mentality,’ and that really ruffled a lot of feathers,” said Dexter Roberts, a senior fellow at the Atlantic Council Indo-Pacific Security Initiative and author of The Myth of Chinese Capitalism. “Also, just the brash character of Jack Ma rubbed a lot of regulators and very powerful people in China the wrong way.” Jack Ma wasn’t the first billionaire who mysteriously disappeared from public view. In 2015, Guo Guangchang, who is known as China’s Warren Buffet, went missing. The company later said he was assisting authorities with an investigation. In 2017, Xiao Jianhua, a Chinese-Canadian billionaire, was abducted by Chinese security agents from Hong Kong. In 2022, he was sentenced to 13 years in prison for fraud and corruption. The mysterious disappearance of China’s billionaires hasn’t stopped yet. In February, Bao Fan, a renowned investor banker, became the latest name on the list of ‘vanishing billionaires.’ However, a few days later, his company said he was “cooperating in an investigation being carried out by certain authorities in the People’s Republic of China.” “When someone like Bao Fan disappears, someone that high profile who suddenly vanishes without explanation, that inevitably sends a chilling kind of feel through the rest of the market,” said Nick Marro, lead analyst for global trade at the Economist Intelligence Unit. “I mean, how can you feel like you can do business in a place where, you know, an important leader of the industry can suddenly disappear?”
At the time of his disappearance Jack Ma was the richest person in China – he criticised financial regulatorsFosun International chairman Guo Guangchang. (Photo by HECTOR RETAMAL/AFP via Getty Images). AFP VIA GETTY IMAGESRetired real estate executive Ren Zhiqiang. CHINA NEWS SERVICE (CNS)/AFP VIA GETTY IMAGESBillionaire dealmaker Bao Fan
Kevin McCarthy, the speaker of the United States House of Representatives, is expected to meet Taiwan President Tsai Ing-wen in California later on Wednesday.
McCarthy has confirmed he will meet Tsai at a “bipartisan” event at the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library, about 64km (40 miles) north of the centre of Los Angeles.
Taiwan now has only 13 formal allies with Beijing stepping up efforts to isolate the island on the international stage [Taiwan Presidential Office/Handout via Reuters]Taiwan’s President Tsai Ing-wen travelled to Guatemala, one of Taiwan’s two remaining formal allies in Central America [Guatemala Presidency/Handout via Reuters]
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