have imposed sanctions on Russia and sent military aid to Ukraine: the UK, US, Canada, Britain, Australia, South Korea, Japan and the EU — in other words, those countries that are directly under the US sphere of influence, which in many cases involves a significant US military presence.
Since the invasion, China has hugely increased its purchases of Russian oil, gas and coal, while exporting far more machinery, manufactured products and high-end electronics in the other direction; they have boosted their bilateral trade by more than 30%. The two countries have also committed to significant investment and infrastructure projects through the Shanghai Cooperation Organization, the world’s largest regional grouping in terms of geographic scope and population, which also includes India, Pakistan, Iran and all the major Central Asian republics.
Today, as Xi and Putin sit down to discuss the future of Ukraine, the implication of this is clear. China and Russia are not decoupling from the West; rather, the West is decoupling from the rest of the world.
Mao Zedong (reigned 1893–1976) took China from a semi-colony to the world’s leading power.
However, Mao’s policies caused an enormous number of deaths through famine, prison labor, and mass executions.
In the 1950s, Mao launched the Great Leap Forward, which backfired and resulted in the deadliest famine in history. Over 55 million people died of hunger during 1959–61.
Mao’s Cultural Revolution (1966–1976) resulted in the deaths of up to 7 million people.
“When there is not enough to eat, people starve to death. It is better to let half of the people die so that the other half can eat their fill.”
The Great Chinese Famine — The Deadliest Famine In The Human History
The Great Chinese Famine of 1959-61 resulted in 55 million deaths
To survive, people resorted to cannibalism. Families ate their own children, remote travellers were murdered for food.
https://short-history.com/great-chinese-famine-1e156d0910bA Chinese man eating bark from a tree (Image: Reddit) https://short-history.com/great-chinese-famine-1e156d0910bhttps://short-history.com/great-chinese-famine-1e156d0910b
Mao Zedong believed each sparrow ate 4.5 kilograms (9.9 pounds) of grain per year. Consequently, the government proclaimed sparrows as the enemies of communism and systematically exterminated them.The lack of sparrows allowed locusts and other insects to over-multiply and destroy crops. 毛泽东相信每只麻雀每年吃4.5公斤（9.9磅）的谷物。 因此，政府宣布麻雀为共产主义的敌人，并系统地消灭它们。麻雀的缺乏使蝗虫和其他昆虫过度繁殖并毁坏庄稼。
Forcing farmers to switch to the steel industry 迫使农民转向钢铁工业
Blast furnaces made of earth spread across the Chinese countryside. The task of farmers was to increase the manufacturing of iron and steel (Image: Wikimedia Commons)American cartoon showing the result of the Great Leap Forward initiative (Image:petruskyaus.net)
Totalitarianism in China brutally suppressed any criticism. Mao Zedong was considered infallible. There was no manoeuvering room for fixing mistakes. 中国的极权主义残酷地压制了任何批评。 毛泽东被认为是万无一失的。 没有改正错误的回旋余地。
The cannibalism during the Great Chinese Famine occurred on a scale unprecedented in history. 中国大饥荒期间发生的食人事件规模空前。
“She sliced up the girl’s flesh and spiced it with chilli peppers before steaming and eating it.”
— Zhou Xun, a historian retelling the story of the old lady’s cannibalism
“她把姑娘的肉切成薄片,用辣椒调味,然后蒸着吃.”— 历史学家周迅重述老太太吃人的故事
The peasants were tortured, killed, or buried alive for reporting realistic harvest results, refusing to hand over the remaining bits of food, or for stealing food.
“Liu Desheng, guilty of poaching a sweet potato, was covered in urine… He, his wife, and his son were also forced into a heap of excrement. Then tongs were used to prise his mouth open after he refused to swallow excrement. He died three weeks later.”
Dutch Foreign Minister Wopke Hoekstra said China would face consequences if it were to consider shipping weapons to Russia for its war in Ukraine amid broader US warnings that Beijing may begin offering Moscow military aid.
“What I will convey to each of the colleagues, including my Chinese colleague here, is that the truth here is not somewhere in the middle, there is only one country responsible and that is Russia,” Hoekstra told reporters on the sidelines of the Group of 20 foreign ministers’ summit in New Delhi. Helping Moscow militarily “will have consequences if countries crossed that line, in my opinion.”
Hu’s apparently reluctant departure from the stage at the 20th congress of the Chinese Communist party (CCP) was a rare moment of unscripted drama at what was otherwise a carefully choreographed week of political theatre.
Former Chinese president Hu Jintao unexpectedly led out of party congress
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The new footage, shot by Channel News Asia but only released two days after the incident, captures about a minute of discreet, high-level manoeuvring before an official arrives to escort Hu away. Hu, who is 79, stepped down as head of the party 10 years ago.
When I was a child, the United States was the enemy, France was the enemy, the United Kingdom was the enemy, and the Philippines, Vietnam and South Korea were enemies… Later, India was the enemy, Taiwan, the brother of the same race, was also the enemy, and even the “Big Brother” Su Xiu became the enemy! I hate them. I want to be a soldier to beat them. Slowly, when I grew up, I couldn’t figure it out: Why do we have so many enemies? Now, I finally understand that we are the public enemies of the world!
“One day, we will raise this flag in our homeland,” Küseni says. “Are you ready?”
“Yes!” the children reply in unison, placing their right hands to their chests as the East Turkestan anthem “March of Salvation” plays. In Xinjiang that would also be illegal. Then the students crowd into an assembly hall where a carpeted stage, backed by lilac drapes and an arch of white flowers, has been arranged in front of rows of plastic chairs.
The World Health Organization has accused China of “under-representing” the severity of its Covid outbreak and criticized its “narrow” definition of what constitutes a Covid death, as top global health officials urge Beijing to share more data about the explosive spread.
“We continue to ask China for more rapid, regular, reliable data on hospitalizations and deaths, as well as more comprehensive, real-time viral sequencing,” WHO director-general Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said at a media briefing in Geneva Wednesday.
“WHO is concerned about the risk to life in China and has reiterated the importance of vaccination, including booster doses, to protect against hospitalization, severe disease, and death,” he said.
Speaking in more detail, WHO executive director for health emergencies Mike Ryan said the numbers released by China “under-represent the true impact of the disease” in terms of hospital and ICU admissions, as well as deaths.
