According to a new study, Microsoft's Bing censored&nbsp;names appearing in autosuggestions linked to Chinese party leaders and dissidents.

The report published by the University of Toronto's Citizen Lab said Bing censored politically sensitive Chinese names over time.

"Bing’s Chinese political autosuggestion censorship applies not only to their web search but also to the search built into Microsoft Windows as well as DuckDuckGo," the study revealed.

<a href="https://www.wionews.com/world/russian-cyberattack-targeting-hundreds-of-us-networks-reveals-microsoft-423930">Also Read:&nbsp;Russian cyberattack targeting hundreds of US networks, reveals Microsoft</a>

The study said it found "overwhelming censorship of Chinese character names relating to Chinese politics" &nbsp;which included "top-level Chinese government leaders and party figures" namely Xi Jinping and&nbsp;Wen Jiabao, a former Chinese premier also historical figures Li Dazhao who is considered the&nbsp;co-founder of the Chinese Communist Party.

The researchers said it found names of Chinese party leaders involved in political scandals or power struggle&nbsp;were also censured on Bing.

Watch | Disrupted attempted hacks by Russian spies: Microsoft

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"The censorship of Chinese leaders’ names in the domestic and international versions of Bing in China may be due to Microsoft’s compliance with Chinese laws and regulations," it informed while adding that there is "no legal reason for the names to be censored in Bing autosuggestions in the United States and Canada."

The study revealed that Chinese leaders, dissidents, political activists and religious figures in English letters were "also censored in the United States English and Canada English locales."

(With inputs from Agencies)

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According to a new study, Microsoft's Bing censored names appearing in autosuggestions linked to Chinese party leaders and dissidents. The report published by the University of Toronto's Citizen Lab said Bing censored politically sensitive Chinese names over time.

According to a new study, Microsoft's Bing censored names appearing in autosuggestions linked to Chinese party leaders and dissidents. The report published by the University of Toronto's Citizen Lab said Bing censored politically sensitive Chinese names over time. "Bing’s Chinese political autosuggestion censorship applies not only to their web search but also to the search built into Microsoft Windows as well as DuckDuckGo," the study revealed. Also Read: Russian cyberattack targeting hundreds of US networks, reveals Microsoft The study said it found "overwhelming censorship of Chinese character names relating to Chinese politics" which included "top-level Chinese government leaders and party figures" namely Xi Jinping and Wen Jiabao, a former Chinese premier also historical figures Li Dazhao who is considered the co-founder of the Chinese Communist Party. The researchers said it found names of Chinese party leaders involved in political scandals or power struggle were also censured on Bing. Watch | Disrupted attempted hacks by Russian spies: Microsoft "The censorship of Chinese leaders’ names in the domestic and international versions of Bing in China may be due to Microsoft’s compliance with Chinese laws and regulations," it informed while adding that there is "no legal reason for the names to be censored in Bing autosuggestions in the United States and Canada." The study revealed that Chinese leaders, dissidents, political activists and religious figures in English letters were "also censored in the United States English and Canada English locales." (With inputs from Agencies) WATCH WION LIVE HERE You can now write for wionews.com and be a part of the community. Share your stories and opinions with us here.

Microsoft's Bing censored searches linked to Xi, other Chinese party leaders: Study

More than Covid-19, the woes around China’s zero-Covid policy continues to make news in the country. Chinese leadership is trying everything it can to keep a positive narrative of its draconian policy, amid WHO Chief calling it ‘unsustainable’ and reports of President Xi Jinping suffering from a cerebral aneurysm. This week, in Chinese Vignettes, we’ll cover China’s intensifying lockdown and other top stories making news in the country.&nbsp;

CHINA OVER THE WEEK&nbsp;

Intensifying lockdown in China&nbsp;

For weeks now, residents in more than 40 cities and provinces continue to be under lockdown. And this lockdown is only intensifying. While the Chinese leadership continues to deny claims of a lockdown in Beijing, the residents rush to buy food over lockdown fears.&nbsp;&nbsp;

“It is unnecessary to hoard food… residents don’t need to worry, the city’s operations won’t be affected,” said Xu Hejian, a spokesperson for the Beijing municipal government at a press briefing on Thursday.&nbsp;

Even pictures off empty streets portray the contrary narrative.&nbsp;&nbsp;

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According to a Bloomberg report, virtual fences have cut off cab access to Covid-hit districts. This is after reports of city’s parks, gyms and movie theaters being shut to halt the spread of the virus. Beijing’s eastern Chaoyang district, home to embassies and multinationals, instructed companies “providing services other than supporting residents’ livelihoods” to be shut until further notice, and new rounds of mass testing were ordered in the capital city.&nbsp;&nbsp;

The South China Morning Post reported that some residents have endured more than 20 days of lockdown Beijing’s most populous district of Chaoyang.&nbsp;&nbsp;

Meanwhile, China’s financial hub Shanghai, earlier this week, reportedly once again tightened its Covid-19 restrictions. The Wall Street Journal reported a new lockdown rule, “if one person tests positive, the whole building isolates.”&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;

Shanghai officials also announced that it aims to bring the outbreak under control by May 20 achieving its “societal zero-Covid.” From May 16, the deputy mayor of Shanghai announced that the city would begin to re-open convenience stores and pharmacies, gradually reducing other restrictions in days to come and the return to ‘more normal’ life from June 1.&nbsp;&nbsp;

<a href="https://www.wionews.com/world/shanghai-to-resume-normal-life-as-tough-covid-19-lockdown-set-to-end-on-june-1-479359">Also read |&nbsp;Shanghai to resume normal life as tough COVID-19 lockdown set to end on June 1</a>

China slams WHO Chief Dr. Tedros&nbsp;&nbsp;

On Tuesday, the Director-General of the World Health Organisation (WHO) called China’s zero-Covid policy ‘not sustainable.’&nbsp;

“We don’t think that it is sustainable considering the behavior of the virus and what&nbsp;we now anticipate in the future,” said Dr. Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus&nbsp;&nbsp;

“We have discussed this issue with Chinese experts. And we indicated that the approach will not be sustainable … I think a shift would be very important,”&nbsp;he added.&nbsp;&nbsp;

Censors quickly scrubbed these comments off the Chinese internet, removing Weibo post on the United Nations account, reported the South China Morning Post.&nbsp;&nbsp;

Following which any search for the post was deemed to be illegal.&nbsp;&nbsp;

The Chinese government didn’t take Dr. Tedros’ criticism well, and hit out at WHO chief, calling his remarks “irresponsible.”&nbsp;

“We hope the relevant individual will make objective and reasonable views of China’s epidemic protocol and policy and try to get a better understanding of the facts and refrain from making irresponsible remarks,” foreign ministry spokesman Zhao Lijian told a regular briefing in Beijing.&nbsp;

Hu Xijing, former editor-in-chief of Global Times, a Chinese government mouthpiece, wrote on his Weibo account that the WHO chief was jeopardising China’s fight against Covid.&nbsp;

&nbsp;“The WHO should consider what impact it has on China when they comment on China now. They should not jeopardise China’s effort to fight the pandemic from outside.” he wrote.&nbsp;

The same day, a study by&nbsp;Fudan University in Shanghai and Indiana University in the United States, and the US medical research agency National Institutes of Health&nbsp;said China could see more than 1.5 million deaths without Covid-19 controls.&nbsp;&nbsp;

‘Such an outbreak is projected to cause 112 million symptomatic cases, or 80 cases per 1,000 people, with 2.7 million of them requiring treatment in intensive care,’ reported the South China Morning Post.&nbsp;

Hong Kong cardinal Joseph Zen arrested under security law&nbsp;

This week, the news of&nbsp;90-year-old cardinal&nbsp;Joseph Zen’s arrest sent shockwaves the community. Hong Kong’s veteran Catholic church leader along with 3 others was detained by the police on Wednesday for allegedly colluding with foreign forces.&nbsp;

Zen, Former opposition lawmaker Margaret Ng, singer Denise Ho and&nbsp;academic Hui Po-keung were trustees of the 612 Humanitarian Relief Fund, which was set up in 2019 to provide assistance to those involved in anti-government protests.&nbsp;&nbsp;

Joseph Zen, a retired bishop has been a long-time advocate for Hong Kong’s democracy movement and religious freedom in mainland China.&nbsp;

CHINA IN WORLD REPORTAGE&nbsp;

Is President Xi suffering from a cerebral aneurysm?&nbsp;

Reports of Chinese President Xi Jinping suffering from a cerebral aneurysm resurfaced this week. The media reports said that due to this medical problem, he had to be hospitalized at the end of 2021, and Xi preferred to be treated with traditional Chinese medicines rather than undergoing a surgery.&nbsp;&nbsp;

The reports when on to outline various incidents to back their claim. According to the reports, he had a noticeable limp in his gait during his visit to Italy in March 2019. In Shenzhen in October 2020, his delayed appearance, slow speech and coughing spree during an address to the public. And especially the fact that he avoided meeting foreign leaders since the outbreak of Covid-19 till the 2022 Beijing Winter Olympics in February.&nbsp;

CHINESE SURVEILLANCE SHIP SPOTTED OFF THE COAST OF AUSTRALIA&nbsp;

This week, according to the Australian government, a Chinese surveillance ship was spotted off the coast of Australia. The Department of Defence alleged that the&nbsp;Dongdiao Class Auxiliary Intelligence ship named Haiwangxing&nbsp;was currently headed east along the country’s north-west coast.&nbsp;&nbsp;

Australia’s Defence Minister Peter Dutton said on Friday that the ship had been tracking the western coastline for the past week.&nbsp;

“Its intent, of course, is to collect intelligence right along the coastline. It has been in close proximity to military and intelligence installations on the west coast of Australia,” Dutton was quoted as saying by the ABC.&nbsp;

“I think people understand the difficulty, the reality, of the Indo-Pacific at the moment, the acts of aggression from the Chinese leadership and from the Chinese government,”&nbsp;he added.&nbsp;

He further went on to point out that other Chinese vessels had been located off Australian waters in the past year during military exercises.&nbsp;&nbsp;

Dutton’s statement comes a week before the country is set to hold its federal elections.&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;

Countering these allegations, the Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Zhao Lijian said that his country&nbsp;“always abides by international law and international practice.”&nbsp;

When asked about Dutton’s comments he said, “The relevant Australian politician should look at the situation in an objective manner instead of making sensational remarks.”&nbsp;

More than Covid-19, the woes around China’s zero-Covid policy continues to make news in the country. Chinese leadership is trying everything it can to keep a positive narrative of its draconian policy, amid WHO Chief calling it ‘unsustainable’ and reports of President Xi Jinping suffering from a cerebral aneurysm.

More than Covid-19, the woes around China’s zero-Covid policy continues to make news in the country. Chinese leadership is trying everything it can to keep a positive narrative of its draconian policy, amid WHO Chief calling it ‘unsustainable’ and reports of President Xi Jinping suffering from a cerebral aneurysm. This week, in Chinese Vignettes, we’ll cover China’s intensifying lockdown and other top stories making news in the country. CHINA OVER THE WEEK Intensifying lockdown in China For weeks now, residents in more than 40 cities and provinces continue to be under lockdown. And this lockdown is only intensifying. While the Chinese leadership continues to deny claims of a lockdown in Beijing, the residents rush to buy food over lockdown fears. “It is unnecessary to hoard food… residents don’t need to worry, the city’s operations won’t be affected,” said Xu Hejian, a spokesperson for the Beijing municipal government at a press briefing on Thursday. Even pictures off empty streets portray the contrary narrative. According to a Bloomberg report, virtual fences have cut off cab access to Covid-hit districts. This is after reports of city’s parks, gyms and movie theaters being shut to halt the spread of the virus. Beijing’s eastern Chaoyang district, home to embassies and multinationals, instructed companies “providing services other than supporting residents’ livelihoods” to be shut until further notice, and new rounds of mass testing were ordered in the capital city. The South China Morning Post reported that some residents have endured more than 20 days of lockdown Beijing’s most populous district of Chaoyang. Meanwhile, China’s financial hub Shanghai, earlier this week, reportedly once again tightened its Covid-19 restrictions. The Wall Street Journal reported a new lockdown rule, “if one person tests positive, the whole building isolates.” Shanghai officials also announced that it aims to bring the outbreak under control by May 20 achieving its “societal zero-Covid.” From May 16, the deputy mayor of Shanghai announced that the city would begin to re-open convenience stores and pharmacies, gradually reducing other restrictions in days to come and the return to ‘more normal’ life from June 1. Also read | Shanghai to resume normal life as tough COVID-19 lockdown set to end on June 1 China slams WHO Chief Dr. Tedros On Tuesday, the Director-General of the World Health Organisation (WHO) called China’s zero-Covid policy ‘not sustainable.’ “We don’t think that it is sustainable considering the behavior of the virus and what we now anticipate in the future,” said Dr. Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus “We have discussed this issue with Chinese experts. And we indicated that the approach will not be sustainable … I think a shift would be very important,” he added. Censors quickly scrubbed these comments off the Chinese internet, removing Weibo post on the United Nations account, reported the South China Morning Post. Following which any search for the post was deemed to be illegal. The Chinese government didn’t take Dr. Tedros’ criticism well, and hit out at WHO chief, calling his remarks “irresponsible.” “We hope the relevant individual will make objective and reasonable views of China’s epidemic protocol and policy and try to get a better understanding of the facts and refrain from making irresponsible remarks,” foreign ministry spokesman Zhao Lijian told a regular briefing in Beijing. Hu Xijing, former editor-in-chief of Global Times, a Chinese government mouthpiece, wrote on his Weibo account that the WHO chief was jeopardising China’s fight against Covid. “The WHO should consider what impact it has on China when they comment on China now. They should not jeopardise China’s effort to fight the pandemic from outside.” he wrote. The same day, a study by Fudan University in Shanghai and Indiana University in the United States, and the US medical research agency National Institutes of Health said China could see more than 1.5 million deaths without Covid-19 controls. ‘Such an outbreak is projected to cause 112 million symptomatic cases, or 80 cases per 1,000 people, with 2.7 million of them requiring treatment in intensive care,’ reported the South China Morning Post. Hong Kong cardinal Joseph Zen arrested under security law This week, the news of 90-year-old cardinal Joseph Zen’s arrest sent shockwaves the community. Hong Kong’s veteran Catholic church leader along with 3 others was detained by the police on Wednesday for allegedly colluding with foreign forces. Zen, Former opposition lawmaker Margaret Ng, singer Denise Ho and academic Hui Po-keung were trustees of the 612 Humanitarian Relief Fund, which was set up in 2019 to provide assistance to those involved in anti-government protests. Joseph Zen, a retired bishop has been a long-time advocate for Hong Kong’s democracy movement and religious freedom in mainland China. CHINA IN WORLD REPORTAGE Is President Xi suffering from a cerebral aneurysm? Reports of Chinese President Xi Jinping suffering from a cerebral aneurysm resurfaced this week. The media reports said that due to this medical problem, he had to be hospitalized at the end of 2021, and Xi preferred to be treated with traditional Chinese medicines rather than undergoing a surgery. The reports when on to outline various incidents to back their claim. According to the reports, he had a noticeable limp in his gait during his visit to Italy in March 2019. In Shenzhen in October 2020, his delayed appearance, slow speech and coughing spree during an address to the public. And especially the fact that he avoided meeting foreign leaders since the outbreak of Covid-19 till the 2022 Beijing Winter Olympics in February. CHINESE SURVEILLANCE SHIP SPOTTED OFF THE COAST OF AUSTRALIA This week, according to the Australian government, a Chinese surveillance ship was spotted off the coast of Australia. The Department of Defence alleged that the Dongdiao Class Auxiliary Intelligence ship named Haiwangxing was currently headed east along the country’s north-west coast. Australia’s Defence Minister Peter Dutton said on Friday that the ship had been tracking the western coastline for the past week. “Its intent, of course, is to collect intelligence right along the coastline. It has been in close proximity to military and intelligence installations on the west coast of Australia,” Dutton was quoted as saying by the ABC. “I think people understand the difficulty, the reality, of the Indo-Pacific at the moment, the acts of aggression from the Chinese leadership and from the Chinese government,” he added. He further went on to point out that other Chinese vessels had been located off Australian waters in the past year during military exercises. Dutton’s statement comes a week before the country is set to hold its federal elections. Countering these allegations, the Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Zhao Lijian said that his country “always abides by international law and international practice.” When asked about Dutton’s comments he said, “The relevant Australian politician should look at the situation in an objective manner instead of making sensational remarks.”

Chinese vignettes | Beijing censors Xi’s friend Tedros after he calls China’s Zero-Covid not ‘sustainable’

Xi Jinping's one-time ally Tedros Adhanom has criticised his zero-covid policy as 'unsustainable'. The strict lockdowns have put 40% of China's GDP at risk. Reports say Xi is struggling with a life-threatening illness. Palki Sharma tells you more.

Gravitas: Has Xi Jinping lost the plot?

William Burns, the director of the Central Intelligence Agency of the United States, has said that Ukraine's fierce resistance to Russia is affecting China's calculations on Taiwan.

Beijing claims Taiwan as a part of its territory and Chinese President Xi Jinping has warned that it will use force for re-unification in case of resistance.

Military experts have raised concerns that China might use Russia's invasion of Ukraine as an excuse to attack Taiwan.

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During an interview with the Financial Times, Burns said, "I think the Chinese leadership is looking very carefully at all this, at the costs and consequences of any effort to use force to gain control over Taiwan."&nbsp;

"I don't for a minute think that this has eroded Xi's determination overtime to gain control over Taiwan."&nbsp;

"But I think it's something that's affecting their calculation about how and when they go about doing that," he added.

Also read |&nbsp;<a href="https://www.wionews.com/world/dont-try-anything-stupid-against-taiwan-hacker-group-anonymous-warns-china-477038" hreflang="en">'Don't try anything stupid against Taiwan': Hacker group Anonymous warns China</a>

Burns said he thinks Beijing has been surprised by the poor performance of Russian military forces and was unsettled by the fact that what Putin has done is to drive Europeans and Americans closer together.

Burns, a former US ambassador to Russia, has pointed out that Russia is "doubling down" on the war.

The CIA director, who has spent much time studying Russian President Vladimir Putin, believes the 69-year-old has not changed his view that his troops can defeat Ukraine.

According to Burns, the Western intelligence agencies do not believe that Moscow is planning to use tactical nuclear weapons despite Putin's veiled threats of doing so.

(With inputs from agencies)

Watch WION's live TV here:

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Decode the geostrategy, diplomacy, and ideologies of the world's unending wars. Catch our special series World at War every Saturday at 8:30 PM IST and Sunday at 10:30 PM IST only on WION. 
&nbsp;

William Burns, the director of the Central Intelligence Agency of the United States, has said that Ukraine's fierce resistance to Russia is affecting China's calculations on Taiwan.

William Burns, the director of the Central Intelligence Agency of the United States, has said that Ukraine's fierce resistance to Russia is affecting China's calculations on Taiwan. Beijing claims Taiwan as a part of its territory and Chinese President Xi Jinping has warned that it will use force for re-unification in case of resistance. Military experts have raised concerns that China might use Russia's invasion of Ukraine as an excuse to attack Taiwan. During an interview with the Financial Times, Burns said, "I think the Chinese leadership is looking very carefully at all this, at the costs and consequences of any effort to use force to gain control over Taiwan." "I don't for a minute think that this has eroded Xi's determination overtime to gain control over Taiwan." "But I think it's something that's affecting their calculation about how and when they go about doing that," he added. Also read | 'Don't try anything stupid against Taiwan': Hacker group Anonymous warns China Burns said he thinks Beijing has been surprised by the poor performance of Russian military forces and was unsettled by the fact that what Putin has done is to drive Europeans and Americans closer together. Burns, a former US ambassador to Russia, has pointed out that Russia is "doubling down" on the war. The CIA director, who has spent much time studying Russian President Vladimir Putin, believes the 69-year-old has not changed his view that his troops can defeat Ukraine. According to Burns, the Western intelligence agencies do not believe that Moscow is planning to use tactical nuclear weapons despite Putin's veiled threats of doing so. (With inputs from agencies) Watch WION's live TV here: Decode the geostrategy, diplomacy, and ideologies of the world's unending wars. Catch our special series World at War every Saturday at 8:30 PM IST and Sunday at 10:30 PM IST only on WION.

CIA director says Ukraine's fierce resistance to Russia is affecting China's calculations on Taiwan

After facing enormous criticism over zero-Covid policy, Chinese President Xi Jinping has issued the strongest warning to people to keep a check on the growing trend, media reports said. &nbsp;

In recent days, China seems to have been regularly slammed within the nation and outside over the policy. Several pictures and clips of incidents of forceful measures being taken up by the authorities have also surfaced. &nbsp;

Also Read:&nbsp;<a href="https://www.wionews.com/world/china-makes-covid-pcr-tests-a-part-of-everyday-life-opens-permanent-testing-centres-476876" hreflang="en">China makes Covid PCR tests a part of everyday life, opens permanent testing centres</a>

Several residents of Shanghai had also called for help on social media recently. They had showed their anger over food shortages and lack of access to healthcare in the last five weeks, reported CNN. &nbsp;

In a meeting headed by the president on Thursday, the Communist Party's supreme Politburo Standing Committee vowed to "unswervingly adhere to the general policy of 'dynamic zero-Covid,' and resolutely fight against any words and acts that distort, doubt or deny our country's epidemic prevention policies." &nbsp;

Watch | Gravitas: Xi Jinping attacks zero covid 'doubters'

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"Our prevention and control strategy is determined by the party's nature and mission, our policies can stand the test of history, our measures are scientific and effective. We have won the battle to defend Wuhan, and we will certainly be able to win the battle to defend Shanghai," the seven-member committee said as per Xinhua. &nbsp;&nbsp;

According to the state media, it is the first time Xi, who made an "important speech" at the meeting, has made public remarks about the policy since furore.

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(With inputs from agencies)&nbsp;

After facing enormous criticism over zero-Covid policy, Chinese President Xi Jinping has issued the strongest warning to people to keep a check on the growing trend, media reports said.

After facing enormous criticism over zero-Covid policy, Chinese President Xi Jinping has issued the strongest warning to people to keep a check on the growing trend, media reports said. In recent days, China seems to have been regularly slammed within the nation and outside over the policy. Several pictures and clips of incidents of forceful measures being taken up by the authorities have also surfaced. Also Read: China makes Covid PCR tests a part of everyday life, opens permanent testing centres Several residents of Shanghai had also called for help on social media recently. They had showed their anger over food shortages and lack of access to healthcare in the last five weeks, reported CNN. In a meeting headed by the president on Thursday, the Communist Party's supreme Politburo Standing Committee vowed to "unswervingly adhere to the general policy of 'dynamic zero-Covid,' and resolutely fight against any words and acts that distort, doubt or deny our country's epidemic prevention policies." Watch | Gravitas: Xi Jinping attacks zero covid 'doubters' × "Our prevention and control strategy is determined by the party's nature and mission, our policies can stand the test of history, our measures are scientific and effective. We have won the battle to defend Wuhan, and we will certainly be able to win the battle to defend Shanghai," the seven-member committee said as per Xinhua. According to the state media, it is the first time Xi, who made an "important speech" at the meeting, has made public remarks about the policy since furore. WATCH WION LIVE HERE (With inputs from agencies)

Chinese President Xi Jinping issues strongest warning to silence uproar over zero-Covid policy

Chinese web users have become creative to dodge censorship about the coronavirus cases in the country.

They are referencing to Hollywood blockbusters and George Orwell's dystopian novel "1984" and quoting the national anthem to beat the firewall.

With Communist Party scrubbing outposts portraying the Chinese policies in a negative light, Chinese President Xi Jinping has warned against any criticism of the country's stringent zero-Covid policy.

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He said the party will "resolutely fight against all words and deeds that distort, question or reject our nation's disease control policies".

Beijing has intensified its crackdown online after Shanghai residents started criticising the inadequate facilities and lack of necessities in the business hub.

Shanghai, which has a population of 25 million, has been under lockdown for weeks now as China struggles to tackle an outbreak.

It has become "too big of an issue to be able to completely censor," co-founder of censorship monitoring website GreatFire.org Charlie Smith told AFP.

<a href="https://www.wionews.com/trending/watch-chinese-people-claim-quarantine-facilities-in-shanghai-have-insufficient-staff-shortage-of-food-468545">Watch | Shanghai residents claim quarantine facilities have insufficient staff, shortage of food</a>

Chinese netizens on Weibo, Beijing's Twitter-like platform, quoted the first line of China's national anthem, "Arise, those who refuse to be slaves" after a popular hashtag on the social media platform was deleted by censors.

They also used references of Orwell's fiction "1984" alongside a torrent of anti-lockdown fury to make tongue-in-cheek barbs about home confinement in China.

According to Yaqiu Wang, senior China researcher at Human Rights Watch, "It's harder for the government to walk back when it becomes an ideological issue that's attached to Xi Jinping personally."

(With inputs from agencies)

Watch WION's live TV here:

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Decode the geostrategy, diplomacy, and ideologies of the world’s unending wars. Catch our special series ‘World at War’ every Saturday at 8:30 PM IST and Sunday at 10:30 PM IST only on WION.

Chinese web users have become creative to dodge censorship about the coronavirus cases in the country. They are referencing to Hollywood blockbusters and George Orwell's dystopian novel "1984" and quoting the national anthem to beat the firewall.

Chinese web users have become creative to dodge censorship about the coronavirus cases in the country. They are referencing to Hollywood blockbusters and George Orwell's dystopian novel "1984" and quoting the national anthem to beat the firewall. With Communist Party scrubbing outposts portraying the Chinese policies in a negative light, Chinese President Xi Jinping has warned against any criticism of the country's stringent zero-Covid policy. He said the party will "resolutely fight against all words and deeds that distort, question or reject our nation's disease control policies". Beijing has intensified its crackdown online after Shanghai residents started criticising the inadequate facilities and lack of necessities in the business hub. Shanghai, which has a population of 25 million, has been under lockdown for weeks now as China struggles to tackle an outbreak. It has become "too big of an issue to be able to completely censor," co-founder of censorship monitoring website GreatFire.org Charlie Smith told AFP. Watch | Shanghai residents claim quarantine facilities have insufficient staff, shortage of food Chinese netizens on Weibo, Beijing's Twitter-like platform, quoted the first line of China's national anthem, "Arise, those who refuse to be slaves" after a popular hashtag on the social media platform was deleted by censors. They also used references of Orwell's fiction "1984" alongside a torrent of anti-lockdown fury to make tongue-in-cheek barbs about home confinement in China. According to Yaqiu Wang, senior China researcher at Human Rights Watch, "It's harder for the government to walk back when it becomes an ideological issue that's attached to Xi Jinping personally." (With inputs from agencies) Watch WION's live TV here: Decode the geostrategy, diplomacy, and ideologies of the world’s unending wars. Catch our special series ‘World at War’ every Saturday at 8:30 PM IST and Sunday at 10:30 PM IST only on WION.

From quoting national anthem to referencing Orwell's 1984: What Chinese netizens are doing to dodge censorship

An elderly man in Shanghai was mistakenly declared dead and wheeled to the morgue. He was saved by alert medics who felt something was wrong. How many such mishaps will it take for Xi Jinping to abandon 'zero-covid'? Palki Sharma tells you.

Gravitas: Shanghai man mistakenly declared dead

China is going to meet with the country's Big Tech firms, the South China Morning Post reported, citing two sources briefed on the situation.

It added that the symposium has been set to assure business executives that regulators will no longer demand rectifications or impose surprise fines and will be held after the Labour Day holiday.

According to the Xinhua news agency, officials met with the Chinese Communist Party's decision-making body.

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It said that it was "necessary to promote the healthy development of the platform economy" and "complete its rectification".

The Politburo meeting was chaired by Chinese President Xi Jinping and after the meeting, officials said there was a need to "respond to market concerns in a timely manner".

The news has raised hopes that Beijing will stop its long-running, sweeping regulatory clampdown on the tech sector.

As a result, Shanghai and Hong Kong led a rally across Asian and European markets on Friday.

<a href="https://www.wionews.com/photos/from-education-to-bitcoin-chinas-season-of-regulatory-crackdown-401448">Also see |&nbsp;From education to bitcoin, China's season of regulatory crackdown</a>

Financial experts have warned officials will struggle to achieve a soft landing by controlling prices while still nurturing growth and the recovery in the US economy could be thrown off course.

Carol Schleif told Bloomberg Television, "The Fed's record on soft landings is not that strong."&nbsp;

"Markets are watching very, very carefully to see if we can thread that needle," Scheif added at the BMO Family Office.

Due to China's lockdowns, the sentiment of growth remains fragile as traders are operating under the shadows of war and soaring inflation.

WATCH WION LIVE HERE

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China is going to meet with the country's Big Tech firms, the South China Morning Post reported, citing two sources briefed on the situation. It added that the symposium has been set to assure business executives that regulators will no longer demand rectifications or impose surprise fines and will be held after the Labour Day holiday.

China is going to meet with the country's Big Tech firms, the South China Morning Post reported, citing two sources briefed on the situation. It added that the symposium has been set to assure business executives that regulators will no longer demand rectifications or impose surprise fines and will be held after the Labour Day holiday. According to the Xinhua news agency, officials met with the Chinese Communist Party's decision-making body. It said that it was "necessary to promote the healthy development of the platform economy" and "complete its rectification". The Politburo meeting was chaired by Chinese President Xi Jinping and after the meeting, officials said there was a need to "respond to market concerns in a timely manner". The news has raised hopes that Beijing will stop its long-running, sweeping regulatory clampdown on the tech sector. As a result, Shanghai and Hong Kong led a rally across Asian and European markets on Friday. Also see | From education to bitcoin, China's season of regulatory crackdown Financial experts have warned officials will struggle to achieve a soft landing by controlling prices while still nurturing growth and the recovery in the US economy could be thrown off course. Carol Schleif told Bloomberg Television, "The Fed's record on soft landings is not that strong." "Markets are watching very, very carefully to see if we can thread that needle," Scheif added at the BMO Family Office. Due to China's lockdowns, the sentiment of growth remains fragile as traders are operating under the shadows of war and soaring inflation. WATCH WION LIVE HERE

End of regulatory crackdown? China to hold symposium with the country's Big Tech firms

Images of pets beaten to death, and stories of the elderly being denied basic medical care are clouding the Chinese internet, even as netizens debate Beijing’s “dynamic zero-Covid” policy.

There is also an electoral buzz in Hong Kong as the current Chief Executive, Carrie Lam, has decided that she won’t seek a second term. Meanwhile, Taiwan is gearing up to welcome US House Speaker Nancy Pelosi.&nbsp;Chinese Vignettes&nbsp;brings you all the stories making news in China. &nbsp;

China over the week

Rising COVID-19 Cases

China’s continuous and steady commitment to its zero-Covid policy is reaping no benefits, rather it is hurting its economy. On Sunday, Shanghai reported 24,944 COVID-19 cases, bringing the total in the current wave to more than 179,000.

More than 26 million people have been under lockdown in China’s financial hub Shanghai, as what began as an eight-day lockdown to be observed in two phases, has been extended indefinitely. The citizens are overwhelmed. Under the latest lockdown, Shanghai residents are not permitted to leave their homes for any reason other than to be tested for COVID-19, and are dependent on the officials for food and basic necessities. &nbsp;

While the Chinese authorities are trying their best to limit the blow of the Shanghai lockdown by giving tax rebate and other incentives and exemptions, the residents are feeling the strain. Moreover, the shutdown has also jolted the global financial markets who have already been on edge due to the Russia-Ukraine conflict. &nbsp;

This stringent zero-Covid policy is also experiencing pushback from residents who are running out of food. The city officials who are responsible for providing the residents with the basic necessities have also admitted that they are facing “difficulties.”

Public anger is also triggered by other drastic measures such as the separation of children from their parents if they test positive for the virus. The authorities later responded by permitting the parents to accompany their wards. However, according to a&nbsp;Reuters&nbsp;report, there are complaints of children separated from their guardians who tested negative. &nbsp;

Additionally, mandatory quarantining in a government facility even for patients whose condition is mild or asymptomatic have caused angst, especially as the quarantine facilities are crowded and have sub-par conditions. &nbsp;

Chinese President Xi’s zero-Covid policy has also broken down those who once supported it, with some saying that Beijing’s cure is worse than the disease itself.

“In this country, it’s not the virus that scares us, but the chaotic anti-Covid measures that have caused risks to the well-being of the elderly, the children and companion animals. I now realize we can only rely on ourselves -- not the government -- to protect our own families,” said&nbsp;Bloomberg&nbsp;quoting a resident.

While another said that she no longer knows the city, the only thing which comes to her mind is to protect her dogs. This comes as Chinese social media is full of images and videos of authorities beating dogs to death. &nbsp;

Another video of an older man went viral on social media, who was heard saying “Really shame on you. Treat us like animals. In other countries, you can’t even treat a cat or a dog like this. There is no humanity left.” The video was later deleted.

On Monday, the centre sent thousands of medics from across the country including the military to carry out the testing and help the embattled local health workers in Shanghai.

The centre fears that the pushback by residents in China could inspire other cities currently under lockdown to fight these measures.&nbsp;&nbsp;

“There is the risk of a slow-burn discontent if lockdown measures spread across China. And if its virus strategy goes out of control and heavily affects its economy, this will not look good as Xi attempts a third term. At that point, Xi will have no choice but to ramp up his nationalism agenda,” reported&nbsp;Bloomberg&nbsp;quoting Chen Shih-Min, an associate political science professor at National Taiwan University.

Electoral buzz in Hong Kong

While the city of nearly 8 million is still batting Covid, it is also gearing up for elections this May. Earlier this week, Chief Executive of Hong Kong Carrie Lam announced that she will not be seeking a second term. Her current term, which ends on June 30, will conclude her 42-year career in government service. &nbsp;

There was also a buzz on social media after the announcement. Some said it was ‘great news”, others said “let’s celebrate!”. While some also pointed out that "Anyone is better than Carrie Lam because she brings bad luck." &nbsp;

The city’s current No. 2 John Lee Ka-chiu resigned from his post of chief secretary following Lam’s announcement, as he emerged as the ‘only’ contender for the post, as Beijing gave their ‘approval’. On Saturday, he announced his bid to run for the top job. &nbsp;

64-year-old John Lee began his career as a police officer, later he turned to politics, and has served as Secretary for Security, Under Secretary for Security, Deputy Commissioner of Police and Chief Secretary for Administration in the Hong Kong government.

‘He has secured enough nominations to run as the only hopeful in next month’s leadership race with Beijing’s blessing,’ said the&nbsp;South China Morning Post. And ‘he promised a ‘new chapter of “pragmatic” and “result-oriented” leadership’ for Hong Kong.’ And Lee hopes to start “a new chapter for Hong Kong together.”

&nbsp;According to reports, for his leadership campaign, Lee will be aided by an “all-encompassing” team. His 16-member campaign team is led by pro-Beijing heavyweight Tam Yiu-chung. The team consists of people from diverse backgrounds such as policy think tanks, finance, social welfare, education and law, as he tries to win public support.

“We hope to strive for community support for Lee and to raise people’s understanding of his policies by reaching out to the community,” said Tam speaking to the&nbsp;South China Morning Post. “But due to the constraints of the social-distancing rules, we’ll have to study how we can achieve that.”

Nancy Pelosi’s visit to Taiwan – a red line?

US house speaker Nancy Pelosi was reportedly due to visit Taiwan as part of her tour to Asia, a first by someone in more than two decades. However, China was not happy not it. &nbsp;

&nbsp;"If the speaker of the U.S. House of Representatives knowingly commits a sneaky visit to Taiwan, it will be a malicious provocation to China’s sovereignty, gross interference in its internal affairs and an extremely dangerous political signal to the outside world,” said Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi.

Even the Chinese embassy in the United States said, “In the past few days, Chinese Ambassador Qin Gang and the Chinese Embassy in the U.S. have lodged stern representations with the U.S. Congress and government on U.S. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s reported visit to Taiwan, and stated China’s solemn position, urging the U.S. side to abide by the one-China principle and the stipulations in the three Sino-U.S. Joint Communiques, and to cancel Speaker Pelosi’s plan to visit Taiwan.”

However, after testing positive for Covid-19 she had to postpone it, said her deputy communications director in a tweet on Thursday, leaving many to wonder about when her trip is rescheduled.

On this, while wishing a quick recovery for Pelosi, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Zhao Lijian said that she should "not postpone a visit, but cancel it immediately".

On Friday, Chinese state media trolled Pelosi, state broadcaster&nbsp;CCTV’s social media account started the hashtag “Cure your covid sickness first” that trended China’s Twitter equivalent&nbsp;Weibo.

Taiwan, on the other hand, not only wished her a ‘speedy recovery’ but also thanked the speaker for being a ‘good friend to Taiwan’. Tsai Ing-wen, President of Taiwan, “welcomed the show of U.S. support given Russia’s invasion of Ukraine has raised concern that China may follow through on its oft-repeated threat to take control of the democratic island by force,” reported&nbsp;Bloomberg.

&nbsp;

China in world reportage

Arms race with US &nbsp;

This week, Australia, the United Kingdom and the United States – or the AUKUS, agreed to cooperate on hypersonic weapons and electronic warfare capabilities. &nbsp;

“We … committed today to commence new trilateral cooperation on hypersonics and counter-hypersonics, and electronic warfare capabilities, as well as to expand information sharing and to deepen cooperation on defence innovation,” said the leaders of the 3 countries – British Prime Minister Boris Johnson, US President Joe Biden and Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison, in a joint statement on Tuesday.

Adding that they were delighted with the progress of the ‘programme for the conventionally armed submarines for Australia, and the allies would co-operate in other areas too,’ reported&nbsp;Aljazeera.

“These initiatives will add to our existing efforts to deepen cooperation on cyber capabilities, artificial intelligence, quantum technologies, and additional undersea capabilities... As our work progresses on these and other critical defence and security capabilities, we will seek opportunities to engage allies and close partners,” they said

Meanwhile, according to reports, ‘the first U.S. hypersonic weapon has been a setback to more than a year under a new timeline which was to be delivered by Sept. 30. The lawmakers protested the delay, as Pentagon is lagging behind in a new technology that ‘Russia has already used in Ukraine and China has demonstrated in a space launch,’ reported&nbsp;Bloomberg.

Last month, while Russia debuted the missile in its attack on Ukraine, China hit a demonstration target on Earth with a weapon in orbit in July. &nbsp;

According to a&nbsp;Wall Street Journal&nbsp;report, Beijing has "accelerated" its nuclear weapons programme due to threats posed by the US. And according to another report, China has also delivered HQ-22 surface-to-air missile systems to Russian ally Serbia. Early Saturday, six Chinese Air Force Y-20 transport planes landed in Belgrade to deliver the ‘sophisticated Chinese anti-aircraft system.’

UN General Assembly votes to suspend Russia from Human Rights Council

On Thursday, China voted against suspending Russia from the Human Rights Council. The resolution came as, U.S. Ambassador Linda Thomas-Greenfield said that Russia should be removed from the council, following the reports of mass killings in Bucha, where the Ukrainian officials have accused the Russian troops of committing war crimes.

"Russia's participation on the Human Rights Council is a farce... And it is wrong, which is why we believe it is time the UN General Assembly vote to remove them," she said. &nbsp;

Voting against the resolution, China Ambassador Zhang Jun, at the UN General Assembly said, “China’s basic position on the Ukraine issue is consistent and unequivocal. We always believe that all countries’ sovereignty and territorial integrity should be respected, and that international disputes should be resolved peacefully in accordance with the purposes and principles of the UN Charter.”

“Any action by the UN and the relevant parties should give priority to regional peace and stability and the universal security of all parties, and should play a positive role for de-escalation and diplomatic solutions. Regrettably, the draft resolution submitted to this emergency special session for vote has not undergone full consultations within the whole membership. Nor does it take full consideration the history and complexity of the current crisis. It does not highlight the importance of the principle of indivisible security, or the urgency of promoting political settlement and stepping up diplomatic efforts. These are not in line with China’s consistent positions. Therefore, we had no choice but to abstain in the voting,” he added. &nbsp;

(The author is an Assistant Researcher at WION TV) &nbsp;

Images of pets beaten to death, and stories of the elderly being denied basic medical care are clouding the Chinese internet, even as netizens debate Beijing’s “dynamic zero-Covid” policy.

Images of pets beaten to death, and stories of the elderly being denied basic medical care are clouding the Chinese internet, even as netizens debate Beijing’s “dynamic zero-Covid” policy. There is also an electoral buzz in Hong Kong as the current Chief Executive, Carrie Lam, has decided that she won’t seek a second term. Meanwhile, Taiwan is gearing up to welcome US House Speaker Nancy Pelosi. Chinese Vignettes brings you all the stories making news in China. China over the week Rising COVID-19 Cases China’s continuous and steady commitment to its zero-Covid policy is reaping no benefits, rather it is hurting its economy. On Sunday, Shanghai reported 24,944 COVID-19 cases, bringing the total in the current wave to more than 179,000. More than 26 million people have been under lockdown in China’s financial hub Shanghai, as what began as an eight-day lockdown to be observed in two phases, has been extended indefinitely. The citizens are overwhelmed. Under the latest lockdown, Shanghai residents are not permitted to leave their homes for any reason other than to be tested for COVID-19, and are dependent on the officials for food and basic necessities. While the Chinese authorities are trying their best to limit the blow of the Shanghai lockdown by giving tax rebate and other incentives and exemptions, the residents are feeling the strain. Moreover, the shutdown has also jolted the global financial markets who have already been on edge due to the Russia-Ukraine conflict. This stringent zero-Covid policy is also experiencing pushback from residents who are running out of food. The city officials who are responsible for providing the residents with the basic necessities have also admitted that they are facing “difficulties.” Public anger is also triggered by other drastic measures such as the separation of children from their parents if they test positive for the virus. The authorities later responded by permitting the parents to accompany their wards. However, according to a Reuters report, there are complaints of children separated from their guardians who tested negative. Additionally, mandatory quarantining in a government facility even for patients whose condition is mild or asymptomatic have caused angst, especially as the quarantine facilities are crowded and have sub-par conditions. Chinese President Xi’s zero-Covid policy has also broken down those who once supported it, with some saying that Beijing’s cure is worse than the disease itself. “In this country, it’s not the virus that scares us, but the chaotic anti-Covid measures that have caused risks to the well-being of the elderly, the children and companion animals. I now realize we can only rely on ourselves -- not the government -- to protect our own families,” said Bloomberg quoting a resident. While another said that she no longer knows the city, the only thing which comes to her mind is to protect her dogs. This comes as Chinese social media is full of images and videos of authorities beating dogs to death. Another video of an older man went viral on social media, who was heard saying “Really shame on you. Treat us like animals. In other countries, you can’t even treat a cat or a dog like this. There is no humanity left.” The video was later deleted. On Monday, the centre sent thousands of medics from across the country including the military to carry out the testing and help the embattled local health workers in Shanghai. The centre fears that the pushback by residents in China could inspire other cities currently under lockdown to fight these measures. “There is the risk of a slow-burn discontent if lockdown measures spread across China. And if its virus strategy goes out of control and heavily affects its economy, this will not look good as Xi attempts a third term. At that point, Xi will have no choice but to ramp up his nationalism agenda,” reported Bloomberg quoting Chen Shih-Min, an associate political science professor at National Taiwan University. Electoral buzz in Hong Kong While the city of nearly 8 million is still batting Covid, it is also gearing up for elections this May. Earlier this week, Chief Executive of Hong Kong Carrie Lam announced that she will not be seeking a second term. Her current term, which ends on June 30, will conclude her 42-year career in government service. There was also a buzz on social media after the announcement. Some said it was ‘great news”, others said “let’s celebrate!”. While some also pointed out that "Anyone is better than Carrie Lam because she brings bad luck." The city’s current No. 2 John Lee Ka-chiu resigned from his post of chief secretary following Lam’s announcement, as he emerged as the ‘only’ contender for the post, as Beijing gave their ‘approval’. On Saturday, he announced his bid to run for the top job. 64-year-old John Lee began his career as a police officer, later he turned to politics, and has served as Secretary for Security, Under Secretary for Security, Deputy Commissioner of Police and Chief Secretary for Administration in the Hong Kong government. ‘He has secured enough nominations to run as the only hopeful in next month’s leadership race with Beijing’s blessing,’ said the South China Morning Post. And ‘he promised a ‘new chapter of “pragmatic” and “result-oriented” leadership’ for Hong Kong.’ And Lee hopes to start “a new chapter for Hong Kong together.” According to reports, for his leadership campaign, Lee will be aided by an “all-encompassing” team. His 16-member campaign team is led by pro-Beijing heavyweight Tam Yiu-chung. The team consists of people from diverse backgrounds such as policy think tanks, finance, social welfare, education and law, as he tries to win public support. “We hope to strive for community support for Lee and to raise people’s understanding of his policies by reaching out to the community,” said Tam speaking to the South China Morning Post. “But due to the constraints of the social-distancing rules, we’ll have to study how we can achieve that.” Nancy Pelosi’s visit to Taiwan – a red line? US house speaker Nancy Pelosi was reportedly due to visit Taiwan as part of her tour to Asia, a first by someone in more than two decades. However, China was not happy not it. "If the speaker of the U.S. House of Representatives knowingly commits a sneaky visit to Taiwan, it will be a malicious provocation to China’s sovereignty, gross interference in its internal affairs and an extremely dangerous political signal to the outside world,” said Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi. Even the Chinese embassy in the United States said, “In the past few days, Chinese Ambassador Qin Gang and the Chinese Embassy in the U.S. have lodged stern representations with the U.S. Congress and government on U.S. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s reported visit to Taiwan, and stated China’s solemn position, urging the U.S. side to abide by the one-China principle and the stipulations in the three Sino-U.S. Joint Communiques, and to cancel Speaker Pelosi’s plan to visit Taiwan.” However, after testing positive for Covid-19 she had to postpone it, said her deputy communications director in a tweet on Thursday, leaving many to wonder about when her trip is rescheduled. On this, while wishing a quick recovery for Pelosi, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Zhao Lijian said that she should "not postpone a visit, but cancel it immediately". On Friday, Chinese state media trolled Pelosi, state broadcaster CCTV’s social media account started the hashtag “Cure your covid sickness first” that trended China’s Twitter equivalent Weibo. Taiwan, on the other hand, not only wished her a ‘speedy recovery’ but also thanked the speaker for being a ‘good friend to Taiwan’. Tsai Ing-wen, President of Taiwan, “welcomed the show of U.S. support given Russia’s invasion of Ukraine has raised concern that China may follow through on its oft-repeated threat to take control of the democratic island by force,” reported Bloomberg. China in world reportage Arms race with US This week, Australia, the United Kingdom and the United States – or the AUKUS, agreed to cooperate on hypersonic weapons and electronic warfare capabilities. “We … committed today to commence new trilateral cooperation on hypersonics and counter-hypersonics, and electronic warfare capabilities, as well as to expand information sharing and to deepen cooperation on defence innovation,” said the leaders of the 3 countries – British Prime Minister Boris Johnson, US President Joe Biden and Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison, in a joint statement on Tuesday. Adding that they were delighted with the progress of the ‘programme for the conventionally armed submarines for Australia, and the allies would co-operate in other areas too,’ reported Aljazeera. “These initiatives will add to our existing efforts to deepen cooperation on cyber capabilities, artificial intelligence, quantum technologies, and additional undersea capabilities... As our work progresses on these and other critical defence and security capabilities, we will seek opportunities to engage allies and close partners,” they said Meanwhile, according to reports, ‘the first U.S. hypersonic weapon has been a setback to more than a year under a new timeline which was to be delivered by Sept. 30. The lawmakers protested the delay, as Pentagon is lagging behind in a new technology that ‘Russia has already used in Ukraine and China has demonstrated in a space launch,’ reported Bloomberg. Last month, while Russia debuted the missile in its attack on Ukraine, China hit a demonstration target on Earth with a weapon in orbit in July. According to a Wall Street Journal report, Beijing has "accelerated" its nuclear weapons programme due to threats posed by the US. And according to another report, China has also delivered HQ-22 surface-to-air missile systems to Russian ally Serbia. Early Saturday, six Chinese Air Force Y-20 transport planes landed in Belgrade to deliver the ‘sophisticated Chinese anti-aircraft system.’ UN General Assembly votes to suspend Russia from Human Rights Council On Thursday, China voted against suspending Russia from the Human Rights Council. The resolution came as, U.S. Ambassador Linda Thomas-Greenfield said that Russia should be removed from the council, following the reports of mass killings in Bucha, where the Ukrainian officials have accused the Russian troops of committing war crimes. "Russia's participation on the Human Rights Council is a farce... And it is wrong, which is why we believe it is time the UN General Assembly vote to remove them," she said. Voting against the resolution, China Ambassador Zhang Jun, at the UN General Assembly said, “China’s basic position on the Ukraine issue is consistent and unequivocal. We always believe that all countries’ sovereignty and territorial integrity should be respected, and that international disputes should be resolved peacefully in accordance with the purposes and principles of the UN Charter.” “Any action by the UN and the relevant parties should give priority to regional peace and stability and the universal security of all parties, and should play a positive role for de-escalation and diplomatic solutions. Regrettably, the draft resolution submitted to this emergency special session for vote has not undergone full consultations within the whole membership. Nor does it take full consideration the history and complexity of the current crisis. It does not highlight the importance of the principle of indivisible security, or the urgency of promoting political settlement and stepping up diplomatic efforts. These are not in line with China’s consistent positions. Therefore, we had no choice but to abstain in the voting,” he added. (The author is an Assistant Researcher at WION TV)

Chinese vignettes | Beijing’s unwavering commitment to its zero-Covid policy is only hurting China

The United States has authorised ''voluntary departure'' of non-essential personnel from Shanghai due to the tough coronavirus restrictions in the city.

The US State Department said in a statement that the families of all Americans have also been granted permission to leave.

The country has issued an advisory against travelling to Shanghai "due to Covid-19 related restrictions, including the risk of parents and children being separated."

<div class="videoWrapper trancodeVideo"><iframe allowfullscreen="" autoplay="1" class="includeVideo" frameborder="0" height="350" src="https://www.wionews.com/videos/gravitas-shanghai-covid-outbreak-china-deploys-drones-to-silence-protesters-469487/embed" style="width:100%;max-width:560px;" width="560"></iframe></div>

White House press secretary Jen Psaki said the Biden administration is closely monitoring a coronavirus lockdown in Shanghai that could cause delays to air cargo.

Other Chinese cities tightened curbs as Shanghai on Friday announced a record 21,000 new COVID-19 cases.

The second-largest Chinese city, which is the country's financial hub, has locked down its population of 26 million people amid the rising cases of the Omicron variant of COVID-19.

Also read |&nbsp;<a href="https://www.wionews.com/world/study-says-people-inoculated-with-booster-dose-recover-more-than-three-days-earlier-from-omicron-than-delta-469245" hreflang="en">Study says people inoculated with booster dose recover more than three days earlier from Omicron than Delta</a>

After residents complained about the harsh lockdown conditions leading to shortages of food and basic necessities, three local officials in Shanghai have been sacked over a slack response to the coronavirus&nbsp;outbreak.

Total cases in the outbreak that began last month in Shanghai have soared past the 100,000 mark, making it one of China’s most serious since the virus was first detected in the central city of Wuhan in late 2019.

In Shanghai, the Chinese government implemented a highly controversial policy of separating coronavirus-positive children from parents who tested negative, but then had to relax it following criticism.

Also read |&nbsp;<a href="https://www.wionews.com/world/covid-19-shanghai-social-media-unpicks-chinas-covid-lockdown-story-469102" hreflang="en">COVID-19: Shanghai social media unpicks China's Covid lockdown story</a>

The Communist Party leadership in Beijing is working to squelch complaints, especially online, in hopes of preventing the lockdown and accompanying dissatisfaction from becoming a political issue ahead of a key party congress later this year.

China’s COVID-19 policy has “once again withstood the test, contributing useful experience for the world to fight against the virus and host major international events,” Chinese President Xi Jinping said in an address at a ceremony Friday honoring Chinese Games participants.

In a further endorsement of the government’s approach, Xi credited China’s “closed loop” management with keeping the infection rate to just 0.45 per cent of those involved in this year’s Beijing Winter Olympics and Paralympic Games.

(With inputs from agencies)

The United States has authorised ''voluntary departure'' of non-essential personnel from Shanghai due to the tough coronavirus restrictions in the city. The US State Department said in a statement that the families of all Americans have also been granted permission to leave.

The United States has authorised ''voluntary departure'' of non-essential personnel from Shanghai due to the tough coronavirus restrictions in the city. The US State Department said in a statement that the families of all Americans have also been granted permission to leave. The country has issued an advisory against travelling to Shanghai "due to Covid-19 related restrictions, including the risk of parents and children being separated." White House press secretary Jen Psaki said the Biden administration is closely monitoring a coronavirus lockdown in Shanghai that could cause delays to air cargo. Other Chinese cities tightened curbs as Shanghai on Friday announced a record 21,000 new COVID-19 cases. The second-largest Chinese city, which is the country's financial hub, has locked down its population of 26 million people amid the rising cases of the Omicron variant of COVID-19. Also read | Study says people inoculated with booster dose recover more than three days earlier from Omicron than Delta After residents complained about the harsh lockdown conditions leading to shortages of food and basic necessities, three local officials in Shanghai have been sacked over a slack response to the coronavirus outbreak. Total cases in the outbreak that began last month in Shanghai have soared past the 100,000 mark, making it one of China’s most serious since the virus was first detected in the central city of Wuhan in late 2019. In Shanghai, the Chinese government implemented a highly controversial policy of separating coronavirus-positive children from parents who tested negative, but then had to relax it following criticism. Also read | COVID-19: Shanghai social media unpicks China's Covid lockdown story The Communist Party leadership in Beijing is working to squelch complaints, especially online, in hopes of preventing the lockdown and accompanying dissatisfaction from becoming a political issue ahead of a key party congress later this year. China’s COVID-19 policy has “once again withstood the test, contributing useful experience for the world to fight against the virus and host major international events,” Chinese President Xi Jinping said in an address at a ceremony Friday honoring Chinese Games participants. In a further endorsement of the government’s approach, Xi credited China’s “closed loop” management with keeping the infection rate to just 0.45 per cent of those involved in this year’s Beijing Winter Olympics and Paralympic Games. (With inputs from agencies)

US authorises 'voluntary departure' of non-essential personnel from Shanghai

United States has threatened China with sanctions if it decided to provide “material support” to Russia.

In a veiled warning to Xi Jinping, US Deputy Secretary of State Wendy Sherman on Wednesday said that a range of sanctions announced by the West and its allies should serve as an example of what is expected to come should China sides with Russian President Vladimir Putin.

"It gives President Xi, I think, a pretty good understanding of what might come his way should he, in fact, support Putin in any material fashion," Sherman told a House of Representatives Foreign Affairs Committee hearing, according to news agency Reuters.

She further said that Beijing should take note of the coordinated Western response over Ukraine if it holds aspirations of invading democratically governed island of Taiwan by force.

"We hope that the PRC (People's Republic of China) understands that any such action would see a response from the international community, not just from the United States," she added.

Also read |&nbsp;<a href="https://www.wionews.com/world/ukrainian-president-volodymyr-zelensky-says-russia-hiding-thousands-killed-in-mariupol-468954">Ukrainian President Zelensky says Russia hiding 'thousands' killed in Mariupol</a>

US has been repeatedly warning China of consequences if it sides with Russia in Ukraine war.

In March, US President Joe Biden warned Xi during a video call against providing any material support to help Russia counter Western sanctions or to provide military assistance.

Biden later said that China knows its economic future is tied to the West, not Russia

China has so far refused to condemn the war and criticised the West for imposing sanctions.

Also read |&nbsp;<a href="https://www.wionews.com/world/volodymyr-zelensky-impact-of-war-on-ukraines-comedian-president-and-an-unlikely-wartime-leader-468665">How Ukraine war took toll on comedian-turned unlikely war president Volodymyr Zelensky</a>

China’s relations with Russia have come under even closer scrutiny since the two countries declared a “no limits” partnership in early February.

Western intelligence reports claimed that China knew in advance of Putin’s plans to invade Ukraine, and had reportedly urged the Russian president to delay the war until the Beijing Winter Olympics ends.

However, China has denied making any such request, and trashed the report as “baseless allegations.”

Watch |&nbsp;US sanctions Putin's adult children amid the ongoing Russian invasion of Ukraine

<div class="videoWrapper trancodeVideo"><iframe allowfullscreen="" autoplay="1" class="includeVideo" frameborder="0" height="350" src="https://www.wionews.com/videos/the-us-sanctions-putins-adult-children-amid-the-ongoing-russian-invasion-of-ukraine-468932/embed" style="width:100%;max-width:560px;" width="560"></iframe></div>

(With inputs from agencies)

United States has threatened China with sanctions if it decided to provide “material support” to Russia. In a veiled warning to Xi Jinping, US Deputy Secretary of State Wendy Sherman on Wednesday said that a range of sanctions announced by the West and its allies should serve as an example of what is expected to come should China sides with Russian President Vladimir Putin.

United States has threatened China with sanctions if it decided to provide “material support” to Russia. In a veiled warning to Xi Jinping, US Deputy Secretary of State Wendy Sherman on Wednesday said that a range of sanctions announced by the West and its allies should serve as an example of what is expected to come should China sides with Russian President Vladimir Putin. "It gives President Xi, I think, a pretty good understanding of what might come his way should he, in fact, support Putin in any material fashion," Sherman told a House of Representatives Foreign Affairs Committee hearing, according to news agency Reuters. She further said that Beijing should take note of the coordinated Western response over Ukraine if it holds aspirations of invading democratically governed island of Taiwan by force. "We hope that the PRC (People's Republic of China) understands that any such action would see a response from the international community, not just from the United States," she added. Also read | Ukrainian President Zelensky says Russia hiding 'thousands' killed in Mariupol US has been repeatedly warning China of consequences if it sides with Russia in Ukraine war. In March, US President Joe Biden warned Xi during a video call against providing any material support to help Russia counter Western sanctions or to provide military assistance. Biden later said that China knows its economic future is tied to the West, not Russia China has so far refused to condemn the war and criticised the West for imposing sanctions. Also read | How Ukraine war took toll on comedian-turned unlikely war president Volodymyr Zelensky China’s relations with Russia have come under even closer scrutiny since the two countries declared a “no limits” partnership in early February. Western intelligence reports claimed that China knew in advance of Putin’s plans to invade Ukraine, and had reportedly urged the Russian president to delay the war until the Beijing Winter Olympics ends. However, China has denied making any such request, and trashed the report as “baseless allegations.” Watch | US sanctions Putin's adult children amid the ongoing Russian invasion of Ukraine (With inputs from agencies)

Russia-Ukraine war: US threatens Beijing with sanctions if it provides ‘material support’ to Moscow

A leading energy analyst has said that Russian gas sales to China ''will not make up for the loss of European markets.''

Tatiana Mitrova, a research fellow at the Centre on Global Energy Policy, Columbia University said that, ''China’s real value is as a source of necessary goods after the West imposed sweeping sanctions on Moscow following the attack on its neighbour.''

''Russia is exporting about 170 billion cubic meters (bcm) of natural gas to the European markets every year and the prices for the two buyers are dramatically different.''

“They are definitely not able to offset the whole exports which are now going to the West.”

“You remember this ‘oil for products’ programme in Iran? It’s rather moving in this direction, not about trading, but just about providing the inflow of the most necessary goods and products,” Mitrova said on the sidelines of the Doha Forum in Qatar.

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Washington has raised concerns about Beijing helping Moscow in the midst of the bloody but stalled invasion.

"We have not seen... the provision of military equipment by China to Russia. But of course, this is something we are monitoring closely," US National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan said.

Since Russian President Vladimir Putin launched the bloody assault on Ukraine, Western capitals have frozen Moscow out of the global financial system, tipping its currency into freefall and pushing the country to the verge of default.

But China, a longtime Russian ally, has refused to follow suit, throwing Moscow a potential economic lifeline to match the diplomatic cover it has provided by refusing to condemn the invasion.

Also see |&nbsp;<a href="https://www.wionews.com/photos/how-could-russian-president-vladimir-putin-be-prosecuted-for-war-crimes-in-ukraine-465719">How could Russian President Vladimir Putin be prosecuted for war crimes in Ukraine?</a>

China is the only friend that might help Russia blunt the impact of economic sanctions over its invasion of Ukraine, but President Xi Jinping’s government is giving no sign it might be willing to risk its own access to US and European markets by doing too much.

Even if Beijing wanted to, its ability to support President Vladimir Putin by importing more Russian gas and other goods is limited.

Relations with Moscow have warmed since Xi took power in 2012, motivated by shared resentment of Washington, but their interests can conflict. Putin is uneasy about the growing Chinese economic presence in Central Asia and Russia’s Far East.

“China-Russia relations are at the highest level in history, but the two countries are not an alliance,” said Li Xin, an international relations expert at the Shanghai University of Political Science and Law.

In response to the invasion, Washington, Britain, the 27-nation European Union and other Western allies have announced or promised sanctions against Russian banks, officials, business leaders and companies, as well as export controls aimed at starving Russia’s industries and military of high-tech products.

Xi’s government might support Putin within those limits,&nbsp;and Chinese companies might use the situation to pursue better deals — but will balk at openly violating sanctions and being targeted for penalties, experts said.

Also read |&nbsp;<a href="https://www.wionews.com/world/russian-oligarchs-welcome-in-turkey-says-foreign-minister-mevlut-cavusoglu-465935" hreflang="en">Russian oligarchs welcome in Turkey, says Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu</a>

“China doesn’t want to get so involved that it ends up suffering as a result of its support for Russia,” said Mark Williams, chief Asia economist for Capital Economics.

Chinese trade with Russia rose to $146.9 billion last year, but that is less than one-tenth of China’s total $1.6 trillion in trade with the United States and EU.

“It all hinges on whether they’re willing to risk their access to Western markets to help Russia, and I don’t think they are,” said Williams. “It’s just not that big a market.”

China, the world’s second-largest economy, is the only major government not to have condemned the invasion.

“The degree of Chinese support Russia receives is likely to prove a crucial factor in how well it can weather the long-term consequences,” wrote Kevin Rudd, a former Australian prime minister and president of the Asia Society, on the Asia Society website.

&nbsp;

(With inputs from agencies)

A leading energy analyst has said that Russian gas sales to China ''will not make up for the loss of European markets.'' Tatiana Mitrova, a research fellow at the Centre on Global Energy Policy, Columbia University said that, ''China’s real value is as a source of necessary goods after the West imposed sweeping sanctions on Moscow following the attack on its neighbour.

A leading energy analyst has said that Russian gas sales to China ''will not make up for the loss of European markets.'' Tatiana Mitrova, a research fellow at the Centre on Global Energy Policy, Columbia University said that, ''China’s real value is as a source of necessary goods after the West imposed sweeping sanctions on Moscow following the attack on its neighbour.'' ''Russia is exporting about 170 billion cubic meters (bcm) of natural gas to the European markets every year and the prices for the two buyers are dramatically different.'' “They are definitely not able to offset the whole exports which are now going to the West.” “You remember this ‘oil for products’ programme in Iran? It’s rather moving in this direction, not about trading, but just about providing the inflow of the most necessary goods and products,” Mitrova said on the sidelines of the Doha Forum in Qatar. Washington has raised concerns about Beijing helping Moscow in the midst of the bloody but stalled invasion. "We have not seen... the provision of military equipment by China to Russia. But of course, this is something we are monitoring closely," US National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan said. Since Russian President Vladimir Putin launched the bloody assault on Ukraine, Western capitals have frozen Moscow out of the global financial system, tipping its currency into freefall and pushing the country to the verge of default. But China, a longtime Russian ally, has refused to follow suit, throwing Moscow a potential economic lifeline to match the diplomatic cover it has provided by refusing to condemn the invasion. Also see | How could Russian President Vladimir Putin be prosecuted for war crimes in Ukraine? China is the only friend that might help Russia blunt the impact of economic sanctions over its invasion of Ukraine, but President Xi Jinping’s government is giving no sign it might be willing to risk its own access to US and European markets by doing too much. Even if Beijing wanted to, its ability to support President Vladimir Putin by importing more Russian gas and other goods is limited. Relations with Moscow have warmed since Xi took power in 2012, motivated by shared resentment of Washington, but their interests can conflict. Putin is uneasy about the growing Chinese economic presence in Central Asia and Russia’s Far East. “China-Russia relations are at the highest level in history, but the two countries are not an alliance,” said Li Xin, an international relations expert at the Shanghai University of Political Science and Law. In response to the invasion, Washington, Britain, the 27-nation European Union and other Western allies have announced or promised sanctions against Russian banks, officials, business leaders and companies, as well as export controls aimed at starving Russia’s industries and military of high-tech products. Xi’s government might support Putin within those limits, and Chinese companies might use the situation to pursue better deals — but will balk at openly violating sanctions and being targeted for penalties, experts said. Also read | Russian oligarchs welcome in Turkey, says Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu “China doesn’t want to get so involved that it ends up suffering as a result of its support for Russia,” said Mark Williams, chief Asia economist for Capital Economics. Chinese trade with Russia rose to $146.9 billion last year, but that is less than one-tenth of China’s total $1.6 trillion in trade with the United States and EU. “It all hinges on whether they’re willing to risk their access to Western markets to help Russia, and I don’t think they are,” said Williams. “It’s just not that big a market.” China, the world’s second-largest economy, is the only major government not to have condemned the invasion. “The degree of Chinese support Russia receives is likely to prove a crucial factor in how well it can weather the long-term consequences,” wrote Kevin Rudd, a former Australian prime minister and president of the Asia Society, on the Asia Society website. (With inputs from agencies)

Leading energy analyst says Russian gas sales to China 'will not make up for loss of European markets'

All 132 people aboard the plane that crashed into a mountainside in southern China&nbsp;are confirmed dead, state broadcaster CCTV reported.

"All 123 passengers and nine crew members of flight MU5735 of China Eastern airlines have been killed on board on March 21," CCTV said, citing the deputy director-general of the civil aviation administration, Hu Zhenjiang.

Chinese emergency workers have found an emergency location transmitter from the plane that had been close to where the second black box, the flight data recorder, had been installed, Zhu Tao, director of the Aviation Safety Office of the Civil Aviation Administration of China, told reporters.

The team is also seeking the data module from the flight data recorder itself.

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The other black box, the cockpit voice recorder, was found on Wednesday and has been sent to Beijing for examination by experts.

Flight MU5735 was travelling from the southwestern city of Kunming to Guangzhou on the coast on Monday when the Boeing 737-800 plummeted from cruising altitude to crash in a heavily forested area of Guangxi region.

According to data from flight-tracking website FlightRadar24.com, the flight was traveling 455 knots (523 mph, 842 kph) at around 29,000 feet when it entered a steep and fast dive around 2:20 p.m. local time. The plane plunged to 7,400 feet before briefly regaining about 1,200 feel in altitude, then dove again. The plane stopped transmitting data 96 seconds after starting to fall.

<a href="https://www.wionews.com/world/rescue-team-find-human-remains-at-the-chinese-plane-crash-site-465135">Also read |&nbsp;Rescue teams find human remains at the Chinese plane crash site</a>

Local villagers were first to arrive at the forested area where the plane went down and sparked a blaze big enough to be seen on NASA satellite images. Hundreds of rescue workers were swiftly dispatched from Guangxi and neighboring Guangdong province.

Chinese President Xi Jinping called for an “all-out effort” by the rescue operation, as well as for an investigation into the crash and to ensure complete civil aviation safety.

The last fatal crash of a Chinese airliner occurred in August 2010, when an Embraer ERJ 190-100 operated by Henan Airlines hit the ground short of the runway in the northeastern city of Yichun and caught fire. It carried 96 people and 44 of them died. Investigators blamed pilot error.

Chicago-based Boeing Co. said it was in contact with the US safety board “and our technical experts are prepared to assist with the investigation led by the Civil Aviation Administration of China.”&nbsp;

(With inputs from agencies)&nbsp;

All 132 people aboard the plane that crashed into a mountainside in southern China are confirmed dead, state broadcaster CCTV reported. "All 123 passengers and nine crew members of flight MU5735 of China Eastern airlines have been killed on board on March 21," CCTV said, citing the deputy director-general of the civil aviation administration, Hu Zhenjiang.

All 132 people aboard the plane that crashed into a mountainside in southern China are confirmed dead, state broadcaster CCTV reported. "All 123 passengers and nine crew members of flight MU5735 of China Eastern airlines have been killed on board on March 21," CCTV said, citing the deputy director-general of the civil aviation administration, Hu Zhenjiang. Chinese emergency workers have found an emergency location transmitter from the plane that had been close to where the second black box, the flight data recorder, had been installed, Zhu Tao, director of the Aviation Safety Office of the Civil Aviation Administration of China, told reporters. The team is also seeking the data module from the flight data recorder itself. The other black box, the cockpit voice recorder, was found on Wednesday and has been sent to Beijing for examination by experts. Flight MU5735 was travelling from the southwestern city of Kunming to Guangzhou on the coast on Monday when the Boeing 737-800 plummeted from cruising altitude to crash in a heavily forested area of Guangxi region. According to data from flight-tracking website FlightRadar24.com, the flight was traveling 455 knots (523 mph, 842 kph) at around 29,000 feet when it entered a steep and fast dive around 2:20 p.m. local time. The plane plunged to 7,400 feet before briefly regaining about 1,200 feel in altitude, then dove again. The plane stopped transmitting data 96 seconds after starting to fall. Also read | Rescue teams find human remains at the Chinese plane crash site Local villagers were first to arrive at the forested area where the plane went down and sparked a blaze big enough to be seen on NASA satellite images. Hundreds of rescue workers were swiftly dispatched from Guangxi and neighboring Guangdong province. Chinese President Xi Jinping called for an “all-out effort” by the rescue operation, as well as for an investigation into the crash and to ensure complete civil aviation safety. The last fatal crash of a Chinese airliner occurred in August 2010, when an Embraer ERJ 190-100 operated by Henan Airlines hit the ground short of the runway in the northeastern city of Yichun and caught fire. It carried 96 people and 44 of them died. Investigators blamed pilot error. Chicago-based Boeing Co. said it was in contact with the US safety board “and our technical experts are prepared to assist with the investigation led by the Civil Aviation Administration of China.” (With inputs from agencies)

China's civil aviation authority confirms death of all 132 people aboard flight MU5735

Amid the ongoing Russian invasion of Ukraine, US President Joe Biden has warned Chinese President Xi Jinping of a global backlash if it aids Russia. However, China says that it is not arming Russia.

Biden warns Xi of a global backlash if it aids Russia amid the ongoing Russian invasion of Ukraine

“May our country enjoy prosperity and our people live in peace and harmony!”, said Xi Jinping in his 2022 new year address. Three months into the year, it has been anything but that. 2022 was supposed to be a perfect year for Xi as he is expected to step into a third term at the end of his 10-year tenure this year. Instead, he is dealing with a dual crisis – China’s largest outbreak of Covid-19 at home, and overseas, fear of possible Western sanction or its repercussion of sanctions on Russia for its invasion of Ukraine.

CHINA OVER THE WEEK

Rise in Covid Cases

China is witnessing a major surge in Covid cases since the Wuhan outbreak in 2020. According to data reported, the daily rise in cases in China, world’s most populous country, had mostly remained in double digits. However, things have changed drastically in the last month. Now, the daily count is over a thousand, and on Saturday, the country reported its first two Covid-related deaths in more than a year.

As the cases rise in China, so do the curbs and restrictions.&nbsp;

China which is following a strict ‘zero-Covid’ policy has kept most of its citizens under heavy lockdown. Last week, Shenzhen – a city of 17.5 million is China's southern tech powerhouse, went into a six-day lockdown on Sunday after massive surge in Covid-19 cases. The restrictions have also widened to other cities and provinces like Jilin, Shanghai, and Guangzhou.&nbsp;&nbsp;

Some restrictions, however, have now been partially eased, after President Xi stressed the need to "minimise the impact" of Covid-induced lockdowns on the nation's economy. In Shenzhen and other major cities and provinces work has resumed, factory operations, as well as public transport.&nbsp;&nbsp;

Hong Kong, which is still considering a lockdown, is suffering immensely. The government in Hong Kong is struggling to contain the city’s worst Covid outbreak ever. The highly transmissible&nbsp;Omicron variant is tearing through densely populated Hong Kong.&nbsp;Tens of thousands of cases are being reported each day, and deaths, too, have surged.

Officially, the city of Hong Kong has only just reported more than a million cases since the outbreak began in December, 96 per cent have come since February 9.&nbsp;&nbsp;But researchers at the University of Hong Kong estimate that almost half of the population, about 3.6 million, have contracted the virus in this outbreak, and the total will be more than 4.5 million cases.&nbsp;&nbsp;

Just in a few weeks, the city has gone from 'zero-Covid' to having the world's highest death rate. &nbsp;

That's not all, Hong Kong is also witnessing an exodus. Covid and the strict measures to contain the virus, is driving out many of its residents. The city has witnessed more than 70,000 departures last month, and more than 50,000 in first half of March, according to data from the Immigration Department.&nbsp;&nbsp;

China-US-Russia-Ukraine

While China is dealing with a large outbreak of Covid-19 at home, overseas, it is dealing with the Russia-Ukraine conflict. As the war enters its fourth week, there is no ending in sight, at least in the near future.&nbsp;&nbsp;

Almost every day, world leaders are discussing ways to end the conflict. Chinese officials have been particularly busy this week. Earlier this week, US National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan met Chinese foreign policy head Yang Jiechi in Rome. For seven hours, Yang and Sullivan discussed a range of tensions the two countries had, however, focused extensively on Ukraine. &nbsp;

According to US officials, Washington warned that Beijing that is could face serious consequences if it&nbsp;‘significant consequences’&nbsp;backs Moscow in the war. Their meeting came at a time when multiple US media reports alleged that Russia had asked China for military equipment. However, China and Russia were quick to dismiss the allegations, calling them untrue. &nbsp;

White House spokeswoman Jen Psaki indicated that if Beijing was to help Moscow, US would initiate punitive measure, which would be further carried out in coordination with allies. She said, “It’s less about changing their mind (about the nature of their relationship with Russia) and more about making clear with them what the consequences would be should they take additional actions to support this invasion.” &nbsp;

According to a Chinese read-out of the meeting, Yang warned the United States not to 'mischaracterize' Beijing’s stand on the war, which has been much debated in the West amid China’s refusal so far to condemn the invasion.

“Yang Jiechi stressed that China firmly opposes any words or deeds that spread false information, distort or smear China’s position,” said the South China Morning Post quoting a state media report.

Later, Kyiv Independent also reported that China had requested talks between Europe and Russia to "set up a balanced, effective and sustainable European security framework." &nbsp;

However, what came as a surprise was a phone call, on Friday, between Chinese President Xi Jinping and US President Joe Biden. This was the first time the two leaders have spoken on the phone since the beginning of the conflict.

The surprise bilateral phone call was announced as Russia Foreign Minister Sergeĭ Lavrov, reportedly, was halfway to Beijing when his planed made a u-turn back to Moscow. &nbsp;

According to the White House, in the two-hour call, Biden raised concerns of China possibly aiding Russia, and reiterated “the implications and consequences” China would face if it “provides material support to Russia”.

Beijing’s account of the call said that Xi criticised the harsh economic punishment US and its allies have imposed on Russia in response to the invasion. &nbsp;

“Sweeping and indiscriminate sanctions would only make the people suffer. If further escalated, they could trigger serious crises in global economy and trade, finance, energy, food, and industrial and supply chains, crippling the already languishing world economy and causing irrevocable losses,” the ministry quoted President Xi as saying.

Further, Xi asked Biden for a “cool-headed and rational” approach, and stressed that “the Ukraine crisis is not something we want to see.” Instead, “The pressing priority is to keep the dialogue and negotiation going, avoid civilian casualties, prevent a humanitarian crisis, and cease hostilities as soon as possible.” And for this to happen, the two nations, “must shoulder our share of international responsibilities and work for world peace and tranquillity.”

On the path of diplomacy, China which, earlier this month, showed interest to extend a hand of friendship to India after Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi’s press conference on the side-lines of annual Chinese Parliament session. The Foreign Minister, himself, is likely to visit India this month, according to multiple reports. &nbsp;

If the proposed visit does go ahead, it will be the first by a senior Chinese leader to India since the two nations have been locked in a dragging standoff in eastern Ladakh in May 2020. The two leaders will also get an opportunity to exchange views on the crisis in Ukraine.

Last year, in July, Indian Foreign Minister S Jaishankar and his Chinese counterpart Wang Yi held a bilateral on the side-lines of another SCO meeting in Tajikistan’s capital Dushanbe to discuss the border row. And again, they met in Dushanbe in September.

Meanwhile, according to Taiwan News, two Chinese nationals have been caught for allegedly trying to smuggle two infants from Ukraine to Romania. On Monday, the State Border Guard Service of Ukraine discovered that the two Chinese nationals did not have any identifying documents for the two infants, and were immediately arrested. &nbsp;

CHINA IN WORLD REPORTAGE

The world’s largest crude exporter, Saudi Arabia, is in talks with Beijing to price its Chinese oil sales in Yuan instead of US Dollars. &nbsp;The two nations which have been in talks off and on for six years over yuan-priced contracts have accelerated the negotiations. China purchases more than 25 per cent of the oil Saudi Arabia exports, and if the oil is to be priced in yuan, the sales will boost the standing of the Chinese currency. &nbsp; &nbsp;

&nbsp;According to&nbsp;Wall Street Journal, Saudi Arabia has also extended an invitation to Chinese President Xi Jinping to visit Riyadh. The kingdom which has grown increasingly unhappy with the Washington, is looking to deepen its ties Beijing.

This comes amid reports that Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, the de facto leader of Saudi Arabia, had declined U.S. requests to speak to Mr. Biden. &nbsp;

“There was some expectation of a phone call, but it didn’t happen,” said a U.S. official of the planned discussion between the Saudi Prince Mohammed and Mr. Biden. “It was part of turning on the spigot [of Saudi oil],” reported the&nbsp;Wall Street Journal.

While the two nations are looking to deepen their ties, some Asian and Oceanian nations have ramped up its purchase of military equipment as they become ‘increasingly wary of China’s growing regional ambition’, said the&nbsp;South China Morning Post.

The report published by the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute on Monday showed that the top 6 out of 10 arm importers in the last five years were nations situated in Asia and Oceania. &nbsp;

Meanwhile, in some sports related reportage, Guanyu Zhou, became China’s first full-time Formula One driver. At just 22, Zhou suited up to race for the team Alfa Romeo on Sunday in Bahrain.

“May our country enjoy prosperity and our people live in peace and harmony!”, said Xi Jinping in his 2022 new year address. Three months into the year, it has been anything but that.

“May our country enjoy prosperity and our people live in peace and harmony!”, said Xi Jinping in his 2022 new year address. Three months into the year, it has been anything but that. 2022 was supposed to be a perfect year for Xi as he is expected to step into a third term at the end of his 10-year tenure this year. Instead, he is dealing with a dual crisis – China’s largest outbreak of Covid-19 at home, and overseas, fear of possible Western sanction or its repercussion of sanctions on Russia for its invasion of Ukraine. CHINA OVER THE WEEK Rise in Covid Cases China is witnessing a major surge in Covid cases since the Wuhan outbreak in 2020. According to data reported, the daily rise in cases in China, world’s most populous country, had mostly remained in double digits. However, things have changed drastically in the last month. Now, the daily count is over a thousand, and on Saturday, the country reported its first two Covid-related deaths in more than a year. As the cases rise in China, so do the curbs and restrictions. China which is following a strict ‘zero-Covid’ policy has kept most of its citizens under heavy lockdown. Last week, Shenzhen – a city of 17.5 million is China's southern tech powerhouse, went into a six-day lockdown on Sunday after massive surge in Covid-19 cases. The restrictions have also widened to other cities and provinces like Jilin, Shanghai, and Guangzhou. Some restrictions, however, have now been partially eased, after President Xi stressed the need to "minimise the impact" of Covid-induced lockdowns on the nation's economy. In Shenzhen and other major cities and provinces work has resumed, factory operations, as well as public transport. Hong Kong, which is still considering a lockdown, is suffering immensely. The government in Hong Kong is struggling to contain the city’s worst Covid outbreak ever. The highly transmissible Omicron variant is tearing through densely populated Hong Kong. Tens of thousands of cases are being reported each day, and deaths, too, have surged. Officially, the city of Hong Kong has only just reported more than a million cases since the outbreak began in December, 96 per cent have come since February 9. But researchers at the University of Hong Kong estimate that almost half of the population, about 3.6 million, have contracted the virus in this outbreak, and the total will be more than 4.5 million cases. Just in a few weeks, the city has gone from 'zero-Covid' to having the world's highest death rate. That's not all, Hong Kong is also witnessing an exodus. Covid and the strict measures to contain the virus, is driving out many of its residents. The city has witnessed more than 70,000 departures last month, and more than 50,000 in first half of March, according to data from the Immigration Department. China-US-Russia-Ukraine While China is dealing with a large outbreak of Covid-19 at home, overseas, it is dealing with the Russia-Ukraine conflict. As the war enters its fourth week, there is no ending in sight, at least in the near future. Almost every day, world leaders are discussing ways to end the conflict. Chinese officials have been particularly busy this week. Earlier this week, US National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan met Chinese foreign policy head Yang Jiechi in Rome. For seven hours, Yang and Sullivan discussed a range of tensions the two countries had, however, focused extensively on Ukraine. According to US officials, Washington warned that Beijing that is could face serious consequences if it ‘significant consequences’ backs Moscow in the war. Their meeting came at a time when multiple US media reports alleged that Russia had asked China for military equipment. However, China and Russia were quick to dismiss the allegations, calling them untrue. White House spokeswoman Jen Psaki indicated that if Beijing was to help Moscow, US would initiate punitive measure, which would be further carried out in coordination with allies. She said, “It’s less about changing their mind (about the nature of their relationship with Russia) and more about making clear with them what the consequences would be should they take additional actions to support this invasion.” According to a Chinese read-out of the meeting, Yang warned the United States not to 'mischaracterize' Beijing’s stand on the war, which has been much debated in the West amid China’s refusal so far to condemn the invasion. “Yang Jiechi stressed that China firmly opposes any words or deeds that spread false information, distort or smear China’s position,” said the South China Morning Post quoting a state media report. Later, Kyiv Independent also reported that China had requested talks between Europe and Russia to "set up a balanced, effective and sustainable European security framework." However, what came as a surprise was a phone call, on Friday, between Chinese President Xi Jinping and US President Joe Biden. This was the first time the two leaders have spoken on the phone since the beginning of the conflict. The surprise bilateral phone call was announced as Russia Foreign Minister Sergeĭ Lavrov, reportedly, was halfway to Beijing when his planed made a u-turn back to Moscow. According to the White House, in the two-hour call, Biden raised concerns of China possibly aiding Russia, and reiterated “the implications and consequences” China would face if it “provides material support to Russia”. Beijing’s account of the call said that Xi criticised the harsh economic punishment US and its allies have imposed on Russia in response to the invasion. “Sweeping and indiscriminate sanctions would only make the people suffer. If further escalated, they could trigger serious crises in global economy and trade, finance, energy, food, and industrial and supply chains, crippling the already languishing world economy and causing irrevocable losses,” the ministry quoted President Xi as saying. Further, Xi asked Biden for a “cool-headed and rational” approach, and stressed that “the Ukraine crisis is not something we want to see.” Instead, “The pressing priority is to keep the dialogue and negotiation going, avoid civilian casualties, prevent a humanitarian crisis, and cease hostilities as soon as possible.” And for this to happen, the two nations, “must shoulder our share of international responsibilities and work for world peace and tranquillity.” On the path of diplomacy, China which, earlier this month, showed interest to extend a hand of friendship to India after Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi’s press conference on the side-lines of annual Chinese Parliament session. The Foreign Minister, himself, is likely to visit India this month, according to multiple reports. If the proposed visit does go ahead, it will be the first by a senior Chinese leader to India since the two nations have been locked in a dragging standoff in eastern Ladakh in May 2020. The two leaders will also get an opportunity to exchange views on the crisis in Ukraine. Last year, in July, Indian Foreign Minister S Jaishankar and his Chinese counterpart Wang Yi held a bilateral on the side-lines of another SCO meeting in Tajikistan’s capital Dushanbe to discuss the border row. And again, they met in Dushanbe in September. Meanwhile, according to Taiwan News, two Chinese nationals have been caught for allegedly trying to smuggle two infants from Ukraine to Romania. On Monday, the State Border Guard Service of Ukraine discovered that the two Chinese nationals did not have any identifying documents for the two infants, and were immediately arrested. CHINA IN WORLD REPORTAGE The world’s largest crude exporter, Saudi Arabia, is in talks with Beijing to price its Chinese oil sales in Yuan instead of US Dollars. The two nations which have been in talks off and on for six years over yuan-priced contracts have accelerated the negotiations. China purchases more than 25 per cent of the oil Saudi Arabia exports, and if the oil is to be priced in yuan, the sales will boost the standing of the Chinese currency. According to Wall Street Journal, Saudi Arabia has also extended an invitation to Chinese President Xi Jinping to visit Riyadh. The kingdom which has grown increasingly unhappy with the Washington, is looking to deepen its ties Beijing. This comes amid reports that Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, the de facto leader of Saudi Arabia, had declined U.S. requests to speak to Mr. Biden. “There was some expectation of a phone call, but it didn’t happen,” said a U.S. official of the planned discussion between the Saudi Prince Mohammed and Mr. Biden. “It was part of turning on the spigot [of Saudi oil],” reported the Wall Street Journal. While the two nations are looking to deepen their ties, some Asian and Oceanian nations have ramped up its purchase of military equipment as they become ‘increasingly wary of China’s growing regional ambition’, said the South China Morning Post. The report published by the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute on Monday showed that the top 6 out of 10 arm importers in the last five years were nations situated in Asia and Oceania. Meanwhile, in some sports related reportage, Guanyu Zhou, became China’s first full-time Formula One driver. At just 22, Zhou suited up to race for the team Alfa Romeo on Sunday in Bahrain.

Chinese vignettes | China's two battles: To avoid Western sanctions & surging COVID-19 cases

China is under intense diplomatic pressure to pull its support from isolated Russia. Three weeks after the invasion of Ukraine, Beijing has shown few signs of handling its friends in Kremlin, Now, US president is going to hold talks with this counterpart Xi Jinping.

Biden to hold talks with Xi Jinping, how will China balance out conflicting priorities

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The war in Ukraine is far from over, but a consensus is forming in Chinese policy circles that one country stands to emerge victorious from the turmoil: China.

After a confused initial response to Russia’s invasion, China has laid the building blocks of a strategy to shield itself from the worst economic and diplomatic consequences it could face, and to benefit from geopolitical shifts once the smoke clears.

China’s leader, Xi Jinping, has avoided criticizing President Vladimir Putin of Russia, but he has also tried to distance China from the carnage. His government has denounced the international sanctions imposed on Russia but, so far at least, has hinted that Chinese companies may comply with them, to protect China’s economic interests in the West.

Xi reached out to European leaders last week with vague offers of assistance in negotiating a settlement, even as other Chinese officials amplified Russian disinformation campaigns meant to discredit the United States and NATO. Officials in Washington claimed, without providing evidence, that after the invasion Russia asked China for economic and military assistance, which a Chinese official denounced on Monday as disinformation.

In the end, China’s leadership has calculated that it must try to rise above what it considers a struggle between two tired powers and be seen as a pillar of stability in an increasingly turbulent world.

“This means that as long as we don’t commit terminal strategic blunders, China’s modernization will not be cut short, and on the contrary, China will have even greater ability and will to play a more important role in building a new international order,” Zheng Yongnian, a professor at the Chinese University of Hong Kong, Shenzhen, who has advised senior officials, wrote after the invasion in a widely circulated article.

At the heart of China’s strategy lies a conviction that the United States is weakened from reckless foreign adventures, including, from Beijing’s perspective, goading Putin into the Ukraine conflict.

In this view, which in recent days has been echoed in public statements and quasi-official analyses, Russia’s invasion has dragged American power and attention toward Europe, making it likely that President Joe Biden, like his recent predecessors, will try but fail to put more focus on China and the broader Asia-Pacific region.

“All the difficulties and all the balancing and all the embarrassment that we’re talking about, those are short-term,” said Yun Sun, the director of the China Program at the Stimson Center in Washington, who has studied Beijing’s actions in the lead-up to the war. “In the long run, Russia is going to be the pariah of the international community, and Russia will have no one to turn to but China.”

China’s path ahead is by no means certain. Drawing too close to Russia would risk entrenching animosity toward China in Europe and beyond, a possibility that worries Xi’s government, for all its bluster.

And if Germany, France and other allies build up their defenses as promised, the United States could ultimately be freed up to shift more of its military resources toward countering China. Biden has vowed to rally an “alliance of democracies,” while American military leaders say they will not let Ukraine distract them from China.

“We also feel very, very anxious because the Russia-Ukraine war will force Europe to lean to the U.S., and then China will be dragged deeper into a dilemma,” said Zhu Feng, a professor of international relations at Nanjing University. The United States’ allies in the Pacific, including Japan and Australia, “will also adopt a stronger military posture. So it all seems unfriendly to China.”

China’s initial stumbles after Russia’s invasion have also raised concern about Xi’s ability to navigate the war’s aftershocks.

He has repeatedly warned Chinese officials that the world is entering an era of upheaval “the likes of which have not been seen for a century.” Yet those officials seemed ill-prepared for the upheaval of Putin’s assault on Ukraine.

Up to the day of the invasion, they scoffed at warnings that Russia was poised for war, instead accusing the United States of stoking tensions. Since then, they have struggled to reconcile sympathy for Putin’s security grievances with their often-stated reverence for the principle of national sovereignty, including Ukraine’s.

Xi, in a video conference with President Emmanuel Macron of France and Chancellor Olaf Sholz of Germany, lamented “the rekindling of the flames of war” in Europe. Yet his diplomats have fanned the flames of Russian disinformation, accusing the United States of developing biological weapons in Ukraine.

“This is just not good for China’s international reputation,” said Bobo Lo, an expert on China-Russia ties at the French Institute of International Relations. “It’s not just China’s reputation in the West; I think it also affects China’s reputation in the non-West, because it’s essentially associating itself with an imperial power.”

China could also face economic disruptions from the war and the Western efforts to punish Russia by restricting trade and cutting off its financial institutions. Chinese officials have denounced such measures, and while the United States and its allies have shown remarkable unity in imposing them, other countries share Beijing’s reservations about using powerful economic tools as weapons.

In any case, China’s economy is large enough to absorb blows that would cripple others. Chinese companies may even end up well positioned to take advantage of Russia’s desperate need for trade, as happened when Moscow faced sanctions over the annexation of Crimea in 2014.

China’s strategy reflects a hardening of views toward the United States since Biden came to office in 2021 — in large part, because officials had hoped for some easing after the chaotic and confrontational policies of President Donald Trump.

“In its China strategy, the Biden administration’s policy continuities with the Trump administration are clearly bigger than any differences,” Yuan Peng, president of the China Institutes of Contemporary International Relations in Beijing, wrote late last year. “Biden has repeatedly avowed that the United States is not in a ‘new Cold War’ with China, but China often feels the chill creeping in everywhere.”

Whatever happens in the war, China sees its deepening ties to Russia as a way to cultivate a counterweight to the United States. The partnership that Xi and Putin celebrated last month at the Winter Olympics in Beijing has become too important to sacrifice, whatever misgivings some officials have about the war.

Arguing that the era of American dominance after the Soviet Union’s collapse in 1991 was a historical anomaly, both Xi and Putin have embraced geopolitical doctrines that call for their countries to reclaim their status as great powers.

Just as Putin depicts the United States as menacing Russia on its western frontier, Xi sees U.S. support for Taiwan, the self-governing island democracy that Beijing claims as its own, as a similar threat off China’s coast.

In recent weeks, Chinese analysts have repeatedly cited the century-old writings of a British geographer, Sir Halford John Mackinder. Whoever controls Central Europe controls the vast landmass stretching from Europe to Asia, he argued. Whoever controls Eurasia can dominate the world.

A modern Russian proponent of such thinking, Aleksandr G. Dugin, has written extensively on what he sees as a growing clash between the liberal, decadent West and a conservative Eurasian continent with Russia as its soul.

Dugin, sometimes called “Putin’s philosopher,” has built a following in China, appearing in state media and visiting Beijing in 2018 to deliver a series of lectures. His host on that occasion was Zhang Weiwei, a propagandist-academic who has won Xi’s favor and who last year gave a lecture to the Politburo, a council of 25 top party officials.

“The West should not have become a hegemon in defining universal standards because the West or Europe, or the West in general is only part of humanity,” Dugin told a Chinese state television interviewer in 2019. “And the other part, a majority of human beings, live outside the West, in Asia.”

Such aversion to international standards for political or human rights, supposedly dictated by the West, has become a recurrent theme in Chinese criticism of the United States. It was the subject of a government position paper in December, intended to counter virtual summit of democratic countries held by Biden, and of a long statement that Putin and Xi issued when they met in Beijing last month.

As it turns to Beijing for support against Western sanctions, Russia will become increasingly beholden to China as its diplomatic and economic lifeline, while serving as its strategic geopolitical ballast, analysts say.

“The old order is swiftly disintegrating, and strongman politics is again ascendant among the world’s great powers,” wrote Zheng of the Chinese University of Hong Kong, Shenzhen. “Countries are brimming with ambition, like tigers eyeing their prey, keen to find every opportunity among the ruins of the old order.”

The war in Ukraine is far from over, but a consensus is forming in Chinese policy circles that one country stands to emerge victorious from the turmoil: China. After a confused initial response to Russia’s invasion, China has laid the building blocks of a strategy to shield itself from the worst economic and diplomatic consequences it could face, and to benefit from geopolitical shifts once the smoke clears.

The war in Ukraine is far from over, but a consensus is forming in Chinese policy circles that one country stands to emerge victorious from the turmoil: China. After a confused initial response to Russia’s invasion, China has laid the building blocks of a strategy to shield itself from the worst economic and diplomatic consequences it could face, and to benefit from geopolitical shifts once the smoke clears. China’s leader, Xi Jinping, has avoided criticizing President Vladimir Putin of Russia, but he has also tried to distance China from the carnage. His government has denounced the international sanctions imposed on Russia but, so far at least, has hinted that Chinese companies may comply with them, to protect China’s economic interests in the West. Xi reached out to European leaders last week with vague offers of assistance in negotiating a settlement, even as other Chinese officials amplified Russian disinformation campaigns meant to discredit the United States and NATO. Officials in Washington claimed, without providing evidence, that after the invasion Russia asked China for economic and military assistance, which a Chinese official denounced on Monday as disinformation. In the end, China’s leadership has calculated that it must try to rise above what it considers a struggle between two tired powers and be seen as a pillar of stability in an increasingly turbulent world. “This means that as long as we don’t commit terminal strategic blunders, China’s modernization will not be cut short, and on the contrary, China will have even greater ability and will to play a more important role in building a new international order,” Zheng Yongnian, a professor at the Chinese University of Hong Kong, Shenzhen, who has advised senior officials, wrote after the invasion in a widely circulated article. At the heart of China’s strategy lies a conviction that the United States is weakened from reckless foreign adventures, including, from Beijing’s perspective, goading Putin into the Ukraine conflict. In this view, which in recent days has been echoed in public statements and quasi-official analyses, Russia’s invasion has dragged American power and attention toward Europe, making it likely that President Joe Biden, like his recent predecessors, will try but fail to put more focus on China and the broader Asia-Pacific region. “All the difficulties and all the balancing and all the embarrassment that we’re talking about, those are short-term,” said Yun Sun, the director of the China Program at the Stimson Center in Washington, who has studied Beijing’s actions in the lead-up to the war. “In the long run, Russia is going to be the pariah of the international community, and Russia will have no one to turn to but China.” China’s path ahead is by no means certain. Drawing too close to Russia would risk entrenching animosity toward China in Europe and beyond, a possibility that worries Xi’s government, for all its bluster. And if Germany, France and other allies build up their defenses as promised, the United States could ultimately be freed up to shift more of its military resources toward countering China. Biden has vowed to rally an “alliance of democracies,” while American military leaders say they will not let Ukraine distract them from China. “We also feel very, very anxious because the Russia-Ukraine war will force Europe to lean to the U.S., and then China will be dragged deeper into a dilemma,” said Zhu Feng, a professor of international relations at Nanjing University. The United States’ allies in the Pacific, including Japan and Australia, “will also adopt a stronger military posture. So it all seems unfriendly to China.” China’s initial stumbles after Russia’s invasion have also raised concern about Xi’s ability to navigate the war’s aftershocks. He has repeatedly warned Chinese officials that the world is entering an era of upheaval “the likes of which have not been seen for a century.” Yet those officials seemed ill-prepared for the upheaval of Putin’s assault on Ukraine. Up to the day of the invasion, they scoffed at warnings that Russia was poised for war, instead accusing the United States of stoking tensions. Since then, they have struggled to reconcile sympathy for Putin’s security grievances with their often-stated reverence for the principle of national sovereignty, including Ukraine’s. Xi, in a video conference with President Emmanuel Macron of France and Chancellor Olaf Sholz of Germany, lamented “the rekindling of the flames of war” in Europe. Yet his diplomats have fanned the flames of Russian disinformation, accusing the United States of developing biological weapons in Ukraine. “This is just not good for China’s international reputation,” said Bobo Lo, an expert on China-Russia ties at the French Institute of International Relations. “It’s not just China’s reputation in the West; I think it also affects China’s reputation in the non-West, because it’s essentially associating itself with an imperial power.” China could also face economic disruptions from the war and the Western efforts to punish Russia by restricting trade and cutting off its financial institutions. Chinese officials have denounced such measures, and while the United States and its allies have shown remarkable unity in imposing them, other countries share Beijing’s reservations about using powerful economic tools as weapons. In any case, China’s economy is large enough to absorb blows that would cripple others. Chinese companies may even end up well positioned to take advantage of Russia’s desperate need for trade, as happened when Moscow faced sanctions over the annexation of Crimea in 2014. China’s strategy reflects a hardening of views toward the United States since Biden came to office in 2021 — in large part, because officials had hoped for some easing after the chaotic and confrontational policies of President Donald Trump. “In its China strategy, the Biden administration’s policy continuities with the Trump administration are clearly bigger than any differences,” Yuan Peng, president of the China Institutes of Contemporary International Relations in Beijing, wrote late last year. “Biden has repeatedly avowed that the United States is not in a ‘new Cold War’ with China, but China often feels the chill creeping in everywhere.” Whatever happens in the war, China sees its deepening ties to Russia as a way to cultivate a counterweight to the United States. The partnership that Xi and Putin celebrated last month at the Winter Olympics in Beijing has become too important to sacrifice, whatever misgivings some officials have about the war. Arguing that the era of American dominance after the Soviet Union’s collapse in 1991 was a historical anomaly, both Xi and Putin have embraced geopolitical doctrines that call for their countries to reclaim their status as great powers. Just as Putin depicts the United States as menacing Russia on its western frontier, Xi sees U.S. support for Taiwan, the self-governing island democracy that Beijing claims as its own, as a similar threat off China’s coast. In recent weeks, Chinese analysts have repeatedly cited the century-old writings of a British geographer, Sir Halford John Mackinder. Whoever controls Central Europe controls the vast landmass stretching from Europe to Asia, he argued. Whoever controls Eurasia can dominate the world. A modern Russian proponent of such thinking, Aleksandr G. Dugin, has written extensively on what he sees as a growing clash between the liberal, decadent West and a conservative Eurasian continent with Russia as its soul. Dugin, sometimes called “Putin’s philosopher,” has built a following in China, appearing in state media and visiting Beijing in 2018 to deliver a series of lectures. His host on that occasion was Zhang Weiwei, a propagandist-academic who has won Xi’s favor and who last year gave a lecture to the Politburo, a council of 25 top party officials. “The West should not have become a hegemon in defining universal standards because the West or Europe, or the West in general is only part of humanity,” Dugin told a Chinese state television interviewer in 2019. “And the other part, a majority of human beings, live outside the West, in Asia.” Such aversion to international standards for political or human rights, supposedly dictated by the West, has become a recurrent theme in Chinese criticism of the United States. It was the subject of a government position paper in December, intended to counter virtual summit of democratic countries held by Biden, and of a long statement that Putin and Xi issued when they met in Beijing last month. As it turns to Beijing for support against Western sanctions, Russia will become increasingly beholden to China as its diplomatic and economic lifeline, while serving as its strategic geopolitical ballast, analysts say. “The old order is swiftly disintegrating, and strongman politics is again ascendant among the world’s great powers,” wrote Zheng of the Chinese University of Hong Kong, Shenzhen. “Countries are brimming with ambition, like tigers eyeing their prey, keen to find every opportunity among the ruins of the old order.”

China sees at least one winner emerging from Ukraine war: China

On a frigid day in Beijing last month as the Winter Olympics were set to open, China’s leader, Xi Jinping, celebrated a diplomatic triumph with a banquet for his honored guest, President Vladimir Putin of Russia. They had just finalized a statement declaring their vision of a new international order with Moscow and Beijing at its core, untethered from U.S. power.

Over dinner, according to China’s official readout, they discussed “major hot-spot issues of mutual concern.”

The details remain secret, but their talks were a crucial moment in the events that culminated 20 days later with Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, unleashing Europe’s worst war in decades and seismic jolts in global power likely to be felt for decades.

Publicly, Xi and Putin had vowed that their countries’ friendship had “no limits.” The Chinese leader also declared that there would be “no wavering” in their partnership, and he added his weight to Putin’s accusations of Western betrayal in Europe.

Now it appears that Xi’s display of solidarity may have, possibly unwittingly, emboldened Putin to gamble on going to war to bring Ukraine to heel.

A retracing of Beijing’s trail of decisions shows how Xi’s deep investment in a personal bond with Putin has limited China’s options and forced it into policy contortions.

Before and shortly after the invasion, Beijing sounded sympathetic to Moscow’s security demands, mocking Western warnings of war and accusing the United States of goading Russia. Over the past two weeks, though, China has sought to edge slightly away from Russia. It has softened its tone, expressing grief over civilian casualties. It has cast itself as an impartial party, calling for peace talks and for the war to stop as soon as possible.

The quandaries for China, and Xi, remain.

“He’s damned if he did know, and damned if he didn’t,” Paul Haenle, a former director for China on the National Security Council, said of whether Xi had been aware of Russia’s plans to invade. “If he did know and he didn’t tell people, he’s complicit; if he wasn’t told by Putin, it’s an affront.”

A Western intelligence report concluded that Chinese officials told their Russian counterparts in early February not to invade Ukraine before the end of the Winter Olympics in Beijing, though it was not clear whether Putin told Xi directly of any plans. Chinese officials rejected the claim that Beijing had forewarning as “pure fake news.”

In any case, the invasion evidently surprised many in Beijing’s establishment, leaving officials scrambling to respond and to evacuate Chinese nationals. Even if Xi knew anything about Putin’s plan, some experts said, he perhaps expected Moscow to limit its actions to the regions in Ukraine adjoining Russia.

“They did not anticipate a full-scale invasion,” said Yun Sun, the director of the China Program at the Stimson Center, who has studied Beijing’s actions in the lead-up to the war. “You do not need to invade Ukraine to get what you want. So why bother?” she said, summarizing what she described as a broad view among Chinese officials.

The implications for China extend beyond Ukraine, and even Europe.

Xi’s warm embrace of Putin only a month ago advertised their ambitions to build what they call a fairer, more stable global order — one in which the United States is a lesser presence. Instead, their summit was followed by the kind of reckless, unilateral military intervention in an independent state that China has long denounced.

Xi’s statement with Putin on Feb. 4 endorsed a Russian security proposal that would exclude Ukraine from joining the North Atlantic Treaty Organization. By opposing the expansion of NATO, China waded into tensions over how far Russia’s eastern European neighbors could forge alliances with the West.

“Putin may have done this anyway, but also it was unquestionably an enabling backdrop that was provided by the joint statement, the visit and Xi’s association with all of these things,” said Andrew Small, a senior fellow with the German Marshall Fund in Berlin.

The blot on Xi’s image as a statesman has come as he seeks an untroubled march to a Communist Party congress this year, where he is likely to win a groundbreaking third term as party leader.

“He owns that relationship with Putin,” Haenle said. “If you’re suggesting in the Chinese system right now that it was not smart to get that close to Russia, you’re in effect criticizing the leader.”

Putin’s war has already dragged China to a place it did not aim to be. For decades it sought to build ties with Russia while also keeping Ukraine close.

In 1992, China was among the first countries to establish ties with a newly independent Ukraine after the collapse of the Soviet Union. It turned to Ukraine as a major supplier of corn, sunflower and rapeseed oil, as well as arms technology.

Over the past years, as growing numbers of Ukrainians supported joining NATO, Chinese diplomats did not raise objections with Kyiv, said Sergiy Gerasymchuk, an analyst with Ukrainian Prism, a foreign policy research organization in Kyiv.

Ukraine was “trying to sit on the fence and avoid any sensitive issues with Beijing, and expected the same from China,” he said.

As opinion against China hardened in many countries, Xi became preoccupied with defending his nation against what he saw as threats to its rise, especially from the United States.

Relations were showing no signs of lasting improvement under the Biden administration, so Xi moved to bolster ties with Putin to blunt U.S. policies.

The two leaders shared similar world views. Both lamented the collapse of the Soviet Union. Both saw Washington as a prime instigator of any political opposition to their rule. For both leaders, their partnership was an answer to President Joe Biden’s effort to forge an “alliance of democracies.”

At a video summit in December, Xi told Putin that “in its closeness and effectiveness, this relationship even exceeds an alliance,” a Kremlin aide told reporters in Moscow at the time.

Yet Xi remains a more cautious leader than Putin, and he appeared hopeful that China would not be forced to choose between Russia and Ukraine.

Only a month before his Olympic summit with Putin, the Chinese leader hailed 30 years of diplomatic ties with Ukraine. “I attach high importance to developing the Chinese-Ukrainian strategic partnership,” Xi said in a Jan. 4 message to Ukraine’s president, Volodymyr Zelenskyy.

Even so, as Putin became determined to reverse Ukraine’s turn to Western security protections, Chinese officials began to echo Russian arguments. Beijing also saw a growing threat from U.S.-led military blocs.

In late January, Secretary of State Antony Blinken called China’s foreign minister, Wang Yi, to warn him about a war against Ukraine. Wang, however, urged Blinken to address Russia’s security grievances. Europe needed a new, “balanced” security organization, he said, making clear that NATO did not serve that role.

Beijing had its own complaints with NATO, rooted in the bombing of the Chinese Embassy in Belgrade, Serbia, during NATO’s war in 1999 to protect a breakaway region, Kosovo. Those suspicions deepened when NATO in 2021 began to describe China as an emerging challenge to the alliance.

As Russian troops massed on Ukraine’s borders, Chinese officials kept repeating their defense of Russia’s security concerns.

They also scoffed at Western intelligence warnings about Russia’s imminent invasion. Washington, not Moscow, was the warmonger, they suggested, pointing to America’s invasion of Iraq in 2003. On Feb. 23, a foreign ministry spokeswoman, Hua Chunying, accused Washington of “manufacturing panic.”

The next day, Russian forces struck.

While governments across the world condemned Putin, Beijing directed its criticism at the United States and its allies. It even avoided calling Putin’s actions an invasion.

In recent days, though, Beijing’s language has begun to shift, reflecting a desire to avoid standing too close to Putin.

Chinese officials tweaked their calls to heed Russia’s security, stressing that “any country’s legitimate security concerns should be respected.” They still did not use the word “invasion,” but have acknowledged a “conflict between Ukraine and Russia.”

China has also sought to position itself as a potential mediator, though so far only in vague terms. Wang, the Chinese foreign minister, told reporters on Monday that Beijing was willing to “play a constructive role” in bringing about peace talks.

China’s efforts to distance itself from Russia have come too late, said Gerasymchuk, the analyst in Kyiv. He said China would wait to see who prevailed in the war and seek to improve relations with the winner.

“Many decision makers in China began to perceive relations in black and white: either you are a Chinese ally or an American one,” said Gerasymchuk, who has been spending nights in a bomb shelter. “They still want to remain sort of neutral, but they bitterly failed.”

On a frigid day in Beijing last month as the Winter Olympics were set to open, China’s leader, Xi Jinping, celebrated a diplomatic triumph with a banquet for his honored guest, President Vladimir Putin of Russia.

On a frigid day in Beijing last month as the Winter Olympics were set to open, China’s leader, Xi Jinping, celebrated a diplomatic triumph with a banquet for his honored guest, President Vladimir Putin of Russia. They had just finalized a statement declaring their vision of a new international order with Moscow and Beijing at its core, untethered from U.S. power. Over dinner, according to China’s official readout, they discussed “major hot-spot issues of mutual concern.” The details remain secret, but their talks were a crucial moment in the events that culminated 20 days later with Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, unleashing Europe’s worst war in decades and seismic jolts in global power likely to be felt for decades. Publicly, Xi and Putin had vowed that their countries’ friendship had “no limits.” The Chinese leader also declared that there would be “no wavering” in their partnership, and he added his weight to Putin’s accusations of Western betrayal in Europe. Now it appears that Xi’s display of solidarity may have, possibly unwittingly, emboldened Putin to gamble on going to war to bring Ukraine to heel. A retracing of Beijing’s trail of decisions shows how Xi’s deep investment in a personal bond with Putin has limited China’s options and forced it into policy contortions. Before and shortly after the invasion, Beijing sounded sympathetic to Moscow’s security demands, mocking Western warnings of war and accusing the United States of goading Russia. Over the past two weeks, though, China has sought to edge slightly away from Russia. It has softened its tone, expressing grief over civilian casualties. It has cast itself as an impartial party, calling for peace talks and for the war to stop as soon as possible. The quandaries for China, and Xi, remain. “He’s damned if he did know, and damned if he didn’t,” Paul Haenle, a former director for China on the National Security Council, said of whether Xi had been aware of Russia’s plans to invade. “If he did know and he didn’t tell people, he’s complicit; if he wasn’t told by Putin, it’s an affront.” A Western intelligence report concluded that Chinese officials told their Russian counterparts in early February not to invade Ukraine before the end of the Winter Olympics in Beijing, though it was not clear whether Putin told Xi directly of any plans. Chinese officials rejected the claim that Beijing had forewarning as “pure fake news.” In any case, the invasion evidently surprised many in Beijing’s establishment, leaving officials scrambling to respond and to evacuate Chinese nationals. Even if Xi knew anything about Putin’s plan, some experts said, he perhaps expected Moscow to limit its actions to the regions in Ukraine adjoining Russia. “They did not anticipate a full-scale invasion,” said Yun Sun, the director of the China Program at the Stimson Center, who has studied Beijing’s actions in the lead-up to the war. “You do not need to invade Ukraine to get what you want. So why bother?” she said, summarizing what she described as a broad view among Chinese officials. The implications for China extend beyond Ukraine, and even Europe. Xi’s warm embrace of Putin only a month ago advertised their ambitions to build what they call a fairer, more stable global order — one in which the United States is a lesser presence. Instead, their summit was followed by the kind of reckless, unilateral military intervention in an independent state that China has long denounced. Xi’s statement with Putin on Feb. 4 endorsed a Russian security proposal that would exclude Ukraine from joining the North Atlantic Treaty Organization. By opposing the expansion of NATO, China waded into tensions over how far Russia’s eastern European neighbors could forge alliances with the West. “Putin may have done this anyway, but also it was unquestionably an enabling backdrop that was provided by the joint statement, the visit and Xi’s association with all of these things,” said Andrew Small, a senior fellow with the German Marshall Fund in Berlin. The blot on Xi’s image as a statesman has come as he seeks an untroubled march to a Communist Party congress this year, where he is likely to win a groundbreaking third term as party leader. “He owns that relationship with Putin,” Haenle said. “If you’re suggesting in the Chinese system right now that it was not smart to get that close to Russia, you’re in effect criticizing the leader.” Putin’s war has already dragged China to a place it did not aim to be. For decades it sought to build ties with Russia while also keeping Ukraine close. In 1992, China was among the first countries to establish ties with a newly independent Ukraine after the collapse of the Soviet Union. It turned to Ukraine as a major supplier of corn, sunflower and rapeseed oil, as well as arms technology. Over the past years, as growing numbers of Ukrainians supported joining NATO, Chinese diplomats did not raise objections with Kyiv, said Sergiy Gerasymchuk, an analyst with Ukrainian Prism, a foreign policy research organization in Kyiv. Ukraine was “trying to sit on the fence and avoid any sensitive issues with Beijing, and expected the same from China,” he said. As opinion against China hardened in many countries, Xi became preoccupied with defending his nation against what he saw as threats to its rise, especially from the United States. Relations were showing no signs of lasting improvement under the Biden administration, so Xi moved to bolster ties with Putin to blunt U.S. policies. The two leaders shared similar world views. Both lamented the collapse of the Soviet Union. Both saw Washington as a prime instigator of any political opposition to their rule. For both leaders, their partnership was an answer to President Joe Biden’s effort to forge an “alliance of democracies.” At a video summit in December, Xi told Putin that “in its closeness and effectiveness, this relationship even exceeds an alliance,” a Kremlin aide told reporters in Moscow at the time. Yet Xi remains a more cautious leader than Putin, and he appeared hopeful that China would not be forced to choose between Russia and Ukraine. Only a month before his Olympic summit with Putin, the Chinese leader hailed 30 years of diplomatic ties with Ukraine. “I attach high importance to developing the Chinese-Ukrainian strategic partnership,” Xi said in a Jan. 4 message to Ukraine’s president, Volodymyr Zelenskyy. Even so, as Putin became determined to reverse Ukraine’s turn to Western security protections, Chinese officials began to echo Russian arguments. Beijing also saw a growing threat from U.S.-led military blocs. In late January, Secretary of State Antony Blinken called China’s foreign minister, Wang Yi, to warn him about a war against Ukraine. Wang, however, urged Blinken to address Russia’s security grievances. Europe needed a new, “balanced” security organization, he said, making clear that NATO did not serve that role. Beijing had its own complaints with NATO, rooted in the bombing of the Chinese Embassy in Belgrade, Serbia, during NATO’s war in 1999 to protect a breakaway region, Kosovo. Those suspicions deepened when NATO in 2021 began to describe China as an emerging challenge to the alliance. As Russian troops massed on Ukraine’s borders, Chinese officials kept repeating their defense of Russia’s security concerns. They also scoffed at Western intelligence warnings about Russia’s imminent invasion. Washington, not Moscow, was the warmonger, they suggested, pointing to America’s invasion of Iraq in 2003. On Feb. 23, a foreign ministry spokeswoman, Hua Chunying, accused Washington of “manufacturing panic.” The next day, Russian forces struck. While governments across the world condemned Putin, Beijing directed its criticism at the United States and its allies. It even avoided calling Putin’s actions an invasion. In recent days, though, Beijing’s language has begun to shift, reflecting a desire to avoid standing too close to Putin. Chinese officials tweaked their calls to heed Russia’s security, stressing that “any country’s legitimate security concerns should be respected.” They still did not use the word “invasion,” but have acknowledged a “conflict between Ukraine and Russia.” China has also sought to position itself as a potential mediator, though so far only in vague terms. Wang, the Chinese foreign minister, told reporters on Monday that Beijing was willing to “play a constructive role” in bringing about peace talks. China’s efforts to distance itself from Russia have come too late, said Gerasymchuk, the analyst in Kyiv. He said China would wait to see who prevailed in the war and seek to improve relations with the winner. “Many decision makers in China began to perceive relations in black and white: either you are a Chinese ally or an American one,” said Gerasymchuk, who has been spending nights in a bomb shelter. “They still want to remain sort of neutral, but they bitterly failed.”

‘No wavering’: After turning to Putin, Xi faces hard wartime choices for China

Hours after Russia invaded Ukraine on Feb. 24, the Chinese Communist Party tabloid, Global Times, posted a video saying that a large number of Ukrainian soldiers had laid down their arms. Its source: the Russian state-controlled television network, RT.

Two days later, China’s state broadcaster Central Television Station (CCTV) flashed a breaking news alert, quoting Russia’s parliamentary speaker, that President Volodymyr Zelenskyy of Ukraine had fled Kyiv. CCTV then created a related hashtag on the Twitter-like platform Weibo that was viewed 510 million times and used by 163 media outlets in the country.

On Feb. 28, as Russia became an international pariah, the Russian state-owned news agency Sputnik shared a message of strength with its 11 million Weibo followers. The Russian foreign ministry spokeswoman, Sputnik said, said Russia still had friends in the world, especially “a real giant” like China.

“Add oil, Russia,” Sputnik’s Weibo follower @fengyiqing cheered on, using a Chinese expression of support. “All the people in the world who love justice are friends of Russia.”

As European and American officials press Facebook, Twitter, TikTok, and other online platforms to clamp down on Russian disinformation, China has embraced Russia’s propaganda and lies about the war. China’s state-owned media outlets quoted their Russian counterparts’ coverage without verification, helping to magnify their disinformation on the Chinese internet. They put Russian officials on state television networks with little pushback on their claims.

When it comes to information, the Chinese government is a control freak, dictating and censoring what its 1.4 billion people consume. Beijing has silenced and jailed its critics and journalists. It has coerced and co-opted the biggest Chinese online platforms to enforce its censorship guidelines. It blocks nearly all major western news and information websites, including Google, Twitter, YouTube, Wikipedia, The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, and the BBC.

Yet as the world faces one of its most serious geopolitical crises since the end of the Cold War, China let down its digital defenses and allowed the Kremlin’s propaganda machine to help shape public perception of the war. No wonder the Chinese internet is overwhelmingly pro-Russia, pro-war and pro-Putin.

If China wants to remain officially ambiguous about whether it supports Vladimir Putin’s war — refusing to call it an invasion and abstaining from a U.N. vote to condemn the invasion — its state-controlled media nonetheless makes very clear where China stands.

The China-Russia information alliance is forged over a shared worldview of two leaders, Xi Jinping and Putin, who, out of deep distrust of the United States, are determined to challenge the West’s dominance in the competition for public opinion.

In a 2013 speech, Xi urged the country’s propaganda workers to enhance the country’s “international discourse power” under the notion of “telling China’s story well.” During a visit to RT’s headquarters in the same year, Putin said the network was created to “break the Anglo-Saxon monopoly on the global information streams.”

In 2015, Xi and Putin decided the two countries should strengthen their cooperation in media. Since then, they have held a Sino-Russian media forum each year, aiming to “redefine the map of the international discourse.”

Last November, an RT executive said at the forum that major Chinese media outlets quoted RT.com on average 2,500 times a week in 2021.

Many Chinese media organizations admire RT and Sputnik, which they believe have broken the West’s information monopoly, or at least muddied the water. Many media experts have analyzed what China’s state-owned media could learn from their successes. One academic paper detailed RT’s coverage of Russia’s annexation of Crimea in 2014 to illustrate how the Russian network carefully planned its reporting strategy to increase its seeming credibility and accessibility so it could set its own agenda.

When Russia invaded Ukraine, the Kremlin’s media machines worked well in China. Combined with Beijing’s censorship of pro-Ukraine content, they wove a web of disinformation that proved difficult for most Chinese online users to escape.

The message they are trying to drive home: Russia’s military actions are anti-West, anti-NATO expansion and anti-Nazi — thus justified and popular.

In China’s state media, there is very little about the international condemnation of Russia; Ukraine’s success in the battle for public opinion, led by Zelenskyy; or anti-war protests in Russia.

The one-two punch is working, keeping the Chinese public from facts while sowing confusion.

On the Chinese social media platforms, many people adopted Putin’s and Russian media’s language, calling the Ukrainian side extremists and neo-Nazis.

They kept bringing up the Azov Battalion as if it represented all of Ukraine. The battalion, a unit of the Ukrainian national guard, is known for having neo-Nazi sympathizers but remains a fringe presence in the country and its military.

Zelenskyy himself is Jewish and won the presidential election in 2019 with 73% of the vote. His approval rate soared to over 90% recently for his wartime leadership.

The fog of disinformation thickens when Chinese state media portrays Russia’s war as an anti-fascism effort. After Russia’s defense minister announced this week that his country would host the first international anti-fascism conference in August, the CCTV posted a one-paragraph story, then created a Weibo hashtag. Within 24 hours, it had 650 million views and was used by 90 media outlets. Many commenters called Ukraine and the United States fascist countries.

Chinese media is also propagating Russian disinformation that Ukraine has been using civilians as human shields. In its prime-time news program on Feb. 26, CCTV quoted Putin as making that allegation. A few days later the nationalistic news site, guancha.com, ran a banner headline that said the Russian military was going only after military targets, while the Ukrainian military was using civilians as human shields.

Taken collectively, Chinese online users are seeing a quite different war from much of the world.

While videos circulated outside China purportedly showing Ukrainians’ kind treatment of Russian prisoners of war, the trending social media topic in China was that captured Russians had endured Nazi-like torture. Both CCTV and the People’s Daily, the official newspaper of the Communist Party, created hashtags echoing the same, based on a briefing by the Russian defense ministry. They had combined views of more than 200 million.

Sputnik, with 11.6 million followers on Weibo, has been posting more than 100 items a day lately, populating its timeline with words like “criminal Zelenskyy,” “empire of lies,” “fake news” and “Nazi.”

“We must stand with Russia!” Weibo user @qingdaoxiaowangzi commented on one of Sputnik’s posts, using a popular line on the Chinese internet. “If Russia falls, NATO and the neo-Nazi United States will bully China!”

At the same time, Weibo and other platforms are censoring pro-Ukraine content. The Weibo account of actor Ke Lan, which has 2.9 million followers, was suspended after she retweeted a video and a photo about an anti-war protest in Russia. So was the account of a transgender celebrity, Jin Xing, with 13.6 million followers. “Respect all lives and resolutely oppose the war!!!” her last post said.

But as the war continues and China recalibrates its position, some Chinese online users have begun to scrutinize the Russian news media reports. Under a Sputnik Weibo post contending that the Ukrainian military murdered civilians, a user with the handle @jialalabadededashen wrote, “Is this another news item that was tailor made by the Russian news agency for China?”

In a social media discussion, some people called out Russia for waging an information war in China. “Russia’s external propaganda has infiltrated China out-and-out,” wrote a Weibo user called @juediqiangshou. “That’s why all the excuses to justify the invasion are popular here.”

Some people are also raising questions about whether the flood of pro-Russia information would be detrimental to the interests of China and its people.

Even Wang Xiaodong, a famous nationalist writer, suggested on Weibo that the Russia-Ukraine war was more complicated than it seemed. “The Chinese people should have access to comprehensive and diversified information,” he wrote Wednesday. 
&nbsp;

Hours after Russia invaded Ukraine on Feb. 24, the Chinese Communist Party tabloid, Global Times, posted a video saying that a large number of Ukrainian soldiers had laid down their arms.

Hours after Russia invaded Ukraine on Feb. 24, the Chinese Communist Party tabloid, Global Times, posted a video saying that a large number of Ukrainian soldiers had laid down their arms. Its source: the Russian state-controlled television network, RT. Two days later, China’s state broadcaster Central Television Station (CCTV) flashed a breaking news alert, quoting Russia’s parliamentary speaker, that President Volodymyr Zelenskyy of Ukraine had fled Kyiv. CCTV then created a related hashtag on the Twitter-like platform Weibo that was viewed 510 million times and used by 163 media outlets in the country. On Feb. 28, as Russia became an international pariah, the Russian state-owned news agency Sputnik shared a message of strength with its 11 million Weibo followers. The Russian foreign ministry spokeswoman, Sputnik said, said Russia still had friends in the world, especially “a real giant” like China. “Add oil, Russia,” Sputnik’s Weibo follower @fengyiqing cheered on, using a Chinese expression of support. “All the people in the world who love justice are friends of Russia.” As European and American officials press Facebook, Twitter, TikTok, and other online platforms to clamp down on Russian disinformation, China has embraced Russia’s propaganda and lies about the war. China’s state-owned media outlets quoted their Russian counterparts’ coverage without verification, helping to magnify their disinformation on the Chinese internet. They put Russian officials on state television networks with little pushback on their claims. When it comes to information, the Chinese government is a control freak, dictating and censoring what its 1.4 billion people consume. Beijing has silenced and jailed its critics and journalists. It has coerced and co-opted the biggest Chinese online platforms to enforce its censorship guidelines. It blocks nearly all major western news and information websites, including Google, Twitter, YouTube, Wikipedia, The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, and the BBC. Yet as the world faces one of its most serious geopolitical crises since the end of the Cold War, China let down its digital defenses and allowed the Kremlin’s propaganda machine to help shape public perception of the war. No wonder the Chinese internet is overwhelmingly pro-Russia, pro-war and pro-Putin. If China wants to remain officially ambiguous about whether it supports Vladimir Putin’s war — refusing to call it an invasion and abstaining from a U.N. vote to condemn the invasion — its state-controlled media nonetheless makes very clear where China stands. The China-Russia information alliance is forged over a shared worldview of two leaders, Xi Jinping and Putin, who, out of deep distrust of the United States, are determined to challenge the West’s dominance in the competition for public opinion. In a 2013 speech, Xi urged the country’s propaganda workers to enhance the country’s “international discourse power” under the notion of “telling China’s story well.” During a visit to RT’s headquarters in the same year, Putin said the network was created to “break the Anglo-Saxon monopoly on the global information streams.” In 2015, Xi and Putin decided the two countries should strengthen their cooperation in media. Since then, they have held a Sino-Russian media forum each year, aiming to “redefine the map of the international discourse.” Last November, an RT executive said at the forum that major Chinese media outlets quoted RT.com on average 2,500 times a week in 2021. Many Chinese media organizations admire RT and Sputnik, which they believe have broken the West’s information monopoly, or at least muddied the water. Many media experts have analyzed what China’s state-owned media could learn from their successes. One academic paper detailed RT’s coverage of Russia’s annexation of Crimea in 2014 to illustrate how the Russian network carefully planned its reporting strategy to increase its seeming credibility and accessibility so it could set its own agenda. When Russia invaded Ukraine, the Kremlin’s media machines worked well in China. Combined with Beijing’s censorship of pro-Ukraine content, they wove a web of disinformation that proved difficult for most Chinese online users to escape. The message they are trying to drive home: Russia’s military actions are anti-West, anti-NATO expansion and anti-Nazi — thus justified and popular. In China’s state media, there is very little about the international condemnation of Russia; Ukraine’s success in the battle for public opinion, led by Zelenskyy; or anti-war protests in Russia. The one-two punch is working, keeping the Chinese public from facts while sowing confusion. On the Chinese social media platforms, many people adopted Putin’s and Russian media’s language, calling the Ukrainian side extremists and neo-Nazis. They kept bringing up the Azov Battalion as if it represented all of Ukraine. The battalion, a unit of the Ukrainian national guard, is known for having neo-Nazi sympathizers but remains a fringe presence in the country and its military. Zelenskyy himself is Jewish and won the presidential election in 2019 with 73% of the vote. His approval rate soared to over 90% recently for his wartime leadership. The fog of disinformation thickens when Chinese state media portrays Russia’s war as an anti-fascism effort. After Russia’s defense minister announced this week that his country would host the first international anti-fascism conference in August, the CCTV posted a one-paragraph story, then created a Weibo hashtag. Within 24 hours, it had 650 million views and was used by 90 media outlets. Many commenters called Ukraine and the United States fascist countries. Chinese media is also propagating Russian disinformation that Ukraine has been using civilians as human shields. In its prime-time news program on Feb. 26, CCTV quoted Putin as making that allegation. A few days later the nationalistic news site, guancha.com, ran a banner headline that said the Russian military was going only after military targets, while the Ukrainian military was using civilians as human shields. Taken collectively, Chinese online users are seeing a quite different war from much of the world. While videos circulated outside China purportedly showing Ukrainians’ kind treatment of Russian prisoners of war, the trending social media topic in China was that captured Russians had endured Nazi-like torture. Both CCTV and the People’s Daily, the official newspaper of the Communist Party, created hashtags echoing the same, based on a briefing by the Russian defense ministry. They had combined views of more than 200 million. Sputnik, with 11.6 million followers on Weibo, has been posting more than 100 items a day lately, populating its timeline with words like “criminal Zelenskyy,” “empire of lies,” “fake news” and “Nazi.” “We must stand with Russia!” Weibo user @qingdaoxiaowangzi commented on one of Sputnik’s posts, using a popular line on the Chinese internet. “If Russia falls, NATO and the neo-Nazi United States will bully China!” At the same time, Weibo and other platforms are censoring pro-Ukraine content. The Weibo account of actor Ke Lan, which has 2.9 million followers, was suspended after she retweeted a video and a photo about an anti-war protest in Russia. So was the account of a transgender celebrity, Jin Xing, with 13.6 million followers. “Respect all lives and resolutely oppose the war!!!” her last post said. But as the war continues and China recalibrates its position, some Chinese online users have begun to scrutinize the Russian news media reports. Under a Sputnik Weibo post contending that the Ukrainian military murdered civilians, a user with the handle @jialalabadededashen wrote, “Is this another news item that was tailor made by the Russian news agency for China?” In a social media discussion, some people called out Russia for waging an information war in China. “Russia’s external propaganda has infiltrated China out-and-out,” wrote a Weibo user called @juediqiangshou. “That’s why all the excuses to justify the invasion are popular here.” Some people are also raising questions about whether the flood of pro-Russia information would be detrimental to the interests of China and its people. Even Wang Xiaodong, a famous nationalist writer, suggested on Weibo that the Russia-Ukraine war was more complicated than it seemed. “The Chinese people should have access to comprehensive and diversified information,” he wrote Wednesday.

How China embraces Russian propaganda and its version of the war

In early February, Chinese officials asked Russian officials to wait for the Winter Olympics to end before launching invasion of Ukraine, a New York Times report said citing Biden administration officials and a European official who cited a Western intelligence report.

The US-based newspaper said that the Chinese officials had some level of knowledge about Russia's plans or intentions to invade Ukraine before Russian President Vladimir Putin launched an all-out military attack last week.

The request was made around the time when Russian President Vladimir Putin visited Beijing for the opening ceremony of the Olympics during which he met with Chinese President Xi Jinping, CNN reported said citing a US official associated with the intelligence report.

However, it is not clear from the report whether Putin addressed the matter with Xi directly.

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Reacting to the report, the Chinese Embassy in Washington called the claims “speculations without any basis”.

"The claims mentioned in the relevant reports are speculations without any basis, and are intended to blame-shift and smear China," said Liu Pengyu, a spokesman for the embassy.

The New York Times said the intelligence on the exchange between the Chinese and Russian officials was collected by a Western intelligence service and was considered credible by officials reviewing it.

Also read |&nbsp;<a href="https://www.wionews.com/india-news/no-indian-student-taken-hostage-by-ukraine-forces-indian-govt-458366">'No Indian student taken hostage by Ukraine forces': Indian govt</a>

Putin and Xi met at the start of the Olympics on February 4 and declared an upgraded “no limits” partnership in which they pledged to collaborate more against the West.

(With inputs from agencies)

In early February, Chinese officials asked Russian officials to wait for the Winter Olympics to end before launching invasion of Ukraine, a New York Times report said citing Biden administration officials and a European official who cited a Western intelligence report.

In early February, Chinese officials asked Russian officials to wait for the Winter Olympics to end before launching invasion of Ukraine, a New York Times report said citing Biden administration officials and a European official who cited a Western intelligence report. The US-based newspaper said that the Chinese officials had some level of knowledge about Russia's plans or intentions to invade Ukraine before Russian President Vladimir Putin launched an all-out military attack last week. The request was made around the time when Russian President Vladimir Putin visited Beijing for the opening ceremony of the Olympics during which he met with Chinese President Xi Jinping, CNN reported said citing a US official associated with the intelligence report. However, it is not clear from the report whether Putin addressed the matter with Xi directly. Also read | Florida man caught speeding, blames Putin and threat of nuclear war Reacting to the report, the Chinese Embassy in Washington called the claims “speculations without any basis”. "The claims mentioned in the relevant reports are speculations without any basis, and are intended to blame-shift and smear China," said Liu Pengyu, a spokesman for the embassy. The New York Times said the intelligence on the exchange between the Chinese and Russian officials was collected by a Western intelligence service and was considered credible by officials reviewing it. Also read | 'No Indian student taken hostage by Ukraine forces': Indian govt Putin and Xi met at the start of the Olympics on February 4 and declared an upgraded “no limits” partnership in which they pledged to collaborate more against the West. (With inputs from agencies)

China told Russia to delay Ukraine invasion until end of Winter Olympics: Report

Russian President Vladimir Putin had a call with his Chinese counterpart Xi Jinping on the ongoing war against Ukraine. Jinping had urged the Russian President to negotiate with Ukraine to defuse tensions.

Russia-Ukraine Conflict: Xi urges Putin to negotiate with Ukraine to defuse tensions

The miracle of modern China was built on global connections, a belief that sending young people, companies and future leaders to soak up the outside world was the route from impoverishment to power. Now, emboldened by its transformation, the country is shunning the influences and ideas that nourished its rise.

The country’s most dominant leader in decades, Xi Jinping, seems intent on redefining China’s relationship with the world, recasting the meeting of minds and cultures as a zero-sum clash.

Education officials are imposing restrictions on English education and requiring that scholars ask permission to attend even virtual international conferences. Regulators have punished Chinese companies for raising money overseas. Xi has exhorted artists to embrace “cultural confidence” by promoting traditional Chinese literature and art, and has warned against imitating Hollywood.

And the government, citing the coronavirus pandemic, is no longer freely issuing most passports, the physical symbol of an interconnected world. Borders are almost entirely shut.

“There’s no more integration and exchange between different cultures,” said Zhang Jincan, the owner of Dusk Dawn Club, a live-music venue in Beijing.

Before the pandemic, the club was a fixture of the city’s curious, plugged-in music scene. Locals crammed in to hear visiting Polish jazz quintets or Argentine percussionists. Expatriates could discover up-and-coming Chinese punk bands. Performances were often organized with foreign cultural organizations.

Now Zhang worries that the very essence of his club is disappearing. “You get a kind of aesthetic fatigue,” he said.

(END OPTIONAL TRIM.)

There is little chance of returning to the isolationism of former Communist Chairman Mao Zedong's era, when the nation was sealed off from the world financially as well as culturally. The pandemic has made clear how much the global economy relies upon China and how much China has benefited. Xi said he has no intention of decoupling from other economies.

“Countries around the world should uphold true multilateralism,” he told the World Economic Forum last month. “We should remove barriers, not erect walls.”

But if the government values the economic benefits of globalization, the same does not seem true of less tangible ones: artistic, intellectual, interpersonal. Those ties — which made China not just a fixture of the world economy, but a member of the global community — are being scrutinized, restricted or rejected.

Anything seen as — or, increasingly, tarred as — foreign is vulnerable to attack by vitriolic online nationalists. Celebrities promoting vegetarianism have been accused of peddling Western lifestyles.

Even this month’s Winter Olympics in Beijing, by definition one of the most globally minded events in the world, was conducted on China’s terms: without foreign spectators and in defiance of diplomatic boycotts by countries including the United States.

It was sports that once smoothed the way for diplomatic entreaties.

After the Communists took power in 1949, the first Americans to officially enter China, decades later, were nine table tennis players. The countries’ teams met in 1971 at the World Table Tennis Championship in Japan, and the Chinese government invited the Americans for a weeklong visit in which they toured the Great Wall, watched a dance troupe and played matches. A year after the “Ping-Pong diplomacy,” President Richard Nixon made his historic visit to China, the opening salvo for the two countries to reestablish diplomatic ties.

In the decades that followed, China’s deepening global connections signaled its expanding ambitions.

More than 6.5 million Chinese studied abroad between 1978 and 2019, with the number rising each year. Chinese tech companies listed on Wall Street, their innovations copied by Silicon Valley. Schoolteachers used songs by Western boy bands to teach English, seen as vital for economic opportunities.

The outside world was hungry to know more about China, too. Between 2002 and 2018, the number of international students in China grew nearly sixfold. The 2008 Beijing Olympics helped the country pitch itself as a global tourist destination.

Wariness lingered. Deng Xiaoping, the leader who spearheaded the economic opening, memorably warned that an open window brings both fresh air and flies. But in those heady early days, many believed that China was hurtling irreversibly toward openness.

Xi proved them wrong. Since he took over in 2012, the Chinese Communist Party has restricted foreign nongovernmental organizations, accusing some of conspiring against the country. It has banned overseas textbooks, emphasizing that only it can guide China to greatness. Increasing hostility from the United States also prodded Chinese leaders into a more defensive posture.

The coronavirus crystallized those tendencies. Bent on stamping out infections, China canceled virtually all international flights. State media fixated on the West’s death toll.

To limit imported cases, officials said they would not issue or renew passports, except for emergencies, work or study abroad. The number of passports issued in the first half of 2021 was 2% of the same period in 2019.

Sarah Duan, 16, applied for a passport in December after being admitted to a private high school in Seattle. Immigration officials in her home of Shanxi province told her that minors were not allowed to leave the country, she said.

Duan called the national immigration administration, which said no such policy existed.

Still, local officers rebuffed her, arguing that the pandemic overseas was too dangerous or pointing to China’s fraught relationship with the United States.

“I wanted to say, 'What do U.S.-China tensions have to do with me?'” said Duan, who finally secured a passport last month. Shanxi immigration officials did not return a faxed request for comment.

Despite his rhetorical commitments, Xi is narrowing the scope of economic engagement, calling for reduced reliance on exports and keeping Chinese companies closer to home. After Didi Chuxing went public in New York last year without regulators’ blessing, the Chinese government announced an investigation into the ride-hailing company. Within months, Didi delisted.

And though China wants foreign money, it is driving away the people who accompany it. The number of foreigners living in Beijing and Shanghai has dropped by nearly one-third in the past decade, according to European business groups.

Even after China opens its borders, some fear the deteriorating climate will keep foreigners from coming.

Before the pandemic, Sarah Keenlyside, who has lived in Beijing for 16 years, organized tours for Western executives visiting on business. First-timers sometimes came nervously, with concerns and misconceptions about government surveillance. But they left impressed by the high-speed trains and safe cities. Some returned for family vacations.

“It’s sort of a vicious cycle,” Keenlyside said. “If people don’t come, then they don’t get to see it for themselves.”

Stereotypes are likely to harden in the other direction as China imposes new curbs on outside influences.

Last summer, education officials barred online tutoring firms from hiring teachers based overseas, cutting off a popular source of English lessons and cultural exchange. In December, regulators ordered television credits to specify whether any actors or crew had foreign citizenship.

Those decisions were couched as part of broader moves to ease students’ workloads or tame China’s unruly celebrity culture. But officials at times have been more explicit about the insidious effects of foreign ideas. Xi has denounced blind worship of Western cultural products and demanded confidence in traditional culture, which he calls a “major issue related to the rise and fall of national fortunes.”

The art world has raced to comply in ways that concern Jiang Bing, a contemporary art curator.

Jiang helped organize this year’s Chengdu Biennale, which features hundreds of works from China and abroad. She said many artists still want to engage with their international counterparts. But she had seen others reaching for obvious symbols of Chinese heritage, such as Ming dynasty clothing, rather than searching for more nuanced or novel ways to express cultural pride.

“If there’s no corresponding process of thinking, questioning and criticism, that can’t be real cultural confidence,” she said.

Some say the emphasis on the homegrown is a natural result of China’s rising status. While American films once often sat atop the Chinese box office, domestic ones now dominate. Local fashion designers, long dismissed as second-rate, command higher prices.

Sun Lei, 24, moved to Britain last fall for a master’s degree, having long aspired to study and work abroad. But the country’s lax virus management gave him a deeper appreciation for China’s ability to carry out policies without the friction seen in Western democracies.

“The reality is that China’s development and entire economic situation are trending upward,” said Sun, who intends to return home after graduation. “That’s beneficial for my personal development.”

Still, he plans to use a virtual private network to access blocked overseas websites after moving back. China’s growing middle class, increasingly well traveled and fluent in global pop culture, is unlikely to accept a wholesale retreat from the outside world.

Even some unexpected voices have defended cultural engagement.

“Technology has guaranteed that cultural distance is impossible,” said Wang Xiaodong, a self-described nationalist blogger with more than 6 million social media followers. Wang avidly follows American television shows, including "Game of Thrones" and "Westworld."

But the government is tightening controls over VPNs. Those who criticize China’s increasing insularity are often censored or drowned out by nationalist voices. Wang has himself been attacked online for saying that China needs global engagement.

The virtual vitriol has real-world consequences. Last fall, officials in the northeastern city of Dalian shuttered a Japan-themed shopping complex within two weeks of opening, after online commenters denounced it as a form of cultural invasion.

In the long term, the hostility could imperil the very rise that nationalists are eager to promote.

As the pandemic forced academic exchanges to move online, Chinese universities ordered scholars attending virtual conferences organized abroad to submit the agendas for advance approval. The state-run Chinese Academy of Sciences requires foreign scholars giving online guest lectures to share their passport details.

Last year, a government adviser formally warned China’s legislature that the restrictions could harm foreign policy. “Excessive management will affect experts’ analysis of international issues and the quality of their advice,” wrote the adviser, Jia Qingguo, who is also a Peking University professor.

Reached by email, Jia agreed to an interview. But he said regulations required university approval first, which never came.

The miracle of modern China was built on global connections, a belief that sending young people, companies and future leaders to soak up the outside world was the route from impoverishment to power.

The miracle of modern China was built on global connections, a belief that sending young people, companies and future leaders to soak up the outside world was the route from impoverishment to power. Now, emboldened by its transformation, the country is shunning the influences and ideas that nourished its rise. The country’s most dominant leader in decades, Xi Jinping, seems intent on redefining China’s relationship with the world, recasting the meeting of minds and cultures as a zero-sum clash. Education officials are imposing restrictions on English education and requiring that scholars ask permission to attend even virtual international conferences. Regulators have punished Chinese companies for raising money overseas. Xi has exhorted artists to embrace “cultural confidence” by promoting traditional Chinese literature and art, and has warned against imitating Hollywood. And the government, citing the coronavirus pandemic, is no longer freely issuing most passports, the physical symbol of an interconnected world. Borders are almost entirely shut. “There’s no more integration and exchange between different cultures,” said Zhang Jincan, the owner of Dusk Dawn Club, a live-music venue in Beijing. Before the pandemic, the club was a fixture of the city’s curious, plugged-in music scene. Locals crammed in to hear visiting Polish jazz quintets or Argentine percussionists. Expatriates could discover up-and-coming Chinese punk bands. Performances were often organized with foreign cultural organizations. Now Zhang worries that the very essence of his club is disappearing. “You get a kind of aesthetic fatigue,” he said. (END OPTIONAL TRIM.) There is little chance of returning to the isolationism of former Communist Chairman Mao Zedong's era, when the nation was sealed off from the world financially as well as culturally. The pandemic has made clear how much the global economy relies upon China and how much China has benefited. Xi said he has no intention of decoupling from other economies. “Countries around the world should uphold true multilateralism,” he told the World Economic Forum last month. “We should remove barriers, not erect walls.” But if the government values the economic benefits of globalization, the same does not seem true of less tangible ones: artistic, intellectual, interpersonal. Those ties — which made China not just a fixture of the world economy, but a member of the global community — are being scrutinized, restricted or rejected. Anything seen as — or, increasingly, tarred as — foreign is vulnerable to attack by vitriolic online nationalists. Celebrities promoting vegetarianism have been accused of peddling Western lifestyles. Even this month’s Winter Olympics in Beijing, by definition one of the most globally minded events in the world, was conducted on China’s terms: without foreign spectators and in defiance of diplomatic boycotts by countries including the United States. It was sports that once smoothed the way for diplomatic entreaties. After the Communists took power in 1949, the first Americans to officially enter China, decades later, were nine table tennis players. The countries’ teams met in 1971 at the World Table Tennis Championship in Japan, and the Chinese government invited the Americans for a weeklong visit in which they toured the Great Wall, watched a dance troupe and played matches. A year after the “Ping-Pong diplomacy,” President Richard Nixon made his historic visit to China, the opening salvo for the two countries to reestablish diplomatic ties. In the decades that followed, China’s deepening global connections signaled its expanding ambitions. More than 6.5 million Chinese studied abroad between 1978 and 2019, with the number rising each year. Chinese tech companies listed on Wall Street, their innovations copied by Silicon Valley. Schoolteachers used songs by Western boy bands to teach English, seen as vital for economic opportunities. The outside world was hungry to know more about China, too. Between 2002 and 2018, the number of international students in China grew nearly sixfold. The 2008 Beijing Olympics helped the country pitch itself as a global tourist destination. Wariness lingered. Deng Xiaoping, the leader who spearheaded the economic opening, memorably warned that an open window brings both fresh air and flies. But in those heady early days, many believed that China was hurtling irreversibly toward openness. Xi proved them wrong. Since he took over in 2012, the Chinese Communist Party has restricted foreign nongovernmental organizations, accusing some of conspiring against the country. It has banned overseas textbooks, emphasizing that only it can guide China to greatness. Increasing hostility from the United States also prodded Chinese leaders into a more defensive posture. The coronavirus crystallized those tendencies. Bent on stamping out infections, China canceled virtually all international flights. State media fixated on the West’s death toll. To limit imported cases, officials said they would not issue or renew passports, except for emergencies, work or study abroad. The number of passports issued in the first half of 2021 was 2% of the same period in 2019. Sarah Duan, 16, applied for a passport in December after being admitted to a private high school in Seattle. Immigration officials in her home of Shanxi province told her that minors were not allowed to leave the country, she said. Duan called the national immigration administration, which said no such policy existed. Still, local officers rebuffed her, arguing that the pandemic overseas was too dangerous or pointing to China’s fraught relationship with the United States. “I wanted to say, 'What do U.S.-China tensions have to do with me?'” said Duan, who finally secured a passport last month. Shanxi immigration officials did not return a faxed request for comment. Despite his rhetorical commitments, Xi is narrowing the scope of economic engagement, calling for reduced reliance on exports and keeping Chinese companies closer to home. After Didi Chuxing went public in New York last year without regulators’ blessing, the Chinese government announced an investigation into the ride-hailing company. Within months, Didi delisted. And though China wants foreign money, it is driving away the people who accompany it. The number of foreigners living in Beijing and Shanghai has dropped by nearly one-third in the past decade, according to European business groups. Even after China opens its borders, some fear the deteriorating climate will keep foreigners from coming. Before the pandemic, Sarah Keenlyside, who has lived in Beijing for 16 years, organized tours for Western executives visiting on business. First-timers sometimes came nervously, with concerns and misconceptions about government surveillance. But they left impressed by the high-speed trains and safe cities. Some returned for family vacations. “It’s sort of a vicious cycle,” Keenlyside said. “If people don’t come, then they don’t get to see it for themselves.” Stereotypes are likely to harden in the other direction as China imposes new curbs on outside influences. Last summer, education officials barred online tutoring firms from hiring teachers based overseas, cutting off a popular source of English lessons and cultural exchange. In December, regulators ordered television credits to specify whether any actors or crew had foreign citizenship. Those decisions were couched as part of broader moves to ease students’ workloads or tame China’s unruly celebrity culture. But officials at times have been more explicit about the insidious effects of foreign ideas. Xi has denounced blind worship of Western cultural products and demanded confidence in traditional culture, which he calls a “major issue related to the rise and fall of national fortunes.” The art world has raced to comply in ways that concern Jiang Bing, a contemporary art curator. Jiang helped organize this year’s Chengdu Biennale, which features hundreds of works from China and abroad. She said many artists still want to engage with their international counterparts. But she had seen others reaching for obvious symbols of Chinese heritage, such as Ming dynasty clothing, rather than searching for more nuanced or novel ways to express cultural pride. “If there’s no corresponding process of thinking, questioning and criticism, that can’t be real cultural confidence,” she said. Some say the emphasis on the homegrown is a natural result of China’s rising status. While American films once often sat atop the Chinese box office, domestic ones now dominate. Local fashion designers, long dismissed as second-rate, command higher prices. Sun Lei, 24, moved to Britain last fall for a master’s degree, having long aspired to study and work abroad. But the country’s lax virus management gave him a deeper appreciation for China’s ability to carry out policies without the friction seen in Western democracies. “The reality is that China’s development and entire economic situation are trending upward,” said Sun, who intends to return home after graduation. “That’s beneficial for my personal development.” Still, he plans to use a virtual private network to access blocked overseas websites after moving back. China’s growing middle class, increasingly well traveled and fluent in global pop culture, is unlikely to accept a wholesale retreat from the outside world. Even some unexpected voices have defended cultural engagement. “Technology has guaranteed that cultural distance is impossible,” said Wang Xiaodong, a self-described nationalist blogger with more than 6 million social media followers. Wang avidly follows American television shows, including "Game of Thrones" and "Westworld." But the government is tightening controls over VPNs. Those who criticize China’s increasing insularity are often censored or drowned out by nationalist voices. Wang has himself been attacked online for saying that China needs global engagement. The virtual vitriol has real-world consequences. Last fall, officials in the northeastern city of Dalian shuttered a Japan-themed shopping complex within two weeks of opening, after online commenters denounced it as a form of cultural invasion. In the long term, the hostility could imperil the very rise that nationalists are eager to promote. As the pandemic forced academic exchanges to move online, Chinese universities ordered scholars attending virtual conferences organized abroad to submit the agendas for advance approval. The state-run Chinese Academy of Sciences requires foreign scholars giving online guest lectures to share their passport details. Last year, a government adviser formally warned China’s legislature that the restrictions could harm foreign policy. “Excessive management will affect experts’ analysis of international issues and the quality of their advice,” wrote the adviser, Jia Qingguo, who is also a Peking University professor. Reached by email, Jia agreed to an interview. But he said regulations required university approval first, which never came.

How China under Xi Jinping is turning away from the world

On the Day 2 of the Munich Security Conference, the West urged Russia to de-escalate tensions with Ukraine. The world leaders converge as tensions spike.

Chinese Foreign Minister addresses Munich Security Conference

According to reports, Chinese authorities have ordered schools to appoint "political commissars" to ensure children are taught President Xi's ideology.

Reports claim children will be taught President Xi's definition of “rule of law” in middle&nbsp;and secondary school.&nbsp;Nurseries have also been asked to follow the programme however it is reportedly not been made mandatory.

<a href="https://www.wionews.com/world/to-mute-criticism-china-ordered-amazon-to-block-reviews-on-xi-jinpings-book-438311">Also Read:&nbsp;To mute criticism, China ordered Amazon to block reviews on Xi Jinping’s book</a>

Last year China's ministry of education had released a document on Xi Jinping's "thoughts on socialism" with "Chinese characteristics" to be incorporated into the curriculum.&nbsp;

According to China's state-run Global Times, it was a "significant" step in helping teenagers to "strengthen confidence in the culture of socialism". The primary schools in the country were expected to "cultivate love for the country" including for the Communist Party&nbsp;and socialist ideology.

<a href="https://www.wionews.com/world/xinjiang-papers-leak-reveals-connection-between-xi-jinpings-speeches-and-the-uyghur-crackdown-432970">Also Read:&nbsp;Leak reveals connection between Xi Jinping's speeches and the Uyghur crackdown</a>

The Chinese daily said the focus on students in the middle schools would be to form basic political judgments and opinions and there will be "more emphasis on the establishment of theoretical thinking" among students in college.

The education ministry had said that teaching Xi Jinping's thoughts was crucial for the "all-round moral, intellectual, physical and aesthetic grounding" of students and to "arm students' minds with Xi Jinping's thought".

The programme was aimed at ensuring the teaching material adequately "grasps the essence of Xi Jinping's thought on socialism with Chinese characteristics for a new era" while formulating guidelines.&nbsp;

(With inputs from Agencies)

According to reports, Chinese authorities have ordered schools to appoint "political commissars" to ensure children are taught President Xi's ideology. Reports claim children will be taught President Xi's definition of “rule of law” in middle and secondary school.

According to reports, Chinese authorities have ordered schools to appoint "political commissars" to ensure children are taught President Xi's ideology. Reports claim children will be taught President Xi's definition of “rule of law” in middle and secondary school. Nurseries have also been asked to follow the programme however it is reportedly not been made mandatory. Also Read: To mute criticism, China ordered Amazon to block reviews on Xi Jinping’s book Last year China's ministry of education had released a document on Xi Jinping's "thoughts on socialism" with "Chinese characteristics" to be incorporated into the curriculum. According to China's state-run Global Times, it was a "significant" step in helping teenagers to "strengthen confidence in the culture of socialism". The primary schools in the country were expected to "cultivate love for the country" including for the Communist Party and socialist ideology. Also Read: Leak reveals connection between Xi Jinping's speeches and the Uyghur crackdown The Chinese daily said the focus on students in the middle schools would be to form basic political judgments and opinions and there will be "more emphasis on the establishment of theoretical thinking" among students in college. The education ministry had said that teaching Xi Jinping's thoughts was crucial for the "all-round moral, intellectual, physical and aesthetic grounding" of students and to "arm students' minds with Xi Jinping's thought". The programme was aimed at ensuring the teaching material adequately "grasps the essence of Xi Jinping's thought on socialism with Chinese characteristics for a new era" while formulating guidelines. (With inputs from Agencies)

Now, Chinese students to be taught Xi Jinping's 'thoughts'

Vladimir Putin is counting on China to help Russia circumvent possible western sanctions. Will Beijing openly back a Russian invasion of Ukraine? What's in it for Xi Jinping? Palki Sharma tells you.

Gravitas: What will China do if Russia invades Ukraine?

The all-weather allies Imran Khan and Xi Jinping are under the same roof. The Pakistani Prime Minister reached Beijing for the winter Olympics on Thursday, he brought a massive team for his four-day trip.

Pakistan PM Imran Khan meets Chinese President Xi Jinping in Beijing, review bilateral cooperation

UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres met China's President Xi Jinping on the sidelines of the Beijing Winter Olympics 2022. During the meeting, he expressed his expectation that the UN human rights chief Michelle Bachelet will be allowed to make a “credible” visit to China. The visit will also include a stop in the Xinjiang region.

As per the readout of their talks, the UN chief “expressed his expectation that the contacts between the office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights and the Chinese authorities will allow for a credible visit of the High Commissioner to China, including Xinjiang.”&nbsp;

So far, China has denied Bachelet an independent visit to Xinjiang.

<a href="https://www.wionews.com/sports/host-nation-china-wins-its-first-gold-at-the-beijing-winter-olympics-2022-450882">Also read |&nbsp;Host nation China wins its first gold at the Beijing Winter Olympics 2022</a>

China has been called out for violating human rights in its Xinjiang region. The country has been accused of unlawfully imprisoning up to 1.8 million Uyghurs, and several other Muslim minorities in mass detention camps in Xinjiang.&nbsp; 
China, however, has denied all of these accusations.

As per campaigners, at least one million, mostly Muslim minorities, have been imprisoned in re-education camps in Xinjiang.

A statement by the UN says that during the meeting with Xi, Guterres “expressed the wish for enhanced cooperation between the United Nations and the People’s Republic of China in all the pillars of the Organisation’s work – peace and security, sustainable development, including climate change and biodiversity, and human rights.”

(With inputs from agencies)

UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres met China's President Xi Jinping on the sidelines of the Beijing Winter Olympics 2022. During the meeting, he expressed his expectation that the UN human rights chief Michelle Bachelet will be allowed to make a “credible” visit to China.

UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres met China's President Xi Jinping on the sidelines of the Beijing Winter Olympics 2022. During the meeting, he expressed his expectation that the UN human rights chief Michelle Bachelet will be allowed to make a “credible” visit to China. The visit will also include a stop in the Xinjiang region. As per the readout of their talks, the UN chief “expressed his expectation that the contacts between the office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights and the Chinese authorities will allow for a credible visit of the High Commissioner to China, including Xinjiang.” So far, China has denied Bachelet an independent visit to Xinjiang. Also read | Host nation China wins its first gold at the Beijing Winter Olympics 2022 China has been called out for violating human rights in its Xinjiang region. The country has been accused of unlawfully imprisoning up to 1.8 million Uyghurs, and several other Muslim minorities in mass detention camps in Xinjiang. China, however, has denied all of these accusations. As per campaigners, at least one million, mostly Muslim minorities, have been imprisoned in re-education camps in Xinjiang. A statement by the UN says that during the meeting with Xi, Guterres “expressed the wish for enhanced cooperation between the United Nations and the People’s Republic of China in all the pillars of the Organisation’s work – peace and security, sustainable development, including climate change and biodiversity, and human rights.” (With inputs from agencies)

UN chief Guterres meets Xi, says he expects China to allow 'credible' visit to Xinjiang

Pakistani Prime Minister Imran Khan on Sunday met Chinese President Xi Jinping at the Great Hall of People in Beijing.

During the meeting, Jinping&nbsp;pledged closer cooperation under the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor investment programme to build roads, power plants and other infrastructure.

“China upholds fairness and justice in international affairs. China is willing to strengthen the coordination and cooperation with Pakistan in multilateral venues such as the UN&nbsp;and promote justice and world and regional peace,” Xi said.

The meeting happened shortly after Pakistan's army said troops had put an end to four days of assaults by separatists in Balochistan province.

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China has invested significantly in the region where separatists have waged an insurgency for years, fuelled by anger that its abundant reserves of natural resources are not relieving citizens from crushing poverty.

During the meeting, Xi stressed that "the Chinese side firmly supports Pakistan in safeguarding its national independence, sovereignty and dignity, as well as in combating terrorism", according to state media.

He added that China is willing to work with Pakistan in "aligning development strategies". This was the first meeting of the two leaders since Khan’s visit to China in October 2019.&nbsp;

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The two leaders agreed to work closely on further deepening bilateral economic engagement and reaffirmed their commitment to further advance the multifaceted strategic cooperative ties and building the Pakistan-China Community of Shared Future in the New Era.
— Prime Minister's Office, Pakistan (@PakPMO) <a href="https://twitter.com/PakPMO/status/1489988095256801280?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">February 5, 2022</a></blockquote>
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Beijing is using the start of the Winter Olympics to score diplomatic points amid simmering tensions with the United States.

Over 30 foreign leaders travelled to Beijing to attend Friday's opening ceremony. But the United States and other western countries have subjected the Winter Games to a diplomatic boycott amid rising geopolitical tensions and allegations of human rights abuses in China's northwestern region of Xinjiang.

Also see |&nbsp;<a href="https://www.wionews.com/photos/from-vladimir-putin-to-imran-khan-world-leaders-who-will-attend-beijing-olympics-2022-449841">From Vladimir Putin to Imran Khan: World leaders who will attend Beijing Olympics 2022</a>

Campaigners say at least one million Uyghurs and other Turkic-speaking Muslims have been incarcerated in Xinjiang, a far-western region where China is accused of widespread human rights abuses including forced sterilisations of women and forced labour.

The Global Times, run by the ruling Communist Party's People's Daily, hit back at foreign media reports that the event had attracted only "authoritarian" leaders, accusing them in an editorial of using "outdated anti-China cliches".

Toasting his fellow leaders, Xi expressed "heartfelt thanks to all governments, peoples and international organisations who care about and support the Beijing Winter Olympics".

"China has made every effort to overcome the impact of the coronavirus epidemic, earnestly fulfilled its solemn commitments to the international community and ensured the Beijing Winter Olympics is being held as scheduled," Xi said in a speech published by Xinhua news agency.

(With inputs from agencies)

Pakistani Prime Minister Imran Khan on Sunday met Chinese President Xi Jinping at the Great Hall of People in Beijing. During the meeting, Jinping pledged closer cooperation under the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor investment programme to build roads, power plants and other infrastructure.

Pakistani Prime Minister Imran Khan on Sunday met Chinese President Xi Jinping at the Great Hall of People in Beijing. During the meeting, Jinping pledged closer cooperation under the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor investment programme to build roads, power plants and other infrastructure. “China upholds fairness and justice in international affairs. China is willing to strengthen the coordination and cooperation with Pakistan in multilateral venues such as the UN and promote justice and world and regional peace,” Xi said. The meeting happened shortly after Pakistan's army said troops had put an end to four days of assaults by separatists in Balochistan province. China has invested significantly in the region where separatists have waged an insurgency for years, fuelled by anger that its abundant reserves of natural resources are not relieving citizens from crushing poverty. During the meeting, Xi stressed that "the Chinese side firmly supports Pakistan in safeguarding its national independence, sovereignty and dignity, as well as in combating terrorism", according to state media. He added that China is willing to work with Pakistan in "aligning development strategies". This was the first meeting of the two leaders since Khan’s visit to China in October 2019. The two leaders agreed to work closely on further deepening bilateral economic engagement and reaffirmed their commitment to further advance the multifaceted strategic cooperative ties and building the Pakistan-China Community of Shared Future in the New Era. — Prime Minister's Office, Pakistan (@PakPMO) February 5, 2022 × Beijing is using the start of the Winter Olympics to score diplomatic points amid simmering tensions with the United States. Over 30 foreign leaders travelled to Beijing to attend Friday's opening ceremony. But the United States and other western countries have subjected the Winter Games to a diplomatic boycott amid rising geopolitical tensions and allegations of human rights abuses in China's northwestern region of Xinjiang. Also see | From Vladimir Putin to Imran Khan: World leaders who will attend Beijing Olympics 2022 Campaigners say at least one million Uyghurs and other Turkic-speaking Muslims have been incarcerated in Xinjiang, a far-western region where China is accused of widespread human rights abuses including forced sterilisations of women and forced labour. The Global Times, run by the ruling Communist Party's People's Daily, hit back at foreign media reports that the event had attracted only "authoritarian" leaders, accusing them in an editorial of using "outdated anti-China cliches". Toasting his fellow leaders, Xi expressed "heartfelt thanks to all governments, peoples and international organisations who care about and support the Beijing Winter Olympics". "China has made every effort to overcome the impact of the coronavirus epidemic, earnestly fulfilled its solemn commitments to the international community and ensured the Beijing Winter Olympics is being held as scheduled," Xi said in a speech published by Xinhua news agency. (With inputs from agencies)

Beijing Olympics 2022: Pakistani Prime Minister Imran Khan meets Chinese President Xi Jinping

Chinese President Xi Jinping met the leaders of several more countries on Saturday as Beijing used the start of the Winter Olympics to score diplomatic points amid simmering tensions with the United States.

Following a groundbreaking agreement with Russia on Friday over Taiwan and against NATO expansion, Xi held meetings with the leaders of Serbia, Egypt, Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan and Turkmenistan and hosted a banquet at Beijing`s Great Hall of the People.

Over 30 foreign leaders travelled to Beijing to attend Friday`s opening ceremony. But the United States and other Western countries have subjected the Winter Games to a diplomatic boycott amid rising geopolitical tensions and allegations of human rights abuses in China`s northwestern region of Xinjiang.

The Global Times, run by the ruling Communist Party`s People`s Daily, hit back at foreign media reports that the event had attracted only "authoritarian" leaders, accusing them in an editorial of using "outdated anti-China cliches". 
Saturday`s Lunar New Year-themed banquet was the first time the Chinese president has joined a gathering of state leaders since before the outbreak of COVID-19 in late 2019.

Toasting his fellow leaders, Xi expressed "heartfelt thanks to all governments, peoples and international organisations who care about and support the Beijing Winter Olympics".

"China has made every effort to overcome the impact of the coronavirus epidemic, earnestly fulfilled its solemn commitments to the international community and ensured the Beijing Winter Olympics is being held as scheduled," Xi said in a speech published by Xinhua news agency.

The People`s Daily described strengthened China-Russian relations - announced by Xi and Russian President Vladimir Putin after they met on Friday - as "an important guarantee for maintaining an international strategic balance, world peace and stability". The Global Times called it the start of a new era "not defined by the United States".

Also Read:&nbsp;<a href="https://www.wionews.com/sports/host-nation-china-wins-its-first-gold-at-the-beijing-winter-olympics-2022-450882">Host nation China wins its first gold at the Beijing Winter Olympics 2022</a>

Xi held individual meetings with Kazakhstan President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev, Serbia`s President Aleksandar Vucic and President Abdel Fatta Al-Sisi of Egypt on Saturday morning, Xinhua news agency reported, discussing Belt and Road-related infrastructure investments and cooperation in the fight against COVID-19.

He also told Turkmenistan President Gurbanguly Berdymukhamedov that the two sides should deepen cooperation on supplying natural gas to China.

Xi also met Uzbek President Shavkat Mirziyoyev, while Chinese Premier Li Keqiang held meetings with Ecuador`s President Guillermo Lasso, Singapore`s President Halimah Yacob and the director general of the World Health Organization, Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus.

Kevin Rudd, former prime minister of Australia and president of the Asia Society, described the joint statement issued by Xi and Putin as "highly significant".

It was "the first time since the Sino-Soviet split that China`s taken a definitive position on European security to support Russia on something as fundamental as NATO", Rudd wrote on Saturday.

The "no limits" agreement https for a strategic partnership included Russian support for China`s opposition to any form of independence for Taiwan, and China`s backing for Russian opposition to further expansion of NATO.

Russia has amassed 100,000 troops near its border with Ukraine as it tries to pressure the country into ruling out future NATO membership for the country. Moscow has denied its plans to invade.

Taiwan`s Foreign Ministry called the timing of the agreement "contemptible" and added that the Chinese government was bringing shame to the spirit of the Games.

Chinese President Xi Jinping met the leaders of several more countries on Saturday as Beijing used the start of the Winter Olympics to score diplomatic points amid simmering tensions with the United States.

Chinese President Xi Jinping met the leaders of several more countries on Saturday as Beijing used the start of the Winter Olympics to score diplomatic points amid simmering tensions with the United States. Following a groundbreaking agreement with Russia on Friday over Taiwan and against NATO expansion, Xi held meetings with the leaders of Serbia, Egypt, Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan and Turkmenistan and hosted a banquet at Beijing`s Great Hall of the People. Over 30 foreign leaders travelled to Beijing to attend Friday`s opening ceremony. But the United States and other Western countries have subjected the Winter Games to a diplomatic boycott amid rising geopolitical tensions and allegations of human rights abuses in China`s northwestern region of Xinjiang. The Global Times, run by the ruling Communist Party`s People`s Daily, hit back at foreign media reports that the event had attracted only "authoritarian" leaders, accusing them in an editorial of using "outdated anti-China cliches". Saturday`s Lunar New Year-themed banquet was the first time the Chinese president has joined a gathering of state leaders since before the outbreak of COVID-19 in late 2019. Toasting his fellow leaders, Xi expressed "heartfelt thanks to all governments, peoples and international organisations who care about and support the Beijing Winter Olympics". "China has made every effort to overcome the impact of the coronavirus epidemic, earnestly fulfilled its solemn commitments to the international community and ensured the Beijing Winter Olympics is being held as scheduled," Xi said in a speech published by Xinhua news agency. The People`s Daily described strengthened China-Russian relations - announced by Xi and Russian President Vladimir Putin after they met on Friday - as "an important guarantee for maintaining an international strategic balance, world peace and stability". The Global Times called it the start of a new era "not defined by the United States". Also Read: Host nation China wins its first gold at the Beijing Winter Olympics 2022 Xi held individual meetings with Kazakhstan President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev, Serbia`s President Aleksandar Vucic and President Abdel Fatta Al-Sisi of Egypt on Saturday morning, Xinhua news agency reported, discussing Belt and Road-related infrastructure investments and cooperation in the fight against COVID-19. He also told Turkmenistan President Gurbanguly Berdymukhamedov that the two sides should deepen cooperation on supplying natural gas to China. Xi also met Uzbek President Shavkat Mirziyoyev, while Chinese Premier Li Keqiang held meetings with Ecuador`s President Guillermo Lasso, Singapore`s President Halimah Yacob and the director general of the World Health Organization, Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus. Kevin Rudd, former prime minister of Australia and president of the Asia Society, described the joint statement issued by Xi and Putin as "highly significant". It was "the first time since the Sino-Soviet split that China`s taken a definitive position on European security to support Russia on something as fundamental as NATO", Rudd wrote on Saturday. The "no limits" agreement https for a strategic partnership included Russian support for China`s opposition to any form of independence for Taiwan, and China`s backing for Russian opposition to further expansion of NATO. Russia has amassed 100,000 troops near its border with Ukraine as it tries to pressure the country into ruling out future NATO membership for the country. Moscow has denied its plans to invade. Taiwan`s Foreign Ministry called the timing of the agreement "contemptible" and added that the Chinese government was bringing shame to the spirit of the Games.

Chinese President Xi Jinping meets more heads of state in Winter Olympics diplomatic push

While China spent billions to showcase its power and Beijing's return to the global stage after the pandemic, the tensions in Ukraine have overshadowed the 2022 Beijing Winter Olympics. Watch this report by Palki Sharma from Kyiv.

Ukraine crisis overshadows the Beijing Winter Olympics

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