Xi shows Trump who holds the cards as he sets up meeting with Kim and Putin
"North Korean leader Kim Jong Un attending a military parade in the centre of Beijing, alongside Russian president Vladimir Putin and China's leader Xi Jinping, is quite the photo-op. It's also a key diplomatic win for Xi."
--- Bullshit. They have been allies for quite a while. So, this is just more confirmation of that alliance. Don't see how allies attending your military parade is some diplomatic victory.
"Some analysts wondered if China's relationship with North Korea had soured as Kim grew closer to Putin. But Kim's visit to Beijing next week suggests otherwise."
--- Meh. Even if emperor Xi is unhappy about NK & Russia becoming buddies, he still needs both of them.
The bigger story behind Modi’s China trip – and it’s not India’s tensions with Trump
"India never fully sided with the United States against China. The latest tension with Washington only convinces those in Delhi who have long advocated for preserving its non-aligned foreign policy. [...] India has grown closer to the United States over the past 15 years, but its foreign policy elite views this shift not as a move to anchor the country in the US orbit but rather as a means to diversify its options. [...] India’s relations with China should be considered in that same light. The ongoing diplomatic consultations are driven by the desire to de-escalate the border dispute, which threatened to boil over in 2020-21. But lowering the tensions does not mean settling the dispute, which remains a distant goal. The more realistic objective is to push the issue into the background to protect trade relations between the two countries. In 2025, China remained India’s second-largest trading partner."
--- & that's how it looks. India won't suddenly become China's friend because of Trump's tariffs. & it won't be a full US ally either. Some countries want to go their own way.
Life Has Gotten Surreal in China
"That China under Communist rule is not an open society is hardly a surprise. But before Xi Jinping became the country’s leader, the ruling establishment operated with some constraints. Now David Shambaugh, the director of the China-policy program at George Washington University’s Elliott School of International Affairs, describes China’s political environment as “neo-totalitarian,” meaning that the state has taken a heavy hand “across the board and in all aspects of the lives of the nation.” [...] the state intrudes more and more into daily life. My wife and I have experienced this directly. Over the past year, teams of police have made regular visits to our Beijing apartment—four of them just this month. Officers check our passports and visas while recording the interaction with small video cameras. We have already provided this information to the police, as required by local regulations; these repetitive visits are likely meant simply to intimidate."
--- Emperor Xi's China, a commie utopia.
"Xi has been reasserting that control by steadily eliminating safe spaces for expression. He has enforced the study of his own philosophical ideas, known as Xi Jinping Thought, and constrained public debate on national issues. What was politically tolerated just a few years ago no longer is. The artist Gao Zhen, famous for his depictions of Mao Zedong, the Communist regime’s founder, was detained last year, and the authorities confiscated several of his works that had been created more than a decade earlier. Censors remove from social media not only criticism and politically sensitive material, but even accounts and posts deemed too pessimistic."
--- Because in emperor Xi's China, no pessimism is possible. Everything is so wonderful that all the citizens are constantly happy & optimistic.
"That’s not to say that China’s system is on the verge of collapse. Beijing “has an economy and international linkages to fall back on that the Soviet Union never did,” Shambaugh told me. Chinese Communism could simply “atrophy” in place, he said, citing as examples of this trajectory North Korea, Venezuela, and Cuba. Could China really become like North Korea or the Soviet Union?"
--- It is definitely on the way. Whether it gets there depends on how long emperor Xi will reign & how much influence he will have on the choice of his successors.
Russia, China blast deployment of US ‘Typhon’ missiles to Japan
"“China always opposes the United States deploying the Typhon Mid-Range Capability missile system in Asian countries,” Guo said, according to the state-run Xinhua news agency.“We urge Japan to take a hard look at its history of aggression, follow the path of peaceful development, act prudently in military and security areas, and refrain from further losing the trust of its Asian neighbours and the international community,”"
--- How dare the US support Japan (& others) in their self defence!? Poor little China would never have any missiles able to reach Japan. Right?
National security or xenophobia? Texas restricts Chinese owning and renting property
"China is the first country named in the legislation, which accuses Beijing of using "coercive, subversive, and malignant influence activities to weaken the United States" in its bid to surpass the US economically, militarily and politically."
--- Which is of course true. But the writer of this nonsense wants you to believe that the new law is some evil racist conspiracy.
"Jason Yuan, a second-hand car shop owner, closes the hood of a vehicle after tightening the last nut on the battery terminal - a routine he is all too familiar with. Texas has long felt like home for him, as a naturalised US citizen born in China. But a recently passed state law is shaking his belief in his chosen homeland."
--- Oh, such a poor victim. Or, maybe not:
"US citizens and green card holders are exempt, and valid visa-holders will still be allowed to own one primary residence."
--- So, the law is obviously directed only against Chinese nationals & companies. But somehow it is racist against anyone with Chinese heritage. Phhhh...
Taiwan has ‘right to remain free’, US senator says in visit criticised by China
US makes it harder for SK Hynix, Samsung to make chips in China
Major NBA brands linked to forced labor in China
--- China Uncensored featured the usual weekend news variety:
USA erschweren Samsung Chip-Produktion in China
