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☆ China’s Defense Minister Has Not Been Seen in Weeks, Fueling Intrigue
▼ + stars: | 2023-09-15 | by ( Chris Buckley | More About Chris Buckley | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

China’s defense minister, Gen. Li Shangfu, has not been seen in public in more than two weeks, fueling speculation about further upheaval in the military after the abrupt removal of two top commanders in charge of the country’s nuclear force. Just six weeks ago, China’s leader, Xi Jinping, replaced the two most senior commanders of the People’s Liberation Army Rocket Force, which oversees China’s nuclear missiles. The abrupt dismissals suggested that Mr. Xi was seeking to reassert his control over the military and purge perceived corruption, disloyalty and dysfunction from its ranks, analysts have said. Many experts believe that the military commanders may be accused of corruption, though some have said that suspicions of disloyalty toward Mr. Xi may be involved. In July, China also dismissed the foreign minister, Qin Gang — another official who had risen rapidly under Mr. Xi — without explanation.

Persons: Li Shangfu, General Li’s, Li’s, Mao Ning, Xi Jinping, Xi, Qin Gang — Organizations: Chinese Foreign Ministry, People’s Liberation Army Rocket Force, Qin Locations: Vietnam, China

China has discouraged the use of foreign-made electronic devices by government officials for a decade. It has told agencies and state-owned companies to replace American computer servers and other devices with domestic ones. And officials frequently show off to Americans their phones made by Huawei, China’s cellphone giant. Now, some employees of government agencies said they have received directives not to use Apple iPhones for work. Chinese authorities have issued no public pronouncements about broader restrictions on iPhones.

Organizations: Huawei, Apple, Street Locations: China, American, U.S

☆ Storms Deluge Hong Kong and Other Southern Chinese Cities
▼ + stars: | 2023-09-08 | by ( Chris Buckley | More About Chris Buckley | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: 1 min

Torrential rains have pounded southern China, flooding low-lying homes and roads, choking expressways, and prompting officials to suspend classes while the record-breaking storms lingered over the region. By Friday morning, Shenzhen, a southern Chinese commercial city next to Hong Kong, had endured nearly eight inches of rain overnight, in the most intense downpour since records began in 1952, according to the city’s official news service. Hong Kong was hit by about six inches of rainfall in several hours. The Hong Kong Observatory headquarters recorded over six inches in just one hour, the most in that spot since its records began in 1884, according to the South China Morning Post.

Persons: Hong Kong Organizations: Hong Kong Observatory, China Morning Locations: China, Shenzhen, Hong Kong, Hong

☆ China’s Economic Pain Is a Test of Xi’s Fixation With Control
▼ + stars: | 2023-09-06 | by ( Chris Buckley | More About Chris Buckley | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

But he may have to relinquish some of that control, as that strategy comes under pressure. The economic setbacks are eroding Mr. Xi’s image of imperious command, and emerging as perhaps the most sustained and thorny challenge to his agenda in over a decade in power. “The worse things get for China’s economy, the more likely it is that Xi Jinping has to make some course correction.”Earlier this year, Mr. Xi started his third term as China’s president, appearing indomitable. He was committed to taming the debt-laden real estate sector even as home sales fell. And he had a new Communist Party leadership team of loyalists poised to push through his growth plans.

Persons: ” Neil Thomas, Xi Jinping, Xi Organizations: Communist Party, Asia Society’s Center for Locations: Asia Society’s Center for China

Like his predecessors, Xi wields power through his control of the Communist Party, the military and the government. One-Man Party Xi overturned term limits, erased factions and installed loyalists to establish sweeping control of the Communist Party. When Xi first took power in 2012, few in the Politburo Standing Committee, the most powerful group in China, had close ties with him. Party leaders often set broad policy, and government ministries and agencies refined and implemented their goals, sending feedback to the leaders. You Are Being Watched The world’s biggest and most pervasive surveillance system ensures that nobody can easily challenge the power Xi has amassed.

Persons: Xi, Mao, Deng, –, Deng Xiaoping, Alibaba, Jack Ma Organizations: Communist Party, Man, Companies Locations: China

Vice President Lai Ching-te of Taiwan rose to prominence as a pugnacious opponent of Beijing’s claims over the island. But now, as a leading candidate in Taiwan’s presidential race, he is likely to present a more muted persona when he visits the United States starting Saturday. Expect restraint, not rousing speeches, Taiwanese officials and scholars say. Nonetheless, his stops in New York and San Francisco will be closely watched — in Taiwan, in Beijing and in Washington — for clues to how he might handle crucial relations with the United States and China as president, a top issue in Taiwan’s intense presidential race. And his visit, however low-key, is also likely to prompt an escalation of Chinese military flights and naval maneuvers near Taiwan, bringing into focus the risks of real conflict over its future.

Persons: Lai Ching, Beijing’s, Washington —, there’s, ”, Shu Hsiao, huang, ” Mr, Lai, William Organizations: United States, People’s Liberation Army, Taiwan’s Institute for National Defense and Security Research, Democratic Progressive Party Locations: Taiwan, New York, San Francisco, Beijing, Washington, United States, China, Taipei

Chinese naval ships and air force planes have been edging closer to Taiwan’s territorial seas and skies, probing the island’s vigilance and trying to wear down its military planes and ships. China’s increasing presence there signals its intent to dominate an expanse of sea that could be vital for the island’s defenses, including for securing potential aid from the United States in a conflict, experts say. Mr. Lai leaves on Saturday for Paraguay, and is scheduled to stop in the United States on his way there and back. Beijing regards such transits in the United States as an affront to its stance that Taiwan is not an independent state. Mr. Lai is also the presidential candidate for the Democratic Progressive Party, which supports asserting Taiwan’s separate status, a position that Beijing condemns as “separatism.”

Persons: Lai Ching, Lai, ” Organizations: Pacific, Democratic Progressive Party Locations: China, Taiwan, United States, Beijing, Paraguay

☆ Xi Remade China’s Military to His Liking. Now a Purge Threatens Its Image.
▼ + stars: | 2023-08-07 | by ( Chris Buckley | More About Chris Buckley | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

As Xi Jinping has entrenched his hold on power in China, he has likened himself to a physician, eradicating the toxins of corruption and disloyalty that threaten the rule of the Communist Party. And his signature project for over a decade has been bringing to heel the once extravagantly corrupt military leadership. But recent upheavals at high levels of the People’s Liberation Army forces suggest that Mr. Xi’s cure has not endured. “It’s like a virus in the system that has come back. It’s a deep-rooted problem, and it has survived in the system.”

Persons: Xi Jinping, Xi’s, ”, Andrew N.D, Yang, “ Organizations: Communist Party, People’s Liberation Army, Rocket Force Locations: China

☆ Xi’s Surprise Shake-Up Exposes Problems at Top of China’s Nuclear Force
▼ + stars: | 2023-08-02 | by ( Chris Buckley | More About Chris Buckley | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

In the years since China’s leader, Xi Jinping, transformed the People’s Liberation Army, one of his crowning creations has been the Rocket Force, the custodian of China’s expanding nuclear arsenal. But this week, Mr. Xi abruptly replaced the Rocket Force’s two top commanders with outsiders with no experience in the nuclear force. The shake-up in the rocket force indicated that the force’s expansion has been accompanied by serious problems in its top ranks. Suspicions of corruption or disloyalty to Mr. Xi may slow or complicate China’s upgrade of its conventional and nuclear missiles, several experts said. “I imagine this could disrupt the modernization,” said David C. Logan, an assistant professor at the Fletcher School of Tufts University who studies the Rocket Force and China’s nuclear weapons modernization.

Persons: Xi Jinping, Xi’s, Xi, Qin Gang, “, ”, David C Organizations: People’s Liberation Army, Rocket Force, Fletcher School of Tufts University Locations: China, Logan

☆ Eleven Dead and 27 Missing, as Heavy Rains Batter Beijing
▼ + stars: | 2023-07-31 | by ( Chris Buckley | More About Chris Buckley | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

The intense rain prompted Beijing to close tourist attractions like the ancient Forbidden City. On Tuesday, the Beijing government announced that, in addition to the 11 killed in the flooding — including two rescue workers — another 27 were missing, implying that the death toll could rise significantly. Most of the fatalities were in the outer parts of Beijing, including Mentougou District, where video shared by local news outlets on Monday showed cars being swept down a swollen river. Chinese television later showed footage of residents in the district walking through muddy streets strewn with cars that had been washed away. The Beijing government said 13 of the missing were in Mentougou, and another 10 were in Changping, another semi-rural district.

Locations: Beijing, city’s, Mentougou, Changping

☆ China Replaces Foreign Minister Missing From Public View Since June
▼ + stars: | 2023-07-25 | by ( Chris Buckley | More About Chris Buckley | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

China’s foreign minister, Qin Gang, has been removed from office after disappearing from public view 30 days ago, abruptly ending the career of a diplomat who leaped to the top as one of President Xi Jinping’s most trusted rising stars, the Chinese government announced on Tuesday. The official decision that Mr. Qin had been replaced — and his spot taken by the former foreign minister, Wang Yi — capped weeks of speculation about his fate. As speculation grew, the Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs claimed that Mr. Qin had health problems. The lack of clarity appears sure to fan speculation among Chinese commentators and seasoned observers about the circumstances behind one of the most dramatic falls of a high-flying Chinese official in recent times. Whatever the veracity of those theories, Mr. Qin’s downfall is an awkward moment for Mr. Xi, who catapulted Mr. Qin into his powerful role as minister ahead of other older, longer-serving diplomats.

Persons: Qin Gang, Xi Jinping’s, Qin, —, Wang Yi —, Xi Organizations: Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs, National, Committee Locations: China’s, United States

Mr. Kerry emerged late Wednesday from the lengthy negotiations in Beijing with no new agreements. In fact, the Chinese president, Xi Jinping, insisted in a speech that China would pursue its goals to phase out carbon dioxide pollution at its own pace and in its own way. Still, Mr. Kerry appeared buoyed that the world’s two biggest polluters had restarted discussions, which had been frozen for a year because of strained relations over Taiwan, trade and other issues. He insisted he was not disappointed in the outcome, noting that just talking marked progress. “We had very frank conversations but we came here to break new ground,” Mr. Kerry said, adding, “It is clear that we are going to need a little more work.”

Persons: John Kerry, Biden’s, Kerry, Xi Jinping, Mr, ” Locations: Beijing, China, Taiwan

After China’s leader, Xi Jinping, catapulted Qin Gang into the post of foreign minister in December, Mr. Qin set a frantic pace, meeting dozens of foreign officials as he pressed Beijing’s agenda in a divided, war-stricken world. Then Mr. Qin went silent. He was recently scheduled to meet the foreign policy chief of the European Union in Beijing, but China canceled that visit. Outside China, Mr. Qin’s lengthy absence has set off speculation on the internet about his health and status. Abrupt disappearances of senior Chinese officials from public life are often seen as potential signs of trouble.

Persons: Xi Jinping, Qin Organizations: European Union Locations: Vietnam, Russia, Sri Lanka, Beijing, China, Jakarta, Indonesia

☆ Dozens Die After Explosion in a Barbecue Restaurant in China
▼ + stars: | 2023-06-22 | by ( Chris Buckley | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

A gas explosion that ripped through a barbecue restaurant in northwestern China killed at least 31 people, officials said on Thursday, hours after the blast had turned the restaurant into a charred ruin. The explosion hit the two-story restaurant in Yinchuan, the capital of the Ningxia region, at 8:40 p.m. on Wednesday, when it was busy with customers eating lamb kebabs and other dishes cooked on gas burners. Firefighters rushed to the scene, where thick smoke rose into the sky and shattered glass and debris covered the street. Chinese Communist Party authorities have become increasingly effective at withholding details of accidents and disasters until they are in full control of the situation. A brief initial report from Xinhua, the official news agency, had said one person was killed and 20 injured.

Organizations: Firefighters, Communist Party Locations: China, Yinchuan, Ningxia, Xinhua

☆ Behind a Birthday Message, the Delicate Duet of Putin and Xi
▼ + stars: | 2023-06-15 | by ( Chris Buckley | Paul Sonne | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

Birthday best wishes rarely come freighted with so much significance. But when it is Russia’s embattled president, Vladimir V. Putin, flattering his Chinese counterpart, Xi Jinping, even seemingly small gestures send a message to the world, not least to their Western rivals. Mr. Putin sent Mr. Xi a congratulatory telegram when the Chinese leader turned 70 on Thursday, wishing his “dear friend” good health, happiness and success, further cementing the image of a personal bond between the two authoritarian leaders. “It is difficult to overestimate the effort that you have made over many years to strengthen our comprehensive partnership and the strategic interaction between our countries,” Mr. Putin wrote. But it risks growing fraught over the long term, as Russia becomes increasingly reliant on China, while China takes a more measured approach to Moscow and seeks to win back some European support.

Persons: Vladimir V, Putin, Xi Jinping, Xi, Mr Locations: Ukraine, Russia, China, Moscow

Senior military officials from the United States and China used a conference in Singapore to push competing visions of Asia’s future security: a U.S.-led safety net of well-armed partnerships versus a region where China is the center of a new international order. On Sunday, the Chinese defense minister, General Li Shangfu, methodically laid out criticisms of the United States and presented Beijing as a contrast in leadership, increasingly confident in using its political, economic and military power to keep Asia stable. “Certain countries willfully interfered in other countries’ internal matters and regional affairs, frequently resort to unilateral sanctions and armed coercion,” General Li said in an unmistakable reference to the United States and its allies. They “create chaos in a region and then walk away, leaving a mess behind,” he said. “We never want to let this be replicated in the Asia-Pacific.”The Shangri-La Dialogue in Singapore where Mr. Austin and General Li spoke is one of the few regular forums where Beijing and Washington try to publicly win over Asian policymakers and publics.

Persons: Lloyd J, Austin III, —, General Li Shangfu, General Li, ”, “, Austin Organizations: U.S . Defense, Mr Locations: United States, China, Singapore, U.S, Ukraine, Asia, Beijing, Washington, Britain, Germany, Canada, American

The United States pressed Beijing on two fronts this weekend, warning both of the near-term risks of military mishaps and of the looming dangers of a nuclear arms rivalry, prompting a vehement accusation from a Chinese general that Washington was stoking confrontation. In speeches from President Biden’s national security adviser, Jake Sullivan, on Friday, and Defense Secretary Lloyd J. Austin III on Saturday in Singapore, the Biden administration sought to draw China toward talks on the rising military perils. Mr. Austin also indicated that the United States would keep operating military ships and planes in international seas and skies near China despite recent close calls with Chinese forces, and also keep providing support to Taiwan, the self-governing island that Beijing sees as its own territory. Both are sore points with China. “We won’t be deterred by dangerous operational behavior at sea or in international airspace,” Mr. Austin told a gathering of military officials and experts at the Shangri-La Dialogue, an annual meeting in Singapore.

Persons: Washington, Jake Sullivan, Lloyd J, Austin III, Biden, Austin, Mr Organizations: Biden’s, Defense Locations: States, Beijing, Singapore, China, United States, Taiwan

☆ U.S. Defense Chief Vows to Continue Military Actions Near China
▼ + stars: | 2023-06-03 | by ( Chris Buckley | Damien Cave | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

This year, however, the Chinese defense minister, General Li Shangfu, declined to meet Mr. Austin. All these are sore points for Beijing, especially Taiwan, which China claims as its own territory. “We won’t be deterred by dangerous operational behavior at sea or in international airspace,” Mr. Austin told the audience of military officials and experts from across Asia and beyond. “The People’s Republic of China continues to conduct an alarming number of risky intercepts of U.S. and allied aircraft flying lawfully in international airspace. “We’ve all just seen another troubling case of aggressive and unprofessional flying by the P.R.C.,” he said, referring to China.

Persons: Lloyd J, Austin III, General Li Shangfu, Austin, Mr, ” Organizations: United, Washington, Taiwan Locations: United States, China, Singapore, Beijing, Washington, Austin, Taiwan, Asia, Republic of China

☆ Covid Is Coming Back in China; Lockdowns Are Not
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-27 | by ( Chris Buckley | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

In December, China abruptly abandoned its draconian “Zero Covid” policies, battered by a surge of infections and rising public anger against lockdowns. The Chinese health authorities have reported a rise in Covid cases since April, especially from newer subvariants that are spreading across the world. (That would be up from what he estimated at 40 million infections a week in late May. China no longer publishes regular official nationwide estimates of infections.) By comparison, after “Zero Covid” controls were set aside in December, new infections reached 37 million a day in China at their peak, according to estimates cited by Bloomberg.

But a drumbeat of government security measures, including a broadening of counterespionage laws, and unannounced visits by investigators to the Chinese offices of several foreign firms have sent a shiver of worry that under Xi Jinping, economic pragmatism could again give way to a heightened focus on state control. International consulting and advisory firms are among those that have faced questioning from Chinese security officers in recent weeks, adding to fears among foreign investors that the authorities may be trying to choke off their access to unvarnished information about markets, competitors and potential deals in China. The scrutiny has left some companies questioning whether their China operations are at risk. Officers visited the Shanghai office of Bain & Company, a major American consulting firm, and questioned employees, Bain said in late April. And the Mintz Group, an American company specializing in corporate investigations, said in late March that officials visited its Beijing office and detained five Chinese employees.

☆ For China’s Leader, Another Dilemma: How to Mourn Jiang Zemin
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-30 | by ( Chris Buckley | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

The deaths of Chinese Communist leaders are always fraught moments of political theater, and especially so now with the passing of Jiang Zemin soon after a wave of public defiance on a scale unseen since Mr. Jiang came to power in 1989. China’s sternly autocratic current leader, Xi Jinping, must preside over the mourning for Mr. Jiang, who died on Wednesday at 96, while he also grapples with widespread protests against China’s exceptionally stringent Covid-19 restrictions. The demonstrations have at times also boldly called for China to return to the path of political liberalization that seemed at least thinkable, even openly discussable, under Mr. Jiang during the 1990s. How Mr. Xi orchestrates that feat — paying tribute to Mr. Jiang while preventing him from becoming a symbolic cudgel against Mr. Xi’s politics — will be another challenge for him in the coming weeks, as China tries to manage rising coronavirus cases and an economic slowdown.

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