Chinese President – Artifex.News https://artifexnews.net Stay Connected. Stay Informed. Mon, 24 Jun 2024 07:08:01 +0000 en-US hourly 1 https://wordpress.org/?v=6.6.1 https://artifexnews.net/wp-content/uploads/2023/08/cropped-Artifex-Round-32x32.png Chinese President – Artifex.News https://artifexnews.net 32 32 Poland President Andrzej Duda visits China; plans to talk to Xi Jinping about Ukraine https://artifexnews.net/article68326682-ece/ Mon, 24 Jun 2024 07:08:01 +0000 https://artifexnews.net/article68326682-ece/ Read More “Poland President Andrzej Duda visits China; plans to talk to Xi Jinping about Ukraine” »

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Poland’s President Andrzej Duda. File
| Photo Credit: AP

Poland’s President Andrzej Duda is in China on a visit that brings the leader of a NATO member to a country that has backed Russia in its full-on invasion of Ukraine.

“I am trying to maintain friendly relations with China, Poland has always had decent relations with China and I would like that to be continued,” Mr. Duda said in an interview on private Radio Zet on June 21.

He was scheduled to meet with Chinese leader Xi Jinping on June 24 and has said peace in Ukraine will be discussed.

Asked if he believes that China is holding a key to peace in the Russia-Ukraine conflict, Mr. Duda said: “I think that to a large degree, yes.” While China says it is neutral in the fighting, it has blamed NATO’s expansion for provoking Russian President Vladimir Putin into launching the invasion and has maintained robust trade and diplomatic relations with Moscow. Poland borders Ukraine and has provided refuge for those fleeing the fighting and maintained a hard line against further expansion of Russian aggression.

Mr. Duda said he will also talk to Mr. Xi about Belarus exerting migration pressure on the border with Poland, as a form of hybrid war that also includes cyberattacks. Mr. Duda will also seek a visa waiver for Poles traveling to China and will seek possibilities of increasing Poland’s exports there, to balance their trade relations.

State Statistics Poland said 13.9% of the nation’s imports last year were from China, while Polish exports to China were just a fraction of that amount. Some trade agreements are to be signed during the visit.

On Wednesday, Mr. Duda will fly to the financial hub of Shanghai to attend a Poland-China economic forum.



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Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese to raise imprisoned democracy blogger during China visit https://artifexnews.net/article67483541-ece/ Wed, 01 Nov 2023 06:16:46 +0000 https://artifexnews.net/article67483541-ece/ Read More “Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese to raise imprisoned democracy blogger during China visit” »

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Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese. File
| Photo Credit: AP

Prime Minister Anthony Albanese said on November 1 he will raise the plight of a detained democracy blogger with Chinese leaders during a state visit to China.

Mr. Albanese said he had approved a draft letter to the sons of Yang Hengjun, who has been detained in China since 2019.

“We’re very sympathetic and understand the concerns that they would have for their father and for this Australian who has been detained now for a long period of time,” Mr. Albanese told reporters.

The sons have made public a letter to Mr. Albanese, dated October 28, that said there was a “narrow window of opportunity” before Mr. Albanese left for China to secure their father’s freedom.

“We ask that you make it clear that it is not possible to stabilise the bilateral relationship with a government that is holding an Australian citizen just a few kilometres south of where you will be hosted,” the brothers added, referring to Beijing.

They said they had just last week received the first letter Yang had been allowed to send from detention. Yang wrote: “I’m sick, I’m weak, I’m dying.” Yang, who once worked for China’s Ministry of State Security, is still awaiting a verdict from his closed-door trial on espionage charges in May 2021.

His sons are 24 and 31 years old. Family friend Feng Chongyi said the sons had not been publicly identified because they feared Chinese retaliation for their father’s activities. Feng said Mr. Albanese becoming the first Australian Prime Minister in seven years to visit China created an opportunity for Yang.

“It’s not the last chance, but it’s the best chance,” Feng said. “The visit symbolises the complete normalisation of relations between the two countries.” Mr. Albanese’s visit that begins on Saturday is a sign that bilateral relations have improved since his centre-left government was elected last year following nine years of conservative rule.

Mr. Albanese will meet with President Xi Jinping and Premier Li Qiang in Beijing and attend the China International Import Expo in Shanghai during the three-day visit.

Mr. Albanese raised the plights of Yang and another detained Australian, journalist Cheng Lei, in his first meeting with Xi on the sidelines of a Group of 20 summit in Indonesia a year ago. Cheng was deported last month in what many saw as Beijing clearing the way for Mr. Albanese’s visit.

Yang’s sons wrote that said they had been “inspired by the wonderful news” of Cheng’s release. They hoped Australian authorities could “achieve a second miracle by saving our father”. Asked about Cheng’s case, Mr. Albanese told reporters: “Every case is … different.”



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Chinese President Xi Jinping tells Vietnam not to forget roots of their friendship https://artifexnews.net/article67441753-ece/ Fri, 20 Oct 2023 07:39:45 +0000 https://artifexnews.net/article67441753-ece/ Read More “Chinese President Xi Jinping tells Vietnam not to forget roots of their friendship” »

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Chinese President Xi Jinping. File
| Photo Credit: AP

Chinese leader Xi Jinping told Vietnam’s second-highest ranking official on October 20 that both countries must not forget the “original intention” of their traditional friendship.

China and the United States have been jostling for influence among Southeast Asian nations including Vietnam, which in September elevated its ties with Washington to a comprehensive strategic partnership, putting its one-time enemy on a par with Beijing and Moscow.

China has traditionally strong ties with Vietnam since diplomatic relations were established in 1950, despite a brief war in 1979. Beijing has backed Hanoi’s fight against former colonial ruler France, and later, against Saigon and the United States during the Vietnam War.

“Faced with the ever-changing international situation and arduous domestic development tasks, the two countries must not forget the original intention of their traditional friendship,” Xi told visiting Vietnamese President Vo Van Thuong.

Mr. Thuong, Vietnam’s No.2 after its Communist Party General Secretary Nguyen Phu Trong, held talks with Xi after attending Beijing’s Belt and Road Forum.

In early October, Reuters reported that Vietnamese and Chinese officials were preparing for a possible trip by Xi to Hanoi either at the end of October or in early November, citing people familiar with the plans.

“The two sides should adhere to the principle of joint consultation,” Xi told Mr. Thuong, adding that China and Vietnam should capitalise on their geographical proximity and industrial complementarity. There was no mention of any Xi visit in the Chinese state media readout of their meeting.

On Wednesday, Vietnamese state media reported that Russian President Vladimir Putin had accepted an invitation from Mr. Thuong to “soon” visit Vietnam, when the two men met on the sidelines of the Belt and Road Forum. In September, U.S. President Joe Biden visited Hanoi.



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President Xi meets Pak PM Kakar, seeks ‘effective measures’ for Chinese personnel working for CPEC projects https://artifexnews.net/article67441422-ece/ Fri, 20 Oct 2023 03:18:12 +0000 https://artifexnews.net/article67441422-ece/ Read More “President Xi meets Pak PM Kakar, seeks ‘effective measures’ for Chinese personnel working for CPEC projects” »

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Xi assured Kakkar that China will continue to support Pakistan in safeguarding national sovereignty, independence, and territorial integrity. File
| Photo Credit: AP

Chinese President Xi Jinping on Thursday proposed to upgrade the USD 60 billion CPEC during a meeting with Pakistan’s caretaker Prime Minister Anwar-ul-Haq Kakar here but sought “effective measures” to ensure security for hundreds of Chinese workers who faced frequent attacks from militants in the country.

Mr. Kakar along with Sri Lankan President Ranil Wickramasinghe is here to attend the third Belt and Road Forum for International Cooperation being hosted by Xi.

Xi assured Kakkar that China will continue to support Pakistan in safeguarding national sovereignty, independence, and territorial integrity.

In his speech at the concluding session of the meeting on Wednesday, Xi promised that two Chinese-backed development banks – the China Development Bank and the Export–Import Bank of China – will each set up 350 billion yuan (USD 47.9 billion) financing windows. An additional 80 billion yuan (USD11 billion) will be invested in Beijing’s Silk Road Fund to support BRI projects.

Pakistan is the largest recipient of BRI funding for the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC). India, which boycotted the BRI Forum meeting, has protested against the project as it is being laid through Pakistan-occupied Kashmir.

In his meeting with Kakar, Xi said that China and Pakistan are all-weather strategic cooperative partners and ironclad friends, noting that successive Pakistani governments have actively supported and participated in the Belt and Road Initiative cooperation.

He said over the past 10 years, the CPEC has achieved fruitful results, effectively promoting Pakistan’s economic and social development, and becoming an important signature project of the Belt and Road cooperation.

Xi pointed out that the two countries should build an upgraded version of the CPEC that promotes growth, people’s well-being, innovation, green development, and openness.

They should also strengthen cooperation in fields including industrial parks, agriculture, mining, and new energy, and facilitate the early implementation of major connectivity projects for tangible results, state-run Xinhua news agency reported.

He also expressed the hope that the Pakistani side will take effective measures to ensure the safety of Chinese personnel and institutions in Pakistan.

Several Chinese workers and engineers working on major infrastructure projects under the CPEC in Pakistan have been killed in militant attacks on them in the past, prompting China to demand stepped-up security for its personnel.

The CPEC, which connects Gwadar Port in Pakistan’s Balochistan with China’s Xinjiang province, is the flagship project of China’s ambitious multi-billion-dollar Belt and Road Initiative (BRI). The BRI is seen as an attempt by China to further its influence abroad with infrastructure projects funded by Chinese investments all over the world.

Mr. Kakar said that the eight major steps announced by President Xi to support high-quality Belt and Road cooperation will not only strengthen global connectivity but also promote a more just and reasonable global governance system, providing important opportunities for Pakistan and other countries to achieve better development.

He said that Pakistan will always be a reliable and trustworthy friend of China and will never allow any force to undermine the Pakistan-China friendship.

Pakistan will also be committed to deepening the all-weather strategic cooperative partnership with China, he added.

Pakistan is willing to closely cooperate with China to promote high-quality development of the CPEC. The Pakistani government will spare no effort to ensure the safety and interests of Chinese personnel and institutions in Pakistan, Kakar said.



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How China’s Belt and Road Initiative is changing after a decade of big projects and big debts https://artifexnews.net/article67431460-ece/ Wed, 18 Oct 2023 05:08:41 +0000 https://artifexnews.net/article67431460-ece/ Read More “How China’s Belt and Road Initiative is changing after a decade of big projects and big debts” »

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China’s President Xi Jinping speaks during the opening ceremony of the third Belt and Road Forum for International Cooperation at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing on October 18, 2023.
| Photo Credit: AFP

China’s Belt and Road Initiative looks to become smaller and greener after a decade of big projects that boosted trade but left big debts and raised environmental concerns.

The shift comes as leaders from across the developing world descend on Beijing this week for a government-organized forum on what is known as BRI for short.

The initiative has built power plants, roads, railroads and ports around the world and deepened China’s relations with Africa, Asia, Latin America and the Mideast. It is a major part of Chinese President Xi Jinping’s push for China to play a larger role in global affairs.

Called “One Belt, One Road” in Chinese, the Belt and Road Initiative started as a program for Chinese companies to build transportation, energy and other infrastructure overseas funded by Chinese development bank loans.

The stated goal was to grow trade and the economy by improving China’s connections with the rest of the world in a 21st-century version of the Silk Road trading routes from China to the Middle East and onto Europe.

Mr. Xi unveiled the concept in broad terms on visits to Kazakhstan and Indonesia in 2013 and it took shape in the ensuing years, driving the construction of major projects from railroads in Kenya and Laos to power plants in Pakistan and Indonesia.

A total of 152 countries have signed a BRI agreement with China, though Italy, the only western European country to do so, is expected to drop out when it comes time to renew in March of next year.

“Italy suffered a net loss,” said Alessia Amighini, an analyst at the Italian think tank ISPI, as the trade deficit with China more than doubled since Italy joined in 2019.

China became a major financer of development projects under BRI, on par with the World Bank. The Chinese government says the initiative has launched more than 3,000 projects and “galvanized” nearly $1 trillion in investment.

China filled a gap left as other lenders shifted to areas such as health and education and away from infrastructure after coming under criticism for the impact major building projects can have on the environment and local communities, said Kevin Gallagher, the director of the Boston University Global Development Policy Center.

Chinese-financed projects have faced similar criticism, from displacing populations to adding tons of climate-changing greenhouse gases to the atmosphere.

Chinese development banks provided money for the BRI projects as loans, and some governments have been unable to pay them back.

That has led to allegations by the U.S., India and others that China was engaging in “debt trap” diplomacy: Making loans they knew governments would default on, allowing Chinese interests to take control of the assets. An oft-cited example is a Sri Lankan port that the government ended up leasing to a Chinese company for 99 years.

Many economists say that China did not make the bad loans intentionally. Now, having learned the hard way through defaults, China development banks are pulling back. Chinese development loans have already plummeted in recent years as the banks have become more cautious about lending and many recipient countries are less able to borrow, given their already high levels of debt.

Chinese loans have been a major contributor to the huge debt burdens that are weighing on economies in countries such as Zambia and Pakistan. Sri Lanka said last week that it had reached an agreement with the Export-Import Bank of China on key terms and principles for restructuring its debt as it tries to emerge from an economic crisis that toppled the government last year.

Future BRI projects are likely not only to be smaller and greener but also rely more on investment by Chinese companies than on development loans to governments.

Christoph Nedopil, director of the Asia Institute at Griffith University in Australia, believes that China will still undertake some large projects, including high-visibility ones such as railways and others, including oil and gas pipelines, that have a revenue stream to pay back the investment.

A recent example is the launch of a Chinese high-speed railway in Indonesia with much fanfare in both countries.

On the climate front, China has pledged to stop building coal power plants overseas, though it remains involved in some, and is encouraging projects related to the green transition, Mr. Nedopil said. These range from wind and solar farms to factories for electric vehicle batteries, such as a huge lithium-ion battery plant that has stirred environmental concerns in BRI-partner Hungary.



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China plans to send Vice-President Han Zheng to represent country at UN General Assembly session https://artifexnews.net/article67311335-ece/ Fri, 15 Sep 2023 11:25:54 +0000 https://artifexnews.net/article67311335-ece/ Read More “China plans to send Vice-President Han Zheng to represent country at UN General Assembly session” »

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Chinese Vice-President Han Zheng. File
| Photo Credit: AP

China is sending Vice-President Han Zheng to the U.N. General Assembly’s annual high-level debate, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs said on September 15, suggesting that the country’s most senior diplomat Wang Yi will not attend.

This year’s gathering of world leaders at United Nations headquarters in New York starts on Monday with a sustainability summit. The weeklong general debate gets under way on Tuesday.

Chinese President Xi Jinping has not attended the U.N. session in person for several years. He participated via video-conference during the first two years of the coronavirus pandemic.

Wang Yi attended last year and generally represented China at the U.N. Wang is the head of the foreign affairs committee of China’s Communist Party. He was not mentioned in the Ministry’s announcement.

Han is a past member of the Politburo Standing Committee, an elite group of leaders within the party. He retired from that position but assumed the position of Vice-President in March.

Han’s continued political career parallels the one of Wang Qishan, who played an influential role in the past several years in managing the tense U.S.-China relationship. Wang led the Communist Party’s disciplinary body and was a member of the Politburo Standing Committee. He retired at the end of 2017 but was brought back to serve as Vice-President in 2018.

The absence of Beijing’s top leader at the General Assembly may not be as conspicuous as Xi not attending the Group of 20 summit that took place in India earlier this month.

The British government announced in August that Prime Minister Rishi Sunak would not attend the upcoming U.N. session. French President Emmanuel Macron and Russian President Vladimir Putin also do not plan to be there.



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‘Health of Democracy’ an important issue for India-U.S. relations; call PM Modi’s public reaction to Karnataka elections a ‘positive’ indicator  https://artifexnews.net/article67288249-ece/ Sat, 09 Sep 2023 10:05:38 +0000 https://artifexnews.net/article67288249-ece/ Read More “‘Health of Democracy’ an important issue for India-U.S. relations; call PM Modi’s public reaction to Karnataka elections a ‘positive’ indicator ” »

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U.S. President Joe Biden (left) with Prime Minister Narendra Modi. File
| Photo Credit: AP

The “health of democracy” is an important issue for the India-U.S. relationship, said senior U.S. White House officials, adding that U.S. President Joe Biden raised these issues in every meeting he has held with Prime Minister Narendra Modi. Briefing the media after the bilateral meeting on Friday night (September 8) between PM Modi and President Biden, the officials made a reference to the Karnataka State elections, calling Mr. Modi’s public congratulations to the Congress party for its victory in the State, which the ruling BJP lost in May, a “positive indicator” for democracy. 

They said India is “disappointed” that Russian President Vladimir Putin and Chinese President Xi Jinping did not attend the G20 summit, said senior U.S. White House officials, adding that there was “clear appreciation” that U.S. President Joe Biden travelled to India for it.

On chances for a joint declaration being forged at the end of the G20 summit, the officials said there had been some forward movement, particularly on climate issues in the draft communique, but that the U.S. would remain “purposeful determined and resolute” on the language over Ukraine. As The Hindu had reported on September 8, officials and diplomats said the language on all non-geopolitical issues had been cleared, but Ukraine remains a sticking point with the U.S. and allies ranged on one side and Russia and China on the other. 

“There was a clear appreciation on the part of India that President Biden is here, and that he made the trip,” said Kurt Campbell, the National Security Council’s Coordinator for the Indo-Pacific, adding that “I think it is a disappointment for India that both Russia and China (Presidents) are not here”. 

Highlighting the India-U.S.-Saudi Arabia-India infrastructure corridor which now includes the European Union, that is expected to be announced, Mr. Campbell said that talks are still ongoing with all the parties present in Delhi, and this would be a “major breakthrough that would help fundamental delays with respect to infrastructure and communications, from India with the Middle East (West Asia) and then on to Europe. 

Worldview with Suhasini Haidar | PM Modi in US | A major leap forward for India-US ties?

The officials also faced several questions from the U.S. White House Press Corps members on the lack of access for journalists in the press pool to the bilateral meeting and the main G20 venue. Mr. Campbell said that this had been raised with India, and stressed that despite India’s objections, the U.S. had held a press interaction with PM Modi and President Biden during the state visit in Washington in June. 

“I do want to just underscore for you that in every meeting that I’ve been in, the President is very clear about the importance of the health of democracy. He doesn’t do this in such a way that suggests that one country is lecturing to another but rather that we all face shared challenges, and we think it’s important that we’re constantly asking the hard questions about our democracy.” When pressed on whether U.S. concerns over India have led to any “change” in the Modi government, Rear Admiral Eileen Laubacher, the NSC Senior Director for South Asia, pointing to recent Karnataka elections, said that Mr. Modi had congratulated the Congress party on the results, although she said the U.S. would not like to ascribe this to its influence.



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