China

Lucie Lo for RFA Mandarin Read coverage of this story in Mandarin here and here. Faced with plummeting birth rates, nationwide kindergarten closures and young people who are increasingly choosing to stay single, authorities in China have announced incentives to encourage people to have kids, calling for “a new marriage and childbearing culture.” China’s cabinet, the State Council, published a slew of measures on Monday, including childbirth subsidies, better healthcare for mothers and children, and comprehensive childcare services. Officials at all levels of government should “actively build a new marriage and childbearing culture and carry forward the traditional virtues of the Chinese nation, advocating ... marriage and childbearing at the right age,” the announcement said. Communis...

Matthew Leung for RFA Cantonese Read coverage of this story in Chinese Authorities in Hong Kong have vowed to keep pursuing thousands of people arrested for their part in the city’s 2019 pro-democracy protests, rejecting suggestions that charges against some 6,000 people arrested but not yet charged could be allowed to lapse, in a sign that a crackdown on the movement will likely continue indefinitely. “Some people have suggested that if no charges are made by a certain time limit, we should agree not to prosecute,” Secretary for Security Chris Tang told journalists on Monday. “This would be tantamount to legalizing the illegal.” “I don’t think this is in line with the principle of the rule of law,” Tang said. “If something is illegal, then it’s illegal, and we will prosecute if there ...

Chen Zifei for RFA Mandarin Read this story in Chinese Hong Kong’s government is pushing ahead with a coordinated political influence campaign across the United States, a report by a Washington-based Hong Kong Democracy Council advocacy group said. According to the report, the city’s government “has cultivated ties in the U.S. at state and local levels through government organizations and astroturf groups.” It said the campaign included local and regional politicians, media organizations, think tanks and business communities, and that the effort often flew under the radar of safeguards aimed at curbing foreign influence in U.S. political life. The Hong Kong Special Administrative Region government coordinated efforts through its Economic and Trade Offices in New York, San Francisco an...

Alex Willemyns WASHINGTON – As the result of Tuesday’s U.S. presidential election teeters on knife’s edge in a handful of evenly split swing states, the rest of the world is bracing itself for two starkly different potential futures. One prospect is the return of former President Donald Trump’s turbulent “America First” foreign policy, which last time around downplayed any U.S. obligations as a world leader to prioritize transactional bilateral ties with countries like China, Russia and even North Korea. On the other side of the ledger is the continuation, under Vice President Kamala Harris, of the last four years of President Joe Biden’s comparatively boring – if more predictable – style of alliance building and “steady” diplomacy in the face of multiple world crises. While foreign po...

Qian Lang for RFA Mandarin Read this story in Chinese As China watches the countdown to the U.S. presidential election results, state media has been hammering home the point that American democracy is messy, violent and encourages extreme behaviors on both sides, while ordinary people seem to support Democratic Vice President Kamala Harris and former President Donald Trump in roughly equal measure, commentators told Radio Free Asia. “In the past three months, Trump has survived multiple assassination attempts,” the state-run China Daily newspaper said in an Oct. 29 commentary. “Harris’s campaign office in Arizona was also shot at and vandalized.” “Political violence is on the rise as polarization and public opinion divisions intensify ahead of the election,” the paper said, adding that...

Yitong Wu and Kit Sung for RFA Cantonese The ruling Chinese Communist Party has enshrined the ashes of a general who presided over a Cultural Revolution massacre that included cannibalism of those deemed “enemies of the people” by late supreme leader Mao Zedong. On Oct. 24, officials reburied the ashes of People’s Liberation Army founding general and former Guangxi regional party chief Wei Guoqing – 35 years after his death. The full-honors burial ceremony at Beijing’s Babaoshan Revolutionary Cemetery – the resting place of China’s high-ranking leaders and revolutionary heroes – was attended by high-ranking guests, including the descendants of late revolutionary leaders Zhu De and Peng Dehuai. China-enshrines-cultural-revolution-leader-guangxi-massacre-cannibalism_02 A poster showing...

  Fields of heliostat mirrors reflect sunlight at the site of Dunhuang Shouhang 100MW Tower Solar Thermal Power Generation Project, during an organized media tour to Dunhuang Photovoltaic Industrial Park, in Gansu province, China, Oct. 16, 2024. Berlin — China’s carbon emissions might peak before its target date of 2030 and its growing green economy could set an example for energy transition — even though the country relies heavily on coal and is currently the world’s biggest greenhouse gas emitter, experts say. The country’s seemingly contradictory position in the fight against global warming comes into focus ahead of the 29th annual U.N Framework Convention on Climate Change conference, or COP 29, which begins November 11 in Baku, Azer...

  FILE - Pakistan's Ministry of Foreign Affairs spokeswoman Mumtaz Baloch speaks during a media briefing in Islamabad, Jan. 18, 2024. Islamabad — Pakistan pushed back Thursday against China\'s criticism of the safety of Chinese personnel in the country, calling the comments “perplexing” and contrary to established diplomatic traditions between the neighbors. Foreign Ministry spokesperson Mumtaz Baloch said at a weekly news conference in Islamabad that the government is dedicated to ensuring the security of Chinese nationals, projects, and institutions in Pakistan. Baloch was responding to a rare public warning from the Chinese ambassador to the country, Jiang Zaidong, who urged Islamabad to take action against militants responsible ...

  A worker uses a cell phone outside a construction site in Beijing on October 31, 2024. U.S. Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen has joined several independent economists to express her frustration about low consumer spending and the property crisis in China. Some experts have expressed disappointment over Beijing\'s limited measures to stimulate consumer spending, which is one of the biggest hurdles in the Chinese economy. "Our view has been that raising consumer spending in China as a share of GDP (gross domestic product) is really important, along with measures to address problems in the property sector," Yellen said recently. "So far, I would say, I haven\'t really heard any policies on the Chinese side that address that....

  FILE - A family rides past a decoration in the shape of the national flags of China and Pakistan installed along a road ahead of a visit by Chinese Vice Premier He Lifeng, in Lahore, Pakistan, July 30, 2023. ISLAMABAD — China has increased diplomatic pressure on close ally Pakistan to take action against the militants responsible for repeated attacks on Chinese workers, warning that the violence is “unacceptable” and poses “a constraint” on Beijing’s investments under its Belt and Road Initiative, or BRI. The rare public warning accusing Islamabad of consistent security lapses concerning Chinese workers was issued by Beijing’s ambassador, Jiang Zaidong, while addressing a seminar in Islamabad this week. Analysts said the remarks reflect...