Let us make our lunar new year resolution to have nothing to do with that corrupt, communist Third-World crap-hole that ruins things even for its own people:
Japan and Australia have signed a “landmark” defence deal in the face of China's rising military might.
The Reciprocal Access Agreement (RAA), a treaty to ease restrictions on the movement of weapons and supplies for joint training and disaster relief operations, is the latest regional security pact aimed at countering China’s military adventurism.
The agreement - signed in a virtual summit between Fumio Kishida, Japan's prime minister, and Scott Morrison, his Australian counterpart, on Thursday - was “a landmark instrument which will elevate security cooperation between the nations to new heights”, the Japanese leader said.
Mr Morrison said signing the agreement was a “pivotal moment for Australia and Japan” that will “form an important part” of the two countries’ response to “the uncertainty we now face”.
The deal comes in the wake of the recent nuclear-powered submarine deal, called AUKUS, between Australia, Britain and the US, as well as deeper defence relations between the UK and Japan.
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The United States and Germany on Wednesday backed Lithuania in its spat with China, saying the pressure exerted by Beijing against the tiny Baltic nation was unwarranted.
Lithuania broke with diplomatic custom last year by letting the Taiwanese office in Vilnius bear the name Taiwan, instead of Chinese Taipei, which most other countries use to avoid offending Beijing.
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Taiwan will set up a $1 billion credit program aimed at funding projects by Lithuanian and Taiwanese companies amid economic pressure from China over an office that the island opened in the European Union country, Lithuanian officials said Tuesday.
It follows Taiwan's announcement last week about creating a $200 million investment fund to help Lithuania amid a diplomatic row with Beijing. American and Lithuanian officials say China has blocked imports from the Baltic nation, a close U.S. ally.
Lithuania broke with diplomatic custom by agreeing that a Taiwanese representative office in its capital of Vilnius — a de facto embassy — would bear the name Taiwan instead of Chinese Taipei, which other countries use to avoid offending Beijing. China considers Taiwan part of its territory with no right to diplomatic recognition.
Lithuania expects the new credit program to boost projects in tech industries, including computer chips, laser manufacturing and biotechnology sectors, that are facing pressure from China.
“It is very good news. I think Lithuania can be assessed as a potential investment site for the semiconductor industry,” Lithuanian Minister for Economy and Innovation Ausrine Armonaite told reporters after an online meeting with Minister Kung Ming-Hsin of the National Development Council of Taiwan.
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Canada is working on a new strategy for its relationship with an increasingly influential China, says Foreign Affairs Minister Melanie Joly.
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The president of debt-ridden Sri Lanka on Sunday asked China for the restructuring of its loans and access to preferential credit for imports of essential goods, as the island nation struggles in the throes of its worst economic crisis, partly due to Beijing-financed projects that don’t generate revenue.
President Gotabaya Rajapaksa told visiting Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi that it would be "a great relief to the country if attention could be paid on restructuring the debt repayments as a solution to the economic crisis that has arisen in the face of the COVID-19 pandemic,” according to a statement from his office.
Rajapaksa asked Wang for a concessionary credit facility for imports so that industries can run without disruption, the statement said. He also requested assistance to enable Chinese tourists to travel to Sri Lanka within a secure bubble.
Wang and Prime Minister Mahinda Rajapaksa, the president's brother, later visited Colombo’s Port City, a reclaimed island developed with Chinese investment, where they opened a promenade and inaugurated the sailing of 65 boats to commemorate the 65 years of diplomatic relations between the two countries.
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Nearly 200 professors have signed a letter demanding Joe Biden’s Department of Justice terminate a Trump-era initiative targeting Chinese Communist Party-linked academics exploiting American universities for intellectual property theft and espionage.
The 177 professors come from Stanford University, where Pamela Karlan, Biden’s Principal Deputy Assistant Attorney General in the Civil Rights Division of the Department of Justice (DOJ), is on a leave of absence from as a professor. Karlan, who testified during then-President Donald Trump’s first impeachment, has spearheaded the Biden White House’s anti-election audit efforts.
Karlan’s university is now lobbying the DOJ to repeal the “China Initiative,” inaugurated by Trump’s DOJ to combat espionage, infiltration, and intellectual property theft campaigns conducted by the Chinese Communist Party.
“We, a group of 177 Stanford faculty members from more than 40 departments, have sent the following open letter to the U.S. Attorney General Merrick B. Garland, requesting that he terminates the Department of Justice’s China Initiative. The China Initiative was introduced by then Attorney General Jeff Sessions in 2018, with the objective of combating economic espionage, intellectual property theft and other threats associated with the government of China,” the group begins.
“Many of our most challenging global problems, including climate change & sustainability and current & future pandemics, require international engagement. Without an open
and inclusive environment that attracts the best talents in all areas, the United States cannot retain its world leading position in science and technology,” the letter adds amidst its conclusion.Signatories on the letter include Fei-Fei Li, a Stanford Professor and advisor to Twitter with ties to the Chinese government.
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The federal Ethics Commissioner has been formally asked to investigate whether Canada’s former ambassador to Beijing, Dominic Barton, violated ethics rules when he accepted an offer to become chair of Rio Tinto, a global mining company that does much of its business in China.
Two New Democratic MPs wrote to the commissioner, Mario Dion, on Friday. Their letter says they believe Mr. Barton is in breach of the Conflict of Interest Act because he met with executives of Rio Tinto shortly before the end of his time as a diplomat.
The miner announced on Dec. 19, about 10 weeks after an October meeting with Mr. Barton, that it was hiring him. Mr. Barton had announced on Dec. 6 that he would leave his envoy post at the end of that month.
The letter notes that federal conflict-of-interest guidelines restrict the ability of former senior officials, such as Mr. Barton, to take jobs with companies with which they had “direct and significant official dealings” during their final 12 months of government work.
“The Conflict of Interest legislation is in place to protect Canadians from officials in positions of power unethically leveraging their public service to unfairly benefit themselves or their family, either financially or through greater influence and position,” NDP foreign affairs critic Heather McPherson and Matthew Green, the party’s ethics critic, write in the letter.
China accounts for more than half of Rio Tinto’s revenue, largely because of the country’s need for iron ore to fuel its massive steel manufacturing industry. The mining giant also extracts copper, gold, uranium and diamonds. Mr. Barton will begin as chair in May, 2022.
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China’s military says the former head of internal security in the Xinjiang region will lead the People’s Liberation Army’s garrison in Hong Kong, in the latest of a series of moves aimed at bringing the semiautonomous city under Beijing’s tight control.
A brief report on the Defense Ministry’s website Monday said Maj. Gen. Peng Jingtang’s appointment had been signed by president, Communist Party leader and PLA commander Xi Jinping.
It said Peng had pledged to “perform defense duties in accordance with the law, resolutely defend national sovereignty, security and development interests, and firmly safeguard Hong Kong’s long-term prosperity and stability.”
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China doubled down on imports of Iranian and Venezuelan crude in 2021, taking the most from the U.S.-sanctioned regimes in three years, as refiners brushed off the risk of penalties to scoop up cheap oil.
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