"The US and #Taiwan signed a new trade deal on Thursday as tensions with #China rise.
It is the first agreement under a framework for talks between Washington and Taipei called the US-Taiwan Initiative on 21st Century Trade." bbc.com/news/business-…
The deal, which includes measures to streamline border procedures, is the first agreement to be signed under the new framework, which started last year.
The framework aims to strengthen economic ties between Washington and Taipei, and open Taiwan to more US exports.
China warned Washington earlier on Thursday against signing any deal "with connotations of sovereignty or of an official nature with China's Taiwan region".
Foreign ministry spokeswoman Mao Ning told reporters that the US "must not send the wrong signals to Taiwan independence forces in the name of trade".
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Amazing visual investigation piece by @muyixiao and the @nytimes team: "During at least 13 voyages, the three tankers pretended to be sailing west of Japan. In reality, they were at terminals in Russia and shipping oil to #China." nytimes.com/interactive/20…
"The vessels are part of a so-called dark fleet, a loose term used to describe a hodgepodge array of ships that obscure their locations or identities to avoid oversight from governments and business partners.
The latest surge of dark fleet ships began after Russia invaded Ukraine and the West tried to limit Moscow’s oil revenue with sanctions."
By @LiYuan6: “A decade or so ago, #China was thriving and full of opportunities,” she said in a phone interview. “Now even if I want to strive for opportunities, I don’t know which direction I should turn to.” nytimes.com/2023/05/30/bus…
"China’s young people are facing record-high unemployment as the country’s recovery from the pandemic is fluttering. They’re struggling professionally and emotionally.
Yet the Communist Party and the country’s top leader, Xi Jinping, are telling them to stop thinking they are above doing manual work or moving to the countryside.
“Youth unemployment in #China hit a record high in April, with 20.4% of 16- to 24-year-old jobseekers unable to find work. Xie is 26 and has not managed to find a job in China since leaving higher education.”
Nearly 11.6 million students are set to graduate in June, facing a labour market that looks increasingly hostile.
“The problem of overeducated unemployed youths has become so acute that people have started comparing themselves to Kong Yiji, a fictional character from a story by Lu Xun, one of the greats of Chinese literature
“#China’s leader Xi Jinping has called on his top national security officials to think about “worst case” scenarios and prepare for “stormy seas,” as the ruling Communist Party hardens efforts to counter any perceived internal and external threats.”
“The complexity and difficulty of the national security issues we now face have increased significantly,” Xi said Tuesday at a meeting of the party’s National Security Commission, state news agency Xinhua reported.
“We must adhere to bottom-line thinking and worst-case-scenario thinking, and get ready to undergo the major tests of high winds and rough waves, and even perilous, stormy seas,” he added.
"India and #China have ejected each other’s journalists in recent weeks, virtually wiping out mutual media access and deepening a rift between the world’s two most populous nations." wsj.com/articles/china…
"New Delhi denied visa renewals this month to the last two remaining Chinese state media journalists in the country, from state-run Xinhua News Agency and China Central Television, according to people familiar with the matter.
Indian media outlets had four remaining journalists based in China at the beginning of the year. At least two of them haven’t been granted visas to return to the country, a Chinese official said.
Amnesty International said it had spoken to Uyghur student Abuduwaili Abudureheman. Abudureheman told the group he had not entered #HongKong, a claim that was also disputed by his South Korean professor and the city’s government. hongkongfp.com/2023/05/30/amn…
“Abuduwaili Abudureheman spoke with Amnesty International and told us he did not travel to Hong Kong, contrary to previous information received,” an Amnesty International spokesperson told HKFP on Tuesday.
The Hong Kong government “strongly condemned” Amnesty’s statement last Saturday, with a government spokesperson saying that there was no record of the student entering Hong Kong, nor of him being denied entry into the city.