Ruble and Rupee | 175 comments (175 topical, 0 editorial, 0 hidden)

China Daily | Senior Chinese, US officials hold talks in Rome, 15 Mar

By press time, few details were known about the meeting, but the Chinese Foreign Ministry said the key issue is to implement the important consensus reached by the Chinese and US heads of state at their virtual summit in November [2021].

US Americans: wut summit?

The Taiwan question has been the most sensitive in the China-US relationship. The Foreign Ministry expressed strong opposition to the US on Monday for its adoption of a fiscal omnibus bill--the Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2022 [ H.R. 2471]--which carries a Taiwan-related provision.
east asia and the pacific
Sec. 7043.
(a) Burma.-- [??!]
[...]
(c) Indo-Pacific Strategy and the Asia Reassurance Initiative Act of 2018.--
[...]
(3) Restriction on uses of funds.--None of the funds appropriated by this Act and prior Acts making appropriations for the Department of State, foreign operations, and related programs may be made available for any project or activity that directly supports or promotes--
(A) the Belt and Road Initiative or any dual-use infrastructure projects of the People's Republic of China; and
(B) the use of technology, including biotechnology, digital, telecommunications, and cyber, developed by the People's Republic of China unless the Secretary of State, in consultation with the USAID Administrator and the heads of other Federal agencies, as appropriate, determines that such use does not adversely impact the national security of the United States.
(4) Maps.--None of the funds made available by this Act should be used to create, procure, or display any map that inaccurately depicts the territory and social and economic system of Taiwan and the islands or island groups administered by Taiwan authorities.
The US' move grossly interferes in China's domestic affairs in an attempt to engage in political manipulation by using the so-called issue of the Taiwan map to create "two Chinas" or "one China, one Taiwan", said Zhao, the ministry spokesman, on Monday.

Global Times | US fails to trap China over Ukraine at Yang-Sullivan meeting, 15 Mar 2022

Some Chinese experts believe that the Rome meeting was an occasion for the senior Chinese official to straightforwardly lay out the country's consistent position on the Ukraine issue, when the US-led West continued to pressure China to "pick a side."

(China: Ima tell youse this much. We are not on the side of bullshit.

Not only has the US failed to understand the essence of the China-Russia relationship, it also maliciously connected the Ukraine crisis with the Taiwan question, despite the different nature of the two issues, some experts said, noting that with the strategic composure, China has not fallen into this trap.

Ministry of Foreign Affairs | Foreign Ministry Spokesperson Zhao Lijian's Regular Press Conference on March 15, 2022. AFP is hard of hearing.

... What the US should do is to deeply reflect its role in the evolving situation of the Ukraine crisis, and do more things that can help to ease the situation. ...

by Cat on Tue Mar 15th, 2022 at 09:27:50 PM EST
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SIDEBAR post-omicron "read out" (none / 1)

France24 | China reports more than 5,000 Covid-19 cases in 24 hours, an ALL-TIME HIGH, 15 Mar

China reported 5,280 new Covid-19 cases on Tuesday, more than double the previous day's tally and the highest daily count since the start of the pandemic

The northeastern province of Jilin was worst hit, accounting for more than 3,000 cases, according to the National Health Commission.
On March 14, 31 provincial-level regions and the Xinjiang Production and Construction Corps on the Chinese mainland reported 3,602 new cases of confirmed infections (95 imported cases, 20 in Guangdong province, 17 in Guangxi Zhuang autonomous region, 12 in Shanghai municipality, 12 in Zhejiang province, 9 in Beijing municipality, 9 in Shandong province, 6 in Fujian province, 4 in Sichuan province, 3 in Tianjin municipality, 1 in Liaoning province, 1 in Jilin province and 1 in Hubei province, including 20 confirmed cases converting from asymptomatic cases, 10 in Zhejiang, 3 in Guangdong, 3 in Sichuan, 2 in Tianjin, 1 in Beijing and 1 in Guangxi; 3,507 indigenous cases, 3,076 in Jilin including 2,601 in Jilin city, 460 in Changchun, 10 in Yanbian Korean autonomous prefecture and 5 in Siping, 106 in Shandong including 48 in Qingdao, 19 in Binzhou, 12 in Zibo, 10 in Weihai, 7 in Weifang, 7 in Dezhou, 2 in Rizhao and 1 in Yantai, 53 in Shaanxi province including 40 in Baoji, 6 in Xi'an, 4 in Hanzhong, 2 in Tongchuan and 1 in Xianyang, 51 in Tianjin including 26 in Wuqing district, 7 in Binhai New Area, 4 in Hexi district, 4 in Nankai district, 3 in Hongqiao district, 3 in Xiqing district, 2 in Jinnan district and 2 in Baodi district, 48 in Guangdong including 39 in Shenzhen and 9 in Dongguan, 33 in Fujian including 31 in Quanzhou and 2 in Xiamen, 31 in Zhejiang including 16 in Jiaxing, 14 in Quzhou and 1 in Jinhua, 24 in Liaoning including 9 in Dalian, 8 in Yingkou, 6 in Shenyang and 1 in Fuxin, 20 in Jiangsu province including 15 in Changzhou, 3 in Lianyungang and 2 in Suzhou, 13 in Hebei province including 5 in Langfang, 4 in Handan and 4 in Cangzhou, 10 in Chongqing municipality including 7 in Shapingba district, 1 in Yubei district, 1 in Banan district and 1 in Yongchuan district, 9 in Shanghai including 3 in Minhang district, 2 in Huangpu district, 1 in Xuhui district, 1 in Hongkou district, 1 in Pudong New Area and 1 in Songjiang district, 7 in Harbin, Heilongjiang province, 7 in Gansu province including 4 in Lanzhou New Area, 2 in Lanzhou and 1 in Baiyin, 6 in Beijing including 2 in Dongcheng district, 2 in Chaoyang district, 1 in Xicheng district and 1 in Haidian district, 4 in Qinzhou, Guangxi, 4 in Yunnan province including 3 in Dehong Dai and Jingpo autonomous prefecture and 1 in Honghe Hani and Yi autonomous prefecture, 2 in Zunyi, Guizhou province, 1 in Ma'anshan, Anhui province, 1 in Yongcheng, Henan province and 1 in Changsha, Hunan province, including 73 confirmed cases converting from asymptomatic cases, 43 in Shandong, 19 in Jilin province, 8 in Tianjin, 2 in Gansu and 1 in Jiangsu), 2 new cases of suspected infections (both were imported cases in Shanghai), and no deaths. 149 patients were released from hospital after being cured. 7,251 people who had had close contact with infected patients were freed from medical observation. Serious cases remained the same.
[...]
As of 24:00 on March 14, 284,856 confirmed infections had been reported in the Hong Kong and Macao special administrative regions and Taiwan province: 263,411 in Hong Kong (4,279 had died and 28,318 had been cured and discharged from hospital), 82 in Macao (79 had been cured and discharged from hospital) and 21,363 in Taiwan (853 had died and 13,742 had been cured and discharged from hospital).
Since the coronavirus first emerged in the central city of Wuhan in late 2019, China had successfully suppressed large-scale outbreaks through its strict "zero-Covid" strategy, which involved hard lockdowns that confined huge sections of the population to their homes. But Tuesday was the sixth day in a row that more than 1,000 new cases were recorded in the world's second-biggest economy.

by Cat on Wed Mar 16th, 2022 at 01:29:45 AM EST
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Re: SIDEBAR post-omicron "read out" (none / 1)

Yle | Coronavirus latest: 4,300 new cases, 20 deaths on Thursday; Post-Covid normality in sight but mask use still reccomended

The Finnish health authority THL has confirmed 4,295 new Covid-19 cases on Thursday [17 Mar]. The agency also added 20 new fatalities to the total toll which now stands at 2,783 since the beginning of the pandemic.

unprecedented. inconceivable.

by Cat on Thu Mar 17th, 2022 at 05:38:49 PM EST
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Ruble and Rupee | 175 comments (175 topical, 0 editorial, 0 hidden)