China’s Xi goes full Stalin with purge

Something is rotten in the imperial court of Chairman Xi Jinping. 

While the world is distracted by war in the Middle East and Ukraine, a Stalin-like purge is sweeping through China’s ultra-secretive political system, with profound implications for the global economy and even the prospects for peace in the region.

The signals emanating from Beijing are unmistakable, even as China’s security services have ramped up repression to totalitarian levels, making it almost impossible to know what is really happening inside the country.

Xi hails ‘deepening trust’ between China and Russia as he meets Putin

Chinese leader Xi Jinping has told Russian President Vladimir Putin the “political mutual trust” between their countries was “continuously deepening” as the two men met for bilateral talks in Beijing.

State news agency Xinhua reported on Wednesday that Xi also called for joint efforts by China and Russia to “safeguard international fairness” and “justice” as he hailed “close and effective strategic coordination” between their two countries.

Xi noted that he and Putin had met “42 times in the past 10 years and [had] developed a good working relationship and a deep friendship”.

Mutual praise, buzzwords plus a few walkouts: Xi and Putin meet in Beijing

Xi Jinping met his internationally isolated Russian counterpart in Beijing on Wednesday against the backdrop of China’s biggest diplomatic event of the year, underlining the close relationship between two leaders amid the war in Ukraine.

The Chinese president, addressing delegates at the belt and road initiative (BRI) forum, spoke out against international sanctions during his opening speech.

“Ideological confrontation, geopolitical rivalry and bloc politics are not the choice for us, but we stand against economic sanctions, economic coercions, and decoupling and supply chain disruptions,” Xi said. The US Commerce Department on Tuesday had expanded controls on chip and technology exports to China amid tensions with Beijing.

China woos global south and embraces Putin at belt and road Beijing summit

World leaders are gathering in Beijing for China’s belt and road initiative (BRI) forum, the third such event since the trademark global development drive was launched by President Xi Jinping 10 years ago.

The BRI was originally envisioned as a vast physical and digital infrastructure project to connect China with central Asia, south-east Asia, Europe and the rest of the world. It later broadened into a mammoth infrastructure financing vehicle for Chinese lenders to support projects in nearly every corner of the world, particularly in the global south. With that support came China’s mounting influence on the world stage, even as western countries became increasingly sceptical of the BRI.

Putin to meet Xi in China this week

Russian President Vladimir Putin will meet Chinese counterpart Xi Jinping in Beijing this week — a rare international visit by the Russian leader.

During the October 17-18 visit to Beijing, Putin will attend a forum marking 10 years of the Belt and Road Initiative, China’s global infrastructure program that has helped boost its influence worldwide. 

‘He’s had a bad summer’: Xi faces calls to loosen grip as China’s crises mount

At the Brics summit in South Africa in August, Xi Jinping made headlines when he failed to appear at a leaders’ meeting to deliver a scheduled speech.

Another scene also did the rounds: a Chinese aide hurrying to catch up with Xi, only to be body slammed by security guards and held back, flailing, as the president cruised on through the closing doors, not bothered by the chaos behind him.

The first incident prompted rampant speculation about Xi’s health, a political crisis or conspiracy. The second, mostly memes. But it perhaps served as a metaphor.

Absence speaks loudly at the G20

Funny thing about summits of world leaders: Sometimes, not showing up is the best way to grab attention.

Chinese paramount leader Xi Jinping’s expected absence at this year’s Group of 20 gathering, set for this weekend in New Delhi, has already thrown off the event’s momentum. Russian leader Vladimir Putin also won’t be there and even has some counterprogramming planned.

It’s Xi’s first time skipping the annual gathering, and aides are mum as to why; they’ll say only that Chinese Premier Li Qiang will represent Beijing.

Why are China’s workers studying ‘Xi Jinping Thought’?

China’s workers have long been known for putting in long days at the office, but they now face a new set of responsibilities: studying the writings of President Xi Jinping.

Since Beijing launched a new propaganda drive earlier this year, Xi Jinping Thought is reportedly becoming a common topic of discussion among employees at state-owned companies and private businesses, including foreign firms.

Biden hopes Xi Jinping will attend G20 amid reports Chinese president will skip Delhi summit

Joe Biden has said he hopes Xi Jinping will attend the G20 leaders summit in India next week, following reports the Chinese president will skip the meeting.

“I hope he attends,” Biden told reporters on Thursday in Washington, as some US officials played down the chances of a Xi-Biden meeting in New Delhi, suggesting it would be more likely at the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation, or Apec, conference in San Francisco in November.

Xi urges more work to ‘control illegal religious activities’ in Xinjiang on surprise visit

The Chinese president, Xi Jinping, has made a surprise visit to Xinjiang, urging officials in the region to conserve “hard won social stability” and deepen efforts in controlling “illegal religious activities”. It was only his second visit since launching an extreme crackdown on the area’s Uyghur and Turkic Muslim population almost a decade ago.

Xi arrived in the city of Urumqi on Saturday, according to Chinese state media, where he heard a government work report and made a speech to Communist party and government officials. During his visit, Xi urged officials to “more deeply promote the Sinicisation of Islam and effectively control illegal religious activities”.

China’s Xi doubles down on hardline Xinjiang policy

Chinese President Xi Jinping has called for the hardline approach to dealing with the Uyghurs in Xinjiang to continue, despite international criticisms.

Delivering a major speech on Saturday in Urumqi, the region’s capital city, Xi stressed that “social stability” remained the top priority there, as he highlighted the need for counterterrorism measures and further “Sinocizing” of Islam, the predominant religion for the Uyghurs who make up the majority of the indigenous population in the area.

‘Hegemonism not in China’s DNA’: Xi calls for BRICS expansion

Chinese President Xi Jinping has called for an expansion of the BRICS grouping of emerging economies to build a more just and equitable international order, insisting “hegemonism is not in China’s DNA”.

In a speech delivered on his behalf at the start of BRICS summit in Johannesburg, South Africa on Tuesday, Xi said China had no wish to engage in great power competition or create “bloc confrontation”.

“China stands firmly on the right side of history and believes a just cause should be pursued for the common good,” Xi said at a business forum, according to remarks delivered by Commerce Minister Wang Wentao.

Xi said BRICS would continue to grow “whatever resistance there may be.”

Putin, Xi announce start of joint Russian-Chinese nuclear project

Russia’s and China’s leaders announced the beginning of a series of joint nuclear energy projects on Monday, and touted the planned construction of several Chinese nuclear power plants with Russian technology.

The Associated Press reported that China’s state media company CCTV broadcast a joint videoconference between Chinese President Xi Jinping and Russian President Vladimir Putin, who announced the joint construction of two Russian nuclear reactors at China’s Tianwan and Xudapu power facilities.

Why is Xi Jinping pitting China against the world?

Earlier this week, Chinese leader Xi Jinping held a rare meeting in Beijing with business leaders. Admitting that the Covid-19 pandemic had a “huge impact” on the country’s economy, Xi used a Chinese idiom to assure his listeners.

“While the green hills last, there will be wood to burn,” he said. “If we maintain our strategy … we will find opportunity in crisis and turbulence. The Chinese people will surely prevail over all difficulties and challenges ahead”.

Xi Jinping to meet Kim Jong-un in first state visit to North Korea

Chinese president Xi Jinping will make his first state visit to North Korea this week in an attempt to defuse tensions over Pyongyang’s nuclear programme, months after the last denuclearisation summit ended in failure.

Chinese state broadcaster CCTV said Xi, the first Chinese leader to visit North Korea in 14 years, would meet the North’s leader, Kim Jong-un, on Thursday and Friday.

North Korea’s official KCNA also announced the visit, but gave no details.

Xi: Nobody can change fact Taiwan is part of China

Chinese President Xi Jinping has said that no one can change the fact that Taiwan is “part of China”, adding that Beijing will not give up the use of military force as an option to ensure “reunification”.

Xi made the comments on Wednesday in a speech marking the 40th anniversary of a policy statement that eventually led to a thaw in relations with the self-ruled island.

“We are firmly against those who conspire behind the ideo of ‘Two China’, or ‘One China-One Taiwan’, or Taiwan Independence,” Xi said in a part of his first major speech addressing the people of what Beijing considers a breakaway province.

Could China Be the Next Global Leader?

As the second year of Donald Trump’s presidency and sixth of Xi Jinping’s draws to a close, the world seems to be witnessing one of those epochal clashes that can change the contours of global power. Just as conflicts between American President Woodrow Wilson and British Prime Minister Lloyd George produced a failed peace after World War I, competition between Soviet dictator Joseph Stalin and American President Harry Truman sparked the Cold War, and the rivalry between Soviet leader Nikita Khrushchev and President John F. Kennedy brought the world to the brink of nuclear war, so the empowered presidents of the United States and China are now pursuing bold, intensely personal visions of new global orders that could potentially reshape the trajectory of the twenty-first century — or bring it all down.

China's state media defends Xinjiang Muslim crackdown

An official Communist Party newspaper said China's campaign of pressure against its Uighur Muslim minority has prevented the Xinjiang region from becoming "China's Syria" or "China's Libya."

The Global Times editorial on Monday came after a United Nations anti-discrimination committee raised concerns on Friday over China's treatment of Uighurs, citing reports of mass detentions that it said "resembles a massive internment camp that is shrouded in secrecy".

Cracks appear in 'invincible' Xi Jinping's authority over China

Rumours have swirled in Beijing in recent weeks that China’s seemingly invincible leader, Xi Jinping, is in trouble, dogged by a protracted trade war with the US, a slowing economy and a public health scandal involving thousands of defective vaccines given to children.

Xi’s name seemed to have disappeared for a while from the cover of the People’s Daily, replaced with articles about his deputy, Li Keqiang, and large portraits of him were said to have been taken down after a young woman filmed herself throwing ink at his image.

Germany's 'China City': how Duisburg became Xi Jinping's gateway to Europe

For much of the 20th century, the city of Duisburg in Germany’s industrial west was a steel-and-coal town whose chimneys cloaked the skies in smoke. And yet there is something about this soot-stained spot in the Ruhr valley that seems to encourage a particularly clear-sighted view of the rest of the world.

In 1585, it was in Duisburg that Flemish cartographer Gerardus Mercator published a book of maps of European countries – the first ever “atlas” to carry that name. And it was here that Mercator first presented his new world map, the “Mercator projection”, that was so revolutionary for maritime navigators keen to steer merchant vessels across the high seas in the straightest possible line.