The Big Shrink

China’s population dropped in 2023 for the second year in a row, according to the country’s statistics agency, a decline that has raised demographic and economic worries in one of the world’s largest economies, NBC News reported. On Wednesday, China’s National Statistics Bureau said the country’s...

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Feline Fraud

Chinese police rescued more than 1,000 cats from being slaughtered and sold as pork or mutton, an incident that sparked concern across the country over food safety and animal rights, the BBC reported. State-affiliated media said this month that police conducted the rescue operation following a...

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Dangerous Threads

China’s rubber-stamp parliament unveiled a new bill this month that would ban clothing considered offensive to the Chinese people, a move critics say underscores the government’s increasing restrictions on personal freedom and expression, the Washington Post reported. The National People’s Congress published a draft that would...

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Local Only

China ordered government workers and state-owned companies not to use iPhones and other Apple products for work, a ban that comes amid ongoing geopolitical and trade tensions with the United States, the Guardian reported. A number of state agencies last week instructed their employees not to...

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Crossing Lines

China’s land and maritime neighbors protested against a newly published map displaying new and expanded Chinese borders, a move that could exacerbate already simmering regional tensions over Beijing’s territorial claims, Nikkei Asia reported. Last week, China’s Ministry of Natural Resource published a 2023 edition of the...

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Push, Pull

China launched military drills around Taiwan over the weekend, shortly after the island’s vice president, William Lai, made two stopovers in the United States, the Wall Street Journal reported. Last week, Lai visited Paraguay to reinforce relations with the South American nation – one of Taiwan’s...

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New Fronts

China will restrict the export of two important metals used to manufacture semiconductors, a move that could further escalate the global trade war over access to microchips, CNBC reported. The Chinese commerce ministry announced that the new regulations will require exporters to seek a license to...

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Backroom Chats

American diplomats claimed that the autocratic president of China, Xi Jinping, had no clue that one of his spy balloons had been shot down over the US in February. As CNN noted, Xi’s potential ignorance of a major international story illustrated a “significant lack of...

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Light Measures

One of China’s biggest airlines came under scrutiny this month after the company issued a new policy imposing strict weight requirements on female flight attendants, NBC News reported. Hainan Airlines unveiled a series of guidelines for its cabin crew, saying that female flight attendants would immediately...

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Spy Games

China is operating a spy station in Cuba, according to the US Biden administration, a revelation that comes days after reports emerged that Beijing was paying Havana to set up a facility just 100 miles off Florida, the Washington Post reported. The eavesdropping facility in Cuba...

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In The Spotlight

Protesters and police clashed in the town of Nagu in southwestern China this week after authorities attempted to partially dismantle a 14th-century mosque in the Muslim-majority municipality, the Guardian reported. Over the weekend, Nagu officials were set to dismantle parts of the Najiaying mosque after a...

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Full Court Press

American and Chinese officials held more than eight hours of “candid” and “constructive” talks in Vienna two weeks ago. Among the breakthroughs, the Associated Press reported, was when White House national security adviser Jake Sullivan told senior Chinese foreign policy adviser Wang Yi that the...

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Making Up

Iran and Saudi Arabia agreed to reestablish diplomatic relations following Chinese-led negotiations, a landmark development that many analysts see as a de-escalation of tensions in the Middle East and Beijing’s increasing international role, CNBC reported. The two regional rivals made the announcement Friday following four days...

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