US accuses China of secret nuclear test as Trump admin calls for broader nuclear weapons agreement
"Asked about the allegation of secret nuclear testing, the spokesperson for the Chinese Embassy in Washington, DC, said China “follows a policy of ‘no first use’ of nuclear weapons and a nuclear strategy that focuses on self-defense, and adheres to its nuclear testing moratorium.”
“We stand ready to work with all parties to jointly uphold the authority of the Comprehensive Nuclear Test-Ban Treaty and safeguard the international nuclear disarmament and non-proliferation regime,” said Liu Pengyu."
--- Emtpy talk.
"It is unclear how the US intends to get China to that negotiating table. Beijing has consistently rebuffed trilateral arms control negotiations, arguing that their stockpiles are not on par with Moscow and Washington.
Matthew Kroenig, vice president and senior director of the Atlantic Council’s Scowcroft Center for Strategy and Security, noted that if this is truly China’s concern, “shouldn’t they want arms control?”
“If they can get us to limit our weapons, that should be better for them,” he argued. He said he believes Beijing doesn’t want to negotiate because “they want a superpower nuclear force.”"
--- Yep.
Trump and Xi discuss Iran in wide-ranging call as US presses China and others to break from Tehran
"“The relationship with China, and my personal relationship with President Xi, is an extremely good one, and we both realize how important it is to keep it that way,” Trump said"
--- Moron.
"Trump has indicated he would like to keep limits on nuclear weapons but wants to involve China in a potential new treaty.
“I actually feel strongly that if we’re going to do it, I think China should be a member of the extension,” Trump told The New York Times last month. “China should be a part of the agreement.”"
--- Over Emperor Xi's dead body. Although Trump may be a moron, this idea is of course reasonable. But... to think that China would agree to anything like that is delusional.
s.a.: US must be prudent when supplying arms to Taiwan, Xi tells Trump
US proposes critical minerals trade bloc aimed at countering China
""China has long played an important and constructive role in keeping the global industrial and supply chains of critical minerals safe and stable and is willing to continue to make active efforts in this regard," China's embassy in Washington told Reuters"
--- Translation: We have a monopoly and we want to keep it.
2,000 Chinese fishing boats gather to form floating wall in E. China Sea
"According to data collected by ingeniSPACE using an automatic identification system to track vessels, about 2,000 Chinese fishing boats formed a U-shape measuring around 470 km in length and 80 km in width between Dec. 24 and 26 on the Chinese side of the median line between the two countries' shorelines.
On Jan. 11, about 1,500 Chinese fishing boats lined up across more than 400 km in waters straddling the median line."
--- Nice of the PLAN to show us what they intend to do when China invades Taiwan. But I guess these alleged fishing boats could then be considered enemy combatants & would be easy pickings for the US Navy.
Suspected Chinese spies arrested in quiet French town
"Residents of Camblanes-et-Meynac, about 15km (9 miles) from Bordeaux, grew suspicious when - after letting a house through rentals giant Airbnb - the Chinese pair erected a large parabolic antenna in the garden."
--- Totally inconspicuous.
"The prosecutor's office said the men had arrived in France last month under work visas which said they were engineers at a company specialising in wireless communications."
--- At least they didn't lie completely.
We had sex in a Chinese hotel, then found we had been broadcast to thousands
"the threat of being secretly filmed in the privacy of a hotel room has not gone away. The BBC World Service has found thousands of recent spy-cam videos filmed in hotel rooms and sold as porn, on multiple sites.
Much of the material is advertised on the messaging and social media app Telegram. Over 18 months, I discovered six different websites and apps promoted on Telegram. Between them these claimed to operate more than 180 hotel-room spy-cams which were not just capturing, but livestreaming, hotel guests' activities.
I monitored one of these websites regularly for seven months and found content captured by 54 different cameras, with about half operational at any one time."
--- Doesn't seem to be that far spread. But... It is advisable to check the room if you stay in a hotel in China.
China steps up crypto crackdown, will vet real-world asset tokens
"China vowed to further tighten its crackdown on virtual currencies on Friday and banned unauthorised offshore issuance of yuan-pegged stablecoins.
Authorities will also strictly vet offshore issuance of tokens backed by Chinese onshore assets, according to a notice published on the central bank's website.
Although the statement largely reiterates Beijing's existing ban on cryptocurrency, some are encouraged by signs China is setting up a legal framework for the real-world asset (RWA) tokenisation business."
--- China will legalize Bitcoin et al. any moment now. Any moment.
Rights groups say China detained two journalists over corruption report
"Rights groups and activists are sounding the alarm about the detention of two Chinese investigative journalists after they reportedly exposed corruption by a senior official in Sichuan province.
Independent journalists Liu Hu and Wu Yingjiao were taken by police on Sunday after they published their investigation"
--- Because Emperor Xi is really, really serious about the fight against corruption.
China bans hidden car door handles over safety concerns
EU hikes tariffs on Chinese ceramics to 79% to counter dumping
--- China Uncensored featured the usual weekend news variety again:
--- China Uncensored: "The Killings Have Started "
Investigative Journalisten in China verhaftet
"Nach Veröffentlichung und kurz vor seiner Verhaftung hatte Liu Hu noch Screenshots von Kurzmitteilungen veröffentlicht, die er von einem Mitarbeiter der Disziplinarkontrollkommission aus Chengdu erhalten hatte. Darin forderte der Beamte Liu zweimal auf, sich mit seiner Kommission in Verbindung zu setzen: Beschwerden sollten über offizielle Kanäle eingereicht werden, anstatt sie in den Medien zu veröffentlichen. Korruption in China wird auch von höchster Stelle immer wieder kritisiert, so zuletzt als Begründung der Festnahmen ranghoher Armeegenerale. Entscheiden tut darüber aber die Parteiführung."
--- Kaiser Xi kritisiert Korruption vor allem dann, wenn es darum geht, Konkurrenten, oder angebliche Konkurrenten, abzuservieren. Bei seiner eigenen Familie sieht er das nicht so kritisch.
