The death of a couple sheds light on the terrible working conditions some 30 million truck drivers put up with. Over 14 million trucks transport 76 per cent of all Chinese freight, travelling an average of 100,000 kilometres per year. Hauling goods by road in China is cheaper, faster and more flexible than rail transport. A working day can last up to 20 hours and individual runs can last a whole month.
Washington wants to discuss the long-standing question of Beijing’s treatment of intellectual property of US companies, forced to share information.
This is part of Beijing's policy to undermine Islam in the population. Officials deliver pork products directly to Muslim families and insist that traditional Chinese decorations for the New Year be displayed outside homes.
The National Health Commission (Nhc) ordered the cessation of the use of the immunoglobulin produced by Shanghai Xinxing Pharmaceutical. The authorities have made however conflicting statements. According to the National Medical Products Administration (NMPA), the samples it examined were free of HIV and hepatitis B and C. The authorities announce that no patient has contracted the virus after treatment. Still, many fear for the safety of drugs produced by the state. Recently, anti-rabies and polio vaccines were found to be unsafe.
The former Tiananmen student leader looks at events in Venezuela with, perhaps, the situation in China in the back of his mind. From ChinaChange.
In an interview with the Osservatore Romano, the Prefect of Propaganda Fide expresses closeness to the underground communities, reaffirming the urgency of reconciliation and evangelization of Chinese society. Card. Filoni states that belonging to the Patriotic Association is not obligatory even according to Chinese law. Proclamation is curbed by "lack of real freedom" and "temptations of comfort" in China.
Both sides issue statements expressing satisfaction. The two delegations are set to meet in Beijing in mid-February to find a solution before the truce in the trade war ends on 1st March. Beijing decides to import five million tonnes of soybeans.
Members of the United Front, police, representatives of the Religious Affairs Bureau entered the churches while Mass was being celebrated, interrupted the liturgical services, chased the faithful away, threatened them and decreed the closure of the communities. Msgr. Wei Jingyi, the bishop of Qiqihar, despite being underground, has good relations with the government. The suppression occurred after the signing of the China-Holy See Agreement.
The proposal comes from 13 US lawmakers, including Marco Rubio and Bernie Senders. Tohti was sentenced to life imprisonment with a sham trial in 2014. Over a million Uyghurs are locked up in concentration camps to be "re-educated" from a political point of view.
The ceremony presided over by the vice president of the Council of Chinese bishops, Msgr. Yang Yongqiang, from Zhoucun. For the Vatican, Msgr. Jin has been the ordinary of the diocese since 2010 and Msgr. Zhu Baoyu is bishop emeritus. For the government, the former is coadjutor and the latter is the ordinary. Msgr Zhu passed from underground to official in 2010 and was installed by the government as the ordinary bishop of Nanyang at the age of 89.
Chinese authorities are accused of protecting fishermen and harassing local activists. Many monasteries dot the area near the lake and Tibetans traditionally do not eat fish. The central government has declared the area a tourist zone and the fish a protected species. However, the influx of ethnic Han settlers has led to increasing violations.
China rewards the envoys of Pakistan, Sri Lanka, Maldives, Malta and Bosnia-Herzegovina. The China-Pakistani Economic Corridor is the flagship project of the Belt and Road Initiative. However, South Asian countries are increasingly afraid of China’s debt trap. Former Italian PM D'Alema is one of the award’s recipients.
He is the last of the "709" group - arrested in 2015 - to be condemned. The sentence is "subversion against the state". His wife Li Wenzu not allowed to attend the trial. Xi Jinping's promise of a "rule of law" failed.