China

London (Informed Comment) – The escalating American trade war with China has sent third-party nations scrambling for cover as the two largest global economies trade tariffs worth billions. The Trump administration has also levied global tariffs on metal imports from Mexico, Canada and Europe, and threatened to exit the North American Free Trade Agreement; but […]

China

With G7 in Disarray, Putin & Xi court Iran at Shanghai Cooperation Council

Becky Davis

Qingdao (China) (AFP) – Chinese President Xi Jinping on Saturday opened a regional security summit attended by Russia and Iran with boasts of the bloc’s “unity”, just as a fractious G7 gathering was mired in divisions between Europe and the US. SPUTNIK/AFP / Alexei Druzhinin. Chinese President Xi Jinping hailed the bloc’s guiding ‘Shanghai spirit.’ […]

China

China’s Green Shift is Positioning it to Overtake US in Energy Technology, Security

Juan Cole

The Guardian reports that air pollution in 62 Chinese cities fell by 30% between 2013 and 2016, according to the World Health Organization. Beijing, the capital, fell from a global 4th place ranking on polluted air to 187th. I was in Beijing in March, 2015, for a conference, and did a jaunt out to the […]

China

China picking up Iran Gas Deal Trump forced France’s Total to Give Up… In Yuan, not Dollars

Julien Girault

Beijing (AFP) – The US decision to reimpose sanctions on Iran could scare off European investors but oil-thirsty China may step into the void and ramp up business links with the country. China, which is already Iran’s top trade partner and one of its biggest buyers of crude, has signalled that it intends to keep […]

China

The Dragon and the Lion: How China will Win Big from Trump’s Scrapping of Iran Deal

Neil Thompson

London (Informed Comment) – China has rhetorically thrown its weight behind Russia and Europe in continuing to back the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA) between Iran and the P5+1 countries after US President Donald Trump announced that he was withdrawing America from what he called “the decaying and rotten” agreement set up to contain […]

China

Russia and China slam Trump-Macron Push to Renegotiate Iran Deal

Juan Cole

Russia and China are both putting their feet down about the talk in the US and France about renegotiating the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), the 2015 agreement on freezing and curtailing Iran’s nuclear enrichment program by the UN Security Council and Germany in return for lifting international sanctions. US President Trump is threatening […]

China

China’s Climate Policies Could Save 94,000 People from Early Grave

contributors

Beijing (AFP) – China could avoid nearly 94,000 premature deaths and save a whopping $339 billion in health costs over the next 12 years by honoring its carbon reduction commitments under the Paris climate accord, a study showed Monday. The country has pledged to reach peak carbon dioxide emissions by 2030 at the latest and […]

China

Oceania and Eastasia? New Cold War, this Time against both Russia and China?

Michael T. Klare

( Tomdispatch.com ) | – – Think of it as the most momentous military planning on Earth right now. Who’s even paying attention, given the eternal changing of the guard at the White House, as well as the latest in tweets, sexual revelations, and investigations of every sort? And yet it increasingly looks as if, […]

China

Wind & Solar Rising: Has world disillusionment with Nuclear Power reached China?

contributors

The Qinshan nuclear power plant in Zhejiang province (Image: baike) By Feng Hao | (China Dialogue) | – – Slowing demand for electricity and competition from renewables have halted new reactor approvals, writes Feng Hao Globally, the outlook for new, large nuclear reactors is gloomy, according to the International Energy Agency’s (IEA) World Energy Outlook. […]