Forwarded from 📡Guardians of Hong Kong
#Manner #CCP
"Good Riddance": China Tells Off Germany's UN Envoy Who Asks Beijing to Release 2 Detained Canadians for Christmas
Germany's UN envoy Ambassador Christoph Heusgen, during his last UN Security Council meeting, asked China to free two detained Canadians for Christmas:
"Let me end my tenure on the Security Council by appealing to my Chinese colleagues to ask Beijing for the release of Michael Kovrig and Michael Spavor. Christmas is the right moment for such a gesture."
Shortly after Canadian police arrested China's Huawei Technologies Chief Financial Officer Meng Wanzhou on a U.S. warrant in 2018, the Chinese Communist Party government detained Michael Kovrig, a former Canadian diplomat and cuurent advisor for the International Crisis Group think tank, and businessman Michael Spavor in China.
China's deputy UN envoy Geng Shuang immediately comdemned Heusgen for "malicious attack" and fired:
"I wish to say something out of the bottom of my heart: Good riddance, Ambassador Heusgen. I am hoping that the council in your absence in the year 2021 will be in a better position to fulfil the responsibilities...for maintaining international peace and security."
Heusgen plans to retire after working as a diplomat for more than 40 years.
Source: CBC; Apple Daily #Dec22
https://bit.ly/3pgL2FR
https://www.cbc.ca/news/world/u-n-germany-kovrig-spavor-1.5852655
#Kovrig #Spavor #2Michaels #ChristophHeusgen #Germany #GengShuang #UN #Christmas2020
"Good Riddance": China Tells Off Germany's UN Envoy Who Asks Beijing to Release 2 Detained Canadians for Christmas
Germany's UN envoy Ambassador Christoph Heusgen, during his last UN Security Council meeting, asked China to free two detained Canadians for Christmas:
"Let me end my tenure on the Security Council by appealing to my Chinese colleagues to ask Beijing for the release of Michael Kovrig and Michael Spavor. Christmas is the right moment for such a gesture."
Shortly after Canadian police arrested China's Huawei Technologies Chief Financial Officer Meng Wanzhou on a U.S. warrant in 2018, the Chinese Communist Party government detained Michael Kovrig, a former Canadian diplomat and cuurent advisor for the International Crisis Group think tank, and businessman Michael Spavor in China.
China's deputy UN envoy Geng Shuang immediately comdemned Heusgen for "malicious attack" and fired:
"I wish to say something out of the bottom of my heart: Good riddance, Ambassador Heusgen. I am hoping that the council in your absence in the year 2021 will be in a better position to fulfil the responsibilities...for maintaining international peace and security."
Heusgen plans to retire after working as a diplomat for more than 40 years.
Source: CBC; Apple Daily #Dec22
https://bit.ly/3pgL2FR
https://www.cbc.ca/news/world/u-n-germany-kovrig-spavor-1.5852655
#Kovrig #Spavor #2Michaels #ChristophHeusgen #Germany #GengShuang #UN #Christmas2020
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China’s ban on Australian coal backfires spectacularly as electricity shortages worsen
China unofficially banned Aussie coal since October, with steel mills and power companies apparently told to steer clear. It has also emerged that more than 60 ships carrying thermal and coking coal which is almost $700 million worth of Australian goods at are stuck off China’s coast.
Beijing’s brutal bullying tactics have hit Australian businesses hard, but it turns out the communist state is shooting itself in the foot.
In China, power shortages are increasing with millions of citizens resorting to rationing their heating over winter and avoiding using elevators.
In 2019, more than half of China’s thermal coal were imported from Australia for its power stations. Also, Australia supplied 40 per cent of the nation’s imports of coking coal.
Source: New.com.au #Dec22
https://www.news.com.au/finance/business/other-industries/chinas-ban-on-australian-coal-backfires-spectacularly-as-electricity-shortages-worsen/news-story/8e888701f2766097a7658ee86a0495c8
#Australia #China #AustralianCoal #ChinaPowerPlant
China unofficially banned Aussie coal since October, with steel mills and power companies apparently told to steer clear. It has also emerged that more than 60 ships carrying thermal and coking coal which is almost $700 million worth of Australian goods at are stuck off China’s coast.
Beijing’s brutal bullying tactics have hit Australian businesses hard, but it turns out the communist state is shooting itself in the foot.
In China, power shortages are increasing with millions of citizens resorting to rationing their heating over winter and avoiding using elevators.
In 2019, more than half of China’s thermal coal were imported from Australia for its power stations. Also, Australia supplied 40 per cent of the nation’s imports of coking coal.
Source: New.com.au #Dec22
https://www.news.com.au/finance/business/other-industries/chinas-ban-on-australian-coal-backfires-spectacularly-as-electricity-shortages-worsen/news-story/8e888701f2766097a7658ee86a0495c8
#Australia #China #AustralianCoal #ChinaPowerPlant
news
China’s ban on Aussie coal seriously backfires
China’s savage trade war with Australia has brought a string of industries to their knees – but now, it appears the feud has also spectacularly backfired for Beijing.
Forwarded from 📡Guardians of Hong Kong
WeChat Becomes a Powerful Surveillance Tool Everywhere in China
WeChat has become one of the most powerful tools in Beijing’s arsenal for monitoring the public, censoring speech and punishing people who voice discontent with the government. Its dominance in Chinese society has become more entrenched in 2020 due to remote working and learning during the coronavirus pandemic.
Tencent and Alibaba developed health-rating systems for government as one of the main contact-tracing tools to contain the spread of the coronavirus. The health codes embedded within WeChat and Alipay have become essential passes in China for entering residences, office buildings and accessing public transportation.
WeChat uses client-to-server encryption, which grants Tencent full access to data between senders and recipients, as opposed to end-to-end encryption, said Fergus Ryan, an analyst at the Australian Strategic Policy Institute, a nonpartisan think tank created by the Australian government.
China’s internet firewall has long blocked foreign sites and messaging apps, including Google, WhatsApp, Telegram and Facebook, but these can be accessed via virtual private networks (VPN).
“Some of my friends and clients switch to Signal or FaceTime for sensitive conversations. Still, for the majority of people, they don’t think it’s absolutely necessary to get over the firewall for daily communications,” said Zhang Qingfang, a Beijing-based human-rights lawyer.
Source: WSJ #Dec22
https://www.wsj.com/articles/wechat-becomes-a-powerful-surveillance-tool-everywhere-in-china-11608633003
#HealthCode #WeChat #Tencent #Alibaba #Censorship
WeChat has become one of the most powerful tools in Beijing’s arsenal for monitoring the public, censoring speech and punishing people who voice discontent with the government. Its dominance in Chinese society has become more entrenched in 2020 due to remote working and learning during the coronavirus pandemic.
Tencent and Alibaba developed health-rating systems for government as one of the main contact-tracing tools to contain the spread of the coronavirus. The health codes embedded within WeChat and Alipay have become essential passes in China for entering residences, office buildings and accessing public transportation.
WeChat uses client-to-server encryption, which grants Tencent full access to data between senders and recipients, as opposed to end-to-end encryption, said Fergus Ryan, an analyst at the Australian Strategic Policy Institute, a nonpartisan think tank created by the Australian government.
China’s internet firewall has long blocked foreign sites and messaging apps, including Google, WhatsApp, Telegram and Facebook, but these can be accessed via virtual private networks (VPN).
“Some of my friends and clients switch to Signal or FaceTime for sensitive conversations. Still, for the majority of people, they don’t think it’s absolutely necessary to get over the firewall for daily communications,” said Zhang Qingfang, a Beijing-based human-rights lawyer.
Source: WSJ #Dec22
https://www.wsj.com/articles/wechat-becomes-a-powerful-surveillance-tool-everywhere-in-china-11608633003
#HealthCode #WeChat #Tencent #Alibaba #Censorship
WSJ
WeChat Becomes a Powerful Surveillance Tool Everywhere in China
China’s do-everything app, WeChat, has become one of the most powerful tools in Beijing’s arsenal for monitoring the public, censoring speech and punishing people who voice discontent with the government.
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Canadian government invokes national security to block Chinese takeover of Nunavut gold mine
Canada has blocked a Chinese state-owned mining company from purchasing a gold mine in Nunavut on national security grounds, signalling a new escalation of already high tensions between the two countries.
“The one thing I would say is that in taking action, the government has definitely shown that what we have built in Nunavut, they see as a important to Canada and nationally,” Jason Neal, chief executive of TMAC, said. Neal believed the government should be more supportive of companies that build infrastructure in Nunavut and other parts of the Arctic.
Source: Financial Post #Dec22
https://financialpost.com/commodities/mining/canada-blocks-china-shandong-gold-mining-buying-tmac?utm_medium=Social&utm_source=Twitter#Echobox=1608675178
#CanadaGoldMine #Nunavut #NationalSecurity #Canada #ChinaAcquisition
Canada has blocked a Chinese state-owned mining company from purchasing a gold mine in Nunavut on national security grounds, signalling a new escalation of already high tensions between the two countries.
“The one thing I would say is that in taking action, the government has definitely shown that what we have built in Nunavut, they see as a important to Canada and nationally,” Jason Neal, chief executive of TMAC, said. Neal believed the government should be more supportive of companies that build infrastructure in Nunavut and other parts of the Arctic.
Source: Financial Post #Dec22
https://financialpost.com/commodities/mining/canada-blocks-china-shandong-gold-mining-buying-tmac?utm_medium=Social&utm_source=Twitter#Echobox=1608675178
#CanadaGoldMine #Nunavut #NationalSecurity #Canada #ChinaAcquisition