China’s Accelerating Efforts to Internationalize the Renminbi

In recent weeks, a cluster of news reports and commentary has drawn attention to China’s accelerating efforts to internationalize the renminbi (RMB). At the Lujiazui Forum in Shanghai, The New York Times reported that People’s Bank of China governor Pan Gongsheng delivered a pointed critique of global dependence on a single national currency, warning that financial risks stemming from the dominant issuer could spill over internationally and trigger crises. 

Without naming the United States, Pan called for a more diversified global monetary system and promoted China’s digital RMB as part of the solution. According to this framing, China’s current push to expand the RMB’s global role is a strategic response to the vulnerabilities of dollar dependence, rather than a direct challenge to dollar hegemony.

In the Financial Times, economist Gerard Lyons argued that Beijing should consider allowing a gradual appreciation of the RMB to support its international ambitions.

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Torbjørn Færøvik: China’s Communist Party Surpasses 100 Million Members - But At What Cost?

Now it’s official: Membership in the Chinese Communist Party has surpassed 100 million. The news was released yesterday and featured on the front pages of newspapers. According to the People’s Daily, the number of members at the end of 2024 was 100.27 million. The symbolic threshold was crossed after more than two million Chinese citizens joined the party in the past year. 

The Communist Party’s Politburo has been meeting in Beijing in recent days. The Politburo consists of 24 stern men, all of whom have pledged loyalty to party leader Xi Jinping and his ideology. The meeting was, of course, led by Xi, who has ruled the country since 2012.

The party newspapers claim that the strong growth in membership is “irrefutable proof” of the Communist Party’s “correct policies.” But quantity does not necessarily guarantee quality, and the fight against corruption—both inside and outside the party—remains a top priority. Last year was an especially busy one for the Central Committee’s disciplinary commission. Both small and big fish were caught in the net—even several of Xi’s close associates.

Torbjørn Færøvik: Thirty Years on the Road. Ibn Battuta, Islam’s Great Traveler

“I left Tangier, my birthplace, on June 13, 1325, to go on a pilgrimage to Mecca. I waved farewell to all my friends, women and men alike, and left my home as a bird leaves its nest.”

Thus begins Ibn Battuta, perhaps the greatest traveler of all time, his adventurous tale. The journey would last 29 years and take him to the remotest parts of Asia. By the time he finally had enough, he had visited 44 of the countries we find on today’s world map.

Tangier lies at the northern tip of Africa, directly across from Gibraltar. For centuries, the city had been a hub for regional travel and trade. Phoenicians, Romans, Vandals, Arabs, and Spaniards had all ruled here in turn. Caravans stopped here; ships were loaded and unloaded in the port, and sailing vessels from half the globe lay at anchor. Lush tales flew through the air like sharp shots. It was amid the fortune-tellers and storytellers that the seed was sown. Ibn Battuta, 22 years old, mounted a donkey and set off toward the sunrise.

Mecca was 4,500 kilometers away.

Critical Mineral Industries In China’s Far West Using Uyghur Forced Labor: Report

A new report says major Chinese producers of critical minerals are using state-imposed forced labor programs in the Uyghur region to meet rising global demand, putting international brands they export to at risk of complicity in human rights violations.

According to the report by Hague-based rights group Global Rights Compliance, 77 companies and downstream manufacturers of critical minerals-based products operate in the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region (XUAR), placing them at risk of participation in the labor transfer programs in the lithium, titanium, beryllium, and magnesium industries.

The findings are likely to add to the due diligence concerns of foreign and multinational companies that source those products. Forced labor is on a long list of serious human rights problems that have been documented in Xinjiang, where the U.S. government determined in 2021 that China was committing genocide against the Uyghurs.

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China Moving Into Debt-Collection Mode

China has shifted from the world’s largest creditor nation to the globe’s biggest debt collector. Central Asian states owe billions to Chinese entities, but their geographic importance to Beijing is helping protect them from strong-arm repayment tactics.

Institute, Peak repayment: China’s global lending,charts China’s transition from “lead bilateral banker to chief debt collector of the developing world.” It shows that China’s lavish loaning under the auspices of its Belt & Road Initiative (BRI) from 2013-2018 is now set to inflict lots of fiscal pain on recipients. Debtor nations, many of them described in the report as “the world’s poorest and most vulnerable countries,” owe $22 billion to China in 2025. “Beijing has transitioned from capital provider to net financial drain on developing country budgets as debt servicing costs on [BRI] projects from the 2010s now far outstrip new loan disbursements,” the report states.

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China and Taiwan Trade Cybersecurity Accusations

On May 20, Taiwan’s President Lai Ching-te gave a speech to mark the completion of his first year in office, a period that has seen cross-strait tensions increase. Lai has toughened Taiwan’s stancetoward Beijing, which has responded with greater military and gray zone pressure against the self-ruled island. The growing China-Taiwan tensions include both sides trading public accusations of cyberwarfare against each other’s critical infrastructure and private sectors.

Beijing recently accused Taiwan’s ruling Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) of sponsoring an unnamed foreign hacking organization to target a Chinese technology company. Chinese police said up to 1,000 military, energy, and government networks were also targeted by Taiwan. Earlier in March, the Chinese government alleged that Taiwanese intelligence officers had targeted Beijing’s infrastructure. Taipei has denied all of China’s cyberwarfare accusations and accused the mainland government of spreading disinformation about Taiwan.

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AI hits an already weak jobs market

China’s eagerness to adopt artificial intelligence comes just as economic growth is slowing, putting millions of routine jobs at risk. “I’m planning to get rid of 360 [Security Technology’s] entire marketing department. This way the company can save tens of millions a year,” founder and chair Zhou Hongyi said in a Chinese-language video on Friday night, translated by CNBC. It’s since been viewed more than 191,000 times on popular Chinese platform Weibo alone.

Zhou, who has nearly 12 million followers on Weibo, said he’s attempting to use the company’s forthcoming generative AI tool to prepare a press conference for the product by himself in five days. The AI agent plus search tool is due for release on Wednesday.

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China, U.S. officials reach agreement for allowing rare-earth, tech trade. Now it’s up to Trump and Xi

The U.S. and China have reached an agreement on trade, representatives from both sides said after a second day of high-level talks in London, with the deal now awaiting a nod from the leaders of the two countries.

“We have reached a framework to implement the Geneva consensus and the call between the two presidents,” U.S. Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick told reporters. That echoed comments to reporters from Li Chenggang, China’s international trade representative and a vice minister at China’s Commerce Ministry.

U.S. President Donald Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping spoke by phone late last week, stabilizing what had become a fraught relationship with both countries accusing each other of violating the Geneva trade agreement. At a meeting in Switzerland in mid-May, the world’s two largest economies had agreed to a 90-day suspension of tariffs added in April, and a rollback of certain other measures.

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Imprisoned Hong Kong activist Joshua Wong faces new ‘foreign collusion’ charge

Joshua Wong, 28, is already serving a four-year-and-eight-month sentence for subversion. He is currently due for release about one-and-a-half years from now. If found guilty on the new charge it could prolong his imprisonment. Wong is one of the most internationally recognizable faces of the now-quashed democracy movement in the city. He was among 45 Hong Kong opposition politicians and pro-democracy activists who were convicted with “conspiracy to commit subversion” under the city’s 2020 National Security Law for taking part in a democratic primary in the summer of 2020. 

Wong appeared at West Kowloon Magistrates’ Courts on Friday afternoon wearing a navy blue shirt. He appeared in good spirits. After the court clerk read out the charge, Wong responded, “Understood,” and waved and nodded to supporters as he left. 

The entire hearing lasted about three minutes. He was charged with one count of “conspiring to collude with foreign or external forces to endanger national security.” He was specifically accused of conspiring with exiled activist Nathan Law and others in 2020. The case was adjourned until Aug. 8 to allow for further investigation, and Wong did not apply for bail and will remain in custody. He was not required to enter a plea.

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China Accuses EU of Stirring Up ‘Trouble’ in South China Sea

China’s embassy in the Philippines yesterday urged the European Union to stop “provoking trouble” in the South China Sea, several days after Manila and Brussels announced the establishment of a new security and defense dialogue. The dialogue was announced on June 2 during a visit by the EU’s foreign policy chief Kaja Kallas, who held talks with Foreign Secretary Enrique Manalo about a wide range of issues, including the situation in the South China Sea.

“We urge the EU to genuinely respect China’s territorial sovereignty and maritime rights and interests in the South China Sea and to stop provoking trouble,” a Chinese embassy spokesperson said in a statement, Reuters reported. The statement also advised Manila not to “fantasize” about using outside powers to resolve its long-standing disputes with China.

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After the Tiananmen Square Massacre: A Reflection on America’s China Policy

On June 4, 1989, the Chinese government brutally and bloodily suppressed the peaceful pro-democracy protest movement in Beijing and all around China, resulting in the slaughter of thousands of students and citizens. This incident, known as theTiananmen Massacre, provoked a short-lived turning point in U.S. China policy. Before the Massacre, the United States had pursued a policy of engagement with China; after, the U.S. started to prioritize human rights above U.S. interests – but only for a moment. Before long, Washington had once again put national security and economic interests above human rights and democracy.

This short-lived turning point demonstrates the basic logic of the United States’ China policy in an era long predating Trump.

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China holds all of the cards when it comes to rare earths, says mining CEO

Mark Smith, CEO of mineral development company NioCorp, says that the U.S. needs to find a way to get along with China for its supply of heavy rare earths while the former builds up its supply chain, and that stockpiling of critical minerals is unlikely to work as China is the only seller.

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COLONIAL BOARDING SCHOOLS AND REINCARNATION POLICIES HELP CHINA CONTROL TIBET’S FUTURE

Tibet´s future remains imperiled by the Chinese government’s continued efforts to sever the generational links that sustain Tibetan culture. Recent reports have analyzed how this dynamic plays out in the realms of education and religion. 

Earlier this year, The New York Times published an investigation into Tibetan boarding schools, which “assimilate a generation of Tibetans into the national mainstream and mold them into citizens loyal to the Communist Party.” The Tibet Action Institute, whose groundbreaking 2021 report first brought widespread attention to the issue of the Chinese government’s colonial-style boarding schools in Tibet, released a new report this Wednesday under the title, “When They Came to Take Our Children: China’s Colonial Boarding Schools and the Future of Tibet.” The executive summary outlined the report’s key findings regarding the Chinese government’s ongoing project to impose the “deliberate reshaping of [Tibetan] children’s identity in boarding schools”.

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‘Am I that scary?’: Tiananmen Mother, 88, marks son’s death, still faces surveillance

An 88-year-old mother whose son died in the 1989 Tiananmen massacre has trouble even walking to a Beijing cemetery to commemorate his passing every June 4, but authorities still keep her under surveillance. “Am I that scary?” she asks. Zhang Xianling is one of the founding members of the Tiananmen Mothers group that represents the families of victims of the crackdown on pro-democracy protesters that left hundreds if not thousands dead. The incident is expunged from the public record in China.

Each year, the mothers submit a letter to Chinese leaders, calling on the ruling communist party to publicize records about the June 4, 1989, incident, award compensation and to hold accountable those responsible for the killings.

Zhang told Radio Free Asia that although she is old, has difficulty getting about and needs a wheelchair, as long as her physical condition allows, she will definitely go to Beijing’s Wan’an Cemetery on June 4 to pay tribute to her son Wang Nan who died in the crackdown - as a group of mothers does each year.

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Old China: Bound Feet and Bad Smell, by Torbjørn Færøvik

We don't know when Chinese women began binding their feet. It was most likely around 800-900 A.D. The curious custom had to do with marriage, with sex, with beauty - and duty. This is a chapter from my book "Midtens rike" (The Middle Kingdom, Oslo 2024).

Power Can Sparkle: The Forbidden City in Beijing

Power can sparkle, and in Beijing it certainly does. Several thousand workers and artisans have during the past few years been laboring to restore The Forbidden City, the abode of Chinese emperors for centuries.

Kina, Japan og fortiden

På direktiv fra Beijing har Kinas ambassadører i utlandet kastet seg inn i den pågående propagandakrigen mot Japan. Så også landets ambassadør i Norge, Zhao Jun, som bidrar med en artikkel i Aftenposten 16. januar.

Human Rights in China: A Year of Trials

The human rights condition in China is getting worse, not better. Read more

China's relaxation of one-child policy to begin rolling out early next year

Changes to China's strict one-child policy that will allow more parents to have a second child will begin to roll out early next year, according to state media. The policy change is expected to go into force in some areas of China in the first quarter of 2014. Read more

"Your father is starving to death!"

In the spring of 1959, Yang Jisheng, then an 18-year-old scholarship student at a boarding school in China's Hubei Province, got an unexpected visit from a childhood friend. "Your father is starving to death!" the friend told him. "Hurry back, and take some rice if you can." Mr. Yang's father would die within three days. He was one of the 36 million Chinese who succumbed to famine between 1958 and 1962. Read more