Zamir Ahmed Awan: Pakistan shows solid support for Beijing Winter Olympics

The friendship between the nations of China and Pakistan offers a unique model that's unmatched by any other pair of countries. Chinese people differentiate this uniqueness with a special terminology "ba tie – 巴铁", which can be translated as "Iron Brothers".

Djoomart Otorbaev: A new record set in rail transportation on the China-Europe route

The Eurasian railway revolution has continued into 2021. Last year, the China-Europe railway bridge set new records by providing stable, reliable and highly efficient logistics services as a pillar of global supply chains, said Wang Wenbin, spokesman for the Chinese Foreign Ministry. Speaking at a regular press conference in Beijing on December 30, he said that the China-Europe express train system had opened the door for mutual stimulation of supply and demand with additional benefits.

Gideon Rachman: The rising toll of famine and conflict

This is an audio transcript of the Rachman Review podcast episode: The rising toll of famine and conflict.

Peter Koenig: Kazakhstan: NATO’s New Frontier?

Kazakhstan reminds of Armenia (September 2015), also energy price increases, Georgia (April 2009), opposition attempting to force pro-Russian President Mikheil Saakashvili, from power; and even to some extent of Ukraine (2014) – Maiden riots supposedly because then President Viktor Yanukovych, lured into negotiations with Europe for an association agreement with the European Union, behind which was – who else – NATO. The majority of Ukrainians had no idea about these ongoing negotiations and their background. So, the riots were planned by long hand and had nothing to do with the short-cut EU negotiations. Talks were eventually interrupted when Yanukovych received assurances from Russia for a “better deal”.

Zhou Rong: Syria joins BRI amid extensive China-Mideast exchanges

Syria on Wednesday signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) on China's Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) as the country is seeking post-war reconstruction, showing its high political trust in China, experts noted. The move came two days before the scheduled visit of the Iranian foreign minister to China - as part of the intensive visits to China of Mideast senior officials this week.

Zhou Rong: Syria joins BRI to rebuild amid wars, Western sanctions, pandemic via cooperation with China

Syria on Wednesday joined China's Belt and Road Initiative (BRI), which experts said is a great achievement of the BRI as it now has connected with the whole Middle East, demonstrating its influence and appeal.

Zhou Rong: China's diplomacy in Middle East, Indian Ocean, East Africa achieves fruitful results

From January 10 to 14, at the invitation of State Councilor and Foreign Minister Wang Yi, the foreign ministers of Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Oman and Bahrain and the secretary-general of the Gulf Cooperation Council began a five-day visit to China. At the same time, at the Foreign Ministry's regular press conference on January 11, spokesman Wang Wenbin announced that at the invitation of Wang Yi, Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu and Iranian Foreign Minister Hossein Amir-Abdollahian will visit China on January 12 and 14, respectively.

Nicholas R. Lardy: China’s tech crackdown affects only a small share of its digital economy and total GDP

Chinese authorities have been reining in some of the country's biggest internet companies, stirring concern about what could be a threat to China's robust private sector. But China's large private sector is more than just internet companies like Alibaba, Tencent, and JD.com. In 2020, only 11 internet companies were among the 500 largest private firms by revenue, according to the All-China Federation of Industry and Commerce.[1] Internet companies account for only 7 percent of the aggregate revenues of the top 500 but 20 percent of the aggregate net profits, reflecting their strong market power.

Ding Gang: Why did NYT fabricate contradiction between Chinese people and zero-COVID policy?

The online edition of the New York Times published an article written by Alexandra Stevenson on January 6 about the new outbreak of COVID-19 in Xi'an, Northwest China's Shaanxi Province. The headline of the story reads "China's Latest Lockdown Shows Stubborn Resolve on Zero-Covid."

Francis Fukuyama: Drone World

After a time-out of nearly ten years, I finally decided to return to building and flying drones. I had done this quite intensively after I first moved to California in 2010, getting help from Chris Anderson and his 3D Robotics colleagues, and wrote about how cheap drones would affect global politics in the FT. I gave this up, however, after I had an A-fib attack flying a drone near my house, ending me up in the hospital. I found drone flying to be extremely stressful; it is easy to crash or lose an expensive drone, and they can do a lot of damage if they hit someone. That’s why I started building terrestrial rovers instead, which can’t get out of hand the way a drone can.

Francis Fukuyama: One Single Day. That’s All It Took for the World to Look Away From Us.

The Jan. 6 attack on Congress by a mob inspired by former President Donald Trump marked an ominous precedent for U.S. politics. Not since the Civil War had the country failed to effect a peaceful transfer of power, and no previous candidate purposefully contested an election’s results in the face of broad evidence that it was free and fair.

Martin Jacques: Zero-COVID policy keeps pandemic under control

China will continue with its zero-COVID-19 policy, which has proved effective and is gaining wider international recognition amid emergence of the Omicron variant, according to officials and experts.

Martin Jacques: What is the secret to to the CPC's secret?

Zhou Rong: Chinese FM’s visit to the Maldives, Sri Lanka shows BRI progress

Chinese State Councilor and Minister of Foreign Affairs Wang Yi began his visit to the Maldives on Friday to commemorate the 50th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic relations of China and the Maldives.

William Jones: World's biggest trade deal takes effect as boost for global economy

The world's largest free trade pact forged by 15 Asia-Pacific countries entered into force Saturday to provide a tailwind for the region's post-pandemic recovery and a catalyst for global economic progress, bringing a ray of hope.

Martin Jacques: One year later, nightmare of Capitol Insurrection still haunts hearts and minds of a divided people

January 6 will be the first anniversary of the Insurrection. Several thousand Americans from all over the country marched on Capitol Hill, the seat of American democracy, intent on occupying the building and preventing the confirmation of Joe Biden as the country's president. It had been long in the planning. Donald Trump spoke to the insurgents before they began their march, assuring them that he would be there to meet them at Capitol Hill. Steve Bannon, formerly one of Trump's closest aides, was intimately involved in the planning. It was an attempted coup d'etat in the heartland of Western democracy. It shocked a nation that had already begun to fear the worst about the future of its democracy as, prior to the election, Trump refused to say that, if defeated, he would honor the result. He was true to his silence. When the result was announced Trump refused to accept it. To this day he continues to claim that he, not Biden, won, and the election had been stolen.

He Weiwen: Time for US to turn the page

About one year ago, on Dec 21, 2020, I wrote an article, titled "Time to Turn the Page", in anticipation of improved China-US trade relations following Joe Biden's election as US president. Disappointingly, even almost one year into Biden's presidency, this has not happened.

Ding Gang: Drop in Xi’an cases indicates light of hope amid hard lockdown

Xi'an, capital city of Northwest China's Shaanxi Province which was hit hard by a COVID-19 epidemic flare-up in the past weeks, saw a dim light of winning the battle against the resurgence as it reported 35 infections on Wednesday, a sharp drop from the previous day's 95 cases.

William Jones: Growbalization -- 20 years on since WTO accession, China globalizes growth for benefit of all

When France-based cosmetics giant L'Oreal entered China to test the waters 24 years ago, it started with opening a small office in Shanghai with only several employees.

Ding Gang: Will Trump stage a comeback in 2022?

2022 is a crucial year for US politics. Many major events are set to occur, such as the mid-term elections and the handling of the Omicron rampage. There is another thing that cannot be ignored: former US president Donald Trump's comeback on social media.