Beijing offers to vaccinate Taiwan’s population after more than 200 new daily cases are found on the island.
Taiwanese citizens could fly to China to take the vaccine, says the Taiwan Affairs Office, the main body for inter-strait relations.
This could be a new chance for mainland China to appear as a benevolent neighbor to the self-governed island after years of rising tensions, but the island’s government already refused a previous offer, preferring Japanese and Western help and receiving two million doses of Astrazeneca.
Source: SCMP
Xi Jinping visit to Qinghai – 习近平在青海考察时强调
From the 7th to the 9th of June, accompanied by Qinghai Provincial Party Secretary Wang Jianjun and Governor Xin Changxing, president Xi Jinping visited Xining City, Haibei Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture, to conduct investigations into enterprises, communities, nature reserves, and rural areas.
During his inspection tour, Xi Jinping emphasized the importance of a people-centered approach, the necessity of deepening reforms and opening-up, and further promoted ecological protection and high-quality development on the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau. Moreover, Xi Jinping emphasized that Qinghai is a strategic location for stabilizing Xinjiang and Tibet.
Source: 新华
China set to launch astronauts to space station for the first time with Shenzhou-12
China rolled out a Long March 2F rocket on Wednesday in preparation to send the Shenzhou-12 spacecraft and three astronauts to the Tianhe core module for China’s space station which launched April 28.
Shenzhou-12 will set a record for Chinese human spaceflight mission duration and will be the third of 11 missions planned for the construction phase of the three-module Chinese space station across 2021 and 2022. China’s first crewed mission was Shenzhou-5 in 2003 which made the country only the third to demonstrate independent human spaceflight capabilities.
Source: Space news
Chinese students take crucial ‘gaokao’ exams in Covid isolation
The gaokao — which began on Monday and ended Wednesday — is typically the most stressful point of a Chinese student’s life, with results determining admission into universities and shaping career prospects.
Guangdong has reported dozens of Covid-19 cases in recent days, prompting authorities to impose travel curbs and mass testing just ahead of the infamous exams, an annual moment of peak anxiety for students and parents. The local government has dispatched hundreds of taxis and buses to ferry students from neighborhoods affected by the outbreak to exam venues, with state broadcaster CCTV showing footage of drivers in hazmat suits spraying down their cars.
Source: AFP
China passes law to counter foreign sanctions
“China previously had neither the economic power nor the political will to use legal means to retaliate against U.S. sanctions. It now has both.” – Wang Jiangyu, a law professor at City University of Hong Kong.
The National People’s Congress (NPC) standing committee passed a new law on Thursday. It consists of a legal tool, and it is intended to give more legitimacy and predictability to Chinese measures to counter foreign sanctions.
The Chinese government can decide to put on an anti-sanctions list, those entities who discriminate against Chinese citizens. Those on the list may be denied entry or be expelled from China. Also, business restrictions can be implemented with entities or people within China.
Sources: Reuters, Global Times
New Chinese semiconductors tripled in 2021 as results of Chinese push for self-sufficiency in the sector
The semiconductor sector has been one of the main fields of the dispute between China and the U.S. referred to as “Tech War”, the supply of edge-cutting chips is fundamental for the high tech industry.
American sanctions made it almost impossible for some Chinese firms to buy the most advanced chips from the Taiwanese TMSC, Korean Samsung Electronics and Intel, world’s biggest producers, forcing Chinese firms to resort to Chinese chips.
Source: SCMP