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Category: China

  • Understanding The Changes Unseen In A Century

    General Secretary Xi Jinping has observed several times that “the world is undergoing profound changes unseen in a century”. What are these changes, and what are their implications for the current global situation?

    Before addressing the changes the world is experiencing today, it is worthwhile reflecting on the major changes that occurred a century ago, since the dramatic shifts of that time laid the foundations for the transformations we are witnessing now.

    The October Revolution of 1917 was a watershed moment marking the beginning of humanity’s transition from capitalism to socialism.

    The post Understanding The Changes Unseen In A Century appeared first on PopularResistance.Org.

    This post was originally published on PopularResistance.Org.

  • Germany Is Sabotaging Its Relations With China

    The visit of German Chancellor Helmut Schmidt to Beijing 50 years ago was a visit that lifted German-Chinese relations to a completely new level. On 31 October 1975, Schmidt met the Chinese head of state Mao Zedong. In preparation he had read Mao’s poems. It was the first visit of a German chancellor to China.

    Schmidt remained someone who, throughout his life, wanted to break with the colonial past of the West in China, and advocated relations on equal footing and with mutual respect. For example, in his discussion of the book The Governance of China by Chinese President Xi Jinping, he called on the West to replace arrogance with fair competition in its relationship with China.

    The post Germany Is Sabotaging Its Relations With China appeared first on PopularResistance.Org.

    This post was originally published on PopularResistance.Org.

  • MPs vote down Farage’s proposal for UK to leave ECHR – as it happened

    This blog is now closed, you can read more of our UK political coverage here

    Mark Sedwill, the former cabinet secretary and former national security adviser, goes next. He is now a peer, and a member of the committee.

    He says the deputy national security adviser, Matthew Collins, thought there was enough evidence for the case to go ahead. But the CPS did not agree. Who was right?

    In 2017, the Law Commission flagged that the term enemy [in the legislation] was deeply problematic and it would give rise to difficulties in future prosecutions.

    And I think what has played out, during this prosecution exemplifies and highlights the difficulties with that.

    Continue reading…

    This post was originally published on Human rights | The Guardian.

  • The Battery Belt: When the Sun Touches the Silk

    Nako Dost Muhammad (image on left) had never heard the hum of a fan. Living in a village named Kolahu in Tump, a tehsil in district Kech tucked between dusty hills and near the edge of the Iranian border, Nako’s life has been cloaked in darkness.

    Since 2016, the electricity connections in their village had been completely cut off, making them rely on the dim, choking flame of a kerosene lamp. He remembers a night when his grandson was bitten by a scorpion. There was no proper light to see where the creepy creature had gone, no decent transport to take the boy to a dispensary or a fan to stop them from sleeping on the floor. From the school in the village to the dispensary nearby, none had power.

    Until last month, Nako recalls, when a solar-panel-laden Zamyad vehicle from Turbat arrived. A local contractor and three other people came with unfamiliar tools: a metal pole, a solar panel, a fan, wires and, intriguingly, a battery that had neither sulphuric acid nor distilled water in it, he says. He was told by the contractor that he was among the 40 recipients from the village to receive “a home solar solution” under a new provincial scheme from the Energy Department of Balochistan.

    Balochistan, Pakistan’s largest province in terms of area, remains the most energy deprived region. Almost 36 per cent of Balochistan is connected to the national grid and the connected ones receive erratic supply, according to a report presented in the National Assembly of Pakistan. Therefore, in this void, solar technology has been a boon. The Energy Department of Balochistan in collaboration with the People’s Republic of China is now providing home solar systems through a 15,000 solar home system grant aid by the China International Development Cooperation Agency (CIDCA) and the South-South Cooperation Assistance Fund (SSCACF). These include 250 Watts panels, wiring kits, charge controllers and critically lithium-ion batteries to store power to be utilised during night.

    Lithium Solar Charge Controller

    Nako didn’t know what a “lithium-ion battery” was, nor had he heard of  Guangdong, a Chinese province, stamped on the battery casing. What he knew about was a solar panel that caught sunlight, a battery that stored something invisible and that by the evening, his home — one mud house — would have two working lights and a fan to sleep just like in the city.

    These lithium-ion batteries that are used to power electric scooters in Karachi or power up laptops and mobile phones in Lahore, are now providing electricity to the far away hamlets of Balochistan, often forgotten by the National power grid. From the fertile lands of Pishin district in the North to the draught-hit district of Gwadar in the South, these Chinese-made lithium-ion batteries, compact yet powerful, are converting sunlight into steady electricity in the night.

    A Tale of two chemistries

    “Lead acid batteries are the grandfather of energy storage invented in 1859,” Says Abdul Saboor, a chemistry professor in Atta Shad Degree college, Turbat. “They are cheap, recyclable and are locally manufactured by firms like Exide, Osaka and AGS. But they are heavy, require maintenance and give away 50 per cent of the charge stored in them. Unluckily, depending upon usage, their life span varies from 2 to five years.”

    By contrast, he explains, lithium-ion batteries especially the Lithium-iron Phosphate variants are now the heart of solar systems, electric scooters, and backup power. They last longer, are lighter and discharge up to 90 to 95 per cent.

    So what is the fine print?

    “The cost”, says a consumer from Tump. “A 100Ah battery in the market costs Rs. 28,000 while a lithium-ion battery in that range would cost you Rs. 80,000.”

    This expensive cost puts the lithium-ion batteries out of the reach of the middle class people. Another resident from Turbat confided in me that he purchased a lithium-ion battery in Gwadar — similar to the ones distributed under the provincial scheme — for Rs. 60,000, giving birth to a black market driven by high demand of the lithium-ion batteries and their quality.

    Made in China: A Double-Edged Sword

    Almost all, 90%, of the lithium-ion batteries in Pakistani markets are imported from China, with the remaining 10 per cent from United States and Bahrain. Brands like Dynavolt, CATL and BYD arrive through CPEC-linked logistics chains or local distributors from Karachi’s Saddar or Lahore’s Hall Road.

    Between August 2023 to July 2024, Pakistan’s lithium-ion battery import from China stood at a staggering 710 shipments, according to Volza Pakistan’s Import data. Reports from the Pakistan’s Customs and Pakistan Bureau of Statistics show that from the fiscal years of 2019 to 2024, the import money for lithium-ion batteries increased from $12 million to a jaw-dropping $49 million.

    Another report by the Institute for Energy Economics and Financial Analysis (IEEFA), shows the lithium-ion batteries import in 2024 in the country was totalled around 1.25 GWh and additionally 400 megawatt-hour( MWh) in the months of January and February of 2025 alone. This report also reiterates that if this current trend to solarize the country with solar-plus-battery installation continues, luckily, Pakistan’s 26 per cent of peak electricity demand would be met by 2030. For now, importing batteries from China is a blessing, but there is a cost to this convenience.

    Pakistan currently lacks local manufacturing capacity for lithium-ion batteries. We have no lithium mining, no cell production capabilities and no infrastructure to recycle e-waste. Given that the world lithium supply chain is tense due to geopolitical rivalries, Pakistan’s entire dependency on a single supplier could cause trade shocks.

    “Probably, there would be a continued import of lithium-ion batteries from China or passive assembly units in the days to come.” Expresses, Asumi Heibitan, an Electric Engineer graduate from Bahaudin Zakriya University, Multan. “ If there is a shift in export policy by Beijing, a shipping issue or a geopolitical service cut-off, Pakistan won’t have any alternative supplier.”

    There would also be an issue of equity just beyond trade risks, Asumi warns. A 5kWh lithium-ion battery with solar panel and inverter would cost more than two lakh__ an unaffordable price for most of the low-income families. Though schemes like the Energy Department of Balochistan would make a dent, but many marginalised communities remain excluded to-date.

    On a different aspect, The Electric Vehicles Policy 2020-2025 of Pakistan has also envisaged to turn 30 per cent of all the vehicles into EVs by 2030. BYD alone envisions to assemble EVs in Pakistan by mid-2026, but with a single lithium -ion battery ally and sky-rocketing prices of such batteries in the global market, Pakistan’s nascent dream of Electric Vehicles could collapse overnight.

    Environmental Hazards

    Pakistan also doesn’t have any formal lithium-ion recycling capacity, which means the end-of-life batteries — typically containing poisonous metals like cobalt, manganese, nickel and lithium salts — would end up in waste sites, weakening soil health and water contamination. Resultantly, Pakistan is going to be a dumping ground for e-waste, without policies on lithium waste management.

    “We are sleepwalking to an e-waste crisis.” says Bahram Baloch, a student from BUITEMS, Quetta. “ It is like buying thousands of ships with no ship-breaking yards in sight.”

    Unfortunately, none of the technical universities of the country, be it UET Lahore, BUITEMS in Quetta or NED University offer specialized courses on battery assembly, recycling and management. This educational gap would definitely force reliance on foreign Chinese or German consultants for large-scale energy projects.

    Though geological surveys by the Pakistan Mineral Development Corporation (PMDC) also suggest the possible availability of lithium in the Chagai district in Balochistan and the Gilgit-Baltistan region, this would, definitely change Pakistan from a consumer to contributor but Chinese extraction models, local rights and environmental safety factors also remain fragile.

    The way ahead and the continued import

    While the world advances to a more sophisticated green energy future, the continued import of Chinese-made lithium-ion batteries not merely becomes a trade practice but raises broader national policy questions: Should the country rely on this traditional imported green tech or start developing its own local manufacturing capacity? What if the these tens of thousands of installed lithium-ion batteries pile up on garbage heaps with no future disposal plans? Is it wise to build a green energy future with products that Pakistan doesn’t control?

    Our neighbours and others have answers to offer. India, one of the importers of lithium-ion batteries is now heavily investing on its production Linked Incentive (PLI) scheme for Advanced Chemistry Cell (ACC) battery storage. It has also enacted the Battery Waste Management Rule of 2022 to manufacture and recycle lithium-ion batteries locally and to manage e-waste. Bangladesh is working with private companies to make lithium-iron phosphate batteries and even small African countries, for example, Rwanda is investing on such pilot projects while we are left behind a import-only paradigm, in spite of investing on incentives to localise, assemble and innovate.

    A way for a safe and greener future requires coordinated developments on multiple fronts. First, the government ought to encourage local battery assembly units by offering tax incentives, cheap loans and technical trainings. This will not only create jobs for the locals but also reduce the dependency on imports. Simultaneously, bilateral agreement with China should go beyond trade, like joint technology developments on battery maintenance and assembly units in SEZs (Special Economic Zones) in Gwadar under CPEC. On the other hand, the Pakistan Council of Renewable Energy Technologies in collaboration with NADRA and provincial Energy Departments should start mapping lithium-ion battery installations nationwide so that they could forecast future replacement and predict as well as manage waste volumes.

    While Public education on battery safety standards, life span and quality should be prioritize. We also need to diversify our import sources from South Korea, UAE and Japan to avoid any jerk from global lithium-ion battery supply.

    Back in Tump, the days are getting hotter. Nako Dost Muhammad tells the visitors proudly that he doesn’t fear the nights. His grandson can now study at the ungodly hours of the night without a kerosene lamp and that his wife doesn’t need to cook before dusk.

    But his fear about the battery started after a teacher in the village told him that these batteries catch fire in temperatures above 60 centigrade. He wonders how long that box with Chinese letters would last, since he has received no receipt, no warranty cards and no ways to replace it.

    For now, the lithium in his battery has travelled a long way — perhaps from a mining site in Chile to a factory in Guangdong in China, to the Karachi port, and then to a village with bumpy roads long forgotten by the National grid.

    Lithium-ion batteries are a good fit for a country which aspires for a green energy future and with unreliable electricity but the way Pakistan is using them now — only importing with no local assembly units is a real risk. We need to decide whether we only want to be consumers of foreign technology or a country that localises, manages and innovates their own green energy solutions. Only the future will tell.

    The post The Battery Belt: When the Sun Touches the Silk first appeared on Dissident Voice.

    This post was originally published on Dissident Voice.

  • The ‘Donroe Doctrine’: Trump’s Neocolonial Plan For Latin America

    The US government has always meddled in Latin America’s internal affairs. This is far from new.

    The United States overthrew at least 41 governments in Latin America from 1898 to 1994, according to research by Columbia University historian John Coatsworth.

    In the past three decades, Washington has backed dozens more coups, coup attempts, regime-change operations, and “color revolutions” in the region.

    The US military has intervened in every single country in Latin America, according to data from the Congressional Research Service. (The only exception is French Guiana, which is a colony of France.)

    US imperialism has always been bipartisan in Washington, and has continued under both Republican and Democratic presidents.

    The post The ‘Donroe Doctrine’: Trump’s Neocolonial Plan For Latin America appeared first on PopularResistance.Org.

    This post was originally published on PopularResistance.Org.

  • Shanghai’s JSBio Expands Into Cultivated Meat to Tap China’s Future Food Opportunity

    jsbio
    5 Mins Read

    Jianshun Biosciences, a Shanghai-based culture media supplier, has expanded from biopharma to the cellular agriculture field to join China’s booming alternative protein industry.

    With more patents than any other region in the world, and an ecosystem boosted by government investment, it’d be a mistake not to look at China’s alternative protein industry as anything but world-beating.

    And homegrown companies are recognising the opportunity. Based in Shanghai, Jianshun Biosciences (JSBio) is one of them. The firm is a leading cell culture media manufacturer for the biopharma sector, with operations in the US and South Korea too. But now, it is building on that expertise to cater to the cultivated meat industry.

    “JSBio has expanded into cultivated meat to leverage its biopharma expertise and large-scale cell culture capabilities,” founder Shun Luo tells Green Queen. “This move aligns with our mission to promote sustainable food innovation and the health of both people and the planet.”

    The company will deliver serum-free formulations, food-grade components, and process development support to help cultivated meat producers scale up efficiently, with Luo describing the cellular agriculture focus as a “natural next step” from advancing human health to supporting long-term wellbeing.

    Asia’s largest dry powder culture media network

    jsbiosciences
    Courtesy: JSBio

    Founded in 2011, JSBio has developed over 200 serum-free culture media products tailored to various cell types. Additionally, it provides process optimisation support to help businesses improve yields, maintain cell health, and scale efficiently.

    In recent years, the firm has collaborated closely with trailblazing cultivated meat companies, leading to the development of its CellKey Series of culture media. This supports the unique demands of cultured meat production while incorporating food-grade components at an industrial scale.

    “JSBio works with top cultivated meat companies globally, including several that have already achieved important regulatory milestones,” explains COO Louis Cheung, without disclosing the names of the companies.

    “JSBio produces cell culture media from high-quality, food-grade materials,” he adds. “Dry-powder media are made with an automated pin-milling system, while liquid media use single-use preparation and terminal filtration. Each batch undergoes strict quality checks before aseptic filling and traceable delivery.”

    In fact, the firm operates Asia’s largest dry powder culture media network, with an annual capacity exceeding 6,000 tonnes across several sites. This, Cheung says, positions JSBio to deliver both scale and affordability to partner companies.

    JSBio’s culture media costs under $1 per litre

    lab grown meat china
    Courtesy: JSBio

    “JSBio integrates its services into cultivated meat production by providing end-to-end support, including food-grade raw materials, culture media at various scales, and formula optimisation to meet companies’ operational needs,” says Cheung. “Regulatory support is a core focus, with strict quality controls helping streamline approvals and accelerate market entry.”

    Culture media are essential to the production of cultivated meat, entailing a mix of nutrients to facilitate the growth of animal cells. These components account for the majority of the costs involved in the entire process, and reducing this is key to reaching price parity with conventional meat.

    Typically, culture medium costs hundreds of dollars per litre, thanks to expensive animal inputs like bovine serum albumin and fetal bovine serum, as well as growth factors and basal media (such as amino acids, vitamins, and glucose).

    Globally, more and more cultivated meat companies are shifting to serum-free media formulations to drive down production costs, with US startup Clever Carnivore bringing this to just $0.07 per litre at pilot scale.

    “Media remains a major cost driver in cultivated meat production. We work to understand what cells truly need, streamline formulations, secure cost-efficient raw materials, and enable processes like high-temperature-short-time (HTST) sterilisation – and that’s just a glimpse of how we help partners scale cultivated meat more cost-effectively,” says Cheung.

    “For existing cultivated meat clients, JSBio offers culture media at less than $1 per litre,” he adds. “As we expand our supply chain and adopt new technologies to boost productivity, we anticipate further reductions in cost.”

    China embraces cultivated meat

    jianshun biosciences
    Courtesy: JSBio

    With its expansion into cellular agriculture, JSBio has joined the APAC Society for Cellular Agriculture to build strategic partnerships and drive regional innovation.

    “JSBio is among the most capable players in Asia for culture media innovation and scalable bioprocess support,” said program director Peter Yu. “With their regional leadership and solid expertise, JSBio will help global players scale efficiently in Asia and advance commercialisation.”

    The company’s shift towards cultivated meat comes amid growing public acceptance and government backing for these proteins. A recent survey found that 77% of citizens in Beijing, Shanghai, Guangzhou, and Shenzhen are open to trying cultured meat, and 45% are likely to replace conventional meat and seafood with these.

    Meanwhile, the current five-year agriculture plan encourages research in cultivated meat, while the bioeconomy development strategy aims to advance novel foods. China is already home to eight of the top 20 patent applicants for these novel proteins.

    This year, the country saw its first alternative protein innovation centre open in Beijing, fuelled by an $11M investment from public and private investors to develop novel foods like cultivated meat. And in the Guangdong province, officials are planning to build a biomanufacturing hub for plant-based, microbial and cultivated proteins.

    At the annual Two Sessions summit, top government officials called for a deeper integration of strategic emerging industries like biomanufacturing, and the agriculture ministry outlined the safety and nutritional efficacy of alternative proteins as a key priority. And a document signalling China’s top goals for the year underscored the importance of protein diversification, including efforts “to explore novel food resources”.

    The post Shanghai’s JSBio Expands Into Cultivated Meat to Tap China’s Future Food Opportunity appeared first on Green Queen.

    This post was originally published on Green Queen.

  • In the Shadows of History: Death and Destruction in South Sudan

    Much of the world is rightly transfixed by the genocide in Gaza, the unimaginable horrors experienced by its Palestinian inhabitants, the callous antics of those who would ‘develop’ its ruins (Trump, Blair, Kushner, etc.), and the strong likelihood of more of the same to come for the West Bank.

    But what is it that explains why one humanitarian tragedy commands global attention while others that have entailed as much or more suffering for as long or longer seem less deserving of the world’s interest and go relatively unnoticed and unremarked upon?

    The case of South Sudan

    If international humanitarian interest in a country was simply a function of the extent of death, destruction, and human misery there, then the scorecard for South Sudan would place it among the most deserving of cases.

    More than 20 years ago, in 2002, I was employed via an NGO to carry out a short consultancy for the South Sudan rebel government in waiting, the Sudan People’s Liberation Movement, which was the political wing of the Sudan People’s Liberation Army. My field work was carried out in the heart of rebel-held territory in the town of Rumbek. Tellingly, I was accommodated in a US special forces tented camp alongside Rumbek’s murram air strip. The presence of the US military in the middle of nowhere was a mark of the post-9/11 frenzied hunt for Al Qaeda, in a country that had once provided shelter to Osama bin Laden and was – and, according to some, still is – a stronghold of radical Islam. No prizes for guessing where the NGO’s funding probably came from.

    In my final report, among others, I noted as follows:

    For almost half a century [1955-2005], the people of Southern Sudan have been engaged in a bitter liberation struggle with the Government of Sudan based in Khartoum. It is a war that has resulted in the deaths of at least two million Southern Sudanese and the displacement from their homes of many millions more. There have been horrifying human rights violations on a grand scale. With the exception of large parts of western Equatoria, where war damage is relatively limited and has resulted mainly from sporadic bombings, there has been widespread destruction of, or serious damage to, physical infrastructure. The institutional infrastructure of government has been completely destroyed.

    … it is also a war that has not impinged greatly on the economic or strategic self-interests of the major world powers and has therefore failed to attract their serious attention or that of the international media. Accordingly, it is a war that for the most part has been conducted in the shadows of history – a war that has resulted in more death, destruction and suffering than many conflicts whose causes and casualties for other reasons have been widely publicised by the world’s media (Blunt, 2002).

    An indicator of the magnitude and severity of the effects of the protracted liberation struggle was that there were estimated to be twice as many women as men in the adult population of South Sudan (UNICEF, 2000 in Blunt, 2002). By comparison, after WWII, the country that had suffered the most casualties, Soviet Russia, had a female to male ratio of 1.3 to 1.0.

    The atrocities that were committed during the 50-year civil war and since then bear an eerie resemblance to some of the main features of the Israeli genocide in Gaza – as if they were drawn from the same playbook.

    Ironically, confirmation of this can be found in the account given by The US Holocaust Memorial Museum:

    In both the south and west, the Sudanese government established a pattern of assaults against civilians. They killed, tortured, raped, and displaced millions. Assault tactics included:

    • Mass starvation and forcible displacement;

    • Blocking humanitarian aid;

    • Harassment of internally displaced persons;

    • Bombing of hospitals, clinics, schools, and other civilian sites;

    • Use of rape as a weapon against targeted groups;

    • Employing a divide-to-destroy strategy to pit ethnic groups against each other, causing enormous loss of civilian life;

    • Training and support for ethnic militias who commit atrocities;

    • Destruction of indigenous cultures;

    • Enslavement of women and children by government-supported militias; and

    • Impeding and failing to fully implement peace agreements.

    Since gaining independence in 2011, civil wars have raged more or less continuously in South Sudan, killing tens of thousands more civilians. Much of the conflict and abuse has been funded by oil companies and European banks.

    In 2024, the humanitarian crisis there was depicted by Human Rights Watch as one of the worst in the world (which it probably had been for at least the previous half century):

    … driven by the cumulative and compounding effects of years of conflict, intercommunal violence, food insecurity, the climate crisis, and displacement following the April [2023] outbreak of conflict in Sudan. An estimated 9.4 million people [out of a total population of about 13 million] in South Sudan, including 4.9 million children and over 300,000 refugees, mostly driven south from the Sudan conflict, needed humanitarian assistance.

    According to Oxfam (2025): “Reduced attention and [already grossly inadequate] funding to the country is further deepening the humanitarian crisis and putting millions of lives at immediate risk.”

    A ‘sleeper’ in the New Great Game
    Setting aside for the moment the fact that the death and destruction in South Sudan is and has been happening in the heart of darkest Africa to some of its blackest inhabitants — people who therefore would be classified among the most unworthy of victims — consider the following (typical) ingredients of the ‘civilised’ world’s calculations in such matters.

    Though landlocked and largely inaccessible, South Sudan is a large and attractive piece of real estate (about twice the size of Germany) that has an estimated 5 billion barrels of oil reserves (the third largest in Africa); significant deposits of gold and other minerals such as iron ore, dolomite, and aluminium, which are largely untapped; approximately 33 million acres of mostly (94%) uncultivated arable land; and a wealth of renewable natural resources, primarily fish (in the massive wetlands known as the Sud), forests, and wildlife (World Bank, 2025).

    However, it is South Sudan’s neighbour to the north – Sudan – that has a geostrategically vital 500-mile border on the Red Sea and controls access to world markets via Port Sudan for its landlocked neighbour, making it a critical piece in the New Great Game.

    For now, while undoubtedly registered as a target of high potential, the considerable plunder and profit to be had in South Sudan is probably too difficult to extract, and the US is too heavily embroiled elsewhere, for it warrant the serious immediate attention of the current godfather of savage capitalism in the US.

    The difficulties of extraction are made so by the incessant civil conflicts in South Sudan since independence in 2011, which are stoked by bitter ethnic rivalries that now threaten to cause another outbreak of violence; the absence or parlous state of South Sudan’s physical and institutional infrastructure and the inaccessibility of its natural resources; its extreme flood proneness and vulnerability to climate change (the highest in the world); and the choke hold on its exports, and trade generally, exercised by Sudan’s control of Port Sudan.

    Regarding the latter, crucially, there are only two crude oil pipelines from the oil fields of South Sudan to Port Sudan. Their vulnerability is a function of their length – each of about 1,000 miles through inhospitable and lawless terrain – and their reliance on power plants in Port Sudan that supply electricity to the pipelines’ pumping stations, which have been subject to recent drone strikes.

    For the US et al., all this could change very quickly of course if the already substantial Chinese interests in oil and infrastructure development in South Sudan continue to grow and US-supported strikes against those interests escalate. China is already South Sudan’s biggest export market and one of its main trading partners and donors, giving China a foothold in the country and region that the US would no doubt not want to become too firm.

    Whatever the case, Black lives don’t matter

    We can infer from this snapshot of the ‘property development’ potential and strategic significance of South Sudan an answer to the question posed at the beginning of this essay. An answer that many readers of this journal will be unsurprised by, but is worth repeating, nonetheless. Namely, that – per se – humanitarian crises and death and destruction on a massive scale lasting for decades clearly count for nothing in the mercenary and cynically self-interested calculus of the so-called ‘civilised world’. This is particularly so of course when the victims are among the darker races, as I have argued elsewhere and the likes of Chris Hedges and Caitlin Johnstone assert so emphatically.

    Indeed, when the balance tips in favour of more intense US-led Western intervention in South Sudan, as eventually it is bound to (and South Sudan becomes newsworthy), these failed state conditions will be ‘refined’ or augmented (with ‘development assistance’ and more direct and brutal means of persuasion) to produce the type of ‘investment climate’ that results from the ‘shock therapy’ referred to by Naomi Klein (2008). That is, a catatonic condition and tabula rasa in the subject nation that clears the way for ‘free market fundamentalism’ and natural resource predation, as was the case in Iraq and other places.

    As now, when that time comes, the humanitarian crises in South Sudan will be the subject of attention only in so far as they serve to embellish or decorate whatever narrative the corporate media have been told to run in support of greater Western intervention or only in so far as they provide an exotic curiosity for the entertainment of their indoctrinated Western audiences.

    The post In the Shadows of History: Death and Destruction in South Sudan first appeared on Dissident Voice.

    This post was originally published on Dissident Voice.

  • ‘They told me not to speak out’: the woman who took on China – and won her husband’s freedom

    After fleeing Chinese repression, Uyghurs Idris and Zeynure Hasan thought their family would be safe. But Beijing’s growing influence led to Idris’s arrest and a long battle to be reunited

    Zeynure Hasan was at home in Istanbul in July 2021 when her husband finally called. It had been four days since she last heard from him as he got ready to board a flight to Casablanca. The silence had been torturous.

    But the news Idris now shared with her was even worse. He had been arrested and imprisoned on arrival in Morocco and told he was going to be deported to China. “You should call anyone who can help me, anyone who can rescue me,” he told her, before the phone went dead.

    Continue reading…

    This post was originally published on Human rights | The Guardian.

  • Communist Party Of China Opens Deliberations On 15th Five-Year Plan

    The Fourth Plenary Session of the 20th Central Committee of the Communist Party of China (CPC) began this Monday, October 20, in Beijing, with the agenda focused on drafting proposals for the 15th Five-Year Plan (2026-2030) for the country’s economic and social development.

    The discussion of the five-year plan at the Fourth Session represents a change in the usual calendar, as this discussion normally takes place at the Fifth Plenary Session. The change may have occurred due to the delay of the Third Plenary Session, which did not take place until August 2024. Following the usual calendar, it was expected to take place in 2023.

    The post Communist Party Of China Opens Deliberations On 15th Five-Year Plan appeared first on PopularResistance.Org.

    This post was originally published on PopularResistance.Org.

  • Madagascar Erupts, Indian Ocean Power Dynamics In Flux

    After weeks of protests and a mutiny, former Madagascar president Andry Rajoelina boarded a French military plane and fled the country. With a public angry at a corrupt, western-aligned government, Madagascar has the potential to shape its future and the whole Indian Ocean.

    This development comes as global powers scramble for strategic access in a region that holds five of the world’s nine maritime chokepoints. India, China, and the US are expanding their naval and commercial footprint, while France – once the uncontested gatekeeper of these waters – finds itself besieged and in retreat.

    The post Madagascar Erupts, Indian Ocean Power Dynamics In Flux appeared first on PopularResistance.Org.

    This post was originally published on PopularResistance.Org.

  • Washington’s New War Front To Box In China And Turkiye

    The tripartite alliance between Greece, Cyprus, and Israel is deepening as a security and political nucleus for a broader project aimed at linking the Mediterranean to the Indian Ocean and encircling China’s growing influence in West Asia and southern Europe. Turkiye views this alliance as a direct strategic threat to its regional ambitions and national security.

    The post Washington’s New War Front To Box In China And Turkiye appeared first on PopularResistance.Org.

    This post was originally published on PopularResistance.Org.

  • UN report highlights China’s targeting of human rights defenders abroad

    On 15 October 2025 Sam Ellefson of ICII summarises the new report, which recounts recent reprisals from two dozen countries, underscores ICIJ’s reporting on how Beijing abuses international institutions in its campaign to silence critics abroad

    The targeted repression of human rights activists across borders is becoming more frequent and sophisticated, according to the latest annual U.N. report detailing acts of intimidation and reprisals inside the international organization.

    The report lists new allegations of reprisals from two dozen countries including China, echoing the findings of ICIJ’s China Targets investigation, which revealed how suspected proxies for the Chinese government surveilled or harassed activists at the U.N. headquarters in Geneva, the center of the human rights system.

    Two Hong Kong pro-democracy activists and a Uyghur linguist are among the cases compiled by the secretary-general between May 2024 and 2025, alongside updates on reprisals included in previous reports.

    “Allegations of transnational repression across borders have increased, with examples from around the world,” the report said. “Targeted repression across borders appears to be growing in scale and sophistication, and the impact on the protection of human rights defenders and affected individuals in exile, as well as the chilling effect on those who continue to defend human rights in challenging contexts, is of increasing concern.”

    Raphäel Viana David, the China and Latin America program manager at the International Service for Human Rights, a nonprofit that trains activists in U.N. advocacy, said the report reflected a shift within the U.N. in recognizing transnational repression as a tool states use to carry out reprisals.

    “The assistant secretary-general — who is the senior focal point on reprisals — when she presented the report at the Human Rights Council a couple of weeks back, emphasized this angle of transnational repression,” Viana David said. “This is an interlinkage that I think is increasingly evident, but that needs a little bit more disentangling.” [https://humanrightsdefenders.blog/2025/10/01/un-secretary-generals-2025-report-highlights-reprisals-against-human-rights-defenders/]

    In China Targets, ICIJ and 42 media partners exposed how Beijing has misused international institutions such as the U.N. and Interpol to target overseas dissidents. The investigation included interviews with 105 individuals across 23 countries who detailed how the Chinese government had reached beyond its borders to silence them.

    https://www.icij.org/investigations/china-targets/new-un-report-highlights-chinas-alleged-targeting-of-human-rights-activists/?utm_campaign=news&utm_medium=social&utm_source=reddit

    This post was originally published on Hans Thoolen on Human Rights Defenders and their awards.

  • Chinese J-10 fighter attracts attention in Asia

    To date, only two nations fly the J-10 fighter – its maker China and also Pakistan. However, the 4.5-generation J-10 may attract two new adherents in Asia if top defence officials from the respective countries have their way. Pakistan employed J-10s against India in May’s sharp skirmish, and both Islamabad’s and Beijing’s accounts of successful […]

    The post Chinese J-10 fighter attracts attention in Asia appeared first on Asian Military Review.

    This post was originally published on Asian Military Review.

  • How a Climate Doomsayer Became an Unexpected Optimist

    More To The Story: Bill McKibben isn’t known for his rosy outlook on climate change. Back in 1989, the environmentalist wrote The End of Nature, which is considered the first mainstream book warning of global warming’s potential effects on the planet. His writing on climate change has been described as “dark realism.” But McKibben has recently let a little light shine through thanks to the dramatic growth of renewable energy, particularly solar power. 

    In his new book, Here Comes the Sun: A Last Chance for the Climate and a Fresh Chance for Civilization, McKibben argues that the planet is experiencing the fastest energy transition in history from fossil fuels to solar and wind—and that transition could be the start of something big. On this week’s More To The Story, McKibben sits down with host Al Letson to examine the rise of solar power, how China is leapfrogging the United States in renewable energy use, and the real reason the Trump administration is trying to kill solar and wind projects around the country.

    Producer: Josh Sanburn | Editor: Kara McGuirk-Allison | Theme music: Fernando Arruda and Jim Briggs | Copy editor: Nikki Frick with help from Artis Curiskis | Deputy executive producer: Taki Telonidis | Executive producer: Brett Myers | Executive editor: James West | Host: Al Letson

    Listen: Will the National Parks Survive Trump? (Reveal)

    Read: Rooftop Solar Is a Miracle. Why Are We Killing It With Red Tape? (Mother Jones)

    Read: Here Comes the Sun: A Last Chance for the Climate and a Fresh Chance for Civilization (W.W. Norton & Company)

    Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices

    This post was originally published on Reveal.

  • Xi directs quashing of Chinese feminists even as he praises advances at women’s conference

    Chinese president is behind patriarchal turn in politics with activists silenced for ‘promoting gender antagonism’

    Addressing dignitaries gathered in Beijing on Monday, Xi Jinping praised the “historic achievements” of women’s rights in China. In the past 30 years, the Chinese president said, maternal mortality rates had dropped by nearly 80%, and women were now participating in the project of national governance with “unprecedented confidence and vigour”.

    Xi was speaking at the global women’s summit, an event on Monday and Tuesday to mark the 30th anniversary of the historic UN’s world conference on women, which took place in Beijing. It was there in 1995 that Hillary Clinton, the then US first lady, delivered her “women’s rights are human rights” speech, lines now often quoted by people in China advocating for women’s rights.

    Continue reading…

    This post was originally published on Human rights | The Guardian.

  • China’s Material Squeeze Exposes US Industrial Fragility

    When Washington declared an economic war on China’s technology ascent, it assumed it held the upper hand. Tariffs, export bans, entity lists and chip sanctions were meant to isolate Beijing, choke its access to critical inputs, strangle its technological development and protect American primacy. Yet with remarkable precision, Beijing has now demonstrated that the United States is the one more deeply entangled in – and dependent upon – China’s command of critical material supply chains.

    China’s latest round of export controls on lithium batteries, graphite anode materials, and rare earth technologies amounts to the most significant intensification yet in the global race for material sovereignty.

    The post China’s Material Squeeze Exposes US Industrial Fragility appeared first on PopularResistance.Org.

    This post was originally published on PopularResistance.Org.

  • The Guardian view on the online scam industry: authorities must not forget that perpetrators are often victims too | Editorial

    A lucrative sector is spreading fast as criminal enterprises force abused and trafficked workers to cheat others

    A Chinese court last month sentenced 11 people to death over their roles in a illegal scam empire along the border with Myanmar. But it won’t end a noxious multibillion-dollar industry that devastates the lives of two sets of victims. The first are those cheated out of money, often by people posing as potential romantic or business partners in what are known as “pig‑butchering” schemes. The second are those who are forced to cheat them, working in conditions amounting to modern slavery.

    The recent study, Scam: Inside Southeast Asia’s Cybercrime Compounds, by Ivan Franceschini, Ling Li and Mark Bo, paints a terrifying picture of the sector. Workers are trafficked into heavily guarded, prison-like compounds, where they are routinely abused and tortured for failing to meet targets, or extorted for ransoms. Others take the jobs willingly, but find that they cannot repay ruinous charges for food and accommodation. Their work requires them to be connected to the outside world round the clock, yet they are too terrified to seek help because of the surveillance and violence they endure.

    Continue reading…

    This post was originally published on Human rights | The Guardian.

  • China arrests underground church founder, pastors

    The founder of one of China’s most prominent underground churches and dozens of its pastors and members have been arrested, the founder’s family and a church spokesperson said, part of a multi-city crackdown in recent days.

    Jin Mingri, who founded Zion Church, a house of worship not sanctioned by the Chinese government, was arrested at his home in the city of Beihai in the southern region of Guangxi on Friday evening, his daughter, Grace Jin, and a church spokesperson, Sean Long, told reporters.

    Grace Jin said she was concerned for her 56-year-old father’s health and his access to legal representation.

    “He’s been hospitalized in the past for diabetes. We’re worried since he requires medication,” she told Reuters. “I’ve also been notified that lawyers are not allowed to meet the pastors, so that is very concerning to us.”

    Jin was detained on “suspicion of the illegal use of information networks,” according to a detention notice viewed by Agence France-Presse. Since Thursday, police have arrested church leaders and members in Shanghai, Beijing, Zhejiang, Guangxi, Shandong, Sichuan and Henan, according to a list compiled by church members that was seen by AFP.

    The head pastor of the Zion church in Beijing Jin Mingri poses in Beijing, China, Aug. 28, 2018.
    The head pastor of the Zion church in Beijing Jin Mingri poses in Beijing, China, Aug. 28, 2018.
    (Thomas Peter/Reuters)

    “House” churches like Zion Church generally operate without official registration documents and without the involvement of local religious affairs bureaus. Zion Church has about 5,000 regular worshippers across nearly 50 cities who attend sermons on Zoom and in small in-person gatherings, Long told Reuters.

    The arrests come a month after Beijing’s top religion regulator issued new rules banning unauthorized online preaching, as well as a broader crackdown on online content that expresses views contrary to the Chinese Communist Party’s goals. Supporters fear the pastors could soon be indicted under these new rules.

    In a statement released Sunday, U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio condemned the arrests and called on Beijing to release the pastors.

    “This crackdown further demonstrates how the CCP exercises hostility towards Christians who reject Party interference in their faith and choose to worship at unregistered house churches,” Rubio said.

    House churches have long drawn Beijing’s scrutiny. In 2009, RFA spoke with pastors including Jin Mingri about signs then that the government was looking to better understand the role of underground houses of worship. In the years since, Beijing has cracked down on house churches and has put pastors at some Protestant churches through intensive training sessions as part of a “sinicization” campaign. According to the U.S. State Department, China continues to arrest thousands of people per year for worshipping in ways not approved by the CCP.

    Includes reporting by Agence France-Presse and Reuters.


    This content originally appeared on Radio Free Asia and was authored by RFA Staff.

    This post was originally published on Radio Free.

  • Trump’s latest tariff chaos exposed America’s biggest weakness

    Donald Trump has once again seen fit to pursue extreme tariffs, throwing the world’s financial markets into chaos:

    The latest tariffs come after Beijing imposed additional restrictions on so-called ‘rare earth’ minerals. Trump hasn’t just hammered the stock exchange, then. He’s also drawn attention to the US’s greatest trade weaknesses – namely its almost total reliance on Chinese rare earths:


    Chaos following Trump’s latest tariffs

    Following Trump’s move, the stock markets lost $2tn in value over a singe day. Trump also triggered one of the largest crypto crashes in history.

    Commentators have noted that China imposed the restrictions on rare earths after the US added a ‘50% rule’ on export controls. Paul Triolo commented on this:

    The Chinese are responding directly to US escalation on export controls with the 50 percent Rule rolled out last week. It was clear they would respond to this, which was a clear violation of the agreement in Madrid not to take new measures. This was a deliberate move by those favoring decoupling at Commerce to up the ante, and neither the White House or Commerce were fully informed, let along about the potential, actually, certainty that Beijing would respond.

    He added:

    Beijing’s response was delayed by National holiday but is direct response to US action, which was not approved at cabinet level. Clearly no one told the President that Beijing would respond and strongly to breach of solemn agreement at Madrid.

    Expanding on why the US may not have understood that China would respond, Bloomberg researcher Steve Hou said:

    I think part of the “miscalculation” btwn US and China stems from the different constitutions of US and Chinese govts. China’s govt is more top down/centralized and its policies are consistent mostly. US govt can be more decentralized with different power centers, factions and varying degrees of hawkishness. Hence, policies are not necessarily mutually consistent. And Trump famously likes it this way, team of rivals.

    So from Beijing’s perspective, the US seems inconsistent and repeatedly reneges promises. By this point, I think Beijing also understands that this is just a feature of US govt, but they are like “we don’t care, we’ll respond to your policies in their entirely as tho they are made from a unified perspective, even if they seem at times mutually contradictory and inconsistent. And I’ll set policies in response accordingly.”

    Speaking on this latest flare up in the trade war, China’s Commerce Ministry said:

    China’s stance is consistent. We do not want a tariff war but we are not afraid of one.

    Trump’s response was less succinct:

    Rare earths

    Although they’re called ‘rare earths’, the issue isn’t actually that these minerals are scarce:

    While the US is working to increase its domestic capacity, they could be as much as a decade behind China.

    CNN reported on the use of rare earths:

    Rare earths are ubiquitous in everyday technologies, from smartphones to wind turbines to LED lights and flat-screen TVs. They’re crucial for batteries in electric vehicles, as well as MRI scanners and cancer treatments.

    Rare earths are also essential for the US military. They’re used in F-35 fighter jets, submarines, lasers, satellites, Tomahawk missiles and more, according to a 2025 research note from CSIS.

    Trump tariffs expose the scam economy

    While all this was happening, an as-yet unidentified individual made £190m in profit by pre-empting Trump’s tariff announcement:


    As the YouTuber Coffeezilla highlighted in the following video, it seems certain that the individual must have known of Trump’s plans in advance:

    The latest Trump administration has been linked to several alleged scams. As reported by the Canary, people criticise Nigel Farage and his Reform Party for wanting to copy Trump and his administration. Reform is also responsible for scandals of its own making too:


    Rock and a hard place

    Trump’s capitalist supporters are suffering as a result of his decisions. At the same time, China seems to have a much stronger hand than the US does.

    It seems certain that Trump will have to back down; the only question is how much damage he’ll do in the meantime.

    Featured image via rawpixel

    By Willem Moore

    This post was originally published on Canary.

  • Trump Rattles Markets With New 100 Percent Tariffs On Chinese Goods

    US President Donald Trump announced new 100 percent tariffs on Chinese goods on 10 October and threatened to cancel his meeting with President Xi Jinping.

    Trump said the levies would take effect on 1 November, describing them as “retaliation” for what he called Beijing’s “extraordinarily aggressive” actions.

    “It is impossible to believe that China would have taken such an action, but they have, and the rest is History,” he wrote on social media.

    He added that the new measures would target “any and all critical software” exports, accusing China of holding the world “captive” through its dominance of rare earth minerals.

    “There is no way that China should be allowed to hold the World captive,” he said.

    The post Trump Rattles Markets With New 100 Percent Tariffs On Chinese Goods appeared first on PopularResistance.Org.

    This post was originally published on PopularResistance.Org.

  • Venezuela At UNSC: ‘We Believe We Are Facing Imminent US Attack’

    On Friday, Venezuela’s ambassador to the United Nations, Samuel Moncada, alerted the UN Security Council that Venezuela strongly believes a US military attack is imminent. He characterized the situation as the latest aggression in decades-long attempts to oust first President Hugo Chávez and now President Nicolás Maduro.

    “The plan is clear,” he said during an emergency meeting. “It is once again about executing the operation that already failed: overthrowing the legitimate and constitutional President of Venezuela, Nicolás Maduro Moros, to install a puppet regime and turn our country into a colony.”

    When questioned by the press, Moncada elaborated on the sense of urgency.

    The post Venezuela At UNSC: ‘We Believe We Are Facing Imminent US Attack’ appeared first on PopularResistance.Org.

    This post was originally published on PopularResistance.Org.

  • Nuclear War: The Missiles Of October

    The last remaining nuclear arms control treaty between the United States and Russia — New START — is set to expire on Feb. 5, 2026.

    This treaty, which caps the nuclear arsenals of both nations at 1,550 deployed strategic nuclear weapons each, was signed back in 2010, during the administrations of U.S. President Barack Obama and Russian President Dmitri Medvedev. At that time, the two nations were engaged in what proved to be an abortive “reset” of relations.

    But the underlying problems which prompted the need for a reset — NATO expansion, continued U.S. pursuit of hegemony disguised as a “rules based international order” and a general U.S. disregard for arms control as a necessary mechanism of global stability — were never fully addressed

    The post Nuclear War: The Missiles Of October appeared first on PopularResistance.Org.

    This post was originally published on PopularResistance.Org.

  • After Hyundai ICE Raid, Even South Korea’s Capitalists Question US Relations

    Zip ties. Helicopters. Crowded cells. Guns trained on bewildered workers. Foul water. Forced vaccinations. An unconscious detainee left on the floor by negligent guards. A pregnant woman in handcuffs. A detainee being called “Rocket Man” (Donald Trump’s nickname for Kim Jong Un) by sneering federal agents. A menstruating woman forced to attend to her period with only toilet paper.

    Source

    This post was originally published on Latest – Truthout.

  • The Pukpuk Treaty and the future of Papua New Guinea-Australia relations

    ANALYSIS: By Scott Waide, RNZ Pacific PNG correspondent

    The signing of the Papua New Guinea-Australia Mutual Defence Treaty — officially known as the Pukpuk Treaty — marks a defining moment in the modern Pacific order.

    Framed as a “historic milestone”, the pact re-casts security cooperation between Port Moresby and Canberra while stirring deeper debates about sovereignty, dependency, and the shifting balance of power in the region.

    At a joint press conference in Canberra, PNG Prime Minister James Marape called the treaty “a product of geography, not geopolitics”, emphasising the shared neighbourhood and history binding both nations.

    “This Treaty was not conceived out of geopolitics or any other reason, but out of geography, history, and the enduring reality of our shared neighbourhood,” Marape said.

    Described as “two houses with one fence,” the Pukpuk Treaty cements Australia as PNG’s “security partner of choice.” It encompasses training, intelligence, disaster relief, and maritime cooperation while pledging full respect for sovereignty.

    “Papua New Guinea made a strategic and conscious choice – Australia is our security partner of choice. This choice was made not out of pressure or convenience, but from the heart and soul of our coexistence as neighbours,” Marape said.

    For Canberra, Prime Minister Anthony Albanese cast the accord as an extension of “family ties” – a reaffirmation that Australia “will stand shoulder-to-shoulder with PNG to ensure a peaceful and secure Pacific family.”

    Intensifying competition
    It comes amid intensifying competition for influence across the Pacific, where security and sport now intersect in Canberra’s broader regional strategy.

    The Treaty promises to bolster the Papua New Guinea Defence Force (PNGDF) through joint training, infrastructure upgrades, and enhanced maritime surveillance. Marape conceded that the country’s forces have long struggled with under-resourcing.

    “The reality is that our Defence Force needs enhanced capacity to defend our sovereign territorial integrity. This Treaty will help us build that capacity – through shared resources, intelligence, technology, and training,” he said.

    Yet, retired Major-General Jerry Singirok, former PNGDF commander, has urged caution.

    “Signing a Defence Pact with Australia for the purposes of strengthening our military capacity and capabilities is most welcomed, but an Act of Parliament must give legal effect to whatever military activities a foreign country intends,” Singirok said in a statement.

    He warned that Sections 202 and 206 of PNG’s Constitution already define the Defence Force’s role and foreign cooperation limits, stressing that any new arrangement must pass parliamentary scrutiny to avoid infringing sovereignty.

    The sovereignty debate
    Singirok’s warning reflects a broader unease in Port Moresby — that the Pukpuk Treaty could re-entrench post-colonial dependency. He described the PNGDF as “retarded and stagnated”, spending just 0.38 percent of GDP on defence, with limited capacity to patrol its vast land and maritime borders.

    “In essence, PNG is in the process of offloading its sovereign responsibilities to protect its national interest and sovereign protection to Australia to fill the gaps and carry,” he wrote.

    “This move, while from face value appeals, has serious consequences from dependency to strategic synergy and blatant disregard to sovereignty at the expense of Australia.”

    Former leaders, including Sir Warren Dutton, have been even more blunt: “If our Defence Force is trained, funded, and deployed under Australian priorities, then whose sovereignty are we defending? Ours — or theirs?”

    Cooperation between the two forces have increased dramatically over the last few years.

    Canberra’s broader strategy: Defence to rugby league
    The Pukpuk Treaty coincides with Australia’s “Pacific Step-up,” a network of economic, security, and cultural initiatives aimed at deepening ties with its neighbours. Central to this is sport diplomacy — most notably the proposed NRL Pacific team, which Albanese and Marape both support.

    Canberra views the NRL deal not simply as a sporting venture but as “soft power in action” — embedding Australian culture and visibility across the Pacific through a sport already seen as a regional passion.

    Marape called it “another platform of shared identity” between PNG and Australia, aligning with the spirit of the Pukpuk Treaty: partnership through shared interests.

    However, critics argue the twin announcements — a defence pact and an NRL team — reveal a coordinated Australian effort to strengthen influence at multiple levels: security, economy, and society.

    The US factor and overall strategy
    The Pukpuk Treaty follows last year’s Defence Cooperation Agreement (DCA) signed between Papua New Guinea and the United States, which grants US forces access to key PNG military facilities, including Lombrum Naval Base on Manus Island.

    That deal drew domestic protests over transparency and the perception of external control.

    The Marape government insisted the arrangement respected PNG’s sovereignty, but combined with the new Australian treaty, it positions the country at the centre of a US-led security network stretching from Hawai’i to Canberra.

    Analysts say the two pacts complement each other — with the US providing strategic hardware and global deterrence, and Australia delivering regional training and operational partnership.

    Together, they represent a deepening of what one defence analyst called “the Pacific’s most consequential alignment since independence”.

    PNG’s deepening security ties with the United States also appear to have shaped its diplomatic posture in the Middle East.

    As part of its broader alignment with Washington, PNG in September 2023 opened an embassy in Jerusalem — becoming one of only a handful of states to do so, and signalling strong support for Israel.

    In recent UN votes on Gaza, PNG has repeatedly voted against ceasefire resolutions, siding with Israel and the US. Some analysts link this to evangelical Christian influence in PNG’s politics and to the strategic expectation of favour with major powers.

    China’s measured response
    Beijing has responded cautiously. China’s Embassy in Port Moresby reiterated that it “respects the independent choices of Pacific nations” but warned that “regional security frameworks should not become exclusive blocs.”

    China has been one of PNG’s longest and most consistent diplomatic partners since formal relations began in 1976.

    China’s role in Papua New Guinea is not limited to diplomatic signalling — it remains a major provider of loans, grants and infrastructure projects across the country, even as the strategic winds shift. Chinese state-owned enterprises and development funds have backed highways, power plants, courts, telecoms and port facilities in PNG.

    In recent years, PNG has signed onto China’s Belt and Road Initiative, and observers count at least 40 Chinese SOEs currently operating in Papua New Guinea, many tied to mining, construction, and trade projects.

    While Marape has repeatedly said PNG “welcomes all partners,” the growing web of Western defence agreements has clearly shifted regional dynamics. China views the Pukpuk Treaty as another signal of Canberra and Washington’s determination to counter its influence in the Pacific — even as Port Moresby maintains that its foreign policy is one of “friends to all, enemies to none”.

    A balancing act
    For Marape, the Treaty is not about choosing sides but strengthening capacity through trust.

    “Our cooperation is built on mutual respect, not dominance; on trust, not imposition. Australia never imposed this on us – this was our proposal, and we thank them for walking with us as equal partners,” he said.

    He stressed that parliamentary ratification under Section 117 of the Constitution will ensure accountability.

    “This is a fireplace conversation between neighbours – Papua New Guinea and Australia. We share this part of the earth forever, and together we will safeguard it for the generations to come,” he added.

    The road ahead
    Named after the Tok Pisin word for crocodile — pukpuk, a symbol of endurance and guardianship — the Treaty embodies both trust and caution. Its success will depend on transparency, parliamentary oversight, and a shared understanding of what “mutual defence” means in practice.

    As PNG moves to ratify the agreement, it stands at a delicate crossroads — between empowerment and dependency, regional cooperation and strategic competition.

    This article is republished under a community partnership agreement with RNZ.

    This post was originally published on Asia Pacific Report.

  • Tory plan to abolish stamp duty ‘will benefit London and the wealthiest the most’ – as it happened

    This blog is now closed, you can read more on this story here

    Voting in the Labour deputy leadership election opens today. Lucy Powell, the former Commons leader, is seen as the favourite and, as Jessica Elgot reports, Powell told supporters yesterday that, if she is elected, she will use the post to argue for changes in the way the government is operating. “We can’t sugarcoat the fact that things aren’t going well,” she said.

    Powell is no longer a government minister and, if she is elected deputy leader, she will do the job from the backbenches. In an interview on Newsnight last night, Bridget Phillipson, the education secretary standing against Powell, said a Powell victory would be “destabilising” for the party. She said:

    [Electing Powell] risks destabilising the party … we best achieve what we need to do together when we have those fierce conversations, including disagreements, behind closed doors.

    Members need to understand that there’s a potential challenge around all of that – that if you’re not inside when the big decisions are being made, you’re not at that table, you’re not in those conversations.

    Continue reading…

    This post was originally published on Human rights | The Guardian.

  • The True Face Of The White House Plan: More Money To Kill

    The United States announced that it will allocate $1.8 billion to foreign aid projects with a political and strategic vision. According to a document sent to Congress, $400 million will go to Latin America, aimed at confronting the “regimes” of Nicaragua, Venezuela, and Cuba.

    The Trump administration’s plan seeks to redirect resources toward programs to curb the influence of governments labeled by Washington as “anti-American,” extending its reach to Europe and Greenland in order to “contain China’s advance in strategic sectors.” This narrow and unilateral vision, which prioritizes Washington’s economic and security interests, far from promoting international cooperation based on mutual respect and solidarity, is based on a logic of confrontation that jeopardizes regional and global stability.

    The post The True Face Of The White House Plan: More Money To Kill appeared first on PopularResistance.Org.

    This post was originally published on PopularResistance.Org.

  • Nearly two thirds of Tory members want pact with Reform, poll suggests, with close to half supporting full merger – as it happened

    Half of Tory members also want Kemi Badenoch to be replaced as Conservative leader. This live blog is closed

    Mel Stride, the shadow chancellor, was doing an interview round for the Conservatives this morning, and Miatta Fahnbulleh, the faith and communities minister, was on the air on behalf of the government. They were both asked about the latest development in the flag phenomenon – the former footballer turned property developer Gary Neville saying that he took down a union flag flying at one of his building sites because he felt it was being used in a “negative fashion”.

    Asked if Neville (a Labour supporter) had a point, Fahnbulleh told ITV’s Good Morning Britain:

    I think he’s really right, that there are people who are trying to divide us at the moment …

    I spent a lot of time going around our communities, talking to people. People are ground down. We’ve had a decade-and-a-half in which living standards haven’t budged and people have seen their communities held down. And you will get people trying to stoke division, trying to blame others, trying to stoke tension.

    I think people that put up flags, the vast majority of people that do, do so for perfectly reasonable patriotic reasons. And I think reclaiming our flag as a flag of unity and decency and tolerance, which is the way most people see our flag, is a very positive thing.

    So I’m afraid I really cannot agree with the comments that he’s made.

    Continue reading…

    This post was originally published on Human rights | The Guardian.

  • Pro-Palestine marches have become ‘carnivals of hatred’, Badenoch tells Tory conference – UK politics live

    Party leader says Britain has allowed extremism to go unchecked

    The polling firm Opinium has released some research this morning suggesting that some Conservative party policies are popular with voters – but that, if people are explicitly told that they are Kemi Badenoch policies, their popularity goes down.

    There is some evidence that Keir Starmer’s unpopularity has the same effect – and that, once a policy is associated with him, voters are less inclined to back it.

    Continue reading…

    This post was originally published on Human rights | The Guardian.

  • The Black Alliance for Peace Condemns Establishment of Colonial Military Governance Over Haiti by UN Security Council

    On Tuesday, Sep 30, 2025, the UN Security Council voted to adopt a resolution drafted by the U.S. and Panama that would create a so-called “Gang Suppression Force” (GSF) to invade Haiti. The resolution was adopted with 12 votes in favor and 3 abstentions (China, Russia, and Pakistan). The Black Alliance for Peace unequivocally condemns the adoption of this resolution. We see the GSF as a further step in the destruction of Haitian popular sovereignty, pushing the country into militarized, neocolonial servitude.

    The resolution for the “Gang Suppression Force” (GSF) authorizes the deployment of up to 5,550 personnel, foreign police and soldiers, with powers to “neutralize, isolate,” and detain and imprison Haitian civilians – independent of the Haitian police and government. As JP, a BAP Haiti/Americas Team member, proclaimed during our Emergency Rally outside the UN on Sep 30, 2025: “In essence, this force will be granted a blank check by the so-called ‘international community,’ enabling it to execute the continued colonial capture of Haiti under the hollow guise of international legitimacy.” The GSF gives full oversight to a “Standing Group” of foreigners (which is similar to the Core Group), which will work with the established UN occupation office, BINUH, leaving Haitians as little more than symbolic partners. The GSF will also have a foreign “Force Commander.” All of this effectively creates another colonial governance model for Haiti.

    The GFS is supposed to replace the Multinational Security Support (MSS) mission, which was approved by the UNSC in October 2023, with police and military from Kenya and other Caribbean nations deployed in June 2024. It must be remembered, however, that the MSS was authorized through US pressure on regional actors, under the illegitimate US-installed Prime Minister, Ariel Henry, and deployed under the auspices of the nine-member “Transitional Presidential Council” of Haiti, also installed by the US and its minions in the Caribbean Community (CARICOM).

    We stress, in other words, that Haiti has no legitimate government. And as we continue to recount, Haiti has been under foreign occupation for more than twenty years, resulting in the complete collapse of its entire government structure. Both the MSS and the GSF are not only a continuation of that occupation, but are, by all standards, illegal. Indeed, we believe that the GSF is an attempt to further curtail the popular mass protests – 2017, 2018, 2021, and 2022  –for Haitian self-determination.

    Moreover, it is absurd to call for foreign military invasion over gangs, especially with support from governments with their own violent internal crises – states such as Panama, Ecuador, Jamaica, and Trinidad and Tobago.

    While some are arguing that this new foreign military invasion in Haiti is a relief for a country besieged by gangs, we should also not forget that the crisis in Haiti is a crisis of imperialism – the rise in armed groups must be understood as a symptom of that crisis. Furthermore, the crisis continues with full complicity and participation of the so-called “international community” and compradors in the region. In 2022, for example, Haitian organizations blamed the United Nations and Core Group occupation for enabling the “gangsterization” of the country.

    BAP also condemns the role played by regional actors – including CARICOM and other OAS-aligned states – for continuing to participate in the U.S. imperial onslaught on Haiti. At the same time, we want to express our disappointment that the People’s Republic of China and the Russian Federation failed to use their veto power in support of Haiti despite their strong criticisms and acknowledgment of US treachery in the region. Russia’s Foreign Minister Lavrov himself noted that Haiti is effectively a testing ground for an ever-expanding model of U.S. military power, one with no clear mandate, no meaningful Haitian oversight, and no accountability. Yet, these members of the UNSC allowed the U.S.-led imperialist mission to advance, exposing the hollowness of the “international community’s” claim to stand with the Haitian people.

    Haiti is part of the global African nation and, as such, the war on Haiti is a core aspect of the War on African/Black peoples, not just in the Americas but throughout the world. As we begin the fifth annual Month of Action against AFRICOM (U.S. Africa Command), BAP understands that the confluence of militarized imperialist forces and corporate vultures that seek to crush and pick apart Haiti is also present domestically and globally, particularly on the African continent. Whether in the Congo, Sudan, the Horn of Africa, the Sahel, or Haiti, the only “peace” that U.S.-led imperialism seeks is one of “full-spectrum dominance” and white supremacist, colonial control, which is the antithesis of African/Black self-determination. This same colonial logic is playing out in cities across the U.S., as Black/African and Brown people and neighborhoods are occupied and terrorized by federal and local militarized “police” forces. As the war against African/Black people intensifies globally, the occupation of Haiti, ongoing since 2004, is now reaching its logical, violent, destabilizing conclusion.

    We must oppose this “Gang Suppression Force” and any further U.S.-led militarization and domination of Haiti, for the dignity and self-determination of the people of Haiti, for the struggle toward liberation of all African peoples, and for the security and well-being of Our Americas.

    We call for:

    • An immediate end to the foreign military occupation of Haiti – the dissolution of the Core Group and its BINUH office as well as the recall and annulment of the resolution for the Gang Repression Force;

    • The U.S. to abide by the UN arms embargo on Haiti and stop the export of military grade weapons to Haiti;

    • The governments in the Caribbean and Latin America should stop participating in the US imperial onslaught on Haiti and respect Haiti’s sovereignty and the right of its people to determine their own political future;

    • Anti-imperialist regional solidarity across the Caribbean and Latin America to resist the normalization of foreign military interventions;

    • The right of Haitian migrants to free movement and asylum, without xenophobia, criminalization, or bias.

    Hands Off Haiti!

    Make Our Americas a Zone of Peace!

    No Compromise No Retreat!

    The post The Black Alliance for Peace Condemns Establishment of Colonial Military Governance Over Haiti by UN Security Council first appeared on Dissident Voice.

    This post was originally published on Dissident Voice.

  • A Serious Proposal: Russia And China Call For Global Strategic Stability

    Although Bill Clinton signed the Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty (CTBT) in 1996, he swiftly funded the “Stockpile Stewardship” program at the US nuclear weapons complex, allowing the Dr. Strangeloves in their labs to continue to perform laboratory tests as well as blowup plutonium with chemical explosives,1,000 feet below the desert floor at the Nevada Test Site on Western Shoshone holy land.

    The post A Serious Proposal: Russia And China Call For Global Strategic Stability appeared first on PopularResistance.Org.

    This post was originally published on PopularResistance.Org.