China should work more closely with Russia on security to counter Japan, a state-run Chinese newspaper said yesterday after Moscow and Beijing signed a huge natural-gas deal.
Russian President Vladimir Putin paid a state visit to China this week, launching joint naval exercises and witnessing the signing of an agreement for Russia to supply the world’s second-biggest economy with natural gas in a deal valued at US$400 billion.
The 30-year contract represents a turn to Beijing by Moscow at a moment when its geo-political assertiveness, particularly the takeover of Crimea, has been heavily criticized by the West, which accuses it of fomenting unrest in eastern Ukraine.
Photo: Reuters
“The complicated political and security challenges still haunting the world demand that the two global heavyweights also work more closely together to safeguard the international order and world stability,” the China Daily newspaper said in an editorial.
“Cooperation between the two countries in this area is particularly necessary amid alarming attempts by Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe to trample over World War II history and disrupt the post-war order,” it said.
Beijing and Tokyo have a long-running feud over disputed islands in the East China Sea, and have frequently fallen out over differing interpretations of Japan’s military actions in China in the 1930s and 1940s.
Moscow and Beijing, Cold War allies, both veto-wielding members of the UN Security Council, have often worked together to counter the US on a range of issues.
“Closer China-Russia cooperation is a requirement for achieving common development and promoting a fairer international system,” the China Daily said.
During his trip to China, Putin called for boosting bilateral trade to US$100 billion by next year, up from nearly US$90 billion last year, through cooperation in the aviation, aerospace, manufacturing and energy sectors.
‘IN A DIFFERENT PLACE’: The envoy first visited Shanghai, where he attended a Chinese basketball playoff match, and is to meet top officials in Beijing tomorrow US Secretary of State Antony Blinken yesterday arrived in China on his second visit in a year as the US ramps up pressure on its rival over its support for Russia while also seeking to manage tensions with Beijing. The US diplomat tomorrow is to meet China’s top brass in Beijing, where he is also expected to plead for restraint as Taiwan inaugurates president-elect William Lai (賴清德), and to raise US concerns on Chinese trade practices. However, Blinken is also seeking to stabilize ties, with tensions between the world’s two largest economies easing since his previous visit in June last year. At the
Nearly half of China’s major cities are suffering “moderate to severe” levels of subsidence, putting millions of people at risk of flooding, especially as sea levels rise, according to a study of nationwide satellite data released yesterday. The authors of the paper, published by the journal Science, found that 45 percent of China’s urban land was sinking faster than 3mm per year, with 16 percent at more than 10mm per year, driven not only by declining water tables, but also the sheer weight of the built environment. With China’s urban population already in excess of 900 million people, “even a small portion
UNSETTLING IMAGES: The scene took place in front of TV crews covering the Trump trial, with a CNN anchor calling it an ‘emotional and unbelievably disturbing moment’ A man who doused himself in an accelerant and set himself on fire outside the courthouse where former US president Donald Trump is on trial has died, police said yesterday. The New York City Police Department (NYPD) said the man was declared dead by staff at an area hospital. The man was in Collect Pond Park at about 1:30pm on Friday when he took out pamphlets espousing conspiracy theories, tossed them around, then doused himself in an accelerant and set himself on fire, officials and witnesses said. A large number of police officers were nearby when it happened. Some officers and bystanders rushed
Beijing is continuing to commit genocide and crimes against humanity against Uyghurs and other Muslim minorities in its western Xinjiang province, U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken said in a report published on Monday, ahead of his planned visit to China this week. The State Department’s annual human rights report, which documents abuses recorded all over the world during the previous calendar year, repeated language from previous years on the treatment of Muslims in Xinjiang, but the publication raises the issue ahead of delicate talks, including on the war in Ukraine and global trade, between the top U.S. diplomat and Chinese