Chinese Vice President Wang Qishan (王岐山) plans to attend the funeral of Queen Elizabeth II as the special representative of Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平), Beijing said yesterday.
A group of British legislators hit by Chinese sanctions have expressed concern that the Chinese government has been invited to the funeral. One told the BBC that the invitation should be rescinded because of human rights abuses against the Uighur ethnic group in China’s far-western Xinjiang region.
Wang, who is close to Xi, was a member of the Chinese Communist Party’s seven-member Politburo Standing Committee from 2012 to 2017. During those years, he led a crackdown on corruption that has been one of Xi’s signature initiatives.
Photo: AFP
Wang was named to the largely ceremonial post of vice president in 2018, and often attends events on Xi’s behalf.
Meanwhile, Japanese Emperor Naruhito and Empress Masako left for Britain yesterday to attend the funeral to pay respects to the late queen and the British royal family, who are considered to be a model for Japan’s modern monarchy.
The decision for the emperor and empress to attend the queen’s funeral underscores the deep bond between the royal families and the importance of their relationship.
Traditionally, a Japanese emperor avoids funerals except for those of their own parents, based on a cultural belief originating in the Shinto religion that considers death impure.
Former emperor Akihito, as crown prince, attended the queen’s 1953 coronation and her Diamond Jubilee in 2012. Queen Elizabeth II visited Japan in 1975.
Naruhito and Masako’s trip to Britain is their first as the emperor and empress. The queen’s invitation for them to visit following Naruhito’s 2019 ascension to the Chrysanthemum Throne had to be postponed due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
All eight of Elizabeth’s grandchildren were to stand vigil around her coffin yesterday.
Members of the public who had lined up for hours to pay their last respects continued to file past as King Charles III and his siblings stood vigil in the historic event on Friday.
CHIP WAR: The new restrictions are expected to cut off China’s access to Taiwan’s technologies, materials and equipment essential to building AI semiconductors Taiwan has blacklisted Huawei Technologies Co (華為) and Semiconductor Manufacturing International Corp (SMIC, 中芯), dealing another major blow to the two companies spearheading China’s efforts to develop cutting-edge artificial intelligence (AI) chip technologies. The Ministry of Economic Affairs’ International Trade Administration has included Huawei, SMIC and several of their subsidiaries in an update of its so-called strategic high-tech commodities entity list, the latest version on its Web site showed on Saturday. It did not publicly announce the change. Other entities on the list include organizations such as the Taliban and al-Qaeda, as well as companies in China, Iran and elsewhere. Local companies need
CRITICISM: It is generally accepted that the Straits Forum is a CCP ‘united front’ platform, and anyone attending should maintain Taiwan’s dignity, the council said The Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) yesterday said it deeply regrets that former president Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) echoed the Chinese Communist Party’s (CCP) “one China” principle and “united front” tactics by telling the Straits Forum that Taiwanese yearn for both sides of the Taiwan Strait to move toward “peace” and “integration.” The 17th annual Straits Forum yesterday opened in Xiamen, China, and while the Chinese Nationalist Party’s (KMT) local government heads were absent for the first time in 17 years, Ma attended the forum as “former KMT chairperson” and met with Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference Chairman Wang Huning (王滬寧). Wang
CROSS-STRAIT: The MAC said it barred the Chinese officials from attending an event, because they failed to provide guarantees that Taiwan would be treated with respect The Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) on Friday night defended its decision to bar Chinese officials and tourism representatives from attending a tourism event in Taipei next month, citing the unsafe conditions for Taiwanese in China. The Taipei International Summer Travel Expo, organized by the Taiwan Tourism Exchange Association, is to run from July 18 to 21. China’s Taiwan Affairs Office spokeswoman Zhu Fenglian (朱鳳蓮) on Friday said that representatives from China’s travel industry were excluded from the expo. The Democratic Progressive Party government is obstructing cross-strait tourism exchange in a vain attempt to ignore the mainstream support for peaceful development
ELITE UNIT: President William Lai yesterday praised the National Police Agency’s Special Operations Group after watching it go through assault training and hostage rescue drills The US Navy regularly conducts global war games to develop deterrence strategies against a potential Chinese invasion of Taiwan, aimed at making the nation “a very difficult target to take,” US Acting Chief of Naval Operations James Kilby said on Wednesday. Testifying before the US House of Representatives Armed Services Committee, Kilby said the navy has studied the issue extensively, including routine simulations at the Naval War College. The navy is focused on five key areas: long-range strike capabilities; countering China’s command, control, communications, computers, cyber, intelligence, surveillance, reconnaissance and targeting; terminal ship defense; contested logistics; and nontraditional maritime denial tactics, Kilby
RSS