US
v China: is this the new cold war?
The
new era of military competition in the Pacific will become the
defining geopolitical contest of the 21st century
To the list of industries now dominated by
China, there is one surprising new entry: Miss World. Beauty contests
were banned in China by Mao Zedong as one of the worst forms of
western decadence but their bland internationalism appeals to modern
China’s desire to be included. Of the last 10 Miss World pageants,
five have been held at the seaside resort of Sanya, on subtropical
Hainan island, off China’s south coast. While the Miss World show
is in town, the swimsuit photo shoots take place across the road, at
the Sheraton Sanya Resort, which looks out on to the white sands of
Yalong Bay, a crescent-shaped cove lined with palm trees. With a
Ritz-Carlton on one side and a Marriott on the other, Yalong Bay is a
transplant of multinational tourism on China’s southernmost
point. The resort has become hugely popular with prosperous
Chinese families and on the day I visited, the hotel was hosting a
corporate retreat for the Chinese subsidiary of Syngenta, the
Switzerland-based company which sells genetically modified seeds. The
hundred or so Chinese employees spent the afternoon playing games on
the beach. As they enjoyed themselves, they barely looked up when a
Chinese Type 054 frigate sailed casually across the bay, in plain
view of the tourists. Yalong Bay, it turns out, has a double life.
The brand-name hotels occupy only one half of the beach; at the other
end lies China’s newest and most sophisticated naval base….
Read more:
Tensions…
China denounces Barack Obama’s meeting with
Dalai Lama
Beijing says White
House meeting is ‘gross interference in Chinese politics’ and
will damage China-US relations
Barack
Obama met the Dalai
Lama at the White House on Friday, despite objections
from China,
which has warned that the meeting would inflict grave damage on
Sino-American relations.
The Tibetan spiritual leader is in the US on a
speaking tour. The White House did not announce the meeting until
late on Thursday, prompting a gruff complaint from Beijing, in what
has become something of a diplomatic ritual whenever Obama meets the
exiled Buddhist monk.
The two Nobel laureates spent an hour in the
White House’s Map Room, a step down in prestige from the Oval
Office, where the president traditionally meets foreign heads of
state. The meeting was closed to reporters.
China accused Obama of letting the Dalai Lama
use the White House as a podium to promote anti-Chinese activities.
Hua Chunying, a spokeswoman for China’s foreign ministry, said
before the meeting that it was “a gross interference in China’s
domestic politics” and “a severe violation of the principles of
international relations. It will inflict grave damages upon the
China-US relationship”.
Read more:
Warnings…
China summons U.S. official over meeting
between Obama and Dalai Lama
BEIJING
(Reuters) – China’s Vice Foreign Minister Zhang Yesui summoned on
Friday a senior U.S. embassy official in China after U.S. President
Barack Obama held low-key talks with the Dalai Lama at the White
House despite warnings
from Beijing the meeting would damage ties.
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