China probes Wuhan ex-mayor over Covid response - Health - Life & Style
Zhou Xianwang served as the top Communist Party official in the Chinese metropolis from 2018 until early 2021, playing a major role in the handling of the first known outbreak of Covid-19.
Beijing's two key anti-corruption watchdogs said Zhou was suspected of "serious violations of disciplines and laws" -- a common euphemism for graft.
He "is currently undergoing disciplinary review and supervision investigation," according to a statement by the Central Commission for Discipline Inspection and the National Supervisory Commission.
The statement did not provide details about Zhou's alleged misconduct or the period of time during which it took place.
Zhou has served in a range of high-level roles, including from 2021 to 2023 as vice chairman of a provincial committee under China's top political advisory body.
Chinese President Xi Jinping has engaged in an expansive anti-corruption campaign since coming to power over a decade ago, ostensibly aimed at stamping out graft at all levels of the ruling Communist Party.
Supporters say the drive promotes clean governance, while critics say it serves as a tool for Xi to oust political opponents.
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China Offers to Mediate Between Thailand, Cambodia
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Is Trump forcing a marriage of convenience between India and China? Like most relationships, it's complicated
Their relationship is defined by a bloody border dispute, a vast power imbalance and a fierce contest for influence across Asia. Yet, President Donald Trump's latest trade war may be achieving the unthinkable: pushing India and China into a wary but tactical embrace. Trump's announcement of a new base tariff rate of 25 percent in India – later set to rise to a staggering 50 percent as additional punishment for purchasing Russian oil – in some ways mirrors the long pressure campaign he's waged against China and creates a shared interest between New Delhi and Beijing. While a thaw in India and China's fractious relationship was already underway, analysts say Trump's actions have added to this shift. New Delhi and Beijing now find themselves navigating a volatile and unpredictable Washington that treats strategic partners and geopolitical rivals with the same transactional disdain, be they in Europe or Asia. But in chastising India for not having a more open economy and its energy ties to Russia, the Trump administration is punishing the very nation the US has spent years cultivating as a democratic counterweight to China's power – creating an opening for Beijing. Chinese President Xi Jinping meets with Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi on the sidelines of the 16th BRICS Summit in Kazan, Russia on October 23, 2024. Xinhua/Sipa USA This tactical realignment is underscored by Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi's reported plans to attend the Shanghai Cooperation Organization summit later this month, which would be his first trip to China in seven years. When asked to confirm Indian media reports about Modi's attendance, a Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman said Beijing 'welcomes' Modi for the meeting. 'We believe that with the concerted effort of all parties, the Tianjin summit will be a gathering of solidarity, friendship and fruitful results,' said spokesperson Guo Jiakun. Yet, as the niceties play out in public, analysts say this is an alliance of convenience, not conviction. The deep-seated strategic distrust between Asia's two giants, born from their border conflict and struggle for regional dominance, remains firmly in place. For now, they are aligned partly not by a shared vision, but by a shared antagonist in the White House. 'We may see a greater thaw in India-China ties in face of a tough United States,' said Farwa Aamer, Director of South Asia Initiatives, Asia Society Policy Institute. But she warned that New Delhi must not lose sight of Washington and 'risk reversing the growth in relations it has long worked hard on to achieve.' Massive trust deficit India's relationship with the US has undergone a dramatic transformation, from Cold War estrangement to crucial partners in the 21st Century. Since Modi, a right-wing Hindu nationalist, swept to power in 2014, the relationship reached new heights, partly driven by the personal rapport he developed with Trump during his first term, during which the Indian leader cast aside staid diplomatic protocol to campaign for his counterpart's second term during a rally in Houston. New Delhi's growing alignment with Washington became even more critical as its own relationship with Beijing cratered after deadly border clashes in 2020 pushed the two Asian giants further apart than at any time in decades. The US' commitment to India deepened under the Biden administration, which identified New Delhi as a vital counterweight to Beijing's growing influence. President Joe Biden often lavished praise on Modi, while largely setting aside sharp criticism from rights groups over the Modi administration's alleged democratic backsliding at home. Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi and US President Donald Trump at NRG Stadium after a rally on September 22, 2019 in Houston, President Joe Biden and India's Prime Minister Narendra Modi looking out towards the Washington Monument with India's flag flying behind them in Washington on June 22, 2023. Jonathan Ernst/Reuters But then came Trump's re-election, with a turbocharged 'America First' policy that looked far beyond confronting just China on trade. In a move that threatens to shatter this two-decade consensus, the US president publicly reprimanded New Delhi earlier this month over its Russian oil imports, calling the Indian economy 'dead' and singling out India for Washington's highest global tariff rate. With his new tariffs, Trump is punishing a country that currently imports 36% of its crude oil from Russia, much of it used to support its booming economy and growing 1.4 billion-strong population. But by treating New Delhi a transactional adversary to be punished, Washington risks shattering a cornerstone of its Indo-Pacific strategy, said Milan Vaishnav, director and senior fellow, South Asia Program at Carnegie Endowment for International Peace. Trump's latest actions, 'take us right back to that era of estrangement,' he said. 'The US-India relationship is robust enough that it won't be undone overnight, but these moves have created a massive trust deficit on the Indian side.' While many nations have rushed to strike trade deals with Trump to lower tariffs, India under Modi has been less willing to cave. India shot back, calling the tariffs 'unfair' and 'unjustified,' pointing out the hypocrisy of Trump's move and noting that the US and Europe still buy Russian fertilizers and chemicals. A farmer stands next to sacks filled with harvested potatoes in the northern state of Haryana, India, on February 1, 2025. Bhawika Chhabra/Reuters Trump has repeatedly called India a 'tariff king,' but a senior Indian official said the country is 'far from' it, noting that India imposes 'zero to low duties on many key US exports' including coal, pharmaceuticals, aircraft parts and machinery. India imposes some higher tariffs on the US than vice versa, particularly on agricultural imports that attract a simple average tariff of 39% compared to the US's 5%, according to a report from the Indian Council for Research on International Economic Relations. The 'mood (toward the US) is hardening in India, partly because of the way Mr. Trump has gone about and played his cards,' said Harsh V. Pant, vice president of foreign policy at the Delhi-based Observer Research Foundation think tank. 'The way he does diplomacy through public channels, and the way he seems intent on reducing the space for the Modi government to maneuver.' Modi, who was under pressure by opposition politicians to stand up to his long-term friend, defended his country at an event last week. India will never compromise on the interests of farmers, fishermen and dairy farmers,' he said. 'I know personally, I will have to pay a heavy price for it, but I am ready for it.' A common cause The unintended consequences of Trump's policies, analysts say, have the potential to push historic rivals New Delhi and Beijing into a strategic embrace. There has been a gradual normalization of ties between India and China after Modi met with Chinese leader Xi Jinping on the sidelines of the BRICS summit in Russia last October. India and China agreed to resume direct commercial flights, Beijing recently agreed to reopen two pilgrimage sites in western Tibet to Indians for the first time in five years, and both started re-issuing tourist visas for each other's citizens. 'For its own economic reasons, namely a slowdown in growth and a slump in foreign direct investment, India has signaled a greater willingness to entertain warmer trade and investment linkages with China,' said Vaishnav, from the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace. But this convergence remains limited by the deep-seated mistrust between them, rooted in their deadly border clashes in the Himalayas and China's strategic entrenchment in Pakistan. Indian army vehicles carrying supply and reinforcement are seen near China border in Ladakh, India, on August 29, predicted the future would be one of duality: 'I expect we will see increasing economic cooperation coupled with strategic rivalry,' he said of the relationship between India and China. Washington's willingness to antagonize a key partner like India has also baffled observers. One view is that the Trump administration lacks a clear, overarching strategy, diminishing India's crucial role as a democratic counterweight to China. 'There is no coherent China policy in this administration,' said Vaishnav. 'Which means India's role as a bulwark against China is under-emphasized.' He added that as Trump's mood on Russia soured, 'India's Russian oil imports became an easy target.' A more personal motivation may also be at play. Analysts suggest Trump's hostility could have been triggered by a bruised ego after India downplayed his alleged role in defusing a major crisis with Pakistan. Trump announced he had brokered a ceasefire following a military escalation between the nuclear-armed neighbors in May. While Islamabad publicly praised the claim and even nominated Trump for a Nobel Peace Prize, Indian officials refused to credit Washington's apparent intervention. 'After that, things went belly up,' Pant said. 'The (trade) deal which at one point seemed very doable, kept on going. And the more frustrated Mr. Trump has become, the more voluble he has become in terms of his public threats to India.' Critics say Trump's policies could be leading to the very outcome some US strategists have long sought to avoid. 'It could be the worst outcome for the United States,' Trump's former National Security Adviser John Bolton told CNN's Kaitlan Collins. 'The irony here is that while the secondary tariffs against India are intended to hurt Russia, it could push India back closer to Russia and, ironically, closer to China, perhaps negotiating together against the US tariff efforts.'
Egypt Independent
3 days ago
- Egypt Independent
Chinese ‘overkill' in dispute with Philippines damaged two Chinese ships. Why it could have been much worse
It's hard to call the collision of two multi-thousand-ton military ships 'fortunate,' but that's exactly what analysts are saying about the incident in the South China Sea this week that left a China Coast Guard ship with a heavily damaged bow after it hit a People's Liberation Army Navy guided-missile destroyer. Dramatic footage released by the Philippine Coast Guard showed the moment the collision took place, leaving the China Coast Guard ship missing a prominent part of its bow. Commodore Jay Tarriela of the Philippine Coast Guard said the incident occurred on Monday while personnel were distributing aid to Filipino fishermen near the disputed Scarborough Shoal, approximately 140 miles west of the Philippine island of Luzon. Tarriela said a China Coast Guard vessel was chasing the Philippine Coast Guard vessel BRP Suluan at 'high speed' when the incident occurred. 'Philippine vessels and fishermen encountered hazardous maneuvers and blocking actions,' Tarriela said. He added that the Chinese navy ship then 'performed a risky maneuver' which inflicted 'substantial damage' to the China Coast Guard vessel's forecastle, rendering the ship 'unseaworthy.' Videos released by the Philippine Coast Guard on Monday showed People's Liberation Army Navy ship Guilin with hull number 164, a 7,500-ton Type 052D guided-missile destroyer, careening into the China Coast Guard (CCG) vessel 3104, as both chased the much smaller BRP Suluan Philippine patrol vessel. At least three China Coast Guard personnel can be seen on the bow of CCG 3104 at the time of impact, but there has been no word of any casualties from the incident. A black eye for China's military China has said a confrontation with Philippine vessels took place but has not so far confirmed a collision between its two vessels. Beijing, which claims almost all of the South China Sea as its sovereign territory, said its vessels were protecting that claim. Manila's actions in dispatching vessels to Scarborough Shoal 'seriously infringe upon China's sovereignty and rights, significantly threaten maritime peace and stability, and are of a grave nature,' Lin Jian, spokesperson for the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, said Monday. Uninhabited Scarborough Shoal lies within the Philippines exclusive economic zone, but China has effectively controlled it with an almost constant coast guard presence in nearby waters since 2012, according to the Asia Maritime Transparency Initiative. Analysts said the collision is a black eye for the Chinese military that could have turned into something much worse, especially because the Philippines is a mutual defense treaty ally of the United States, and Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. has said the death of a Filipino sailor in an incident of this type could be seen as an 'act of war.' The PLA 'destroyer could have struck the much smaller Philippine Coast Guard ship instead. This would have almost certainly resulted in injury and death – even the sinking of the Philippine vessel,' said Ray Powell, a South China Sea expert and director of SeaLight at the Gordian Knot Center for National Security Innovation at Stanford University. 'Then where would we be?' Powell asked. 'Could the Philippines afford NOT to call this an 'armed attack'?' American officials have repeatedly pledged to defend the Philippines from any armed attack in the disputed waters, stressing Washington's 'ironclad commitment' to the 1951 defense treaty. Powell and other analysts called the involvement of the highly advanced destroyer Guilin, commissioned in 2021, highly unusual and 'overkill.' PLA Navy ships usually stay 'over the horizon,' they said, ready to back up the smaller China Coast Guard vessels if they get into serious trouble. Powell, who monitored the confrontation via open-source tracking sites, said there was no indication of that on Monday, as China had at least seven Coast Guard ships and 14 maritime militia vessels in the area. In contrast, he counted only four Philippine vessels involved: two Coast Guards, one from the Bureau of Fisheries, and one commercial fish carrier. After reviewing video of the incident, analyst Carl Schuster, a former US Navy captain, said the Chinese ships appeared to be 'trying to sandwich the Philippine cutter between them, forcing it to take the water cannon blast at close range, down into its engine intakes, and one of the (Chinese) ships was supposed to bump it, hit its stern or otherwise cripple it.' The maneuver 'requires a lot of practice and coordination,' he said. 'They were trying a new, bold and intricate maneuver against a clearly well-prepared Philippine crew without either of those prerequisites and paid the price for it,' Schuster said. Alessio Patalano, professor of war and strategy in East Asia at King's College London, said the Chinese maneuver exhibited 'no seamanship-like behavior to speak of.' 'This was highly unprofessional and dangerous from intent to execution, and it eventually … punished one of the aggressors sustaining a disabling damage,' Patalano said. Bringing in the larger PLA Navy ship was 'overkill,' said Collin Koh, a research fellow at the S. Rajaratnam School of International Studies (RSIS) in Singapore. The destroyer is armed with dozens of missiles designed to shoot down aircraft, sink enemy warships, or hit targets hundreds of miles away on land. The Type 052D ships are designed to play a key role in Chinese aircraft carrier task groups, according to a US military assessment. 'It's overkill if you want to use such a high-tech vessel to do this sort of job,' which is essentially law enforcement work, Koh said. The incident is illustrative of something experts have long feared in the contentious South China Sea; one mistake by one captain or pilot could lead to a superpower military confrontation. 'Both Chinese assets display hostile intent to a point that when they seemingly miss the target they end up colliding – reinforcing the point that both safety distances and behavior were so aggressive that they couldn't avoid each other,' said Patalano. Powell, of SeaLight, said such behavior has been encouraged by Beijing, citing incidents that go back as far as 2001, when a Chinese fighter pilot who was killed in a collision with a US Navy reconnaissance plane over the South China Sea was hailed as a national hero. 'The incentive structure for military officers seems to bend toward aggression,' Powell said. 'I honestly wonder if this was an example of an overzealous PLA (Navy) captain stretching his rules of engagement,' he said.
