AleYi Qiang, a Xi ally with little national experience, was appointed as the next premier of China. US-sanctioned PLA official Li Shangfu was appointed as the new Defense Minister. Beijing brokers diplomatic tensions between Saudi Arabia and Iran. Sources say that Taiwan President Tsai Ing-wen is going to visit New York and California. Taiwan will resume direct flights to 23 mainland Chinese cities suspended since 2016.
China in a week
When Li Qiang came off the stage with President Xi Jinping and five other members of the Politburo Standing Committee during a meeting of the 20th Party Congress in October 2022, it was clear that Xi had made up his mind to make the former his next chief. .
Last week, Xi’s presidential decree confirmed this.
Li comes from a humble background, unlike Xi, a prince. Took Study agricultural mechanization at Zhejiang University and later joined the Communist Youth League. He received an executive master’s degree from the Central Party School of the Chinese Communist Party.
Between 2004 and 2007, Li served as head of Xi. Employee while the latter was party secretary in Zhejiang province. it is Cause Li became Xi’s most trusted disciple, and the relationship paid off for Li as he moved quickly into the role of party secretary in Jiangsu and later Shanghai.
One of Li’s successes was convincing Elon Musk to set up Tesla’s first overseas factory in Shanghai. But Li was implicated in mismanaging the Covid response during the massive Shanghai lockdown.
reuters recently informed of Citing unnamed Chinese officials, it said Li played a role in expediting plans to end China’s stringent COVID measures in December. But reuters Sources will be trying to promote Lee Up as a suitable candidate who will continue the agenda of economic development.
“He inherited a job that started with a real estate crisis, a debt burden, US sanctions, an aging China and a decline in sentiment,” said Jörg Wuttke, head of the EU Chamber of Commerce in China. financial Times,
Li’s promotion to premiership comes at a time when Xi is doing everything he can to develop the decision-making authority of the State Council. The Chinese Premier heads the Council of State and ensures the smooth operation of public institutions. Another sign of the emerging role of the State Council is the decision to set up a new data regulatory body that will sit at the top of the food chain and deal with all matters related to data governance.
Li is an unusual choice as he has never held national-level office, and his rise was made possible by his personal equation with Xi.
Among other appointments, were Ding Xuxiang, He Lifeng, Zhang Guoqing and Liu Guozhong. Confirmed As Deputy Chairman of the Council of State. He Lifeng will likely replace Liu He as the next economic king.
Li Shangfu had another important appointment as Minister of Defense. In 2018, he was added to the sanctions list by the US for working with Russia’s defense and intelligence organisations.
Li Shangfu is an aerospace engineer who has a degree in automation from Chongqing University and advanced military education from the National University of Defense Technology. In 2016, he served as the deputy commander and chief of staff of the PLA Strategic Support Force. He was inducted into the Central Military Commission in October 2022.
Although the defense minister has little influence in China’s military hierarchy, Li Shangfu will become the face of public diplomacy involving complex issues such as Taiwan and the regional dimension of US-China tensions.
While it may appear that Xi has set up a whole new team, this is not entirely the case. Beijing has retained its central bank governor, Yi Gang, despite deciding to set up a new financial regulatory body.
Xi was ‘unanimously’ appointed president for a third term by NPC delegates with 2,952 votes in his favor and zero votes against.
according to a financial Times According to the report, Taiwan’s President Tsai Ing-wen is going to visit America. reporter Catherine Hille on Thursday informed of That Tsai will stop by US House Speaker Kevin McCarthy at the Hudson Institute in New York in her home state of California. After the US leg of the trip in late March, Tsai will visit Guatemala and Belize, both of which maintain official diplomatic ties with Taipei.
McCarthy was to visit Taipei, a plan that could have triggered a military response by Beijing. As the presidential election crisis looms over Taiwan, the ruling Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) is cautious about allowing the opposition Kuomintang party to blame Tsai’s government for starting another crisis, as we have seen in the former US House Speaker Nancy Pelosi during her visit to Taipei.
Meanwhile, Marc Magnier of south china morning post Is revealed Beijing examined alternative plans to mitigate the consequences of McCarthy’s Taipei trip by suggesting a ‘track two’ approach to scheduling the US Vice President’s trip to Beijing at the same time.
In 1997, when then-Speaker of the US House Newt Gingrich visited Taiwan, US Vice President Al Gore was sent to Beijing to ease domestic pressure as a result of a high-level visit to Taipei by US officials. McCarthy has said he has not canceled his plans to visit Taiwan, which means Beijing could implement such a strategy if the Speaker of the House decides to visit Taipei later this year.
Military tensions in the Taiwan Strait may appear to remain at an all-time high, but the reality is somewhat complex.
Taiwan has decided resume Flights to 23 mainland Chinese cities suspended since 2016 to stabilize cross-strait relations.
Read also: China again increased military budget, its focus is ‘training and preparation for war’
China in world news
As the world watches Xi Jinping land in Riyadh in December 2022, analysts speculate about China’s plans for the Middle East – a region whose geopolitics the US has dominated for more than two decades.
Now, Beijing has mediated to ease tensions between the two rivals Riyadh and Tehran, which have had no diplomatic contact for seven years. Beijing has used its influence in Tehran to initiate talks between the two countries which, in the past, used heated rhetoric close to military conflict.
A Saudi delegation led by National Security Advisor Dr. Mussad bin Mohammed Al-Aiban and an Iranian delegation led by Admiral Ali Shamkhani, Secretary of the Supreme National Security Council, held talks in Beijing from March 6 to 10. On Friday, Wang Yi, director of the Office of the Central Commission for Foreign Affairs, held talks with both sides and made an official announcement challenging US influence in the Middle East.
Sunni country Saudi Arabia and Shia country Iran are considered ‘old enemies’. The resumption of diplomatic relations in the Middle East is not only a major event, it has attracted global attention. Many in the US media, experts and scholars said that ‘China has won a major diplomatic victory’. The White House National Security Council spokesman deliberately avoided China’s leadership of the arbitration. For many, the news could be described as ‘sudden’ and ‘shocking’ Said In a report by China’s Guancha News Network, it has been described as a victory for Beijing’s diplomacy.
Meanwhile, America has Accepted Five Chinese companies to ‘sell and ship thousands of aerospace components’ for Iran’s drone program. Iran has emerged as a supplier of drones to Russia, which have been used in the Ukraine war.
Read also: China’s position on Russia-Ukraine war could trigger US sanctions
must read this week
Watch Xi Jinping slowly strangle the Dengist economic paradigm – tanner greer
How is India seen in China? , mu chunshan
The inside story of an American spy released in China 50 years ago, and his lessons amid a row of spy balloons Jerome A. Cohen
In a sugar factory town, expats ‘lay flat’ for a better deal woo pew
podworld
Suisheng Zhao, professor and director of the Center for China-US Cooperation at the Joseph Korbel School of International Studies at the University of Denver, is an expert on China’s foreign policy. Zhao’s latest book, The Dragon Roars Back: Transformational Leaders and the Dynamics of Chinese Foreign Policy, writes about the Chinese leaders who have shaped Chinese foreign policy. In a conversation, Zhao told Sheena Chestnut Greitens how Xi has borrowed from past leaders to shape foreign policy. chinscope recommended listening to the conversation
The writer is a columnist and freelance journalist. He was previously China media correspondent with the BBC World Service. He is currently a MOFA Taiwan Fellow based in Taipei and tweets @aadilbrar. Thoughts are personal.
(Edited by Prashant)