Latest news with #CCP
Sky News AU
12 hours ago
- Business
- Sky News AU
Mystery Boeing 747 flights leaving China for Iran raise questions amid Israel conflict
Several Boeing 747s have been spotted on radar leaving China for Iran over the last week, according to reports, sparking concerns that the CCP is helping the Middle Eastern nation transport cargo or people out of the country as Israel continues to strike the country's nuclear facilities. Starting on June 14th, FlightRadar24 shows that at least five flights traveled from China to Iran, and The Telegraph reported that the "mystery transport planes" had flown westward along northern China before crossing into Kazakhstan, south through Uzbekistan and Turkmenistan, and then fell off radar as they approached Iran. Additionally, the report indicated that the flights had a final destination of Luxembourg but don't appear to have ever crossed into European airspace. Some experts have speculated that these types of planes are typically used for transport and could be evidence of China aiding its longtime ally Iran during the conflict with Israel, although Fox News Digital has not independently confirmed the nature of the flights. "I think it's important to remember what the relationship is, forty-three percent of China's oil and gas comes from the Middle East, a large volume of that from Iran," Robert Greenway, director of the Heritage Foundation's Center for National Defense, told "The Ingraham Angle" on Wednesday night. "It likes to buy sanctioned oil below market value, and that fuels the Chinese economy and also its military ambitions, and so, that's the central relationship. They've been relatively quiet – in fact, extremely quiet – about the current conflict and coming to Iran's assistance. We also know that a large fire in Bandar-Abbas port was Chinese solid propellant for missiles that exploded and created a tremendous amount of damage just about a month ago. I think it's unlikely to see Chinese arms shipments under the circumstances to Iran. It's more likely that Iran may be removing material or personnel or regime valuables to safe haven in light of the conflict. I think that's probably the extent to which China is willing to accept the risk associated with the current circumstances." In 2021, Fox News Digital reported that Tehran and Beijing signed a 25-year cooperation deal amidst great fanfare in the Iranian capital. University of Tehran Professor Mohammad Marandi, who is close to the regime, told Fox News that it is about much more than what's on paper. "This strategic partnership is important because it allows Iran and China to build a roadmap for long-term relations that will be much more fruitful," he said. "It's also a signal being sent to the United States. The more the U.S. tries to isolate Iran and China, the more it causes countries like Iran and China to move more closely to each other." Some have cast doubt on the flights representing a nefarious connection between the two nations, including Atlantic Council fellow Tuvia Gering who posted on X that an aviation expert told him the flights are "nothing to write home about." "There are regular cargo flights by the Luxembourg-based freight company from several locations in China to Europe, with a stopover in Turkmenistan (just a few dozen kilometers from the Iranian border)," Gering wrote. "Some flight tracking websites lose the tracking signal shortly before landing and continue to show a projected route that appears to enter Iranian airspace. The sites clearly indicate that this is an estimated path; checking the aircraft tail numbers shows they take off again from Turkmenistan a few hours later, and reviewing the flight history of these routes shows they always land in Ashgabat and do not continue into Iran. All this is before even considering the obvious logic that a major European cargo company is highly unlikely to be the channel through which China transfers its super-advanced, top-secret strategic weapons to Iran." Tensions between Iran and Israel have escalated significantly in recent days, with the United States contemplating whether it will get directly involved in striking Iran. President Donald Trump has repeatedly said that Iran cannot have a nuclear weapon, and he is expected to meet with national security and defense leaders again on Thursday. "Yes, I may do it. I may not do it. I mean, nobody knows what I'm going to do. I can tell you this that Iran's got a lot of trouble, and they want to negotiate," Trump said Wednesday. "And I said, why didn't you negotiate with me before all this death and destruction? Why didn't you go? I said to people, why didn't you negotiate with me two weeks ago? You could have done fine. You would have had a country. It's very sad to watch this," the president added. Originally published as Mystery Boeing 747 flights leaving China for Iran raise questions amid Israel conflict
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Business Standard
14 hours ago
- Politics
- Business Standard
Women see reversal of China's one-child policy as more state pressure
Private Revolutions: Coming of Age in a New China Published by Bloomsbury 320 pages ₹599 For anyone trying to understand China behind the headlines and the propaganda, Private Revolutions: Coming of Age in a New China is an important read. It provides a people's perspective of how Chinese society has evolved since economic reform and the manner in which the policies of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) have impacted Chinese women in particular. The book is an attempt to present the story and idea of China beyond the CCP and through the lens of the Chinese people. The word revolution is also aptly used in the title underscoring how the word can mean different things to different sections of society and the Party. According to the author, 'This book is about revolutions in two senses. It is about China's economic revolution from the 1980s and 1990s onwards, after the Reform and Opening Up era…. It is also about the personal revolutions undertaken by four young women born in those decades as they came of age amid the inconsistent rise — and now stumble — of social mobility in China's capitalist era'. Women pay the highest price in any revolution and China is no different. Though Mao Zedong did famously proclaim, 'Women hold up half the sky', Chinese society does not reflect this outlook in any meaningful way. China is inherently patriarchal; for proof, one need look no further than the gender composition of the Chinese Politburo Standing Committee. Even initiatives such as the 'One-Child Policy' have been aimed at directing and controlling women's agency over their bodies. This coupled with the preference for a male child has consistently aggravated the intensity of inequality within Chinese society. The modification of the one-child policy to a two-child policy in 2016 and to a three-child policy in 2021 directly impacts the lives of Chinese women. These changes were driven primarily because of decreasing birth rates. She describes how Chinese women responded: 'Rather than being seen as a permission to have more children, everyone saw it as a sign of looming government pressure on women to rescue the country's plummeting birth rate'. There is no denying that Chinese society has seen enormous changes since economic reform. Large swathes of the population were lifted out of poverty, compulsory primary education ensured a high degree of literacy, urbanisation has been swift, and the country is an economic and military powerhouse. What gets lost in this big upbeat picture is the people. How have their lives been impacted? Can data be the only measure of success? For instance, the author shrewdly offers a take on how Chinese women approach the issue of using make-up. She highlights how using makeup is linked to the notions of being feudal and the 'fact that the party had later denounced wearing makeup as a bourgeois fashion'. But equally, a decision to apply makeup can also be considered revolutionary. The book skilfully juxtaposes the lives of four 'ordinary' women since their birth to their adult lives. It also paints a picture of how the policies adopted and implemented by the Party impacts each one of them differently and yet similarly, and underscores why the major challenges that the Chinese society faces today cannot be addressed by top-down policy changes. These policies primarily represent what the Party needs at any given point of time to survive and gain legitimacy. But these policies have also failed to address the real challenges. What China needs is a major revisit of the hukou system, the healthcare system, the insurance system, and child care and education system. The book details that, 'by the mid-2010s, government figures suggested that there were 13 million people without any kind of hukou, of whom 8 million had been children outside their parents' birth quotas'. It also highlights the challenges migrant workers face today, the same workers who have played a crucial role in China's economic revolution. This is not just a book about four lives; it is about how these women adapt to the changes around them. How they try to understand the lives of their parents and their children while understanding themselves. How they all define a purpose for themselves while making the most of the limitations and challenges. The book also shows how feudal, Marxist and capitalist structures coexist in China today. It provides a nuanced and novel context for what is a revolution in today's China. And that can be a small decision, something as simple as expressing your own opinions and deciding what kind of life you want to live. The reviewer is associate professor, O P Jindal Global University
Memri
16 hours ago
- Politics
- Memri
The Weaponization Of 'Human Rights' – Silencing Chinese Communist Party (CCP) Criticism In South Korea
By Truth Forum at Seoul National University* Recently, the Student Council of the Graduate School of Social Sciences at Seoul National University (SNU) labeled remarks critical of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP), made by Professor A during a lecture, as "hate speech," and requested that the department convene a human rights committee. This action poses a serious threat to academic freedom. Moreover, it comes at a time when the CCP is advancing a covert and systematic infiltration not only in South Korea but across the globe. By ignoring this reality and targeting those who raise alarm, the student council has taken a position that is both ruinous and, frankly, traitorous. We issue this statement as a firm warning. The totalitarianism of the CCP, now sliding further into an oppressive surveillance state under Xi Jinping's dictatorship, is a matter of international concern. And yet, the student council has framed Professor A's criticism of the regime as "anti-China hate," thereby suppressing free expression under the guise of political correctness. (Source: The Mask of "Autonomy" and "Human Rights" The terms "autonomy" and "human rights" may evoke democratic ideals, but here they serve as linguistic camouflage to justify ideological conformity. History reminds us that even the Soviet Union cloaked its totalitarianism with the rhetoric of autonomy. The recent conduct of the SNU student council is a textbook case of ideological repression disguised in democratic language. While the CCP engages in organized surveillance, gross human rights violations, organ harvesting from political prisoners, dictatorship, and the cover-up of the lab origins of COVID-19, the student council remains shamefully silent. Instead, it chooses to attack a professor who dared to speak the truth. This is not just intellectual cowardice – it is collaboration with oppression. The CCP's use of the "United Front" strategy to infiltrate democratic societies is no secret. At SNU itself, there are known networks of Chinese students linked to the Chinese Embassy. The so-called Xi Jinping Research Archive on campus is emblematic of this infiltration. Some South Korean businessmen have even allegedly used admissions to SNU as a form of bribery to curry favor with CCP officials. And yet, the student council remains submissively silent on these matters while targeting internal voices of truth. Totalitarianism Disguised As Friendship – The CCP Is Not Our Friend While there are many Chinese individuals who seek friendship and freedom, the regime that deceives and exploits them cannot be considered our friend. The CCP, which seeks to dismantle the U.S.-Korea alliance and subsume Korea under its cultural and political influence through the Northeast Asia Project, is not a partner in peace – it is an adversary. We opened our markets and extended the hand of free trade, hoping democratic ideals would take root in China. But over the past 30 years, the CCP's ideology – rooted in Maoism and Han supremacy – has repelled liberty and threatened the world. To ignore this hard truth is to render the language of autonomy and human rights meaningless. SNU is home to a wide range of Chinese nationals. Some are CCP elites or their children, whiles others are future reformers who respect Korea's development and yearn for a freer China. We at Truth Forum stand with those Chinese students who oppose the CCP and aspire to build a democratic future. Seoul National University must not become a playground for Marxist ideology or CCP influence. What we need now is the courage to speak the truth, and the resolve to confront those who seek to silence it. End Totalitarianism In The Name Of Human Rights And Autonomy We understand that a human rights committee is scheduled to be convened. Should this committee be used to silence Professor A's legitimate critique under the false charge of hate, then it will have proven itself not a human rights body, but a People's Committee – a tool of ideological authoritarianism. To criticize the CCP is not hate – it is an act of moral conscience. We therefore call for an immediate end to this totalitarian censorship cloaked in the language of human rights and autonomy. For the sake of our beloved Korea and for the suffering people of China, we also strongly demand the immediate closure of the Xi Jinping Archive at Seoul National University. *Truth Forum at Seoul National University started as an intercollegiate organization that was born out of a sense of urgent crisis where false inflammatory politics have come to the point of undermining the very foundation of the Republic of Korea. Truth Forum acknowledges the proud history of the Republic of Korea's founding and economic growth which our forefathers have accomplished in toil and blood, while recognizing our remaining task to be the liberation of North Korea. For this task, the Truth Forum support a strong ROK-US alliance which was forged in shared values of freedom and truth.
Hindustan Times
a day ago
- Politics
- Hindustan Times
Trump's foreign student crackdown: Brain drain or global gain?
The American Dream has been a driving force for thousands of youngsters from developing countries, across the globe. However, under Trump 2.0 what is now being witnessed is the American urge to tie sovereign concerns with education. An example of this is from May this year, when the Trump administration announced sweeping policy changes to revoke visas for Chinese students, targeting those with ties to the Chinese Communist Party (CCP), or those studying in critical fields like STEM courses. Students from other countries as well have been at the receiving end of policy changes under Trump 2.0, as US embassies have been directed to stop processing visas for new students. The directives have come as the government prepares to implement comprehensive social media screening for all international applicants after incidents in Harvard, that followed pro-Palestinian campus demonstrations last year. President Trump has often described top American Universities as havens for 'Marxist maniacs and lunatics'. Thus, there are two dominant issues here, at hand which seem to be driving the administrative changes in the US towards education for foreign students. The first issue is that of the People's Republic of China using students for purposes of espionage, which the US administration has zero tolerance for. While the issue has become a flashpoint in 2025, then FBI director, Christopher Wray had told a Senate hearing in 2018 that what was being witnessed was 'non-traditional collectors (of intelligence), especially in academic setting', and that every Chinese student who is sent by China has to go through a party and a government approval process. Thus, this ensures that no Chinese student who goes abroad is untethered from the State. In 2020, under Trump 1.0, the administration had started selectively revoking visas for Chinese graduate students with ties to the People's Liberation Army (PLA) institutions and the Biden administration had expanded the security. In June this year, Yunqing Jian, a Chinese student at the University of Michigan, was arrested by the FBI for allegedly smuggling fusarium graminearum, a dangerous biological pathogen into the US. The fungus is toxic to humans as well as livestock and causes significant crop damage as well. Jian, who had received funding from the Chinese government for her work on the pathogen in China has been charged with illegally importing biological pathogens. Her ties to the CCP are being scrutinised. Her partner, Zunyong Liu has also been charged with the smuggling. These are not lone incidents. In 2018, Li Chaoqun who studied electrical engineering at the Illinois Institute of Technology, was arrested, and convicted in 2022, for acting as an illegal agent of China's ministry of state security. Ji had been tasked with gathering biographical information on US-based engineers and scientists, including those working for defence contractors, to recruit them as spies for China. He had also lied about his contacts with the Chinese intelligence in his US Army Reserves Application, and in 2023, he was sentenced to eight years in prison. In 2024, Fengyun Shi, a 26-year-old graduate at the University of Minnesota, pleaded guilty to misdemeanour espionage charges under the Espionage Act. He had used a drone to take photos of US naval facilities near Newport News Shipyard in Virginia, which is a site for manufacturing nuclear submarines and aircraft carriers. Shi was sentenced to six months in prison and deported to China after his visa was revoked. Sun Tzu's Art of War, China's ancient treatise on statecraft and warfare emphasises intelligence gathering as critical to military success, with spies being a cost-efficient way to outmanoeuvre enemies without direct conflict. He had identified five types of spies, ranging from local spies, inward spies, converted spies, doomed spies and surviving spies. In the current times we live in students and academics fit the role of surviving spies, the ones that return with intelligence. China's intelligence operations are diverse and given that every State, including the US wants to safeguard its sovereignty, a defensive approach as the US is currently taking, in revoking visas of Chinese students with ties to the CCP is understandable. The action is not one without a basis. However, what is also a fact is that Chinese students contribute billions of dollars to the American economy. How the US navigates this fallout is something that will be worth understanding. The other set of visa revocations is taking place in the US as the Trump 2.0 administration sees elite universities such as Harvard as failing to address anti-Semitism, particularly in the context of pro-Palestinian protests on campuses. While concerns of self-censorship, lack of freedom of expression emerge owing to such visa revocations, fact also remains that owing to normalisation of hatred of Jews, two Israeli staffers, Yaron Lischinsky and Sarah Milgrim, were killed in Washington D.C. in May this year. The suspect Elias Rodrigues had shouted Free Palestine, after the shooting, which happened outside the Capital Jewish Museum. A normalisation of hatred and anti-Semitism, instead of actual utlisation of education visas is seen as unpalatable by Trump 2.0. Rep. Josh Gottheimer linked the shooting to a 'relentless global campaign to demonise Jews and Israel,' pointing to campus protests as part of this trend. While there are several concerns around the steps being taken, fact remains that there has been rational basis, linked to American's concerns of sovereignty. What this could lead to, however, is the emergence of educational hubs in other parts of the world. How other countries and regions leverage the opportunities is yet to be seen, but collective global hubs can fill in the vacuum, reshaping higher education. This article is authored by Sriparna Pathak, professor, China Studies and International Relations, Jindal School of International Affairs, OP Jindal Global University, Sonipat.
Business Recorder
a day ago
- Business
- Business Recorder
CAT upholds CCP decision against PSM
ISLAMABAD: The Competition Appellate Tribunal (CAT) has upheld the Competition Commission of Pakistan (CCP) decision against Pakistan Steel Mills (PSM), affirming its ruling that the state-owned enterprise had abused its dominant position in the sale of low carbon steel billets. The CCP had imposed a penalty of Rs25 million for PSM's anti-competitive and discriminatory conduct. While acknowledging the violation, the Tribunal partially allowed PSM's appeal and reduced the penalty to Rs5 million, citing the limited duration of non-compliance. The CCP took suo motu notice in 2009 following media reports and a complaint by M/s Frontier Foundry (Pvt.) Ltd., which alleged preferential treatment by PSM towards a particular buyer, Abbas Group, at the expense of other market participants. CCP's investigation revealed that PSM withheld supply of key steel products between November 2008 and January 2009 without any objective justification, thereby violating Section 3 of the Competition Ordinance, 2007. The Tribunal observed that PSM failed to inform all buyers of product availability, enabling exclusive access for a single group and causing harm to other market players. Such conduct, the Tribunal noted, constituted abuse of dominance under Section 3(2)(g) and (h) of the Ordinance. Copyright Business Recorder, 2025
