Lucas Niewenhuis is the Newsletter Editor at The China Project. Previously, he has researched China-Africa relations at the Social Science Research Council, interned at the Council on Foreign Relations, and studied Chinese language and culture in Shanghai and Beijing.
The first of 11 launches to construct the Chinese Space Station went ahead without a hitch today. If all goes according to plan, the CSS will be fully operational by the end of 2022.
Results from the latest Chinese census, which have not yet been released, will show that Chinaโs population declined for the first time since 1949, according to the Financial Times.
After Canada and the Netherlands, the U.K. has become the third country to pass a nonbinding motion in parliament declaring Chinaโs treatment of Uyghurs as โgenocide.โ
Security risks remain high for Chinese interests in Pakistan: The Tehreek e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) militant group claimed responsibility for a car bomb attack on a hotel where the Chinese ambassador was due to stay. Five were killed as Chinese officials were minutes away from the location.
Nicholas Burns and Qin Gang, both experienced diplomats, are widely expected to be named by Washington and Beijing to be ambassadors in the other capital. Their jobs will not be easy.
China appeared to accept U.S. climate envoy John Kerryโs proposition that climate change be treated as a standalone issue in relations, nearly three months after dismissing the possibility. But will the words of a new joint statement translate into action?
Is Beijing willing to treat climate change as a โstandalone issueโ in relations with the U.S., as climate envoy John Kerry has advocated? We may soon find out, after Biden sent Kerry to Shanghai and an unofficial delegation to Taiwan at the same time.
After Japan announced its intention to discharge built-up wastewater from the 2011 Fukushima nuclear disaster, China was joined by South Korea and Taiwan in protest. The U.S. and the International Atomic Energy Agency said the plan met safety standards.
Gao Fu, the director of Chinaโs CDC, suggested mixing vaccines, adding doses, and looking into mRNA technology to improve the efficacy of COVID-19 shots. He later insisted that he wasnโt โadmittingโ to a low effectiveness of Chinese vaccines.