China Newsbase
Fast, easy search of the China news that matters
The China News Database was last updated at 01:50PM on November 9, 2023.
Database searches currently perform best when a tag filter is used. We suggest trying out these tags: Xi Jinping, Russia, Taiwan, COVID-19, climate change, electric vehicles, gaming, IPOs, Belt and Road Initiative.
You may also filter by articles featured in our daily members-only Access newsletter, to get a curated overview of the top news and analysis about Chinese politics, business, and society. Select one option:
- All top news and analysis
- The China Project top news and analysis
- Top news and analysis from elsewhere — Stories in the “News briefing,” previously known as “Recommended links”
This product is in beta testing and development. If you would like to share feedback on the content or user experience, please email editors@thechinaproject.com.
3,450 articles matching the search query.
Egypt is Now the Main Hub for Chinese Vaccine Diplomacy in Africa and the Middle East - The China Africa Project
China is courting Africa and the Middle East with vaccines made in Egypt, after Liào Lìqiáng 廖力强, China’s ambassador to Cairo, pledged 500,000 Sinovac doses to the Palestinian Authority for people in the Gaza Strip. The vaccines, produced by Egyptian state-run pharmaceutical firm Vascera, belong to a Chinese joint venture that is turning Egypt into a critical hub in Beijing’s vaccine diplomacy.
“China is ready to continue making contributions to bring about a solution to the Palestinian issue,” Liao said on Twitter, linking the vaccines to China’s desire to aid the Arab-Israeli peace process.
China Fortifies Its Borders With a ‘Southern Great Wall,’ Citing Covid-19
China is building up its walls in the south, creating a massive stretch of barriers along China’s 3,000-mile southern border. Officials claim “The Southern Great Wall” is meant to battle COVID-19, but critics claim the barrier will have long-lasting impacts on trade and travel.
China’s Immunity Gap
What is the future of China’s COVID policy? Yanzhong Huang, a scholar of public health in China, writes critically in Foreign Affairs of what he views as China’s overemphasis on virus elimination and underemphasis on building up population immunity and “surge capacity” to handle a possibly inevitable wave of cases. As China moves toward reopening, it “could make effective COVID-19 antiviral pills widely available, and it could immediately approve the use of mRNA vaccines as booster shots for those who are immunosuppressed or over 65,” among other measures, to “reestablish a sustainable balance between protecting public health and allowing social and economic life to return to a normal trajectory.”
China's Walvax says has most participants for large mRNA COVID vaccine trial
New mRNA vaccine trials to proceed in China: “China’s Walvax Biotechnology has recruited most of the 28,000 participants needed for a large clinical trial of its mRNA COVID-19 vaccine candidate, a senior company official said on Thursday,” per Reuters.
A comparison between COVID control in China and U.S.
Here’s a different view on China’s COVID policy: The Pekingnology newsletter has a translation of a January 18 post (in Chinese) by popular WeChat account Rèn Yì 任意, a.k.a. Chairman Rabbit, defending Beijing’s approach to COVID management.
China tests 2M in Beijing, lifts COVID lockdown in Xi’an
The lockdown in Xi’an has lifted, even as Beijing buckles down for the Olympics, which starts in less than two weeks. “Officials in Beijing said they would conduct a second round of mass testing of the Fengtai district’s 2 million residents, where the majority of the capital’s 40 coronavirus cases since January 15 have been found,” the Associated Press reports.
Migrant Worker’s Contact Tracing Info Moves Chinese Masses
A tale of two Beijings: “The story of a fisherman who came to Beijing searching for his missing son and tested positive for COVID-19 while working odd jobs to support his family has touched millions of Chinese social media users,” Sixth Tone reports. The case sparked conversations about inequality, as the contact tracing information released about the man, a migrant worker, contrasted sharply with another of the capital’s recently COVID-positive denizens, who made multiple trips to high-end shopping malls before coming down with Omicron. See also in Bloomberg: Lifestyles of two COVID patients highlight wealth chasm in China.
Hong Kong’s ‘Draconian’ Travel Curbs Are Top AmCham Concern
Foreign executives are leaving Hong Kong as the city continues its strict “COVID-zero” measures. “Hong Kong’s stringent travel restrictions are now the biggest challenge for American businesses and expatriates in the city, with 44% of respondents in a new survey [by the American Chamber of Commerce in Hong Kong] saying they’re likely to leave,” Bloomberg reported last week. The Wall Street Journal has a new report on the situation, noting that the International Monetary Fund “estimated that the city’s rebounding economy could suffer [if strict COVID containment measures continue], with growth slowing to 3% this year, down from last year’s 6.4%.”
China's Tianjin tightens control over travel after Omicron cases
Tianjin in partial lockdown: The port city about 100 miles southeast of Beijing reported 21 domestically transmitted cases of COVID-19 with confirmed symptoms yesterday, including two of the Omicron variant. The city has gone into partial lockdown and instituted exit controls, while all 14 million residents will be tested.
Mental Health Used to Be a Taboo in China. That’s Changing Fast.
China is talking about mental health, at last: Sixth Tone reports on how the COVID-19 pandemic has been a “game-changer for Chinese professionals, campaigners, and policymakers involved with mental health-related projects.” Topics like depression and anxiety used to be taboo in China, but that is changing fast — art galleries, TV dramas, stage musicals, and documentaries released in 2021 all dealt with mental health issues much more openly than ever before.
China detects first Omicron case – overseas returnee in Tianjin
Omicron has been detected in the northern city of Tianjin: The newest COVID-19 variant of concern was identified in “a patient in Tianjin who returned from overseas last week,” per the SCMP. Meanwhile, Zhejiang Province in eastern China has reported “138 confirmed cases and one asymptomatic infection” in the past week, Sixth Tone says, leading to “strict control over social gatherings, cultural events, and conferences.”
China approves first local neutralising antibody cocktail for Covid-19
A new monoclonal antibody treatment for COVID-19 developed by the Research Institute of Shenzhen Third People’s Hospital has proven effective against the Omicron variant in early trials. See also coverage in Reuters.
China’s mRNA Vaccine Developer Abogen Raises $3 Million
A leading homegrown mRNA vaccine maker, Suzhou Abogen Biosciences, has “raised $3 million following a $7.2 million C round of financing in August,” Caixin reports. The funds will be used partly “to accelerate clinical development of its potential COVID-19 vaccine,” which has not been approved by regulators but is one of several mRNA shots that may eventually be rolled out in China.
China Growth Stocks Look Like Havens as Markets Confront Omicron
Chinese investors are finding domestic stocks more attractive as the world deals with Omicron while China’s COVID-zero policy stands firm. The ChiNext Index is benefitting, though Chinese and Taiwanese aviation stocks have fallen since the variant emerged.
China says zero-Covid policy will protect it against Omicron variant
Will Omicron extend China’s COVID-zero policy? The newly identified variant, whose name was chosen to avoid “Xi” and “Nu,” has already been identified in three COVID-19 cases in Hong Kong. Beijing sees the emergence of the potentially high-risk variant as “vindicating” for its strict COVID policies, the Financial Times reports, citing comments from infectious disease expert Zhāng Wénhóng 张文宏. Meanwhile, a study by Peking University researchers that was published in China CDC Weekly said that the country is “not ready to embrace ‘opening-up’ strategies…as advocated by certain western countries,” which the authors said would cause a “great disaster” and hundreds of thousands of cases a day.
New Covid-19 antibody treatment shows promise as China races to find cure
Experimental neutralising antibody treatment able to tackle all variants shown to reduce viral loads and symptoms for 14 Beijing patients.
Athletes test positive for Covid-19 inside Beijing’s Olympic bubble
A foreign luger tested positive on arriving at the airport for a pre-Games training event, followed by a teammate and another close contact.
China Covid Infections Fall to Single Digits in Latest Outbreak
China reported eight Covid-19 infections on Wednesday, all in one province, as the country’s new cases dropped to single digits for the first time in its latest delta outbreak.
