World Health Organization (WHO) experts spent four weeks in the central Chinese city of Wuhan to search for the origin of the coronavirus pathogen. They consider a laboratory accident “extremely unlikely”, as the head of the team, Peter Ben Embarek, explained yesterday at a press conference. The thesis that the virus originated in a laboratory […]
Little was known in advance about the content of the virtual summit between Beijing and representatives of 17 Central and Eastern European countries (CEEC). Speaking in person for the first time at a meeting of the format yesterday, President Xi Jinping proclaimed: “We believe that 17+1 can be much more than 18.” Xi promoted more […]
European indications of origin for food such as Munich beer, feta cheese or champagne will soon be officially protected from imitation in China. The bilateral agreement between the EU and China on the protection of geographical indications (GI) will enter into force on 1 March. The agreement includes a list of 100 European and 100 […]
France’s Constitutional Council has approved strict restrictions on Chinese telecoms equipment maker Huawei. The law, also called the “anti-Huawei law”, is compatible with the French constitution, the council announced. The rules mainly concern the new mobile phone standard 5G. With the regulation, the French government wants to prevent espionage or sabotage from China. The Constitutional […]
One day before the planned virtual summit of 17 Central and Eastern European states and China (17+1 format), the list of participants remains unclear. The Chinese side has so far not confirmed that President Xi Jinping – for the first time – will take part in the online meeting on behalf of Beijing, nor have […]
Global prices for food rose in January for the eighth month in a row. Greater demand from China also led to rising prices for corn and dairy products, the Food and Agricultural Organization (FAO) said. The price of corn rose by an average of 11.2 percent on the world market in January, according to the […]
A media dispute is simmering between the United Kingdom and China: The British broadcasting authority Ofcom has revoked the broadcasting license of the English-language foreign broadcaster CGTN from China due to political influence on the program. The reason given by the authority was that an investigation had shown that the broadcasting license was wrongly held […]
In view of the new National Security Act and Beijing’s crackdown on protests, more and more Hong Konge citizens are moving to Taiwan. According to Taiwan’s Immigration Department, the number of residence permits issued to Hong Kong citizens reached a new high last year: around 11,000 Hong Kong citizens moved to the democratic island in […]
The Czech government has announced that it will exclude the Chinese state-owned company Chinese General Nuclear Power Group (CGN) from the tender for the construction of a new reactor at the Dukovany nuclear power plant. According to media reports, the background to the decision is safety concerns about the impact of Chinese involvement. According to […]
Criticism of the investment agreement between the EU and China (CAI) has not ceased since the publication of a part of the text at the end of January – especially deficiencies regarding human and worker protection are criticized. A coalition of more than 100 China experts, activists and academics is thus calling for a halt […]
