Cao Ni Ma posted:

https://apnews.com/article/philippines-us-military-china-marcos-a89fc14bdef820b83d4a18adb557b487

Weird, it was looking like marcos was trying to politicize the whole duterte deal with china. Then he does this sort of 180.

gradenko_2000 posted:

https://twitter.com/KimmeeLee2/status/1779836957138592019
https://twitter.com/KimmeeLee2/status/1779837477127409909
https://twitter.com/KimmeeLee2/status/1779838214083416388

Full video:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b1R1bXxxAaE

quote:

South Korea will increasingly be asked or invited by the United States to join the following nets: AUKUS (the trilateral security partnership between Australia, the UK and the US), the Quad (the strategic security dialogue between the US, Japan, Australia and India), and trilateral US-Japan-Philippines cooperation. There are also growing calls for South Korea to take on military responsibilities in the South China Sea and the East China Sea, which is adjacent to Taiwan.

...

If South Korea fails to conjure up adequate strategies and negotiate tactfully, it may find itself in a situation where it reaps no benefits while seeing its relationship with China further deteriorate. This is because the Yoon administration has, despite being assured that they are part of a “values-based diplomacy” with the US and Japan, so far failed to secure concrete strategic and economic benefits from either of those countries.

...

The fact that South Korea has stopped demanding that Japan reflect on its history ever since Yoon took office in May 2022 also seems related to such behavior.

On Saturday, a Foreign Ministry official commented on the US and Japan’s decision to upgrade their military alliance during the US-Japan summit by saying, “We note that the US-Japan alliance is defensive in nature and emphasizes that the will to strengthen peace and stability in the region.” Nothing about Japan’s lack of reflection on past atrocities was mentioned.

As the Yoon administration has stopped urging Japan to properly repent for its past historical wrongs, South Korea has seen its influence in Japanese diplomacy shrink. To commemorate the 60th anniversary of diplomatic relations with Japan in 2025, the South Korean government has proposed a new Japan-South Korea joint declaration, but the Japanese government doesn’t seem very interested.

There is a growing realization within the Japanese government that there is no need to spend much diplomatic energy on South Korea now that the Yoon administration has abandoned its demands for proper historical reflection. South Korea is also running out of diplomatic cards to play.

Bloomberg News posted:

China Tells Iran Cooperation Will Last After Attack on Israel

·Wang Yi says China believes Iran can avoid more ‘turbulence’
·Call with top Iranian diplomat followed unprecedented attack

China’s top diplomat told Iran that the nations can work together across a range of areas in the future, signaling their ties remain solid following Tehran’s unprecedented attack on Israel.

“China is ready to steadily advance practical cooperation in various fields with Iran and promote greater development of China-Iran relations,” Foreign Minister Wang Yi told Iranian counterpart Hossein Amirabdollahian in a phone call on Monday.

Wang also said China noted Iran’s position that its military action was “limited” and the country was “exercising its right of self-defense,” according to a statement from the Foreign Ministry in Beijing. China also believed Iran could handle the situation to “avoid further turbulence,” he said.

Wang’s comments offer Iran a measure of diplomatic support after its missile and drone attack on Israel sparked worries of a broader conflict. Tehran said the move was retaliation for an attack on its embassy compound in Syria that killed top Iranian military officers. This was the first time Iran has struck Israel from its soil.

On Monday, the US House of Representatives overwhelmingly passed legislation aimed at countering China’s purchase of Iranian crude oil as part of a package of bills being brought to the floor in response to Iran’s move.

Wang didn’t say type of cooperation China was ready to advance with Iran but Beijing has made similar pledges in the past. Last year, Chinese leader Xi Jinping vowed to deepen ties after meeting Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi in Beijing. The US had said just weeks earlier that it would increase pressure on China to stop buying Iranian oil.

China is a main customer for Iran’s oil, though in January Tehran withheld shipments to demand higher prices. Beijing is also a key negotiating power in the stalled talks to revive the 2015 nuclear deal.

China helped Iran and Saudi Arabia reach a deal last year to ease years of diplomatic deadlock between the Middle East rivals. China also pushed to expand the BRICS bloc that it aspires to lead, and Iran became a member to start 2024.

quote:

Organisers of the Beijing half marathon are investigating the men’s race after two Kenyans and one Ethiopian runner appeared to deliberately allow China’s He Jie to win.

Footage of the final few hundred metres of the race seemingly shows Robert Keter and Willy Mnangat of Kenya and Ethiopia’s Dejene Hailu Bikila slow down and gesture in front of them, encouraging He to pass and take the lead.

The four athletes, who had run together for the whole race, then ran side by side to the finish line, before the three Africans dropped back to let He cross the tape first.

Mnangat told BBC Sport that they were running as pacemakers for He, who is the Chinese national champion in the full marathon distance. “I was not there to compete,” Mnangat said. “It was not a competitive race for me.”

Immediately after the race the Kenyan initially said he allowed He to win “because he is my friend”. “He comes to Kenya and I was [pacing for him] in the Wuxi Marathon, so he is my friend, OK,” Mnangat told the South China Morning Post.

Mnangat said the three African runners, as well as a fourth who did not finish the race, were hired to pace He to a Chinese half marathon record.

“I don’t know why they put my name on my bib/chest number instead of labelling it as a pacemaker,” Mnangat told the BBC. “My job was to set the pace and help the guy win but unfortunately, he did not achieve the target, which was to break the national record.”

Winning in a time of 1:03.44, He fell short of the record by one minute and 11 seconds, while Mnangat, Keter and Bikila tied for second place.

The Beijing Sports Bureau confirmed to AFP they were investigating the circumstances around the finish and any results would be “promptly disclosed to the public”.

In a statement World Athletics said: “We are aware of the footage circulating online from the Beijing half marathon this weekend and understand an investigation is currently being conducted by the relevant local authorities. The integrity of our sport is the highest priority at World Athletics, while this investigation is ongoing we are unable to provide further comment.”

exmarx posted:

apologies for kim dot com but

https://twitter.com/kimdotcom/status/1776372302416077150?s=46&t=z-BpKV_zuayDXrjUW20mQw

fits my needs posted:

https://x.com/CBSMornings/status/1780244759421829629

Nonsense posted:

Votskomit posted:

Can't remember if I've already told this story.

After people repeatedly told me that China supplies much of the world's drugs like fentanyl, including illegal trade, I looked it up and tried to find reliable sources.

From what I could find:
1) China manufactured a lot of fentanyl for medical purposes up until 2015. The UN declared fentanyl to be a strictly controlled substance and China immediately complied. Pharmaceutical companies in China are still producing fentanyl but for legal purposes under stricter oversight.

This info is used by rags like The Economist to make the case that China is the source of most of the world's illegal fentanyl. That the producers merely went "underground" and that surely the same production is still happening.

Presumably they can't imagine that regulations achieve their aims.

2) The EU drug report says that a lot of drugs are being manufactured in the eu. And a lot of drugs and precursors are being imported from almost everywhere in the imperial periphery. North Africa, South America, Asia, South East Asia. They only really name China for distributing chemical precursors.

This report is sited by rags like The Economist to make the case that China is flooding the EU with drugs in a reverse opium war.

3) It is really difficult to get reliable information on drug supplies, due to the nature of finding any information on an illegal and underground business. Therefore, many reports give extremely limited information about things like suppliers, and they try not to speculate.

Propaganda artists understand this to mean they can make any claim and it's difficult for anyone to produce counterfactual evidence. Therefore, like news about North Korea, you can just make up whatever poo poo you want and push a narrative about an enemy.

In conclusion, I suggest people disregard most news that links an illegal drug trade to any state/nationality other than the USA and its dogs.

Nonsense posted:

Palladium posted:

liberals projecting their conspiracy theories

Spergin Morlock posted:

accusing China of pushing drugs on the US and UK is some hilarious projection from the Anglo world lol

Nonsense posted:

Mandel Brotset posted:

giant xi reminds me of that giant obama story from back in the day

Homeless Friend posted:

Anime Schoolgirl posted:

*libbishly* Very fiscally irresponsible to simply downgrade their access to infrastructure. It is better and more humane to inflict neverending poverty spirals onto debtors by limiting their avenues of gainful employment and constantly repossessing their possessions.

stephenthinkpad posted:

https://twitter.com/GameofTrades_/status/1780244757693763935?t=WyoyMgz6q_qBKshSy2HYog&s=19

They got to bring Abe back.

eSports Chaebol posted:

it’s true Mexican cartels are buying precursors from China to make their own fentanyl but China is actually cooperating with the u.s. and Mexico in trying to stop them. but also it’s pretty hard to stop all straw purchases of uncontrolled chemicals. they just buy them from China because they’re cheaper. even the u.s. is not gonna convince Mexico to ban all unregulated chemical imports. even the u.s. doesn’t want to do it. just keep blaming China for having exports

www.npr.org posted:

Investigators for a U.S. House committee released a report on Tuesday detailing what they describe as new evidence the Chinese government is continuing to "directly" subsidize "the manufacturing and export of illicit fentanyl."

According to the report, Chinese officials encourage production of precursor chemicals by giving "monetary grants and awards to companies openly trafficking illicit fentanyl materials."

Specifically, researchers found companies making fentanyl precursors and analogues could apply for state tax rebates and other financial benefits after exporting the product.

Street fentanyl has driven a devastating surge in fatal overdoses, killing tens of thousands of people in the U.S every year.

The Biden administration and drug policy experts say China is the primary source of precursor chemicals used by Mexican drug gangs to manufacture the powerful street opioid.

Last November, U.S. officials said their counterparts in China promised to crack down on the illicit fentanyl industry.

"We're taking action to significantly reduce the flow of precursor chemicals and pill presses from China to the Western hemisphere," President Joe Biden said, following a summit with Chinese President Xi Jinping in California.

"It's going to save lives and I appreciate President Xi's commitment on this issue."

But five months after that announcement, a report produced by a bipartisan team with the U.S. House Select Committee on the Chinese Communist Party, found the tax rebates and other incentives appear to still be in place.

### China's role in fentanyl production previously documented

Many of the findings were known previously among drug policy experts. They appear to confirm reports that the Chinese government bureaucracy is aiding the production and export of fentanyl-related substances.

In a 2019 book, Fentanyl, Inc., journalist Ben Westhoff wrote about "a series of tax breaks, subsidies and other grants" that benefit Chinese companies who produce fentanyl analogues.

An NPR investigation in 2020 found a web of Chinese companies whose employees were openly marketing fentanyl precursors and selling them to clients in Mexico and the United States.

However, despite U.S. diplomatic efforts to stem the production of precursors, China has done very little to enforce international and domestic laws banning fentanyl production.

According to the House report released Tuesday, Chinese officials appear to have taken steps to conceal financial incentives linked to fentanyl, but failed to end them.

One of the investigators told reporters it was clear companies were contributing directly to the overdose crisis by leveraging benefits available through China's complex bureaucracy.

"The fact that these [precursor chemicals] are subsidized solely for export is what allows them to go through so cheaply," said the staffer, who spoke on background in order to outline details of the report ahead of a committee hearing today.

Investigators say they found evidence that many of the subsidized companies are marketing their products directly to illicit buyers in Mexico, using crypto-currencies to help conceal transactions.

"Rather than investigating drug traffickers, [Chinese] security services have not cooperated with U.S. law enforcement, and have even notified targets of U.S. investigations when they received requests for assistance," said the report.

NPR requested comment from the White House late Monday, but received no reply before press time.

The House report points to a number of possible motives for the Chinese government allegedly aiding the production of illicit fentanyl.

"The fentanyl crisis has helped [Chinese Communist Party-linked] organized criminal groups become the world's premier money launderers, enriched the [Chinese] chemical industry, and has had a devastating impact on Americans," investigators concluded.

Tuesday's committee hearing will include testimony about China's role in illicit fentanyl trafficking from former U.S. Attorney General William Barr, Ray Donovan, a former Drug Enforcement Administration Official, and David Luckey, a drug policy expert with the RAND Corporation.

With more than 110,000 drug overdose deaths every year in the U.S., fentanyl has become a major flashpoint in the 2024 presidential campaign. Staff-members involved in producing this latest report described the investigation as a bi-partisan effort.