Free Republic

This is arguably the world's biggest rotten-tail project, a place called Xiong'an that was considered a partial replacement for Beijing. It’s located in Hebei province, a neighboring province to Beijing, and was a personal dream of the Chinese Communist Party Leader Xi Jinping. Unfortunately, the project, which was billed as a "millennium project and a major national event," fell apart after only five years, demonstrating a complete crash of Xi's dream.The world's biggest rotten-tail project:Xiongan's failure is destined under the CCP red systemChina Insights | Premiered October 15, 2022

Russian military attacks in Syria and Ukraine. First to Ukraine where tonight explosions were reported in multiple locations... Russian aerospace forces launching strikes against jihadists in northwestern Syria... Russia also says its ground forces were involved in a military operation in southern Syria... In Bernburg, Germany today thousands of protesters marching against the government's energy and economic policies as well as its hostility to Russia. In the Eastern European nation of Moldova bordering Ukraine with a large Russian minority population, a protest march of tens of thousands... The "Left" on the march in Paris today a mass protest of economic...

President Xi Jinping declared in November last year: “China resolutely opposes hegemonism and power politics.” “(It) wishes to maintain friendly relations with its neighbours and jointly nurture lasting peace in the region and absolutely will not seek hegemony or even less, bully the small,” the Chinese leader added. He was speaking during a special summit to commemorate the 30th anniversary of dialogue relations between the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) and China.

The Chinese Party Congress set to open on Sunday already has Xi Jinping on edge. These gatherings happen only every five years, and this time it is expected to ratify his plan to void term limits and make him in effect dictator-for-life. While it is impossible for outsiders to know the extent of opposition to Xi, almost certainly there are factions that are dead set against this move, based on personal and regional loyalties if not on opposition to his policies and intention to make himself another Mao Zedong. Thus, a demonstration attacking Xi that broke out in an affluent...

Your Excellency President Shavkat Mirziyoyev, Colleagues, I am delighted to attend the meeting of the Council of Heads of State of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO). I would like to thank you, President Mirziyoyev, for your warm hospitality and thoughtful arrangements. I salute Uzbekistan for the great job it has done to promote SCO cooperation in various fields during its presidency over the past year. Samarkand, renowned as the pearl on the Silk Road, witnessed the glory of the ancient Silk Road, a route that greatly boosted the flow of goods, spread of science and technology, interaction of ideas, and...

At 105, Song Ping is the Chinese Communist Party's oldest retired official. Famous for once pressing former President Jiang Zemin to fully retire, Song has recently appeared in public for the first time in years. Due to his advanced age, it was only a video message. But it has caused a stir in Chinese political circles ahead of the party's once-every-five-years national congress that begins on Oct. 16. In a congratulatory message for an event on Sept. 12, the centenarian said that the policy of reform and opening-up "has been the only path to the development and progress of contemporary...

Social media is abuzz with claims of a coup in China, but the credibility of these claims is doubtful, claim experts. Speculations that Chinese President Xi Jinping had lost control ran wild on the internet after he was found missing from the public eye following his return from SCO summit in Uzbekistan. With no official confirmation from the Chinese Communist Party or the state media and with all these updates from anonymous users, who are neither verified nor credible, experts are confident these rumours are just rumours and false speculations. So, here’s what we know so far: Is Xi Jinping...

Just over a week ago, Chinese leader Xi Jinping embarked on a three-day trip to Central Asia to mark his sphere of influence. He has since been out of the public eye, skipping a high-level military meeting and the annual United Nations assembly.With China only weeks away from the 20th National Congress, where Xi is set to pursue an unprecedented third term, his absence has been long enough to attract attention from keen political watchers, with some even speculating that he has been placed under house arrest.By Sept. 24, Xi Jinping had become one of the top trending topics on...

While the reports of an attempted coup against Chinese President Xi Jinping are likely untrue, Far East foreign affairs expert Gordon Chang tells Newsmax where there is "smoke" there is likely some sort of "fire somewhere.""There's been a lot of smoke — that says there is a fire somewhere," Chang told "Saturday Agenda." "We don't think that there has actually been a coup; but at this point there have been some extremely troubling developments at the top of the Communist Party, as well as the top of the People's Liberation Army, which reports to the party."So something is terribly wrong."The...

For the last two years, there was no place like home for Chinese President Xi Jinping. He had not moved out of his home in Beijing and was not meeting any world leader, not even any prominent CCP leader. However, on September 14th, the tyrant leader finally moved out of his home for an SCO meeting in Samarkand, Uzbekistan. After a hiatus of two years, Xi departed for Central Asia by a special flight and attended the 22nd Summit of the Council of Heads of State of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO). But, despite being the founding member of SCO,...

What do you do when there's an earthquake? Well, the safety rules all depend on where you are. If you're in a car, stop the car and stay inside. If you're outside, find an open spot, far from power lines. If you're inside, and your building is damaged, get outside right away, in case it collapses on you... Unless you're in China, under lockdown, that is. Then the safety rules don't apply. Case in point: The politburo in Beijing dictated last week that Chengdu go into lockdown — maybe just for a few days, they said. we'll see how it...

India and the US wanted Jaish-e-Mohammed deputy chief Abdul Rauf Azhar to be designated as a ‘global terrorist’ A month after Beijing shielded Pakistan-based deputy leader of Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) Abdul Rehman Makki, an international terrorist, it has done an encore. It has vetoed a similar joint proposal at the United Nations Security Council (UNSC), again by India and the US, to designate Jaish-e-Mohammed (JeM) deputy chief Abdul Rauf Azhar as a “global terrorist.” He is the younger brother of JeM founder Maulana Masood Azhar, another murderous jihadist. India was understandably incensed at China, castigating it for its “double speak” and...

A full naval blockade banning all ship traffic would be considered an act of war. China is much more likely to launch a selective quarantine—an option discussed in Chinese military journals, Dr. Martin said. That would give Chinese authorities the option to interdict some vessels while allowing supplies of food, for example, to go through. That approach places the burden of escalation on the incoming ships, which need to decide whether to cooperate or resist, according to a research paper on the use of coercive quarantines that Dr. Martin co-wrote at Rand. China has invested heavily in its navy, outnumbering...

China warns US “not to play with fire or gent burned” after Vice President Joe Biden stated that the US would support Taiwan militarily if Beijing invaded the self-governing island. The Taiwan Affairs Office of the Chinese State Council claimed on Monday that the US is “playing the ‘Taiwan card’ to constrain China, and will get burned.” According to Xinhua, Zhu Fenglian, the office’s spokesperson, he asks the US to “stop any words or acts that contradict” previously agreed-upon standards between Beijing and Washington.

Chinese President Xi Jinping issued a warning to his U.S. counterpart Joe Biden in their fifth and latest conversation, warning that pushing the envelope on the sensitive issue of Taiwan would have serious consequences. As reports that House Speaker Nancy Pelosi was considering traveling to the disputed island next month stirred an uptick in tensions between Beijing and Washington, Xi "highlighted that the historical ins and outs of the Taiwan question are crystal clear, and so are the fact and status quo that both sides of the Taiwan Strait belong to one and the same China," according to the Chinese...

We discuss Pfizer, Jan 6, Dershowitz's new book and more.

Analysts say China's leader Xi Jinping has set the legal basis for an expansion of the Chinese military's role in other countries, just weeks after Beijing signed a security pact with Solomon Islands. With little published detail, Mr Xi's government declared he had signed off on a set of new trial outlines that allowed for Chinese "armed forces operations" that were not war. Chairman Xi, as he is widely known in China in reference to his position as chairman of the Central Military Commission, signed off on 59 articles, according to state media, but they were not published. Instead, government...

The euphoria that accompanied Ukraine’s unforeseen early victories against bumbling Russian troops is fading as Moscow adapts its tactics, recovers its stride and asserts its overwhelming firepower against heavily outgunned Ukrainian forces. Around 200 Ukrainian soldiers are now being killed every day, up from 100 late last month, an aide to President Volodymyr Zelensky told the BBC on Friday — meaning that as many as 1,000 Ukrainians are being taken out of the fight every day, including those who are injured. But the odds against the Ukrainians are starting to look overwhelming, said Danylyuk, the government adviser. “The Russians are...

China has been teetering on the precipice of an economic crisis for quite some time now. Structural issues within the country’s financial system and the protracted lockdowns of essential hubs, ports and even entire provinces resulted in supply chain disruptions, slowed economic growth and generalized unrest throughout the country. And because economic vitality is the basis of the Communist Party of China’s power, these circumstances pose a threat to government stability. Until now, President Xi Jinping has managed to consolidate power such that he could remain China’s ruler for life. But his failure in navigating new challenges has put his...

The Chinese government announced on May 19 that they are immediately putting much of the city of Tianjin under the martial-law style Covid lockdowns for which Chairman Xi Jinping will be remembered. As he has previously done in Wuhan, Shenzhen, and other major cities, residents are restricted to their homes and require special permission to leave. While businesses may not be formally closed, they cannot reopen without staff, so they are unable to function unless they are fortunate enough to be completely outside the shuttered zone, and rely on staffs also outside the shuttered zones. Tianjin is the primary seaport...