PRESIDENTS – CHINA

Yang’s death sentence unlikely to stop Li visit

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Original article by Will Glasgow
The Australian – Page: 2 : 7-Feb-24

Sources have indicated that Chinese Premier Li Qiang is still is expected to visit Australia in late 2024. It would be the first visit by a Chinese leader since 2017, and is unlikely to be affected by a Beijing court’s decision to give Chinese-Australian academic Yang Hengjun a suspended death sentence on espionage charges. Associate professor Feng Chongyi says the federal government should make Li’s forthcoming state visit conditional on the release of Yang, whose sentence could potentially be reduced to life in prison after two years of good behaviour.

CORPORATES

No lap of honour as Xi loses his hero status

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Original article by Robert Gottliebsen
The Australian – Page: 20 : 5-Oct-22

Chinese President Xi Jinping appears to have the numbers to be given a third term at the Communist Party’s upcoming 20th National Congress. However, nothing has gone right for Xi in the last year, and he no longer has hero status. Xi made a serious mistake in not making it very clear to Russian President Vladimir Putin immediately prior to the Beijing Winter Olympics that China would oppose an invasion of Ukraine; Putin delayed the invasion until after the Olympics. The invasion will also dash Xi’s grand vision to link the Pacific to the Atlantic via fast rail; the rail line would have to pass through both Russia and Ukraine, and Putin had almost certainly assured Xi that victory would come quickly. Meanwhile, China’s property industry is in crisis and COVID-19 lockdowns are hitting the economy.

CORPORATES