China to slap fresh tariffs on Canadian farm, food products

China: &nbsp, China said Saturday it did slap tariffs on French products including hemp oil and meat, after a Beijing spacecraft into levies imposed by Ottawa on Chinese goods next month.

Beijing’s trading ministry said it would strike imported soybean oil, oil cakes, and vegetables from Canada with a 100 percentage price.

Underwater products and meat will face a 25 percentage levy.

The procedures may come into effect on Mar 20, Beijing said.

Ottawa past August placed 100 percent tariffs on Chinese energy car goods, matching US actions seeking to fight off a storm of Chinese state-subsidised vehicles into North America.

It also announced a surtax on imports of steel and aluminum products from China.

Beijing’s commerce ministry said a probe into those measures found that Canadian policies “disrupted the normal trade order and harmed the legitimate rights and interests of Chinese enterprises”.

” China urges Canada to immediately correct its bad practices, lift its restrictive measures and eliminate its negative effects”, a ministry spokesperson said.

Continue Reading

Different factors at play behind China’s repeat abstention from UN vote on Russia-Ukraine war

“(China) is probably thinking, we don’t want to be seen as siding with Putin … (and) openly going against international law. So it is saying: ‘We’re the grown-ups. Let’s take it through the proper channels.’ And I think that’s a very subtle message,” he said.

Experts say China is also wary about the optics.

“The Chinese are not just thinking about their relationship with Moscow or their relationship with Washington. They also want to be careful about how other countries, especially those in the Indo-Pacific and Global South, receive China, and abstaining helps it (achieve) that,” said Muraviev from Curtin University.

VOTING PATTERNS: MORE THAN MEETS THE EYE?

The Ukraine-backed resolution passed with 93 votes in favour, 18 against and 65 abstentions – underscoring a significant erosion in international support for Ukraine and in diplomatic condemnation of Moscow. 

A similar vote in 2022 when the war first broke out saw 141 countries voting in favour, with only five against and 35 abstaining.

The steep drop in affirmative votes reflects growing divisions over the war, as well as shifting geopolitical calculations among UN member states, noted Reyes.

He further pointed out that some voting shifts appear directly linked to Washington’s change in stance from support to opposition.

This includes the US’ three freely associated states in the Pacific – the Marshall Islands, Micronesia, and Palau. Having voted in favour of the 2022 vote, this time they switched to abstaining or outright opposition.

The Trump administration, inaugurated in January, has repeatedly criticised Ukraine – accusing Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy of starting the war with Russia and labelling him a “dictator”. Trump has also pushed for peace negotiations with Moscow, with the initial meeting excluding Kyiv.

Observers also highlighted the pronounced increase in abstentions.

Several countries in South and Central America, including Argentina, Brazil, the Dominican Republic, and Honduras, as well as African nations such as Ethiopia, Malawi, Rwanda, and Zambia, all shifted their stance from supporting the 2022 resolution to abstaining in the latest vote.

Continue Reading

Vietnam parliament approves US billion rail link to China

Thailand’s parliament approved plans for a$ 8 billion rail link between its largest northern port city and China on Wednesday ( Feb 19 ), boosting trade between the two communist-ruled nations. The fresh rail line will run through some of Vietnam’s important producing centers, home to Samsung, Foxconn, Pegatron andContinue Reading