Just a quick update in case you missed it.
 | Released on 29.09.2023 | |
 | Kim Jong Un vows to promote cooperative relations with China It is about 5G network and relations with China North Korean leader Kim Jong Un, in a letter to Chinese President Xi Jinping, has assured that he would promote cooperative relations with China, Reuters reported citing KCNA media report. "I believe ... the DPRK (Democratic People's Republic of Korea)-China friendly and cooperative relations would steadily develop in conformity with the requirements of the new era and the desire of the two peoples in the future," Kim said in the letter sent on Thursday. Read more: livemint.com |
 | Taliban Weighs Using US Mass Surveillance Plan, Met with China's Huawei The Taliban are creating a large-scale camera surveillance network for Afghan cities that could involve repurposing a plan crafted by the Americans before their 2021 pullout, an interior ministry spokesman told Reuters, as authorities seek to supplement thousands of cameras already across the capital, Kabul. The Taliban administration — which has publicly said it is focused on restoring security and clamping down on Islamic State, which has claimed many major attacks in Afghan cities — has also consulted with Chinese telecoms equipment maker Huawei about potential cooperation, the spokesman said. Read more: voanews.com |
 | China Claims US Has Been Hacking Huawei Servers Since 2009 China has accused the US of hacking Huawei servers since 2009, claiming that Washington forces tech companies to install backdoors for spying. These claims come amidst growing tensions between the two global powers. China's Ministry of State Security has made these allegations via a post on its official WeChat account. It claims the US intelligence agencies adopted "key despicable methods" in the realm of cyberespionage and data theft. Read more: ibtimes.co.uk |
 | British diplomats run to defend decision to surrender UK-owned Chagos Islands to close ally of China, after Boris Johnson described it as a 'spineless' move British diplomats yesterday rushed to try to defend the decision to surrender the UK-owned Chagos Islands to a close ally of China, after Boris Johnson described it as a 'spineless' move. The former Prime Minister revealed that the negotiations to hand the archipelago to Mauritius as part of a transfer of sovereignty of the British Indian Ocean Territory were 'a done deal'. The islands include Diego Garcia, a highly sensitive Anglo-American military base that has been called 'the unsinkable aircraft carrier in the Indian Ocean'. Read more: dailymail.co.uk |
 | China gets veto over ethnic Kazakhs' nationality applications Kazakhstan has signed an agreement with Beijing to set immigration curbs on ethnic Kazakh nationals of China, including the sharing of information on each others' citizens and the potential repatriation of asylum-seekers who cross their common border, Radio Free Asia has learned. The deal, voted through the lower house of Kazakhstan's parliament on Sept. 20, requires both countries to inform each other and provide details of any "violations of entry, stay or exit regulations," Kazakhstan’s Azattyq Ruhy news agency reported. Read more: rfa.org |
 | Germany's end of promotional loans undermines China-EU cooperation: experts Chinese experts have criticized Germany's decision to cease granting promotional loans to China and deny China's developing country status, calling it a move that succumbs to pressure from the US' cold-war mentality toward China. They warn that Germany risks undermining its own economic interests and damaging the investment confidence of European enterprises in China. Germany will no longer grant promotional loans to China from 2026 and no longer treat China as a developing country, the Federal Development Ministry (BMZ) confirmed on Tuesday. Read more: globaltimes.cn |
 | Former Kremlin lobbyist picked as UK Conservative candidate A Conservative election hopeful ran a public affairs firm which counted the Russian government and state-owned energy firm Gazprom among its clients in the 2000s. Nigel Gardner was selected for the new Harpenden and Berkhamstead parliamentary seat earlier this month. A former European Commission spokesperson, Gardner founded agency GPlus in the early 2000s before selling a majority stake to Omnicom in 2006. He retained his role working on the firm’s business strategy until his departure in late 2009. Read more: politico.eu |