Tag: Chinese government
How Safe Is Elon Musk’s Bet on Tesla in China?
Tesla CEO Elon Musk once called President Joe Biden “a damp [sock] puppet in human form.” To Senator Bernie Sanders, he tweeted: “I keep forgetting that you’re still alive.” But in front of a very different sort of politician, trash-talking Musk turned to mush.
When China’s ambassador to the United States, Qin Gang, visited Tesla’s factory in Fremont, California, earlier this year, Musk could not have been more courteous. The two took a spin in a
We’re Testing for Monkeypox the Wrong Way
In early July, Sebastian Kohn, a 39-year-old nonprofit professional in Brooklyn, woke up with a fever, a sore back, and swelling in the lymph nodes of his throat and groin. He took a COVID test, which was negative. But Kohn had some clue as to what might be going on. Pride celebrations had taken place a week earlier, and a newly infamous disease was circulating largely in the gay community: monkeypox.
Suspicious that he might have the viral illness, Kohn
The Volunteer Movement Enraging China
In early March, Han Yang, a 50-year-old Sydney resident, was invited by a friend to join a WeChat group with other members of Australia’s Chinese diaspora that focused on Russia’s recent invasion of Ukraine. Yang found that the others began posting a stream of offensive material—stories filled with vitriol toward Ukrainians, Russian-state disinformation, and anti-Semitic conspiracy theories—accompanied by user comments cheering on Moscow’s violence.
When one user asked where in Sydney they could find a store selling Russian food, which
The Last Independent Journalists in Hong Kong
In the summer of 2019, Ronson Chan, then an editor for the independent news outlet Stand News, took a delayed honeymoon to Germany with his wife. The timing was terrible. Prodemocracy protests in Hong Kong were at full tilt. Chan was distracted. He checked his phone at all hours, obsessively looking for updates from his colleagues. One attraction, though, was able to grab his attention: the Stasi Museum, in Berlin, which is dedicated to cataloging how East Germany’s secret
China’s Big New Idea – The Atlantic
A common refrain among Americans when faced with China’s export machine—which pumps out 5G telecoms gear, plastic Christmas trees, and just about everything in between—is the complaint that the United States “doesn’t make anything anymore.” Yet the U.S. retains a commanding advantage in one, especially critical export: ideas. From inalienable rights to Iron Man, Americans churn out the concepts and culture that make the modern world tick, more and better than anyone else. China has long strived to close the
Autocracy Is Winning – The Atlantic
The future of democracy may well be decided in a drab office building on the outskirts of Vilnius, alongside a highway crammed with impatient drivers heading out of town.
I met Sviatlana Tsikhanouskaya there this spring, in a room that held a conference table, a whiteboard, and not much else. Her team—more than a dozen young journalists, bloggers, vloggers, and activists—was in the process of changing offices. But that wasn’t the only reason the space felt stale and perfunctory.