In international competition, China is the leading adversary of Western democracies and does not hide its ambitions to become the leading world power by 2049, the centenary year of the creation of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP).
Here is an overview of the latest pawns advanced at the global level by the CCP for the month of December 2024. Find the articles in the series here.
A China-Kyrgyzstan-Uzbekistan railway to recover rare earths
The China-Kyrgyzstan-Uzbekistan railway, with a total length of 522.94 km, according to Kyrgyz authorities, is planned to start from Kashgar in northwest China's Xinjiang via Jalal-Abad , in Kyrgyzstan, to arrive in Andijan, in Uzbekistan.
“This path will be able to ensure the delivery of goods from China to Kyrgyzstan and further into Central Asia, to the Middle East, Turkey and even to the European Union,” said Mr. Japarov during the ceremony. .
China is taking on an increasingly essential role in Central Asia, to the detriment of Moscow, a historic regional power.
With a growing hold on the economies of the former Soviet republics of Central Asia, Beijing is notably financing the “New Silk Roads”, a colossal infrastructure project to open up this mountainous region, rich in rare metals and raw materials.
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China uses rare earth metals as a weapon
The United States denounces the CCP's pursuit of Hong Kong pro-democrats abroad
The United States on December 26 condemned an “ongoing campaign of transnational repression by the Hong Kong government.”
Many of the figures of the 2019 demonstrations went into exile or were imprisoned, with Hong Kong justice still sentencing 45 of them at the end of November to sentences of up to ten years in prison.
The police in this semi-autonomous region of China have announced that they are offering rewards of around one million Hong Kong dollars (nearly 125,000 euros) for any information that could lead to the arrest of these exiled activists.
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In Secret Meeting, Xi Jinping Ordered New Strategy to Attack Falun Gong Globally
Suspicions of CCP spying on military base in Germany
According to public television WDR, a Chinese national in northern Germany took unauthorized photographs inside the German army naval base in Kiel-Wik on the Baltic Sea on December 9.
According to the same source, investigators seized his phone and German military counter-espionage (MAD) took over the case for suspicion of espionage.
Kiel has one of the main ports on the Baltic Sea. In addition to the military base, the submarine manufacturer Thyssenkrupp has a shipyard there. NATO also has a shallow water military capabilities testing center in the port city.
The Baltic Sea has been at the heart of numerous tensions since the start of the war in Ukraine, with European countries denouncing “hybrid attacks” attributed to Russia.
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China says it will continue to support Russia in its war in Ukraine despite EU sanctions
China says it wants to stabilize relations with India “as soon as possible”
The most populated territories in the world, China and India regularly accuse each other of wanting to seize territories along their 3,500 kilometer border, the scene of sporadic skirmishes.
Beijing and New Delhi have agreed since December 17 to organize a new meeting of this type in India in 2025, the ministry said.
Beijing and New Delhi regularly accuse each other of trying to seize territory along their high-altitude dividing line.
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China's influence in Panama raises questions, after Donald Trump's comments on the canal
2024 will have been a record year for coal demand, with China driving the market
China is the market leader, according to the International Energy Agency (IEA): a third of the coal consumed in the world is burned in Chinese power plants, according to the agency. It is followed by certain emerging economies such as India, Indonesia and Vietnam, where strong growth in electricity demand is driven by economic and demographic growth.
“After reaching a record level in 2024, global coal demand is expected to stabilize” until 2027, writes the IEA.
The only glimmer of hope in this panorama, the “massive deployment” of renewable energies, including in China, “will slow down the growth in the use of coal despite a growing demand for electricity”, estimates the IEA.
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China reportedly funds North Korean military aid to Russia
Baltic Sea: an underwater drone identifies traces of the passage of a Chinese ship above the cut cables
On November 17 and 18, respectively, two telecommunications cables connecting Finland to Germany and Sweden to Lithuania in the Baltic Sea were cut. Underwater drone operators have found drag marks consistent with a Chinese cargo ship passing over these cables.
Norwegian company Blueye Robotics, in partnership with TV2 (Denmark) and TV4 (Sweden), sent underwater drones into the Kattegat Strait to search for signs of sabotage.
The search focused on traces of the passage of the Yi Peng 3, a Chinese cargo ship which was sailing in the area when the cables were damaged.
In a press release dated December 17, Blueye Robotics announced that its research had discovered “unusual traces in the seabed where the Yi Peng 3 vessel crossed strategic electrical and telecommunications cables in the Kattegat Strait.
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China refused to grant full access to its ship that allegedly sabotaged cables in the Baltic Sea
Xi Jinping assures Dmitry Medvedev that China is “willing” to strengthen ties with Moscow
“China is willing to work with Russia to strengthen the alignment of development strategies,” Xi Jinping told Dmitry Medvedev, according to state television CCTV.
Since Russian President Vladimir Putin launched a full-scale invasion of neighboring Ukraine in February 2022, China has worked to present itself as a neutral party, unlike the United States and other Western countries.
But it remains a close political and economic partner of Russia, leading some NATO members to describe Beijing as a “facilitator” of the war, which China has never condemned.
The CCP loses its partnerships with Bashar al-Assad in Syria
China called on December 9 to find “a political solution” in Syria, after the fall of leader Bashar al-Assad, driven out by a spectacular offensive by Islamist rebels.
Beijing has strengthened ties with Syria in recent years, and Bashar al-Assad visited China last year in a rare state visit outside the Middle East since the civil war began in 2011.
During his visit to China in 2023, Chinese leader Xi Jinping and Bashar al-Assad announced a “strategic partnership” between the two countries.
On December 5, the Chinese embassy in Damascus advised Chinese citizens to leave Syria “as soon as possible” as rebels swept through the country.
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Analysis: The “window of opportunity” that Beijing so hoped for to take Taiwan never materialized
China to send lithium batteries to Europe via Kazakhstan, bypassing Russia
Kazakhstan announced on December 6 the upcoming shipment of lithium-ion batteries to Europe, shipped from China via a trade route that has been expanding since the war in Ukraine, crossing this huge Central Asian country to bypass Russia .
According to the Kazakh Ministry of Transport, Beijing and Astana have agreed to “launch an experimental convoy in December to transport lithium-ion batteries from China”, particularly necessary for electric cars, a growing sector.
“The volume of goods from China to Europe is 25 times higher than the volume of last year at the same period,” assures the press release.
The Kazakh ministry also notes a 60% increase in the volume of goods transported this year by land (excluding trains) between Kazakhstan and China
CCP wants to help develop Nepal's infrastructure
Chinese leader Xi Jinping assured Nepalese Prime Minister Khadga Prasad Sharma Oli on December 3 that China would further support Nepal's infrastructure development, Chinese media reported.
China is ready to “deepen cooperation with Nepal, jointly build the Belt and Road Initiative with high quality, and improve connectivity in areas such as ports, transportation, power grids and telecommunications,” Xi was quoted as saying by the official news agency New China.
China's New Silk Roads initiative, launched by Beijing in 2013, aims to develop China's commercial connectivity with the rest of the world and secure its supplies, while making massive investments in a number of
Nepal, stuck between China and India, seeks to maintain a balance between these two neighboring powers. India represents 65% of Nepal's foreign trade for the 2023-2024 fiscal year, compared to 15% for neighboring China, according to official data.
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Will the New York Times continue to suppress Shen Yun in the name of the CCP?
Agreement to supply gas from Qatar to China
Qatar will supply three million tonnes of gas per year to China under the terms of an agreement with Shell, based in London, the emirate's public energy company announced on December 2.
Deliveries of liquefied natural gas (LNG) will begin in January 2025, as provided for in a “new long-term sales and purchase agreement,” QatarEnergy said in a statement, without revealing the precise duration of the agreement.
Qatar is one of the world's leading LNG producers, alongside the United States, Australia and Russia.
Asian countries, along with China, Japan and South Korea, are the main market for Qatari gas, but demand has also increased in European countries since Russia's war against Ukraine affected Russian supplies .
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