Beijing says that sales ‘seriously’ violate one-China principle and 3 China-US joint communiques

China on Sunday deplored and “firmly” opposed US arms sales to Taiwan, saying it “seriously” violates the one-China principle and the three Beijing-Washington joint communiques.

A Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson said that Beijing has lodged “serious” protests to the US over the latest arms sales, according to the state-run Xinhua news agency.

Washington on Saturday announced that it has approved $385 million worth of arms sales to Taiwan.

“The US arms sales to China’s Taiwan region seriously violate the one-China principle and the three China-US joint communiques, especially the August 17 Communique of 1982 and China’s sovereignty and security interests,” the spokesperson said.

The decision to sell arms to Taiwan is simply inconsistent with US leaders’ commitment of not supporting “Taiwan independence,” Beijing further said.

“We call on the US to immediately stop arming Taiwan and stop abetting and supporting ‘Taiwan independence’ separatist forces in seeking ‘Taiwan independence’ by building up its military,” the spokesperson said, adding: “China will take strong and resolute countermeasures to firmly defend national sovereignty, security and territorial integrity.”

Source

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A new campaign, “Against Book Burning,” launched by education activists, is drawing attention to the Taliban’s censorship and removal of books across several provinces.

Humaira Qaderi, a writer and university professor, along with her brother Khalid Qaderi, initiated the campaign to counter what they describe as the Taliban’s “policy of erasure and repression.”

According to Ms. Qaderi, the Taliban have censored thousands of books and confiscated them from libraries and universities nationwide.

“This is part of a systematic attempt to suppress knowledge,” Ms. Qaderi said, noting that hundreds of titles have been deemed “undesirable” and access to them banned, particularly in Herat province.

The campaign has garnered support both inside and outside Afghanistan, with people participating by sharing videos of themselves reading books in solidarity.

“We are seeing people from all walks of life join this movement by celebrating the very act the Taliban want to silence — reading,” Ms. Qaderi said.

She sharply criticized the Taliban’s actions, calling the confiscation of so-called “forbidden books” an attack on intellectual freedom.

For nearly three years under Taliban rule, Afghans have faced increasing restrictions, with cultural and intellectual freedoms among the casualties of the regime’s hardline governance. Ms. Qaderi noted that the crackdown on books is part of a broader pattern of repression that has left Afghan citizens grappling with profound challenges.

Source

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The committee intends to visit Afghanistan, Mozambique, New Zealand, Peru, Serbia, Burundi, France, and Mexico.

In a statement, the committee said: “The UN Subcommittee on Prevention of Torture (SPT) has announced and confirmed plans to visit Mozambique, New Zealand, Peru, Serbia, Afghanistan, Burundi, France, and Mexico at the conclusion of its latest session.”

Yousuf Amin Zazai, a political affairs analyst, highlighted the significance of these visits: “Human rights issues, such as citizens’ rights, prison conditions, and case reviews, are matters the government must allow to present a true picture of Afghanistan to the world.”

The Islamic Emirate has not yet commented on the committee’s planned visit to Afghanistan.

Meanwhile, some political analysts consider these visits important and emphasize the need to present a realistic picture of Afghanistan’s situation.

“If the objectives of these organizations are realistic, closely examining Afghanistan’s human, social, and cultural rights situation can be commendable, and the public will welcome such efforts,” said Abdul Jabbar Akbari, another political analyst.

The Subcommittee on Prevention of Torture is one of the eight UN committees related to human rights treaties.

All member states of the UN Convention Against Torture are required to submit regular reports on how they are implementing input from this committee.

Source

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An Afghan environment official on Sunday said the country must be allowed to participate in future global climate talks, after returning from COP29 in Baku where Taliban officials attended for the first time.

The Afghan delegation were invited as “guests” of the Azerbaijani hosts, not as a party directly involved in the negotiations.

It was the first time that an Afghan delegation had attended since the Taliban swept to power in August 2021, having failed to get an invite to the past two COPs (Conference of the Parties) held in Egypt and the United Arab Emirates.

“Afghanistan must participate in such conferences in the future,” said Matiul Haq Khalis, the director general of Afghanistan’s National Environmental Protection Agency, at a press conference on Sunday.

He described Afghanistan’s attendance last month at the talks as a “big achievement.”

“We participated in the conference this year so that we could raise the voice of the nation about the issues we are facing, what the needs of the people are, we must share these things with the world.”

He said the Afghan delegation had meetings with “19 different organizations and governments,” including with delegations from Russia, Qatar, Azerbaijan and Bangladesh.

Afghanistan is among the countries most vulnerable to global warming, despite minimal emissions, and the Taliban government have argued that their political isolation should not bar them from international climate talks.

The government has imposed an austere version of sharia Islamic law since taking power, severely restricting women’s participation in public life in what the United Nations has called a “gender apartheid.”

Among the poorest countries in the world after decades of war, Afghanistan is particularly exposed to the effects of climate change, which scientists say is spurring extreme weather including prolonged drought, frequent floods, and declining agricultural productivity.

The United Nations has also called for action to help Afghanistan build resilience and for the country’s participation in international talks.

Developed countries have committed to providing $100 billion per year in climate finance through 2025 to help developing nations prepare for worsening climate impacts and wean their economies off fossil fuels.

Source

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Foreign Minister Wang Yi also said he would seek to boost investment in the country at a meeting with his Central Asian counterparts

China is keen to expand energy cooperation with Turkmenistan, Foreign Minister Wang Yi said on Saturday.

Wang met his counterpart Rashid Meredov, who is also Turkmenistan’s vice-president, on the sidelines of the China-Central Asia Foreign Ministers’ Meeting in Chengdu, state news agency Xinhua reported.

Wang also said China was willing to further expand the scale of trade and investment cooperation with Turkmenistan and would encourage more Chinese enterprises to invest in the country.

The meeting, which ends on Sunday, was also attended by the foreign ministers of Kazakhstan, Tajikistan, Kyrgyzstan and Uzbekistan, Central Asian partners that are growing in importance for China.

Wang also met Jeenbek Kulubaev, the foreign minister of Kyrgyzstan, a key player in an US$8 billion rail project that starts in Kashgar in China’s western Xinjiang region and goes through southwest Kyrgyzstan before ending in Andijan in eastern Uzbekistan.

The rail project is designed to cut the freight journey between China and Europe by 900km (560 miles), serving as a faster and cheaper alternative to existing China-Europe land routes, most of which pass through Russia.

The project was first proposed in the 1990s but had been beset by a series of technical, political and geopolitical problems before the three countries reached an agreement in June.

While in Chengdu, Wang also met his Nepalese counterpart Arzu Rana Deuba on Friday.

Deuba was visiting to prepare for the visit of Prime Minister K.P. Sharma Oli, which starts on Monday.

According to the Nepalese foreign ministry, the talks focused on trade, tourism and connectivity projects – including a cross-border railway project and a tunnel linking the capital Kathmandu to Chhahare in Nuwakot district, a stop on a major trade route between the two countries.

“China is ready to work with Nepal to embrace new prospects for the development of China-Nepal relations by taking the opportunity of the 70th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic ties next year,” Wang said, adding that the two sides had made joint efforts to promote cooperation.

Deuba said Nepal appreciated the concept of building a community with a shared future for humanity, and was willing to take part in President Xi Jinping’s Global Development Initiative.

Source

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Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi on Sunday met with Tajikistan’s Minister of Foreign Affairs Sirojiddin Muhriddin in the city of Chengdu, southwest China’s Sichuan Province, with both sides vowing to deepen all-round cooperation.

China supports Tajikistan in pursuing a development path suited to its own national conditions and opposes any external interference in the internal affairs of Tajikistan, said Wang, who is also a member of the Political Bureau of the Communist Party of China Central Committee.

He called on the two sides to help each other’s development and revitalization with tangible cooperation results.

Muhriddin, who is in Chengdu to attend the fifth China-Central Asia Foreign Ministers’ Meeting, expressed gratitude for China’s strong support for improving Tajik people’s livelihoods.

Tajikistan will never change its position of firmly adhering to the one-China principle and is willing to deepen all-round cooperation with the Chinese side and welcome more Chinese enterprises to invest in Tajikistan, he added.

Source

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The plant will produce nacelles, hubs and towers for wind power projects.
Kazakhstan’s Samruk-Kazyna state fund and China’s SANY Renewable Energy (SANY RE) have begun construction of a $114 million wind turbine component manufacturing plant in the Zhambyl region, marking a step in the country’s renewable energy sector.
The plant, which is set to begin operations in late 2025, will produce essential components such as nacelles, hubs and towers for wind power plants. The project is a key initiative in Kazakhstan’s strategy to boost renewable energy production and reduce dependence on traditional energy sources.

Nurlan Zhakupov, chairman of the board of Samruk-Kazyna, stressed the importance of the initiative:

“This [involves] attracting $114 million in foreign direct investment. The project will be implemented without additional loans from Kazakhstan’s development institutions. The level of localization will be at least 30%. To support this, SANY RE plans to establish a new R&D center.”

Samruk-Kazyna aims to put 6 GW of renewable energy sources into operation by 2030 in collaboration with its partners, addressing Kazakhstan’s growing energy demands while promoting sustainable development.

SANY Renewable Energy is a division of SANY Group, a leading Chinese engineering and manufacturing company. The company’s expertise in renewable energy technology aligns with Kazakhstan’s drive for cleaner energy solutions.

Founded in 2008, Samruk-Kazyna manages key strategic assets in Kazakhstan, including major corporations such as Air Astana, Kazatomprom and KazMunayGas, which play a vital role in the nation’s economic development.

Source

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Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi on Sunday met with Kazakhstan’s Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs Murat Nurtleu in the city of Chengdu, southwest China’s Sichuan Province, with both sides expressing willingness to further promote cooperation.

Wang, also a member of the Political Bureau of the Communist Party of China Central Committee, pointed out that comprehensively deepening bilateral cooperation serves the common interests of the two countries and the common expectations of the two peoples.

Noting both countries are at a critical stage of development and revitalization, Wang said that the two sides should fully implement the important consensus reached by the leaders of the two countries and consolidate political mutual trust, firmly supporting each other.

He also urged efforts to promote the high-quality construction of the Belt and Road cooperation and the building of a China-Kazakhstan community with a shared future.

Nurtleu, who is in Chengdu to attend the fifth China-Central Asia Foreign Ministers’ Meeting, said the Kazakh side regards China as a reliable and permanent comprehensive strategic partner and a diplomatic priority.

Kazakhstan is willing to strengthen the docking of development strategies with China, implement the important consensus of the two heads of state and build a new “golden 30 years” of bilateral relations, he added.

Source

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Geneva (21/11) Following the publication of a report by the presidential committee, which dismissed the Channel 4 documentary on the Easter Sunday attacks, Azad Maulana – who has been in regular contact with Ravi Seneviratne and Shane Abeysekara via the Signal app – has confirmed that he will cooperate with an investigation led by them. Maulana also revealed that Nishantha Silva Kandappa, a former officer in the Criminal Investigation Department (CID), a refuge in Switzerland, has been in regular contact with him. He further disclosed that he did not respond to the presidential committee’s inquiry due to the influence of these individuals.

Azad Maulana, who previously served as Pillayan’s media spokesperson, fled the country and sought political asylum after making controversial allegations. He claimed that Pillayan, in collaboration with the country’s intelligence services, had orchestrated the Easter Sunday attacks. However, despite these serious accusations aired in a Channel 4 broadcast, Maulana failed to present any concrete evidence. The program featured several individuals, including the Archbishop of Colombo, Malcolm Cardinal Ranjith, a retired CID officer who appeared in disguise, and Sarath Kongahage, a former diplomat. Kongahage later revealed that he had been misled and manipulated by a journalist involved in the production. Channel 4 distanced itself from the claims, publicly acknowledging it lacked sufficient evidence to support the allegations made in the program.

Sources suggest that the broadcast was not entirely the work of Channel 4 journalists. The content and direction of the program were reportedly influenced by external parties. This operation was allegedly orchestrated by Cardinal Ranjith, Father Cyril Gamini, Father Rohan Fernando, Ravi Seneviratne, Shani Abeysekara, and Nishantha Silva Kandappa, in collaboration with Azad Maulana. The conspiracy began when Maulana reached out to the Catholic Church, through an intermediary, with a startling claim: he knew that Suresh Sally, the Director of Army Intelligence who later became the Director General of the State Intelligence Service, was responsible for the Easter attacks and was willing to expose him. In exchange for his cooperation, Maulana requested asylum for himself and his driver in a European country, specifically France.

Cardinal Ranjith facilitated Maulana’s asylum request and pledged to assist in getting his driver abroad— but only after the Channel 4 program aired. Following the broadcast, Maulana’s driver was successfully granted asylum in Switzerland. Maulana has continued his communication with Shani Abeysekera and Ravi Seneviratne, a relationship facilitated by Cardinal Ranjith and Father Cyril Gamini Piyaman. In May of this year, Hariharan Manoharan, who held national ID 870982712V and was Maulana’s driver, left the country and is now in Europe processing his asylum claim.

Upon the rejection of the Channel 4 allegations by the Presidential Committee, Seneviratne and Abeysekera immediately reached out to Maulana, instructing him to fabricate evidence implicating members of the intelligence services. As a result, a hastily prepared press release was issued two days ago, announcing that an investigation into the Channel 4 report would be re-launched. Coincidentally, the editorial section of the Gnanartha Pradeepa newspaper, run by Father Cyril Gamini, published an article the day before the press release, offering its support for the new investigation.

These events appear to be interconnected, suggesting a deliberate and coordinated campaign. Pillayan was summoned to the CID for questioning and may be arrested as part of the investigation. There are also reports that preparations are underway to manipulate the entire incident in order to cover up the truth.

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In October 2024, China’s first comprehensive regulation to tighten state control over the critical sector of rare earth resources took effect. Coming amid the global transition towards clean energy, the regulation demonstrates China’s increased leverage of its rare earth monopoly to outpace its geopolitical rivals like the United States, which remains far behind China in this sector. Intensified competition for rare earth elements risks overshadowing collaborative efforts to develop clean technology.

Mountain Pass, owned by MP Materials, is the only large-scale rare earth mining and processing facility in North America. Image from Wikimedia Commons.

In the race to develop clean technology, major polluting countries like the United States and China compete to lead in producing renewable energy products, striving to achieve environmental goals while enhancing national competitiveness. Rare earth elements (REE) — a group of 17 soft, heavy chemical elements — are major components for clean technologies like wind turbines, electric vehicles, and solar panels. The International Energy Agency projects that demand for REE could rise to 3–7 times current levels by 2040. Consequently, Western powers, such as the United States and the European Union, are under increasing pressure to secure essential REE for clean technologies needed to transition to a low-carbon economy. However, limited access to REE could hinder their ability to meet these goals.

China’s Monopoly in the Rare Earth Sector

Despite US dominance in rare earth mining from the 1960s to 1980s, environmental movements and regulatory pressures eventually led companies to relocate to China or close the US mines. Subsequently, China’s low costs, fuelled by state subsidies and lax environmental standards, allowed it to surpass the United States in the rare earth industry. Currently, China dominates the rare earth supply chain, controlling approximately 60 per cent of global mining operations, over 85 per cent of processing capacity, and more than 90 percent of permanent magnet production.

Trade frictions between China and the United States, the world’s two largest greenhouse gas emitters, are particularly hindering progress in the clean energy transition. In September 2024, the United States raised tariffs on Chinese electric vehicles to 100 per cent and significantly increased tariffs on other Chinese green technologies, including solar products. However, heavy reliance on China for the rare earths needed for the United States to independently produce these technologies has raised concerns that this dependency could become a significant vulnerability in the escalating tech war.

Global reserves of rare earths outside China include 19 per cent in Vietnam, 18 per cent in Brazil, 6 per cent in India, and 4 per cent in Australia. However, while alternative sources exist among these countries that the United States or its allies are friendly with, scaling up production to meet increasing demand remains a substantial challenge. For instance, China’s exceptional processing capacity of 220,000 tonnes per year — five times the combined capacity of the rest of the world — would take other countries years to match.

China’s Leverage of Rare Earth Elements

China is increasingly weaponising its dominance in REE to impose costs on its rivals in trade disputes. The resulting market dynamics are seen as producing externalities that adversely affect foreign clean technology businesses dependent on Chinese rare earth exports, potentially slowing the transition to renewable energy.

In October 2024, China’s first comprehensive regulation on rare earth resources took effect. As illegal mining and smelting have persisted in the country, the regulations introduce stringent rules governing the mining, refining and separation, metal smelting, integrated utilisation, product distribution, import and export of rare earths. Companies violating the regulations may face fines of 5–10 times their illegal gains. Consequently, rare earth supplies are expected to tighten, and prices of REE are expected to increase.

The regulation is seen as a move that could undermine the competitiveness of foreign clean technology products reliant on China-supplied rare earths as business would pass these higher costs on to their customers. Ultimately, the adoption of clean technologies like wind turbines and electric vehicles in countries like the United States could be slowed.

Earlier, in June 2024, Beijing declared rare earth resources to be state-owned and placed the industry under government oversight, ensuring product traceability. While framed as securing national and industrial interests, the move is widely seen as ensuring leverage in the ongoing trade dispute between the United States and China.

The new regulation extends China’s previous leverage over its control of the entire rare earth supply chain. In December 2023, China banned the export of technology for manufacturing rare earth magnets, which are essential components in many clean energy technologies, such as wind turbines. Additionally, in January 2022, Beijing banned foreign direct investment in rare earth mining projects. The ban was described as having “injected even more urgency” into Western efforts to diversify their mineral supply chains away from China.

Furthermore, the Chinese government is reportedly planning to offer direct grants and low-interest loans to its rare earth industry. Such a move would lower operating costs and allow Chinese companies to thrive in market conditions that are challenging to others, thereby dominating global processing capacity.

Obstacles to US Efforts to Reduce Dependence on China

China’s geopolitical rivals view Beijing’s rare earth monopoly as “a risk to national security” because of their strong dependence on Chinese exports.

As a challenger of China in the competition for developing clean technology, the United States is actively investing in various stages within the REE supply chain to reduce its reliance on China. Through its Manufacturing Capability Expansion and Investment Program, the US Defense Department (DOD) has launched a five-year strategy to establish a full domestic rare earth supply chain, covering sourcing, separation, processing, metallisation, alloying and magnet manufacturing. Australia’s Lynas Rare Earths, the only commercial-scale source of separated rare earths outside of China, received over US$258 million from the DOD to establish a production facility in Texas. Additionally, the DOD awarded US$45 million to MP Materials, which claims to be the “only scaled producer of rare earth materials in the Western Hemisphere”, to enhance domestic light and heavy rare earth processing capacity.

However, such efforts would not result in immediate challenges to China. The United States still lacks a complete domestic value chain from mining to magnet production. One of the primary reasons is that mining projects in the United States often have long lead times, with records indicating it takes around 16 years to complete permits and construction for production to begin.

The United States has also launched the Minerals Security Partnership (MSP) with key countries like Australia, which ranks just behind China in “exploration investment, reserves, and capital expenditure”; India, known for its manufacturing capabilities; and Japan, which plays a major role in financing. This partnership aims to address supply chain vulnerabilities in essential minerals like REE.

Nevertheless, as of 2024, MSP has seen minimal investment and lacks technological expertise, raising doubts about the partnership’s capacity to be a feasible alternative to China. Additionally, environmental concerns could be a significant hurdle to developing the partner countries’ rare earth mining or production capability. Each ton of rare earth produced generates 13 kilograms of dust, 9,600–12,000 cubic metres of waste gas, 75 cubic metres of wastewater, and one ton of radioactive residue, all of which have harmful health effects. Notably, Mountain Pass, the only large-scale rare earth mine and separation facility in North America, closed in 2002 after a toxic waste spill and remained shut for years. US mining companies are also struggling to recruit skilled workers, slowing down the US ambition to boost its domestic production capability.

Conclusion

Geopolitical tensions over resources and technology are hampering the clean energy transition. Energy transition is not intended to be a zero-sum game as all can benefit from clean energy products in a free trade situation, and therefore from reductions in global greenhouse gas emissions. However, growing supply chain fragmentation increasingly sees major economies prioritising supply security through the lens of national self-interest. Additionally, the intensified drive for rare earth extraction could further environmental degradation, thereby undermining global efforts to achieve net-zero carbon emissions.

Although it is unlikely that other countries will surpass China in rare earth production in the foreseeable future, a promising pathway to create a less polarised geopolitical landscape around REE and to reduce pollution is emerging in the form of recycling this resource from obsolete equipment.

From an economic perspective, recycling processes can be implemented more rapidly than the development of new mines, which typically requires decades for them to become commercially viable. From an environmentally friendly perspective, recycling reduces the need for new rare earth mining, thereby decreasing both the environmental and energy footprints associated with extraction and processing.

China’s strategy of leveraging its rare earth monopoly is highly effective in the short term but it may not retain the same level of influence over the long term. By 2050, reuse and recycling strategies could meet 30–40 per cent of rare earth mineral demand in the United States, China, and Europe. Although Beijing is likely to maintain its monopoly in the rare earth supply chain, increased circularity could gradually reduce other countries’ dependence on China, ultimately diminishing its geopolitical leverage over this critical resource.

Hu Xinyue is a Senior Analyst in the China Programme at the Institute of Defence and Strategic Studies (IDSS), S. Rajaratnam School of International Studies (RSIS).

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