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One essential item for a journalist covering a meeting of China’s National People’s Congress (NPC) is a pair of binoculars.
The seats assigned to journalists in the Great Hall of the People are so far back, you need those since your eyes will inevitably be fixed on the figure of President Xi Jinping, 67, seated far away in the center of the tiered stage.
Of special interest is what occurs immediately after the closing ceremony. You want to see what Xi does and who he might talk to before he leaves the podium.
Since I am no longer posted to Beijing, I don’t have the opportunity to use my binoculars. However, when looking at news photos of what transpired following the closing ceremony at this year’s NPC, and I saw one particular photo, I said, “Oh!”
The Democrats currently control the House, Senate, and White House for the first time in more than ten years. That enviable position, which came to them after unexpectedly winning two Senate runoffs in January, has allowed them to pass President Joe Biden s $1.9 trillion recovery and stimulus plan and to tee up another package of up to $4 trillion of investments in green energy and other priorities.
Democrats with unified control of government, a popular new president, and passing ambitious agenda items aimed at making a green recovery from a deep recession sound familiar?
This is almost exactly the situation former president Barack Obama enjoyed in 2009-2010. But the rest of the decade was largely disappointing for Democrats. Though Obama was reelected in 2012, the party lost the House in 2010, the Senate in 2014, as well as 958 state legislative seats over the course of Obama s presidency. Donald Trump s win in 2016 and Republicans capture of the House and Senate capped
According to
Taiwan News on Friday, while addressing a House Foreign Affairs Committee hearing on Wednesday, Secretary of State Anthony Blinken described Taiwan as a “country that can contribute to the world, not just its own people.”
The official House transcript of his remarks quoted Blinken somewhat differently, diminishing what the Taiwanese paper hoped could be a landmark in relations between the United States and China.
Diplomats are generally cautious about referring to Taiwan as an independent “country,” since it enrages communist China, which is perpetually threatening to attack Taiwan if it attempts to universalize recognition of its independence.
Blinken’s remarks were noted and summarized by
Fri 5 Mar 2021 05.30 EST
Last modified on Fri 5 Mar 2021 23.36 EST
The phones rang on Friday, one month earlier than expected. More than 50 pro-democracy politicians and activists across Hong Kong received a call from the authorities: they were to report to police on Sunday.
Expecting to be charged and held for lengthy jail terms, many spent the weekend making last-minute preparations. They picked out books to take into custody, arranged for pets to be taken care of, said goodbye to their loved ones. Tiffany Yuen, 27, spent the day at home, where she was photographed cuddling a Buzz Lightyear toy, before visiting constituents in Tin Wan.