Commentary The United States needs to pivot its defence from Europe to the Indo-Pacific to deal with China, its number one strategic competitor, according to eminent U.S. political scientist John Mearsheimer, but will have trouble doing that because of its entanglement in Ukraine and the Middle East. Mr. Mearsheimer, who was a guest of the Centre for Independent Studies, was talking in Brisbane, Australia. He is from the “realist” school of international relations, which means that he thinks great powers should, and do, act only in their own interests. It’s a pity Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese was not able to hear him and was already en route to Washington to lobby for AUKUS at the time....Read more https://www.theepochtimes.com/opinion/can-the-us-handle-conflict-on-3-fronts-5519947
Michelle Zhang, a Canadian of Chinese origin, is calling on the government to confront Beijing’s foreign interference. She says she and her family have endured ongoing threats and harassment in Canada over the last 22 years, which she asserts is an extension of the regime’s persecution of her spiritual adherence to Falun Gong. In 2001, while living in Vancouver, Ms. Zhang says she became a target for several years after speaking out publicly against the oppression of Falun Gong practitioners by the Chinese Communist Party (CCP). For example, around 2003, her car window was smashed while parked overnight outside her apartment building, and months later, she discovered that someone had dumped a large amount of excrement on her balcony....
China’s manufacturing activity unexpectedly shrunk in October, according to state official survey data, a negative sign showing that the world’s second-biggest economy is facing a bumpy road to recovery. China’s National Bureau of Statistics data, released on Oct. 31, showed that the manufacturing purchasing managers’ index (PMI) declined to 49.5 in October, compared with 50.2 in September. The official PMI is below market expectations as both Reuter’s and Bloomberg’s survey of economists projected China’s official PMI of 50.2 in October. Meanwhile, the non-manufacturing PMI also dropped to 50.6 in October, down from 51.7 in September, indicating a slowdown in activity in the vast service sector and construction....
A high court in Taiwan’s southern Kaohsiung City has convicted a retired air force colonel of operating an espionage network on behalf of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP). Liu Sheng-shu was sentenced to 20 years in prison on Oct. 25 for his espionage activities carried out from 2013 to 2021. Given the national security implications of the case, the High Prosecutors’ Office in Kaohsiung delivered its verdict via video conferencing, withholding most of the information from the public. In April, the court charged Mr. Liu and six active air force and navy officers with violating the Classified National Security Information Act. The investigation started in January when Mr. Liu and three active military officers were held incommunicado, and three other active lieutenant commanders were released on bail ranging from NT$100,000 to NT$200,000 ($3,080 to $6,170)....