Welcome to this week’s Jingjing Newsletter. Let’s continue to explore under-reported sides of world news.
An IDF strike on Sunday hit a tent camp in a western part of Rafah, causing a large fire and killing at least 45 people, according to Gazan health officials. Images from the aftermath of the strike have gone viral on social media around the world, causing widespread revulsion - an AI-generated image calling on support for Rafah in the wake of the attack has been shared over 46 million times on Instagram alone. Yet despite widespread outcry over the attack and despite a ruling by the top U.N. court on Friday ordering it to stop, Israel has continued its advance into Rafah. Since the strike on the tent camp, at least another 26 Palestinians have been killed by Israeli fire in Rafah. Around one million Palestinians have fled the Rafah area in the southern Gaza Strip in the past three weeks, according to UNRWA. The health ministry in Gaza says that at least 36,096 people have been killed during more than seven months of war in the small Palestinian enclave.
The 10th ministerial conference of the China-Arab States Cooperation Forum adopted the Beijing Declaration on Thursday. The conference gathered top officials from the Arab League, including Bahrain's King Hamad bin Isa al-Khalifa, Egyptian President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi, Tunisian President Kais Saied, and United Arab Emirates President Sheikh Mohammed bin Zayed Al Nahyan. In a speech to the assembled delegates, President Xi Jinping of China told Arab leaders that the war in the Middle East "cannot continue indefinitely" while pledging deeper ties with Arab states. Xi also reiterated China’s commitment to a two-state solution to the Israeli-Palestine conflict. He said China firmly supports the establishment of an independent State of Palestine that enjoys full sovereignty based on the 1967 borders, with East Jerusalem as its capital and supports Palestine's full membership in the UN. Xi said that on top of the previous 100 million yuan ($13.8 million) of emergency humanitarian assistance, China will provide an additional 500 million yuan ($68.96 million) of assistance to help ease the humanitarian crisis in Gaza and support post-conflict reconstruction. China will donate $3 million to the UN Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA) for Palestine Refugees in the Near East in support of its emergency humanitarian assistance to Gaza. The full text of his speech can be found HERE.
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Former U.S. President and current front-runner in the 2024 presidential race, Donald Trump, has been found guilty on all charges by a jury in New York City in a hush-money case. Trump was found guilty of all 34 felony counts of falsifying business records in a bid to hide a hush money payment of $130,000 to porn star Stormy Daniels in 2016, shortly before the presidential election. He will not be jailed ahead of sentencing. If Trump wins the November presidential election, he will be unable to pardon himself as he was not found guilty in a federal court (the US president can only pardon federal crimes - only the New York governor, a Democrat, could pardon Trump in this case). Trump faces three other criminal prosecutions, but all the other cases have been delayed till after the election due to procedural challenges.
China’s State Council released its annual report on the human rights situation in the US on Wednesday. A key takeaway from the report is that the increasing political polarization in the US is having an adverse impact on the human rights situation in the country, entrenching the systemic issue of racism and escalating economic and social inequality. The report also highlights the ongoing violation of women and children's rights, the worsening plight of undocumented immigrants, and the humanitarian crisis created by US hegemony. The report also highlights the gun problem in the US, noting that throughout 2023, the US witnessed at least 654 large-scale shooting incidents, resulting in approximately 43,000 deaths, an average of 117 deaths per day. You can get access to the full report HERE.
Burkina Faso's military authorities will remain in power for another five years after participating in national talks on Saturday. The military seized power in a coup in 2022 in response to the civilian government’s inability to deal with the terror threat plaguing the country but initially promised to restore civilian rule quickly. However, the military authorities have said that the security situation takes priority and have pushed back the date of the transition to civilian rule. According to the new charter, signed by military leader Ibrahim Traore, the transition is set at 60 months from July 2. The charter also allows Traore to run for president when the elections take place.
The India Meteorological Department (IMD) has recorded India’s highest-ever temperature in the nation’s capital, New Delhi. The IMD reported an astonishing 52.3 degrees Celsius in a New Delhi suburb this week. The previous temperature record was 51C, which had been recorded in the state of Rajasthan in 2016. The brutally hot weather has seen school closures all across northern India and has put everyday people at risk of heat stroke by simply leaving their homes during the day.
Tens of millions of people living in coastal areas of the Caribbean and Latin America face “life-threatening” weather events made worse by the climate crisis, according to a new report by the UN Population Fund (UNPF) published this week. Data analysis by UNFPA reveals an estimated 41 million people who live in coastal areas are exposed to life-threatening storms and flooding. The agency also said more than 80 percent of the hospitals in Aruba and Cayman Islands, Suriname, Bahamas, and Guyana are in low-lying coastal areas prone to dangerous storms. The findings of the report highlight the danger climate change poses to poorer nations in the Global South - who will bear the brunt of the effects of climate change despite having done little to cause the crisis.
Jingjing’s Highlights in This Week
1. Chinese President Xi Jinping sent a crucial message at the opening ceremony of 10th ministerial meeting of the China-Arab States Cooperation Forum in Beijing
China’s stance on Palestine: “China firmly supports the establishment of an independent State of Palestine that enjoys full sovereignty based on the 1967 borders, with East Jerusalem as its capital…”
2. The U.S. loves lecturing the world about human rights
The US loves it so much that it has to take over govts by coup, sponsor proxy wars, or bomb the place to smithereens. It's benefiting a few billionaires while hurting American people. A talk with Col. Richard Black, former head of Criminal Law Division at the Pentagon in 2022.
3. Taiwan is not a country!
An excerpt of a Livestream discussion in 2023 explaining the brief history between the Chinese mainland & Taiwan island after the civil war.
What You May Have Missed This Week in the World.
1. Full text: President Xi's keynote speech at the opening ceremony of the 10th ministerial conference of the China-Arab States Cooperation Forum
“As changes unseen in a century unfold rapidly across the world, both China and Arab states strive to accomplish their historical missions of national rejuvenation and faster national development. Building a China-Arab community with a shared future is a strong statement of our common desire for a new era of China-Arab relations and a better future for the world.”
2. Chinese defense minister says PLA ready to curb 'Taiwan independence'
“Chinese Defense Minister Dong Jun said on Sunday that the People's Liberation Army (PLA) is prepared to take resolute actions to curb ‘Taiwan independence’ and ensure that "Taiwan independence" will never happen.”
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3. China issues report on US human rights violations in 2023
“The report calls on the U.S. government to take concrete measures to tackle its human rights problems, and respond to the expectations of the American people and international concerns.”
4. Politico - ‘Now he’s seen as a symbol’: Republicans rally around Trump
“House Speaker Mike Johnson intensified his defense of Donald Trump before headlining a party fundraiser in Illinois on Saturday, as even this deep blue state’s Republicans seized on a Manhattan jury’s guilty verdict as a rallying cry for the former president.”
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5. MintPress News - Challenging Western Hypocrisy: ICC Targets Israeli Leaders for War Crimes
“Even the most optimistic of political analysts did not expect that the International Criminal Court’s Chief Prosecutor would be uttering these words: ‘I have reasonable grounds to believe that Benjamin Netanyahu (…) and Yoav Gallant (…) bear criminal responsibility for (…) war crimes and crimes against humanity …’”
6. China's Chang'e-6 lands on far side of moon to collect samples
“China's Chang'e-6 probe landed on the far side of the moon on Sunday at 6:23 a.m. Beijing Time, aiming to collect samples from the South Pole-Aitken (SPA) Basin within two days, which will be brought back to Earth, according to the China National Space Administration (CNSA).”
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7. Chinese peacekeepers: A day with excavator operator Cheng Yuhao
May 29 marks the annual International Day of United Nations Peacekeepers. Here is how one UN peacekeeper from China spends his days as a member of the 22nd Chinese engineering contingent in Lebanon.
8. SCMP - 14 opposition figures found guilty of subversion, 2 acquitted over election plot to topple government
“The 16 were from a group of 47 politicians and activists prosecuted under the Beijing-imposed national security law when they held an unofficial ‘primary’ election for opposition parties in 2020, which three High Court judges found was part of a wider plot to ‘undermine, destroy or overthrow’ the government by creating a constitutional crisis after taking over the legislature.”
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After watching the video on the history of Taiwan, I looked at what Amerika calls 'an unsinkable aircraft carrier' on G Earth.
It's pretty hard to build a major airbase on a mountain range, so the logical choice would be the more level land on the west coast which looks to be heavily inhabited and urbanised. I wonder if the people who live there realise this.
Much of the north of Australia has been militarised, with a major Amerikan presence - Caitlin Johnstone said "Australia is a US military base with kangaroos" - and most Australians aren't aware of what's happened.