03a China

Spain pushes China to assume global leadership role during Iran war– www.washingtonexaminer.com
News Source
EXCERPT:

Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez on Monday pushed China to embrace a larger role on the world stage as Europe increasingly turns to Beijing amid growing tensions with the United States.

Sanchez’s speech at Beijing’s Tsinghua University follows recent moves from the United Kingdom, Germany, France, and others to tighten ties with China after the Trump administration redefined its relationship with Europe, leading many allies to question Washington’s commitment to long-standing alliances.

On the day before he is set to meet with Chinese President Xi Jinping, Sanchez pushed back against the notion that Europe holds little value and called on China to help fill what he described as a new power vacuum left by the U.S.

“Europe may seem small on a map. But its weight is decisive, and its unity is a guarantee of stability and prosperity in the world, a world that cannot be understood without China,” Sanchez said. “We are called upon to understand one another and to cooperate.”

“Europe ⁠will also have to redouble its efforts, especially now that the United States has decided to withdraw from many of these fronts,” he added.

Blurb:

Russia and China on Tuesday vetoed a U.N. Security Council resolution aimed at reopening the Strait of Hormuz that had been repeatedly watered down in hopes those two countries would abstain.

The vote — 11-2, with two abstentions from Pakistan and Colombia— took place just hours after U.S. President Donald Trump issued an unprecedented threat that a “whole civilization will die tonight” if Iran does not open the strategic waterway and make a deal before his 8 p.m. Eastern deadline. One-fifth of the world’s oil typically passes through the strait, and Iran’s stranglehold during the war has sent energy prices soaring.

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Chinese Workers Protest Unpaid Wages in Russia’s Far East – www.themoscowtimes.com
EXCERPT:

Chinese workers building a fuel-making unit at a Rosneft refinery in Far East Russia’s Khabarovsk region took to the streets on Sunday to protest unpaid wages, regional authorities said Monday.

At least 200 employees of the Russian-Chinese contractor Petro-Hehua marched through the city of Komsomolsk-na-Amure demanding back payments and help from both Russian President Vladimir Putin and Rosneft CEO Igor Sechin.

Blurb:

HONG KONG — China is poised to benefit from the Iran war as global energy disruptions accelerate a shift away from fossil fuels and toward clean technologies and renewable power, industries that China dominates.

Most of the oil and gas from the now mostly shut Strait of Hormuz was Asia-bound. Asian nations are scrambling to conserve energy and bolster dwindling reserves. As a temporary ceasefire teeters, gasoline prices in the U.S. and Europe are spiking.

While most of Asia is hit hard, China will likely benefit from the fossil fuel disruptions despite being the biggest purchaser of Iranian oil. China leads the world in battery, solar and electric vehicle exports, and its industries are forecast to face a rise in demand for renewable products.

Before the start of the Iran war in late February, China’s lead in clean technologies was lengthening. The U.S. under President Donald Trump scaled back on renewable energy and leaned on its vast oil and gas resources, promoting energy exports to achieve what Trump described as “energy dominance.”

Blurb:

Critical minerals are mined all over the world but the majority of the supply ends up passing through China. For a broad range of key metals and minerals, China is either the largest miner, the dominant refiner, or both. This is true for rare earths, lithium, cobalt, graphite, nickel, and many other metals and minerals that are essential to defense, energy and high-tech applications.

It is less about where ores are dug out of the ground and more about where they are turned into usable components. In other words, Chinese processing plants are essentially the gatekeepers of global supply.

Blurb:

BEIJING: China warned the United States on Thursday (Mar 26) against bringing “conflict and the chaos of war” to the Asia-Pacific, after Washington and its allies said they would weigh building a weapons base in the Philippines.

A US-led intergovernmental defence group agreed last week to assess funding for a new ammunition assembly and production line in the Philippines, according to a joint statement.

The decision was made by the 16 members of the Partnership for Indo-Pacific Industrial Resilience (PIPIR), which also includes Britain, Australia, Japan, South Korea and the Philippines.

Blurb:

Could being a “morning person” improve your health … on the moon? Scientists have identified what appears to be a “cavity” of reduced cosmic radiation near Earth’s moon. The finding could help lower astronauts’ exposure to harmful radiation on future lunar missions by timing some surface operations for local morning hours.

The discovery, based on data from China‘s Chang’e-4 lunar lander, suggests Earth’s magnetic field may affect distances in space farther than scientists previously expected. According to the researchers, the finding challenges the long-held assumption that galactic cosmic rays are roughly uniform throughout the space between Earth and the moon outside our planet’s protective magnetic field.

Blurb:

 

While the world fixates on the Strait of Hormuz, China is working to make the entire conversation obsolete.

Each flare up in US Iran tensions sends oil markets into overdrive, with prices swinging and supply fears dominating global narratives. But Beijing is not playing that game. It is building an alternative system designed to sidestep the very risks others are pricing in.

At the centre of this effort is State Grid Corporation of China, a sprawling network that already covers more than 80 percent of the country and powers over a billion people. Alongside China Southern Power Grid, it is constructing what increasingly looks like a long term energy power play. A nationwide supergrid meant to reduce reliance on imported oil and the fragile sea lanes that carry it. LIVE UPDATES

The blueprint is expansive. Ultra high voltage transmission lines are being rolled out at speed, linking inland regions rich in coal, wind and solar to the industrial coastline where demand is concentrated. The aim is to electrify more of the economy, move power efficiently across vast distances, and reduce exposure to external shocks.