Bhutan is all set for its first ever debut at the Miss Universe 2022 pageant, which will be held in New Orleans on January 14, 2023. Tashi Choden, 24, was crowned Miss Bhutan in June at the third edition of Miss Bhutan, with the last event held more than a decade ago.
Stunning, outspoken, intelligent, confident and a proud member of the LGBTQ+ community, Tashi is thrilled to represent her country at one of the world’s biggest international beauty pageants. She sees this as an opportunity to learn from her fellow delegates, but more importantly, to represent Bhutan on a global stage.
Born to a Bhutanese mother and a Tibetan father, Tashi was raised in Nagaland, India until the age of three. Tragedy struck and she lost her father when she was only four years old, and a decade later she lost her mother as well.
Even before winning the Miss Bhutan title, Tashi was a successful model and actress. She began modeling at the age of 15 when she came across Project Bhutan, a Bhutanese modeling agency based in Thimphu, where she started taking part in shows and pageants. She also established herself as an actress through movies like Singye and Nyingtob.
Personally, Tashi sees beauty pageants as a journey of discovering herself, through which she has become a strong, passionate and driven young woman. It is also a platform where she can be the voice of the youth, represent her country to the outside world and advocate for causes that are close to her heart, like LGBTQ+ rights. She believes she can take Bhutan to the top. Tashi embodies the energy of the youth of Bhutan in the 21st century, forging her own path and taking her country to the global stage.
“I knew I had the passion, the motivation and the right reasons to want to win the Miss Bhutan pageant, and it was a beautiful journey of celebrating my identity. Miss Universe to me is an opportunity to represent my country. As a global event watched by millions of people, I see this as a great platform to help share the voice of my country, highlight our beautiful land, and advocate for important causes. Bhutan is going through a period of major transformation, and I’m so proud to be part of this. I believe in the future of our country and everything that we can achieve together,” Tashi Choden concluded.
Pictured: (header image) Tashi Choden, Miss Bhutan 2022; (inset images)
headshot of Tashi Choden; Tashi Choden with an LGBTQIA+ flag
ABOUT THE TOURISM COUNCIL OF BHUTAN
The Tourism Council of Bhutan is responsible for the development and promotion of sustainable tourism in Bhutan. It works to share the Kingdom’s remarkable places, people and experiences with conscious travelers, guided by the principles of high-value, low-volume tourism.
After four years of polishing, the all-around producer Chace’s first personal album the thought-provoking and psychedelic “Belated Suffocation” is out now via Astralwerks / Fabled Records. Listen HERE.
“Belated Suffocation” chronicles his creation and thoughts under this present time. It contains diversified electronic music styles with a complete conceptual framework and shows the multi-dimensional color of Chace. Filled with hypnotic production, bouncy beats, and magnetic vocals, Chace proves he’s in it for the long-haul. It contains recent singles “Mariya” and “In My Head.” From the lyrics, music creation, vocals, to the production behind the scenes, Chace does it all.
“46 Step” is the first prelude of the album. It lays the keynote for the whole album with mystery, announces the return of Chace, and opens the album with his unique personality.
“Cinematic” is one of the main tracks of the album. In his creation, Chace constantly surpasses himself, breaks through his original strength, plays the role of MV director for the first time, and participates in the production behind the scenes. The track explores the transition between virtuality and reality. The narrative texture of the film creates his own chace-house style.
“Mariya” is the centerpiece and heart and soul of his debut album. In the process of creation, Chace continues to surpass and challenge himself. “Mariya” continues the mysterious tone of the album’s previous singles and focuses on the track’s mood and psychedelic atmosphere. Chace still arranges the music, writes the lyrics, sings and produces everything himself.
Chace, Zhu Yihan, China’s hottest talented music producer, received global attention early on and became the first Chinese DJ to take the stage at iconic Belgian electronic music festival Tomorrowland. He is currently the guest music director of the new music program at the world’s leading hotel brand, W Hotel. Since releasing his debut EP Destination, Chace’s music – a delirious mix of evocative house, UK garage, and pop – has earned him praise from tastemakers across the world. Billboard dubbed him a “pop and dance music prodigy,” COMPLEX called him a “Rapidly rising producer,” and VICE stated that he’s “The face of China’s rising EDM scene.”
Following years of industry experience as a producer, DJ and band member, Chase established the HOWSHOOD label in 2019, and the MontiArk label last year, both of which are at the center of domestic electronic music. In the summer of 2020, Chace formed the Mandarin rock band with two friends, and with the band’s original album and members opened their first national tour with the theme of “Echo.” In 2021, Chase was named DJ MAG CHINA AWARDS Producer of the Year.
Today Chinese electronic producer/singer-songwriter, Chacereleases the brooding track “Mariya” off his forthcoming debut album. “Mariya” comes withan accompanying eerie visual. “Mariya” continues to tease the overall mysterious tone of the album following the previous single “In My Head.” It contains a mood rendering and psychedelic inducing tonality. On “Mariya” Chace does it all. He arranged the music, wrote the lyrics, and sings and producers on it.
The whole song shows the charm of “Mariya” from the central perspective of the suitor seen in the video. The deep and magnetic voice creates an empty and blurred atmosphere with the bouncing light.
With each track, Chace continues to pave his way as one of the forerunners of a forward-thinking generation of artists in Asia melding Western influences with their own sounds. A self-taught producer and songwriter, he has collaborated with Tchami, Yellow Claw, and Moksi. When he was 17 years old, he became the first Chinese DJ to play Belgium’s iconic Tomorrowland festival in 2017. Since releasing his debut EP Destination, Chace’s music: a delirious mix of evocative house, UK garage, and pop has earned him praise from tastemakers across the world. Billboard dubbed him a “pop and dance music prodigy,” COMPLEX called him a “Rapidly rising producer,” and VICE stated that he’s “The face of China’s rising EDM scene.” In 2021, DJ Mag China named him producer of the year.
For the Spring-Summer Men’s 2023 Spin-Off show in Aranya, China, the Maison expanded on the idea of the magnified playground first introduced in Paris in June. In a collaborative effort between Chinese directors Jia Zhangke and Wei Shujun, the cinematic show portrayed themes of childhood, discovery and community.
The story took its audiences to Aranya beach, a relic of the Ancient Silk Road, where the live show unfolded in a vast sandscape, representing the infinite possibilities of craftsmanship. Live-scored by the Beijing-based instrumental band Sleeping Dogs, the show featured a performance choreographed by dancer Hou Ying.
‘Collection ∞’ Aranya, September 2022:
Aranya
There are as many grains of sand on our planet as there are stars in the galaxy. Yet in the eyes of a child, the vastness of sand never poses an impossibility. It invites opportunity. In the sandbox and on the beach, children instinctively build sandcastles: constructs of the imagination that turn dreams into reality. For the Spring-Summer 2023 Spin-Off show in Aranya – designed by the Louis Vuitton Studio Prêt-à-Porter Homme – the Maison expands on the idea of the magnified playground first introduced in Paris in June. A cinematic prelude titled Mirage created in a collaborative effort between Chinese directors Jia Zhangke (producer of the prelude) and Wei Shujun (director of the prelude) – who also serve as directors of the show itself – portrays themes of childhood, discovery and community. Shot in the city of Dunhuang, on the edge of the Gobi Desert – once a frontier garrison on the Silk Road – the film stages a contemporary meeting between East and West reflected in the poetry of history. The story takes its audiences to Aranya beach where the live show unfolds in a sandscape moulded with the tools at the root of a collection founded in the infinite possibilities of craftsmanship. Live-scored by the Beijing-based instrumental band Sleeping Dogs, the show features a performance choreographed by the Chinese dancer Hou Ying.
Collection ∞
Imagination is at the heart of Louis Vuitton. A visual manifestation of our hopes and ideas, it has the power to heal, regenerate and uplift us. The Spring-Summer 2023 Men’s Collection was conceived and created by the Louis Vuitton Studio Prêt-à-Porter Homme: an ever-evolving ecosystem of creative minds, who welcomed Virgil Abloh to the Maison in 2018 and expanded during his eight seasons of artistic direction. A living testament to his talent for bringing people together, they populate a creative playground more than a century in the making. At the timeless core of the Louis Vuitton studio is the belief that imagination – creatorship, craftsmanship, showmanship – can move and unite its spectators around the world. It’s the heritage on which Virgil Abloh based his practice at the Maison and the philosophy that continues to drive the Studio Prêt-à-Porter Homme. As a creative community who shared a monumental experience, they embrace the Spring-Summer 2023 Men’s Collection as a cathartic process: a proposal created in the spirit of all the human minds that shape Louis Vuitton.
Magnified playground
Toys are tools for the imagination. The playthings we are given early in life become building blocks for dreams and aspirations. In the Carré du Louvre in June 2022, the Louis Vuitton Studio Prêt-à-Porter Homme imagined a magnified playground. Here, a giant children’s toy racetrack became a Yellow-Brick Road for the imagination: an evolutionary path for the mind where childlike fantasies come to life. It’s a transition from naïve to refined reflected in a collection that elevates the symbols of childhood through the savoir-faire of the Maison. The premise cuts a silhouette drawn from swoopy lines, which plays with shrunken and oversized dimensions founded in the idea of a wardrobe grown-into or outgrown, with rootsy nods to the 1990s dress code of the skater community. Iconography native to the playground adorns garments and accessories: origami paper planes, building block beading, playdough textures and tones, cartoon prints, and sandbox tool embellishments. Evoked within the pieces is an under-construction sensibility inherent to the toys found in a playground and to the process of growing.
Parade for the mind
Pageantry courses through the veins of Louis Vuitton. Over time, the custodians of the Maison have employed displays of wonderment to inspire unifying feelings of joy in its diverse audiences around the globe. On the magnified toy racetrack of the Spring-Summer 2023 Men’s Show in Paris in June, a parade of childhood dreams unfolded led by The Marching 100, the Tallahassee-based marching band of the Florida A&M University formed in 1946. Flags filled the space – their motifs reflective of the Louis Vuitton codes and values – as a representation of global communities created beyond borders and diversities. Elated by music, the soundtrack of the parade fused with the clothes themselves: two SpeakerMan looks integrated a number of wireless loudspeakers into backpacks, which connected to the show’s sound system. The constructions portrayed the togetherness of sound and the harmonious properties of speaker culture, while echoing the shared appreciation for loud music that exists within the Louis Vuitton Studio Prêt-à-Porter Homme – where every corner is occupied by a speaker.
French romanticism
A quintessential component in the genetics of Louis Vuitton, French romanticism fills the collection. Flower fields – the eternal image of harmony in diversity – grace garments through impressionist paintings transformed into tapestries and prints, while depictions of thistles appear in multiple fabric weaves, prints and embroideries. A symbol of resilience and healing folklorically used to overcome difficult situations, the prickly flower motifs also nod to the decor of Louis Vuitton’s ancestral home in Asnières where thistles often appear in bouquets. The delicate floral paintings found in the ceilings of the same residence echo the cornices that define the palatial interiors of Parisian architecture. A manifestation of our childhood dreams – fairy tales, majesty, whimsy – these moulures ornament moulded leather tailoring and bags, and feature in delicate lace garments. As a tribute to Paris, a photo montage collaging elements from the city and the Maison – the Pont Neuf, the Damier pattern, the cornices of interiors – runs through the collection.
Arts and crafts
The impulse to turn imagination into creation begins with the instruments of our childhood: toys, building blocks and the tools of the sandbox. As we grow and refine, so do the devices that bring our ideas to life. Through the savoir-faire integral to Louis Vuitton, the collection reflects on this transition in figurative and literal ways. Children’s building blocks and playdough elements adorn garments and accessories, while toolbox components – such as scissors, tweezers and clamps – embellish garments as three-dimensional embroidered pendants. The motifs celebrate the expert ateliers of the Maison, and serve as symbols of the painstaking savoir-faire that makes up the collection, from the development of fabrics to hand-embroideries, hand-beading, hand-crocheting, Shiburi tie-dye, and intricate leather moulding, as well as technological ingenuity like static electricity fabrics and SpeakerMan backpacks composed of genuine and 3D-printed loudspeakers.
LOUIS VUITTON Spring-Summer 2023 Spin-Off inside 360 MAGAZINE
CELEBRITIES
LIU YAO WEN at LOUIS VUITTON Spring-Summer 2023 Spin-Off inside 360 MAGAZINE
The premium all-electric 001 vehicle broke the record for the fastest drift ever achieved by an electric car hitting a maximum speed of 207.996km/h
It then went on to take the title for the fastest electric car slalom at 49.05 seconds
Premium electric mobility brand ZEEKR has announced its luxury all-electric 001 vehicle has broken two Guinness World Records.
Less than a year since the brand started delivering vehicles to customers in China, ZEEKR has made its mark on the global stage by claiming the titles for the fastest drift ever achieved by an electric car and the fastest electric car slalom.
The records have fully verified the three core strengths that underpin the 001, it is “fast, accurate and stable.”
The fastest electric vehicle drift requires the vehicle to achieve greater than 160km/h and the 001 was able to achieve a maximum speed of 207.996km/h. Using the 001’s high-performance twin electric drive system, the front and rear were able to achieve instantaneous torque output up to 7,680Nm and an acceleration time up to 100km/h in only 3.8s.
This power and acceleration, combined with the 001’s high-performance chassis suspension system, maximizes body stability and allows the driver to maintain consistent and precise drifting and the car to truly dance right on the edge of the limit.
ZEEKR’s 001 also went on to set a new benchmark for the fastest ever all-electric car slalom. The vehicle weaved between 50 cones equally spaced and completed the course, without touching or knocking any down, in 49.05 seconds.
001’s intelligent electric four-wheel drive system boosted acceleration off the line and enabled excellent handling of the vehicle on the fast and dynamic course. The quality of power distribution and the balance between the front and rear wheels between the cones allowed for the 001 to glide through the cones with minimal disruption from the chassis or tyres, maintaining excellent and stable braking at the end. The strong grip also allowed the vehicle to have better cornering ability throughout.
World Record Technology for Users
This same driving control technology is in all ZEEKR 001 cars and not only brings users a fun and dynamic driving experience, but it also provides safety through stronger controllability and stability. 001 already meets the five-star safety standards and lays the foundation for solid performance control.
Not only does 001 respond to driver operations in milliseconds, but it also responds to multiple emergency scenarios autonomously. In addition, the newly developed intelligent anti-skid dTCS (distributed traction control system) operates at a processing rate 10 times faster than the mainstream TCS traction control systems. The outstanding stability performance showcased in the slalom record is also met by 001 users on the road in China.
Adhering to the concept of “don’t be a boring electric car” to develop a pure electric high-performance experience, the 001 also has an excellent driving comfort experience under the powerful power and extreme control fun.
Breaking these two world records, ZEEKR has adhered to its own philosophy to not be “a boring electric car”. 001 users can enjoy an excellent driving comfort experience under world record achieving power and finesse. The perfect integration of smart and electric technology in the 001 will bring users more enjoyment in their travel.
The records were broken in August under the supervision of an adjudicator from Guinness World Records at the CATARC proving ground in China.
ZEEKR Business Update
ZEEKR continues to prioritize and fulfill local market customer orders ahead of a planned European roll-out from 2023, where it will ramp up capacity at the ZEEKR Intelligent Factory – one of the world’s most advanced vehicle facilities – to deal with unprecedented demand for the 001.
Premium electric mobility brand ZEEKR has announced a vast array of upgrades to its 001 vehicle, signaling a bold vision for the future of luxury drive and autonomy.
At its first ZEEKRExperience Day, and less than one year after the first products were delivered to customers in China, ZEEKR confirmed that 001 models will be subject to an extensive OTA update which covers driver comfort, cockpit interface, and smart driving technologies. ZEEKR has also announced a host of hardware improvements to the body and chassis of 001 for the 2022 model year.
ZEEKR 001 is now the world’s first production car equipped with two 7nm autonomous driving chips, which is embedded within a complete visual fusion sensing system and enables a 001 to self-adapt autonomously at speeds of up to 130kph. In testing environments, a 001 will automatically slow when it detects pedestrians or non-motor vehicles approaching. The 001 will also automatically detect a car door open on the side of the road or a truck approaching on the side, turning wheels slightly to avoid a possible side collision.
The latest upgrades also include a high performance 8155 Snapdragon microchip which has optimized over 200 key items of user control functions within the cockpit.
ZEEKR’s brand-new intelligent driving system enables users to switch among different driving modes and has a distributed traction control system, designed only for pure electric vehicles. This new system includes signal transmission and a processing rate 10 times faster than most existing systems, bringing computing down to milliseconds. This improves acceleration performance by 31% on harsh road surfaces, or in snow and ice conditions, whilst increasing the maximum controllable concerning speed. This newly updated driving system will give user the option to switch between rear wheel drive, all-wheel drive, and real time adaptive four-wheel drive systems based on the road conditions.
// ZEEKR Business Update
In August 2021, ZEEKR completed the Pre-A round of external funding from five partners with Intel Capital as the lead investor. The $500 million funding also attracted investments from CATL, Bilibili, Cathay Fortune Group, and Boyu Capital.
In December 2021, ZEEKR announced a collaboration with Waymo on the development of a new pure electric vehicle for deployment in the Waymo One autonomous ride-hailing fleet in the United States. A new purpose-built commercial mobility vehicle is being designed and developed at ZEEKR’s R&D facility in Gothenburg, Sweden.
Earlier this year, ZEEKR confirmed a collaboration with Mobileye, an Intel company, to expand their strategic technology partnership with a goal to deliver the world’s first consumer autonomous consumer vehicles with L4 capabilities by 2024.
ZEEKR continues to prioritize and fulfill local market customer orders ahead of a planned European roll-out from 2023, where it will ramp up capacity at the ZEEKR Intelligent Factory – one of the world’s most advanced vehicle facilities – to deal with unprecedented demand for the 001. It has already delivered its 20,000th vehicle in May of 2022, 217 days from its first delivery in October of 2021, making it the fastest EV company in China to achieve such a target.
On March 28, the urbanist city in China of Shanghai began to lockdown. As of now, all people continue to be quarantined at home, with schools and businesses closed.
During the extended quarantine of Shanghai, the number of infections has continued to climb. A few things about the gravity of the lockdown are worth noting.
First is the treatment of positive patients. In most countries, people with mild infections only need to be quarantined at home to wait for self-recovery. China differs from often countries as they have adopted centralized quarantine, which includes quarantine of close contacts.
After the outbreak, countless shelter hospitals were built in Shanghai, with some schools, office buildings, and stadiums were requisitioned to build shelter hospitals. Because the speed of construction could not keep up with the spread of the virus, many covid positive patients waited at home for more than a week for treatment and were later sent to shelter hospitals even after testing negative. Many patients even spend whole days in transfer cars because all the shelter hospitals are full.
The conditions of shelter hospitals are also very diverse. Some places have sufficient food supply, and the environment is very hygienic. However, the sanitary conditions of some hospitals are shocking. Hundreds of people share one restroom, and in severe cases, toilets may even be filled with excrement.
Next, it is important to dicsuss the lack of food, specifically outage of all packages and restaurant delivery. The government issued a statement on March 28th, which entailed the Pudong district being locked down from March 28th to April 1st. Remaining areas would be locked down from April 1st to April 5th. Many people stored food for four days as directed by the government, but Shanghai’s lockdown was not lifted by the fourth day.
The government distributes food and daily necessities to residents, but the food everyone received could not sustain a month-long confinement. Some open supermarkets began taking orders in the morning hours, but a community with tens of thousands of people can only take hundreds of orders, leaving most citizens with no way to order food.
As a result, some people spontaneously initiated group purchases, with a resident of the community as the leader, negotiating with food suppliers, and then ordering the food needed by the entire community, and then distributing them by themselves. In communities with few households, everyone can only rely on supermarket deliveries.
Lastly, non-COVID-19 patients have not been receiving adequate treatment. During the quarantine period, all citizens were unable to leave their homes, which led to the difficulty of seeing a doctor for patients with underlying diseases. There are many patients who need hemodialysis, chemotherapy, and surgery that cannot be treated in time.
For emergency patients, it is even more difficult, because hospitals need Covid PCR test reports within 24 hours before they can accept patients. There are some acutely ill patients, such as myocardial infarction, renal failure, etc., who died at the hospital gate because they were waiting for the PCR test report.
As April 21, Shanghai had been closed for 24 days, with the number of infected people beginning to slowly decline on April 17. The government declared that “Zero-Covid policy” must be implemented. It remains to be seen where Shanghai will go in the future.
H&M Foundation awards 5 innovations a total €1 million grant for their efforts to make the fashion industry planet positive.
A laundry solution that prolongs garments’ life, AI helping smallholder cotton farmers to increase yield and income, an invention realising the circular recycling of elastane and polyester blends, carbon-negative viscose made from CO2 emissions and regenerative agriculture making planet positive alternative to goose down – these are the five Global Change Award winners 2022, sharing a €1 million grant from the non-profit H&M Foundation.
The H&M Foundation launched the Global Change Award in 2015 to transform fashion and make it planet positive, in order for the industry to fulfil the UN Sustainable Development Goals by 2030. That means finding and supporting disruptive innovations that address one or several of the earth’s global commons – land, water, oceans, climate and biodiversity. As the aim is to find innovations that allow major change for the entire industry the winners are free to collaborate with any actor they want.
“The winners of the Global Change Award hold the key to the complex challenges we are facing and prove that it’s possible to reinvent fashion. Their game-changing innovations are really inspiring and can help transform the fashion industry into a planet positive one” says Karl-Johan Persson, board member of H&M Foundation and Chairman of H&M Group.
The response from applicants was overwhelming and made it clear that there is no shortage of disruptive innovations out there. The momentum to transform the fashion industry into a planet positive one, to protect our planet and improve people’s living conditions has never been stronger. This year’s winners are:
BioPuff® by saltyco (UK) – A planet positive alternative to goose down, crafted from plants that heal damaged land.
BIORESTORE (Sweden) – A laundry solution that restores old and worn garments to mint condition.
CottonAce by Wadhwani AI (India) – An AI solution that reduces pesticide use, increases yield and raises incomes for smallholder cotton farmers.
Re:lastane (China) – The first mild process making elastane and polyester blend fabrics recyclable.
Rubi (US) – Planet positive viscose and lyocell made from carbon emissions.
In addition to the financial grant, all five winners also get access to the one-year GCA Impact Accelerator programme provided by H&M Foundation in partnership with Accenture, KTH Royal Institute of Technology and The Mills, offering the winners invaluable coaching and support, along with a strong network and memories for life. The GCA Impact Accelerator aims to help the winning ideas scale at speed through business, technology, investor and innovation readiness, and industry access. It also offers winners a mix of inspiring digital sessions and meetups at key locations.
The Global Change Award was initiated in 2015 by non-profit H&M Foundation to transform fashion and make it planet positive. By catalysing early-stage innovations that can accelerate this shift, the aim is safeguard humanity and our planet. Planet positive fashion means that every garment made needs to have a positive impact on earth’s shared resources – it’s global commons: land, water, oceans, biodiversity and climate.
Each year, five winners share a 1 million euro grant and get access to the yearlong GCA Impact Accelerator provided by the H&M Foundation in collaboration with Accenture, KTH Royal Institute of Technology and The Mills Fabrica. Neither H&M Foundation nor H&M Group take any equity or intellectual property rights in the innovations, as the aim is to find innovations that allow major change for the entire industry.
The H&M Foundation is privately funded by the Stefan Persson family, founders and main owners of H&M Group. Its overall aim is to accelerate the progress needed to reach the UN Sustainable Development Goals by 2030.
Beijing based dance duo BEAUZ release their new EP, RAVE GAME. Listen HERE. The EP contains three dancefloor hits, “RAVE GAME,“ “LOUD,“ and “WE GUCCI.“ The title track “RAVE GAME “ is a playful banger that signifies BEAUZ‘s ambition to go from the throne of dance pop to claiming royalty on the dance floor. With its memorable and hard-hitting bassline, this infectious tune chronicles the magic of festivals and the adventures within. BEAUZ collaborated with NINEONE#, one of China ‘s most popular singers/rappers on “RAVE GAME,“ mixing their party-ready beat backdrop with her velvety vocals.
About BEAUZ
Beijing based dance duo BEAUZ, (pronounced bowz), composed of BSY and JSY are versatile, classy rockstars who decide their own destiny. They have released hundreds of tracks and combining modern electronic music styles and Asian music elements, they broke music boundaries and introduced a brand-new music genre, PsyPop, to the EDM world.
In 2021, BEAUZ joined China‘s hit survival show Youth With You Season 3 as promising trainees. They made history as the first electronic music DJ duo to participate in the show. They performed their original song, “Heartbreaker,” on stage, which received countless support from fans, showcasing their recognizable voice and impressive singing skills. Through the show, they broadened their fan base and introduced electronic music to a bigger stage. The group later hit number 55 on DJ Mag‘s “Top 100 DJs poll,” marking the highest-ranking Asia act on the poll.
US President Biden and China’s Chairman, Xi Jinping had their first virtue summit on November 15th. This summit was set towards the improvement of bilateral cooperation but there was no concrete action after three and a half hours of the conference.
The summit had its focus on a wide range of issues, including human rights, climate change, and the economy. However, among all the topics, the future of Taiwan has been one of the major focuses of the globe.
Since the uncertainty of the global pandemic and political concern, Xi has canceled all his traveling plans since January 2020. The two leaders have spoken through telephone twice this year, nevertheless this time they were intended to lead a more exhaustive discussion of the previous issues.
Although the summit was taken place virtually, the place was carefully selected. Xi along with his allies was at the East Hall in the Great Hall of the People in Beijing, Biden and his team were at the Roosevelt Room at the White House.
During the conference, each side has mentioned their dispute which concerns them the most. While the disservice has been deeply rooted which offered little room for compromise. Although Xi called Mr. Biden “my old friend” at the beginning of the summit and used a metaphor that compared the two superpowers to ships that navigate together in the ocean’s wind, under the water, there is disagreement and conflict which is hard to be resolved.
Spotlight focus: Taiwan Affairs
Taiwan affairs are always the most significant issue among China and US. The White House and Xinhua News Agency, the mouthpiece of the Chinese Communist Party, have individually quoted Biden and Xi’s speeches, which demonstrated their respectively different opinions.
According to a statement issued by the White House, Biden said that “the United States is still committed to the ‘One China policy, which is implemented under the guidance of the “Taiwan Relations Act”, the three joint communiqués and the six guarantees.”
While on the other hand, Xinhua News Agency quoted Biden as saying, “The U.S. government is committed to pursuing the long-term and consistent one China’ policy and does not support Taiwan independence.
Despite the fact that Xi Jinping always mentioned Taiwan in the past, This time his words are tougher, and more sounds like a warning. He warned that “Taiwan independence” is “very dangerous. It is playing with fire, and you will burn yourself if you play with fire.” He emphasized that the one-China principle and the three Sino-US joint communiqués are the foundation of China-US relations.
Seek common ground while reserving differences
It is impossible to solve the enormous divisions that occur among the world’s two superpowers through just one meeting. While the virtual summit between Xi Jinping and Joe Biden obviously has removed the concern whether China-US would spiral into a new Cold War. The relationship is rebounding from the Trump era which there was a great misunderstanding. Cooperation of the world is urgently needed, since the COVID pandemic, economic recession, and climate crisis.
Although there is dissension in many ways, the communication was structural and honest, The fact that the summit has taken place for almost four hours is a clear sign that both leaders are putting a great amount of effort to achieve substantive and constructive results. They showed a strong desire to eventually find a way to reach a consensus. And Biden in his word said that we need to have “commonsense guardrails” and prevent the China-US competition from “veering into conflict”.
Conclusion
China-US collaboration and benign competition are appreciated by the world. History has witnessed the benefits of both superpowers working together from the Financial crisis of 2007–2008 to the joint declaration on enhanced climate actions announced recently in Glasgow. Just like what Xi mentioned at the begging of the summit, “Humanity lives in a global village, and we face multiple challenges together. China and the US need to increase communication and co-operation.”
