Yes, it would make no sense to ditch Russian oil and gasl only to get then independent from U.S. or other countries’ oil and gas or Chinese renewable energy tech. This is also done, however, although there may be some reason to speed up the development, and Europe definitely must revive its own RE industry.

EU finalizes the phasing-out of Russian gas imports by 2027

• Pipeline gas imports from Russia in to the EU under long-term deals must halt by Sept. 30, 2027, with a possibility of an extension to Nov. 1, 2027, depending on fulfillment of gas storage targets set by the EU. That compares with an end-2027 ban on those contracts originally put forward by the commission.
• Short-term contracts for LNG concluded before June 17, 2025 will be prohibited as of April 25, 2026. Pipeline gas brought into the EU under short-term deals will be banned as of June 17, 2026.
• To phase-out Russian energy, the deal obliges member states to prepare plans to diversify their supplies. The commission also plans to put forward a legislative proposal on phasing out Russian oil imports no later than the end of 2027.

Germany’s foreign minister to visit China next week, as EU prepares to toughen up on trade

The European Union is expected to toughen its trade stance on China next month, with signs that Germany - the EU’s largest member and economy - is aligning with the shift and that the 27-member bloc may be sufficiently united to push through policy changes that deepen ties with like-minded trading partners …

China’s weaker economy and its move up the value chain of industrial production means it is no longer the reliable market it once was for German exports.

But Germany still remains a key investment partner for China, which is struggling to attract fresh funds as its post-COVID recovery struggles for momentum …

Germany’s foreign minister to visit China next week, as EU prepares to toughen up on trade

The European Union is expected to toughen its trade stance on China next month, with signs that Germany - the EU’s largest member and economy - is aligning with the shift and that the 27-member bloc may be sufficiently united to push through policy changes that deepen ties with like-minded trading partners …

China’s weaker economy and its move up the value chain of industrial production means it is no longer the reliable market it once was for German exports.

But Germany still remains a key investment partner for China, which is struggling to attract fresh funds as its post-COVID recovery struggles for momentum …

The high cost is related to the fact that non-Chinese drones are nearly twice as expensive, the RCMP said.

Yeah, but non-Chinese drones are also not made under slave-like conditions.

So can he demand accountability now? Or will this be again seen as ‘crossing the line’?

@davel@lemmygrad.ml

Lemmygrad./ml [users] frequently share posts that support authoritarian regimes, as seen in their support for China, North Korea, and Russia. Moreover, their support can extend beyond backing these authoritarian regimes, even cheering on their violent actions, as evidenced by their posts on the Russian invasion of Ukraine …

Lemmygrad./ml … also serves as a hub for left-wing extremist subreddits that faced restrictions from Reddit. [There is] an increase in user activity and toxicity levels on Lemmygrad.ml following the migration of r/GenZedong and r/GenZhou. Furthermore, our analysis of the content revealed posts supporting authoritarian regimes, endorsing the Russian invasion of Ukraine, and exhibiting anti-Zionist and antisemitic rhetoric. Our findings underscore the importance of studying left-wing extremism on decentralized platforms alongside right-wing extremism to gain a comprehensive understanding of the full spectrum of political extremism on the Decentralized Web …

Source

@davel@lemmygrad.ml

Lemmygrad./ml [users] frequently share posts that support authoritarian regimes, as seen in their support for China, North Korea, and Russia. Moreover, their support can extend beyond backing these authoritarian regimes, even cheering on their violent actions, as evidenced by their posts on the Russian invasion of Ukraine …

Lemmygrad./ml … also serves as a hub for left-wing extremist subreddits that faced restrictions from Reddit. [There is] an increase in user activity and toxicity levels on Lemmygrad.ml following the migration of r/GenZedong and r/GenZhou. Furthermore, our analysis of the content revealed posts supporting authoritarian regimes, endorsing the Russian invasion of Ukraine, and exhibiting anti-Zionist and antisemitic rhetoric. Our findings underscore the importance of studying left-wing extremism on decentralized platforms alongside right-wing extremism to gain a comprehensive understanding of the full spectrum of political extremism on the Decentralized Web …

Source

The degree of Chinese propaganda in this thread is astonishing even for Lemmy. It’s almost hilarious how the reality (may it be intentional or unintentional) is ignored just to make the West look bad and China portraying as the big and only.

There is a lot wrong in ‘the West’ with housing, and countries offering sometime reasonable solutions, and sometimes not. But China has a long way to go also in this respect as the housing condition for a large portion of Chinese people is devastating.

As one research study (here is the archived link) says:

Depending on how one defines homelessness, China has either a very tiny homeless population or an extremely large one. Compared to other countries, there very few vagrants: people living on the streets of China’s cities without means of support. But if one counts the people who migrated to cities without a legal permit (hukou), work as day laborers without job security or a company dormitory, and live in overcrowded and unsanitary conditions on the edge of cities, there are nearly 300 million homeless.

Unlike the ‘communist’ agenda of China that is conveyed here in this thread, a study’s conclusion is:

Free market fundamentalism is responsible for the emergence of this sort of homelessness in China.

Another commentary concludes,

China is confronted with a housing paradox. The housing market is crashing, yet more than a fifth of the Chinese population is homeless.

It’s really is to find reliable and very good sources on homelessness in China.

It also tells you a lot that as anger mounts in Hong Kong over apartment fires, Beijing warns against ‘anti-China disruptors’ – (archived link).

But I understand that you cannot discuss this here. As some sort of projection of their own behaviour, they accuse others of ‘propaganda’ and ignore the facts. It is likely this why Lemmy is still a niche and, as long as this sentiment prevails, will never meaningfully grow imo.

[Edit typo.]

Just read a [BBC article]https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cn8e5j20g27o():

… Several residents have revealed in interviews that the fire alarm did not sound when the fire broke out. Authorities said on Friday that they had checked the fire alarms in all eight blocks and found that they were not working properly …

Oh, yes, sounds very impressive. But don’t make the mistake to think that ‘ownership’ in China means the same as in Western democracies.

In 1949, when the People’s Republic of China was founded, all land was nationalized. Although the (most) residents didn’t pay rent, the government owned all the land.

In 1980, Deng Xiaoping changed the law and formalized the ownership, but this didn’t change the fact that the land was -and sill is- owned by the state. Property rights in mainland China are some sort of ‘lease rights’ (IIRC 70 years for private property and 50 years for commercial property).

It is true that by this law, most of Chinese citizens indeed have been ending up with property/lease rights. But be aware that the government can revoke this right at any time for no reason as the government still owns the land.

Probably, I am not an expert in construction, but several reports (including this one) say there is a lack of security. Another one is economic struggle as the article also suggest. Many people wouldn’t live in these homes if they had a choice, but homelessness is on the rise in Hong Kong.

… “Every night on the streets is an emergency. This is a very wealthy city — but one in five at this moment are experiencing food insecurity,” ImpactHK founder Jeffrey Rotmeyer told Al Jazeera.

“These are scary times. We’ve seen the percentage of females on the street double [since the pandemic], and we’ve seen about a 25 percent increase overall. And we are seeing homeless communities pop up in new areas" …

Me too.

This is not about ‘leverage’ but a stance on human rights. But, more importantly, it’s a reason why China is not a reliable partner for Canada.

It’s also important that the UAE is also allegedly supporting crimes against humanity and genocide in China’s Xinjiang region. There is ample evidence for Beijing’s atrocities against Uyghurs as you may know (you’ll find a lot of very reliable sources across the web, some of them even here as I have read).

So Canada must not look only at Sudan but also China.

It is also important in this context that Chinese military was reportedly hosted at base in the UAE. The UAE and China have close military ties and held a joint air force drill in China’s Xinjiang region.

That’s a shame. It may also be important in this context that Chinese military was reportedly hosted at base in the UAE. The UAE and China have close military ties and held a joint air force drill in China’s Xinjiang region.

Financial Services firm Morningstar sees European defense stocks as undervalued after the recent overreaction to potential peace deal ignores the real drivers of demand.

The market reaction is overstated. European defense valuations are anchored in structural budget increases rather than short-term Ukraine revenue, and rearmament plans are unlikely to reverse even in the event of a peace agreement …

European governments’ long-term demand reflects inventory rebuilding, capability and platform scale-up, and autonomy from US support … to reach 3.5% of GDP on defense spending. These fundamentals remain intact and support order visibility, backlog conversion, and cash generation.

Ukraine procurement is marginal for most contractors. Germany is now the largest single supporter of Ukraine. Yet, Rheinmetall has only EUR 1.7 billion of Ukraine orders within an EUR 64-billion backlog, underscoring the sector’s long-run domestic and NATO-driven demand …

How do you make such an inference? This is a divisive rhetoric out of the blue that is echoing anti-democratic propaganda aimed at sowing division among society.

Yeah, that’s certainly true. For Europe, however, the continent was rather regulating than building in the past. But it must do both. It’s also important to build a strong open source ecosystem in Europe imho. Relying on European Big Tech (Telecom, SAP, …) is insufficient. I am no sure whether all politicians have gotten this.

Addition: That’s basically what @emotional_soup_88@programming.dev says in this thread. I fully agree with that.