China

The latest official figures appear to show a relatively low number of new daily cases. However, there are concerns that these numbers are an underestimate due to a recent reduction in Covid testing, the BBC reported. The government reported only 2,097 new daily cases on Sunday.

Nurseries and childcare centres will also shut from Monday, according to Shanghai's education bureau, BBC reported. Restrictions were eased by Chinese authorities earlier this month following a wave of protests targeting China's zero-Covid strategy. But the easing of strict lockdown measures has led to growing concerns over the spread of Covid in China, BBC reported.

China was active not just from October, they were creating infrastructure along the Line of Actual Control (LAC) in Arunachal Pradesh since 2020. China built an airbase too on their side, near the LAC. The satellite images also show that China has built villages near the border with Tawang in Arunachal Pradesh. The Chinese People's Liberation Army (PLA) has also constructed a road on that side.

"This meant," he wrote in his memoirs Honour Bound, "setting up a second-channel, confidential meeting between the political leaders of China and India to find a practical resolution at a senior level to settle the border dispute".

The impact of the outbreak in Beijing was visible in the upmarket shopping district Sanlitun on Tuesday. There, the usually bustling shops and restaurants were without customers and, in some cases, functioning on skeleton crews or offering takeout only, CNN reported.

Canada's Department of Immigration and Citizenship received 9,925 applications from Chinese people for permanent residency during the third quarter, up 15 per cent from the same quarter of 2021. The exodus, mostly of middle-class families and high-earning corporate professionals who have the wherewithal to relocate, has been dubbed the "run" phenomenon, using a Chinese character that sounds a little like the English word "run", RFA reported.

The involvement of students in the latest protests in China has been a cause for serious concern among the leadership. The student community is one cross section of population Beijing has always feared in terms of their ability to effectively coordinate any anti-government activity.

An analyst, however, told India Narrative that China with its own financial challenges and rising debt levels may not be able to open its coffers. "The problem for China is its own domestic financial problems and the rising debt levels owing to the BRI (Belt and Road Initiative) projects, prompting many countries such as Sri Lanka to seek assistance from Beijing. It has to be seen how much China will be willing," he said.

The leadership's abrupt U-turn on how it handles the pandemic appears to have been triggered by protests against controls that began last month, a nationwide show of discontent on a scale China had not seen in decades, The Guardian reported. Nearly one in five young people in cities are unemployed. Small and medium businesses have been particularly badly hit by the uncertainty, and the impact of unpredictable and often long-lasting shutdowns of entire cities.

Xi, who is paying a three-day state visit to Saudi Arabia, signed a comprehensive strategic partnership agreement with King Salman bin Abdulaziz Al Saud, agreeing to hold a meeting between the two heads of state by turns every two years. During the start of the visit, Chinese and Saudi companies signed more than 30 investment agreements, RFA reported.