The Third University Hospital of Peking University is running a sperm donation campaign that states their requirements to become a potential donor include both good health and "favorable political qualities," the SCMP reports. The article says these requirements include:
“[The donors must] love the socialist motherland and embrace the leadership of the Communist Party.... [He must] be loyal to the party’s tasks, be decent, law-abiding and be free of any political problems.”
The U.S. Treasury Department is sanctioning 7 Russian oligarchs and 12 companies the oligarchs own or control for their “ongoing and increasingly brazen malign” activity, a senior administration official told reporters Friday.
Why it matters: The move targets Russian President Vladimir Putin’s inner circle, including his son-in-law, and represents the toughest sanctions against Russia since Trump took office. One senior administration official said the goal is to show that “the elite are not immune for accountability for the actions of the Russian government." It comes as tensions between Russia and the West are rising — fast.
China vowed on Friday that it will fight back "at any cost" if the Trump administration continues to impose new tariffs on Chinese goods, according to a statement from China's commerce ministry.
Why it matters: China increasing tariffs on the United States would be difficult, as the country only imports $130 billion in goods from the U.S., so U.S. businesses may be China's next target. That could hurt both countries' GDP by as much as .3%, per the Wall Street Journal.
Donald Trump thought Japan was taking advantage of the U.S. in the 1980s, but now it's his closest partner in confronting a new rival: China.
The bottom line: The U.S. and Japan agree on the threat posed by an increasingly ambitious China. But Japan wants to counter China through international partnerships, while, under Trump, the U.S. is actively retreating from those alliances in favor of going after Beijing alone.
Despite President Trump’s mixed appraisals of the Russian threat, a clear consensus is emerging among foreign policy experts on both sides of the Atlantic: this is a new Cold War, with new dangers.
Why it matters: “We are deep into what you might call Cold War 2.0," Brookings Institution fellow Strobe Talbott said Wednesday, and this time it's "far more dangerous."
China is launching a World Trade Organization challenge to President Trump's proposed tariffs, the FT's Shawn Donnan reports.
Why it matters: "Beijing said the US’s proposed tariffs, unveiled earlier this week, represented a 'serious violation' of global trading rules because they discriminated against Chinese goods and violated the tariff limits Washington had made commitments to."
Online retailers in China are no longer allowed to sell the Christian Bible, reports the New York Times, as the Chinese government continues its crackdown on religion and the influence of Christianity in the country.
Why it matters: Censorship has always been an issue in China and it continues accelerate, especially within its digital borders, as President Xi Jinping consolidates his power. The government's efforts to ban online sales of the Bible serve as the latest example of Xi's attempts to assert his control over what he sees as promoting China's traditional values.
Yulia Skripal, who was poisoned along with her ex-spy father, Sergei, in a nerve agent attack in the United Kingdom, said that she has been awake for over a week and that her "strength is growing daily," according to a statement released by the Metropolitan Police. There is still no official word on her father's condition.
Yes, but: Russian state TV aired an unverified recording of a phone call today alleged to be between Yulia and her cousin, Viktoria Skripal, per TASS. In the recording, a woman identified as Yulia tells her cousin that Sergei is "alright" and "everyone is recovering."
