South China Morning Post China and Russia have repeated their commitment to strengthen their relationship as the White House announced the first summit between Joe Biden and Vladimir Putin next month. The June 16 meeting is widely seen as an olive branch from the US President to his Russian counterpart and some observers said it may be another attempt by Washington to drive a wedge between Moscow and Beijing. In a phone conversation on Tuesday with President Xi Jinping’s top diplomatic aide Yang Jiechi, Putin said relations between the two countries were “the best in history” and said it was essential for the two leaders to maintain close contact, according to China’s state news agency Xinhua.Do you have questions about the biggest topics and trends from around the world? Get the answers with SCMP Knowledge, our new platform of curated content with explainers, FAQs, analyses and infographics brought to you by our award-winning team. Putin made similar comments a week ago when he and Xi launched via video link a project to build four new nuclear reactors in China using Russian technology. At the same event Xi also spoke highly of their “comprehensive strategic partnership of coordination”. Xinhua said Putin also pledged to work with China to preserve global strategic stability and defend multilateralism – a possible veiled reference to Washington’s drive to use its relationship with its allies to target authoritarian governments. We will share space flight components with China: Russian space agency Yang, who was visiting Moscow for strategic and security talks, again stated China’s commitment to strengthening relations in the call with Putin, which touched on “several pressing global issues” according to the TASS news agency. “China is ready to work with Russia to comprehensively implement the consensus reached by the two presidents and turn the high-level political mutual trust into more results from strategic coordination,” Yang said, according to Xinhua. During his visit, Yang also co-chaired the annual bilateral strategic security consultations, a dialogue mechanism set up in 2005, along with Russian security council secretary Nikolai Patrushev on Tuesday. Analysts noted that Beijing and Moscow are edging closer together in the face of mounting pressure from the West. Zhu Feng, a professor of international relations at Nanjing University, said the Geneva summit showed Washington was trying to ease tensions with Moscow. “The Biden administration has softened its stance and tried to stabilise ties with Russia since it imposed sanctions on Moscow in April. It has become apparent that Washington will be more focused on China,” he said. China’s top diplomat heads to Russia on security talks mission Beijing suspected that the previous US administration also wanted to drive a wedge between China and Russia, with Donald Trump making repeated efforts to readmit Moscow to the Group of 7. Vladimir Portyakov, deputy director of the Institute of Far Eastern Affairs at the Russian Academy of Sciences, also described the Biden-Putin summit as an attempt to “slow down the Russian-Chinese rapprochement, and if successful, to pull Russia and China away from each other.” “I hope that Moscow understands this and will not play ‘equidistant’ from Washington and Beijing. I would also like to believe that Beijing will stop considering relations with the United States as a ‘priority of priorities’ and will gradually reduce its importance in China’s foreign policy,” he said. But Zhu said: “Both Beijing and Moscow have a growing interest in working with each other to confront the US and other Western countries. Strengthening their coordination is their best choice, and probably the only option to some extent.” In an editorial on Wednesday, the tabloid Global Times, controlled by the Communist Party mouthpiece People’s Daily, also attributed close China-Russian ties to “the US and its main allies’ suppression of the two countries”. Artyom Lukin, an associate professor at Russia’s Far Eastern Federal University, also said both China and Russia need each other. While Moscow has increasingly leaned on Beijing economically after the Covid-19 crisis, Beijing relies on Russia when it comes to the military-strategic realm and particularly hi-end military technology. “Moreover, the position of Russia may be crucial in the event of an increasingly likely military conflict between China and the US. Strong relations with Moscow would, at a minimum, secure China’s northern and Central Asian borders – and it cannot even be ruled out that Russia would provide direct assistance to Beijing in a Sino-US war,” he said. Lukin said that the Geneva summit was likely to bring about some short-term normalisation in US-Russia relations, but deep-seated tensions and disagreements made a full rapprochement unlikely. Putin threatens to ‘knock out the teeth’ of Russia’s opponents “I don’t think Washington will be seriously trying to drive a wedge between China and Russia. The people in the Biden administration are smart enough to understand it is not going to work. “Even if they try to do that, such a policy would almost certainly fail because the Russia-China political relationship is quite robust and will remain so for the foreseeable future,” he said. But Zhu said Moscow and Beijing were unlikely to form a full alliance. “China’s top diplomatic priority is to prevent further disengagement with the US and the West. I doubt that a strategic alliance will be in Beijing’s interests or help achieve that goal,” he said.More from South China Morning Post:Joe Biden and Vladimir Putin to hold first summit in Geneva on June 16Nuclear energy: China, Russia agree to boost ties in ‘strategic priority’ areaXi and Putin to mark expansion of China-Russia nuclear power project ahead of US talksThis article China and Russia once again pledge to strengthen ties as White House announces first Putin-Biden summit first appeared on South China Morning PostFor the latest news from the South China Morning Post download our mobile app. Copyright 2021.<doc-sep>Today, China, Ethiopian Airlines, and Cayman Airways announced they were grounding their Boeing 737 Max 8 aircraft after the second deadly crash involving the updated 737 single-aisle model in just over four months. All 157 people on board an Ethiopian Airlines flight from Addis Ababa to Nairobi were killed yesterday in a crash. The grounding affect around 100 of the 350 of the 737 Max aircraft that have been delivered through January, leaving about 250 of the aircraft still in operation. A search on flight-tracking websites at around 5pm Hong Kong time (5am ET), showed close to 80 short-haul flights on 737 Max 8 aircraft in operation. Some of these were flying across the US, where more than 70 of the model have been delivered. To take a look at the flights still operating using the aircraft, search for B38M on US-based FlightAware. The listing shows some China flights, though all Chinese carriers are supposed to suspend operations using the aircraft by 6pm. On Sweden’s Flightradar24, use the filtering tool to search for airborne flights using the aircraft B38M (737 Max 8) or B39M (737 Max 9). The search on Flightradar appeared to show more flights, closer to 90 at around the same time as the FlightAware search. Flightradar24 The flights still running the Boeing aircraft are short-haul journeys of the kind the more fuel-efficient aircraft is supposed to revolutionize for budget carriers, such as Norwegian Air flights within Europe, flights between midsize Indian cities on SpiceJet, and domestic flights on Turkish Airlines. Ethiopian Airlines flight ET 302 reported problems immediately after takeoff from Addis Ababa yesterday, and crashed just after the pilot requested clearance to return to the Ethiopian capital. In October, a Lion Air flight on a Boeing 737 Max 8 disappeared from radar soon after taking off from Jakarta, crashing in the Java Sea and killing all 189 aboard. Following the Lion Air crash, US aviation authorities issued an emergency directive to carriers to update flight manuals with information on what to do when the aircraft’s anti-stall system is triggered by erroneous data, which can cause the aircraft’s computer to point the nose sharply downward. Boeing, meanwhile, directed airlines to a checklist for stabilizing the aircraft. Pilots said the crash and the directives that followed were the first time that they were made aware of these changes to the flight system. Boeing has said it has no basis to issue new guidance to operators based on the information it has collected so far on the crash in Ethiopia. Despite the concerns, some airlines have retained their trust of the manufacturer. Southwest Airlines, which has ordered more 737 Max 8s than any other carrier, said in a statement that it “remained confident in the safety and airworthiness of our fleet of more than 750 Boeing aircraft.” Correction, March 12: This story earlier said more than 80 of the 737 Max aircraft have been delivered to US carriers. According to the FAA, 74 planes of this model are registered with US carriers. In addition, FlightAware is based in the US, not in the UK.<doc-sep>
Dozens of countries and airlines have started grounding Boeing’s 737 Max 8 aircraft following the tragic Ethiopian Airlines crash on Sunday that killed all 157 passengers and crew on board. The aircraft model — considered the best-selling airliner in Boeing’s history — has been targeted amidst global concern about it being the same type as the Indonesian Lion Air jet that crashed in October last year, killing 189 people on board. Singapore is playing it safe as well. The Civil Aviation Authority of Singapore (CAAS) will institute a temporary suspension of operations this afternoon for all variants of the Boeing 737 MAX aircraft, whether they’re flying into or out of the country. The decision was made “in light of two fatal accidents involving Boeing 737 MAX 8 aircraft in less than five months,” noted CAAS in a statement. The only local airline affected by the suspension is SilkAir, which operates six Boeing 737 MAX 8 aircraft. CAAS assured that the airline had been taking appropriate measures to comply with the necessary safety requirements. Grounded In response, SilkAir has agreed to temporarily withdraw its Boeing 737 MAX 8 fleet from service and has since grounded all of the aircraft in Singapore. Citing the importance of maintaining the safety of its customers and crew, the six aircraft will not be returned to service until further notice — which will obviously affect the airline’s flight schedules. According to The Straits Times, SilkAir operates the aircraft to Bengaluru, Cairns, Chongqing, Darwin, Hiroshima, Hyderabad, Kathmandu, Kuala Lumpur, Penang, Phnom Penh, Phuket, and Wuhan. “Customers who may be affected by flight disruptions will be contacted for reaccommodation,” wrote SilkAir, adding that updates will be provided on affected flights when finalized. The safety risk CAAS is not allowing any other Boeing 737 MAX aircraft to fly in either. Airlines currently operating the models to Singapore include the likes of China Southern Airlines, Garuda Indonesia, Shandong Airlines and Thai Lion Air. “During the temporary suspension, CAAS will gather more information and review the safety risk associated with the continued operation of the Boeing 737 MAX aircraft into and out of Singapore,” the aviation regulator stated. Global impact Like Singapore, other countries have also started suspending the operations of the Boeing 737 MAX 8. China, Indonesia, South Korea, Mongolia have all grounded the aircraft pending inspections, while airlines such as Aeromexico, Brazil’s Gol, Cayman Airways and Ethiopian Airlines are enacting similar measures. Closer to home, a Hongkonger and an Indonesian were among the 157 people killed onboard the Ethiopian Airlines flight, which crashed minutes after taking off from Bole International Airport in Addis Ababa. BBC reported that the cause of the disaster is still not clear, but that the pilot had reported difficulties and asked to return to Addis Ababa. On their end, Boeing pledged its support to Ethiopian Airlines and has sent a technical team to the crash site to provide technical assistance. Both black boxes have been recovered from the fallen plane, which will provide insight into how the accident happened. Follow Coconuts on Instagram and Twitter for more fresh and juicy news in your feeds.