Day: November 25, 2022

Taiwanese candidates raise the stakes ahead of local elections

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The positions of 16 county and city heads are also on the ballots, as well as councillors and officials with various grass-roots organisations, including townships, villages and boroughs. Polling stations opened at 8am and will stay open until 4pm. Early returns are expected by 7pm, according to the Central Election Commission. Advertisement After casting their ballots, the heads of the island’s political parties, including Tsai of the independence-leaning Democratic Progressive Party, Eric Chu Li-luan of the main opposition Kuomintang, and Ko Wen-je of the Taiwan People’s Party urged all eligible…

Taiwan to Vote on Lower Voting Age, Mayors, City Councils

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TAIPEI —  Voters headed to the polls across Taiwan on Saturday in a closely watched local election that will determine the strength of the island’s major political parties ahead of the 2024 presidential election. Taiwanese citizens will be picking their mayors, city council members and other local leaders in all 13 counties and the six major cities. There’s also a referendum to lower the voting age from 20 to 18. Polls opened at 8 a.m. local time (0000GMT) Saturday. While international observers and the ruling party have attempted to link…

US Bans Huawei, ZTE Equipment Sales, Citing National Security Risk

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The Biden administration has banned approvals of new telecommunications equipment from China’s Huawei Technologies HWT.UL and ZTE 000063.SZ because they pose “an unacceptable risk” to U.S. national security. The U.S. Federal Communications Commission (FCC) said Friday it had adopted the final rules, which also bar the sale or import of equipment made by China’s surveillance equipment maker Dahua Technology Co 002236.SZ, video surveillance firm Hangzhou Hikvision Digital Technology Co Ltd 002415.SZ and telecoms firm Hytera Communications Corp Ltd 002583.SZ. The move represents Washington’s latest crackdown on the Chinese tech giants…

Viral Social Postings Reflect Frustration With Chinese COVID Policies  

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A series of pointed questions about China’s zero-COVID policy attracted widespread attention on Chinese social media before being removed, reflecting growing frustration with repeated lockdowns and testing even as much of the world is returning to something resembling pre-pandemic normality. Among the sources of frustration is the sight on television of tightly packed World Cup football stadiums with hardly a face mask to be seen. “More than 120 countries in the rest of the world have lifted their COVID restrictive measures quite some time ago,” began one of the questions…

Taiwan voters head to local elections under shadow of China’s invasion threat

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Taiwanese voters go to the polls on Saturday in local elections that will likely see a swing toward the opposition pro-China Kuomintang amid growing dissatisfaction over the government’s handling of the pandemic and the economy.  There’s also a perception among some that Democratic Progressive Party President Tsai Ing-wen has exacerbated tensions with Beijing with her emphasis on defending democracy and the island’s sovereignty. Recent opinion polls show that the majority of district, municipal and county council seats, as well as magistrate, mayoral and village chief posts, could go to the…

10 Killed in Apartment Fire in Northwest China’s Xinjiang Region

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beijing —  A fire in an apartment building in northwestern China’s Xinjiang region killed 10 people and injured nine, authorities said Friday, amid stringent lockdowns that have left many residents in the area stuck in their homes for more than three months. The fire broke out Thursday night in the regional capital of Urumqi, where temperatures have dropped below freezing after dark. Flames spread upward from the 15th floor to the 17th floor, with smoke billowing up to the 21st floor, according to multiple state media reports. The blaze took…

Revelation of Kim Jong Un’s daughter at missile test sparks buzz among North Koreans

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For the first time last week, North Koreans got a glimpse of Kim Jong Un’s daughter when newspapers splashed photos of the two holding hands as they watched the country’s latest missile test. Pictures of the child – identified by South Korean intelligence as 9-year-old Kim Ju Ae, his second child – piqued far more public interest than any news about the successful launch of the Hwasong-17 missile, sources told Radio Free Asia’s Korean service. Reactions varied widely, the sources said, amid speculation over Kim’s motives for revealing the daughter…

Pen-named poet “Fire Spark from Chentsa” remembered for preserving Tibetan culture

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Tibetan writers gathered in northern India to mourn and remember poet Sonam Tenpa, who was more widely known by his pen name Chen Metak – which meant “Fire Spark from Chentsa,” a reference to his hometown – and celebrate his work to preserve Tibetan culture through his poetry. “Through his poems Chen Metak expressed the political and social messages of the society and demonstrated a strength of understanding, so that many Tibetan youths liked his works,” said Bhuchung D. Sonam, a Tibetan author and co-founder of Tibet Writes, which organized…

Zhengzhou government orders 5-day COVID-19 lockdown in wake of Foxconn clashes

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Authorities in the central Chinese city of Zhengzhou have placed the city’s 6 million residents under COVID-19 lockdown following clashes between workers and police at Taiwan-invested iPhone maker Foxconn’s huge factory on the city’s outskirts. Eight districts of Zhengzhou have been designated high risk, with residents told to stay home and barriers and checkpoints across major streets and outside apartment complexes, Agence France-Presse reported. The five-day order comes despite just 145 confirmed COVID-19 cases in the city as of Nov. 23, and after riot police were deployed at the Foxconn…

Myanmar Court Sentences VOA Contributor to 2 Years’ Labor

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Yangon, Burma —  A Myanmar court on Thursday sentenced journalist and Voice of America (VOA) contributor Sithu Aung Myint to two years’ labor. The Yangon court convicted Sithu Aung Myint under Section 505(a) of the country’s penal code, which relates to denigrating the armed forces. Sithu Aung Myint is already serving a three-year sentence with labor after a court in October convicted him of incitement. A lawyer representing the journalist told VOA Burmese that Sithu Aung Myint plans to appeal the latest sentence. The lawyer, who asked to not be…