Day: December 16, 2022

Chinese Student in US Charged With Stalking Pro-Democracy Chinese Classmate

Chin@Strategy

washington —  A Chinese student has been arrested by the FBI in Boston and charged in federal court with one count of stalking after allegedly harassing a fellow Chinese student who had posted fliers declaring support for pro-democracy protesters in China. Wu Xiaolei, 25, a Chinese citizen and a student at the Berklee College of Music, was arrested and charged Wednesday. He is accused of sending messages via WeChat, email and Instagram on October 22-24 to a classmate who had posted fliers that read “Stand with Chinese People” and “We…

Senior Lao official admits that many government entrance exams are staged

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A senior Lao government official has admitted that civil servant entrance exams are often staged to make way for candidates previously selected, and called for greater transparency in the process. “Those to be recruited have already been determined,” said Lao Minister for Home Affairs Thongchanh Manixay, speaking to the country’s parliament, or National Assembly, on Dec. 9. “The Ministry of Home Affairs is aware that there have been many cases in the past that have not been transparent and just.” Thongchanh called on National Assembly members to monitor corrupt hiring…

Apple supplier Foxconn to sell stake in embattled Chinese chip firm Tsinghua Unigroup

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Foxconn said in a late night statement to the Taipei stock exchange that Xingwei, 99 per cent controlled by its China-listed unit Foxconn Industrial Internet Co Ltd, has agreed to sell its holdings for at least 5.38 billion yuan (US$772 million). Xingwei controls a 48.9 per cent stake in a different entity that holds a 20 per cent stake in the vehicle owning all of Unigroup. Advertisement Foxconn provided no explanation for the decision in its filing. Neither Foxconn nor Tsinghua Unigroup immediately responded to a request for comment on…

‘What was it for?’: the mental toll of China’s three years in Covid lockdowns

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After China’s abrupt scaling back of its zero-Covid restrictions, many ordinary Chinese people are struggling to cope with the mental trauma from three years of frequent lockdowns and are demanding answers for the heavy price they have paid. On Friday, one of the top shared posts on Sina Weibo – China’s Twitter-like platform – was an article citing medical experts as saying depression, anxiety and post-traumatic stress disorder suffered by the population would probably take between 10 and 20 years to recover from. Lu Lin, a fellow at the Chinese…

No drinking, singing and fun allowed during 7 days of forced mourning for Kim Jong Il

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North Korea is in the midst of a seven-day period of forced mourning to mark the 11th anniversary of the death of former leader Kim Jong Il, and no singing, drinking or celebrating will be allowed, sources in the country tell Radio Free Asia. The government has ordered its citizens to maintain an attitude of solemn reflection on the life of the late “Dear Leader,” the father of current leader Kim Jong Un, who died on Dec. 17, 2011. The mourning period began on Wednesday and will end on Dec.…

US asks Australia for extradition of former Marines pilot Daniel Duggan

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The US government has sent an extradition request to Australia for former US Marines pilot Daniel Duggan, who is accused of breaking US arms control laws by training Chinese military pilots to land on aircraft carriers. “The US has made a formal request for extradition for Mr Duggan,” Trent Glover, a lawyer for the US government, told a Sydney local court on Friday. Australia’s attorney general, Mark Dreyfus, has until 25 December to make a decision under a bilateral extradition treaty, said Glover. Outside the court, Duggan’s lawyer, Dennis Miralis,…

Myanmar junta sentences former Central Bank official to 20 years in prison

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A court in Myanmar has sentenced a former senior official with the country’s Central Bank, who was arrested in the aftermath of last year’s military coup, to 20 years in prison for graft – the same problem he had sought to eradicate during his time in office, sources said. Authorities detained Bo Bo Nge, the deputy governor of Myanmar’s Central Bank, along with top leaders of the deposed National League for Democracy government during the Feb. 1, 2021 takeover. A junta court sentenced him on Thursday for the “mismanagement of…

Cambodian appeals eases restrictions on autistic teen son of opposition activists

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A Cambodian court of appeal on Friday upheld the conviction of an autistic teenager on an incitement charge, but eased restrictions before releasing him, the boy’s mother and his attorney said. Kak Sovanchhay, the 17-year-old son of opposition activists, was arrested at his home in Phnom Penh on June 24, 2021, because of a Facebook post and voice messages in which he was critical of the government in response to someone calling his father a traitor. His father, Kak Komphear, is a jailed senior official of the banned opposition Cambodia…

US State Department Launches Office of China Coordination 

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U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken on Friday presided over the launching of the U.S. State Department’s Office of China Coordination, informally known as China House, to manage U.S. competition with Beijing. In a statement, the State Department said the office will oversee U.S. President Joe Biden’s vision for an “open, inclusive international system” and the administration’s approach to China. The State Department says China House is a key component of Blinken’s “modernization agenda,” equipping it with “the talent, the tools and resources” to execute U.S. policy toward China in…

Xi’s consolidation of power feeding tensions over Taiwan: analysts

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Chinese leader Xi Jinping’s consolidation of power at October’s 20th party congress has profound implications for growing military tensions across the Taiwan Strait in the coming year, analysts told a recent online symposium. “The relationship across the Taiwan Strait has been quite turbulent in recent months, and, indeed, over the past several years, as indicated … by the increased military activity that we’ve seen by the People’s Republic of China around Taiwan,” Scott L. Kastner, professor in the Department of Government and Politics at the University of Maryland, told the…