Day: January 20, 2023

Vietnamese anti-corruption drive that claimed president’s scalp prompted by similar concerns as China’s, observers say

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“In the next 20 to 30 years, whether it can continue to undertake this important task depends on the party’s health and the Vietnamese people’s trust in it,” Zhao said. “The most fundamental political motivations for fighting corruption are to ensure that the party continues to have the people’s support and to consolidate its centrality in the country’s politics.” Despite the pandemic, Vietnam’s economy grew by 8.02 per cent last year, the fastest pace in 25 years and three times faster than in 2021. As the country is largely reliant…

Death Toll From Tibet Avalanche Rises to 28

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BEIJING —  At least 28 people were killed in an avalanche in the city of Nyingchi in the southwestern region of Tibet, the official Xinhua news agency reported late Friday. Rescue work at the scene is over, Xinhua said. Local authorities have sent a total of 1,348 people and 236 equipment sets to help excavate a rescue passage of 7.5 kilometers, Xinhua said. Fifty-three survivors were found, five of whom were seriously injured, Global Times reported, citing a local government official in the western Chinese region. The avalanche occurred on…

Uyghur Rights Group Fails in Legal Challenge Against UK Government

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LONDON —  A Uyghur rights group’s legal challenge against the British government for not investigating the import of cotton produced in the Chinese region of Xinjiang was dismissed by a London court Friday. The World Uyghur Congress, an international organization of exiled Uyghur groups, had taken legal action at London’s High Court against Britain’s Home Office, tax authority HMRC and the National Crime Agency. Judge Ian Dove said in a written ruling that he had dismissed the WUC’s case. Rights groups accuse Beijing of widespread abuses of Uyghurs, a mainly…

China Issues Veiled Warning to US Over Taiwan

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Chinese President Xi Jinping issued a veiled warning to the United States in his new year message to the country, stressing that China will be engaged in “serious struggles” against separatism and interference in its relations with Taiwan, state media, CCTV and the Xinhua news agency reported Friday. In a Lunar New Year reception in the Great Hall of the People attended by top party leaders in the Politburo, Xi said in a speech to the Chinese people that his party and the military have in the past year risen…

First North Korean Extradited to US Is Sentenced

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washington —  The first North Korean national ever to be extradited to the United States has been sentenced for money laundering. Businessman Mun Chol Myong was sentenced Friday in federal district court in Washington to time served of 45 months in prison. A resident of Malaysia, Mun was extradited to the U.S. in early 2021 following his arrest by Malaysian authorities in 2019 and an unsuccessful battle to block his extradition. The 55-year-old businessman was accused by U.S. prosecutors of taking part in a scheme to provide luxury goods for…

New Zealand Labour Party: Chris Hipkins Sole Candidate to Replace Jacinda Ardern as Leader

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wellington, new zealand —  Chris Hipkins is set to replace Jacinda Ardern as leader of the Labour party and New Zealand’s prime minister after being the only candidate to be nominated for the role, the Labour Party said in a statement Saturday. Hipkins is expected to be confirmed as the new leader by a meeting of Labour’s 64 lawmakers, or Caucus, on Sunday. First elected to parliament for the Labour Party in 2008, Hipkins, 44, became a household name fronting the government’s response to the pandemic after being appointed minister…

Q&A: US Sees No Chance of Fair Election Under Myanmar Junta 

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washington —  The United States believes there is no chance that proposed elections in Myanmar will be free and fair, according to Derek Chollet, a senior adviser to Secretary of State Antony Blinken on Myanmar and other issues. In an interview at the State Department on Thursday with Khin Soe Win, acting chief of VOA’s Burmese Service, Chollet also discussed the recently passed Burma Act, which provides for humanitarian assistance and civil society support to pro-democracy factions in Myanmar and imposes targeted sanctions on elements of the ruling junta accused…

Human rights group estimates that up to 220,000 Tibetans will die of COVID

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A new report by an international human rights group estimates that more than 220,000 Tibetans over the age of 60 could die this year from COVID-19 in western China’s Tibet Autonomous Region amid a surge of the highly infectious respiratory virus and its variants in China. International Campaign for Tibet, which issued the report on Thursday, based its projections on demographic data and health studies from Japan and Brazil as well as first-hand accounts from Tibetans who have reported on the number of bodies being taken to sky burial sites…

US will not make Philippines choose sides over China rivalry

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The United States, the Philippines’ oldest defense ally, will not ask Manila to choose sides in a perceived geopolitical rivalry with China, a senior American diplomat said Friday.  Manila should make decisions in its national interest, Daniel Kritenbrink, the U.S. assistant secretary of state for East Asian and Pacific Affairs, said as the two longtime allies reaffirmed a decades-old defense partnership amid Chinese challenges in the contested South China Sea. “Everywhere I go I would be asked, ‘Are you trying to force us to choose between you and China?’ That’s…