A group of international parliamentarians and activists has signed a letter to Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh urging Hanoi to release Chau Van Kham, an activist detained for four years in Vietnam. The Australian citizen was arrested Jan. 13, 2019, after traveling to Vietnam to meet local civil society groups as a representative of the Vietnam Renovation and Revolutionary Party (Viet Tan). Viet Tan has been described by the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights as a moderate activist group advocating for democratic reform. Hanoi claims…
Day: January 29, 2023
NATO’s Chief Urges South Korea to Step up Military Support for Ukraine
Seoul, South Korea — NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg urged South Korea on Monday to increase military support to Ukraine, citing other countries that have changed their policy of not providing weapons to countries in conflict after Russia’s invasion. Stoltenberg is in Seoul, the first stop on a trip that will include Japan and is aimed at strengthening ties with U.S. allies in the face of the war in Ukraine and rising competition with China. Speaking at the Chey Institute for Advanced Studies in Seoul, he thanked South Korea for its…
New Zealand’s Auckland Expected to Receive Further Rains as Flooding Remains
Wellington, New Zealand — Flood-ravaged Auckland is expected to receive further heavy rain over the coming days, according to the city’s council, even as people start to count the cost of the flash floods that have hit New Zealand’s largest city since Friday. Four people have now lost their lives in the flash floods that have hit Auckland, causing millions of dollars of damage over the past three days. A state of emergency remains in place in Auckland and further south in regional Waitomo. A portable building rests on a…
Who will take on China’s biggest economic challenges? A guide to the power players
Greater Bay Area Greater Bay Area Beijing has a grand plan to integrate Hong Kong and Macau with nine cities in the southern province of Guangdong – Guangzhou, Shenzhen, Zhuhai, Foshan, Zhongshan, Dongguan, Huizhou, Jiangmen and Zhaoqing. It wants to turn the area into a world-class economic and innovation hub that will produce more than 10 per cent of China’s GDP and 20 per cent of the country’s exports. Click on the faces to see the profiles Bohai Economic Rim Bohai Economic Rim The Bohai Economic Rim includes the area…
A new threat to relations between America and China
THERE HAS been a lull in the rancour between China and America in recent weeks. Fears of a war over Taiwan, though still widespread, have ebbed since Presidents Joe Biden and Xi Jinping met in Bali in November and agreed to resume high-level dialogue in less sensitive areas, including climate change. Their senior economic officials had “frank exchanges” in Zurich in January but agreed to enhance communication. And both sides seem keen to build on that momentum when Antony Blinken heads to China in early February on the first visit…
Hongkongers in UK ask Suella Braverman to ditch ‘repressive’ anti-protest bill
Hongkongers in Britain have called on Suella Braverman to reconsider controversial measures in her public order bill, which they likened to the repressive measures used to crack down on democratic opposition in their home city. In a letter to the UK home secretary, aspects of the bill were described as “repressive measures that threaten to paralyse entire social movement” and posed a threat to their right to protest in Britain, including against Chinese communist repression in Hong Kong. “Many of us are, or represent and work with, Hongkongers who have…
2 years after coup, drones turning the tide for Myanmar’s armed resistance
Two years into Myanmar’s civil conflict, civilian drones refitted to drop explosives on junta troops are helping turn the tide against the country’s better-equipped military, rebel groups say. Drones were once used exclusively by the army to detect and crack down on pro-democracy protests on the streets of Myanmar’s largest city of Yangon in the days after the Feb. 1, 2021, takeover. When the anti-junta People’s Defense Force first formed in the months following the coup, its members were forced to fight Southeast Asia’s second-largest army using only slingshots and…
China Announces Resumption of Visas for Japanese
Tokyo — China announced it was resuming issuing visas for Japanese travelers beginning Sunday, ending its nearly three-week suspension in an apparent protest of Tokyo’s tougher COVID-19 entry requirements for tourists from China. The decision was announced in a statement posted on the Chinese Embassy’s website. China stopped issuing new visas in Japan January 10 in apparent retaliation for Tokyo’s requirement of additional tests for Chinese tourists in late December, ahead of the Lunar New Year holidays. Japan cited soaring infections in China after it abruptly eased coronavirus restrictions as…
Chinese photographer displays rare photos of 2008 crackdown in Tibet capital Lhasa
In March 2018, the Tibetan regional capital Lhasa was seething with protests over long standing grievances about harsh Chinese rule in the Himalayan region. By October the city had recorded several hundred such protests, which were met by a heavy Chinese crackdown that Tibetan sources say claimed as many as 400 lives. Sympathy demonstrations were held around the world, including some that interrupted the Olympic torch relay in European capitals for the 2008 Beijing Olympics. Yu Chi, a Chinese engineer and enthusiastic amateur photographer, entered the city on March 15,…
Europe’s big rare earth discovery seen as ‘game changer’ in bid to address China’s dominance
Acknowledging that Europe is “98 per cent” dependent on China for critical minerals in the process of clean-energy transitioning, she also underscored the European Union’s divergence from the US’s approach on trade with China. What are rare earths used for? Francoise Nicolas, director of the French Institute of International Relations’ Centre for Asian Studies, explained how rare earths are “essential” minerals for making electric cars and wind turbines, and that the European Union remains heavily reliant on imports from China. Advertisement In addition to its applications in clean-energy developments, rare…