The release of four flight attendants caught illegally bringing a stash of narcotics hidden in toothpaste tubes into Vietnam has sparked a wide range of reactions, with some people astonished that they escaped harsh punishment and others more supportive of the decision to free them. “Oh my God, how come they were released after transporting over 11 kilograms of drugs?” said Facebooker Minh Duc. “Taking this job is a good choice. If arrested, just say someone asked you to carry the stuff, and you don’t know [it contained drugs]…” Radio…
Day: March 24, 2023
Cambodian news site details phone calls between opposition party official, mistress
A Cambodian pro-government news site published details from a telephone conversation between a top opposition party official and his alleged mistress, prompting one political observer to urge authorities to investigate the apparent telephone tapping. FreshNews cited a Facebook page called “khmer leak” in its report about several phone calls between Candlelight Party Secretary General Lee Sothearayuth and his alleged mistress. Publishing a private telephone conversation without consent in an attempt to destroy an opponent’s reputation and dignity is a breach of privacy, political commentator Seng Sary said. If the release…
US calls on Laos to increase efforts to combat human trafficking
The U.S. State Department has called on the government of Laos to increase its efforts to combat human trafficking this year ahead of the release of its annual U.S. Trafficking in Persons Report. The Office to Monitor and Combat Trafficking in Persons Deputy Chief of Mission Shannon Farrell welcomed recent improvements in the government’s measures to end trafficking, but said more can be done to tackle the problem at an event co-chaired by the U.S. Embassy in Laos and the Lao Anti-human Trafficking Secretariat in the Lao capital Vientiane. “Ending…
Uyghurs tell Congress of gang rape, shackles and sterilization
Schoolteacher Qelbinur Sidik had taught the Mandarin language at an elementary school in Urumqi, the capital of China’s Xinjiang region, for 28 years when people started disappearing. “At the end of 2016, students in my classroom started to ask, ‘Teacher, why are my parents being taken? Why was my uncle taken?’” Sidik said in translated testimony to the House Select Committee on the Chinese Communist Party during a Thursday night hearing. “I was unable to answer, as it was very painful,” she said. “I would tell them, ‘You know what,…
China’s Uneven Military, Political, and Commercial Advance in Panama
Advertisement From March 12-18, I traveled to Panama to interview government officials, businesspeople, and others about the country’s evolving relationship with China. My trip came shortly after a Chinese donation of military gear including 6,000 bulletproof vests and helmets to Panama’s security forces, as well as congressional testimony by the head of U.S. Southern Command, General Laura Richardson, in which she warned of the strategic risks from China’s presence in Panama. Thanks to COVID-19 and added scrutiny of Chinese projects by the government of Laurentino “Nito” Cortizo, the rate of…
Upgraded Philippines-US Military Cooperation May Cause a Setback in China-Philippines Relations
Advertisement More than one month after the announcement that the United States would be granted access to four more military bases in the Philippines, the U.S. started rehabilitating the runway of the Basa Air Base in Pampanga on March 20. The Philippines’ fast-growing defense cooperation with the United States may lead to the relations between China and the Philippines going backwards. The U.S.-funded rehabilitation of the runway inside the Philippines’ Basa Air Base started on March 20, with an expected total cost of $25 million. Secretary of the U.S. Air Force…