Day: April 27, 2023

Tesla rival BYD’s profit soars more than 400% in first quarter

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Tesla rival BYD has reported a more than fivefold jump in net income for the first quarter as the Warren Buffett-backed Chinese group shook off a rabid price war and slower sales growth that hit foreign and local rivals in China. BYD said on Thursday net income rose 411 per cent to Rmb4.1bn ($593mn) in the first three months of the year as the Shenzhen-based group expanded its dominance in plug-in hybrid and battery-powered electric vehicles in China. The result beat market expectations and follows a blockbuster 400 per cent…

Chinese TB-001 drone flies around Taiwan in rare encirclement, says island’s military

Chin@Strategy

A Chinese combat drone that state media says can carry a heavy weapons payload has flown around Taiwan, according to the island’s defence ministry. The ministry said a TB-001 drone was one of 19 military aircraft that had entered the island’s air defence identification zone in 24 hours. It flew around Taiwan, first crossing the Bashi Channel that separates Taiwan from the Philippines, then up the east of Taiwan before crossing back towards the Chinese coast. China’s People’s Liberation Army (PLA) regularly sends aircraft into Taiwan’s air defence identification zone,…

China’s Shandong aircraft carrier sets new sortie benchmark in military exercises

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From April 8 to 10, the Shandong – the country’s second combat-ready carrier – and its escorts, including advanced Type 055 and Type 052D destroyers, took part in the “Joint Sword” exercises around Taiwan, the first time an aircraft carrier has been involved in a drill targeting the self-ruled island. During the Joint Sword drill, Taiwan’s defence ministry said it detected J-15 fighters entering its self-declared air defence identification zone for the first time. Advertisement The Shandong carrier group remained in the region after the drill ended, staying in the…

China Reveals It Arrested Taiwan-Based Book Publisher on National Security Charge 

Chin@Strategy

WASHINGTON —  After days of speculation about the whereabouts of a Taiwan-based book publisher, Beijing revealed that authorities arrested the China critic for allegedly “endangering national security.” Shanghai security officers arrested Li Yanhe, a book publisher and radio host for the Taiwanese public broadcaster Radio Taiwan International, while he was visiting relatives in the city. Li traveled to China last month. Reports that he was missing emerged about a week ago. China’s Taiwan Affairs Office announced Li’s arrest at a Wednesday news conference, when spokesperson Zhu Fenglian said Li was…

US seeks to ‘de-risk’ its relationship with China, national security adviser says

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National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan told a Brookings Institution audience that the US was seeking to de-risk its relationship with China, not decouple from it. Photo: EPA-EFE United States President Joe Biden and first lady Dr. Jill Biden welcome Governors and their spouses for dinner at the White House during the winter meeting of the National Governors Association in Washington, DC on February 11, 2023. Credit: Chris Kleponis / Pool via CNP United States President Joe Biden and first lady Dr. Jill Biden welcome Governors and their spouses for dinner…

Q&A: Ban Ki-moon’s Unannounced Myanmar Peace Trip Draws Questions 

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washington —  This week former United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon went on an unannounced trip to Myanmar, where he met with the country’s military rulers and urged them to find a peaceful resolution to their more than two-year-old violent political crisis. The statement released about his visit did not say if he met with any opposition leaders, which a member of Myanmar’s opposition National Unity Government criticized in an interview with The Associated Press. Nay Phone Latt, an NUG spokesperson, said international leaders should not meet with the leaders of…

Myanmar’s western Chin state pummeled by junta’s air force in April

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Myanmar’s junta carried out 47 airstrikes, killing at least 19 people and destroying multiple religious buildings and civilian homes in Chin state in April alone, a rights group said Thursday. The campaign, which saw an average of nearly two bombs dropped on the western state each day this month, comes as the Chin National Front claimed new territorial gains in the region, suggesting the military has stepped up air operations amid an increasingly stymied ground offensive. Since April 1, Myanmar’s air force has dropped more than 80 bombs on Chin…

Most Uyghurs banned from praying on Islamic holiday, even in their homes

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Chinese authorities banned most Uyghurs praying in mosques – and even in their homes – during the Eid al-Fitr holiday, marking the end of the Islamic holy month of Ramadan, in many parts of the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region, residents and police said. People age 60 and older were allowed to pray in a local mosque under heavy police surveillance during Eid, which fell on April 20-21 this year, they sources said. Since 2017, China has restricted or banned ethnic customs and religious rituals among the mostly Muslim Uyghurs in…

South Korean president calls for stronger security ties with U.S. and Japan

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South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol condemned North Korea on Thursday for its nuclear ambitions and called for a stronger trilateral security relationship between Seoul, Tokyo and Washington to counter North Korean nuclear threats. Yoon’s remarks came during a speech to a joint session of the U.S. Congress that celebrated the 70-year South Korea-U.S. alliance that helped defend South Korea as it rose from the ashes of the 1950-53 Korean War to become one of the world’s leading economies.    “But even as [South Korea and the U.S.] walked in unison…

2 College Students in China Were Disciplined for Giving Out Pride Flags. Can the Law Help Them?

Chin@Strategy

Advertisement In February, two Tsinghua University students filed a lawsuit against the Ministry of Education seeking to overturn punishments they had received for distributing rainbow flags on campus. The students, identified only as Huang and Li, had marked the International Day Against Homophobia, Biphobia, and Transphobia (IDAHOT) last May by leaving 10 rainbow flags in a campus supermarket along with a handwritten note saying “Please take ~ # PRIDE.” The university quickly identified the students using security camera footage, and dispatched staff to “educate” them “out of concern.” After the…