Day: July 12, 2023

North Korea Says Longest Test Launch Was Latest Hwasong-18 ICBM

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SEOUL, SOUTH KOREA —  North Korea tested its latest Hwasong-18 intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM) on Wednesday, its state media reported, saying the weapon is the core of its nuclear strike force and a warning to the United States and other adversaries. The launch, reported at the time by militaries in South Korea and Japan, was condemned by the U.S. and leaders in Seoul and Tokyo, among others. The United Nations Security Council, which has passed resolutions banning North Korea’s ballistic missile and nuclear weapons development, will meet publicly on Thursday…

Wagner mercenaries rescued Chinese gold miners in Central African Republic in July, paramilitary group says

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The photos posted on Telegram, apparently taken after the rescue, showed about a dozen Chinese workers standing next to several masked Wagner fighters. Advertisement It is not clear if the Kremlin meeting discussed the Wagner Group’s operations in Africa. A Kremlin spokesperson said earlier that the meeting was held to discuss the group’s future. The South China Morning Post tried to confirm the evacuation operation with the Chinese embassy in Bangui, but received no response as of Wednesday night. Three Chinese military sources told the Post that it was “very…

China’s US Envoy Makes Rare Pentagon Visit for Security-Related Talks

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washington —  China’s ambassador to the United States held a rare meeting at the Pentagon on Wednesday with the top U.S. defense official for Asia, the Pentagon said, in talks that followed U.S. criticism of Chinese reluctance to engage in military communications. A brief Pentagon statement said Chinese Ambassador Xie Feng discussed defense relations and “a range of international and regional security issues” in talks with Ely Ratner, an assistant secretary of defense. “Ratner also underscored the department’s commitment to maintaining open lines of military-to-military communication between the United States…

Extension of China-Pakistan Corridor to Afghanistan Presents Challenges  

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washington —  The Taliban may have achieved a diplomatic win in an agreement to extend the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor to Afghanistan, analysts said, but implementation of the project still faces challenges. “The three sides reaffirmed their resolve to fully harness Afghanistan’s potential as a hub for regional connectivity,” said a joint statement released in May following a meeting of officials representing the three countries in Islamabad. The countries restated their commitment “to further the trilateral cooperation under the Belt and Road Initiative, and to jointly extend the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor…

NATO Not Expanding Eastward Into Asia, Says US Ambassador

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vilnius, lithuania —  The United States is defining the limits of NATO’s outreach in the Indo-Pacific region, saying its focus on challenges posed by China does not signal an intention to invite Asian nations to join the bloc. Speaking Wednesday on the sidelines of the NATO summit in Lithuania, U.S. Ambassador to NATO Julianne Smith told VOA, “We’re not adding members from the Indo-Pacific.” “We’re breaking down barriers between America’s Atlantic allies and America’s Pacific allies to look at common challenges like cybersecurity, emerging and disruptive technology, maritime security,” she…

Beijing mulls ban on commercial ads on public buses in Tiananmen Square

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Beijing authorities are moving to ban the display of commercial advertising from buses on routes that pass through the iconic center of Communist Party rule – Beijing’s Tiananmen Square – not far from where crowds once flocked to first taste Kentucky Fried Chicken under the economic reforms of late supreme leader Deng Xiaoping. The municipal government is planning to ban advertising on the sides of buses and trolley-buses passing through the square, which is home to communist monuments like the Great Hall of the People and the mausoleum of late…

Chinese hackers breached US email servers for a month

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A breach of Microsoft-hosted U.S. government email servers by a Chinese hacking group was detected and fixed “fairly rapidly,” National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan said on Wednesday, despite Microsoft saying that the breach was only discovered after a month. Microsoft on Tuesday revealed that the group, known as Storm-0558, had been caught forging digital authentication tokens to access federal government email servers hosted on its Outlook email platform.  The company said the breach was detected on June 16, and that it believed the hackers had first gained access around May…

Police raid home of opposition party member who refused switch to ruling party

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About 30 police officers raided the Phnom Penh home of an outspoken opposition party member in what appears to be retaliation for not defecting to Prime Minister Hun Sen’s ruling party ahead of the July 23 election. Khem Monykosal, the Candlelight Party’s chief for Pailin province, told Radio Free Asia that he wasn’t home on Tuesday when police conducted the two-hour search. Police left a handwritten note that said a mobile phone was taken by order of a prosecutor. “I have not committed any wrongdoing. Why do they pursue me…

Communist Party takes direct charge of the running of Hong Kong

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The ruling Chinese Communist Party has taken over responsibility for running the day-to-day affairs of Hong Kong from China’s cabinet, the State Council, in a move commentators said is likely linked to a recent bid to pursue the city’s democracy activists overseas and to harass their families. The Hong Kong and Macao Work Office of the Communist Party’s Central Committee is headed by Xia Baolong, who also headed its predecessor, according to a brief account of its July 11 meeting posted to its official website. Its remit – according to…