Day: July 21, 2023

Reaching Pyongyang Is First Challenge in Bringing US Soldier Home  

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It has never been easy for the United States to secure the return of citizens from North Korea, one of the world’s most isolated nations. The task may be even harder in the case of Private Travis King, with communication between the countries now almost nonexistent, diplomats and negotiators say. King, an active-duty U.S. Army soldier serving in South Korea, sprinted into North Korea on Tuesday while on a civilian tour of the Demilitarized Zone on the border between the two Koreas. Washington is fully mobilized in trying to contact…

Uyghur News Recap: July 14 – 21, 2023

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WASHINGTON – China’s 100-Day ‘Strike Hard’ Campaign Targets Uyghurs in Xinjiang Chinese authorities launched a 100-day “strike hard” campaign against Uyghurs in Xinjiang, cracking down on gatherings of more than 30 people, according to Chinese media. The latest persecution of the predominantly Muslim Uyghurs who live in Xinjiang coincides with the sensitive anniversary of the 2009 ethnic violence in Urumqi, which triggered the Chinese government’s efforts to repress Uyghur culture and religion with mass surveillance and internment campaigns. Uyghur rights groups see this as ongoing ethnic and cultural genocide. The…

G7, Others Ask China to Stop North Korea Sanctions Evasion in its Waters

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UNITED NATIONS – The Group of Seven, the European Union and three other countries plan to appeal to China for help to stop North Korea evading United Nations sanctions by using Chinese territorial waters, according to their letter seen by Reuters on Friday. “We have concerns regarding the continuing presence of multiple oil tankers … that use your territorial waters in Sansha Bay as refuge to facilitate their trade of sanctioned petroleum products to the DPRK,” said the letter to be sent to China’s U.N. Ambassador Zhang Jun. The letter…

North Korea Fires Cruise Missiles, Says South Korean Military

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SEOUL – North Korea fired several cruise missiles toward the sea to the west of the Korean Peninsula, the South Korean military said Saturday. This would be North Korea’s latest missile launch since it fired two ballistic missiles Wednesday, as Pyongyang and Washington step up displays of military force in a standoff over the isolated country’s nuclear weapons and missile programs. A number of cruise missiles launched since around 4 a.m. Saturday local time (1900 Friday GMT) were detected, South Korea’s Joint Chiefs of Staff said. On Wednesday, North Korea…

 Blinken Heads to Tonga, Australia, New Zealand to Boost US-Pacific Ties

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U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken is heading to Tonga, New Zealand and Australia next week. He will visit Tonga’s capital, Nukuʻalofa, to dedicate the new U.S. Embassy there, part of an effort to ramp up America’s diplomatic presence in the region to counter China’s influence and pressure. VOA’s Senior Diplomatic Correspondent Cindy Saine reports. Voice of America

Japan Signs Chip Development Deal With India 

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washington —  Japan and India have signed an agreement for the joint development of semiconductors, in what appears to be another indication of how global businesses are reconfiguring post-pandemic supply chains as China loses its allure for foreign companies. India’s Ashwini Vaishnaw, minister for railways, communications, and electronics and information technology, and Japan’s minister of economy, trade and industry, Yasutoshi Nishimura, signed the deal Thursday in New Delhi. The memorandum covers “semiconductor design, manufacturing, equipment research, talent development and [will] bring resilience in the semiconductor supply chain,” Vaishnaw said. Nishimura…

William Majcher, Retired R.C.M.P. Officer, Charged With Spying for China

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A retired officer of Canada’s national police force was charged Friday with foreign interference after spying for the Chinese government and targeting an individual on its behalf, the authorities said. The retired officer, William Majcher, 60, “allegedly used his knowledge and his extensive network of contacts in Canada to obtain intelligence or services to benefit” Beijing, the authorities said in a statement. The case is likely to heighten calls for a public inquiry into the Chinese government’s alleged involvement in Canadian affairs. Mr. Majcher, who had been living in Hong…

Retired Canadian Police Officer Charged with Illegally Helping China

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OTTAWA, Ontario —  OTTAWA, Ontario — The Royal Canadian Mounted Police said a retired police officer had been charged on Friday with foreign interference, alleging he helped China “identify and intimidate someone outside the scope of Canadian law.” Canada has accused China of trying to interfere in its affairs through various schemes, including illegal police stations and the targeting of lawmakers. Beijing has strongly denied all such allegations. In a statement, the RCMP said William Majcher, 60, “allegedly used his knowledge and his extensive network of contacts in Canada to…

Myanmar’s shadow government sets up crypto bank to block money flow to junta

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Myanmar’s shadow National Unity Government said Thursday that it is ready to launch an online bank that uses cryptocurrency in an effort to disrupt the flow of foreign currency to banks run by the ruling military junta, including the country’s central bank. The Spring Development Bank will be the Southeast Asian nation’s first financial institution to operate solely with crypto and blockchain technology. It will have a trial run with 1,000 users and 100 supervisors on July 22.   “Spring Revolution” refers to popular protests that began in February 2021 following…

China cannot allow jobless young to ‘lie flat’

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Receive free Chinese employment updates We’ll send you a myFT Daily Digest email rounding up the latest Chinese employment news every morning. The writer, author of ‘Red Flags: Why Xi’s China is in Jeopardy’, is a research associate at the University of Oxford’s China Centre Strictly speaking, a country that has one of the fastest ageing populations on earth and a slump in fertility should be running into labour shortages, especially among younger age cohorts. Yet China has just reported that youth unemployment reached a record 21.3 per cent in…