Day: July 29, 2023

As US-China relations fray, expect more shows of China-North Korea unity, analysts say

Media Library

Li and Shoigu are among the first foreign guests Pyongyang has invited into the country since it was locked down during the Covid-19 pandemic in 2020. Li is the first Chinese official to visit North Korea since Chinese President Xi Jinping’s state visit in 2019. The military parade, hosted by North Korean leader Kim Jong-un, featured the country’s most advanced intercontinental ballistic missiles – the Hwasong-17 and Hwasong-18. 02:57 North Korea welcomes Chinese, Russian delegates ahead of 70th Korean war anniversary The missiles are believed to have a range of…

Russian, Chinese Delegates Join North Korea at Parade Featuring ICBMs

Media Library

SEOUL, South Korea —  North Korean leader Kim Jong Un was joined by senior Russian and Chinese delegates as he displayed his most powerful nuclear-capable missiles in a military parade marking a major war anniversary. The show of defiance against the United States also served to deepen ties with Moscow as tensions on the Korean Peninsula are at their highest point in years. Kim attended Thursday night’s parade with Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu and Chinese ruling party official Li Hongzhong from a balcony looking over a brightly illuminated Kim…

How China’s hidden debt risk ‘comes from its system’, and why local governments are beholden to Beijing

Media Library

Nonetheless, deteriorating finances across the country, particularly in its poorest provinces such as Guizhou, have raised the spectre of a looming local government debt crisis. Beijing sees the potential for a meltdown in China’s predominantly state-owned banking system as a “grey rhino” risk – big, obvious and neglected. “The risk to China’s debt comes from its system,” said Mao Zhenhua, co-head of Renmin University’s Institute of Economic Research, at a seminar arranged by the university on July 12. Advertisement “We are different from some Western countries,” he explained. “We have…

Lao police detain Chinese rights lawyer who was headed to the United States

Media Library

A Chinese human rights lawyer who lost his law license after speaking out about the cases of 12 Hong Kong activists has been arrested in Laos and could face deportation to China, the Associated Press reported. Lu Siwei was arrested in Vientiane Friday morning as he boarded a train for Thailand. He was traveling to Bangkok to board a flight to the United States to be with his wife and daughter, according to the AP. Lao police said that there was something wrong with his passport, according to Bob Fu,…

Possible Chinese malware in US systems a ‘ticking time bomb’: report

Media Library

It said the stealthy attack, carried out since mid-2021, was likely aimed at hampering the US in the event of a regional conflict. Authorities in Australia, Canada, New Zealand and Britain warned at the same time that Chinese hacking was likely taking place globally, affecting an extensive range of infrastructure. Advertisement Discovery of the malware, the Times said, sparked a series of meetings in the White House Situation Room involving top military, intelligence and national security officials in an effort to track down and eradicate the code. The newspaper quoted…

Flag Japanese Soldier Carried in WWII Returns From US

Media Library

TOKYO — Toshihiro Mutsuda was only 5 years old when he last saw his father, who was drafted by Japan’s Imperial Army in 1943 and killed in action. For him, his father was a bespectacled man in an old family photo standing by a signed good-luck flag that he carried to war. On Saturday, when the flag was returned to him from a U.S. war museum, where it had been on display for 29 years, Mutsuda, now 83, said: “It’s a miracle.” The flag, known as “Yosegaki Hinomaru,” or Good…

While Eyeing China, Japan Backs Sri Lanka as Indo-Pacific Partner

Media Library

COLOMBO, Sri Lanka —  COLOMBO, Sri Lanka — Japan’s Foreign Minister Yoshimasa Hayashi said Saturday that Sri Lanka is a key partner in a Tokyo-led initiative aimed at building security and economic cooperation around the Indo-Pacific but also at countering an increasingly assertive China. Sri Lanka, strategically located in the Indian Ocean, is integral to realizing a free and open Indo-Pacific, Hayashi said. He was speaking after a meeting with his Sri Lankan counterpart, Ali Sabry, in the capital, Colombo. The initiative, announced by Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida in…

Tibetan rappers gain popularity among diaspora with songs about ethnic identity

Media Library

Tenzin Younten wanted Tibetans living in the diaspora in Darjeeling, India, to speak in their native language. So, the 19-year-old rapper wrote a song about it.  “I saw two Tibetans in my neighborhood communicating in the local dialect [Nepali] and that just triggered me,” Younten, whose stage name is Youns BoB, told Radio Free Asia. “I then thought and decided that I must empower young Tibetans in exile to at least communicate in our own language. So, I went home and wrote the song ‘Speak in Tibetan if You Are…

Moral, Personal Stances for Laos and Cambodia Over Cluster Bombs

Media Library

Bangkok —  Southeast Asian countries are warning about the long-term dangers of cluster bombs in Ukraine after the United States sent the explosives to Kyiv earlier this month for use in their drive to recapture territory seized during Russia’s invasion. Russia has been documented using cluster bombs against Ukraine since the beginning of its invasion. Ukraine asked Washington for the munitions, which break apart in midair and scatter smaller explosives, to target Russian troops on its territory. But Cambodia and Laos experts say cluster munitions should never be used because…

U.S. Hunts Chinese Malware That Could Disrupt American Military Operations

Media Library

The Biden administration is hunting for malicious computer code it believes China has hidden deep inside the networks controlling power grids, communications systems and water supplies that feed military bases in the United States and around the world, according to American military, intelligence and national security officials. The discovery of the malware has raised fears that Chinese hackers, probably working for the People’s Liberation Army, have inserted code designed to disrupt U.S. military operations in the event of a conflict, including if Beijing moves against Taiwan in coming years. The…