Day: December 7, 2023

Are China officials aiming to charm the neighbours over next Dalai Lama choice?

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It followed a 10-day visit by Wang to Nepal, Sri Lanka and Singapore to “strengthen people to people exchanges, promote closer economic and trade contacts, and deepen practical cooperation in various fields”, according to an earlier report by the same newspaper. Robert Barnett, founder of the Modern Tibetan Studies Programme at Columbia University and currently an affiliate lecturer with King’s College London, said the recent trips might be part of Beijing’s attempts to win support from regional Buddhists over the Dalai Lama succession issue. “That is a very important political…

Chinese weather balloon spotted near Taiwan a month ahead of presidential election

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Taiwan’s defence ministry has said that a Chinese balloon crossed the Taiwan Strait median line on Thursday, about a month before Taiwan’s presidential election. The ministry of national defence (MND) earlier described it as a “surveillance balloon” but the defence minister, Chiu Kuo-cheng later told reporters at parliament: “our initial understanding is that it was a sounding balloon”. A sounding balloon is a meteorology balloon which carries atmospheric measuring equipment to high altitudes. US officials have previously said large surveillance balloons are produced by the People’s Liberation Army for collecting…

‘I’m concerned about my personal safety’: Hong Kong activist Agnes Chow speaks about life in exile

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In August this year Agnes Chow crossed into mainland China filled with fear. The young activist was in the company of five national security police, taking her from her home in Hong Kong, on what she says was a “propaganda tour” organised by authorities in return for her being allowed to study overseas. Police had told her the tour was mandatory if she wanted them to return her passport, which they’d confiscated years earlier as part of her bail conditions. Chow is a key figure in Hong Kong’s most significant…

Civilian death toll jumps 7-fold in Myanmar in November

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The civilian death toll in wartorn states in Myanmar jumped seven-fold in November, largely due to airstrikes by the junta in populated areas as part of fighting with ethnic rebel groups and People’s Defense Force units, data compiled by Radio Free Asia shows. As the junta lost control of several areas on the ground over the past month, the military turned to the skies to fight their enemies, especially in Shan, Kayah, Chin and Rakine states and in the Sagaing region. In total, 196 civilians were killed and 228 were…

N Korean ambassador in Geneva recalled over smuggling allegations: Report

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North Korea has decided to recall its ambassador to Switzerland, Han Tae Song, amidst claims he is involved in elephant tusk smuggling.  Both the panel of experts of the U.N. Security Council Sanctions Committee on North Korea and Swiss officials are investigating the ambassador’s purported involvement in ivory trafficking in Africa, according to Japan’s Kyodo News on Thursday. It is anticipated that Han will be replaced within this year, with North Korean authorities possibly holding him accountable for being exposed, it added.  Appointed as ambassador to Switzerland in 2017, Han…

Hong Kong’s ‘patriots-only’ election tests China’s vision for territory

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In Hong Kong, the message is everywhere: posters and billboards across the Chinese territory exhort its population to vote “for a better community” in local elections on Sunday. The call, included in TV weather reports and backed by cute ballot-box mascots, is part of a frantic effort by Hong Kong authorities to persuade citizens to embrace a new “patriots-only” election system that has in effect barred opposition candidates from standing. While the new electoral regime ensures the district councillors selected on Sunday will be supportive of Hong Kong’s government, turnout…

China grants tariff-free access to 6 African countries in bid to boost food imports and rebalance trade

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The commission said the move aimed to symbolise “the spirit of China-Africa friendship and cooperation” and facilitate “a high-quality China-Africa community with a shared future”. As China opens up to African farms, long road still ahead for ‘green lanes’ Over the past two years, 21 other African countries have benefited from the removal of tariffs on 98 per cent of their products. Xi introduced the tariff cuts in 2021 during the Forum on China-Africa Cooperation (FOCAC) in the Senegalese capital Dakar, promising to open “green lanes” for African agricultural exports…

Authorities in Ho Chi Minh City push ahead with controversial development plan

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Nearly half the householders evicted from land set for redevelopment in Vietnam’s Ho Chi Minh City have not yet received compensation, one of them told Radio Free Asia. In spite of the ongoing dispute between the former residents of Loc Hung Vegetable Garden and Tan Binh district authorities, the city government still sent in workers on Thursday to fence off the land ahead of construction. Hundreds of builders arrived in the morning to put corrugated iron fences around the site and prevent protesters from occupying the land. Cao Ha Truc,…

China dispatches massive vessel to catalogue fisheries, scale up industry presence

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China’s largest fishery research vessel has cast off on its first overseas mission as the country strives to shed a long-held image as a ravenous consumer of global fish stock and gain a greater say in the industry’s governance. The independently developed Lan Hai (Blue Ocean) 201 set sail from Shanghai last Thursday to carry out surveys in the high seas of the northwestern Indian Ocean, according to Chinese media reports. “The high seas are an important source of high-quality protein for China and an important strategic support point for…

US Official Urges Approval of New Deals With Pacific Islands

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state department —  A senior U.S. administration official said the United States needs to move ahead and fulfill its commitment under new arrangements with three Pacific Island nations as Washington faces fierce competition from Beijing in the region. The new 20-year funding programs for the Federated States of Micronesia, the Republic of the Marshall Islands and the Republic of Palau are awaiting congressional approval. Under the new arrangements, the U.S. would provide defense and economic assistance while securing exclusive military access to pivotal areas across the Pacific. Thursday, the nominee…