Updated at 15:30 on April 4, 2025. The death of an influential Tibetan Buddhist leader who went missing eight months ago shortly after he publicly called for the preservation of Tibetan language and culture was confirmed in a statement by his monastery. Tibetans inside Tibet took to social media platforms on Thursday to mourn the loss of Tulku Hungkar Dorje, age 56. He was the 10th abbot of Lung Ngon Monastery in Gade (Gande in Chinese) county of Golog in Qinghai province. He was renowned as a philanthropist, educator and…
Day: April 3, 2025
Chinese activist jailed for attending dinner marking inauguration of Taiwan’s leader
A Chinese court has sentenced rights activist Chen Mingyu to 2 1/2 years in prison for attending a celebratory dinner last year marking the inauguration of Taiwan’s President Lai Ching-te, according to the Chinese rights advocacy group Weiquanwang. Technically, she was convicted by the court in Chongqing of “picking quarrels and provoking trouble,” a vague, catch-all charge often used by Chinese authorities to punish government critics or dissidents. The case stems from a dinner last May attended by Chen and more than 20 other rights activists in Chongqing, said Weiquanwang,…
China has a thriving black market for personal data
Chinese netizens joined people around the world in marvelling that an American journalist could be accidentally invited into a private group chat with senior American national-security officials. But they have also been intrigued by another data leak closer to home. In March the teenage daughter of Xie Guangjun, an executive at Baidu, a tech giant, got into an apparently innocuous online argument over Korean pop music. After the exchanges escalated, she posted some of the private information of her opponents online. Known in English as doxxing, in China it is…
The Panama ports deal is delayed, as China signals dissent
It was never going to be a simple transaction. But the deal hailed by Donald Trump as a way to regain American control of the Panama Canal seems to get more complicated by the week. BlackRock, an American investment firm, was scheduled to sign an agreement on April 2nd to buy 43 ports, including two in Panama, from ck Hutchison (ckh), their Hong Kong-based operator. That signing has now been postponed, even though both sides suggest the deal is still on. The Economist
Collapse of Chinese-built high rise spurs wave of anger in Thailand
BOWIN, Thailand – The collapse of a Chinese-built office tower in Bangkok has added to negative perceptions of China’s burgeoning business presence in Thailand, testing the government’s open door policy to Beijing. Authorities are investigating why the unfinished high rise imploded, burying dozens of construction workers, following a magnitude 7.7 quake Friday in neighboring Myanmar that was felt around the region. It was the only Bangkok high rise to collapse. Initial tests of construction material from the site indicated the presence of substandard steel. The disaster is red meat for…