UPDATED at 1:31 p.m. EST on 11-16-2022 The United Nations Working Group on Arbitrary Detention (WGAD), has called on Vietnamese authorities to release poet, author and human rights campaigner Tran Duc Thach. WGAD’s report, posted on Nov. 4, called Thach’s arrest arbitrary and said he should be compensated for his time in prison. Thach, 71, a co-founder of Vietnam’s online Brotherhood for Democracy, was arrested on April 23, 2020. He was charged with “activities aimed at overthrowing the People’s Government” under Article 109 of Vietnam’s Criminal Code and sentenced to…
Day: November 15, 2022
China’s Expanding Health Diplomacy in Indonesia
Advertisement An event earlier this month marked an important milestone in the expansion of China’s health diplomacy in Indonesia, which has picked up pace since the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic. The event in question is the planned visit to the country of a People’s Liberation Army Navy (PLAN) hospital ship from Zhoushan in Zhejiang province, which set out on its journey on November 2. Senior Col. Tan Kefei, a spokesperson for the Chinese Ministry of Defense, said that the purpose of the visit, whose exact timeline is unclear, is…
Lao preacher arrested previously for evangelism found dead and badly beaten
A Lao Christian preacher who had previously been arrested for evangelism was found dead and badly beaten a few days after disappearing, villagers told Radio Free Asia. A few days before his body was found with signs of torture, two men believed to be district authorities visited Sy Seng Manee, 48, they said. His corpse was found on Oct. 23 with his motorbike in a forest near a road to Donkeo village in Khammouane province. Local residents said they believe Sy was murdered because of his religious beliefs and preaching.…
Popular Tibetan video-sharing app to be shut down
The creator of a popular Tibetan language video-sharing app abruptly announced on Thursday he was shutting it down for financial reasons, a source inside the Tibetan Autonomous Region said. But a group advocating for greater rights for Tibetans said it was more likely that the Chinese government ordered the app’s closure because it has ratcheted up efforts to restrict Tibetans from using their own language. The GangYang app is a short-video social media platform that can be used to record videos, livestream and shop online. Chinese authorities granted permission for Tibetans…
Plan to build 50,000 new homes in North Korean capital is running out of money
North Korean leader Kim Jong Un’s ambitious plan to build 50,000 new homes in the capital of Pyongyang has ground to a halt due to a lack of funding, sources in the city told Radio Free Asia. Pyongyang, with a population of about 3 million, suffers from a severe housing shortage. Kim promised at the ruling Korean Workers’ Party Congress in January 2021 to build 50,000 houses by the end of 2025, with a target of 10,000 new homes by the end of each year. Husks of apartment buildings 50…
Grassroots Protests Are Frequent in Xi Jinping’s China
Advertisement How often do protests occur in China? It’s indisputable that the one-party state has established an unprecedented system to stop collective action before it starts – featuring pervasive surveillance, grid-management policing, and even a “targeted population” system to control citizens thought to have a propensity for activism. Xi Jinping has taken social control even further as he has consolidated dictatorship over the past decade, inducting a raft of new security laws and closing space for rights advocacy NGOs. Furthermore, the government goes to great lengths to keep citizens from…
Boat with more than 100 Rohingya lands in Indonesia’s Aceh province
A boat carrying more than 100 weak and hungry Rohingya landed in a coastal village in Indonesia’s westernmost Aceh province on Tuesday, local authorities said, adding that the refugees were at sea for over a month. Authorities have not yet determined where these members of Myanmar’s stateless minority had fled from, but many Rohingya groups previously landed in Indonesia while en route to neighboring Malaysia or other destinations. North Aceh regency spokesman Hamdani said the 111 refugees – 65 men, 27 women, and 19 children including a toddler – were…
Top US-China panel urges halt to normal trade relations if no WTO compliance
It also comes just one day after US President Joe Biden and Xi met face-to-face for the first time since Biden took office in early 2021. The two leaders committed to working together on climate change and agreeing to communicate more, but are otherwise staunchly opposed on almost every other issue of consequence. “We’re not going to be able to work everything out,” Biden said after the three-hour meeting on Monday. “I’m not suggesting this is kumbaya.” Advertisement Xi, who last month secured a precedent-breaking third term as Communist Party…
At G20 Summit, Xi and Biden Offer Rival Visions for Solving Global Issues
BALI, Indonesia — While President Biden and his Chinese counterpart, Xi Jinping, have eased tensions between their countries, they are vying for influence in Asia and beyond, offering competing stances on how to address poverty and the war in Ukraine. Mr. Xi has cast China as a steadfast partner to the region, rejecting what he described as the United States’ “Cold War mentality” of forming security alliances. At the Group of 20 summit on Tuesday, he spoke loftily about China’s “global initiatives” to fight poverty and strife, while remaining publicly…
Biden and Xi Break the Ice
The leaders of the world’s 20 biggest economies are meeting this week in Indonesia. What they decide will go a long way toward shaping the global climate of the near future — and with it, the destiny of us all. The Group of 20 represents 80 percent of the greenhouse gas emissions warming the planet. The main headline: China and the U.S. are back on speaking terms. The White House announced that the United States and China would resume their climate talks. The news came after a three-and-a-half hour meeting…