Month: December 2022

Huawei Says It’s No Longer in ‘Crisis Mode’

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China technology giant Huawei says it is no longer in “crisis mode” after years of U.S. restrictions that limited its overseas sales. “U.S. restrictions are now our new normal, and we’re back to business as usual,” Eric Xu, Huawei’s current chairman, said in a statement released Friday. The firm’s sunny outlook comes as the company also revealed that its 2022 U.S. revenue of $91.6 billion was almost the same as last year’s bottom line. Li Chengdong, a Beijing-based electronics industry analyst and founder of Dolphin Think Tank, told VOA’s Mandarine…

From Zero to All-Out COVID: The Power of the Politburo’s Standing Committee

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Advertisement Balancing somewhere between loyalty to their leader and loyalty to the Communist Party of China (CCP), members of its Politburo’s Standing Committee (PSC) had to find a way to broker an end to China’s zero COVID policy.  Neither China’s economy nor its people were going to be able to take it much longer. From nano-managing testing, quarantine, and the movements of 1.4 billion people to dismantling the infrastructure that has abounded throughout China for nearly three years, responsibility for managing COVID has now been refined, according to a spokesman…

Xi and Putin Meet Again, Two Strongmen in a Weak Moment

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When China’s top leader, Xi Jinping, and President Vladimir V. Putin of Russia declared a “no limits” partnership 10 months ago, the pair projected an aura of strength in a direct challenge to the United States and the West. As the two leaders met again on Friday via video, they found themselves in positions of weakness, encumbered by geopolitical and economic threats to their informal authoritarian alliance. Both now have little room to maneuver, making the relationship all the more important, albeit also a lot more complicated. Since Russia’s invasion…

Death Toll From Cambodia Casino Fire Reaches 25 as Rescuers Scour Site

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Poipet, Cambodia —  Rescuers scoured the charred ruins of a Cambodian hotel and casino complex Friday as the death toll from a fire that forced people to jump from windows rose to 25. Hundreds of people are believed to have been inside the Grand Diamond City venue, located in the town of Poipet within sight of the Thai border, when the blaze broke out late Wednesday night. “The death toll now is around 25,” said Sek Sokhom, director of the information department for the province of Banteay Meanchey, adding that…

Security Remains at Top of China’s Afghanistan Policy

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Washington —  Security concerns continue to dominate China’s policy toward Afghanistan more than a year after the United States and NATO pulled out of the Central Asian country. China has stepped in and engaged with the new Taliban government, promising trade and investment. But Beijing has concerns over the potential spillover of militants from Afghanistan into China’s western Xinjiang region, the security of its infrastructure projects in the region and its citizens in Afghanistan. On December 12, the Islamic State Khorasan Province, an affiliate of Islamic State, claimed an attack…

Extending conscription may make Taiwan feel safer – but at the cost of alienating its young people | Brian Hioe

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On Tuesday, less than two days after the largest deployment of Chinese military craft into Taiwanese airspace this year, Taiwan’s president, Tsai Ing-wen, announced an extension of military conscription, lengthening the period for men born after 2005 from four months to one year. It was expected that Tsai would make the announcement before the end of the year, so this was not a direct reaction to China’s most recent military threats. Tsai cited China’s August live-fire exercises around Taiwan, which took place after Nancy Pelosi’s visit to the country. Tsai…

Junta Trial Of Myanmar’s Suu Kyi Closes

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NAYPYIDAW, MYANMAR —  A Myanmar junta court wrapped up its trial of ousted civilian leader Aung San Suu Kyi on Friday, a legal source told AFP, with the Nobel laureate jailed for a total of 33 years. A prisoner of the military since the 2021 coup, Suu Kyi, 77, has been convicted on every charge leveled against her, ranging from corruption to illegally possessing walkie-talkies and flouting COVID restrictions. On Friday she was found guilty on five counts of corruption related to the hiring, purchase and maintaining of a helicopter…

Aung San Suu Kyi receives a further 7-year sentence

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A junta court in Myanmar has sentenced the country’s deposed leader Aung San Suu Kyi to another seven years in prison on five counts of alleged corruption, sources close to Naypyidaw Prison Court told RFA Friday. Former president Win Myint received the same sentence, according to the sources who declined to be named for security reasons. Before Friday’s sentences were handed down, Suu Kyi, 77, had already been charged with 19 counts and sentenced to a total of 26 years in prison for 14 of them. Win Myint, 71, had…

46 Malaysia-Bound Rohingya Refugees Make It to Thailand

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Following reports over the past weeks of dozens of Rohingya refugees being feared drowned after having jumped into the sea from their boats, it appears now that at least 46 have made it to Thailand this week. The Thai Maritime Enforcement Command Center reported on its Facebook page Sunday that some Thai fishermen had rescued three Rohingya boys from the sea that morning. From a boat carrying “around 100 Rohingya refugees, three jumped into the sea” and came closer to the fishing boat seeking help, the Facebook post said. A…