Day: January 6, 2023

Ant Group Says Its Founder, Jack Ma, Will Relinquish Control

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One of China’s most influential tech titans, Ant Group, said on Saturday that its founder, Jack Ma, plans to relinquish control of the company. Ant Group is the fintech sister company of the e-commerce behemoth Alibaba, one of China’s most valuable private companies and the bedrock of the business empire of Mr. Ma, the country’s most famous tycoon. This is a developing story. Chang Che contributed reporting and Zixu Wang contributed research. NYT

Why do China’s ‘mild’ Covid symptoms feel so unbearable?

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Hundreds of millions of people in China have been infected since the country’s abrupt shift from its zero-Covid policy in early December. For the first time since the pandemic began, people with “mild” symptoms, together with those who have asymptomatic infections, now supposedly account for 90 to 98 per cent of total infections, according to various mainland experts. But for many, the symptoms do not feel anything like a common cold, as top respiratory disease expert Zhong Nanshan described last month. The “unbearable” pain, sore throats, body aches, and days…

China Says COVID-19 Situation Is ‘Predictable, Under Control’ 

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China’s foreign ministry pushed back Friday against international reactions and criticism regarding its recent surge in COVID-19 cases, saying the situation was “predictable and under control.” There has been growing international concern about China’s COVID surge, which followed the government’s move last month to suddenly lift pandemic restrictions that had been among the strictest in the world. The United States this week joined Britain, France, Canada, South Korea, Spain and Qatar in imposing requirements on travelers from China to show recent negative COVID tests before being allowed to enter. European…

Inmate killed, 8 in critical condition following crackdown at Myanmar Prison

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Prison guards in Myanmar on Friday shot and killed a political prisoner and wounded more than 60 other people – including eight critically – after inmates protested their beating of the victim a day earlier, Radio Free Asia has learned. The incident at Pathein Prison is the latest in a string of more than 15 violent crackdowns on protests by political prisoners – which authorities termed “riots” – in the nearly two years since Myanmar’s military seized power in a coup. On Thursday night, guards discovered a mobile phone in…

Chinese firms are concealing exports’ Xinjiang ties, say US customs officials

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But in November, Chinese customs data showed Xinjiang exports to the US dropping to their lowest levels since 2017. Also in November, the US customs agency reported identifying “444 entries valued at more than US$128 million for further examination based on the suspected use of forced labour” – although officials did not specify how many of those shipments were tied to the Xinjiang law. Advertisement Ana Hinojosa, the former head of trade remedy law enforcement for the agency, said that the blog post appeared to be signalling, both to the…

Cambodian police ordered to prevent spread of music video about deadly crackdown

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Cambodia’s culture ministry has ordered police to prevent the spread of a music video called “Blood Workers” by a rapper that recounts a deadly government crackdown on a workers’ protest nine years ago. The video by rapper Kea Sokun shows footage of the Jan. 3, 2014 protests in Phnom Penh during which police shot four people dead and wounded nearly 40 others. Some of the footage bears an old version of Radio Free Asia’s logo, which was current at the time. “For the past nine years they have been left…

Fate of Uyghur miners trapped in gold mine collapse uncertain after nearly 2 weeks

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The fate of 18 miners – mostly Uyghurs – trapped in a collapsed gold mine in China’s far-western Xinjiang province remained uncertain, officials said, implying that rescuers have failed to pull any of them out alive nearly two weeks after the Christmas Eve disaster. “I know that the rescue operation is going on, but I don’t know the result of the rescue efforts,” said an employee of West Gold Yili Co., which owns the mine in Qarayaghach town of Ghulja county, or Yining in Chinese. He insisted on not being…

Thai women tell of being trafficked, caught up in prostitution inside Myanmar

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Promises of high-paid entertainment jobs lured the three Thai women to Myanmar, but they found themselves trapped into prostitution in Shan state near the Chinese border before they escaped, they said in telling the stories about their ordeal. Sisters A and Aoy, and their friend, Ploy – all in their late 20s – said they had responded to a Facebook ad from a Thai broker named Nan, who promised that they could earn more than 50,000 baht (U.S. $1,485) per month in non-sex jobs in the entertainment industry in Myanmar.…

As Lunar New Year nears, China’s rural residents fear relatives will bring COVID home

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As millions of Chinese head home for the Lunar New Year celebrations on Jan. 22 and hospitals struggle amid a nationwide wave of COVID-19 cases, concerns are growing for the country’s rural healthcare systems, which have far fewer resources than the big city hospitals to treat the elderly and vulnerable. Officials have warned of a fresh surge in coronavirus cases brought to rural areas by city residents traveling back home to welcome in the Year of the Rabbit, state broadcaster CGTN reported. “We are extremely worried about the potential COVID-19…

South Korea Embraces ‘Tit for Tat’ Approach to North’s Provocations

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SEOUL, SOUTH KOREA —  In June, after North Korea fired eight short-range ballistic missiles into the ocean, South Korea and the United States responded by sending the exact same number of missiles into the sea. Five months later, when a North Korean missile crossed the de facto inter-Korean sea border for the first time since the 1950s Korean War, South Korea hours later launched three of its own missiles north of the sensitive maritime boundary. Last week, after North Korea sent five small reconnaissance drones across the land border, South…