Day: February 3, 2023

Pentagon: Another Chinese Balloon Spotted Over Latin America

Chin@Strategy

The U.S. Defense Department said Friday another Chinese surveillance balloon is sailing over Latin America, two days after a similar high-altitude balloon was discovered traveling over the United States. Pentagon press secretary Air Force Brigadier General Pat Ryder said in a statement to media outlets “we are seeing reports of a balloon transitioning Latin America.” “We now assess it is another Chinese surveillance balloon,” he said. Earlier Friday, Ryder told reporters at the Pentagon that the balloon sailing over the United States is there for surveillance — in violation of…

Second spy balloon spotted over Latin America, says Pentagon, as Blinken postpones China trip

Chin@Strategy

A second Chinese spy balloon was reportedly flying over Latin America, according to the Pentagon, in comments that came as the US secretary of state, Antony Blinken, postponed a visit to China after the intrusion of a separate high-altitude Chinese balloon into US airspace. “We are seeing reports of a balloon transiting Latin America,” Pentagon spokesperson Pat Ryder said, a day after the first craft was spotted over US skies. “We now assess it is another Chinese surveillance balloon.” The Pentagon did not specify the balloon’s exact location, but a…

Blinken: US Committed to Improving Allied Defense of South Korea

Chin@Strategy

U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken said after meeting with his South Korean counterpart that the United States is committed to “improving its allied defense” of South Korea and called the alliance between the two nations the “linchpin” of peace in the region. Speaking Friday at a joint news conference in Washington, alongside visiting South Korean Foreign Minister Park Jin, Blinken said the United States reaffirmed its commitment to defending South Korea “using the full range of U.S. capabilities, including nuclear, conventional and missile defense capabilities.” Park said South Korea…

Myanmar junta declares martial law in 37 townships across the country

Chin@Strategy

Myanmar’s military junta has declared martial law in 37 townships across the country and authorized military tribunals to hand down life sentences and the death penalty for a wide range of offenses, a move that political and military analysts say will lead to more bloodshed, displacement and terror. Thursday’s move came a day after military leaders extended their emergency rule over the country for six more months. It marked the second anniversary of the Feb. 1, 2021, coup that ousted the democratically elected government. All of the affected townships, scattered…

Apple takes down anonymous social media app Damus from China App Store

Chin@Strategy

Apple’s China App Store has removed a Twitter-like social media app linked to Jack Dorsey’s Nostr social media platform, which relies on a decentralized network of users exchanging encrypted information to evade control or censorship by governments or private companies. Damus was removed from the Apple China App Store a day after being launched there, the developers said via their Twitter account. “We are writing to notify you that your application, per demand from the Cyberspace Administration of China, will be removed from the China App Store because it includes…

China to crack down on online ‘rumors’ amid public distrust of official statements

Chin@Strategy

China’s People’s Daily newspaper called for an end to public speculation over the death of teenager Hu Xinyu as the country’s internet regulator clamped down on online rumors.  The move comes amid a social media storm about the 15-year-old Hu amid an apparent spike in missing teens in recent months. His body was found hanging from a tree earlier this week close to his boarding school after going missing for more than three months. Police on Thursday said an investigation had ruled out homicide in his death and that an…

Police complete investigation into prominent blogger in Vietnam

Chin@Strategy

Hanoi police said that they completed an investigation into the case of prominent blogger Nguyen Lan Thang, who was arrested in July, and recommended he be charged with spreading anti-state information. Le Van Luan, one of Thang’s two defense lawyers, told RFA on Friday that they received a notice saying that “the investigation was completed by Jan. 17.” The lawyer added that both defense counsels have registered to represent Thang.  Born in 1975, Nguyen is a human rights activist who blogged for RFA’s Vietnamese Service. His wife, Le Bich Vuong,…

A Giant Balloon Was Spotted in Montana. It’s All Anyone Can Talk About.

Chin@Strategy

HELENA, Mont. — Larry Mayer, a newspaper photographer, pointed his camera to the sky on Wednesday and began snapping pictures of what appeared to be a mysterious white orb hanging in the sky over Billings, Mont. He didn’t know what he was looking at, but he knew something was up — way up, like 60,000 feet up. “They shut down the airport and wouldn’t let anyone land or take off, but wouldn’t say why,” said Mr. Mayer, who works for The Billings Gazette and is also a pilot. By the…

INTERVIEW: ‘China’s strategy is to seduce with money, reinforce with intimidation’

Chin@Strategy

During the Trump administration, Keith Krach was under-secretary of state for economic growth, energy, and the environment. He oversaw the development and implementation of the Clean Network Alliance of Democracies, a U.S.-led global effort to address long-term threats to data privacy, security, human rights and collaboration from authoritarian actors. In July 2020, he was also the first American diplomat to call China’s mistreatment of the Uyghurs in Xinjiang a genocide.  Now 65, Krach chairs the Krach Institute for Tech Diplomacy at Purdue, an independent, bipartisan think tank at the intersection…

Blinken postpones planned China visit after high-altitude balloon intrusion into US airspace – video

Chin@Strategy

The US secretary of state, Antony Blinken, has postponed a planned visit to China this weekend after the intrusion of a high-altitude Chinese balloon into US airspace. China had apologised for the incident, claiming it had been a weather balloon which had been blown off course, but US officials made clear they did not believe that explanation and the Pentagon restated its assessment it was a surveillance aircraft, adding that by midday Friday it had changed course and was over the centre of the country. Blinken’s trip, due to begin on Friday…