Day: February 6, 2023

‘Respect them,’ says He Jiankui, creator of world’s first gene-edited humans

Chin@Strategy

In an unpublished study by He and other authors on the human experiment, they claimed the twin girls’ CCR5 genes were “edited successfully” and were expected to confer either complete or partial HIV resistance. But some scientists and experts who read the study said the researchers’ own data did not support their main claims, according to a report by the MIT Technology Review in December 2019, which released excerpts from the unpublished manuscripts. Advertisement “The team didn’t actually reproduce the known mutation. Rather, they created new mutations, which might lead…

Nghe An police arrest 13 people in bribery crackdown

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Nghe An Provincial Police have arrested 13 people for allegedly brokering and receiving bribes. Sunday’s arrests include a director and two deputy directors at vehicle registration centers in the province on Vietnam’s north central coast. The police said an investigation discovered high level staff were asking customers for between VND200,000 and VND1 million (U.S.$9-U.S.$43) to register vehicles with poor emission standards, worn tires, faulty brakes and broken lights. Car owners who wanted to fast-track registration were asked to pay at least VND200,000. The arrests are part of a nationwide crackdown…

As US-China rivalry heats up, can Australia defuse the risk of superpower conflict? | Susannah Patton

Chin@Strategy

As spy stories go, the recent foray and ultimate demise of China’s surveillance balloon across the United States is not very promising. Beijing probably did not learn any state secrets, and the eventual downing of the unmanned aerial system once it was safely over water is hardly the stuff of Le Carré. Yet the balloon incident is a powerful illustration of why Australia’s foreign affairs minister, Penny Wong, has been calling for the US and China to put in place “guardrails” to manage their competition responsibly. Coming only months after…

Trump-Era Chinese Spy Balloon Incursions Initially Went Undetected

Chin@Strategy

WASHINGTON — The top military commander overseeing North American airspace said Monday that some previous incursions by Chinese spy balloons during the Trump administration were not detected in real time, and the Pentagon learned of them only later. “I will tell you that we did not detect those threats, and that’s a domain awareness gap,” said Gen. Glen D. VanHerck, the commander of the Pentagon’s Northern Command. One explanation, multiple U.S. officials said, is that some previous incursions were initially classified as “unidentified aerial phenomena,” Pentagon speak for U.F.O.s. As the…

Myanmar’s opposition party refuses to re-register under new junta law

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Myanmar’s ousted opposition party – once led by Aung San Suu Kyi, who is now jailed – refused to re-register under a new law imposed by the ruling military junta ahead of general elections likely to be held later this year, two National League of Democracy officials told Radio Free Asia on Monday. The law, enacted on Jan. 26, requires all political parties that wish to contest in the election to re-register within 60 days. If they fail to comply, the parties will be automatically disqualified. The law appears to…

Previous Chinese Balloon Incursions Initially Went Undetected

Chin@Strategy

WASHINGTON — The top military commander overseeing North American airspace said Monday that some previous incursions by Chinese spy balloons during the Trump administration were not detected in real time, and the Pentagon learned of them only later. “I will tell you that we did not detect those threats, and that’s a domain awareness gap,” said Gen. Glen D. VanHerck, the commander of the Pentagon’s Northern Command. One explanation, multiple U.S. officials said, is that some previous incursions were initially classified as “unidentified aerial phenomena,” Pentagon speak for U.F.O.s. As the…

Villagers in the dark even as preparations start for building the Pak Lay Dam in Laos

Chin@Strategy

Villagers in western Laos woke up in a panic last week to the sound of workers blasting rock to prepare for the building of a dam that would submerge their homes on the Mekong River.  They were distressed because the government has not clarified its relocation plans for them, or offered specific compensation.  “The authorities haven’t said anything about the relocation or the compensation, but I see [Chinese workers] are working in the water, blasting rock in the river,” one resident of the district, called Pak Lay in Xayaburi province,…

For China’s officials, leaving zero-Covid behind is far harder than enforcing it

Chin@Strategy

While such strategies have succeeded when tied to clear metrics of success (such as increasing GDP numbers or keeping Covid-19 cases at zero), they tend to produce more mixed results when the goals are more vague or open-ended. For Chinese government officials, implementing zero-Covid appears to have been easier than coming out of it. One key reason for this is the role that metrics play in demonstrating enforcement. Metrics are key to policy success and governance generally in China. While internationally China’s central government has developed a reputation for politically…

Remembering Chinese whistleblower doctor 3 years after his death

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Demonstrators gathered in New York, Boston, Los Angeles and other cities on Sunday to commemorate the third anniversary of the death of a Chinese whistleblower doctor who warned about the COVID-19 outbreak. Dr. Li Wenliang, an ophthalmologist, died on Feb. 7, 2020, from contracting the virus shortly after warning his colleagues about the COVID virus. He was silenced by Chinese authorities for spreading rumors when the outbreak began.  Three years later, many people regard him as a symbol for freedom of speech in China. “This is a really important event…

Imported white horses burnish Kim’s image and tie him to Korea’s mythical past

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The image of Kim Jong Un ascending the snowy peaks of Mt. Paektu atop a majestic white stallion is meant to stir patriotism among North Koreans and solidify his place in the three-generation Kim dynasty alongside his father and grandfather.  For such propaganda purposes – and for horseback riding around Kim’s vacation villas – North Korea imports horses from Russia, and last year brought in 51 Orlov Trotters, according to Russian media outlet RIA Novosti, the largest number since 61 were imported in 2015. In early 2020, North Korean authorities…