Month: February 2023

Thousands of Russians Flee to Thailand to Escape War 

Chin@Strategy

Bangkok, Thailand —  Russian tourists are fleeing to Thailand to escape the war in Ukraine or look to move to the Southeast Asian country. Thailand has become a haven for Russian visitors who are looking to escape Moscow’s war in Ukraine that has now entered its second year. Visitors are in Thailand but are they fleeing Russia too. Since Thailand fully reopened its borders and dropped COVID-19 restrictions in October, Russian arrivals have made up the third-largest group of visitors, only behind Malaysia and India, according to government data. Now…

G20 Finance Ministers Fail to Bridge Differences Over Ukraine

Chin@Strategy

new delhi —  The finance ministers of the Group of 20 countries wrapped up a two-day meeting Saturday in India without issuing a joint statement after China and Russia objected to references that other members wanted to make on Moscow’s aggression in Ukraine. With no consensus, India, which holds the G-20 presidency this year, said in what is called a “chair’s summary” that “most members strongly condemned the war in Ukraine and stressed that it is causing immense human suffering and exacerbating existing fragilities in the global economy.” Stating that…

China to Welcome Belarusian Leader, Raising Concerns Over Ukraine

Chin@Strategy

As officials in Ukraine anxiously watch evolving diplomatic overtures between Moscow and Beijing, China’s top leader will host the president of Belarus — a staunch Kremlin ally — with the pomp of a state visit next week. On Saturday, China announced the visit, to take place over three days starting on Tuesday, for President Aleksandr Lukashenko of Belarus, who a year ago allowed Russian forces to use his country as a staging ground for their full-scale invasion of Ukraine. The presence in Beijing of such a close partner of President…

Evicted Yangon residents pushing to return face threats

Chin@Strategy

Ever since soldiers forced them out of their Yangon home in November, Ma Hla, her husband and their two kids have tried to survive in a one square-meter (10-square-foot) dormitory room. But with jobs tough to come by in Myanmar’s fragile post-coup economy, even the modest 50,000-kyat ($24) monthly rent is proving too much for the family, says Ma Hla, whose husband has been unable to find consistent work.  Desperate, Ma Hla this month joined a group of about 100 other evicted villagers who gathered along a nearby road ward…

Japan, Other G7 Leaders Step Up Russia Sanctions

Chin@Strategy

TOKYO —  Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida and other Group of Seven leaders adopted a set of additional sanctions against Russia over its war on Ukraine at an online G-7 summit Friday to mark the one-year anniversary of the start of the invasion. The leaders renewed their commitment to “intensifying our diplomatic, financial and military support for Ukraine, to increasing the costs to Russia and those supporting its war effort,” and countering the negative impact on the rest of the world, especially the most vulnerable people, they said in a…

Earthquake of 6.1 Magnitude Hits Northern Japan, No Tsunami Warning

Chin@Strategy

Tokyo —  An earthquake with a magnitude of 6.1 hit off the eastern part of Japan’s northern island of Hokkaido on Saturday, authorities said, and no tsunami warning was issued. The quake hit off the Nemuro peninsula at a depth of 61 kilometers, according to the National Research Institute for Earth Science and Disaster Resilience. There were no immediate reports of injuries or damage. In two municipalities in Hokkaido, the quake registered as a “lower 5” on Japan’s 7-point intensity scale, which measures ground motion. That is usually a level…

Plans in Congress on China and TikTok Face Hurdles After Spy Balloon Furor

Chin@Strategy

WASHINGTON — Republicans and Democrats are pressing for major legislation to counter rising threats from China, but mere weeks into the new Congress, a bipartisan consensus is at risk of dissipating amid disputes about what steps to take and a desire among many Republicans to wield the issue as a weapon against President Biden. In the House and Senate, leading lawmakers in both parties have managed in an otherwise bitterly divided Congress to stay unified about the need to confront the dangers posed by China’s militarization, its deepening ties with…

China Ramps Up Search and Rescue at Collapsed Coal Mine

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Search and rescue efforts have been ramped up at a collapsed opencast coal mine in north China’s Inner Mongolia, as experts have optimized the rescue scheme and adopted simultaneous operations in multiple working areas by using more cutting-edge equipment and technologies, according to a rescue expert on Friday. The open-pit coal mine collapsed in Alxa Left Banner in Inner Mongolia at around 13:00 local time Wednesday, leaving dozens of workers and vehicles buried under a huge pile of debris about 80 meters high, equivalent to a 20-story building. The collapse…

China’s Ukraine peace plan ‘important signal’, says Zelenskiy – video

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Volodymyr Zelenskiy welcomed some elements of a Chinese proposal for a ceasefire in Russia’s war on Ukraine, but said only the country where a war is being fought can be the initiator of a peace plan. Zelenskiy said during a press conference in Kyiv on Friday that the plan was ‘an important signal that they are going to participate in this topic’, but warned Beijing against providing Moscow with arms The Guardian