Month: February 2023

Sources: Vietnam to Name New President This Week

Chin@Strategy

Hanoi —  Vietnam will name a new president later this week, officials said Tuesday, after the dramatic resignation of Nguyen Xuan Phuc as part of an anti-corruption drive. Vo Van Thuong, 52, is expected to be confirmed at an extraordinary meeting of the country’s national assembly Thursday, official political and government sources told AFP on condition of anonymity. His expected appointment comes during a period of significant political upheaval in Vietnam, where the all-powerful Communist Party’s anti-graft purge and factional fighting have seen several ministers fired. Authoritarian Vietnam is run…

Could China’s giant LAMOST telescope be moved to ‘ideal’ Gobi Desert?

Chin@Strategy

“The air is so dry in the Gobi desert. If we could find a way to move LAMOST here, we’d simply have less clouds and many additional clear nights for observation,” said Zhao, who has been working with the telescope for more than two decades. LAMOST is among the most efficient tools to scan the night sky, with its segmented main mirror that can continuously adjust its shape to meet observational needs. The Large Sky Area Multi-Object Fibre Spectroscopic Telescope (LAMOST), a three-hour drive from Beijing in China’s Hebei province.…

China Moves to Erase the Vestiges of ‘Zero Covid’ to Deter Dissent

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This is how China’s ruling Communist Party wants people to remember how it handled the Covid-19 pandemic: It was a “miracle in human history.” Every measure the government imposed was rooted in science, supported by the masses — and, ultimately, “completely correct.” The party is waging an ambitious propaganda campaign to rewrite the public’s memory of “zero Covid,” a signature policy of China’s leader, Xi Jinping, that helped contain the virus for almost three years — but went to such extreme lengths that it smothered the economy and set off…

Japan’s Biggest Ad Agency Indicted in Growing Olympic Scandal

Chin@Strategy

Tokyo —  Japan’s biggest advertising agency and five other companies were indicted on Tuesday for allegedly violating an anti-monopoly law, in a corruption scandal over bid-rigging during the Tokyo Olympics. The indictment followed the arrest this month of a senior Tokyo 2020 organizing committee official and three others who were accused of rigging a string of Olympic Games-related tenders. Dentsu Group president Hiroshi Igarashi has admitted to Tokyo prosecutors that his firm is liable, according to local media. Prosecutors unveiled charges against the company as well as leading advertising firms…

China should scrap ‘picking quarrels’ crime, says leading lawyer

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China should abolish the catch-all crime of “picking quarrels and provoking trouble”, a political delegate has proposed before next week’s major Two Sessions legislative meeting. Zhu Zhengfu, a member of the Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference (CPPCC) advisory body, said the law risked undermining China’s legal system and was open to “selective enforcement” by authorities, according to state media. “Picking quarrels and provoking trouble” is a broadly defined crime that is applied widely in China against dissidents, media workers, lawyers and activists. The broad accusation is frequently used by authorities…

China Protests Flight of US Warplane Over Taiwan Strait

Chin@Strategy

China says the fight of a U.S. military plane over the Taiwan Strait Monday “endangered peace and stability” in the region. The Eastern Theater Command of the People’s Liberation Army said in a statement that it closely monitored a U.S. Navy maritime patrol and reconnaissance plane as it flew over the waterway that divides mainland China and the self-ruled island of Taiwan. The Command said the flight “deliberately interfered with and disrupted the regional situation and endangered peace and stability in the Taiwan Strait.” The statement also warned that forces…

Confusion surrounds China’s energy policies as GDP and climate goals clash

Chin@Strategy

China’s energy policies are fast creating a type of “emissions ambiguity”, as the twin goals of boosting GDP growth and reducing carbon emissions come into conflict. The uncertainty is whether and when the world’s biggest carbon emitter will start to curb greenhouse gas pollution. The release of the country’s annual statistics communique on Tuesday did not clear things up. As Lauri Myllyvirta, an analyst at Centre for Research on Energy and Clean Air, noted this month, China’s carbon emissions may have risen 1% or fallen by that amount in 2022.…

Shelling of Kayah state camps kills 2, injures 4

Chin@Strategy

A 70-year-old man and a 30-year-old woman were killed, and four others civilians were injured when junta artillery shells hit an internally displaced persons camp in Myanmar’s eastern Kayah state. The army fired heavy artillery at the camp in Demoso township on Monday, according to Banyar, the director of the Karenni Human Rights Group. Banyar – who goes by one name – said the woman died and two other civilians were injured when around 10 shells exploded in the camp in the west of the township. He said the junta…