Month: February 2023

US Warns of Massive Chinese Cyberattacks in Taiwan Scenario

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Washington —  Any Chinese invasion of Taiwan will likely be accompanied by massive cyberattacks against the West and against the United States, according to a top U.S. cybersecurity official. Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency Director Jen Easterly said Monday that Washington and its allies must be prepared for China to create “panic and chaos” in cyberspace. “A scenario of attacks against our critical infrastructure in the event of a Chinese invasion of Taiwan is unfortunately not far-fetched,” Easterly told an audience at Carnegie Mellon University in Pittsburgh. An invasion “might…

Myanmar’s junta denies ousted leaders access to legal representation

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Myanmar’s deposed State Counsellor Aung San Suu Kyi and President Win Myint have not been allowed to meet with their legal team since their trials ended in December of last year, Radio Free Asia has learned. The two leaders were the most senior members of Myanmar’s democratically elected government when it was overthrown by the country’s military in a coup in February 2021. Suu Kyi has been sentenced to a total of 33 years in prison in 19 corruption cases, whereas Win Myint has been sentenced to a total of…

Chinese AI simulates hypersonic air battle, offering surprising tactic for winning Mach 11 dogfight

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But the pilot, guided by AI the team developed, flew to an unexpected position far ahead of the enemy aircraft and fired a missile “over the shoulder”, tossing it backwards towards the foe. The missile hit the enemy fighter, which was 30km (18.6 miles) behind the hypersonic plane, at a speed of up to Mach 11, ending the battle in less than eight seconds, according to the computer simulation. This counter-intuitive approach offered the longest possible killing range with the lowest risk to the pilot, according to the team led…

Falling short of targets, North Korean factories start selling sweet potatoes

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North Korea’s state-run Tokchon Motor company desperately needs money to buy raw materials so it can make enough cars, trucks and auto parts to hit government-set production targets. The company has therefore set up food stalls outside its gates selling roasted sweet potatoes to raise funds, sources in the country told Radio Free Asia. Other state-run enterprises are doing the same thing, selling a range of foods from chestnuts to fruit, hoping to generate enough money to buy what they need. It’s another example of how North Korea’s sputtering, state-run…

Yangon neighborhoods cleared of plastic garbage under money-for-waste campaign

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A campaign to pay people for their plastic garbage in select parts of Yangon has resulted in cleaner neighborhoods and an increased awareness of the difficult-to-decompose waste. The program started last year by Thant Myanmar, a Yangon-based anti-plastic environmental group, pays 100-kyat (about 5 US cents) per viss (about 3.6 lbs) of plastic. The purchases are made at collection sites of the Yangon City Development Committee.  “The visible difference is that garbage is cleared,” said Hnin Wai of Thant Myanmar. “These places used to be heavily littered. Now people collect…

Argentina’s Failed China Policy

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Advertisement Argentine President Alberto Fernandez is entering the final stretch of his term in office. Among the many failures his government accumulated over the last three years is a record of failed diplomacy with China. There are ample arguments to buttress the claim that Fernandez lacked a coherent and consistent foreign policy, particularly when it comes to Beijing. The Argentine government does not seem to realize the geopolitical paradigm shift implied by COVID-19 and Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, especially with regard to energy, food security, and defense, and what this…

In Central Asia, Blinken Will Urge Distance From Russia, and Ukraine War

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Secretary of State Antony J. Blinken is flying on Tuesday into the heart of what Moscow considers its sphere of influence to urge senior Central Asian officials convening in Kazakhstan to maintain independence from Russia and China. The meetings come at a critical juncture in American efforts to head off Moscow’s global efforts to seek economic aid — and in some cases military aid — as the United States and its allies rush new weapons into Ukraine to try to give the Ukrainians a battlefield advantage over Russian troops. This…

Empty containers stack up at major Chinese ports after zero-COVID effect lingers

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Major Chinese container ports Shenzhen and Shanghai are seeing a massive growth in the number of empty containers, according to two shipping industry sources, social media footage and a global container tracking website, suggesting a huge slump in manufacturing exports. Photos of container ports at Shanghai and Shenzhen seen by Radio Free Asia revealed a large number of empty containers stacked up, with remaining storage space for empty containers rapidly dwindling at ports, according to a container ship captain who has worked in the industry for 20 years. In the…

US and China spar over Ukraine war support

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China’s foreign ministry has accused the United States of hypocrisy after a Biden administration official over the weekend warned Beijing of “real cost” if it provides lethal aid to Russia for use in Ukraine. Speaking to CNN on Sunday morning, National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan said China’s leaders “tie themselves in knots” when it comes to the Russia-Ukraine conflict because they want to support Moscow without being seen by the wider world as aiding an invasion. “Beijing will have to make its own decisions about how it proceeds, whether it…

Canada bans TikTok on government devices

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TikTok said it was disappointed by Canada’s decision. It was issued “without citing any specific security concerns about TikTok or contacting us to discuss any concerns prior to making this decision”, a company spokesperson said in an emailed statement. The move, which comes days after the European Commission imposed a similar ban, underscores the growing lobby against TikTok over concerns of its proximity to the Chinese government and hold over user data across the world. Advertisement Canada’s federal and provincial privacy regulators are also jointly investigating the app, owned by…