Day: June 7, 2023

Fiji Revaluating Ties With China, Main US Indo-Pacific Rival 

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washington —  Fijian Prime Minister Sitiveni Rabuka said Wednesday that the island nation was reviewing an agreement on police cooperation it signed with China in 2011 that has allowed Chinese police officers to be stationed in Fiji. Rabuka, speaking at a news conference in New Zealand where he was discussing a defense pact with Prime Minister Chris Hipkins, referred to Fiji’s willingness to walk away from the agreement, The Associated Press reported. “If our systems and our values differ, what cooperation can we get from them?” Rabuka said, referring to…

Chinese scientists use nanoplatform ‘aircraft carrier’ to release drugs and attack tumours in cancer patients

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Researchers from China say they have a solution that combines multiple new strategies and simultaneously inhibits growth of the primary tumour and tumour metastasis. Their work was published on May 31 in Small, a peer-reviewed journal that covers science at the nano and microscale. The research is led by Shi Xiangyang and Cao Xueyan of the Shanghai Engineering Research Centre of Nano-Biomaterials and Regenerative Medicine at Donghua University in Shanghai. They have been focusing on using nano-biotechnology to diagnose and treat cancer for more than a decade. Advertisement The team…

Young students brave grueling college exams amid job crisis in China

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Police motorcades, guarded fleets of vans carrying exam papers and throngs of mask-wearing teens pouring into gymnasium halls were a common scene across China as a record number of students take the national college entrance exam, or gaokao, this week. The 13 million test-takers is the largest group to sit the exam in a single year since it was reinstituted in 1977 following the Cultural Revolution. A requirement for gaining a place at university in China, the pressure of sitting the days-long test has been known to bring about fainting…

US to link up with Taiwan and Japan drone fleets to share real-time data

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The US, Taiwan and Japan are to share real-time data from naval reconnaissance drones, according to four people familiar with the project, demonstrating Washington’s push to strengthen co-ordination in the event of a Chinese attack on Taiwan. US defence contractor General Atomics is due to deliver four MQ-9B Sea Guardian drones to Taipei beginning in 2025. The maritime variant of the Reaper drone that the US Air Force widely used in Afghanistan, Iraq, Libya and Syria, it can find, track and target enemy ships and radars. That capability would be…

Britain to remove Chinese surveillance gear from government sites

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Britain has announced the removal of Chinese-made surveillance equipment from sensitive government sites as part of plans to address concerns they could be used for spying by China. The government told its departments last year to stop installing Chinese-linked CCTV cameras in sensitive buildings. In an announcement about a tightening of procurement rules, the Cabinet Office said: “We will also commit to publish a timeline for the removal of surveillance equipment produced by companies subject to China’s National Intelligence Law from sensitive central government sites.” The statement did not name…

Tokyo could win ‘not China’ global hub status — but it must want it

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The head of a US venture fund calls to say he will be in Japan next month for the first time in years. He needs to get a grip on the place, and fast. As an American investor, he cannot look at China right now and may never again. Tokyo, he reckons, is on course to become the “second city of the western world”.  Both he, and others who have made similar predictions in recent weeks, have alighted on a seductive idea. It becomes more so with each fresh embitterment…

North Korean diplomat’s wife and son go missing in Russian far east

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Russian authorities have issued a missing persons alert for the family of a North Korean diplomat, in what local and international media reports said could be an attempted defection.  According to a public notice issued Tuesday, Kim Kum Sun, 43, and her son Park Kwon Ju, 15, were last seen on Sunday leaving the North Korean consulate in Vladivostok, in Russia’s far east, and their whereabouts are unknown.  They are the wife and son of a North Korean trade representative in his 60s surnamed Park, sources in Vladivostok told RFA’s…

Cambodia threatens fines, prison for those urging election boycott

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Cambodia’s election authority has threatened fines and prison terms for those who urge a boycott of July 23 national elections, while Western diplomats voiced concern over the exclusion of the main opposition party from the vote. The National Election Committee said in a statement Tuesday that those who “urge voters not to go to vote, recreate mistrust in the election and disturb the electoral process” could face fines of between 5 million-20 million riels (US$1,200-4,800) and prison terms. It did not specify the possible length of prison term.  The committee said…

China Hosts Rare Counterterrorism Talks With Iran, Pakistan

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ISLAMABAD —  China, Iran and Pakistan held their first trilateral counterterrorism and regional security consultations on Wednesday in Beijing. “The delegations held detailed discussions on the regional security situation, particularly the threat of terrorism faced by the region,” said a post-meeting statement in Islamabad, which shared no further details. The Pakistani and Chinese foreign ministries said the three nations had decided to institutionalize and hold the meeting regularly. Senior Chinese, Pakistani and Iranian counterterrorism officials, each from their respective foreign ministries, led their teams at Wednesday’s dialogue. Analysts said Pakistan’s…

Uyghur hatmaker and wife confirmed to have died in prison in Xinjiang

Chin@Strategy

A Uyghur hatmaker and his wife detained in 2017 amid mass arrests in Xinjiang of members of the mostly Muslim minority group by Chinese authorities have been confirmed as having died in prison while serving their sentences, people with knowledge of the couple’s situation said. Haji’ahun and his spouse Mehpiremhan, residents of Maralbeshi county in Kashgar prefecture, were each sentenced to 10 years in Tumshuq Prison in 2019 for “illegal” religious activities, according to the sources.  The prison housed others arbitrarily arrested during the 2017 crackdown on prominent and ordinary…