Police in Dak Lak province, in Vietnam’s Central Highlands, have arrested 22 people in connection with an armed attack on two police stations, according to state media reports Monday. The Ministry of Public Security had previously reported on its website that six suspects had been taken into custody in connection with Sunday morning’s attack on police stations in Ea Tieu and Ea Ktur communes. It said six people – police officers and commune officials – were killed in the attack and several officers, commune officials and civilians were injured. The…
Day: June 11, 2023
AI ‘euphoria’ and EV bets drive South Korea market rally
South Korea’s $1.8tn stock market is approaching bull market territory, as foreign investors pile into AI stocks and local investors snatch up EV battery-related shares. The tech-heavy Kospi has rallied 18 per cent this year, joining a surge of other indices in the region, including Japan’s Topix and Taiwan’s Taiex, that has been driven in large part by searing gains for chipmaker shares. In contrast, Chinese stocks are falling over doubts about its economic recovery, with Hong Kong’s Hang Seng down 2 per cent this year and CSI 300, China’s…
US and China take steps towards thaw as Blinken prepares to visit Beijing, but mistrust remains
In the clearest sign yet that president Joe Biden’s predicted “thaw” in US-China relations may actually come to pass, the US secretary of state, Antony Blinken, is expected to visit Beijing on 18 June. But after several months in which tensions between the two countries have only increased, both sides will need to overcome a mutual mistrust that has been allowed to build following a number of recent incidents. Biden made his comments predicting a thaw at the G7 summit in Japan in May, just as the group of countries…
Marriages in China Slump to Historic Low
Beijing — Marriages in China dropped in 2022 to their lowest since records began, local news outlet Yicai reported Sunday, continuing a steady decline over the past decade although the matrimonial total may have been affected by stringent COVID lockdowns. Just 6.83 million couples completed their marriage registrations last year, data published on the website of the Ministry of Civil Affairs showed, down about 800,000 from the previous year. The drop in couples tying the knot, which follows pandemic restrictions keeping tens of millions locked in their homes or compounds…
Number of nuclear weapons held by major powers rising, says thinktank
The number of operational nuclear weapons in the arsenals of the major military powers is on the rise again according to a leading thinktank, whose analysts warn the world is “drifting into one of the most dangerous periods in human history”. At a time of both deteriorating international relations and the escalation of nuclear sabre-rattling, there are now said to be an estimated 12,512 warheads globally, of which 9,576 are in military stockpiles ready for potential use, up 86 on a year ago. The rise brings to an end the…
Witty folk rant on the dark side of the news goes missing from China’s internet
A song by veteran Chinese folk-rock act Slap referring to numerous darker news events has disappeared from Chinese social media amid an ongoing crackdown on public performances and growing controls on cultural content. Slap, a prominent part of the festival circuit in recent year, released “Red Boy’s 18 Wins” in January 2023, with lyrics detailing the exploits of a fictitious hero – Red Boy – and a series of challenges he encounters. It refers to a woman found chained by the neck, the breakout by employees at Foxconn’s Zhengzhou factory…
Saudi Arabia Seeks Cooperation With China, ‘Ignores’ Western Worries
Riyadh, Saudi Arabia — Saudi Arabia wants to collaborate, not compete, with China, the kingdom’s energy minister declared on Sunday, saying he “ignored” Western suspicions over their growing ties. As the world’s top oil exporter, Saudi Arabia’s bilateral relationship with the world’s biggest energy consumer is anchored by hydrocarbon ties. But cooperation between Riyadh and Beijing has also deepened in security and sensitive tech amid a warming of political ties — to the concern of the United States. Asked about criticism of the bilateral relationship during an Arab-China business conference,…
Honduras Opens Embassy in China After Breaking Off Ties With Taiwan
Beijing — Honduras opened an embassy in Beijing on Sunday, Chinese state media reported, months after the Central American nation broke off relations with Taiwan to establish diplomatic ties with China. China’s Foreign Minister Qin Gang and his Honduran counterpart Enrique Reina took part in the inauguration of the embassy on Sunday morning, China’s official CCTV said. The report said Honduras still needed to determine the embassy’s permanent location and would increase its number of staff. Qin pledged that China would establish a new model with Honduras of “friendly cooperation”…
China’s Palestinian moment is about global standing rather than peace
The Palestinian Authority president imminent state visit to China is aimed at bolstering Beijing’s credentials on the world stage rather than a serious attempt to revive the Israeli-Palestinian peace process, experts have said. Mahmoud Abbas’s four-day visit, which is scheduled to begin on Tuesday, has been described by Chinese state media as aimed at facilitating new peace talks predicated on a two-state solution to the decades-old conflict. It also comes on the heels of Beijing’s recent success in brokering a detente between the Middle East’s two major religious and geopolitical…
Myanmar Junta Scaling Up Air War on Resistance
Bangkok — Myanmar’s military government continues to pick up the pace of deadly airstrikes against a growing armed and civil resistance to its rule, more than two years after seizing power in a coup. Rights groups and analysts say most of their targets and victims are civilians. “The Burma military airstrikes have gone past anything we’ve ever seen in Burma,” said David Eubank, head of the Free Burma Rangers, a Christian aid group at work in the country’s east for the past 30 years, using another name for Myanmar. “It…