Month: August 2023

North Korea brings home around 700 of its workers from China and Russia

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North Korea has repatriated at least 700 of its citizens who were stranded in China and Russia since they were dispatched there by their government before the coronavirus pandemic, sources in those countries told Radio Free Asia. Before COVID-19, the cash-strapped North Korean government had been sending workers to China and Russia to earn desperately needed foreign currency, but in January 2020 it closed down the international borders and forbade its citizens on the other side from returning. The state-run Rodong Sinmun newspaper on Sunday reported that Pyongyang was now…

Ships sanctioned for trade with North Korea remain active

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More than three dozen ships sanctioned by the United States for facilitating allegedly illicit trade with North Korea have been active this year, including a dozen North Korean-flagged oil tankers, according to satellite images and ship tracking data analyzed by Radio Free Asia. The information suggests Kim Jong Un’s isolated regime is defying restrictions designed to limit its ability to develop weapons of mass destruction, including through the importation of fuel above quotas set by the United Nations, experts on the region said.  The U.S. Treasury Department has identified a…

Value of Chinese real estate firm’s Malaysian residential project seen dropping

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Real estate analysts said they expected property values to drop at a Chinese developer’s housing project in Malaysia’s Johor state and that the U.S. $100 billion venture may not be completed, despite the firm saying this week the business was stable.  The company, Country Garden, one of the largest developers in China, is facing a debt crisis and may be at the edge of default amid a real estate meltdown in the Asian superpower.  Property expert Khalil Adis, founder of Singapore-based Khalil Adis Consultancy, warned that Country Garden’s financial woes…

Meta Fights Sprawling Chinese ‘Spamouflage’ Operation

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San Francisco —  Meta on Tuesday said it purged thousands of Facebook accounts that were part of a widespread online Chinese spam operation trying to covertly boost China and criticize the West. The campaign, which became known as “Spamouflage,” was active across more than 50 platforms and forums including Facebook, Instagram, TikTok, YouTube and X, formerly known as Twitter, according to a Meta threat report. “We assess that it’s the largest, though unsuccessful, and most prolific covert influence operation that we know of in the world today,” said Meta Global…

2 Uyghur suspects in Bangkok bombing return to court after 9-month delay

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After appearing in court in a wheelchair as their trial resumed Tuesday, one of two Uyghur men suspected in a deadly bombing in Bangkok said that his eight years of confinement had taken a toll on his health.   Adem Karadag and co-defendant Yusufu Mieraili have been incarcerated since they were arrested within two weeks of the Aug. 17, 2015, attack at a Buddhist shrine, and they returned to court on Tuesday after a nine-month hiatus in the case, which is still only in the prosecution phase.   While Mieraili walked into…

Expanded Brics’ key message: the West is not the only show in town

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This year’s Brics summit attracted more attention than usual. Argentina, Egypt, Ethiopia, Iran, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates now look set to become members next year, while a raft of other leaders attended. But with both China and Russia in attendance, the focus was on the grouping as an alternative to the established world order, supported by a narrative advanced in the media. Yet, at the same time, Western analysts and officials appear reassured by the inherent illogicality of the grouping. Not only are some core members in…

It’s going to be a struggle to bring foreign tourists back to China

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Before the pandemic, tourism and its related industries played a significant part in China’s economy, contributing around 11 per cent of GDP in 2018 and 2019. But in 2022, the country’s zero-Covid policies meant there were essentially no international travellers, while the government said the revenue generated by domestic tourism was just over a third of pre-pandemic levels. Advertisement Since China scrapped its zero Covid policy in January, domestic tourism has picked up quickly, prompting government think-tanks such as the China Tourism Academy to predict that domestic tourist trips this…

Factories May Be Leaving China, but Trade Ties Are Stronger Than They Seem

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The United States has spent the past five years pushing to reduce its reliance on China for computer chips, solar panels and various consumer imports amid growing concern over Beijing’s security threats, human rights record and dominance of critical industries. But even as policymakers and corporate executives look for ways to cut ties with China, a growing body of evidence suggests that the world’s largest economies remain deeply intertwined as Chinese products make their way to America through other countries. New and forthcoming economic papers call into question whether the…

Chinese scientists look to 6G to hunt submarines, testing device small enough to fit on drone

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The technology “will have significant application potential in underwater vessel detection and other areas,” said the project team with the National University of Defence Technology. Their work was published on August 11 in the Journal of Radars, a Chinese-language peer-reviewed journal 03:54 Beijing denounces US and South Korea plans for nuclear submarine Beijing denounces US and South Korea plans for nuclear submarine Terahertz is a frequency range between microwave and infrared radiation. Terahertz technology has been proposed as a potential solution for achieving high data rates and low latency for…