Month: March 2025

India, Mauritius upgrade strategic ties with eye on China

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NEW DELHI —  India and Mauritius have upgraded their ties, say leaders of both countries — a move analysts say is aimed at increasing New Delhi’s influence in the Indian Ocean as it seeks to counter China’s expanding footprint in the region. The announcement of upgraded ties came during a two-day visit by Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi to Mauritius, an island nation that sits along vital seaways in the western Indian Ocean. Modi, who was chief guest at Mauritius’s National Day celebrations on Wednesday, said that the countries had…

Vietnam, Singapore agree to boost ties, cooperation on subsea cables

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HANOI, VIETNAM —  Singapore and Vietnam on Wednesday agreed to enhance cooperation in subsea cables, finance, and energy, marking an upgrade in their relations to Vietnam’s highest level, during a visit by its Communist Party Chief To Lam to the city-state. Singapore is the third Southeast Asian nation, after Malaysia and Indonesia, with which Vietnam has established a “comprehensive strategic relationship.” In a joint statement released following the upgrade, Lam and Singapore’s Prime Minister Lawrence Wong witnessed the exchange of six agreements and discussed cooperation in undersea cable development, digital…

China boosting development of AI for use in trade war with US

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NEW DELHI —  Encouraged by the enthusiastic reception to its DeepSeek artificial intelligence platform in January, China’s leaders are going all out to encourage AI companies to harness the power of this technology to compete with the United States and other countries in business and military spheres. China considers AI an important tool to handle U.S. restrictions on Chinese business, particularly after DeepSeek shook up Wall Street, resulting in a loss of $589 billion for Nvidia stockholders in late January. “The government in China works directly with the private sector…

Australia rules out reciprocal move on US after Trump proceeds with steel tariffs

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SYDNEY —  Australia will not impose reciprocal tariffs on the United States, Prime Minister Anthony Albanese said on Wednesday, after President Donald Trump ruled out exemptions or exceptions for all countries on steel and aluminum tariffs. Trump said in February he would “give great consideration” to exempting Australia from the tariffs in view of the U.S. annual trade surplus with the country, following a phone call with Albanese. However, on Tuesday the White House announced that the previously planned 25% tariffs on all imported steel and aluminum products into the…

VOA Mandarin: US House passes bill to restrict use of Chinese-made batteries

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The U.S. House of Representatives unanimously passed two bills involving China. One will restrict the Department of Homeland Security from purchasing batteries made by Chinese companies. The other will set up a working group in the Department of Homeland Security to monitor and respond to threats from China. The bills will now await consideration by the Senate. Click here for the full story in Mandarin. Voice of America

VOA Mandarin: As China NPC closes, dissidents on ‘forced holidays’ to be sent home

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China wrapped up its week-long National Party Congress meetings on Tuesday, where its nearly 3,000 representatives cast votes to pass a total of seven bills in half an hour. Analysts called China’s two sessions a rubber-stamp political gathering, where many dissidents have been placed on “forced holidays” outside of Beijing so that their voice would not be heard. One dissident told VOA he will be sent home one day after the NPC’s closure on Tuesday. Click here for the full story in Mandarin. Voice of America

Fate of 8 Uyghurs in Thailand in limbo after 40 deported to China

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BANGKOK —  Human rights advocates say at least some of the eight ethnic minority Uyghurs who remain in Thailand’s custody since authorities deported 40 others to China last month are at risk of the same fate. After weeks of denying it was planning to repatriate any of the 48 Chinese Uyghurs it had held since arresting them for illegal entry in 2014, Thailand abruptly turned 40 of them over to China on Feb. 27. The United States, United Nations and international rights groups strongly condemned Thailand for sending Uyghurs back…

Dalai Lama says his successor to be born outside China

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NEW DELHI —  The Dalai Lama’s successor will be born outside China, the spiritual leader of Tibetan Buddhism says in a new book, raising the stakes in a dispute with Beijing over control of the Himalayan region he fled more than six decades ago. Tibetans worldwide want the institution of the Dalai Lama to continue after the 89-year-old’s death, he writes in “Voice for the Voiceless,” which was reviewed by Reuters and is being released on Tuesday. He had previously said the line of spiritual leaders might end with him.…

Chinese warships circumnavigate another island: Australia

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Having built the world’s largest navy, China is keen to show it off. But officials from Australia and New Zealand have been startled in recent days by the way it has been flaunting itself in Oceania. On February 21st a commercial pilot flying over the Tasman Sea received a surprise warning from a Chinese navy task-force in international waters that it was engaging in live-fire drills. Airlines scrambled to divert planes. Since then, the two Chinese warships and one supply vessel have staged an unprecedented circumnavigation of Australia, fuelling political…

A new film is breaking box-office records in China

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Film-makers in China have long tried to find the secret sauce for movies that wow audiences while pleasing the Communist Party. The epics that evolved became known as zhuxuanlu, or “main melody” films, because they are in tune with the party line. But the heavy doses of patriotism that they usually involve have fallen out of favour. Instead, one Beijing studio has struck gold with a cartoon reimagining the tale of a “demon child” from a 16th-century novel. The Economist