DHARAMSALA, India — Tibetan Youth Congress activists protested outside the Chinese Embassy in New Delhi on Friday following the death of revered Tibetan religious leader Tulku Hungkar Dorje while in custody in Vietnam. In Dharamsala, dozens of Tibetan devotees marched in the streets for a candlelight prayer and vigil. tibet-china-protest-vietnam Policemen detain exiled Tibetans protesting against the death of Tulku Hungkar Dorje, a revered Tibetan religious leader, while in custody in Vietnam, outside Chinese embassy in New Delhi, India, April 11, 2025. (Manish Swarup/AP) The Tibetan government-in-exile called Tuesday for…
Day: April 11, 2025
As UN appeals for $275M for quake-hit Myanmar, China weighs in with major donation
As the United Nations called for $275 million in aid for quake-hit Myanmar, neighboring China pledged 1 billion yuan (US$137 million), eclipsing the offers from other international donors. The 7.7-magnitude earthquake, which struck March 28, has killed more than 3,600 people and damaged critical infrastructure across the country of 55 million people. That includes the main rail line between the commercial center, Yangon, the military’s administrative capital, Naypyidaw, and the worst-hit major city of Mandalay. Electricity and clean water supplies have been impacted and thousands of buildings, including hospitals and…
US House committee passes Uyghur Policy Act, again
The U.S. House Foreign Affairs Committee this week approved bipartisan legislation to support Uyghurs and other ethnic minorities subject to human rights abuses by China. The Uyghur Policy Act is the latest legislative effort to protect the rights of persecuted Muslim minority. The U.S. government has determined that China’s treatment of Uyghurs amounts to genocide. The bill is co-sponsored by nine Republicans and Democrats led by Rep. Young Kim and Rep. Ami Bera, who are the chair and ranking member respectively of the House sub-committee for East Asia and the…
Facebook’s Zuckerberg oversaw censorship tool for China: whistleblower
TAIPEI, Taiwan — Meta compromised U.S. national security and freedom of speech to do business with China, a company whistleblower testified before U.S. senators. Sarah Wynn-Williams, a former global policy director at Facebook, told the U.S. Senate on Wednesday that Meta founder Mark Zuckerberg personally designed and implemented a content review tool for Facebook that was used in Hong Kong and Taiwan. The tool, according to her, would automatically submit a Facebook post for review by a “chief editor” whenever it received over 10,000 views. “One thing the Chinese Communist…
Insurgent army executes 5 civilians in northern Myanmar
Read RFA coverage of this topic in Burmese. An insurgent army in northern Myanmar publicly executed five convicted criminals, including a Chinese citizen, residents told Radio Free Asia on Friday. The Myanmar National Democratic Alliance Army, or MNDAA, is one of Shan state’s largest ethnic organizations. It has been fighting for territory since a military junta took power in a 2021 coup, and has largely administered its own justice in the territory, occasionally publicly executing criminals. “One Chinese and four Burmese were shot at the airport, all five were given…
Despite tariff reprieve, Southeast Asian nations still on an economic knife edge
BANGKOK – Vietnam’s economic growth will halve if sharply higher U.S. tariffs are implemented, an expert warned, highlighting the precarious situation for Southeast Asian countries despite a surprise 90-day reprieve from President Donald Trump’s tariff sledgehammer. Southeast Asian nations face some of the highest tariffs threatened by Trump, which would burden even the region’s relatively wealthier countries such as Malaysia and Thailand. With limited options, many are offering concessions to the U.S. and avoiding retaliatory measures. Vietnam, which sends about 30% of its exports to the U.S., is in a…
China’s Xi hikes US tariffs, seeks to bolster relations with Southeast Asian nations
Updated April 11, 2025, 08:55 a.m. ET. BANGKOK – China’s president is heading on a three-nation tour of Southeast Asia after his government hiked tariffs on U.S. goods to 125%, the latest strike in an intensifying trade war that has sunk stock markets and threatens to stunt the global economy. The increase to 125% from 84%, effective Saturday, matches the recent series of duties levied U.S. President Donald Trump levied on China. The White House has said U.S. tariffs on Chinese goods now total 145% when earlier levies that aimed…