Read RFA coverage of this topic in Burmese. Some families have waited one month, hoping to receive critical aid in the aftermath of Myanmar’s earthquake, which killed over 3,700 people, victims and aid groups told Radio Free Asia. Myanmar’s military has been accused of hampering aid efforts by preventing international and local rescue groups from entering earthquake-stricken areas and demanding that groups distribute essential items like food and temporary shelter through junta officials. One resident in Mandalay, the country’s second-largest city and close to the epicenter of the earthquake, said…
Category: RFA
China, Philippines raise rival flags on disputed South China Sea sandbank
TAIPEI, Taiwan – China and the Philippines have staged rival flag-raising displays on a contested sandbank in the South China Sea, further escalating tensions between the two nations. The standoff occurred at Sandy Cay, near the Philippines’ outpost of Thitu Island, right when the U.S. and the Philippines launched their annual “Balikatan” military drills, which for the first time include an integrated air and missile defense simulation. Sandy Cay holds strategic value because its 12-nautical-mile territorial zone under international law overlaps with the area around Thitu Island, a key site…
Three Uyghur men detained in Thailand are resettled in Canada
BANGKOK – Three Uyghur men with Kyrgyz passports who languished in Thai detention for more than a decade were resettled in Canada earlier this month, an advocacy group said Monday, avoiding the fate of dozens of Uygurs deported from Thailand to China. The men were among more than 300 Uyghurs who fled China in 2014, where the ethnic minority faces sustained persecution, only to be apprehended by authorities in Thailand, setting off a prolonged tug-of-war over their fate. As recently as February, Thailand deported 40 Uyghur men to China, triggering…
Leaders of Japan, Vietnam discuss free trade in the face of tariff tensions
UPDATED 28 April, 2025, 11:15 a.m. ET BANGKOK – Japanese Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba has been talking up the benefits of free trade, in the face of a China-U.S. tariff war that threatens the global economy, during a meeting with Vietnam’s top leader To Lam in Hanoi. The Trump administration’s decision to tax Chinese imports 145% and China’s 125% retaliation on U.S. goods has created what Ishiba called “a complex and multifaceted crisis,” in an article for Vietnam’s Tuoi Tre newspaper. Cooperation between Japan and Vietnam would contribute to regional…
Hong Kong permits vocal China critic cardinal to attend Pope Francis’s funeral
Hong Kong’s Cardinal Joseph Zen, previously arrested under the Beijing-imposed national security law, was allowed to leave the city to attend Pope Francis’ funeral in an apparent show of leniency for the retired bishop known for being a vocal critic of China’s interference in church affairs. Zen, 93, departed for Vatican City on Wednesday evening after a court granted the temporary return of his passport, which was confiscated after his arrest in 2022 for allegedly colluding with foreign forces and endangering national security, two sources told Radio Free Asia. Cardinal…
US takes step towards deep sea mining in international waters
BANGKOK – U.S. President Donald Trump has ordered his administration to speed development of the deep sea mining industry, including in international waters governed by a U.N. treaty that most nations are signatory to. A Trump executive order signed Thursday says the U.S. must “counter China’s growing influence over seabed mineral resources,” – namely the potato sized nodules that carpet vast areas of the seabed and contain rare earths and minerals such as nickel, cobalt and manganese. Like Trump’s tariff shock therapy, the deep sea mining policy threatens to upend…
400 bombs dropped during junta ‘ceasefire’ in Myanmar: rebel group
Read RFA coverage of this story in Burmese. In the nearly three weeks since Myanmar’s military declared a ceasefire to assist earthquake recovery, it has dropped more than 400 bombs on Rakhine state, according to an insurgent army in the country’s embattled west. The state is home to one of Myanmar’s largest and most powerful ethnic rebel groups, the Arakan Army, or AA. It has seen escalating conflict in all 17 of its townships since Myanmar’s junta seized power from the country’s democratically-elected government in 2021. “Instead of honoring their…
China rolls back tariffs on some US goods: media
TAIPEI, Taiwan – China appears to be quietly removing 125% retaliatory tariffs on some U.S. imports, including semiconductors, media reports said, following President Donald Trump’s recent signals that high levies on Chinese goods could be reduced. The U.S. this month imposed tariffs of 145% on Chinese imports, prompting China to retaliate with tariffs reaching 125% on American goods – a tit-for-tat trade battle that threatens to stunt the global economy. The U.S. also has imposed new tariffs on most other countries. Chinese authorities have implemented tariff exemptions for eight types…
The story of one of Buddhism’s most revered figures, long missing, explained
The young boy who was abducted as a 6-year-old turned 36 on Friday. What he does, where he lives or even if he’s still alive isn’t known, thanks to the reticence of the Chinese government, which kidnapped him along with his family and his teacher 30 years ago. Beijing leaders, ever wary of potential rivals for the Communist Party’s authority, viewed the boy, Gedhun Choekyi Nyima, as a possible threat. Days earlier the Dalai Lama had named him the 11th reincarnation of the Panchen Lama, the second-highest spiritual leader in…
China, ASEAN ‘committed’ to having legally binding sea code by 2026: Manila
TAIPEI, Taiwan – China and Southeast Asian nations are “politically committed” to establishing legally binding rules for their conduct in the South China Sea by next year, the Philippines’ foreign affairs secretary said, despite two decades of inconclusive discussions. A code of conduct aims to establish a framework for ensuring peace in the South China Sea where Beijing’s expansive territorial claims overlap with the exclusive economic zones of some Southeast Asian countries including the Philippines and Vietnam. “Everyone has agreed that we would all like to have a code by…