A video of an elderly Chinese woman who died outside a Hunan bank after she was required to appear in person to make a withdrawal to pay for her medical expenses has sparked social media outrage over rigid banking regulations that prioritize security over accessibility. The woman who was hospitalized for hemiplegia, a condition in which one half of the person’s body is paralyzed, was brought to the bank in a wheelchair by her family after the bank insisted she come in person to withdraw her fixed deposit of 50,000…
Category: RFA
Mass protest by parents prompts reversal of private school closure in China
A mass protest by parents this week against the planned closure of a private school in northern China prompted a rare reversal by authorities, officials and parents said. Video posted on social media showed hundreds of parents outside the Nangong municipal government building in Hebei province on Sunday, demanding Fengyi Elementary School stay open after learning it was set to close its doors. The planned closure appeared to be part of a broader government effort that began several years ago to scale back private education and boost state-run schools. In…
Myanmar’s ousted government calls for international aid after junta kills hundreds
Myanmar’s ousted civilian government called for international intervention, accusing the military regime of committing “war crimes” by killing nearly 400 people within a month, despite the junta’s declaration of a ceasefire on April 2. From April 3 to May 13, junta airstrikes across 11 of Myanmar’s 14 territories have killed a total of 182 people and injured 298, said the National League for Democracy, or NLD, the party that won a landslide in the 2020 election but was ousted in a coup the following year. The majority of attacks have…
Uyghur bomb suspects still await final trial in Thailand after 10 years in jail
BANGKOK – A Thai court slashed the number of prosecution witnesses for the long-stalled trial of two Uyghur men incarcerated for a decade following the retaliatory bombing of a Bangkok shrine popular with Chinese visitors. Adem Karadag and Yusufu Mieraili, both handcuffed and shackled, appeared Thursday at a Bangkok criminal court for a fresh arraignment aimed at speeding up proceedings in the politically sensitive case. “I still have hope for freedom,” Karadag told Radio Free Asia through a courtroom interpreter. “I want to go anywhere but not to be sent…
India slams China’s renaming of places in its territory as ‘vain and preposterous’
India on Wednesday rejected China’s renaming of 27 places in Arunachal Pradesh as a “vain and preposterous” move, saying its northeastern border state, which Beijing claims is part of Zangnan or southern Tibet, remains an “integral and inalienable” part of the country. On Sunday, China’s Ministry of Civil Affairs released its fifth batch of “standardized” names for over 27 places in Arunachal Pradesh – including mountains, mountain passes, rivers, residential areas, and a lake – in its latest attempt to bolster its claim over the territory that Beijing claims is…
How undersea communication cables surrounding Taiwan could be targeted by China
TAIPEI, Taiwan — Submarine communication cables are critical for modern life: for security, economic prosperity and connecting people. Experts warn that the cables serving Taiwan and its high-tech economy are vulnerable not just to wear-and-tear and accidents, but sabotage. In early 2025, a Chinese cargo ship was suspected of damaging the submarine cables between Taiwan and its outlying Penghu islands in the Taiwan Strait. That incident highlighted the risks facing self-ruling Taiwan, which China claims as part of its territory, from so-called “gray-zone” activities – acts of aggression against an…
US deep sea mining plan would likely violate international law
BANGKOK – The Trump administration plan to allow mining of deep sea metals in the Pacific Ocean would unequivocally violate international law, experts said, making any attempt to sell the minerals – used in batteries, weapons and smartphones – open to challenge by other nations. President Donald Trump last month signed an executive order to speed development of the contentious deep sea mining industry, including in off-limits international waters governed by a treaty most nations are signatory to. The order said action is needed to “counter China’s growing influence over…
Activist records destruction of Cambodian ‘protected’ forest, tree by tree
The destruction of the forest is recorded with forensic precision. Environmental activist Ma Chetra photographs the stump of each felled tree. In each shot, there’s a global positioning device to display each tree’s coordinates and a tape measure showing the width of each trunk – up to 1.5 meters (5 feet) in some cases. The evidence appears indisputable that about 200 towering sentinels of the Preah Roka Wildlife Sanctuary in northern Cambodia’s Preah Vihear province have been cut down. Ma Chetra’s video shows felled tree trunks waiting to be dragged…
Junta bombs rebel territory in western Myanmar, kills children, elderly
A junta jet bombed a rebel-controlled village in western Myanmar on Tuesday, killing more than a dozen civilians, an official from the Arakan Army, or AA, and residents told Radio Free Asia. The AA, which controls 14 of Rakhine State’s 17 townships, has faced escalating junta assaults involving airstrikes, village burnings, travel restrictions, and the blocking of vital supplies such as food and medicine. In AA-controlled Rathedaung township, a junta jet bombed Htun Ya Wai village just after 10 a.m., a person close to the AA told RFA. “13 dead…
Taiwan test fires new U.S.-supplied rocket system for first time
TAIPEI, Taiwan — Taiwan’s military test-fired for the first time on Monday a new U.S.-supplied rocket system intended to stiffen its defenses against China. The self-ruling island received its first batch of the U.S.-made High Mobility Artillery Rocket System, or HIMARS, last year. The same system has been used by Ukraine in its war against Russia. Taiwan conducted the tests during an annual missile exercise, firing the projectiles into oceans off the south of the island. Taiwan faces growing pressure from China’s expanding warfare capabilities, as Beijing seeks to assert…