Tag: Politics and Government

Did China Help Vancouver’s Mayor Win Election?

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VANCOUVER, British Columbia — Every day when he arrives at his office in City Hall, Mayor Ken Sim stares at a prominent black-and-white photograph of Chinese railway workers toiling on the tracks in British Columbia in 1884. Mr. Sim, the son of Hong Kong immigrants, said the workers’ weathered faces are a daily reminder of the symbolic importance of his election as Vancouver’s first Chinese Canadian mayor, and of just how far Chinese Canadians have come. Six months ago, his historic landslide victory was widely lauded, viewed as the triumph…

Your Wednesday Briefing: A Deep Look at Korean Comfort Women

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South Korea’s brutal sex trade The euphemism “comfort women” typically describes South Korean women who were forced into sexual slavery by the Japanese during World War II. But long after Japan’s colonial rule ended, the sexual exploitation continued with Korean and American soldiers. After South Korea’s Supreme Court last year ordered the government to compensate 100 of the comfort women, the victims now aim to take their case to the U.S. Their legal strategy is unclear, as is what recourse they may find. Park Geun-ae, who was sold to a pimp…

Marcos Makes Mark on Foreign Policy in Push for Closer U.S.-Philippines Ties

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Before becoming president of the Philippines, Ferdinand Marcos Jr. warned that “if you let the U.S. come in, you make China your enemy.” But as he sat at the White House on Monday, President Biden feted him as a top ally, saying there was no better partner that Washington could have. Mr. Marcos — in office for not even a year — has emerged as one of the Philippines’ most transformative foreign policy presidents, switching from a diplomatic tightrope to a forceful pivot toward Washington in the intensifying rivalry with…

A Chinese Ambassador’s Comments on Ex-Soviet States Draw Ire

Chin@Strategy

France summoned the Chinese ambassador to Paris, Lu Shaye, on Monday to explain his controversial remarks on French television questioning the sovereignty of post-Soviet nations. The Baltic States, Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania, said that they would also send for China’s envoys to the three countries to discuss the matter. China’s Foreign Ministry tried to repair the damage on Monday, insisting that it recognized the sovereignty of all the former Soviet republics that have declared independence, including Ukraine. “China respects the sovereign status of former Soviet republics after the Soviet Union’s…

The Sunday Read: ‘The Daring Ruse That Exposed China’s Campaign to Steal American Secrets’

Chin@Strategy

In March 2017, an engineer at G.E. Aviation in Cincinnati received a request on LinkedIn. The engineer, Hua, is in his 40s, tall and athletic, with a boyish face that makes him look a decade younger. He moved to the United States from China in 2003 for graduate studies in structural engineering. The LinkedIn request came from Chen Feng, a school official at the Nanjing University of Aeronautics and Astronautics, in eastern China. Days later, Chen sent him an email inviting him to the university to give a research presentation.…

Pressure Mounts on China to Offer Debt Relief to Poor Countries Facing Default

Chin@Strategy

WASHINGTON — China, under growing pressure from top international policymakers, appeared to indicate this week that it is ready to make concessions that would unlock a global effort to restructure hundreds of billions of dollars of debt owed by poor countries. China has lent more than $500 billion to developing countries through its lending program, making it one of the world’s largest creditors. Many of those countries, including several in Africa, have struggled economically in the wake of the pandemic and face the possibility of defaulting on their debt payments.…

Pressure Mounts on China to Offer Debt Relief to Poor Countries Facing Default

Chin@Strategy

WASHINGTON — China, under growing pressure from top international policymakers, appeared to indicate this week that it is ready to make concessions that would unlock a global effort to restructure hundreds of billions of dollars of debt owed by poor countries. China has lent more than $500 billion to developing countries through its lending program, making it one of the world’s largest creditors. Many of those countries, including several in Africa, have struggled economically in the wake of the pandemic and face the possibility of defaulting on their debt payments.…

Lonely Cry for Action as China Locks Up Japanese Citizens on Spy Charges

Chin@Strategy

Hideji Suzuki served six years in a Chinese prison on spying charges — a sentence that stemmed, he said, from a dinner party where he did nothing more than try to make small talk with a Chinese academic about North Korea. Since returning to Japan in October, he has tried to raise the alarm about China’s seemingly arbitrary detentions of Japanese citizens. He is one of 17 Japanese nationals detained on similar charges since 2015, but the only one to speak out about his experience and what he describes as…

Macron Says France Backs Status Quo on Taiwan

Chin@Strategy

President Emmanuel Macron said on Wednesday that France’s position toward Taiwan remained unchanged, but he stood by comments he made on the island’s security that dismayed some allies after he returned from a trip to China and insisted that Europe could not be a “vassal” of the United States. “France’s position and the European position on Taiwan is the same,” Mr. Macron said at a news conference in Amsterdam on the second day of a state visit to the Netherlands. “We are for the status quo. This policy is constant…

Montana’s Plan to Bank TikTok Is a Preview for the Rest of the Country

Chin@Strategy

Lawmakers in Washington are pushing for an outright ban of TikTok on American soil. Montana might beat them to it. The state’s Legislature is further along than any other body in the United States to passing a ban of the popular Chinese-owned video app, which has faced scrutiny for whether it is handing sensitive data about Americans to Beijing. A Montana bill to block the app was introduced in February, and the State Senate approved it last month. The State House, where the bill has a strong chance of passing…