2021-05-26
The people of Myanmar have been hit this year by a double whammy of a deadly new wave of the coronavirus and a military coup, which added political turmoil and military violence to their already difficult lives and poverty as result of decades of war in border regions and mismanagement by the same army that seized power on Feb. 1.
2021-05-21
The factories that drive China's dominant share of global production of polysilicon, a key component of the photovoltaic cells in solar panels that convert sunlight into energy, are nearly all based in Xinjiang. Recent studies have linked Xinjiang’s booming solar energy sector to job-training programs accused of using Uyghur involuntary labor, forcing the world to weigh the environmental benefits of clean energy against the cost in human suffering.
2021-05-07
China, a relative latecomer in space exploration, derives great national pride from its hard-charging program, including plans to build a space station by late 2022. But a 21-ton stage of the Long March 5B rocket that launched the “Heavenly Harmony” core module into low Earth orbit on April 29 is now tumbling through space and is set to make an uncontrolled re-entry between May 8-12.
2021-04-29
China's Communist Party, with a long history of revising and whitewashing history to serve contemporary political needs, is sparing no effort to glorify its past and cover up tragic periods in the run up to its 100th anniversary on July 1, 2021. People who present a less-than-rosy view of the CCP's past can face legal punishment for distorting party history or defaming Communist heroes. The Cyberspace Administration of China recently launched a website and hotline for citizens to report “historical nihilism,” defined as any departure from the party line.
2021-04-26
Chinese-born director Chloe Zhao won an Oscar for best director for her movie Nomadland, but her pathbreaking achievement went largely unreported in China's state media, while government censors deleted references to her win from social media. Beijing, which often seeks to take credit for the achievements of Chinese people around the world, took umbrage at Zhao, 39, for an interview she gave with Filmmaker magazine in 2013, where she called her native country "a place where there are lies everywhere."
2021-04-19
A Radio Free Asia investigation of government procurement contracts shows that Sansha City — which administers China's outposts in the contested South China Sea — is acquiring cutting-edge hardware, equipment, software, and materials from the United States and other foreign countries, helping Beijing assert its sweeping maritime and territorial claims in waters also claimed by Vietnam, the Philippines and others.
2021-04-15
A photo released by the U.S. Navy showing naval officers calmly watching China's training aircraft carrier Liaoning passing south of Japan in the East China Sea from just a few thousand yards away was taken by analysts as a sign that the U.S. military is dismissive of its Chinese counterparts. One military pundit called it "cognitive warfare."
2021-04-05
The Chinese Communist Party’s heavy-handed drive to stamp out the religious identities of Tibetan Buddhists and Muslim Uyghurs is increasingly being directed at the country’s growing Christian population. State security police and religious affairs officials frequently raid unofficial "house churches" that aren't members of the CCP-controlled Three-Self Patriotic Association, and recently it was revealed that Christians are being detained in secretive, mobile "transformation" facilities to make them renounce their faith.
2021-04-01
North Korea's launch of a new type of tactical short-range ballistic missile--testing that is banned by UN resolutions--drew criticism from the UN Security Council’s sanctions committee, but did not alter Washington's approach to Pyongyang amid a policy review. Asked if President Joe Biden plans to include “sitting with President Kim Jong Un” in his diplomacy, White House press secretary Jen Psaki said: “That is not his intention.”
2021-03-26
China has reacted furiously to ethical sourcing policies of global fashion retailers including H&M, Nike, and Adidas avoiding the use of cotton produced in Xinjiang over forced labor concerns. Beijing's response has included sanctions on foreign scholars who've documented abuses and mass internment of Xinjiang's Uyghurs, a Communist Youth League-inspired boycott of the brands, and "patriotic" pressure campaigns to force celebrities to renounce their paid endorsements of the labels.
