Asia - Page 4

The enormous popularity of a rap song criticizing the Thai military junta suggests the public is growing exasperated with the military takeover. Thailand’s rulers are contemplating a crackdown that could get ugly fast.

Up to 1,000 Muslims in Indonesia, the world’s most populous Muslim country, took to the streets Friday to “demand justice” for the burning of a flag bearing the Tauhid, an Islamic concept affirming that there is only one God.

Former slave laborer Hui-Chang Roh said the Trump administration should make human rights a priority in talks with the North Korean regime.

Radio Free Asia (RFA), one of the most prolific outlets in covering the ill treatment of China’s Uighur Muslim minority, reported this week that a Uighur television host is facing over a decade in prison for hosting a segment on local poverty.

The government of Taiwan announced a new live-fire drill next month in Taiping Island, a territory disputed by China and Vietnam, the South China Morning Post reported on Tuesday.

Grace Meng, wife of former Interpol President Meng Hongwei, began issuing a series of interviews last week, and most recently spoke to the Associated Press this weekend, urging the Chinese government to provide more information on her husband’s whereabouts and guarantee both of their safeties since Beijing admitted to arrested him early this month.

Contents: Pro-independence rallies in Taiwan press for faster separation from China; China continues massive crackdown on non-indigenous religions; China’s deal with the Vatican stirs concerns in Taiwan

North Korea’s government news agency published a piece Tuesday condemning the United States yet again for refusing to lift sanctions on the rogue state, calling American officials “stubborn” and arguing that sanctions “are misused as tools for meeting party interests” in America.

Police arrested a popular Chinese blogger this weekend for “insulting” the country’s national anthem with an insufficiently melodious performance of it, authorities in Shanghai confirmed.

China’s state media posted several articles on Monday and Tuesday defending its use of internment camps to force ethnic Uighur Muslims to abandon their language and faith, including an interview with an official in western Xinjiang province who claimed the camps were “vocational education institutions” equipped with basketball courts and hairdressing classes.

The leftist government of South Korea banned Kim Myeong-sung, a journalist for South Korea’s largest newspaper who fled North Korea, from covering North-South talks in the border town of Panmunjom occurring Monday.

Contents: China defends million-prisoner ‘reeducation camps’ and Sinicization of Islam in Xinjiang; Brief history of China’s religions

Contents: N. Korea’s Kim Jong-un met Pompeo in a new Rolls-Royce Phantom, violating sanctions; Growth of Ebola cases suddenly surges in DR Congo, threatening Uganda, Rwanda

North Korea’s state newspaper Rodong Sinmun published a belligerent column Friday accusing the U.S. of “murderous” policies against the Korean people, but ensuring that North Korea would survive up to a century of the sanctions it claims are killing its people.

Chinese English-language state publications continued to publish screeds attacking Mike Pence over a week after the vice president issued an address at the Hudson Institute warning of an unprecedented onslaught against America on the part of Beijing.

The chief economist at the International Monetary Fund (IMF) cautioned Pakistan this week against “excessive loans” from its ally, China, citing risks.

Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte ordered the national police to release a report Tuesday accusing seven top members of law enforcement of drug trafficking, allegedly reselling drugs confiscated in raids to turn a profit.

In chess, a limited number of opening moves exist. Both players know this, so neither is really blindsided by the other’s initial move. It is similar to the chess match in which President Donald Trump and North Korean dictator Kim Jong-un are currently engaged — the latter now having made his opening move.

More Islamic State (ISIS/ISIL)-linked foreign fighters are in Southeast Asia now, namely in the southern Philippines’ Muslim-majority Mindanao region, than there ever were during the peak of the U.S.-led wars in Afghanistan and Iraq, the Washington Times reported Sunday, citing the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS).

China’s state-run Global Times lamented the “hysterical” state of U.S. scientific cooperation with China on Monday, dismissing concerns that China has systematically stolen intellectual property from America and claiming that “science belongs to all human beings.”

China’s state-run Global Times fired a shot across the Philippine bow on Friday by reminding President Rodrigo Duterte that his country has a history of violent coups and assassinations, so he really ought to avoid destabilizing activities such as arguing with Beijing about islands in the South China Sea.

China’s state-run Global Times newspaper boasted of Beijing’s expanded presence in Venezuela on Sunday, noting that the “U.S. is skeptical for geopolitical reasons” of growing ties between socialist dictator Nicolás Maduro and Communist Party chief Xi Jinping.

Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte “joked” on Sunday about throwing a government auditor down the stairs to prevent him from doing his job.

Chinese citizens in Beijing, Shanghai, and other major population hubs throughout the country spent the weekend observing Nationwide National Defense Education Day, forced to practice air raid drills to know how to react to a military invasion.

Leftist South Korean President Moon Jae-in has assembled an entourage of over 200 big business CEOs, pop stars, politicians, and journalists to accompany him to Pyongyang on Tuesday for his third summit this year with North Korean dictator Kim Jong-un.

China’s state-run Global Times newspaper reported on Tuesday that the government will shut down all its family planning administrative departments to spend more money on caring for the elderly, relegating family planning control to a new “Department of Demographic Surveillance and Family Development.”

North Korea held a significantly toned-down parade on Sunday for the 70th anniversary of its founding; it lacked the usual display of nuclear-capable weapons but prominently featured China’s special envoy to the country, representing communist leader Xi Jinping.

North Korean dictator Kim Jong-un will seek to project a new image of economic prosperity and greater international diplomacy during the country’s 70th-anniversary celebrations on Sunday, according to reports. 

The North Korean communist regime – through state media, ministry statements, and words attributed to dictator Kim Jong-un – changed its approach towards the United States on Thursday, urging President Donald Trump to restart denuclearization talks.

Two women in Malaysia were publicly caned in a religious court on Monday after they were found guilty of attempted sex with each other in a car. 

Contents: China courts African nations as charges of ‘neo-colonialism’ grow; Is Kenya the next Sri Lanka?; Why China’s mothers are refusing to have a second child

China is reportedly increasing access to Spanish and Portuguese language study to better expand its footprint across Latin America, The Guardian revealed in a report Sunday.

A protest against problems with the education system in the southern Chinese city of Leiyang turned violent on Sunday, with bottles, bricks, and firecrackers reportedly thrown at police by a crowd of 600 demonstrators. The police detained 46 people and said only one of them was actually the parent of a school-age child.

China’s Defense Ministry issued an angry rebuke of American coverage of China’s colonization of the South China Sea, particularly waters belonging to the sovereign territory of other nations. Ministry spokesman Senior Col. Wu Qian insisted on Thursday that American media are “ignoring the positive efforts” China has made in the region.

South Korea’s Gangwon Province faces huge debts after hosting the 2018 Winter Olympics this year, becoming the latest venue to suffer in the aftermath of holding a large-scale international sporting event.

Human rights violations and infringements on the right to life have worsened since North Korean dictator Kim Jong-un came to power in 2012, a new study released on Wednesday has indicated.