Human Rights Watch on Friday accused Vietnam of kidnapping a blogger critical of the communist government who was living as a refugee in Thailand. Thai Van Duong, who fled to Thailand in 2019 to escape Vietnamese authorities and was subsequently given refugee status, disappeared last week. According to Vietnamese state media, the 41-year-old is now in custody in Vietnam after being detained for “illegally entering” the country through an unofficial border crossing close to Laos […]
Asia
China lodges complaint over S. Korean president’s Taiwan remarks
China on Sunday said it had lodged a complaint with Seoul over South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol’s “erroneous” remarks about Taiwan, as a diplomatic spat simmers between the Asian neighbours. Beijing and Seoul have traded barbs over a Reuters interview with Yoon this month, in which he called tensions between China and Taiwan a “global issue” similar to North Korea and blamed recent heightened tensions on “attempts to change the status quo by force”. […]
China blasts potential US investment curbs as ‘economic coercion’
Beijing accused the United States Friday of “naked economic coercion and technological bullying”, in response to Washington’s potential new restrictions on US firms’ ability to invest in Chinese entities. The Biden administration is considering a programme to restrict certain US outbound investments involving specific sensitive technology with significant national security implications. Beijing’s ambitions in the tech sector have already been hit by existing measures imposed by Washington and its allies, with Chinese authorities doubling down […]
China FM warns of ‘dangerous consequences’ of Taiwan criticism
Criticising China over Taiwan will have dangerous consequences, Foreign Minister Qin Gang warned Friday, as he insisted Beijing is a “growing force for peace and justice”. Two weeks ago, China launched three days of military exercises around Taiwan — simulating targeted strikes and a blockade of the island — in response to a meeting between Taiwanese President Tsai Ing-wen and US House Speaker Kevin McCarthy. “Recently, there has been some absurd rhetoric accusing China… of […]
Jack Ma accepts university teaching post in Hong Kong
Jack Ma, founder of Chinese tech giant Alibaba, has been made an honorary professor of business at a top Hong Kong university, the school announced Friday. The appointment comes weeks after the billionaire made a rare public appearance in China following his fall from grace during a government crackdown on the tech industry over two years ago. Ma has kept a low profile since late 2020, when a speech he made attacking Chinese regulators was […]
Japan PM says security balance ‘difficult’ after attack
by Sara HUSSEIN Striking the right balance on security for politicians is “very difficult”, Japan’s Prime Minister Fumio Kishida said in an interview Thursday, days after he escaped an attack unharmed while campaigning. Security around officials was tightened after the assassination of former prime minister Shinzo Abe last year, but a man was still able to throw an apparent pipe bomb towards Kishida on Saturday. The incident shows “the challenge of how much distance politicians, […]
Seoul says military aid for Ukraine ‘depends on Russia’
SEOUL, South Korea (AFP) — South Korea’s decision on whether to send military aid to Kyiv depends on Russia’s actions, Seoul’s presidential office said Thursday, adding that a possible large-scale civilian attack could tip the balance. Seoul has a long-standing policy against providing weapons to countries in active conflict, which it has repeatedly said makes it difficult to supply arms directly to Ukraine. South Korea has supported the US-led sanctions on Moscow and has sent […]
Yemen stampede during charity distribution kills 85
SANAA, Yemen (AFP) — More than 80 people were killed and hundreds injured in a crush at a charity distribution event in war-torn Yemen on Thursday, Huthi officials said after one of the deadliest stampedes in a decade. The latest tragedy to strike the Arabian Peninsula’s poorest country came days ahead of Eid al-Fitr, a Muslim holiday celebrated around the world by feasting to mark the end of the fasting month of Ramadan. Hundreds of […]
Thailand air pollution leads millions to seek medical help
BANGKOK, Thailand (AFP) — About 2.4 million people in Thailand have sought hospital treatment for medical problems linked to air pollution since the start of the year, health officials said, as toxic smog chokes parts of the country. Bangkok and the northern city of Chiang Mai were among the most polluted cities in the world on Thursday morning, according to air quality monitoring firm IQAir. The poor air quality has seen 2.4 million people seek […]
Family planning in India: A woman’s burden
Bhoodbaral, India (AFP) by Aishwarya KUMAR Occasional screams sounded from the operating theatre in a rural Indian clinic as a heavily sedated woman named Kajal waited to have her tubes tied, long the country’s preferred family planning method. “The anaesthesia must not have kicked in,” one healthcare worker said outside the facility in the northern village of Bhoodbaral, where a line of women in colourful headscarves waited to undergo the 50-minute procedure, which in India’s […]
Russia warns South Korea against arming Ukraine
Moscou, Russia | AFP | Russia on Wednesday warned South Korea against sending weapons to Ukraine after Seoul opened the door to possible military aid to Kyiv in the event of a large-scale civilian attack. An ally of Washington, Seoul has provided non-lethal and humanitarian assistance to Ukraine, but has so far ruled out military aid. But South Korea’s President Yoon Suk Yeol told Reuters on Wednesday that “if there is a situation the international […]
‘Hotter and hotter’: Swathes of Asia sweat in heatwave
Bangkok, Thailand | AFP | Wednesday 4/19/2023 Sweltering under a blistering sun, people across South and Southeast Asia have been taking cover beneath any shelter they can find as they pray for cooling rains with record temperatures hitting the region. Bangladesh saw its highest temperature for almost 60 years in the past week, while in India at least 13 people died from heatstroke along with two in Thailand, according to local media. “It’s hotter and […]
