US puts record number of eyes in the skies off China coast in July

  • Beijing-based think tank counts 50 sorties by American military aircraft over South China Sea in first three weeks
  • Numerous reconnaissance flights have ventured close to Chinese airspace on southern coast
American E-8C surveillance planes have made multiple flights close to the Chinese coast in the past week. Photo: Handout
American E-8C surveillance planes have made multiple flights close to the Chinese coast in the past week. Photo: Handout

America Both in Crisis and on Trial

Jarrett Stepman @JarrettStepman / July 26, 2020 / Daily Signal

Activists burn U.S. flags at Black Lives Matter Plaza near the White House on July 4 in Washington, D.C. (Photo: Alex Wong/Getty Images)

COMMENTARY BY

Jarrett Stepman@JarrettStepman

Jarrett Stepman is a contributor to The Daily Signal and co-host of The Right Side of History podcast. Send an email to Jarrett. He is also the author of the new book, “The War on History: The Conspiracy to Rewrite America’s Past.”

Were the Founding Fathers heroes or villains?

While this dichotomy perhaps oversimplifies our attitude toward the founding generation, one would imagine that most Americans think that their country’s origin is fundamentally good.

Tiếp tục đọc “America Both in Crisis and on Trial”

News Analysis: How bad could U.S.-China relations get?

President Trump, left, Michael R. Pompeo, Steven T. Mnuchin and Robert Lighthizer walk to the White House Rose Garden May 29.

By ALICE SUTRACY WILKINSONJULY 26, 202010:29 AMBEIJING —   LATimes

Fears are rising on both sides of the Pacific that the U.S. and China could be headed for a total breakdown of relations and even outright conflict within the next few months.

As the two powers ordered the closure of each other’s consulates in Houston and Chengdu last week amid allegations of espionage, Secretary of State Michael R. Pompeo called for the end of “engagement,” a policy that has defined U.S.-China relations for nearly five decades — and is considered one of the Republican establishment’s most important foreign-policy achievements in recent history.

“We, the freedom-loving nations of the world, must induce China to change,” Pompeo said in a speech delivered Thursday at a pointedly chosen site, the Richard Nixon Presidential Library and Museum in Yorba Linda. Nixon was the first president to reach out to China, in 1972.

Tiếp tục đọc “News Analysis: How bad could U.S.-China relations get?”

Trade surplus reaches record of $5.46 billion

Update: July, 18/2020 – 07:18|VNSWorkers of Foster Electric Vietnam Co Ltd on a production line. The total import-export value of the whole country in June reached US$43.28 billion, up 15.8 per cent over May. — VNA/VNS Photo Thống Nhất

HÀ NỘI — Việt Nam recorded a trade surplus of US$5.46 billion in the first half of this year, the highest six-month surplus ever recorded, data of the General Department of Customs this week showed.

Việt Nam’s import and export activities recovered strongly in June, signalling a more optimistic outlook for the country’s foreign trade in the latter half of this year, especially as many countries have started easing COVID-19 control measures and are accelerating the recovery process.

Tiếp tục đọc “Trade surplus reaches record of $5.46 billion”

Vietnam transport ministry launches call for tender for North-South Expressway

Ngoc Thuy

The Hanoitimes – All five sub-projects under the North-South Expressway project would be operated under the PPP mechanism, scheduled to commence in early 2021.

Vietnam’s Ministry of Transport (MoT) today [July 16] issued bidding documents for five sub-components under the North-South Expressway project, local media reported.

 Vietnam transport ministry launches call for tender for North-South Expressway.

Vice Minister of Transport Nguyen Nhat said bidders would have two months to prepare for their tenders and submit the documents in September, adding the evaluation process is scheduled to complete by December.

Additionally, bidders would have six months to mobilize capital for these projects worth a combined VND22.35 trillion (US$961.28 million), which is a condition for contract award if their bids are accepted, stated Nhat.

Tiếp tục đọc “Vietnam transport ministry launches call for tender for North-South Expressway”

Điều gì khiến giới trẻ -Thế hệ Z ở châu Á Thái Bình Dương trở nên khác biệt ?

English: What makes Asia−Pacific’s Generation Z different ?

Thế hệ Z, (sinh năm 1996 – 2012), ở Châu Á Thái Bình Dương không giống những anh chị em khác. Đây là những gì chúng ta cần biết.

Thế hệ Z đang đạt đến độ tuổi trưởng thành. Tính đến năm 2025, nhóm người này sẽ chiếm ¼ dân số khu vực Châu Á – Thái Bình Dương (APAC) – giống như Thế hệ millennials (thế hệ Y) (người sinh năm 1980 – 1995). Và khi trưởng thành, thế hệ Z sẽ làm ra và tiêu nhiều tiền hơn. Mặc dù thế hệ Z có rất nhiều phẩm chất với thế hệ Y, nhưng thật sai lầm nếu nghĩ họ đơn giản chỉ là phiên bản trẻ hơn. Thế hệ Z có những nét đặc trưng độc đáo riêng. Vì một điều không giống thế hệ Y là Z bước vào tuổi trưởng thành trong một đại dịch toàn cầu. Tuy nhiên số liệu nhân khẩu học cho thấy đến năm 2025, hai nhóm người này sẽ chiếm một nửa số người tiêu dùng của Châu Á Thái Bình Dương.

Trong nỗ lực tìm hiểu những cách khác biệt mà thế hệ Z nghiên cứu, cân nhắc, mua và sử dụng các sản phẩm, nửa cuối năm 2019 McKinsey thực hiện cuộc khảo sát cho thấy hơn 16,000 người tiêu dùng ở 6 nước – Australia, Trung Quốc, Indonesia, Nhật Bản, Hàn Quốc và Thái Lan. 1 Sau đó chúng ta so sánh kết quả giữa 3 thế hệ – Gen Z, Gen Y và Gen X (người sinh năm 1965 – 1979). Cuộc khảo sát đã hỏi người được hỏi về thái độ chung của họ đối với các thương hiệu, việc mua sắm, kỹ thuật số và truyền thông cũng như những quan điểm của họ về thế giới. Cuộc khảo sát cũng hỏi những câu hỏi cụ thể về thói quen mua sắm và các thương hiệu cho những hạng mục được chọn. Tiếp tục đọc “Điều gì khiến giới trẻ -Thế hệ Z ở châu Á Thái Bình Dương trở nên khác biệt ?”

Hiệp ước về ô nhiễm không khí thành công nhất từng biết đến trên thế giới

English:The Most Successful Air Pollution Treaty You’ve Never Heard Of

Sự đồng thuận quốc tế về các vấn đề môi trường xuyên biên giới rất khó đạt được, nhưng 40 năm Công ước về Ô nhiễm không khí xuyên biên giới dài hạn (hay gọi là LRTAP- Long-Range Transboundary Air-Pollution –trong giới chuyên gia phát triển) rất thành công, nếu phần lớn không được biết đến, đã thành công trong cuộc chiến chống ô nhiễm không khí và biến đổi khí hậu. Công ước cũng đưa đến việc làm không khí sạch hơn và những khu rừng, đất và hồ nhiều sức sống hơn ở Bắc Mỹ và ngăn chặn 600.000 ca tử vong sớm hàng năm ở châu Âu.

Ngày 26 tháng 2, Trung tâm quản trị và Trung tâm Ross cho thành phố bền vững của WRI – của World Resource Institute, sẽ thảo luận những bài học mà các thành phố có thể sử dụng từ LRTAP tại Hội thảo về quản trị xanh. Các diễn giả từ WRI, Cơ quan bảo vệ môi trường và NASA Goddard sẽ nêu bật các chiến lược không khí xuyên biên giới và những ví dụ từ các thành phố trên khắp thế giới.
Tiếp tục đọc “Hiệp ước về ô nhiễm không khí thành công nhất từng biết đến trên thế giới”

Singaporean Yeo Jun Wei pleads guilty in US to working for Chinese intelligence

  • Yeo Jun Wei, also known as Dickson Yeo, admitted to using his business as a front for collecting information
  • He was recruited by Chinese intelligence while working as an academic at the National University of Singapore
The Chinese flag flies behind barbed wire at the Chinese Consulate General in San Francisco. Photo: AFP
The Chinese flag flies behind barbed wire at the Chinese Consulate General in San Francisco. Photo: AFP
A Singapore national on Friday pleaded guilty to using his political consultancy in the United States as a front to collect information for Chinese intelligence, the US Justice Department announced.

Yeo Jun Wei, also known as Dickson Yeo, entered his plea in federal court in Washington to one charge of operating illegally as a foreign agent.

Tiếp tục đọc “Singaporean Yeo Jun Wei pleads guilty in US to working for Chinese intelligence”

US Secretary of State Pompeo Delivers a Speech on China at the Richard Nixon Presidential Library (July 23, 2020) – US Attorney General Barr’s Remarks on China Policy at the Gerald R. Ford Presidential Museum (July 17, 2020)

US Secretary of State Pompeo Delivers a Speech on China at the Richard Nixon Presidential Library (July 23, 2020)

 
Also, Secretary Pompeo remarks to the media (July 16, 2020)

 
Secretary Pompeo Delivers a Speech on “Unalienable Rights and the Securing of Freedom” (July 16, 2020) at min. 11:18

 
Attorney General Barr’s Remarks on China Policy at the Gerald R. Ford Presidential Museum (July 17, 2020)

Rapid deterioration of US-China relations

Excerpt from wikipedia

Rapid deterioration[edit]

See also: Second Cold War

Michael D. Swaine argued in 2019 that:The U.S.-China relationship is confronting its most daunting challenge in the forty years since the two countries established diplomatic ties. Current trends portend steadily worsening relations over the long term, with increasingly adverse consequences for all actors involved. Specifically, Beijing and Washington are transitioning from a sometimes contentious yet mutually beneficial relationship to an increasingly antagonistic, mutually destructive set of interactions. The often positive and optimistic forces, interests, and beliefs that sustained bilateral ties for decades are giving way to undue pessimism, hostility, and a zero-sum mindset in almost every area of engagement.[200]

Tiếp tục đọc “Rapid deterioration of US-China relations”

Da Nang braces for extensive Covid-19 testing

BViet Tuan   July 24, 2020 | 10:37 pm GMT+7Da Nang braces for extensive Covid-19 testingMedical staff at a Covid-19 quarantine area at Da Nang General Hospital in Da Nang, central Vietnam, January 2020. Photo by VnExpress/Nguyen Dong. The Health Ministry will conduct extensive Covid-19 testing in at-risk areas of Da Nang with local manufactured test kits.

The ministry has requested the central city to make a list of all people in close contact with the suspected case. On Thursday night, all of them were tested and the results came back negative.

Tiếp tục đọc “Da Nang braces for extensive Covid-19 testing”

Chinese fugitive taken into custody as US claims Houston consulate was a part of espionage network

By Kylie AtwoodNicole Gaouette and Jennifer Hansler, CNN

Updated 1924 GMT (0324 HKT) July 24, 2020

Washington (CNN)Senior US government officials said Friday that a Chinese scientist who had been hiding in the country’s San Francisco consulate after accusations of visa fraud is now in US custody and also charged that Beijing has been using its diplomatic outposts to run an espionage network to steal intellectual property from US businesses, universities and research centers.Tang Juan, a researcher who said she was focusing on biology, “was a fugitive from justice until last night,” a senior Justice Department official said, but has now been charged in Sacramento. The circumstances of Tang’s arrest were not clear, but she has not been charged with espionage.US officials made the announcement just hours before Washington’s deadline for Beijing to shutter its consulate in Houston, a move that triggered China to retaliate Friday by demanding the US close its consulate in Chengdu.Prosecutors earlier this week said that Tang concealed her connection to China’s military in order to enter the US, lied to federal investigators about those links and subsequently tried to avoid arrest by taking refuge in the San Francisco consulate.During an interview with FBI agents on June 20, “Tang denied serving in the Chinese military, claimed she did not know the meaning of the insignia on her uniform, and that wearing a military uniform was required for attendance at FMMU because it was a military school,” attorneys wrote in a July 20 court filing.

Tiếp tục đọc “Chinese fugitive taken into custody as US claims Houston consulate was a part of espionage network”