Conversations on Vietnam Development
BEIJING — Perched unsteadily on a stack of plastic stools in an isolated room, Xie Yang, a Chinese lawyer, was encircled day and night by interrogators who blew smoke in his face, punched and kicked him, and threatened to turn him into an “invalid” unless he confessed to political crimes, he has said.
Tiếp tục đọc “Punches, Kicks and the ‘Dangling Chair’: Detainee Tells of Torture in China”
Cargo ships dock at Malaysia’s Klang port on the outskirts of Kuala Lumpur. (AFP/Saeed Khan)
KUALA LUMPUR: A massive RM200 billion (US$45 billion) port industrial city planned for Malaysia’s Carey Island is a safeguard for the future and “not a threat” to Singapore or any other ports along the Strait of Malacca, said the chairman of Port Klang Authority, the body behind the project.http://www.channelnewsasia.com/news/asiapacific/massive-port-city-project-in-malaysia-no-threat-to-singapore/3449556.html Tiếp tục đọc “Massive port city project in Malaysia no threat to Singapore, other ports: Port Klang chairman”
Reuters, AFP-JIJI, Jan 19, 2017
SEOUL – North Korea may be preparing to test-launch a new, upgraded prototype of an intercontinental ballistic missile, South Korean media reported on Thursday, citing military sources.
In his New Year’s speech, leader Kim Jong Un said North Korea was close to test-launching an ICBM, and state media have said a launch could come at any time. Experts on the isolated and nuclear-capable country’s missile program believe the claims to be credible. Tiếp tục đọc “North Korea might test-launch ICBM as soon as Friday: South Korean media”
BEIJING — Last Sunday was the 19th wedding anniversary of Jin Bianling and her husband, the rights lawyer Jiang Tianyong. As usual, the couple spent it apart. Ms. Jin has not seen Mr. Jiang since 2013, when she and their daughter moved to California from China seeking safety from the state harassment that came along with Mr. Jiang’s work.
Tiếp tục đọc “Wife of Detained Chinese Rights Lawyer Seeks Angela Merkel’s Help”
SEOUL, South Korea — A South Korean court on Thursday blocked a prosecutor’s attempt to arrest Jay Y. Lee, the leader of Samsung, saying there was not enough evidence that Mr. Lee had bribed President Park Geun-hye, in a scandal that led to her impeachment.
A justice on the Central District Court in Seoul, Cho Eui-yeon, rejected the prosecutor’s request to issue an arrest warrant, saying said it was “difficult to recognize the need” to incarcerate Mr. Lee.
Mr. Lee, a third-generation scion and vice chairman of Samsung, one of the world’s biggest conglomerates, was immediately released from a detention center outside Seoul, where he had been waiting for the court to decide whether he should be formally arrested.
A demonstrator holds flags of Taiwan and the United States in support of Taiwanese President Tsai Ing-wen in Burlingame, California. (Photo: REUTERS/Stephen Lam)
BEIJING: China on Wednesday (Jan 18) urged the United States not to allow a Taiwanese delegation to attend US President-elect Donald Trump’s inauguration.
Trump broke with decades of precedent last month by taking a congratulatory telephone call from Taiwan President Tsai Ing-wen, and he has also said the “One China” policy was up for negotiation.
Tiếp tục đọc “China urges US not to allow Taiwan delegation to attend Trump inauguration”
THIMPHU, Bhutan — As a downpour settled into a thick fog outside, Dasho Karma Ura let his eyes flicker at the ceiling of a wood-paneled conference room and began expounding on the nature of happiness.
“People feel happy when they see something ethical,” he said. “When you think you have done something right and brave and courageous, when you can constantly recharge yourself as a meaningful actor.”
“And lastly,” he added, thumbing Buddhist prayer beads, “something which makes you pause and think, ‘Ah, this is beautiful. Beautiful, meaningful, ethical.’ ”
Mr. Ura, 55, is perhaps one of the world’s leading experts on happiness, at least as seen through the lens of development economics. It has been something of a preoccupation for more than two decades as he has developed and fine-tuned Bhutan’s Gross National Happiness indicator, a supplementary, sometimes alternative, yardstick to the conventional measure of development, gross domestic product.
When hope of enacting the ambitious Trans-Pacific Partnership trade pact ended in November, Max Baucus, the United States ambassador to China, was among the officials who had to grapple with disappointment.
The partnership, called the TPP, was a hallmark of the Obama administration. It would have been one of the largest trade agreements in history, covering about 40 percent of the world’s economy and setting new terms and standards for trade for the United States and 11 other Pacific Rim nations. China was not included but would have been able to join.
Tiếp tục đọc “U.S. Ambassadors in Asia Make Final Plea for Dead Trans-Pacific Trade Pact”
BEIJING — Over the last year, Liu He, a soft-spoken, American-educated technocrat, has consolidated his status as President Xi Jinping’s top economic adviser, amassing influence that some believe rivals that of the prime minister.
But as his star has climbed, Mr. Liu has struggled to overcome resistance to a program of measured economic liberalization and more open markets that he argues is critical to China’s long-term economic health — and that is generally favored by Washington.
Now, as President-elect Donald J. Trump prepares to enter the White House renewing warnings of China’s economic menace, it will be even more difficult for Mr. Liu to achieve his agenda, which could be overwhelmed by fears of fallout from a trade war.
There is little in his public record to suggest precisely how he would advise Mr. Xi to handle Mr. Trump’s threats to raise tariffs on Chinese products.
AP, Jan 18, 2017
BEIJING – China’s top judge has drawn criticism from legal professionals after he dismissed the concept of judicial independence as an “erroneous Western ideal,” a statement seemingly aimed at emphasizing the ruling Communist Party’s ultimate control over all areas of public life.
Zhou Qiang, the head of the Supreme People’s Court, has at times been seen as a reformer keen on limiting the influence of government officials on the courts.
However, Chinese state media quoted him over the weekend as instructing leading judges to “draw your sword” against words and actions running counter to the ruling Communist Party’s dictates. Tiếp tục đọc “China’s top judge calls judicial independence an ‘erroneous Western ideal’”
AFP-JIJI, Jan 18, 2017
HONG KONG – Hong Kong’s unpopular pro-Beijing leader Leung Chun-ying faced protests Wednesday as he spoke out against the city’s independence movement in his final policy address.
Leung will step down in July after a four-year term marked by anti-Beijing rallies as fears grow that Chinese authorities are squeezing Hong Kong’s freedoms.
Frustration at lack of political reform has sparked movements seeking self-determination or even independence for the semi-autonomous city, angering Chinese authorities. Tiếp tục đọc “In final speech, Hong Kong leader warns on independence push”
Reuters, Jan 17, 2017
MANILA – China’s recent installation of weapons on artificial islands in the disputed South China Sea was “very troubling”, the Philippines’ defense minister said Tuesday, after Manila quietly protested Beijing’s activities.
The Philippine Foreign Ministry sent a note verbale to the Chinese Embassy last month after confirming a report from the U.S.-based Center for Strategic and International Studies about China’s arms buildup in the Spratlys. Tiếp tục đọc “Philippines defense chief calls China arms on South China Sea islands ‘troubling’”
Amid increasingly tense Sino-U.S. ties, John Bolton, a former American ambassador to the U.N. and a top adviser to President-elect Donald Trump, has called for a closer U.S. military relationship with Taiwan to help counter a “belligerent” Beijing.
In a commentary published Tuesday in The Wall Street Journal likely to stoke anger in China, Bolton said Washington “could enhance its East Asia military posture by increasing U.S. military sales to Taiwan and by again stationing military personnel and assets there.”
In the commentary, Bolton also noted that the stationing of U.S. military personnel in Taiwan could help alleviate other problems in East Asia, including in Okinawa Prefecture, which hosts the bulk of U.S. forces in Japan. Tiếp tục đọc “Top Trump adviser Bolton backs U.S. forces in Taiwan, says move could lessen Okinawa burden”
JIUQUAN, China — On the edge of the Gobi Desert, the Jiuquan Wind Power Base stands as a symbol of China’s quest to dominate the world’s renewable energy market. With more than 7,000 turbines arranged in rows that stretch along the sandy horizon, it is one of the world’s largest wind farms, capable of generating enough electricity to power a small country.
But these days, the windmills loom like scarecrows, idle and inert. The wind howls outside, but many turbines in Jiuquan, a city of vast deserts and farms in the northwest province of Gansu, have been shut off because of weak demand. Workers while away the hours calculating how much power the turbines could have generated if there were more buyers, and wondering if and when they will ever make a profit.
“There’s not much we can do right now,” said Zhou Shenggang, a manager at a state-owned energy company who oversees 134 turbines here; about 60 percent of their capacity goes unused each year. “Only the state can intervene.”
China, the world’s largest emitter of greenhouse gases, has pointed to its embrace of wind and solar power and other alternatives to coal to position itself at the forefront of the global effort to combat climate change.
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