Chuyên mục: China

30 dead in fighting in Myanmar town near China border

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ChannelNewsAsia

  • Posted 07 Mar 2017 00:56
  • Updated 07 Mar 2017 01:00

In early 2015 dozens of civilians, rebels and army troops died in months of fighting across the remote and mountainous region of Kokane. (AFP/KHINE HTOO MRAT)

YANGON: At least 30 people were killed on Monday (Mar 6)  in a day of intense fighting in a town on Myanmar’s border with China, authorities said, after rebels dressed in police uniforms launched a surprise raid.

Artillery and small arms fire continued throughout the day in Laukkai, a main town in the Kokang region of the northeastern state of Shan.

The clashes are some of the worst to break out in the Chinese-speaking Kokang region since fighting in 2015 left scores dead and forced tens of thousands to flee across the border into China.

Myanmar is already torn by various ethnic insurgencies. But the Kokang conflict has raised tensions with its giant neighbour.

Aung San Suu Kyi’s government is desperate to end the decades-long borderland conflicts, but intensifying fighting threatens peace efforts. Tiếp tục đọc “30 dead in fighting in Myanmar town near China border” →

Chinese protest against South Korea’s Lotte Group after land deal for THAAD missile-defense system

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Residents hold posters showing late Communist Party leader Mao Zedong during a protest in Jilin, China, on Sunday calling for a boycott of South Korean goods due to the planned deployment in that nation of a U.S. missile-defense system. | AFP-JIJI

AFP-JIJI, Reuters Mar 5, 2017

BEIJING/SEOUL – Dozens of people holding posters showing late Chinese Communist Party Chairman Mao Zedong protested in northeastern Jilin province on Sunday, calling for a boycott of South Korean goods as part of a backlash against the country’s Lotte Group.

The retail giant has faced growing opposition in China since signing a deal last Tuesday to provide land for a U.S. missile-defense system.

The plan to install the Terminal High-Altitude Area Defense (THAAD) system was prompted by threats from North Korea, but Beijing fears the move will undermine its own military capabilities.

“No to THAAD! Boycott Korean goods!” chanted the protesters. Tiếp tục đọc “Chinese protest against South Korea’s Lotte Group after land deal for THAAD missile-defense system” →

BBC crew attacked in China and forced to sign confession

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Guardian

Journalist says crew trying to interview villager about land reform had cameras smashed and confiscated

A BBC camera crew reporting in China was attacked and later forced by police to apologise and sign a confession for trying to conduct an “illegal interview”, one of its reporters has said.

John Sudworth, a journalist with the BBC, and his team were attempting to interview a villager in rural China who claims her father was killed during a land dispute with the government. As they walked towards her house, a group of men blocked their way, pushed Sudworth and smashed and snatched the crew’s cameras. Tiếp tục đọc “BBC crew attacked in China and forced to sign confession” →

ISIL video threatens China with ‘rivers of bloodshed’

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Al Jazeera

SITE Intelligence Group says footage from Uighur fighters in western Iraq warns China of upcoming attacks.

Chinese police take part in drills in Tacheng, in Xinjiang region, in 2016 [China Daily/via Reuters]

ISIL fighters from China’s Uighur ethnic minority have vowed to return home and “shed blood like rivers” in what security experts said marked the first such threat against Chinese targets.

The threat came in a half-hour video released Monday by a division of Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) featuring fighters from China’s Uighur minority, said the US-based SITE Intelligence Group, which analysed the footage.

China has for years blamed exiled Uighur “separatists” for a series of violent attacks in its western Xinjiang region – the Muslim Uighur homeland – and warned of the potential for them to link up with violent groups.

In the video, a Uighur fighter issued the threat against China just before executing an alleged informant.

“Oh, you Chinese who do not understand what people say. We are the soldiers of the Caliphate, and we will come to you to clarify to you with the tongues of our weapons, to shed blood like rivers and avenging the oppressed,” according to SITE’s translation.

The footage also showed fighters, including heavily armed children, giving speeches, praying, and killing other “informants”. Tiếp tục đọc “ISIL video threatens China with ‘rivers of bloodshed’” →

China drills again near Taiwan as island warns of threat

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ChannelNewsAsia

  • Posted 02 Mar 2017 13:55
  • Updated 02 Mar 2017 19:25

Taiwanese Defence Minister Feng Shih-kuan (R) visits the International Maritime and Defense Industry Exposition in Kaohsiung, Taiwan September 16, 2016. REUTERS/Tyrone Siu

BEIJING/TAIPEI: Chinese jets and warships carried out exercises near Taiwan and into the Western Pacific on Thursday, as the self-ruled island’s defence minister warned of a growing threat from its giant neighbour.

Democratic Taiwan is increasingly concerned over China’s military designs, especially recent rounds of Chinese drills near Taiwan. Beijing has never renounced the use of force to take control of what it deems a wayward province. Tiếp tục đọc “China drills again near Taiwan as island warns of threat” →

China ‘anti-terror’ rallies: thousands of troops on streets of Urumqi

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The Guardian

More than 10,000 forces gather in capital of violence-stricken region of Xinjiang for second time in just over a week

Paramilitary policemen board a plane in Urumqi as they head for an anti-terrorism oath-taking rally in Kashgar.
Paramilitary policemen board a plane in Urumqi as they head for an anti-terrorism oath-taking rally in Kashgar. Photograph: China Stringer Network/Reuters

in Beijing

Tuesday 28 February 2017 05.07 EST Last modified on Tuesday 28 February 2017 18.38 EST

Thousands of troops have poured on to the streets of one of west China’s most important cities for the second time in just over a week, as a senior Communist party leader heralded an “all-out offensive” against terrorism in the violence-stricken region.

More than 10,000 rifle-toting forces gathered at the heart of Urumqi, the capital of Xinjiang, for the latest in a series of spectacular mass “anti-terror rallies”. Tiếp tục đọc “China ‘anti-terror’ rallies: thousands of troops on streets of Urumqi” →

Sea Change Awaits Trump in Thailand

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Asia Sentinel

Posted on February 25, 2017 By Benjamin Zawacki

Sea Change Awaits Trump in Thailand

Thai Army: the east is red

Kingdom can no longer be counted on in a confrontation with China

Three months after his election, a month after inauguration, Donald Trump has not publicly mentioned Thailand.  Yet in a looming foreign policy crisis over the South China Sea, the seeds of which the president partly inherited and has partly sowed, the kingdom is poised to play an outsized and oppositional role.

China has territorial disputes over the South China Sea with five Southeast Asian nations and a sixth with Taiwan.  In July 2016, a UN maritime tribunal ruled China’s means of demarcating territory unlawful.  Beijing’s defiance notwithstanding, this ruling put most of China’s claims on shaky legal ground, to say nothing of its 3,000 acres of artificial islands constructed since 2013.

As candidate, Trump used the presidential debates to deliver an economic indictment against China—manufacturing threat, currency manipulator, climate change propagandist—and announced plans to increase the US Navy’s fleet from 272 to 350 ships.  If the China claims were aimed at viewers and votes, the naval announcement was likely the more clearly heard in Beijing. Tiếp tục đọc “Sea Change Awaits Trump in Thailand” →

Việt Nam phản đối quy chế nghỉ đánh bắt cá của Trung Quốc ở Biển Đông

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VE – Thứ ba, 28/2/2017 | 18:18 GMT+7

Hà Nội khẳng định quy chế mới về nghỉ đánh bắt cá trên biển của Trung Quốc xâm phạm nghiêm trọng chủ quyền của Việt Nam và vi phạm luật pháp quốc tế.

viet-nam-phan-doi-quy-che-nghi-danh-bat-ca-cua-trung-quoc-o-bien-dong

Người phát ngôn Bộ Ngoại giao Việt Nam Lê Hải Bình. Ảnh: Quý Đoàn

Bộ Nông nghiệp Trung Quốc ngày 27/2 đơn phương thông báo lệnh cấm đánh bắt cá ở Biển Đông từ 12h ngày 1/5 đến 12h ngày 16/8. Phạm vi cấm đánh bắt cá do Trung Quốc đơn phương vạch ra trên Biển Đông là từ 12 độ vĩ Bắc đến Vịnh Bắc Bộ và “giao tuyến hải vực Mân Áo”, tức vùng biển từ Phúc Kiến đến Quảng Đông, tọa độ từ 117º31’37.40″E，23º09’42.60″N đến 120º50’43″E，21º54’15″N). Lệnh cấm này cũng được áp dụng ở Vịnh Bắc Bộ, vùng biển Bột Hải, Hoàng Hải và Đông Hải.

Tiếp tục đọc “Việt Nam phản đối quy chế nghỉ đánh bắt cá của Trung Quốc ở Biển Đông” →

Singapore has consistently abided by ‘One China policy’: DPM Teo

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ChannelNewsAsia

  • Posted 26 Feb 2017 21:00
  • Updated 26 Feb 2017 22:17

File photo of Deputy Prime Minister & Coordinating Minister for National Security Teo Chee Hean. (Photo: Justin Ong)

SINGAPORE: Singapore has consistently abided by its “One China policy” and been a consistent friend and supporter of China’s peaceful development, said Deputy Prime Minister Teo Chee Hean in a written interview that was published on Sunday (Feb 26).

Commenting on the “broad and longstanding relationship” between the two countries, DPM Teo said that the two countries have worked well together to advance common interests, despite different perspectives on some issues.

Both countries also have a common interest in building a peaceful and growing region, and “this is much greater than any occasional differences of views”, he added.

He said that each of Singapore and China’s Government-to-Government projects have supported China’s developmental priorities at key stages. Tiếp tục đọc “Singapore has consistently abided by ‘One China policy’: DPM Teo” →

Why China is building islands in the South China Sea

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Vox – 17 thg 2, 2017

China claims they aren’t military bases, but their actions say otherwise.

China is building islands in the South China sea and its causing disputes among the other nations in the region; Malaysia, the Philippines, Brunei, Vietnam, and Indonesia. The US has many allies in the region and uses its massive Navy to patrol international waters, keeping shipping lanes open for trade.

Vietnam Is Getting Closer To Its Rival China Because Neither Side Trusts Trump

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Forbes
Feb 20, 2017 @ 10:00 PM Ralph Jennings, Contributor
I cover under-reported stories from Taiwan and Asia.

Less than a year ago Vietnam was counting on U.S. support in building up a defense against China. Vietnam and China have clashed over land for centuries. Now the Asian neighbors bitterly dispute much of the sea closest to their shores, with China taking more control as the world’s No. 2 economy and No. 3 military power. U.S. ex-president Barack Obama, probably hoping to contain China, lifted a decades-old ban on arms sales to Vietnam last year and from 2014 to 2016 his government spent $46 million on upgrading Vietnam’s military. Tiếp tục đọc “Vietnam Is Getting Closer To Its Rival China Because Neither Side Trusts Trump” →

China orders GPS tracking of every car in troubled region

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The Guardian

Hundreds of thousands of vehicles affected by edict covering part of Xinjiang following outbreaks of violence – and no petrol for owners who don’t comply

Cars on the road in China.
Chinese authorities have ordered hundreds of thousands of motorists to install GPS tracking devices in their vehicles. Photograph: China Stringer Network/Reuters

in Beijing

Monday 20 February 2017 23.40 EST Last modified on Tuesday 21 February 2017 07.09 EST

Security officials in China’s violence-stricken north-west have ordered residents to install GPS tracking devices in their vehicles so authorities are able to keep permanent tabs on their movements.

The compulsory measure, which came into force this week and could eventually affect hundreds of thousands of vehicles, is being rolled out in the Bayingolin Mongol Autonomous Prefecture of Xinjiang, a sprawling region that borders Central Asia and sees regular eruptions of deadly violence.

The move comes amid an apparent spike in killing that authorities blame on Islamist extremists and separatists but experts say is also fuelled by ethnic friction between Han Chinese migrants and members of the predominantly Muslim Uighur minority to whom Xinjiang is home. Tiếp tục đọc “China orders GPS tracking of every car in troubled region” →

Asia-Pacific free trade talks progressing well: China

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Yahoo! News 21 February 2017

Beijing, Feb 21 (IANS) China’s Trade Minister on Tuesday said talks on the proposed Asia-Pacific free trade agreement are progressing well, after the US withdrew from the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) Agreement last month.

Gao Hucheng said at a news conference in Beijing that talks for setting up the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership — that would include 16 countries from the Asia-Pacific region — are progressing smoothly, and expressed confidence that they will be concluded soon after certain challenges were addressed, Efe news reported. Tiếp tục đọc “Asia-Pacific free trade talks progressing well: China” →

Chinese ballet show draws protests for ‘glorifying Red Army’

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The Guardian

Minister says staging The Red Detachment of Women is a privilege but protest organiser says government needs to understand what the story is about

Red Detachment of Women
A performance of The Red Detachment of Women in Tianjin, China. Photograph: Jason Lee/Reuters

@naamanzhou

Protesters in Melbourne have called for a boycott of a visiting Chinese ballet performance that they say “glorifies the Red Army”.

The National Ballet of China is performing The Red Detachment of Women, created in 1964, , at the Arts Centre in Melbourne.

The state minister for creative industry, Martin Foley, said staging the ballet was a “privilege”, but protest organiser Frank Ruan described it as “like putting salt on the wounds of some Chinese people”. Tiếp tục đọc “Chinese ballet show draws protests for ‘glorifying Red Army’” →

Chinese weapons, warplanes reaching ‘near-parity’ with West: study

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This file photo taken on Dec. 14 shows a Chinese J-15 fighter jet preparing to take off from the deck of the Liaoning aircraft carrier during military drills in the Bohai Sea, off China’s northeast coast. China continues to arm itself faster than other countries to the point of moving towards near parity with the West in some military areas, according to the annual report of the International Institute for Strategic Studies (IISS) released on Tuesday. | AFP-JIJI

Japan times

AFP-JIJI Feb 15, 2017

LONDON – China is beginning to export its own weapon designs, including armed drones, worldwide and is reaching “near-parity” with the West in terms of military technology, according to a report on Tuesday.

The International Institute for Strategic Studies said that China’s official defence budget of $145 billion (€137 billion) last year was 1.8 times higher than those of South Korea and Japan combined.

It also accounted for more than a third of Asia’s total military spending in 2016, the IISS annual Military Balance report said, adding that spending in Asia grew by 5 to 6 percentage points a year between 2012 and 2016.

Total global military spending instead fell by 0.4 percent in real terms in 2016 compared to 2015, largely due to reductions in the Middle East.

“China’s military progress highlights that Western dominance in the field of advanced weapons systems can no longer be taken for granted,” IISS director John Chipman said at a presentation in London.

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