As Southeast Asian leaders gather at a scenic spot in Indonesia this week, they face a daunting challenge to resolve the crisis in Myanmar, where a military coup has unleashed a brutal…
Month: May 2023
Thailand-based rights activist arrested in Laos after returning to home village
A human rights activist and member of the Thailand-based Free Laos group was arrested when he recently returned to Laos to visit his hometown, friends of the activist told Radio Free Asia….
Hong Kong police seize Tiananmen massacre sculpture as evidence in 'subversion' case
Hong Kong police have seized a sculpture by a Danish artist commemorating the victims of the 1989 Tiananmen massacre as evidence of "incitement to subvert state power," a charge under the national…
Authorities shut down artwork referring to China's "last generation"
Authorities in the southern city of Shenzhen shut down an art exhibit that described young people in China as the "last generation," a reference to a viral video from the 2022 Shanghai…
China, Canada in tit-for-tat expulsions of diplomats over interference report
China expelled a Canadian diplomat in Shanghai on Tuesday, a day after Ottawa announced it would expel a Chinese diplomat accused of trying to intimidate a Canadian politician. The tit-for-tat expulsions follow…
Newly published documents reveal how China skirts forced labor scrutiny in Xinjiang
Lazy persons, drunkards, and “other persons with insufficient inner motivation” must be subjected to “repeated … thought education” to ensure they take part in state- “poverty alleviation” campaigns to pick cotton in…
More than 5,000 evacuees in Myanmar’s Ayeyarwady region prepare for cyclone to hit
More than 5,000 people have arrived in Labutta township over the past few days, amid warnings that a fierce tropical cyclone is bearing down on Myanmar’s western coast, aid groups helping the…
In Myanmar jade town, junta arrests 700 to use some for human shields, residents say
As fierce fighting has enveloped a jade mining town in northern Myanmar, the military has arrested more than 700 civilians and used some of them as human shields in battles with rebel…
Struggling with debt, local governments across China call for help from Beijing
Authorities in the southwestern province of Guizhou have hired a state-owned debt management company, as analysts warned of a potential financial crisis sparked by “domino-like” bankruptcies among local authorities. China Cinda Asset…
Heat wave blasts Southeast Asia – a likely pattern for the future
Record-breaking heat has blasted Southeast Asia over the past several weeks, causing deaths and hospitalizations, schools to close and farmers and business-owners to suffer economic losses. In Vietnam, the temperature hit a…