Brussels — The EU’s trade chief, Valdis Dombrovskis, said Thursday he had held “constructive” talks with China’s commerce minister, Wang Wentao, as Beijing seeks a deal with Brussels to avoid steep tariffs on imported electric vehicles.

The meeting was held as divisions grow in Europe over the proposed tariffs, after Spain urged the EU last week to “reconsider” plans for duties of up to 36% on Chinese electric cars, joining Germany in opposition.

“Constructive meeting with Minister of Commerce Wang Wentao. Both sides agreed to intensify efforts to find an effective, enforceable and WTO (World Trade Organization) compatible solution,” Dombrovskis said on X.

Wang also spoke to businesses in the EV sector on Wednesday in Brussels after which he said China “will certainly persevere until the final moments of the consultations,” as quoted in a statement by the Chinese Chamber of Commerce to the EU.

The European Commission in July announced plans to levy import duties on electric vehicles imported from China after an anti-subsidy investigation started last year found they were unfairly undermining European rivals.

The EU wants to protect its automobile industry, a jewel in Europe’s industrial crown, providing jobs to around 14 million people.

The commission is in charge of trade policy for the 27-country bloc.

The tariffs are currently provisional and will only become definitive for five years after a vote by member states that is expected before the end of October.

China has angrily responded to the EU’s plans, warning it would unleash a trade war. Last month China also filed an appeal with the WTO over the tariffs.

Beijing has already launched its own investigations into European brandy and some dairy and pork products imported into China.

Dombrovskis told Wang that the probes were “unwarranted, are based on questionable allegations, and lack sufficient evidence,” the EU’s trade spokesperson, Olof Gill, said.

“(He) thus called for these investigations to be terminated and informed the Chinese side that the EU will do its utmost to defend the interests of its industries,” Gill added in a statement. 
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SEOUL, South Korea — North Korea said Thursday that leader Kim Jong Un supervised successful tests of two types of missiles — one designed to carry a “super-large conventional warhead” and the other likely for a nuclear warhead, as he ordered officials to bolster his country’s military capabilities to repel U.S.-led threats.

The tests appear to be the same as the multiple missile launches that neighboring countries said North Korea performed Wednesday, extending its run of weapons displays as confrontations with the United States and South Korea escalate.

The official Korean Central News Agency said that Kim oversaw the launch of the country’s newly built Hwasongpho-11-Da-4.5 ballistic missile tipped with a dummy “4.5-ton super-large conventional warhead.” It said the test-firing was meant to verify an ability to accurately hit a 320 kilometer-range target, suggesting it’s a weapon aimed at striking sites in South Korea.

KCNA said Kim also guided the launch of an improved “strategic” cruise missile, a word implying the weapon was developed to carry a nuclear warhead.

After the tests, Kim stressed the need to continue to “bolster up the nuclear force” and acquire “overwhelming offensive capability in the field of conventional weapons, too,” according to KCNA. It cited Kim as saying that North Korea can thwart its enemies’ intentions to invade only when it has strong military power.

KCNA released photos of a missile hitting a ground target. South Korea’s military said later Thursday it assessed that the ballistic and cruise missiles fired by North Korea the previous day landed in the North’s mountainous northeastern region.

North Korea typically test-launches missiles off its east coast, and it’s highly unusual for the country to fire missiles at land targets, likely because of concerns about potential damage on the ground if the weapons land in unintended areas.

Jung Chang Wook, head of the Korea Defense Study Forum think tank in Seoul, said North Korea likely aims to show it’s confident about the accuracy of its new ballistic missile. Jung said the missile’s high-powered warhead is meant to attack ground targets, but North Korea hasn’t acquired weapons that can penetrate deep into the earth and destroy underground structures.

The Hwasongpho-11-Da-4.5 missile’s first known test occurred in early July. North Korea said the July test was successful as well, but South Korea’s military disputed the claim saying one of the two missiles fired by North Korea travelled abnormally during the initial stage of its flight before falling at an uninhabited area near Pyongyang, the capital. North Korea hasn’t released photos on the July launches.

North Korea has been pushing to introduce a variety of sophisticated weapons systems designed to attack both South Korea and the mainland U.S. to deal with what it calls its rivals’ intensifying security threats. Many foreign experts say North Korea would ultimately want to use its enlarged arsenal as leverage to win greater concessions in future dealings with the U.S.

Worries about North Korea deepened last week as it disclosed photos of a secretive facility to enrich uranium for nuclear weapons. KCNA said that Kim, during a visit to the facility, called for stronger efforts to “exponentially” produce more nuclear weapons.

It was unclear whether the facility is at North Korea’s main Yongbyon nuclear complex. But it was the North’s first unveiling of a uranium-enrichment facility since it showed one at the country’s main Yongbyon nuclear complex to visiting American scholars led by nuclear physicist Siegfried Hecker in 2010.

In an analytical piece jointly written with another expert, Robert Carlin, that was posted Wednesday on North Korea-focused website 38 North, Hecker said the centrifuge hall shown in the recent North Korean photos was not the same one that he saw in November 2010.

Hecker and Carlin said they believe the new centrifuges provide “only a modest increased capacity,” although North Korea could increase enrichment capacity just by building more centrifuge plants.

In another joint analysis also posted Friday on 38 North, other experts said that the centrifuges shown in the photos are not the ones observed by Hecker but a more advanced design. They said the images send “a strong message that the country has ample capacity and continued will to expand its nuclear program.”
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Washington — A hearing to seek the release of imprisoned Americans in Beijing highlighted reasons for the U.S. to expand its list of U.S. citizens wrongly detained in China to prioritize their return.

Members of Congress and witnesses argued at a congressional hearing this week that the U.S. government should expand the list of Americans that it designates as being “unjustly detained” in China.

“More Americans should be considered to be unjustly detained by the State Department,” Representative Chris Smith, the chair of the Congressional Executive Commission on China, said Wednesday in opening remarks at the CECC hearing.

China is known for a justice system lacking transparency and arbitrarily detaining foreigners as well as its own citizens.

The State Department officially had three Americans listed as unjustly detained in China including American Pastor David Lin, who has now been released by Beijing, the State Department announced on Sunday. 

The other two are Kai Li and Mark Swidan. Li, a businessman from Long Island, was detained by China in 2016 and sentenced to 10 years in prison in 2018 for espionage, which his family denies. Swiden, a Texas businessman, was detained in 2012 and convicted on drug-related charges in 2019. His supporters say there is evidence he was not in China at the time of the alleged offense.

Although estimates vary, human rights organizations assess that more U.S. citizens are wrongly detained in China. 

Dui Hua, a human rights group that advocates for clemency and better treatment of detainees in China, doubts about 200 Americans who are held under coercive measures in China and more than 30 who are barred from leaving the country.

The James W. Foley Legacy Foundation, a group that seeks to free Americans held captive abroad, estimates that 11 U.S. nationals are wrongfully detained in China, including those subject to exit bans.

In the opening statement of his testimony, Nelson Wells, the father of detained American citizen Nelson Wells, Jr., lamented that “Nelson is not considered a political prisoner or held unjust” by the State Department.

Later, he added, “We tried to get Nelson’s name included” in the list and expressed his hope that the hearing will pave the way.

Nelson Wells, Jr., from New Orleans, was arrested in 2014 in China and sentenced to life on drug-related charges, which his family denies. His term was reduced to 22 years in 2019, and he will remain in prison until 2041.

The U.S. determines whether its citizens are detained “unlawfully or wrongfully” by either “a foreign government or a non-governmental actor” based on criteria set by the Levinson Act signed into law in 2020.

Such criteria “can include, but is not limited to, a review of whether the individual is being detained to influence U.S. policy, whether there is a lack of due process or disparate sentencing for the individuals, and whether the person is being detained due to their U.S. connections, among other criteria,” said a spokesperson for the State Department in a statement to VOA Korean on Tuesday.

“The Secretary of State has ultimate authority to determine whether a case is a wrongful detention. This determination is discretionary, based on the totality of the circumstances, and grounded in the facts of the case. We do not discuss the wrongful detention determination process in public,” the spokesperson continued.

A spokesperson for the Foley Foundation told VOA that it believes 11 Americans currently detained in China meet “the criteria for wrongful detention, as specified in Levinson Act.”

Its report, published in July, says China “remains the leading country in wrongfully detaining U.S. nationals,” based on the data collected by the Foley Foundation in the period from 2022 to 2024.

Sophie Richardson, a visiting scholar at Stanford University’s Center on Democracy, Development, and the Rule of Law, told VOA China’s practice of arbitrary detention is harmful to its culture and economy.

“It’s a big part of what is deterring people from going to the country,” including students who are interested in studying Chinese as well as business executives who are “concerned they might run afoul of certain kinds of data regulations and [be] arbitrarily detained,” said Richardson, a former China director at Human Rights Watch.

A record number of approximately 15,200 high-net worth individuals are expected to leave China in 2024, according to New World Wealth, a wealth intelligence firm, cited by the Henley Private Wealth Migration Report.

Harrison Li, the son of Kai Li, said, “The Chinese government clearly wants more Americans to travel to China, but as long as our loved ones are being held, as long as there are so many people at risk, then that travel warning must be escalated.”

The State Department currently advises Americans to “reconsider” traveling to the country “due to the arbitrary enforcement of local laws,” including exit bans and wrongful detention. The next level of advisory would say “do not travel.”

Bob Fu, the founder and president of China Aid, a human rights group that advocates for religious freedom, told VOA that “increasing international isolation” felt by the Chinese Communist Party could have led it to the release of David Lin.  

He said the prospect for the release of other Americans would depend on “how much persistent pressure from the highest level of the U.S. government” is exerted on Beijing.

The State Department spokesperson told VOA Korean that the U.S. has raised the case of “other wrongfully detained Americans” in addition to David Lin and will “continue to push for the release of other Americans.”
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BANGKOK — A new report from Burmese activist groups is calling on French-based airline manufacturer Airbus to use its influence with Aviation Industry Corporation of China, or AVIC, to pressure the Chinese firm to end its arms sales to the Myanmar junta.

AVIC is one of the world’s biggest defense contractors, and the Chinese aviation firm supplies aircraft and weapons to Myanmar’s military junta that are being used in airstrikes in the war-torn country.

The report, which was released Monday, says Airbus has not only maintained but increased investment in companies controlled by the Chinese firm.

According to the report, Airbus is “heavily” invested in AVIC’s Hong Kong-listed holding company, AviChina, a strategic partner of AVIC China.

An Airbus spokesperson denies allegations that the company could be in violation of international sanctions.

In its report titled #AIRBUSTED How Airbus’ close partner AVIC is supplying arms to the Myanmar military and what Airbus should do about it, Justice for Myanmar, and Info Birmanie, a non-profit organization in Paris that focuses on Myanmar, say they have uncovered evidence that AVIC is continuing to supply aircraft and weapons to the Myanmar military, which they say have been used to commit war crimes throughout the country.

The report’s authors have called on Airbus to “use its leverage over AVIC and its subsidiaries so they halt all ongoing and planned transfers of military aircraft, arms and associated equipment to the Myanmar military,” as well as maintenance, training and technical support for the country’s air force.

“Because of these known risks, Airbus should conduct heightened due diligence on any current and future partnerships with AVIC and its subsidiaries and make that due diligence public,” the report said.

The report also called on Airbus to divest and end its relationship with AVIC if the company refuses to end its relationship and all business with Myanmar’s military.

Philippe Gmerek, a spokesperson for Airbus, told VOA in an email that the French airline manufacturer is compliant with sanctions on Myanmar and within international law with its relationship with AVIC.

“Airbus has not supplied defence products to Myanmar or its armed forces.  Airbus is committed to conducting its business ethically and in compliance with all applicable laws and regulations. This includes the delivery of defence products in accordance with export control laws and in full transparency and alignment with authorities and relevant stakeholders,” Gmerek said in the emailed statement.

He added that “Airbus’ relationship with Chinese companies, including AVIC, is fully compliant with all European and international laws and regulations, notably with regards to the existing arms embargo on China. As such, Airbus’ industrial and technology partnerships in China are exclusively focused on civil aerospace and services.”

AVIC, one of the world’s largest military contractors, has been under U.S. sanctions since 2020 and is listed by Washington as a potential national security threat because of its links to the Chinese military. Those sanctions prohibit any American organization or individuals from dealing with firms that have links to the Chinese PLA.

Myanmar has been in chaos since military leader General Min Aung Hlaing and his military forces overthrew the democratically elected government in February 2021.  

The coup sparked widespread armed resistance to military rule, led by ethnic armed groups and forces loyal to a civilian-led shadow government. Upwards of 5,600 people have been killed by the military and millions displaced since the coup, according to rights groups.

In a joint statement at the U.N. Security Council in February, France joined Britain, Ecuador, Japan, Malta, South Korea, Slovenia, Switzerland and the United States in strongly condemning the military’s violent attacks on civilians in Myanmar, including its “continued use of indiscriminate airstrikes.”

The governments of France, Germany and Spain all hold major shares in Airbus through holding companies.

VOA reached out to Christian Lechervy, France’s ambassador to Myanmar, and AVIC for comment but has yet to receive a reply.

Johanna Chardonnieras, coordinator for Info Burmie, said the French government, among others, should act.

“The French, Spanish and German governments have a responsibility and a duty to act when Airbus’ partner and investee is linked to war crimes,” Chardonnieras said. “Today they have the opportunity to show their capacity for action, in line with their statements, values and sanctions.”

Yadanar Maung, the Justice for Myanmar spokesperson, called for the U.S. to take action should Airbus continue its business ties with AVIC.

“We call on the U.S. government to conduct due diligence on any business activities and links it currently has with Airbus and encourage U.S. citizens and entities to do the same. Airbus’ decision to continue its business relationship with AviChina should be subject to consequences, including restricting market opportunities in the U.S.,” she told VOA.

Zachary Abuza, a professor at the National War College in Washington who focuses on Southeast Asia politics and security, says the report could tarnish Airbus’ reputation, though it is unclear how much of an impact it could have beyond that.

“Airbus will obviously try to make the case that they only partner with AVIC in the commercial aircraft, but obviously there’s a lot of dual use technology,” Abuza said.

“The biggest hit to the firm is reputational damage. I am not sure Myanmar is a large enough issue, or it’s a priority for European leaders, or there’s a significant and politically powerful diaspora to demand changes,” he told VOA.

The U.S., Canada, Britain and the EU have all imposed a variety of sanctions on Myanmar’s military regime and its entities in recent years in a bid to end its violent crackdown.
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state department — A senior U.S. State Department official said Wednesday that Beijing’s support for Moscow’s defense industry comes directly from the top leadership of the People’s Republic of China, or PRC. The official also pointed out that chips supplied by China have significantly bolstered Russia’s battlefield capabilities in its war against Ukraine.

For months, U.S. officials have accused the PRC of actively aiding Russia’s war effort. Washington has sanctioned Chinese firms providing crucial components to Russia’s defense industry.

On Wednesday, Deputy Secretary of State Kurt Campbell told lawmakers that the U.S. had been slow to fully grasp the “absolute intensity of engagement” between Russian President Vladimir Putin and Chinese President Xi Jinping.

“The most worrisome thing is that it [China’s support for Russia] comes from the very top,” Campbell said during a House Foreign Affairs Committee hearing.

He added that “chips, some design features, some capacities associated with the making of explosives” have been enhancing Russia’s battlefield operations.

“We see the role of UAVs [unmanned aerial vehicles, or drones] and other capacities that are penetrating the Ukrainian airspace. Much of that has been supported surreptitiously by China, and it raises real concerns.”

Chinese officials rejected Washington’s accusations, asserting that the U.S. should not “smear or attack the normal relations between China and Russia” or infringe upon “the legitimate rights and interests” of China and its companies.

Beijing also continues to call for peace talks between Russia and Ukraine leading to a political settlement, more than two and a half years into the war.

Some members of Congress have urged President Joe Biden’s administration to sanction Chinese banks for supporting Russia’s war on Ukraine.

“We’ve put many of their [PRC] financial institutions on watch. … We’ve got to have Europeans with us. I think we’re beginning to make headway,” said Campbell.

The State Department’s second-ranking diplomat said the challenges posed to the U.S. by the PRC exceed those of the Cold War, following a large-scale joint military exercise between China and Russia.

Dubbed “Ocean-2024,” the massive naval and air drills spanned a huge swath of ocean and involved more than 400 naval vessels, at least 120 military aircraft and upward of 90,000 troops, according to the Russian Defense Ministry.

Without naming specific countries, Chinese officials said that the military exercise between the two allies, which concluded Monday, was intended to address joint threats.

Mao Ning, a spokesperson for China’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs, elaborated during a recent briefing in Beijing, saying, “China and Russia [held] this joint exercise in order to deepen their mil-to-mil strategic coordination and strengthen the capacity to jointly address security threats.”
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BEIJING — China’s decision to raise the retirement age will give a brief boost to its strained pension system but risks further discouraging weary young workers and cannot arrest long-term demographic decline, experts say.

The ruling Communist Party last week announced a gradual increase in the statutory retirement age starting next year — rising from 60 to 63 for men, from 55 to 58 for white-collar women workers, and from 50 to 55 for blue-collar female employees.

The government said the changes would bring a system that has changed little since the 1950s into line with decades of improvements in public health, life expectancy and education, and help society adapt to a shrinking population and workforce.

Analysts told AFP that growing concerns over the sustainability of the nationwide pension system pushed Beijing to act.

“The pension system is under a lot of strain,” said Zhao Litao, a senior research fellow at the National University of Singapore’s East Asian Institute.

“It is… clear to the leadership that the stakes for postponing the reform (were) getting increasingly high,” he said.

China’s retirement age had been among the youngest in the world, and officials have discussed raising it for more than a decade.

Opposition from lower-wage workers, a slowing economy and high youth unemployment had thwarted change, experts said.

Officials could wait no longer, Zhao said, partly because “the pace of population-aging and population-decline is faster than previously anticipated.”

Pension tension

China’s sprawling pension system has three pillars: basic state pensions, mandatory plans for company employees, and voluntary plans for private personal schemes.

But the state-led scheme lacks coordination at a national level, while the latter two pillars remain underdeveloped, critics say.

A top government think tank said in a 2019 report that one main state pension fund may dry up by 2035 as the workforce shrinks.

Around a third of Chinese provinces already run pension deficits, and local finances have come under more stress since the COVID-19 pandemic.

Xiujian Peng, a senior research fellow at Australia’s Victoria University, said the higher retirement age would ease pressure on the system “in the short and medium term.”

Under the new rules, the age will rise incrementally over 15 years from 2025, so younger people will end up working for longer than those currently close to retiring.

Workers will eventually need to make a minimum of 20 years of contributions to draw their basic pension, up from the current 15 years.

“After the government increases the retirement age, this decline (in the number of workers) will become… slower,” Peng told AFP.

But, she added, “the labor force is still declining — this is a (longer-term) trend.”

Working harder, longer

But economic necessity has not necessarily bred widespread acceptance.

Many posts on Chinese social media have pointed to a perceived lack of transparency over how workers born from the 1990s onwards would be impacted.

Those generations already face widespread joblessness or an intense work culture that leaves many feeling overwhelmed or burnt out.

“For many Chinese individuals, these changes in retirement policies feel like a reneged commitment of social welfare provision — kicking the problem down an already murky road,” Yun Zhou, a sociologist at the University of Michigan, told AFP.

“As gender- and age-based discriminations remain deeply entrenched in the Chinese labor market, it remains to be seen to what extent workers… can enjoy effective labor rights protection,” she said.

Dali Yang, professor of political science at the University of Chicago, said the government faced a “loss of credibility” on pensions.

Recent economic challenges have already prompted many Chinese to prioritize short-term cash over saving for retirement, Yang told AFP.

Demography is destiny

Chinese state media has said a rise in the retirement age was “inevitable” given the country’s development.

The current age was set decades ago when scarcity and poverty were common, before market reforms brought rapid gains in living standards.

Life expectancy rose from around 50 in the early 1960s to 79 by 2022, according to World Bank data.

But development coincided with families having fewer children, hastened by decades of birth restrictions under the former one-child policy.

Now, China is stuck with a growing senior population and fewer young people to fill the gap.

Experts said only a suite of bold policies — from creating high-quality jobs to raising productivity, expanding public healthcare, fostering better work-life balance and raising the social position of women — could help Beijing adapt to its alarming demographic destiny.

Several told AFP that last week’s announcement was unlikely to be the last of its kind.

“There is still considerable room to further increase the retirement age,” Zhao, of NUS, said.

But, he added, “if (younger people) have to work longer and contribute more… they want to get answers for questions like job security and quality, and the level of future pension benefits.”
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washington — At first glance, Noah R. Smith might seem like your typical social media user. His bio says he’s a father, a former “Track and Field representative,” and a current member of the PanAm Sports organization.

On July 14, a day after the first assassination attempt on Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump, Smith shared three posts from an account named “TRUMP WON.”

One post declared, “AMERICA was attacked today … we must get it together. It’s literally a matter of life and death,” accompanied by an image depicting a divine hand halting a bullet aimed at Trump.

Another post urged “all MAGA GOD Fearing Patriots” to connect, stating, “Grow These Accounts, UNITED We Are Strong.”

While it might seem that Smith is a devoted Trump supporter, closer inspection suggests otherwise. His cover photo features Chinese watermarks, his profile picture is sourced from a company that provides photos, videos and music, and his bio is lifted from an authentic account named Laurel R. Smith.

In reality, Noah R. Smith is impersonating a U.S. voter who supports Trump. A joint investigation by VOA Mandarin and Doublethink Lab (DTL), a Taiwanese social media analytics firm, uncovered 10 such accounts on X.

These accounts are linked to China’s Spamouflage network — a state-sponsored operation aimed at supporting the Chinese government and undermining its critics. This network was first identified by social media analytics company Graphika in 2019 and was used to target Hong Kong pro-democracy protesters at that time.

Following the assassination attempt on July 14, the accounts began promoting pro-Trump content. Previously, they shared material consistent with Spamouflage’s broader interests: defending China, criticizing U.S. foreign policy, and exploiting divisive domestic issues such as gun violence and racial tensions.

DTL labeled this network of accounts posing as Americans “MAGAflage 1,” because they all seem to be promoting Trump’s slogan “Make America Great Again [MAGA].”

“The MAGAflage accounts are different because they are not just criticizing stuff. They are amplifying positive content about Trump,” Jasper Hewitt, a digital intelligence analyst at Doublethink Lab, told VOA Mandarin.

He added that it’s too early to draw conclusions about whom China is supporting, as researchers are still tracking accounts that criticize both Republican candidate Donald Trump and Democratic candidate Kamala Harris.

“Engaging with the MAGA movement, or any part of the political spectrum, might merely be a new attempt to generate authentic traffic,” Hewitt told VOA.

The first MAGAflage network was discovered by Elise Thomas, a senior analyst at the Institute for Strategic Dialogue, in April 2024. This network focuses on promoting positive content of Trump. She told VOA earlier that by wrapping a topic in a U.S. partisan political frame, these accounts got “a reasonable amount of engagement from real American users.”

Limited influence

The VOA Mandarin investigation revealed that the accounts operate in coordination. Six out of the 10 accounts were created in 2015 but had their first visible posts on May 18 or May 19, 2022.

The batch accounts — the 10 new accounts — are not very active. Each account has roughly 100 posts or reposts over the last two years. The batch accounts were inactive for one year but were awoken after the first Trump assassination attempt.

Additionally, these accounts occasionally post or repost Chinese content.

For example, an account named Super-Rabbit shared praise for China’s political and economic model from state-linked influencers like Shanghai Panda and Xinhua News Agency’s reporter Li Zexin. One post from September 3 contrasted U.S. President Joe Biden’s inactivity with China’s President Xi Jinping’s engagement in Africa.

“When Joe Biden is sitting on the beach wasted away, China’s President Xi is shaking hands with various African leaders and making a better impact in Africa,” the post said.

VOA contacted the Trump and Harris campaigns for comment but did not receive a response as of publication time.

Liu Pengyu, a spokesperson for the Chinese Embassy in Washington, told VOA in a statement that “China has no intention and will not interfere in the U.S. election, and we hope that the U.S. side will not make an issue of China in the election.”

So far, the newly discovered MAGAflage 1 accounts have had limited influence, with only a handful of followers and minimal interactions.

U.S. intelligence agencies issued their latest assessment earlier this month, warning that Russia, Iran, and China are intensifying efforts to influence the U.S. presidential election.

While Russia remains the primary concern, officials noted that Chinese online influence actors have “continued small scale efforts on social media to engage U.S. audiences on divisive political issues, including protests about the Israel-Gaza conflict and promote negative stories about both political parties.”
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The United States has deepened its cooperation with allies in the Indo-Pacific region in recent years, including Japan and South Korea. But it has also reached out to non-allies, including non-aligned countries of Southeast Asia like Indonesia. VOA’s Virginia Gunawan reports. Camera: Ahadian Utama, Hafizh Sahadeva.
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WASHINGTON — On Monday, after the U.S. State Department announced the release of David Lin, an American pastor, from nearly two decades of imprisonment in China, officials said more work remains to secure the freedom of other Americans held in China. 

U.S. State Department spokesperson Matthew Miller told reporters that the U.S. government had been working to secure Lin’s release for some time. 

“When it comes to David Lin, we are glad to see he is released. We welcome it. We’ll continue to push the release of other Americans,” Miller said during a regular press briefing.

Lin, 68, was detained in 2006 after entering China. He was later convicted of contract fraud and given a life sentence in 2009. After Chinese courts reduced his sentence, he was set to be released from Beijing in 2029.

Bob Fu, a pastor and founder of ChinaAid, a nonprofit dedicated to religious freedom in China, called the original charges against Lin a “scam” and said they were facilitated by the Chinese government as a gambit to unjustly take hostages.

The imprisonment and now release of Lin, Fu told VOA, is especially significant as China is increasingly cracking down on religious practices within the country, with human rights violations in Xinjiang and Tibet and growing governmental restrictions on Christian traditions. 

Despite this, Fu said that the success of Lin’s release could be attributed to two factors: the souring of the global public opinion on China and the hard work of U.S. officials.

“This shows that if our top political leaders really take this seriously and persistently, it will bear fruits for our citizens’ freedom,” he said.

According to the Dui Hua Foundation, a nonprofit dedicated to freeing detainees through dialogue with China, over 200 American nationals in China under coercive measures, including wrongful detentions and exit bans.

The State Department has listed two other detained individuals as priority cases: Businessman Kai Li, accused of espionage in 2016, and Mark Swidan, convicted of drug trafficking in 2019.

“We’ll continue to push the release of other Americans,” Miller said. “It’s something that we have been working on for some time.”

Miller declined to say if Lin’s release had been the result of a swap, according to a report by Reuters.

China’s embassy in Washington declined to comment when asked if Beijing had received anything from the U.S. in return for Lin’s release, according to Reuters. The embassy also told Reuters that Chinese authorities handle criminal suspects in accordance with the law and “treat them equally regardless of their nationality.”

Later this week, a U.S. congressional hearing is set to be held on Americans who have been arbitrarily imprisoned in China.

Some material for this report came from Reuters.
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Osaka, Japan — Japan celebrated on Monday the record-breaking Emmy Awards triumph of “Shogun”, although many confessed not having watched the series about the country’s warring dynasties in the feudal era.

“Shogun” smashed all-time records at the television awards in Los Angeles on Sunday, taking home an astounding 18 statuettes and becoming the first non-English-language winner of the highly coveted award for best drama series.

Lead Hiroyuki Sanada, who played Lord Toranaga, became the first Japanese actor to win an Emmy, while Anna Sawai achieved the same for her performance as Lady Mariko.

“As a Japanese, I’m happy Sanada won,” Kiyoko Kanda, a 70-year-old pensioner, told AFP in Tokyo.

“He worked so hard since he moved to Los Angeles,” she said.

“In ‘Last Samurai’, Tom Cruise was the lead, but it’s exciting Sanada is the main character in ‘Shogun’,” Kanda added.

But she admitted that she only watched the trailer.

The series is available only on Disney’s streaming platform, which is relatively new in Japan.

“I want to watch it. I’m curious to know how Japan is portrayed,” Kanda said.

Otsuka, who declined to give her first name, said she, too, has not watched the show.

“But I saw the news and I’m happy he won.” Sanada, now 63, began his acting career at the age of five in Tokyo and moved to LA after appearing in “Last Samurai” in 2003.

The words “historic achievements” and “Hiroyuki Sanada” were trending on X in Japanese, while Sanada’s speech at the awards racked up tens of thousands of views.

Yusuke Takizawa, 41, also only watched a trailer but he said he was amazed by the quality of the show.

“I was impressed by the high-spirited acting, the attention to detail and the film technology,” Takizawa told AFP outside Osaka Castle, a major historical location for the series.

“I think many young people will want to try their hand in Hollywood after watching Sanada,” he said.

Tourists at the castle also welcomed the record Emmy win.

“I think was the best TV show that I’ve seen this year,” said Zara Ferjani, a visitor from London.

“I thought it was amazing… The direction was beautiful, and I really enjoyed watching something that wasn’t in English as well,” the 33-year-old said.

She said she had planned to watch “Shogun” after returning home from Japan.

“But one of my friends strongly advised me to watch it beforehand, just to appreciate the culture more and definitely Osaka Castle more,” she added.

Breaking from cliches

Many in the Japanese film industry were also jubilant.

“He won after many years of trying hard in Hollywood. It’s too cool,” wrote Shinichiro Ueda, director of the hit low-budget film “One Cut of the Dead”, on X.

Video game creator and movie fan Hideo Kojima, who has described the show as “Game of Thrones in 17th-century Japan”, reposted a news story on the win.

The drama, adapted from a popular novel by James Clavell and filmed in Canada, tells the tale of Lord Toranaga, who fights for his life against his enemies alongside Mariko and British sailor John Blackthorne.

A previous TV adaptation made in 1980 was centered on Blackthorne’s perspective.

But the new “Shogun” breaks away from decades of cliched and often bungled depictions of Japan in Western cinema, with Japanese spoken throughout most of the show.

Sanada, who also co-produced the drama, is credited with bringing a new level of cultural and historical authenticity to “Shogun.”

An army of experts, including several wig technicians from Japan, worked behind the scenes to make the series realistic, poring over sets, costumes and the actors’ movements.
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HONG KONG — A Hong Kong man on Monday pleaded guilty to sedition for wearing a T-shirt with a protest slogan, becoming the first person convicted under the city’s new national security law passed in March.

Chu Kai-pong, 27, pleaded guilty to one count of “doing with a seditious intention an act.”

Under the new security law, the maximum sentence for the offense has been expanded from two years to seven years in prison and could even go up to 10 years if “collusion with foreign forces” was found involved.

Chu was arrested on June 12 at a MTR station wearing a T-shirt with the slogan “Liberate Hong Kong, revolution of our times” and a yellow mask printed with “FDNOL”- the shorthand of another slogan, “five demands, not one less.”

Both slogans were frequently chanted in the huge, sometimes violent, pro-democracy protests in 2019 and June 12 was a key kick-off day of the months-long unrests.

Chu told police that he wore the T-shirt to remind people of the protests, the court heard.

Chief Magistrate Victor So, handpicked by the city leader John Lee to hear national security cases, adjourned the case to Thursday for sentencing.

Hong Kong was returned from Britain to China in 1997 under Beijing’s promise of guaranteeing its freedoms, including freedom of speech, would be protected under a “one country, two systems” formula.

Beijing imposed a national security law in 2020 punishing secession, subversion, terrorism or collusion with foreign forces with up to life in prison, after the months-long protests in the financial hub.

In March 2024, Hong Kong passed a second new security law, a home-grown ordinance also known as “Article 23” according to its parent provision in the city’s mini constitution, the Basic Law.

Critics, including the U.S. government have expressed concerns over the new security law and said the vaguely defined provisions regarding “sedition” could be used to curb dissent.

Hong Kong and Chinese officials have said it was necessary to plug “loopholes” in the national security regime.
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