washington — U.S. President Joe Biden’s announcement that he was dropping his reelection bid sparked reactions from former U.S. officials who said Washington’s relations with Seoul are at a crossroads and will either continue on the same path or make a sharp turn.

These officials, who dealt extensively with South Korea, said Biden’s exit would have no immediate impact on Washington-Seoul ties.

“The U.S.-ROK alliance has never been stronger and more capable than it is today, and that alliance will remain so until the end of President Biden’s term next year,” said Evans Revere, who served as the principal deputy assistant secretary and acting assistant secretary of state for East Asia and Pacific affairs.

The Republic of Korea (ROK) is the official name for South Korea.

“Given that Biden will remain president for the next six months, I see little change in U.S. foreign and national security policy and posture over that time with either allies or adversaries, regardless of whatever contingencies or provocations might arise, including on the Korean Peninsula,” Robert Rapson, who served as deputy chief of mission and charge d’affaires at the U.S. Embassy in Seoul from 2018 to 2021, said in written comments.

Biden called off his bid for reelection Sunday amid mounting pressure from top Democrats who cited his declining polling numbers since his poor debate performance against former President Donald Trump last month.

Biden said in a letter posted on his social media account X, formerly Twitter, that he would focus the remainder of his term on presidential duties and endorsed Vice President Kamala Harris as the Democratic nominee for president. He said he would speak more about his decision later this week.

The South Korean Foreign Ministry sent a statement via email to VOA’s Korean Service on Sunday that said Seoul “will continue to work closely with the United States to maintain and develop the ROK-U.S. alliance, which has been upgraded to a global comprehensive strategic alliance.”

The office of South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol said in a statement Sunday that it “would not comment on domestic political situations of any other countries.”

The statement continued, “Bipartisan support for the ROK-U.S. alliance is rock solid. We will closely collaborate with the United States to continuously strengthen the global comprehensive strategic alliance between the Republic of Korea and the United States.”

Harris, if nominated by her party at the Democratic National Convention next month, will face Trump, who secured the presidential nomination at the Republican National Convention last week.

“If Trump wins, then yes, there could be big changes to the Nuclear Consultative Group and U.S. attitudes toward North Korea and the ROK nuclear program,” said Gary Samore, former White House coordinator for arms control and WMD during the Obama administration.

“If Harris wins, I don’t think there’ll be big changes. I think there’ll be continuity,” he said.

Dennis Wilder, senior director for East Asia at the White House’s National Security Council during the George W. Bush administration, said some changes are to be expected if the Republicans win. But “in the Democratic Party, the views are quite set, and the views are very positive on South Korea.”

Unlike Trump, who preferred personal engagement with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un, Biden and Yoon have preferred strengthening their defense against North Korea through mechanisms such as the Nuclear Consultative Group.

The NCG is a bilateral body aimed at discussing joint nuclear planning to strengthen deterrence against North Korea. The U.S. and South Korean heads of the NCG signed nuclear deterrence and operations guidelines on July 11 in Washington.

During their meeting on the sidelines of a NATO summit in Washington the same day, Biden and Yoon referred to the guidelines as “the advancement of U.S.-ROK security cooperation” since they announced the Washington Declaration in April.

The Washington Declaration affirmed the U.S. use of nuclear weapons to defend South Korea and Seoul’s commitment toward nonproliferation.

Yoon touted Seoul-Washington ties as a “nuclear-based alliance” on July 16 after returning home from Washington.

But a possible reelection of Trump, who had not discounted a U.S. troop reduction in South Korea, has fueled already growing calls among the South Korean public and some lawmakers for Seoul to develop its own nuclear weapons as they became increasingly uncertain of the U.S. defense commitment.

Harry Harris, former U.S. ambassador to South Korea during the Trump administration, said, however, “Alliance[s] transcend individual leaders.”

“I foresee no reduction in cooperation and coordination between the U.S. and South Korea, in all aspects of our relationship and especially in the combined military relationship,” he added.

Joon Ho Ahn contributed to this report.
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Bangkok — Relatives of 85 people who died 20 years ago at a protest in Thailand’s Muslim-majority south are in a race against time to take former military and police officers to trial before the statute of limitations for their alleged crimes runs out.

A court in southern Thailand is holding hearings that continue this week to decide whether to indict nine former officers for the so-called Tak Bai Massacre of Oct. 25, 2004, which is still the deadliest single event in Thailand since a Muslim insurgency began earlier that same year.

On that day two decades ago in Tak Bai district, Narathiwat province, soldiers and police responding to a protest for the release of detained rebel suspects shot seven people dead. The officers forced many more protesters into police trucks destined for a military camp some 140 kilometers away, leaving them packed inside and forced to lie on top of one another for hours.

Seventy-eight of them died. A state inquest later determined that they had suffocated. Many others were injured, some for life.

No one has ever been charged over the deaths or injuries, let alone convicted.

Hoping to change that, 48 survivors and relatives of the dead filed a lawsuit with the Narathiwat provincial court in April against nine officers, all since retired, for unlawful detention, malfeasance and murder.

The court began hearings on whether to indict any of the accused last month. It held a third day of hearings last Friday and is due to hold another on July 26.

With the statute of limitations due to expire in October, exactly 20 years from the event, it is a race against time for the plaintiffs, including Latipah Mudo, whose 62-year-old father, Sama-ae Mudo, was among those who died in the trucks.

“I was very sad when it happened, and the feeling is the same today,” Mudo, who is now 45, told VOA.

“I want the perpetrators to be punished for what they did to us. Tak Bai should be an example that this kind of thing will never happen again,” she said.

Pornpen Khongkachonkiet, a human rights activist and lawyer representing a survivor of the trucks whose arm and leg were permanently paralyzed, says the plaintiffs want to hear the accused account for their actions on the record.

“This incident has been haunting … the communities,” she said. “They want the perpetrators to [stand] up in the court and tell them what happened, why did they do this, why did they do [or act] as a not human.” 

The plaintiffs hope their case can help prevent similar alleged abuses in Thailand’s insurgency-racked south from recurring, she added.

Once the seat of a Muslim sultanate, the southern provinces of modern-day Thailand were deeded to the then-kingdom of Siam by the British in 1909. Rejecting the transfer, several armed ethnic Malay Muslim groups have waged a guerrilla war against the Thai state to win independence for the provinces.

More than 7,000 people have died in related violence since fighting intensified in January 2004.

Since the deaths at Tak Bai, locals and rights groups say Thai authorities have repeatedly abused the martial and emergency laws imposed on much of the south in the years that followed in a bid to put the insurgency down. They cite several cases of alleged torture and extrajudicial killings of suspected rebels in custody. Thai courts and prior governments have rejected claims of the state’s responsibility in a number of those cases.

“As I learned from the locals since I’ve been working on other documentation of torture, enforced disappearances, the violence still continues, from then until now. And most of the time there [was] no power enough to bring perpetrators to justice,” Pornpen said. “We wanted to bring the [Tak Bai] case … to prove that something like this should not happen again.”

In December 2004, a fact-finding committee appointed by the government concluded that security forces used inappropriate measures to disperse the Tak Bai protesters and that commanding officers failed to adequately supervise the transport of the detainees. But authorities did not pursue charges, and the police claimed force majeure, a legal term referring to events beyond the parties’ control.

The plaintiffs reject the claim.

“It’s not true. It happened because of somebody’s actions; that’s why they died. Their excuse is not reasonable,” said Mudo.

According to local media reports, the Narathiwat court said Friday it would announce its decision whether to take any of the accused to trial on August 23. The court could not be reached to confirm or comment on the date.

Pornpen said the plaintiffs had not filed a case sooner for many reasons, including the compensation the government paid out to relatives of the dead and fear of reprisal from authorities, especially during the intervening years of military-led and -backed governments.

After nearly two decades, though, the events of Oct. 25, 2004, continue to loom large over the country’s deep south, says Rungrawee Chalermsripinyorat, a lecturer at the Peace Studies Institute of southern Thailand’s Prince of Songkla University.

She says the deaths remain a prime recruiting tool for the insurgent groups, and an enduring example of what many Thais believe to be a two-tier justice system.

“It is a testament of the culture of impunity that [is] happening in southern Thailand, so people want to see that those responsible are being punished, brought to [the] justice system, and that has never happened in the past nearly 20 years,” she said.

Insurgent groups often draw on generations-old grievances to entice and inspire new recruits.

“But when they use the Tak Bai incident, this is something that they don’t really have to tell people so much [about] because it’s still vivid in their memory, so it’s easy … to encourage people to join the movement,” Rungrawee said.

While bombings, assassinations and shootouts across the south continue to occur alongside police raids and arrests, the pace of the violence has waned over the years. The government has gradually scaled back some of its emergency powers over the region as well and is in talks with some of the rebel groups over the terms of a possible cease-fire.

Should the Narathiwat court decide to indict the retired officers and ultimately be seen to have held them accountable, Rungrawee said the Tak Bai case could also help ease tensions and even move the peace talks forward.

“It would help to create a better atmosphere,” she said, “to show … that the state does not endure this culture of impunity, [that] the rule of law will be strictly respected.” 
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Hanoi, Vietnam — A former Vietnamese property and aviation tycoon charged with $146 million in fraud and stock market manipulation went on trial in Hanoi on Monday, the latest corruption case targeting the communist country’s business elite.

Trinh Van Quyet, who owned the FLC empire of luxury resorts, golf courses, and the budget Bamboo Airways, had nearly $2 billion in stock market wealth before his arrest, according to state media estimates.

But on Monday the 48-year-old, handcuffed and dressed in a white shirt, was led into court by police officers.

The trial comes just days after the death of former Communist Party of Vietnam leader Nguyen Phu Trong, who is credited with spearheading a crackdown on graft at the highest levels.

Trong, 80, died on Friday at a military hospital in Hanoi “due to old age and serious illness,” the party said, a day after announcing he was standing down to seek medical care.

Tycoon Quyet is accused of illegally pocketing more than $146 million between 2017 and 2022.

Following his arrest in March 2022, 49 other alleged accomplices were picked up, including his two sisters and the former chairman of the Ho Chi Minh Stock Exchange and its chief executive officer.

According to the prosecution indictment, Quyet set up several stock market brokerages and registered dozens of family members to, ostensibly, trade shares.

But police said while orders to buy shares were placed in hundreds of trading sessions, pushing up the value of the stock, they were cancelled before being matched.

The case is part of a national corruption crackdown that has swept up numerous officials and members of Vietnam’s business elite in recent years.

In April, a top Vietnamese property tycoon sentenced to death in a $27 billion fraud case, launched an appeal against her conviction.

The head of one of Vietnam’s top soft drinks companies, meanwhile, was jailed for eight years in April in a $40 million fraud case.
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taipei, taiwan — Taiwan must protect its sovereignty and know its own culture and history, President Lai Ching-te said on Sunday, rejecting what he said was the previous mistaken belief the island could serve as a base to “retake” China.   

Lai, who took office in May, and his ruling Democratic Progressive Party, champion Taiwan’s separate identity from China, a position that frequently angers Beijing which views the island as an inviolable part of Chinese territory.   

Speaking to the DPP’s annual convention, Lai said those who fought to bring democracy to Taiwan — martial law only ended in 1987 — had a clear understanding of the island’s place in the world.   

They “did not hesitate to shed blood and used their lives to debunk the mistaken idea that ‘Taiwan is a base to retake the mainland’, and instituted the national policy of putting Taiwan first,” said Lai, who is also DPP chairman. 

Chiang Kai-shek and his defeated Republic of China government fled to Taiwan in 1949 after losing a civil war with Mao Zedong’s communists. 

Chiang hoped to regroup his forces on Taiwan and attack China to destroy Mao’s People’s Republic of China. Chiang died in 1975 without achieving that dream. 

Lai said Taiwan had different priorities. 

“Now, our responsibility to unite the people, oppose annexation [by China] and ensure national sovereignty,” he said, speaking in Taiwanese, also known as Hokkien, rather than the main language of government, Mandarin. 

“We must do our best to let the whole country’s people understand Taiwan’s own history and culture, and establish a national identity that the 23 million people living in Taiwan are a community of destiny,” he added. 

China’s Taiwan Affairs Office did not answer calls seeking comment outside of office hours on Sunday. China calls Lai a “separatist.” 

Lai rejects China’s sovereignty claims saying only Taiwan’s people can decide their future. He has repeatedly offered talks with Beijing but been rebuffed. 

China staged war games shortly after Lai’s inauguration, and has continued to send warplanes and warships around Taiwan on a daily basis.   

Taiwan starts is annual Han Kuang war games on Monday, which this year aim to be as close as possible to actual combat. 

Lai said the DPP will always adhere to a democratic and free constitutional system.  

“We will never allow Taiwan to suffer the danger of extinction due to the failure of democratic politics,” he added. 
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hanoi, vietnam — Vietnam will hold a state funeral next week for Nguyen Phu Trong, the leader of its ruling Communist Party who died Friday, the government said on Saturday.

There will be two days of national mourning July 25-26, a government statement said, with the state funeral the second day. During the mourning period there will be no public entertainment and flags at offices and other public places will fly at half-staff, it said.

Trong, 80, died after holding Vietnam’s most powerful position for 13 years, overseeing fast economic growth, a years-long anti-graft crackdown and a pragmatic foreign policy.

His duties have been temporarily assigned to President To Lam, a rising star within the party who could further consolidate his powers if he is allowed to keep the two roles.

The government statement called Trong’s death a huge loss to the party, the state, the Vietnamese people and his family.

“After nearly 60 years of work, Trong has made many great and especially outstanding contributions to the glorious revolutionary cause of the Party and the nation,” it added.

During his time as party head Trong had pursued a pragmatic foreign policy, including nurturing ties with the United States.

Foreign leaders, including U.S. President Joe Biden, Chinese President Xi Jinping and Russian President Vladimir Putin, have sent condolences to the people of Vietnam and his family, according to a statement from the Communist Party of Vietnam.
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helsinki, finland — Experts see rival air and naval exercises this month across the Indo-Pacific region, involving Western-oriented allies on the one hand and Russia and China on the other, as evidence of mounting strategic competition and the risk of conflict in the region.

The Rim of the Pacific (RIMPAC) exercise, led by the United States and involving 29 countries, will enter its second phase on Monday in the waters around Hawaii. Germany, France and Spain are among the countries joining RIMPAC’s 18 core members in a joint air exercise.

The drill will also include the sinking of the 40,000-ton amphibious landing ship Tarawa, which is believed to be a stand-in for one of China’s large amphibious landing ships and aircraft carriers.

The RIMPAC exercise comes days after a Sino-Russian joint military drill concluded Wednesday in Zhanjiang, on China’s southern coast. Seven Chinese and Russian warships participated, including China’s missile destroyer, a 20,000-ton supply ship and three Russian stealth warships.

At the same time, China’s Shandong aircraft carrier formation, with three missile destroyers and frigates, is conducting exercises in the Philippine Sea.

And next month, India will host its first multinational air exercise, Tarang Shakti-2024, which is likely to see the participation of 10 countries.

Christopher Lamont, a professor at Tokyo International University and dean of E-Track International Relations, said the joint China-Russia exercise adds heightened tension to Japan’s security environment, particularly in the context of closer Moscow-Pyongyang ties following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.

Stronger Japan-Europe ties

Lamont said the participation of Japan, a RIMPAC member, in exercises with European partners is symbolic in the sense that Spain, France and Germany have limited capacity to project naval power into this region.

But, he said, it underlines “a strengthening of both economic and security ties between Tokyo and European capitals that has picked up pace since 2022.”

In yet another naval exercise this week, a Taiwanese coast guard patrol vessel and a Japanese aircraft-carrying coast guard patrol vessel carried out a joint drill to the south of Japan’s Boso Peninsula, Chiba prefecture, and in waters near Izu Oshima.

It is reportedly the first joint maritime exercise between the two coast guards since Japan and Taiwan cut formal diplomatic ties in 1972. Analysts see the drill as a response to China’s assertive activities in the East China and South China seas.

In a regular briefing on Friday, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Lin Jian strongly deplored the maritime exercise and lodged a protest with Japan.

“We urge Japan to … correct the wrongdoing at once, refrain from conniving at or supporting ‘Taiwan independence’ separatist forces in any form, stay prudent on issues related to the East and South China seas, and stop disrupting cross-strait peace and stability and China-Japan relations,” he said.

Eric Huang, a lecturer at Tamkang University in Taiwan, said the series of joint exercises illustrates “the intensifying strategic competition, increasing regional security uncertainty, and risks of conflict” in the Asia-Pacific.

Global tensions over the conflicts in Ukraine and Gaza, and mounting Chinese pressure on Taiwan, “underscore the urgent need for synchronized national and regional defense strategies, alongside international cooperation in the Asia-Pacific,” added Huang, a former spokesperson and deputy director of the International Affairs Department of Taiwan’s opposition Nationalist Party.

“Regional democratic allies like South Korea, Australia, India and Taiwan must assertively balance national security with regional stability, navigating the intricacies of great power competition through decisive dialogue and strategic cooperation to ensure enduring regional stability and democratic way of lives,” Huang said.

Eyes on Moscow-Beijing relationship

Marcin Mateusz Jerzewski, director of the Taiwan office of the European Center for Values and Security Policy, said the security environment is increasingly severe in the Euro-Atlantic and Indo-Pacific theaters, in large part because of the growing confluence of strategic interests between Moscow and Beijing.

“With the largest kinetic conflict since World War II happening in their backyard, European countries are increasingly concerned about China’s tacit support for Russian atrocities in Ukraine,” he said.

Elio Calcagno, the defense program researcher at the Italian Institute of International Affairs, told VOA that European countries are bolstering efforts to demonstrate their commitment to security in the Indo-Pacific through more frequent and substantial deployments.

Calcagno said the European participants hope to deepen ties with regional partners through the drills while “demonstrating to the U.S. that they are able to contribute to Washington’s most immediate strategic concerns, which regard Chinese posturing in the region.”

At the same time, he said, they are seeking to show “like-minded partners in the Indo-Pacific that European countries can act independently from the U.S. to a certain extent.”

Adrianna Zhang contributed to this report.
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Taipei, Taiwan — China’s ruling party has concluded the Third Plenum of its 20th Central Committee with a communique described as vague and cliché by China watchers, who said it lacks specific measures to address China’s economic difficulties.

Shi He-ling, an associate professor of economics at Monash Business School at Monash University in Caulfield, Australia, said the communiqué was disappointing and that its writers were completely unthinking.

The 5,000-word communiqué, issued on Thursday, touted the Chinese Communist Party’s achievements in “comprehensively deepening reforms” and said the future will be critical for comprehensively advancing “Chinese-style modernization,” building a strong country and rejuvenating the nation.

Shi said that while Chinese President Xi Jinping has set out a new vision of “Chinese-style modernization” to highlight his differences from previous party leaders, the communiqué does not provide any specific definitions that are measurable.

“It does not make macroeconomic adjustments at all but is like a philosophical article, which is basically a cliché,” Shi told VOA.

In addition to “socialist market mechanisms” and “new quality productivity,” the communiqué stressed that national security is an important foundation for the steady and long-term development of Chinese-style modernization; that the modernization of national defense and the armed forces is an important part of it; and that “party leadership” in particular is the “fundamental guarantee” for promoting this policy.

Yeh Yao-yuan, chairman of the Department of Political Science at the University of St. Thomas in Houston, Texas, said that under the framework of “Xi Thoughts,” it is difficult for the economic exposition of this communiqué to be new.

Even if the “socialist market economic system” is repeatedly touted, it will not be able to reverse China’s economic decline, he said, adding that Xi’s economic reform is in fact “changing things to their old ways.”

These include forcing the private sector to retreat in order to help the state advance and tightening controls over foreign capital, which will hit the market economy hard.

Ming Chu-cheng,  professor emeritus of political science at National Taiwan University in Taipei, offered a similar assessment on Thursday at a seminar in Taiwan.

Xi “is touting the market economy, but what he really pushes is ‘the people retreat and the country advances,’ which is completely opposite to what he says,” Ming said. “I don’t have great hopes for the Third Plenum. Even if you relax the economic restrictions, you will encounter exactly the same problems in another 20 years because politics is choking the economy.”

The communiqué received more than 100 million views on Weibo and made it to the hot search list hours after its release. However, there was hardly any substantive discussion online among Chinese people in the comment areas. Most just reposted and recited some of the communiqué text to express their concerns.

The personnel changes made at the plenum attracted a lot of attention as the CCP officially approved the removal of its former foreign minister, Qin Gang, from its Central Committee.

Qin, who has not been seen in public since last summer, is no longer a member of the Communist Party leadership. He was dismissed as foreign minister in July last year and removed from the post of state councilor three months later.

His resignation from the top body had been accepted. No further details were provided, and the reasons behind Qin’s disappearance remain unclear. He was allegedly investigated for having an extramarital affair, leaking secrets and endangering national security.

The plenum also confirmed the expulsion of former Defense Minister Li Shangfu. Li Yuchao and Sun Jinming of the People’s Liberation Army’s Rocket Force were also removed from the Central Committee.

Many online comments focused on Qin being called “comrade” in the party’s published decision while others were calling Qin’s ousting a “soft landing.”

After the discussion on Qin’s removal became a hot topic, the Weibo accounts of various media outlets seemed to be alerted and comments were concealed.

Chong Ja Ian, an associate professor of political science at the National University of Singapore, said that Beijing dislikes Chinese people arguing online about the CCP’s high-level personnel because comments might call into question the party’s decisions and judgment, especially as Qin was previously Xi’s close confidant and the foreign minister.

“What happened to Qin has not been particularly public so far,” Chong told VOA, “and too many of these discussions [about Qin] will also distract public attention from the economic reform plan the Third Plenum wants to promote.”

Adrianna Zhang, Yang An, Joyce Huang contributed to this story.
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BANGKOK — The newly elected chair of the Hong Kong Journalists Association says she was “shocked and appalled” to be fired by the Wall Street Journal this week, immediately after taking her position.

Selina Cheng says the media outlet terminated her contract Wednesday after she accepted the role leading the association, known as the HKJA.

Speaking with VOA, Cheng said, “I think I would not be terminated if I had complied with their request to not be chair.”

The reporter says Wall Street Journal editors had warned her that her HKJA role could be a conflict of interests because the Journal covers press freedom issues in Hong Kong.

Cheng said in a news conference that the Journal’s actions called into question its commitment to press freedom, saying management is blocking employees “from advocating for freedoms the Journal reporters rely on to work, in a place where journalists and their rights are under threat.”

She said the Journal is applying a double standard, noting its advocacy efforts to free American journalist Evan Gershkovich, who is on trial in Russia.

Cheng, who joined the Journal as a full-time employee in 2022, covers the electric vehicle and auto industry.

A spokesperson at Dow Jones, parent company of the  Journal, confirmed to VOA that personnel changes were made in Hong Kong on Wednesday.

When pressed over the reason to terminate Cheng’s role, the spokesperson said, “We don’t comment on specific individuals. This is a newsroom decision.”

The spokesperson added, “The Wall Street Journal has been and continues to be a fierce and vocal advocate for press freedom in Hong Kong and around the world.”

Conflict brewing for weeks

In a statement shared on the social media platform X on Wednesday, Cheng said that about three weeks ago, Wall Street Journal editors learned that she was running for election to be chair of HKJA.

Cheng says that her supervisor, who is based in Britain, then asked her to withdraw.

“She also asked me to quit the board — which I have served on since 2021 —even though the Wall Street Journal approved this when I was hired. This day was the day before our election,” Cheng said in a statement.

When she refused, Cheng says, her supervisor told her the role as chair “would be incompatible” with her job and that “employees of the Journal should not be seen as advocating for press freedom in a place like Hong Kong.”

Cheng told VOA she had been expecting something to happen when she refused to stop her association with the HKJA.

“There didn’t seem to be any room for discussion, and they went straight to threatening to dismiss weeks ago. I’m deeply shocked and appalled by this,” she said.

The journalist said that on Wednesday, Gordon Fairclough, the world coverage chief at the Journal, flew from Britain to Hong Kong to inform Cheng her role had been terminated as part of a restructure.

Cheng said the Journal made layoffs in Hong Kong earlier this year, but that she was kept on.

“Prior to knowing that I was going to run for chair, there wasn’t any indication [of being dismissed],” she told VOA. “In fact, I was a small number of people kept on in the newsroom and my reporting area was highlighted from our editor in chief as being one of the key areas to continue reporting on in Asia.”

Cheng told VOA she had not been asked to relocate to any other of the Journal bureaus.

Cheng has worked in Hong Kong since 2017, reporting on the umbrella protest movement, the removal of books about Tiananmen Square from libraries and a lobbying campaign that sought to revoke the Hong Kong Human Rights and Democracy Act.

She previously worked at English news website the Hong Kong Free Press and Hong Kong media outlet HK01.

Association is ‘outraged’

The HKJA in a statement said that it was “outraged” by the Journal’s actions. The statement says Cheng is consulting her lawyers about a potential breach of Hong Kong labor law.

“By pressuring employees not to take part in the HKJA, a key advocate for both local and international journalists working in Hong Kong, the WSJ risks hastening the decline of what space for independent journalism remains,” the statement said.

The HKJA said that other elected board members had come under similar pressure.

The HKJA has come under pressure from authorities and criticism from Chinese-state media since Beijing enacted the national security law in Hong Kong four years ago to quell dissent. The association has been criticized for alleged links to activist organizations.

Former HKJA chair Ronson Chan was sentenced to five days in jail in September for allegedly obstructing a police officer.

Chan was an editor at the now-defunct Stand News website, one of several media outlets to close for allegedly conspiring to publish seditious publications. Media executives and journalists from the outlet are on trial, with a verdict expected in August.

Press freedom in Hong Kong and East Asia have seen a decline in the past year, according to media watchdog Reporters without Borders, known as RSF.

Hong Kong ranks 135 out of 180, where 1 shows the best environment. In 2019, the year before the national security law came in, Hong Kong ranked 73.

Since the national security law was enacted, at least 28 journalists and press freedom defenders have been arrested, with 10 still in jail, and over a dozen media outlets have closed.

Aleksandra Bielakowska, an advocacy officer at RSF, says press freedom has “plummeted.” 

“While Reporters Without Borders does not comment on individual employment disputes, we want to express our support for Selina Cheng’s courageous work with the Hong Kong Journalists Association,” she told VOA.

“As press freedom has sharply plummeted in Hong Kong in recent years, and as pressure has grown against foreign and domestic media operating in the territory, independent journalism is more crucial than ever,” she said.

RSF’s World Press Freedom Index lists these countries in East Asia as the most dangerous for media: China, North Korea and Vietnam.
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HANOI, Vietnam — Vietnam has filed a claim with the United Nations for an extended continental shelf (ECS) in the South China Sea, a month after regional neighbor the Philippines made a similar move, Vietnam’s foreign ministry said on Thursday.

The submission of the continental shelf beyond the current 200 nautical miles is to exercise the rights and obligations of state parties in accordance to the maritime framework, the foreign ministry said in a statement.

This is Vietnam’s third submission of an ECS, the statement added, including a submission in respect to the North Area of the South China Sea or Vietnam’s East Sea and a joint submission with Malaysia in respect to the southern part of the area in 2009.

China claims almost the entire South China Sea, including parts claimed by the Philippines, Brunei, Malaysia, Taiwan and Vietnam. Portions of the strategic waterway, where $3 trillion worth of trade passes annually, are believed to be rich in oil and natural gas deposits, as well as fish stocks.

Vietnam also sent a note verbale to the Secretary-General of the U.N. to state Vietnam’s position regarding the Philippines’ similar submission filed last month, Vietnam’s foreign ministry said.

“Vietnam once again affirms its sovereignty over the Hoang Sa (Paracel) and Truong Sa (Spratly) archipelagos in accordance with international law,” it added.
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Beijing — Firefighters in China pulled six bodies from a shopping centre on Wednesday, state media reported, with an unknown number still trapped after a blaze broke out in a 14-storey building.

Footage broadcast by state broadcaster CCTV and shared on social media showed thick black smoke billowing out of the tower, located in Zigong in southwestern Sichuan province.

The blaze started in the early evening in a shopping center at the foot of the building, the channel said.

Around 30 people were rescued from the shopping complex, with the fire extinguished by rescuers around 8:20 pm (1220 GMT), CCTV said.

Later footage provided by a drone operator to AFP showed firetrucks and other first responders blocking off the road late at night, continuing to spray down the charred building.

“Six people have been killed,” CCTV reported, adding that search and rescue operations were continuing with people still trapped.

Zigong’s emergency services department received news about the fire at around 6:10 pm and immediately dispatched firefighters to extinguish the blaze, the broadcaster said.

Other images shared on social media — which AFP could not immediately verify — show people gathered in front of the burning building.

The emergency department has called on the public to “not to believe or amplify rumours” about the fire.

Zigong, some 1,900 kilometers from the capital Beijing, is home to nearly 2.5 million people.

Lax safety

Fires and other deadly accidents are common in China due to lax safety standards and poor enforcement.

In January, dozens died after a fire broke out at a store in the central city of Xinyu, with state news agency Xinhua reporting the blaze had been caused by the “illegal” use of fire by workers in the store’s basement.

At the time, Chinese President Xi Jinping called for lessons to be learned from the disaster to avoid further tragedies.

The same month, a fire in a residential building killed at least 15 people.

That fire came just days after a late-evening blaze at a school in central China’s Henan province killed 13 schoolchildren as they slept in a dormitory.

In June last year, an explosion at a barbecue restaurant in the northwest of the country left 31 dead and prompted official pledges of a nationwide campaign to promote workplace safety.

And in April 2023, a fire in a Beijing hospital claimed 29 lives and forced desperate patients to jump from windows to escape.

 
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