taipei, taiwan — Taiwanese singer and activist Panai called Saturday — at one of the most prestigious entertainment events in the Chinese-speaking world — for people not to forget China’s bloody 1989 crackdown on pro-democracy protesters at Tiananmen Square. 

Chinese artists in recent years have largely stayed away from Taiwan’s Golden Melody Awards given renewed tension between democratically governed Taiwan and China, which views the island as its own territory, and the reference to Tiananmen is unlikely to endear Beijing to the ceremony. 

Taking the stage after winning for best Taiwanese language album at the ceremony in Taipei, Panai said this was the 35th anniversary of the awards. 

“The Tiananmen Square incident is also exactly 35 years old, let’s not forget,” she said. 

Chinese tanks rolled into the square before dawn on June 4, 1989, to end weeks of pro-democracy demonstrations by students and workers. Public discussion of what happened is taboo in China, though it is freely talked about in Taiwan. 

China says it “long ago” reached a clear conclusion about the events of 1989, and China’s Taiwan Affairs Office did not immediately respond to a request for comment. 

Panai has campaigned for years for the rights of Taiwan’s Indigenous people. 

“Democracy is a lengthy and not an easy journey, we are pressured as we don’t know if we will be bullied by a ‘bigger’ power,” she told reporters backstage after her win. 

“The reason why I mentioned that event on stage is because Taiwan’s democracy is a process that all of us need to cherish; our freedom and freedom of speech is what we need to protect.” 

No Chinese singers attended this year’s awards, despite several high-profile nominations, including Xu Jun winning for best composer. 

Another Chinese singer, Jude Chiu, did arrive in Taiwan but returned to the country before the awards for health reasons, Taiwan’s official Central News Agency reported. 

While Taiwan has only 23 million people, its pop music scene has an outsized cultural influence across East Asia, especially in China, in part due to creativity unencumbered by censorship. 

The awards celebrate not only Mandopop but artists singing in Taiwanese — also known as Hokkien — Hakka and Indigenous languages like Bunun, a visible sign of the Taiwan government’s efforts to promote once suppressed tongues. 
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GIMHAE AIR BASE, South Korea — The United States wrapped up its first multidomain exercise with Japan and South Korea in the East China Sea on Saturday, a step forward in Washington’s efforts to strengthen and lock in its security partnerships with key Asian allies in the face of growing threats from North Korea and China.

The three-day Freedom Edge increased the sophistication of previous exercises with simultaneous air and naval drills geared toward improving joint ballistic-missile defense, anti-submarine warfare, surveillance and other skills and capabilities.

The exercise, which is expected to expand in years to come, was also intended to improve the countries’ abilities to share missile warnings — increasingly important as North Korea tests ever-more sophisticated systems.

Other than Australia, Japan and South Korea are the only U.S. partners in the region with militaries sophisticated enough to integrate operations with the U.S. so that if, for example, South Korea were to detect a target, it could quickly relay details so Japanese or American counterparts could respond, said Ridzwan Rahmat, a Singapore-based analyst with the defense intelligence company Janes.

“That’s the kind of interoperability that is involved in a typical war scenario,” Rahmat said. “For trilateral exercises like this, the intention is to develop the interoperability between the three armed forces so that they can fight better as a cohesive fighting force.”

Such exercises also carry the risk of increasing tensions, with China regularly denouncing drills in what it considers its sphere of influence, and North Korea already slamming the arrival of the USS Theodore Roosevelt carrier group in the port of Busan — home to South Korea’s navy headquarters and its Gimhae Air Base — in preparation for Freedom Edge as “provocative” and “dangerous.”

On Wednesday, the day after South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol visited the Roosevelt in Busan, becoming the first sitting South Korean president to board a U.S. aircraft carrier since 1994, North Korea tested what it said was a multiwarhead missile, the first known launch of the developmental weapon, if confirmed.

South Korea’s military said a joint analysis by South Korean and U.S. authorities assessed that the North Korean missile launch failed.

The defense cooperation involving Japan and South Korea is also politically complex for Yoon and Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida, due to the lingering resentment over Imperial Japan’s brutal occupation of Korea before and during World War II.

The two countries have the largest militaries among American allies in East Asia — and together host some 80,000 American troops on their territories — but the U.S. has tended to work with them individually rather than together due to their history.

Kishida’s increase of defense spending and cooperation with South Korea have generally been well received by the Japanese public but has caused friction with the right wing of his own party, while Yoon’s domestic appeal has weakened, but he has stayed the course.

“South Korea’s shift under the Yoon administration toward improving its relations with Japan has been extremely significant,” said Heigo Sato, international politics professor and security expert at Takushoku University in Tokyo.

Both leaders are seen to be trying to fortify their defense relationships with Washington ahead of the inauguration of a new president, with South Korean officials saying recently that they hope to sign a formal security framework agreement with the U.S. and Japan this year that would lock in a joint approach to responding to a possible attack from North Korea.

U.S. President Joe Biden’s administration has also long been working to increase cooperation between South Korea and Japan — something that many didn’t think was possible at the start of his presidency, said Euan Graham, a defense analyst with the Australian Strategic Policy Institute.

“Credit where it’s due — the fact that it’s happening is a significant achievement from the administration’s regional policy,” he said.

Former U.S. President Donald Trump caused friction with both allies during his time in office by demanding greater payment for their hosting of U.S. troops while holding one-on-one meetings with North Korea’s Kim Jong Un.

Under Biden, Washington is seeking to solidify its system of alliances, both with increasingly sophisticated exercises and diplomatic agreements, Graham said.

Tensions with North Korea are at their highest point in years, with the pace of Kim Jong Un’s weapons programs intensifying, despite heavy international sanctions.

China, meanwhile, has been undertaking a massive military buildup of nuclear and conventional weapons, and now has the world’s largest navy. It claims both the self-governing island of Taiwan and virtually the entirety of the South China Sea as its own territory and has increasingly turned to its military to press those claims.

China and North Korea have also been among Russia’s closest allies in its war against Ukraine, while Russia and China are also key allies for North Korea, as well as the military leaders of Myanmar who seized power in 2021 and are facing ever-stiffer resistance in that country’s civil war.

In Pyongyang this month, Russian President Vladimir Putin and Kim concluded a mutual defense pact, agreeing to come to the other’s aid in the event of an attack, rattling others in the region.

Despite a greater number of ships overall, China still only has three aircraft carriers compared to the U.S. fleet’s 11 — probably the most effective tool a country has to bring vast amounts of power to bear at a great distance from home.

China’s advantage, however, is that its primary concern is the nearby waters of the Indo-Pacific, while Washington’s global focus means that its naval assets are spread widely. Following the exercises in the East China Sea with Japan and South Korea, the Roosevelt is due to sail to the Middle East to help protect ships against attacks by Yemen’s Houthi rebels.

That has made strong security partnerships even more important, not only with Japan and South Korea but with Australia, the Philippines, Taiwan and others in the region, and building those up has been a priority for the Biden administration.
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VIENTIANE, LAOS — As Beijing weaves its web of roads and railways through Southeast Asia, a massive Chinese-financed infrastructure project in Laos is quietly reshaping the region’s geopolitical landscape.

The $6 billion China-Laos railway, which opened in December 2021 and will soon provide a direct route from Kunming, China, to the Gulf of Thailand through connections with previously existing rail lines in those countries, stands as a symbol of Beijing’s ambitious regional expansion strategy.

Initially planned with 32 stations, the railway currently boasts 10 passenger stations and 10 freight stations, with further expansion in progress.

The railway is managed by the Laos-China Railway Company, a joint venture in Vientiane. Laos holds a 30% stake through the Lao National Railway State Enterprise, with Chinese state-owned enterprises, led by China State Railway Group Company Ltd., covering the remainder. Funding includes a 60% loan from Eximbank of China and 40% equity investment from each nation.

Laos’ $1.79 billion share includes $730 million in equity and $1.06 billion in debt, supplemented by a $480 million Eximbank of China loan and $250 million from the state budget.

While the project promises economic growth for Laos, it is also part of China’s strategic Belt and Road Initiative aimed at extending the country’s influence.

Daniele Carminati, a visiting lecturer at Bangkok’s Mahidol University International College, acknowledged the potential economic benefits of increased Chinese investment in Laos. He said that while there are opportunities for local employment and business growth near railway stations, there is also the risk of deepening dependence on China.

“China will still have a major role in the operations of the railways, and this can result in political influence, even if passively. Laos could hardly take a tough stance with China because there is a lot to lose,” he told VOA by email.

Given Laos’ location bordering China, a tough stance would be unlikely anyway, he said.

“It is sensible for Laos to ‘accept its status’ and try to reap the benefits accordingly,” he said.

The influx of Chinese investment may bring short-term gains, but the long-term consequences could entrench Laos in a cycle of debt and subservience.

Grace Stanhope, a research associate in the Lowy Institute’s Indo-Pacific Development Centre told VOA, “The railway was intended to increase economic activity and facilitate cross-border exports and tourism for Laos. However, reports indicate that most of the exports on the railway to China are from Chinese companies operating in Laos, rather than Laos-owned businesses.”

According to Laos-China Railway Company figures, the Laos-China Railway recorded over 10,000 trains and 8.7 million passengers from January to May, a 17.5% increase over last year.

Looking ahead, Laos and Thailand are preparing to initiate a trial run of a Vientiane-Bangkok railway link on July 13-14, with plans for it to become the first rail link between Thailand and China.

Influence at the local level

Despite regulations requiring payments in Lao kip, railway stations display prices in both kip and Chinese yuan. Vendors often accept yuan, given the high number of Chinese tourists and business travelers, said Phetsamone ‘Mone’ Vilaysack, a cashier at a small shop in the Vientiane train station.

“The train and its operation are mostly run by Chinese companies, it makes sense that we should allow them to pay in yuan,” Mone told VOA.

A train hostess, who asked to remain anonymous, said she was unaware of the currency law but was instructed by her employer to ask for payments in kip first but accept yuan.

“When customers pay, I always tell them the price in kip first. If they say they have only yuan, I allow them to use it,” she said.

She said that since she started working for the Laos-China Railway in early 2022, there has been a massive increase in Chinese visitors.

“There are so many businessmen from China traveling by train now. I can recognize some of them. I guess they must have some big businesses in Vientiane or Bokeo,” she said. “When I see them, I know they would pay in yuan.”

Bokeo is the one of the most controversial areas in the region. It is home to the biggest Chinese-run special economic zone in Laos and is well known as a drug trafficking center with allegations of human trafficking, forced labor, prostitution, and illegal scam rings and gambling.

Jeuan, who prefers to be known by his nickname, has operated a restaurant in the Bokeo zone since 2021 but lives with his family in China, close to Laos’ northernmost border.

“I often use the train to cross to Laos. It’s fast and cheap. It’s not necessary for us [his family] to move to Laos. I can just invest here,” he told VOA at the Vientiane station while waiting for his train to Bokeo.

Jeuan said he travels to Bokeo and Vientiane up to three times a month, personally handling business paperwork with local authorities.

“I can consider investing in more businesses in Bokeo, or even Thailand, if the train will go there in the future,” he said.

Regional influence, debt concerns

Meanwhile, concerns over the railway’s financial implications loom large. Financed largely through Chinese loans, the project has raised apprehensions about Laos’ mounting debt to China, estimated to be over half of Laos’ external debt, exceeding 100% of its gross domestic product, according to Stanhope.

Critics also say such projects could spur increasing alignment of Lao economic and political decisions with Chinese interests and that the project increases Beijing’s leverage over Lao infrastructure and resources, potentially compromising Laos’ sovereignty.

“The main challenges, beyond technical ones, would be for China to build a credible/persuasive narrative ensuring they will not take advantage of their role while respecting the receiving countries’ sovereignty, aware that the United States and allies will keep warning the region of such risks,” Carminati wrote in his email.

The project is part of China’s vision for the Kunming–Singapore Railway, also known as the Pan-Asia Railway, a flagship BRI project in mainland Southeast Asia. The vision includes three routes linking Kunming to Singapore via Myanmar, Thailand, Laos, Vietnam, Cambodia, and Malaysia.

Carminati cited the potential geopolitical impact of extending the line all the way south to Malaysia and Singapore.

Thailand, Malaysia and Singapore would not stop defending their national interests, he wrote, “but it is hard to deny that … a softer stance is expected if these major infrastructure projects are to be completed, maintained, and ‘exploited’ in the long term.”
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Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia — Mongolians voted in parliamentary elections on Friday, with the ruling party widely expected to win despite deepening public anger over corruption and the state of the economy.

People across the vast, sparsely populated nation of 3.4 million, sandwiched between China and Russia, are voting to elect 126 members of the State Great Khural.

Polls opened at 7 am local time (2300 GMT Thursday) and will close at 10 pm, with preliminary results expected later in the night.

Tsagaantsooj Dulamsuren, a 36-year-old cashier pregnant with her fourth child, told AFP that Friday’s poll offered her a chance to “give power to the candidates you really want to support”.

“I want lawmakers to provide more infrastructure development… and more jobs in the manufacturing industry for young people,” she said outside a polling station at a hospital near the capital Ulaanbaatar.

Analysts expect the ruling Mongolian People’s Party (MPP), led by Prime Minister Luvsannamsrain Oyun-Erdene, to retain the majority it has enjoyed since 2016 and govern the country for another four years.

They say the party can credit much of its success to a bonanza over the past decade in coal mining that fuelled double-digit growth and dramatically improved standards of living, as well as a formidable party machine and a weak, fractured opposition.

Yet there is deep public frustration over endemic corruption, as well as the high cost of living and lack of opportunities for young people who make up almost two-thirds of the population.

There is also a widespread belief that the proceeds of the coal-mining boom are being hoarded by a wealthy elite — a view that has sparked frequent protests.

Broad spectrum

Preliminary results are expected to come within a few hours of polls closing despite Mongolia’s vast size, thanks to assistance from automated vote counting.

The streets of Ulaanbaatar, home to almost half the population, have been decked out with colourful campaign posters touting candidates from across the political spectrum, from populist businessmen to nationalists, environmentalists and socialists.

Parties are required by law to ensure that 30 percent of their candidates are women in a country where politics is dominated by men.

Long lines snaked around corridors at a polling station in a school in downtown Ulaanbaatar, with many voters wearing traditional clothing.

Oyun-Erdene also voted in a kindergarten in Ulaanbaatar, an AFP reporter saw.

The prime minister told local TV after casting his ballot that he hoped Friday’s vote would “open a new page of trust and cooperation between the state and citizens”.

However, many younger, urban voters are not convinced by the MPP’s pitch, while the failure of the established opposition Democratic Party to provide a credible alternative has helped fuel the rise of minor parties.

Batsaikan Battseren, a 45-year-old community leader dressed in traditional Mongolian deel clothing, said he was urging people to vote.

“Our area’s average participation is 60 percent,” the former herder said at a polling station in rural Sergelen, an administrative division more than an hour’s drive from the capital.

However, “young people from 18 to 30 years old don’t go to vote”, he said.

‘Social contract’

Mongolia has plummeted in Transparency International’s Corruption Perceptions Index under Oyun-Erdene’s premiership.

It has also fallen in press freedom rankings and campaigners say there has been a notable decline in the rule of law.

Some fear that, should it win a new mandate, the ruling party will tighten Oyun-Erdene’s grip on power and erode the democratic freedoms of ordinary Mongolians.

“I’ll describe this election as a referendum on… Prime Minister Oyun-Erdene and whether he will manage to get a mandate to rewrite Mongolia’s social contract,” Bayarlkhagva Munkhnaran, political analyst and former adviser on the National Security Council of Mongolia, told AFP.

The MPP is the successor to the communist party that ruled Mongolia with an iron grip for almost 70 years.

It remains popular, particularly among rural, older voters, and commands a sprawling, nationwide campaign apparatus.

“Their appeal is ‘look, we’ve done well, we’ve managed well’,” Julian Dierkes, a professor at the University of British Columbia and an expert on Mongolian politics, told AFP.

He said concern about corruption was widespread, even though “there’s no real distinction” among the opposition parties.

“The extent to which that’ll resonate with voters, we’ll know tonight sometime. It’s really hard to guess,” Dierkes said.
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BANGKOK — Thai banks and registered companies are taking on an expanding and leading role securing weapons to Myanmar’s military regime even as it grows increasingly isolated amid a brutal civil war claiming thousands of lives, a United Nations report released Wednesday says.

The report, Banking on the Death Trade: How Banks and Governments Enable the Military Junta in Myanmar, says international sanctions have helped to slash the regime’s purchase of weapons through the global financial system by a third from the 2022 to 2023 fiscal year, which runs April to March, to some $253 million.

“That is a very significant step in the right direction and shows the impact that international action can take,” said the U.N. special rapporteur on human rights in Myanmar, Tom Andrews, the report’s author.

Andrews attributed much of the drop in trade to Singapore, which investigated its own banks and companies in the wake of a report he wrote last year that named the city-state among Myanmar’s main pipelines for arms since the military’s 2021 coup.

The new report says Myanmar’s military purchases through the global financial system from companies registered in Singapore crashed between 2022 and 2023 some 90% as a result, from $110 million to just $10 million last year.

“The bad news is that we’ve seen the opposite happen in Thailand, where there has been a significant increase in both the facilitation of weapons procurement transactions by Thai banks and the export of weapons materials from Thai companies into Myanmar,” Andrews told VOA.

According to his report, Myanmar’s military purchases from companies registered in Thailand over the same period doubled to $120 million, topping all other countries, including China and Russia.

China and Russia saw their companies’ arms trade with Myanmar through the global financial system fall in 2023, to $80 million and $10 million respectively. India’s trade stayed steady at $15 million.

Myanmar’s recent military purchases via Thailand, the report says, included items ranging from chemicals to machine tools and radios to spare parts for fighter jets and helicopters, which the junta is widely accused of using to deadly effect on civilian targets.

Myanmar’s military regime has denied targeting civilians and claims it is taking proportionate action against “terrorists.”

Andrews’ report does not claim that the Thai government was directly involved in the arms trades, or that all the military material and goods were made or assembled in, or exported from, Thailand. It also does not capture any arms trade outside of the global financial system, including any deals that may have been settled with hard cash or by barter.

Previous research by Andrews and others showed most weapons shipments to Myanmar since the coup starting out from China and Russia.

Even so, this week’s report highlights the major role international commercial banks continue to play in arming Myanmar’s military despite the mounting allegations of the junta’s war crimes. It names 16 banks in Thailand and six other countries across Asia handling $630 million worth of military-related purchases for the junta over the past two years.

Despite the impact sanctions have had in stemming that trade, Andrews told VOA countries keen on thwarting Myanmar’s junta can do much more to enforce, coordinate and add to the sanctions, to leave fewer gaps for the junta to exploit.

Countries that have placed sanctions on Myanmar have not all sanctioned the same companies, and some companies vital to the junta’s arms trade still have not been sanctioned at all.

Andrews said the junta has reacted to sanctions on two of its key banks for military trades, for example, by redirecting most of that business through another bank still free of sanctions. The junta has also gotten better at disguising its arms purchases.

“What is critical now is that the response of the international community, specifically with respect to sanctions, be coordinated, be strategic and be focused, and that the international community work together to enforce these sanctions and eliminate these loopholes,” he said.

“The reason that is so important is because, given the fact that the junta is on its heels … their response is to escalate attacks on civilians,” he said.

Citing research by Armed Conflict Location and Event Data, a U.S.-based research group, he said the junta has picked up air strikes fivefold in the past six months alone. The junta has lost significant territory to armed resistance groups across the country over the same period and is now believed to be in control of less than half of Myanmar.

Andrews said the junta’s weapons supplies would also be hit hard if Thailand were to follow Singapore’s lead and crack down on its own companies doing business with Myanmar’s military and known suppliers.

Unlike Singapore, though, Thailand’s government has not explicitly come out against trading arms with Myanmar.

Asked for comment, Thailand’s Foreign Affairs Ministry spokesperson Nikorndej Balankura said the government was looking into the report.

“Our banking and financial institutions follow banking protocols as any major financial hub. So we will have to first establish the facts before considering any further steps,” he said in a statement shared with VOA.

“This is a matter of policy which has to be carefully considered, particularly the impact of sanctions on the wider population,” he said. “Thailand has always taken the position not to support any action that impacts the wider population.”

In a separate statement, a group of past and present lawmakers from across Southeast Asia said it was “alarmed” by Myanmar’s shift from Singapore to Thailand to source weapons and urged all 10 governments of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations to learn from Singapore.

The bloc agreed to a five-point peace plan for Myanmar in April 2021 but has failed to make any headway besides providing some humanitarian aid.

In the statement, Philippines lawmaker Raoul Manuel said the role of Southeast Asian companies in helping to arm the junta only undermines the bloc’s peace efforts.

“ASEAN’s efforts to resolve the conflict in Myanmar cannot be taken seriously if ASEAN member states are helping to arm and fund the murderous Myanmar junta, which has already killed thousands of its own people and continues to indiscriminately attack the civilian population,” he said.
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TOKYO — Three bodies were found inside a crater at the summit of Mount Fuji, Japan’s most famous mountain, with one of them already brought down from the slopes, police said Thursday.

The identities of the people, including gender or age, were not confirmed. An effort to bring back the two other bodies will continue Friday or later, depending on weather conditions, they said. A search was called off for Thursday because of forecasts for heavy rainfall.

It’s unclear whether the three people were climbing the 3,776-meter mountain together, as the bodies were found several meters apart.

The official climbing season had not yet started when the climbers entered the mountain from the Shizuoka Prefecture side.

Japanese media reports showed a vehicle with one of the bodies driving into a police station in Shizuoka Prefecture. The rescue team had been searching for a 53-year-old man for whom a missing person report was filed.

Separately, Kyodo News service said professional climber Keita Kurakami, 38, died in a hospital after being found by police while climbing Fuji from the Yamanashi Prefecture side of the mountain.

Fuji can be climbed from both Yamanashi and Shizuoka prefectures. The climbing season kicks in for Yamanashi starting July 1.

Mount Fuji, made famous in ukiyoe, or woodblock prints, of 18th and 19th Century Edo Era masters Katsushika Hokusai and Utagawa Hiroshige, is a popular tourist destination.

Experts warn it can get extremely cold, even in the summer, and proper gear, climbing boots and clothing are crucial. Trekkers are also at risk of altitude sickness if they ascend too quickly.

The picturesque Fuji has long been an iconic symbol of Japan, with its gracefully sweeping slopes and white icy cap that stand out amid tranquil lakes and rice fields.

As many as 300,000 people climb Fuji every year, and watching the sunrise from the mountaintop is coveted as a spiritual experience. But worries have been growing lately about overcrowding from the influx of tourists.

The town of Fujikawaguchiko in Yamanashi erected a large black screen along a sidewalk to block the view of Mount Fuji to discourage photo-snapping crowds.
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London — WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange arrived in his home country of Australia a free man Wednesday after agreeing to a plea deal with U.S. prosecutors over espionage charges, ending a 14-year legal odyssey.

Supporters of the 52-year-old journalist and political activist welcomed his release, but said the prosecution sets a dangerous precedent for press freedom.

Assange received an emotional welcome as he arrived at Canberra Airport by private jet Wednesday morning. He was embraced by his wife Stella, and his father, John Shipton, before punching the air as he was cheered by a group of supporters gathered nearby.

“Julian wanted me to sincerely thank everyone. He wanted to be here, but you have to understand what he’s been through. He needs time. He needs to recuperate,” Stella Assange told reporters at a press conference in Australia’s capital.

She thanked his supporters around the world.

“It took millions of people. It took people working behind the scenes. People protesting on the streets for days and weeks and months and years. And we achieved it,” she said.

Assange spends years in prison

Assange spent more than five years in London’s high-security Belmarsh Prison as he fought a legal battle over extradition to the United States.

Britain’s High Court finally ruled in May that he could appeal the extradition order. That decision prompted the U.S. Department of Justice, British and Australian authorities, and Assange’s legal team to expedite negotiations on a deal in which Assange pleaded guilty to one charge of espionage.

He was flown Monday evening from London to the U.S. Pacific territory of Saipan, where a brief hearing at a U.S. District Court on Tuesday concluded the prosecution.

Assange was sentenced to the equivalent of the time he had already spent in prison and was free Wednesday morning.

Defense criticizes US prosecutors

Assange’s lawyer, Jennifer Robinson, criticized U.S. prosecutors’ pursuit of a conviction.

“In order to win his freedom, Julian pleaded guilty to conspiracy to commit espionage for publishing evidence of U.S. war crimes, human rights abuse and U.S. wrongdoing around the world. This is journalism. This is the criminalization of journalism,” said Robinson.

“And while the plea deal does not set a judicial precedent — it’s not a court decision — the prosecution itself sets a precedent that can be used against the rest of the media,” Robinson said at the press conference in Canberra on Wednesday.

‘Democracy demands this’

U.S. prosecutors charged Assange in 2019 with 17 counts of espionage and one count of hacking, relating to the publication of stolen diplomatic cables covering the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq.

Wikileaks said the material revealed abuses by the U.S. military. Campaigners for press freedom say Assange was simply doing his job.

“Essentially what he does is what all journalists want to do: expose incompetence, expose wrongdoing and hold the power to account. Because essentially, democracy demands this. I mean, without this, we wouldn’t have democracy,” said Abdullahi Tasiu Abubakar, a senior lecturer in journalism at City, University of London.

US State Department defends US’ action

The U.S. Department of Justice has not yet commented on the plea deal. The State Department defended the United States’ actions.

“I do think it is important when we talk about Julian Assange to remind the world that the actions for which he was indicted and for which he has now pled guilty are actions that put the lives of our partners, our allies and our diplomats at risk, especially those who work in dangerous places like Afghanistan and Iraq,” State Department spokesperson Matthew Miller told reporters on Wednesday.

“The documents they published gave identifying information of individuals who were in contact with the State Department that included opposition leaders, human rights activists around the world, whose positions were put in some danger because of their public disclosure,” Miller added. “It also chilled the ability of American personnel to build relationships and have frank conversations with them.”

Australian PM lobbies for release

Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese, who personally lobbied U.S. President Joe Biden to allow Assange’s release, welcomed the plea deal.

“Regardless of your views about his activities — and they will be varied — Mr. Assange’s case has dragged on for too long. I have said repeatedly that there was nothing to be gained by his continued incarceration.

“We have used all appropriate channels. This outcome has been the product of careful, patient and determined work, work I am very proud of,” Albanese told lawmakers on Tuesday.

Supporters say they’ll seek pardon

Assange spent seven years in self-imposed confinement in Ecuador’s embassy in London from 2012, as he evaded unrelated rape charges filed by Swedish prosecutors, which were later dropped. Assange said he always believed the U.S. was seeking his extradition.

He was arrested by British authorities for breach of bail after the Ecuadorian Embassy ejected him in 2019. Assange was held in Belmarsh Prison as he fought U.S. attempts to secure his extradition.

Assange’s supporters say they will seek a full pardon of his espionage conviction and have vowed to fight for the principle of press freedom.
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Austin, Texas — Ecuador says it will suspend visa-free entry into the country for Chinese citizens, starting July 1, citing a “worrying” increase in irregular migration. 

Over the past few years, Ecuador has been the starting point for many of the thousands of Chinese citizens who have decided to take the long and treacherous journey through South America, Central America and Mexico to reach the southern U.S. border.

Some who have already migrated to the United States say Ecuador’s decision and the growing resolve of both Washington and Beijing to stop the flow of illegal migration is a sign that the door may be closing for those seeking to “zouxian” or “walk the line” – as the journey is popularly described in Chinese.

Wang Zhongwei, a 33-year-old Chinese from Anhui, came to the U.S. by “walking the line” from Ecuador in May 2023. He said that after the Ecuadorian government’s announcement, “the discussion [among Chinese illegal immigrants] has been heated, and this has a great impact [because] more than 80% of the people came through Ecuador.”

According to U.S. Customs and Border Patrol statistics, the monthly number of encounters for Chinese nationals at the southwestern border hit a record high of nearly 6,000 in December of 2023. In recent months, those encounters have started to come down, slipping to just more than 3,600 in May.

In addition to a recent decision by U.S. President Joe Biden to temporarily restrict asylum eligibility at the U.S.-Mexico border, there are signs that Washington and Beijing are finding ways or at least trying to work together on the issue.  

In May, the Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs told the Associated Press that Beijing is “willing to maintain dialogue and cooperation with the United States in the field of immigration enforcement” and accept the repatriation of people with verified Chinese nationality.

In April, U.S. Secretary of Homeland Security Alejandro Mayorkas told a congressional hearing that he had “engaged” with his Chinese counterparts and that China had begun to accept the repatriation of Chinese immigrants who have no legal basis to stay in the United States.

VOA emailed the Department of Homeland Security to inquire about U.S.-Chinese cooperation on the deportation of Chinese nationals but did not receive a response by the time of publication.

Guo Bin, a Chinese citizen from Guangxi who arrived in the United States at the end of last year with his 12-year-old daughter, said he has heard of some Chinese who “walked the line” being deported in Los Angeles since May.

“There are indeed deportations, and they can be deported on the spot,” he said.

According to posts from social media influencer Teacher Li, Chinese authorities recently issued two documents to public prosecutors that highlight their determination to crack down on those who “walk the line” and to strengthen border control.

VOA could not independently verify the authenticity of the documents, but when it asked the Chinese Embassy about the documents the spokesman did not say they were fabricated.

In an emailed response to questions about the post, Liu Pengyu, spokesperson for the Chinese Embassy in the U.S. said: “China’s Supreme Court performs its duty in keeping with the law.”

“On illegal migration, China’s position is clear and consistent,” he said. “We oppose and firmly combat all forms of illegal migration and human smuggling.”

Li also said that “China’s law-enforcement agencies are working with the relevant countries to combat human smuggling and on extradition as well, in a joint effort to uphold the orderly flow of people across the countries.”

Earlier this year, Mexico strengthened its border control by setting up new checkpoints on major roads and increasing patrols at the more heavily used crossing points into the U.S. More illegal migrants have been intercepted as a result. 

According to the Washington Office on Latin America, Mexican immigration forces set a new record for the number of immigrant arrests in a single month in January and February of this year.

Guo said that he has heard about some Chinese who were intercepted while crossing Mexico. 

“U.S. immigration officers cooperate with the Mexican government and go deep into central Mexico to intercept immigrants,” he said. 

Once Chinese migrants are intercepted, they are sent to southern Mexico, he said.

If they want to continue “walking the line,” they must start again from a place farther away from the U.S., which will cost them more money and time.

Challenges aside, Wang and Guo say there are still ways to make it to the border. 

Wang says the desire of people to leave China is still strong and that some are exploring new routes. 

“You can fly to Cuba, and you can also fly to Bolivia,” Wang said.

In May, the Cuban government began allowing 90-day visa-free entry for Chinese citizens. Bolivia allows Chinese citizens holding ordinary passports to receive tourist visas upon arrival. Those with a transit visa can stay for 15 days or on a tourist visa for 30 days.

The straight-line distance from Cuba to the southernmost tip of Florida is about 150 km. The narrow waterway has been a smuggling route for decades. And some Chinese have already tried, despite the risks.

In October 2023, authorities in Florida say, 11 male and six female Chinese citizens were arrested after illegally entering Key Largo, Florida, from Cuba.

Li Xiaosan, a Chinese dissident, arrived in the U.S. in February 2023 by “walking the line.” He says he feels fortunate to be able to start a new life and sad for others who want to leave China now. Since arriving in the U.S., Li opened a translation company in New York and has passed his preliminary hearing for his political asylum application. He also obtained a work permit.

He says that once Ecuador’s new policy takes effect on July 1, even if Chinese people use other routes, the chances of successfully reaching the U.S. and staying will be significantly reduced.

“The door is closed,” Li said, adding that the question now is: “How many people can squeeze in through the cracks?” 

Adrianna Zhang contributed to this report.
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