Chinese officials recently released a 25-year space exploration plan that details five major scientific themes and 17 priority areas for scientific breakthroughs with one goal: to make China a world leader in space by 2050 and a key competitor with the U.S. in space, for decades to come.

Last week, the Chinese Academy of Sciences, the China National Space Administration, and the China Manned Space Agency jointly released a space exploration plan for 2024 through 2050.

It includes searching for extraterrestrial life, exploring Mars, Venus, and Jupiter, sending space crews to the moon and building an international lunar research station by 2025.

Clayton Swope, deputy director of the Aerospace Security Project at the Center for Strategic and International Studies, says the plan highlights China’s long-term commitment and answers some lingering questions as well.

“I think a lot of experts have wondered if China would continue to invest in space, particularly in science and exploration, given a lot of economic uncertainties in China … but this is a sign that they’re committed,” Swope said.

The plan reinforces a “commitment to really look at space science and exploration in the long term and not just short term,” he added.

The plan outlines Beijing’s goal to send astronauts to the moon by 2030, obtain and retrieve the first samples from Mars and successfully complete a mission to the Jupiter system in the next few years. It also outlines three phases of development, each with specific goals in terms of space exploration and key scientific discoveries.

The extensive plan is not only a statement that Beijing can compete with the U.S. in high-tech industries, it is also a way of boosting national pride, analysts say. 

“Space in particular has a huge public awareness, public pride,” says Nicholas Eftimiades, a retired senior intelligence officer and senior fellow at the Atlantic Council, a Washington-based think tank. “It emboldens the Chinese people, gives them a strong sense of nationalism and superiority, and that’s what the main focus of the Bejing government is.”

 

Swope agrees.

“I think it’s [China’s long-term space plan] a manifestation of China’s interest and desire from a national prestige and honor standpoint to really show that it’s a player on the international stage up there with the United States,” he said.

Antonia Hmaidi, a senior analyst at the Mercator Institute for China Studies, told VOA in an email response that, “China’s space focus goes back to the 1960,” and that “China has also been very successful at meeting its own goals and timelines.”

In recent years China has carried out several successful space science missions including Chang’e-4, which marked the world’s first soft landing and roving on the far side of the moon, Change’e-5, a mission that returned a sample from the moon back to Beijing for the first time, and Tianwen-1, a space mission that resulted in Chinese spacecraft leaving imprints on Mars. 

 

In addition, to these space missions, Bejing has implemented several programs aimed at increasing scientific discovery relating to space, particularly through the launch of several space satellites. 

Since 2011, China has developed and launched scientific satellites including Dark Matter Particle Explorer, Quantum Experiments at Space Scale, Advanced Space-based Solar Observatory, and the Einstein Probe.

While China continues to make progress with space exploration and scientific discovery, according to Swope, there is still a way to go before it catches up to the United States.

“China is undeniably the number 2 space power in the world today, behind the United States,” he said. “The United States is still by far the most important in a lot of measures and metrics, including in science and exploration.”

Eftimiades said one key reason the United States has maintained its lead in the space race is the success of Washington’s private, commercial aerospace companies.

 

“The U.S. private industry has got the jump on China,” Eftimiades said. “There’s no type of industrial control, industrial plan. In fact, Congress and administration shy away from that completely.”

Unlike the United States, large space entities in China are often state-owned, such as the China Aerospace Cooperation, Eftimiades said.

He adds that one advantage of China’s space entities being state-owned is the ability for the Chinese government to “direct their industries toward specific objectives.” At the same time, having bureaucracy involved with state-owned enterprises leads to less “cutting-edge technology.”

This year, China has focused on growing its space presence relative to the U.S. by conducting more orbital launches. 

Beijing planned to conduct 100 orbital launches this year, according to the state-owned China Aerospace Science and Technology Corporation, which was to conduct 70 of them. However, as of October 15, China had completed 48 orbital launches.

Last week, SpaceX announced it had launched its 100th rocket of the year and had another liftoff just hours later. The private company is aiming for 148 launches this year.

Earlier this year the U.S. Department of Defense implemented its first Commercial Space Integration Strategy, which outlined the department’s efforts to take technologies produced in the private sector and apply their uses for U.S. national security purposes.

In a statement released relating to the U.S. strategic plan, the Department of Defense explained its strategy to work closely with private and commercial sector space companies that are known to be innovative and have scalable production.

According to the statement, officials say “the strategy is based on the premise that the commercial space sector’s innovative capabilities, scalable production and rapid technology refresh rates provide pathways to enhance the resilience of DOD space capabilities and strengthen deterrence.”

Many space technologies have military applications, Swope said.

 

“A lot of things that are done in space have a dual use, so [space technologies] may be primarily used for scientific purposes, but also could be used to design and build and test some type of weapons technology,” Swope said.

Hmaidi says China’s newest space plan stands out for what it doesn’t have.

“The most interesting and striking part about China’s newest space plan to me was the narrow focus on basic science over military goals,” she told VOA in an email. “However, we know from open-source research that China is also very active in military space development.”

“This plan contains only one part of China’s space planning, namely the part that is unlikely to have direct military utility, while not mentioning other missions with direct military utility like its low-earth orbit internet program,” Hmaidi explained.
…

your ad here

Prague/Washington — In the lobby of an upscale hotel in Prague, Sikyong Penpa Tsering talked about death — specifically, the eventuality that China’s Xi Jinping will one day die.

“Nothing is permanent. Even our life is not permanent. We are born, and we have to die. So even empires rise and fall. Governments rise and fall. Xi Jinping will also have to die. So, these are inevitable,” said Tsering, leader of Tibet’s exiled government, the Central Tibetan Administration.

He said it casually, matter-of-factly, as if he wasn’t talking about the potential downfall of the world’s second-most powerful government and the inevitable death of its powerful leader.

“China is going to change. It has to change. There is no other choice,” Tsering told VOA last week on the sidelines of the Forum 2000 democracy conference in the Czech capital Prague.

Sitting on a leather chair and wearing a black Tibetan vest and a blue button-down shirt, Tsering spoke about how this fundamental Buddhist idea of impermanence gives him hope for his homeland.

Reports say abuse has increased

China annexed Tibet in 1950, and since then human rights abuses in the region have steadily grown, according to reports from the U.S. State Department and rights groups.

Beijing claims the region has been part of China since “ancient times.” It views the Central Tibetan Administration, or CTA, as a separatist organization and says that no government should allow the Dalai Lama — the spiritual and one-time political leader of Tibet — to visit.

But for Tsering, under the Buddhist concept of impermanence, everything in life — even Beijing’s power and repression — is transient.

Although Tsering’s hope abounds, so does his pragmatism. The prospect of an improved human rights landscape and more autonomy remains far-off. It doesn’t help that the CTA and Beijing barely have an open communication channel, Tsering said.

“Even if we manage to re-establish contact, there’s no possibility of anything really coming out of it,” Tsering said. For now, the backchannel dialogue is for the long term, not the short term, the democratically elected leader added.

But in an ideal world, where Beijing was willing to engage with the CTA, among the top priorities would be human rights in Tibet, as well as the Middle Way Approach — the Tibet administration policy that would give the region increased autonomy while remaining part of China.

Those are among the issues Tsering sought to raise with political and civil society leaders at Forum 2000, an annual gathering on democracy human rights issues founded by former Czech President Vaclav Havel.

Advocating for ‘Middle Way’

Although based in India, Tsering frequently travels the world to make his case for the Tibetan people. But he feels a particular kinship with the Czech Republic and other countries in Europe that once suffered under communism.

“They have experienced what our people are going through now,” Tsering said. “That makes it easier for them to understand.”

Tsering has about one and a half years left in his five-year term. He said he hasn’t decided whether he’ll pursue a second term, but one of his priorities for the next 18 months is to advocate for the Middle Way Approach.

The Middle Way Approach accepts Tibet’s status as part of China but advocates for increased autonomy, like greater freedoms for religion, language and culture. It’s an attempt to balance Beijing’s concerns about Tibetan separatism and Tibetans’ concerns about cultural preservation.

Tsering said he doesn’t really understand why Beijing appears to be so opposed to the approach, since it doesn’t call for independence.

‘Dying a slow death culturally’

For years, reports from news outlets and rights groups have detailed Beijing’s grave rights abuses in Tibet.

Chinese authorities are particularly repressive of any signs of dissent among Tibetans in the region, with more than 5,600 political prisoners formerly or currently jailed in Tibet since 1990, according to the Tibetan Centre for Human Rights and Democracy.

Expressions of Tibetan Buddhism and Tibetan cultural identity are also restricted.

“We are dying a slow death culturally, because China is squeezing us out of our breath like a python, squeezing it out, slowly but surely,” Tsering said.

Authorities have repressed the use of the Tibetan language, and the United Nations estimates that around 1 million children have been forcibly separated from families and sent to state-run boarding schools to assimilate into the dominant Han-Chinese culture.

“It’s very clear that the Chinese government seeks to essentially hollow out and erase Tibetans’ identities,” Sophie Richardson, a visiting scholar at Stanford and the former China director at Human Rights Watch, told VOA.

China’s Foreign Ministry did not reply to VOA’s email requesting comment for this story.

Other human rights issues include Beijing’s harassment of exiled Tibetan journalists and activists in a process known as transnational repression.

“It’s essentially to prevent anybody from hearing an alternative version of their story or critique of their version. The Chinese government wants everybody to believe its version of history,” Richardson said.

But when it comes to transnational repression, Tsering said he isn’t a target.

“They don’t threaten me because they know it doesn’t make sense. I won’t listen. If they threaten me, I’ll be much worse,” Tsering said. “If they ask me not to do something, I do it more because I know it hurts them.”
…

your ad here

taipei, taiwan — Taiwan is stepping up efforts to strengthen its capabilities to respond to a potential military blockade by China, as Beijing increases military pressure on the democratically ruled island.

In a report outlining Taiwan’s wartime food plan, which was submitted to parliament on Tuesday, the Ministry of Agriculture said it had maintained a three-month rice stockpile and ensured food and critical supplies were stored evenly across the island.

According to the ministry, the current rice stockpile can sustain Taiwan for seven months, and its fish feed inventory is enough to support fishing in ponds for over three months if sea fishing is not possible. The government said it is also drafting plans to prepare for rice rationing during wartime.

In the event of a Chinese military blockade, Taiwanese authorities said they would dedicate more farmland to grow rice and use additional ponds to grow aquaculture. The crops that Taiwan would prioritize growing in the event of war include sweet potatoes, soybeans and fresh vegetables. The ministry also plans to set up a task force to conduct a monthly inventory of the island’s food resources.

Officials from Taiwan’s Ministry of Economic Affairs also laid out plans to boost Taiwan’s energy reserves and energy supply.

Hu Wen-chong, director of the department of state-owned enterprise management at Taiwan’s Ministry of Economic Affairs, told lawmakers Wednesday that the government plans to set up three natural gas receiving stations to enhance the natural gas safety stock to more than 14 days. Taiwan currently has enough stock to maintain natural gas supplies for eight days.

In the event of a natural gas shortage during wartime, Hu told lawmakers that the government could activate some decommissioned coal-fired power plants to support the island’s energy supply needs.

Maintaining Taiwan’s oil supply is another concern. Taiwan imports close to 70% of its oil from the Middle East, which some legislators worry could be affected if China pressures regional countries to halt exports to the island during a blockade. Hu said the island has diversified its oil procurement from other countries, such as the United States and Indonesia.

Analysts welcomed the preparations for a potential blockade but said Taiwan’s wartime food and energy reserve plans were designed to cope with food natural disasters, such as typhoons and earthquakes.

“Wartime is different from natural disasters because there won’t be threats posed by the Chinese military during an earthquake,” Lin Ying-yu, a military expert at Tamkang University in Taiwan, told VOA by phone.

“For these plans to work in wartime scenarios, there is still a lot of room for improvement.”

Su Tzu-yun, a military expert at the Taipei-based Institute for National Defense and Security Research, noted that Taiwan has been taking monthly inventories of critical supplies and storing these resources across the island for a long time.

“There are close to 1,000 grain silos of various sizes across Taiwan, and it has been conducting critical resource distribution drills during the annual Wan An air-defense exercise in July,” Su said.

Natural gas accounts for around half of Taiwan’s electricity, a crucial resource that Taiwan will not be able to import during a Chinese blockade. Su said figuring out ways to use the island’s oil and coal stocks to supply electricity is important.

In a phone interview with VOA, Su cited a report from Taiwan’s Energy Administration Act that said the island has about five months’ worth of oil and coal reserve, with around 190 million tons of underground coal. Those resources could be used to supply electricity if Taiwan experiences a natural gas shortage during a Chinese blockade, Su said.

Chinese blockade “an act of war”

Over the past week, China has increased its military pressure on Taiwan, staging a one-day blockade-style military exercise around the island just days after Taiwan President Lai Ching-te‘s National Day speech on October 10.

In the speech, Lai said the People’s Republic of China — China’s official name — has no right to represent Taiwan, formally known as the Republic of China. Beijing views Taiwan as part of its territory.

China also began holding live-fire air and sea drills near Niushan island off the southeastern Chinese province of Fujian on Tuesday.

On Wednesday, Taiwan’s defense minister Wellington Koo said a Chinese aircraft carrier group sailed through the Taiwan Strait. The group was led by the Liaoning, China’s oldest aircraft carrier. Taiwan’s defense ministry said it was closely monitoring the Liaoning’s movement.

Koo also said Beijing’s “Joint Sword-2024B” exercise, which took place on October 13, fell short of the definition of an actual blockade since the Chinese military didn’t impose no-flight and no-sail zones.

“If you really want to carry out a so-called blockade, which according to international law is to prohibit all aircraft and ships entering the area, then according to United Nations resolutions it is regarded as a form of war,” he told journalists at Taiwan’s parliament on Wednesday.

Koo added that since around one-fifth of global freight passes through the Taiwan Strait, a blockade imposed by China would have global consequences.

“The international community could not sit by and just watch,” Koo told lawmakers during a legislative session on Wednesday.

Since August 2022, China has held at least four blockade-style military exercises around Taiwan and each exercise has served as a response to high-level political exchanges between Taiwan and the U.S. or important speeches delivered by Taiwan’s president.

Lin at Tamkang University said while China is using these blockade-style military exercises to test its capabilities and improve coordination between different forces, they are also Beijing’s way of responding to major political remarks in Taiwan.

“China is trying to signal that whenever the Taiwanese government makes important political remarks, Beijing will respond militarily,” he told VOA.

Lin said Taipei should closely monitor Chinese military exercises and adjust or improve the military’s defense and offense capabilities accordingly.
…

your ad here

SEOUL, South Korea — North Korean leader Kim Jong Un has visited missile bases to examine their readiness to undertake actions of “strategic deterrence,” while calling U.S. nuclear capabilities a growing threat to the country, state media reported on Wednesday. 

The U.S. strategic nuclear arsenal poses an “ever-increasing threat” to North Korea’s security environment, which demands that Pyongyang maintain a strict counteraction posture of its nuclear forces, he was quoted as saying by KCNA. 

North Korea has been stepping up its development of ballistic missiles and a nuclear arsenal, drawing international sanctions, and forming close military relations with Russia. 

Kim’s visit to the bases comes amid growing tensions with South Korea and its allies. This has included concerns over what Seoul says is a dispatch of North Korean troops to Russia to fight in Ukraine, a claim that has been denied by Pyongyang. 

South Korea’s National Security Adviser Shin Won-sik and Jacek Siewiera, the head of the Polish National Security Bureau, expressed concern over Pyongyang’s military cooperation with Moscow during a meeting in Seoul. 

The two also agreed to cooperate closely with the international community on the issue, according to a statement released by South Korea’s presidential office. 

In the KCNA report, Kim also called for the modernisation of the armed forces by giving priority to strategic missiles in the future, calling it “an important principle of the strategy for building national defense.” 

He was accompanied on his visit by Kim Yo Jong, his powerful sister, and Kim Jong Sik, the first vice department director of the Central Committee of the ruling Workers’ Party of Korea, KCNA reported. 

Photographs released by KCNA showed Kim dressed in a leather coat inspecting the missile bases. 

KCNA did not specify when the visits took place. 
…

your ad here

The European Union’s next foreign policy chief has told lawmakers that strengthening security must be a priority, warning that Europe must be prepared as Russia and “partly China” exploit the continent’s open societies.

“European security is deeply personal to me as a native of a country that has long told others that Russia’s imperialistic dream never died,” Kaja Kallas, a former Estonian prime minister, said in written replies to members of the European Parliament published late on Tuesday.

“My short-term priority must be to address the pressing global concerns: Russia’s war against Ukraine and strengthening the EU’s security and defense,” she wrote.

Kallas, nominated by European leaders in June to serve as the bloc’s new high representative for foreign affairs, is set to succeed incumbent Josep Borrell.

The European Parliament will hold hearings in November for members of the next European Commission.

In 21 pages of answers to questions posed by the lawmakers ahead of the hearings, the Estonian politician outlined her vision for Europe’s foreign policy at a time when the bloc faces an increasingly complex geopolitical environment.

The EU must stay at “the forefront of humanitarian efforts” in the Middle East,” Kallas said, and work “with all actors to support the pursuit of a just and comprehensive peace” while also pointing to challenges such as China’s support for Russia.

“Actors such as Russia, Iran, North Korea, and partly China, aim at weaponizing interdependencies and exploiting the openness of our societies against us,” she added. “For this, we must be prepared.”
…

your ad here

bangkok — Myanmar journalists are being offered resources including equipment and training as part of a new initiative.

Set up by Reporters Without Borders, or RSF, and the Exile Hub, which supports human rights defenders who fled their home countries, the Myanmar Press Freedom Project will work to support journalists from Myanmar who are in exile or still reporting under harsh conditions inside the country.

“Through the Myanmar Press Freedom Project, RSF will aim to provide equipment such as laptops, phones, camera, solar batteries, digital security tools as well as provide access to technical editing equipment for video-based Myanmar journalists,” said Shataakshi Verma, a project manager at RSF.

“The project will also aim to provide capacity training for Myanmar journalists in order for them to continue reporting safely.”

The need for resources and support has increased since February of 2021 when a military coup in Myanmar led to a media crackdown, with dozens of journalists detained.

Reporters also are at risk while covering the conflict between the junta and the various armed resistance fighters battling military rule.

Hein Thar, a freelance journalist formerly at Frontier Myanmar, told VOA the project will benefit citizen journalists.

“I think it’s good. It’s better than giving nothing, especially for citizen journalists who don’t have their own laptops or phones. I understand this is the first step. I think it’s for the basic needs, and they’re giving the basic support,” he said.

Perilous work

Reporting on the conflict has become a dangerous profession.

The military has detained at least 150 media workers, said RSF, with at least 64 currently imprisoned, including a contributor for VOA. Journalists are often accused of violating section 505(a) of Myanmar’s criminal code, which outlaws publishing or circulating content deemed to cause fear, spread false news or agitate crimes against a government employee. The law carries a penalty of up to three years in prison.

RSF said the military is responsible for the deaths of seven journalists and press freedom defenders since 2021.

But the risks for journalists are high on either side, as two reporters are believed to be held by the Kachin Independence Army — one of the ethnic groups fighting against the junta — after being taken captive separately in late September, according to the Committee to Protect Journalists.

Hein Thar has said journalists working on the frontlines of Myanmar’s conflict need training.

“The majority of journalists don’t have the proper training,” he said. “We didn’t prepare anything for conflict, war reporting and so on. We hope for the professional training from the experienced journalists who report in Afghanistan or Syria.”

Gains come with risks

Forces opposing junta rule have made significant territorial gains in the past 12 months. As the resistance fights back, these major developments are crucial for news outlets covering the chaos — but that brings risk.

For journalists, that includes crossing military checkpoints. Some reporters now carry more than one phone and less equipment, to reduce the risk if apprehended.

Toe Zaw Latt, who works for Mizzima, said journalists rely more on smartphones now.

“We are using a phone and editing it,” Toe Zaw Latt told VOA.

Zaw Latt, who is also the general secretary at the Independent Press Council Myanmar, said journalists need help with internet communication and safety gear, such as flak jackets and protective helmets.

The issues that are top of mind for him are how to get the content out in a safe manner. “If you have footage, how are you going to send it back?” he said. “I’m more interested in safety protection, and maybe emergency relocation.”

His outlet, Mizzima, is one of several that had a license revoked by the military and now works in exile.

Media outlets in Myanmar must be registered with the military government in order to operate.

But when journalists register for press accreditation, they must provide their personal details, which discourages many to register for fear of arrest. Unaccredited or citizen reporters in Myanmar are then further at risk, spurring an increase in journalists working under the radar or even outside of the country’s borders.

Several media outlets had to downsize and move overseas, mostly to stay safe and still cover the conflict.

RSF’s representative Verma told VOA the watchdog has assessed the need for training and intends to provide it.

“The project will also aim to provide capacity training for Myanmar journalists in order for them to continue reporting safely,” Verma wrote via WhatsApp.

The coup wiped out nearly a decade of media freedom gains in Myanmar, which ranks at 171 out of 180 — where 1 shows the best environment — on the World Press Freedom Index. In 2020, a year before the coup, it ranked 139.
…

your ad here

Russian President Vladimir Putin called Chinese President Xi Jinping his “dear friend,” amid growing cooperation between Moscow and Beijing, as the leaders met at the BRICS summit in Kazan. 

Xi also expressed his gratitude at the meeting regarding the increasing partnership between Russia and China, saying the “profound relationship” between the two countries has “continuously deepened and expanded comprehensive strategic coordination and practical cooperation.” 

Since Russia launched its military offensive in Ukraine in 2022, China has been a key partner providing military assistance to Moscow in the forms of dual use components and technology and tools that could be used for military machines. 

Shortly before Russia’s military offensive, China declared a “no limits” partnership with Russia when Putin visited Beijing. 

Xi said Beijing’s cooperation with Moscow is a stabilizing factor for the world. 

“The world is undergoing profound changes unseen in a century, and the international situation is chaotic and intertwined,” Xi told Putin, adding that ties between the countries have “injected strong impetus into the development, revitalization and modernization of the two countries” and “made important contributions to upholding international equity and justice.” 

Kremlin foreign affairs adviser Yuri Ushakov said the BRICS meeting in Kazan is the countries’ “largest foreign policy event ever held,” as Russia is hosting 36 countries and 20 heads of state. 

The Kremlin sees the meeting as an opportunity for a rallying point to defy Western influences in global affairs. 

The BRICS alliance refers to a grouping of emerging economies whose core members are Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa, but has been expanding rapidly to include Iran, Egypt, Ethiopia, the United Arab Emirates and Saudi Arabia. In addition, Turkey, Azerbaijan and Malaysia have formally applied to become members, while other countries have expressed their interest in joining the alliance. 
…

your ad here

BEIJING — China and the Vatican have agreed to extend an accord on the appointment of Catholic bishops in the communist country for a period of four years, the two parties said on Tuesday.  

The Vatican struck a landmark deal with the Beijing government in 2018. The agreement, which was previously renewed every two years, gives Chinese officials some input into who Pope Francis appoints as bishops in the country.  

A Chinese foreign ministry spokesperson first announced the renewal at a press briefing in Beijing. The Vatican confirmed the move in a statement, saying it “remains dedicated to furthering the respectful and constructive dialogue” with China.  

Conservative Catholics have criticized the agreement as handing over too much control to China. Cardinal Joseph Zen, 92, who served as bishop of Hong Kong from 2002-09, has been among the most vocal critics.  

The Vatican says the accord resolves a decades-long split between an underground church swearing loyalty to the Vatican and the state-supervised Catholic Patriotic Association.  

The deal has never been published, but only described by diplomatic officials. The Vatican says the pope retains final decision-making power in appointment of Chinese bishops.  

In Tuesday’s statement, the Vatican said it was hoping for “further development of bilateral relations for the benefit of the Catholic Church in China and the Chinese people as a whole.”  

Speaking last month at the end of a tour of Southeast Asia and Oceania, Francis said the results of the 2018 deal “are good.”   

“I am happy with the dialogue with China,” the 87-year-old pontiff said. “We are working with good will.” 
…

your ad here

Lee Hsien Yang, the youngest son of the founder of modern Singapore Lee Kuan Yew, said on Tuesday he is now a political refugee from Singapore under the U.N. Refugee Convention.

In a Facebook post, Lee, the estranged brother of former premier Lee Hsien Loong, said Britain has determined he faces “a well-founded risk of persecution, and cannot safely return to Singapore.”

“I sought asylum protection as a last resort. I remain a Singapore citizen and hope that some day it will become safe to return home,” he said.

Singapore’s government said the persecution claim was baseless and unfounded, ChannelNewsAsia reported, citing a response it said was provided to the Guardian newspaper.

Britain’s high commission in Singapore did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Lee Hsien Yang and his sister Lee Wei Ling, who died on Oct. 9, have been at odds with their brother Lee Hsieng Loong, who was premier from 2004 until May this year, over what to do with their father’s home after his death in 2015, in a public spat that saw the siblings estranged.

Lee Hsien Yang said he had sought asylum protection in 2022, citing government persecution against him and his family, and that he was unable to return for his sister’s funeral as a result.

He had said last week that he would apply to demolish Lee Kuan Yew’s home in line with his father’s wishes.

The government said in response it would consider issues related to the property in due course.
…

your ad here

SYDNEY — Britain’s King Charles was embraced by an Indigenous elder after a welcome smoking ceremony on Tuesday in the birthplace of Australia’s urban Aboriginal civil rights movement in Sydney, a day after being heckled by an Indigenous senator in Canberra.

Charles met with Indigenous elders at the National Centre for Indigenous Excellence in inner-city Redfern, including “bush tucker” – or native food – chef Aunty Beryl Van-Oploo, who served kangaroo pies.

The king was embraced by elder Michael Welsh, and a woman introduced herself as a member of the Stolen Generation – a reference to Aboriginal children systematically removed from their families decades earlier. “Welcome to this country,” she said.

A day earlier, Charles was heckled at Parliament House in Canberra by independent senator and Indigenous activist Lidia Thorpe who shouted that she did not accept his sovereignty over Australia, and demanded a treaty for Indigenous people.

While the atmosphere at Redfern on Tuesday was respectful, some people who came to see the king expressed sympathy for Thorpe’s actions.

“We’ve got stories to tell and I think you witnessed that story yesterday,” Metropolitan Local Aboriginal Land Council Chairperson Allan Murray said.

In a radio interview with the Australian Broadcasting Corporation on Tuesday, Thorpe said she “wanted the world to know the plight of our people.”

Former Olympic athlete Nova Peris, who was the first Indigenous woman elected to federal parliament, wrote in a social media post she was “deeply disappointed” by Thorpe’s actions, which “do not reflect the manners, or approach to reconciliation, of Aboriginal Australians at large.”

Emotions around Indigenous rights and Australia’s colonial history are raw after a national referendum on whether to alter Australia’s constitution to recognize Aboriginal people was rejected last year.

Charles referred to Australia’s “long and sometimes difficult journey towards reconciliation” in a speech on Monday before he was heckled by Thorpe.

Under glorious spring skies, the king later visited a social housing project designed with the support of his King’s Trust Australia charity in the inner suburb of Glebe.

He toured the construction site with Prime Minister Anthony Albanese, who grew up on a public housing estate, and met Indigenous actor Wes Patten, one of three apprentice construction workers on the project.

Patten played the son of an Indigenous politician in TV political drama “Total Control,” depicting the imagined first Indigenous prime minister of Australia.

Claude Tighe, an Indigenous man in Glebe who saw the Lidia Thorpe protest on social media, said: “I want him to talk to real traditional owners. There’s a lot of us here.”

“She spoke for Aboriginal people,” he added, referring to Thorpe.

Charles and Queen Camilla are visiting Sydney and Canberra over six days before traveling to the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting in Samoa.

The public will have an opportunity to meet the royal couple at the Opera House later on Tuesday.
…

your ad here

washington — The General Assembly of the World Uyghur Congress (WUC) is set to begin Thursday, following months of ongoing harassment from the Chinese government that the top Uyghur organization has described as “unprecedented.”

In the months leading up to the group’s eighth general assembly, which takes place this year in Sarajevo, Bosnia and Herzegovina, the Uyghur organization has endured numerous efforts to derail or even cancel the event, the group said. The harassment included threats of physical harm, arrest and sabotage.

Groups that advocate for Uyghur human rights have long faced harassment from the Chinese government, but this recent harassment was particularly extreme, according to Zumretay Arkin, the WUC’s spokesperson and director of global advocacy.

“It’s reached another level this time,” Arkin told VOA from Sarajevo. “The World Uyghur Congress is among the most important organizations in our movement, in the diaspora, and they want to destroy it completely.”

In one of the most severe examples, the email account of a WUC employee was hacked, Arkin told VOA. The unidentified hackers on Monday sent out emails, which VOA has reviewed, to all attendees, including WUC delegates and candidates, as well as foreign lawmakers, falsely claiming that the general assembly had been postponed.

The WUC holds its general assembly every three years. At each assembly, the organization elects its leadership and sets strategic priorities in response to human rights abuses in the Chinese region Xinjiang, where most Uyghurs live.

“We are advocating for not only the human rights of Uyghur people, but also self-determination of Uyghurs. And that’s considered a threat to the Chinese government,” said Arkin, who is running to be the WUC’s next vice president.

The Germany-based WUC has condemned the harassment.

“It is a clear effort to intimidate the Uyghur community and silence their voices,” the organization said in a Friday statement.

In other cases of harassment, the Chinese Embassy in Sarajevo, the capital of Bosnia and Herzegovina, has exerted pressure to cancel the general assembly entirely and indicated it would encourage local authorities to arrest former WUC President Dolkun Isa, who is a German citizen.

Bosnia and Herzegovina has an extradition treaty with China. When Isa and Arkin arrived in Sarajevo on Monday, Arkin said they didn’t have any issues in entering the country.

China’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs and embassy in Sarajevo did not immediately reply to VOA’s emails requesting comment.

In another example, an informant with knowledge of the situation told the Norway-based Uyghur activist Abduweli Ayup that Chinese authorities were considering various ways to disrupt the general assembly, including staging a car accident or cutting electricity.

“He told me that they might make [a] car accident and cut the electricity, or protest in front of the World Uyghur Congress,” Ayup told VOA.

Chinese authorities have also directly targeted WUC delegates from countries including Australia, Germany, Ireland and Turkey, Arkin said. Those authorities have pressured delegates not to participate in the general assembly, including by making threats against family members who are still in Xinjiang, according to Arkin.

And in the case of Uzbekistan, local Uzbek authorities pressured WUC delegates who live in Uzbekistan to not participate in the general assembly, according to Arkin, who said no delegates from Uzbekistan will be attending as a result.

Uzbekistan’s Washington embassy did not immediately reply to VOA’s email requesting comment.

Beijing has long targeted Uyghur rights groups and activists around the world to silence criticism, according to Sophie Richardson, a visiting scholar at Stanford and the former China director at Human Rights Watch. This recent bout of harassment is just the latest example.

“It’s the ultimate expression of how desperate it [Beijing] is to keep people from talking about genocide and crimes against humanity,” Richardson told VOA.

The Chinese government stands accused by rights groups and multiple Western governments of perpetrating genocide and crimes against humanity against Uyghurs in the northwestern region of Xinjiang, which many Uyghurs prefer to call the Uyghur Region or East Turkestan. Beijing denies any wrongdoing in the region.

Part of why the Chinese government is so brazen in its perpetration of transnational repression is that Beijing has long done so with almost complete impunity, according to Richardson.

“They’ve now been doing so for decades and accelerated it significantly over the last decade — and not really had to pay a price for doing so,” Richardson said.

With the general assembly set to begin in just a few days, there are a lot of things on Arkin’s mind — the most pressing of which is the safety of WUC members, her family members still inside Xinjiang and herself.

Nevertheless, Arkin thinks the extreme lengths the Chinese government is going to in order to derail the general assembly may also underscore Beijing’s own fears.

“We’re building a system that is our own. We’re building something totally opposite to what the Chinese government has, and so they’re scared of that. They’re scared of democracy and human rights,” Arkin said.
…

your ad here

Manila, Philippines — A Philippine court has convicted and sentenced to life 17 Islamic militants for kidnapping for ransom 21 people, including European tourists and Asian workers, from a dive resort in Malaysia more than two decades ago, officials said Monday.

The Filipino militants belonged to the small but violent Abu Sayyaf group.

Among those convicted by the Regional Trial Court in Taguig city, a suburb of the capital region, were two Abu Sayyaf leaders, Hilarion Santos and Redendo Dellosa, who had been included in a United Nations terrorism blacklist, the Department of Justice in Manila said.

The 17 were sentenced to life in prison with the possibility of pardon after 30 years, according to justice officials.

In April 2000, Abu Sayyaf militants armed with assault rifles and machetes, traveled by speedboats from their southern Philippine jungle strongholds and raided the Sipadan Island dive resort in neighboring Malaysia, where they abducted 21 Western tourists and resort workers at gunpoint.

The militants are an offshoot of the decades-long Muslim separatist unrest in the southern Philippines, homeland of minority Muslims in the largely Roman Catholic nation. The Philippines and the United States both consider the Abu Sayyaf a terrorist organization.

The militants carried out bombings, ransom kidnappings and beheadings during their heyday starting in the late 1990s, but they have been weakened considerably by battle defeats, surrenders and infighting.

The hostages consisted of a German family of three, two tourists from Finland, a South African couple, a Lebanese woman and two French citizens. The rest were Malaysians and Filipinos who worked in the far-flung resort.

They were taken by speedboats to the jungles of the southern Philippine province of Sulu, where they were held in harsh conditions before being mostly ransomed off using millions of dollars reportedly provided by then-Libyan leader Moammar Gadhafi.

Two Associated Press journalists, who were allowed by the Abu Sayyaf to interview the hostages while they were in jungle captivity at the time, saw most of the horrified captives sitting on banana leaves laid on the ground and surrounded by a fence of tree branches. Some rapidly scribbled letters and begged their families and embassies to send them food, water, medicine and find ways to free them.

After the hostages were freed months later, the Philippine military launched offensives that lasted several years and resulted in the killing or capture of most of Abu Sayyaf leaders and fighters.

Ghalib Andang, the militant who led the kidnapping, was killed by police commandos during an attempted jailbreak and siege in a high-security detention center in 2005 in metropolitan Manila.
…

your ad here