Thai police arrested activist and lawyer Anon Nampa Wednesday for his role in an August 3 protest where he called for reform to the monarchy.
 
Anti-government protests have been raging in the Southeast Asian kingdom since mid-July, but some demonstrators have set their sights on the monarchy. Anon, 36, is the taboo-breaking activist at the forefront of calls for reform.
 
“We dream of a monarchy that coexists with democracy,” Anon told a crowd of over 10,000 at the Aug. 3 protest in Bangkok, Reuters reported.
Until then, protesters had focused their efforts on the Thai government, calling for the resignation of the cabinet, the dissolution of parliament and the drafting of a new constitution.A pro-democracy protester wearing a face mask that reads “Lese majeste, section 112” flashes a three-fingers salute during a protest demanding the resignation of Thailand’s Prime Minister Prayuth Chan-ocha, in Bangkok, Thailand, Aug. 3, 2020.Thailand’s strict lese-majeste law threatens those that speak against the monarchy with up to 15 years in prison. The law ostensibly protects the royal institution from defamation, but has also virtually criminalized criticism of any kind.
 
After Anon’s path-breaking remarks, student groups compiled a 10-point list of reforms to King Maha Vajiralongkorn’s monarchy.
 
A police spokesman warned student protesters last week to abide by conventions in their demands.Student protesters raise their fists during an anti-government rally at King Mongkut’s Institute of Technology in Bangkok, Thailand, Aug. 19, 2020.“To whomever is going to the protest, I believe everyone knows what can and cannot be done,” Col. Kissana Phathanacharoen said, according to The New York Times. “Things that you say will be tied to you. There will be evidence kept for the future.”
 
Anon, who has several other cases pending against him, was charged with sedition, a Thai police officer told Reuters. The charge carries a term of up to seven years. This was the human rights lawyer’s second arrest this month. He was freed on bail from the first at the time of Wednesday’s arrest.
 
Police had warrants for Anon and five other activists, all present at the massive Aug. 3 protest. Prime Minister Prayuth Chan-ocha, a former junta leader, has said that the king had requested there be no prosecutions under the lese-majeste laws for now.
 
Prayuth said that protesters should avoid the monarchy in their demands. He told reporters: “There are 67 million Thais. I believe the majority do not agree with the protesters.”
 
About 200 right-wing Thai activists launched a group Wednesday to counter the anti-government protests. Their counter-protests have so far drawn a few dozen people at most, Reuters reported. 
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The Australian government has reached a deal to secure 25 million doses of a potential COVID-19 vaccine from British pharmaceutical giant AstraZeneca that is currently undergoing late-stage human trials.   The new vaccine, dubbed AZD1222, was developed by Britain’s University of Oxford and licensed to British pharmaceutical giant AstraZeneca.   “The Oxford vaccine is one of the most advanced and promising in the world,” Prime Minister Scott Morrison said Wednesday in a statement announcing the deal.”  Morrison said if the vaccine passes the human trials, it will be offered for free to every Australian, hopefully by early next year.  But the prime minister said the government is also in talks to secure other potential coronavirus vaccines, including one being developed by domestic drugmaker CSL Limited in cooperation with the University of Queensland, warning “there is no guarantee that this, or any other, vaccine will be successful.”  Morrison also said Australia intends to play a role in “supporting our Pacific family” by supplying a safe and effective vaccine to its regional neighbors, including Indonesia, Papua New Guinea and Fiji.   A pedestrian wears a face mask as the city operates under lockdown in response to an outbreak of the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) in Melbourne, Australia, Aug. 12, 2020. (AAP Image/James Ross via Reuters)The deal between the Australian government and AstraZeneca comes as authorities in southern Victoria state are dealing with an escalating surge of COVID-19 infections that has forced a strict lockdown of Melbourne, Victoria’s state capital. In the US, universities go onlineIn the United States, the University of Notre Dame, one of the nation’s prestigious universities, announced Tuesday it is switching from in-person instruction to online classes for two weeks due to a growing outbreak of COVID-19 cases on its South Bend, Indiana campus.  The school reported Tuesday 147 people have tested positive since students began returning on August 3 for the start of fall classes, including 80 who tested positive just on Monday.   The Rev. John I. Jenkins, the president of Notre Dame, warned students that they would be sent home and the campus shut down entirely, as it was earlier this year at the start of the pandemic, if the outbreak continued to spread.   And Michigan State University president Samuel L. Stanley said Tuesday that it would be offering online classes for nearly all of its undergraduate students when the fall semester begins on September 2.     Notre Dame and Michigan State University are the latest in a growing list of colleges and universities in the United States that have shut down in-person classes in favor of virtual learning due to the pandemic.  A student stands on the balcony of Ehringhaus dormitory on campus at the University of North Carolina in Chapel Hill, N.C., Aug. 18, 2020.Officials at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill became the first large school in the nation to shut down on-campus learning  after 177 students tested positive for the coronavirus and another 350 were in quarantine in dorms and off-campus housing because of possible exposure. Some of the college campus outbreaks have been blamed on students who have  participated in large off-campus parties or events without observing guidelines such as social distancing or wearing masks.    
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Singapore’s prosperity is underpinned by an overlooked foreign work force grant, advocates say. Domestic worker Yulia Endang feels torn about the stunning burst of COVID-19 cases in Singapore among foreigners like her. The surge of cases starting in April was a jolt for Singapore, which before then had seemed like a model nation that crushed the disease. Donning a black hijab with pink roses, Endang says she is sad about the plight of foreign workers, whose cramped and overlooked conditions contributed to the surge. However, she also hopes the bad news will be a wake-up call for the rest of the island nation.  “Knowing what happened to migrant workers and how or why they have become the center of attention is actually very saddening,” she said, adding: “I hope the attention is not just attention but signal that outside, there are more people are aware on how actually migrant workers’ life [is] like.” At the peak Singapore had the most cases in Southeast Asia in the spring, despite its small population, though it has now flattened the curve of infections. The surge, mostly in dorms for foreign workers, came as a surprise as it flew in the face of the authoritarian state’s reputation for technocratic capacity, including skills to handle emergencies. The episode has been a reminder that, as in several rich societies, Singapore’s prosperity relies in part on blue collar foreign labor that is sometimes ignored. How has Singapore responded? After a peak of more than 1,400 cases one day in April, there are now as few as 200 new COVID-19 cases a day in the city-state. Singapore’s main action to deal with the spread among foreign workers — as well as the underlying problems revealed by the spread — has been to focus on health and housing. The state issued a quarantine order on foreign dorms and this month it finished coronavirus testing of all dorm residents. “This means that all workers living in dormitories have either recovered or have been tested to be free from the virus,” except for those in quarantine, the Singapore Ministry of Manpower said in a press release on Aug. 11. Moving forward Singapore plans to expand health services for foreign workers, as well as build more housing to relieve the population density that was blamed in part for the COVID-19 outbreak. Some have already been relocated to refurbished buildings out of current rooms that have bunks for up to 20 people. The construction plans include eight dorms by the end of the year. Non NIMBY Cartoons Beyond logistics, locals are looking for social change to help correct what has historically been a more stratified nation. Heard of NIMBY? The United States popularized the “not in my backyard” politics of exclusion, which a group of Singapore residents aim to combat in their own nation by creating the group “Welcome In My Backyard,” or WIMBY. Endang shared her views through the group, which was formed after the COVID-19 surge to bridge ties between foreign workers and others in Singapore.  Artists have shared a variety of work to promote WIMBY’s message of inclusion: a father-son duet cover of the song “Stand By You;” jewelry art meant to show diversity; cartoons challenging the status quo of what one artist called “marginalized” workers.  Such foreign labor has long been seen as intrinsic to the economy. With more domestic workers like Endang, for instance, Singapore saw that “the gainful entry of its own women into the formal economy has been facilitated,” scholars Shirlena Huang and Brenda Yeoh wrote. “Let’s challenge this status quo,” the WIMBY group said in a Facebook post. “We must not be comfortable with the idea of riding on the basic livelihoods of others for the success of the economy. Perhaps the ultimate ‘Gold Standard’ Singapore can strive to achieve and be proud of is to cultivate an inclusive and empathetic society?”  
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Chinese President Xi Jinping has urged his country to take immediate actions to curb what he called its “shocking and distressing” food waste problem as the worst flooding along the Yangtze River in years threatens the country’s important rice crop.  In an instruction released last week, People dine at the Quanjude Peking roast duck restaurant, following the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) outbreak, in Beijing, Aug. 18, 2020.Zhong Dajun, director of the Beijing Dajun Institute for Economic Observation, told VOA that the wasting of food  has been increasing over the years as people gained more disposable income.    “I think compared to the general public, officials dining with public funds account for only a small proportion,” he said. “With strong spending power, Chinese people have to pay attention to frugality and saving food.”   Preparing or ordering more food than necessary has long been regarded as a symbol of hospitality in China. Zhu Qizhen, a professor at China Agricultural University, told the South China Morning Post that because of this tradition, “the amount of leftovers has become the standard for a sumptuous feast.”   A staff member who is also an anti-food waste supervisor, holds a tray at the Quanjude Roast Duck restaurant, following the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) outbreak in Beijing, Aug. 18, 2020.Yet political commentator Heng Hei said one of the main problems with the country’s food waste problem is linked  to the lavish excesses of the Chinese Communist Party.    “This level of food wasting has to do with CCP’s extravagant culture. Ordinary Chinese people don’t waste to that level,” he said.    In a survey by China’s state newspaper Beijing Youth Daily in 2013, a shocking 97.8% of respondents felt that Chinese officials were wasting public funds.  Of those funds,  FILE – An aerial view shows the flooded Gu town following heavy rainfall in the region, in Luan, Anhui province, China, July 20, 2020.The country is experiencing the worst flooding in more than two decades, destroying thousands of acres of farmland along the Yangtze River. With the nickname “Land of Rice and Fish,” the broader Yangtze River basin accounts for 70% of China’s rice production.   Given how much cropland was damaged by mid-July, Chinese brokerage firm Shenwan Hongyuan estimated that China could lose 5% of its rice production compared to last year.    China’s FILE – A terraced rice paddy field is seen after rain in Honghe Hani and Yi Autonomous Prefecture, Yunnan province, China, March 19, 2019.
Beijing has responded to the crisis by stabilizing supply from its strategic reserve. According to China Grain Reserves Group, Beijing has released 62.5 million tons of rice, 50 million tons of corn and over 760,000 tons of soybeans by the end of July, a level nearly double the volume released during the whole of 2019.    Meanwhile, China’s worsening relations with some of its major trade partners could create uncertainty for China’s food supply chain. For example, the country has been relying on imports from the U.S. to try to stabilize prices as well as fulfill its commitment to purchase U.S. agricultural products.   In the first six months of this year, China imported nearly 61 million tons of grain, a 21% jump from a year ago. Imports of corn, soybeans and wheat have also increased, according to data from Chinese customs.    FILE – A stall of the U.S. Soybean Export Council is seen during the China International Import Expo (CIIE), at the National Exhibition and Convention Center in Shanghai, China, Nov. 5, 2018.Analysts caution that an overdependence on food imports could hurt Beijing’s strategic interest. Meanwhile, the continuing political tensions with Western countries could lead to trade barriers such as higher taxes, raising prices and further threatening the country’s food security.    Economist Zhong Dajun said China has to import as least 100 million tons of crop every year, and “it will be pretty troublesome for Beijing to increase the production by that amount domestically.”   
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Federal officials will face a parliamentary committee Tuesday over a cruise ship scandal that fueled Australia’s coronavirus crisis. More than 2,500 passengers were allowed to leave the Ruby Princess without being tested after it docked in Sydney in March despite suspected COVID-19 cases on board. The Ruby Princess was the source of one of Australia’s biggest coronavirus clusters.  It led to 28 deaths and more than 1,000 infections across the country and overseas.  Senior officials from Australia’s Border Force and Agriculture Department, which had staff on board the cruise liner, are expected to face tough questions from lawmakers in Canberra.  They are investigating how and why 2,650 passengers were not tested for the virus, despite suspected cases onboard. After completing an 11-day cruise to New Zealand, travelers were allowed to disembark at Sydney Harbour and catch public transport, and domestic and overseas flights home.  A parliamentary committee was set up in April to examine the government’s response to the COVID-19 pandemic. It is due to complete its final report in June 2022.   A separate New South Wales inquiry into the Ruby Princess has blamed state health authorities for ‘inexcusable” mistakes.  They had declared the ship to be low-risk, but the inquiry found they should have tested sick patients immediately. A police investigation into the scandal continues.   New South Wales state premier Gladys Berejiklian says “monumental mistakes” were made. “Can I now apologize unreservedly to anybody who suffered as a result of the mistakes that were outlined in the report undertaken by individuals within the health department.  Not only have lessons been learned, but clearly those circumstances should and will never happen again in New South Wales,” Berejiklian said.Following the Ruby Princess debacle, about a dozen other cruise liners were banned from docking at Australian ports due to the risk of spreading the coronavirus. Australia has had about 23,500 confirmed coronavirus cases. More than 420 people have died. The center of the public health crisis is the state of Victoria. It recorded 222 new cases Tuesday and 17 deaths.   State premier Daniel Andrews has previously described COVID-19 as a “cunning and wicked enemy.”
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Work began Monday to remove the two pieces of a grounded Japanese ship that leaked tons of oil into the protected coast of the Indian Ocean island nation of Mauritius and broke apart.
Tug boats will pull the bow — the smaller part of the shipwrecked MV Wakashio — out to sea and allow it to sink, according to environmental experts on the island. The larger part of the ship will be dragged off the coral reef where it ran aground and towed away, possibly to India for salvage.
“When the ship split in two, there was further leakage of oil, but it appears most of that fuel was on the other side of the coral reef and was in the high seas,” Sunil Dowarkasing, an environmental consultant and former parliament member in Mauritius. “With the sea currents, we don’t know if the new leakage will stay outside the lagoon or not.”  
Oil barriers were in place and a skimmer ship to scoop up the fuel was nearby.
The Mauritius government has closed off the coastal area of the eastern part of the island, where thousands of civilian volunteers worked for days to try to minimize damage to the Mahebourg lagoon and protected marine wetlands polluted by the spilled fuel.  
Only officials and hired workers are permitted to work in the coastal area and the waters surrounding the grounded ship.
Experts from France, Japan and the United Nations are also involved in the clean-up work.  
“Now, we must rely on the government as our only source of information about the situation, so we are only getting one side of the story,” Dowarkasing said.
“We know that the damage to the area is substantial,” he told The Associated Press. “The mangroves are heavily impacted by the fuel. The extent of the damage to the coral reefs will only be known much later, but it is expected to be serious.”
The Wakasio ran aground a coral reef on July 25. After being pounded by heavy waves, the vessel cracked and it starting leaking oil on August 6. The damaged ship spilled more than 1,000 tons of its cargo of 4,000 tons of fuel into the turquoise waters of the Mahebourg Lagoon, one of the island’s most pristine coastal areas.
Most of the remaining 3,000 tons of fuel had been pumped off the ship in the past week as environmental groups warned that the damage to coral reefs could be irreversible.
The Mauritius government is under pressure to explain why immediate action wasn’t taken to empty the ship of its fuel before it began to leak. Prime Minister Pravind Jugnauth earlier blamed bad weather for the slow response.
Owner Nagashiki Shipping has said “residual” amounts of fuel remained on the ship after pumping. It is investigating why the ship went off course. The ship was meant to stay at least 10 miles (16 kilometers) from shore. The company has sent experts to help clean up the damage.
The Mauritius government is seeking compensation from the company.
After the government declared an environmental emergency, thousands of volunteers rushed to the shore to create makeshift oil barriers from tunnels of fabric stuffed with sugar cane leaves and even human hair, with empty plastic bottles tucked in to keep them afloat.
The island nation of some 1.3 million people relies heavily on tourism and already had taken a severe hit due to travel restrictions during the coronavirus pandemic.
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Google is warning that Australians’ personal information could be “at risk” if the digital giant has to pay for news content. A proposed law would require firms like Google and Facebook to pay Australian news organizations for the content that appears on their websites. The law was drafted last month after months of negotiations between the Australian government and the two tech giants broke down. In an open letter posted online Monday, Melanie Silva, Google’s managing director for Australia and New Zealand, said Australians’ personal data could be turned over to big media firms if the law is enacted, which would help them automatically inflate their search ranking.  Silva also said the law would make such free services such as Google Search and YouTube “dramatically worse” and could lead to Australians paying for such services. Rod Sims, the chair of the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission, dismissed Google’s claims as “misinformation.”  He said the proposed law does not require Google to turn over user’s personal information, or charge for its search services.The open letter was published as Australian regulators begin the last week of gathering public consultations and comments on the proposed law.   Australian media companies have seen their advertising revenue increasingly siphoned off by firms like Google and Facebook in recent years. 
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South Korea, which had effectively contained one of the world’s first coronavirus outbreaks, is seeing a COVID-19 resurgence, with officials warning the country could be on the verge of another large-scale eruption.  Health authorities reported 197 cases Monday – the fourth consecutive day of triple digit new infections. That represents a major setback after having kept daily new cases mostly in the low-to-mid double digits for more than four months. The outbreak is especially concerning since most of the new cases are in the densely populated Seoul metropolitan area, home to more than half of the country’s population. Seoul was not hit hardest by South Korea’s first COVID-19 surge, which was centered around the southeastern city of Daegu in late February and early March.  Though the number of daily infections is still much lower than in the spring, authorities warn the current outbreak could be more dangerous. That is in part because the virus is spreading in multiple locations, whereas the country’s spring outbreak mainly stemmed from a single religious community.  “We are seeing cluster infections simultaneously and sporadically at various venues,” including churches, cafes, and restaurants, said Vice Health Minister Kim Ganglip during a Monday briefing. “These are the initial signs of a large-scale infection.”Visitors wearing face masks to help protect against the spread of the coronavirus pose to take pictures at the Gyeongbok Palace in Seoul, South Korea, Aug. 17, 2020.South Korea won widespread praise for its coronavirus containment, which utilized widespread and immediate testing, data-driven contact tracing, and quick isolation of those impacted. As a result, South Korea’s economy never fully closed and, in many ways, life has continued as normal.  Now, authorities are asking residents to stay at home as much as possible for two weeks. They have banned indoor gatherings of more than 50 people and outdoor gatherings of more than 100 people. Sporting events like baseball games, which had only recently begun allowing a small number of fans, will once again play in empty stadiums.  The virus is especially spreading at churches. The worst outbreak has been at the Sarang Jeil Church, a Presbyterian megachurch in Seoul, where 312 cases have been identified. Authorities are trying to test about 4,000 members of the church, but so far have only tested half that number and say they are having difficulty locating other congregants they suspect may be carrying the virus. The church’s firebrand pastor, Jun Kwang-hoon, is a prominent critic of South Korea’s left-leaning president, Moon Jae-in and has repeatedly spurned the government’s coronavirus prevention measures.  Though large gatherings are banned because of COVID-19 concerns, Pastor Jun appeared at a major anti-government rally in downtown Seoul over the weekend, where he complained the government had “poured the virus” on his church.  At his briefing Monday, Vice Health Minister Kim warned against “false rumors” that the government is intentionally making church members’ coronavirus test results positive. “The PCR testing cannot be manipulated,” Kim said. “If you don’t get tested, you will put at risk the health and safety of your loved ones and neighbors.” Authorities say some Sarang Jeil Church members attended the rallies Saturday, which attracted an estimated 10,000 people. In a Facebook message Sunday, President Moon vowed “very stern and strong” measures in response to the gatherings.  “It is a clear challenge to the national disease control and prevention system, and an unforgivable act that threatens the lives of the people,” Moon said.  
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Thousands of protesters called for radical changes to the Thai government Sunday — the latest in near daily protests lead by students against the government.Bangkok police estimated 10,000 attendees, which would make the demonstration the largest Thailand has seen since the 2014 coup. Student leaders are demanding new elections to form a new parliament, including the dismissal of Prime Minister Prayuth Chan-ocha, a former general who took power in the 2014 coup and won disputed elections last year. But Sunday’s protests also called for changes to the monarchy  a sensitive subject in Thailand, where anyone criticizing the Royal Family may face long prison sentences. “We want a new election and a new parliament from the people,” student activist Patsalawalee Tanakitwiboonpon, 24, told the crowd. “Lastly, our dream is to have a monarchy which is truly under the constitution.” Demonstrators also waved banners and chanted “Down with dictatorship, long live democracy.”Bangkok police said they had deployed 600 officers to observe the demonstration. A counter-rally defending the monarchy drew dozens of attendees. The latest wave of protests began in February when the Future Forward Party (FFP), a progressive party largely supported by young Thais, was dissolved by court order. Protests were then halted due to COVID-19 concerns, but regained energy in July, despite a ban on large gatherings.  
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South Korea and the United States will start their annual joint military drills on Tuesday in what local media said was a two-day delay after a South Korean officer tested positive for the new coronavirus.The drills will start on Tuesday, “considering the COVID-19 situation,” South Korea’s Joint Chiefs of Staff said on Sunday.The training, which had been scheduled to begin on Sunday, was pushed back after the positive test on Friday of the army officer, who was to have taken part, Yonhap News Agency said.The combined drills are closely monitored by North Korea, which calls them a “rehearsal for war.” They have been reduced in recent years to facilitate U.S. negotiations aimed at dismantling Pyongyang’s nuclear programs.This year’s exercises will be scaled down, not mobilizing U.S.-based troops amid COVID-19 restrictions on the travel of U.S. personnel to South Korea.This year’s program, running to August 28, will focus on a “combined defense posture,” while exercises for the transition of wartime operational control on the Korean peninsula will be “partly conducted,” the joint chiefs said in a statement.This could delay President Moon Jae-in’s plan to take over wartime operational control from the United States before his term ends in 2022, experts say.South Korea and the United States had canceled their springtime drills due to the pandemic.
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South Korean President Moon Jae-in on Saturday expressed his country’s readiness to discuss with Japan historic disputes that continue to divide the two countries.Moon spoke in Seoul on the anniversary of Japan’s World War II surrender, which also marked the end of Japan’s 1910-45 colonization of the Korean Peninsula.”We have been holding discussions with the Japanese government on an amicable solution that the victims can agree on,” Moon said. “The door for negotiation is still wide open. Our government is always ready to sit down (to talks) with the Japanese government.”The two countries are in strong disagreement over a 2018 South Korea’s Supreme Court order that a Japanese steelmaker pay compensation for forced labor during the war.Japan argues that the ruling violated international law, since all claims for compensation linked to the colonization were settled under the 1965 diplomatic treaty between the two countries.Seoul, however, says the ruling is enforceable as a decision by an independent judiciary. 
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China’s crackdown on democratic freedoms in Hong Kong has generated strong reactions in Taiwan, where senior officials are mourning Hong Kong’s losses even as they revel in a rare surge of diplomatic attention themselves. “We are saddened and alarmed to see this beacon of civil liberties become extinguished, in violation of the promises Beijing had made to the people of Hong Kong, as well as the international community,” Taiwan President Tsai Ing-wen told a Washington audience via teleconference this week. Tsai returned to the theme at a separate gathering of her Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) in Taipei, where concerns for Hong Kong dampened her obvious enthusiasm over back-to-back visits to Taiwan by a delegation from Japan led by former Prime Minister Yoshiro Mori and one led by U.S. Health and Human Services Secretary Alex Azar, the most senior U.S. official to visit the island in more than 40 years. FILE – U.S. Health and Human Services Secretary Alex Azar, 2nd from left, answers to the media after visiting a mask factory in New Taipei City, Taiwan, Aug. 12, 2020.”Our citizens have all been excited over the visits by the American and Japanese delegations [but] it’s clear that the situation in Hong Kong is deteriorating,” Tsai said. The president remarked on televised scenes of Hong Kong citizens lining up at newspaper stalls in the middle of the night to purchase copies of Apple Daily, in a show of support for the paper and its publisher Jimmy Lai, who had just been arrested along with several colleagues and family members. “The paper is nearly sold out everywhere; some people even said that ‘even if [Apple Daily] only consisted a piece of white paper, I still want to buy it,'” she told the DPP officials. “I am extremely touched.” FILE – People queue up at a news stand to buy copies of Apple Daily in downtown Hong Kong, Aug. 11, 2020, as a show of support, a day after the arrest of its founder Jimmy Lai.Tsai is months into her second four-year term, which she won with a decisive election victory in January widely seen as an endorsement of her position that any potential economic benefits alone did not justify seeking closer ties with Beijing. “People say that the second term is supposed to be easier than the first, they must be people that have not experienced the year 2020 like we have,” Tsai said during Wednesday’s video conference, organized by the Hudson Institute and the Center for American Progress. She said Taiwan is “not immune” to the current pandemic’s aftershocks and has instituted stimulus measures like most other countries, even though the island has been one of the most successful in keeping the pandemic at bay. Taiwan’s vulnerability to Chinese aggression, felt more acutely as Beijing tightens its grip on Hong Kong, has forced Tsai’s government to beef up defense spending and strengthen alliances with the United States, its most significant partner, and other “like-minded democracies,” as Tsai put it. FILE – This photo taken May 25, 2018, by Taiwan’s Defense Ministry shows Taiwan’s F-16 fighter jet, left, monitoring one of two Chinese H-6 bombers that flew over the Bashi Channel south of Taiwan and the Miyako Strait, near Japan’s Okinawa Island.The threat was driven home this week by Chinese media reports that China’s military had conducted live-fire drills and flown jet fighters across the “middle line” of the Taiwan Strait in response to the Azar visit. Tsai’s government this week proposed a roughly 10% increase in its defense budget from the current level, which is already 2.3% of GDP. Approval is expected, given her party’s solid legislative majority. But Tsai played down the fear of any imminent attack and said her approach to relations with Beijing will be governed by four principles she first announced in May during her second inaugural speech — peace, parity, democracy and dialogue. Taiwan “will neither act rashly to escalate confrontation, nor will we give in,” officials at the de facto embassy in Washington told VOA afterwards. Tsai said Taiwan “will always acknowledge the historical and cultural ties that exist across the Strait. And we will never stop believing that there can be a better future ahead.” She stressed the right Taiwan’s 23 million people have to determine their own future, a stand she called the “antithesis” of Beijing’s position. 
 
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