South Korea has followed through with a pledge to remove Japan from a preferred list of nations that enjoy fast track trade status, the latest chapter in an escalating diplomatic dispute tied to Japan’s 20th century occupation of the Korean peninsula.Tokyo’s removal from a so-called “white list” of nations enjoying minimal trade restrictions means South Korean companies would have to wait as many as 15 days to win approval to export sensitive materials to Japan, compared to five days under the fast track status.  Wednesday’s action comes just weeks after Tokyo removed South Korea from its “white list” of trusted trade partners.  The decision restricts exports of hi-tech materials to South Korea that are used to produce semiconductors and displays in smartphones and other electronics that serve as the backbone of South Korea’s export-driven economy.Seoul has filed a complaint with the World Trade Organization over a separate move by Japan to tighten export controls on those materials.Tokyo’s decision to rescind Seoul’s fast track trade status are widely seen as retaliation for recent court rulings in South Korea ordering Japanese companies to compensate Koreans who were forced to work in Japanese plants du. The companies have not complied with the rulings, leading some victims to begin the legal process to seize or liquidate the companies’ assets in Korea.South Koreans are still bitter over Japan’s brutal military rule of the Korean peninsula that lasted from 1910 until 1945, when Japan surrendered to Allied forces to end World War II.  Hundreds of thousands of Koreans were subjected to numerous atrocities, including the so-called “comfort women” who were forced into sexual slavery in Japanese military brothels.The issue of compensation for the victims has been an escalating source of friction between Japan and South Korea. Tokyo says the reparations issue was resolved with a 1965 treaty that normalized bilateral relations between the nations.  Tokyo has complained that subsequent South Korean governments have not accepted further Japanese apologies and attempts to make amends.    
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VOA’s U.N. correspondent Margaret Besheer contributed to this report.Leading international human rights organizations are asking U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres to publicly condemn China for detaining more than a million Muslims.A joint letter signed by Human Rights Watch, Amnesty International, the International Commission of Jurists, the International Federation for Human Rights and the World Uyghur Conference also urged the U.N. chief to call for the immediate closing of all detention camps in Xinjiang province.FILE – United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres speaks at the United Nations headquarters in New York, Aug. 1, 2019.The groups said a public condemnation from Guterres would be an important step toward addressing “one of the most pressing human rights issues of our time.”Last week, Guterres launched a new initiative to protect religious sites around the world. It aims to provide concrete recommendations to help countries ensure that houses of worship and their congregations are safe, and that the values of compassion and tolerance are fostered globally.He again refrained from criticizing Beijing last week when asked by VOA if he had a specific message for China on the detention and mistreatment of Uighur Muslims.”My specific message to all countries in the world is that religious freedom needs to be respected in all circumstances,” he said, “and that, in the context of religious freedom being fully respected, all religious sites must be protected.”
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The Cambodian government summoned three human rights organizations to meetings in Phnom Penh to examine research they published and comments one of them gave to the media, a move the NGOs described as attempts at intimidation. The organizations are Sahmakum Teang Tnaut (STT),  Licadho and Transparency International (TI).   TI director Preap Kol was summoned separately for separate comments.In their report Collateral Damage: Land Loss and Abuses in Cambodia’s Microfinance Sector, Licadho and STT highlight cases of Cambodians having lost their land when their land titles were used as collateral for taking up a loan. The report tells of Cambodian citizens being left deep in debt. Following the publication of the report, Licadho and STT were asked to meet Council of Ministers spokesman Phay Siphan on September 4. Licadho director Naly Pilorge said that most of the meeting was spent on pushing both organizations to sign a pre-written statement that implied that the results found in their research were not accurate. “Of course, Licadho and STT refused to sign this joint statement,” she said. “So most of the meeting was to push, to coerce, to threaten both organizations to sign on.”She said she assumed that they were called to meet because the report concentrated upon the issue of debt and raised issues that investors should be wary of. The government has repeatedly stressed that Cambodia’s economy was growing at a steady rate.The two organizations were called in for a second meeting, an invitation both organizations declined. Government spokesman Phay Siphan said he had called the meeting with the two organizations because he said the “fake report is biased” and was “misrepresenting the reality.”Chak Sopheap, executive director of the Cambodian Center for Human Rights, condemned the move by the Council of Ministers. “The questioning of STT, Licadho and TI representatives sends a clear message to other human rights defenders and government critics that dissent is not tolerated in Cambodia,” she said in an email to VOA. “The intimidation of these NGOs formulates part of a wider, systemic attack on free speech and peaceful dissent. …. The severe curtailment of the abilities of citizens to exercise their fundamental freedoms has caused a chilling rise in self-censorship, illustrating that Cambodian’s feel unable or are unwilling to speak freely.”Spokesman Siphan rejected that criticism. “I don’t condemn them… I invite them,” he said, rejecting allegations that he had pressured them. “I do not put pressure on them.”Preap Kol, country director of Transparency International, had also been called for a meeting with Phay Siphan for comments he gave to the Southeast Asia Globe. “Cambodia applies ‘free market economy’ ideology and, as far as I know, does not yet have a policy that ensures an equitable share of profit to local people,” Kol told the Southeast Asia Globe. “Therefore, the majority of Cambodian people, especially those who are poor or disadvantaged, are not ideally benefiting from the impressive economic growth.”Kol excused himself, saying that he was out of the country currently. Siphan said he would keep inviting Kol to meet. Kol said the move to call him in for a meeting was unusual and a first-off. “I have never been invited to a meeting of this nature to clarify my comments in the media,” he said in a message to Voice of America from Sweden. “This appears to make people feel intimidated to speak to the media but this would not stop me from continuing to speak the truth… I am open to meet and discuss with any concerned  as necessary, preferably in an environment that is free of intimidation and oppression.”
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More than half the tigers rescued three years ago from Thailand’s notorious Tiger Temple have died, authorities said Monday.Eighty-six of 147 tigers seized developed laryngeal paralysis and canine distemper, diseases they were vulnerable to because of inbreeding at the sprawling complex where tourists were allowed close contact with the large cats.The Wat Pha Luang Ta Bua or Tiger Temple, located west of Bangkok, allowed tourists to hand feed the tigers, hold the cubs and take close up photos until the government seized 147 cats after reports of wildlife trafficking and animal abuseThe tigers were relocated to two state-run sanctuaries. But officials soon noticed the effects of inbreeding “resulting in disabilities and weakened health condition,” said Patarapol, head of the Wildlife Health Management Division.FILE – A Buddhist monk plays with a tiger at the Wat Pa Luang Ta Bua, otherwise known as Tiger Temple, in Kanchanaburi province, Feb. 12, 2015.The temple in the western province of Kanchanaburi had gained international fame as a sanctuary run by Buddhist monks.But when police raided the temple in 2016, they found tiger bones, skin, teeth and at least 1,500 amulets made from tiger parts. They also found carcasses of 60 cubs stuffed in freezers or preserved in formaldehyde-filled jars.No one connected to the temple has ever been prosecuted.Authorities estimate there are some 1,000 tigers in captivity in Thailand, but only about 200 in the wild.
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A U.N. investigator finds that two years after the violent expulsion of more than 700,000 Rohingya refugees from Myanmar, the situation in their home country remains too dangerous for them to return from their refuge in Cox’s Bazaar, Bangladesh.U.N. Special Rapporteur, Yanghee Lee, says Myanmar commits ongoing gross violations of international law and uses brutal measures to repress ethnic minorities in Rakhine and southern Chin states.She says many civilians have been killed and tens of thousands displaced by the indiscriminate use of heavy artillery and other methods of warfare used by both the Tatmadaw, Myanmar’s armed forces, and the Arakan Army, an insurgent group in Rakhine.She says by no stretch of the imagination is it possible to believe the Rohingya refugees would be safe if they returned to Myanmar. In August, she notes an agreement was hatched to repatriate 3,450 refugees.She says Myanmar claims to have done what is necessary for the repatriation to be successful and blames Bangladesh for delays in the operation going ahead. She says the contrary is true.”Myanmar has done nothing to dismantle the system of violence and persecution, and the Rohingya who remain in Rakhine live in the same dire circumstances that they did prior to the events of August 2017,” said Lee. “They are denied citizenship and recognition, face regular violence, including in the context of the ongoing conflict between the Arakan Army and the Tatmadaw.”The U.N. investigator says the Rohingya are unable to move freely and have little access to food, health care, education, livelihoods and services.Myanmar’s Permanent Representative to the U.N. in Geneva, Kyaw Moe Tun, denounces Yanghee Lee’s lack of impartiality, objectivity and good faith. He says Myanmar has zero tolerance for any violation of human rights and any form of violence, especially against children, women and the vulnerable.He acknowledges no Rohingya have returned under the bilateral arrangements, but notes some Hindu and Muslim people have gone back on their own volition. He says it is crystal clear some people want to return.He calls on the U.N. Human Rights Council to replace Yanghee Lee with a new special rapporteur who understands Myanmar’s history and recognizes the difficulties it faces in moving toward a democratic society.
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Businesses and metro stations reopened as usual on Monday in Hong Kong, one day after the city again descended into chaos as violent clashes involving police, young pro-democracy protesters and older pro-Beijing supporters erupted.In the neighborhoods near North Point and Fortress Hill, people from opposing sides traded insults and physical blows, leading to numerous injuries on Sunday.  
 
While some pro-Beijing mainlanders rolled up their sleeves to remove posters on so-called “John Lennon walls,” named for the late entertainer, another group of white-clad mainlanders was seen not only attacking black-clad pro-democracy protesters, but also using derogatory language toward them, chanting “Fujian people, beat the cockroaches.” Fujian is a province on the southeast coast of mainland China.
 A Pro-China supporter, center, is escorted by police after confronting journalists in north point, Hong Kong, Sept. 15, 2019.Elsewhere, six black-clad protesters, in return, were seen hitting a 49-year-old man with umbrellas and punching his back. He was reported to have lost consciousness at one point.
 Counter mobilization
 
Analysts say such episodes suggest that Beijing may be resorting to a strategy of counter-mobilization by appearing to tolerate mainland immigrants who confront the anti-China demonstrators.The protests began in June after the Hong Kong government, under Chief Executive Carrie Lam, introduced a controversial extradition bill that many Hong Kong residents saw as an example of the territory’s autonomy being eroded under Chinese rule. Lam later withdrew the measure. The Hong Kong government has said violence is not the answer.
 
But that will not help ease the city’s political tensions; instead, its young freedom fighters will become even angrier, the analysts add.
 
“Those protesters, in the eyes of the majority of the public, actually love Hong Kong and they are devoted to defending Hong Kong’s freedom. So, for the majority of the people, they will feel anger and the fire will be just in flame,” said Dixon Sing, associate professor of the Hong Kong University of Science and Technology’s social science division.
 
Sing cited polls Monday in the local Chinese language newspaper Ming Pao that said more than 70% of the city’s respondents remain unsatisfied with concessions, including the decision by Lam to withdraw the measure. Hong Kongers’ determination
 
The majority polled said that all five demands requested by protesters, in particular, the creation of an independent commission to investigate police misconduct, should be met, the professor added.  
 
Although there is little proof that China’s liaison office in Hong Kong was behind the counter-mobilization effort, Hong Kong is seemingly more tolerant to those who hold pro-Beijing views, say analysts.“Clearly, they work very hard to build a united front in support of mainland policies and the Hong Kong government. So, the kind of counter mobilization, if it is peaceful, I think it’s quite tolerated,” said David Zweig, chair professor in the division of social science at Hong Kong University of Science and Technology.
 
With Hong Kong-China tensions escalating, China continues to build up narratives to discredit the city’s pro-democracy activism, while accusing Western governments of being behind the mass protests. Foreign interference
 
In a commentary posted Friday on China’s messaging app WeChat, the party’s Central Political and Legal Affairs Commission urged the city’s young people not to pin hopes on the West solving their financial woes.
 
“The West can’t solve your problems…Those who call on people to take to the streets have nothing to offer but empty words of democracy and freedom,” the article read.
 
“The places helped by Western countries to usher in democracy and freedom are all in trouble. Western countries can’t even solve their domestic problems,” the commentary added, urging Hong Kongers to look north for economic opportunities in China.
 
The commentary is believed to be directed at pro-democracy movement leaders such as Joshua Wong, who has traveled to Taiwan, the United States and Germany to seek international support and foreign involvement.
 
Professor Zweig said that China has long looked at foreign power as the source of problems, which allows it to ignore internal conflicts.
 
What is truly facing Hong Kong is internal socioeconomic and political conflicts, not foreign interference, he said.
 
“The only place where foreigners can have a serious impact is if the United States revokes the Hong Kong Policy Act, because then China will no longer have access to American technologies through Hong Kong,” he added. Under the U.S.-Hong Kong Policy Act of 1992, the United States treats the former British colony separately from mainland China in matters dealing with trade and economic control in the wake of the 1997 handover.
 Losing economic shineThere are also concerns about Hong Kong’s economic future. The London Stock Exchange recently rejected a $39 billion takeover bid by Hong Kong’s exchange. Separately, a survey by the American Chamber of Commerce in Hong Kong indicated a lack of investor confidence in the city.
 
The chamber’s survey showed that 67% of respondents believe the city’s reputation as a regional base of operations has been tarnished while 80% said the months-long turmoil has affected their investment decisions.  
 
In addressing the city’s political and economic problems, China’s top leaders are at a crossroads, according to Professor Sing.
 
China wants to bring the city under its total control in the next 20 years, but then, it cannot afford to have the city lose its shine as the world’s third-largest financial center — an economic status that greatly benefits China especially when its economy is suffering from an ongoing trade dispute with the U.S., Sing said. 
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Anti-government protesters clashed with police in Hong Kong again on Sunday, with demonstrators hurling rocks and Molotov cocktails at authorities who responded with volleys of tear gas and blasts of blue-dyed water fired from water cannons.Some of the thousands of protesters threw bricks at police outside the Chinese People’s Liberation Army base and tore down and set fire to a banner proclaiming the 70th anniversary of the October 1 founding of the People’s Republic of China.Police said in a statement, “Radical protesters are currently occupying Harcourt Road in Admiralty, vandalizing Central Government Offices and repeatedly throwing petrol bombs inside.”Anti-government protesters are sprayed by water cannon during a demonstration near Central Government Complex in Hong Kong, Sept. 15, 2019.Some of the protesters engaged in cat-and-mouse skirmishes with police, setting street fires and blocking roads in the heart of the city. Authorities quickly doused the fires and fired tear gas to disperse the protesters. The bursts of blue-dyed water from the water cannons were used so authorities could later identify law-breakers.It was the 99th day of the summer-long protests aimed at promoting democracy in the Chinese territory. The demonstrations originally started as protests against a bill that would have allowed the extradition of criminal suspects to mainland China to stand trial.That measure has now been withdrawn, but the protests have continued in opposition to what demonstrators see as Beijing’s interference in the oversight of Hong Kong despite promises of autonomy as spelled out when Britain returned Hong Kong to Chinese control in 1997. The protesters want universal suffrage and investigations into what they see as police misconduct in controlling the demonstrations.Protesters carrying umbrellas take part in march in Hong Kong, Sept. 15, 2019.Earlier Sunday, protesters gathered peacefully outside the British consulate, carrying signs that read, “Sino-British Joint Declaration is VOID,” and “One country, two systems is dead.” The demonstrators sang, “God Save the Queen.”More than 1,300 people have been arrested since the demonstrations began in early June.The increasingly violent demonstrations have damaged Hong Kong’s economy, which had already been weakened by the reciprocal tariff increases imposed by U.S. President Donald Trump and his Chinese counterpart, Xi Jinping, as the world’s two largest economies try to negotiate a new trade agreement. More talks are set for next month in Washington.   
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Less than two months into its term, Thailand’s post-junta government is fending off a series of challenges to its very existence, including a brewing political storm over the Cabinet’s failure to recite the full oath of office.A general election in March returned the 2014 coup leader, Prime Minister Prayut Chan-ocha, to power to widespread criticism that his military junta had manipulated the contest in its favor. Two months later the country crowned a new king, Maha Vajiralongkorn, who has been consolidating power around the Royal Palace since the death of his father, King Bhumibol Adulyadej, in 2016. The country’s GDP growth rate has meanwhile dipped to its lowest level since just after the putsch.Analysts expect the country’s courts to save Prayut’s new administration from collapse. They say, though, that a pending fight in the lower house of Parliament next week over the botched oath could further batter its already bruised image, especially if the economy continues to flag.FILE – People gather holding a portrait of Thailand’s King Maha Vajiralongkorn along a sidewalk near the Grand Palace in Bangkok, May 3, 2019, ahead of King Vajiralongkorn’s coronation. which will take place from May 4 to 6.Legitimacy of administration challengedBy challenging the administration’s very legitimacy, the opposition parties are “trying to wake Thai people up to the fact that this is not a democracy; this is simply the continuation of the junta by a different form,” said Paul Chambers, a political analyst and lecturer at Thailand’s Naresuan University.At a swearing-in ceremony July 16, Prayut and his 35 ministers lined up before the king and pledged their allegiance. They also swore to work for the people and country but left out the last few words of the official oath, which included a vow to “uphold and observe the Constitution of the Kingdom of Thailand in every respect.”The opposition says the omission raises fresh doubts about Prayut’s commitment to the rule of law. In theory it could also undo everything he and his Cabinet have done since taking the oath, including the approval of a draft 2020 budget and economic stimulus plan, if their tenure is ultimately deemed illegitimate.FILE – Members of the National Council for Peace and Order, from left, Wissanu Krea-ngam, General Paiboon Khumchaya and Pornpetch Wichitcholchai speak during a press conference at Government House in Bangkok, July 23, 2014.Prayut has yet to explain why he and the ministers failed to recite the oath in full. Deputy Prime Minister Wissanu Krea-ngam fueled speculation that it was deliberate while deflecting questions from local reporters in the days that followed.“One day you’ll know why we shouldn’t talk about it,” he was quoted as saying by local media, adding that it was “something no one should stick his nose into.”On Wednesday, the Constitutional Court bowed out of the brawl by claiming the matter was between Prayut and his Cabinet and the king. The Office of the Ombudsman had forwarded the original complaint to the court after deciding that the incomplete oath had breached the national charter.Pitch Pongsawat, an assistant professor of political science at Thailand’s Chulalongkorn University, said he was not surprised by the decision from a court that has developed a reputation for siding with Thailand’s royalist, pro-military establishment.“It’s unconstitutional,” he said of the swearing-in, “but [it] doesn’t matter with this regime … Everybody knows that they will find a way out.”Parliament to grill PrayutThe opposition is scheduled to question the prime minister over the oath in Parliament Wednesday.Pitch said the best it can hope for is to do more damage to the government’s democratic credentials by drawing an often truculent Prayut into a political faux pas or blunder under the pressure of a public grilling.“If they do it very well … it will put the regime in trouble,” he said. “I think that’s what they’re aiming for.”The day of the debate, the Constitutional Court is also set to rule on whether Prayut was even eligible to run for prime minister while still at the helm of the military government that followed the coup.Eligibility questionedThe Constitution bars “state officials” from running for political office. A ruling against Prayut would trigger a new vote for prime minister in Parliament.Pitch and Chambers expect the court to clear him one way or another, or draw the case out indefinitely.Even if the government does survive, it may find it ever harder to actually govern.Prayut’s Cabinet entered office with a razor-thin majority in the 500-seat lower house of Parliament to begin with. Having been passed over for ministry and legislative committee posts since then, a few of the coalition’s smallest parties recently announced that their votes were no longer guaranteed, leaving the parties remaining in the alliance with just under half the seats.Pitch said, though, that the government was counting on lawmakers among the opposition parties to switch sides and make up for any losses when the time comes.Chambers also noted that the lawmakers threatening to split from the ruling coalitions have said they were going “independent,” not necessarily joining the other side, possibly to win concessions for their continued loyalty.“As independent MPs, they can demand more from the coalition for their vote. Actually they become more powerful,” he said.A street vender pushes a cart with piggy banks in a market in Bangkok, Sept. 4, 2019. World Bank records show the poverty in Thailand declined in last 30 years, but the pace of the decline has slowed recently.Slowing economyThe one thing that just might bring the government down, Chambers said, had nothing to do with the courts, Constitution or Parliament.“Probably the only thing that could really hurt this government is the economy,” he said. “If the economy sours increasingly … then those people who still like Prayut are going to wash their hands [of] the government. At that point there could be another election.”Thailand’s year-on-year GDP growth hit 2.3% in the second quarter of 2019, its slowest pace in nearly five years.The government spokesperson’s office would not comment for this story. A spokesman for Prayut’s party, Palang Pracharath, did not reply to a request for an interview.
 
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Clashes erupted Saturday between rival groups in Hong Kong in the latest round of demonstrations that began with calls for democratic reforms in the semiautonomous Chinese territory.The skirmishes broke out shortly after pro-democracy demonstrators gathered at a plaza in the Kowloon Bay area, where hundreds of pro-Beijing demonstrators were singing the Chinese national anthem and waving red flags.Groups of people exchanged blows and some attacked opponents with umbrellas. Online videos showed a group of men attacking a group of primarily younger victims with large flag poles, kicks and punches, prompting onlookers to run away.Baton-wielding police moved in to break up the violence, considered minor compared to previous weeks when pro-democracy demonstrators attacked the legislature’s headquarters, set street fires, trashed subway stations and clashed with police.
Kowloon Bay Protest, Saturday, Sept 14, 2019 video player.
Embed” />CopyWATCH: Kowloon Bay Protest, Sept 14, 2019 (Stephen Boitano)There was also a sit-in student protest Saturday at a downtown public square and a pro-democracy march in the northwestern suburb of Tin Shui Wai.Saturday’s clashes occurred after several nights of peaceful rallies at shopping malls by supporters of the months-long pro-democracy demonstrations.They have continued despite the Hong Kong government’s promise to withdraw extradition legislation that sparked protests. Dissenters have since broadened their demands for the direct election of their leaders and police accountability.The protesters saw the bill that would have allowed some Hong Kong criminal suspects to be extradited to mainland China for trial as an example of the erosion of Hong Kong’s autonomy since the former British colony was returned to China in 1997.More than 1,300 people have been arrested since the demonstrations began in early June.The increasingly violent demonstrations have further damaged Hong Kong’s economy, which had already been weakened by the U.S.-China trade war. 
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Joshua Wong, one of the most visible leaders of the Hong Kong protest movement, has arrived in the United States to rally support following a whirlwind visit to Berlin.Wong, who has been permitted to travel internationally while on bail facing charges stemming from more than three months of pro-democracy protests, will spend the next several days speaking to legislators, human rights advocates and students in New York and Washington.College students are among the audiences Wong, 22, and fellow protest leaders are aiming to address on their U.S. tour, with a stop at New York’s Columbia University on Friday and an appearance scheduled for Wednesday at Georgetown University in Washington.Wong and other protest leaders will also testify at a hearing organized by the bipartisan Congressional-Executive Commission on China (CECC), aimed at examining recent developments in Hong Kong and the future of U.S.-Hong Kong relations.FILE – Hong Kong’s pro-democracy activist Joshua Wong speaks to students at the Humboldt University in Berlin, Germany, Sept. 11, 2019.At a recent diplomatic event in Washington, Randall Schriver, U.S. assistant secretary of defense for Indo-Pacific security, told VOA that Washington maintains regular contact with the Hong Kong government through the U.S. consulate there, “and we also, of course, have conveyed our concerns in Beijing about the potential for a heavier hand or use of violence, which we strongly discourage.”Schriver added, “We support freedom of expression in Hong Kong. We believe that’s a right that is guaranteed under the Basic Law, so we’re hopeful that this is resolved between the citizens of Hong Kong and the governing authorities there.”Winston Lord, who served as the United States’ ambassador to China and later assistant secretary of State for East Asian and Pacific affairs, believes China’s leaders will try a range of other measures before resorting to a crackdown and the global criticism that would bring.”I think that through the combination of propaganda, nationalism, censorship, rounding up the leaders, getting the tycoons upset, playing up supposed violence, they hope to exhaust the protesters and win that way,” Lord told VOA.”They know it would be a mistake to go in there,” he said. “Trust me, if they have to, they’ll go in, but they’re going to try to avoid that if at all possible.”
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A tennis tournament and a London musical are the latest events postponed in Hong Kong out of concerns over safety and disruptions from pro-democracy protests.K-pop concerts, Chanel fashion shows and international conferences have been canceled, postponed or moved out of the semi-autonomous Chinese territory during more than three months of demonstrations. More rallies are expected this weekend.On Friday, organizers said the Hong Kong Open women’s tennis tournament scheduled for Oct. 5-13 was being postponed indefinitely. The event was to be held at Victoria Park, a gathering point for many previous protests.Earlier this week, protesters in the stands at a World Cup soccer qualifier match between Hong Kong and Iran booed the Chinese national anthem and chanted pro-democracy slogans. Iran’s request for a venue change had been rejected.Lunchbox Theatrical Productions called off a monthlong run of the London West End musical “Matilda” at the Hong Kong Academy for Performing Acts that was to open Sept. 20.“Sadly the 14 weeks of civil unrest in Hong Kong have decimated ticket sales, and more importantly we cannot guarantee the safety and wellbeing of our international company, which comprises a large number of young children,” CEO James Cundall said in a statement. He said he hopes the show can be staged next year.The protests began in June over an extradition bill that would have allowed some Hong Kong suspects to be sent to mainland China for trial. Many saw the bill as an example of Hong Kong’s autonomy eroding since the former British colony returned to Chinese rule in 1997.The government promised last week to withdraw the bill, but the protesters’ demands have widened to include direct elections for the city’s leaders and police accountability.More than 1,300 people have been arrested in the protests, which have further battered Hong Kong’s economy, which was already reeling from the U.S.-China trade war. Tourist numbers have plunged, and businesses have been hit by the protests that show no signs of abating.The city’s richest man, Li Ka Shing, said Friday he regretted that his comments over the weekend calling for a way out for the mostly young protesters had been misrepresented after he was berated by Beijing.In a video broadcast on local TV, the billionaire described the summer of unrest as the worst catastrophe since World War II and urged the government to temper justice with mercy. Chang’an Jian, a social media account belonging to the Central Political and Legal Affairs Commission, said in a post late Thursday that Li’s remarks shielded those who committed crimes, and that he is not thinking about what is good for Hong Kong.A spokesman for Li said in a statement that Li does not condone violence and illegal acts, and hopes all parties will create space and initiate a dialogue to resolve the deadlock.Meanwhile, Hong Kong’s government dismissed a warning from Canadian think tank Fraser Institute that Chinese interference and the police crackdown on protesters were threatening the city’s position as one of the world’s freest economies.“Such comments are entirely ungrounded and not borne out by objective facts,” it said in a statement Thursday. It defended police actions, saying they used reasonable force to halt increasing violence by protesters.At a human rights conference in Taipei on Friday, Hong Kong singer and activist Denise Ho called for international support against mainland Chinese intrusions and government tyranny.She accused China of pressuring celebrities in Hong Kong, Taiwan and China to take sides. Last month, Australia’s National Gallery of Victoria denied a request by a Chinese artist to host an event that would feature a talk about democracy and Hong Kong, while Hong Kong activists were banned from a gay parade in Montreal after threats of sabotage by pro-China supporters, she said.“We want a total political reform of the Hong Kong government,” she told the Oslo Freedom Forum. “When government institutions and corporates have their hands tied, it is up to the people to get back that authority … we can find solutions as a global community.”China has denied meddling in Hong Kong affairs, and accused foreign powers of fomenting the unrest.More than 200 pro-Beijing supporters held a rally Friday to counter nights of mass singing by thousands of pro-democracy supporters at multiple shopping malls across the city. The mostly older crowd waved Chinese flags and sang the Chinese anthem in a mall in the densely packed Kowloon district.“I hope the Hong Kong crisis will end soon. The victims are the Hong Kong people,” said a woman who wanted to be identified only as Mrs. Wong.Protest-related activities were expected to continue Friday, when Chinese celebrate the Mid-Autumn Festival with lanterns and mooncakes. Police banned a planned major march in central Hong Kong on Sunday, but many protesters have said they will turn up anyway.
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Pope Francis will visit Thailand and Japan in November in a visit expected to highlight his call for complete nuclear disarmament and honor the small Catholic communities in each country.The Vatican confirmed the Nov. 19-26 trip, and its diplomatic representative in Thailand, Archbishop Paul Tschang In-Nam, announced the Thai stop on Friday. Francis will be in Thailand on Nov. 20-23 before heading to Japan, where government spokesman Yoshihide Suga said he would meet with the emperor.It will be Francis’ fourth trip to Asia, where he has already visited South Korea, Sri Lanka, the Philippines, Myanmar and Bangladesh.Saint Pope John Paul IIThe last pope to visit Japan was the late Saint Pope John Paul II in 1981. He was also the last pope to visit Thailand, in 1984.During his official visit to Thailand, Francis will preside at religious ceremonies and pay pastoral visits to Catholic communities.Francis’s Japan visit includes Tokyo as well as Hiroshima and Nagasaki, which were hit by U.S. atomic bombs at the end of World War II.Francis has frequently spoken out about the risk of nuclear war, most emphatically during a 2017 disarmament conference at the Vatican where he signaled a shift in church teaching about nuclear deterrence. In that speech to Nobel laureates, NATO officials and diplomats, he warned that the Cold War-era strategy of deterrence was no longer viable and urged instead complete nuclear disarmament. “If we … take into account the risk of an accidental detonation as a result of error of any kind, the threat of (nuclear weapons’) use, as well as their very possession, is to be firmly condemned,” he said.His comments marked a shift, given previous popes including St. John Paul II, had called for the abolition of nuclear weapons but had said the stockpiling of them could be morally acceptable as a form of deterrence.Family reunion?The pontiff’s arrival will lead to a reinvigoration of belief among the nearly 400,000 faithful here. But for Sister Ana Rosa Sivori, it also means the pleasure of a family reunion.At St. Mary’s girls’ school in Udon Thani, about 570 kilometers (355 miles) northeast of Bangkok, the pupils have only recently realized their unassuming vice principal’s connection to the pope.Sister Ana Rosa, originally from Buenos Aires in Argentina, came to Thailand in 1966 and has worked as a missionary in several parts of the country. She shares a great-grandfather with Jorge Mario Bergoglio, who, six years ago, became Pope Francis. So, she and the pontiff are second cousins.
 
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