Taipei, Taiwan — China has initiated a series of influence campaigns against Taiwan ahead of the island’s inauguration of president-elect Lai Ching-te on May 20. Beijing has increased the scale and frequency of military activities near Taiwan while partially relaxing travel and import restrictions.

Some analysts say Beijing is trying to test how the incoming Taiwanese government will respond to the increased pressure from Beijing while further eroding the longstanding status quo across the Taiwan Strait at a time when Taiwan is preparing for a transition of power.

“In the short term, Beijing is trying to see how the new Taiwanese government under Lai may respond to its pressure campaign,” said Chen Fang-yu, a political scientist at Soochow University in Taiwan.

“At the same time, the Chinese government is attempting to change the status quo across the Taiwan Strait when Taipei is focusing on the inauguration,” he told VOA by phone.

Taiwan’s defense ministry detected 26 Chinese military aircraft and five Chinese naval vessels near the island between May 2 and May 3, including 17 Chinese military aircraft crossing the median line of the Taiwan Strait. Some Chinese aircraft got as close as about 76 kilometers from Taiwan’s northern port city of Keelung, which hosts an important naval base.

Meanwhile, the director general of Taiwan’s National Security Bureau, Tsai Ming-yen, told Taiwanese lawmakers on May 1 that the Chinese military had incorporated new tactics into its joint combat readiness patrol near the island, including staging night-time combat patrols and using landing ships and minesweepers during these exercises.

Additionally, he said Taiwanese authorities are tracking the increased patrols carried out by the Chinese coast guard near Taiwan’s outlying island, Kinmen. On April 29, Beijing said the Fujian Coast Guard had organized a fleet of ships to increase the frequency of patrols in waters near Kinmen since April.

Beijing also announced plans to allow residents from its southern province of Fujian to travel to Taiwan’s outlying island of Matsu while lifting import restrictions on Taiwanese pomelos and two types of seafood late last month.

The news came after a group of lawmakers from Taiwan’s main opposition party, the Kuomintang, which advocates closer ties between Taipei and Beijing, visited China.

Some experts say the measures rolled out by Beijing in recent weeks are all part of its influence operation against Taipei, which involves using disinformation campaigns, economic coercion, and gray zone operations to impose pressure on Taiwan.

“China’s overall strategy is still to increase pressure on Taiwan but they are also offering some small favors to Taiwan’s opposition parties,” said Su Tzu-yun, a military expert at the Taipei-based Institute for National Defense and Security Research.

While recent developments should be viewed as part of China’s overall influence operation against Taiwan, Su said part of Beijing’s long-term goal is to increase its control over the Taiwan Strait.

“By increasing the frequency of deploying Chinese coast guard vessels to restricted waters near Kinmen and flying Chinese military aircraft closer to Taiwan’s main island, Beijing is hoping to eventually turn the Taiwan Strait into its territorial water,” he told VOA by phone.

Beijing has repeatedly threatened to achieve reunification with Taiwan through force in recent years, and the Chinese government views Taiwan’s president-elect Lai as an advocate of Taiwan independence.

Since the Chinese military usually concentrates military exercises between June and November, Su said the incoming Taiwanese government needs to closely monitor any increase in Chinese military activities around the island after May 20.

In addition to threats posed by a possible buildup of Chinese military activities, some security analysts say Taiwan should also be mindful of Beijing’s efforts to create division in Taiwan’s domestic politics.

“There is every reason to believe that [the Chinese Communist Party] is ramping up efforts to use Taiwan’s democracy against itself,” J. Michael Cole, a Taipei-based security analyst, told VOA in a written response.

He said China will rely on China-friendly political forces in Taiwan to “sabotage the Lai administration” and these efforts will have “serious ramifications for Taiwan’s ability to counter Chinese infiltration and the Taiwan government’s ability to function.”

Prioritizing policy continuity

In light of the increasing Chinese pressure, Lai has appointed some current cabinet members to key positions in charge of national security, foreign policy, and cross-strait relations in his cabinet.

Taiwan’s current foreign minister Joseph Wu will be the secretary general of the National Security Council. The current head of the council, Wellington Koo, will be the new defense minister in the Lai administration.

On the foreign policy front, the current secretary general of Taiwan’s presidential office Lin Chia-lung will be the new foreign minister, and Chiu Chui-cheng, a former deputy political minister for Taiwan’s Mainland Affairs Council, which handles cross-strait relations, will be the new head of the council.

Cole said Lai’s personnel picks for national security and foreign policy reflect his intention to continue the policy agenda of the outgoing administration under President Tsai Ing-wen, who has focused on strengthening Taiwan’s relations with like-minded democracies including the United States and Japan.

The decision “will play a major role in reassuring allies and partners around the world that Taiwan will remain committed to the kind of responsible foreign policy that existed under the Tsai administration,” he told VOA.

Chen at Soochow University said the incoming Taiwanese government’s cabinet lineup will benefit the U.S.-led efforts to strengthen security-related cooperation among democratic countries in the Indo-Pacific region.

“Since some of his cabinet members are holdovers from the current administration, they have already established relationships with officials in other countries, and some of the existing cooperations can continue,” he told VOA.
…

your ad here

DHAKA, Bangladesh — Schools in Bangladesh reopened on Sunday and classes were continuing over the weekend after a searing heatwave a week ago that suspended lessons as the country baked in temperatures that surged to well over 40 degrees Centigrade.

Bangladesh has wavered over reopening schools for some 33 million students amid pressure to prepare pupils for exams, even as the worst heatwave in seven decades sent temperatures as high as 43.8 C (110.84° Fahrenheit) last week.

Many people have died across the region, and experts warned the heat could exacerbate inequalities, widen a learning gap between developing and developed nations in the tropics.

Bangladesh, which follows the Islamic work week from Sunday to Thursday, will hold classes on Saturdays until further notice, the education ministry said. Education Minister Mohibul Hasan Chowdhury has said schools would open on Friday if needed to complete the curriculum.

Parents have welcomed the decision.

“Children don’t want to study at home. This will help them make up for the loss,” said Fatema Akhtar, who was waiting to pick up her grade-two daughter outside a school.

Scientists have said climate change is causing more frequent, severe, and lengthy heat waves during summer months.

The U.N. children’s agency has estimated that one in three children, or nearly 20 million children, in low-lying Bangladesh bear the brunt of such climate change every day.

Separately, a fire that broke out amid the heatwave on Saturday and spread across three acres of the Sundarbans, the world’s largest mangrove forest that is home to the Royal Bengal tiger, was brought under control on Sunday, officials said.

Intense heatwaves have caused water shortages and frequent power cuts, hitting the key apparel sector that accounts for more than 80% of exports and supplies retailers such as H&M, Walmart and Gap Inc.
…

your ad here

Paris — Chinese President Xi Jinping on Sunday arrived in France on a state visit hosted by Emmanuel Macron where the French leader will seek to push his counterpart on issues ranging from Ukraine to trade.

Xi’s arrival for the visit marking 60 years of diplomatic relations between France and China was the start of his first trip to Europe since 2019 which will also see him visit Serbia and Hungary.

But Xi’s choice of France as the sole major European power to visit indicates the relative warmth in Sino-French relations since Macron made his own state visit to China in April 2023 and acknowledges the French leader’s stature as an EU powerbroker.

Chinese state broadcaster CCTV said the plane carrying Xi had touched down in Paris.

The leader of the one-party Communist state of more than 1.4 billion people, accompanied by his wife Peng Liyuan, was to be welcomed at Paris Orly airport by Prime Minister Gabriel Attal.

Xi is to hold a day of talks in Paris on Monday — also including EU Commission chief Ursula von der Leyen — followed by a state banquet hosted by Macron.

Tuesday will see Macron take Xi to the Pyrenees mountains to an area he used to visit as a boy for a day of less public and more intimate talks.

A key priority of Macron will be to warn Xi of the danger of backing Russia in its invasion of Ukraine, with Western officials concerned Moscow is already using Chinese machine tools in arms production.

Beijing’s ties with Moscow have, if anything, warmed after the invasion and the West wants China above all not to supply weapons to Russia and risk tipping the balance in the conflict.

“It is in our interest to get China to weigh in on the stability of the international order,” said Macron in an interview with the Economist published on Thursday.

“We must, therefore, work with China to build peace,” he added.

Macron also said in the same interview Europe must defend its “strategic interests” in its economic relations with China, accusing Beijing of not respecting the rules on international trade.

But he acknowledged in an interview with the La Tribune Dimanche newspaper that Europeans are “not unanimous” on the strategy to adopt as “certain actors still see China essentially as a market of opportunities” while it “exports massively” to Europe.

The French president had gladdened Chinese state media and troubled some EU allies after his 2023 visit by declaring that Europe should not be drawn into a standoff between China and the United States, particularly over democratic, self-ruled Taiwan.

China views the island as part of its territory and has vowed to take it one day, by force if necessary.

“The worst thing would be to think that we Europeans must be followers and adapt ourselves to the American rhythm and a Chinese overreaction,” Macron said at the time, warning against a “bloc versus bloc logic.”

Rights groups are urging Macron to bring up human rights in the talks, accusing China of failing to respect the rights of the Uyghur Muslim minority and keeping dozens of journalists behind bars.

“President Macron should make it clear to Xi Jinping that Beijing’s crimes against humanity come with consequences for China’s relations with France,” said Maya Wang, acting China director at Human Rights Watch.

The group said human rights in China had “severely deteriorated” under Xi’s rule.

However, analysts are skeptical that even with the lavish red carpet welcome and trip to the bracing mountain airs of the Col du Tourmalet over 2,000 meters (6,560 feet) above sea level on Tuesday Macron will be able to exercise much sway over the Chinese leader.

The other two countries chosen by Xi for his tour, Serbia and Hungary, are seen as among the most sympathetic to Moscow in Europe.

“The two core messages from Macron will be on Chinese support to Russia’s military capabilities and Chinese market-distorting practices,” said Janka Oertel, director of the Asia program at the European Council on Foreign Relations.

“However, both messages are unlikely to have a significant impact on Chinese behavior: Xi is not on a mission to repair ties, because from his point of view all is well.”
…

your ad here

MELBOURNE, Australia — A 16-year-old boy armed with a knife was shot dead by police after he stabbed a man in the Australian west coast city of Perth, officials said Sunday.

The incident occurred in the parking lot of a hardware store in suburban Willetton on Saturday night.

The teen attacked the man and then rushed at police officers before he was shot, Western Australian Premier Roger Cook told reporters Sunday.

“There are indications he had been radicalized online,” Cook told a news conference.

“But I want to reassure the community at this stage it appears that he acted solely and alone,” Cook added.

A man was found at the scene with stab wounds to his back. He was taken to a hospital in serious but stable condition, Australian Broadcasting Corp. reported.

Police and Australian Security Intelligence Organization agents have been conducting a counterterrorism investigation in the east coast city of Sydney since another 16-year-old boy stabbed an Assyrian Orthodox bishop and priest in a church on April 15.

That boy has been charged with committing a terrorist act. Six of his alleged associates have also been charged with a range of offenses, including conspiring to engage in or planning a terrorist act. All remain in custody.

Prime Minister Anthony Albanese said he had been briefed on the latest stabbing in Perth by Australian Federal Police Commissioner Reece Kershaw and ASIO Director-General Mike Burgess, who heads the nation’s main domestic spy agency.

“I’m advised there is no ongoing threat to the community on the information available,” Albanese said.

“We are a peace-loving nation and there is no place for violent extremism in Australia,” he added.

Police received an emergency phone call after 10 p.m. from a teenager saying he was going to commit acts of violence, Western Australian Police Commissioner Col Blanch said.

The boy had been participating in a program for young people at risk of radicalization, Blanch added.

“I don’t want to say he has been radicalized or is radicalized because I think that forms part of the investigation,” he said.

Police said they were later alerted by a phone call from a member of the public that a knife attack was underway in the parking lot. Three police officers responded, one armed with a gun and two with conducted energy devices.

Police deployed both conducted energy devices but they failed to incapacitate the boy before he was killed by a single gunshot, Blanch said.

Some Muslim leaders have criticized Australian police for declaring last month’s church stabbing a terrorist act but not a rampage two days earlier in a Sydney shopping mall in which six people were killed and a dozen wounded. The 40-year-old attacker in the mall attack was shot dead by police. Police have yet to reveal the man’s motive.

The church attack is only the third to be classified by Australian authorities as a terrorist act since 2018.

In December 2022, three Christian fundamentalists shot dead two police officers and a bystander in an ambush near the community of Wieambilla in Queensland state. The shooters were later killed by police.

In November 2018, a Somalia-born Muslim stabbed three pedestrians in downtown Melbourne, killing one, before police shot him dead.
…

your ad here

washington — Supporters of two U.S. nationals seen as unjustly imprisoned overseas are raising concerns about what they see as a murky process by which the U.S. government decides whether to designate such individuals as wrongfully detained.

Granting a wrongful detention designation to a U.S. national means the U.S. special envoy for hostage affairs is authorized to work with a coalition of government and private sector organizations to secure the detainee’s freedom.

Hostage rights advocates and relatives of the two U.S. nationals jailed in Iran and Russia tell VOA they want answers as to why the pair have been waiting months or years for a wrongful detention designation, while other Americans jailed in the same two countries have received the designation much more quickly.

Designations are granted if a review by the secretary of state concludes that the U.S. national’s case meets criteria  defined in the Levinson Act of 2020.

One U.S. national whose case has been under review for years is 62-year-old retired Iranian ship captain Shahab Dalili. After immigrating to the U.S. with his family in 2014 upon being granted permanent residency, he returned to Iran in 2016 to attend his father’s funeral and was arrested.

Iranian authorities sentenced Dalili to 10 years in prison for allegedly cooperating with a hostile government, a reference to the U.S. His family denies the charge.

While not a U.S. citizen, Dalili is considered a “U.S. national” under the Levinson Act, by virtue of his lawful permanent resident status.

The other U.S. national, whose case has been under review for months, is Alsu Kurmasheva, a 47-year-old U.S.-Russian dual citizen and Prague-based journalist with VOA sister network RFE/RL.

Kurmasheva had traveled to Russia last year to visit her elderly mother, but authorities blocked her from departing in June and confiscated her U.S. and Russian passports. They jailed her in October and charged her with failing to register as a foreign agent and with spreading falsehoods about the Russian military, offenses punishable by up to 10 years in prison.

RFE/RL and the U.S. Agency for Global Media say the charges were filed in reprisal for Kurmasheva’s work as a journalist.

Asked about Kurmasheva at a Tuesday news briefing, U.S. State Department deputy spokesperson Vedant Patel said the Biden administration remains “deeply concerned” about her detention and believes she should be released.

He said a “deliberative and fact-driven process” is underway regarding a wrongful detention designation in her case, but he declined to elaborate.

Speaking with reporters last August, Patel said Dalili’s case “has not yet been determined wrongfully detained” and declined to say more. There has been no update since then, Dalili’s son Darian told VOA.

In contrast to the unresolved status of Dalili’s eight-year detention, two Iranian Americans whom Iran freed from detention last September in a prisoner exchange with the U.S., and whom U.S. officials declined to name, received wrongful detention designations in what appears to be a relatively quick time.

The two individuals, whose backgrounds are revealed for the first time in this report as a result of a VOA open-source investigation, are San Diego-based international aid worker Fary Moini and Boston-based biologist Reza Behrouzi of Generate:Biomedicines.

Moini and Behrouzi were among five Americans released by Iran in the September exchange. The first indications that the two had been detained in Iran came from images of them published by news outlets and by White House national security adviser Jake Sullivan as the group traveled to the U.S. via Qatar.

A day later, Iran’s NourNews site named the two previously unidentified Americans as “Reza Behrouzi” and “Fakhr al-Sadat Moini,” but gave no detail of their backgrounds. NourNews spelled Moini’s first name differently than “Fary,” the name she uses publicly in the U.S.

U.S. officials said all five of the Americans had been designated as wrongfully detained, including three previously known detainees who had been jailed for years: Siamak Namazi, Morad Tahbaz and Emad Sharghi.

VOA contacted the State Department to ask when, where and why Moini and Behrouzi were detained in Iran, but it declined to provide an on-the-record response. Neither of the two responded to VOA requests for comment sent by email and through their social media profiles.

But Behrouzi and Moini were active on their Facebook and X accounts until three months and 11 months respectively before their release, indicating both were detained for less than a year.

Upon hearing from VOA about the State Department’s silence on Moini’s and Behrouzi’s detentions in Iran, Darian Dalili said he believes “something is not right” about how they got their designations.

“I think a lot of it has to do with the prominent status of these two people, whereas my father [Shahab Dalili] is a regular father of two,” the younger Dalili said.

Nizar Zakka — a Lebanese American who spent almost four years in what the U.S. said was unjust detention in Iran until being freed in 2019 — has urged the Biden administration to seek Shahab Dalili’s release as a wrongfully detained U.S. national.

Zakka told VOA he was happy that Moini and Behrouzi were released. But he said their attainment of wrongful detention designations in what appears to be a matter of months, while Dalili has waited years without securing that status, shows the designation process is not transparent.

“The public has a right to know how two people freed by Iran in return for the U.S. unfreezing a huge sum of Iranian funds got their designations, whereas Dalili has not,” Zakka said. “U.S. nationals like Dalili also should not be left behind,” he added.

 

Russian American journalist Kurmasheva’s wait for a U.S. decision on whether she is wrongfully detained after more than six months of Russian imprisonment also contrasts with the case of American reporter Evan Gershkovich of The Wall Street Journal.

Gershkovich was arrested in Russia on March 29, 2023, on spying charges while working in the country as an accredited journalist. Twelve days later, Secretary of State Blinken announced his determination that Gershkovich was wrongfully detained.

Kurmasheva’s husband, Pavel Butorin, told VOA he does not know why Gershkovich got his designation so quickly while his wife continues to wait.

“The designation of Evan’s detention as wrongful was the right thing to do,” Butorin said. “But the designation process is opaque, and I don’t know where we are in it. I do know the State Department will prioritize those individuals formally designated as wrongfully detained in a prisoner exchange, so the designation is important for Alsu.”

Hostage rights advocate Diane Foley, president of U.S. nonprofit group Foley Foundation, told VOA she believes a big factor in Kurmasheva’s wait for a designation is her dual citizenship.

Foley said Gershkovich’s case for a designation was clearer because he is solely a U.S. citizen. She said Kurmasheva’s Russian citizenship means she is subject to Russian media regulations that the U.S. must examine to determine if she is jailed in violation of the detaining country’s own law, one of the criteria of the Levinson Act.

“That is what slows everything down,” Foley said. “But we are pushing for Alsu to get the designation because she is a press freedom advocate and there is no excuse for Russia to retaliate by detaining her on a technicality.”
…

your ad here

VIENTIANE, LAOS — Large numbers of Laotian workers, facing poor economic conditions, are seeking work in Thailand, South Korea and Japan, bringing Laos millions of dollars in repatriated salaries but exposing the workers to debt traps and human trafficking.

Laos has the region’s lowest minimum wage, a problem exacerbated by inflation and a substantially depreciating currency, the kip. It also is increasingly dependent on China because of debt and substantial Chinese investments in Laos’ energy sector.

Meanwhile, government reports say a shortage of skilled workers – which the Energy and Mines Ministry attributes to a “brain drain” and insufficient funding – hampers domestic hydropower and mining projects.

The Lao Ministry of Labor and Social Welfare reported last year that of the 303,391 Lao workers overseas, 100,230 acquired jobs legally, while 203,161 sought employment in neighboring countries without proper permits.

A report published in February by the Vientiane Times said approximately 228,000 Laotians were working in Thailand, including 70,000 without permits.

Another 13,000 were working in South Korea, the report said. These figures do not include large numbers of migrant workers who illegally cross the borders into neighboring countries, especially China.

There is little recorded data available on Lao migrant workers in China. However, it is reported that some Laotians cross the border for weekly and seasonal jobs in China from some districts in the northern Luang Namtha province, according to a spokesperson for the International Organization for Migration Regional Office for Asia and the Pacific in Bangkok.

“Such migrant workers use passports and border passes to cross borders but find irregular work in China through Lao and Chinese brokers. The authorities of both countries, as well as their families, are unaware of their status of working and living in China,” the spokesperson said.

“They cannot even locate the specific areas where they are employed and residing. This doubles their vulnerability to the risk of abuse and exploitation.”

Traffickers, he said, use media channels such as TikTok to lure workers and use deception, brokers, and peer pressure to entice them into fraudulent schemes. Many Lao migrant workers are routinely promised good-paying jobs in online services or in cryptocurrency.

Meanwhile, the primary challenge for work migration to South Korea is that Laotian migrant workers must pay all the costs before departure, including domestic travel, new passports — which can take months to obtain — and recruitment agency fees. Workers also must pay back the agencies, which deduct extra fees from their monthly salaries, the IOM spokesperson told VOA.

A 19-year-old recent high school graduate from Luang Prabang told VOA he could make about $560 a month in South Korea, more than twice what he could make in Laos.

He said his brothers, all with bachelor’s degrees, are barely making $375 a month and had advised him to skip college and find a job abroad. In October, Laos raised its minimum wage from $61 per month to $75 in the face of inflation, which hit 40% last year and was around 25% in this year’s first quarter.

Government’s financial gains from migrant workers

Lao workers abroad send back to Laos an average of over $35.5 million monthly, totaling $426 million annually, according to government reports from mid-2023.

In July, Lao Prime Minister Sonexay Siphandone highlighted the importance of remittances for the Lao government, announcing initiatives to promote employment opportunities domestically and internationally by decentralizing job placement centers, modernizing job search services, and promoting self-employment.

“We’ve established 18 job placement service points at the provincial level, 36 at the district level, and engaged four domestic and foreign job placement service enterprises,” Sonexay  told the National Assembly.

“Efforts include modernizing the job search service mechanism, connecting databases of Lao and foreign workers, and integrating worker salary information with systems like TaxRis,” he said, referring to the government’s tax collection system.

Additionally, in October, Laos and South Korea initiated a project to streamline cross-border money transfers, with plans for expansion to Thailand and Japan, led by the Lao Labor Ministry, the Bank of Laos, Lao Foreign Commercial Bank, and South Korea’s Global Loyalty Network Company.

Not cost-free

These benefits to Laos come at a cost, though.

Despite promised higher pay for work abroad, deceptive recruitment practices often lead to exploitation and debt bondage because of upfront fees and unclear agreements, said Matthew Friedman, head of the Hong Kong-based Mekong Club, an antislavery organization.

“They often don’t really know what they’re getting into. They then sign agreements without fully understanding what they’re signing or interest rates and fees,” Friedman said from his temporary location in Singapore.

In South Korea, typically Seoul or Busan, workers become ensnared by debt, unable to leave until debts are cleared, he said.

Lao workers, mostly young adults or teenagers who are increasingly migrating to Thailand in search of higher-paying jobs as construction workers, waiters, or maids, often face exploitation and unsafe conditions, according to the IOM.

Despite legal employment agreements between Thailand and Laos, illegal migration continues as loopholes within the legislative frameworks and tracking systems of both countries facilitate the entry of undocumented workers.

The most recent case, on March 3, unfolded in Udon Thani, in northeast Thailand about 75 kilometers from the Laotian border, where local police rescued an 18-year-old Lao woman working as a maid from alleged severe abuse by her employer.
…

your ad here

…

your ad here

sydney — Hundreds of supporters of Israel and Gaza faced off at a Sydney university Friday, bringing echoes of U.S. college protests and Middle East tumult to a campus and continent on the other side of the world.

Rival demonstrators came eye to eye shouting slogans and waving flags. Still, except for a few heated exchanges, the protest and counterprotest passed off peacefully.

But it was another sign that the war in Gaza, approaching its seventh month, and the long-rumbling U.S. culture wars are roiling politics oceans away.

Pro-Palestinian demonstrators have been camped for 10 days on a green lawn in front of the University of Sydney’s sprawling Gothic sandstone edifice — a bastion of Australian academia.

The dozens of tents festooned with banners and Palestinian flags have become a focal point for hundreds of protesters — students and otherwise — who oppose Israel’s ground invasion and bombardment of Gaza.

Deaglan Godwin, a 24-year-old arts and science student and one of the camp’s organizers, said U.S. protests were both an inspiration and a warning.

New York’s Columbia University, the scene of police crackdowns and mass arrests, inspired “us to set up our own camp,” Godwin said.

He said Columbia is “also now a warning, a warning that the government is willing to use quite lethal, brutal force in order to put down Palestinian protesters.”

Similar to their U.S. counterparts, the protesters want to see Sydney University cut ties with Israeli institutions and reject funding from arms companies.

Sydney University administrators are keen not to replicate the U.S. experience.

Vice Chancellor Mark Scott has written to students and staff expressing a “commitment to freedom of expression” and has not called on the police to dismantle the camp.

Australian police were conspicuously absent even during Friday’s protests, which brought about 100 pro-Israel counter protesters face to face with 400 demonstrators at the pro-Palestinian camp.

Public order and riot squad vehicles were parked well out of view, on the periphery of the campus.

Security was left to university guards who exchanged jokes with each other about their ill-fitting high visibility coats while forming a very porous separating barrier between the opposing camps.

A few inquisitive Chinese students stopped to take a look on the edges of the demonstration, while the media surveyed the scene and a right-wing vlogger hunted for any hint of confrontation or violence.

‘Stop hate, mate’

But like the United States, allegations of extremism have been levelled at Sydney’s pro-Palestinian protesters.

Jewish groups have voiced concern that slogans about the “Zionist entity” and “from the river to the sea” are evidence of rising antisemitism.

Against that backdrop, more than a hundred Jewish and pro-Israeli protesters decided to march near the pro-Palestinian encampment Friday, hoping to send a message that Jewish students are safe on campus and that they, too, have the right to be heard.

Wearing T-shirts reading “Stop hate, mate” they sang “Hatikvah” — Israel’s national anthem – a capella and danced to the cheesy Australian pop classic “A Land Down Under.”

Protester David Treves said he hoped the march would show people there is more than one perspective about what is happening in the Middle East.

“I’m not looking to change people’s opinion. I’m looking just to get them to think,” he said, voicing concern that the camp could incite the type of clashes seen in the United States.

“As long as it’s legal, as long as within the law I have nothing against it. There is free speech in Australia” he said. “I wouldn’t go and aggressively just remove the whole thing. But I don’t want it to get out of hand.”

A small group of counter protesters donned tefillin — the black leather boxes and straps usually worn during Jewish prayer that have come to signify more orthodox and conservative views.

Another group of students wearing keffiyeh scarves linked arms in a circle and danced the dabkeh — a Levantine dance popular at weddings.

When the groups came together a few from each camp confronted each other and traded slogans, but the tension was quickly defused.
…

your ad here

washington — The U.S. says it has been trying to engage North Korea by sending messages repeatedly despite Pyongyang’s apparent lack of interest in dialogue and its escalation of threats in the region.

“We have sent such messages in multiple ways – through third parties and directly, orally and in writing – and have included specific proposals on humanitarian cooperation and other topics for discussion,” a State Department spokesperson said.

“We have also emphasized our willingness to discuss practical steps both sides could take to address the security situation in the region,” the spokesperson continued via email to VOA’s Korean Service on April 26.

“To date, however, the DPRK has shown no indication it is interested in engaging. Instead, we have seen a marked increase in the scope and scale of DPRK provocations, which have only served to raise regional tensions and increase the risk of accidental or unintentional escalation,” the spokesperson added.

North Korea’s official name is the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea.

North Korea has been conducting multiple missile and rocket tests, including what it said was its first nuclear counterattack drills using “super-large” artillery rockets carrying mock nuclear warheads on April 22.

Pyongyang has also ramped up its cooperation with Russia, sending arms to support Moscow’s fight against Ukraine. Russia has been shipping refined petroleum to North Korea above the limit of 500,000 barrels annually set by the U.N. Security Council, White House national security spokesperson John Kirby said Thursday.

The North Korean mission to the U.N. did not respond to a VOA inquiry on its reaction to the U.S. description of its efforts made to resume talks.

Dialogue between the two has been deadlocked since October 2019 when working-level talks failed to reconcile differences over denuclearization and sanctions relief that became apparent a few months earlier at a summit in Hanoi.

Washington has maintained that it is open to renewed dialogue on Pyongyang’s nuclear program without preconditions.

Former U.S. officials suggested that the Biden administration provided the unusually detailed account of its efforts to engage Pyongyang in response to criticisms saying it has not done enough.

“The Biden team is quite sensitive to the attacks coming from ‘liberals,’ especially critics who claim the administration has not attached sufficient priority to North Korea and has not done enough to pursue diplomacy with Pyongyang,” said Evans Revere, a former State Department official with extensive experience negotiating with North Korea.

Revere added that some of these critics are arguing that Washington needs to change its approach, offer concessions and engage in arms control and threat reduction talks with North Korea. He said this explains not only the administration’s detailed description of its efforts at talks but its willingness to discuss “interim steps” toward denuclearization.

Two senior U.S. officials said in March that Washington is willing to consider such steps and discuss sanctions and confidence-building measures.

Robert Rapson, who served as charge d’affaires and deputy chief of mission at the U.S. Embassy in Seoul from 2018 to 2021, said the Biden administration may be trying to address China’s call for talks between Washington and Pyongyang.

“It’s possible Beijing may have laid out a quid pro quo for any support with North Korea by calling on the U.S. to up its efforts to engage with Pyongyang – hence the statement” from the State Department, said Rapson.

Secretary of State Antony Blinken said at a news conference in Beijing after talks with Chinese officials that he “encouraged” Beijing “to press Pyongyang to end its dangerous behavior and engage in dialogue.”

Joseph DeTrani, who served as the special envoy for six-party denuclearization talks with North Korea from 2003 to 2006, said, “The Biden administration wants to make it clear, for the record and as we approach the November presidential election, that the administration was proactive in its policy toward North Korea and they did everything possible” to have Pyongyang “return to negotiations.”

 
…

your ad here

Sydney — Pro-Palestinian students at four Australian campuses say they will permanently occupy university land until their demands for divestment are met. The protests have been called by activists in solidarity with their counterparts in the United States.

Australian students say they see themselves “part of this global wave” of pro-Palestinian activism. The protests have, so far, been peaceful, although some Jewish students say they feel intimidated by the rallies.

The Australian Union of Jewish Students in New South Wales state told local media that antisemitism was forcing many of its members to avoid going to classes and many were “scared” to go to campus. In response, protest organizers said that antisemitism had no place in their campaign. A university spokesperson said the protest camp was being carefully monitored and that threatening chants or slogans would not be tolerated.

At the University of Sydney, there have been verbal disputes between pro-Palestinian students and others who oppose their actions.

Student activists at four Australian campuses want their universities to divest from all activities that support Israel, as well as a cease-fire and the end of Australian government ties to Israel.

All four universities told local media they supported the rights of students and staff to protest peacefully in accordance with Australian law.

Antony Loewenstein is a Jewish Australian and author of the best-selling book The Palestine Laboratory.

He told the Australian Broadcasting Corp. that the students support their counterparts in the United States.

“There were a lot of Jewish students and others,” he said. “There were Muslims, there were Christians. What they are protesting, yes, is partly what is happening in Gaza, of course, in solidarity with students across the U.S. but also the connections between Sydney University and frankly many Australian universities with defense companies.”

Pro-Palestinian demonstrations have continued at universities across the U.S. and there have been counterprotests by activists supporting Israel.

Police officers have massed in Los Angeles on the campus of the University of California. telling pro-Palestinian protesters to leave or face arrest.

Last month, Australian Foreign Minister Penny Wong said the country could consider a highly conditional recognition of a Palestinian state. The Canberra government would expect a cease-fire in the war in Gaza, the return of Israeli hostages held by the militant group Hamas, and the exclusion of Hamas from any future Palestinian government as preconditions for recognition.
…

your ad here

Manila, Philippines — Manila summoned a senior Chinese envoy on Thursday to protest a water cannon incident that damaged two Philippine vessels during a patrol in the South China Sea.

A coast guard vessel and another government boat were damaged in the April 30 incident near the disputed Scarborough Shoal, according to the Philippines’ foreign ministry.

Manila and Beijing have a long history of territorial disputes in the South China Sea, and the neighbors have been involved in several maritime incidents in recent months as they assert their rival claims in the strategic waterway.

The latest, near the China-controlled Scarborough Shoal, occurred during a mission to resupply Filipino fishermen.

Zhou Zhiyong, the number two official at the Chinese Embassy, was summoned by Manila over “the harassment, ramming, swarming, shadowing and blocking, dangerous maneuvers, use of water cannons, and other aggressive actions of China Coast Guard and Chinese Maritime Militia vessels,” according to a statement from the foreign ministry.

“China’s aggressive actions, particularly its water cannon use, caused damage” to the Philippines’ vessels, the ministry added, demanding that the Chinese boats immediately leave the shoal and its vicinity.

The Philippines said the pressure in Tuesday’s water cannon incident was far more powerful than anything previously used, and that it tore or bent metal sections and equipment on the Philippine vessels.

Thursday’s diplomatic protest was the 20th lodged by Manila this year, and 153rd since President Ferdinand Marcos came to power in mid-2022, the foreign ministry said.

The Chinese Embassy did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

China’s coast guard had previously said it “expelled” the two Philippine ships from its waters near Huangyan Island, the Chinese name for Scarborough Shoal.

The shoal has been a flashpoint between the two countries since China seized it from the Philippines in 2012.

Major military exercise

China claims almost the entire South China Sea, brushing off rival claims from other countries, including the Philippines, and an international ruling that its assertion has no legal basis.

The triangular chain of reefs and rocks that make up Scarborough Shoal lies 240 kilometers west of the Philippines’ main island of Luzon and nearly 900 kilometers from Hainan, the nearest major Chinese land mass.

Since seizing the shoal, Beijing has deployed its coast guard and other vessels that Manila says harass Philippine ships and prevent its fishermen from accessing the rich lagoon.

The latest incident came as the Philippines and the United States held a major annual military exercise that has infuriated Beijing.

Manila and Washington have a mutual defense treaty and recent confrontations between Philippine and Chinese vessels have fueled speculation of what would trigger it.

President Marcos said last month that US Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin had given assurances that the treaty would be invoked if another “foreign power” killed a Filipino soldier.
…

your ad here

…

your ad here