News from across Asia

[SunriseChampion]

Nothing to see here, move along. Wouldn't want to step on anyone's toes because "jobs".

Fun fact: Dominic Barton, our current ambassador to China, was a high-level executive at McKinsey when they were contracted to help the Chinese government set up their surveillance state apparatus in Xinjiang!


'Their goal is to destroy everyone': Uighur camp detainees allege systematic rape

They wore suits, she said, not police uniforms.
Sometime after midnight, they came to the cells to select the women they wanted and took them down the corridor to a "black room", where there were no surveillance cameras.
Several nights, Ziawudun said, they took her.
"Perhaps this is the most unforgettable scar on me forever," she said.

Human rights groups say the Chinese government has gradually stripped away the religious and other freedoms of the Uighurs, culminating in an oppressive system of mass surveillance, detention, indoctrination, and even forced sterilisation .

The policy flows from China's President, Xi Jinping, who visited Xinjiang in 2014 in the wake of a terror attack by Uighur separatists. Shortly after, according to documents leaked to the New York Times, he directed local officials to respond with "absolutely no mercy". The US government said last month that China's actions since amounted to a genocide. China says reports of mass detention and forced sterilisation are "lies and absurd allegations".

Yeah, but who cares, right? Need our economic ties to be intact, right?

Their blood is on our hands....like it was with the appeasement of Hitler. Ignoring this is to our eternal shame.

 

[Towered]

Nothing to see here, move along. Wouldn't want to step on anyone's toes because "jobs".

Fun fact: Dominic Barton, our current ambassador to China, was a high-level executive at McKinsey when they were contracted to help the Chinese government set up their surveillance state apparatus in Xinjiang!


'Their goal is to destroy everyone': Uighur camp detainees allege systematic rape






Yeah, but who cares, right? Need our economic ties to be intact, right?

Their blood is on our hands....like it was with the appeasement of Hitler. Ignoring this is to our eternal shame.

I totally agree. We're all turning a blind eye to this because of economic ties to the "world's factory". Our materialistic obsession with accumulating cheap crap made in authoritarian countries like China while turning a blind eye towards the suffering caused by their government is shameful. Surely if the US, EU, and the major commonwealth countries presented a united front to stand up to China something could change, but I guess money is more important. I miss the days when the West's cheap crap was produced in places like Japan and Taiwan.

 

[SunriseChampion]

I miss the days when the West's cheap crap was produced in places like Japan and Taiwan.

I miss the days when people expected more than cheap crap.
When things were expected to last or to be easily repairable.

Anyway, what's happening in China (and not just Xinjiang) is a stain on the soul of humanity and our weak leaders can't even bring themselves to denounce it.

I mean, Trudeau did say he has much respect for "China's basic dictatorship" after all, so it isn't entirely surprising.

What's a "basic dictatorship"?

A lying, thieving, murderous, genocidal, psychopathic one? Sounds complex....don't know about "basic".

 

[Towered]

I miss the days when people expected more than cheap crap.
When things were expected to last or to be easily repairable.

Anyway, what's happening in China (and not just Xinjiang) is a stain on the soul of humanity and our weak leaders can't even bring themselves to denounce it.

I mean, Trudeau did say he has much respect for "China's basic dictatorship" after all, so it isn't entirely surprising.

What's a "basic dictatorship"?

A lying, thieving, murderous, genocidal, psychopathic one? Sounds complex....don't know about "basic".

I admit I initially expected a much stronger stance against China from Trudeau seeing how he's marketed himself as the personification of the "woke" movement, so the fact that he's essentially done the opposite is extremely disappointing. That being said, I wouldn't expect anything different from the other parties.

I'm disillusioned with our political leaders of every stripe.

 

[Admiral Beez]

I'm assuming that making invading Taiwan an extremely high price to pay, would maybe cause for second thought in China

Invading Taiwan is the same as Argentina invading the Falklands in 1982. It's about both distracting and uniting your people during times of hardship in a nation-building exercise. Expect China to invade Taiwan when the conditions are right, that will be political unrest in China combined with a perceived weakness or lack of interest in Taiwan's defence.

 

[Northern Light]

A heard of elephants has left a wildlife refuge in China, and is migrating/searching for a new home range.

They are confounding authorities and causing some problems, but the big concern is that its unclear if they (the elephants) have a destination in mind.

https://www.cbc.ca/radio/asithappens/as-it-happens-the-tuesday-edition-1.6057710/this-elephant-herd-is-wandering-through-china-causing-chaos-and-capturing-hearts-1.6059317

 

[Bjays92]

Invading Taiwan is the same as Argentina invading the Falklands in 1982. It's about both distracting and uniting your people during times of hardship in a nation-building exercise. Expect China to invade Taiwan when the conditions are right, that will be political unrest in China combined with a perceived weakness or lack of interest in Taiwan's defence.

Ohh for sure they will. It's a ticking time bomb. I'm from Hong Kong and am all too familiar with the situation in China/east Asia. Like I said the objective at this point should be to make at as painful as possible, that may also force china to push their timeline up and invade when they're less ready.

Nothing will happen before the Olympics though, unless a boycott genuinely starts to pan out.

In other news Hong Kong's largest pro democracy newspaper apple daily has just been forced to shut.

 

[Admiral Beez]

Ohh for sure they will. It's a ticking time bomb. I'm from Hong Kong and am all too familiar with the situation in China/east Asia. Like I said the objective at this point should be to make at as painful as possible, that may also force china to push their timeline up and invade when they're less ready.

The challenge with Taiwan goes both ways. Taiwan believes it is the rightful government for all of China. That's why no nations can recognize Taiwan as an independent state, since there is only one China. If Taiwan was to surrender any claims to China then the world might recognize it as a state.

If we can consider Wikipedia a reliable source:

"Both the ROC and the PRC still officially claim mainland China and the Taiwan Area as part of their respective territories. Since the 2008 election of Ma Ying-jeou, he again asserted that mainland China is part of Republic of China territory according to its constitution, and, in 2013, he stated that relations between PRC and ROC are not between countries but "regions of the same country".

It's too bad Britain didn't take Formosa instead of Hong Kong, it might have been given greater independence and recognition when the Brits began leaving in the 1960s to 80s.

 

[Bjays92]

The challenge with Taiwan goes both ways. Taiwan believes it is the rightful government for all of China. That's why no nations can recognize Taiwan as an independent state, since there is only one China. If Taiwan was to surrender any claims to China then the world might recognize it as a state.

If we can consider Wikipedia a reliable source:

"Both the ROC and the PRC still officially claim mainland China and the Taiwan Area as part of their respective territories. Since the 2008 election of Ma Ying-jeou, he again asserted that mainland China is part of Republic of China territory according to its constitution, and, in 2013, he stated that relations between PRC and ROC are not between countries but "regions of the same country".

It's too bad Britain didn't take Formosa instead of Hong Kong, it might have been given greater independence and recognition when the Brits began leaving in the 1960s to 80s.

Taiwan actually no longer recognizes its claim to the mainland and the current president Tsai has publicly stated she and her government do not believe in the one china policy or the supposed agreements made in the 90's.

The problem lies in changing the constitution to officially back this stance. So just as for all intents and purposes Taiwan is an independent self governed country, for all intents and purposes it doesnt recognize the one china policy anymore either.

To ammend their constitution is both difficult and a red line for China. If independence was declared China would invade immediately and tsai knows that.

Taiwan today is nowhere near what it was when Ma Ying-jeou was president. KMT has lost significant ground in the last two elections especially after the Taiwanese saw what happened to 1C2S in Hong Kong. Tsai the current leader belong to the DPP which is a progressive independence leaning party. That's why you've seen such a seismic shift in cross straight tensions. Xi is also getting impatient and more assertive

 

[Admiral Beez]

Taiwan actually no longer recognizes its claim to the mainland and the current president Tsai has publicly stated she and her government do not believe in the one china policy or the supposed agreements made in the 90's.

The problem lies in changing the constitution to officially back this stance. So just as for all intents and purposes Taiwan is an independent self governed country, for all intents and purposes it doesnt recognize the one china policy anymore either.

To ammend their constitution is both difficult and a red line for China. If independence was declared China would invade immediately and tsai knows that.

Taiwan today is nowhere near what it was when Ma Ying-jeou was president. KMT has lost significant ground in the last two elections especially after the Taiwanese saw what happened to 1C2S in Hong Kong. Tsai the current leader belong to the DPP which is a progressive independence leaning party. That's why you've seen such a seismic shift in cross straight tensions. Xi is also getting impatient and more assertive

I was surprised that Trump didn’t recognize Taiwan as a thumb in the eye to China.

 

[Bjays92]

I was surprised that Trump didn’t recognize Taiwan as a thumb in the eye to China.

Shouldnt be. Trump may be an egotistical maniac but hes not that much of an idiot. He plays the role of a bumbling idiot but it's all clearly calculated and the dude knows what hes doing. Hes a businessman. Trump has no beef with China and dare I say he admires Xi. Trump wanted to make himself look good by cracking down on what looked like unfair trade practices he couldn't care less about issues of human rights and democracy in Asia.

Things only really started going south after he needed a scapegoat for his covid failures, but trump was never interested in going that far. All his major moves on China and Xinjiang as well as hong kong were while he was heading out in a bjd to handcuff Biden because he wouldnt have to deal with the fallout.

The US will not recognize Taiwan any time in the near future for several reasons.

1. For all intents and purposes Taiwan is independent. The US has robust trade with the island, military defense contracts and more.

2. The recent loosening of restrictions on meetings between US and Taiwanese diplomats means regular style talks and diplomatic relations can occur between the US and Taiwan without official violating the one china policy.

3. While it isnt 100%, if the US were to recognize Taiwan as independent that would have a real risk of triggering a war and not something the US really wants to play with. At the very least it would likely result in all diplomatic ties between the country's being severed and china banning major exports to the US that would significantly cripple several industries.

In short, China is the #2 superpower in the world and officially recognizing Taiwan would have massive consequences and even a high risk of a war, which is nowhere near worthwhile when the US already effectively treats taiwan as independent without straight up saying it.

That said the Communist party's 100th anniversary is coming up on july 1st and I wouldn't be surprised if the US tries to ruffle some feathers to undermine their moment.

 

[AlbertC]

Some rising tension between South Korea and Japan:

South Korea removes controversial banners from Tokyo Olympic village - National | Globalnews.ca

South Korea’s Olympic committee said it took down the banners that referred to a 16th-century war between Korea and Japan after the IOC ruled they were provocative.

globalnews.ca

South Korea’s Moon cancels Japan trip amid spat over insult

President’s plan to visit Tokyo Olympics scrapped after reports Japanese diplomat used lewd language to ridicule him.

www.aljazeera.com

 

[Northern Light]

Some rising tension between South Korea and Japan:

South Korea removes controversial banners from Tokyo Olympic village - National | Globalnews.ca

South Korea’s Olympic committee said it took down the banners that referred to a 16th-century war between Korea and Japan after the IOC ruled they were provocative.

globalnews.ca

South Korea’s Moon cancels Japan trip amid spat over insult

President’s plan to visit Tokyo Olympics scrapped after reports Japanese diplomat used lewd language to ridicule him.

www.aljazeera.com

The notion that either of these countries take ongoing umbrage at with one another over conflicts dating back centuries or even to WWII is really absurd.

Time to move on.

I feel the same way about everyone else's past nonsense; a dispute between your grandparents and someone else's grandparents is not yours.
Ultimately, if the species is to be successful, there will be some form of world government, as their should be. Nation-States will still exist, just like cities, to administer government services more locally.
But really, we are one species, these little internecine squabbles are childish.

 

[AlbertC]

The notion that either of these countries take ongoing umbrage at with one another over conflicts dating back centuries or even to WWII is really absurd.

Time to move on.

I feel the same way about everyone else's past nonsense; a dispute between your grandparents and someone else's grandparents is not yours.
Ultimately, if the species is to be successful, there will be some form of world government, as their should be. Nation-States will still exist, just like cities, to administer government services more locally.
But really, we are one species, these little internecine squabbles are childish.

I think the relationship between Japanese and Koreans remains enigmatic due to the attitudes of both country's governments. I've met people through the years in Toronto from both countries. The sporting rivalries in soccer, baseball and speed skating most notably will always be there, but can apply for countries in any continent. Apart from that, I've found people from both places to have gotten along pretty well with each other.

A sizeable portion of Japanese/Sushi restaurants in Toronto are operated by Koreans. In terms of culinary appeal, I think there's interest from both sides and vice versa for enjoying each other's food. A bit more on the anecdotal side but Korean pop culture has gotten pretty popular throughout Asia, and probably has at least some appeal among the younger Japanese.

The place where I used to get my hair cuts, Sora Beauty Salon on Bloor Koreatown (yes, this is where I used to go), is owned by a Korean lady and has Japanese staff as well.

 

[Northern Light]

Lebanon is a nation that has been beset by serious problems for a very long time.

But its reaching a new level of very serious crisis.

It appears the entire drinking water system is about to collapse due to lack of fuel, chlorine and spare parts.

The country is also threatened with brownouts, there is a shortage of baby formula and a host of other essentials...

It also appears as though more than 1/2 the population is now living under the poverty line.

To describe this as shameful is to understate things by an order of magnitude. The U.N is describing the disaster as being purposeful by the country's elites, who seem unwilling or unable to put together a stable, working, government.

Lebanon's water system on brink of total collapse, says UN | CNN

Lebanon's water supply system is on the verge of total collapse, according to the United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF), in the latest development in the country's slide into chaos.

www.cnn.com