Not a day goes by without a new shock to Americans and our neighbors around the world from the Trump administration.
On April 22, the International Monetary Fund (IMF) downgraded its forecasts for global growth in 2025 from 3.3 percent to 2.8 percent and warned that no country will feel the pain more than the United States. Trump’s policies are expected to drag U.S. growth down from 2.7 percent to 1.8 percent.
It’s now clear to the whole world that China is the main target of Trump’s trade wars. The U.S. has slapped massive tariffs — up to 245 percent — on Chinese goods. China hit back with 125 percent tariffs of its own and refuses even to negotiate until U.S. tariffs are lifted.
An auxiliary policeman in central China’s Henan province is seeking justice for his “stolen life” after he found out an impersonator had appropriated his college entrance examination results 35 years ago to study at a medical school.
Xi Nan, 54, sat for the country’s notoriously gruelling university entrance exams, known as gaokao, in 1990. He had assumed he had fared poorly in it, when he didn’t receive an admission notice. He then applied to join the local public security system where he has served as an auxiliary police officer for 35 years.
But a chance review of personnel files by the municipal health commission of Mengzhou county-level city in 2022 had revealed that Xi’s identity had been stolen by a man who was then the vice president of a hospital in the city.
While the imposter was dismissed from his position and had his educational credentials, including his medical college qualifications, revoked by the health commission in 2022, the case has not yet been referred to the judicial department for handling, Xi told Chinese state media Modern Express last week.
Those involved in the identity theft have, so far, not been investigated according to law, which makes it hard for him to let go, said Xi on Modern Express. He is now pursuing legal action against the impersonator for foiling his dreams of going to medical college.
On April 22, Qinyang county officials announced its municipal government and the Municipal Party Committee had set up a joint team comprising the Discipline Inspection and Supervision Commission, Public Security Bureau, and Education Bureau, among other departments, to investigate the case.
Numerous cases of identity theft from students from rural and low-income backgrounds have come to light in recent years, where gaokao results – hailed in China as the great equalizer – have been used by those from more affluent, well-connected backgrounds to attend colleges and universities.
Students take an examination on an open-air playground at a high school in Yichuan, Shaanxi province April 11, 2015. (Reuters)
In 2018, an investigation conducted by Shandong province in eastern China found at least 242 cases of imposters who had robbed the identities of other students and used their gaokao exam results to get into colleges. Their degrees, which they received in 2002 through 2009, were revoked.
Similarly, in 2020, a woman in Shandong province sought justice after she discovered an imposter had appropriated her college entrance exam scores in 2004 to gain admission into a university. That same year, another woman in Shandong said her gaokao results had been used by an importer to get into a college in 1997.
This latest case has sparked intense debate among Chinese netizens about corruption and bribery in institutions, with many noting that students from more disadvantaged backgrounds suffer from the lack of transparency and fairness in the system.
Guo Bin, a graduate of Chongqing University of Posts and Telecommunications, said “lower class” people who are smart and hardworking are being deprived of the opportunities they deserve.
“This deprivation is not done by one person, but by people with power, such as local officials, police station chiefs, deputy county heads, and political and legal committee secretaries,” Guo, who now lives in the United States, told RFA.
Already residents in the agricultural province of Henan attribute the low undergraduate admission rate for its students, just 47%, to unfair policies that rig the system against those from poorer, rural backgrounds. In comparison, 79% of students in Shanghai and 77% in Beijing can expect the gaokao to secure them a college admission.
Last year, around 1.36 million high school students took the gaokao in Henan, the largest number from any province, city or region, in the hopes of altering their future with a college degree.
As a student from the countryside, Xi Nan said he too had believed the college entrance exam was his only way to achieve his dreams. He had thought it was fate that he had failed the exam, but had never expected that someone had robbed him of his opportunity.
“It was like a bolt from the blue, and it is hard to describe in words,” said Xi.
His imposter, Li Xi Nan, claimed his father and uncle had handled his college admission procedures at the time.
A 2022 review of cadre files by the Mengzhou Municipal Health Commission revealed discrepancies in the details provided by the impersonator, Li Xi Nan. They found that the name, date of birth, parents’ names, and study experience listed in Li Xi Nan’s high school records did not match those in his college registration form.
Several netizens questioned why this latest case had not been censored by authorities, and if it was instead being hyped up as the people involved in it had fallen out of favor with or angered those in power.
Others asked who should be held responsible.
“This reflects that China’s totalitarian system is not subject to supervision or checks and balances, especially when it comes to power-for-money deals and official-business transactions,” Chen Pokong, a current affairs commentator living in the U.S., told RFA.
“The education system colludes with officials to steal the opportunities from children of ordinary families and give them to officials’ children. This is very common in China,” Chen added.
Edited by Tenzin Pema and Mat Pennington.
This content originally appeared on Radio Free Asia and was authored by Xia Xiao Hua for RFA Mandarin.
Uyghur human rights advocates are criticizing Harvard University for training officials from a Chinese paramilitary organization sanctioned by the U.S. government for human rights abuses, including mass detention and forced labor in the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region.
Officials from the Xinjiang Production and Construction Corps (XPCC) participated in Harvard’s T.H. Chan School of Public Health’s executive training programs in 2023 and 2024, according to research by the China-focused think tank Strategy Risks. The program, delivered in partnership with China’s National Healthcare Security Administration, focused on health insurance governance and public health policy. Strategy Risks’ findings were later reported by the Washington Free Beacon.
The U.S. Treasury Department sanctioned the XPCC in July 2020 under the Global Magnitsky Act, citing the organization’s central role in implementing mass surveillance, internment, and forced labor policies targeting Uyghurs and other Turkic minorities. The sanctions prohibit U.S. individuals and institutions from engaging in most forms of cooperation with the XPCC.
China’s National Healthcare Security Administration presents the fifth international healthcare experience learning and training course that was held with Harvard University in October 2023.(China’s National Healthcare Security Administration)
“The XPCC is not a neutral administrative body—it is the paramilitary arm of the Chinese Communist Party,” Sabrina Sohail, director of advocacy and communications at Campaign for Uyghurs, told RFA. “By training its officials, Harvard risks legitimizing a system complicit in genocide.”
Sohail said that the XPCC is “complicit in forced sterilizations, organ harvesting, and unethical experiments on Uyghurs.”
“The institution’s link to XPCC officials after sanctions were imposed is not just ignorance of the U.S. law and policy; it is lending legitimacy to those responsible for mass internment, forced labor, and systemic human rights abuses,” she said.
The XPCC, also known as “Bingtuan,” operates as a quasi-military and economic body in Xinjiang. It oversees major agricultural and industrial sectors and maintains its own police force, courts, and media. U.S. officials have accused it of helping to administer detention facilities and forced labor programs central to China’s repression of Uyghurs.
The U.S. government has determined the abuses against the Uyghurs, a mostly Muslim group, amount to genocide. An estimated 1.8 million Uyghurs were interned in Xinjiang, in China’s far west, after 2017.
China denies allegations of rights abuses. Its Commerce Ministry describes XPCC as “a strategic force for national stability and border defense” that operates under “a unique management system that combines the functions of the Party, government, military, and enterprises.” It runs development zones, 16 listed companies, and more than 3,000 enterprises.
Henryk Szadziewski, director of research at the Uyghur Human Rights Project, said that U.S. institutions should understand the legal and ethical risks of working with sanctioned entities.
“The XPCC is under U.S. sanctions for atrocity crimes targeting Uyghurs,” he said. “It’s the responsibility of academic institutions in the U.S. – and elsewhere – to be aware of those sanctions and avoid any form of cooperation that could violate U.S. law or undermine human rights.”
The report by China-focused think tank Strategy Risks.(Strategy Risks)
Strategy Risks, which first reported the 2023 training, described the XPCC’s involvement as part of a broader pattern of Chinese state-linked entities seeking credibility through partnerships with Western academic institutions. Emma Barss, the group’s research director, said that American universities must take greater responsibility when it comes to foreign collaborations.
“Engagement with groups like the XPCC is not value-neutral,” Barss told RFA. “Universities need to recognize the role they play as institutions with strong cultural and political influence. They should be much more careful about the types of groups they engage with and thereby provide legitimacy to.”
Harvard did not respond to multiple requests for comment from RFA before publication. In a statement to the Free Beacon, a spokesperson from Harvard’s T.H. Chan School of Public Health said the training sessions were organized in cooperation with China’s National Healthcare Security Administration, or NHSA, and that the XPCC’s inclusion was managed by Chinese authorities.
“Each year, the NHSA invites the local officials who administer health insurance and elder care programs in each administrative region of China,” the spokesperson told the Free Beacon. “In Xinjiang, that often includes officials from the XPCC.”
The spokesperson also told the Free Beacon that the program aimed to “build capacity for public officials across China to create effective insurance programs with sustainable financial models.” The course was reportedly attended by 50 to 60 local officials from various provinces each year.
Language referencing XPCC’s participation in the inaugural 2019 training was included on a Harvard website but later removed. Harvard’s communications office told the Free Beacon this was part of a broad website overhaul that affected multiple departments.
The controversy comes as Harvard faces growing scrutiny over its ties to foreign governments, including China. Between 2019 and 2022, the university received nearly $70 million from Chinese sources, more than from any other country, according to U.S. Department of Education data cited by college newspaper The Harvard Crimson.
Harvard is facing pressure from the Trump administration, which is withholding some of its federal funding over alleged antisemitism on campus. The administration is also probing its foreign ties.
Critics of Trump, however, have lauded Harvard’s willingness to stand up for academic freedom as the administration seeks more influence over its operations.
Bill Ackman, a prominent Harvard donor, publicly commented on the XPCC reports on X (formerly Twitter), writing: “This is not a good look for @Harvard. Harvard should immediately address these accusations and provide transparency to prove they are not correct—or alternatively, explain how this was allowed to occur.”
Edited by Mat Pennington.
This content originally appeared on Radio Free Asia and was authored by Shahrezad Ghayrat for RFA Uyghur.
TAIPEI, Taiwan – The Philippines has arrested a Chinese man for operating a surveillance device near the offices of its election commission, less than two weeks before the country’s midterm polls, adding further strain to relations between the two countries.
Tensions have been rising between Manila and Beijing, fueled by rival flag-raising displays on the disputed Sandy Cay in South China Sea.
“When we made the arrest, that was the third time he had come to Comelec,” said Philippine National Bureau of Investigation spokesman Ferdinand Lavin on Wednesday, referring to the country’s election commission.
The man, a Macau passport holder, was allegedly using an “IMSI catcher,” a device capable of mimicking a cell tower and snatching messages from the air in a 1 to 3 kilometer radius.
The arrested man also visited other locations, including the Philippine Supreme Court, the Philippine Department of Justice and the U.S. embassy, according to Lavin.
China denied any attempt to tamper with Philippine elections.
“We will not and have no interest in interfering in such internal affairs of the Philippines,” Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs spokesman Guo Jiakun said on Wednesday when asked about the arrest at a news conference.
“We also advise individual politicians in the Philippines not to take the chance to hype up issues related to China, make something out of nothing and seize the opportunity to profit.”
On April 3, China said it had detained three Filipinos for espionage, prompting the Philippines to claim it was retaliation for Manila’s arrest of five Chinese nationals a week earlier.
The latest arrest came as Manila signed an agreement with New Zealand allowing the deployment of troops on each other’s territory, a move aimed at bolstering security in a “deteriorating” strategic environment, and one likely to further antagonize China.
New Zealand Minister of Defence Judith Collins said that the deal reflected a commitment based on understanding “the risks to the international rules-based order.”
Both countries had “a real understanding that the strategic environment that we are operating in is deteriorating,” Collins said.
“There are those who follow international law and there are those who want to redefine it,” Teodoro said, referring to China’s so-called “nine-dash line” in the South China Sea.
Beijing claims nearly the entire sea under its “nine-dash line,” a claim rejected by an international tribunal in 2016, which ruled in favor of the Philippines’ assertion that China’s claims were unlawful.
Despite the ruling, China has continued to assert its presence through patrols, island-building, and militarization, while the Philippines has sought to defend its claims through diplomatic protests and military partnerships.
“We need to deter this kind of unwanted behavior,” he said, adding that Manila and Wellington would work toward “military-to-military training.”
The agreement with New Zealand serves as the latest example of the Philippines strengthening defence and diplomatic ties with like-minded partners, as Chinese-Philippine relations continue to be tested by repeated confrontations between their coastguard vessels in the disputed South China Sea.
The Philippines and Japan pledged on Tuesday to deepen security ties, agreeing to begin talks on a defense pact and enhance intelligence sharing, while jointly opposing efforts to change the status quo in the East and South China Seas by force.
Manila is also reportedly in talks with Canada and France to establish potential defense agreements.
Edited by Mike Firn.
This content originally appeared on Radio Free Asia and was authored by Taejun Kang for RFA.
Dozens of ordinary Chinese investors who lost their money after the collapse of a state-backed financial services group in eastern China’s Shandong province have been detained by authorities for drawing attention to the issue through foreign media and for “being used by overseas anti-China forces,” two sources told Radio Free Asia.
Last month, several investors among the nearly 100,000 impacted by a purported 20 billion yuan (or US$2.74 billion) financial scam linked to Shandong province-based Jianghaihui Group spoke with international media outlets, including RFA, hoping to create global awareness about the scandal and prompt corrective action.
Sources on Wednesday told RFA that Chinese authorities had detained many of these investors, accusing them of “being used by overseas anti-China forces,” after they gave the interviews to journalists and shared news articles about the scandal in social media groups or privately.
One of the sources said that more than a dozen depositors in several cities in Shandong province, including Weifang and Zaozhuang, have been placed under administrative detention by local police in recent days.
“All the people who had contacted you (RFA) from here were detained,” said the first source named Wang, who is one of the female investors affected.
“They (the police) said we (victims) were being used by international anti-China forces and that we were all committing crimes,” she added.
Wang, like the other sources RFA interviewed, provided only their surname for security reasons.
In late March, RFA reported that the chairman of Jianghaihui had fled China for the United States, along with his wife, after the company abruptly shut down, leaving behind hundreds of thousands of distraught investors who had deposited their savings in financial schemes run by the firm.
Sources told RFA that the investors have been repeatedly summoned by officials of the local public security organ for interrogations and subjected to detention and constant surveillance for sharing information with international journalists.
“The police used the news posted on major (overseas) websites and detained more than a dozen people. There were some people from other provinces and cities too and others who shared (the reports) with each other. The people from the Public Security Bureau showed me (the reports) and said these were anti-China forces,” said Wang.
The majority of those detained are women, with some of them released two weeks ago, while several others continued to be held, said the second source.
“The detainees said that they did not know that the people interviewing them were journalists … The police demanded us not to contact anti-China forces abroad again,” Zhang, another female investor, told RFA.
Investors said they had believed the fundraising schemes run by Jianghaihui were genuine as they were launched as part of government measures to shore up the balance sheets of private enterprises.
They accused the local government of failing to fulfil its supervisory duties. Through appeal letters, protests, and media outreach, the victims have sought justice for themselves in the Jianghaihui case which they say amounts to “contract fraud.”
Illegal fundraising or contract fraud?
In a letter to the Chinese Communist Party’s Central Commission for Discipline Inspection and the Ministry of Public Security, the investors appealed for a thorough investigation, as well as help in recovering their lost funds and safeguarding their rights.
They also questioned why local police had classified the case as “illegal fundraising.”
It should instead be termed as “contract fraud,” noted the investors, as Jianghaihui had held six major financial business licenses, issued by the government, paid taxes, and cleared annual audits every time.
Since 2023, there have been a spate of similar cases as many financial companies, under the pretext of financing small businesses, have raised large sums of money which they have transferred overseas, leaving helpless investors behind, said a third source.
“Many financing companies in various places … used this model to raise funds in a planned manner, and then transferred the funds out (overseas), and then chose a time to flee (China),” said Le, a resident of Linyi, Shandong.
“Some companies transferred assets and then used a scapegoat agent to take the blame. The people can’t get their money back,” she added.
According to a citizen journalist-run social media X account, “Mr. Li is not your teacher,” police in Beijing on April 22 cracked down heavily on protests by hundreds of Chinese investors who were victims of the recent collapse of Zhongrong International Trust.
Before declaring bankruptcy in 2024, Zhongrong was one of China’s largest shadow banks and managed assets worth $108 billion in 2022.
Edited by Tenzin Pema and Mat Pennington.
This content originally appeared on Radio Free Asia and was authored by Qian Lang for RFA Mandarin.
Cuba may slowly ease its crippling blackouts and strengthen the electricity grid as it begins building seven solar parks with the first batch of equipment from China.
The Chinese aid helps Cuba’s plan to build 92 solar installations by 2028, adding about 2,000 megawatts to the island’s power grid and help reduce dependence on fossil fuel imports. Once completed, the project would significantly boost Cuba’s strained power system, which currently has a capacity of 7,264 MW.
Installation work is set to begin soon in Artemisa, about 50 kilometers west of Havana, where the equipment arrived late last month. Additional solar parks are planned for the provinces of Pinar del Rio, Las Tunas, Holguin, Granma and Guantanamo.
Protests by workers demanding back wages are spreading across China in a sign of growing discontent among millions suffering the brunt of factory closures, triggered by steep U.S. tariffs on Chinese imports amid an economic downturn.
Across the country – from Hunan province’s Dao county in central China to Sichuan’s Suining city in the southwest and Inner Mongolia’s Tongliao city to the northeast – hundreds of disgruntled workers have taken to the streets to protest about unpaid wages and to challenge unfair dismissals by factories that were forced to shut due to the U.S. tariffs.
“Strike! Strike!” shouted workers outside a Shangda Electronics’ factory in Suining city on Sunday, in a video of the protest that was posted on social media by X user ‘@YesterdayBigcat,’ a prominent source of information about protests in China.
The workers said the Sichuan-headquartered company, which manufactures flexible circuit boards, had not paid them wages since the start of the year and social security benefits for nearly two years – since June 2023.
Analysts at U.S.-based investment bank Goldman Sachs estimated that at least 16 million jobs, across industries, in China are at risk due to U.S. President Donald Trump’s imposition of a 145% tariff on Chinese imports.
They expect the Trump administration’s tariff increases will “significantly weigh on the Chinese economy,” with slower economic growth likely to put further pressure on the country’s labor market, particularly in export-related sectors.
In China’s manufacturing industry, the communication equipment sector is likely to lose the most jobs, followed by apparel and chemical product sectors, Goldman analysts, including Xinquan Chen and Lisheng Wang, wrote in a note to clients on Sunday.
Earlier this week, more than a dozen migrant workers in Tuanjie village in Xi’an prefecture-level city in China’s northwestern Shaanxi province complained at a local project department, saying they had not received their wages since February 2025.
Last week, on April 24, hundreds of workers of Guangxin Sports Goods in Dao county went on strike after the company’s factory was shut down without paying employees their compensation or their social security benefits.
Workers at the company’s factory, which produces sports protective gear and related accessories, said Guangxin Sports unfairly dismissed more than 100 female employees, aged over 50 years, in September 2024 on the grounds of “reaching retirement age,” without paying them their wages or guiding them on retirement procedures.
When Radio Free Asia contacted Guangxin for a comment, a male employee at the company immediately hung up the phone on hearing the word “reporter.” The Dao County Labor and Social Security Bureau told RFA that “Guangxin still has dozens of employees operating.”
Elsewhere in Inner Mongolia, many construction workers gathered on the rooftops of Jincan Royal Garden Community in Tongliao city on April 25 where they threatened to jump off the building if they were not paid the back wages they were due, another video posted on the same X account showed.
Economic pressures
Experts say the growing number of worker protests in China reflect the current crisis of poor management at some Chinese companies and signal deepening economic troubles for the country amid trade tensions with the United States.
Beijing-based activist Ji Feng, who was among the student leaders of the 1989 Tiananmen Square protests, said many Chinese business owners he met recently have complained bitterly about the difficulties they face, including the lack of business activity and funds.
“Some bosses even said that they would rather go to jail than do anything,” Ji told RFA.
“As long as there is a protest (by workers), the company must find a way to borrow money to pay wages. For example, if wages are in arrears for three months, they must be paid monthly even if they need to borrow money. If they cannot be paid on time, the government may arrest people (employers),” Ji said.
He noted, however, that worker protests are not a new phenomenon, with these increasing after the pandemic as China’s economic environment deteriorated.
According to the U.S.-based nonprofit Freedom House’s China Dissent Monitor, the majority of protests tracked in China during the third quarter of 2024 were led by workers, who accounted for 41% of in-person and online dissent events in the country.
About three-quarters of all protests recorded in China were linked to economic grievances, including workers demanding unpaid wages, homeowners facing stalled housing projects, and rural conflict related to land confiscation, Freedom House said.
Edited by Tenzin Pema and Mat Pennington.
This content originally appeared on Radio Free Asia and was authored by Huang Chunmei for RFA Mandarin.
An international investigation involving dozens of news organizations has revealed how Beijing is exploiting global institutions – from Interpol to the United Nations – to silence critics and expand its authoritarian reach worldwide.
Led by the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists (ICIJ), the project, China Targets, brought together more than 100 journalists from 42 media organizations, including Radio Free Asia.
Over a 10-month period, reporters interviewed 105 individuals across 23 countries who had been pursued, harassed, or threatened by Chinese authorities – often for merely expressing dissent online or engaging in peaceful activism.
Targets include pro-democracy advocates from China and Hong Kong, as well as Uyghur and Tibetan exiles. Many described experiences of digital surveillance, threats to family members still in China and transnational pressure campaigns carried out through diplomatic or legal channels.
China Targetsdocuments how protests were suppressed during Chinese leader Xi Jinping’s foreign visits. Since 2019, at least seven of Xi’s 31 trips saw local police detain or harass protesters.
The investigation also found that Beijing has weaponized international organizations such as Interpol – abusing its Red Notice system to target dissidents – and co-opted parts of the United Nations to surveil and intimidate human rights advocates, particularly those speaking out about abuses in Xinjiang and Tibet.
In one high-profile case, documents reviewed by RFA show that Chinese authorities enlisted billionaire Jack Ma to try to personally persuade a Chinese businessman whose extradition was being sought from France to return to China.
The revelations come amid mounting international concern over Beijing’s efforts to reshape global norms and institutions in line with its political interests. Critics warn that these moves are undermining international frameworks originally designed to protect fundamental rights and the rule of law.
Edited by Mat Pennington.
This content originally appeared on Radio Free Asia and was authored by Jane Tang for RFA and ICIJ.
30 April 1975. Saigon Fell, Vietnam Rose. The story of Vietnam after the US fled the country is not a fairy tale, it is not a one-dimensional parable of resurrection, of liberation from oppression, of joy for all — but there is a great deal to celebrate.
After over a century of brutal colonial oppression by the French, the Japanese, and the Americans and their various minions, the people of Vietnam won victory in one of the great liberation struggles of history.
It became a source of inspiration and of hope for millions of people oppressed by imperial powers in Central & South America, Asia, Africa, the Middle East and Eastern Europe.
Civil war – a war among several
The civil war in Vietnam, coterminous with the war against the Western powers, pitted communists and anti-communists in a long and pitiless struggle.
Within that were various strands — North versus South, southern communists and nationalists against pro-Western forces, and so on. As various political economists have pointed out, all wars are in some way class wars too — pitting the elites against ordinary people.
As has happened repeatedly throughout history, once one or more great power becomes involved in a civil war it is subsumed within that colonial war. The South’s President Ngô Đình Diệm, for example, was assassinated on orders of the Americans.
By 1969, US aid accounted for 80 percent of South Vietnam’s government budget; they effectively owned the South and literally called the shots.
Donald Trump declared April 2 “Liberation Day” and imposed some of the heaviest tariffs on Vietnam because they didn’t buy enough U.S. goods! Image: www.solidarity.co.nz
US punishes its victims
This month, 50 years after the Vietnamese achieved independence from their colonial overlords, US President Donald Trump declared April 2 “Liberation Day” and imposed some of the heaviest tariffs on Vietnam because they didn’t buy enough US goods!
As economist Joseph Stiglitz pointed out, they don’t yet have enough aggregate demand for the kind of goods the US produces. That might have something to do with the decades it has taken to rebuild their lives and economy from the Armageddon inflicted on them by the US, Australia, New Zealand and other unindicted war criminals.
Straight after they fled, the US declared themselves the victims of the Vietnamese and imposed punitive sanctions on liberated Vietnam for decades — punishing their victims.
Under Gerald Ford (1974–1977), Jimmy Carter (1977–1981), Ronald Reagan (1981–1989), George H.W. Bush (1989–1993) right up to Bill Clinton (1993–2001), the US enforced the Trading with the Enemy Act (TWEA) of 1917.
The US froze the assets of Vietnam at the very time it was trying to recover from the wholesale devastation of the country.
Tens of millions of much-needed dollars were captured in US banks, enforced by the International Emergency Economic Powers Act (IEEPA). The US also took advantage of its muscle to veto IMF and World Bank loans to Vietnam.
Countries like Australia and New Zealand, to their eternal shame, took part in both the war, the war crimes, and imposing sanctions and other punitive measures subsequently.
The ‘Boat People’ refugee crisis While millions celebrated the victory in 1975, millions of others were fearful. The period of national unification and economic recovery was painful, typically repressive — when one militarised regime replaces another.
This triggered flight: firstly among urban elites — military officers, government workers, and professionals who were most closely-linked to the US-run regime.
You can blame the Commies for the ensuing refugee crisis but by strangling the Vietnamese economy, refusing to return Vietnamese assets held in the US, imposing an effective blockade on the economy via sanctions, the US deepened the crisis, which saw over two million flee the country between 1975 and the 1980s.
More than 250,000 desperate people died at sea.
Đổi Mới: the move to a socialist-market economy In 1986, to energise the economy, the government moved away from a command economy and launched the đổi mới reforms which created a hybrid socialist-market economy.
They had taken a leaf out of the Chinese playbook, which under the leadership of Deng Xiaoping (1978 –1989), had moved towards a market economy through its “Reform and Opening Up” policies. Vietnam saw the “economic miracle” of its near neighbour and its leaders sought something similar.
Vietnam’s economy boomed and GDP grew from $18.1 billion in 1984 to $469 billion by 2024, with a per capita GDP at purchasing power parity (PPP) of $15,470 (up from about $300 per capita in the 1970s).
After a sluggish start, literacy rates soared to 96.1 percent by 2023, and life expectancy reached 73.7 years, only a few short of the USA. GDP growth is around 7 percent, according to the OECD.
An unequal society Persistent inequality suggests the socialist vision has partially faded. A rural-urban divide and a rich-poor divide underlines ongoing injustices around quality of life and access to services but Vietnam’s Gini coefficient — a measure of income inequality — puts it only slightly more “unequal” as a society than New Zealand or Germany.
Corruption is also an issue in the country.
Press controls and political repression As in China, political power resides with the Party. Freedom of expression — highlighted by press repression — is severely limited in Vietnam and nothing to celebrate.
Reporters Without Borders (RSF) rates Vietnam as 174th out of 180 countries for press freedom and regularly excoriates its strongmen as press “predators”. In its country profile, RSF says of Vietnam: “Independent reporters and bloggers are often jailed, making Vietnam the world’s third largest jailer of journalists”.
Vietnam is forging its own destiny What is well worth celebrating, however, is that Vietnam successfully got the imperial powers off its back and out of its country. It is well-placed to play an increasingly prosperous and positive role in the emerging multipolar world.
It is part of the World Trade Organisation (WTO), and the ASEAN network, and borders China, giving Vietnam the opportunity to weather any storms coming from the continent of America.
Vietnam today is united and free and millions of ordinary people have achieved security, health, education and prosperity vastly better than their parents and grandparents’ generations were able to.
In the end the honour and glory go to the Vietnamese people.
Ho Chi Minh, the great leader of the Vietnamese people who reached out to the United States, and sought alliance not conflict. Image: www.solidarity.co.nz
I’ll give the last word to Ho Chi Minh, the great leader of the Vietnamese people who reached out to the United States, and sought alliance not conflict. He was rebuffed by the super-power which had a different agenda.
On September 2, 1945, Ho Chi Minh proclaimed the independent Democratic Republic of Vietnam in Hanoi’s Ba Dinh square:
“‘All men are created equal. They are endowed by their Creator with certain inalienable rights, among them are Life, Liberty, and the pursuit of Happiness.’
“This immortal statement was made in the Declaration of Independence of the United States of America in 1776. In a broader sense, this means: All the peoples on the earth are equal from birth, all the peoples have a right to live, to be happy and free.
“… A people who have courageously opposed French domination for more than eight years, a people who have fought side by side with the Allies against the Fascists during these last years, such a people must be free and independent.
“For these reasons, we, members of the Provisional Government of the Democratic Republic of Vietnam, solemnly declare to the world that Vietnam has the right to be a free and independent country — and in fact is so already. The entire Vietnamese people are determined to mobilise all their physical and mental strength, to sacrifice their lives and property in order to safeguard their independence and liberty.”
And, my god, they did.
To conclude, a short poem attributed to Ho Chi Minh:
“After the rain, good weather.
“In the wink of an eye,
the universe throws off its muddy clothes.”
Eugene Doyle is a community organiser and activist in Wellington, New Zealand. He received an Absolutely Positively Wellingtonian award in 2023 for community service. His first demonstration was at the age of 12 against the Vietnam War. This article was first published at his public policy website Solidarity and is republished here with permission.
TAIPEI, Taiwan – China avoided directly commenting on North Korea’s confirmation of its troop deployment to Russia and reiterated support for a “multilateral solution” to the conflict.
North Korea on Monday acknowledged for the first time that it sent troops to Russia to support Moscow’s war against Ukraine, six months after reports of their presence first emerged.
China, one of North Korea’s few allies, has been under pressure to serve as a restraining influence on Pyongyang as the U.S. and its allies worry that the deployment of North Korean troops could dangerously escalate the Ukraine war.
“Regarding bilateral interactions between Russia and the DPRK, we’ve stated our position on multiple occasions. China’s position on the Ukraine crisis is consistent and clear,” said Chinese foreign ministry spokesperson Guo Jiakun during a regular press briefing on Monday.
The Democratic People’s Republic of Korea, or DPRK, is North Korea’s official name.
“We have been actively working for a ceasefire and promoting peace talks,” Guo said, without elaborating.
China previously called for a “multilateral solution” to the Ukraine crisis, saying: “all parties need to promote the de-escalation of the situation and strive for a political settlement.”
Ukraine estimates as many as 14,000 North Korean soldiers, including 3,000 reinforcements to replace its losses, are in Russia to fight Ukrainian forces who occupied parts of Russia’s Kursk region last summer in a counteroffensive.
Reports of the deployment of North Korean troops to Russia first surfaced in October. Even as evidence of their presence grew – including when North Korean soldiers were taken captive by Ukrainian forces in Kursk and interviewed – neither North Korea nor Russia acknowledged their presence.
The U.S. previously voiced concern to China over “destabilizing” actions by North Korea and Russia and said Beijing should be concerned about steps that Russia had taken to undermine stability and security.
Last year, speculation emerged that ties between North Korea and China had cooled as Pyongyang moved closer to Moscow in recent years, but China’s foreign ministry in October dismissed such suggestions.
The Chinese foreign ministry’s remarks Tuesday came amid media reports that North Korea “urgently repatriated” all of its IT workers based in the Chinese city of Shenyang, after one of them was detained by Chinese public security authorities for allegedly stealing Chinese military technology.
Authorities discovered extensive data related to Chinese weapons and military technologies on the detained North Korean IT worker’s laptop, which had allegedly been obtained through hacking, South Korea’s Yonhap News Agency reported on Tuesday, citing unnamed sources familiar with North Korean affairs.
While the specific nature of the Chinese military information found on the worker’s laptop has not been disclosed, it is speculated that it may involve unmanned aerial vehicle, or UAV, technologies – a field North Korea has recently prioritized for development.
North Korean-linked hacking groups have repeatedly been found targeting military institutions and defence companies worldwide, including in South Korea. While Russia has often been among their targets, it is rare for North Korea to be caught stealing information from its close ally China, sources told Yonhap.
Edited by Mike Firn and Stephen Wright.
This content originally appeared on Radio Free Asia and was authored by Taejun Kang for RFA.
BANGKOK – Hong Kong authorities on Tuesday freed four former lawmakers who each spent more than four years in prison for their part in staging an unofficial primary election in 2020, local media reported.
Claudia Mo, Jeremy Tam, Kwok Ka-ki and Gary Fan were among 47 activists arrested for the election activities. Only two of the 47 were acquitted after a grueling 118-day trial that ended in November 2024 with prison sentences of four to 10 years.
Vehicles carrying the freed activists left three prisons early on Tuesday amid tight security, The Associated Press reported.
Reporters outside Mo’s home were told by husband Philip Bowring that she was resting and didn’t want to speak to them, according to the AFP news agency.
“She’s well and she’s in good spirits,” he said. “We look forward to being together again.”
Mo, Tam, Kwok and Fan – who received the shortest sentences of the 47 – had their prison time reduced after pleading guilty.
A pro-democracy activist protests outside the West Kowloon courts as closing arguments open in Hong Kong’s largest national security trial of 47 pro-democracy figures, Nov. 29, 2023.(Louise Delmotte/AP)
The group organized the 2020 primary to find the best pro-democracy candidates for Hong Kong’s September 2020 Legislative Council election at a time when Beijing was aggressively eroding the territory’s autonomy. More than 600,000 people cast their votes in the preliminary poll.
Carrie Lam, Hong Kong’s governor at the time, postponed the 2020 election, citing health concerns due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
The government then rewrote the electoral rulebook to prevent pro-democracy candidates from running, eventually holding a fresh election in December 2021 in which only “patriots” approved by a Beijing-backed committee were allowed to stand.
On Jan. 6, 2021, the newly formed national security police arrested 55 people. They brought formal charges against 47 of them, then denied bail to the majority.
The 47 pro-democracy activists were charged with subversion under the city’s 2020 National Security Law, a charge which carries a maximum life sentence.
The prosecution argued that their bid to win a majority was “a conspiracy” to undermine the city’s government and take control of the Legislative Council.
The long-running case sparked international outrage, with protests from the U.S., U.K. and Australian governments, and the United Nations. Hong Kong’s last British colonial governor, Lord Patten of Barnes, called the case “an affront to the people of Hong Kong.”
Edited by Taejun Kang and Stephen Wright.
This content originally appeared on Radio Free Asia and was authored by Mike Firn for RFA.
Evidence grows showing that the US military is setting the stage for war on China.
A leaked memo obtained by the Washington Post reveals that the US Department of Defense has made preparing for war with China into its top priority, giving it precedence over all other issues.
The Pentagon is concentrating its resources in the Asia-Pacific region as it anticipates fighting China in an attempt to exert US control over Taiwan.
US Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, a fundamentalist self-declared “crusader” who called for overthrowing the Chinese government, took a trip in March to Japan and the Philippines, where he repeatedly threatened Beijing and boasted of US “war-fighting” preparations and “real war plans”.
Chinese authorities have detained a young man for unfurling pro-democracy banners this month at an overpass in Chengdu in southwest China – a rare form of public protest that is punishable as a criminal offence, two sources told Radio Free Asia
Authorities are investigating whether Mei Shilin, 27, had any overseas connections and have taken criminal detention measures against him, said the two sources, who spoke on the condition of anonymity fearing reprisals.
The exact date of his detention was not immediately clear, sources said.
In China, criminal detention measures for those suspected of “endangering national security” typically mean being held by police for months until formal charges are filed – formally known as residential surveillance at a designated location. Detainees face constant surveillance, interrogations and may be subject to torture.
The sources said Mei is a resident of Youngfu town in Sichuan province’s Muchuan county and he has been missing for more than 10 days.
The three banners read: “Without political system reform, there will be no national rejuvenation,” “The people do not need a political party with unrestrained power,” and “China does not need anyone to point out the direction, democracy is the direction.”
One of the two sources, Qin from Chengdu, said if Mei was found by investigators to have overseas ties, he would be handed over to the State Security Bureau and transferred to the Municipal State Security Bureau Detention Center.
“If no substantial evidence of collusion with foreign forces is found, he will be handled by the Chengdu police,” added Qin, who wanted to be identified by a single name for safety reasons.
Legal experts believe authorities may charge Mei with “picking quarrels and provoking trouble” – a common criminal accusation in China that authorities level against political, civil, and human rights advocates.
“They (the prosecution) may file a case for the crime of picking quarrels and provoking trouble because they don’t want to give him a more glorious charge, such as inciting subversion of state power or subverting state power,” Lu Chenyuan, a legal expert in China, told RFA.
“They are now more inclined to depoliticize (the Mei Shilin case) and want to reduce its political significance,” added Lu.
In this image shared by @whyyoutouzhele on Chinese social media, three banners calling for democracy and opposing one-party dictatorship appeared on an overpass in Chengdu, China.(@whyyoutouzhele)
“Peng Lifa of Sichuan”
Still, the incident – that prompted Chinese netizens to hail Mei as “Peng Lifa of Sichuan” – has made authorities very nervous, sources told RFA on Monday.
Peng Lifa, known as “Bridge Man,” had hung similar pro-democracy banners on Beijing’s busy Sitong Bridge, the slogans from which were chanted during the 2022 White Paper protests.
During the White Paper protests, which took place in several cities in China, people showed blank sheets of paper to symbolize that authorities gave them no voice amid anger over the loss of freedom and pandemic lockdowns.
“In the past half month, the Domestic Security Bureau and traffic police in the entire Public Security Bureau system of Chengdu have been highly nervous. They are afraid that another incident would happen, and then the Public Security Bureau Chief will have to quit his job,” said Qin.
The second source in Chengdu, Yang, who also requested to be identified by a single name, confirmed that Mei was detained by the police and that he had previously sought the help of authorities over a labor dispute, but to no avail.
“He (Mei) previously worked in a technology company in Chengdu,” said Yang.
“He (Mei) was treated unfairly in a labor dispute, and when he complained to the government for help, he was ignored. Such things are actually common,” Yang added.
Former Chinese government official and overseas dissident Du Wen and a social media X account “@YesterdayBigcat,” which posts information about protests in China, also confirmed Mei was behind the banners that hung from a bridge near the Chadianzi Third Ring Road Interchange in Chengdu’s Jinniu District.
Du wrote on X that Mei had sent him a 13-second short video, along with photos and a copy of his ID card, on the day of the incident.
Mei also wrote to Du saying he had prepared these slogans for over a year and hoped to have help in spreading the message.
On April 15, a prominent citizen journalist who manages X account @whyyoutouzhele, also known as “Mr. Li is not your teacher,” received a message, similar to the one Du did, along with pictures of the banners, which he posted on the platform in the early morning hours.
By late evening, the same X account confirmed that the man who had shared the information with him had been out of contact for more than 13 hours.
“The last thing he wanted to convey to the public through us was that he hoped democracy could be realized as soon as possible,” Mr. Li wrote in that followup post that same day.
Du said that in his correspondence with Mei he had urged him to leave China but Mei had insisted on staying.
Mei believed that as a Chinese person he has faced unfairness, “and he wants to shout, even if he is torn to pieces,” said Du.
Mei’s display of the pro-democracy banners in Chengdu caused a stir on Chinese social media and posts about the incident were quickly blocked and removed when shared on WeChat.
“With these three huge banners, Mei expressed a demand (for) political system reform … Such emotional expressions have actually been quite common in recent years,” said Yang.
Yang said that the pressure cooker atmosphere in China meant young people were questioning society and expressing dissatisfaction with the political system.
Rights activists and local Chinese sources also said Mei’s protest was a sign of a latent desire for change.
Edited by Tenzin Pema and Mat Pennington.
This content originally appeared on Radio Free Asia and was authored by Qian Lang for RFA Mandarin.
In a new report, ISHR analyses China’s tactics to restrict access for independent civil society actors in UN human rights bodies. The report provides an analysis of China’s membership of the UN Committee on NGOs, the growing presence of Chinese Government-Organised NGOs (GONGOs), and patterns of intimidation and reprisals by the Chinese government.
In the report, published on 28 April 2025 the International Service for Human Rights (ISHR) uncovers the tactics deployed by the Chinese government to restrict access to UN human rights bodies to independent civil society actors and human rights defenders, and intimidate and retaliate against those who do so.
These tactics include using its membership of the UN Committee on NGOs to systematically defer NGO applications, increasing the presence of GONGOs to limit space for independent NGOs and advance pro-government narratives, systematically committing acts of intimidation and reprisals against those seeking to cooperate with the UN, weaponising procedural tactics to silence NGO speakers and threatening diplomats not to meet with them, and opposing reform initiatives and efforts at norm-setting on safe and unhindered civil society participation at the Human Rights Council.
These tactics strongly contrast China’s stated commitment to being a reliable multilateral leader. They stem from the Chinese Party-State’s primary foreign policy objective of shielding itself from human rights criticism and enhancing its international image by restricting and deterring critical civil society voices, crowding out civil society space with GONGOs, and stalling and diverting reform initiatives.
While China is the focus of this report, the issues addressed are systemic. Based on this report’s findings, ISHR puts forward a set of targeted recommendations to UN bodies and Member States, aimed at protecting civil society space from interference and restrictions. The recommendations are designed to strengthen UN processes and prevent any State from manipulating international mechanisms to suppress independent voices. These include:
Reforming the Committee on NGOs to increase transparency, limit abuse of deferrals, and ensure fair access to UN bodies for independent NGOs;
Strengthening protection mechanisms against reprisals, including rapid response to incidents inside UN premises, public accountability for perpetrators, and consistent long-term follow-up on unresolved cases;
Curbing the influence of GONGOs by distinguishing clearly between independent and State-organised NGOs, and better documenting their presence and impact; and,
Strengthening measures at the Human Rights Council and other UN bodies to make civil society participation safer, more inclusive, and less vulnerable to obstruction
The report has been featured prominently in a global investigation by the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists (ICIJ) launched on 28 April 2025.
Not a day goes by without a new shock to Americans and our neighbors around the world from the Trump administration. On April 22, the International Monetary Fund (IMF) downgraded its forecasts for global growth in 2025, from 3.3% to 2.8%, and warned that no country will feel the pain more than the United States. Trump’s policies are expected to drag U.S. growth down from 2.7% to 1.8%.
It’s now clear to the whole world that China is the main target of Trump’s trade wars. The U.S. has slapped massive tariffs—up to 245%—on Chinese goods. China hit back with 125% tariffs of its own and refuses even to negotiate until U.S. tariffs are lifted.
Ever since President Obama announced a U.S. “pivot to Asia” in 2011, both U.S. political parties have seen China as the main global competitor, or even as a target for U.S. military force. China is now encircled by a staggering 100,000 U.S. military personnel in Japan, South Korea and Guam (plus 73,000 in Hawaii and 415,000 on the U.S. West coast) and enough nuclear and conventional weapons to completely destroy China, and the rest of us along with it.
To put the trade war between the U.S. and China in context, we need to take a step back and look at their relative economic strength and international trading relations with other countries. There are two ways to measure a country’s economy: nominal GDP (based only on currency exchange rates) and “purchasing power parity” (PPP), which adjusts for the real cost of goods and services. PPP is now the preferred method for economists at the IMF and OECD.
Measured by PPP, China overtook the U.S. as the largest economy in the world in 2016. Today, its economy is 33% larger than America’s—$40.7 trillion compared to $30.5 trillion.
And China isn’t alone. The U.S. is just 14.7% of the world economy, while China is 19.7%. The EU makes up another 14.1%, while India, Russia, Brazil, Japan, and the rest of the world account for the other 51.5%. The world is now multipolar, whether Washington likes it or not.
So when Malaysia’s trade minister Tengku Zafrul Aziz was asked whether he’d side with China or the U.S., his answer was clear: “We can’t choose—and we won’t.” Trump would like to adopt President Bush’s “You’re either with us or with the terrorists” posture, but that makes no sense when China and the U.S. together account for only 34% of the global economy.
China saw this coming. As a result of Trump’s trade war with China during his first term in office, it turned to new markets across Asia, Africa, and Latin America through its Belt and Road Initiative. Southeast Asia is now China’s biggest export market. It no longer depends on American soybeans—it grows more of its own and buys most of the rest from Brazil, cutting the U.S. share of that market by half.
Meanwhile, many Americans cling to the idea that military power makes up for shrinking economic clout. Yes, the U.S. outspends the next ten militaries combined—but it hasn’t won a major war since 1945. From Vietnam to Iraq to Afghanistan, the U.S. has spent trillions, killed millions, and suffered humiliating defeats.
Today in Ukraine, Russia is grinding down U.S.-backed forces in a brutal war of attrition, producing more shells than the U.S. and its allies can at a fraction of our cost. The U.S.’s bloated, for-profit arms industry can’t keep up, and our trillion dollar military budget is crowding out new investments in education, healthcare and civilian infrastructure on which our economic future depends.
None of this should be a surprise. Historian Paul Kennedy saw it coming in his 1987 classic The Rise and Fall of the Great Powers. Every dominant empire, from Spain to Britain to Russia, eventually confronted relative decline as the tides of economic history moved on and it had to find a new place in a world it no longer dominated. Military overextension and overspending always accelerated the fall.
“It has been a common dilemma facing previous ‘number one’ countries that even as their relative economic strength is ebbing, the growing foreign challenges to their position have compelled them to allocate more and more of their resources into the military sector, which in turn squeezes out productive investment…,” Kennedy wrote.
He found that no society remains permanently ahead of all others, but that the loss of empire is not the end of the road for former great powers, who can often find new, prosperous positions in a world they no longer dominate. Even the total destruction suffered by Germany and Japan in the Second World War, which ended their imperial ambitions, was also a new beginning, as they turned their considerable skills and resources from weapons development to peaceful civilian production, and soon produced the best cars and consumer electronics in the world.
Paul Kennedy reminded Americans that the decline in U.S. leadership “is relative not absolute, and is therefore perfectly natural; and that the only serious threat to the real interests of the United States can come from a failure to adjust sensibly to the newer world order…”
And that is exactly how our leaders have failed us. Instead of judiciously adapting to America’s relative decline and carving out a new place for the United States in the emerging multipolar world, they doubled down—on wars, on threats, on the fantasy of endless dominance. Under the influence of the neocons, Democrats and Republicans alike have marched America into one disaster after another, in a vain effort to defy the economic tides by which all great powers rise and fall.
Since 1987, against all the historical evidence, seven U.S. presidents, Democrats and Republicans, have blindly subscribed to the simplistic notion peddled by the neocons that the United States can halt or reverse the tides of economic history by the threat and use of military force.
Trump and his team are no exception. They know the old policies have failed. They know radically different policies are needed. Yet they keep playing from the same broken record—economic coercion, threats, wars, proxy wars, and now genocide—violating international law and exhausting the goodwill of our friends and neighbors around the world.
The stakes couldn’t be higher. It took the two most deadly and destructive wars in human history to put an end to the British Empire and the age of European colonialism.
In a nuclear-armed world, another great-power war wouldn’t just be catastrophic—it would very likely be final. If the U.S. keeps trying to bully its way back to the top, we could all lose everything.
The future instead demands a peaceful transition to international cooperation in a multipolar world. This is not a question of politics, right or left, or of being pro- or anti-American. It’s about whether humanity has any future at all.
TAIPEI, Taiwan – China and the Philippines have staged rival flag-raising displays on a contested sandbank in the South China Sea, further escalating tensions between the two nations.
The standoff occurred at Sandy Cay, near the Philippines’ outpost of Thitu Island, right when the U.S. and the Philippines launched their annual “Balikatan” military drills, which for the first time include an integrated air and missile defense simulation.
Sandy Cay holds strategic value because its 12-nautical-mile territorial zone under international law overlaps with the area around Thitu Island, a key site for Manila to monitor Chinese activity in the Philippines’ exclusive economic zone.
The latest flare-up appears to have started on Thursday, after Chinese state media reported that the Chinese Coast Guard had landed on the sandbank two weeks earlier, hoisted a national flag, and “exercised sovereign jurisdiction.”
“Since 2024, the Philippines has made multiple attempts to send vessels near Chinese-held features in the South China Sea to monitor what it describes as artificial island-building activities,” the state-run broadcaster CCTV reported on Saturday. It published a photograph of five black-clad people standing on the uninhabited reef as a dark inflatable boat bobbed in the nearby water.
Chinese state media released a photo of coastguard officers on the disputed reef.(CCTV)
In response, the Philippines Coast Guard spokesperson Jay Tarriela said on Sunday that its navy, coast guard and police personnel had deployed to Sandy Cay in four rubber boats and had “observed the illegal presence” of a Chinese Coast Guard vessel and seven Chinese maritime militia vessels.
“This operation reflects the unwavering dedication and commitment of the Philippine government to uphold the country’s sovereignty, sovereign rights and jurisdiction in the West Philippine Sea,” said Tarriela, who posted footage of the Philippine flag being displayed.
The term “West Philippine Sea” is used by the Philippines to refer to parts of the South China Sea that it claims, although the designation is disputed by China.
William Yang, a senior analyst for Northeast Asia at the International Crisis Group, said China is showcasing both its ability and determination to assert its territorial claims throughout the South China Sea.
China and the Philippines have long been locked in a territorial dispute over parts of the South China Sea, a vital waterway rich in resources and trade routes.
Beijing claims nearly the entire sea under its “nine-dash line,” a claim rejected by an international tribunal in 2016, which ruled in favor of the Philippines.
Despite the ruling, China has continued to assert its presence through patrols, island-building, and militarization, while the Philippines has sought to defend its claims through diplomatic protests and military partnerships.
“It serves as a warning to the Philippines and other claimant states in the region that any attempt to undermine Chinese territorial integrity will be met with resolute and strong Chinese responses,” Yang told Radio Free Asia.
Huang Tsung-ting, an associate research fellow with Taiwan’s Institute for National Defense and Security Research, believes China has recently adopted a more defensive posture toward the Philippines in the South China Sea.
“Compared to 2023 to the first half of 2024, when China escalated tensions in the South China Sea and attempted to seize islands and reefs as a way to pressure the U.S. and the Philippines diplomatically, its current approach is more defensive and passive,” said Huang.
The latest dispute between two nations came as the U.S. and Philippines forces are conducting annual Balikatan exercises, which Beijing has condemned as “provocative.”
The flag raise was “a calculative move by Beijing to show Washington and Manila that it has the ability to establish presence anywhere they want in the South China Sea and that Beijing is not going to back down in the face of the increased cooperation between the U.S. and the Philippines,” International Crisis Group’s Yang said.
While visiting Manila last month, U.S. Defence Secretary Pete Hegseth said Washington was “doubling down” on its alliance with the country and was committed to rebuilding deterrence against China.
Huang shares a similar view.
“Even though the number of U.S. troops participating in this year’s Balikatan exercise seems slightly lower – by about 2,000 compared to last year – the overall posture of cooperation still looks strong enough to cause concern for China,” he said.
Edited by Taejun Kang and Stephen Wright.
This content originally appeared on Radio Free Asia and was authored by Alan Lu for RFA.
Speaking in an informal meeting of the UN Security Council on Wednesday, April 23 China’s permanent representative Fu Cong questioned the unilateralism pursued by the US in international trade claiming it “severely infringes upon the legitimate rights and interests of all countries” and violates the rule based multilateral trading system.
Cong claimed a multilateral approach remains the only option for the advancement of all countries and affirmed “no country has the right to put itself above international law” and dictate terms to others. He offered Chinese cooperation in dealing with the situation to the countries which are willing to stand for free and fair international trade.
“The day-to-day chaos of the American political news cycle can make it hard to fully take stock of the seismic shifts that are happening,” said Clayton Weimers, executive director of RSF North America.
“But when you step back and look at the whole picture, the pattern of blows to press freedom is quite clear.
“RSF refuses to accept this massive attack on press freedom as the new normal. We will continue to call out these assaults against the press and use every means at our disposal to fight back against them.
“We urge every American who values press freedom to do the same.”
Here is the Trump administration’s war on the press by the numbers: *
427 million – Weekly worldwide audience of the USAGM news outlets silenced by Trump
In an effort to eliminate the US Agency for Global Media (USAGM) by cutting grants to outlets funded by the federal agency and placing their reporters on leave, the government has left millions around the world without vital sources of reliable information.
This leaves room for authoritarian regimes, like Russia and China, to spread their propaganda unchecked.
However, RSF recently secured an interim injunction against the administration’s dismantling of the USAGM-funded broadcaster Voice of America,which also reinstates funding to the outlets Radio Free Asia (RFA) and the Middle East Broadcasting Networks (MBN).
8,000+ – US government web pages taken down
Webpages from more than a dozen government sites were removed almost immediately after President Trump took office, leaving journalists and the public without critical information on health, crime, and more.
3,500+ – Journalists and media workers at risk of losing their jobs thanks to Trump’s shutdown of the USAGM
Journalists from VOA, the MBN, RFA, and Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty are at risk of losing their jobs as the Trump administration works to shut down the USAGM. Furthermore, at least 84 USAGM journalists based in the US on work visas now face deportation to countries where they risk prosecution and severe harassment.
At least 15 journalists from RFA and eight from VOA originate from repressive states and are at serious risk of being arrested and potentially imprisoned if deported.
180 – Public radio stations at risk of closing if public media funding is eliminated
The Trump administration reportedly plans to ask Congress to cut $1.1 billion in allocated funds for the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, which supports National Public Radio (NPR) and the Public Broadcasting Service (PBS). These cuts will hit rural communities and stations in smaller media markets the hardest, where federal funding is most impactful.
74 –Days the Associated Press (AP) has been banned from the White House
On February 11, the White House began barring the Associated Press (AP) news agency from its events because of the news agency’s continued use of the term “Gulf of Mexico,” which President Trump prefers to call the “Gulf of America” — a blatant example of retaliation against the media.
Despite a federal judge ruling the administration must reinstate the news agency’s access on April 9, the White House has continued to limit AP’s access.
64 – Disparaging comments made by Trump against the media on Truth Social since inauguration
In addition to regular, personal attacks against the media in press conferences and public speeches, Trump takes to his social media site nearly every day to insult, threaten, or intimidate journalists and media workers who report about him or his administration critically.
13 –Individuals pardoned by President Trump after being convicted or charged for attacking journalists on January 6, 2021
Trump pardoned over a dozen individuals charged with or convicted of violent crimes against journalists at the US Capitol during the January 6 insurrection.
6 –Federal Communications Commission (FCC) inquiries into media companies
Brendan Carr, co-author of the Project 2025 playbook and chair of the FCC, has wasted no time launching politically motivated investigations, explicit threats against media organisations, and implicit threats against their parent companies. These include inquiries into CBS, ABC parent company Disney, NBC parent company Comcast, public broadcasters NPR and PBS, and California television station KCBS.
4 – Trump’s personal lawsuits against media organisations
While Trump settled a lawsuit with ABC’s parent company Disney, he continues to sue CBS, The Des Moines Register, Gannett, and the Pulitzer Center over coverage he deemed biased.
$1.60 – Average annual amount each American pays for public media
Donald Trump has threatened to eliminate federal funding for public broadcasting, framing the move as a cost-cutting measure.
However, public media only costs each American about $1.60 each year, representing a tremendous bargain as it gives Americans access to a wealth of local, national, and lifesaving emergency programming.
The United States was 55th out of 180 nations listed by the RSF World Press Freedom Index in 2024. The new index rankings will be released this week.
* Figures as of the date of publication, 24 April 2025. Pacific Media Watch collaborates with RSF.
This content originally appeared on Asia Pacific Report and was authored by Pacific Media Watch.
China’s National Energy Administration has announced that the country’s solar and wind energy capacity has exceeded that of thermal energy — which is mostly coal-powered — for the first time.
The largest greenhouse gas emitter in the world, China has pledged to achieve peak carbon emissions by the end of the decade and become carbon neutral by 2060, reported AFP.
“In the first quarter of 2025, China’s newly installed wind and photovoltaic power capacity totalled 74.33 million kilowatts, bringing the cumulative installed capacity to 1.482 billion kilowatts,” the country’s energy body said.
Hong Kong’s Cardinal Joseph Zen, previously arrested under the Beijing-imposed national security law, was allowed to leave the city to attend Pope Francis’ funeral in an apparent show of leniency for the retired bishop known for being a vocal critic of China’s interference in church affairs.
Zen, 93, departed for Vatican City on Wednesday evening after a court granted the temporary return of his passport, which was confiscated after his arrest in 2022 for allegedly colluding with foreign forces and endangering national security, two sources told Radio Free Asia.
Cardinal Zen, who is currently on bail after his 2022 arrest, is traveling with a member of the Salesian religious congregation, one of the largest groups in the church, the sources said. They spoke on the condition of anonymity for fear of reprisals.
World leaders, including U.S. President Donald Trump, U.K. Prime Minister Keir Starmer, French President Emmanuel Macron, and Italian Prime Minister Giogia Meloni, are expected to attend the funeral of Pope Francis, who died Monday at the age of 88.
The papal funeral is scheduled to take place on Saturday.
Cardinal Stephen Chow, the current bishop of Hong Kong, has also arrived in Rome to attend Pope Francis’s funeral and participate in the secret conclave to vote for the new pope, according to the city’s Catholic Social Communications Office.
Retired Cardinal Joseph Zen attends mass at the Holy Cross Church in Hong Kong on May 24, 2022.(PETER PARKS/AFP)
In Italy, Zen will be received by Father John Paul Cheung, a priest from the Salesian order, who will help coordinate his schedule there, the sources said.
The Associated Press on Thursday quoted Cardinal Zen’s secretary as confirming that the retired bishop had recently applied to the court for his passport to be released.
The cardinal intends to return to Hong Kong after attending the funeral, though the exact date of his return is yet to be confirmed, the AP reported, citing his secretary.
Earlier in the week, Zen criticized the Vatican for providing only a day’s notice before convening the first General Congregation, prior to the papal conclave, saying the short notice made it difficult for elderly cardinals from peripheral regions to arrive on time.
Conditions for travel
This is not the first time Cardinal Zen has been permitted to retrieve his passport. In January 2023, he was allowed to attend the funeral of Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI.
During that visit, Zen met privately with Pope Francis — their first meeting since Zen’s 2022 arrest. In a later interview, Francis had described Zen as “a gentle soul,” while Zen, in turn, said Pope Francis made him feel very warm and comforted.
The conditions for Zen’s travel are expected to be similar to those in the past, including a ban on media interviews and surrender of his passport to the police upon his return, in accordance with bail conditions for those arrested under the national security law.
(L-R) Scholar Hui Po-keung, Cardinal Joseph Zen, Cantopop star Denise Ho and former pro-democracy lawmaker and barrister Margaret Ng, who pleaded not guilty to ‘collusion with foreign forces’ in connection with their trusteeship of the 612 Humanitarian Relief Fund, head to court in Hong Kong, May 24, 2022. Credit: RFA.
In May 2022, Zen’s arrest by Hong Kong’s national security police along with other pro-democracy figures sparked international outrage from governments and rights activists.
Later that year, he and his co-defendants were fined after being found guilty of failing to properly register their 612 Humanitarian Relief Fund, which offered financial, legal and psychological help to people arrested during the city’s 2019 protest movement.
They are scheduled to appear in court for an appeal hearing on Dec. 3, 2025.
In particular, he has accused Cardinal Pietro Parolin – the Vatican’s secretary of state and a frontrunner to become the new pontiff – of being “a man of little faith,” for his role in architecting the deal that many say undermines the church’s mission in China.
The next pope will be elected by the College of Cardinals in a secret conclave. Zen, like other cardinals aged over 80, does not have voting rights but can participate in the discussions.
Of the three cardinals in the Hong Kong diocese, only Chow, 65, is eligible to vote. Ascending to the papacy requires the votes of 90 out of 135 cardinals eligible to participate in the Vatican conclave.
Several prominent cardinals who oversee dioceses in Asia are regarded by the region’s faithful as worthy candidates to lead the world’s 1.4 billion Catholics. An Asian pope would be a first for the church.
Edited by Tenzin Pema and Mat Pennington.
This content originally appeared on Radio Free Asia and was authored by RFA Cantonese.
TAIPEI, Taiwan – China appears to be quietly removing 125% retaliatory tariffs on some U.S. imports, including semiconductors, media reports said, following President Donald Trump’s recent signals that high levies on Chinese goods could be reduced.
The U.S. this month imposed tariffs of 145% on Chinese imports, prompting China to retaliate with tariffs reaching 125% on American goods – a tit-for-tat trade battle that threatens to stunt the global economy. The U.S. also has imposed new tariffs on most other countries.
Chinese authorities have implemented tariff exemptions for eight types of U.S. semiconductors, excluding memory chips, CNN reported on Friday.
The broadcaster said that importers received notification of the changes during customs clearance rather than from official announcements. It said companies that already paid these tariffs may be eligible for refunds.
Separately, Bloomberg reported that Chinese officials are considering tariff exemptions for medical equipment and industrial chemicals such as ethane.
China, the world’s largest plastics producer, has factories that rely on U.S.-sourced ethane, while Chinese hospitals depend on advanced medical equipment such as MRI scanners made by American companies.
Additionally, authorities are reportedly exploring tariff exemptions for aircraft leasing arrangements to reduce financial burdens on Chinese airlines that lease rather than own their aircraft.
Radio Free Asia has not independently verified the reports.
China has not commented.
The reports came after China told the U.S. to “completely cancel all unilateral tariff measures” if Washington wants trade talks, in some of Beijing’s strongest comments since the trade row sharply escalated.
The U.S. should “find a way to resolve differences through equal dialogue,” He Yadong, a Chinese commerce ministry spokesperson, said on Thursday.
Beijing also said there were “no economic and trade negotiations between China and the United States,” contradicting repeated comments from Trump that the two sides were talking.
Trump indicated on Tuesday that the 145% tariffs on Chinese goods would be reduced. Trump acknowledged “145% is very high,” during a White House news conference.
He suggested the tariffs “will come down substantially” through negotiations, though not to zero.
In earlier statements, Trump said Washington and Beijing were in talks on tariffs and expressed confidence that the world’s two largest economies would reach a deal over the next three to four weeks. He declined to confirm whether he had spoken directly with Chinese President Xi Jinping.
Edited by Mike Firn and Stephen Wright.
This content originally appeared on Radio Free Asia and was authored by Taejun Kang for RFA.
TAIPEI, Taiwan – China and Southeast Asian nations are “politically committed” to establishing legally binding rules for their conduct in the South China Sea by next year, the Philippines’ foreign affairs secretary said, despite two decades of inconclusive discussions.
A code of conduct aims to establish a framework for ensuring peace in the South China Sea where Beijing’s expansive territorial claims overlap with the exclusive economic zones of some Southeast Asian countries including the Philippines and Vietnam.
“Everyone has agreed that we would all like to have a code by 2026,” said Enrique Manalo at a maritime security forum in Manila on Thursday.
“We still have to address important issues such as the scope of the code, also the nature of the code and its relation also to the declaration of the principles adopted in 2002 on the South China Sea,” he said.
“We hope, and we will do all that we can to try and achieve a successful negotiation.”
A South China Sea code of conduct has been under discussion for over two decades.
Separately, Philippines’ National Security Council spokesperson assistant director Jonathan Malaya described the talks as advancing at a “glacial pace.”
However, he was still optimistic they would be wrapped up within a year.
“Hopefully, by the time that the Philippines is chairman of the [regional forum] ASEAN, the code of conduct will be completed,” he said.
The Philippines will host the annual summit of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations in 2026.
Last year, Philippines’ President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. urged ASEAN to hasten talks on the code amid rising South China Sea tensions.
Fundamental issues such as geographic scope and the legal status of a nonbinding South China Sea declaration signed in 2002 still need to be resolved, he said.
Chinese aircraft carriers spotted near Philippines
The Philippine official’s comments on the code talks came as the country’s navy confirmed the presence of China’s Shandong aircraft carrier near its waters.
A Chinese electronic surveillance ship was also monitored off the northern coast of Luzon on Tuesday. The Philippine Navy challenged the presence of the Chinese warships, according to a navy spokesperson Cpt. John Percie Alcos.
“They’re actually conducting normal naval operations en route to a specific destination that we still do not know. Their passage was expeditious,” said Alcos.
The Chinese warship was seen as the Philippines, United States, and Japan prepared to conduct a joint sailing on Thursday as part of the annual Balikatan military exercises between Manila and Washington.
On Monday, Chinese foreign ministry spokesperson Guo Jiakun criticized the Philippines for its military drills with the U.S.
“The Philippines chose to conduct the large-scale military drills with this country outside the region and brought in strategic and tactical weapons to the detriment of regional strategic stability and regional economic prospects, which puts them on the opposite side of regional countries,” he said.
Edited by Mike Firn and Stephen Wright.
This content originally appeared on Radio Free Asia and was authored by Taejun Kang for RFA.
A popular account on Chinese microblogging platform Weibo was forced to change its name from “Voice of Comrade” as the term refers to homosexuality, prompting intense criticism of Chinese regulators, known for censoring content with gay themes.
The word “tongzhi” or “comrade” – widely used by China’s Communist Party to address cadres – has in recent decades been embraced by the country’s gay community to refer to homosexuals in an effort to replace derogatory words that previously defined them.
On Tuesday, the account name “Voice of Comrade” was suddenly deleted and replaced with the original user ID number. A day later, the account name was changed to “Voices of Pride” to be in compliance with the country’s Internet regulations, its moderator said – sparking widespread outrage by Chinese netizens over the apparent censorship.
“The sudden ban on the use of the name can be seen as another example of China’s suppression of human rights,” said human rights activist Pan Jiawei, noting that the Weibo account has served as a valuable source of information for sexual minority groups in China since it was set up in 2009.
“It shows the Chinese government’s discrimination against sexual minorities, and at the same time it allows the outside world to see how the authorities use ridiculous methods to force companies to toe the party line,” Pan told Radio Free Asia.
On Tuesday, the “Voice of Comrade” account on China’s version of X – which boasts two million followers – put out a post expressing concern over the platform’s move to delete the name it has been known by for over 16 years.
But in a separate post on Wednesday, it said that the account name “Voice of Comrades” has been changed to “Voices of Pride” to meet the relevant requirements of the “Internet User Account Information Management Regulations.”
In that post, the moderator also emphasized that the renamed account will abide by Chinese laws and regulations, firmly support the position of the Party and the country, and continue to serve sexual minorities.
Many Chinese netizens questioned why the account had not been renamed to “Voice of Homosexuals.” Still others said the forced name change is reflective of the Chinese government’s discrimination against homosexuals and signals growing restrictions on content about the gay community.
Although the Chinese government has not criminalized homosexuality, in recent years many groups and platforms advocating gender equality have been unable to carry out public activities, said Li Maizi, a Chinese LGBT rights advocate.
The name change shows “…the government wants the voices of sexual equality and sexual minority groups to fade out of Chinese society, which is related to the government’s hostility to Western ideology,” said Li.
“The environment of public opinion is very tight, and if various homosexual art groups want to exist, they have to stay low key. Many organizations have actually changed their names; (for them) at least there is a space for survival,” she added.
In 2012, the Contemporary Chinese Dictionary, regarded one of China’s most authoritative dictionaries, excluded the homosexual definition of the term “comrade.” At the time, the director of the committee entrusted with updating the dictionary said they omitted the term’s gay reference to avoid encouraging its usage.
Homosexuality – illegal in China until the late 1990s – was defined as a mental disorder until that classification was removed in 2001.
“Homosexuality is still a taboo and sensitive word in official circles, so when people use the word “comrade” to refer to homosexuality, the Chinese government is very unhappy with it,” independent commentator Hu Ping who lives in the United States told RFA.
“But I think they cannot reverse it. You can change the name … but ordinary people will still regard ‘comrade’ as a synonym for homosexuality. They will still do that,” Hu said.
In 2018, Weibo had announced plans to censor cartoons, games, and short video content about homosexuality as part of a campaign to “create a healthy and harmonious community environment.” But the company was forced to cancel the plan after it faced a major backlash from users using the hashtag #IAmGay.
Edited by Tenzin Pema and Mat Pennington.
This content originally appeared on Radio Free Asia and was authored by Chen Zifei for RFA Mandarin.
The governing regime in Kiev is desperately trying to maintain its US support, as a defeat of the US-led, NATO proxy war in Ukraine looms. It is citing the collapse of the government in South Vietnam in April 1975 as a warning, saying that something similar could happen in Ukraine. At the time, the US defeat in Vietnam was a huge blow to the image and standing of US imperialism in the world.
Such pronouncements by the Kiev regime reveal a recognition that ‘its’ Ukraine has become a satellite of the United States – much as South Vietnam was widely recognized to be half a century ago. Then as now, Washington and its allies are desperately seeking to maintain their economic and military dominance over the world and to stop rising movements of liberation by the peoples of Asia, Africa and Latin America.
The British government says a new state-owned renewable energy company will not be allowed to source solar panels made with Chinese slave labor.
The government announced Wednesday that it will introduce an amendment to ensure that the planned company, Great British Energy, will not have slavery in its supply chains.
China is the dominant global player in the renewable energy market including solar energy. The BBC cited customs data that Britain imports more than 40% of its solar photovoltaics from China.
A key component is polysilicon sourced from the Xinjiang region in China’s far west, where minority Uyghur Muslims have faced persecution including use of their forced labor.
In 2021, the U.S. Labor Department listed polysilicon as a product made with forced labor in China in violation of international standards.
The British government of Prime Minister Keir Starmer had initially rejected an amendment to the Great British Energy Bill to include provisions to prevent purchase of solar panels made with slave labor.
However, on Wednesday, it changed track.
“Great British Energy will act to secure supply chains that are free of forced labor, under an amendment brought forward by the government today,” the Department of Energy Security said in a news release.
It said a new measure in the bill “will enable the company to ensure that forced labor does not take place in its business or its supply chains.”
The opposition Conservative Party described it as a “humiliating U-turn” for Ed Miliband, the secretary of state for energy and climate change, but it was also supported by some members of the ruling Labour Party.
Rahima Mahmut, executive director of the activist group Stop Uyghur Genocide, welcomed the amendment, posting on X that it was a “massive step toward justice.”
Forced labor is on a long list of serious human rights problems that have been documented in Xinjiang and is cited along with the incarceration of an estimated 1.8 million people in detention camps since 2017 and forced birth control by the U.S. government and others as evidence of genocide of the Uyghurs.
China denies the rights abuses.
Edited by Mat Pennington.
This content originally appeared on Radio Free Asia and was authored by Alim Seytoff for RFA Uyghur.
TAIPEI, Taiwan – Chinese generative AI service DeepSeek transferred Korean users’ personal information to companies in China and the United States without proper consent during its brief operation in the country, South Korea’s data protection watchdog said on Thursday.
DeepSeek’s chatbot app once became the most downloaded on Apple’s iPhone, surpassing U.S. company OpenAI’s ChatGPT. While praised for efficiency, it raised concerns over censorship of sensitive topics, data privacy and ties to the Chinese government, with some governments, including South Korea, banning the app.
DeepSeek transferred user data to three companies in China and one in the U.S. between Jan. 15 and Feb. 15, 2025, when the service was temporarily suspended following privacy controversies, the Personal Information Protection Commission, or PIPC, announced.
The Chinese service neither obtained user consent for these international transfers nor disclosed this practice in its privacy policy. With approximately 50,000 daily users during its one-month service period, the PIPC estimated that information from around 1.5 million users may have been improperly transferred overseas.
The commission also found that DeepSeek sent not only device, network, and app information but also the content that users entered into AI prompts to Volcano, one of the three Chinese companies and an affiliate of ByteDance, TikTok’s parent company.
DeepSeek acknowledged the transfers to Volcano but said it used the company’s cloud services to improve security vulnerabilities and the user experience. The PIPC told DeepSeek that transferring prompt inputs was unnecessary and confirmed that the company has blocked transfers since April 10.
“DeepSeek explained that although Volcano is affiliated with ByteDance, it operates as a separate legal entity unrelated to ByteDance operations,” said the PIPC in a statement.
“They assured that the processed information would only be used for service operation and improvement, not for marketing purposes, and promised to strictly protect personal information in compliance with legal requirements.”
The investigation also found DeepSeek lacked an “opt-out” function that would allow users to prevent their prompt inputs from being used for AI training and development. This feature was only implemented after the PIPC pointed out the deficiency.
Although DeepSeek claimed not to collect personal information from children under 14, it had no age verification process during registration.
The company has since established age verification procedures during the inspection process.
The privacy policy, available only in Chinese and English, also omitted required information about data deletion procedures, methods, and security measures mandated by South Korean privacy law.
The PIPC recommended that DeepSeek immediately delete user prompt content transferred to Volcano and implement several improvements, including appointing a domestic representative in South Korea and enhancing overall security measures for its personal information processing systems.
If DeepSeek accepts these recommendations within 10 days, it will be considered equivalent to receiving an official correction order under relevant laws, requiring the company to report implementation results to the PIPC within 60 days.
DeepSeek had previously acknowledged its insufficient consideration of South Korean privacy laws when it temporarily suspended new downloads in domestic app markets following the start of the PIPC investigation.
While the commission did not specify when DeepSeek might resume services in South Korea, the company is expected to restart operations soon, as it claims to have addressed most of the identified issues.
DeepSeek has not commented on South Korea’s findings.
Communist Party ‘enforcer’
The South Korean investigation came a week after the U.S. House Select Committee on the Chinese Communist Party, or CCP, said up to 85% of responses on DeepSeek were altered or suppressed to cater to the CCP’s narrative.
The chatbot uses automated filtering of responses and built-in biases to serve as a “digital enforcer of the CCP,” manipulating information pertinent to democracy, Taiwan, Hong Kong and Chinese human rights abuses, the committee said in a report released on April 16.
The investigation found that DeepSeek channels information from U.S. users directly to the CCP via backend infrastructure connected to China Mobile, listed as a Chinese military company by the U.S. government.
Millions of U.S. users’ data therefore serves as a “high-value open-source intelligence asset for the CCP,” it said.
Edited by Mike Firn and Stephen Wright.
This content originally appeared on Radio Free Asia and was authored by Taejun Kang for RFA.
