BANGKOK – Thailand has no plan to deport 48 Uyghurs who have languished for more than a decade in detention, a government spokesman said on Thursday, dismissing speculation that the men were about to be sent back to China where rights groups say they would face the risk of torture.
The men from the mostly Muslim minority from the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region in China have been held at Thailand’s Immigration Detention Center since 2014, after attempting to escape Beijing’s persecution through Thailand.
The rights group Justice for All said recently that reports from the detained Uyghurs indicated that Thai authorities were coercing them to fill out forms in preparation for their deportation.
An Immigration Bureau spokesperson told Radio Free Asia last week that no decision had been made regarding the Uyghurs, and a government spokesman reiterated on Thursday that no deportation was planned.
“There is no policy to do so. I don’t understand why there’s been talk about this,” spokesman Jirayu Huangsab told RFA.
“I have nothing to clarify,” Jirayu said, when asked about Thailand’s position on the issue. He also questioned the source of the information of “the person who blew the whistle about this.”
U.N. experts on Tuesday joined rights groups in raising concern about the Uyghurs, urging Thailand to halt their deportation to China.
“The treatment of the Uyghur minority in China is well-documented,” said the experts, collectively known as the Special Procedures of the U.N.’s Human Rights Council. “We are concerned they are at risk of suffering irreparable harm, in violation of the international prohibition on refoulement to torture.”
The prohibition on refoulement prevents returning detainees to a country “where there is real risk of torture or other cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment.”
Uyghurs in China’s vast Xinjiang region have been subjected to widespread human rights abuses, including detention in massive concentration camps.
The U.N. experts also called on Thailand to provide access to asylum procedures and medical care for the group of detained Uyghurs “without delay.”
Detainees stand behind cell bars at the police Immigration Detention Center in central Bangkok on Jan. 21, 2019.(Sakchai Lalit/AP)
Rubio promised intervention
The group of refugees is part of an originally larger cohort of over 350 Uyghur men, women and children, 172 of whom were resettled in Turkey, 109 deported back to China, and five who died because of inadequate medical conditions.
In 2015, Thailand, Washington’s longest-standing treaty ally in Asia, faced stiff international criticism for those it did deport back to China.
Thailand is not a signatory to the 1951 U.N. Refugee Convention, and therefore does not recognize refugees.
New U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio said at his confirmation hearing last week that he would reach out to U.S. ally Thailand to prevent the return of the Uyghurs to China.
The treatment of Uyghurs in China was not “some obscure issue” that should be on the sidelines of U.S.-China ties, Rubio said.
“These are people who are basically being rounded up because of their ethnicity and religion, and they are being put into camps. They’re being put into what they call re-education centers. They’re being stripped of their identity. Their children’s names are being changed,” he said.
“It’s one of the most horrifying things that’s ever happened,” he added.
“They’re being put into forced labor – literally slave labor.”
China denies accusations of slave labor in Xinjiang.
Edited by Taejun Kang and Mike Firn.
This content originally appeared on Radio Free Asia and was authored by Pimuk Rakkanam for RFA.
WASHINGTON – The first round of promised U.S. tariffs on imports from China could begin as early as next week, President Donald Trump said Tuesday. He also unveiled plans for levies on goods arriving in America from Mexico, Canada and even the European Union.
Trump had originally threatened to impose a 10% tariff on Chinese imports and a 25% tariff on imports from Canada and Mexico on his first day in office, after suggesting during last year’s election campaign that tariffs on Chinese goods could even go to “more than” 60%.
But the tariffs were not part of the flurry of executive orders from the new president on his first day back in the White House on Monday.
On Tuesday, though, Trump said Feb. 1 could be the day for the tariffs, which he has long said are needed to boost domestic industry.
“We’re talking about a tariff of 10% on China based on the fact that they’re sending fentanyl to Mexico and Canada,” which is then brought into the United States, Trump said after announcing a US$500 billion A.I. infrastructure investment by Oracle, OpenAI and SoftBank.
Fentanyl is a highly potent synthetic opioid that U.S. authorities blame for killing tens of thousands of Americans each year. Precursors for the drug are produced in China and then turned into fentanyl by Mexican transnational drug trafficking groups to be smuggled into America.
Trump said he had discussed the issue with Chinese President Xi Jinping in a phone call on Friday ahead of Trump’s return to power.
“I said, we don’t want that crap in our country,” Trump recalled.
Efforts to stem the outflow of fentanyl precursors from China formed a key part of former U.S. President Joe Biden’s diplomacy with Beijing. A pledge from Xi to crack down on precursor exports was one of three major outcomes of Biden and Xi’s 2023 summit in San Francisco.
In the months following that meeting, Biden administration officials largely credited their Chinese counterparts with following through on their promises, but Trump said enough was still not being done.
‘No winners’
Beijing has been careful not to directly criticize Trump in his first few days in office but has nevertheless pushed back against tariffs.
At the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, on Tuesday, Chinese Vice Premier Ding Xuexiang did not directly refer to the new U.S. president, but called for a renewed promotion of “globalization.”
“Protectionism leads nowhere. Trade war has no winners,” Ding told the forum. “We have the wisdom and capability needed to find a win-win and all-win solution, one that is based on mutually beneficial cooperation, through communication and coordination.”
China’s Vice President Han Zheng, left, stands with Xie Feng, China’s Ambassador to the U.S., at the inauguration of President Trump in the Capitol in Washington, Jan. 20, 2025.(Julia Demaree Nikhinson/Reuters)
In Beijing, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Mao Ning echoed the vice premier’s remarks when asked about Trump’s 10% tariff.
“We believe that there’s no winner in a trade or tariff war, and we firmly uphold our national interests,” Mao said, adding China would “maintain communication with the U.S.” to “properly” handle their differences.
China, Mexico and Canada are America’s three largest sources of imports, accounting for around US$536 billion, US$454 billion and US$436.6 billion per year, respectively. They also dwarf all other sources: Japan (US$148 billion) and Germany (US$146 billion) round out the top five.
But it’s not only those three that could be targeted.
Trump told reporters Tuesday evening that the 27-nation European Union, which together accounts for some US$553 billion in U.S. imports each year, “treat[s] us very, very badly” and should also be penalized.
“They’re going to be in for tariffs,” the U.S. president said of the European Union. “It’s the only way you’re going to get fairness.”
This content originally appeared on Radio Free Asia and was authored by Alex Willemyns.
Ordinary Chinese are taking to trains, planes and automobiles amid the Lunar New Year travel rush that will see hundreds of millions head home to usher in the Year of the Snake, but the economic downturn is biting deep, sending many to the bottom of the ladder.
Many are taking to the older, slower “green trains,” rather than those on the country’s formidable high-speed rail network, as social media users traded money-saving tips ahead of China’s biggest annual festival.
Many of the high-speed trains are noticeably empty, with people piling onto slower trains in search of cheaper tickets, residents told RFA Mandarin in recent interviews.
“This is the carriage during the Spring Festival travel rush this year,” user @Guangzhou_photographer said in a social media post with a video clip. “Where is everyone?”
Chinese state media describe the rush as “the world’s largest annual human migration,” and the authorities are expecting some 9 billion trips over the 40-day travel period, which includes the Lunar New Year on Jan. 29 and the subsequent public holiday that ends Feb. 22.
“More electric car owners and foreign tourists are expected to join the annual travel frenzy, traditionally featuring millions of migrant workers and others living far from their hometowns who head back to reunite with family and celebrate China’s most important festival,” state news agency Xinhua reported on Jan. 14.
“Are people not going home … this year, or are you all walking or jogging home instead?” they said, using the official government name for the Lunar New Year celebration.
People use a ticket machine at a train station in Beijing, Jan. 20, 2025.(ADEK BERRY/AFP)
A resident of the southern city of Guangzhou who gave only the surname Hu for fear of reprisals said that he and a lot of his friends are sticking to the older, slower “green train” network this year, as high-speed rail tickets are several times the price of regular trains.
“It takes nine hours to get from Guangzhou to Changsha on the green train, for just 100 yuan (US$13) or a little more,” Hu said. “The high-speed rail would cost nearly 400 yuan (US$55), which is three or four times the cost of the green train.”
“There are a lot more people taking green trains this year than in previous years, and they are packed out with people and luggage in the aisles and the space by the doors, a lot of people using the toilets,” he said.
He said that despite the flagging economy leaving many struggling financially, the government has slashed the number of green trains in recent years, making them even more crowded.
‘You have to tighten your belt’
While China’s state media continues to pump out positive stories of economic recovery, many ordinary people in China are struggling to get by, and those who speak out about the situation are quickly silenced.
Last month, censors took down a speech that went viral from economist Dong Shanwen, who warned that youth unemployment was tanking the economy, and that official growth figures had hugely underestimated the problem.
“You can really tell that the economy’s not doing well,” Hu said, adding that people are cutting back on traditional gifts and “red envelopes” containing cash that are often handed out to younger members of the family.
“People are going out less and spending less, and not giving out so many red envelopes,” he said.
A Beijing resident who gave only the surname Huang for fear of reprisals said it’s nevertheless embarrassing to have to make such cuts to cash gifts.
“Chinese people care so much about face, and in the cities, you can’t just give out 20 yuan [in a red envelope],” he said. “You have to give 100 yuan at least.”
“I have to give red envelopes, despite the pain, because it’s a tradition, so I only give them to about 10 people now, which is within my budget,” he said. “You have to tighten your belt if you’re making less.”
People crowd a railway station in Hangzhou, in China’s eastern Zhejiang province, Jan. 22, 2025, as millions of people across China head to their hometowns ahead of Lunar New Year celebrations.(STR/AFP)
He said the mood on the streets of Beijing is noticeably less cheerful than in previous years.
“There are noticeably fewer people on the streets,” he said. “A lot of people I know are complaining how hard it is to make money, and nobody is saying that business is good.”
“Some people have no money … and some are relying on their savings to get by.”
‘A civilized and rational Lunar New Year’
Current affairs commentator Ji Feng said the government has been calling on departments and state-owned enterprises to curb lavish spending on festivities this year, which in turn has hit revenues at major food and drink manufacturers.
“No one is buying Moutai this year,” Ji said, in a reference to China’s most famous fiery spirit. “The price has dropped to 2,000 yuan (US$275) [a bottle].”
“A friend of mine who owns a distillery said business isn’t good this year, with not many customers, whereas it used to be overcrowded around Lunar New Year,” he said.
He said government directives to “spend a civilized and rational Lunar New Year” was an indicator of the economic hardship faced by many in China, including cash-strapped local governments.
“There’s no money, so we should spend less, but they have to find a high-sounding reason,” Ji said.
“We’re not poor, but we should celebrate New Year like revolutionaries,” he quipped.
People visit a new year’s fair inside a shopping center in Beijing, Jan. 17, 2025.(JADE GAO/AFP)
Economic commentator Si Ling said the state media continues to sing the praises of China’s “economic recovery,” however.
“But actually, the Chinese government is well aware that the pockets of … the working classes and migrant workers, who make up 70% of China’s population, just aren’t very full this year,” Si said.
“They try to guide public opinion by issuing directives warning against excessive consumption, but the subtext is that nobody has any money,” he said.
All local governments are required to identify the poorest families, including those who hadn’t met previous criteria for needing state assistance, state media reported.
Translated by Luisetta Mudie. Edited by Joshua Lipes.
This content originally appeared on Radio Free Asia and was authored by Chen Zifei.
The six Mekong River countries are working together to combat online scamming and arms dealing in the interests of their security, China’s embassy in Myanmar said, as authorities renew efforts to tackle a problem that is causing growing alarm across the region.
The rescue of a Chinese actor and several other victims this month from an online scam center in eastern Myanmar has shone a spotlight on the criminal gangs running fraud, money-laundering and human trafficking operations from some of the more lawless corners of the region.
The scam centers proliferated in Myanmar, Cambodia and Laos after the COVID-19 pandemic disrupted casinos. Thousands of people have been lured by false job offers and then forced to work defrauding victims online in complexes often run by ethnic Chinese gangsters, human rights groups say.
China, which is also home to many of the victims of the scammers, has been organizing action to tackle the problem with its southern neighbors, most recently at a meeting in the city of Kunming, in China’s Yunnan southern border province.
“The operation brings together the law enforcement resources of various countries and is an effective cooperative force in the fight against telecommunications fraud and arms smuggling in the region,” China’s embassy in Myanmar said in a statement on Tuesday.
“All parties unanimously agreed that regional security and stability were effectively protected,” it said.
In 2025, members of the Lancang-Mekong Integrated Law Enforcement and Security Cooperation Center – China, Myanmar, Thailand Laos, Cambodia and Vietnam – will begin the second phase of an operation against the criminals, the embassy said. It did not give details of what it would entail.
The Myanmar National Democratic Alliance Army hands over 337 telecom and internet fraud suspects to Chinese police on Oct. 7, 2023.(Kokang News)
From August to December, Operation Zin Yaw resulted in a collective 160 cases cracking down on telecommunications fraud, in which more than 70,000 criminals were arrested and 160 victims were rescued, the embassy said. Myanmar authorities have said the large majority of suspects detained in raids are from China.
China can provide “effective protection” against both arms smuggling and online fraud, the embassy said.
The recent abduction and rescue from an eastern Myanmar enclave on the Thai border of Chinese actor Wang Xing, and model Yang Zeqi, has attracted media attention across the region and raised public alarm about safety.
Thailand has seen a rash of group tour cancellations for the upcoming Lunar New Year and its government has promised action to protect its economically important tourist industry.
The leaders of militias loyal to Myanmar’s junta and the operators of online scam centers announced this month that they had agreed to stop forced labor and fraud after coming under pressure from Thailand and the Myanmar military, sources close to the militia groups said.
“The threat posed by the scam gangs is large – if you read the newspapers you know – so something needs to be done,” said Aung Thu Nyein, a member of the Institute for Strategy and Policy Myanmar think tank.
Myanmar’s exiled parallel National Unity Government said in a statement on Monday it and other anti-junta groups would work with neighboring countries to suppress the scam centers.
Translated by Kiana Duncan. Edited by RFA Staff.
This content originally appeared on Radio Free Asia and was authored by RFA Burmese.
Longer range/endurance UAVs make a different to the tyranny of distance when it comes down to ISR. For full situational awareness, governments and their armed forces are electing to perform intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance (ISR) missions across international waters and borders with uncrewed aerial vehicles (UAV), and this is most evident in the Asia Pacific […]
TAIPEI, Taiwan – Taiwan’s opposition parties, which control the legislature, have forced through a 6.6% cut in the 2025 budget, which the ruling Democratic Progressive Party, or DPP, described as a “hostile” attempt that poses an “unprecedented” security risk.
The island’s Legislative Yuan approved the 2025 central government general budget on Tuesday, which saw a record cut of approximately $207.5 billion New Taiwan dollars (US$6.34 billion) forced by the opposition Kuomintang and Taiwan People’s Party.
The affected items include Taiwan’s defense and diplomatic budgets, with half of the proposed NT$2 billion (US$66.67 million) funding for an indigenous defense submarine, or IDS, program being frozen on Monday.
The freeze prevents Taiwan’s navy from accessing the NT$1 billion until the IDS prototype, the Narwhal, completes its sea acceptance tests and the Ministry of National Defense briefs lawmakers.
The IDS program, which produces the island’s first self-made submarine, the ROCN Hai Kun submarine, also known as SS-711, is intended to develop the capacity to intercept Chinese People’s Liberation Army Navy fleets from entering the Pacific Ocean, preventing the encirclement or blockade of waters around Taiwan or breaking through blockades.
The submarine is undergoing testing.
A bottle is broken against the hull of Narwhal, Taiwan’s first domestically built submarine in Kaohsiung, Taiwan, Sept. 28, 2023.(Carlos Garcia Rawlins/Reuters)
“This is a budget review that hurts our allies and pleases our adversaries. The nation’s interests are being undermined, our competing nations are catching up, and hostile China will be very satisfied,” said Executive Yuan Premier Cho Jung-tai, who is a member of the DPP.
A Kuomintang legislator, Hsu Chiao-Hsin, insists that the remaining budget will only be released after the first submarine passes its sea test but Deputy Defense Minister Po Hung-hui said that would negatively affect the program.
“The decision has greatly discouraged colleagues who have worked tirelessly on the submarine program for years,” Po told a press conference on Tuesday.
Some analysts, on the other hand, say overseeing the budget is “justified” on some conditions.
“The submarine is still a prototype with significant room for improvement. The concern now is that it has yet to undergo sea trials,” Shu Hsiao-Huang, an associate research fellow at the Institute for National Defense and Security Research, told Radio Free Asia.
“If the trials reveal numerous issues that require adjustments or system updates, there are doubts about whether this design can be applied to the second and subsequent mass-production vessels. And there are uncertainties about potential changes in shipbuilding costs.”
He added that although it was reasonable for legislators to oversee budget outlays, the ruling and opposition parties should not treat it as a tool for political purposes.
“Hopefully, this will not devolve into political infighting, which could lead to flawed policies and turn into a political battleground,” Shu said.
Taiwan is expected to conclude a major arms purchase agreement with the new U.S. administration of President Donald Trump, with media reporting in November that Taiwan had already approached Trump’s team regarding a possible US$15 billion weapons package.
Nevertheless, Shu said that issues such as delayed deliveries of U.S. arms also complicated Taiwan’s use of its defense budget.
The Washington-based Cato Institute said in a September report that as of August 2024, the total value of undelivered U.S. arms to Taiwan had reached US$20.53 billion.
“Taiwan’s overall military procurement contract with the U.S. is fine,” Shu said. “The only issue that could disrupt the budget use is the delayed weapons,” he said, adding that inflation also complicated the process.
“The procurement details such as personnel training, follow-up equipment support, additional ammunition and spare parts can also lead to any adjustment of the budget,” he added.
Edited by Taejun Kang.
This content originally appeared on Radio Free Asia and was authored by Alan Lu for RFA.
China has executed a man for killing at least 35 people with his car at a stadium in the southern city of Zhuhai following a marital breakdown last November, along with a man who stabbed eight to death in a school in Wuxi after failing his final exams.
Fan Weiqiu, 62, was executed by the Zhuhai Intermediate People’s Court on Jan. 20 “in accordance with the execution order issued by the Supreme People’s Court,” state news agency Xinhua reported, adding that the execution was supervised by officials from the state prosecutor’s office.
At least 35 people were killed and 43 injured when Fan rammed his car into a crowd at a stadium in Zhuhai city, prompting a rare call from President Xi Jinping for an investigation, and for the perpetrator to be punished.
Injured people lie on the road after a car rammed into them outside a sports center in Zuhai, China, Nov. 11, 2024.(Social Media via Reu)
The sentences come as the ruling Communist Party counts the cost of a growing number of “social revenge” attacks on members of the public, including the Zhuhai car attack.
Since then, further violence has been making the headlines, including the fatal stabbing of eight people at a vocational college in Wuxi by 21-year-old Xu Jiajin, who was also executed on Monday.
Two rulings
Fan was sentenced to death on Dec. 27, 2024 for “endangering public security by dangerous means,” and accepted the sentence, the agency reported. Police said he had carried out the attack because he was unhappy with his divorce settlement.
“After review by the Guangdong Higher People’s Court, the case was submitted to the Supreme People’s Court for approval,” it said.
The Wuxi Intermediate People’s Court in the eastern province of Jiangsu executed Xu Jiajin on Jan. 20, after allowing him a meeting with his family beforehand, state broadcaster CCTV reported.
Xu, 21, was handed a death sentence by the court on Dec. 17, 2024, after the court found him guilty of the “intentional homicide” of eight people and the injury of 17 more on the campus of his vocational school in Wuxi on Nov. 16, 2024.
“This was an extremely serious crime, the circumstances and consequences of which were particularly serious,” the report said.
Police said Xu had failed his exams and been unable to graduate, and was dissatisfied with his low pay at an internship.
New security measures
The “revenge” attacks have sparked new security measures, with authorities in Guangdong sending local officials and volunteers to intervene in people’s marital troubles and to mediate disputes between neighbors in the wake of the Zhuhai attack.
A woman lights candles near floral tributes outside a sports center, Nov. 12, 2024, in Zhuhai, China, where a car ran into a crowd of people.(Tingshu Wang/Reuters)
The ruling Chinese Communist Party is also stepping up the use of big data to predict people’s behavior in a bid to identify “social risks” and prevent violent attacks on members of the public.
Local officials are being encouraged to set up systems that analyse huge amounts of big data to warn them of potential social tensions and disgruntlement, so they can try to intervene before such crimes are committed.
But analysts have warned that further state-backed intervention in people’s lives could further distort social cohesion and fuel disputes between people.
Translated by Luisetta Mudie.
This content originally appeared on Radio Free Asia and was authored by An Ke.
Beijing has changed the rendering of U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio’s name in Chinese, effectively freeing him from its own sanctions banning him from entering the country, in an apparent olive branch to President Donald Trump, analysts said on Tuesday.
The U.S. Senate confirmed Marco Rubio as secretary of state on Monday, unanimously voting in the Florida senator who sees China as the “biggest threat” to U.S. security, hours after the inauguration of Trump for his second term as president.
Rubio was slapped with retaliatory Chinese sanctions twice in 2020 after he criticized Chinese human rights abuses in Xinjiang and Hong Kong.
Perhaps in anticipation of Rubio’s confirmation, China has changed one of the Chinese characters it uses to represent Rubio’s name in Chinese — lu, bi and ào.
A Ministry of Foreign Affairs news release dated Jan. 16 used the characters 鲁 (lǔ) 比 (bǐ) and 奥 (ào) in its official transcription of Rubio’s surname. Earlier official transcriptions had used 卢 (lú) as the first syllable.
Chinese put the family name first, followed by a two- or one-character given name, so Rubio effectively now has a new Chinese surname.
A foreign ministry spokesperson in Beijing declined to say whether those sanctions — which include a travel ban to China — will now be lifted.
Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Guo Jiakun takes a question at a press conference in Beijing, Jan. 7, 2025.(Florence Lo/Reuters)
“China will firmly safeguard its national interests,” spokesperson Guo Jiakun told a regular news briefing in Beijing on Tuesday.
“At the same time, it is necessary for high-level officials from China and the United States to maintain contact in an appropriate manner,” he said.
‘Most dangerous near peer adversary’
At his confirmation hearing on Wednesday, Rubio described China as America’s “biggest threat.”
“If we stay on the road we’re on right now, in less than 10 years, virtually everything that matters to us in life will depend on whether China will allow us to have it – everything from the blood pressure medicine we take to what movies we get to watch,” Rubio told the hearing.
State media have characterized the second Trump presidency as a “critical” juncture that could improve ties with the United States.
Face-saving way
The change in Rubio’s Chinese name will have been approved at a high level, former diplomat and defector Chen Yonglin said
“The translation of names of important figures in China is determined through the translation office of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the translation office of Xinhua News Agency,” Chen told RFA Cantonese on Tuesday. “It seems that a decision was made about this name after internal discussions.”
Chen Yonglin addresses demonstrators supporting the Global Service Center for People Quitting the Chinese Communist Party, July 22, 2005, in Washington, D.C.(Andrew Councill/AFP)
He said the move was a face-saving way for the Chinese authorities to allow Rubio to travel to the country despite sanctions, without having to withdraw them.
“China is now in trouble domestically and internationally, and has begun to go back to softer tactics,” Chen said.
British Chinese writer Ma Jian said the government is playing “word games,” as usual.
“This kind of name change is very typical for China,” Ma said. “It’s also normal behavior for the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, which is using it as a way to compromise.”
“It’s the only solution they can find … because if the relationship with the United States hits a new low, this will be a huge blow to the Chinese Communist Party, so they need to save face right now,” he said.
Soong Kuo-cheng of Taiwan’s National Chengchi University said the Trump administration’s “America First” policy would give Beijing scant room for maneuver.
“The United States … doesn’t want to give the Chinese Communist Party any opportunity to compete with it, so there’s no room for compromise,” Soong said. “It will continue to confront Beijing.”
Spokesperson Guo Jiakun told reporters in Beijing on Tuesday: “China is willing to strengthen dialogue and communication with the United States, properly manage differences and expand mutually beneficial cooperation based on the principles of mutual respect, peaceful coexistence, and win-win cooperation.”
But he was indirectly critical of the U.S. withdrawal from the World Health Organization, saying the role of the global body “should be strengthened, not weakened.”
“China will continue to support the WHO in fulfilling its responsibilities, deepen international public health cooperation, enhance global health governance, and promote the construction of a community of shared health for humanity,” Guo said.
Regarding Trump’s claim that China was effectively “operating” the Panama Canal and that the U.S. would take it back, Guo said: “I have no additional information to share.”
Translated by Luisetta Mudie. Edited by Malcolm Foster.
This content originally appeared on Radio Free Asia and was authored by Yitong Wu, Kit Sung, Chen Zifei.
A rebel army in northeastern Myanmar has agreed to a ceasefire with the junta after talks mediated by neighboring China, which is keen to see an end to Myanmar’s turbulence, China’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs said.
Myanmar’s junta has suffered unprecedented setbacks at the hands of different insurgent groups over the past year, raising questions about the sustainability of military rule over the ethnically diverse country, where China has considerable economic interests.
China has been putting pressure on some insurgents, particularly those operating in Myanmar regions on the Chinese border, such as the Myanmar National Democratic Alliance Army, or MNDAA, to press them into negotiations with the junta that seized power in a 2021 coup.
“With China’s mediation and effort to drive progress … the two sides reached and signed a formal ceasefire agreement, and stopped fighting at 12 a.m. on January 18, 2025,” Chinese foreign ministry spokeswoman Mao Ning told a briefing in Beijing on Monday, referring to the MNDAA and the Myanmar military.
The talks were held in China’s southwest city of Kunming, Mao said but she gave no details of the agreement.
“China stands ready to actively promote talks for peace and provide support and help for the peace process in northern Myanmar,” she said.
Neither the MNDAA nor the junta had released any information about a ceasefire at time of publication and Radio Free Asia was not able to contact their spokespeople for comment.
A main street in Myanmar’s Lashio town on Jan. 7, 2025.(Lashio Reconstruction)
The MNDAA, based in the Kokang region of Myanmar’s Shan state, was one of three allied insurgent groups that launched a stunning offensive in October 2023, pushing the military out of swathes of territory, numerous military camps and towns, despite China’s efforts to broker peace.
The MNDAA captured the major town of Lashio and the army’s regional command headquarters there in early August.
China later closed the border with the MNDAA zone, cutting off vital supplies.
In October, MNDAA leader Peng Daxun traveled to China for medical treatment and to meet a senior Chinese official. Sources close to the MNDAA later told RFA that he was prevented from returning to Myanmar as a way of pressing the group to make peace. China denied that.
It was not immediately clear what the ceasefire would mean for Lashio, a major trade gateway with China.
Earlier, the MNDAA said it would agree to a ceasefire if it could retain control of Lashio.
A resident said there had been no major changes there this week.
“Transport is running as usual,” said the resident, who declined to be identified for safety reasons.
“According to what we can see, it doesn’t look like the Kokang Army is withdrawing,” he said, referring to the MNDAA. “I get the sense they have a firm foothold here.”
An MNDAA-appointed traffic police officer in Myanmar’s Lashio on Jan. 7, 2025.(Lashio Reconstruction)
A political analyst in the region said he had heard that the main issues the two sides discussed in recent talks were border trade and returning prisoners of war, not a rebel withdrawal from Lashio.
He said he did not expect the region’s status to be determined until after the junta holds an election, expected later this year, which it hopes will bolster its legitimacy.
“We’ll have to wait and see if the government and the MNDAA can discuss issues related to territory,” said the analyst, who declined to be identified for safety reasons.
Another analyst, who is also a former army officer, said both sides would initially be cautious.
“The agreement has only just been made … the next thing is to wait and see if each side is committed,” said the second analyst, who also declined to be identified as talking to the media.
The progress towards peace has led to China re-opening some of its border crossings, to the relief of communities deprived of Chinese trade for weeks, sources in the region said.
“Food products can be sent and received normally,” Nyi Yan, a liaison officer with the United Wa State Army, another militia force based in Shan state, told RFA.
“China also eased restrictions on the import of fuel into Wa administrative regions on Sunday night.”
Translated by Kiana Duncan. Edited by RFA Staff.
This content originally appeared on Radio Free Asia and was authored by RFA Burmese.
The US Marine Corps is overhauling its electronic warfare capabilities supporting land and littoral manoeuvre warfare against a backdrop of ongoing Sino-US tensions in the Asia-Pacific. Regardless of whichever candidate wins the U.S. presidential election in November, Sino-US strategic rivalry is unlikely to dissipate. Relations between the two powers have been difficult since 1949 when […]
The US Marine Corps is overhauling its electronic warfare capabilities supporting land and littoral manoeuvre warfare against a backdrop of ongoing Sino-US tensions in the Asia-Pacific. Regardless of whichever candidate wins the U.S. presidential election in November, Sino-US strategic rivalry is unlikely to dissipate. Relations between the two powers have been difficult since 1949 when […]
WASHINGTON – President Donald Trump on Monday signed an executive order extending by 75 days the deadline for the Chinese owners of TikTok to divest in the app to avoid it being banned in the United States.
Trump signed the order within hours of being sworn in as the 47th president of the United States at the U.S. Capitol on Monday. TikTok CEO Shou Chew was among the tech moguls who attended the inauguration.
TikTok had taken itself offline for a period of hours on Sunday in line with a deadline set by a law signed by now former President Joe Biden in April that forced it to be sold to American owners to avoid a ban.
On Friday, the Biden White House said it would not enforce the ban in deference to the incoming Trump administration, which indicated it was against a ban.
TikTok maintained that the Biden administration’s pledge not to enforce the law was not clear enough and that the app’s service providers had to comply with the law to avoid being prosecuted for breaking the law.
Users attempting to open TikTok on Sunday were met with messages saying that the app was not available, pending a deal with Trump.
“We are fortunate that President Trump has indicated that he will work with us on a solution to reinstate TikTok once he takes office,” the app said in a message overlaying its normal screen. “Please stay tuned!”
A message reading “Sorry, TikTok isn’t available right now” is displayed on a phone, Jan. 18, 2025.(AP)
But within hours, that message disappeared and service returned.
TikTok thanked talks with Trump for allowing it to restore service.
“In agreement with our service providers, TikTok is in the process of restoring service,” it said. “We thank President Trump for providing the necessary clarity and assurance to our service providers that they will face no penalties providing TikTok to over 170 million Americans and allowing over 7 million small businesses to thrive.”
“It’s a strong stand for the First Amendment and against arbitrary censorship,” the statement added. “We will work with President Trump on a long-term solution that keeps TikTok in the United States.”
The law forcing TikTok’s Chinese owners to divest or be banned was passed by Congress with overwhelming bipartisan support in April after being driven forward primarily by House Republicans, who said they feared the app could be used to push Chinese propaganda.
The law gave TikTok’s Chinese owners 270 days from the day Biden signed it to divest in the app to avoid a ban. By design or chance, that deadline fell on the day before Trump’s inauguration on Monday.
During his first term in office, Trump had signed an executive order banning TikTok that was later overturned by the Supreme Court. But out of power, Trump turned into a fan of the app, and heavily criticized Biden’s decision to sign the bipartisan TikTok ban bill last year.
President Donald Trump speaks at his inauguration ceremony in the Rotunda of the U.S. Capitol in Washington, D.C., on Jan. 20. 2025.(Chip Somodevilla/Reuters)
The Biden White House called TikTok’s decision to take its app offline despite the administration’s pledges not to enforce the law a “stunt.”
“We have seen the most recent statement from TikTok,” Biden’s press secretary, Karine Jean-Pierre, said Saturday. “It is a stunt, and we see no reason for TikTok or other companies to take actions in the next few days before the Trump Administration takes office on Monday.”
“We have laid out our position clearly and straightforwardly: actions to implement this law will fall to the next administration,” she said. “TikTok and other companies should take up any concerns with them.”
On his TruthSocial platform, Trump said he extended the deadline for TikTok “so that we can make a deal to protect our national security.”
However, he indicated he still wished to see its ownership change, with an American owner having at least a 50% ownership in the app. That was because, he said, America was where the app is making money.
“Therefore, my initial thought is a joint venture between the current owners and/or new owners whereby the U.S. gets a 50% ownership in a joint venture set up between the U.S. and whichever purchase we so choose,” Trump said in the Truth Social post on Sunday.
Edited by Malcolm Foster.
This content originally appeared on Radio Free Asia and was authored by Alex Willemyns.
Beijing views the second presidency of Donald Trump as a “critical” juncture that could improve ties with the United States, according to official commentaries in state media.
“The river of history is constantly flowing, and the critical points are often just a few steps,” the People’s Daily, official newspaper of the ruling Communist Party, said in an op-ed published on Monday, the Trump’s inauguration date.
Describing the international situation as “full of change and chaos,” the article said the bilateral relationship should be managed from a “strategic and long-term perspective, which will bring more certainty to a turbulent world.”
“China-U.S. relations are the most important bilateral relations in the world … affecting the future and destiny of mankind,” the commentary said, citing a need for more exchanges between the Chinese and American people.
“Both sides need to move towards each other,” it said.
The official commentaries come amid multiple media reports that Trump plans to visit China within 100 days of taking office, and that a face-to-face meeting with Xi is on the cards.
Chinese Vice President Han Zheng, who attended Trump’s inauguration ceremony on behalf of Xi Jinping, met with Vice President-elect J.D. Vance on Jan. 19 to discuss various bilateral issues including fentanyl, trade balance and regional stability.
Vice President of China Han Zheng attends Donald Trump’s presidential inauguration ceremony in the U.S. Capitol Rotunda in Washington, D.C., on Jan. 20, 2025.(Shawn Thew/AFP)
Han also met with Trump ally Elon Musk, telling him that American companies including Tesla are welcome to “share the fruits” of China’s development.
The nationalistic Global Times said the recent migration of TikTok users to China’s Xiaohongshu, or RedNote, social media platform and the exchanges seen on the platform between Chinese and Americans was a good example of positive “people-to-people” exchanges.
Trump-Xi phone call
It also said Friday’s phone call between Trump and Xi was a “compass” showing where the relationship is headed.
“This telephone conversation showcased interaction at the highest level, reflecting both sides’ deep understanding of the importance of China-US relations and their positive attitude toward cooperation,” the paper said in a Jan. 20 op-ed.
“This call set the tone for the direction of China-U.S. relations in the coming period,” the article said, noting that demand for exchange-traded funds linked to Chinese stock indexes had spiked following the call.
“[This] indirectly reflects how sensitive and hopeful the world is about the possibility of a good start to China-US relations,” it said.
But it said the previous approach in Washington had led to “negative assets” in the relationship and “numerous problems that need solutions through dialogue.”
It called on the new administration to “move beyond the mindset of viewing China as a formidable enemy,” but it said China’s territorial claim on democratic Taiwan was “a red line that China cannot allow to be challenged.”
In Hong Kong, the Chinese-language Ming Pao newspaper said the Sino-U.S. relationship would likely get off to a “relatively harmonious start under Trump 2.0,” citing the phone call and Xi’s invitation to the inauguration.
“However, the United States has always regarded China as the most important strategic competitor, and Trump’s high-ranking officials and staff have not changed their hawkish position,” the paper said in a Jan. 20 op-ed. “There are still many variables when it comes to whether Sino-US relations can be stabilized and improved.”
Two Taiwanese Kuang Hua VI-class missile boats conduct a simulated attack drill off Kaohsiung City, southern Taiwan, Jan. 9, 2025.(Chiang Ying-ying/AP)
Current affairs commentator Wu Qiang said a more domestically focused approach to global cooperation is actually something that is shared by China and the Trump administration, and that the relationship would likely improve with more direct contact between Trump and Xi.
“At the very least, they can balance the relationship by strengthening the relationship between their individual leaders,” Wu said. “This is the kind of strengthening that is welcomed by the leaders of China and also Russia.”
He said such relationships would act as a “parallel” axis of international cooperation, alongside the China-Russia alliance and the U.S. relationship with allies NATO, Europe and Southeast Asia.
Russia, Trade
Commentator Yuan Hongbing said Trump’s plan to visit China is likely part of a bid to get Beijing’s help with a ceasefire in Ukraine.
“The fundamental reason he is now showing goodwill towards Xi Jinping is that he wants to meet his diplomatic commitments,” Yuan said. “Russia is already in a position of advantage on the battlefield.”
But trade is also likely high on the agenda, according to Yuan and a veteran Chinese journalist who gave only the surname Kong for fear of reprisals.
“It’s part of the plan to make America great again,” Kong said, referencing Trump’s slogan. “He believes that the trade deficit has had an impact on the U.S. economy.”
“But what kind of pressure he will bring to bear … that will be a key focus of his trip to China.”
Sun Kuo-hsiang, director of Taiwan’s Nanhua University, said Taiwan could see its defense concerns drop further down the list of U.S. priorities under Trump.
“During his first term, Trump put a strong emphasis on transactional diplomacy, and so he may use Taiwan as leverage, for example, reducing arms sales or limiting official contacts, in exchange for concessions from China on trade or international issues,” Sun told RFA Mandarin in a recent interview.
He said that could undermine Taiwan’s ability to defend itself in the event of a Chinese invasion.
“If Sino-U.S. ties ease, then China may believe that the United States has softened on Taiwan, and step up its military and diplomatic activities,” Sun said. “That will bring far more uncertainty to the situation in the Taiwan Strait.”
Translated by Luisetta Mudie. Edited by Malcolm Foster.
This content originally appeared on Radio Free Asia and was authored by Ray Chung, Qian Lang.
A second Hong Konger has been freed from a notorious scamming center in Myanmar amid concerns for 10 others who remain in captivity as families hear reports of electric shocks with batons, according to a campaigner working for the families of scam victims.
The person was released from the KK Park in Myawaddy, just across the river from Mae Sot in Thailand, on Sunday and is now in the “safe place” in Thailand, according to Andy Yu, a former district councilor who is campaigning on behalf of the families of Hong Kong victims.
No ransom was involved, said Yu, who delivered a petition letter along with relatives at the Myanmar Consulate General in Hong Kong on Monday, calling for help with the rescue of the 10 Hong Kongers who remain in Southeast Asian scam parks.
The release of the man is the second in a week, and comes after the city authorities sent a task force to Thailand in a bid to rescue an estimated 12 victims stuck in the scam parks.
What are these scam centers?
Thousands of people from around Asia — and as far away as Africa — have been trafficked these scam centers, mostly in Myanmar and Laos, but often run by Chinese, lured by false advertisements.
Trapped in the compound, the workers forced to contact people online and trick them into buying bogus investments to earn money for the operators. If they don’t reach quotas, the workers are often punished or tortured, according to accounts from people who have been freed.
A petition from a family member of a scam park victim and intended for the Myanmar Consulate General is displayed in Hong Kong, Jan. 20, 2025.(Hong Kong Government Information Services)
“Some imprisoned Hong Kongers in the Myanmar park were given electric shocks because they failed to achieve their targets, so their families fear for their safety,” Yu said.
“Since we received that information, we are going to appeal to the Myanmar consulate, in the hope of rescuing them as soon as possible.’
Yu went with a family member who gave only the nickname Calvin for fear of reprisals to the Consulate General of Myanmar to hand in a petition on Monday, but said there was nobody to receive it, forcing them to leave it downstairs with a concierge.
53,000 arrested
China’s Ministry of Public Security said on Jan. 13 it had arrested a total of 53,000 Chinese nationals involved in Myanmar scam operations in an ongoing crackdown, and that the Four Families crime syndicate in the northern Myanmar region of Kokang had been destroyed.
The ministry detailed a massive and “well-organized” cross-border operation involving massive participation from partners inside China, who promote, develop and update their schemes for luring unsuspecting jobseekers to Thailand or Myanmar, where they are kidnapped and made to work pending a ransom from their families.
Yu said the family members of the second freed victim had been allowed a one-minute phone call with them, and learned that they are now safely in Thailand.
It was unclear when the man would be allowed to return to Hong Kong.
Calvin told RFA Cantonese that his relative was lured into the park after going to Japan to pursue a business opportunity as a “purchasing agent.”
Hong Kong Secretary for Security Chris Tang, left, meets with the Consul-General of Myanmar in Hong Kong, Han Win Naing, second right, Jan. 17, 2025.(Hong Kong Government Information Services)
“I haven’t been able to contact my family member this whole time,” he said, in a reference to the last three weeks. “I hope the consulate … can help us rescue our loved ones as soon as possible, so they can be reunited with their families.”
Calvin said the last time he spoke to his family member, he was only allowed a few minutes on the phone, and that the family hasn’t received any demand for ransom, something they might consider paying to get them out.
Hard to target
There are also fears that the crime syndicate that runs the park could just send them to another park.
“The family members feel that this case is urgent,” Yu said. “The government should take action as soon as possible before they’re transferred to another park and things get even worse.”
A statement on the Hong Kong government website said Secretary for Security Chis Tang met with Myanmar Consul-General Han Win Naing on Jan. 17, in a bid to follow up on the outstanding cases.
Tang “exchanged views and shared information” with Han Win Naing, and discussed “strengthening future follow-up work,” the statement said.
“Tang received positive feedback from Mr Han Win Naing, with all parties expressing hope to assist more assistance seekers in returning to Hong Kong safely as soon as possible,” it said.
Since 2024, law enforcement agencies have received a total of 28 requests for assistance in relation to Hong Kong residents held in Southeast Asian countries and unable to leave, it said.
Seventeen have already returned home, and the task force will continue to follow up on the remaining cases, the statement said.
Translated by Luisetta Mudie. Edited by Malcolm Foster.
This content originally appeared on Radio Free Asia and was authored by Wei Sze, Alice Yam.
With the Tiktok ban just days away, American youth have started flooding the Chinese social media app RedNote, pushing it into #1 position on the app store. Labeled “Tiktok refugees” by Chinese netizens, the newcomers have been welcomed by app users with open arms, curiosity, and a fair bit of humor.
Though initially confused at the sudden influx of English speakers, long-dwelling app users quickly connected the dots and were quick to poke fun at the US government’s accusations of China spying on your typical American citizen.
The app “Xiaohongshu” directly translates to ‘Little Red Book,” but it has been dubbed RedNote in the United States. Many are quick to think of Chinese communist leader Mao Zedong’s famous Little Red Book, though app officials say it isn’t a direct reference. Still, the comedic composition is something to celebrate.
The Tiktok ban is quite evidently backfiring on the US government. As users snub the ban and move to a real Chinese social media app, spontaneous interactions between US and Chinese citizens are naturally sorting through years and years of anti-China propaganda.
WAIT! The social credit thing isn’t real??? One user commented, after locals revealed that there is no such thing as a social credit score in China — just one of the many stories the media has falsely fed us.
The app has ushered in a new wave of cross-cultural learning. Americans have been posting questions like, “How does China feel about Palestine?” and “What does the US government tell us about China that isn’t true?” There’s been comparisons between the US and China health systems (of which China’s is undoubtedly superior) and tours of China’s incredible EVs. The vast number of Americans agree: the US has fallen way behind.
Not only that, but American citizens cite a new appreciation for China, and the number of people learning Mandarin has grown. Duolingo has already seen a 216% spike. While Chinese citizens have taken it upon themselves to start teaching newcomers common Chinese phrases, Americans simultaneously help local users with their English homework.
It is more than just cultural exchange, however. This is an unprecedented people-to-people moment, allowing two communities to come together and realize they are more alike than not. Such a realization is desperately needed, and undercuts a rapidly escalating war climate between the US and China.
Recently, the US approved a $2 billion arms sale to Taiwan, citing potential war with China. In response, China sanctioned numerous US weapons companies for violating the one-China principle and destabilizing the region. War talk isn’t new — the US government has been pushing and planning for it ever since China rose to power in the early 2000s. A natural threat to US global hegemony, our politicians have been plotting the fall of China for decades, spending billions and billions of dollars to militarize the region around China and pushing a narrative of hatred and fear in the media.
Just this week, China hawk Marco Rubio underwent his Secretary of State confirmation hearing. Due to his push for war against China, he has been travel-sanctioned by the Chinese government for years. Our nation’s top “diplomat” is going to have some trouble conducting diplomacy when he’s unable to even travel to the nation where we need it most. Not that anything Rubio does could ever be considered diplomacy.
But despite the constant anti-China rhetoric plaguing our politicians and media, new RedNote users appear to be taking a different path:
The internet is a modern tool not previously available to the people during the great power wars of previous decades. It provides a fresh avenue that can circumvent the weaponization of the media and allow people to easily connect from different sides of the globe.
Perhaps an app like RedNote is exactly what we need to continue diffusing all the anti-China propaganda attempting to manufacture consent for the next great war. It’s about time the people decide for themselves who they should and shouldn’t be calling “enemy” rather than adhering to the whims of a war-obsessed government.
With a potential TikTok ban on January 19 looming over the United States, American TikTok users are moving en masse to RedNote, a Chinese social media app. Known in China as Xianhongshu, which literally translates to “little red book” (yes, the allegory isn’t lost here), the app is currently sitting at the top of the social media charts in the App store, gaining over half a million new users over the last few days.
In a display of camaraderie, users — monikered “TikTok refugees” on the platform — flocked to RedNote, and Chinese and American users have taken to using the shared platform as an opportunity of a rare and (as of yet) fraternal cultural exchange.
The U.S. Supreme Court on Friday upheld a ban on the Chinese-owned social media platform TikTok, as reports emerged that the Biden administration won’t enforce the law set to take effect on Sunday, its last day in office.
There was no immediate reaction from officials with the incoming administration of President-elect Donald Trump, who has opposed the ban and will be inaugurated on Monday.
An opinion released by the court at 10 a.m. upheld a prior decision from a federal appeals court that the law, passed in April but set to take effect Sunday, did not violate constitutional rights to freedom of speech.
“There is no doubt that, for more than 170 million Americans, TikTok offers a distinctive and expansive outlet for expression, means of engagement, and source of community,” the opinion said.
“But Congress has determined that divestiture is necessary to address its well-supported national security concerns regarding TikTok’s data collection practices and relationship with a foreign adversary.”
“For the foregoing reasons, we conclude that the challenged provisions do not violate petitioners’ First Amendment rights,” the opinion said.
The opinion was released a day after the Associated Press quoted an anonymous Biden administration official as saying the White House would not enforce a ban that will take effect on Sunday.
National security concerns
In April, President Joe Biden signed legislation supported by both Democrats and Republicans in Congress that required TikTok’s Chinese parent company ByteDance to sell the app or face a ban in the United States.
U.S. lawmakers expressed concerns the app could allow China to collect sensitive information on Americans and allow Beijing to feed them misinformation. TikTok has denied any connections to the CCP and says a ban would violate the First Amendment guarantee of free speech.
ByteDance, meanwhile, said it wasn’t interested in the sale required by the law.
The deadline for divestiture is Sunday, just one day before Trump takes office. In a brief filed to the court in December, Trump’s nominee for solicitor general asked for a delay in the ruling. News reports have said Trump is considering issuing an executive order to delay the ban.
The legislation, which was the culmination of years of debate over TikTok and Chinese influence in the United States, prompted a broad lobbying and public relations campaign, which some of TikTok’s estimated 170 million users in the U.S. joined in favor of the app.
As the Supreme Court deliberated, TikTok users registered their opposition to the legislation by downloading Xiaohongshu, which translates as “little red book.” another social media platform developed by a Chinese company, even though it doesn’t have a U.S. version.
This content originally appeared on Radio Free Asia and was authored by Alex Willemyns.
TAIPEI, Taiwan – China announced on Friday a plan to resume group tours to Taiwan after it criticized the island over what it called its inaction in normalizing cross-strait interactions.
Tourism between China, which claims self-ruled Taiwan as its territory, and the democratic island has often been a barometer of relations across the Taiwan Strait, is widely regarded as one of the world’s most dangerous flash points.
“In order to further promote the normalization of cross-strait personnel exchanges and the regularization of exchanges in various fields … the mainland will resume group tours to Taiwan for residents of Fujian and Shanghai in the near future,” said China’s Ministry of Culture and Tourism in a statement on Friday.
The ministry added “preparations were underway,” without giving further details, including the timeline.
Taiwan has a ban on its citizens joining group tours to the mainland but independent tourists from both sides are free to come and go.
The announcement came after China’s Taiwan Affairs Office on Wednesday criticized Taiwan’s ruling party, the Democratic Progressive Party, or DPP, for not lifting its ban on island groups going to the mainland and for maintaining an “intermediate-level” travel alert for the mainland.
“The DPP authorities have ignored the struggles of Taiwan’s local tourism industry and disregarded the voices of businesses and the public, continuously delaying and obstructing the normalization of cross-strait tourism,” said Chen Bin-hua, spokesperson for the Taiwan Affairs Office, at a press conference.
Chen said the first list of Chinese tour groups to Taiwan was “still sitting on the desk of the relevant departments of the DPP authorities,” implying that Taiwan was to blame for delaying the long-awaited resumption of cross-strait tourism.
Taiwan’s Mainland Affairs Council, or MAC, said that it welcomed Chinese tourists and was awaiting more details of the plan from China.
However, the council denied the suggestion it had intentionally stalled the process of resuming visits by Chinese tour groups to Taiwan.
Liang, Wen-chieh, the MAC’s deputy minister, told a press conference on Thursday that no formal applications for group tours by mainland Chinese tourists to Taiwan have been received, so there was no such list sitting on any desk, as China had said.
“There was only a concept proposed earlier by tourism operators to organize a familiarization tour, inviting counterparts from the mainland to visit Taiwan,” Liang said.
“Such familiarization tours, which consist of professional groups from travel agencies, should be considered professional exchanges rather than tourist groups.”
China’s announcement follows the Shanghai-Taipei City Forum in December, when Shanghai Mayor Hua Yuan hinted at the resumption of Shanghai tour groups to Taiwan.
At that time, Chen Fang-Yu, an assistant professor in the Department of Political Science at Taiwan’s Soochow University, saw China’s move to resume group tours as a tactic to advance Beijing’s pro-unification agenda.
“It feels like they are treating the reopening as some kind of favor to Taiwan,” Chen said, referring to the resumption of group tours.
Edited by Taejun Kang.
This content originally appeared on Radio Free Asia and was authored by Alan Lu for RFA.
‘Teacher Li’ is among the most prolific sources of unfiltered information from behind China’s Great Firewall. But an attempt to monetise it has proven controversial
On Monday, two parallel visions of Chinese activism appeared on X. One was a video showing a small protest outside a school in western Sichuan province. The other, from a related account, was a post promoting a memecoin and something it called the “$Li vision”, adding that “some of the greatest coins had a rocky start”.
The man behind both accounts is Li Ying, a Chinese art student turned activist based in Milan. His original X account, “Teacher Li is Not Your Teacher”, is one of the most prominent news feeds in the Chinese diaspora. To his nearly 2m followers, Li shares pictures and videos of happenings in China which would be censored inside the country.
China is rapidly overtaking the United States in a number of areas that threaten to undermine America’s position in the world. Naturally, US leaders and their billionaire backers are concerned about this and have taken steps to remedy the situation. Regrettably, none of these steps include an honest appraisal of the western economic model that allows the ‘privileged few’ to skim-off too much of their company’s profits leaving insufficient capital to reinvest in productive activity, critical infrastructure or societal improvement. Chinese policymakers have taken a different approach to this issue and the results speak for themselves.
Orphanage-style boarding schools for Uyghur children whose parents were detained by Xinjiang authorities in internment camps that began in 2017, remain open and are expanding in certain areas, police and teachers with knowledge of the situation said.
The development comes despite claims by the Chinese government that it shut down the “re-education camps,” in which an estimated 1.8 million Uyghurs have been held.
Radio Free Asia has found that at least six such schools are operating in Yarkand county of Kashgar prefecture, Kuchar township of Aksu prefecture and Keriye county of Hotan prefecture.
A police officer from Yarkand county said she had been assigned to take children whose parents had been arrested to schools in six different locations.
“The most recent one I took one of them to was in Arslanbagh [village],” she told Radio Free Asia. “It was a school building that already existed before, and it seemed like it was a dormitory.”
“The child used to live in Arslanbagh of Yarkand, but was later moved to Lengar [village],” she said. “So far, I’ve taken orphans to six different places. All of their parents have been arrested.”
China said the re-education facilities were in fact “vocation training centers” set up to combat terrorism and extremism by re-educating individuals suspected of radical views, and teaching them Mandarin Chinese and trade and job skills.
But human rights groups and Uyghurs and other Turkic Muslims who were in the facilities said they were not vocation training centers but detention camps where authorities forced political indoctrination and abused inmates.
‘Protecting’ children
After the mass detentions began about eight years ago, authorities opened so-called “Little Angels” schools to house and indoctrinate children whose parents were detained or imprisoned.
Special police officers were assigned after 2017 to gather, place and “protect” children whose parents were taken to internment camps. They worked with teachers at these orphanage-like schools to monitor the children’s psychological and ideological state, keeping detailed records.
In September 2018, RFA reported that nearly 3,000 children from Keriye county, whose parents had been taken to political re-education camps, were being held in two Little Angels schools, where they took classes, Uyghur sources said at the time.
The police officer from Yarkand county could not provide a figure for the number of parentless children currently or previously educated in such schools there, nor could she say when the children’s parents would be released from confinement.
“We don’t have information on when the school will be closed or when their parents are getting released,” she said.
She added that a new boarding preschool had been established recently in Lenger village and now accommodated about 30 children.
For easier monitoring and management, the preschools, elementary schools, and middle schools for children whose parents are serving prison sentences have been placed side by side in some areas, the police officer from Yarkand county said.
“The earliest one built is at Yarkand Bazaar,” she said. “It serves as both a primary and middle school. Recently, we’ve been taking children there.”
Barbed wire
The police officer from Yarkand county also said the children attending the boarding schools were well-fed and safely educated, and that other police officers guarded the entrance gates to the schools, whose outer walls were topped with barbed wire.
“The school environment is good, and they are eating on time with good food provided,” she told RFA. “The first one I went to was Charibagh. They have guards at the gates, and there is barbed wire on the walls. I’m not sure how many buildings there are in the Charibagh orphanage, but it’s quite large.”
A security guard who has worked for eight years at a kindergarten in Kuchar county said such boarding-schools for Uyghur children “are everywhere” in the county.
“In the early days, we worked 10-20 hours each day,” he said about the time when such schools were set up. “In those days, there were very few staff members but lots of children. The kids cried all the time as their parents were taken to reeducation not too long ago.”
“Now the kids are somewhat used to it,” he said, adding that there were about 300 children at the Angels School. “The younger kids are here. The older kids are in the schools outside the township and county.”
A police officer from Keriye county said that children whose parents were sent for re-education were placed in a boarding school, known as the Angels School, in Yengi Osteng village, and in another location.
“The second one used to be an elementary school and has remained as such and named the Angels School,” he said. “There are two schools called ‘Angels Schools’ in Yengibagh — one is a preschool, and the other is an elementary school.”
Janine Jackson interviewed CEPR’s Dean Baker about China trade policy for the January 10, 2025, episode of CounterSpin. This is a lightly edited transcript.
Janine Jackson: New York Times columnist Thomas Friedman’s December 17 piece, headlined “How Elon Musk and Taylor Swift Can Resolve US/China Relations,” contained some choice Friedmanisms, like “more Americans might get a better feel for what is going on there if they simply went and ordered room service at their hotel”—later followed, quaintly, by “a lot of Chinese have grown out of touch with how China is perceived in the world.”
But the big idea is that China has taken a “great leap forward in high-tech manufacturing” because of Donald Trump, who, a source says, “woke them up to the fact that they needed an all-hands-on-deck effort.” And if the US doesn’t respond to China’s “Sputnik” moment the way we did to the Soviet Union, Friedman says, “we will be toast.”
The response has to do with using tariffs on China to “buy time to lift up more Elon Musks” (described as a “homegrown” manufacturer), and for China to “let in more Taylor Swifts,” i.e., chances for its youth to spend money on entertainment made abroad. Secretary of State Tony Blinken evidently “show[ed] China the way forward” last April, when he bought a Swift record on his way to the airport.
Okay, it’s very Thomas Friedman. But how different is it from US media coverage of China and trade policy generally?
Dean Baker is senior economist and co-founder of the Center for Economic and Policy Research, where Beat the Press, his commentary on economic reporting, appears. He’s the author of, among other titles, Rigged: How Globalization and the Rules of the Modern Economy Were Structured to Make the Rich Richer. He joins us now by phone from Utah. Welcome back to CounterSpin, Dean Baker.
Dean Baker: Thanks for having me on, Janine.
JJ: We will talk about news media, of course, but first, there is Trump himself. It’s not our imagination that Trump’s trade ideas, his actions and his stated plans—about China, but overall—they just don’t make much consistent or coherent sense, do they?
DB: Obviously, consistency isn’t a strong point for him, but it does obviously matter to other people. So before he is even in office, he’s threatening both Mexico and Canada. It wasn’t even that clear, at least to me, maybe they got the message what he wants them to do, but if they don’t stop immigrants coming across the border with fentanyl, then he’s going to impose 25% tariffs—I’m going to come back to that word in a second—on both countries.
Now, we have a trade deal with both countries—which, as far as I know, and he certainly didn’t indicate otherwise, they’re following. And it was his trade deal. So what exactly is he threatening with? He’s going to abrogate the trade deal he signed four years ago, because of what, exactly?
And they actually have cooperated with the US in restricting immigrants from coming across the border. Could they do more? Yeah, well, maybe. Canada tries to police fentanyl. So it’s not clear what exactly he thought they would do. Now he’s just said he wants to annex Canada anyhow, so I guess it’s all moot.
But the idea of making these threats is kind of incredible. And, again, he’s threatening, coming back to the word tariff, because a lot of people, and I think including Donald Trump, don’t know what a tariff is. Tariffs are a tax on our imports, and I’ve been haranguing reporters, “Why don’t you just call it a tax on imports?” I can’t believe they can’t use the three words, one of them is very short, instead of tariff, because a lot of people really don’t understand what it is.
And the way Trump talks about it, he makes it sound like we’re charging Canada or Mexico or China, he’s imposing his tariff on, we’re charging them this money, when what we’re actually doing is, we’re charging ourselves the money.
And there’s an economics debate. If we have a 25% tariff on goods from Canada, how much of that will be borne by consumers in the US? How much might be absorbed by intermediaries, and how much might be the exporters in Canada? In all cases, it’s not zero, but almost all, and there’s a lot of work on it, finds that the vast majority is borne by consumers here.
So he’s going to punish Canada, going to punish Mexico by imposing a 25% tax on the goods we import from them, which I think to most people probably wouldn’t sound very good, but that is what he’s doing, and it’s kind of a strange policy.
Now, getting to China, I’m not sure what his latest grievance is with China. I’m sure he’s got a list. But he’s talking about a 100% tax on imports from China, and following on the Friedman article, China is at this point, I’m not going to say a rich country, in the sense that, if you look at the average income, it is still considerably lower than the US, and you have a lot poor people in rural areas in China. But in terms of its industrial capacities, it’s huge, and it actually is considerably larger than the United States. So the idea that somehow he’s going to be bringing China to its knees, which seems to be what he thinks—I’m not going to try and get in his head, but just based on what he says, that seems to be what he thinks—that’s a pretty crazy thought.
JJ: And, certainly, we have learned that tariffs are a misunderstood concept by many in the public, and some in the media, as well as some in political office. But that whole picture of Trump threatening to pull out of a deal, in terms of Canada and Mexico, that he made himself, all of that sort of stuff gets us to what you call your “best bet for 2025,” which is improved and increased trade relations between Europe and China. Let’s not be surprised if that happens, for the very reasons that you’re laying out about Trump’s inconsistencies.
Dean Baker: “Trump is saying he doesn’t care about whatever agreements we have, including the ones he signed.” (image: BillMoyers.com)
DB: Basically, Trump is saying he doesn’t care about whatever agreements we have, including the ones he signed. And this has been the way he’s done business throughout his life: He signs a contract, and he doesn’t make good on it. So he has contractors that do things for him, build a building or put in a heating system, whatever it might be. He just says, “no, I’m not going to pay you, sue me.” And maybe he pays half, maybe he pays nothing. He’s prepared to go to court, and spend a lot of money on lawyers. It’s come to be the pattern that most people, including lawyers, insist on getting paid in advance, because they know if they do their work and then come to collect from Trump, they’re not going to get it.
And that’s his approach to international relations as well. So treaties don’t mean anything to him.
And we could have lots of grounds for being unhappy with China. They have a bad human rights record. I’m not going to try to defend it. I don’t think anyone would try to defend it. There are other things you could point to that are not very pretty about China, but just from the standpoint of doing business, they largely follow through on their commitments. Trump doesn’t.
So from the standpoint of Europe, if you want to have trading partners that are reasonably reliable, and won’t pull things out of the air and say, “I want you to do this, I want you to do that,” China looks a hell of a lot better than the United States.
JJ: And so we shouldn’t be surprised, or immediately begin assigning nefarious intentions to European countries who would rather make a deal with China, at this point, than with the US under Trump. It doesn’t make them sketchy or anti-US, necessarily.
DB: That’s right. I mean, I don’t really think they have an alternative, in the sense he takes pride in it. He seems to, at least he says, “I like to be unpredictable.” Well, that’s fine, but if you’re a company in Germany and France, you’re trying to plan for the next five years, ten years: Where’s your market? Where should you build a factory? Where should you look to expand your business? You don’t want to deal with someone who changes everything every day of the week. So China just looks much better from that point.
And also, again, we’re talking about respect for international law. We just saw Donald Trump yesterday saying he doesn’t care about NATO. He’s threatening military force against Greenland and Denmark, implicitly also Canada and Panama, kind of incredible.
So, in that sense, this is not a guy who respects commitments. So I think it’s just kind of common sense from the standpoint, if I were operating a major business in Europe, I would certainly be looking much more to China than the United States right now.
JJ: I did want to say I was hipped to that Friedman piece by CODEPINK’s Megan Russell, who wrote about it, and she had trouble with the idea, among others, that China’s investment in its manufacturing was a recent development that was solely in response to Trump toughness. And that’s what led to what he’s calling their “Sputnik moment.” What do you make of that claim?
DB: Well, first off, the investment in manufacturing is longstanding. Because, I saw the Friedman piece, I assumed he was referring to their move into high tech. I think he’s, again, I don’t have access to the inner workings of China’s leadership, I think he is almost certainly exaggerating the extent to which its move was a response to Trump, but they did certainly recognize that they were dealing with a different world with Donald Trump in the White House than Obama, previously.
But the hostilities to China, I mean… Obama, the last couple years of his administration, at least, he was selling the Trans Pacific Partnership, the trade deal that we ended up not completing, as a way to isolate China. I don’t recall if he used that term. “Marginalize” China, I think that was the term they had used.
So the fact that the United States was becoming increasingly anti-China, or hostile to China, that began under Obama. Trump clearly accelerated that. I’m quite sure China would have moved in a big way into high tech in any case, but I suspect this was an accelerant there, that they could say, “Here’s more reason to do it.”
But they’ve been increasing the sophistication of their manufacturing and their technical skills for a long time. They have many, many more computer scientists, engineers, go down the list, than we do. So the idea that it wouldn’t have occurred to them that it’d be good to develop high-tech industries—no, that wasn’t Trump.
JJ: Let me ask you to just unpack, to the extent you feel like it, the big idea that we get from the US press, which is that, No. 1, China is worrisome. Their economy’s growth is inherently troubling and dangerous to the US. And, No. 2, we should consequently insist on, among other things, trade policy that is “tough” on China, somehow, and that will be good for “us.” I mean, there can be nuance, of course, but that seems like the frame a lot of outlets place their China trade coverage within: China is inherently frightening and dangerous to the US, and so we have to somehow use trade policy to beat them back. How useful is that framing?
DB: I think it’s very wrong-headed in just about every possible way. Obviously, the US has been the leading economy in the world for a long time, so we would always say, well, other countries should recognize that we grow together, so that by having access to cheaper products, better technology, they benefit, trade benefits everyone. That’s the classic story, and economists have been pushing that for centuries. And there’s more than a little bit of truth to that. And that continues to hold true when we talk about China.
So the idea that somehow China growing wealthier is a threat to us is, to my view, kind of wacky. Now, you could raise military issues, and there can be issues, but as far as the economics of it, we benefit by having China be a wealthier country. And we could—I just was tweeting on this—China is now selling electric cars, which are as good as most of the cars you’d get here, for $15,000, $16,000. I think it’d be fantastic if we can get those.
I’m sympathetic to the auto industry, particularly the people in the UAW. I mean, those are still some good-paying jobs. But, damn, you’re looking at Elon Musk, who is charging $40,000 for his cars. I don’t drive an electric car, but I’ve heard people say that the Chinese cars are every bit as good as his cars, and they’re less than half the price. We can’t buy them, though; we have a 100% tariff on them.
So this idea that we’re going to compete—why don’t we talk about cooperating? Why don’t we look for areas where we can cooperate?
And there are clearly some big ones. The two obvious, to my mind, are healthcare and climate. If we had more sharing of technology, think of how much more rapidly we could develop our clean technology, clean industries, electric vehicles, batteries, if we had shared technology more freely.
And in terms of healthcare, again, the pandemic’s not ancient history. If we had shared all of our technology, first and foremost vaccines, but also the treatments, the tests, we could have been far more effective containing the pandemic earlier, and probably saved millions of lives.
And that would apply more generally, obviously, going forward. Hopefully we won’t have another pandemic like that, but we obviously have a lot of diseases we have to deal with, and sharing technology and healthcare would be a fantastic way to do it. But that doesn’t seem to be on the agenda right now. Almost no one is talking about that, from anywhere in the political spectrum, and I just think that’s incredibly unfortunate.
I’ll also add—obviously, I have material interest here—that if you talked about sharing technology, our drug companies might not get patents, and might not make as much money, and they’re not happy to see that. But if the point is to advance public health—and also, for that matter, of the economics; we waste a lot of money on drugs with the current structure—sharing technology would really be a great thing to do.
And I’ll also throw in one more point. This is obviously speculative, but if we want to talk about promoting liberal democracy, seems to me having more contact with people in China, having our technicians or scientists working side by side with them, developing better technology, better ways to deal with disease, better ways to advance clean energy—that’s a really good way to try and influence views in China, because the odds are that a lot of scientists, the technicians who are going to be working side by side with people in the United States are going to be brothers and sisters and children and parents of people who were in the Communist Party, people who were actually calling the shots there.
So when we first opened up to China, allowed them into the WTO in 2000, there was a line that was pushed by proponents of that, saying, “Oh, this is the way to promote democracy.” And I and others said, “I don’t quite see that. We’re going to promote democracy by having people work in shoe factories for two bucks an hour? I don’t quite see that.” And that doesn’t seem to have been the case.
But I think it’s a very different story if we say, “We’re going to have your best scientists working side by side with our scientists, and if you believe in liberal democracy, if you really think that’s a good thing, I think there’s a good chance that will rub off.” So that’s speculative, but I’d like to see us try.
JJ: And I think that’s where a lot of people’s heads are at. A lot of people have family in other countries. They just see things in a global way. It’s weird to be talking, in 2025, it lands weird to talk about “foreign adversary nations,” and how we have to have “trade wars,” in part because of what you’re saying, the positive aspect of working together, in particular by sharing technology, but also it lands weird because Boeing isn’t at war with China. There are conflicts, in other words, but as you’re explaining, the lines aren’t drawn where media suggest they are, at national borders. So that misrepresentation of who the fight is between is part of what obscures these more positive visions.
DB: Yeah, exactly. And Boeing’s at war with Airbus, too. No one’s suggesting—well, I shouldn’t say that; Trump might be suggesting—but most people wouldn’t say that France and Germany are our enemies because Airbus is competing with Boeing. That’s a given. They’re going to compete.
And, again, I’m enough of an economist, I’ll say we benefit from that. So if Airbus produces a better plane, I think that’s great that we’re going to fly on it. If it’s a more fuel-efficient, safer plane than what Boeing has, that’s fantastic. Hopefully Boeing will turn around and build a better one next year.
But it’s supposed to be, we like a market economy. At the end of the day, I do think a market economy is a good thing, so we should think of it the same way with China.
And, again, there are conflicts. Europe subsidizes the Airbus. No one disputes that. China has subsidies for its electric cars. And those are things to discuss, to work out in treaties, but it doesn’t make them an enemy.
JJ: And it doesn’t improve our understanding of our own interest, as individuals, in what’s going on, to have there be this kind of “us and them,” when media are not breaking down exactly who the “us” are. And if we had, in this country, a policy where we wanted to protect workers, or we wanted to ensure wages, well, nothing’s stopping us from doing that on its own.
I think we can expect all of this to amp up, as Trump finds utility in identifying enemies, everywhere and anywhere, that call for conquering, in such ways that enrich his friends. But to the extent that that bellicosity is going to show itself in economic policy, are there things you think we should be looking out for in coverage, being wary of, things to seek out as antidote to maybe the big story that we’re going to be hearing about the US and China?
DB: First and foremost, I am declaring war on the word “tariff.” Given the confusion that word creates, I don’t understand how any reporter could in good faith use the term, at least without adding in parentheses, “taxes on imports,” because it’s not a difficult concept.
And, again, I’m an economist. I’ve known what a tariff is. Obviously many people do know what a tariff is, but the point is a lot of people don’t. So taxes on imports, taxes on imports, taxes on imports. When Donald Trump says he wants to tariff someone, he’s saying he wants to put a tax on the goods we import from them; that’s what he’s doing. And that’s not an arguable point. That’s simply definitional. So that’s one thing, front and center.
The second thing, I really wish people would understand what’s at stake. And the reporting, I think, does not do a good job of it. And when we talk about putting taxes on the imports, particularly with China, that we’re making items that would otherwise be available to us at relatively low cost, at ridiculously high cost.
So cars first and foremost, but we’re doing with the batteries from China, a lot of other things. If we’re concerned about global warming, we should want to see this technology spread as quickly as possible.
I wrote a piece on this a while back. So let’s say that the US had a plan to subsidize the adoption of clean technologies around the world. We’d all applaud that, wouldn’t we, say that was a great thing. Well, China’s doing that, and we’re treating them like it’s an act of war.
So, again, I’m sympathetic to auto workers. I have a lot of friends over the years who were auto workers, and I respect enormously the United Auto Workers union, but it’s not an act of war for them to make low-cost cars available to us.
And just the third thing, when we talk about protectionism, I’ve made this point many, many times over the years. The most extreme protectionism we have are patent and copyright protections. These are government-granted monopolies.
Now, I understand they’re policies for a specific purpose. They promote innovation, they promote creative work, understood. But they’re policies, they’re protectionism, they’re not the market.
And that’s something we should always be aware of, in trade and other areas, even domestically; we’re raising the price of items that are protected enormously, and treating this as just the market. So drugs that cost thousands, or even tens of thousands of dollars, almost invariably cost $10, $20, $30 in the absence of patent protection.
And people should understand that this is a really big deal. It’s a big intervention in the market, and also a huge source of inequality. I like to make the joke, Bill Gates would still be working for a living—he’d probably be getting Social Security now, he’s an old guy—but he’d probably still be working for a living if the government didn’t threaten to arrest anyone who copies Microsoft software without his permission. And it really does make a big difference, and it’s literally never discussed.
So those are some items. I can give you a longer list, but those would be my starting point.
JJ: All right, then; we’ll pause at your starting point, but just for now.
We’ve been speaking with Dean Baker, co-founder and senior economist at the Center for Economic and Policy Research. You can find their work, and Dean’s Beat the Press commentary, at CEPR.net. Dean Baker, thank you so much for joining us this week on CounterSpin.
TAIPEI, Taiwan – China’s construction of “special-purpose barges” has raised concerns about its plans to invade Taiwan, with analysts warning that the vessels could enable Beijing’s rapid troop deployment onto Taiwanese soil, addressing challenges posed by the self-ruled island’s often rough, difficult-to-navigate waters.
At least five of the huge barges have been spotted under construction at Guangzhou Shipyard International, or GSI, on China’s Longxue Island, a facility known for producing unconventional vessels, according to the Naval News defense and technology publication.
A barge is a long flat-bottomed boat for carrying freight on canals and rivers, either under its own power or towed by another.
“I would interpret these barges as another signal that Xi Jinping and the CCP are indeed serious about annexing Taiwan and that the use of force to do so very much remains on the table,” Michael Hunzeker, associate director of the Center for Security Policy Studies at George Mason University, told Radio Free Asia, referring to the Chinese Communist Party.
The barges feature unusually long road bridges – spanning more than 120 meters (393 feet) – that extend from their bows, Naval News reported.
This design allows them to reach coastal roads or hard surfaces beyond beaches, enabling efficient offloading of trucks and tanks from ships.
Some barges are equipped with “jack-up” pillars, which can be lowered to provide a stable platform in adverse weather.
Chieh Chung, a research fellow at the Association of Strategic Foresight in Taiwan, told RFA that China had spent more than 20 years enhancing its capability of “pier-free unloading.”
“China intends to develop a comprehensive set of technologies that allow forces to quickly unload onto Taiwanese soil, whether at heavily damaged ports or standard beachheads,” he said.
Chieh said that previously, China’s pier-free unloading, primarily featuring floating bridges and artificial piers, had faced problems in exercises since its operations are heavily restricted in rough seas.
“The waters around Taiwan are often rough and difficult to navigate,” he said.
“However, the ships being constructed in Guangzhou are flat-bottomed, which allows them to operate closer to shore. Additionally, the road bridges are supported by pillars, which help mitigate issues caused by rough sea conditions,” he said.
Beijing regards Taiwan as its territory and has never ruled out the use of force to take it.
Moving heavy equipment quickly
Naval News said that it was possible though unlikely that the barges were being built for civilian or commercial purposes.
“The construction of so many, much larger than similar civilian vessels seen before, makes this implausible,” it said.
“These vessels are only suited to moving large amounts of heavy equipment ashore in a short period of time. They appear greatly over-spec for civilian uses,” the publication reported.
The Association of Strategic Foresight’s Chieh said China has been practicing a concept of “military-civil fusion” meaning they would be used by the military if needed.
“You can see in their recent exercises that they’ve mobilized roll-on/roll-off cargo ships, which are commercial vessels only during peacetime. So regardless of whether these ships were ordered by the military, they will inevitably be requisitioned for military use in times of war,” he said.
“Through civil-military fusion, China primarily aims to address the military’s limited capacity for transporting large amounts of cargo in a single operation, so it mobilizes a significant number of civilian maritime vessels to increase tonnage,” Chieh explained.
Hunzeker said Taiwan should not underestimate China’s ability to employ its military and civilian assets as part of a broader coercive strategy that includes so-called gray-zone tactics to achieve its objectives without triggering open conflict.
But such tactics were not the most critical threat facing Taiwan.
“The CCP cannot realize its overarching objective like achieving political control over Taiwan via gray zone provocations alone,” he said. “Thus, Taipei and Washington need to prioritize the real threat: a large-scale military attack on Taiwan.”
Chieh also noted the barges did not signal an imminent invasion.
In the event of an invasion, the barges would only be deployed after the People’s Liberation Army, or PLA, was able to successfully land and secure a beachhead, he said.
“Deploying civilian ships depends largely on the success of the PLA’s successful landing,” he said, meaning Taiwan’s key focus would be on repelling an initial assault.
Hunzeker shares a similar view.
“I would not interpret these barges as a signal that an invasion is imminent, if for no other reason than the fact that five barges will neither fundamentally change the military balance nor give the PLA a decisive military advantage,” Hunzeker said.
The U.S. Department of Defense maintains that China lacks sufficient amphibious shipping to invade the island of 23 million people, he added.
Edited by Taejun Kang.
This content originally appeared on Radio Free Asia and was authored by Alan Lu for RFA.
MANILA — Visiting Japanese Foreign Minister Takeshi Iwaya said his government hoped to impress upon incoming U.S. leader Donald Trump how important the South China Sea issue is to peace in Asia.
Iwaya visited Manila on Wednesday as part of a high-profile diplomatic push by Tokyo in Southeast Asian countries that border the strategic waterway. Last week, Japanese Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba traveled to Malaysia and Indonesia to promote deeper defense and economic ties.
In Manila, Foreign Minister Iwaya met with his Filipino counterpart, Enrique Manalo.
Overlapping claims in the South China Sea “is a legitimate concern for the international community because it directly links to regional peace and stability,” Iwaya told a press briefing afterward.
“Southeast Asia is located at a strategic pivot in the Indo-Pacific and is a world growth center, thus partnership with Southeast Asia is vital for regional peace and stability,” Iwaya said through an interpreter.
“We will approach the next U.S. administration to convey that constructive commitment of the United States in this region is important, also for the United States itself.”
The South China Sea, which is potentially mineral-rich and a crucial corridor for international shipping, has become one of the most perilous geopolitical hot spots in recent years. China claims almost the entire waterway while the Philippines, as well as Brunei, Vietnam, Malaysia, and Taiwan have overlapping claims to parts of it.
Over the past few months, Manila and Beijing have faced off in high-stakes confrontations in the disputed waters.
Iwaya said he was expected to attend Trump’s inauguration in Washington on Jan. 20, during which he would seek to build momentum on a trilateral arrangement that the Philippines and Japan forged with the outgoing Biden administration.
Iwaya said Tokyo “strongly opposes any attempt to unilaterally change the status quo by force” in the South China Sea, where an increasingly bold China has been intruding into the Philippines’ exclusive economic zone.
China has maintained its claim in the sea region, saying that the activities of its coast guard vessels there were lawful and “fully justified.”
Manalo, the Philippines’ top diplomat, said Chinese and Philippine officials were set to discuss their dispute in their latest bilateral meeting in the Chinese city of Xiamen on Thursday.
Both sides are likely to discuss recent developments in the waterway, including the presence of China’s biggest coast guard ship – and the world’s largest – at the contested Scarborough Shoal.
During the news briefing on Wednesday, Manalo said that Manila and Tokyo had made “significant strides” in defense and security cooperation.
Japan does not have territorial claims that overlap with China’s expansive ones in the South China Sea, but Tokyo faces a separate territorial challenge from Beijing in the East China Sea.
“As neighbors, we face similar challenges in our common pursuit of regional peace and stability. Thus, we are working together to improve resilience and enhance adaptive capacity in the face of the evolving geopolitical landscape in the Indo-Pacific region,” Manalo said.
Last month, the Philippine Senate ratified a so-called Reciprocal Access Agreement (RAA) with Japan, allowing the two allied nations to deploy troops on each other’s soil for military exercises.
U.S. Vice President Kamala Harris (left) visits a fishing community in Tagburos village on Palawan island, a frontline territory in the Philippines’ dispute with Beijing over the South China Sea, Nov. 22, 2022.(Jason Gutierrez/BenarNews)
Also on Wednesday, in an exit telephone call to Marcos, outgoing U.S. Vice President Kamala Harris emphasized the need for the two countries to carry on with their alliance after the presidential transfer of power and “in the face of provocations from the People’s Republic of China.”
She noted that Washington “must stand with the Philippines in the face of such provocations and the enduring nature of the U.S. defense commitments to the Philippines,” her office said in a statement.
Marcos and Harris had enjoyed a close working relationship and met six times during her term. In November 2022, the American vice president visited Palawan, the Philippine island on the frontline of Manila’s territorial dispute with Beijing in the South China Sea.
The U.S. and the Philippines are bound by a 1951 Mutual Defense Treaty that calls on both nations to come to each other’s aid in times of aggression by a third party.
The Biden administration has indicated it would help the Philippines defend itself in the event of an armed attack “anywhere in the South China Sea.”
Jeoffrey Maitem in Manila contributed to this report.
BenarNews is an RFA-affiliated online news organization.
This content originally appeared on Radio Free Asia and was authored by Jason Gutierrez for BenarNews.
North Korean trade officials stationed in China were shocked when they heard that South Korean police arrested President Yoon Suk Yeol in Seoul on Wednesday, two such officials told Radio Free Asia.
“It’s just so astonishing that the president of a country could be arrested,” an official based in Shenyang told RFA Korean on condition of anonymity for security reasons.
Yoon, who had been impeached last month by the National Assembly, was arrested at around 10:30 a.m. after police and corruption investigation officers stormed his residential compound.
He faces insurrection charges after a failed attempt to impose martial law last month.
Yoon had said military rule was necessary to safeguard South Korea “from the threats posed by North Korea’s communist forces and eliminate anti-state elements.”
But many said the claims were exaggerated and meant as a political tool targeting the opposition over disagreements in domestic issues.
North Korea dispatches trade officials to other countries to manage imports and exports with the goal of generating desperately needed foreign currency for the cash-strapped regime.
Hot topic
The trade official in Shenyang said that the news of Yoon’s arrest was the first topic of discussion during the morning meeting of all the North Korean trade officials stationed in the city.
“I couldn’t help but think about whether something like the arrest of the highest leader could actually happen in Pyongyang,” he said.
RFA previously reported that after Yoon declared martial law on Dec. 3, and the South Korean National Assembly voted to end it, trade officials in China were surprised that the the legislative body had the power to nullify the president’s orders.
“I was really surprised when the South Korean president declared martial law and was impeached in December, but today, when I saw the South Korean news about his arrest, I couldn’t believe it,” another official stationed in Dandong, which lies across the Yalu River border from North Korea’s Sinuiju, told RFA Korean.
He said he discussed the news with his colleagues over lunch, and one of them made the point that because South Korea is a democracy, it’s possible for a sitting president to be arrested for violating the constitution.
“Among the officials stationed overseas, including in China, some don’t openly speak about it, but they are aware of the world’s realities,” he said. “They believe North Korea’s dynastic politics surpass even Nazi Germany’s Hitler, and they think that the leadership in Pyongyang could eventually collapse.”
Regarding the arrest, a spokesperson for the White House National Security Council said that the U.S. government was in support of the South Korean people.
“We reaffirm our shared commitment to the rule of law, and we appreciate all efforts made by the Republic of Korea and its citizens to act in accordance with its Constitution.”
The spokesperson said that the U.S. would continue to work with Acting President Choi Sang-mok and expressed confidence in the “enduring strength” of the U.S.-South Korean Alliance.
Translated by RFA Korean. Edited by Eugene Whong.
This content originally appeared on Radio Free Asia and was authored by Son Hyemin and Jamin Anderson for RFA Korean.
North Korean trade officials stationed in China were shocked when they heard that South Korean police arrested President Yoon Suk Yeol in Seoul on Wednesday, two such officials told Radio Free Asia.
“It’s just so astonishing that the president of a country could be arrested,” an official based in Shenyang told RFA Korean on condition of anonymity for security reasons.
Yoon, who had been impeached last month by the National Assembly, was arrested at around 10:30 a.m. after police and corruption investigation officers stormed his residential compound.
He faces insurrection charges after a failed attempt to impose martial law last month.
Yoon had said military rule was necessary to safeguard South Korea “from the threats posed by North Korea’s communist forces and eliminate anti-state elements.”
But many said the claims were exaggerated and meant as a political tool targeting the opposition over disagreements in domestic issues.
North Korea dispatches trade officials to other countries to manage imports and exports with the goal of generating desperately needed foreign currency for the cash-strapped regime.
Hot topic
The trade official in Shenyang said that the news of Yoon’s arrest was the first topic of discussion during the morning meeting of all the North Korean trade officials stationed in the city.
“I couldn’t help but think about whether something like the arrest of the highest leader could actually happen in Pyongyang,” he said.
RFA previously reported that after Yoon declared martial law on Dec. 3, and the South Korean National Assembly voted to end it, trade officials in China were surprised that the the legislative body had the power to nullify the president’s orders.
“I was really surprised when the South Korean president declared martial law and was impeached in December, but today, when I saw the South Korean news about his arrest, I couldn’t believe it,” another official stationed in Dandong, which lies across the Yalu River border from North Korea’s Sinuiju, told RFA Korean.
He said he discussed the news with his colleagues over lunch, and one of them made the point that because South Korea is a democracy, it’s possible for a sitting president to be arrested for violating the constitution.
“Among the officials stationed overseas, including in China, some don’t openly speak about it, but they are aware of the world’s realities,” he said. “They believe North Korea’s dynastic politics surpass even Nazi Germany’s Hitler, and they think that the leadership in Pyongyang could eventually collapse.”
Regarding the arrest, a spokesperson for the White House National Security Council said that the U.S. government was in support of the South Korean people.
“We reaffirm our shared commitment to the rule of law, and we appreciate all efforts made by the Republic of Korea and its citizens to act in accordance with its Constitution.”
The spokesperson said that the U.S. would continue to work with Acting President Choi Sang-mok and expressed confidence in the “enduring strength” of the U.S.-South Korean Alliance.
Translated by RFA Korean. Edited by Eugene Whong.
This content originally appeared on Radio Free Asia and was authored by Son Hyemin and Jamin Anderson for RFA Korean.
More than half a million TikTok users have piled onto the Chinese social media platform Xiaohongshu, known in English as RedNote, days ahead of a looming ban on the app in the United States, according to data from app stores and social media videos.
Styling themselves “TikTok refugees,” many young Americans, seeking an alternative to TikTok, are flocking to join RedNote’s 300 million existing users — who are mostly in China — taking what they see as refuge from the ban, which could be enforced on Jan. 19.
On Wednesday, Xiaohongshu, which literally means “Little Red Book” — a reference to the famous book of quotes from Mao Zedong, the founder of communist China — topped the list of most popular free downloads on the Apple Store and the Google Play store for Android users in the United States.
RedNote allows users to share videos, photos and text posts, along with various shopping features. Known as China’s version of Instagram, it is particularly popular for sharing travel, makeup and fashion tips.
It is owned by Shanghai-based Xingyin Information Technology.
People walk past advertising for Chinese social networking and e-commerce app Xiaohongshu, also known as RedNote, at a shopping centre in Beijing, Jan. 15, 2025.(Adek Berry/AFP)
More than 700,000 new users joined the app, a person close to the company told Reuters, although the company didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment.
Estimates from app data research firm Sensor Tower showed that U.S. downloads of RedNote up by more than 200% year-on-year this week and 194% higher than the previous week, Reuters reported.
The apparent exodus comes ahead of a Jan. 19 deadline for the banning of TikTok in the United States under a bipartisan bill, should its Chinese parent ByteDance not have sold it by that time.
In April, U.S. President Joe Biden signed the bill amid concerns that China’s government was using TikTok both to collect sensitive data about Americans and feed them propaganda.
Lawyers for Chinese-owned TikTok asked the Supreme Court on Jan. 10 to postpone implementation of the ban, which takes effect the day before President-elect Donald Trump takes office.
Navigating in Chinese
Since RedNote uses Mandarin Chinese, new users were using translation tools to navigate the site. Some were confused; others were gleeful.
“I have no idea what I’m doing here,” commented Elle Belle from the United States under the video that cited a desire to avoid platforms run by Zuckerman. “I can’t even read the RULES.”
“I’m literally emotional right now bc we are so freaking awesome,” wrote @Unty Tan.
Women search on the Chinese social media platform Xiaohongshu, in Hong Kong, China, April 30, 2024.(Tyrone Siu/Reuters)
Some hoped to relocate entire communities that existed on TikTok, while others said the move is a form of protest, or a way to avoid using platforms owned by Meta.
“I would rather stare at a language I can’t understand than to ever use a social media [platform] that Mark Zuckerberg owns,” says one former TikToker in a video posted to the platform on Jan. 13, referring to the Facebook CEO.
The aversion to Meta was apparently linked to reports that the company had paid online activists to boost messages calling TikTok a threat to American children.
‘Give me all your datas’
But the surge of new RedNote users from the United States prompted a series of jokes and memes by long-term Chinese Xiaohongshu users, riffing on fears of spying and data collection.
“Welcome to spy station, give me all your datas,” quipped user @BubbleTea from Guangdong on Jan. 14, in a comment reposted to social media app Bluesky, accompanied by a cat photo. “American datas!” replied another user, also with a cat photo.
Meanwhile, Xiaohongshu user BigTooth donned a cowboy hat to address new arrivals in a broad Texas accent, teaching them how to comment on Chinese posts.
“You came over to this app, wanting to learn some Chinese, but you ain’t even got a Chinese keyboard on your phone,” he says. “But it’s OK. Don’t worry about that.”
“I’m gonna teach you three Chinese expressions, and you can even type them out with your English keyboard,” he adds, suggesting “6,” “66” or “666” to indicate approval, XSWL, “Dying laughing,” and NB, a somewhat rude expression that nonetheless means something is admirable.
American users started putting the tips into practice in comments.
“66 (am I doing it right?),” commented U.S.-based RedNote user @KotaGibbs, gaining more than 1,000 likes. “You’re missing one 6, should be 666,” answered user @Cold from Canada.
Comparing notes
Many users compared notes about each other’s countries, according to screenshots of conversations posted to Bluesky on Jan. 15.
“Can you guys tell us what’s wrong with our country, looking at it from your perspective outside of America?” asks one user.
“Just wondering if it is true that Americans need to have 2-3 jobs to survive?” @momo_yu wanted to know.
“yes, the economy is not great so people work multiple jobs just to live,” user @ally replied from the United States.
“People have guns and shoot children for no reason,” answered @thisisjiaming from Beijing. “Sadly this is true,” commented @kimkimchii from the United States.
“You people still believe election can improve your life,” wrote @Vivianfunny from Hong Kong, where only “patriots” approved by Beijing are allowed to run in elections.
A smartphone displays the Chinese social networking and e-commerce app Xiaohongshu, also known as RedNote, in Beijing on January 15, 2025.(Adek Berry/Reuters)
Some American users embraced the new experience.
“I’m having a lot of fun over there, we share a sense of humor and beefs with our governments,” Bluesky user DarbyMae Shaw commented on Jan. 15.
But others weren’t too sure.
“ less funny is that it censors posts from people of color and the lgbt community,” user @kluggin responded, in a reference to the ruling Chinese Communist Party’s far-reaching social media censorship.
Can you add a translation feature?
According to a Jan. 13 article on the website Advocate.com, one “TikTok refugee” reported being banned for posting content about transgender people.
While some memes and videos crossed the language barrier by using subtitles, other users were crying out for automatic translation, according to a comment on the Apple Store.
“Please please please!!! I love this app so so so much but I only speak english,” said a review by Sour_emy. “A lot of people in the us are moving to this app … so I was hoping there could be a translation feature added for things like comments and descriptions!!”
“It would bring a lot of new people coming from tiktok,” the review said.
Users seemed relatively unworried by the security concerns that also surround Xiaohongshu.
The government of democratic Taiwan banned its officials from using Xiaohongshu, Douyin and TikTok amid concerns that the Chinese-owned platforms could compromise the island’s security.
Meanwhile, a Chinese journalist now living in the United States who declined to be named for fear of reprisals said the exodus seemed ironic to him.
“It’s hilarious that they’re escaping from an American prison run by the Chinese to a Chinese prison that’s also run by the Chinese,” the journalist said.
Additional reporting by Wang Yun for RFA Mandarin. Edited by Malcolm Foster.
This content originally appeared on Radio Free Asia and was authored by Luisetta Mudie.
