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Growth in international hotels coincides with government effort to push region as a tourism destination
Almost 200 international hotels are operating or planning to open in Xinjiang, despite calls from human rights groups for global corporations not to help “sanitise” the Chinese government’s human rights abuses in the region, a report has said.
The report by the Uyghur Human Rights Project (UHRP) identified 115 operational hotels which the organisation said “benefit from a presence in the Uyghur region”. At least another 74 were in various stages of construction or planning, the report said. The UHRP said some of the hotels also had exposure or links of concern to forced labour and labour transfer programmes.
Continue reading…This post was originally published on Human rights | The Guardian.
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TAIPEI, Taiwan – China appointed Li Chenggang as a new trade negotiator on Wednesday, a key figure in talks to resolve the escalating tariff war with the United States, replacing veteran negotiator Wang Shouwen.
Li, 58, who previously served as assistant commerce minister during U.S. President Donald Trump’s first term, has been named as China’s International Trade Representative and Vice Minister of Commerce, according to China’s Ministry of Human Resources and Social Security.
Li most recently represented China at the World Trade Organization.
It was unclear if Wang, 59, who assumed the No. 2 role at the commerce ministry in 2022, had taken up a post elsewhere. His name was no longer on the ministry’s leadership team.
The ministry did not immediately respond to a Radio Free Asia request for comment on the change.
Li, who studied in Germany, previously served in senior roles at China’s Ministry of Commerce, including as Deputy Director-General in both the trade and legal departments. He became Assistant Minister of Commerce in 2016.
In 2021, he was appointed China’s Ambassador to the World Trade Organization and also served as deputy representative to the U.N. in Geneva and other international bodies in Switzerland.
“The unilateralist approach of the U.S. blatantly violates WTO rules, exacerbates economic uncertainty, disrupts global trade and may even subvert the rules-based multilateral trading system,” Li said at a February WTO meeting in Geneva.
“China firmly opposes this and urges the United States to abolish its wrongful practices,” he said, warning that such moves have triggered “tariff shocks” to the world.
The decision comes as trade tensions between the world’s two largest economies continue to escalate. Since early April, the U.S. and China have been locked in a cycle of retaliatory tariffs.
On Wednesday, the White House announced that an “up to 245%” tariff has been imposed on Chinese imports due to China’s “retaliatory actions.”
“The ball is in China’s court. China needs to deal with us. We don’t have to make a deal with them,” the White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt, said at a press briefing Wednesday.
The appointment also comes amid Chinese President Xi Jinping’s Southeast Asia tour, where he ramped up rhetoric of unity in the face of protectionism and shocks to the global order.
At a state dinner in Putrajaya with Malaysian Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim, Xi said China would work with regional partners to counter global instability.
“In the face of shocks to global order and economic globalization, China and Malaysia will stand with countries in the region to combat the undercurrents of geopolitical confrontation, as well as the counter-currents of unilateralism and protectionism,” Xi said.
China promised, Xi said, to offer greater market access to Malaysia and Vietnam.
“Together we will safeguard the bright prospects of our Asian family,” he said.
Edited by Taejun Kang and Stephen Wright.
This content originally appeared on Radio Free Asia and was authored by Alan Lu for RFA.This post was originally published on Radio Free.
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TAIPEI, Taiwan – A recent update to Google Maps now prominently displays the label “West Philippine Sea” over waters west of the Philippines, fueling discussion about a longstanding territorial dispute with China, which continues to refer to the area as the South China Sea.
Manila has used “West Philippine Sea” since 2011 to assert its maritime claims within its exclusive economic zone, or EEZ, distinguishing it from China’s broader claim over the South China Sea. Beijing has rejected the term, viewing it as a political assertion that challenges its claim of “indisputable sovereignty” over the entire sea.
As of April 17, the label “West Philippine Sea” was visible by default on Google Maps, without the need for users to search for it specifically, which was the case in the past.
“The proper and consistent labeling of the West Philippine Sea on the widely used platform Google Maps is welcome news for every Filipino,” the speaker of the Philippines House of Representatives, Martin Romualdez, said in a statement Tuesday.
“This simple yet powerful update reflects the growing global acknowledgment of the Philippines’ sovereign rights over the maritime areas within our EEZ.”
Armed Forces of the Philippines spokesperson Col. Francel Margareth Padilla said the inclusion of the West Philippines Sea in Google Maps also reflects a 2016 arbitration ruling that invalidated Beijing’s sweeping claims to the South China Sea.
“As defenders of national sovereignty, the AFP sees this as a valuable contribution to truthful representation and public awareness,” Padilla said at a press briefing at Camp Aguinaldo.
China’s foreign ministry said South China Sea is widely recognized by other nations as the correct name.
“For a long time, the South China Sea has been a common geographical name recognized by the international community and widely accepted by countries around the world and international organizations such as the United Nations,” ministry spokesperson Lin Jian told a regular press briefing Tuesday.
Ding Duo, a researcher at China’s National Institute for South China Sea Studies, told state media that West Philippine Sea “hype” from the Philippines does “nothing to change the fact that China has indisputable sovereignty over the South China Sea islands.”
It’s unclear why Google made the change, but a spokesperson told Agence France-Presse: “The West Philippine Sea has always been labeled on Google Maps. We recently made this label easier to see at additional zoom levels.”
Despite a 2016 Hague tribunal ruling that invalidated China’s expansive South China Sea claims, Beijing has continued to assert control over the region, which is an important route for international shipping.
The court sided with the Philippines, citing violations of its EEZ, but China rejected the decision and has since expanded its presence through militarized islands, patrols and increased maritime activity – fuelling rising tensions.
In April, both nations accused each other of dangerous maneuvers near Scarborough Shoal, a disputed area within the Philippines’ EEZ.
The Philippine Coast Guard reported that a Chinese vessel obstructed a Philippine ship, while China alleged that the Philippine vessel approached dangerously, attempting to fabricate a collision.
The Philippines has also raised concerns about Chinese interference in resource exploration.
Foreign Secretary Enrique Manalo said that China was hindering Filipino companies from exploring natural resources in the contested waters, including oil and gas reserves. He cited incidents such as water cannoning, use of lasers and ramming by Chinese forces as examples of harassment.
In response to these challenges, the Philippines and the United States have strengthened their military cooperation.
The annual “Balikatan” joint military exercises, involving approximately 14,000 troops, are scheduled from April 21 to May 9. These drills aim to enhance defense readiness and interoperability between the two allies.
Edited by Stephen Wright and Mike Firn.
This content originally appeared on Radio Free Asia and was authored by Taejun Kang for RFA.This post was originally published on Radio Free.
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This content originally appeared on Radio Free Asia and was authored by Radio Free Asia.This post was originally published on Radio Free.
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Justin Wolfers teaches economics 101 at the University of Michigan. It’s an introductory course about supply, demand, and trade. The basics. He wishes President Donald Trump attended.
Wolfers, an Australian known for his research on how happiness relates to income, is one of the more prominent economists speaking up about Trump’s sweeping tariff policies. He says that they not only betray the most basic laws of economics, but could very well tip the US into a recession unnecessarily.
On this episode of More To The Story, Wolfers sits down with host Al Letson to discuss why today’s tariffs are markedly different from the ones Trump imposed in 2018 and why tariffs almost never produce the intended effects that are often promised.
Producer: Josh Sanburn | Editor: Kara McGuirk-Allison | Theme music: Fernando Arruda and Jim Briggs | Fact checker: Serena Lin | Digital producers: Nikki Frick and Artis Curiskis | Interim executive producers: Taki Telonidis and Brett Myers | Executive editor: James West | Host: Al Letson
Read: Democrats Grill Officials on Insider Profits From Trump’s Tariff Reversal (Mother Jones)
Read: Trump’s Trade War Is Here and Promises to Get Ugly (Mother Jones)
Listen: Trump’s Deportation Black Hole (Reveal)
Listen: Think Like an Economist
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TAIPEI, Taiwan – The U.S. has imposed restrictions on the export of Nvidia’s H20 chips to China, tightening its grip on advanced AI technology trade with Beijing as part of Washington’s strategy to pressure China amid an ongoing tariff battle.
Nvidia, a global leader in AI chip development, said Tuesday it was notified by the U.S. government on April 9 that exporting its H20 chips to China would now require government approval. It separately said that the restriction would remain in place indefinitely.
While the H20 chip has relatively modest computing power, it has other features that make it suitable for building high-performance computing systems.
The U.S. government reportedly based its decision on concerns that the H20 chips could be used in or adapted for Chinese supercomputers.
Until now, the H20 was the most advanced artificial intelligence chip legally exportable to China, which already faced U.S. national security-driven curbs on high-end semiconductor sales. Although its performance is below Nvidia’s latest Blackwell chip, it is equipped with high-bandwidth memory similar to that used in Blackwell, giving it a performance boost in certain tasks.
The H20 chip gained attention following its use by DeepSeek, a Chinese AI startup, which in January unveiled a cost-effective and competitive AI model trained using the chip.
Earlier this year, tech media outlet The Information reported that major Chinese tech companies, including Alibaba, Tencent, and ByteDance, collectively placed over US$16 billion worth of H20 chip orders in the first quarter alone – a surge of over 40% from the previous quarter.
As a result of the new export restrictions, Nvidia expects to incur a loss of approximately US$5.5 billion in the first quarter of its fiscal year.
The U.S. first imposed AI chip export controls targeting China in October 2022 and has since broadened the scope of the restrictions to cover additional technologies and countries.
The export restriction on H20 chips comes as U.S.-China trade tensions intensify. It is also despite Nvidia’s announcement Monday that it plans to work with its partners to invest up to US$500 billion over the next four years to build AI infrastructure, including supercomputers manufactured in the U.S.
Trump has imposed steep tariffs on Chinese imports, many of which now face a total of 145% in additional levies.
More recently, the Trump administration expanded exemptions for certain products – including smartphones and laptops – excluding them from a global 10% duty and the newly announced 125% levy targeting Chinese tech goods.
On Tuesday, Trump took further aim at Beijing, posting on his Truth Social platform that China had failed to fulfill commitments under a prior trade agreement that temporarily halted the tariff war during his first term from 2016-2020.
He said Beijing had purchased only “a portion of what they agreed to buy,” and criticized the previous Biden administration for showing “zero respect” in trade enforcement.
In the same post, Trump said that American farmers were often “put on the Front Line with our adversaries, such as China,” during trade conflicts – pledging continued support for U.S. agriculture.
Later that day, Trump turned his focus to a major aerospace deal,saying that China had backed out of a previously committed agreement with Boeing.
“They just reneged on the big Boeing deal, saying they will ‘not take possession’ of fully committed-to aircraft,” he wrote.
Bloomberg earlier reported that Chinese authorities had instructed domestic airlines to stop taking deliveries of Boeing jets, and to pause purchases of aircraft-related equipment and parts from U.S. suppliers.
In retaliation against U.S. actions, China has introduced counter-tariffs targeting American agriculture and imposed a 125% levy on other U.S. imports.
Edited by Stephen Wright.
This content originally appeared on Radio Free Asia and was authored by Taejun Kang for RFA.This post was originally published on Radio Free.
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Writing in his cell as a political prisoner in fascist Italy after World War I, the philosopher Antonio Gramsci famously declared: “The crisis consists precisely in the fact that the old is dying and the new cannot be born; in this interregnum a great variety of morbid symptoms appear.”
A century later, we are in another interregnum, and the morbid symptoms are everywhere. The U.S.-led order has ended, but the multipolar world is not yet born. The urgent priority is to give birth to a new multilateral order that can keep the peace and the path to sustainable development.
We are at the end of a long wave of human history that commenced with the voyages of Christopher Columbus and Vasco da Gama more than 500 years ago.
The post Birthing A New International Order appeared first on PopularResistance.Org.
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Donald Trump’s tariff policy has thrown markets into turmoil among his allies and enemies alike. This anarchy reflects the fact that his major aim was not really tariff policy, but simply to cut income taxes on the wealthy, by replacing them with tariffs as the main source of government revenue. Extracting economic concessions from other countries is part of his justification for this tax shift as offering a nationalistic benefit for the United States.
His cover story, and perhaps even his belief, is that tariffs by themselves can revive American industry. But he has no plans to deal with the problems that caused America’s deindustrialization in the first place.
The post Return Of The Robber Barons: Trump’s Distorted View Of US Tariff History appeared first on PopularResistance.Org.
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When Donald Trump pulled back on his plan to impose eye-watering tariffs on trading partners across the world, there was one key exception: China.
While the rest of the world would be given a 90-day reprieve on additional duties beyond the new 10% tariffs on all U.S. trade partners, China would feel the squeeze even more. On April 9, 2025, Trump raised the tariff on Chinese goods to 125% – bringing the total U.S. tariff on some Chinese imports to 145%.
The move, in Trump’s telling, was prompted by Beijing’s “lack of respect for global markets.” But the U.S. president may well have been smarting from Beijing’s apparent willingness to confront U.S. tariffs head on.
The post In Trade War With The US, China Holds More Cards Than Trump May Think appeared first on PopularResistance.Org.
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Chinese authorities have interrogated and detained local Tibetans who posted photos and messages online mourning the loss of an influential Tibetan Buddhist leader said to have died while in custody in Vietnam, two sources from the region told Radio Free Asia.
Officials in Gade county in Golog prefecture of Qinghai province have placed the monastery of Tulku Hungkar Dorje, who died aged 56, under round-the-clock police surveillance, conducting random inspections of locals’ phones to curb information sharing about his death, said the sources. Both spoke on the condition of anonymity for fear of reprisals.
On April 3, Lung Ngon Monastery in Gade county confirmed that its abbot, Tulku Hungkar Dorje, had died on March 29 in Vietnam’s Ho Chi Minh City. His followers say the Buddhist leader, who had been missing for over eight months, had fled to Vietnam to escape Chinese government persecution for his work as an educator and promoter of Tibetan language and culture.
Since April 2, authorities from Golog prefecture and Gade county have been conducting inspections at the monastery and local village, imposing tight restrictions and forbidding public memorial services for the abbot, the sources told RFA.
“After Tulku Hungkar Dorje’s death, local Tibetans have faced comprehensive restrictions. Many local residents who expressed condolences or shared photos of the Rinpoche on social media have been summoned for questioning by Chinese authorities,” said the first source.
“Several Tibetans have also been detained, although detailed information cannot be obtained due to the strict controls and scrutiny,” he added.
Tulku Hungkar Dorje was renowned as a philanthropist, educator and environmentalist, who promoted Tibetan language and culture. Followers and rights groups say he was a victim of transnational repression by China and have demanded the Vietnamese government allow an independent investigation into his death, which they say took place under suspicious circumstances after he was arrested in a joint operation led by local Vietnamese police and Chinese government agents.
Vietnamese authorities have not publicly commented about the case.
Monks from Lung Ngon Monastery who travelled with Chinese officials to Vietnam on April 5 to retrieve the Tulku Hungkar Dorje’s body were initially refused permission to view the body of their abbot and from participating in meetings held at the Chinese embassy in Vietnam, Tibetan rights groups said, citing sources familiar with the matter in the region.
However, on April 10, the monks were allowed to view Tulku Hungkar Dorje’s face, but were not allowed to view the rest of his body, said Ju Tenkyong, director of the Amnye Machen Institute, a Dharamsala-based Tibetan center for advanced studies.
Currently, there is no clear information about the status of Tulku Hungkar Dorje’s body, which is reportedly at Vinmec Central Park International Hospital in Ho Chi Minh City, Tenkyong said.
Tibetans across the globe have united in their call for a thorough probe into the death of the respected Buddhist teacher, holding peaceful marches in several countries, including in India and the U.S., with demonstrations outside the Chinese and Vietnamese embassies and consulates in New Delhi and New York as well as candlelight vigils, prayer ceremonies, and formal petitions.
Closure of Tibetan language schools
Tulku Hungkar Dorje was a renowned Tibetan educator in a region where Chinese authorities are accused of stifling Tibetan language and culture and seeking to assimilate Tibetan children into the larger ethnic Han culture.
The abbot founded several schools and vocational centers to provide free education for children of local nomadic families. These schools, which included the Hungkar Dorje Ethnic Vocational High School and Mayul Center for Studies, were reportedly shut down shortly after he went missing last year, sources told RFA.
In another indication of the trend of Chinese authorities suppressing Tibetan education, a prominent school, also in Golog prefecture, announced Tuesday it was reopening but would not be teaching Tibetan language and culture as before.
In July 2024, Chinese officials shut down Ragya Gangjong Sherig Norbuling School, a reputed Tibetan vocational school run by prominent Buddhist teacher, Jigme Gyaltsen, citing lack of compliance with provincial communist party standards. The closure sparked widespread concern among Tibetans at the time over Beijing’s efforts to eradicate Tibetan language and culture.
On Tuesday, Gyaltsen told hundreds of monks, students, and local Tibetans at a public event that the vocational school will focus on providing practical training on technology and technical skills to enable Tibetans to keep pace with the current tech-driven era.
Tibetan netizens welcomed the reopening and praised Gyaltsen as “invincible” and “indestructible.” One also expressed hope that the “glory of Tibetan language and script will shine as before.” However, sources told RFA the school will reopen without its Tibetan language and cultural departments, which it was famed for.
Translated by Tenzin Norzom. Edited by Tenzin Pema and Mat Pennington.
This content originally appeared on Radio Free Asia and was authored by RFA Tibetan.
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Human rights group Amnesty International said Tuesday it is opening a new Hong Kong section overseas, three years after closing its office in the territory because of a Chinese crackdown on civil society.
Amnesty International Hong Kong Overseas (AIHKO), will be led by Hong Kong diaspora activists operating from key international hubs including Australia, Canada, Taiwan, the United Kingdom and the United States, Amnesty said in a statement.
“The gutting of Hong Kong’s civil society has been a tragedy for the city with more than 100 non-profits and media outlets shut down or forced to flee,” the statement said. “We are now ready to intensify our efforts by building new communities of support driven by the Hong Kong diaspora.”
Amnesty said that since pro-democracy protests in 2019, more than 10,000 people, many of them students, have been arrested for protest-related activities. Over 300 people have been arrested for alleged acts of “endangering national security.”
It said that AIHKO is Amnesty International’s first-ever section founded and operated entirely “in exile.”
“Being overseas provides us with a degree of protection, allowing us to speak more freely and engage in advocacy work. We have a responsibility to do more to support those who remain in Hong Kong and continue their vital efforts,” Fernando Cheung, AIHKO board member and former Hong Kong legislator, was quoted as saying.
The U.K.-based human rights group was founded in 1961 with particular focus on the plight of political prisoners. Amnesty International’s local office in Hong Kong ceased operations on Oct. 31, 2021.
AIHKO, which is officially registered in Switzerland, will focus on advocating for human rights of Hong Kongers, within Hong Kong and abroad, the statement said.
Hong Kong was once a bastion of free media and expression in Asia, qualities that helped make it an international financial center and a regional hub for journalism and civil society groups.
But demonstrations in 2019 against Beijing’s encroachment on Hong Kong’s freedoms led to the passage of a national security law in 2020 that stifled dissent, making life increasingly precarious for independent groups that criticized China.
Radio Free Asia closed in its Hong Kong bureau in March 2024, saying the city’s recently amended national security law, also known as “Article 23,” had raised safety concerns for its reporters and staff members.
This content originally appeared on Radio Free Asia and was authored by RFA Staff.This post was originally published on Radio Free.
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On March 21, the Japan Ministry of Defense Joint Staff Office announced the successful monitoring of movements by two Chinese Navy vessels in waters near Uotsuri Island in the Senkaku Islands and between Yonaguni Island and Taiwan. This maritime surveillance operation, conducted by the Japan Maritime Self-Defense Force (JMSDF) from March 16 to 20, leveraged […]
The post “Japanese Aegis”-Equipped JS Akizuki Participates in Surveillance of Chinese Navy Vessels appeared first on Asian Military Review.
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TAIPEI, Taiwan – Two Chinese nationals captured while fighting for Russia in Ukraine said they were tricked by false promises and online recruitment ads into enlisting, and criticized Moscow for exploiting foreign fighters in its war effort.
“I wanted to make money, but I didn’t expect to end up in a war,” said Zhang Renbo, a former firefighter from China, during a Ukrainian government press conference on Monday.
He and Wang Guangjun, both born in the 1990s, are the first confirmed Chinese nationals captured fighting in the Russian ranks against Ukraine. Their capture was announced by President Volodymyr Zelensky earlier this month, who said “several hundred” Chinese citizens are believed to be fighting for Russia.
Wang said he lost his job last summer and came across a TikTok ad offering a lucrative opportunity to join the Russian military. The recruiter promised him a salary far above the Chinese average and offered to pay for travel and paperwork.
But soon after arrival, Wang claimed, the Russians confiscated his phone and bank card. He was unable to access the promised pay or contact anyone back home.
“Everything we heard from the Russians was a lie,” Wang said.
Radio Free Asia has not independently verified the men’s claims.
The two men said they signed enlistment contracts voluntarily but without any connection to the Chinese government.
Both claimed they were initially offered non-combat jobs – Wang in the military directly, Zhang through construction work – only to be placed on the battlefield later. Their route into the war passed through Moscow and Russian-occupied Donetsk before they reached the front lines.
Wang said he had been at the front for just three days before he was captured.
He described being sheltered by Ukrainian soldiers during a Russian gas attack after his capture and said he had been treated well ever since. In the video of the press conference, the two men appear to be in good health.
Zhang, who comes from a wealthier background, said he never saw any Ukrainian troops until the moment he was taken prisoner. Both men said they had not killed anyone during their time on the battlefield.
The two criticised Russia sharply during the press conference and discouraged other Chinese nationals from joining the conflict.
“It’s better not to participate in wars at all,” Wang said. “Real war is completely different from what we have seen in movies and on TV.”
They also denied any involvement by the Chinese state in their recruitment.
When asked whether Beijing was aware of their actions, they said China had issued general warnings against travelling to conflict zones and noted that Chinese citizens who join foreign militaries could face legal consequences. Still, both said they hoped to return to China as part of a future prisoner exchange.
“I understand there may be punishment,” Zhang said. “But I still want to return home and to my family.”
Russia has increasingly turned to foreign nationals to fill its ranks in Ukraine, recruiting fighters from countries including India, Nepal, Syria, and reportedly North Korea.
As many as 12,000 North Korean soldiers are in Russia to fight Ukrainian forces who occupied parts of Kursk in an August counterattack, according to the U.S. and Ukraine. Neither Pyongyang nor Moscow has acknowledged their presence.
According to Wang, he was placed in a training camp alongside recruits from Central Asia, Ghana, and Iraq, and said communication with commanders was limited to gestures.
Edited by Stephen Wright.
This content originally appeared on Radio Free Asia and was authored by Taejun Kang for RFA.This post was originally published on Radio Free.
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On Thursday President Trump pulled back on tariffs because a sell-off in treasuries threatened to develop into a serious economic catastrophe.
Tariffs were reduced to 10% for most countries but China. (10% is still a lot higher than they were before Trump started his tariff onslaught.) The tariffs on products from China were raised to a total of 145%.
The high China tariffs would inevitably lead to a steep raise of U.S. prices for consumer electronics which, at least partially, are nowadays coming from China. For big U.S. companies, foremost Apple, this would have entailed large losses.
So Trump blinked again.
The post Tariffs – Trump Blinks Again appeared first on PopularResistance.Org.
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TAIPEI, Taiwan – Cambodia deported Taiwanese fraud suspects to China, the island’s foreign ministry said, urging Cambodian authorities to provide a complete list of the deportees, who may number in the dozens.
About 180 Taiwanese were arrested together with seven alleged Chinese coconspirators on March 31, during raids on an online fraud center in Cambodia’s capital Phnom Penh.
After receiving notification of the arrests on April 1, Taiwan’s representative office in Ho Chi Minh City began negotiating with the Cambodian government, said the ministry. Cambodia deported nearly 190 suspects to China in three groups on Sunday night and early Monday morning but hadn’t provided nationality information, the ministry said.
Taiwan and Cambodia do not maintain official diplomatic relations as the Southeast Asian country, like most other nations, recognizes Beijing and backs its position that Taiwan is part of China’s territory.
The representative office had requested that Cambodian authorities provide a complete list of names of the Taiwanese suspects and deport them to Taiwan to face legal consequences in accordance with international norms, according to the ministry.
Despite these requests, the Cambodian government has yet to provide a complete list or specific number of suspects, the ministry said.
“Cambodia, under pressure from China, did not provide a list of our country’s nationals or the total number deported, and the ministry not only continues to urge Cambodia to provide the list as soon as possible, but also expresses its serious concern and protest,” said the ministry.
The ministry also urged Taiwanese not to engage in illegal activities overseas such as telecom fraud.
Cambodia has become a regional hub for scam operations involving human trafficking and forced labour.
The scam operations are largely run by Chinese criminal syndicates based in guarded compounds in cities such as Sihanoukville, according to media reports. Victims – many from Taiwan, Myanmar and other Asian countries – are lured with fake job offers, only to be coerced into perpetrating online scams.
Taiwan has previously complained about countries deporting its nationals to China after being arrested on suspicion of involvement in telecom fraud, including Cambodia, Kenya and Spain.
According to Taiwan’s estimation, more than 600 Taiwanese people arrested overseas for their alleged involvement in online fraud were deported to China between 2016 and May 2024.
Neither the Cambodian nor Chinese foreign ministries immediately commented.
In recent years, Cambodia and China have significantly deepened their relationship across economic, political and military spheres.
China has become Cambodia’s largest investor and trading partner, with bilateral trade surpassing US$15 billion in 2024. Major infrastructure projects, such as the Phnom Penh-Sihanoukville Expressway and a US$1.7 billion canal plan, have been developed under China’s Belt and Road Initiative.
Politically, Cambodia has consistently supported China’s positions in international forums, including on contentious issues such as the South China Sea.
The two nations have also strengthened military ties, including the Chinese-funded expansion of the Ream Naval Base, which has raised concerns in the region about a potential Chinese military presence in the Gulf of Thailand.
Edited by Stephen Wright.
This content originally appeared on Radio Free Asia and was authored by Taejun Kang for RFA.This post was originally published on Radio Free.
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Wera Hobhouse says her apparent presence on secret list of critics of country’s human rights record made her a target
A Liberal Democrat MP refused entry to Hong Kong to see her young grandson has said her experience should be “a wake-up call for any parliamentarian”, given that it seems to show China holds a secret list of banned politicians.
Wera Hobhouse, who was turned back by officials on Thursday, said she was given no explanation as to why this happened, and could only assume that it was because she had spoken out about rights abuses by China.
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TAIPEI, Taiwan – Senior members of Hong Kong’s Democratic Party, the city’s last remaining major opposition party, said that Chinese officials and their proxies had warned the party to disband or face “serious consequences,” including possible arrests.
Founded in 1994, the Democratic Party was Hong Kong’s first major pro-democracy political force. It emerged from a movement that began in 1982 to oppose any erosion of freedoms from China-U.K. negotiations on the territory’s future.
In February, the party announced plans to disband amid an ongoing political crackdown under two national security laws, though it did not initially cite pressure from Chinese authorities.
But Fred Li, a Democratic Party member and former lawmaker, told the Reuters news agency on Sunday that a Chinese official had informed him the party should be disbanded before the next legislative elections in December.
Li was among five senior Democratic Party members who said they had been told in meetings with Chinese officials or individuals linked to Beijing in recent months that the party should close, Reuters reported.
Radio Free Asia has not been able to independently verify the report.
The report came on the same day the party held a special members’ meeting and passed a motion authorizing its Central Committee to proceed with the disbandment.
“I hope Hong Kong’s political parties will continue to work for the people,” Party Chairman Lo Kin-hei told reporters at the party’s headquarters.
“We have always hoped to serve the Hong Kong people and to do things that are good for society.”
The party is now seeking legal and accounting professionals to carry out its liquidation. Any remaining assets will be donated to local organizations working for the betterment of Hong Kong, according to party rules.
Lo didn’t specify when the dissolution would be complete, only indicating that it could happen later this year or possibly next year.
Lo Kin-hei, Chairman of the Democratic Party, attends at a news conference after an extraordinary general meeting to seek members’ views on the potential dissolution of the party in Hong Kong, China, April 13, 2025. (Tyrone Siu/Reuters)The political crackdown has already resulted in the dissolution of the Civic Party. It was disbanded in May 2023 after its lawmakers were barred from running for reelection in the wake of the 2020 National Security Law.
The pro-democracy youth activist party Demosisto disbanded in June 2020.
The government has blamed several waves of pro-democracy protests in recent years on “foreign forces” trying to instigate a democratic revolution in Hong Kong.
Recent electoral changes ensure that almost nobody in the city’s once-vibrant opposition camp will stand for election again. Dozens of pro-democracy figures have been jailed and rule changes require political vetting for candidates.
Pro-democracy candidates who stood for the last directly elected district council attracted record turnout and won a landslide victory – widely seen as a ringing public endorsement of the 2019 protest movement.
Turnout plummeted in the first Legislative Council election after the rule change and Chief Executive John Lee was given the top job after running unopposed.
Since Beijing imposed two national security laws that banned public opposition and dissent in the city, and blamed “hostile foreign forces” for the resulting protests, hundreds of thousands have fled. The territory has plummeted in human rights rankings, press freedom has shrunk and government propaganda is now widespread in schools.
Hong Kong denies entry of UK politician
Reports of Chinese pressure on Hong Kong’s Democratic Party emerged just days after media outlets revealed that U.K. Liberal Democrat member of parliament Wera Hobhouse had been denied entry to the city during a family visit to meet her newborn grandson.
The British government expressed “serious concern” over the incident after Hobhouse said she was detained at the airport, questioned, had her passport confiscated, and was sent back to the U.K. without explanation.
She is believed to be the first British MP barred from entering Hong Kong since the 1997 handover.
As a member of the Inter-Parliamentary Alliance on China, Hobhouse believes her political role was the reason.
“Until now, I think there had been a diplomatic understanding that we might have different values, different political ideas, but there is some sort of basic rule in which we allow politicians into each other’s countries, and that sort of understanding seems to be collapsing,” she said in an interview with BBC’s Newscast.
The Liberal Democrat leader, Ed Davey, called on the British Foreign Secretary, David Lammy, to summon the Chinese ambassador and provide a full explanation. Lammy said he will raise the “deeply concerning” incident with authorities in Hong Kong and Beijing.
Edited by Taejun Kang and Stephen Wright.
This content originally appeared on Radio Free Asia and was authored by Alan Lu for RFA.This post was originally published on Radio Free.
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US President Donald Trump says his administration’s latest message that the exclusion of smartphones and computers from his reciprocal tariffs on China will be short-lived, and has pledged a national security trade investigation into the semiconductor sector. Those electronics “are just moving to a different Tariff ‘bucket,’” Mr Trump said in a social media post….
The post Trump says chips from China to face national security, new tariffs appeared first on InnovationAus.com.
This post was originally published on InnovationAus.com.
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The predominance of US economic, political and military power in the world was established at the end of the Second World War.1 With just 6.3 percent of the global population, the United States held about 50 percent of the world’s wealth in 1948. As the only power that has used nuclear weapons on civilian targets, it demonstrated unchecked power and military might. The postwar world order was rebuilt with the United States at the core, including the formation of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization in 1949 and Japan–US Security Treaty in 1951. The political order of major industrial powers, as well as some newly independent states, which were key in the containment strategy during the Cold War, were shaped in the image of the United States as vehemently anti-Communist bulwark economies.
The post Opportunities And Challenges To A Global Community With A Future appeared first on PopularResistance.Org.
This post was originally published on PopularResistance.Org.
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The predominance of US economic, political and military power in the world was established at the end of the Second World War.1 With just 6.3 percent of the global population, the United States held about 50 percent of the world’s wealth in 1948. As the only power that has used nuclear weapons on civilian targets, it demonstrated unchecked power and military might. The postwar world order was rebuilt with the United States at the core, including the formation of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization in 1949 and Japan–US Security Treaty in 1951. The political order of major industrial powers, as well as some newly independent states, which were key in the containment strategy during the Cold War, were shaped in the image of the United States as vehemently anti-Communist bulwark economies.
The post Opportunities And Challenges To A Global Community With A Future appeared first on PopularResistance.Org.
This post was originally published on PopularResistance.Org.
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US chipmakers that outsource manufacturing will be exempt from China’s retaliatory tariffs on US imports, according to a notice by the main Chinese semiconductor association on Friday. Given the highly specialised and multi-country nature of chip supply chains, there was uncertainty within the industry about how tariffs would be applied to chip imports. “For all…
The post US outsourced chipmakers will escape China’s tariffs appeared first on InnovationAus.com.
This post was originally published on InnovationAus.com.
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The United States risks isolating itself by pursuing unilateral trade restrictions, Chinese President Xi Jinping warned on Friday during a visit of Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez to Beijing.
The administration of US President Donald Trump has launched an escalating tariff war with China, imposing a total of 145% in duties on Chinese imports this week. Beijing has retaliated by hiking tariffs on American goods to 125%.
“There are no winners in the tariff war and standing against the world ultimately results in self-isolation,” Xi said, as cited by Xinhua news agency.
Xi called on China and the European Union to “jointly resist unilateral bullying” in order to protect their legitimate rights and interests, and uphold international rules and order.
The EU, which has been targeted with a 20% tariff by the US, has warned of significant global economic repercussions and has vowed to take countermeasures. Earlier this week, Trump declared a 90-day pause on reciprocal duties for most US trading partners, including the EU, allowing a window for negotiation.
Brussels has adopted a policy of “de-risking” towards Chinese imports, balancing protective trade measures such as tariffs on electric vehicles with efforts to maintain constructive economic relations.
The Chinese president also stated that regardless of changes in the external environment, the country would remain steadfast, focused, and would efficiently manage its own affairs.
“For over seven decades, China’s growth has been fueled by self-reliance and hard work, never depending on favors from others and never backing down in the face of unreasonable suppression,” Xi explained.
Trump argues that the increased duties are needed to address trade imbalances and stop China from “ripping off the USA.” Earlier this week, he opined that the “proud” Chinese would have to “make a deal at some point.”
China has slammed Trump’s “abnormally high tariffs” on Chinese products as “unilateral bullying and coercion.” The move by the US president represents “a serious violation of international economic and trade rules, as well as of basic economic laws and common sense,” Beijing stressed.The trade dispute between the world’s two largest economies has disrupted global markets, sent oil prices to four-year lows and caused concerns over global supply chains.
The post Xi Warns US Will Isolate Itself first appeared on Dissident Voice.This post was originally published on Dissident Voice.
Major ports and foreign trade provinces in China are showing the first signs of disruption from the ongoing tariff war between the world’s two largest economies.
Virtually no cargo ships were bound for the U.S. by Thursday from once-bustling ports in Shanghai and Guangdong, while operations at export factories in provinces that feed China’s export empire have ground to a halt, sources in the country said.
Stacks of shipping containers that failed to make the ships bound for the U.S. by the April 9 deadline are now piled high at Shanghai and Guangdong ports, local businessmen told RFA.
An April 8, 2025, photo shows China Shipping containers at the Long Beach Container Terminal in Long Beach, Calif. (Damian Dovarganes/AP)At warehouses, piles of goods originally intended to be exported to the U.S. lie abandoned, even as factory floors have come to a standstill in Zhejiang and Guangdong – two provinces that accounted for the largest share of China’s exports in 2024.
On Wednesday U.S. President Donald Trump announced he was raising “reciprocal tariffs” on China to 125%, which he said would be effective immediately.
The White House later clarified that the total levies on Chinese imports actually stands at 145%, after accounting for a previous 20% imposed on Beijing for fentanyl trade.
China on its part on Friday raised tariffs on U.S. imports to 125%, from 84% in retaliation against the latest tariff hike imposed by the U.S.
The tit-for-tat exchange that has played out between Washington and Beijing in the past two months was ignited when Trump imposed a 10% tariff on China on Feb. 4, citing its role in the trade in fentanyl, a deadly opioid that has become a major cause of death in America.
But when China hit back with a 15% tariff on U.S. coal and liquefied natural gas, and a 10% on crude oil, large cars, and agricultural machinery, Trump raised China tariffs further by 10% to a total 20%.
A Jan. 16, 2023, photo shows shipping containers in Tianjin, China. (Mark Schiefelbein/AP)On Thursday, just a day after Trump’s 125% China tariff announcement, Shanghai’s Yangshan and Waigaoqiao terminals – where nearly half the vessels docked earlier that week had been bound for the U.S. – came to an abrupt halt, according to Beijing-based media group Caixin.com.
Only days earlier, Shanghai’s Yangshan and Waigaoqiao terminals had been teeming with activity as ships rushed to load containers in a desperate bid to complete shipments and set sail before the new tariffs kicked in, it said.
Similar scenes are playing out at the Yantian terminal in Shenzhen, Guangdong, said Qian, a Guangdong export businessman, who is currently in Shanghai and has witnessed the impact at the port of Shanghai.
A June 12, 2024, photo shows shipping containers at Yantian port in Shenzhen, in southern China’s Guangdong province. (Jade Gao/AFP)Businessmen interviewed by RFA for this article requested to be identified only by their surnames for safety reasons.
According to Caixin, an employee at Chinese state-owned COSCO Shipping Holdings said many freight owners are going through customs clearance procedures, while confirming that containers that failed to make the last ships that left for the U.S. are now currently piled up in the yard.
A guidance released by the U.S. Customs and Border Protection on Tuesday said any freight that’s already on the water and coming into the U.S. ports in the coming weeks will not be subject to the tariffs.
This applies to any cargo “loaded onto a vessel at the port of loading and in transit on the final mode of transport on” or before April 5 and April 9.
Impact on China’s exports
In 2024, China exported $438.9 billion in goods to the U.S., up 2.8 percent from 2023, according to the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative. The U.S., on the other hand, exported $143.5 billion worth of goods to China that same year.
“Unless they are rolled back, the latest U.S. tariff hikes mean that China’s shipments to the U.S. will more than halve over the coming years,” Julian Evans-Pritchard, head of China economics at Capital Economics, wrote in a research note to clients.
He expects this will mean a collapse in China’s exports to the U.S. and a decline in the country’s gross domestic product by somewhere between 1.0-1.5%, depending on the extent of rerouting.
Guangdong and Zhejiang are the most affected by the tariff war, with businesses in both the science and technology industries now “stagnant”, local businessmen told RFA.
In 2024, Guangdong province exported $826 billion worth of goods, including computers, integrated circuits, video displays, and telephones, according to the online economic data platform, Observatory of Economic Complexity (OEC).
A Sept. 27, 2020, photo shows a container ship in Shenzhen, Guangdong province, China. (David Kirton/Reuters)Zhejiang – which engages in export of autoparts and related accessories, semiconductors, seats, and refined petroleum – recorded $549 billion in exports in 2024, according to OEC.
“All businesses that engage in foreign trade are currently having a hard time,” said Zhang, a businessman from Qingdao, Shandong, which engages in heavy industries such as machine tools.
“If they (foreign economies) don’t perform well over there, at worst (the president) will be impeached. If ours doesn’t ‘perform’ well here, it (economy) will collapse,” he said.
Local Chinese businessmen told RFA that there is a prevailing sense of helplessness among the general public and that all walks of life are showing signs of economic depression, with empty restaurants, little consumer activity, and shuttered factories.
“Yesterday, a friend of mine took me to a restaurant for dinner on a very busy street in Shanghai. There were more than 10 waiters in the restaurant, but there were only two of us eating there,” said Qian.
“In the past, the restaurant was always full of guests upstairs and downstairs, but yesterday the upstairs was closed, and there were only two of us downstairs,” he added.
According to analysts at commodity and futures brokerage firm Huatai Futures Co., Ltd, a total of 26 voyages from China to the west and east coasts of the U.S. is expected to be canceled for weeks 16 to 19 or April 14 to May 11, with container capacity set to reduce by nearly 40%.
Edited by Tenzin Pema and Mat Pennington
This content originally appeared on Radio Free Asia and was authored by Qian Long for RFA Mandarin.This post was originally published on Radio Free.
Major ports and foreign trade provinces in China are showing the first signs of disruption from the ongoing tariff war between the world’s two largest economies.
Virtually no cargo ships were bound for the U.S. by Thursday from once-bustling ports in Shanghai and Guangdong, while operations at export factories in provinces that feed China’s export empire have ground to a halt, sources in the country said.
Stacks of shipping containers that failed to make the ships bound for the U.S. by the April 9 deadline are now piled high at Shanghai and Guangdong ports, local businessmen told RFA.
An April 8, 2025, photo shows China Shipping containers at the Long Beach Container Terminal in Long Beach, Calif. (Damian Dovarganes/AP)At warehouses, piles of goods originally intended to be exported to the U.S. lie abandoned, even as factory floors have come to a standstill in Zhejiang and Guangdong – two provinces that accounted for the largest share of China’s exports in 2024.
On Wednesday U.S. President Donald Trump announced he was raising “reciprocal tariffs” on China to 125%, which he said would be effective immediately.
The White House later clarified that the total levies on Chinese imports actually stands at 145%, after accounting for a previous 20% imposed on Beijing for fentanyl trade.
China on its part on Friday raised tariffs on U.S. imports to 125%, from 84% in retaliation against the latest tariff hike imposed by the U.S.
The tit-for-tat exchange that has played out between Washington and Beijing in the past two months was ignited when Trump imposed a 10% tariff on China on Feb. 4, citing its role in the trade in fentanyl, a deadly opioid that has become a major cause of death in America.
But when China hit back with a 15% tariff on U.S. coal and liquefied natural gas, and a 10% on crude oil, large cars, and agricultural machinery, Trump raised China tariffs further by 10% to a total 20%.
A Jan. 16, 2023, photo shows shipping containers in Tianjin, China. (Mark Schiefelbein/AP)On Thursday, just a day after Trump’s 125% China tariff announcement, Shanghai’s Yangshan and Waigaoqiao terminals – where nearly half the vessels docked earlier that week had been bound for the U.S. – came to an abrupt halt, according to Beijing-based media group Caixin.com.
Only days earlier, Shanghai’s Yangshan and Waigaoqiao terminals had been teeming with activity as ships rushed to load containers in a desperate bid to complete shipments and set sail before the new tariffs kicked in, it said.
Similar scenes are playing out at the Yantian terminal in Shenzhen, Guangdong, said Qian, a Guangdong export businessman, who is currently in Shanghai and has witnessed the impact at the port of Shanghai.
A June 12, 2024, photo shows shipping containers at Yantian port in Shenzhen, in southern China’s Guangdong province. (Jade Gao/AFP)Businessmen interviewed by RFA for this article requested to be identified only by their surnames for safety reasons.
According to Caixin, an employee at Chinese state-owned COSCO Shipping Holdings said many freight owners are going through customs clearance procedures, while confirming that containers that failed to make the last ships that left for the U.S. are now currently piled up in the yard.
A guidance released by the U.S. Customs and Border Protection on Tuesday said any freight that’s already on the water and coming into the U.S. ports in the coming weeks will not be subject to the tariffs.
This applies to any cargo “loaded onto a vessel at the port of loading and in transit on the final mode of transport on” or before April 5 and April 9.
Impact on China’s exports
In 2024, China exported $438.9 billion in goods to the U.S., up 2.8 percent from 2023, according to the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative. The U.S., on the other hand, exported $143.5 billion worth of goods to China that same year.
“Unless they are rolled back, the latest U.S. tariff hikes mean that China’s shipments to the U.S. will more than halve over the coming years,” Julian Evans-Pritchard, head of China economics at Capital Economics, wrote in a research note to clients.
He expects this will mean a collapse in China’s exports to the U.S. and a decline in the country’s gross domestic product by somewhere between 1.0-1.5%, depending on the extent of rerouting.
Guangdong and Zhejiang are the most affected by the tariff war, with businesses in both the science and technology industries now “stagnant”, local businessmen told RFA.
In 2024, Guangdong province exported $826 billion worth of goods, including computers, integrated circuits, video displays, and telephones, according to the online economic data platform, Observatory of Economic Complexity (OEC).
A Sept. 27, 2020, photo shows a container ship in Shenzhen, Guangdong province, China. (David Kirton/Reuters)Zhejiang – which engages in export of autoparts and related accessories, semiconductors, seats, and refined petroleum – recorded $549 billion in exports in 2024, according to OEC.
“All businesses that engage in foreign trade are currently having a hard time,” said Zhang, a businessman from Qingdao, Shandong, which engages in heavy industries such as machine tools.
“If they (foreign economies) don’t perform well over there, at worst (the president) will be impeached. If ours doesn’t ‘perform’ well here, it (economy) will collapse,” he said.
Local Chinese businessmen told RFA that there is a prevailing sense of helplessness among the general public and that all walks of life are showing signs of economic depression, with empty restaurants, little consumer activity, and shuttered factories.
“Yesterday, a friend of mine took me to a restaurant for dinner on a very busy street in Shanghai. There were more than 10 waiters in the restaurant, but there were only two of us eating there,” said Qian.
“In the past, the restaurant was always full of guests upstairs and downstairs, but yesterday the upstairs was closed, and there were only two of us downstairs,” he added.
According to analysts at commodity and futures brokerage firm Huatai Futures Co., Ltd, a total of 26 voyages from China to the west and east coasts of the U.S. is expected to be canceled for weeks 16 to 19 or April 14 to May 11, with container capacity set to reduce by nearly 40%.
Edited by Tenzin Pema and Mat Pennington
This content originally appeared on Radio Free Asia and was authored by Qian Long for RFA Mandarin.This post was originally published on Radio Free.
This content originally appeared on Radio Free Asia and was authored by Radio Free Asia.This post was originally published on Radio Free.
