Hong Kong police on Monday accused activists in the long-running pro-democracy movement of inciting minors to commit crimes. The claim Monday comes two days before a planned New Year’s Day march that is expected to attract tens of thousands of… Read More ›

Month: December 2019
Hong Kong protesters tell mainland Chinese traders to leave
Police fought with protesters who marched through a Hong Kong shopping mall Saturday demanding mainland Chinese traders leave the territory in a fresh weekend of anti-government tension. The protest in Sheung Shui, near Hong Kong’s boundary with the mainland, was… Read More ›
Cadence Column: Asia, December 30, 2019
We are headed toward a massive inquisition of police. It could be known as the “Hong Kong Trials”, where each police officer who served since June is combed over and evaluated for every step taken at every single protest, then… Read More ›
Why China’s crackdown on academic freedom will backfire
Chinese academics and intellectuals should not have been enraged by the communist leadership’s move to drop a written statement about academic freedom from the charters of a handful of universities. Not only has there rarely been such freedom in China since… Read More ›
The 235 days that rattled China and shook the world
They were 235 days that shook the world, rattled China’s regime and refuted the most pernicious wishful thinking since the appeasement of dictators collapsed eight decades ago. Nothing more momentous happened in 2019 than Hong Kong’s heroic insurrection. It began… Read More ›
China built its J-20 stealth fighter aircraft without any guns
China’s J-20 stealth fighter doesn’t have a gun. That could be a problem for the Chinese air force. Observers of the twin-engine stealth fighter long had speculated that the J-20 lacks a cannon. Photography of J-20s since the type’s first… Read More ›
Pilot shortages could ground China’s plans to develop combat-ready aircraft carrier fleet
A shortage of naval pilots is holding back Beijing’s ambitions to develop a truly combat-ready fleet, military analysts have said. China officially commissioned its second aircraft carrier the Shandong last week, which means it will need at least 70 pilots,… Read More ›
For China’s underground churches, this was no easy Christmas
Li Chengju glared at her prison interrogator as he pressed her to renounce her Christian church and condemn her pastor. Her captor warned she would not be so lucky as the pastor, who was locked in secret detention but at… Read More ›
Hong Kong protesters rally in support of Uighurs
Hong Kong riot police pepper sprayed protesters to disperse crowds in the heart of the city’s financial district on Sunday after a largely peaceful rally in support of China‘s ethnic Uighurs turned chaotic. Dozens of police marched across a public… Read More ›
Cadence Column: Asia, December 23, 2019
China’s in over its head. They got somewhat of a trade deal, though they never had much to bargain with because their economy is much more dependent on imports than the US economy. So, their trade deal can’t have gone… Read More ›
A jungle airstrip stirs suspicions about China’s plans for Cambodia
The Chinese military’s “string of pearls” strategy depends on far-flung regional outposts. Some think Cambodia is becoming one. When completed next year on a remote stretch of shoreline, Dara Sakor International Airport will boast the longest runway in Cambodia, complete… Read More ›
U.S.-North Korea tension looms as leaders from China, Japan, South Korea meet
The specter of new confrontation between Pyongyang and Washington hangs over meetings between China, Japan and South Korea this week, with growing risks North Korean actions could end an uneasy detente and upend recent diplomatic efforts. South Korean President Moon… Read More ›
How murder, kidnappings and miscalculation set off Hong Kong’s revolt
Hong Kong leader Carrie Lam says the plan that ignited the revolt in her city was born of a straightforward quest for justice. While on a trip to Taiwan, a Hong Kong man strangled his Hong Kong girlfriend, then returned… Read More ›
China is about to fire up its ‘artificial sun’ in quest for fusion energy
China is about to start operation on its “artificial sun”—a nuclear fusion device that produces energy by replicating the reactions that take place at the center of the sun. If successful, the device could edge scientists closer to achieving the… Read More ›
China is seeking to ‘take over’ Australia’s political system, former Australian spy chief claims
The retired Asio chief Duncan Lewis has reportedly warned that the Chinese government is seeking to use “insidious” foreign interference operations to “take over” Australia’s political system. Anyone in office could be a target and the strategy’s full impact might… Read More ›
China commissions 2nd aircraft carrier, challenging U.S. dominance
China commissioned its first domestically built aircraft carrier on Tuesday, reaching a new milestone in its ambitions to build a modern navy capable of challenging American dominance of the seas, especially in the Pacific. China’s leader, Xi Jinping, presided over… Read More ›
Hong Kong faced ‘grimmest and most complex year’ since handover, China’s Xi says
Chinese President Xi Jinping reiterated his support for Hong Kong‘s embattled leader on Monday even as he declared that the former British colony has faced its “grimmest and most complex year” since its return to China. Xi praised Hong Kong… Read More ›
China’s foreign minister says the US has successively angered and suppressed China
Senior Chinese diplomat Wang Yi said on Friday that the United States had seriously damaged the hard-won mutual trust between the countries by criticizing Beijing over issues such as Hong Kong and the treatment of Muslim Uighurs. “Such behavior is… Read More ›
Cadence Column: Asia, December 16, 2019
China is desperately grasping for straws. While German parliament is planning to ban Huawei against the will of their head of state, Chancellor Merkel, a Chinese ambassador sends a message that “there will be consequences”—when diplomatic channels go to the… Read More ›
Be sceptical of Trump’s new trade deal with China
As with so many assertions from President Trump, skepticism is in order about his announcement Friday of a “phase one” trade deal with China. Start with the seemingly straightforward issue of exactly what Mr. Trump got in return for reducing… Read More ›
China is not as strong as it seems
American opinion has moved away from its once-benign view of China. That older view, still favored by many business people, held that a prosperous China would threaten its neighbors less than a poor China, and anyway would offer the United… Read More ›
Stocks hit record on report that White House has reached China trade deal
Wall Street’s main indexes hit record highs on Thursday following news that the United States had reached a “deal in principle” with China to resolve a trade war that has rattled markets for nearly two years. Stocks were boosted in… Read More ›
China’s J-20 stealth fighter is capable, but has some big flaws
Reports say China put its stealth fighter — the J-20 — into service last month. The aircraft, built by the Chengdu Aerospace Corporation, is a twin-engine multi-role fighter that can reach speeds of 2,100 kilometers per hour. It’s believed the… Read More ›
Beijing’s policies uniting US interest groups against China
China’s US policies are uniting a broad range of American interests against the world’s second largest economy, and a veteran US diplomat believes it is time for a new approach. Christopher Hill, former assistant secretary of state for East Asian… Read More ›
Donald Trump should cancel China trade deal and raise tariffs
President Trump said last week that it may be better to wait until after his reelection to complete a trade deal with China. As a scheduled increase in tariffs on China approaches on December 15, Trump should stick with this… Read More ›
China says Taiwan’s anti-infiltration bill, combatting Chinese influence, will cause ‘alarm’ for investors
A proposed anti-infiltration bill in Taiwan which the government says is needed to combat Chinese influence is spreading alarm amongst the Taiwanese business community in China, the Chinese government said on Wednesday. The legislation is part of a years-long effort… Read More ›
China’s plan to fight a nuclear war against America is to nuke U.S. cities
When one reads enough Chinese naval literature, diagrams of multi-axial cruise missile saturation attacks against aircraft carrier groups may begin to seem normal. However, one particular graphic from the October 2015 issue (p. 32) of the naval journal Naval &… Read More ›
China car market heads for unprecedented second annual drop
Car sales in China continued to decline in November, extending a historic slump and all but ensuring a second straight annual drop for the world’s biggest auto market. Sales of sedans, sport utility vehicles, minivans and multipurpose vehicles fell 4.2%… Read More ›
China’s plan for six aircraft carriers just ‘sank’
China reportedly is slowing its plan to acquire two aircraft carriers for each of its regional fleets. Instead of speeding ahead with the development of a six-carrier fleet — two each for the northern, eastern and southern fleets — the… Read More ›
Cadence Column: Asia, December 9, 2019
Money doesn’t lie; it’s in the airline figures. Cathay is reducing its capacity, largely from loss of demand for flights in and out of China. Hong Kong Airlines is dropping long hauls to and from Australia, the US, and Canada…. Read More ›
China must answer for Xinjiang cultural genocide in court
International law is a vital part of fighting for the Uighur people. The substantial leaks to the New York Times and the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists of internal policy documents of the Chinese Communist Party regarding the crackdown on… Read More ›
Is it possible Trump is on the right track with China?
“Trump’s trade war is losing, not gaining, support,” Paul Krugman wrote this week in his column “Why Is Trump a Tariff Man?” So why does the president avoid making the deals that might end this perpetual state of economic uncertainty?… Read More ›
China-made Tesla cars recommended for Chinese subsidies
China’s Industry Ministry has placed Chinese-built Tesla Inc. Model 3 cars on a list of vehicles recommended to receive subsidies for new energy vehicles, according to a document published on Friday. It was not immediately what level of subsidy China… Read More ›
629 Pakistani girls sold as brides to China
Page after page, the names stack up: 629 girls and women from across Pakistan who were sold as brides to Chinese men and taken to China. The list, obtained by The Associated Press, was compiled by Pakistani investigators determined to… Read More ›
US House approves bill that calls for sanctioning Chinese officials over Muslim detainment camps
The U.S. House of Representatives on Tuesday overwhelmingly approved a bill that would require the Trump administration to toughen its response to China’s crackdown on its Muslim minority, demanding sanctions on senior Chinese officials and export bans. The Uighur Act… Read More ›
In China, coal creeps back in as slowing economy overshadows climate change ambitions
China is building more coal-fired power plants and approving dozens of new mines, despite assurances from the world’s biggest greenhouse gas emitter that it was serious about fighting climate change. China’s 2021-2030 policy plans are under close scrutiny as the… Read More ›
Cadence Column: Asia, December 2, 2019
Opinions on Asia aren’t just flying, but swarming the Pacific. Hong Kongers vote against China in an unmistakable slap to Beijing’s face, then Beijing blames the US—because Beijing still thinks that voters only vote how the government tells them to…. Read More ›
China has lost Taiwan, and they know it
“Not a chance,” the president’s tweet said, in Chinese characters. That was the message from Tsai Ing-wen, the leader of Taiwan, on Nov. 5, after the Chinese government announced a string of initiatives to lure Taiwanese companies and residents to… Read More ›