Tag: East Asia

East Asia
HK47

Hong Kong: 45 activists sentenced for ‘subversion’

The Hong Kong Court of First Instance sentenced 45 defendants for conspiracy to commit “subversion” under the National Security Law, with prison terms ranging from 50 to 120 months, depending on their alleged roles in an unauthorized primary election staged by pro-democracy groups in 2020. The case stems from activists’ efforts in 2020 to gain a majority in Hong Kong’s Legislative Council. The LegCo election was ultimately suspended, ostensibly as an emergency measure during the COVID-19 pandemic. (Image: HKDC)

East Asia
Kaifeng

China: authorities shut down Kaifeng Critical Mass

A spontaneous Friday-night phenomenon of mass youth bicycle rides from Zhengzhou, the capital of central China’s Henan province, to the nearby historical city of Kaifeng seemingly got out of control, prompting a crackdown from authorities. The ostensible goal of the 50-kilometer “Night Riding Army” (akin to Critical Mass in the West) was midnight partaking of Kaifeng’s famous soup dumplings. The rides were initially celebrated by the authorities, with one write-up in the official People’s Daily cheering on the “youthful adventures.” But when an unprecedented 100,000 joined the ride (by some accounts, double that), provincial police responded by closing the road between the two cities to non-motorized vehicles, and bike-share apps were set to remotely lock any bike taken out of designated zones in Zhengzhou. And it seems that a dissident political element had crept into the event. While some cyclists carried Chinese flags, sang the national anthem, and shouted slogans in support of the Communist Party, others raised hand-made banners with subversive messages in coded homonyms such as “Freedom, I am fucking coming!” (Photo via Instagram)

East Asia
DPRK

North Korean deployment to Russia illegal: EU

South Korea and the EU condemned North Korea’s contribution of military arms and personnel to Russia as illegal under international law in a joint statement. The statement follows recent reports that Russia has deployed North Korean troops in its war against Ukraine. According to a White House press briefing, over 3,000 North Korean soldiers were moved to Vladivostok in October, and underwent training at sites in eastern Russia. This was the first dispatchment of an estimated 12,000 North Korean troops said to be readied for deployment to fight Ukraine. South Korea and the EU maintain that the deployment violates multiple UN Security Council resolutions as well as Russian obligations under the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT). (Photo: gfs_mizuta/Pixabay via Jurist)

East Asia
Hong Kong

Hong Kong court convicts journalists of sedition

The Hong Kong District Court found Best Pencil Ltd, the parent company of now-shuttered Stand News, along with former chief editors Chung Pui-kuen and Patrick Lam, guilty of “conspiracy to publish and/or reproduce seditious publications” under the colonial-era Crimes Ordinance. The case centered on 17 articles the website ran concerning protests, activism and elections. The two editors face up to two years each in prison. Since the crackdown following the 2019 protests, some 10 media outlets have been forced to close in Hong Kong, with over 1,000 journalists thrown out of work. (Photo: HKFP)

East Asia
Danjo

Escalation in East China Sea

Japan scrambled fighter jets after a Chinese Y-9 surveillance plane “violated the territorial airspace” of the Danjo Islands in the East China Sea, Tokyo’s Ministry of Defense said, calling the breach “utterly unacceptable.” The incident constituted the first intrusion of Japanese airspace by a People’s Liberation Army aircraft “since we began anti-airspace incursion measures,” Tokyo said. Beijing’s Foreign Ministry responded that the PLA had “no intention of invading the airspace of any country,” and that the incident is under review. The apparent breach follows a series of accusations by Tokyo over the past months that China Coast Guard ships have entered waters around the Senkaku Islands, some 1,000 kilometers to the southeast of the Danjo. The Senkaku Islands, under Japanese control, are also claimed by China, which calls them the Diaoyu Islands. Like the Danjo, the Senkaku/Diaoyu are uninhabited, but are believed to hold potentially lucrative oil and gas reserves. (Map: Google)

East Asia
Guangdong

Nuclear power and the struggle in Guangdong

In Episode 240 of the CounterVortex podcast, Bill Weinberg discusses China’s hubristic plans for massive expansion of its nuclear power sector—and notes that some of the new plants are slated for the southern province of Guangdong, which in recent years has seen repeated outbursts of protest over land-grabs and industrial pollution as well as wildcat labor actions (and was, in fact, the site of a nuclear accident in 2021). China’s expropriated peasant class has been left behind by the breakneck industrialization of the past decades, and may prove a source of resistance to the new thrust of nuclear development that would further accelerate it—despite the current crackdown on dissent. Listen on SoundCloud or via Patreon. (Map via ResearchGate)

East Asia
China

US shifts nuclear posture to confront China

President Biden approved in March a highly classified nuclear posture document for the first time reorienting US deterrent strategy to focus on China’s rapid expansion in its nuclear arsenal. The shift comes as the Pentagon believes China’s stockpiles will rival the size and diversity of those of the United States and Russia over the next decade. The new “Nuclear Employment Guidance” is highly classified, but a copy was just obtained by the New York Times. Beijing reacted angrily to the report. “The US is peddling the China nuclear threat narrative, finding excuses to seek strategic advantage,” a Chinese Foreign Ministry representative said. (Map: PCL)

East Asia
Nagasaki

Gaza at issue in Nagasaki commemoration

The US ambassador to Japan did not attend this year’s official commemoration of the atomic bombing of Nagasaki in protest of the city’s failure to invite Israel. Ambassador Rahm Emanuel said the event had been “politicized” by Nagasaki’s decision to exclude the Jewish state. Five other G7 countries and the EU likewise boycotted the ceremony. The municipal government in Hiroshima refused to pay heed to public calls to exclude Israel over the Gaza bombardment, and invited Israeli officials to its event as usual. Russia and Belarus were exuded from both commemorations for a third consecutive year. (Photo: Pop Japan)

Central Asia
Itelmeni

Russia: indigenous rights groups designated ‘extremist’

The Observatory for the Protection of Human Rights Defenders released a statement urging Russia to refrain from designating groups advocating for the rights of indigenous peoples and national minorities as “extremist organizations.” The statement follows a decision by Russian authorities a week earlier to thusly classify 55 such organizations. The Ministry of Justice cited a June ruling by Russia’s Supreme Court banning “structural divisions” of the so-called “Anti-Russian Separatist Movement,” which was defined as an “international public movement to destroy the multinational unity and territorial integrity of Russia.” Involvement in the movement may result in a sentence of up to six years in prison—despite the fact that no such movement formally exists. (Photo of Itelmen people in the Kamchatka Peninsula via Wikipedia)

East Asia
Zhanjiang

China and Russia launch joint naval exercise

Chinese and Russian naval forces have begun a joint exercise at a southern Chinese military port, China’s Ministry of National Defense announced. The “Maritime Joint-2024” exercise is taking place off Zhanjiang, Guangdong province, on the South China Sea. The operations encompass reconnaissance, anti-submarine warfare, anti-missile and air defense maneuvers. This naval cooperation unfolds against a backdrop of mounting tensions between China and NATO allies. At their Washington summit, NATO members designated China as a “decisive enabler” of Russia’s war in Ukraine, citing the two nations’ declared “no-holds-barred partnership” and China’s support for the Russian defense industry. (Map: Google)

East Asia
Taiwan

China: death penalty for advocating ‘Taiwan independence’

China instated the death penalty for “particularly serious” cases involving supporters of Taiwanese independence. New judicial guidelines, entitled “Opinions on Punishing the Crimes of Splitting the Country & Inciting Splitting the Country by ‘Taiwan Independence’ Diehards,” were jointly issued by the Supreme People’s Court, the Supreme People’s Procuratorate, the Ministry of Public Security, the Ministry of State Security and the Ministry of Justice. The new standards stipulate severe punishments for those identified as leaders or significant participants in secessionist activities, and classify actions causing “significant harm to the state and its people” as offenses that may result in the death penalty. (Photo: shutterbean/Pixabay via Jurist)