South Asia
India: Naxalite hand in opium trade?
Authorities in India say that the Naxalite guerillas, following a series of reversals, have taken refuge in the northeast, where they are trading opium for guns from Burma.
Tag: China
East Asia
Shanghai workers seize electronics plant
More than 1,000 migrant workers in Shanghai went on strike and held 18 managers hostage for a day and a half following the introduction of a draconian speed-up policy.
Southeast Asia
Burma: new airstrikes on Kachin rebels
Burma's army claimed responsibility for air-strikes against Kachin rebel positions in the north—less than a day after the government denied the strikes had taken place.
Planet Watch
National Intelligence Council predicts global climate disaster —again
The US National Intelligence Council issued a report, "Global Trends 2030: Potential Worlds," that emphasizes the rise of China and the risk of catastrophic climate change.
East Asia
East China Sea edging towards war…
Chinese and Japanese aircraft had a near-confrontation over the disputed Senkaku/Diaoyu Islands on the very day that China officially commemorated the 1937 Rape of Nanking.
Central Asia
China: Han-Tibetan solidarity emerging
Human rights lawyer Xu Zhiyong, who defends Chinese peasants struggling to keep their lands, proclaims his support for the Tibetans and calls for Han solidarity with their cause.
East Asia
Anti-China protests: Vietnam’s turn
Anti-China protests in Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh City follow a maritime confrontation between Vietnamese naval forces and a Chinese fishing fleet in the contested South China Sea.
Southeast Asia
Burma: repression of anti-mine protesters
Aung San Suu Kyi is to lead an investigation after brutal repression of protests by farmers facing forced relocation to make way for expansion of a Chinese-owned copper mine.
Planet Watch
Quebec fracking ban challenged under NAFTA
Energy firm Lone Pine Resources is challenging Quebec’s fracking moratorium under the North American Free Trade Agreement, and demanding $250 million in compensation.
East Asia
China: changing of the guard —amid same old repression
Xi Jinping was chosen as general secretary of the Chinese Communist Party amid stepped-up repression and a wave of labor unrest in the Fujian and Zhejiang industrial zones.
East Asia
Multiple flashpoints threaten to ignite East Asia
North Korea threatens military action against the South, South Korea's Coast Guard attacks a Chinese fishing fleet, and China sends a naval force into waters claimed by Japan…
East Asia
China: did new Foxconn strike happen?
Reports of new wildcat strikes involving 4,000 workers at a Foxconn plant in Henan province are denied by the company—and harsh control of information bars corroboration.