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.

East Asia

China: Amnesty protests forced evictions

Violent forced evictions in China are on the rise as local authorities seek to offset debts by seizing and selling off land in suspect deals with developers, Amnesty International charges.

Inner Asia

Tibetan writer self-immolates in TAR

A Tibetan poet, Gudrup, died after setting himself on fire in the Tibet Autonomous Region, leaving a blog post calling for Tibetans not “lose courage” in the struggle for freedom. 

East Asia

Japan, Taiwan ships clash with water cannon

Japanese and Taiwanese patrol ships blasted each other with water cannon as a fishing fleet from Taiwan mobilized a protest flotilla to the contested East China Sea islands.

Southeast Asia

Burmese warlord confesses to Mekong massacre

Burmese warlord Naw Kham, hunted down in the Golden Triangle by elite Chinese forces, pleaded guilty before a court in Yunnan to a massacre of Chinese merchant crewmen.

Oceania

US, New Zealand restore military cooperation

Leon Panetta in Auckland announced that US naval cooperation with New Zealand will be resumed—cut off in 1985, when the Pacific nation declared itself a nuclear-free zone.

East Asia

East China Sea flashpoint for Sino-Japanese war?

Leon Panetta warned that the latest escalation over islands disputed by China and Japan could lead to war—even as he arrived in Tokyo to inaugurate a new anti-missile system.

The Andes

Peru: peasants protest Chinese mining project

Campesinos in Peru’s northern Piura region pledge to resist announced plans by Chinese mining company Zijin to move ahead with the long-contested RĂ­o Blanco copper project.

Southeast Asia

Geopolitical chess game heats up South China Sea

Beijing's move to set up a military garrison on disputed Yongxing Island—claimed by the Philippines as part of the Paracel chain—is escalating tension in the South China Sea.