East Asia
Okinawa protesters score win over Pentagon
A protest campaign on Okinawa has won a commitment from the Pentagon and Japanese government to delay deployment of Osprey aircraft to the island pending further study.
Tag: East Asia
East Asia
Hong Kong protests over death of Tiananmen dissident
Mass protests greeted Hu Jintao in Hong Kong as he swore in a new chief executive for the territory. Demonstrators demanded an investigation into last month’s suspicious death of 1989 Tiananmen Square protester Li Wangyang.
East Asia
“March for Life” from Fukushima to Hiroshima, as Japan revives reactors
After six weeks without generating any nuclear power, Prime Minister Yoshihiko Noda this week succeeded in lobbying local authorities in Fukui prefecture to approve the restart of two reactors at the Ohi nuclear complex, raising the specter of widespread power… Read more“March for Life” from Fukushima to Hiroshima, as Japan revives reactors
East Asia
“Nuclear dictatorship” in Japan?
Former Japanese prime minister Naoto Kan told the current government to abandon nuclear power in the wake of the Fukushima disaster, comparing the nuclear industry’s hold on society to that of the Imperial military during World War II.
East Asia
Greater Tokyo to annex China-claimed Senkaku Islands?
Tokyo’s notoriously nationalist governor Shintaro Ishihara is pushing a plan for the metropolitan government to purchase and annex the China-claimed Senkaku Islands in the hydrocarbon-rich East China Sea—without consulting local Okinawa officials.
East Asia
Tiananmen Square revisionism, East and West
The official US hand-wringing is all for public consumption. On June 4, 1989, China’s rulers proved to the world that they were willing to slaughter their own citizens in the interests of “stability.” They were rewarded with massive investment.
East Asia
China: activist accused of “inciting subversion” —for distributing leaflets
The New York/Hong Kong-based Human Rights in China reports that You Minglei, an independent activist in Nanchang, was arrested on charges of “inciting subversion of state power” after distributing leaflets.
East Asia
China: dissident escapes house arrest, releases YouTube statement
Blind human rights activist Chen Guangcheng succeeded in escaping from house arrest in a rural area of China’s Shandong province. From an unknown location, he issued a YouTube appeal to Premier Wen Jiabao.
East Asia
Ominous Cold War nostalgia in South China Sea
China and Russia team up for joint maneuvers in the East China Sea, while the US and Philippines do the same in the South China Sea. The drills follow confrontations in the South China Sea between Chinese, Philippine and Vietnamese forces.
East Asia
China: Bo Xilai purge and the World Bank
Just before last month’s notorious purge of Bo Xilai, populist Chinese Communist Party chief in Chongqing, World Bank President Robert Zoellick lectured the People’s Republic at a Beijing meeting that its economic model is “unsustainable.”
East Asia
Japan to be nuclear-free by April
Japan’s last nuclear power plant will close in April as reactors are shut for safety checks. Meanwhile, the mayor of Hakodate on Hokkaido called on the Industry Ministry to freeze a nuclear plant slated for the town of Oma in Aomori prefecture.
East Asia
Japan: radioactive Fukushima gravel used in construction materials
Investigators found that 5,200 metric tons of gravel contaminated in the Fukushima nuclear disaster was shipped to over 200 companies, making its way into apartment buildings, schools, and temporary homes for evacuees.