Hong Kong – Page 5 – CounterVortex

East Asia

Free speech threatened in Taiwan: martyr’s kin

Pressure from China, restrictive legislation and self-censorship among Taiwanese youth have emerged as threats to freedom of speech in Taiwan, according to Nylon Cheng Liberty Foundation director Cheng Tsing-hua. He made his comments on Taiwan's Free Speech Day, April 7, which commemorates the day in 1989 that his brother Cheng Nan-jung, a young democracy advocate under the one-party dictatorship of the Kuomintang, self-immolated as a protest against government restrictions on freedom of expression. Cheng's observations are sobering, as Taiwan has emerged as a last bastion of free speech in the Chinese-speaking world with the closing of political space in Hong Kong. (Image montage from Nylon Cheng Liberty Foundation via FathomTaiwan)

Central America

Taiwan sacrificed to Central America geopolitics

Panama is the latest Central American nation to switch diplomatic recognition from Taipei to Bejing—under pressure of China's fast-growing economic presence on the isthmus.

Southeast Asia

Hong Kong activist barred by Thai military regime

Hong Kong pro-democracy activist Joshua Wong was barred from entering Thailand to attend commemorations of the 1976 massacre of student protesters.

East Asia

Hong Kong: ‘localists’ boycott Tiananmen vigil

The annual Hong Kong vigil commemorating the 1989 Tiananmen Square massacre took place amid a split, with the city’s biggest student union boycotting.

East Asia

Tiananmen dissident: Trump threat to freedom

Wuer Kaixi, veteran of the Tiananmen Square protests, called Donald Trump a threat to values of freedom after the candidate called the 1989 pro-democracy movement a "riot."

Central America

Setbacks for Nicaragua canal project

Financial woes for the Hong Kong-based developer and an unfavorable World Court ruling in a border dispute with Costa Rica have slowed Nicaragua's inter-oceanic canal project.

Central America

Nicaragua: canal project advances —amid repression

Nicaragua's government approved environmental impact statements for the new inter-oceanic canal—and effectively shut down a planned national march to oppose the mega-project.

The Andes

Peru: four dead in clash over Chinese mine project

At least four are dead following clashes between police and residents in Peru's Apurímac region, amid protests over the Chinese-owned Las Bambas copper mine project.

Central America

Nicaragua: protests as canal construction begins

Official ceremonies marked ground-breaking on Nicaragua's inter-oceanic canal project—marred by angry campesino protests, with scores detained and injured.

East Asia

Hong Kong to Ferguson: corporate police state

The pepper spray used by Hong Kong police is made by the Sabre company—its headquarters just oustide Ferguson, Mo., now exploding into protest over the Michael Brown case.

Central America

Nicaragua: opposition mounts to canal scheme

With work about to begin on an inter-oceanic canal through Nicaragua, campesinos who stand to be evicted for the mega-scheme pledge resistance and warn of a "massacre."

East Asia

Hong Kong: paradoxes of dissent

As protests continue in Hong Kong, a new film profiles Joshua Wong and other young leaders of the movement, highlighting contradictions—including in their stance towards the West.