Asia

China’s new Coastguard law – An open call for war with neighbors?
Analysis, Asia, World

China’s new Coastguard law – An open call for war with neighbors?

China's newly-enacted Coast Guard Law allows the Chinese Coast Guard (CCG)   to “take all necessary measures, including the use of weapons, when national sovereignty, sovereign rights, and jurisdiction are being illegally infringed upon by foreign organizations or individuals at sea." The new law also empowers the CCG to halt construction or destroy foreign structures on Chinese-claimed land features, like those on the Philippine-occupied Pag-asa Island and Second Thomas Shoal.  Several Asian countries including Japan, the Philippines, Vietnam and Indonesia have opposed China's law saying it could escalate maritime disputes and be invoked to assert “unlawful claims''.  The Philippines has filed a formal rejection of the law, emphasizing that, given the large area involved and China’s ...
“The battle of Thanakha” – How the traditional cosmetic paste ‘Thanakha’ became a tool for civil disobedience against military coup in Myanmar
Asia, Featured, World

“The battle of Thanakha” – How the traditional cosmetic paste ‘Thanakha’ became a tool for civil disobedience against military coup in Myanmar

A civil disobedience participant uses the 'Thanakha' to paint CDM on her forehead(Pic credit: May Wong/Twitter) Thanakha is Myanmar's traditional yellowish-white cosmetic paste made from ground barks of the Thanakha tree.Now, civil disobedience movement (CDM) participants are using the country's traditional facial cosmetic paste 'thanakha' as a tool to send the message of boycott and disobedience.The protesters designed a campaign titled as “The battle of Thanakha” where the participants painted “CDM” on their foreheads.The use of Thanakha for protests is expected to further increase the demand for the paste and in turn help the growers and producers. As protests in Myanmar grow against the military coup, civil disobedience movement (CDM) participants are coming up with ingenious wa...
Chinese State-Owned Companies Covertly Supply Arms to Burmese Military, Claims “Justice For Myanmar” Advocacy Group
Asia, Featured, World

Chinese State-Owned Companies Covertly Supply Arms to Burmese Military, Claims “Justice For Myanmar” Advocacy Group

An advocacy group called "Justice For Myanmar" has accused Chinese state-owned companies of being the biggest arms supplier to the Burmese military, a claim China has denied. The group has listed 122 top business partners of the military government, which staged a coup on Feb. 1, ousting the democratically elected government of Aung San Suu Kyi and her National League for Democracy (NLD). Citing research by Justice For Myanmar, Radio Free Asia (RFA) reported that the five biggest suppliers of arms and military equipment to Burma’s military are China North Industries Group (NORINCO), the Aviation Industry Corp. of China (AVIC), the China Aerospace Science and Technology Corp. (CASC), the China Aerospace Science & Industry Corp. (CASIC), and the China National Aero-Technology Imp...
Chinese Blogger arrested for questioning PLA’s neglect of low ranking soldiers and government version of Galwan clash
Asia, World

Chinese Blogger arrested for questioning PLA’s neglect of low ranking soldiers and government version of Galwan clash

Chinese blogger Qiu Ziming has been arrested for questioning the government version of Galwan clash (Photo: 163.com) A popular blogger, identified as Qiu Ziming, 38, has been arrested by police over his social media posts which questioned the PLA's attitude towards low ranking soldiers. Police in the eastern Chinese city of Nanjing have arrested Qiu for 'demeaning military casualties' from the Galwan clash with Indian army troops. Qiu, a former reporter with the weekly Economic Observer, had 2.5 million followers on China’s Twitter-like platform Weibo when he published two posts on Friday that suggested a commander survived the clashes because he was the highest ranking officer there, reports South China Morning Post (SCMP). His post also questioned the government version of the...
Japan to work in close coordination with parliaments around the world to support the cause of freedom, democracy, rule of law and human rights in Tibet
Asia, Featured, World

Japan to work in close coordination with parliaments around the world to support the cause of freedom, democracy, rule of law and human rights in Tibet

Japan’s All-Party Parliamentary Support Group for Tibet today convened its general meeting at the House of Representatives’ office auditorium to discuss the Tibet issue and to strengthen its support to the Tibetan peoples` struggle for justice and human rights in Tibet, informs the Central Tibetan Administration (CTA). 49 Japanese parliamentarians attended the meeting, says the CTA release. The Japanese version of CTA’s White Paper titled ‘Tibet was Never a Part of China, But Middle Way Approach Remains a Viable Solution’ was also distributed to all the Japanese parliamentarians and the staff during the meeting. In his opening remarks, Mr Nagao Takashi, General Secretary and Member of House of Representatives announced the good news that the world’s largest parliamentary suppor...
China Formally Admits Casualties In Galwan Valley Clash; Details Of 4 PLA Soldiers Killed Disclosed through its mouthpiece
Asia, National

China Formally Admits Casualties In Galwan Valley Clash; Details Of 4 PLA Soldiers Killed Disclosed through its mouthpiece

Eight months after the deadly clash between Indian and Chinese troops at the Galwan valley, China for the first time has admitted that the People's Liberation Army (PLA) lost four of its soldiers. The same was disclosed in a report by state-controlled People's Daily. "Four Chinese soldiers, who were sacrificed in last June's border conflict, were posthumously awarded honorary titles and first-class merit citations, Central Military Commission announced Friday. A colonel, who led them and seriously injured, was conferred with an honorary title", People's Daily handle tweeted on Friday. https://twitter.com/PDChina/status/1362576048433467394 A week after the clashes, China admitted there were few casualties on their side too but said the numbers were not too high. It also argu...
Myanmar military promises new election as it defends seizing power; Protests against coup continue to grow
Asia, World

Myanmar military promises new election as it defends seizing power; Protests against coup continue to grow

Myanmar’s military junta promised yesterday that there would be an election and it would hand over power. The military has not given a date, but has imposed a state of emergency for a year. The statement comes as police filed an additional charge against former premier Aung San Suu Kyi. Brigadier General Zaw Min Tun, the spokesman for the ruling council, told the junta’s first news conference since overthrowing Suu Kyi’s government that their objective is to hold an election and hand power to the winning party. Asked about the detention of Nobel Peace Prize winner Suu Kyi and the president, Zaw Min Tun said they were in their homes for their security while the law took its course. “We guarantee … that the election will be held,” he told the nearly two-hour news conference, which...
Bangladesh HC orders Al Jazeera documentary ‘All the Prime Minister’s Men’ against PM, Army Chief to be taken down
Asia, World

Bangladesh HC orders Al Jazeera documentary ‘All the Prime Minister’s Men’ against PM, Army Chief to be taken down

The Bangladesh High Court on Wednesday ordered the Bangladesh Telecommunication Regulatory Commission (BTRC) to remove the Al Jazeera documentary named ‘All the Prime Minister’s Men’ from all the online platforms in the country. The order was passed by a High Court Division bench of Justice Md. Mozibur Rahman Miah and Justice Md. Kamrul Hossain Mollah after hearing a writ petition filed by a Supreme Court lawyer in this regard on February 8. The court had heard the opinion of 6 legal persons appointed as Amicus Curiae on the matter. Earlier the BTRC had approached YouTube and Facebook to remove the Al Jazeera content from the platform. But YouTube and Facebook refused saying that the content does not violate their Community Guideline. The documentary was telecast by Al Jazeera o...
What is Operation K2M? What are the Perils of its Renewed Version? And How has this version resulted in a ‘toolkit’ to harm India?
Analysis, Asia, Featured, National

What is Operation K2M? What are the Perils of its Renewed Version? And How has this version resulted in a ‘toolkit’ to harm India?

Summary: What is this K2 desk of ISI? Why did India’s youth come to become part of the K2’s operations? Answering these questions is essential to understand the true nature of threat that India faces.Op K2M completely rested on the ISI’s ability to exploit growing socio-political frictions within India towards the objective of ensuring a complete national disintegration.The new operation, which is essentially re-operationalising the erstwhile Op K2M, is called Operation Express.Pakistan realised that a militarily as well as economically stronger India could only be contained through sub-conventional warfare. The aim would be to disrupt India’s economy and social harmony and, thereby, destroy India’s national image.This brings the question as to why are young activists unaware of th...
Blogger Avijit Roy murder – Bangladesh court sentences 5 al-Qaeda inspired Islamist militants to death and 1 to life imprisonment
Asia, Featured, World

Blogger Avijit Roy murder – Bangladesh court sentences 5 al-Qaeda inspired Islamist militants to death and 1 to life imprisonment

A Bangladesh court has convicted six members of the Islamist terrorist group Ansar Ullah Bangla inspired by Al-Queda for the brutal killing of US blogger Avijit Roy in 2015. Five have been sentenced to death while one has been handed life imprisonment. Roy, a US citizen of Bangladeshi origin, had criticised Islamic extremism in his blog posts and was on the radar of Islamists in Bangladesh. He had received several death threats prior to his murder in February 2015. On the fateful day, Avijit Roy was attacked by machete wielding terrorists while returning home with his wife from a Dhaka book fair. His wife and fellow blogger Rafida Ahmed suffered head injuries and lost a finger. As per the Al Jazeera report on the sentencing, Public Prosecutor Golam Sarwar Khan said the six me...