ANNIE LUNDGREN WRITES – The recent pro-democracy uprising in Hong Kong has highlighted Chief Executive Leung Chun-ying’s growing unpopularity among protesters and their supporters. Since the uprising began in September, the CE has become no fan of electoral reform in Hong Kong. Currently, chief executive candidates are nominated by a…
Full Article HONG KONG: Thumbs Down for Leung Chun-yingYVONNE EPPS WRITES — Tensions over the South China Sea reached its peak last week, but this kerfuffle between China and Vietnam is quite different than the tug of war over the Parcel Islands earlier this year. Everyone wants a piece of this pie, but who loses in the end?…
Full Article VIETNAM: The Biggest Bully of the South China SeaLAUREN CHEN WRITES – Media censorship in Hong Kong is on the rise, but it’s not just press freedom that’s at stake. Instead, say Samson Yuen and Kitty Ho of The Diplomat, at risk are the core values that have until now let the “Pearl of the Orient” shine. And it begs…
Full Article HONG KONG: One Country, One System?BRIAN CANAVE WRITES – In the wake of New York Times reporter Austin Ramzy’s unceremonious departure from Beijing, neighboring Taiwan has warmly welcomed him for a temporary stay while he continues his coverage of the mainland. Taiwan’s Central News Agency reported that the government “welcomes international media enterprises and their staff” such…
Full Article TAIWAN: Leaving China? Welcome to Taiwan, RamzyAUSTIN SZABO WRITES – A misleading story about Beijing’s virtual sunrise earned more press than Friday’s report naming New Delhi the world’s most polluted big city. The Daily Mail’s inaccurate story claimed that China’s government digitally simulates the sunrise on television screens throughout Beijing since its pollution blocks natural sunlight. Major…
Full Article INDIA: Bogus Beijing Story Fogs Attention of Delhi’s Real Pollution ProblemYVONNE EPPS WRITES – Trashy fiction is an increasingly popular guilty pleasure, making one writer’s trash a corporation’s treasure. Racy Vietnamese novel Soi xich (The Chain) was sold on the Apple App Store without author and actress-singer Le Kieu Nhu’s permission, violating the copyright laws protecting the work. Although the…
Full Article VIETNAM: 50 Shades of Chains and Apple LawsuitsMaritime disputes are heating up between China, Japan, the Philippines and Vietnam, all because of a sign. In February, an international outrage surged when a Beijing restaurant manager refused to apologize after removing a racist sign that excludes citizens of states in maritime disputes with China, and dogs. The sign…
Full Article VIETNAM: Beijing Ultra-Nationalist Acts Like a Bow-WowChina is at it again! Existing territorial conflict between New Delhi and Beijing over Arunchal Pradesh is no concern of the past. The controversial issue has been revived as China recently took matters into its own hands, launching new e-passports in which it showed the regions of Arunachal Pradesh and…
Full Article INDIA: China’s Passport to TroubleOn June 5th, Chinese officials made clear that foreign embassies had better cease publishing their ownreports and estimates on the air quality of China. Beijing has been especially irritated by the increasingly high-profile U.S. Embassy Twitter feed, which tracks pollution in Beijing and has accumulated more than 19,000 followers. Such numbers have garnered much official…
Full Article CHINA: Pollution Quarrel Fueled by Social Media