Reminder that Xi Jinping disappeared his own foreign minister last year.

Qin Gang hasn't been seen since last June.
rfa.org/english/news/c…

If measures against russian assets were sufficient reason to trigger a loss of confidence in the financial system among authoritarian states, they have already had ample time to react. So there is no room for excuses.

In a world where press freedom is increasingly under attack, the Human Rights Press Awards have never been more relevant.

Three Taiwan Foreign Correspondents’ Club (TFCC) steering committees have worked with multiple partners to return the awards to Asia. Thrilled that Taipei will host the awards next week.

Singapore has been a major beneficiary of the brain drain and capital flight driven by Xi Jinping's push to make China great again.

Taiwan could have benefited much more than it has - if it had more sensible immigration policies and a semi-normal financial sector.

In its last years, Qing Emperors continued to emphasise what had been a universal fact known since time immemorial, that is: Hainan was to be the Chinese Empire’s southernmost point. 🇨🇳’s ‘has always been’ is a recent invention created by claiming features it first saw in atlases

#Taiwan named 27th freest country for press freedom by RSF despite having 'one of the lowest levels of trust in media amongst democracies, scoring last place in the Asia-Pacific region with only a 28% trust rate.' This makes the #Taiwan ese vulnerable to disinfo campaigns.

2016 Consensus just dropped.

Just like the 1992 Consensus, no one was aware of its existence for eight years.

Also like the 92C, it was invented to undermine the non-Chinese side's sovereignty.

From Noah Barkin:

Former Taipei Mayor and Taiwan People's Party Chairman Ko Wen-je (柯文哲) has been listed as a suspect in alleged corruption cases involving a shopping mall redevelopment project and the Beitou Shilin Technology Park project, said prosecutors.
focustaiwan.tw/society/202405…

It was fun working on this story for The New York Times for Kids with the amazing An Rong Xu. We shadowed a 13-year-old kid for a day and report on his school, home life and activities in Chiayi, Taiwan.

According to Taiwan's national security authorities, PLA air-naval ops near island started to take place at night, involve mid-air refueling, mine countermeasures vessels as well as amphibious assault ships. Trying to desensitize Taiwan's defenses? cna.com.tw/news/aipl/2024…

'My father had a long career in the Chinese army. … And yet he took photos of the disasters that the CCP brought to his beloved homeland. I cannot help but wonder: Why?' འོད་ཟེར།唯色Woeser😷💙💛
chinabooksreview.com/2024/04/25/tib…

Sen. Sanders: 'I suggest to CNN and maybe some of my colleagues here, maybe take your cameras, just for a moment, off of Columbia and UCLA . Maybe go to Gaza, and take your camera show us the emaciated children who are dying from malnutrition because of Netanyahu's policies.'

The top 0.1% of Americans control $20 trillion in wealth.

The bottom 50% control $3.7 trillion in wealth.

Read that back.

Folks, this is what oligarchy looks like.

A handful of elite schools — Brown, Wesleyan, Johns Hopkins — seem to have handled the Palestine protests gracefully.

Their successful approach: don't send cops after students, talk seriously with the protestors, and enforce *preexisting* codes about speech and harassment.

Personally I think this sounds very bad. time.com/6972021/donald…

Note that the PRC Coast Guard seems to be specifically targeting the Philippine ship's navigation and communication equipment with its water cannon. It's aiming to do damage, not just ward off.

China Coast Guard attacks Philippine ships in South China Sea

Our reporter Ramon Royandoyan was aboard a ship when it was hit by water cannons. Check out the video.

asia.nikkei.com/Politics/Inter… via Nikkei Asia