Torbjørn Færøvik's Blog, page 112

Philippines says it won’t let China normalize ‘illegal’ ship deployments in EEZ

Newly released Philippine Coast Guard videos show Chinese coast guard ships remaining in South China Sea waters within Manila’s exclusive economic zone west of Luzon, where they have lingered for the past month, PCG officials said. In video footage taken from a PCG airplane over the weekend and released on Monday, several Chinese coast guard ships were tracked sailing in waters near

Freeze to US aid hits Cambodia, Laos and Myanmar hard

On the Thai-Myanmar border, sick patients are being sent home from hospital. In Laos, school meals have been interrupted. And in Cambodia, hundreds of staff at the agency responsible for clearing land mines have been furloughed.The U.S. State Department on Friday announced a 90-day freeze on nearly all foreign aid, followed one day later by a suspension of global demining programs, according to

Thousands rally against China’s ‘mega-embassy’ in London

Waving flags and carrying placards, protesters representing Tibetan, Uyghur, Chinese and Hong Kong rights groups rallied on Saturday against China’s proposed ‘mega-embassy’ in London, voicing fears that Beijing would use the building to harass and monitor dissidents living abroad.Organizers said around 4,000 people joined the protest at the proposed site of the embassy at the historic former

Gyalo Thondup, Dalai Lama’s older brother, dies aged 97

Gyalo Thondup, an elder brother of the Dalai Lama who played a crucial role in the history of modern Tibet, has died at his home in Kalimpong in northeast India aged 97. One of six siblings to the Tibetan spiritual leader, he leaves behind a legacy built on a lifetime of advocating against Chinese rule in Tibet.At different points in his life, Thondup made numerous – at times desperate – attempts

Obituary: François Ponchaud, French Missionary Who Alerted the World to the Khmer Rouge

François Ponchaud, the French missionary who revealed the reality of Cambodia’s Khmer Rouge to the outside world, has died aged 85. Ponchaud spent 56 years of his life as a missionary in Cambodia, and was the first to provide an authoritative account of the horrors committed by Pol Pot’s genocidal regime which ruled Cambodia from 1975 to 1979.The world was willing to hope for the best when the

How bad is the trade war with China going to get?

The first punches have been thrown between the United States and China in what could amount to a short-lived trade dispute with limited economic fallout or the start of yet another lengthy and painful trade war reminiscent of President Donald Trump’s first term.Immediately after a new 10% tariff on all Chinese goods shipped to the US went into effect on Tuesday at 12:01 a.m. ET, China responded

A rare diplomatic spat exposes growing pressures in the Pacific as US, China vie for influence

Pacific allies don’t usually air their dirty laundry in public. But a rare on-the-record dispute between New Zealand and Kiribati has renewed focus on the poor and isolated island nation, highlighting the existential threat it faces from the climate crisis – against the backdrop of a tussle between the world’s biggest powers for regional dominance.When New Zealand’s right-wing government

Seek and Deploy: China’s Tech Giants Race to Adopt DeepSeek AI

Weeks after Chinese startup DeepSeek disrupted global markets for rivaling OpenAI and Google, its open-source AI models are being rapidly integrated into China’s top cloud platforms. Over the past week, Chinese tech giants including Baidu, Alibaba, Tencent, and Huawei have launched support for DeepSeek-R1 and DeepSeek-V3, the AI company’s open-source models, competing to offer lower-cost, more

Modi’s party returns to power in Indian capital for first time in 27 years

Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s Hindu nationalist party won elections in the sprawling megacity of Delhi for the first time in 27 years on Saturday, defeating one of his most prominent critics in a much-needed boost after losing its national majority last year. Modi’s Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) won 48 seats in the capital territory’s 70-member assembly, according to figures posted online

'Trump study sessions': How Japan PM's homework paid off

If Japan needed reassurances it was indeed still the US's top ally and friend in the increasingly unstable Asia-Pacific, it got that and then some. But what was striking about the Trump-Ishiba meeting at the White House was what didn't happen. Unlike most of the Trump domestic and global dynamics so far, this was neither controversial nor confrontational."On television, he is very frightening,"