Torbjørn Færøvik's Blog, page 223

How China’s Volt Typhoon hackers target US infrastructure

The US government and its primary global intelligence partners, known as the Five Eyes, issued a warning on March 19, 2024, about the activity targeting critical infrastructure by Volt Typhoon, a Chinese state-sponsored hacker group. The warning echoes analyses by the cybersecurity community about Chinese state-sponsored hacking in recent years. As with many cyberattacks and attackers, Volt

Cambodia getting a China-backed, game-changing canal

Cambodia wants to divert Southeast Asia’s Mekong River into a planned US$1.7 billion, Chinese-financed shipping canal to reach a deep-sea port at Kep near Sihanoukville on southern Cambodia’s Gulf of Thailand coast. The Funan Techo Canal would enable Cambodians to be “breathing through our own nose,” said newly elected Prime Minister Hun Manet, son and heir to long-time authoritarian former prime

India heads to the polls as a much lesser democracy

In his recent speeches, India’s Prime Minister Narendra Modi has expressed confidence in returning to power for a third consecutive term as the country prepares for parliamentary elections to be held in seven phases from April 19 to June 1 this year.On February 18, in his speech at the National Council of the Bhartiya Janata Party (BJP), the prime minister confidently stated that despite the

China uses its own interpretation of history and international law

In cases like the Kinmen capsizing incident and in its dealings with the Philippines, China uses its own interpretation of history and international law to launch a narrative where it is the aggrieved party, says Philippine academic Charmaine Misalucha-Willoughby. She cautions that crafting a narrative requires anchoring it in strategy instead of being knee-jerk reactions that can lead nations

How China Will Be Challenged By a 100-Year Storm

A few years ago, President Xi Jinping started warning that a 100-year big storm is coming. As is typical of the early days of a hurricane, one can now feel it. The circumstances and the mood in China have indisputably changed to become more threatening. These changes are mostly due to big cycle forces. The most joyous and productive environments are ones that have freedom, civility, and

In Retrospect: The Sino-British Joint Declaration on Hong Kong (1984)

The Sino-British Joint Declaration was a treaty between the governments of the United Kingdom and China signed in 1984 setting the conditions in which Hong Kong was transferred to Chinese control and for the governance of the territory after 1 July 1997.Hong Kong had been a colony of the British Empire since 1842 after the First Opium War and its territory was expanded on two occasions; first in

Radio Free Asia closes its Hong Kong operation over safety concerns for its staff

U.S. government-funded Radio Free Asia is closing its Hong Kong operation out of concern for the safety of its staff and reporters, a move that comes after Hong Kong enacted a tough new national security law known locally as Article 23. Radio Free Asia President Bay Fang said in a statement Friday that the outlet's programming and content will continue without disruption. But, Fang said, actions

Starved of Affection at Home, Young Chinese Seek Out ‘Digital Parents’

Fan Xiaotong, a middle school student from Shanghai, likes to share everything with her parents. Whenever she feels stressed about a math test, or eats a tasty snack, the 13-year-old will pull out her phone and send a message to her mom and dad. The couple she is contacting, however, aren’t really her biological family. In fact, Fan, who spoke to Sixth Tone using a pseudonym to protect her

Philippine president warns of countermeasures in response to Chinese aggression at sea

The Philippine president said Thursday that his government would take action against what he called dangerous attacks by the Chinese coast guard and suspected militia ships in the disputed South China Sea, saying “Filipinos do not yield.” Ferdinand Marcos Jr. did not provide details of the actions his government would take in the succeeding weeks but said these would be “proportionate, deliberate

From China's Past: The fate of Japanese POWs and civilians in China after World War II

During the Japanese occupation of China in World War II, the Japanese government encouraged the people of Japan to migrate to China, where they were accorded many privileges as first-grade citizens. But when Japan eventually lost the war, these people found themselves cut adrift in an instant, neither belonging to China nor tied to Japan, especially the children born during the war. Many suffered