Walter Lohman / August 21, 2020 / Daily Signal

COMMENTARY BY Walter Lohman

Walter Lohman is director of the Asian Studies Center at The Heritage Foundation.

There is a long-held logic in Washington that puts so-called geostrategic interests ahead of values. The idea is that we cannot afford to stand for liberty because our global competitors do not.

If we alienate oppressive governments by criticizing them or pushing for political reform, the logic follows, they will side with our competitors and tilt the game board against us.

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CVD Admin: Vietnam did not vote one way or another.

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AsiaChannel 02 Jul 2020 01:19AM

MONTREAL: Canada must have an “urgent rethink” of its relationship with China, former prime minister Brian Mulroney said on Wednesday (Jul 1) as tensions build over the possible extradition to the United States of Huawei executive Meng Wanzhou.

Conservative Mulroney backed his Liberal successor Justin Trudeau’s rejection of any exchange of Meng, who was arrested in Vancouver in December 2018, for two Canadians who were detained in China in apparent retaliation.

Mulroney said Canada’s hope that China would emerge as a constructive partner in international relations had been proven wrong, referring in particular to Beijing’s militarization of the South China Sea.

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AsiaChannel 02 Jul 2020 02:47AM

WASHINGTON, DC: US lawmakers on Wednesday (Jul 1) urged further action against China over its imposition of a security law in Hong Kong, where police broke up defiant protests.

Speaker Nancy Pelosi urged President Donald Trump to do more under a 2019 law that lays out sanctions against officials who infringe on the freedoms promised to Hong Kong.

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Asiachannel

01 Jul 2020 03:44PM(Updated: 02 Jul 2020 06:21AM)

BEIJING: Hong Kong police fired water cannon and tear gas and arrested more than 300 people on Wednesday (Jul 1) as protesters took to the streets in defiance of a new security law.

Beijing on Tuesday unveiled the details of the much-anticipated law after weeks of uncertainty, pushing Hong Kong onto a more authoritarian path.

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Al Jazeera, July 2, 2020

Several of Israel’s staunchest allies have criticised its annexation plans as jeopardising the status quo.

MORE ON ISRAELI–PALESTINIAN CONFLICT

• Canada does not deserve a seat at the UN Security Council2 weeks ago
• How the US and Israel exchange tactics in violence and control2 weeks ago
• PA proposes demilitarised state as counterproposal to Trump plan3 weeks ago
• Maximum sentence requested for Jewish settler in Duma arson case3 weeks ago

Israel’s annexation of parts of the occupied West Bank has been fiercely criticised by not only Palestinians but by the international community at large.

The plan, which aims to annex all illegal Jewish settlements in the occupied West Bank – including the strategic Jordan Valley – amounts to one-third of the territory and is in line with US President Donald Trump’s so-called “Middle East plan,” which envisages a demilitarised Palestinian state on a patchwork of disjointed parts of the Palestinian territories.

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Palestinians in Ramallah demonstrate against Israel’s plan to annex a third of the occupied West Bank and Jordan Valley. by Arwa Ibrahim & Rima Mustafa,Al Jazeera July 2, 2020 Palestinians have decried Israeli plans to annex parts of the West Bank and Jordan Valley as the end to a future Palestinian state [Majdi Mohammed/AP]

MORE ON PALESTINE

• UN’s Michelle Bachelet says Israel’s annexation plans ‘illegal’2 days ago
• Israel’s Jordan Valley Annexation explained2 days ago
• Trump aide: concerns over occupied West Bank annexation overblownlast week
• Canada does not deserve a seat at the UN Security Council2 weeks ago

Ramallah, occupied West Bank – Despite a delay in the long-anticipated declaration of an Israeli plan to annex one-third of the already illegally occupied West Bank, including parts of the strategic Jordan Valley, Palestinians decried the plan with some holding protests in Ramallah and Gaza City. Continue reading on CVD >>

By CNN 9:32pm Jun 30, 2020

China’s new national security legislation for Hong Kong was written and passed behind closed doors, without the consultation of the city’s local government or legislature.

It reportedly came into force on June 30, potentially rewriting the city’s legal system – despite the fact the overwhelming majority of residents have no idea of what precisely it will entail.

According to reports in Communist Party-controlled media, the law is expected to criminalise offenses such as secession, subversion against the central Chinese government, terrorism, and colluding with foreign forces.

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The Trump administration’s new restrictions come in response to a new national security law that will extend China’s influence over Hong Kong.

The Kwai Tsing Container Terminals in Hong Kong.Credit…Lam Yik Fei for The New York Times

By Ana Swanson June 29, 2020, 6:25 p.m. ET

WASHINGTON — The Trump administration placed new restrictions on U.S. exports of defense equipment and certain high-technology products to Hong Kong on Monday, in response to a new Chinese law aimed at tightening Beijing’s control over the territory.

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Beleaguered by regional tensions, the COVID-19 pandemic, and economic woes, Tehran could use anti-Israel sentiment to restore its reputation.

BY ARIANE TABATABAI, HENRY ROME,FP

| JUNE 26, 2020, 12:52 PM

Starting July 1, Israel may take the first step toward annexing territory in the West Bank, in line with U.S. President Donald Trump’s peace plan for the region. Discussions about the potential annexation have mostly focused on its implications for the two-state solution and renewed violence. But it would also have significant effects on Israel’s rivalry with Iran and on U.S. efforts to isolate Tehran. Although many Israelis view annexation as a strategic gain, the move would be a strategic gift for Tehran.

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• SÁNG ÁNH
• 27.06.2020, 05:36

TTCT – Dư luận Trung Quốc hiện đang được hướng sang tranh chấp quần đảo không người ở Senkaku/Điếu Ngư với Nhật Bản ở biển Hoa Đông. Khán giả xem phim võ hiệp và quyền thuật Trung Hoa đều rõ tâm tình này. Từ Lý Tiểu Long đến thầy ông là Diệp Vấn chỉ dành những chiêu độc nhất cho người Nhật, chứ chẳng thấy tỉ thí với võ sư người Ấn bao giờ

Trung Quốc và Ấn cáo buộc lẫn nhau về chuyện quân đôi bên nào vượt qua biên giới ở Ladakh trước. (Ảnh: AP)

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• SÁNG ÁNH
• 04.06.2020, 06:31

TTCT – Tình hình Đài Loan đã nóng lên trong những ngày qua từ sau lễ nhậm chức của người đứng đầu chính quyền hòn đảo, bà Thái Anh Văn. Nhưng cần hiểu lịch sử lâu dài của vùng đất phức tạp này mới thấy hết tầm quan trọng của những diễn tiến gần đây.

Ngày 27-2-1947, công an tại Đài Bắc đến nhà bắt giữ và đánh đập một phụ nữ bán thuốc lá lậu. Quần chúng bất mãn bèn phản đối, công an nổ súng và bắn chết một người.

Một tác phẩm nghệ thuật mô tả sự biến 228.

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• HỮU NGHỊ
• 19.06.2020, 11:00

TTCT – Vụ phá thành bình địa Văn phòng liên lạc liên Triều vào chiều thứ ba 16-6 kèm theo những dọa dẫm quân sự với Hàn Quốc coi như là dấu chấm hết chính thức kết thúc giai đoạn tưởng chừng là “trăng mật” giữa hai nhà lãnh đạo Kim Jong Un và Moon Jae In. Tiếp theo sẽ là gì? Hàn Quốc, hay Hoa Kỳ mới là mục tiêu chánh mà ông Kim muốn nhắm tới?

Từ trái sang: Bà Kim Yo Jong, ông Kim Jong Un, và ông Moon Jae In. Ảnh: Newsweek

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SCMP

Projects face delays as the coronavirus prevents Beijing from supplying goods and people. And project resources will be diverted as China focuses on its own recovery. But the biggest casualty may be a loss of faith in Chinese-style connectivity

Published: 8:30am, 19 Mar, 2020

Illustration: Craig Stephens

Suddenly, a highly infectious virus has become China’s most prominent export. What began on January 3, when China reported 44 cases of pneumonia in Wuhan, has become the Covid-19 global pandemic. Wuhan, the manufacturing centre that helped to power China’s flagship Belt and Road Initiative, has become the epicentre of a health crisis shutting down many of those projects.

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