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Laotians trafficked to Myanmar casino say they’re facing more punishment

A group of 16 young Laotians trafficked to work as scammers at a Chinese-run casino on Myanmar’s eastern border with Thailand are being punished more severely, struck with rods and forced to stand in the sun for hours, according to…

New state-run uniform factories threaten small businesses

North Korea is building new clothing factories due to increased demand for school uniforms, but the factories threaten to kill off a cottage industry of small, often family-run school uniform makers, residents told Radio Free Asia. More school uniforms are…

Civil servants forced to watch propaganda films about 2019 protests

A video shown to Hong Kong’s civil servants as part of a confidential internal training session is an attempt to ‘brainwash’ government officials with Beijing’s claim that the 2019 protests were an attempt by foreign countries to undermine the Hong…

EU Parliament calls on China to abolish Tibetan boarding schools

The European Parliament on Thursday adopted a resolution condemning the “abduction and forced assimilation of Tibetan children” by the Chinese government, according to an official press release. The resolution accuses Chinese authorities of using state-run boarding schools in Tibet to…

Planned projects in Luang Prabang, Vang Vieng aimed at Chinese tourists

Chinese companies are renting and converting buildings into hotels and restaurants in Luang Prabang and constructing hotels in Vang Vieng as they work to develop more tourism facilities along the US$6 billion railway it helped build in 2021, tourism officials…

Philippine provinces linked to US military welcome Chinese investment

Free classrooms, cash donations and all expenses-paid trips to China. Against the backdrop of Sino-U.S. tensions, Beijing is investing in Philippine provinces facing Taiwan, according to an interview with a provincial governor and information from China’s envoy to Manila. In…

China silencing critics in US, Congress told

Chinese critics of Beijing living in America are surveilled, intimidated and harassed by U.S.-based agents of the Chinese Communist Party, and the freedom of family members back home is threatened unless they stop speaking out, activists told Congress on Wednesday….

China to limit access to court judgment searches to internal use

China has announced plans to take its court records offline, creating a limited-access database that excludes members of the public, according to official documents. Acting on “requirements” from the ruling Communist Party leadership group within the country’s Supreme People’s Court,…

Rocket men: Kim and Putin fire up their alliance

>>> For more on this topic, read the complete Bear East series here.  The armored train trundled into the far eastern Russian region of Primorsky Krai after a marathon journey as North Korean leader Kim Jong Un made his first…

Has South Korea given up claims over disputed islets?

Korean-speaking social media users claimed that South Korea has given up its claim over Dokdo, a pair of islets located in waters between the Korean peninsula and Japan that Tokyo also claims, and calls Takeshima. Social media users cited screenshots…