Category: Asia

‘World’s Newest One-Party State’: Beijing backs Cambodia’s crackdown

     

Sweden said on Tuesday it was stopping new aid for Cambodia after the main opposition party was outlawed by the Supreme Court at the government’s request….. But Western donors have… Read more »

Conflict of ideas and models in varied, global threats to democracy

     

Whatever Russia did last year amounted to an attack on American democracy, notes the Wall Street Journal’s Gerald F. Seib. Worse, that is only one of several ways the democratic… Read more »

‘Quad’ of democracies vs. China: a new clash of civilizations?

     

The resumption of talks on the “quadrilateral” strategic initiative between the US, Australia, Japan and India is a shot across the bows of China. It has more than a whiff of… Read more »

Autocrats’ ‘sharp power’ prompts Western self-censorship

     

Outspoken Labor MP Michael Danby has warned of China’s rise in “hard power”, praising the “push-back by Australia’s democratic system” against soft power initiatives, the Australian reports: Speaking to a… Read more »

Rights defenders at risk: 20 years after UN Declaration

     

In a Russian court hearing yesterday, human rights defender Semyon Simonov (left) faced police officers who had detained him in April in the southern city of Volgograd. Simonov had been… Read more »

Southeast Asia’s ’emboldened’ strongmen look to China in setback to democracy

     

Chinese leaders have long sought to present themselves as equals to American presidents. Xi Jinping has wanted something more: a special relationship that sets China apart, as the other great… Read more »

North Korea’s regime concedes its vulnerability to soft power

     

North Korea’s regime has admitted its vulnerability to soft power “for the first time,” according to a prominent defector. An editorial in an official newspaper today conceded that information flows… Read more »

Democracies need ‘different narrative’ to counter populists and autocrats’ soft power

     

After the Chinese Communist party’s celebratory 19th congress, which ended last week, some observers proclaimed Xi Jinping a new emperor, notes Harvard University’s Joseph Nye: Mr Xi, for his part,… Read more »

China’s rise means trade trumps rights, says Hong Kong activist

     

Young Hong Kong democracy activist Joshua Wong warned Wednesday that China’s rise means human rights are in increasingly greater danger of being overshadowed globally by business interests, The Associated Press… Read more »

Will U.S. downplay human rights as it turns to Vietnam as ally against China?

     

On the occasion of the trip to the upcoming Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation summit, human rights attorney Nguyen Thi Duong Ha (above) has sent a letter on prisoners of conscience in Vietnam… Read more »