Author: Ruwaid Waddaah

Cambodia is expected to attract 4 million international tourists in 2023, including 1million Chinese tourists. The target was shared in a meeting between Shi Zhongjun, Secretary General of ASEAN-China Centre (ACC) in a meeting with Tith Chantha, Permanent Secretary of State at the Ministry of Tourism here in Phnom Penh recently. Shi Zhongjun pledged to foster the cooperation on tourism sector with Cambodia to attract more both national tourists, and tourists from the third countries. ACC will organize joint activities for ASEAN-China, especially with Cambodia such as Cambodia-China tourism destination promotion exhibition and tourism skill training support for Khmer and…

Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Sen overturned a legislation to preserve Mekong dolphins on Thursday, just two months after authorizing greater protection for the critically endangered species. Hun Sen ordered the annulment because “dolphins keep dying” despite the law, which was enacted on February 27. The law ordered the formation of a permanent core zone on the Mekong River for improved protection of the Irrawaddy dolphins following the deaths of the mammals due to fishing nets. The measure banned fishing nets in a 120 km section of the river in the provinces of Kratie and Stung Treng. It also barred fishing…

Bangkok —  Two years after the military took control of Myanmar, widespread opposition to the junta has fueled an armed resistance and conflict across the country. Journalists trying to report on the situation are often forced to work underground or in exile to avoid arrest or retaliation. It’s a situation that brings its own challenges, including finding regular funding, withstanding pressure from the military and others, and keeping staff secure. In the first few months of the takeover in 2021, the military revoked licenses of several media outlets and detained dozens of journalists. The quickly diminishing environment for media led…

Milley, chairman of the US Joint Chiefs of Staff, said on the 23rd local time that if the defense budget is reduced and the US military is forced to reduce operations such as crossing the Taiwan Strait, freedom of navigation, and intelligence monitoring, it will increase risks and send wrong messages, which may lead to more provocations by China or other countries. When attending the hearing of the National Defense Subcommittee of the Appropriations Committee of the Federal House of Representatives, Milley said that China is the most serious geostrategic opponent facing the United States today, but the United States…

Two Malaysia-born giant panda cubs, named “Sheng Yi” and “Yi Yi” will return to China in May, according to the Zoo Negara, which made the announcement on its social media on Friday. “Sheng Yi” and “Yi Yi” were born in 2021 and 2018, respectively. Their parents “Xing Xing” and “Liang Liang” were loaned to Malaysia in 2014, to mark 40 years of diplomatic relations between the two countries. The first cub for the panda pair was “Nuan Nuan”, born on Aug. 18, 2015. It returned home to China in 2018. Source: CGTN News

The Philippines on Tuesday protested China’s use of military-grade laser, including dangerous maneuvers, against a Coast Guard vessel while on a resupply mission for Filipino troops stationed in Ayungin Shoal. In a protest lodged by the Department of Foreign Affairs, Manila called out China’s Coast Guard for its “latest aggressive activities” against Philippine vessels, heightening tensions anew between the two Asian neighbors locked in yearslong territorial disputes in the resource-rich waters. “The diplomatic protest, released to the Chinese Embassy in Manila on 14 February 2023, condemned the shadowing, harassment, dangerous maneuvers, directing of military-grade laser, and illegal radio challenges by…

Washington said it stands with Manila after a Chinese vessel directed a powerful laser at a Philippine Coast Guard ship. The Philippine government has lodged a diplomatic protest, calling on China to ensure its vessels cease “aggressive activities” after the Chinese coastguard used a “military-grade laser” to try to block one of its ships in the South China Sea. “These acts of aggression by China are disturbing and disappointing,” Department of Foreign Affairs spokesperson, Teresita Daza, said in a statement on Tuesday, noting that Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos Jr had recently concluded a state visit to China. During the visit,…

Philippine President Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos Jr. on Tuesday summoned China’s ambassador to the Philippines, Huang Xilian, over China’s increasingly aggressive actions against Philippine coast guard personnel and Filipino fishermen. serious concern over the increasingly frequent and intense actions. “The President summoned Chinese Ambassador Huang Xilian this (Tuesday) afternoon to express serious concern over China’s increasingly frequent and intense actions against the Philippine Coast Guard and our Filipino fishermen, the most recent of which was our Coast Guard ships deploy military-grade lasers.” In a separate statement, the Chinese embassy in Manila said Marcos and Huang “exchanged views on how to implement…

The people of Myanmar have suffered two full years of chaos and bloodshed, with fears now that the situation could grow even worse. The military junta that seized power in 2021 has declared vast swathes of the country under martial law. Humanitarian groups estimate thousands of civilians have died in brutal crackdowns against resistance. The number of internally displaced people has surged past 1.2 million. In Japan, a Myanmar couple is acting as a conduit for information about what’s happening back home, sharing stories with the world about the horrors that are taking place. Win Kyaw and his wife Mathida…

By John J. MetzlerThe military junta which seized power in Myanmar two years ago remains in power. But it is increasingly challenged by both its own citizens and targeted economic sanctions. Now a wave of international political pressures is steadily growing to force the junta from power and presumably create conditions for the return of a democratic government.”Two years ago, the military deposed a democratically elected government in an unconstitutional coup,” the U.N.’s Special Rapporteur Thomas Andrews told delegates. “The unrelenting violence that it unleashed on the people of Myanmar has created a widespread human rights, humanitarian, and economic crisis…