Asia

Turkey’s state-run Anadolu news agency touted United States support in defending the rights of Chinese Uighur Muslims, noting Friday that America’s embassy in Ankara expressed solidarity with the country for challenging the Communist Party’s mass internment of the ethnic minority.

Pakistan confirmed on Thursday that it would host the next round of peace talks between the Afghan Taliban and the United States on February 18 as part of efforts by U.S. President Donald Trump’s administration to end the more than 17-year-old war with a political settlement.

China’s authoritarian government has been sending mixed signals about population control to the populace. On one hand, the government admits it faces a demographic crisis that can only be solved by increased fertility rates and large families, sending signals to the public that having two or three children is now their patriotic duty. On the other hand, a couple from the eastern province of Shandong is suffering steep fines and persecution for the crime of birthing a third child.

Contents: India’s Open Magazine: The West gets constantly surprised by Iran; Effects of 1979 Islamic Revolution on the Mideast and the world; Iran and India vs Saudi Arabia, Pakistan and China; Massive terror attack on Iran’s IRGC; Coming soon: World View: The Conflict between China and Japan, by John J. Xenakis

U.S President Donald Trump’s executive order instructing the American government this week to prioritize the development of artificial intelligence (AI) could trigger a “new high-technology Cold War” between the United States and China, the Beijing-run Global Times cautioned on Tuesday.

Instagram deleted an account on Wednesday publishing comic strips about the struggles of a gay Muslim boy in Indonesia after it sparked outrage among the country’s Islamic population.

A group of 13 same-sex couples in Japan plans to file a lawsuit Thursday challenging their legal inability to marry, depriving them of the ability to inherit property from their partners, make meaningful medical decisions in cases of emergency, and other rights.

The Islamabad High Court (IHC) in Muslim-majority Pakistan on Tuesday sustained its decision to outlaw Valentine’s Day celebrations and the promotion of the February 14 Christian holiday across the country, ordering authorities to take action on revelers.

Police in the Philippines arrested Maria Ressa, the CEO of the major online publication Rappler, and former Rappler reporter Reynaldo Santos, Jr., on Wednesday on charges of “cyber libel” for an article quoting a government intelligence report accusing a wealthy businessman of having ties to drug trafficking.

Consumer prices once again demonstrate that American households are not being squeezed by tariffs on metals and China imports

India this week asked foreign companies to bid for a nearly $3 billion deal to manufacture 111 military helicopters on Indian soil in collaboration with domestic firms to replace the navy’s aging Soviet-era aircraft, the country’s defense ministry announced.

In an interview with China’s state-run Global Times on Monday, billionaire developer Huang Xiangmo decried Australia’s cancellation of his residency papers and dismissed allegations of influencing Australian politics on behalf of Beijing as “prejudiced and groundless.”

WASHINGTON, DC— North Korea does not intend to give up all its nuclear weapons or production facilities and remains the “most immediate” menace in the Indo-Pacific area for the United States, the top U.S. commander in the region told lawmakers on Tuesday, echoing a recent assessment from the American intelligence community.

WASHINGTON, DC — China’s “massive effort to grow and modernize” the People’s Liberation Army (PLA) is “eroding” the United States’ “relative competitive military advantage” in the Indo-Pacific region, the top American commander in the area warned on Tuesday, stressing that Beijing’s communist leaders are sensing “weaknesses.”

The Chinese government issued a warning to its citizens Tuesday urging them to “be wary and pay attention to their personal safety” while in Turkey, a response to the Turkish government’s condemnation of Beijing imprisoning up to two million of its Muslim citizens in internment camps.

Chinese authorities detained a Twitter user for blaming Communist Party leader Xi Jinping for ‘exporting the evils of communism’ to Venezuela, a report from Radio Free Asia (RFA) revealed Tuesday.

Vietnamese Foreign Minister Pham Binh Minh arrived in North Korea on Tuesday for an anticipated three-day visit.

“If we’re close to a deal…I can see myself letting that slide for a little while,” Trump said. “But I’m not inclined to do that.”

Philippines President Rodrigo Duterte praised former leader Ferdinand Marcos on Monday for suggesting the country change its name to Maharlika, a Malay name, in an attempt to erase Spanish “conquest and subjugation.”

A study published Monday by Stanford University’s Center for International Security and Cooperation (CISAC) estimated that North Korea produced enough fissile material last year to construct seven more nuclear bombs, even as it was negotiating denuclearization with the United States.

China’s economic vulnerability gives the U.S. leverage in trade talks, the hedge fund managers say.

The White House has not issued any orders for the United States military to reduce the presence of the 14,000 American troops in Afghanistan, U.S. Defense Secretary Patrick Shanahan declared on Monday while en route to the country on an unannounced trip.

Taliban narco-jihadis turned down Afghan President Ashraf Ghani’s offer on Sunday to open a political post in Afghanistan, including in the group’s opium-rich birthplace of Kandahar, saying they want international recognition of their existing political office in the Qatari capital of Doha instead.

China on Sunday responded to reports of noted Uighur poet and musician Abdurehim Heyit’s death in prison by posting a video of a man who claimed to be Heyit declaring himself to be in “good health.” The man was also suspiciously enthusiastic about being under investigation by Chinese authorities.

North Korea’s government-run media published a story demanding the United States respond to the communist autocracy’s alleged “active and preemptive efforts” to denuclearize with “corresponding practical action” in a column Monday, implying lifting of international sanctions.

The Turkish Foreign Ministry issued a stern condemnation of China’s policy of using internment camps to torture and “re-educate” Uighur nationals and other Muslims into communist atheist ideology and Han culture on Saturday, triggering an outraged response from Beijing Monday accusing the Turks of human rights violations against Kurdish citizens.

China’s Foreign Ministry expressed “strong dissatisfaction” on Monday after two U.S. warships sailed within 12 nautical miles of the Spratly Islands in the South China Sea in a Freedom of Navigation Operation (FONOP).

South Korean officials on Sunday signed a deal to cover more of the cost of U.S. troops over the coming year after President Donald Trump strongly urged them to do so.

President Donald Trump proclaimed high hopes Friday night for peace with North Korea that will lead to a different kind of rocket as U.S. officials left the nation.

The Chinese holiday of Lunar New Year is widely observed in both Koreas, albeit in very different ways. For example, North Koreans are reportedly giving each other crystal meth and other controlled substances as gifts to ring in the Year of the Pig.