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Asia

Graphic of Chinese President Xi Jinping.

China’s tech weapons roll in to quell demonstrations, identify protesters

Free speech

The latest demonstrations across China ended when the central government unleashed a digital arsenal that was less deadly than the tanks used to quell the 1989 protests, but just as effective. China managed to use the internet to defuse national outrage over President Xi Jinping’s strict COVID-19 policies without firing a single shot.

A protester holds a placard as she takes part in a small demonstration against the holding of the 2022 Winter Olympic Games in China, at Piccadilly Circus in London, Feb. 3, 2022. 

Uyghurs in Saudi Arabia risk deportation to China

Human rights
Anti-coup protesters walk through a market with images of ousted Myanmar leader Aung San Suu Kyi at Kamayut township in Yangon, Myanmar, April 8, 2021. They walked through the markets and streets of Kamayut township with slogans to show their disaffection

‘Our unity is our hope,’ exiled Myanmar envoy says

Conflict & Justice
A protester from the Uighur community living in Turkey, participates in a protest in Istanbul, Oct. 1, 2020, against what they allege is oppression by the Chinese government to Muslim Uighurs in far-western Xinjiang province. 

US bans cotton products from China’s Uighur region over forced labor concerns

A man cast his ballot during the early voting ahead of the Nov. 8 general election, amid the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) spread in Yangon, Myanmar, Oct. 30, 2020.

Myanmar prepares for a remarkable but messy election 

Elections
A farmer works in a paddy field under the power lines near Nam Theun 2 dam in Khammouane province in Laos, Oct. 28, 2013.

How a Chinese company took control of an entire nation’s electrical grid

Development

In the past decade or so, China, via its vast network of state-run companies, has brought a development blitz to Laos. 

Sihanoukville, Cambodia, has become a construction site in recent years, with dozens of Chinese projects to build business and apartment high-rises, and with roads under construction around town.

Opening the door to Chinese investment comes with risks for Southeast Asian nations

On China's New Silk Road

Southeast Asian countries have long managed a complex relationship with China, the region’s biggest trading partner and their most powerful neighbor. China’s new Silk Road promises opportunities for economic growth, but at what cost?

Kazakhs protest what they see as excessive expansion of Chinese influence in Kazakhstan, including new Silk Road investments, in Almaty, Kazakhstan, Dec. 2019.

China’s new Silk Road traverses Kazakhstan. But some Kazakhs are skeptical of Chinese influence.

On China's New Silk Road

The tradeoffs of China’s investment in Kazakhstan require Kazakhs — most of whom are Muslim — to reckon with the persecution of Muslim minorities just across their border.

A room full of mostly elderly Asian residents of San Francisco's sit in a large room as they attend a talk on protecting themselves from immigration enforcement.

What it’s like being a lawyer for Cambodian deportees

Commentary

Immigration attorney Kevin Chun Hoi Lo, who grew up in San Francisco’s Chinatown, helped stop 30 Cambodians from being deported from the US last year. Months later, many were deported anyway.

A woman's face appears amidst colorful signs protest against China's Uyghar detention centers.

China says Uighur detention centers fight terrorism, rejects UN criticism

Justice

China rejects the suspected mass detention and heavy surveillance of Uighurs, dismissing the allegations as “seriously far away from facts.”