Australian University students and staff face increasing threats, foreign interference inquiry finds – (2022)

[Australian] Universities face escalating threats to students and to national security from hostile forces, a report into foreign interference has warned […] The report […] specifically singled out Chinese government-funded Confucius Institutes, a $10m deal between Monash University and a Chinese company linked to industrial espionage, and talent recruitment drives that see Australian researchers work with universities overseas.

Finland shuts down Confucius Institute amid censorship, espionage accusations – (2022)

A cooperation contract between Helsinki University and the Confucius Institute will be terminated following accusations of spreading Chinese soft power, conducting espionage, and an attempt to block discussions on Tibet. […] Belgium closed its Confucius Institute in 2019, Sweden and Denmark in 2020, and Norway in 2021.

Chinese students signing a “loyalty” pledges to the Chinese motherland before arriving in their host country, as shows the example of Sweden.

Chinese students signing “loyalty” pledges before arrival in Sweden – (2023)

International doctoral students who are arriving in Sweden from China are being told to sign agreements and guidelines to the Chinese government, an investigation has revealed […] The Chinese regime requires that they also must “serve the interests of the regime” and “never participate in ‘activities’ that go against the will of the authorities”, the report said. 

Sweden, Germany, and many other countries have been cutting ties with the China scholarship scheme over this practice already.

And these are just a few examples. There is much more.

Japan lodged a protest with China after one of its naval survey vessels entered Japanese waters on Aug 31, the second incursion into its territory by the Chinese military in less than a week - (Archived)

An uptick in Chinese military activity near Japan and around Taiwan in recent years has stoked concerns in Tokyo.

Japan has responded with a defence buildup that it says aims to deter Beijing from using military force to push its territorial claims in the region.

As she wrote, “I can leave but Kaidi can’t.”

It’s a shame what the Chinese government is doing to her.

Naomi Wu and the Silence That Speaks Volumes (August 2023) — [Archived version]

When China’s prodigious tech influencer, Naomi Wu, found herself silenced, it wasn’t just the machinery of a surveillance state at play. Instead, it was a confluence of state repression and the sometimes capricious attention of a Western audience that, as she asserts, often views Chinese activists more as ideological tokens than as genuine human beings.

[…]

Naomi Wu’s devastating July 7th [2023] tweet alluded to a pressure that had long been feared by many, yet optimistically hoped she could manage to avoid indefinitely.

Ok for those of you that haven’t figured it out I got my wings clipped and they weren’t gentle about it- so there’s not going to be much posting on social media anymore and only on very specific subjects. I can leave but Kaidi can’t so we’re just going to follow the new rules and…

— Naomi Wu 机械妖姬 (@RealSexyCyborg) July 8, 2023

No clue, but these guys might know it: https://www.votefromabroad.org

As I wrote in tbe other comment in this thread: That’s just a fraction aimed at specific children-related projects. Canada’s total support is much higher as we know.

That’s just a fraction aimed at specific children-related projects. Canada’s total support is much higher as we know.

It’s a shame what the government does to these children.

It’s not ‘their’ Chinese soil, Tibet is occupied territory.

I’m not frustrated, but this is simply another whataboutism which is unfortunately widespread here. One posts a report about a debt trap in Laos due to China’s belt and road, and the response is, “yes, but Nato, IMF, 'the West, …” followed by a wall of completely unrelated remarks.

Interesting is that this whataboutism gies only in one direction. When someone criticizes the IMF, World Bank, or any Western institution, I never read, “But autocratic China, …”

I don’t “brush this off like it did nothing”, it’s just off-topic. It’s blantant whataboutism, adding nothing to the topic. It’s a waste of time.

Did you read the article? The imperialistic government of China has been building such debt traps for a long time now, practically in the entire Global South, and there is much evidence that it is much worse than what the IMF/World Bank system did after World War II.

The difference is that China first grant loans at opaque conditions that are favorable to China alone, not in tbe least because all these agreements are bilateral rather than multilateral.

As one study in 2023 says:

The authors also find that borrowing from Beijing in emergency situations is not cheap: Whereas a typical rescue loan from the International Monetary Fund (IMF) carries a 2 percent interest rate, the average interest rate attached to a Chinese rescue loan is 5 percent.

“Our findings have implications for the global financial and monetary system, which we see becoming more multipolar, less institutionalized, and less transparent,” said [study co-author] Christoph Trebesch. “We see clear historical parallels to when the US started its rise as a global financial power, from the 1930s onwards and especially after World War II.”

[…] Beijing has created a new global system for cross-border rescue lending, but it has done so in an opaque and uncoordinated way,” said [study co-author] Parks. “Its strictly bilateral approach has made it more difficult to coordinate the activities of all major emergency lenders, which is concerning because sovereign debt crisis resolution usually requires some level of inter-creditor coordination.”

Laos is another example in a long list of countries that provide a strong reasons to stay away from China’s Belt and Road Initiative or similar programs. You’ll find much more evidence across the web.

Competition aka market economy only works if every player respects the same rules. It’s obvious that this isn’t the case here. TikTok -the ‘Western’ version of ByteDance’s product- isn’t allowed even in China as you will know. So why does TikTok complain if it gets banned in the West, while it seems fine to be banned in China? Isn’t that a double standard?

Also, if we’re talking about competition, then this doesn’t work in a centrally planned economy like China’s. The competition argument coming from a Chinese perspective isn’t valid, as it is the Chinese government itself which rejects exactly this very competition for itself.

Myanmar soldiers cut off tattoos and gave detainees urine to drink, witnesses say

Eyewitnesses told the BBC the village [in the Rakhine State] was subjected to two-and-half days of terror as soldiers blindfolded and beat them up, poured burning petrol on their skin and forced some of them to drink their urine.

Warning: You may find some of the details in this piece disturbing

Trump had 4 years to seriously do it, but nothing happened. It’s just a footnote in his election campaign.

What would we use it for? There aren’t too many use cases imho.

I deleted the most part of the text.

Just a question: Should longer texts not be posted as a principal or is it because it crashes some Lemmy apps?

Israeli activists battle over Gaza-bound aid convoys

Months after some Israelis started to protest against aid lorries entering Gaza at the main Kerem Shalom crossing, the battle has moved to other key junctions, where rival groups of activists do their best to block or protect aid convoys […]

Right-wing activists, including Jewish settlers living in the occupied West Bank, have uploaded dozens of videos of crowds, including some very young children, hurling food onto the ground and stamping on boxes of aid.

You’ll find a short video embedded in the linked article.

As international support for an independent Palestine grows, here’s what Israelis and Palestinians now think of the two-state solution

With the announcement by Norway and Ireland that they have recognised Palestine as an independent state, and Spain expected to follow suit by the end of May, it appears that international momentum for a two-state solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict is growing.

The concept has long been supported by the US and its allies, as well as most Arab states and the United Nations […] Could things be different under different leadership? To answer this, we need to know whether the Israeli and Palestinian people could be persuaded to accept such a plan. Here it’s worth taking a look at what polling tells us.

I (unfortunately) have to agree. There’s a risk that the (far right-wing) Netanyahu government is harming Israel politically in the long run, and right-wing extremists will try to take advantage of that. It’s right-wingers against right-wingers.

The fact that many Israeli people and even some politicians (Israeli minister Benny Gantz openly threatens Netanyahu to leave the government over the PM’s Gaza policy, for example) oppose their own government doesn’t appear to matter, at least for now. People like Netanyahu or Ben-Gvir rule the country, and they are heading in the wrong direction.

I hope that changes, however, as politicians around the globe seem to reconsider their stance over the region. In Europe, Norway, Spain, and Ireland announced their recognition of a Palestinian state as of May 28.

But, yes, that’s not enough. Others must follow.

Just stumbled upon this:

Academic calls for upgrade to sewage systems to protect health

The risk to public health from human faeces in our [UK] rivers and seas will increase without action to create a wastewater system fit for the future, according to Professor Barbara Evans, Leeds’ Professor of Public Health Engineering at the University of Leeds.

The report [led by Professor Evans]says collective action by industry, government, public bodies and the general public is required. It makes 15 recommendations, including: review current bathing water regulations; prioritise maintenance of the existing sewage network; return to collecting widespread data on faecal bacteria; develop a long-term strategy for better designing cities to reduce flooding, and the appointment of a dedicated wastewater champion.

Here is the report (pdf).