Welcome to FBNC's July 16 morning International news Here are today's outstanding Senate passes bill to ban all products from Xinjiang over China rights abuse US Navy keeps closer watch on China submarines, Beijing think tank says Chinese army faces problems in weapons innovation, relying on foreign acquisitions, US study finds Japan removes Taiwan from China map in defense white paper India tells China continuing border tensions not in either side's interests US is running more than 30,000 radio ads a month to deter migration from Central America Child diseases on rise as COVID-19 slows routine vaccinations Man with paralysis communicates via brain waves in groundbreaking study The U.S. Senate passed legislation on Wednesday to ban the import of products from China's Xinjiang region, the latest effort in Washington to punish Beijing for what U.S. officials say is an ongoing genocide against Uyghurs and other Muslim groups. The Uyghur Forced Labor Prevention Act would create a "rebuttable presumption" assuming goods manufactured in Xinjiang are made with forced labor and therefore banned under the 1930 Tariff Act, unless otherwise certified by U.S. authorities.
"We will not turn a blind eye to the CCP's ongoing crimes against humanity, and we will not allow corporations a free pass to profit from those horrific abuses," Rubio said in a statement. "No American corporation should profit from these abuses. No American consumers should be inadvertently purchasing products from slave labor," Merkley said. The bill must also pass the House of Representatives before it can be sent to the White House for President Joe Biden to sign into law. It was not immediately clear when that might take place. Democratic and Republican aides said they expected the measure would get strong support in the House, noting the House approved a similar measure nearly unanimously last year. The bill would go beyond steps already taken to secure U.S. supply chains in the face of allegations of rights abuses in China, including existing bans on Xinjiang tomatoes, cotton and some solar products.
The Biden administration has increased sanctions, and on Tuesday issued an advisory warning businesses they could be in violation of U.S. law if operations are linked even indirectly to surveillance networks in Xinjiang. Rights groups, researchers, former residents and some Western lawmakers and officials say Xinjiang authorities have facilitated forced labor by detaining around a million Uyghurs and other primarily Muslim minorities since 2016 The United States’ surveillance of China’s submarines is happening far more often in the South China Sea, a think tank says, a sign that military activity between the two countries is heating up under the water. The ships, which can be used in anti-submarine warfare, were tracked operating in the South China Sea for at least 161 days out of 181 days in the first half of this year, The US has five USNS (United States Naval Ship) ocean surveillance vessels – Victorious, Able, Effective, Loyal and Impeccable – stationed in Japan.
It said each of the ships were active in the area for more than 10 days, and sometimes for as many as 40 days, deployed one after another with virtually no time in between. “[The main purpose was] to monitor the dynamics of China’s underwater forces, analyse the scope of submarine activities in key waters and their entry and exit routes, and provide intelligence support for anti-submarine operations,” the report said. Most surveillance activities by the US Navy took place near the Paracel Islands – called the Xisha Islands in China – and Macclesfield Bank, said the report. The area is ideal for submarines and anti-submarine warfare thanks to the water being more than 2,000 metres deep and the complex hydrographic environment, the report added. The US Navy also appears to be expanding its surveillance area. The report noted that USNS Victorious and USNS Impeccable were tracked in waters west of the Paracel Islands,
an area the navy barely visited previously. The US Navy also appears to be expanding its surveillance area. Official figures have never been announced but China is believed to have one of the world’s largest submarine fleets. Modernisation efforts in recent years have greatly improved its naval strength.
A Pentagon report last year said China had four ballistic missile submarines, six nuclear-powered attack submarines and 46 diesel attack submarines. The US has more nuclear-powered submarines but China is catching up. US military officials have said China is likely to have between 65 and 70 submarines by the end of the decade. In part because of their rising strategic competition, China and the US have both stepped up their military activities in the South China Sea over the last few years. China’s military has overcome numerous technological challenges to chip away at the United States’ supremacy in recent years, but continues to be stymied by lagging domestic innovation and corruption in its defence industry, according to a US government-financed study released on Wednesday. The Rand Corporation is a security-focused research group based in California that receives around 80 per cent of its funding from various federal agencies. The new report was sponsored by and prepared for the US Army.
Its assessment comes on the heels of a Pentagon review of its China policy, and as the Biden administration accelerates efforts to prevent American technology from contributing to China’s military advancements. the Rand report cited three key deficiencies confronting the People’s Liberation Army (PLA): high-end semiconductors, stealthy submarines and aircraft engines. A reliance on IP theft has left Chinese weapons systems “several years” behind their US counterparts, researchers concluded, noting striking similarities between China’s J-20 J-31 jet fighters and Lockheed Martin’s F-22 and F-35 aircraft, respectively. and Lockheed Martin’s F-22 and F-35 aircraft, respectively.
In response to questions about the Rand report, a representative for the Chinese embassy in Washington said that the US had “never produced any solid evidence for its repeated allegations about China’s ‘theft of intellectual property’,” and said the country was “stepping up efforts in science and technology innovation and intellectual property protection.” In 2016, the US convicted and imprisoned a Chinese national over efforts to obtain sensitive military information, including data relating to the F-22 and F-35, as well as Boeing’s C-17 military cargo plane. Aircraft engines have long been a bottleneck in China’s military advances, with turbine blade technology in particular proving to be a persistent problem. “Successfully developing an indigenous aircraft engine and producing it in large quantities will signal a turning point in the capabilities of the Chinese defence industry,” In its "Defense of Japan" white paper published on Tuesday (July 13), Japan's Ministry of Defense (MOD) removed Taiwan from a map of China for the first time. In previous years, the white paper merged Taiwan and China in the same chapter and map, drawing criticism from Taiwanese living in Japan.
However, the latest version stresses the distinction between the two, indicating a change in policy by Japan Defense Minister Nobuo Kishi. For the first time, Taiwan has been removed from the white paper's chapter on China. Instead, Taiwan has been included in Part I, Chapter 2, Section 3 of "Relations between the United States and China, etc." The failure of China and India to resolve the standoff over their disputed border in the western Himalayas, despite an agreement last year, is not in the interest of either side, India's foreign minister told his Chinese counterpart on Wednesday. In accordance with last year's pact, military commanders on both sides completed a pullout of troops, tanks and artillery from the Pangong Lake area in February in a first step towards full withdrawal from other friction points.
India's minister of external affairs, S Jaishankar, said friction in these other areas remained unresolved, however. Both Indian and Chinese soldiers were killed in a clash in June last year - the first combat losses on the disputed border in more than four decades. The two ministers agreed to seek a mutually acceptable solution to the problem and ensure stability on the ground by avoiding any unilateral action that could increase tension, the statement said. Ethiopia's war in the northern region of Tigray looked set to intensify on Wednesday as the prime minister signalled the end of a government ceasefire and the neighbouring Amhara region said it would go on the offensive against Tigrayan forces.
The Tigray People's Liberation Front (TPLF), which has recaptured most of its home region in the past three weeks after an abrupt reversal in an eight-month war, has vowed to retake western Tigray, an expanse of fertile territory controlled by Amhara forces who seized it during the conflict. Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed abruptly pulled central government troops out of most of Tigray last month, citing a unilateral ceasefire that the TPLF mocked as "a joke" designed to justify his forces' retreat. Wednesday's statement marked a shift in rhetoric, as Abiy said the ceasefire had failed to deliver. A spokesman for the Amhara regional government also said the authorities there were rallying their own forces for a counter-attack against Tigrayan forces. Gizachew Muluneh was quoted as saying by the region's state-run Amhara Media Corporation. "Amhara militia and special forces have been systematically trying to defend but now our patience has run out and as of today we have opened an offensive attack."
Western Tigray has long been home to large populations of both Tigrayans and Amhara, fighting between two of Ethiopia's biggest ethnic groups over the territory could drive another wave of refugees from a conflict that has already forced 2 million from their homes. Haitian police are in hot pursuit of the masterminds in connection with the assassination of President Jovenel Moise. Police said at a news conference that 24 police officers have been subjected to "precautionary" measures and four were in isolation as part of the investigation. National Police chief Leon Charles identified former Haitian Senator John Joel Joseph as a key player in the plot.
He supplied weapons and planned meetings, Charles said, adding that police were searching for him. Charles also pointed a finger at a company he identified as World Wide Capital Lending Group as being responsible for fundraising "to execute this criminal act." World Wide Capital Lending Group, which is based in Florida, did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Moise was shot dead at his home by what Haitian authorities describe as a unit of assassins, including 26 Colombians and two Haitian Americans. Eighteen of the Colombians were detained, three were killed by police and five were still on the run, Haitian police said. A third Haitian-American, Christian Emmanuel Sanon, was arrested on Sunday by Haitian authorities, who accused him of being a mastermind of the attack. Protesters gathered outside the Cuban Embassy in Buenos Aires, Argentina to support the Cuban government on Wednesday (July 14). The police surrounded the building while the Argentinean protesters played music and held signs asking to end the U.S. embargo and in support of the revolution.
the general secretary of the Autonomous Workers Central, Ricardo Peiro, during the protest. ''To defend Cuba is to defend Latin America. To defend the revolution is to defend the ones who were with us throughout so many years and in the hardest of times" Cuba's president has blamed the country's unrest on the U.S., accusing it of "economic asphyxiation."
Human rights groups on Thursday called for Japan to cancel a real estate project involving Myanmar's defence ministry, saying the project is linked to the military, which has waged a deadly crackdown since the February 1 coup. Japan's private firms and a state entity are engaged in a multi-million dollar hotel and office development on land owned by Myanmar's defence ministry, Reuters reported earlier. read more Rights groups, including Human Rights Watch, said Japan failed to assess the risk associated with doing business in Myanmar. Through rent payments, the Y Complex project benefits Myanmar's defence ministry, which is controlled by the military under the country's constitution, the groups say. Yuka Kiguchi, Executive Director of Mekong Watch, referring to Myanmar's armed forces. "We strongly condemn the fact that Japan's public funds likely ended up in the hands of the Tatmadaw," Japanese company and government officials have said they thought the rent, which was paid by an intermediary, was ultimately going to Myanmar's government, not the military.
The United States will continue nuclear talks with Iran, the White House said on Wednesday, after an Iranian plot to kidnap a U.S.-based journalist was made public. A U.S. Justice Department indictment unsealed on Tuesday showed prosecutors have charged four Iranians in a kidnapping plot of the journalist. The White House condemns the plot, press secretary Jen Psaki said. The United States is running more than 30,000 radio ads a month in Central America to deter migration amid a renewed focus on the region and the root causes pushing people to journey north, a State Department spokesperson told CNN. The ad campaign is designed to combat a range of factors driving migrants to the US-Mexico border, including misinformation spread by smugglers and the widespread belief among migrants that border enforcement has been relaxed under the Biden administration.
The ads -- running in El Salvador, Guatemala and Honduras -- are in Spanish and five indigenous languages. The total cost is about $600,000 a month. "The State Department's campaign to deter irregular migration includes digital advertisements across multiple platforms, radio plays, creative content management, measurement and evaluation, and contract labor resources," the spokesperson added. Nearly 23 million children missed out on routine vaccinations last year due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the highest number in more than a decade, fuelling outbreaks of measles, polio and other preventable diseases, U.N. agencies have said.
Measles, one of the world's most contagious diseases, can be fatal to children under the age of five, especially in African and Asian countries with weak health systems, according to the World Health Organization. Polio can cripple a child for life. Ten countries, led by India and Nigeria, account for the bulk of the 22.7 million children left unvaccinated or under-vaccinated against diphtheria, tetanus, and pertussis (DTP) in 2020, 3.7 million more than in 2019 and the most since 2009, it said about a key indicator of childhood vaccination rates. Researchers in California announced Wednesday that they have successfully accessed the brain waves of a man unable to speak due to severe paralysis and transformed his thoughts into sentences. This is the first known "successful demonstration of direct decoding of full words from the brain activity of someone who is paralyzed and cannot speak," neurosurgeon Edward Chang, senior author on the study, said in a statement from the University of California, San Francisco.
The study, published in the New England Journal of Medicine on Wednesday, indicates that the approach researchers took could one day help thousands of people who are unable to speak if the method is developed further, Chang surgically implanted electrodes into the part of the brain that controls speech. The man worked with researchers to create a 50-word vocabulary. These are FBNC's morning International news Thank you for watching See you in the next FBNC's morning International news
2021-07-19