China yesterday reacted angrily to a pending US Congressional resolution that condemns the crackdown on the 1989 Tiananmen protests and demands Beijing release from jail a leading democracy campaigner.
"There are a handful of people in the United States Congress that cannot stand what happens in China and they are using all kinds of pretexts to defame China," foreign ministry spokesman Liu Jianchao (劉建超) said. "They are not happy to see the improvements in China-US relations and they take pains to set up obstacles to the relationship.
"They will never win the hearts of the people and are bound to fail," he said.
The resolution, co-sponsored by senior Republican legislator Christopher Cox and Democratic House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi was to come to a vote yesterday.
"On a bipartisan basis, Congress stands united in support of freedom for the people of China," Cox declared this week.
Hundreds, if not thousands, of peaceful protesters were killed in Beijing 15 years ago when the People's Liberation Army assaulted the heart of the capital to end unprecedented democracy protests.
The resolution condemns "ongoing and egregious human rights abuses" and urges the government to order an independent inquiry into the reported killing, torture and imprisonment of democracy activists in Tiananmen Square.
South Korea’s air force yesterday apologized for a 2021 midair collision involving two fighter jets, a day after auditors said the pilots were taking selfies and filming during the flight and held them responsible for the accident. “We sincerely apologize to the public for the concern caused by the accident that occurred in 2021,” an air force spokesman told a news conference, adding that one of the pilots involved had been suspended from flying duties, received severe disciplinary action and has since left the military. The apology followed a report released on Wednesday by the South Korean Board of Audit and Inspection,
Indonesian police have arrested 13 people after shocking images of alleged abuse against small children at a daycare center went viral, sparking outrage across the nation, officials said on Monday. Police on Friday last week raided Little Aresha, a daycare center in Yogyakarta on Java island, following a report from a former employee. CCTV footage circulating on social media showed children, most younger than two, lying on the floor wearing only diapers, their hands and feet bound with rags. The police have confirmed that the footage is authentic. Police said they also found 20 children crammed into a room just 3m by 3m. “So
About 240 Indians claiming descent from a Biblical tribe landed at Tel Aviv airport on Thursday as part of a government operation to relocate them to Israel. The newcomers passed under a balloon arch in blue and white, the colors of the Israeli flag, as dozens of well-wishers welcomed them with a traditional Jewish song. They were the first “bnei Menashe” (“sons of Manasseh”) to arrive in Israel since the government in November last year announced funding for the immigration of about 6,000 members of the community from the states of Manipur and Mizoram in northeast India. The community claims to descend from
‘TROUBLING’: The firing of Phelan, who was an adviser to a nonprofit that supported the defense of Taiwan, was another example of ‘dysfunction’ under Trump, a US senator said US Secretary of the Navy John Phelan has been fired, a US official and a person familiar with the matter said on Wednesday, in another wartime shakeup at the Pentagon coming just weeks after US Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth ousted the Army’s top general. The Pentagon announced his departure in a brief statement, saying he was leaving the administration “effective immediately,” but it did not provide a reason or say whether it was his decision to go. The sources, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said Phelan was dismissed in part because he was moving too slowly to implement reforms to