UNITED STATES
Conspiracy given 40 months
A diplomat on Tuesday was sentenced to 40 months in prison for lying to investigators about money she received from Chinese intelligence agents in exchange for US documents. Candace Marie Claiborne, 63, pleaded guilty to conspiracy to defraud the US in one of several high-profile cases involving Beijing spies’ recruitment of US officials, the Department of Justice said. She would also be fined US$40,000. Claiborne was a Department of State office management specialist based in Beijing and Shanghai who in 2007 became involved with two men the justice department said she knew were agents of the Chinese Ministry of State Security. They gave her “tens of thousands” of US dollars in exchange for documents and information, it said.
THAILAND
Detention power retained
The new civilian government is to retain the power to arbitrarily detain critics, despite the imminent easing of junta-era security controls, prompting warnings from rights groups of enduring “martial law.” Nearly 2,000 people have been tried in military courts since Prime Minister Prayuth Chan-ocha seized power in 2014. The junta last year eased a ban on political activities in the run-up to national elections and Prayuth on Tuesday phased out dozens of additional junta-enacted orders, transferring military cases to civilian courts. However, the government retained more than 100 orders, including the right for police to detain suspects for seven days on national security grounds. Political analyst Titipol Phakdeewanich said the continuing restrictions showed that full democracy remains a distant prospect.
CHINA
Rare ‘terrorism’ charge
A Chinese advocate against corruption who had urged officials to disclose their wealth was arrested for allegedly “promoting terrorism.” Zhang Baocheng (張寶成), 60, was a member of the now-defunct New Citizens Movement, which campaigned for democracy and government transparency. It is unusual for members of civil society or human rights advocates to be accused of terrorism, and his wife said that she fears it suggests Zhang might receive a heavy prison sentence. What led to his latest arrest is unclear. Zhang on Thursday last week was arrested by Beijing police, suspected of “picking quarrels, promoting terrorism, extremism and inciting terrorism,” according to an arrest warrant shared by his wife.
VANUATU
Suspects extradited to China
The nation has denied bowing to pressure from Beijing by allowing Chinese police to extract six criminal suspects without them facing a local court. Critics have accused the government of bypassing due process to please China. Plainclothes police officers from both countries flanked five men and one woman — all reportedly Chinese nationals — as they were escorted onto a privately chartered plane on Friday last week. Four of the six reportedly had Vanuatuan passports obtained under a scheme allowing wealthy foreigners to get citizenship in return for substantial fees or investments. Minister of Internal Affairs Andrew Napuat told Radio New Zealand there was nothing unusual about the operation, and said that foreign criminals should not obtain citizenship in an attempt to hide from the law. “To those other foreigners who have obtained Vanuatu passports through the citizenship program, you must understand that the government can revoke your passports at any time if you are caught in illegal acts,” he told the Daily Post.
Thousands gathered across New Zealand yesterday to celebrate the signing of the country’s founding document and some called for an end to government policies that critics say erode the rights promised to the indigenous Maori population. As the sun rose on the dawn service at Waitangi where the Treaty of Waitangi was first signed between the British Crown and Maori chiefs in 1840, some community leaders called on the government to honor promises made 185 years ago. The call was repeated at peaceful rallies that drew several hundred people later in the day. “This government is attacking tangata whenua [indigenous people] on all
The administration of US President Donald Trump has appointed to serve as the top public diplomacy official a former speech writer for Trump with a history of doubts over US foreign policy toward Taiwan and inflammatory comments on women and minorities, at one point saying that "competent white men must be in charge." Darren Beattie has been named the acting undersecretary for public diplomacy and public affairs, a senior US Department of State official said, a role that determines the tone of the US' public messaging in the world. Beattie requires US Senate confirmation to serve on a permanent basis. "Thanks to
UNDAUNTED: Panama would not renew an agreement to participate in Beijing’s Belt and Road project, its president said, proposing technical-level talks with the US US Secretary of State Marco Rubio on Sunday threatened action against Panama without immediate changes to reduce Chinese influence on the canal, but the country’s leader insisted he was not afraid of a US invasion and offered talks. On his first trip overseas as the top US diplomat, Rubio took a guided tour of the canal, accompanied by its Panamanian administrator as a South Korean-affiliated oil tanker and Marshall Islands-flagged cargo ship passed through the vital link between the Atlantic and Pacific oceans. However, Rubio was said to have had a firmer message in private, telling Panama that US President Donald Trump
‘IMPOSSIBLE’: The authors of the study, which was published in an environment journal, said that the findings appeared grim, but that honesty is necessary for change Holding long-term global warming to 2°C — the fallback target of the Paris climate accord — is now “impossible,” according to a new analysis published by leading scientists. Led by renowned climatologist James Hansen, the paper appears in the journal Environment: Science and Policy for Sustainable Development and concludes that Earth’s climate is more sensitive to rising greenhouse gas emissions than previously thought. Compounding the crisis, Hansen and colleagues argued, is a recent decline in sunlight-blocking aerosol pollution from the shipping industry, which had been mitigating some of the warming. An ambitious climate change scenario outlined by the UN’s climate
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