INDIA
Dragon fruit name changed
The government in Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s home state of Gujarat on Tuesday changed the name of dragon fruit, saying that the original name is associated with China. “The Gujarat government has decided ... the name ‘dragon fruit’ is not appropriate and is associated with China. The fruit’s shape is like a lotus, and hence we have given it a new Sanskrit name, kamalam. There is nothing political about it,” Gujarat Chief Minister Vijay Rupani told reporters. The lotus, or kamal as it is called in Hindi, is the symbol of Modi’s Bharatiya Janata Party.
JAPAN
Dual citizenship rejected
The Tokyo District Court yesterday upheld a ban on dual citizenship, rejecting a suit that challenged the measure’s constitutionality and sought damages for those affected. Under current rules, Japanese who acquire another passport are asked to relinquish their Japanese citizenship, but in 2018, eight plaintiffs started legal proceedings against the rule. One of them, Hitoshi Nogawa, told reporters that it was a “painful experience” to give up his nationality. “I obtained Swiss nationality because my job requires it, but I’m emotionally attached to Japan and this is the foundation of my identity,” the Asahi Shimbun quoted him as saying.
UNITED STATES
China sanctions officials
China imposed sanctions on nearly 30 former officials of the administration of former president Donald Trump moments after they left office on Wednesday. In a statement released just minutes after President Joe Biden was inaugurated, Beijing slapped travel bans and business restrictions on Trump’s secretary of state, Mike Pompeo; national security adviser, Robert O’Brien; UN ambassador, Kelly Craft; and health and human services secretary, Alex Azar. “Over the past few years, some anti-China politicians in the United States, out of their selfish political interests and prejudice and hatred against China, and showing no regard for the interests of the Chinese and American people, have planned, promoted and executed a series of crazy moves which have gravely interfered in China’s internal affairs, undermined China’s interests, offended the Chinese people, and seriously disrupted China-US relations,” the Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs said in a statement.
UNITED STATES
WeChat users sue Tencent
WeChat users in California sued its parent company, Tencent, on Wednesday, saying that the mobile app is used for spying on and censoring users for the Chinese government. US-based nonprofit Citizen Power Initiatives for China filed the suit in Silicon Valley, joined by six California residents in urging a state court to order Tencent to change its ways and pay damages.
UNITED STATES
Twitter locks PRC account
Twitter has locked the official account for the Chinese embassy to the US after a post that defended Beijing’s policies in Xinjiang. The post, which said that Uighur women were no longer “baby-making machines,” was originally shared on Jan. 7, but was not removed by Twitter until more than 24 hours later. It has been replaced by a label saying: “This tweet is no longer available.” Twitter requires account owners to manually delete posts that breach its rules to regain access to their account. The account is still locked, a Twitter spokesman said, meaning that the embassy has not deleted the tweet.
The death of a former head of China’s one-child policy has been met not by tributes, but by castigation of the abandoned policy on social media this week. State media praised Peng Peiyun (彭珮雲), former head of China’s National Family Planning Commission from 1988 to 1998, as “an outstanding leader” in her work related to women and children. The reaction on Chinese social media to Peng’s death in Beijing on Sunday, just shy of her 96th birthday, was less positive. “Those children who were lost, naked, are waiting for you over there” in the afterlife, one person posted on China’s Sina Weibo platform. China’s
‘NO COUNTRY BUMPKIN’: The judge rejected arguments that former prime minister Najib Razak was an unwitting victim, saying Najib took steps to protect his position Imprisoned former Malaysian prime minister Najib Razak was yesterday convicted, following a corruption trial tied to multibillion-dollar looting of the 1Malaysia Development Berhad (1MDB) state investment fund. The nation’s high court found Najib, 72, guilty on four counts of abuse of power and 21 charges of money laundering related to more than US$700 million channeled into his personal bank accounts from the 1MDB fund. Najib denied any wrongdoing, and maintained the funds were a political donation from Saudi Arabia and that he had been misled by rogue financiers led by businessman Low Taek Jho. Low, thought to be the scandal’s mastermind, remains
‘POLITICAL LOYALTY’: The move breaks with decades of precedent among US administrations, which have tended to leave career ambassadors in their posts US President Donald Trump’s administration has ordered dozens of US ambassadors to step down, people familiar with the matter said, a precedent-breaking recall that would leave embassies abroad without US Senate-confirmed leadership. The envoys, career diplomats who were almost all named to their jobs under former US president Joe Biden, were told over the phone in the past few days they needed to depart in the next few weeks, the people said. They would not be fired, but finding new roles would be a challenge given that many are far along in their careers and opportunities for senior diplomats can
Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese yesterday announced plans for a national bravery award to recognize civilians and first responders who confronted “the worst of evil” during an anti-Semitic terror attack that left 15 dead and has cast a heavy shadow over the nation’s holiday season. Albanese said he plans to establish a special honors system for those who placed themselves in harm’s way to help during the attack on a beachside Hanukkah celebration, like Ahmed al-Ahmed, a Syrian-Australian Muslim who disarmed one of the assailants before being wounded himself. Sajid Akram, who was killed by police during the Dec. 14 attack, and
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