Kinaforum

fredag 8. mai 2026

As Tibet’s Veteran Freedom Fighters Pass the Torch, Britain and the World Must Keep the Cause Alive

From London, Dharamsala can seem very far away. But for Tibetans in exile, it is never just a hill town in northern India. It is the political and spiritual headquarters of a displaced nation, where memory, grief, resistance and hope continue to meet.

The recent Tenshug, or long-life prayer offering, for His Holiness the Dalai Lama on the occasion of his 90th birthday, made by veteran Tibetan freedom fighters, was one such moment. It was an act of deep devotion; but it was also a reminder that Tibet remains an unresolved international issue.

I arrived in the United Kingdom from Lodrik Jampaling Tibetan Refugee Camp in 1996 on a scholarship programme and, to the best of my knowledge, was the first child of Lodrik veterans to do so. Thirty years later, I still carry the stories of those resistance fighters into conversations with politicians, officials, diplomats, lawyers, journalists and human rights advocates. I do so through meetings, writing and public engagement, because Tibet’s plight must remain visible. The recent gathering in Dharamsala brought home, once again, that Tibet’s struggle is not over, and that the responsibility of remembrance now rests heavily on those of us in exile.

Language, Lineage and the Survival of Tibetan Buddhism Under China’s Assimilationist Policies

There’s a quiet philosophical tension at the heart of all this. Tibetan Buddhism, as far as I could understand, has always understood that truth isn’t something abstract or fixed in ink—it lives in the fragile, ongoing conversation between teacher and student, in the precise words that point beyond words and in the unbroken human thread stretching back more than a thousand years. Language here isn’t just a tool; it’s the very medium through which the mind learns to see its own nature. When that medium is steadily squeezed, when transmission itself is politicized, you’re not merely changing education policy. You’re pulling at the conditions that allow insight to arise at all.

The new Law on Promoting Ethnic Unity and Progress, passed on March 12 and due to take full effect on July 1, brings this tension into sharper focus. Beijing presents it as a step toward national cohesion and “Chinese-style modernization.” For those who live inside the tradition, it feels heavier—like another formal step in the slow thinning of something essential.

US highlights China’s atrocities on Tibetans ahead of President Trump’s visit

As the US is reportedly expected to raise human rights concerns and Hong Kong’s jailed media tycoon Jimmy Lai during President Donald Trump’s upcoming visit to China in the coming days, its House Appropriations Committee has, in its fiscal year 2027 report, called for a stepped-up engagement with the Nepalese government to ensure the protection of Tibetan refugees. Tibetan refugees in Nepal suffer largely due to pressure on Kathmandu from Beijing.

Last month, US Assistant Secretary of State Samir Paul Kapur raised the plight of Tibetan refugees languishing in Nepal without any documentation during his three-day visit to the country which began on Apr 20. Now the committee has also highlighted the need for stronger diplomatic efforts to secure the rights and safety of these communities living in Nepal.

Report criticizes China’s linguistic ‘harmonizing’ of Tibetan children

China is giving the word “harmony” a bad name, using it as as means to obliterate the civilizational identity of Tibet, starting by Sincizing the upbringing of the territory’s pre-school children, according to a 72-page report published May 4 by the international rights organizaton Human Rights Watch (HRW).

Titled as “Start with the Youngest Children: China Uses Preschools to ‘Integrate’ Tibetans”, the New York headquartered rights body notes that a 2021 Ministry of Education directive – the Children’s Speech Harmonisation plan – mandates the use of standard Mandarin Chinese for all preschool instruction in ethnic minority areas.

The report notes that although in theory kindergartens can still offer supplementary sessions for minority children in their own language, minorities no longer have the legal authority to organise them independently.

European Parliament Condemns ‘China’s so-called ‘Ethnic Unity Law’ as an assimilation move

What oil crisis? China’s EVs are ready to dominate the 21st century

A sleek SUV offers mechanical foot massages, a luxury minivan has rotating seats to help passengers hop into its third row – and a surprising proportion of models offer in-car karaoke with professional-grade speakers. Others have headlights that can project movies onto a wall to make anywhere a drive-in cinema. Here, intelligent driving features are ubiquitous, even in affordable models.

To many consumers peering in from the outside, the options in China – on display in Beijing this week at the world’s largest auto show – seem like a dream. But to some automakers and politicians around the world, they’re an existential threat.

Chinese carmakers are cranking out their offerings at a large scale and a comparatively low price. And there’s another major sell: while oil and gas costs skyrocket due to the Iran war, the vast majority of these cars are electric or hybrid.

China gives suspended death sentences to two former defense ministers

In a stunning move amid a continued purge of its military, China on Thursday gave two former defense ministers suspended death sentences for corruption.

Wei Fenghe and Li Shangfu were both convicted of bribery and given the death penalty with a two-year reprieve by the country’s military court, according to state media. The court announced that the two former generals’ sentences will be commuted to life imprisonment without the possibility of parole after two years.

Wei, 72, served as defense minister from 2018 to 2023. Li, 68, succeeded Wei and held the position for less than eight months in 2023. Both men were placed under investigation by the military’s anti-graft arm in 2023.

Why Trump’s China Trip Is Set Up to Fail

This is how things will go down. U.S. President Donald Trump will arrive in Beijing next Thursday to be serenaded with gushing pageantry. There’s the obligatory photo op at the Great Hall of the People before closed-door talks with his Chinese counterpart, Xi Jinping. Both leaders will emerge to a fanfare of superficial deals that each can claim as a win: the sale of American soybeans and perhaps jet engines that China desperately needs. They release statements pledging cooperation. Wheels up.

Of course, with Trump’s fragile cease-fire with Iran already cracking in the Strait of Hormuz, significant uncertainty clouds whether his China trip will happen at all. U.S. commanders-in-chief don’t typically gladhand their chief adversary while ensnared in a costly and floundering war. Trump is, however, no slave to convention, especially considering the ugly optics of postponing the trip a second time. What is much more certain is that nothing substantive will materialize from the summit.

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China’s youth are ditching the rat race, and its spies say foreign countries are to blame

China’s top spy agency has come out of the shadows to warn that its young people are being duped by foreign forces into shirking hard work and prioritizing their individual emotions at the expense of national development. It hasn’t landed well online.

“Young people are China’s future and have also become a primary target for ideological infiltration by hostile anti-China forces abroad,” says a handsome young man wearing military uniform in a video posted by the State Security Ministry’s official account last week.

The post warned young people to stay vigilant against “complex opinion traps” and any “lying flat” narratives that propagate the message that hard work is futile.

Alarmed ASEAN leaders discuss crisis plan to mitigate backlash from Middle East war

Southeast Asian leaders met in an annual summit Friday under intense pressure to mitigate the impact on their people and economies from the Iran war, which one top minister said, “should not have occurred in the first place.”

The alarm by the heads of state of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations is underscored by their decision to focus discussions on a contingency plan to ensure their fast-growing region, which imports most of its oil and gas from the Middle East, will have stable fuel and food supplies.

The Philippines is hosting the summit on the central island province of Cebu. President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. has ordered the summit to be stripped of the traditional pomp and pageantry in keeping with the economic headwinds worldwide.

Oil tanker arrives in South Korea after passing through the Strait of Hormuz in mid-April

A Malta-flagged tanker carrying 1 million barrels of crude oil arrived off South Korea’s west coast Friday after passing through the Strait of Hormuz in mid-April, a South Korean refinery said.

Like many other Asian nations, South Korea imports much of its crude oil from the Middle East. The latest shipment of 1 million barrels reportedly equals 35-50% of South Korea’s daily crude oil consumption.

With Iran’s grip on the Strait of Hormuz jolting the world economy and causing a spike in fuel prices, the prolonged Iran war has also raised concerns about a looming energy crisis in South Korea’s trade-dependent economy. The country has introduced price caps on gasoline and other petroleum products for the first time in decades to prevent costs from soaring, and instructed refiners to divert naphtha exports for domestic use while scrambling to secure alternative oil supplies and shipping routes.

Rare earth mining is poisoning Mekong River tributaries, threatening ‘the world’s kitchen’

Perched on the bow of his long-tail fishing boat, 75-year-old Sukjai Yana untangled a handful of small fish from his net, disappointed by his catch and fretting over whether he can sell them. Some days Yana earns nothing: demand for fish is falling due to worries over contamination of the Mekong River and its tributaries by toxic runoff from rare earth mines upstream that is threatening millions who rely on those waters for farms and fisheries.

Chiang Saen, a fishing hub in northern Thailand, has been Yana’s family’s home for decades. “I don’t know where else I’d go,” he said.

Yana is one of 70 million people in mainland Southeast Asia who depend on the nearly 5,000-kilometer (3,100-mile) Mekong River. Rising demand for rare earth materials is driving an unregulated mining boom centered in war-torn Myanmar, to the west, that is spreading to Laos, in the east.

North Korea will deploy new artillery guns targeting Seoul and commission its 1st destroyer

North Korea said Friday it will deploy new long-range artillery systems this year that are capable of striking South Korea’s capital region and will commission its first naval destroyer in coming weeks.

The announcement comes days after South Korea said North Korea’s newly revised constitution drops all references to Korean unification, in line with leader Kim Jong Un’s vows to terminate ties with South Korea and establish a two-state system on the Korean Peninsula.

Kim visited a munitions factory Wednesday to inspect the production of 155-mm self-propelled gun-howitzers to be deployed at an artillery unit in the southern border area within this year, the North’s official Korean Central News Agency reported.

Could China push Iran into a peace deal? Only if it gets something in return

A visit to Beijing by Iran’s top diplomat – days before US President Donald Trump is set to travel to the Chinese capital – has turned up the spotlight on a key question: can China take on the role of peace broker in US-Iran conflict?

With a shaky ceasefire and stop-and-start diplomacy so far failing to make for a durable end to a war that threatens to drag down the global economy, both Tehran and Washington are looking for an offramp. And Beijing, on paper anyway, is an obvious contender to take up that mantle.

China has long been a close diplomatic and economic ally of Iran – an allegiance founded on its shared frictions with the US and a thirst for cheap oil. It also has an open line to Washington – and the direct ear of Trump during his meeting with leader Xi Jinping next week.

Taiwan’s president says state visits are ‘basic right’ after trip he says Beijing tried to block

Taiwan President Lai Ching-te said Tuesday it was a basic right for countries to hold state visits, as he returned from his three-day trip to the African kingdom of Eswatini, which his government says China tried to block.

Lai was supposed to travel to the country, one of Taiwan’s 12 remaining diplomatic partners last month, but had to cancel the initial trip owing to Chinese pressure, Taiwan’s government said. China pressured three countries to revoke flight permits, denying Lai transit through their airspace, Taiwan’s government said. China did not confirm whether or not they had pressured the countries, but thanked them for their support for Beijing’s one-China principle.

Undeterred, Lai rescheduled the trip, arriving in Eswatini on May 2, where he discussed cooperation on economic, agricultural, cultural and educational ties.

Hong Kong government seeks to seize millions from jailed activist Jimmy Lai

The Hong Kong government is seeking to confiscate millions of dollars in funds and corporate shares it says are linked to crimes committed by jailed former media tycoon Jimmy Lai, according to a court document seen by The Associated Press on Tuesday.

The filing does not explain how the property, which it estimates to be worth over 127 million Hong Kong dollars ($16 million), is linked to Lai’s crimes. The government previously announced that it was seeking asset forfeitures in the case but did not disclose the amount.

Lai, an outspoken critic of China’s ruling Communist Party who founded the now-defunct newspaper Apple Daily, was convicted in December of conspiracy to collude with foreign forces and conspiring with others to publish seditious articles. He was sentenced to 20 years in prison in February, the toughest sentence given so far under a Beijing-imposed national security law.

The rapid embrace of AI in China, its biggest testing ground, may shape how AI is used globally

On a recent weekday, around 50 people gathered outside the headquarters of a Chinese mobile internet company, waiting to get help with installing an artificial intelligence assistant. The scene in Beijing, China’s capital, was repeated for days at several events and was also seen in the southern technology hub Shenzhen in March, as engineers helped crowds trying to set up the popular AI “agent” OpenClaw on their laptops.

“I’m worried about falling behind in technological developments,” said Sun Lei, a 41-year-old human resources manager at the Cheetah event. She said she hoped the tool might help her source and screen resumes across various recruitment platforms.

China is stepping up its Iran war diplomacy ahead of Trump’s summit with Xi

China’s diplomatic role in the Iran war has come into sharper focus following talks between Chinese and Iranian foreign ministers on Wednesday, days before U.S. President Donald Trump is expected to meet his Chinese counterpart Xi Jinping.

Beijing’s profile in international diplomacy has risen in recent years. Long reluctant to get involved in conflicts far from its borders, it has nevertheless emerged as a major player with attempts to mediate conflicts from Southeast Asia to Europe.

Beijing is not an official mediator in the Iran war, but all parties — including Washington and Tehran — say it has played an important role in efforts to de-escalate the conflict. The Trump administration is pressing China to use its influence with Iran to open the Strait of Hormuz.

Iran’s Unexpected Resilience: Two months of fighting have emphasized some of the country’s advantages.

By the United States military’s estimation, about 1,550 marine vessels—oil tankers, bulk carriers, container ships, and more—are idling in the Persian Gulf right now. With the Strait of Hormuz effectively blockaded, their crews, many of them uninvolved in the ongoing war with Iran, are slowly using up supplies as they await safe passage through the mine-filled waterway. Donald Trump announced on Sunday that the U.S. would rescue these “victims of circumstance” by guiding them out of the war zone in an as-yet-unspecified way. On Monday, though, Iran’s military rejected the plan, warning that American military forces would be attacked if they approached the strait.