CNN – Asia/Pacific

By Julia Hollingsworth, Nectar Gan and CNN staff, CNN In a meeting room decorated with a stylized hammer and sickle flag, Kelly Hu detailed her shortcomings. Since childhood, the 20-year-old student had wanted to join the longest-running and largest communist party in the world, having grown up hearing “red tales” of its revolutionary past from

By Eric Cheung, CNN Hong Kong police have arrested a man after he allegedly booed the Chinese national anthem while watching an Olympics award ceremony inside a shopping mall, authorities said on Friday. The 40-year-old man was accused of “insulting” the anthem when watching a live stream of an award ceremony on Monday, which showed

By Nectar Gan, CNN Some of Japan’s victorious Olympic athletes have been subjected to a storm of online abuse from Chinese nationalists following the defeat of their Team China opponents in Tokyo. As of Friday afternoon in Japan, China and the hosts occupied the top two places in the medal table, with a number of

By Jessie Yeung and Chermaine Lee, CNN The first person charged and convicted under Hong Kong’s national security law was sentenced to nine years in prison on Friday, setting a likely precedent for how future cases will be tried. Tong Ying-kit, 24, received a six-and-a-half-year prison term for the charge of incitement to secession for

By Sophie Jeong and Brad Lendon, CNN The Philippines is restoring a military agreement with the United States that makes it easier for US forces to move in and out the country and signals to China a renewed commitment to the 70-year-old US-Philippine alliance. Philippine Defense Secretary Delfin Lorenzana and US Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin

By Brad Lendon, CNN The South China Sea has been a hotbed of naval activity this week, with a British aircraft carrier strike group, an American surface action group, and forces from China’s People’s Liberation Army all staging exercises in the contested waterway. The British Royal Navy’s aircraft carrier HMS Queen Elizabeth has been the

By Ben Westcott and Nectar Gan, CNN Among the recriminations and accusations, there was one point of consensus when American and Chinese diplomats met in the coastal city of Tianjin earlier this week: no one wants to see the world’s most important relationship deteriorate into armed conflict. But there was little consensus on a concrete

By Jessie Yeung, CNN Beijing recorded its first Covid-19 case in nearly six months on Wednesday, as Chinese authorities scramble to prevent the spread of the Delta variant amid an outbreak linked to an airport in the populous eastern city of Nanjing. China recorded 49 new cases on Wednesday, including 24 local infections from three

By Eric Cheung and Ben Westcott, CNN China’s Foreign Minister met with senior leaders of the Taliban in the northern Chinese city of Tianjin on Wednesday in the latest sign of warming ties between Beijing and the resurgent Islamist group. During a meeting with Taliban’s co-founder Mullah Abdul Ghani Baradar, who heads the group’s political

By Kocha Olarn, Helen Regan and Sophie Jeong, CNN Thai citizens seeking Covid-19 treatment in Bangkok are being returned to their hometowns by train, in an effort to alleviate the burden on the capital’s medical system. Thailand is struggling to contain its worst Covid-19 wave of the pandemic, with hospitals in Bangkok becoming overwhelmed by

By Nectar Gan and Steve George, CNN A gold medal-winning Canadian swimmer has made waves in China for her Chinese heritage, sparking heated discussions over the country’s decades-long one-child policy and gender discrimination. Margaret MacNeil shot to international fame Monday after winning the women’s 100-meter butterfly at the Tokyo Olympics, setting an Americas continental record

By Helen Regan, CNN Bhutan has fully vaccinated 90% of its eligible adult population in a week with Covid-19 shots, a feat that has been described as a “success story” and a “beacon of hope” for other countries in the region, the UN Children’s Fund (UNICEF) said Tuesday. The tiny South Asian kingdom of 770,00

By Brad Lendon and Nectar Gan, CNN China is building a second field of missile silos in its western deserts, according to a new study, which researchers say signals a potential expansion of its nuclear arsenal and calls into question Beijing’s commitment to its “minimum deterrence” strategy. Identified via satellite imagery, the new missile base

By Jessie Yeung and Chermaine Lee, CNN The first person to be tried under Hong Kong’s sweeping national security law faces life in prison after being found guilty on Tuesday of inciting secession and terrorism, in a landmark court ruling that is likely to have profound implications for the city’s legal system. Tong Ying-kit, 24,

By Jeevan Ravindran, CNN Civilian casualties in Afghanistan reached record levels in the first half of 2021, the United Nations warned Monday, noting that deaths and injuries spiked markedly from May when the United States and its allies began withdrawing troops from the country. Some 5,183 casualties were recorded in the first six months of

By Nectar Gan and Steve George, CNN The Olympics has long been an occasion for celebrating national pride. And for an increasingly confident China, the Tokyo Games is seen as the latest opportunity to showcase its national strength, as it looks to challenge the United States for top spot on the medal table. So far,

By Helen Regan, CNN Two men have been charged with animal cruelty for allegedly striking a police horse during anti-lockdown protests in Sydney, Australia on Saturday, police said, as daily Covid-19 cases in New South Wales state continue to rise. Thousands of people breached coronavirus measures and marched through the center of Australia’s biggest city

By Steven Jiang and Steve George, CNN The breakdown in US-China relations is due to some people in the United States treating China as an “imaginary enemy,” Chinese Vice Foreign Minister Xie Feng was quoted as saying during a meeting with US Deputy Secretary of State Wendy Sherman on Monday, according to a statement provided