World News

Historians in China need to play a dual role. Not only do they contribute to the advancement of knowledge, but they also need to actively defend their country’s national interests in the South China Sea. According to a report by the South China Morning Post, Chinese scholars gathered at the end of June were urged to “give a forceful response to false narratives” to strengthen their nation’s claims in the South China Sea.

At the seminar held in Hainan Province, China, Wu Shicun, founder of the National Institute for South China Sea Studies, emphasised the critical importance of “narrative construction and discourse building” for China. He said that the strategy would effectively defend the nation’s rights and interests in the South China Sea.

China asserts its claim to more than three million square kilometres of the Sea through the “nine-dash line” concept – contrary to international law. History has become a battleground in the dispute waters. Beijing has sought to draw upon the Western Han dynasty (200BCE to 9CE) to illustrate that China has historically fished in the waters for thousands of years. Yet a 2016 international tribunal decision on the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea did not concur, concluding that there was no legal basis for China’s historic rights claim.

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Propaganda based on China’s history may also be directed at individuals who are not Chinese citizens. It is reasonable to anticipate that China’s interpretation of the South China Sea history will be taught in mainland China’s universities, where international students are pursuing their degrees. China may also choose to communicate this interpretation to the international community through public diplomacy channels that it has established globally.

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Note: I shared this over the Axios article due to this article being licensed under more free license(free to republish and share) than Axios.

Note: The main source here is Agence France-Presse (AFP) news agency.

Between 2020 and 2022, 51% of workers in the country had accepted the offer of shorter working hours, including a four-day week, two think tanks found, saying the figure is likely to be even higher today.

Last year, Iceland logged faster economic growth than most European countries and its unemployment rate is one of the lowest in Europe, noted the Autonomy Institute in the United Kingdom and Iceland’s Association for Sustainability and Democracy (Alda).

“This study shows a real success story: shorter working hours have become widespread in Iceland… and the economy is strong across a number of indicators,” Gudmundur D. Haraldsson, a researcher at Alda, said in a statement.

ALFAFAR, Spain, Nov 1 (Reuters) - More than 90% of the households in eastern Spain hit by catastrophic floods that killed at least 205 had regained power on Friday, utility Iberdrola said, though thousands still lacked electricity in cut-off areas that rescuers struggled to reach.

Spanish rescuers opened a temporary morgue in a convention centre and battled to reach areas still cut off on Friday as the death toll rose to 205 people, most of them in Valencia, the eastern region that bore the brunt of the devastation.

Some 500 soldiers were deployed to search for people who are still missing and help survivors of the storm, which triggered a fresh weather alert in the Balearic Islands, Catalonia and Valencia, where rains are expected to continue during the weekend.

cross-posted from: https://feddit.org/post/4320639

• Chinese citizens' seemingly popular attitudes toward their government as party propaganda gained in direct surveys -and covered by China Central Television, Xinhua, China Global Television Network, China Dailyand other state-controlled outlets- provide a false narrative as survey respondents conceal their opposition to the regime due to the threat of repression.
• Deeper analyses find that Chinese citizens are far more fearful of expressing opposition to the regime under its leader Xi Jinping than in other autocracies, suggesting that observers should be sceptical about public opinion surveys in China that rely on direct questioning.
• The [Chinese Communist Party] CCP’s sprawling internal security apparatus compels citizens to engage in widespread self-censorship, at a rate nearly three times higher than in Vladamir Putin’s Russia.
• Researcher say the CCP confronts widespread frustration. Its recent policies, including the increase in repression and sabre-rattling over Taiwan, should be seen as an effort to contain this frustration.

[Edit typo.]

Relevant read:

Has the United Nations Outlived its Usefulness?

cross-posted from: https://feddit.org/post/4327016

Australia is reportedly set to boost its missile defence capabilities after the recent Chinese test of an intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM) in the South Pacific, which has raised "significant concerns" in Canberra as the Indo-Pacific region enters a "missile age".

In a speech on Wednesday, Australian Minister for Defence Industry Pat Conroy was quoted as saying by international news agencies [...] that his country plans to increase its missile defence and long-range strike capabilities. Conroy added that Australia will cooperate with its security partners -- the United States (US), Japan, and South Korea -- on issues of regional stability.

Why does Australia need more missiles?

"Why do we need more missiles?," posing this question, Conroy answered before the National Press Club in Canberra that "strategic competition" between the US and China "is a primary feature of Australia's security environment".

Conroy added that that competition is "at its sharpest in our region", the Indo-Pacific, which is on the cusp of a new missile age, where missiles will also serve as "tools of coercion".

[...]

cross-posted from: https://feddit.org/post/4295120

China is trying to silence Dutch journalists in China as well as Chinese dissidents in the Netherlands, researchers at the Leiden University have discovered.

The methods employed vary from “spreading propaganda and misinformation, to far-reaching intimidation of journalists and their sources, personally targeted smear campaigns, cyber infiltration, and identity fraud: in the Netherlands, Europe and worldwide." The researchers said this is a worrying development.

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This inquiry was prompted by a story written by journalist Marije Vlaskamp of the Volkskrant, who reported that unknown individuals were filing bomb threats under her name. She had received a message on Telegram in which someone demanded she take an article criticizing China offline.

According to researchers from Leiden University, China is focused on “a war of attrition on critical voices on China, so that they become less active, get phased out, or give up completely.” This has affected Dutch correspondents in China but also Chinese people in the Netherlands who support the opposition in Hong Kong, LGBTI people, Tibetans, and supporters of the Uyghurs.

They have to deal with “intimidation tactics that are common in China” and therefore apply "self-censorship and self-surveillance as standard.” The researchers note that China primarily employs subtle pressure tactics pinpricks that only those with extensive background knowledge can fully understand

One example noted that intermediaries are sometimes used to approach critics. They are able to make it clear to those targeted that they are being watched and that private information about them has been obtained.

cross-posted from: https://feddit.org/post/4292394

Eyewitness testimony and credible evidence suggest that Russia is using drones against civilians in the frontline city of Kherson.

"They can see who they are killing," says one Ukrainian residents. "Is this how they want to fight, by just bombing people walking in the streets?"

If Russia is found to be intentionally targeting civilians, it would be a war crime.

Evidence of apparent drone attacks on civilians can be seen in numerous videos shared on Ukrainian and Russian social media [for example, here.]

In each video, you see through the remote operator’s camera as they track the movements of a pedestrian or motorist in civilian clothing, often dropping grenades which sometimes appear to seriously injure or kill their target.

In a statement on Sunday, the WHO praised "the Egyptian government and people" for their efforts to "end a disease that has been present in the country since ancient times".

It said Egypt was the third country to be certified in the WHO's Eastern Mediterranean Region, following the United Arab Emirates and Morocco.

cross-posted from: https://feddit.org/post/4284484

According to estimates, more than 10,000 North Korean soldiers have been sent to Russia.

Putin's top security aide Sergei Shoigu visited North Korea last week and North Korean Foreign Minister Choe Son Hui is visiting Moscow this week.