Xi Jinping in Cambodia to fill the void left by the cuts to UsAid

Today's news: Burmese military junta rejects rebel groups' ceasefire, as Thailand intensifies investigations into the building that collapsed in quake; Tensions between Japan and South Korea over the opening of a museum; In Madhya Pradesh, ban on alcohol in Hindu sites; Three Christians injured in Iraq during the Assyrian New Year celebrations.

CHINA – CAMBODIA

Chinese President Xi Jinping will visit Cambodia this month to fill the void left by the United States with cuts to international cooperation: the Chinese Agency for International Development Cooperation has in fact for the first time committed to paying 1.4 million dollars to a UNICEF project in Cambodia. The visit also coincides with the completion of the Ream naval base financed by Beijing.

MYANMAR – THAILAND

While the Burmese military junta has rejected the ceasefire proposals made by the rebel groups, the Thai government has announced further investigations into the construction projects assigned to China Railway No.10 Engineering Group, which had been constructing the building that collapsed due to the earthquake. According to the accusations, the steel bars used were of a lower quality than standard. However, a Thai anti-corruption group had highlighted irregularities in the construction of the building even before it collapsed.

JAPAN – SOUTH KOREA

In Kanazawa, Japan, the opening of a commemorative museum dedicated to Yun Bong-gil, a Korean nationalist, has been postponed due to violent protests by right-wing groups. Yun Bong-gil is known for having carried out a bomb attack against Japanese government officials in Shanghai in 1932 and in South Korea he is celebrated as a national hero for having fought against Japanese colonial occupation. The initiative had been proposed by the Mindan association, which has already been the target of attacks in the past.

INDIA

In the Indian state of Madhya Pradesh, a ban on alcohol consumption has come into force in 19 cities and areas of religious significance for Hinduism. According to Chief Minister Mohan Yadav, this is an ‘historic step towards detoxification’ motivated by the ‘popular faith and religious reverence’ associated with these places. After being elected, Yadav announced that he would limit the sale of meat and eggs in the open air.

IRAQ

An axe-wielding man attacked a procession of Assyrian Christians in the city of Dohuk, in Iraqi Kurdistan, seriously injuring three people. According to some witnesses, the man, who has not yet been identified, shouted slogans such as, for example, ‘the Islamic State remains’. The Assyrian community has been celebrating Akitu, the New Year, in Dohuk since the 90s and usually has cordial relations with the Kurds of the region.

KYRGYZSTAN

The president of Kyrgyzstan, Sadyr Žaparov, has proposed creating an analogue of the Schengen Agreement in Central Asia, with single visas for tourism, to give a boost to the economy of the entire region, based on the popular saying that ’ a neighbour is better than a distant relative’, increasing infrastructures and initiatives to attract people to the historical and cultural specificities of the entire Central Asian area.

RUSSIA

As economist Igor Lipsits observes in The Moscow Times, a new “division of property” is being prepared in Russia of large factories, ports and many companies that have been confiscated by the state from private owners for ‘irregularities’. These will now be sold to the new ruling class of ‘patriotic’ entrepreneurs, who will make large profits in the ‘new privatisation’ announced by the Minister of Finance Anton Siluanov.

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