While the world is celebrating Chloe Zhao winning the Best Director Award at the Oscar, #China is busy censoring relevant content and cracking down on those using the VPN to watch the award ceremony, which was not aired this year. finance.yahoo.com/news/cut-vpn-o…
"A livestream of the Academy Awards in Shanghai hosted by the alumni of Oscar-winner Chloe Zhao's alma mater ran into China's Great Firewall, with the organiser's access to his virtual private network (VPN) service blocked for nearly two hours."
"About 30 people had gathered at a small bar on The Bund, a historic district in central Shanghai, to support Zhao as early as 8:00 a.m. local time (0000 GMT) and watch the awards live on YouTube."
"But the screening, hosted by the Alumni Society of New York University, didn't start until 10 a.m., when organiser Kevin Ke got his VPN service to work. 'They cut the VPN," Ke said earlier in heated tones as he struggled to get the screening under way."
Ke told Reuters that his WeChat account was shut down after he wrote a post praising Zhao.
"Information on Nomadland, about the travelling van community in modern America, has been scrubbed from Chinese ticketing platforms, film review websites and social media."
"The movie's release, slated for April 23 in mainland China, was suspended. Chinese regulators have also directed local media not to broadcast the Oscars."
"Video snippets of Zhao's acceptance of the best director award were posted on Chinese social media on Monday."
"I was a bit surprised that Zhao did not use Mandarin to say thank you," said a netizen on China's Twitter-like microblog Weibo. "Bong Joon-ho spoke in his native language, and strives for the right to speak Korean in the international arena."
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Last week, Australian academic Jane Golley claimed that an anonymous academic paper "debunked" the estimated number of #Uyghurs detained in #Xinjiang as well as the evidence of forced labor in the region. She reflected on that incident: smh.com.au/world/asia/anu…
"The anonymous 18-page document took aim at work by Australia’s Strategic Policy Institute but primarily focused on the work by German academic Dr Adrian Zenz, a senior fellow in China studies at the Victims of Communism Memorial Foundation who was recently sanctioned by China."
"Several of Zenz’s key works have been peer-reviewed by Xinjiang scholars. By contrast, the report attempting to discredit his work has not been peer-reviewed."
Lawyers, diplomats and rights groups say that an immigration bill on #HongKong's legislative agenda would give authorities virtually unlimited powers to prevent residents and others entering or leaving the city. usnews.com/news/world/art…
The government says the bill merely aims to screen illegal immigrants at source amid a backlog of asylum applications, and does not affect movement rights.
But lawyers say it empowers authorities to bar anyone, without a court order, from entering or leaving Hong Kong and fails to prevent indefinite detention for refugees.
The speech triggered angry response from #China's Taiwan Affairs office, accusing Lai and #Taiwan President @iingwen of making provocative speeches and claiming to turn Taiwan into a "normalized state."
The spokesperson accused #Taiwan's ruling party @DPPonline of manipulating the issue of independence, which further exposed their "fake goodwill" and tore off the mask of "calming the cross-Strait relations."
On Monday, #Taiwan's defense officials said that the island's existing defense systems on two of its islands in the disputed South China Sea are capable of deterring any attempted invasion by Chinese forces. focustaiwan.tw/politics/20210…
Chou Mei-wu, director-general of the Coast Guard Administration (CGA) that is currently responsible for safeguarding the two islands, said the CGA is equipped with defensive weapon systems and will ask for Taiwan's military assistance if necessary.
Meanwhile, Lee Shih-Chiang, head of the Ministry of National Defense's (MND's) Department of Strategic Planning, said that Taiwan's military has weapons to counter a Chinese invasion, but he declined to provide any details, citing confidentiality.
News coming out of #Taiwan regarding its hard-quarantine policy amid ongoing #COVID19 pandemic worldwide. Starting in mid-May, arrivals in Taiwan who are fully vaccinated against COVID-19 could be allowed to shorten their quarantine from 14 to seven days. focustaiwan.tw/society/202104…
These arrivals would be able to apply to cut their quarantine short if they became fully vaccinated more than one month prior to visiting Taiwan, said Minister of Health and Welfare Chen Shih-chung.
Further eligibility requirements include having to present proof of a negative COVID-19 test result before their flight and another negative test for COVID-19 on the seventh day after their arrival.
Amid the worsening #COVID19 outbreak in India, the Indian government reportedly ordered social media platforms to take down dozens of social media posts critical of its handling of the pandemic. By @paulmozur and @Karan_Singhs: nytimes.com/2021/04/25/bus…
"The order aimed at roughly 100 posts that included critiques from opposition politicians and calls for Narendra Modi, India’s prime minister, to resign. The government said the posts could incite panic, used images out of context, and could hinder its response to the pandemic."
"The companies complied with the requests for now, in part by making the posts invisible to those using the sites inside India. In the past, the companies have reposted some content after determining that it didn’t break the law."