The Yellow Sea Is the New Flashpoint for China's Regional Power Play
Two large Chinese Coast Guard ships and three Chinese boats quickly blocked the South Korean ship's path. The passengers on the small Chinese boats wielded knives to force the Koreans back.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Yahoo
a day ago
- Yahoo
Op-Ed: How long can China's new Great Wall stand?
"This fear factor, this war driver is a very strong one and it's been with this species ever since the beginning and it motivated the Great Wall of China."- Neil deGrasse Tyson The Great Wall of China is actually a series of independent fortifications built in segments at various times in ancient China. They were built across the historical northern borders of ancient Chinese states and Imperial China as protection against various nomadic groups from the Eurasian Steppe. The first walls date to the 7th century BC; these were joined together in the Qin dynasty. They were constructed to project China from invasions from nomadic invasions from Inner Asia. The Great Wall began when fortifications built by various states during the Spring and Autumn (771–476 BC) and Warring States periods (475–221 BC) that were eventually connected by the first emperor of China, Qin Shi Huang, to protect his newly founded Qin dynasty (221–206 BC). By 212 BC, they ran from Gansu connecting to the coast of southern Manchuria; 13,170.70 miles long. Although a useful deterrent at several points throughout its history, the Great Wall failed to stop enemies, including in 1644 when the Qing troops marched through the gates of the Shanhai Pass and replaced the most ardent of the wall-building dynasties, the Ming, as rulers of China proper. The portion of China's Great Wall that is visible today dates from the Ming dynasty, since they built much of the wall using stone and brick. These sections remain in relatively good condition or have been renovated, while others have been damaged or deconstructed for their building materials and lost due to the ravages of time. The wall is a revered national symbol of ancient Chinese ingenuity. China is noted for building walls to prevent people from escaping the restrictions of their tyrannical communist regime and using walls to stop intruders from entering their country. But all of the walls in the world, virtual or physical, cannot prevent negative information leaking out about the reality of living under the world's most secretive, and restrictive government, the Chinese Communist Party. In typical Chinese cultism, when the internet became embedded in our global culture, China saw this as a major threat to their security. Beijing panicked and went to work immediately to close the gap before any sensitive information about China's Communist Party slipped through cyberspace. China's Internet czar, Lu Wei, proudly said, "We took control of it before it took total control of us." China has made all the right moves to bridle the internet. It controls the world's e-commerce, with a retail sales volume double that of the U.S. It has a 40% global market share according to eMarketer. Looking at data from Statista internet monitor, China's dominion constrains four of the top 10 internet companies ranked by market capitalization. That is set to improve this year. What China calls it's 'Golden Shield' is a giant chain of censorship and surveillance devises that block tens of thousands of websites deemed inimical to the Communist Party's narrative and its strict by-laws. It's unbelievable that the world community has allowed one rapscallion nation to block content from social media like YouTube, Twitter, Instagram and all outside news broadcasts. Trumpeting its vision of 'Internet sovereignty,' beyond a doubt, China has the world's most effective internet "firewall." They can censor everything that travels along their space age internet highway. After two decades of evolution, China claims it created the perfect vehicle to control the internet. Who says you can't have your cake and eat it too? China's firewall is far more sophisticated than that of any country. It bridges the country's most fundamental contradictions. It has an economy openly connected to the outside world, with a political culture completely closed and protected from conspicuous Western values including free speech, democracy, personal freedom and liberty. China has successfully blocked eight of the 25 most trafficked global internet sites from free trade. The American Chamber of Commerce in China says that four out of five of its companies have reported a negative impact on their business because of China's outrageous internet censorship policies. When President Donald Trump took office, he classified China's internet censorship and outright secrecy a barrier to international free trade that he would correct by evoking higher tariffs on Chinese imports. Later this year, China is expected to approve a new set of laws on cyber-security that will codify, organize and strengthen its control of the internet. These rules will restrict foreign companies from publishing online content and propose much tougher rules requiring websites to register domain names with the Chinese government if they intend to do business with them now and in the future. But China and its Communist Party's greatest fear is free speech. They are fully aware that once people are exposed to the many benefits of democratic government, they will begin questioning their own government for answers. China does not want another Tiananmen Square massacre. In June 1989, after three weeks of trying to stop student free speech demonstrations in Beijing's Tiananmen Square, the Chinese government invaded the square and brutally ended the protests. This is historically noted as the Tiananmen Square massacre. China claims it wanted to show the world it would not tolerate any attempt at free speech under the Communist Party's leadership. The increased system of censorship and strict retaliation against any country or company that dares to defy China's internet polices will be blocked until they "mend their ways." But China is also aware it can't stop everything. And China is willing to tolerate a certain amount of faults in its Great Firewall, such as third party hacking, as long as it feels it has not lost total control. Just as The Great Wall of China was not impenetrable, those intent on seeking out and exploiting the cracks in China's virtual censorship wall will prevail if the case and intentions are for the right reason. While The Communist Party is most concerned with what ordinary people read than what the global community reads, it feels its propaganda machine can cover up most anything. Google is still blocked in China, and local search engine Baidu has its results heavily censored. But the Chinese searches yield no links to the 1989 Tiananmen pro-democracy protests. The question is, how long can China keep hiding the truth? Just as the Great Wall fell, all others will too once truth reaches the people. Because no wall can forever stop the transmission of truth. "Herman Cain is out there campaigning. He says a lot of provocative things. He said America should build its own Great Wall of China. Cain says it's a great idea because if there's one thing you don't see in China and it is illegal immigrants." - Herman Cain Solve the daily Crossword
Yahoo
2 days ago
- Yahoo
Beluga Whale Bites at 2 Divers Inside Aquarium Tank, Terrifying Visitors
Visitors could be heard yelling and screaming as they watched the scary incident unfold NEED TO KNOW A beluga whale was captured biting at two divers inside a tank at the Chengdu Haichang Polar Ocean Park in Sichuan, China, on Thursday, Aug. 14 The pair of divers could be seen swimming away and were reportedly unharmed by the incident Beluga whales are known to have a 'great curiosity towards humans' and to be "very intelligent," according to the Natural History Museum A chilling underwater showdown between a beluga whale and divers was caught on viral footage shows the terrifying moment when a beluga whale attempted to bite two divers who were nearby inside a tank at the Chengdu Haichang Polar Ocean Park in Sichuan, China, on Thursday, Aug. 14, according to a video from Viral Press. The whale could be seen surging toward a female aquarium worker and biting at her legs as she attempted to swim up and away from the sea creature. Moments later, the animal lunged at another male diver who appeared to be holding a camera. The whale appeared to successfully bite the male diver's flippers, and could be seen holding on for a few moments. The animal attempted to bite the male diver's flippers one more time before eventually swimming off, according to the clip. The two divers managed to swim away from the whale without any injuries. As the incident was unfolding, aquarium visitors, who watched from outside the tank, could be heard shouting and screaming as they reacted to the divers' attempts to get away. This isn't the first time something like this has happened. In April, a woman, who was taking part in an underwater photo shoot with two beluga whales at the Stone Forest Ice and Snow World in Yunnan, China, was attacked by one of the creatures, per Viral Press. In that video, the beluga whale grabbed the woman's head in its mouth and removed her wig. The woman managed to get away and swim to the surface safely without any injuries, per the outlet. Beluga whales are known to be social creatures who can show 'great curiosity towards humans,' according to the Natural History Museum (NHM). They are also 'very intelligent,' according to NHM researchers. However, there have been multiple instances where beluga whales in captivity have been seen on video showing aggressive behavior toward humans. This can happen if they feel threatened or provoked, per a study on ResearchGate. Beluga whales are listed as being of "least concern" on the IUCN Red List of threatened species. Read the original article on People
Yahoo
4 days ago
- Yahoo
63 Laksa: $2.80 bowls of Sungei Road-style laksa at Ghim Moh Road Market
All the way to Ghim Moh just for laksa? I was not entirely convinced that our in-house TikTok maestro, Rachel was being serious. The name 63 Laksa did ring a bell, though. I've had friends rave about the stall's signature dish for at least a couple of months and it has been in the news for its extremely affordable S$2.80 laksa bowls. The latter part especially intrigued me and questions flew through my head. Was it really possible to get quality ingredients and put enough effort into every serving for that price? Did Rachel just need a hand model for her viral TikToks? The answers lay waiting at Ghim Moh Road Market & Food Centre. Kelly Ng, 51, who runs 63 Laksa uses a recipe that dates back to the 1960s and was originally his grandfather's. That recipe was based on the famous laksa stall on Sungei Road (that's still around at Jalan Besar, in case you are wondering) which spawned a number of copycats, leading to what is now known as the 'Sungei Road-style' laksa. What does set it apart to an extent is that Kelly uses a gas stove for all the cooking. It's a deliberate decision to move away from the mess and smokiness of charcoal. 63 Laksa is only open for breakfast and lunch (8am to 2pm) and there is apparently a queue at both mealtimes. Our plan to beat the lunch crowd by heading there at 11am worked out perfectly— there were just 5 people ahead of us. What I tried at 63 Laksa Rachel and I ordered one small bowl of Laksa (S$2.80) each, as well as two (large) pieces of Mackerel Otah (S$1.40). I did a double take when my bowl arrived. Where were the chopsticks? All we had been given were a spoon each. Peering into my bowl, I unravelled the mystery. The noodles were cut up into spoon-friendly pieces! If nothing else, that one trick will save you (or likely your Mum) the time that would otherwise have been spent trying to get rid of little yellow laksa soup stain dots from your clothes. The bowl was filled virtually to the brim with laksa that was a wonderfully appetising pale yellow colour (incidentally, almost exactly the same shade as the tabletops). There was also fishcake and a dollop of sambal. A pleasant coconut milk fragrance wafted from the steaming bowl. Nanyang Spice: $6 earthworm laksa tucked away in Sim Lim Square draws attention? I became a fan with my first mouthful. Kelly's laksa goes easy on the salt and the well-handled seasoning went hand-in-hand with the intensity of dried shrimp. The fishcake is nothing to write home about, but gives the dish some essential bite. Rachel ordered cockles with hers and I stole one from under her very eyes. Meh, still not a fan of cockles. One of things I liked about the laksa here was that it was light, and not packed with the creamy heaviness that will give you a food coma. I was able to go back home after and begin on my first draft of this article right away. (Seth, are you reading this?) Despite abandoning the thicker (and perhaps more substantial) approach to laksa, the dish is not wanting in terms of flavour. With the otah as a side, I felt that I had a complete meal with a range of tastes and textures. Final thoughts There's little doubt that a large part of the appeal of 63 Laksa is the economy factor— it's really difficult to find a S$2.50 meal anywhere, even at a hawker stall. While it may not seem like much to many of us, it probably does make a difference to the residents of the surrounding housing estates. That said, while I did find the small bowl filling, most other people would find it a tad too small to be a full meal. It may be more accurate to describe 63 Laksa as the place for the S$4.80 laksa bowl (the larger option) as that would be what most people looking for breakfast or lunch would settle on. On the other hand, if you have little kids in tow, this is the perfect place to introduce them to laksa. The petite bowls aside, you can also ask for bowls to be less spicy to develop your kids' appreciation for this mainstay of Singaporean hawker dishes. Ghim Moh Road Market & Food Centre is home to several stalls that have received nods from international publications. I am happy to say that 63 Laksa easily makes the cut for me. Expected damage: S$2.80 – S$4.80 10 best laksa spots in SG for an irresistible meal [2024 update] The post 63 Laksa: $2.80 bowls of Sungei Road-style laksa at Ghim Moh Road Market appeared first on
