Central Asia & Caucasus Data

Hong Kong media entrepreneur and pro-democracy activist Jimmy Lai Chee-ying was sentenced to 20 years’ imprisonment by a Hong Kong court on charges of colluding with foreign forces, partly because he had called on Washington to speak up for Hong Kong protesters and pressure Beijing in trade talks in mid-2019.  The jail term was handed The post Jimmy Lai severely sentenced despite Trump calling for his release appeared first on Asia Times.

In the high-stakes world of trade diplomacy, agreements are usually forged quietly through painstaking negotiations behind closed doors, dense legal texts and carefully calibrated “reciprocity” and “give and take.” The recently announced India-US “interim trade deal” departs radically from that tradition. It was unveiled not through a signed document or a jointly released legal framework The post The anatomy of India’s trade capitulation to Trump appeared first on Asia Times.

The latest policy adjustment reads less like a crackdown than a structural re-ordering. On the surface, it tightens around cryptocurrency activity again. In design terms, it also places a second category inside a framework that can be defined, approved and supervised. The door closes. A narrow gap remains. That is the signal. On February 6, The post A controlled opening: China redraws the line on tokenized assets appeared first on Asia Times.

Can you remember how you felt when the last Winter Olympics opened? President Vladimir Putin certainly does, for February 4th 2022 saw him flying memorably to Beijing to meet President Xi Jinping, wishing China a successful Olympics and signing a joint statement pledging that Russia and China would work together to end Western leadership in world affairs. Just The post Ukraine needs help in forcing Putin to show interest in peace appeared first on Asia Times.