South China Sea tensions are turning Chinese-language education into a security issue in the Philippines, straining civilian ties and exposing schools’ dependence on foreign teaching support, analysts told Radio Free Asia.
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North Korea is drawing closer to China and Russia while keeping the U.S. at arm’s length. Kim Jong Un’s one-day trip across the border into China is the latest sign.
Is China using its influence to shape North Korea's next moves?
An “open letter” purportedly signed by students from multiple Chinese universities appeared on a Chinese language website on Monday, calling for the restoration of term limits for the Chinese president.
📷: AFP
The letter, purportedly signed by students from 14 Chinese universities, questions China’s 2018 constitutional amendment that removed the two-term limit for the president and vice president.
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North Korean leader Kim Jong Un visited Dandong, across the border from the North Korean city of Sinuiju, where he inspected a bus factory, met with high-ranking Chinese officials and paid his respects at a monument that commemorated China’s entry into the Korean War.
The timing was significant: The visit came on the eve of the 76th anniversary of the Chinese People’s Volunteer Army’s first combat against South Korean and U.N. forces on Oct. 25, 1950.
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In an interview with Radio Free Asia after speaking with his mother, Kim Aris said that it’s clear that the Myanmar military-backed government have been trying to “be more appealing to the international community.”
📷: AFP
He called on governments that engage with Myanmar’s military authorities to not legitimize them in exchange for humanitarian rights.
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Born in North Korea, Cho Mi-young arrived in South Korea in 2004. Outside the National Museum in Seoul, she watched K-pop group Boynextdoor perform the hit single “Animal.”
“You’re so amazing!” she cried out.
Cho is no stranger to music, or to the stage. In North Korea she had been a vocalist for a state-run provincial arts troupe. After settling in the South, Cho was a fixture in Seoul’s burgeoning musical theater scene and she toured as an accordion player.
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Chinese authorities have shut down three Tibetan schools in the Golog region of Qinghai province in recent months, leaving the fate of students and teachers unclear, according to sources inside Tibet.
📷: Reuters
The closures of Gangjong Grassland Girls’ School, Jasag Village Primary School and Golog Tadra Orphan School have raised concerns among Tibetans about the future of education that incorporates their language, cultural traditions and community life.
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China’s sanctions on foreign officials over their ties with Taiwan help Beijing project power and warn other governments, analysts told Radio Free Asia. But the sanctions cause little financial harm and have had limited success in curbing engagement with Taiwan.
📷: AFP
When China sanctions individuals they don’t quite have the same effect as U.S. or European sanctions, Ed Moon, an independent cross-Strait analyst and founder of intelligence site Strait Signal, told RFA.
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Myanmar’s military-backed government announced on Thursday that former leader Aung San Suu Kyi was allowed to talk for 20 minutes to her son Kim Aris via a call placed to the Myanmar embassy in London, where Aris resides.
He speaks in an exclusive interview with Radio Free Asia.
Read and watch the full interview on our website.
bit.ly/4eIuLFJ
“Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 4” is here. In one mission, players control a North Korean soldier hunting a defector in a village. If they shoot a portrait of the game’s fictional supreme leader, their own squad kills them.
What happens in the real North Korea?
Myanmar’s detained former leader Aung San Suu Kyi spoke with her son Kim Aris by phone for the first time in more than five years, Aris said.
📷: Handout/Spokeperson of the President of the Republic of the Union of Myanmar/AFP
While the phone call was a joyous occasion for mother and son, much more must be done to bring peace to Myanmar, Aung Myo Kyaw, an official with the Thailand-based Assistance Association for Political Prisoners (AAPP), told RFA.
rfa.org/english/myanmar/2026…





