标签： Asia

Against a backdrop of often tense and headline-dominating high-level geopolitical discussions between China and the United States, a quiet, people-centered initiative is anchoring the bilateral relationship in mutual understanding and friendship, one handwritten wish at a time.

This past March, between the 14th and 22nd, 100 student delegates from the U.S. state of Iowa embarked on a multi-city tour of China, stopping in Beijing, Shanghai, and Shijiazhuang, the capital of China’s Hebei province. At Shijiazhuang Foreign Language School, alongside their Chinese peers, the visiting students tied handwritten red wish cards to the budding branches of a ginkgo tree, filling each small note with hopes for peace, shared prosperity, and lasting friendship between the two nations. This collective act was the core of the China-U.S. Friendship Tree — Ginkgo Project, an initiative designed to carry forward the decades-old sister-state relationship between Hebei and Iowa.

The exchange is part of the transformative “50,000 in Five Years” youth exchange program, first announced by Chinese President Xi Jinping during his 2023 visit to San Francisco, with the goal of expanding and deepening people-to-people connections between the youth of both countries.

The Ginkgo Project, founded by Luca Berrone, a board member of Iowa Sister States, draws on long-standing cultural symbolism of the ginkgo tree: a species renowned for its resilience, longevity, and ability to form enduring, deep roots over centuries. The initiative invites participants from both China and the United States to express their hopes for bilateral relations through writing or art, tying those aspirations to the tree as a permanent, visible testament to shared goodwill.

While the project itself centers on the simple, intimate act of exchanging wish cards, its origins stretch back more than 40 years, to 1983, when Hebei and Iowa formally established their sister-state relationship. What began as a formal intergovernmental agreement has grown over decades into a critical lifeline for sub-national diplomacy, serving as a stable counterweight to shifts in top-level geopolitical dialogue. As Berrone emphasizes, the most enduring bilateral bonds are almost always built from the bottom up, one personal connection at a time.

During their 9-day tour, the Iowa students experienced the full breadth of Chinese life, from exploring iconic historical landmarks including Beijing’s Palace Museum to engaging with hands-on traditional cultural activities such as Chinese knot weaving and martial arts training. They competed in friendly sports matches with local Chinese youth, toured university and high school campuses, and for many delegates, the trip included the deeply personal experience of staying with local Chinese families, bringing them face to face with the warmth and hospitality of ordinary Chinese people.

For Berrone, the project and the 2026 student exchange hold deeply personal meaning. His own connection to China dates back to 1985, when as a young county official in Iowa, he helped coordinate then-visit of a Chinese delegation led by Xi Jinping, and traveled alongside the group across the state. He still recalls Xi as a sharp, curious, and inherently warm person, a memory that has shaped his decades-long commitment to building cross-Pacific friendship.

That long history of connection led Berrone and other Iowa friends of China to send New Year greetings to President Xi earlier this year, affirming their commitment to growing people-to-people ties. On February 16, President Xi responded with a personal Chinese New Year card, recalling the warm welcome he received in Iowa 41 years earlier. In his reply, Xi emphasized that the future of China-U.S. relations rests with the people, its foundation lies in grassroots connections, its growth depends on youth engagement, and its vitality comes from sub-national exchanges.

For Berrone, the reply was a moving confirmation of what the Ginkgo Project has worked to prove: that ordinary people’s connections remain the most important ballast for the bilateral relationship, even during periods of uncertainty. Sarah Lande, another long-time Iowa friend of China who has nurtured cross-Pacific ties for decades, echoed that sentiment in a pre-recorded video message delivered at an icebreaking event for Chinese and American students. Recalling her own friendship with Xi dating back to his 1985 visit, Lande described that connection as “a living testament to how genuine human connections can bridge differences and build lasting bonds of understanding and respect.”

“Real diplomacy is rooted in people-to-people ties, in shared laughter, shared experiences and mutual respect,” Lande told the assembled students, noting that the young participants themselves are not just beneficiaries of this long history, but active ambassadors of friendship, peace, and mutual understanding between the two countries.

For many of the visiting Iowa students, the trip reshaped their understanding of China far beyond what they had seen in media or learned in classrooms. What had once felt like a distant, unfamiliar nation quickly became a place of familiar human connection, where shared hopes and kindness transcended political differences — one handwritten wish on a ginkgo tree branch at a time.

In a working inspection tour of eastern China’s Zhejiang Province and southeastern China’s Jiangxi Province held between Monday and Thursday, Chinese Vice-Premier Liu Guozhong, who also serves as a member of the Political Bureau of the Communist Party of China Central Committee, has laid out clear priorities for advancing the country’s water management infrastructure and ecological conservation efforts, calling for accelerated construction of a modern national water network and strengthened, comprehensive protection of the nation’s river systems. The ultimate goal of these efforts, Liu emphasized, is to steadily boost China’s capacity to safeguard long-term water security.

During the site visits, Liu conducted in-depth, on-the-ground reviews of key water conservancy projects across both provinces, covering critical infrastructure ranging from reservoirs, river channels, and embankments to large-scale irrigation districts and rural drinking water supply systems. He also received detailed briefings on ongoing conservation and management work for two major water bodies in the region: the Xin’an River and Poyang Lake.

Liu stressed that advancing the core framework of the national water network must remain a top near-term priority. He called for coordinated planning and execution of water conservancy projects at all administrative levels, paired with targeted improvements to how the country allocates its freshwater resources across different regions and use cases.

Beyond infrastructure development, Liu called for elevated standards for the protection and governance of all rivers and lakes across the country. He highlighted the urgent need to scale up adoption of water-saving irrigation technologies to maximize water use efficiency in the agricultural sector, while also reinforcing the safety and reliability of drinking water supplies for rural communities.

During a stop to review flood prevention infrastructure and national hydrological forecasting systems, Liu pushed for full and thorough implementation of pre-disaster preparedness measures. This includes completing comprehensive screening and rectification of all known hidden safety hazards, he said, to effectively raise the country’s ability to prevent and mitigate damage from floods and waterlogging, which pose recurring seasonal risks to many Chinese regions.

The inspection tour also included stops to review early rice seedling cultivation and rapeseed farming operations, tying agricultural water management priorities to broader national food security goals.

HONG KONG – On April 3, 2026, the Government of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region (HKSAR) announced it had submitted a formal application to the High Court’s Court of First Instance seeking the forfeiture of assets linked to Jimmy Lai that are connected to his national security offenses. The legal move is framed as a critical step to disrupt and deter activities that threaten the stability and sovereignty of China’s national security.

This application follows due legal process, brought in full compliance with the Law of the People’s Republic of China on Safeguarding National Security in the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region (Hong Kong National Security Law) and its associated Implementation Rules for Article 43.

The legal action comes after Lai was previously found guilty by the Court of First Instance on three counts of national security-endangering offenses. Court documents confirmed Lai acted as the mastermind and primary driving force behind a sustained campaign of illegal activity. He deliberately leveraged the now-shuttered *Apple Daily* media outlet and his own personal influence to systematically undermine the legitimacy and authority of the Central People’s Government of China and the HKSAR Government, as well as their respective institutions. His actions also eroded public trust between the Hong Kong public and the two levels of government, activity that the court ruled far exceeded the bounds of legally protected expression. Additionally, Lai was found to have repeatedly colluded with foreign forces, openly calling for external sanctions against China and the HKSAR and carrying out coordinated hostile actions against both governments. For these offenses, the court ultimately sentenced Lai to 20 years in prison.

Under Article 32 of the Hong Kong National Security Law, any proceeds derived from national security offenses – including financial support, illicit gains, rewards, and any funds or tools used or intended for use in committing these offenses – are subject to seizure and confiscation. Per the legislation, the Court of First Instance may only issue a forfeiture order after an application is submitted by the Secretary for Justice, and only after the court confirms the targeted property meets all legally defined criteria for forfeiture, in line with strict requirements laid out in Schedule 3 of the Implementation Rules.

In a statement accompanying the application, an HKSAR Government spokesperson emphasized that Hong Kong is a society founded on the rule of law, and has long upheld the core principle that laws must be respected and violations must result in accountability. The spokesperson noted that seeking court-approved forfeiture orders is a widely recognized global legal mechanism to combat serious crime and protect broad public interest, including in jurisdictions around the world.

By targeting assets tied to national security offenses, the forfeiture order is designed to prevent Lai, his co-conspirators and associates from continuing to use these resources to plan and carry out activities that endanger national security. The move explicitly aims to cut off the financial supply chains that support national security offenses and reduce the operational capacity of groups and individuals seeking to harm China’s national interests, the spokesperson added.

During an unprecedented Seoul summit held on Friday, French President Emmanuel Macron and South Korean President Lee Jae Myung announced a shared commitment to collaborative diplomatic action aimed at reopening the Strait of Hormuz and easing cascading global economic turbulence sparked by ongoing Middle East conflict. The meeting marked Macron’s first visit to South Korea since he assumed office in 2017, wrapping up the East Asian leg of a regional tour that already included a stop in neighboring Japan. It also unfolded against a backdrop of growing public friction between U.S. President Donald Trump and U.S. global allies, with Trump repeatedly lashing out at partners for failing to back Washington and Israel in their campaign against Iran.

Opening the bilateral talks, Macron emphasized that both middle-power nations France and South Korea hold unique influence to help de-escalate tensions across the Middle East, particularly around the Strait of Hormuz, where Iran’s control of the strategic waterway has sent major shocks through global energy markets. In a subsequent joint televised briefing to the public, Macron reiterated that coordinated action between Paris and Seoul was critical to clearing the waterway for commercial transit and rolling back rising hostilities across the region. Lee echoed this commitment, confirming the two leaders had “affirmed their resolves to cooperate to secure the safe shipping route in the Strait of Hormuz.”

Notably, the two leaders did not take questions from reporters, nor did they lay out specific operational details for how their cooperation would unfold to reopen the strait. The 21-mile waterway, wedged between Iran and Oman, typically carries roughly one-fifth of the world’s daily oil supplies, making its disruption a critical threat to global energy and economic stability.

“We need to clearly define, at the international level, the conditions for a process to ease the crisis and conflict in the Middle East,” Macron stated during the briefing. “We need to ensure that the Strait of Hormuz is reopened.” The French leader has previously ruled out a unilateral military operation to reopen the waterway, calling that approach unrealistic.

Beyond their Middle East diplomacy, the two leaders also used the summit to advance deepened bilateral cooperation across technology, energy, and critical resource sectors. Officials from both countries signed three landmark agreements covering collaboration on nuclear fuel supply chains, joint investment in a large-scale offshore wind project off southern South Korea, and partnership on critical minerals development. For South Korea, these agreements align with ongoing domestic energy policy shifts: President Lee has prioritized ramping up output at existing nuclear reactors to ease ongoing energy shortages, and accelerated the transition to renewable energy, noting the Middle East conflict has laid bare the country’s dangerous overreliance on imported fossil fuels.

Macron’s Asian tour comes as Trump has stepped up public criticism of U.S. allies over their lack of engagement on the Hormuz issue. During a speech Wednesday, Trump claimed the United States “doesn’t need” the strait, and argued that other major economies that depend on the waterway “must grab it and cherish it.” At an earlier Easter event at the White House, Trump explicitly called on U.S. Asian allies and China to take the lead on reopening the waterway. “Let South Korea, you know, we only have 45,000 soldiers in harm’s way over there, right next to a nuclear force — let South Korea do it,” Trump said. “Let Japan do it. They get 90% of their oil from the strait. Let China do it.” Official U.S. deployment data contradicts Trump’s claim: roughly 28,000 U.S. troops are stationed in South Korea, a deployment meant to deter potential aggression from North Korea, not for Middle East operations. South Korean officials have confirmed they are in ongoing communication with Washington about the Hormuz issue, but have ruled out the option of paying transit fees to Iran to secure South Korean fuel shipments through the waterway.

In a widely anticipated move that has renewed global scrutiny of Myanmar’s military-backed political order, the country’s rubber-stamp parliament voted Friday to install Min Aung Hlaing, the senior general who seized power from Aung San Suu Kyi’s democratically elected civilian government in a 2021 coup, as the nation’s new president. The vote caps a years-long push by the military to cement its control behind a veneer of civilian rule, even as a brutal civil war rages across large swathes of the country and international powers reject the process as illegitimate.

Min Aung Hlaing was one of three handpicked nominees for the presidency, and his lopsided victory was never in doubt: lawmakers from military-aligned parties and directly appointed military representatives hold an unassailable majority in the new assembly. Held in Naypyitaw’s newly earthquake-repaired parliament building, the final vote count gave the coup leader 429 of 584 total cast ballots. His two competitors will take vice presidential posts: Nyo Saw, a retired general and long-time Min Aung Hlaing adviser, and Nan Ni Ni Aye, an ethnic Karen politician from the pro-military Union Solidarity and Development Party, who will become Myanmar’s first female vice president. All three are scheduled to be inaugurated next week.

Consistent with constitutional requirements that bar the president from holding the top military command post, Min Aung Hlaing stepped down as commander-in-chief earlier this week, handing the powerful role to close ally Gen. Ye Win Oo, a move that leaves the military’s core leadership structure unchanged despite the nominal transition to civilian government.

The military frames the new government as a return to democratic governance after four years of direct military rule following the 2021 coup. But independent observers and political opponents universally dismiss the process as a sham, designed only to legitimize the military’s hold on power after a national election the junta organized last December and January. Major opposition parties, including Suu Kyi’s former ruling National League for Democracy (NLD), were either barred from participating or refused to contest the vote over pre-determined unfair rules. Widespread armed conflict also prevented voting from being held in nearly a third of the country’s 330 townships, due to persistent security risks for election organizers.

For the country’s main opposition, the National Unity Government (NUG), which claims to be Myanmar’s legitimate elected administration, Min Aung Hlaing’s elevation only confirms that the military has no intention of ceding power to a genuinely popular government. “Min Aung Hlaing is responsible for countless war crimes, and his easy ascent to the presidency proves the nominal political change some foreign actors hoped for will never come to pass,” NUG spokesperson Nay Phone Latt told the Associated Press. “The people of Myanmar do not accept this outcome. Our revolution will continue with undiminished momentum.”

Myanmar’s modern political history has been defined by military dominance: the armed forces ruled the country directly from 1962 until 2016, when the NLD won a landslide election victory that ended decades of direct military rule. The party secured an even larger mandate in 2020, but the military refused to accept the result, launching a coup days before the new parliament was scheduled to convene. Suu Kyi, now 80 years old, has been detained ever since, serving a 27-year prison sentence on charges widely condemned as politically motivated.

Peaceful mass protests against the coup were crushed with lethal force by the junta, pushing pro-democracy activists to launch an armed resistance movement that allied with long-running ethnic minority insurgencies fighting for greater regional autonomy. That conflict has since escalated into a full-scale civil war that has killed thousands and displaced millions.

Independent human rights monitors have documented widespread atrocities committed by junta forces since the 2021 takeover. The Assistance Association for Political Prisoners, an independent watchdog that tracks rights violations in Myanmar, confirms that nearly 8,000 civilians and activists have been killed, and more than 22,870 political prisoners remain detained as of 2025. The U.S.-based Armed Conflict Location & Event Data Project reports that junta warplanes carried out 1,140 airstrikes across the country in 2025 alone, a tactic that has killed hundreds of civilian non-combatants.

International rights groups warn that Min Aung Hlaing’s new civilian title does not grant him immunity from prosecution for widespread violations of international law. “If Min Aung Hlaing believes that holding an official civilian presidency will protect him from accountability for the grave crimes he is accused of overseeing as military chief, that is not how international justice works,” said Joe Freeman, Myanmar researcher for Amnesty International, in a public statement.

The senior general already faces international legal action over the military’s persecution of the Rohingya Muslim minority. In 2024, the International Criminal Court launched an investigation into crimes against humanity, after the chief prosecutor requested an arrest warrant for Min Aung Hlaing over the mass atrocities committed against the Rohingya starting in 2017. Earlier this year, the International Court of Justice held long-delayed public hearings in the genocide case brought against Myanmar by Gambia, which first accused the country of orchestrating a campaign of genocide against the Rohingya in 2019.

The nominal transition to civilian rule is widely viewed as a strategic move by the junta to repair strained relations with some Southeast Asian neighbors and shore up international legitimacy, after the 2021 coup left the regime diplomatically isolated. The military government has retained steady backing from major powers China and Russia throughout the post-coup period, while Western governments have imposed harsh economic sanctions on junta leaders and institutions.