Tag: World

Airman apprentice Donald Brown and fireman David Dickson, both United States Navy veterans who served during the Vietnam war died recently and neither had a family member to claim their remains. On Tuesday, Beaufort National Cemetery and the military community stepped in to ensure both were honored for their service and received a final salute prior to their burial, which was attended by the public and military-related groups.

Michael Brophy, Beaufort National Cemetery Assistant Director, confirmed that both veterans, while their remains were unclaimed, were eligible to be buried on Beaufort’s hallowed ground. “Now all that means is that when they passed, there wasn’t any family available to claim them,” he affirmed. “Sometimes, at the end of the road, some people don’t have a support network built around them,” he continued. “But there is a community that looks to ensure that they get the benefits that they earned so many years ago.” he added, “unclaimed doesn’t mean unloved.”

The two veterans were patients at the Veterans Administration Hospital in Charleston and, after their passing, officials arranged for the two sailors to be cremated and transported south to Beaufort National Cemetery, escorted by members of the South Carolina Patriot Guard Riders.

Additionally, the two veterans were honored with the symbolic Forget Me Not ceremony. Leading the 100-year old traditional ceremony, which originated during World War I, was Karen Majerczak, Commander of the Disabled Americans Veterans Chapter 12 in Beaufort. “As they saw the new growth of the flowers on the battlefield, it brought about hope for everlasting life and reminded us that people may be gone but not erased or forgotten,” she explained.

The Navy Honor Guard out of Beaufort Naval Hospital presented a flag for each sailor to two representatives from the Ralph Johnson Veterans Affairs Medical Center.

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Gov. Ron DeSantis is promising to return America to the days of $2-a-gallon gasoline if he becomes president by unleashing domestic energy production, even though he’s opposed offshore drilling and fracking in his own state.

DeSantis’ energy record has come under scrutiny as presidential rival Nikki Haley accuses him of not matching his campaign rhetoric with action.

DeSantis signed an executive order opposing offshore oil drilling and fracking just two days into his first term as governor. The order instructed the Department of Environmental Protection to “oppose all off-shore oil and gas activities off every coast in Florida and hydraulic fracturing in Florida.”

DeSantis also has worked to block drilling in the Everglades.

DeSantis styled himself as a “Teddy Roosevelt” conservationist when he first ran for governor in 2018. His 12-point environmental plan included banning fracking, a controversial process that involves injecting water, sand and chemicals at ultra-high pressure to extract oil and gas trapped in rocks.

His campaign website stated, “With Florida’s geological makeup of limestone and shallow water sources, fracking presents a danger to our state that is not acceptable.” He vowed to fight fracking on Day One of his administration.

Fracking increases energy production, but environmentalists oppose it because of concerns about groundwater pollution and other issues.

During the second GOP presidential debate last week, Haley slammed DeSantis’ energy record.

“What you don’t need is a president who is against energy independence. Ron DeSantis is against fracking. He’s against drilling,” said Haley, the former Republican governor of South Carolina and U.N. ambassador during the Trump administration.

DeSantis, though, counters that he isn’t against fracking and offshore oil drilling elsewhere in the United States. He said he was following the will of Florida voters who overwhelmingly approved a 2018 constitutional amendment banning offshore drilling in state waters.

“That’s not saying I think that should apply to Louisiana, Texas and all that,” DeSantis during a campaign stop in New Hampshire.

During that event, he called fracking “something that’s been very effective” in making the United States a leading energy producer.

Although DeSantis took executive action on fracking, no legislation banning it has made it to his desk.

In a statement, campaign spokesman Bryan Griffin defended DeSantis’ energy platform.

“Ron DeSantis is the only candidate in this race to roll out an energy plan that he will enact as our next president to once again make America energy dominant and bring relief to hard-working Americans with a return to $2 gas in 2025,” he said. “That’s leadership you can count on.”

His plan calls for streamlining the environmental review process for energy projects, greenlighting mining and oil development on federal lands and withdrawing from the Paris climate accord, a global pact that aims to avert the threat of catastrophic climate change.

National gas prices last averaged at or below $2 a gallon in May 2020 when the pandemic shuttered much of the nation’s economy, federal statistics show.

Republicans have blasted President Joe Biden over his energy policies, but U.S. crude oil production is projected to break records set during former President Donald Trump’s tenure, according to the U.S. Energy Information Administration

Oil production is expected to rise to 12.8 million barrels a day this year, which is about half a million barrels higher than the 2019 record set before the pandemic.

The United States produces more crude oil than any other nation, according to federal statistics.

Gas prices are subject to a global oil market that extends beyond the U.S. borders, economists say.

Saudi Arabia and Russia have slashed oil production, leading to an increase in prices. Meanwhile, China’s demand for oil has risen as it lifts pandemic lockdowns and restrictions.

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© 2023 Orlando Sentinel

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This article was originally published by Radio Free Asia and is reprinted with permission.

An international student in the U.S. capital has been harassed by China’s state security police for pro-democracy activism on American soil, with his loved ones back in China hauled in by police for questioning and told to get him in line, Radio Free Asia has learned.

Zhang Jinrui, a law student at Washington’s Georgetown University, said his family in China received an unexpected visit in June from state security police, who interrogated his father about Zhang’s level of patriotism and questioned him about his activities in the United States.

“The state security police knocked on our door and took my father away for lengthy questioning,” Zhang told Radio Free Asia in a recent interview. “[They asked him] ‘Does this child of yours take part in pro-democracy activities? Do they usually love their country and the [ruling Chinese Communist] Party?’”

“If not, you have to teach him to love his country and the party better,” the police said. “It’s not OK that he’s doing this, and it won’t do any good.”

Zhang’s experience comes amid growing concern over Beijing’s “long-arm” law enforcement targeting overseas activists and students, who had expected to enjoy greater freedom of speech and association while living or studying in a democratic country.

Zhang said the questioning of his father came after he took part in protests in support of the “white paper” protest movement in November 2022, and against Beijing’s hosting of the Winter Olympics in February.

Yet he wasn’t contacted at the time by police, who sometimes contact overseas Chinese nationals via social media platforms to get their message across. 

“On the evening of June 29, I suddenly received a WeChat message from my sister saying ‘Contact me urgently, something happened,’” Zhang said. “The people from the police station had called my sister and asked about her [relative] in Washington, wanting to know if they took part in the Torch on the Potomac group, saying I was a key member.”

Fear and self-censorship

Torch on the Potomac was set up by students at the George Washington University in April, to provide a safe space for dissident activities by Chinese students.

But Zhang was nonplussed by the accusation, saying that the group has yet to organize any activities, and that police have also been harassing the families of Chinese students who haven’t taken part in any activism at all.

Calls to the Wusan police station, which is close to Zhang’s family home in the northeastern Chinese city of Shenyang, rang unanswered during office hours on Sept. 19.

Several other Chinese students declined to be interviewed when contacted by Radio Free Asia.

Sarah McLaughlin, senior scholar at The Foundation for Individual Rights in Education, said speaking to the foreign media could bring down further trouble on the heads of students who may already have seen their families hauled in for questioning.

“I know that that’s something that international students have run into before,” she said. “They’ve gotten in trouble when they returned home for things they’ve said online while in the United States.”

McLaughlin said the harassment of their families in China will have a chilling effect on students’ speech, even overseas.

“There are definitely some real fears among these students, and there’s definitely self censorship,” she said.

Classroom informants

And the police aren’t the only source of such anxiety – there is also the risk of being reported by fellow students from China, who are encouraged via the Chinese Students and Scholars Associations to keep an eye on each other.

A Georgetown University faculty member who asked to remain anonymous said the problem is becoming more and more serious, with Chinese students feeling unable to speak freely in class, for fear of being informed on by their Chinese classmates.

Last year, when students at George Washington University put up posters on campus opposing China’s hosting of the 2023 Winter Olympics, the Chinese Embassy sent members of the campus branch of the Chinese Students and Scholars Association to tear them down again and put up posters denouncing their actions.

“They even got in touch with the school, saying that the Chinese students who support democracy and oppose zero-COVID are racist,” Zhang said. “That’s why they set up the Torch on the Potomac, because a lot of their activities weren’t getting the support of the school.”

George Washington University President Mark Wrighton admitted in a Feb. 8 statement that the removal of the posters was a mistake, and the university administration should have waited until they better understood the situation before acting.

“We began to receive a number of concerns through official university reporting channels that cited bias and racism against the Chinese community,” Wrighton said. “I also received an email directly from a student who expressed concerns.”

“I have since learned from our university’s scholars that the posters were designed by a Chinese-Australian artist, Badiucao, and they are a critique of China’s policies,” he said. “Upon full understanding, I do not view these posters as racist; they are political statements.”

Neither Georgetown University nor George Washington University had responded to requests for comment on the renewed harassment of Chinese students in the United States by Sept. 19.

Close contact with embassies

Zhang said he has also been personally harassed by members of the Georgetown branch of the Chinese Students and Scholars Association.

“One person came over and harangued me, calling me a traitor and accusing me of getting money from the U.S. government,” he said of one encounter as he put up posters in support of the “white paper” movement in late 2022.

“I said I wasn’t, and that I just didn’t like the policy, and wasn’t it normal to speak out about it?” he said. “He pointed his camera at me to broadcast my face to his friends back in China, telling them to report me to the police as someone who opposes the government as soon as possible.”

According to multiple interviews with students and former students, the Chinese Students and Scholars Associations have branches on university campuses all around the world and maintain close contact with Chinese embassies and consulates wherever they are.

McLaughlin called on U.S. universities to better support international students.

“I think, one interesting tactic that universities should consider is, you know, holding events and training sessions for students, especially international students, to teach them what their rights are in the United States …and also consider teaching students the benefits of protecting their privacy and data and anonymity while speaking online,” she said.

She also called for improved reporting mechanisms for transnational censorship on U.S. campuses.

“Another thing that they can do is offer students a way to report when they’re experiencing harassment,” McLaughlin said. “It would be good if universities made sure students knew that harassment and threats aren’t acceptable and that the university would act on it.”

She said universities should also scrutinize their own levels of involvement with authoritarian regimes, and consider how that might affect their ability to support students from those countries.

‘Weaponizing the language of social justice’

George Washington University Law School professor Donald Clarke said U.S. universities shouldn’t assume that Chinese Students and Scholars Associations (CSSAs) are broadly representative of all Chinese students on their campuses.

“[Universities should] understand that on the one hand, the voice of the Chinese government is amplified through CSSAs, while on the other hand the voice of those who are critics of the government is suppressed through fear of repercussions,” Clarke said in comments emailed to Radio Free Asia.

“CSSAs have become expert at weaponizing the language of social justice and anti-racism to attack critics of the Chinese government,” he said, citing the tearing down of the posters at George Washington University as an example.

“University administrators must understand that due to the Chinese government’s obsession with control, almost everything related to China becomes political,” Clarke said.

Zhang, however, remains undeterred.

“The right thing is still the right thing, regardless of whether the Chinese Communist Party knows about me or not, and it still needs to be done for the benefit of everyone,” he said.

“I won’t stop speaking out for a better political system with a mechanism to solve problems,” he said. “I will always insist on it.”

This article was originally published by Radio Free Asia and is reprinted with permission.

Taiwanese prosecutors have indicted two leaders of the island’s minuscule Taiwan People’s Communist Party, or TPCP, on charges that they conspired with China to influence next year’s presidential and legislative elections. 

Party Chairman Lin Te-wang and Vice Chairman Cheng Chien-hsin were accused on Oct. 3 of accepting funds and other benefits from the Chinese Communist Party (CCP). They were indicted under the Anti-Infiltration Act and the Civil Servants Election and Recall Act. 

Lin was a member of the Central Committee of the Kuomintang (KMT) and a representative of the Taiwanese Business Party in mainland China, according to the Taipei District Prosecutor’s Office. In 2016, he was expelled from the KMT and stood as an independent candidate for Tainan City Council. He founded the TPCP the following year and served as its chairman. Currently, the party has more than 2,000 members. 

It is alleged that since 2017, Lin has been in contact with a number of China’s Taiwan Affairs Office (TAO) officials in order to solicit financial assistance from China for business purposes. He also invited them to Taiwan or led a delegation to China for amusement. According to the prosecutor’s office, Lin and Hu Chunguang, deputy director of the United Front Work Department (UFWD) of the CCP’s Central Committee, have been in contact for more than a decade. 

According to the CCP, the job of the UFWD in Taiwan entails “implementing the CCP Central Committee’s work on Taiwan, adhering to the ‘One-China principle,’ and uniting Taiwan compatriots at home and abroad.”

The prosecutor’s office also discovered that Lin received instructions from Zhang Chaode, director of the TAO in Yunnan, to run as a candidate for the TPCP in the Tainan City Council election. Following further CCP instructions, in 2022 Lin nominated Cheng to run for Taipei City councilor. During the campaign, he received NT$30,000 (US$927) and US$10,000 in funding from the Taiwan Affairs Office; he also hired individuals at a cost of NT$500 per person to initiate over 20 protests during the visit of former U.S. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi to Taiwan.

In a 2022 interview to explain his reason for running for office as a TPCP candidate, Cheng said: “After years of pushing for Taiwanese independence by the Democratic Progressive Party, the KMT doesn’t dare promote the concept that they are Chinese [people]. You can see that from the elections in recent years – from Ma Ying-jeou to now – the use of [the Chinese characters for] China in the narrative is slowly disappearing.”

The prosecutor noted that the TPCP, the only legally registered political party in Taiwan with a communist ideology, has become a Chinese agent in recent years, threatening and influencing elections with the use of armed unification in an attempt to undermine Taiwan’s sovereignty and free, democratic and constitutional order. Lin and Cheng have both denied the allegations. 

In an interview with Radio Free Asia, the chief executive officer of the Taiwan Inspiration Association, David Lai, said China’s fastidious approach of using a small party over an elaborate campaign to catch the public off guard while being able to infiltrate every level of the society thoroughly, was evident as seen in the case of the TPCP.

“By disseminating [information] through various small groups, they were able to better target people’s psychology to achieve breakthrough effects. This is the current methodology – fake news and use of a small party. Through different grassroots groups, they connect the dots with money, and then from dots to a complete picture, from the countryside to the urban areas.”

Lai added that in recent years, there have been numerous instances of communist spies and Taiwanese individuals disseminating propaganda on behalf of China. In addition to the fact that the relevant laws are inadequate and the penalties are less severe than in other countries, the lack of adversary consciousness among the Taiwanese is a significant problem. 

He also noted that it is still possible to establish a communist party in Taiwan, despite the fact that the CCP is considered an enemy of Taiwan, since the Constitution guarantees the freedom of association and the government does not impose additional restrictions. 

According to the Ministry of the Interior, a political party’s name cannot be conflated with that of a government agency, and there are no additional restrictions. As long as there are 100 members, a political party can be established in accordance with the procedure, but members must be recommended to compete for public office within four years of the party’s formation or the party will be dissolved. Currently, there are 92 political parties in Taiwan, while as many as 293 have been dissolved or abolished.

Navy athletics will pay tribute to legendary quarterback Roger Staubach with a special recognition during the service academy showdown against Air Force on Oct. 21.

Before that game, Staubach’s No. 12 will be emblazoned on the field at Navy-Marine Corps Memorial Stadium. Staubach’s famous jersey number will be placed at the 12-yard line on both ends of the field.

As a junior and second-year starter, Staubach helped lead the 1963 Navy football team to a 9-2 record and a berth in the Cotton Bowl. Navy beat perennial powers Michigan and Notre Dame that season on the way to being ranked No. 2 nationally.

After squeaking out a 21-15 victory over Army in a heart-stopping finish, Navy played Texas in the Cotton Bowl on New Years Day. The Longhorns beat the Midshipmen, 28-6, in that contest despite a tremendous performance by Staubach, who set Cotton Bowl records for completions (21) and passing yards (289).

In December, shortly after the Army-Navy game, Staubach was presented with the prestigious Heisman Trophy as the finest college football player in the country. He became the second Navy player in the span of four years to earn the Heisman Trophy, joining tailback Joe Bellino, the 1960 recipient.

Bellino, nicknamed the “Winchester Rifle” and known as the player that was never caught from behind, had his No. 27 placed on the artificial surface at Navy-Marine Corps Memorial Stadium in 2019. Bellino, who was also a unanimous All-American and the Maxwell Trophy winner as a senior, was inducted into the National Football Foundation Hall of Fame in 1977.

Navy athletic officials recognized at the time that Staubach matched Bellino in terms of career accomplishments. Staubach was also a unanimous All-American and Maxwell Trophy winner during that magical 1963 campaign and was inducted into the College Football Hall of Fame in 1981.

Navy athletic director Chet Gladchuk said the initial plan was to honor Bellino and Staubach simultaneously in the same manner.

“When we placed Joe’s number on the 27-yard line it was only common sense that we do the same with Roger. After all, they’re the two Heisman Trophy winners in Navy football history,” Gladchuk said. “I called Roger and told him what we were doing. In his typical, wonderful mannerism, which is one of pure humility, Roger said, ‘No. I don’t want anything to detract from the attention that would be afforded Joe Bellino with that honor.’ Roger respectfully declined at that time.”

Out of respect for Staubach and his many contributions to the Naval Academy, Gladchuk agreed to wait for another appropriate time to add the No. 12 to the field at Navy-Marine Corps Memorial Stadium.

Five years later, that time has come. Navy’s fabled 1963 football team will celebrate its 60th anniversary the weekend of the Air Force game. Staubach will return to Annapolis along with 26 of his teammates for a series of events.

“I was thinking about when would be the most appropriate time to put the No. 12 on the field. Here it is, the 60th anniversary of that 1963 team that was so tremendous,” Gladchuk said. “I called Roger and said, ‘I’m not asking, I’m telling you. We’re doing this, so I hope you will join us on the field. You’ll already be here, so come on down.’”

Staubach finally agreed to allow the No. 12 to be emblazoned on the Navy-Marine Corps Memorial Stadium turf because he felt it would be a tribute to the entire 1963 team. He would prefer some sort of signage recognizing the entire 1963 squad instead of No. 12, but understood that was not possible.

“Truth be told, that 1963 team won the Heisman Trophy. They awarded me the Heisman Trophy in recognition of that team and its accomplishments,” Staubach said Thursday during an appearance on the Navy Football Podcast. “I never dreamed I would have my jersey number on the field at Navy-Marine Corps Memorial Stadium. It’s a fantastic privilege. I just feel like the whole 1963 team should be on that field somewhere.”

Two-way standout Tom Lynch was the consummate captain of the 1963 team, a hard-hitting middle linebacker on defense and tenacious center on offense. Pat Donnelly was another star of that team as a fullback and defensive back.

Donnelly scored all three touchdowns for Navy in its classic 21-15 victory over Army. That contest ended with the Cadets at the 2-yard line seemingly on the cusp of scoring the game-winning touchdown when time expired.

“That 1963 team ranks right at the top of my life as far as sports and football are concerned. I was just so proud to be the quarterback of that great team,” Staubach said. “It’s an honor to represent the 1963 team by having my number on the field at the stadium where we enjoyed so much success and have so many fond memories.”

Lynch achieved the rank of admiral and served as superintendent of the Naval Academy among numerous notable postings during a decorated military career. He has held the 1963 team together like glue for six decades now.

Lynch and other teammates have been lobbying Staubach for five years to accept the special honor offered by the Naval Academy Athletic Association. Lynch was a plebe at the academy the year Bellino won the Heisman Trophy, but believes Staubach deserves the same recognition at Navy-Marine Corps Memorial Stadium.

“I can speak with great confidence on behalf of every member of our football team that we are so proud, so honored and so thankful that Roger’s going to have No. 12 on that field along with the No. 27 of Joe Bellino,” Lynch said.

“To have the opportunity to be down there on the field for our 60th team reunion during the Air Force game and see that No. 12 installed is a very special feeling for all of us. We feel we earned that Heisman Trophy a little bit. Roger was the guy that made it all happen, but we were all part of that.”

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(c) 2023 The Capital

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