Founders of Hong Kong’s pro-democracy movement that sparked mass rallies in 2014 appeared in court Tuesday in the latest case brought against activists. The nine defendants face public nuisance charges related to the Umbrella Movement demonstrations, which shut down several major roads in the semi-autonomous Chinese city for 79 days. Hong Kong’s government has brought […]
Asia articles on Democracy Chronicles
View news about the struggle for democracy on the continent of Asia where giants of China and India hover large. Asia represents a huge portion of the human race where both some of the best and worst governments coexist. Also see our World Democracy section!
China Says It Shut Down 128,000 Websites in 2017
30.9 million illegal publications were confiscated in 2017, while 1,900 people were subject to criminal penalties
Indian Tamil cinema superstar makes dramatic entry into politics
Rajinikanth, the wildly popular Indian cinema icon who inspires almost god-like adulation in some parts of the country, announced his entry into politics Sunday. The 67-year-old actor’s announcement ended a wait of almost two decades for many of his fans, especially in the southern Tamil Nadu state where he is intensely revered and referred to […]
Vietnam’s 10,000-strong cyber censorship army criticized
The deployment of 10,000 cyber warriors to fight online dissent in Vietnam adds a grim “new dimension” to controls on free speech in the Communist country, a rights group has said. Vietnam routinely jails its critics and closely monitors activists on social media, which is not banned unlike in neighbouring China. A top Vietnamese general […]
Pakistan allowing women to be barred from voting
It is disappointing that political parties in Pakistan consider themselves above those very same laws that comprise and constitute the work of legislators from their own party members sitting in Parliament. On 21st December, women voters in the Shahikhel Talash, Samarbagh and Darora tehsil councils were barred from voting during the local government by-elections, as […]
Chinese activist jailed for 8 years as major crackdown underway
China sentenced an activist known by the online pseudonym “Super Vulgar Butcher” to eight years in prison
Has China Cut Off All North Korean Oil And Fuel Products?
The block appeared to be even harsher than sanctions placed on the North by the United Nations this year
Former South Korean President refuses questioning in prison
Former President Park Geun-hye refused to be questioned in prison by prosecutors, Tuesday, over allegations she received bribes from the National Intelligence Service (NIS) while in office. Senior prosecutor Yang Suk-jo and three other investigators from the Seoul Central District Prosecutors’ Office visited Seoul Detention Center at 8:30 a.m. to question Park, who allegedly received […]
Three weeks later and Nepal still waits for a new government
Three weeks after the second phase of Nepal’s parliamentary & provincial elections, the country still doesn’t have a government. The Left Alliance between the Maoist Centre and the Unified Maoist-Leninists appears to have won, over the Nepali Congress party, which has been mainly in power since 1991. But the Election Commission has yet to publish […]
Artist ‘released’ in China after Liu Xiaobo tribute
An artist that could not be reached for more than a week after he painted a politically charged mural in southern China wrote on Twitter Monday that he has been “released”. “I was released a few days ago and we are in my hometown now,” the Twitter account of painter Hu Jiamin read days after […]