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In a development that has jolted the already tense South China Sea theater, Philippine security agencies have arrested a group of Chinese nationals for conducting unauthorized surveillance and mapping of sensitive military installations across Luzon. The incident, now under intense investigation, is the latest episode in Beijing’s expanding campaign of clandestine infiltration—this time, not on disputed reefs, but within the sovereign mainland of a neighboring democracy.

On 15 May, Hong Kong Watch hosted a panel discussion on transnational repression (TNR) against journalists in the House of Lords, in collaboration with International Human Rights Advisors (#IHR Advisors) and the International Bar Association Human Rights Institute (#IBAHRI).

MEA spokesperson Randhir Jaiswal stated, “We firmly reject such attempts by China to rename places in the Indian state of Arunachal Pradesh. Assigning invented names will not alter the fact that Arunachal Pradesh is, has been, and will always be an integral part of India.”

On April 22, a deadly terrorist attack shook the popular tourist destination of Pahalgam in Kashmir, killing 26 and injuring scores more. The strike, traced to Pakistan-backed militants from the Lashkar-e-Taiba offshoot "The Resistance Front," occurred just days before a Reuters report confirmed Apple’s aggressive expansion in India—charting a path to move 60+ million iPhone units annually out of Chinese assembly lines and into Indian factories.

Admiral Samuel Paparo, the newly appointed commander of U.S. Indo-Pacific Command (INDOPACOM), has laid out the Pentagon’s evolving strategic blueprint to counter China’s growing influence across the Indo-Pacific region, in one of the most comprehensive briefings delivered by a top U.S. military official to date.

In a display of diplomatic retaliation laced with authoritarian bravado, China has imposed visa restrictions on U.S. personnel accused of “behaving badly” on Tibet-related issues. This tit-for-tat move follows Washington’s March 31 announcement of visa restrictions against Chinese officials responsible for denying access to Tibet—a remote region where truth is suppressed behind heavily fortified gates.

Driru County, located in Nagchu Prefecture in the Tibet Autonomous Region (TAR), remains one of the most tightly controlled areas in Tibet, with reports of widespread restrictions on religious practice, movement, and communication. Human rights groups and Tibetan exile sources say the county has become a testing ground for Beijing’s hardline policies aimed at erasing Tibetan identity and enforcing absolute loyalty to the Chinese Communist Party (CCP).

China is implementing a system in which army veterans serve as "on-campus instructors" in Tibetan schools, aiming to instill patriotism and loyalty to the Chinese government in children as young as six. State-run media and sources within Tibet report that these instructors provide military-style training, including marching in fatigues, participating in air raid drills, and undergoing strict bed inspections. The initiative appears to be part of a broader strategy to assimilate Tibetan children into a Chinese identity by reshaping their cultural and political values.

Secretary of State Marco Rubio announced new visa restrictions on Chinese officials Monday, citing China’s continued obstruction of foreign access to the Tibet Autonomous Region. The move is in line with the Reciprocal Access to Tibet Act of 2018, which mandates consequences for Chinese officials involved in blocking entry to Tibet for American diplomats, journalists, and tourists.

China's recent release of a white paper titled “Human Rights in Xizang in the New Era” on March 28 has sparked renewed international criticism over its policies toward Tibet, particularly in cultural, educational, and religious affairs. Presented by the State Council Information Office in Lhasa, the document seeks to highlight China's development efforts in Tibet, yet has been accused of masking ongoing human rights abuses.