William Yang
Senior North East Asia Analyst at @crisisgroup.org
Foreign correspondent covering East Asia in my previous life.
Email: wyang@crisisgroup.org
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- Personal news: Personal news: Following a months-long application process, I'm happy to announce that I'll start a new role as International Crisis Group's Senior Analyst on Northeast Asia on April 21.
- I’ll be based in Taipei and focus on analyzing regional geopolitical dynamics through the lens of conflict prevention and resolution.
- This is certainly an exciting yet challenging new chapter for me, as I make a transition from journalism to the policy world. I'm still grappling with the change of my professional identity, especially after I thought journalism was what I had set my heart on for the foreseeable future.
- As a friend who has recently shared, sometimes the hardest part of a career transition is saying bye to a chapter of your life that has defined who you are professionally. Hopefully, I will gradually learn the art of this challenging yet fascinating profession.
- Regional tensions over the South China Sea have tanked the sales of a popular children’s doll in Vietnam after it was put under investigation and accused of being unpatriotic because a design marking appeared to resemble China’s “nine-dash line”. www.theguardian.com/world/2025/m...
- The Baby Three doll is Chinese-made and had reportedly been hugely popular among children and Gen Z in Vietnam earlier this year. Between September, when it first gained popularity, and December the dolls reportedly generated US$1.6m in sales.
- However a suggestion that a heart-shaped design on one version of the doll looked like the controversial line that China’s government inserts on world maps to make a territorial claim over most the South China Sea sparked online backlash.
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View full threadNgoc Hang, a retailer in Ho Chi Minh City, told VN Express that her revenues had dropped by half after the government announced the inspections and penalties. “Consumers have called for boycotts, and I had to lower prices by 30-50% to liquidate my stocks.”
- #China's military said Sunday (Mar 9) it would tighten its "noose" around Taiwan if separatism over the island escalated, warning proponents to step back from the "edge of the cliff" or face a "dead end", state media reported. www.channelnewsasia.com/east-asia/ch...
- "The more rampant 'Taiwan independence' separatists become, the tighter the noose around their necks and the sharper the sword hanging over their heads will be," military spokesman Wu Qian said, Xinhua news agency reported.
- "The PLA (People's Liberation Army) is a force of action in countering separatism and promoting reunification," said Wu. "You've ridden your steed to the edge of the cliff. If you persist in taking the wrong course, you will meet a dead end," he warned.
- Calling the increase "limited... reasonable and stable", Wu said the extra cash would be used to develop "combat forces in new fields and with new qualities", and to enhance reconnaissance, joint strike and battlefield support capabilities.
- President Trump's dismantling of the U.S.-led global order has injected deep uncertainty — and perhaps fresh opportunity — into #China's timeline for a potential invasion of #Taiwan. www.axios.com/2025/03/08/t...
- S. officials have long been fixated on 2027 as the year Xi Jinping would be ready to move on Taiwan, citing military modernization goals tied to the 100th anniversary of the People's Liberation Army.
- "I never comment on that," Trump said this week when asked if it was his policy that China will never take Taiwan by force. "I don't want to comment on it because I don't want to ever put myself in that position."
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View full threadIn the words of Singapore's defense minister last month, America's image in the region "has changed from liberator to great disruptor to a landlord seeking rent."
- Thailand’s deportation of 40 Uighurs to #China last week was in the South-east Asian country’s best interest due to the possibility of retaliation from Beijing if the group was sent elsewhere, a Thai minister said on March 6. www.straitstimes.com/asia/se-asia...
- Thailand’s government has repeatedly defended the secretive deportation, which came despite calls from United Nations human rights experts who said the Uighurs would be at risk of torture, ill-treatment and “irreparable harm” if returned to China.
- Mr Russ Jalichandra, Thailand’s Vice-Minister for Foreign Affairs, in a statement on March 6, said some countries had offered to resettle the Uighurs, walking back previous comments by Thai officials that no such proposals had been made. He did not name the countries.
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View full thread“Thailand could face retaliation from China that would impact the livelihoods of many Thais,” he said, adding that sending the group to China was the “best option”. Mr Russ did not elaborate on the possible retaliation.
