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The number of Hong Kong people sleeping at McDonald's restaurants has increased almost sixfold since 2013.  People sleeping in McDonald's outlets, commonly known in Hong Kong as ' McSleepers ' or ' McRefugees ',  are a common sight in Hong Kong, where the presence of McSleepers is usually tolerated by employees.   According to a recent survey by the non-profit organization Junior Chamber International Tai Ping Shan, the number of McSleepers in Hong Kong has risen from 57 to 334 individuals over the period from 2013 to August 2018.  Embed from Getty Images In densely populated Hong Kong there are a a total of 116 McDonald's outlets open 24-hours: 30 in Hong Kong Island, 42 in Kowloon, 40 in the New Territories and 4 on the Outlying Islands. The American food chain provides not only cheap meals, but also free internet and air-conditioning, thus attracting customers from the city's poorest social groups.  Hong Kong-based Wenweipo re

On July 28 Taiwanese media reported that Vietnam had allowed the display of the Taiwanese flag in one of its industrial zones.  Kaiser 1 Furniture Industry, a Taiwanese-owned company based in My Phuoc industrial park , in southern Vietnam's Binh Duong province, had allegedly received permission from local authorities to fly the flag of the Republic of China (ROC, Taiwan) to distinguish itself from Chinese businesses.  After violent anti-China protests broke out in Vietnam in 2014, Taiwanese businesses were attacked by demonstrators, who mistook them for Chinese. In order to protect themselves in case of riots, Taiwanese firms requested to be allowed to fly their own flag. Last month Luo Tzu-wen, chairman of Kaiser Furniture, told Taiwanese media that he had been permitted to fly the Taiwanese flag.  Embed from Getty Images At a press conference held on July 30 Geng Shuang, a spokesperson for China 's Foreign Ministry, objected to Vietnam's move. "Ther

(Image by DrRandomFactor via Wikimedia Commons ) On August 3rd the State Council of the People's Republic of China (PRC) announced the Communist government's decision to abolish the "Work Permit For Taiwan, Hong Kong and Macau Employees On The Mainland" (台港澳人員在內地就業許可). Residents of Taiwan, Hong Kong and Macau will no longer be required to apply for permits to work in mainland China and will be able to seek employment without having to go through complex bureaucratic procedures. The move is part of China's carrot and stick approach towards Taiwan, which Beijing considers an integral part of its territory despite the fact that the PRC never exercised de jure or de facto control over the island. China claims that it will use force to bring about unification if all peaceful options are exhausted. At the same time, it tries to co-opt Taiwanese citizens using its status as an economic powerhouse. Taiwanese people working in China face pressur

Taiwanese actress Sung Yün-hua (宋芸樺) has apologized for calling Taiwan a "country" and said that China is her "motherland".  25-year-old Sung gained notoriety in mainland China with her role in the 2018 film Hello Mr. Billionaire (西虹市首富), but in recent days she has become the target of fierce criticism on the part of Chinese netizens for comments they deem unpatriotic.  In 2015 during an interviewed with Taiwan-based Ming Weekly  Sun was asked what her favourite country was. "My favourite country is Taiwan ," she replied. The video of that interview went viral days ago, causing an uproar among Chinese netizens.  宋芸樺為「最愛國家是台灣」道歉，滅火稱中國是我的祖國 #taiwan #宋芸樺 #Entertainment #china #中國 #台灣 →→ https://t.co/OuOQJUXQWk pic.twitter.com/P1Qm7WtyzY — 台灣蘋果日報 Taiwan News (@TW_nextmedia) August 2, 2018 China views Taiwan as part of its territory, and Beijing has not renounced the use of force to bring about " reunification ". Chinese c

On July 30 China's Foreign Ministry criticized the government in Taiwan denying entry an official Chinese delegation.  As Apple Daily reported, on July 19 a delegation from mainland China travelled to Taiwan  to attend the Digital Information Forum organized by the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) on July 19-20 in Taipei.  Taiwan's immigration authorities denied entry to the Chinese delegation, claiming that Beijing had failed to provide timely all the necessary information about the delegation's members. On July 29 the Taiwanese Foreign Ministry explained that the information had been supplied by China only after the delegation had boarded their plane.  The Taiwanese government stated that the immigration authorities could have processed the paperwork within 15 minutes, yet the Chinese delegation were incensed and refused to wait, so they decided to return to China.  Geng Shuang, a spokesperson for China's Foreign Ministry, said at a press c

Rumours about the arrest of Chinese model and actress Fan Bingbing on charges of tax evasion have spread on Chinese media. As Apple Daily reports, celebrity Fan Bingbing and her younger brother Fan Chengcheng have allegedly been detained for taking part in a tax evasion scheme alongside her manager, Mu Xiaoguang. Mu has also allegedly been charged with destroying incriminating evidence. On May 28 TV anchor Cui Yongyuan posted on Weibo a contract that showed Fan Bingbing being paid $1.56 million (RMB10 million) for four days’ work on director Feng Xiaogang's film “Cell Phone 2.”  Later Cui released another contract worth $7.8 million (RMB50 million) for the same work. He alleged that Fan had declared to tax authorities only the first contract, thus avoiding to pay taxes on the second, larger amount.  Double-contracts for the purpose of tax evasion are known in China as "yin-yang contracts".  Although the Chinese government censored Cui's p

On September 24, 2017, scuffles erupted between pro-independence and pro-China demonstrators on the campus of National Taiwan University (NTU) during the Sing! China: Shanghai-Taipei Music Festival .  The event, co-sponsored by a mainland Chinese reality show and the Taipei Department of Cultural Affairs, was part of the memorandums of understanding on cultural and arts events signed by Shanghai and Taipei.  Pro-independence supporters viewed the music festival as a covert tactic by the Chinese Communist regime to promote their " reunification " political agenda. Students organized protests against the event, but pro-China groups intervened and clashes broke out between the two sides.  Members of the Party for the Promotion of Chinese Unification (中華統一促進黨, PPCU),  founded by the notorious Taiwanese gangster Chang An-lo, attacked pro-independence students. Three people were injured.  Embed from Getty Images In December of last year the Taipei District Prosecu

Poland is considering taking in more immigrant labour. The ruling right-wing Law and Justice party , however, wants to open up the country only to Christian workers.  Poland is one of Europe's most anti-immigrant countries. A survey released last December by the Polish Centre for Public Opinion Research (CBOS) showed that 63% of respondents did not want to receive refugees, while only 33% were in favour. The Polish government has refused to accept any refugees under the quota system set by the European Commission. The anti-immigration sentiment of the majority of the Polish population is directed mostly against Muslims.  Embed from Getty Images Although it refuses to take in refugees, Poland suffers from a severe labour shortage  and is in desperate need of foreign workers to sustain economic development. According to a survey conducted in January by Work Service SA, half of Polish companies cannot fill vacancies, and almost two-thirds of public-sector employers are s

In 2014 anti-China riots erupted in Vietnam , resulting in over a dozen casualties. Thousands of demonstrators burnt and ransacked factories which they believed to be Chinese property.  The protests were sparked by a diplomatic incident following Beijing 's announcement on May 3 that it was planning to move its first deep-water drilling rig into a location 240 kilometers (150 miles) off Vietnam’s coast, an area which both countries claim as part of their territory. On May 4 a spokesperson for Vietnam’s Foreign Ministry criticized the move, saying that the oil rig was within Vietnam’s exclusive economic zone and continental shelf. “All activities of foreign countries in Vietnam’s waters without Vietnam’s permission are illegal and worthless," he stated.  Embed from Getty Images Many Vietnamese were furious about what they perceived as Chinese aggression. Both China and Vietnam are Communist dictatorships. However, in the wake of market-oriented reforms nation

On July 16 the Hong Kong police notified Andy Chan Ho-tin (陳浩天), the founder and leader of the Hong Kong National Party (香港民族黨, HKNP), that his party might be banned  for threatening China's "national security."  Hong Kong Secretary of Security John Lee Ka-chiu (李家超) said at a press conference that any Hong Kong-based society may be banned in order to protect national security and public order, or to protect the rights and freedoms of others. Protecting national security means safeguarding the territorial integrity and sovereignty of the People's Republic of China, he added.  Embed from Getty Images Andy Chan was given 21 days to submit a written reply to the Secretary of Security, explaining why the HKNP should not be outlawed.  On July 26 Mr. Chan told Hong Kong-based newspaper HK01 that the previous day he had sent a letter to the Security Bureau (保安局) requesting to be given 2 months, instead of only 21 days, to respond to the government.  H

The government in Taipei has expressed its determination to stand up to China after 44 airlines  bowed to pressure from Beijing and stopped listing Taiwan as a separate country.  On July 25 Chinese Communist Party (CCP) newspaper  People's Daily announced that American Airlines, United, Delta, Hong Kong-based Cathay Pacific as well as forty other airlines had complied with a request filed by the Civil Aviation Administration of China  on April 25 to list Taiwan, Hong Kong and Macau as part of Chinese territory.    Embed from Getty Images American Airlines spokeswoman Shannon Gilson told the BBC that the company was implementing changes to address China 's request. "Air travel is global business, and we abide by the rules in countries where we operate," she stated. In a written statement Cathay Pacific explained that as an airline registered and based in the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region (HKSAR) of the People's Republic of China (PRC) it

"The Wealth of the Nation" by Seymour Fogel via Wikimedia Commons In his bestseller Free to Choose economist Milton Friedman offered a vision of American economic history that revolved around the idea of freedom. He wrote: "Ever since the first settlements of Europeans in the New World America has been a magnet for people seeking adventure, fleeing from tyranny, or simply trying to make a better life for themselves and their children ... When they arrived, they did not find streets paved with gold; they did not find an easy life. They did find freedom and an opportunity to make the most of their talents. Through hard work, ingenuity, thrift, and luck, most of them succeeded ... "The story of the United States is the story of an economic miracle and a political miracle that was made possible by the translation into practice of two sets of ideas .... One [of them] was embodied in the Wealth of Nations, the masterpiece [by] Adam Smith [w

A Chinese woman has been allegedly taken to a psychiatric hospital after she splashed ink on a poster of President Xi Jinping. Dong Yaoqiong, a 29-year-old Chinese woman from Hunan Province, hit the headlines on July 4 after she live-streamed herself  splashing ink on a poster of the country's leader in Shanghai. In the video, which she posted on Twitter and soon went viral, she said that she opposed Xi Jinping's despotic one-man rule and the Communist Party's oppressive mind control.  Another tweet sent later that day from her account showed three police officers, two uniformed and one in plainclothes, standing outside her home. Dong subsequently disappeared, and her Twitter account under the handle @feefeefly was deactivated. In the meantime her account has been reactivated, but only the posts prior to the ink-spraying video are visible.  Embed from Getty Images On July 18 authorities in China 's Guangdong Province detained artist and political acti