Foreign Digest: China, Philippines, Japan, the European Union, Measles Outbreak

China, Philippines and Japan: There have been more Communist Chinese incursions into Filipino territory and hostile acts against the Philippines. Communist China claims nearly all the South China Sea, even though its claim was rejected by an international court of arbitration in 2016. The Spratly Islands and the mineral-rich waters around them are contested by China/Taiwan, the Philippines, Vietnam and Malaysia, each of which maintains a presence in at least one island. There were also Chinese incursions last week into the territory around the Senkaku Islands disputed between Japan and China. The United States last week warned Communist China against provocative moves. Meanwhile, there were unfree elections in Hong Kong, as only candidates loyal to Peking are allowed to be elected, as China has been violating its promise of autonomy for the territory, in exchange for British relinquishment of control in 1997. The European Union: The European Union took steps last week toward expanding its membership beyond its 27 current member States. The EU opened negotiations for membership with Ukraine and Moldova, approved candidate status for Georgia and will open negotiations with Bosnia Herzegovina once it reaches the necessary degree of conformity to the membership criteria. The negotiations are a morale boost especially for Ukraine, currently under invasion by the Russian Federation, as Ukrainians have preferred commerce with Europe and the West over Russia, and also for Moldova, in which Russia maintains troops in a breakaway territory against its wishes and which fears a fuller-scale Russian invasion. Russian tyrant Vladimir Putin, an ex-Soviet intelligence officer, wishes to restore the Soviet Union. Ukraine and Moldova are former Soviet Republics. Measles Outbreak: There is currently an outbreak of tens of thousands of cases of measles in Central Asia and Eastern Europe. Kazakhstan and Romania have been particularly hard-hit, with the latter declaring an epidemic. Measles had nearly been eradicated in the Americas and Europe, but as I have been posting, vaccine hesitancy has increased vulnerability to the disease, leading to occasional outbreaks, including in America, and even sometimes other diseases that became rare, like mumps and diphtheria. Conspiracy theorists on the far left, the far right and libertarians oppose vaccination, or at least vaccine mandates, despite their efficacy and safety.