Maxine greets us from her small apartment, decorated with flowers and a poster of herself. “If you ask me whether I feel like this is Laos or China, I feel like I’m living in China. There are so many Chinese people here,” she says as she brushes her long hair. Maxine, whose real name is Tong Tha, moved from Bangkok to the Laotian town of Boten a few years ago.
Ore Huiying is a documentary photographer from Singapore. Her practice revolves around storytelling, which she believes is basic to human beings. She grew up in rural Singapore, but was uprooted to an urban environment as her country underwent development. As a result, Ore is drawn to narratives of people and places affected by development, with a focus on Southeast Asia, a region she feels deeply for. In this close-knit community, less developed countries often look towards their more affluent neighbors for financial and developmental aid. Her fascination with this phenomenon of interconnectivity has motivated her to produce stories that question the concept of power, identity, and sovereignty in the region.
Ore was selected for the World Press Photo 6x6 Global Talent Program in 2018, which identifies and promotes six visual storytellers from each of the world’s six continents. In the same year, she won the top honor of the IPA award for her series on an abandoned Chinese casino town in Laos. Since 2010, her works have been exhibited in photo festivals, museums, and galleries regionally and internationally. In 2013, she was nominated for ICON de Martell Cordon Bleu, a photography award in Singapore that honors photographers’ original vision and dedication to their craft. Apart from working on personal projects, Ore does commissioned work for international publications like The New York Times, The Washington Post, Bloomberg, Le Monde, and Getty Images, as well as for NGOs and commercial clients.
Ore completed her Master of Arts in Photojournalism & Documentary Photography at London College of Communication in the United Kingdom in 2010. After three years working and living in London, she returned to Singapore.
Wan Man is a Singapore-based documentary film and photography director who travels extensively throughout the region. Recently he filmed, directed, and was the showrunner for Borderlands on CNA, a four-part documentary about people living on borders in Asia. The series was nominated for Best Documentary Series in the upcoming 2020 Asian Television Awards. He also filmed and directed Lionheart, a feature-length documentary on lion conservation in Africa for the History Channel. Over nearly two decades, Wan has shot and directed projects for the Discovery Channel, Arte France, Animal Planet, and BBC Worldwide. He is also an Expert Level 1 Krav Maga instructor with Krav Maga Global, and regularly teaches the Israeli fighting, self-defense, and third-party VIP protection system.
Liu Jie moved from Yunnan province in China to run a restaurant with his parents in Boten, April 13, 2019.
Maxine, or Tong Tha, a transgender cabaret performer from Thailand, in her apartment apartment in Boten, where she works for the Eccellente Cabaret, April 11, 2019.
Vath Sengmanivong, a local village elder, poses for a photo at his new house in New Boten, where he and many of the residents of the village were relocated due to the redevelopment project to make Boten a special economic zone, April 10, 2019.
Hong Kongers demonstrated about everything from the removal of hawkers selling fish balls during the Chinese New Year to fare increases on mass transit (which had also provoked protests under British rule). But mostly they have demonstrated against Beijing’s persistent attempts to erode Hong Kong’s autonomy. In 2003, protests erupted over a bill proposed by Hong Kong’s legislature that would have expanded the prosecution of treason, sedition, theft of state secrets, and subversion, essentially extending the mainland’s intolerance of dissent into Hong Kong. In 2012, students protested Beijing’s attempt to impose a pro–Chinese Communist Party curriculum on Hong Kong’s schools. In 2014, protesters flooded the streets after Beijing announced it would prescreen candidates running for chief executive—the head of Hong Kong’s government—and approve only those who would swear “to love the country.”
Among the central issues the incoming U.S. presidential administration will face as it formulates policy toward China is the interconnectedness between the two countries in the spheres of science and technology. U.S. concerns over national security, trade practices, intellectual property, espionage, transparency, and human rights all have contributed to calls for everything from a reassessment of the value of a global scientific commons to outright “decoupling” of scientific research and development between the two countries.
Is China or the U.S. ahead in artificial intelligence? What is the best way to counter security threats in 5G technology? How do we best maintain American leadership positions in fundamental research and biotechnology?
This report is the culmination of over a full year’s deliberation and study by the bipartisan Working Group on Science and Technology in U.S.-China Relations. It sets forth broad policy objectives as well as specific recommendations for the new U.S. administration in four domains of science and technology: fundamental research, 5G digital communications, artificial intelligence and biotechnology.
Arthur Bienenstock is Special Assistant to the President for Federal Research Policy at Stanford University, where he also is Associate Director of the Wallenberg Research Link and a Professor Emeritus of Photon Science. Having been a Stanford faculty member since 1967, he has served as Vice Provost for Faculty Affairs (1972-1977), Director of the Stanford Synchrotron Radiation Laboratory (1978-1997), and Vice Provost and Dean of Research and Graduate Policy (2003-2006). In Washington, he was Associate Director for Science of the Office of Science and Technology Policy (1997-2001) and is a member of the National Science Board (2012-present). He is presently co-chair, with Peter Michelson, of the Committee on International Scientific Partnerships of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences. Bienenstock was President of the American Physical Society in 2008 and chaired the Council of Scientific Society Presidents in 2010.
