Tara Francis Chan is an experienced international news editor and journalist, best-selling book editor, accomplished public speaker, and was a 2016 finalist for Young Journalist of the Year.
Her bylines have appeared in Fairfax Media, South China Morning Post, The Independent, Yahoo news, Inc., Entrepreneur, Science Alert, The Lancet, Task & Purpose, and the World Economic Forum. Her work has been cited in congressional hearings and rebuffed by Chinese state media.
At Business Insider she covers politics, culture, and foreign policy across the world, with a focus on the Asia Pacific and China.
Follow Tara on Twitter at @taramfrancis.
One out of every 10 people living in North Korea are forced into slavery, used to prop up the repressive regime and keep its population under tight control. According to the 2018 Global Slavery Index, more than 2.6 million North Koreans are subjected to forced labor and exploitation by the state.
Xinjiang is home to 1.5% of the China's population but accounted for one in five arrests in 2017. This didn't include the hundreds of thousands of people, possibly 1 million, who are being held in extrajudicial political 're-education camps' that some fear could become the scene of mass murders.
The family of former beauty queen Anastasia Lin has been continually threatened and prevented from travelling abroad because of Lin's decision to discuss Chinese human-rights issues. Police also take fruit and flower baskets to visit Lin's grandparents regularly in hopes of persuading them.
2018-07-30T20:53:21Z
After scrapping the "one-child policy" in 2016, China had hoped a baby boom would hit but women still aren't having children. Chinese provinces are now offering baby bonuses, wedding subsidies, and extra maternity and miscarriage prevention leave to lure women into parenthood.
2018-07-27T03:03:46Z
The woman was dragged away by plainclothes men who said they were dealing with a "family matter," but the woman yelled, "I do not know that man. I didn’t do anything! I was just a bystander!" Censorship of controversial thoughts and political incidents is common in China
2018-07-27T00:10:00Z
US airlines have dropped all references to Taiwan being a country, after demands from Beijing that the White House called "Orwellian." But the aviation authority said the change is "incomplete" and it may consider taking action against the carriers.
Gambling is banned in Japan, but pachinko parlours get around this by giving winners token prizes that can then be exchanged for cash. The industry accounts for nearly half of all leisure activities in Japan, and was traditionally run by Korean Japanese who were discriminated against elsewhere.
The list includes nearly every major airline plus Zara, Gap, Marriott, and Ray-Ban.
2018-07-24T03:54:02Z
In its opening weekend, "Skyscraper" brought in $48.4 million, but box-office fraud means ticket sales could be anywhere from 9% to 40% higher. Cinemas sometimes don't record ticket sales or entire screening sessions.
The military took power in 2014 and has since cracked down on human rights, banned public gatherings, censored media, and jailed critics. But the cave rescue mission helped show what the military, and thus the government, can accomplish ahead of elections next year.
"I think China, from a counterintelligence perspective, in many ways represents the broadest, most challenging, most significant threat we face as a country," FBI Director Christopher Wray said.
2018-07-19T02:44:49Z
Last year China banned group tourism to the small nations of Palau and the Vatican, both of which are diplomatic allies of Taiwan. In doing so, China is trying to exert influence over these countries in hope they'll abandon Taiwan.
2018-07-18T07:27:06Z
"I apologize to Mr. Unsworth and to the companies I represent as leader," Musk said on Twitter. "The fault is mine and mine alone." The diver Vernon Unsworth, who was involved in the Thai cave rescue mission, had said he was considering legal action over Musk's comment that he was a "pedo guy."
Photos show women having their dresses cut off to their hips while they're in the middle of the street. China subjects Uighurs to extreme rules in an effort to crack down on religious extremism.
A White House official said they had prepared for Trump to publicly "push" Putin and make himself "look good" in the process. "Obviously, it didn’t happen," the official said.
The father, surnamed Rao, had failed to repay a $29,900 loan and was added to a debtor blacklist that prevented a university from accepting his son. China is expected to roll out a national social credit system in 2020, which is expected to assign a 'trustworthiness' score to every citizen.
2018-07-16T01:58:00Z
US President Donald Trump must be firm, not friendly, when he meets with Russian President Vladimir Putin on Monday, according to former Ronald Reagan adviser Mark Weinberg. Importantly, he needs to address Putin as "Mr. President," and not "Vladimir."
2018-07-12T04:38:06Z
"I refuse to let Hollywood #whitewashout the Thai Cave rescue story!" said Jon M. Chu, director of "Crazy Rich Asians." Chu is in talks with studios and senior officials in Thailand to make a film about the rescue of 12 boys and their coach from a cave.
2018-07-11T10:41:53Z
A film producer in Thailand, Michael Scott, is already planning to secure exclusive rights to tell the heroic story of the rescue that saved 12 boys and their coach who were trapped in a cave. Christian movie studio Pure Flix considers the story one that could 'inspire millions.'
2018-07-11T06:20:03Z
"Saman once said we would never know when we would die. We can't control that so we need to cherish every day," his widow said. His family and former colleagues have praised the former Thai Navy SEAL as a charitable and adventurous man.