Jacob Crandall

30 years ago, the Filipino city of Davao was one of the most dangerous cities in the world. Between communist groups, Muslim separatists, and local corruption, Davao had a 3-digit crime rate per 10,000 people. Asia Week branded Davao as the “Murder City” in 1985. Today Davao has just landed in 5th spot on the safest city rankings behind Osaka, Seoul, Singapore, and Bursa. According to the Davao City official website:

Following the US global ban on Chinese tech-company Huawei, Malaysian Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad came out stating that Malaysia would continue to roll out the company’s 5G cellular expansion. Additionally, China is investing heavily into Malaysia’s infrastructure with their Belt and Road Initiative (BRI). The BRI is a global development strategy of China consisting of infrastructure development and heavy investments with 152 nations. The month following the 5G announcement, Malaysia accepted 12 surveillance drones from the US. Malaysia is hedging their options by attempting to continue their monetary access to Chinese investments while staying under the US security umbrella. Following talks with ASEAN last week, it is clear that China and the US want to flex their influence in Malaysia.

For years the United States and other Western countries sold millions of tons of used soda bottles, juice containers, shampoo bottles, and other plastics to be recycled into new products in China. At the end of 2018, China halted their imports of recyclables, creating a crisis for many Western countries. Often included in the shipments were western trash that could not be recycled. With cheap labor and relaxed environmental regulation, many of these factory owners moved shop to the Philippines, Thailand, Malaysia, and Vietnam. Some of the new recycling factories had authorized permits however many did not. Most of these transactions were private commercial transactions without the government’s consent. The factory owners did not have to pay to, “properly” dispose, of the trash that could not be recycled. Instead they would burn or dump the unrecyclable material. The incorrect disposal methods really took a toll on the communities and wildlife that were near the factories. Local communities took to the internet to complain and show the pollution that was happening.