The United States said Thursday that China’s rapid buildup of its nuclear forces was concerning and called on Beijing to engage with it “on practical measures to reduce the risks of destabilizing arms races.”The buildup has become more apparent, and it appears China was deviating from decades of nuclear strategy based around minimal deterrence, State Department spokesperson Ned Price told a regular news briefing.Price was responding to a question about a report in The Washington Post that said China had begun constructing more than 100 new missile silos in a desert area in the western part of the country.”These reports and other developments suggest that the PRC’s nuclear arsenal will grow more quickly, and to a higher level than perhaps previously anticipated,” Price said using the acronym for the People’s Republic of China.”This buildup is concerning. It raises questions about the PRC’s intent. And for us, it reinforces the importance of pursuing practical measures to reduce nuclear risks,” he said.”We encourage Beijing to engage with us on practical measures to reduce the risks of destabilizing arms races, potentially destabilizing tensions.”Price added that this was why President Joe Biden had prioritized strategic stability in his engagement with Russian President Vladimir Putin, and he added: “The same rationale would apply to engagement with another nuclear power, the PRC.”Price also said that Washington had “taken note” of remarks by Chinese leader Xi Jinping at a ceremony marking the 100th anniversary of the founding of the Chinese Communist Party on Thursday but was “not going to comment on the specifics.In his address, Xi warned that foreign forces attempting to bully China would “get their heads bashed” and pledged to build up its military. He also committed to the “reunification” of Taiwan and said social stability would be ensured in Hong Kong while protecting China’s security and sovereignty.The Washington Post report cited commercial satellite images and analysis from the James Martin Center for Nonproliferation Studies in Monterey, California.It said the 119 nearly identical construction sites contained features that mirrored existing launch facilities for China’s existing arsenal of nuclear-tipped ballistic missiles.In a 2020 report to Congress, the Pentagon estimated China’s nuclear warhead stockpile in “the low 200s” and said it was projected to at least double in size as Beijing expands and modernizes its forces. Analysts say the United States has around 3,800 warheads, and according to a State Department factsheet, 1,357 of those were deployed as of March 1.Washington has repeatedly called on China to join it and Russia in a new arms control treaty and the U.S. disarmament ambassador said in May that Beijing was resisting this despite the buildup in its arsenal.Beijing says its arsenal is dwarfed by those of the United States and Russia and it is ready to conduct bilateral dialogs on strategic security “on the basis of equality and mutual respect.”Non-proliferation experts said this year China’s push to develop fuel for a new generation of nuclear power reactors will produce large amounts of materials that could be diverted to making nuclear weapons.  
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The suspicious death in December 2020 of a Uyghur plant biology researcher at a detention facility in Xinjiang has drawn attention on social media.Mihriay Erkin, 29, left her job at Japan’s Nara Technology and Science Institute in June 2019 and returned to China over concerns about the safety of her parents in Xinjiang. She was arbitrarily detained and sent to the Yanbulaq detention center in Kashgar in February 2020.Her relatives blame Chinese authorities for her death, which they say they learned about only recently. China denies all allegations pertaining to the persecution of Uyghurs and calls the internment camps “vocational institutes” that deradicalize extremists.“I learned the news almost six months after my niece Mihriay was killed by Chinese authorities, but I still don’t know if she has an actual grave or not,” said Abduweli Ayup,  Erkin’s uncle and a Norway-based Uyghur rights activist.Ayup launched a social media campaign last week with Uyghur activists to highlight Erkin and demand that China disclose the circumstances surrounding her death.Father, aunt detainedMihriay Erkin’s father, Erkin Ayup, a former Chinese government official, and her aunt, Sajidigul Ayup, a former high school teacher, had been detained by Chinese authorities for almost two years in Xinjiang when Mihriay decided to leave Japan in 2019.The oldest of two siblings, Erkin moved to Japan in 2014 to pursue a master’s degree in plant biology at Tokyo University.Abduweli Ayup said he warned Erkin against returning to Xinjiang, but she ignored the advice after local Chinese police used her mother to lure her back. Her last words to him before she left were, “If I die, if I have a grave, a bouquet of peonies will mark my grave.””My niece died in [a] detention center, and her father and aunt were sentenced to 12 and 14 years in prison,” he said. He added that it was unclear whether Erkin’s mother and brother were also detained, as he has lost contact with them.Beijing’s Persecution of Uyghurs Reaches Nearly 30 Countries, Report FindsNew study indicates Beijing has stepped up persecution of Uyghurs overseas since 2017According to a report July 10 by Amnesty International, China’s extreme measures toward Uyghurs and other Muslim minority groups in Xinjiang constitute “crimes against humanity.”“Chinese authorities have built one of the world’s most sophisticated surveillance systems and a vast network of hundreds of grim ‘transformation-through-education’ centers — actually, internment camps — throughout Xinjiang,” the report said. During a news conference in Beijing on June 11, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Wang Wenbin accused the watchdog organization of misleading the public through “lies” about Xinjiang.“Its so-called report is like adding one more page to its ‘record of lies,’” Wang said about the Amnesty International report.Neither Wang nor any Xinjiang official has responded to Uyghur activists’ requests for information about how Erkin died in detention.Diaspora targetedRushan Abbas, an American Uyghur rights activist and executive director of the Washington-based Campaign for Uyghurs, told VOA that Erkin’s fate marked a growing push by Beijing to target Uyghur diaspora members who speak up about Xinjiang human rights violations.“My heart breaks for Mihriay, for Abduweli, and for the millions of Uyghurs around the world who are facing these same fears and trials,” Abbas told VOA.Her sister, Gulshan Abbas, a retired doctor in China, was arbitrarily detained and sentenced to 20 years in prison in 2019.“I am scared for my sister and pray that she is staying strong, but that love I have for my sister and for my people fuels me with strength to fight harder,” Abbas said.According to a joint report recently published by the Oxus Society for Central Asian Affairs and the Uyghur Human Rights Project, many diaspora Uyghurs have been encouraged to return home by the government via messages on WeChat or phone calls from relatives, only to be arrested upon arrival.
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It is one of the dining capitals of the world, but Bangkok’s foodie reputation is now hanging by a thread as the coronavirus devastates the city’s restaurant scene – the damage seen in for sale signs on the street and desperate Facebook posts from chefs lamenting closures.Bo.lan, Chu and Soul Food Mahanakorn are city favorites all wiped out by a virus which bit deep into restaurant revenue during the first lockdown in April 2020, but 15 months later has killed off the businesses, which struggled through relentless restrictions on the hospitality industry.On June 27, the Thai government banned all indoor dining in Bangkok and surrounding provinces, in a bid to stamp out the gravest round of the virus, which has left more than 2,000 dead and infected around 230,000 others since April.Just one week before, restaurants celebrated after being told they could extend opening hours until 11p.m. local time – although a months-long alcohol ban was still formally in place.  “First to be shot, last to be tended to,” Michelin-recognized chef Chalee Kader of 100 Mahaseth restaurant posted on Facebook in early May, referring to the instant damage of restrictions to the food and beverage sector – which has received little state aid amid the pandemic. A Michelin ranking refers to the rating given a restaurant on quality.“The service industry does not deserve to be left to bleed to death like this. We need help, REAL HELP, and we need it now.”The impassioned plea has echoed across an Asian city defined by its food, from roof-top fine dining to Michelin-starred crab omelettes dished out at street side stalls.  Across the country, 50,000 establishments were already in deep trouble before the latest round of restrictions took a toll on the economy in April, according to the Thai Restaurant Association.For Chirayu Na Ranong, chef and owner of downtown brunch spot Chu, the pileup of rent, the absence of customers and lack of government help meant closure of his flagship branch in the Asoke section of Bangkok.  “What could have saved my business is if the government had taken some responsibility during any of these lockdowns?” he said while speaking with VOA News.The food scene faces major changes, owners say, with big chains poised to pick up stricken businesses in prime locations and hollow out Bangkok’s eclectic and affordable mid-range restaurants.  “I think more businesses like ours will look to downsize and definitely move out of the big complexes with high rents,” Chirayu added.Employees are seen packing items inside Chu Chocolate Bar & Cafe, a day after it permanently closed, in Bangkok, Thailand, June 1, 2021.Last supper?
Restaurant owners have heaped scorn on the government of Prime Minister Prayuth Chan-O-Cha for failing to float a lucrative hospitality sector through the pandemic despite it accounting for around 20 percent of Thai GDP and providing hundreds of thousands of jobs across the country.“We are pretty much left to fend for ourselves,” said Noomie Tiwutanond, co-owner of Bitterman in Bangkok’s Silom neighborhood.“You can’t plan your business… every time you open back up, you run your expenses, whether it’s cost of goods, overhead expenses, rent. But you’re never given enough time to recover.”Under a barrage of complaints, the government last week set aside the equivalent of $235 million to help ease the impact of the latest restrictions in place until at least the end of July.Staff will be compensated up to $233 for one month, while owners will receive about $90 per employee over the period.  Because they are limited to take-out with no alcohol sales, which account for one-third of revenue, restaurants are facing oblivion.Prayuth’s government has been accused of doing too little too late.  “If you can’t do your job then get out because real people and real lives are affected here” Noomie added.For U.S. state of Pennsylvania-born Jarrett Wrisley, owner of Soul Food Mahanakorn, which has closed, the halcyon days of a city that pulled talented chefs making high quality, affordable food have been brought to a brutal end by the new restrictions.“There’s been no economic stimulus package for restaurants. There has been no rent relief; they haven’t given any debt relief,” he told VOA.  “At the top of a political chain in Thailand, it’s extremely chaotic,” Wrisley added.
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The decision by Myanmar’s junta leader Min Aung Hlaing to visit Russia before next-door neighbor China highlights his military’s easier relations with Moscow and hopes of drawing the Kremlin closer to avoid relying on Beijing alone, analysts say. Min Aung Hlaing visited Russia last week for a three-day international security conference.   China and Russia have been the junta’s most powerful allies since the military, or Tatmadaw, toppled Myanmar’s democratically elected government four months ago. Amid international rebuke of the military’s bloody crackdown on peaceful protests, Beijing and Moscow have blocked efforts in the United Nations Security Council to pressure the junta to back down. The two are also Myanmar’s main arms suppliers.   As a neighbor, China has the far older, deeper and intricate ties to Myanmar. It is the country’s top trade partner and a major investor. Myanmar also figures large in Beijing’s sprawling Belt and Road Initiative, offering China a new route to the Indian Ocean and vital oil and gas supplies in the Middle East.   Instead of making Beijing his first stop outside of Southeast Asia since the coup, though, Min Aung Hlaing headed to Moscow on June 20 for the security conference. The visit included meetings with Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu and Security Council Secretary Nikolai Patrushev.   Those who watch Myanmar closely were not surprised by the choice.   “Moscow’s support for the new regime has been unequivocal and the junta chief was assured of a warm welcome from a major international power and the opportunity to discuss expanding military and economic cooperation,” said Anthony Davis, a Bangkok-based security analyst with Janes defense publications.   “The relationship with China has been far testier given Beijing’s dissatisfaction over the chaos triggered by the coup, and longstanding Tatmadaw suspicion over Chinese goals and support for certain ethnic insurgent groups,” he said.   Foul weather friend Smuggling, gambling operations and weapons flows between southern China and northeast Myanmar have been helping prop up ethnic minority rebel armies fighting the Tatmadaw for autonomy along the border for decades, a major thorn in the military’s side. Last year Min Aung Hlaing openly complained about a “foreign country” backing some of the rebels.   “Though he did not mention the name of this country, it was automatically known that he referred to China,” said Ye Myo Hein, who heads the Tagaung Institute for Political Studies, a Myanmar think tank.   He noted too that Min Aung Hlaing was speaking to Russian state media on a trip to Russia.   FILE – Commander-in-Chief of Myanmar’s armed forces, Senior General Min Aung Hlaing delivers his speech at the IX Moscow conference on international security in Moscow, June 23, 2021. (AP Photo/Alexander Zemlianichenko, Pool)As both a neighbor and big investor, China is also far more worried than Russia about the violence and economic nosedive the February 1 coup has sparked or inflamed, he added. Financial forecasters say Myanmar’s gross domestic product may plummet by as much as 20% this year. Assassinations and bomb attacks targeting government administrators and facilities are tearing through the country, while long-dormant standoffs between the Tatmadaw and some rebel armies have flared up.   Ye Myo Hein said Min Aung Hlaing traveled to Russia before China to avoid the added pressure that would come with a trip to Beijing to stick to a five-point plan for saving Myanmar from collapse drawn up by the Association of Southeast Asian Nations.   “He knows China will not give blank check support, which the coup leaders will not be happy about. China has a great deal of concern with instability and the spillover effects in neighboring countries. That’s why it is pushing the five-point consensus from ASEAN, but the junta has not been ready to follow it,” he said.   Min Aung Hlaing reportedly agreed to the plan during a special meeting of the bloc in Jakarta in April, including an immediate end to violence and negotiations with “all parties concerned,” but has shown no sign of following though since then.   Balancing Beijing Davis said Russia also offers Myanmar “a critical great-power counterbalance to the sort of over-reliance on Beijing seen in the 1990s.”   Min Aung Hlaing’s decision to attend the security conference in Moscow rather than send a representative may signal his interest to draw Russia even closer, said Moe Thuzar, a Myanmar analyst at Singapore’s Institute of Southeast Asian Studies.   “So the decision to make Russia the destination of his first visit out of the region would be motivated by Min Aung Hlaing’s interest to seek more legitimacy and more strategic support, and present that balancing and diversification element to existing relations with China,” she said.   To date, Russia has filled that role largely as an arms supplier, and an ever more important one. The Tatmadaw has bought more military hardware from China over its history. In the past two decades, though, it has sourced nearly as much from Russia as from China, according to data collected by the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute.   The same data show the Tatmadaw lately turning to Russia mainly for airpower, from surface-to-air missiles to helicopters and fighter jets. Davis said Russian hardware’s superior quality and competitive prices make them a better deal than their Chinese alternatives, and that the Tatmadaw’s possible purchase of more planes and armored vehicles — and interest in Kilo-class submarines — could soon make Russia Myanmar’s top arms supplier. Whether that happens will depend in large part on how much the junta can afford as the economy tumbles, he added.   Those financial woes are also why Min Aung Hlaing wants to move relations with Russia beyond the military-to-military level they are mostly at now, said Ye Myo Hein.   With Western governments imposing targeted sanctions and foreign companies holding off on new deals, he said the junta “urgently needs more investment as the economy is tremendously going down. Currently there will be investment only from China, and I think the junta is trying to invite more investments from other countries,” Russia included.   Value systems Ye Myo Hein said the junta will entice Russia with the promise of more weapons sales and may even offer up Myanmar’s ports for calls from Russia’s navy on any forays it makes into the Indian Ocean.   Ian Storey, another analyst at the Institute of Southeast Asian Studies, said Russia would like to expand its presence in the ocean, having forged close security ties with India but has few friendly ports along the way from Vladivostok on Russia’s east coast. He said a reliable stop in Myanmar would help but added the limited number of warships in the Russian navy’s Western Pacific fleet would keep those trips modest “for the foreseeable future.”   The Russian navy may send the odd ship or two into the Indian Ocean using Myanmar as a stepping stone, but not in any numbers to shift the balance of power there, said Eugene Rumer, a Russia expert at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace in Washington.   He said Russia’s naval ambitions will remain elsewhere, including the north Atlantic and northeast Pacific.   Rumer said Moscow will seek some business concessions for the diplomatic cover it gives Myanmar’s junta but, like others, he does not expect Russia to prove the economic lifeline the junta may be looking for.   Analysts say that role will continue to go mainly to China.   What the junta does also offer Russia is another chance to chip away at the West’s push for an international relations regime based on democratic values, said Rumer. By coming to the aid of pariah states from Venezuela to Zimbabwe, and now Myanmar, he said Moscow hopes to advance a regime void of those values, much in line with Beijing.   “It undercuts U.S. insistence on values as being a major aspect of our foreign policy,” he said. “The flip side of it is that it helps show that the United States is not omnipotent; it brings it down a peg or two. And it brings Russia and China closer together, something that [Russian President Vladimir] Putin has made part of his foreign policy priorities.”  
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Chinese President Xi Jinping marked the 100th anniversary of the ruling Communist Party Thursday with a warning that attempts to “bully” his country will end in bloodshed.   Hundreds of people gathered in Beijing’s Tiananmen Square to witness an elaborate ceremony on the landmark event, including an spectacular aerobatics show staged by dozens of helicopters and fighter jets.  A screen shows Chinese President Xi Jinping speak during a ceremony to mark the 100th anniversary of the founding of the ruling Chinese Communist Party at Tiananmen Square in Beijing Thursday, July 1, 2021. (AP Photo/Ng Han Guan)Wearing a buttoned-up jacket similar to that worn by party founder Mao Zedong, Xi told the audience the party had achieved its primary goal of building a moderately prosperous society over its century of existence.  “The Communist Party of China and Chinese people solemnly declare to the world with their brave and tenacious struggle that the Chinese nation has ushered in a great leap from standing up, gaining wealth, to growing strong, with the realization of the great rejuvenation of the Chinese nation entering an irreversible historical process,” Xi said. The Chinese Communist Party at 100: Hopes and DisappointmentsFrom a small group of idealists, the party with 92 million members today oversees the world’s second-largest economy and the world’s biggest surveillance stateXi said the Chinese people “have never bullied, oppressed or enslaved the peoples of other countries, not in the past, not now, and not in the future,” an apparent rebuke of international accusations of Beijing’s brutal treatment of ethnic Uyghurs in Xinjiang and its increasingly stifling  grip on Hong Kong.   He warned, though, that China would also “never allow any foreign forces to bully, oppress or enslave us,” adding that anyone who tried will end up with broken heads and bloodshed “in front of the Great Wall of steel” built by China’s 1.4 billion people.   Xi pledged to continue China’s massive military build-up and to seek peaceful reunification with self-ruled Taiwan, calling on “compatriots on both sides of the Taiwan Strait” to work together and “resolutely crush any ‘Taiwan independence’ plots.” China’s Communist Party took over the mainland in 1949 when it forced Chiang Kai-shek’s Nationalist forces to flee to Taiwan to end the civil war.  Despite Taiwan’s self-rule, Beijing claims the island is part of its territory and even vowed to use force to bring it under its control.      Xi and the party are riding high as China continues its swift recovery from the COVID-19 outbreak and takes a more assertive stance on the global stage.  However, the government is facing a worsening demographic outlook that imperils long-term economic growth.  
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