SIBOLANGIT, INDONESIA — A landslide triggered by torrential rains in Indonesia’s Sumatra island killed at least seven people, officials said on Thursday, adding to the death toll from landslides in the region this week.

Rescuers recovered the bodies of the victims, including a driver and passengers, from a tourist bus that was covered by trees, mud and rocks on the road from the capital, Medan, to Berastagi in Indonesia’s North Sumatra province. The route is the main access from Medan to other districts.

The bus was among vehicles that had been cut off by landslides on the road since Wednesday morning.

More than 10 people were also injured and have been evacuated to the hospital in Medan.

Muji Ediyanto, traffic director of the North Sumatra Regional Police, said in a video message distributed by Indonesia’s National Search and Rescue Agency on Thursday said that some vehicles remain trapped between the landslide locations along that road.

“It will take at least two days to evacuate them from the landslide. Several vehicles are still trapped by piles [from the] landslides. There are also fallen trees at several points … and the vehicles have not been able to get out of the locations,” Ediyanto said.

Earlier this week, 20 people died after flash floods and landslides at four locations in the mountainsides of North Sumatra province, including in Karo regency, which is located less than 20 kilometers from the most-recent landslide location.

Seasonal rains from around October through to March frequently cause flooding and landslides in Indonesia, an archipelago of 17,000 islands where millions of people live in mountainous areas or near fertile flood plains.
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Taipei, Taiwan — Taiwan President Lai Ching-te will kick off on Saturday a week-long overseas trip to visit the island’s three diplomatic allies in the Pacific region, marking his first diplomatic tour since taking office in May.

The visit will include stops in the Marshall Islands, Tuvalu, and Palau, as well as stopovers in U.S. territories such as Hawaii and Guam. It comes as China continues to expand its influence in the Pacific region. Analysts say the trip can help consolidate Taiwan’s diplomatic ties with the three Pacific Island countries.

“The Pacific Islands region has been the site of intense geopolitical competition in recent years and we have seen three of Taiwan’s original diplomatic partners [in the region, including Solomon Islands, Kiribati, and Nauru,] switching recognition to China since 2019,” said Mihai Sora, director of the Pacific Islands program at Lowy Institute in Australia.

He said as China continues to use “a range of coercive tactics and incentives” to pressure Taiwan’s remaining diplomatic allies in the Pacific to switch recognition to Beijing, Lai’s trip will play an important role in delivering Taiwan’s commitments to these three countries.

“As the number of countries recognizing Taiwan becomes fewer, each diplomatic partner becomes more important for Taiwan,” Sora told VOA in a video interview.

Palauan President Surangel Whipps Jr., who was re-elected earlier this month, said the Chinese government had tried to use tourism to incentivize him to sever diplomatic ties with Taiwan.

“The Chinese ambassador to Cambodia once called me to say that China had more tourists than Taiwan so I should denounce Taiwan and go with China because that would get me millions of tourists and the Chinese would also build new hotels that Palau needs,” Whipps Jr. told VOA during an interview in Palau last month.

China views Taiwan as an inalienable part of its territory that must one day be reunited with mainland China. Beijing also opposes any form of official interaction between Taiwan and other countries.

In response to Lai’s upcoming trip, Chinese foreign ministry spokesperson Lin Jian said if Lai attempts to use the trip to provoke China it “will lead nowhere.”

“We urge relevant countries to see clearly the trend of history at an early date, and make the right decision that truly serves their fundamental and long-term interests,” Lin Jian said during a regular press conference on November 22. 

Reuters news agency reported on Wednesday that China may launch a new round of military drills near Taiwan as a response to Lai’s Pacific tour, citing unnamed Taiwanese and regional security officials.

In response to the report, Taiwanese Foreign Minister Lin Chia-lung on Thursday urged China not to “overreact” to Lai’s trip to the Pacific. On the same day, Taiwan’s military held an early morning air defense drill to test its response and engagement procedures. 

Focus on maritime security and public health

Lai will be accompanied by key cabinet members overseeing maritime affairs and public health during the trip.

Experts say since maritime surveillance, maritime domain awareness, and public health are all critical issues for Pacific Island nations, the makeup of Lai’s delegation suggests Taiwan has identified these issues as areas where Taiwan can contribute.

“Maritime domain security is such an important topic for Palau and Marshall Islands, as Palau’s president Surangel Whipps Jr. talked about incursions into Palau’s territorial waters by Chinese research vessels on several occasions, and it seems that Taiwan thinks it can play a role [in that space,]” said Henryk Szadziewski, an expert on Pacific affairs at the University of Hawaii at Manoa.

In addition to maritime security and health, Szadziewski says climate financing and economic livelihoods are also areas in which Taiwan can support its Pacific allies. “The Marshall Islands and Tuvalu are significantly under threat from the climate crisis and I think Taiwan can help with the climate financing that the region sorely needs,” he told VOA by phone.

Palau and Marshall Islands both receive significant economic support from the U.S. under the Compacts of Free Association, or COFA. Australia is also assisting Tuvalu in climate adaptation through the Falepili Union treaty, which would allow Tuvalu citizens to live in Australia under a special visa.

Under COFA, the U.S. provides economic aid worth billions of dollars, while Palau, the Marshall Islands, and the Federated States of Micronesia give the U.S. exclusive military access to their land, water, and airspace, as well as the right to deny China access to their ports and territorial waters.

Since Palau and the Marshall Islands are both part of the Second Island Chain, which plays a key role in connecting the U.S. forces in Hawaii and Guam, analysts say ensuring these countries have strong defense and security relationships with Washington and Taiwan is strategically important to the U.S.

Sora in Australia said since these agreements make Washington and Canberra the main development partners for Taiwan’s three Pacific allies, it creates “a permissive environment” that allows Taiwan to contribute to larger development projects in those countries.

“Taiwan can provide targeted, effective, and useful assistance but it’s not relied upon as the main development partner. It’s very important that the larger countries are also involved in those countries,” he told VOA.

However, other experts say Taiwan should still avoid purely counting on support from the U.S. and Australia to maintain ties with Pacific allies.

“The willingness for the U.S. and Australia to burden share in these Pacific countries certainly benefits Taiwan now, but Taiwan needs to develop a strategy if both governments opt to focus their attention elsewhere,” Timothy Rich, a political scientist at Western Kentucky University, told VOA in a written response.

Since China has redirected large amounts of aid to the Pacific since 2022, making it the second largest donor in the region, analysts say Beijing will keep looking for opportunities to influence Taiwan’s Pacific allies.

“China will be looking for opportunities to persuade these countries to adopt a relationship with Beijing in preference to one with Taiwan, and they will use a combination of carrots and sticks to achieve this goal,” Tess Newton Cain, an adjunct associate professor at Griffith Asia Institute in Australia, told VOA in a video interview.

To cope with China’s ongoing attempt to drive a wedge between Taiwan and its Pacific allies, Sora said Taipei should “consistently be present in terms of its activities on the ground and in terms of servicing the political relationship.”
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BEIJING — China repatriated 240 arrested Chinese gambling and fraud suspects from Cambodia on Thursday, with some 500 more expected to be escorted back, Chinese state media said, as Beijing stepped up a years-long effort to combat Chinese organized crime in Southeast Asia.

The arrested group constituted the second batch China has chartered planes to repatriate from Cambodia after a first round in April when more than 680 were escorted back, China’s national television broadcaster CCTV reported.

As part of efforts to stem cross-border online gambling and fraud carried out through telecom networks, China periodically has partnered with neighbors such as Cambodia, Myanmar and the Philippines to nab Chinese suspects and have them brought back to China.

The latest deportation follows a week after China and Myanmar dismantled large telecom fraud centers in northern Myanmar, with over 53,000 Chinese nationals arrested since a campaign to combat such fraud began last year.

In September, China and Cambodia strengthened their cooperation against gambling and fraud, signing agreements to enhance law enforcement collaboration and fight Chinese organized crime in the Southeast Asian country.

In 2019, Cambodia banned online gambling, targeting particularly Chinese-run operations that had sprung up in the southern coastal city of Sihanoukville.

“The public security authorities will continue to deepen law enforcement cooperation with relevant countries and regions, carry out focused crackdowns, resolutely dismantle gambling and fraud dens involving Chinese nationals, and firmly curb the high incidence of such crimes,” CCTV said.

China has repatriated thousands of suspects under its covert global “Operation Fox Hunt” operation launched a decade ago to fight corruption and economic crimes and has since recovered billions of dollars in assets, CCTV said.
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BANGKOK — Once the country with the worst record for securing justice in journalist killings, the Philippines is improving, say some experts. But more work is needed to protect reporters.

When he assumed the presidency in 2022, Ferdinand Marcos Jr. pledged to “support and protect the rights of the media.”

In October 2022, he said, “The nation counts on media in improving access to information and increasing awareness on issues that affect our country and the world.”

In the past year, media analysts have seen some improvement. The suspected mastermind in a journalist killing from more than a decade ago was arrested; a court reversed an order forcing the media website Rappler to close; and earlier this month, Marcos appointed former journalist Joe Torres Jr. as head of the Presidential Task Force on Media Security.

But outside the capital, community and radio journalists are at risk of threat or attack, experts say.

Beh Lih Yi, head coordinator of the Asia program at the Committee to Protect Journalists, or CPJ, said the media group was encouraged by some “positive developments” but believes the Marcos government could do more.

“Although the president has repeatedly vowed support for a free press, he has not backed up this change in tone with concrete action and reforms to create a more  liberal and safe media climate,” she told VOA via email.

“Journalists in the Philippines still routinely face harassment, legal threats, arbitrary detention and even murder in retaliation for their work,” she said.

The Philippines Presidential Office has not responded to VOA’s email requesting comment.

Carlos Conde, a senior researcher at Human Rights Watch and a former journalist, sees some signs of optimism under Marcos.

One of the biggest changes from conditions under his predecessor, Rodrigo Duterte, is that the Marcos administration is “not confrontational at all in its public pronouncements about media and journalists,” Conde told VOA.

“That’s kind of a major relief, and that’s where the optimism comes from. And so, in that sense, it has improved,” he said.

Under Duterte’s presidency from 2016 to 2022, he vilified journalists who were critical of his policies. Media were labeled fake news, and watchdogs documented dozens of incidents of attacks and threats against the press.

At least 18 journalists were killed during his six-year presidency, according to CPJ data.

Another issue for the country’s journalists is so-called “red-tagging,” in which media and activists are accused — without evidence — by political figures, state security and others of being terrorists or communists.

Those targeted are often people critical of government or political party policies. And being red tagged makes them a more prominent target for threats, harassment and violence, experts say.

A report by Amnesty in October found the practice still happening under the new administration. Amnesty said the tactic has been used to target human rights activists, students and student journalists.

Marcos has denied the government is involved in red tagging and said the National Task Force to End Local Communist Armed Conflict — an agency alleged to be involved in the red-tagging operations — will not be closed.

But Conde hopes red tagging will stop under Torres.

He will head the Presidential Task Force on Media Security, a government agency set up to protect media workers and promote press freedom.

When he was a journalist, Torres wrote for outlets including The Manila Times and spoke with Conde on a YouTube podcast earlier this month about red tagging.

“[Torres] made a promise that the office will no longer be red-tagging journalists or accusing them of having communist links and things like that. So, that is definitely something,” Conde told VOA.

Some progress too has been made in the cases of journalists killed for their work.

In September, former Palawan Governor Joel T. Reyes surrendered to authorities over the killing of environmental journalist Gerry Ortega, who was shot and killed in 2011. At the time, he was investigating apparent corruption involving Reyes, according to media watchdog Reporters Without Borders.

Reyes is the suspected mastermind. The trial, scheduled to start in November, has been welcomed by media groups.

“The Philippines persistently fares poorly in CPJ’s Global Impunity Index, an annual ranking which lists countries where killers of journalists go free,” CPJ’s Beh said via email.

The Philippines ranks ninth in the impunity index.

With Ortega, said Beh, “his family is still waiting for full justice more than 13 years later.”

While some improvements are seen in the capital, Jonathan de Santos, chair of the National Union of Journalists of the Philippines, said that for radio and community journalists, the risks are high.

“There is a perception that the press freedom situation has improved, and maybe it has in Metro Manila, but journalists in the regions, especially those from community and alternative media, are still under threat,” he told VOA.

“Apart from the safety and security aspects, radio journalists have also historically not been paid well, which is an added risk for them. Radio is also where a lot of hard-hitting commentary is done, which puts radio journalists at risk of retaliation,” he added.

In October, radio journalist Maria Vilma Rodriguez was shot and killed near her home in Zamboanga City on Mindanao island. Police say the suspect was a relative of Rodriguez who had a land dispute with the 56-year-old.

The Philippines ranks 134 out of 180 countries on the Press Freedom Index, where 1 shows the best media environment.
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