China put 38.4 gigawatts (GW) of new coal-fired power capacity into operation in 2020, according to new international research, more than three times the amount built elsewhere around the world and potentially undermining its short-term climate goals. The country won praise last year after President Xi Jinping pledged to make the country “carbon neutral” by 2060. But regulators have since come under fire for failing to properly control the coal power sector, a major source of climate-warming greenhouse gas. Including decommissions, China’s coal-fired fleet capacity rose by a net 29.8 GW in 2020, even as the rest of the world made cuts of 17.2 GW, according to research released on Wednesday by Global Energy Monitor (GEM), a U.S. think tank, and the Helsinki-based Centre for Research on Energy and Clean Air (CREA). “The runaway expansion of coal-fired power is driven by electricity companies’ and local governments’ interest in maximizing investment spending, more than a real need for new capacity,” said Lauri Myllyvirta, CREA lead analyst. The country’s National Energy Administration (NEA) didn’t immediately respond to Reuters’ request for comment. China approved the construction of a further 36.9 GW of coal-fired capacity last year, three times more than a year earlier, bringing the total under construction to 88.1 GW. It now has 247 GW of coal power under development, enough to supply the whole of Germany. A team of central government environmental inspectors delivered a scathing assessment of China’s energy regulator last Friday, accusing officials of planning failures and focusing too much on guaranteeing energy supply. The NEA had allowed plants to be built in already polluted regions, while projects in less sensitive “coal-power bases” had not gone ahead, they said. China has been criticized for pursuing an energy-intensive post-COVID recovery based on heavy industry and construction, and experts say new coal plants could end up becoming heavily-indebted “stranded assets.” Christine Shearer, GEM’s coal program director, said China needs to ensure its short-term development plans align with long-term climate goals. “Hopefully as the Chinese government determines its coal power capacity targets for the next five-year plan (for 2021-2025), it will severely restrict if not end new coal plant builds and accelerate retirements,” she said.
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Author: SeeEA
WHO Team Visits Chinese Virus Lab in Wuhan
World Health Organization inspectors visited a laboratory in China’s Wuhan city on Wednesday that American officials suggested could have been the source of the coronavirus. The inspection of the Wuhan virology institute, which conducts research on the world’s most dangerous diseases, will be one of the most-watched stops on the team’s probe into the origins of the COVID-19 pandemic. The sensitive mission, which China had delayed throughout the first year of the pandemic, has a remit to explore how the virus jumped from animal to human. But questions remain over what the experts can hope to find after so much time has passed. The convoy of cars drove past security to enter a virology institute shrouded in mist Wednesday morning, with the first car pausing briefly to take questions from journalists. Peter Daszak and Thea Fischer, members of the World Health Organization team tasked with investigating the origins of the coronavirus disease, sit in a car arriving at Wuhan Institute of Virology in Wuhan, China, Feb. 3, 2021.WHO team member Peter Daszak said the team was “looking forward to a very productive day and to asking all the questions that we know need to be asked.” Scientists think COVID-19 — which first emerged in Wuhan and has gone on to kill more than two million people worldwide — originated in bats and could have been transmitted to people via another mammal. But there are no definitive answers so far. There was speculation early in the pandemic that the virus could have accidentally leaked from the biosafety lab in Wuhan, although there was no evidence to back up that theory.Lab theories Then-U.S. President Donald Trump and his supporters seized on those rumors and amplified them with conspiracy theories that China deliberately leaked the virus. Then-U.S.-Secretary of State Mike Pompeo insisted last year that there was “significant evidence” that the virus came from the lab, while releasing no proof and acknowledging that there was no certainty. Members of the World Health Organization team, tasked with investigating the origins of the coronavirus disease, don personal protection suits during a visit at the Hubei Animal Epidemic Disease Prevention and Control Center in Wuhan, Feb. 2, 2021.Chinese state broadcaster CGTN said the WHO team would “visit the national biosafety laboratory and exchange ideas with experts of the institute on their daily work, international scientific cooperation, anti-epidemic efforts and contribution.” China has faced criticism at home and abroad for playing down the initial outbreak and concealing information when it first emerged in Wuhan in December 2019. But Daszak told journalists on Tuesday the mission was proceeding “very well,” as the group was driven into an animal disease control center. China is also determined to put the focus on its recovery from the outbreak, and the WHO team toured a propaganda exhibition celebrating China’s recovery from the pandemic in Wuhan on Saturday. On Sunday the team went to the market in Wuhan where one of the first reported clusters of infections emerged over a year ago, which Daszak tweeted was a “critical” stop. Shi Zhengli, one of China’s leading experts on bat coronaviruses and deputy director of the Wuhan lab, raised some eyebrows in a June 2020 interview with Scientific American magazine in which she said she was initially anxious over whether the virus had leaked from the research facility. But subsequent checks revealed that none of the gene sequences matched the viruses held by the lab, Shi said, adding: “I had not slept a wink for days.” She later said she would “bet her life that [the new coronavirus] had nothing to do with the lab,” according to Chinese state media.
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US Designates Myanmar Military Takeover a Coup
The United States is calling Myanmar’s military arrest of civilian leaders a coup, which triggers a review of U.S. assistance to the country formerly known as Burma. VOA’s diplomatic correspondent Cindy Saine has more from Washington.
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Iran Releases South Korean-Flagged Tanker Crew
Iran has released 19 crew members and the captain of a South Korean tanker that was seized in the Persian Gulf last month, Iranian state TV announced Tuesday.The South Korean-flagged MT Hankuk Chemi, whose crew included sailors from Indonesia, Myanmar, South Korea and Vietnam, has been in custody at the port city of Bandar Abbas, near the Strait of Hormuz, since January 5.Foreign Ministry spokesman Saeed Khatibzadeh said a legal investigation into the tanker would continue, although some see the apprehension as a move by Tehran to gain leverage over Seoul. The decision came after the two governments held talks over billions in frozen Iranian assets.Last month, South Korean Vice Minister of Foreign Affairs Choi Jong Kun visited Iran to discuss the crew’s release, as well as some $7 billion in Iranian assets from oil sales frozen in South Korea due to U.S. sanctions.In this photo released by the Iranian Foreign Ministry, South Korean Vice Foreign Minister Choi Jong Kun, center left, speaks with Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif, center right, during their meeting in Tehran, Jan. 11, 2021.A South Korean statement said the country learned of Iran’s plans to release the crew during a phone call Tuesday between Choi and his Iranian counterpart Seyyed Abbas Araghchi.“The two vice foreign ministers said their governments took an important, first step toward restoring confidence between South Korea and Iran,” the statement said. “They agreed to restore their countries’ traditional, friendly ties of supporting each other when they face difficulties by resolving the issue of the frozen fund.”This is not the first instance of a ship apprehension by Iran. Last year, the country similarly apprehended a British-flagged oil tanker near Gibraltar, which it held for months.
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US Declares Ouster of Myanmar Government a Military Coup
The U.S. State Department has officially declared the military takeover in Myanmar a coup. “After a careful review of the facts and circumstances, we have assessed that Aung San Suu Kyi, the leader of Burma’s ruling party, and Win Myint, the duly elected head of the government, were deposed in a military coup on February 1,” a State Department official said Tuesday. The comments came a day after the military seized control of the country while detaining senior politicians. The unnamed U.S. State Department official said on background the assessment of a coup “triggers certain restrictions on foreign assistance to the government” and that the U.S. “will take action against those responsible.” Myanmar citizens hold up a picture of leader Aung San Suu Kyi after the military seized power in a coup in Myanmar, outside United Nations venue in Bangkok, Thailand, Feb. 2, 2021.The U.S. will continue programs that help the country’s citizens, including humanitarian assistance and democracy support initiatives, the official said. The Myanmar military said its seizure, set to last one year, was necessary because the government had not acted on claims of voter fraud in November elections that were overwhelmingly won by the NLD. A new session of parliament had been due to begin Monday. Senate Republican leader Mitch McConnell said in a statement that he spoke by phone Monday with U.S. President Joe Biden and applauded his response to the military takeover. “The new administration deserves credit for approaching this situation in a way that’s bipartisan and coordinated with Congress,” McConnell said. “The world is watching. I hope and expect the United States will quickly make the obvious legal determination that this is a military coup, and impose significant costs on the military for its attack on democracy.” Myanmar’s National League for Democracy called earlier Tuesday for the release of Aung San Suu Kyi, President Win Myint and other party leaders. People walk at a market after the army seized power in a coup in Yangon, Myanmar, Feb. 2, 2021.U.S. officials have “not been able” to speak with NLD members, the State Department official said, and added that “most of the senior officials are under house arrest.” Streets in Myanmar were quiet Tuesday, with phone and internet services running again and banks reopened. Global reactionInternational expressions of concern about the military’s action were widespread, with multiple governments urging the military to respect the democratic process and release the detained officials. Biden threatened to impose sanctions. “The United States will stand up for democracy wherever it is under attack,” Biden said in a statement.The United Nations Security Council is scheduled to hold an emergency meeting Tuesday to discuss the situation in Myanmar. Britain’s ambassador to the U.N. Barbara Woodward, who this month holds the council’s rotating presidency, said the Security Council will examine “a range of measures” to uphold the November election and secure the release of Aung San Suu Kyi and the other detainees. Growing tensionsMonday’s developments followed months of tensions linked to the November elections. Myanmar’s military said there had been voter fraud, an allegation rejected by the country’s election commission. On Saturday, the Tatmadaw, the official name of Myanmar’s military, released a statement arguing that voter fraud had taken place and the international community “should not be endorsing the next steps of the political process on a ‘business as usual’ basis.” A person steps on a picture of Myanmar’s army chief Min Aung Hlaing with his face crossed out after the military seized power in a coup in Myanmar, outside United Nations venue in Bangkok, Thailand, Feb. 2, 2021.”The Tatmadaw is the one pressing for adherence to democratic norms,” the statement read. “It is not the outcome itself of the election that the Tatmadaw is objecting to. … Rather, the Tatmadaw finds the process of the 2020 election unacceptable, with over 10.5 million cases of potential fraud, such as nonexistent votes.” Myanmar, also known as Burma, has long struggled between civilian and military rule but until the coup had been enjoying a hopeful transition to democracy. A British colony until 1948, Myanmar was ruled by dictators backed by the military from 1962 to 2010. An uprising in 1988 pushed for an election in 1990, which the NLD party won in a landslide, but the elected members of parliament were imprisoned, and the dictatorship continued. Aung San Suu Kyi, the daughter of Myanmar’s independence hero, General Aung San, who was assassinated in 1947, emerged as a leader in the pro-democracy rallies and in the NLD. She was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 1991 while under house arrest. In 2010, Senior General Than Shwe announced the country would be handed over to civilian leaders, who included retired generals. They freed political prisoners, including the lawmakers from the National League for Democracy, and Aung San Suu Kyi, who was elected in a 2012 by-election and later became the state counsellor of Myanmar. But Aung San Suu Kyi, 75, while popular among Myanmar’s Buddhist majority, has seen her international reputation decline over her government’s treatment of the country’s mostly Muslim Rohingya minority. In 2017, an Army crackdown against the Rohingya, sparked by deadly attacks on police stations in Rakhine state, led hundreds of thousands of Rohingya to flee to neighboring Bangladesh. The International Criminal Court is investigating the country for crimes against humanity. VOA’s Nike Ching contributed to this report.
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Myanmar Junta Seen Cozying Up to China if West Gets Tough
TAIPEI, TAIWAN — The military government that seized power in Myanmar will get along well with its authoritarian neighbor China in the long term, despite historical misgivings, and grow closer if international sanctions isolate the Southeast Asian state from Western powers, observers say.
Myanmar’s military took control of the country Monday and declared a year-long state of emergency. Civilian de facto head of state Aung San Suu Kyi, a Nobel laureate, was detained in the power shift, prompting condemnation from Western governments.
China might fumble at first to work with the new Myanmar leader, Min Aung Hlaing, because the military resents China’s involvement in a now suspended hydropower dam, cross-border shipments of Myanmar’s natural gas and other influence over the economy in the past 20 years, said Thitinan Pongsudhirak, a political science professor at Bangkok’s Chulalongkorn University.
The professor said the two sides will eventually move forward because, unlike leaders in the West, China’s communist government feels no domestic pressure to condemn another authoritarian state.
“China is an all-weather friend, and you can see that when countries take an authoritarian turn, like Myanmar just did this week,” he said. “It’s to China’s advantage because China does not have the democratic trappings and conditions on domestic governance, so it can be any kind of regime and it’s fine with China.”In Beijing, Chinese foreign ministry spokesman Wang Wenbin said Monday his government was still trying to understand the “situation” in Myanmar. China is Myanmar’s “friendly neighbor,” Wang said as quoted on the ministry website, and “we hope all parties in Myanmar can settle disputes and maintain social and political stability by using the constitution and the laws.”
The military takeover stemmed from November’s parliamentary elections. The then-ruling National League for Democracy won in a landslide over the military-backed Union Solidarity and Development Party. The military, which ran Myanmar for nearly 50 years before the first democratic government emerged after 2011 under Aung San Suu Kyi, raised accusations of voter fraud.
China and Myanmar fundamentally got along before the recent events, though Myanmar was pursuing stronger ties with Japan and the West at the same time to offset Chinese influence.
On Monday, U.S. President Joe Biden vowed to take “appropriate action” and review possible sanctions against Myanmar. Australia, Britain, the European Union, India, Japan and Singapore have aired their own concerns this week about the stability of the Southeast Asian country.
Only Western governments feel “sentimental longings for democratization” in Myanmar, said Oh Ei Sun, Southeast Asia-specialized senior fellow with the Singapore Institute of International Affairs.
If the West imposes severe sanctions, then “maybe the Myanmar military will have no choice but to turn to China,” Thitinan said. Diplomatic isolation and the thirst for foreign investment to stimulate the impoverished country’s economy would drive Myanmar toward China, analysts say.
China became Myanmar’s biggest trading partner in 2011, replacing Thailand, with imports and exports worth $5.3 billion that year. China mainly ships raw materials and equipment for investment projects, while Myanmar sends minerals to China. A 2,200-kilometer land border facilitates their trade.“Now after this coup we need to see how the junta handles ties with the United States,” said Huang Kwei-bo, vice dean of the international affairs college at National Chengchi University in Taipei. “That’s to say that if the United States adds pressure on Myanmar, then the junta will definitely think of a way to approach Beijing and tighten relations.”
Even without sanctions, today’s political, trade and investment ties will probably keep their current course, analysts believe. Myanmar needs economic development aid to relieve poverty. China counts Myanmar as one in a network of countries around Eurasia where it’s building infrastructure to open trade routes.
“China will remain Myanmar’s most important economic partner because it has the longest land border (and) it’s got the biggest investment,” said Alistair Cook, a senior fellow with the S. Rajaratnam School of International Studies.
When China’s foreign minister Wang Yi recently visited General Min Aung Hlaing, now military leader, he indicated that China would “continue to back Myanmar in safeguarding its sovereignty, national dignity and legitimate rights and interests” on a “development path suited to its own national conditions.”
But the Myanmar junta’s relations with China will fray if festering border problems get worse under any military crackdown.
For example, both sides are grappling with a slew of new casinos that are located in Myanmar but heavily used by Chinese nationals from just across the border and known for spawning crime. China is building a border fence to curb the problem.
An end to fragile cease-fires between Myanmar’s government forces and armed ethnic groups living near China could further “influence China’s relationship” with the new junta if people start streaming across the borders, Cook said.
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Aung Sang Suu Kyi’s Party Urges Military to Release President, NLD Officials
Myanmar’s National League for Democracy called Tuesday for the release of de facto leader Aung San Suu Kyi, President Win Myint and other party leaders. The statement posted on Facebook comes a day after the military seized control of the country while detaining senior politicians. Streets were quiet Tuesday, with phone and internet services running again and banks reopened. The military said its seizure, set to last one year, was necessary because the government had not acted on claims of voter fraud in November elections that were overwhelmingly won by the NLD. A new session of parliament had been due to begin Monday. International expressions of concern about the military’s action were widespread, with multiple governments urging the military to respect the democratic process and release the detained officials. U.S. President Joe Biden threatened to impose sanctions. “The United States will stand up for democracy wherever it is under attack,” Biden said in a statement.”Biden Vows ‘Appropriate Action’ After Myanmar Military TakeoverThe US is one of many governments around the world, as well as the United Nations, to express serious concern over the recent developments in the Southeast Asian nation UN to hold emergency meeting
The United Nations Security Council is scheduled to hold an emergency meeting Tuesday to discuss the situation in Myanmar. Britain’s Ambassador to the U.N. Barbara Woodward, who this month holds the council’s rotating presidency, said the Security Council will examine “a range of measures” to uphold the November election and secure the release of Aung San Suu Kyi and the other detainees. U.N. human rights chief Michelle Bachelet said in a statement there are “deep fears of a violent crackdown on dissenting voices” in Myanmar and called on the military to avoid using unnecessary force. “I urge the international community to stand in solidarity with the people of Myanmar at this time, and for all states with influence to take steps to prevent the crumbling of the fragile democratic and human rights gains made by Myanmar during its transition from military rule,” Bachelet said. Myanmar’s military stand guard at a checkpoint manned with an armored vehicles blocking a road leading to the parliament building, Feb. 2, 2021, in Naypyitaw, Myanmar.Before the coup
Monday’s developments followed months of tensions linked to the November elections. Myanmar’s military said there had been voter fraud, an allegation rejected by the country’s election commission.On Saturday, the Tatmadaw, the official name of Myanmar’s military, released a statement arguing that voter fraud had taken place and the international community “should not be endorsing the next steps of the political process on a ‘business as usual’ basis.” “The Tatmadaw is the one pressing for adherence to democratic norms,” the statement read. “It is not the outcome itself of the election that the Tatmadaw is objecting to. …Rather, the Tatmadaw finds the process of the 2020 election unacceptable, with over 10.5 million cases of potential fraud, such as nonexistent votes.” The arrest of leaders in Myanmar, also known as Burma, is just the latest event in a country that has struggled between civilian and military rule and raises concerns that the nation’s transition to a democracy has stalled. Myanmar history
A British colony until 1948, Myanmar was ruled by dictators backed by the military from 1962 to 2010. An uprising in 1988 pushed for an election in 1990, which the NLD party won in a landslide, but the elected members of parliament were imprisoned, and the dictatorship continued. Aung San Suu Kyi, the daughter of Myanmar’s independence hero, General Aung San, who was assassinated in 1947, emerged as a leader in the pro-democracy rallies and in the NLD. She was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 1991 while under house arrest. In 2010, Senior General Than Shwe announced the country would be handed over to civilian leaders, who included retired generals. They freed political prisoners, including the lawmakers from the National League for Democracy, and Aung San Suu Kyi, who was elected in a 2012 by-election and later became the state counsellor of Myanmar. But Aung San Suu Kyi, 75, while popular among Myanmar’s Buddhist majority, has seen her international reputation decline over her government’s treatment of the country’s mostly Muslim Rohingya minority. In 2017, an Army crackdown against the Rohingya, sparked by deadly attacks on police stations in Rakhine state, led hundreds of thousands of Rohingya to flee to neighboring Bangladesh. The International Criminal Court is investigating the country for crimes against humanity.
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Tokyo Olympics Chief Says Games Will Go On Despite Coronavirus
The head of the Tokyo Olympics expressed confidence Tuesday the event will go forward this year despite the ongoing coronavirus pandemic. Tokyo 2020 President Yoshiro Mori said discussions should be about how and not whether the Olympics will happen. “We will hold the Olympics, regardless of how the coronavirus [situation] looks,” Mori said. The Summer Games were originally scheduled to begin in July 2020, but organizers postponed the event for one year. The new start date is July 23. FILE – A man wearing a protective mask to help curb the spread of the coronavirus walks near a banner of the Tokyo 2020 Olympics at an underpass in Tokyo, Jan. 19, 2021.Adding to doubts about whether it would be possible to stage the games are recent lockdowns initiated in a number of countries. Large parts of Japan are currently under a state of emergency because of the virus. Malaysia is among those extending lockdowns to try to stop the spread of COVID-19. Defense Minister Ismail Sabri Yaakob said Tuesday the restrictions would be extended until February 18. “The Health Ministry has confirmed that daily cases in all states are still showing a rising trend… the sporadic spread in the community is also high,” Ismail Sabri said in a televised address. In Britain, fears of the spread of coronavirus variant first identified in South Africa have prompted a mass door-to-door testing campaign. Volunteers hand out the COVID-19 home test kits to residents, in Goldsworth and St Johns, amid the outbreak of COVID-19 in Woking, Britain, Feb. 2, 2021.The effort involves eight areas of the country where people will be tested whether they have symptoms or not. In all, about 80,000 people were to be tested. Britain has been one of the hardest-hit countries during the pandemic, with more than 3.8 million confirmed cases and 106,000 deaths. ‘A detective story’A team of World Health Organization scientists investigating the source of the coronavirus, that first emerged in China’s Hubei province in late 2019, visited a provincial disease control center Monday that was key in the early management of the outbreak. FILE – Members of the World Health Organization (WHO) team, investigating the origins of the Covid-19 coronavirus, visit the closed Huanan Seafood wholesale market in Wuhan, China’s central Hubei province, Jan. 31, 2021.China did not release any details about the team’s visit to the Hubei Provincial Center for Disease Control. Team member Peter Daszak, however, told reporters it had been a “really good meeting, really important.” Since the WHO team’s arrival last month, the scientists have also visited the Huanan Seafood Market that was linked to a cluster of COVID-19 cases and at least one of the hospitals in Wuhan that treated some of the first patients. COVID-19 is the disease caused by the coronavirus. The scientists want to know where the virus originated, in what animal and how it made its way into humans — something that could take years to figure out. “We continue to ask the questions, we continue to push for more data. … It’s a detective story,” Mike Ryan, top emergency WHO official, told a Geneva news conference Monday. Maria Van Kerkhove, an American epidemiologist and technical lead on COVID-19 at WHO, said at the news conference that the team is focusing on “the early cases” and “are having very good discussions around that” with their Chinese counterparts. The outbreak in China led to the worldwide COVID-19 pandemic. The Johns Hopkins Coronavirus Resource Center said Monday there are more than 103 million global COVID-19 infections and more than 2.2 million people have died. Cases have fallen worldwide for three consecutive weeks. WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus called the decline “encouraging news” but warned, “We have been here before.” Speaking Monday at the news conference, Tedros said, “Over the past year, there have been moments in almost all countries when cases declined and governments opened up too quickly, and individuals let down their guard, only for the virus to come roaring back.”
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Political Instability in Myanmar Could Impact US Trade
Trade experts and analysts warned Monday that trade between the United States and Myanmar could significantly decrease in the wake of the country’s military state of emergency.Since 2013, the U.S. and Myanmar have regularly engaged in trade under an agreement that ended years of sanctions from the United States.The two countries traded roughly $1.3 billion in goods in 2020 – up from $1.2 billion in 2019, according to data from the U.S. Census Bureau. The industry most likely to be impacted is footwear, Reuters reported. According to Panjiva, the supply chain research unit of S&P Global Market Intelligence, apparel and footwear accounted for roughly 41% of U.S. imports from Myanmar.Apparel makers LL Bean, H&M and Adidas are among the American companies that rely on trade with Myanmar.According to reports from the World Bank, Foreign Direct Investment in Myanmar rose dramatically in the 2019-2020 fiscal year, mostly from Singapore and Hong Kong.But the future of such investment may be less certain amid the country’s political instability.The United States said on Monday it would review the trade agreement between the two countries as Washington ponders sanctions against Myanmar after the country’s military detained political leaders and declared the commander-in-chief leader.
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Western Leaders Condemn Myanmar Military Takeover
Myanmar’s military seized power Monday, declaring a yearlong state of emergency and detaining leader Aung San Suu Kyi among others, drawing immediate condemnation from Western leaders. VOA U.N. correspondent Margaret Besheer reports.
Produced by: Jesse Oni
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Q&A: Power Grab by Myanmar Military Changes China Relations
For insight into how China’s relationship with Myanmar may change after the military seized power Monday, VOA Mandarin reporter Adrianna Zhang spoke with Yun Sun, a senior fellow and co-director of the East Asia program and director of the China program at the Stimson Center. Here is their conversation, edited for clarity and concision. VOA: How did we get to the situation we are in today? Yun Sun: Well, I always argue that one of the central problems for Myanmar is the unsettled relationship between the civilian government and the Burmese military. That conflict has never disappeared, even with the democratic process over the past 10 years. We know that the ruling National League for Democracy (NLD) won 83%, a landslide victory in the election, and to the military’s great disappointment, the USDP — the Union Solidarity and Development Party that has military support — only won a couple of seats, so they did not do very well in the election. I think the military has raised the issue of electoral fraud and the voting fraud as a tactic or a strategy to challenge the election results. So, I think what we are seeing is that the military had such a loss, expressed their grievances and demanded political concessions from the NLD government. And now, the government refused to accommodate or refused to be co-opted or to be coerced. And we know that over the weekend on Saturday and Sunday, negotiations between the military and the NLD did happen. And they were not able to achieve a consensus as to what kind of compromise either side is willing to accept. So, that’s what has caused the military coup as we know it. Do you think this is a coup? YS: All the signs and all the evidence that we have seen so far points to the fact that this is a coup. So, it’s not just the military seizing power in accordance with the constitution? YS: The question that you’re asking is that if the military was acting according to the constitution, then it’s not a coup. I think that’s highly debatable. For example, the constitution says only the president has the power to announce the state of emergency in the country. In this case, I would say that the military did appoint the vice president, who is from the military, to be the interim president and then announced the state of emergency, which is not, strictly speaking, constitutional. What do you make of China’s response, and what risks does the military seizing power pose to Beijing’s interests? YS: I think the Chinese reaction is just as expected. We know that China does not take a position on the internal affairs of another country, so nobody should expect China to step in, to condemn the military or to express its support of the NLD government. And based on what we saw out of the statements from the Chinese Foreign Ministry, China wants the related parties to solve their differences properly, according to the constitution and within the legal framework, while maintaining peace and stability in the country. So, that is very classic or very typical of the Chinese position in the case of the internal turmoil of another sovereign country. Is it going to have an impact on Chinese national interests? YS: I think it does. Remember, State Counselor Wang Yi was just visiting Myanmar about three weeks ago. And during his visit, he expressed strong support for the NLD government and expressed a strong commitment that China wants to work with the NLD government during their second term. China Seen as Pressing Advantage in Myanmar with High-Level Visit, DealsChina and Myanmar agreed to push ahead with a controversial Belt and Road project and lock in a five-year pact on trade and economic cooperationFor a lot of the issues, especially the China-Myanmar Economic Corridor that China wants to pursue, I think the prospect has become much more uncertain as compared to a month ago.China Draws Myanmar Closer with Visit from President XiNew deals emphasize China’s tightening links to MyanmarI think overall, this coup or this political turmoil in Myanmar has dampened or has mitigated Myanmar’s appeal as a destination for Chinese investments and as a destination for Chinese economic activities. In addition, the internal political instability in Myanmar also creates political baggage for China, because we know that China is not going to take a position against the military. Potentially China will have to cover or provide the protection for the military internationally. So, that’s going to be a major political and diplomatic liability for China when China tries to tamp down, for example, U.N. Security Council discussions or U.N. statements on the internal affairs in Myanmar. So, I can see this not being good news for China on many different levels. How will the Myanmar coup challenge U.S. President Joe Biden’s Asia strategy? YS: I think the most fundamental challenge is that Biden will have to have a response, and that response needs to be an effective one. But given how determined the Burmese military is in pursuing this coup, I doubt that anything will significantly change the Burmese military’s calculation, because they were determined to start the coup. They started the coup, and they apparently have anticipated the impact and the reaction from the international community, but they still went ahead. What can the United States do to force the Burmese military to reverse their action is going to be an important question but also a difficult question. Biden Vows ‘Appropriate Action’ After Myanmar Military TakeoverThe US is one of many governments around the world, as well as the United Nations, to express serious concern over the recent developments in the Southeast Asian nation And on a different level, if we’re looking at Biden’s presidency and Biden’s priorities, I would say that before the coup, Myanmar is not a priority. It is not even in the top 10 priorities of Biden’s foreign policy. Maybe in Asia, potentially, but Asia also has a lot of other glaring issues that demand Biden’s attention. For this coup to happen at this time, within two weeks of inauguration, it really poses a huge question to the Biden Asia team. And remember — there’s also the Congress, (which) is not going to tolerate a coup in Myanmar after 10 years of the democratization process. What we’re likely to see is that there will be mounting pressure from the Congress for the Biden administration to take decisive but also harsh measures to punish the Burmese military for their actions. But there’s also the counterargument that if you reimpose all the sanctions that can be imposed, then the military government will have nothing more to lose. Then you will lose the leverage to force them to check their calculations. So, these are really hard questions, because the issue of sanctions on Myanmar have been debated for decades, and I don’t think there are going to be easy and quick answers to this question. Do you think the U.S. will impose more sanctions and target military leaders as it did in response to the Rohingya crisis? YS: The Rohingya-related sanctions were targeted at the Burmese military, but now if the military has already taken over the country, do you sanction the whole country? We know the Burmese are probably exporting, for example, agricultural products or gems. Now we know that the military is in charge, and the revenue will be going to the military government. Do we still allow that trade to happen? And another industry that has been developing in Myanmar in the past 10 years is the textile and garment industry. And that hires a lot of people. But now we know that the military is in charge, and the military will be harvesting revenue and profits from those industries. Do we still accept Burmese garments and textiles coming to the American market? So, this goes into the morality question of sanctions. Are we punishing the government, or are we punishing the people at the same time, as well? And which one is more important? What is likely to happen next? YS: While the situation is still evolving, I think the U.S. will react with punitive measures. I think there should be an escalation ladder so that the U.S. should not start with the most important and most significant sanctions or the biggest card that the U.S. has. People are still watching to see whether there are diplomatic moves or room for diplomacy, or for there to be a negotiated result. Maybe there’s not. The window is closing, and the space is extremely limited. But I think that’s still worth looking into. So, I would say that if the U.S. is going to respond, it needs to be calculated, and there needs to be an escalation ladder instead of just throwing all the cards into sanctions to begin with.
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Myanmar Public Figures Speak with VOA After Military Takes Control
Hours after Myanmar’s army declared a state of emergency Monday, there are still few details about what is going on and why. Widespread communication shutdowns, a curfew and the existing restrictions designed to curtail the spread of COVID-19 have restricted access to ordinary Burmese citizens. Early Monday, an address carried on military-owned television said there was “terrible fraud in the voter list during the democratic general election which runs contrary to ensuring a stable democracy.” The statement said the alleged fraud in the November vote led to protests and other actions damaging to national security, and so officials are declaring a nationwide, year-long state of emergency, “In order to perform scrutiny of the voter lists and to take action.” VOA Burmese spoke with some lawmakers and other citizens despite the challenges. The new military government was asked for comments in addition to its official statements. It has not responded, in part because of the communication shutdown. Zin Mar Aung NLD lawmaker, women’s rights civil society and political activist “This is not a good sign for democracy. We want to move forward, and this is not good for national reconciliation and strengthening democracy. It’s very frustrating. This is not a good sign for our country and democratic community around the world as our country is actively trying to engage with the world and rebuild the nation. So the situation requires close attention. We are also monitoring compromises of our leadership and world’s leaders. We are now feeling as hostages.” Bo Kyi Secretary, Assistance Association for Political Prisoners”The public is shocked, this is bad news for a majority of the people, whereas good news and happy for a handful of people. Our country’s fate is heading to the wrong direction. It is outrageous that the military interprets the 2008 Constitution as they wish. Political instability is not significant among the people, only for the specific group. People’s desire must be respected, not neglected like this. Aye Thaung President, Shwe Lin Pan Industrial Zone in Yangon”We in the industrial community have concerns that payment for workers this week may have problems as the banks are closed now. Some factories use credit and ATM cards for payments and now that internet connections are slow or banned, they are short on hard currency after having problems with (electronic) payment system. There was panic buying in the early morning and that caused price hikes of rice and other commodities. So we worry for poor families.” Thet Hnin Aung
General Secretary of Myanmar Industries, Craft & Services Trade Unions Federation “We have seen some factories’ owners are worried and asked their workers to return home following the army’s announcement. But they didn’t say exactly whether factories will be closed or not. They simply said that operations will be suspended following the announcement of the military coup. We have seen most factories are still up and running.” Kaung Htet
Former VOA Burmese intern, reported the arrest of his mother, Daw Yee Yee Cho, planning and finance minister for the Tanintharyi Region in Myanmar’s south. She was arrested with the entire regional cabinet.”Prominent activists were also arrested. My mother was arrested at home in Myeik at 5:30 in the morning. There are police patrols and military security personnel deployed throughout Myeik.”
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Biden Vows ‘Appropriate Action’ After Myanmar Military Takeover
President Joe Biden said Monday the U.S. would review sanction laws and take “appropriate action” against Myanmar following the military takeover of the country.“For almost a decade, the people of Burma have been steadily working to establish elections, civilian governance, and the peaceful transfer of power,” U.S. President Joe Biden said in a statement Monday, noting that Washington had lifted sanctions against Myanmar, also known as Burma, during its transition to democracy.”The reversal of that progress will necessitate an immediate review of our sanction laws and authorities, followed by appropriate action,” the statement said, urging other nations to do the same.The U.S. is one of many governments around the world, as well as the United Nations, to express serious concern over the Myanmar military’s takeover of the country and called for the release of detained political leaders.The Secretary General of the United Nations Antonio Guterres speaks at the Bundestag on Dec. 18, 2020, in Berlin.In a statement issued by his spokesperson, U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres expressed “grave concern regarding the declaration of the transfer of all legislative, executive and judicial powers to the military. These developments represent a serious blow to democratic reforms in Myanmar.”Tom Andrews, the U.N. Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights in Myanmar, urged countries to consider sanctions against Myanmar as well.“Decisive action is imperative, including the imposition of strong targeted sanctions, and an arms embargo until such time as democracy is restored,” he said in a statement.The European Union, Britain, Australia, India, Japan, and Singapore all expressed their concerns about the situation. The Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) appealed for “a return to normalcy” in Myanmar — a member country of the association.”We reiterate that the political stability in ASEAN Member States is essential to achieving a peaceful, stable and prosperous ASEAN Community. We encourage the pursuance of dialogue, reconciliation and the return to normalcy in accordance with the will and interests of the people of Myanmar,” Brunei, the current chair of the 10-nation bloc, wrote in a statement.Myanmar’s military checkpoint is seen on the way to the congress compound in Naypyitaw, Myanmar, Feb. 1, 2021.Myanmar’s military seized control of the country Monday under a state of emergency set to last one year, citing a lack of action on its claims of voter fraud in November elections. Hours earlier, Myanmar’s de facto leader, Aung San Suu Kyi, and other officials from the ruling National League for Democracy party, were detained.China, one of Myanmar’s most important economic partners, said it was still gathering information about the recent developments.”We have noted what happened in Myanmar, and we are learning the further situation now. China is a friendly neighbor of Myanmar. We hope that all parties in Myanmar will properly handle their differences under the constitutional and legal framework and maintain political and social stability,” a Foreign Ministry spokesman said.
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Military Takeover in Myanmar; Civilian Leaders Jailed
Myanmar’s military took control of the country Monday just hours after detaining civilian leaders including Aung San Suu Kyi. The military cited a lack of action on its voter fraud claims in recent elections. VOA’s Arash Arabasadi reports.
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United Nations, Governments Around World Concerned About Myanmar Military Takeover
The United Nations and many governments around the world expressed serious concern over the Myanmar military’s takeover of the country and called for the release of detained political leaders.In a statement issued by his spokesperson, U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres expressed “grave concern regarding the declaration of the transfer of all legislative, executive and judicial powers to the military. These developments represent a serious blow to democratic reforms in Myanmar.”In Washington, Secretary of State Antony Blinken said the United States “stands with the people” of Myanmar “in their aspirations for democracy, freedom, peace, and development,” and called on the military to immediately reverse its actions.The White House, in a statement, added, “The United States opposes any attempt to alter the outcome of recent elections or impede Myanmar’s democratic transition, and will take action against those responsible if these steps are not reversed.” The statement said President Joe Biden had been briefed on the matter.The European Union, Britain, Australia, India and Singapore all expressed their concerns about the situation as well.Myanmar’s military seized control of the country Monday under a state of emergency set to last one year, citing a lack of action on its claims of voter fraud in November elections. Hours earlier, Myanmar’s de facto leader, Aung San Suu Kyi, and other officials from the ruling National League for Democracy party, were detained.China, one of Myanmar’s most important economic partners, said it was still gathering information about the recent developments.”We have noted what happened in Myanmar, and we are learning the further situation now. China is a friendly neighbor of Myanmar. We hope that all parties in Myanmar will properly handle their differences under the constitutional and legal framework and maintain political and social stability,” a Foreign Ministry spokesman said.
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Who Is Aung San Suu Kyi?
Here are some facts about Myanmar’s Aung San Suu Kyi, the 75-year-old who rode to power after a 2015 landslide election win that established the country’s first civilian government in half a century.
-She is the daughter of independence hero Aung San and spent much of her youth overseas.
-In 1988, Aung San Suu Kyi returned to Yangon, then the capital, to care for her dying mother and was swept up in student-led protests against the military that had ruled since a 1962 coup.
-An eloquent public speaker, she was a likely candidate to lead the movement, but the protests were crushed, its leaders killed and jailed, and she was soon imprisoned in her lakeside family home, where she remained until 2010.
-She was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 1991, which her elder son Alexander collected on her behalf.
-In August 2011, Aung San Suu Kyi had her first meeting with then-President Thein Sein, a former general and head of the quasi-civilian administration, marking the start of a pragmatic period of engagement with the government of former soldiers.
-In 2015, she came to power on a platform of ending civil war, drumming up foreign investment, and reducing the army’s role in politics. She also promised Western allies she would address the plight of the Rohingya Muslim people.
-Rohingya militants attacked security forces in Rakhine State in August 2017. The military responded with a campaign that included the torching of hundreds of villages and killings. Aung San Suu Kyi blamed “terrorists” for an “iceberg of misinformation” about the crisis and said the military was exercising the “rule of law.”
-She went to the Hague in 2019 to face charges of genocide brought against Myanmar at the International Court of Justice at The Hague. She acknowledged the possibility war crimes had been committed but framed the crackdown as a legitimate military operation against terrorists.
-Results from a November 2020 parliamentary election showed her ruling National League of Democracy party had won enough parliamentary seats to form the next administration. The NLD said it would seek to form a government of national unity.
-After weeks of disputes about the election results involving the military, in the early hours of Feb. 1, Aung San Suu Kyi, President Win Myint and other senior figures from the ruling party were detained in an early morning raid.
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WHO Team Visits Provincial Disease Control Center
A team of World Health Organization scientists investigating the source of the coronavirus, that first emerged in China’s Hubei province in late 2019, visited a provincial disease control center Monday that was key in the early management of the COVID outbreak. China did not release any details about the team’s visit to the Hubei Provincial Center for Disease Control. Team member Peter Daszak, however, told reporters it had been a “really good meeting, really important.” Members of the World Health Organization (WHO) team, investigating the origins of the Covid-19 coronavirus, visit the closed Huanan Seafood wholesale market in Wuhan, China’s central Hubei province, Jan. 31, 2021.Since the WHO team’s arrival last month, the scientists have also visited the Huanan Seafood Market that was linked to a cluster of COVID cases and at least one of the hospitals in Wuhan that treated some of the first patients. The scientists want to know where the virus originated, in what animal, and how it made its way into humans, something that could take years to figure out. The outbreak in China led to the worldwide COVID pandemic. Johns Hopkins Coronavirus Resource Center said early Monday that there are nearly 103 million global COVID infections. More than 2 million people have died, Hopkins said. FILE – Emergency medical technician Thomas Hoang, 29, of Emergency Ambulance Service, pushes a gurney into an emergency room to drop off a COVID-19 patient in Placentia, Calif., Jan. 8, 2021.The U.S. continues to have more cases than anyplace else at nearly 103 million. India follows with10.7 million infections and Brazil comes in third with 9.2 million cases. The U.S. also has more deaths from the virus than any other nation with more than 441,000, followed by Brazil with more than 224,000 and Mexico with more than 158,000. A leading U.S. epidemiologist said Sunday he believes the highly contagious and more deadly British strain of the COVID virus could become the dominant strain in the U.S. in the coming weeks, resulting in a surge of infections “like we have not yet seen in this country.” Michael Osterholm, who served on President Joe Biden’s transition coronavirus advisory board, speaking on NBC’s “Meet The Press” Sunday, urged the Biden administration and U.S. municipalities to be diligent in inoculating Americans with the COVID vaccines ahead of the “hurricane” of the British variant. In Jerusalem Sunday, thousands of black-clad, ultra-Orthodox Israelis ignored the country’s ban on large gatherings to attend two separate funerals for prominent rabbis. The densely packed crowds also ignored mask-wearing directives and social-distancing observations. Each funeral had a procession through the city’s streets. Israel has staged an aggressive vaccination program, but officials are concerned that the mass gatherings in Jerusalem Sunday could undo any progress and spark a COVID surge. The European Union announced Sunday that British company AstraZeneca had agreed to send 9 million more doses of the vaccine to EU countries. AstraZeneca will also deliver the doses a week earlier than planned, EU Commission President Ursula von der Leyen wrote on Twitter, calling the news a “step forward on vaccines.” Step forward on vaccines.@AstraZeneca will deliver 9 million additional doses in the first quarter (40 million in total) compared to last week’s offer & will start deliveries one week earlier than scheduled.The company will also expand its manufacturing capacity in Europe.— Ursula von der Leyen (@vonderleyen) January 31, 2021On the African continent, only a handful of countries have been able to begin vaccinating their populations. On Sunday, Ghana announced it planned to acquire 17.6 million doses of the vaccine by this summer, with the first batches arriving by March. “Our aim is to vaccinate the entire population, with an initial target of 20 million people,” President Nana Akufo-Addo said Sunday. He also announced stricter measures against the virus, including banning large gatherings, as the country battles a second wave.
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Myanmar: What You Need to Know
Myanmar’s military said Monday it was taking control of the country for one year after declaring a state of emergency. Why did this happen? The military claimed there was voting fraud in November elections in which de facto leader Aung San Suu Kyi’s National League for Democracy party won a large majority in parliament. Myanmar’s election commission has rejected the fraud allegation. Why now? The military’s move came hours before the new parliament was due to sit for the first time. What happened to NLD leaders? A party spokesman said Aung San Suu Kyi was detained early Monday, along with other officials, including President Win Myint. How has the international community responded? Statements of condemnation for the military’s actions have come from U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres, the U.S. State Department and White House, and from several other countries including Australia, India and Singapore.
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Myanmar Leader Aung San Suu Kyi, Others Detained by Military
Myanmar’s de facto leader, Aung San Suu Kyi, and other ruling party officials were detained Monday in a move that raised concerns of a possible coup.
The early-morning detentions came on the same day the new parliament was supposed to be inaugurated.
Aung San Suu Kyi and President Win Myint were taken early Monday, said the spokesman for the ruling party, the National League for Democracy.
“I want to tell our people not to respond rashly and I want them to act according to the law,” spokesman Myo Nyunt said Monday, adding that he expected to be detained as well.
“As far as we know, all the important people have been arrested by the Burmese military,” he said. “So, now we can say it is coup d’état. In Naypyidaw, Aung San Suu Kyi and President Win Myint has been arrested, I heard. But we are not sure about members of Parliament in municipality compound, but we can assume that they have been arrested, too.”
In a statement, the White House said, “The United States is alarmed by reports that the Burmese military has taken steps to undermine the country’s democratic transition,” adding that the U.S. urges “the military and all other parties to adhere to democratic norms and the rule of law, and to release those detained today.”
“The United States opposes any attempt to alter the outcome of recent elections or impede Myanmar’s democratic transition and will take action against those responsible if these steps are not reversed,” the statement said. FILE – Myanmar State Counselor and de facto leader Aung San Suu Kyi arrives to vote early for the Nov. 8 general election, in Naypyitaw, Myanmar, Oct. 29, 2020. According to a party official, she and others have been detained in a morning raid.Phone and internet service in major cities in the country had been disrupted, according to multiple reports. MRTV, the state broadcaster, was off the air, reporting on Facebook that it was having technical issues.
Soldiers were in the streets of both the capital, Naypyidaw, and the largest city, Yangon, according to multiple reports.
The news of the arrests comes after months of tensions after the NLD’s landslide victory in November elections. Myanmar’s military claimed there had been voter fraud, an allegation rejected by the country’s election commission.
On Saturday, the Tatmadaw, the official name of Myanmar’s military, released a statement arguing that voter fraud had taken place and the international community “should not be endorsing the next steps of the political process on a ‘business as usual’ basis.
“The Tatmadaw is the one pressing for adherence to democratic norms,” the statement read. “It is not the outcome itself of the election that the Tatmadaw is objecting to. …Rather, the Tatmadaw finds the process of the 2020 election unacceptable, with over 10.5 million cases of potential fraud, such as nonexistent votes.”
In the past week, Myanmar’s military had dismissed rumors it would launch a coup after the military’s commander-in-chief, Senior General Min Aung Hlaing, told senior officers that the constitution, which outlaws a coup, could be revoked if the laws were not being properly enforced.
Over the past week, the military has deployed an unusually high number of tanks around the capital city, raising alarm among civilians and government officials. Supporters of Myanmar’s military take part in a protest against election results, in Yangon, Myanmar, Jan. 30, 2021.Myanmar’s newly elected Parliament was expected to convene for its first session in Naypyidaw on Monday (Feb. 1).
The arrest of leaders in Myanmar, also known as Burma, is just the latest events in a country that has struggled between civilian and military rule and raises concerns that the nation’s transition to a democracy has stalled.
A former British colony until 1948, Myanmar has been ruled by dictators backed by the military from 1962 to 2010.
An uprising in 1988 pushed for an election in 1990, which the National League for Democracy (NLD) party won in a landslide, but the elected members of Parliament were imprisoned, and the dictatorship continued.
Aung San Suu Kyi, the daughter of Myanmar’s independence hero, General Aung San, who was assassinated in 1947, emerged as a leader in the pro-democracy rallies and in the NLD. She was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 1991 while under house arrest.
In 2010, Senior General Than Shwe announced the country would be handed over to the civilian leaders, who included retired generals. They freed political prisoners, including the lawmakers from the National League for Democracy, and Aung San Suu Kyi, who was elected in 2012 by-election and later became the state counsellor of Myanmar.
But Aung San Suu Kyi, 75, while popular among Myanmar’s Buddhist majority, has seen her international reputation decline over her government’s treatment of the country’s mostly Muslim Rohingya minority.
In 2017, an Army crackdown against the Rohingya, sparked by deadly attacks on police stations in Rakhine state, led hundreds of thousands of Rohingya to flee to neighboring Bangladesh. The International Criminal Court is investigating the country for crimes against humanity.
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Britain Allowing Hong Kongers to Seek Residency Under New Policy
Millions of Hong Kong residents who seek to leave the territory amid a new national security law imposed by China are now able to apply to live and work in Britain.
Britain began taking applications Sunday from Hong Kong residents who wish to relocate and travel under what is known as a British National Overseas, or BNO, passport.
The policy gives Hong Kong residents the ability to move to Britain, with a pathway to citizenship after five years.British Home Secretary Priti Patel tweeted:
“The Hong Kong British National (Overseas) visa is now open for applications. BNO citizens have the choice to live, work and study in the U.K. – free to build new lives. This is a proud day in our strong historic relationship as we honour our promise to the people of Hong Kong.”The reaction in Beijing was swift. Only hours after London released the details of the application process on Friday, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Zhao Lijian told reporters during a regular press conference in Beijing, “China will no longer recognize the BN(O) passport as a valid travel document or for identification, and we reserve the right to take further actions.”
The editorial of Chinese state-affiliated media Global Times criticized Britain’s decision, dismissing any significant effects an exodus in Hong Kong would create for China, while criticizing London as being a puppet for the United States amid an escalation in tensions between Washington and Beijing.After Hong Kong was transferred back to China from Britain in 1997, Beijing promised Hong Kong would retain a “high degree of autonomy” until 2047 under a “one country, two systems” agreement.
After anti-government protests in 2019, Beijing wanted to bring stability to the city and therefore implemented a national security law for Hong Kong that came into effect on June 30, 2020. It prohibits secession, subversion, terrorism and collusion with foreign forces, and its details can be widely interpreted. Protests have stopped while activists and lawmakers have been arrested, jailed or fled into political exile.
Critics say the law violates China’s commitment to allow Hong Kong to keep its limited freedoms.
In response, the British government announced BNO holders would have their privileges expanded. The previous rules for the BNO only allowed holders to visit Britain for six months, with no right to work or settle there.A British National Overseas passport (BNO) and a Hong Kong Special Administrative Region of the People’s Republic of China passport are pictured in Hong Kong, Jan. 29, 2021.About 5.4 million residents are eligible for the offer, including dependents of BNOs and 18- to 23-year-olds with at least one BNO parent. The British government estimates at least 300,000 people are expected to take up the offer.A senior lawyer, based in Hong Kong for decades, believes the national security law is responsible for “mass emigration” happening in Hong Kong now.
The lawyer asked not to be named amid fears of breaching the security law.
“We’re not just talking about the expat communities who have decided to relocate, there is mass emigration by families who are going off to Canada, Australia, the U.K. These are not people on bail for any criminal offenses, these people don’t have any further confidence in Hong Kong, and they don’t want their kids brought up here,” the lawyer said.VOA spoke to several Hong Kong residents who are making the move via the BNO policy.
“I’m leaving Hong Kong because I see the government is intimidating us, “said Renee Yau, a marketing professional in her 40s.
“The arrest of the 50-plus individuals because of their participation in the primaries poll is horrible. It is almost like declaring any election result that is unfavorable to the authorities is suspicious of criminal behavior,” she said.
“Twenty years ago, when we talked about Hong Kong to foreigners, we could say we had freedom of expression and economic freedom. But in the past few months, our freedom and rights are being taken away every day. At least it is not illegal to say what we like and don’t like about the U.K.,” she said.
“I knew I’d take the offer ever since the U.K. first announced the route. Initially, I thought I’d move in the next one to three years, but now I think I’d move within three months,” Yau added.Vince Leung, a 37-year-old architect in Hong Kong, said he has been thinking about relocating since 2019, and the accumulation of changes in the city has made him decide to leave.
“The implication of the National Security Law, the postponed of the Legislative Council Elections, Beijing and Hong Kong government’s suppression of speech, publication and demonstration in 2020 … we are losing freedom in every aspect,” Leung told VOA.
Leung added he’s “not surprised” Beijing will not recognize the Sino-British Joint Declaration regarding Hong Kong’s status since the handover. According to Leung, Beijing does not consider the agreement to be valid. Olivis, a 35-year-old sales professional working in Hong Kong, is worried about how the security law can be used by the authorities to determine what is an offense.
“It made me worry that I will never know when I violate the law and being arrested. Even I put on a yellow mask, (or I’m) wearing a black shirt, I would be stared (at) by police,” she said.
The media sales executive admits she’ll never return to Hong Kong to live after taking the BNO offer.
“The city is dying. Political instability and great change. There’s no more democracy, justice and freedom of speech, but more ridiculous rules and policies,” she added.
As of 5 p.m. local time Sunday, those eligible for the BNO could begin to apply online and then arrange an appointment at a local visa application center. As of February 23, eligible BNO holders who hold a biometric passport will be able to complete their applications using an app.
For five years the visa stay will be $343 per person — or $247 for a 30-month stay — and there is an immigration health surcharge of up to $855 every year.
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Meet Japan’s Kyuta Kumagai, a Big Boy With Big Dreams
At twice the size of other kids his age, a young champion sumo wrestler in Japan can shove around his older counterparts. Training with his dad, he already set his sights on one day dominating the national sport. VOA’s Arash Arabasadi has more.
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Thousands Flee Hong Kong for UK, Fearing China Crackdown
Thousands of Hong Kongers have already made the sometimes painful decision to leave behind their hometown and move to Britain since Beijing imposed a strict national security law on the Chinese territory last summer. Their numbers are expected to swell to the hundreds of thousands. Some are leaving because they fear punishment for supporting the pro-democracy protests that swept the former British colony in 2019. Others say China’s encroachment on their way of life and civil liberties has become unbearable, and they want to seek a better future for their children abroad. Most say they don’t plan to ever go back. The moves are expected to accelerate now that 5 million Hong Kongers are eligible to apply for visas to Britain, allowing them to live, work and study there and eventually apply to become British citizens. Applications for the British National Overseas visa officially opened Sunday, though many have already arrived on British soil to get a head start. FILE – A British National Overseas passports (BNO) and a Hong Kong Special Administrative Region of the People’s Republic of China passport are pictured in Hong Kong, Friday, Jan. 29, 2021.Britain’s government said some 7,000 people with British National Overseas passports — a travel document that Hong Kongers could apply for before the city was handed over to Chinese control in 1997 — have arrived since July on the previously allowed six month visa. It estimates that over 300,000 people will take up the offer of extended residency rights in the next five years. “Before the announcement of the BN(O) visa in July, we didn’t have many enquiries about U.K. immigration, maybe less than 10 a month,” said Andrew Lo, founder of Anlex Immigration Consultants in Hong Kong. “Now we receive about 10 to 15 calls a day asking about it.” Mike, a photojournalist, said he plans to apply for the visa and move to Leeds with his wife and young daughter in April. His motivation to leave Hong Kong came after the city’s political situation deteriorated following the anti-government protests and he realized that the city’s police force was not politically neutral. The police have been criticized by pro-democracy supporters for brutality and the use of excessive violence. Mike said moving to Britain was important as he believed the education system in Hong Kong will be affected by the political situation and it will be better for his daughter to study in the U.K. Mike agreed to speak on the condition that he only be identified by his first name out of fear of official retaliation. Lo said that with the new visa, the barrier to entry to move to the U.K. becomes extremely low, with no language or education qualification requirements. British National Overseas passport holders need to prove that they have enough money to support themselves for six months and prove that they are clear of tuberculosis, according to the U.K. government. Currently, Lo assists three to four families a week in their move to the U.K. About 60% of those are families with young children, while the remaining are young couples or young professionals. Cindy, a Hong Kong businesswoman and the mother of two young children, arrived in London last week. In Hong Kong she had a comfortable lifestyle. She owned several properties with her husband and the business she ran was going well. But she made up her mind to leave it all behind as she felt that the city’s freedoms and liberties were eroding and she wanted to ensure a good future for her kids. Cindy, who spoke on the condition she only be identified by her first name out of concern of official retaliation, said it was important to move quickly as she feared Beijing would soon move to halt the exodus. FILE – British Prime Minister Boris Johnson takes questions in parliament in London, Britain, Jan. 20, 2021 in this still image taken from a video.Prime Minister Boris Johnson said this week the visa offer shows Britain is honoring its “profound ties of history” with Hong Kong, which was handed over to China on the understanding that it would retain its Western-style freedoms and much of its political autonomy not seen on mainland China. Beijing said Friday it will no longer recognize the British National Overseas passport as a travel document or form of identification, and criticized Britain’s citizenship offer as a move that “seriously infringed” on China’s sovereignty. It was unclear what effect the announcement would have because many Hong Kongers carry multiple passports. Beijing drastically hardened its stance on Hong Kong after the 2019 protests turned violent and plunged the city into a months-long crisis. Since the security law’s enactment, dozens of pro-democracy activists have been arrested, and the movement’s young leaders have either been jailed or fled abroad. Because the new law broadly defined acts of subversion, secession, foreign collusion and terrorism, many in Hong Kong fear that expressing any form of political opposition — even posting messages on social media — could land them in trouble. “This is a really unique emigration wave — some people haven’t had time to actually visit the country they’re relocating to. Many have no experience of living abroad,” said Miriam Lo, who runs Excelsior UK, a relocation agency. “And because of the pandemic, they couldn’t even come over to view a home before deciding to buy.”
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Activists Rally Behind French-Vietnamese Woman’s Agent Orange Lawsuit
Activists gathered Saturday in Paris to support people exposed to Agent Orange during the Vietnam War, after a French court examined the case of a French-Vietnamese woman who sued 14 companies that produced and sold the powerful defoliant dioxin used by U.S. troops.Former journalist Tran To Nga, 78, described in a book how she was exposed to Agent Orange in 1966, when she was a member of the Vietnamese Communists, or Viet Cong, who fought against South Vietnam and the United States.”Because of that, I lost one child due to heart defects. I have two other daughters who were born with malformations. And my grandchildren, too,” she told The Associated Press.In 2014 in France, she sued firms that produced and sold Agent Orange, including U.S. multinational companies Dow Chemical and Monsanto, now owned by German giant Bayer.Tran is seeking damages for her multiple health problems, including cancer, and those of her children in legal proceedings that could be the first to provide compensation to a Vietnamese victim, according to an alliance of nongovernmental organizations backing her case.So far only military veterans from the U.S. and other countries involved in the war have won compensation. The justice system in France allows citizens to sue over events that took place abroad.Backed by the NGO alliance Collectif Vietnam Dioxine, which called for Saturday’s gathering at Trocadero Plaza, Tran’s legal action is aimed at gaining recognition for civilians harmed by Agent Orange and the damage the herbicide did to the environment.U.S. forces used Agent Orange to defoliate Vietnamese jungles and to destroy Viet Cong crops during the war.Between 1962 and 1971, the U.S. military sprayed roughly 11 million gallons of the chemical agent across large swaths of southern Vietnam. Dioxin stays in the soil and in the sediment at the bottom of lakes and rivers for generations. It can enter the food supply through the fat of fish and other animals.Vietnam says as many as 4 million of its citizens were exposed to the herbicide and as many as 3 million have suffered illnesses from it, including the children of people who were exposed during the war.”That’s where lies the crime, the tragedy, because with Agent Orange, it doesn’t stop. It is passed on from one generation to the next,” Tran said.The court in Evry, a southern suburb of Paris, heard Tran’s case Monday.Bayer argues any legal responsibility for Tran’s claims should belong to the United States, saying in a statement that the Agent Orange was made “under the sole management of the U.S. government for exclusively military purposes.”Tran’s lawyers argued that the U.S. government had not requisitioned the chemical but secured it from the companies through a bidding process.The court’s ruling is scheduled to be given May 10.
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Myanmar’s Military Promises to Abide by and Protect Constitution
Myanmar’s military said Saturday it will abide by and protect the country’s constitution.The statement came after United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres and Western embassies in Myanmar expressed alarm Friday over possible a possible army coup.The army’s powerful commander-in-chief, Senior General Min Aung Hlaing, said early this week that repealing the 2008 constitution could be “necessary” under certain circumstances. Myanmar Military Coup Talk Draws Concern from Western EmbassiesWestern missions call for rejection of attempts to alter election resultsThe military, locally known as the Tatmadaw, said that Hlaing’s remarks had been misunderstood.”Other organizations and media misinterpreted the commander-in-chief’s speech and framed it from their point of view,” the statement said, adding that “Tatmadaw is abiding by the current constitution … and will perform within the law by defending it.”The army had for weeks alleged that November’s general election, won in a landslide by Nobel laureate Aung San Suu Kyi’s ruling National League for Democracy, was marred by irregularities.Myanmar was ruled by military juntas from1962 until 2011. The military is still the most powerful segment of the government.
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