After a youth movement to reform Thailand’s monarchy erupted onto Bangkok’s streets last year, many dissidents have been The icon for the social media app Clubhouse is seen on a smartphone screen in Beijing, Feb. 9, 2021.Launched in April 2020, Clubhouse had nearly 14 million downloads globally in the first quarter this year, according to market data company Statista.As of February, Europe, the Middle East and Africa held the largest share of global downloads of the app, followed by Asia.The app was banned in China, after users discussed sensitive topics such as Beijing’s placement of Uyghurs in concentration camps in Xinjiang, Hong Kong’s pro-democracy movement and the 1989 Tiananmen Square protests.In the Middle East, it is blocked on certain mobile networks in Jordan, while in the United Arab Emirates, users have described unexplainable glitches.In Thailand, authorities have warned users not to distribute disinformation after Kyoto University’s associate professor Pavin Chachavalpongpun’s talk of the palace and King Maha Vajiralongkorn quickly drew thousands of listeners.Moving onlineSurachanee Sriyai, a political science lecturer at Chulalongkorn University in Bangkok, said the crackdown on pro-democracy demonstrations has contributed to Clubhouse’s boom.Thailand’s pro-democracy protesters, mostly school and university students, have been calling for the resignation of Prime Minister Prayuth Chan-ocha, the rewriting of the country’s constitution, and reform of the monarchy.The movement drew tens of thousands to the streets at its peak last year. Since then, it has struggled to maintain its momentum. Authorities met protesters with water cannons, rubber bullets and tear gas.Critics contend the authorities’ most powerful weapon is Thailand’s draconian lèse-majesté law, written to shield the monarchy from criticism. Those found guilty of violating the law, known as Article 112, could face up to 15 years in prison.At least 82 people — some just 16 years old — have been summoned or charged under Article 112 since the youth protests began in July 2020, according to Thai Lawyers for Human Rights. Key student leaders have been repeatedly denied bail as they await trial, according to the legal group.“Thai politics is at a precarious, sensitive juncture,” Surachanee told VOA. “Going out in the streets has become increasingly riskier … making it necessary to retreat online again.”Promises, pitfallsFor years, different protest groups in Thailand have used social media to expand their bases and amplify their messages, according to Sombat Boonngamanong, a veteran pro-democracy activist, who is based in Bangkok.In 2013-14, critics of then-Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra used a “check-in” feature and shared pictures on Facebook when they joined street demonstrations to call for her resignation.Last year, the youth movement, which has adopted a flat rather than hierarchical leadership structure, migrated to Facebook, Twitter and Telegram to organize street rallies and flash mobs.“Pro-democracy activists have found Clubhouse to be effective and a significant number of them have used it as a base,” said Sombat, 53, who was drawn to Clubhouse after Tesla CEO Elon Musk appeared on the app on Feb. 1.Sombat believes that Clubhouse has untapped potential for political activism. The app’s instantaneous interactive feature could help pro-democracy activists expand their reach more effectively and change the way they spread their agenda or exchange information, he said.In an experiment on April 18, Sombat and some 100 members used the picture of Myanmar’s popular actor/model Paing Takhon — who was arrested April 7 by the military during an anti-democracy crackdown — as their profile pictures.Together, they joined an ongoing chat room about Myanmar’s situation, pulling off a stunt that resembled a flash mob crossed with a photobomb, which the host described as a show of solidarity.After a human rights lawyer sent a distress letter from police detention, Thai Unity Club members sprang into action to express concern about the safety of the lawyer and other activists as they awaited trials.Rakchanok Srinok and members of Thai Unity Club, a group formed on Clubhouse, submitted a letter to bring attention to the condition of jailed political activists in March 2021. (Courtesy Thai Unity Club)“Some members proposed that we hand deliver a letter [to ask a Thai parliamentary committee to investigate] … then everyone pitched in to make it happen” online and then in real life, said Rukchanok. “It became real activism outside of Clubhouse.”Despite what the activists see as successes using Clubhouse and social media, Surachanee, the political scientist at Chulalongkorn University, said she remains skeptical about the ability of Clubhouse to drive a social movement.“It’s too early to say that Clubhouse can fuel a large-scale movement,” she said. “We have yet to see it, but it’s more common to see Clubhouse being used to organize smaller, lower-risk political activities.”Clubhouse is not immune to the drawbacks that color much of social media — accessibility, the echo-chamber effect and slacktivism, according to Surachanee, who studies digital politics and political communication.For now, Clubhouse is only accessible on iOS, the mobile operating system for iPhone and iPad. That means Android users in Thailand, who account for about 70% of the population, remain excluded.Some Clubhouse users may feel less enthusiastic to join protests or other on-the-ground activism when they can click for information and discussions online, Surachanee said.Arthittaya, a Clubhouse early adopter, said she was aware of the pitfalls. The 32-year-old freelancer is in demand to moderate discussions on the app but makes sure she shows up on the street.“Clubhouse is a great tool to brainstorm, strategize and build consensus, but it’s certainly still very important to join protests” she said. “We need an on-the-ground show of force to empower the people and to gain more political leverage.”This story originated in VOA’s Thai Service.
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Author: SeeEA
New Chinese Decree Tells Religious Leaders to ‘Support the Communist Party’
The Chinese government is implementing a new decree on May 1 that will require all religious leaders to “follow the lead of and support the Communist Party.”The decree, “FILE – Uyghurs and other members of the faithful walk under an arch with security cameras as they leave after prayers at the Id Kah Mosque in Kashgar in western China’s Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region, April 19, 2021.The USCIRF said the Sinicization effort particularly targets Christians, Muslims and Tibetan Buddhists because the Chinese government believes these groups maintain foreign connections. The USCIRF reported continuing use by the Chinese government of advanced technology to monitor, track and control religious minorities such as the FILE – Chinese acolytes pray during a Holy Saturday Mass on the evening before Easter at the Cathedral of the Immaculate Conception, a government-sanctioned Catholic church in Beijing, March 31, 2018.Fenggang Yang, a sociology professor at Purdue University who oversees the Center on Religion and the Global East, said that China’s religious policy has changed significantly in the last two or three years to further limit the freedom of religious professionals.“In principle, the Chinese Communist Party adheres to Marxism-Leninism, which includes atheism,” Yang told VOA Mandarin. “There are logical problems when the Chinese authorities require religious professionals to embrace the Communist Party and atheism for their leadership or domination.”Yang said that any religion introduced to a new country would adapt to the local sociopolitical system and culture, but in China people must beware of religion being manipulated by the CCP as a tool to further its own ends.Xu, who has been tried, detained and denied his state pension because of his faith, said religious professionals and believers were “not afraid of crackdowns. … We will still be able to serve the Lord, and we’re very confident about that.”Adrianna Zhang and Mo Yu contributed to this report.
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China Points Toward Asteroid Defense System, Comet Mission
China will discuss building a defense system against near-Earth asteroids, a senior space agency official said Saturday, as the country steps up its longer-term space ambitions.Zhang Kejian, head of the China National Space Administration, did not provide further detail in his opening remarks at a ceremony for China’s Space Day in the eastern city of Nanjing.China has made space exploration a top priority in recent years, aiming to establish a program operating thousands of space flights a year and carrying tens of thousands of tons of cargo and passengers by 2045.The European Space Agency last year signed a deal worth 129 million euros ($156 million) to build a spacecraft for a joint project with NASA examining how to deflect an asteroid heading for Earth.China is pushing forward a mission where one space probe will land on a near-Earth asteroid to collect samples, fly back toward Earth to release a capsule containing the samples, and then orbit another comet, the official Xinhua News Agency reported, citing Ye Peijian, an academic at the Chinese Academy of Sciences.The mission could take about a decade to complete, Ye said. China and Russia signed a memorandum of understanding last month to set up an international lunar research station.
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Indonesia Military Says Missing Submarine Sank
An Indonesian submarine that went missing off the coast of Bali has sunk, the country’s navy said Saturday, dashing hopes that its 53 crew would be saved.
The navy’s chief said a search party had recovered fragments from the KRI Nanggala 402 including items from inside the vessel, whose oxygen reserves were already believed to have run out.
Warships, planes and hundreds of military personnel have been searching for the stricken vessel. Authorities had said the German-built craft was equipped with enough oxygen for only three days after losing power.
That deadline passed early Saturday.
“We have raised the status from submiss to subsunk,” navy chief Yudo Margono told reporters, adding that the retrieved items could not have come from another vessel.
“(The items) would not have come outside the submarine if there was no external pressure or without damage to its torpedo launcher.”
Navy officials displayed several items including a piece of a torpedo and a bottle of grease used to lubricate a submarine’s periscope.
They also found a prayer mat used by Muslims.
The submarine – one of five in Indonesia’s fleet – disappeared early Wednesday during live torpedo training exercises off the Indonesian holiday island.
An oil spill spotted where the submarine was thought to have submerged pointed to possible fuel-tank damage, fanning fears of a deadly disaster.
There were concerns that the submarine could have been crushed by water pressure if it sank to depths reaching 700 meters – far deeper than what it was built to withstand.A military official displays items retrieved during the search for the missing KRI Nanggala sub, at a press conference at Ngurah Rai Military Air Base in Bali, Indonesia, April 24, 2021. (Courtesy: Indonesian military via VOA’s Indonesian Service)Few explanations
The vessel was scheduled to conduct the training exercises when it asked for permission to dive. It lost contact shortly after.
Authorities have not offered possible explanations for the submarine’s sudden disappearance or commented on questions about whether the decades-old vessel was overloaded.
The military has said the submarine, delivered to Indonesia in 1981, was seaworthy.
Neighboring Singapore and Malaysia, as well as the United States and Australia, were among nations helping in the hunt with nearly two dozen ships deployed to scour a search zone covering about 34 square kilometers.
Australia’s HMAS Ballarat arrived on Saturday with a US P-8 Poseidon aircraft also helping to look for the craft.
Singapore’s MV Swift Rescue — a submarine rescue vessel — was expected later Saturday.
Indonesia’s military said earlier it had picked up signs of an object with high magnetism at a depth of between 50 and 100 meters, fanning hopes of finding the submarine.
But Saturday’s announcement means the Southeast Asian archipelago joins a list of countries struck by fatal submarine accidents.
Among the worst was the 2000 sinking of the Kursk, the pride of Russia’s Northern Fleet.
That submarine was on maneuvers in the Barents Sea when it sank with the loss of all 118 aboard. An inquiry found a torpedo had exploded, detonating all the others.
Most of its crew died instantly but some survived for several days before suffocating.
In 2003, 70 Chinese naval officers and crew were killed, apparently suffocated, in an accident on a Ming-class submarine during exercises.
Five years later, 20 people were killed by poisonous gas when a fire extinguishing system was accidentally activated on a Russian submarine being tested in the Sea of Japan.
And in 2018, authorities found the wreckage of an Argentine submarine that had gone missing a year earlier with 44 sailors aboard.
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US-Japan Statement Raises Issue of Taiwan Defense Against China
A joint statement by U.S. President Joe Biden and Japanese Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga from their recent meeting at the White House has left officials and analysts in Taiwan wondering how far Japan might be willing to go to help defend the island against an attack from China.The White House said April 16 on its website that Suga and Biden “underscore the importance of peace and stability in the Taiwan Strait.”Some analysts say the joint statement signals Tokyo’s willingness to help defend Taiwan against China if needed, but only in support of a U.S.-led campaign.Taiwan quickly welcomed the joint statement.“Our government is happy to see that the United States and Japan are concerned about the current situation of regional security,” the Foreign Affairs Ministry in Taipei said in a statement April 17.“We will build on existing solid foundations and work closely with the United States, Japan and other countries with similar ideas to defend the democratic system, shared values and a rule-based international order and work together to maintain peace, stability and prosperity in the Indo-Pacific region,” the ministry’s statement said.China claims sovereignty over self-ruled Taiwan, a leftover issue from the Chinese civil war of the 1940s, and it has threatened to take the island by force if needed.Regular Chinese military flights in a corner of Taiwan’s air defense identification zone over the past eight months have sparked worries about a possible attack by China, which maintains the world’s third strongest armed forces, after the United States and Russia. A 1979 congressional act allows the United States to help defend Taiwan militarily.Backup for U.S. forcesAs Suga faced questions at home after the Biden visit about his designs for Taiwan, officials in Tokyo reportedly clarified on Wednesday that Japan would not send troops but could offer logistical support to the United States in the event of a conflict.In response to a question Tuesday from a member of the Japanese Diet about Japan’s commitment to Taiwan, Suga said the joint statement with Biden “does not presuppose military involvement at all,” the Jiji Press news service reported.Japan and the United States still honor a 70-year-old treaty that commits both countries to act against common dangers. Both see Taiwan as a friendly Asia Pacific buffer against Chinese naval expansion.“Taiwanese leaders would be thankful for Japan Prime Minister Suga’s goodwill and friendliness,” said Chen Yi-fan, assistant diplomacy and international relations professor at Tamkang University in Taiwan. “However, based on [the] U.S. Japan security treaty, Japan will only offer logistical support to the U.S. military forces.”Japan spars with China over sovereignty in parts of the sea between them and bicker about leftover World War II issues. However, Japanese officials hope to avoid irritating China now as they pursue post-pandemic economic recovery, Chen said. China is Japan’s largest trading partner.Japan might wait for the United States to request military aid, said Yun Sun, East Asia Program senior associate at the Stimson Center in Washington.“As for whether Japan will aid Taiwan in the event of a contingency, the United States has not provided such strategic clarity yet and it will be far off to speculate if Japan will,” Sun said. “To a large extent, Japan’s involvement in a Taiwan contingency depends on what the U.S. will do and also ask Japan to do.”Jeffrey Kingston, a history instructor at the Japan campus of Temple University, called the U.S.-Japan statement on Taiwan “much ado about nothing.”After Suga agreed to the Taiwan Strait statement in Washington last week, Kingston said, “I think Japan was like just laughing up its sleeve thinking, ‘Wow, the Americans, they’re satisfied with that?’”U.S. allies marshaling near ChinaThe Biden-Suga consensus is unlikely to stop at just the United States and Japan, or at Taiwan, some scholars say. They note that four U.S.-allied Western European countries have sent vessels or planned voyages this year to date to the South China Sea, a disputed waterway near Taiwan where China has alarmed much of Asia by building up tiny islets for military use.A U.S. aircraft carrier group joined an amphibious-ready group for drills in the sea earlier this month. Japan’s Maritime Self-defense Force held anti-submarine drills in the sea last year.Taiwan contests sovereignty over the sea, as do four Southeast Asian governments.“We’re going to see more of that occurring in the South China Sea,” said Carl Thayer, an emeritus professor from the University of New South Wales in Australia. “It’s the beginning of a full-court press.”
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Myanmar Junta Chief Arrives for Southeast Asian Leaders Summit on Crisis
Myanmar General Min Aung Hlaing, who led the military takeover that sparked turmoil in his country, arrived in Jakarta on Saturday for a meeting of Southeast Asian leaders seeking try to forge a path to end the violence in the impoverished nation.The gathering of leaders of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) in Jakarta is the first coordinated international effort to ease the crisis in Myanmar, an impoverished country that neighbors China, India and Thailand. Myanmar is part of the 10-nation ASEAN.With participants attending in person despite the pandemic, Indonesia’s Foreign Minister Retno Marsudi said on Friday that the summit reflected the “deep concern about the situation in Myanmar and ASEAN’s determination to help Myanmar get out of this delicate situation.””We hope that tomorrow’s (summit) will reach an agreement regarding steps that are good for the people of Myanmar,” she said.It’s unusual for the leader of a military government in Myanmar to attend an ASEAN summit — usually the country has been represented by a lower-ranked officer or a civilian. Min Aung Hlaing was seen disembarking after arriving on a special flight from Naypyitaw, the Myanmar capital, according to footage on the official video channel of Indonesia’s presidential palace.Diplomats and government officials who asked not to be named said many ASEAN leaders want a commitment from Min Aung Hlaing to restrain his security forces, who monitors say have killed 745 people since a mass civil disobedience movement emerged to challenge his Feb. 1 coup against the elected government of Aung San Suu Kyi.”This is what Myanmar must avoid: geographical, political, social and national disintegration into warring ethnic parts,” said Philippines Foreign Secretary Teddy Locsin on Twitter. “Myanmar on its own must find peace again.”Min Aung Hlaing, on his first foreign trip since the coup, will address the summit later on Saturday along with each of the participants before more informal discussions begin, said three sources familiar with procedures.The summit will be held in a “retreat” format, with leaders sitting in a circle and only one or two officials assisting each one, said Usana Berananda, a Thai foreign ministry official.Push for dialogueASEAN officials and diplomats have also worked on an initiative to send a humanitarian aid mission to Myanmar and appoint an envoy to encourage dialog between the junta and the ousted lawmakers and armed ethnic groups who have formed an opposition National Unity Government (NUG).The leaders of Indonesia, Vietnam, Singapore, Malaysia, Cambodia and Brunei have confirmed their attendance, along with the foreign ministers of Laos, Thailand and the Philippines.ASEAN has a policy of consensus decision-making and non-interference in the affairs of its members, which include Myanmar.While that makes it difficult to tackle contentious issues, the body is seen by the United Nations, China and the United States as best placed to deal with the junta directly.The summit, called for by Indonesia’s president Joko Widodo last month, is a departure from the tightly choreographed leaders’ meetings that are typical of ASEAN, said Evan Laksmana, a Jakarta-based security analyst.”There is no precedent, especially given the expressed intent to discuss the problems of one member state.”A spokesperson for the NUG, which is not attending the summit, told Reuters the group had “been in contact with ASEAN leaders.”Dr. Sasa, an international envoy for the NUG, who goes by one name, said ASEAN should insist the military stops killing civilians, halts the bombing of villages in ethnic minority areas, releases political prisoners and hands power to the NUG.
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Hope Fades for Missing Indonesian Submarine as US Assists Search
The United States is deploying a P-8 Poseidon aircraft to assist in the search and rescue operation for a missing Indonesian navy submarine lost in the Bali Sea, as hopes fade for the 53 crew who are expected to have run out of oxygen early Saturday.The Indonesian navy said it was sending search helicopters and ships to the area where contact was lost with the 44-year-old KRI Nanggala-402 submarine on Wednesday as it prepared to conduct a torpedo drill.Australia has also deployed a sonar-equipped frigate with a helicopter to help the submarine hunt, while a deep submergence rescue vessel is on route from India, as concerns grow that the submarine might have been crushed by water pressure.”The possibility of it having fallen underneath its maximum diving depth thereby leading to the implosion of the submarine will have to be considered,” said Collin Koh, Research Fellow at the Institute of Defense and Strategic Studies.If the submarine was still intact, Indonesian officials said on Friday it would only have enough air to last until around dawn on Saturday if equipment was functioning properly.”So far we haven’t found it… but with the equipment available we should be able to find the location,” Achmad Riad, a spokesperson for the Indonesian military, told a news conference.Koh said the assumption that the submarine had 72 hours of oxygen was optimistic given the submarine’s limited ability to generate oxygen due to its conventional power generation.”So, there’s a possibility…oxygen might have already run out,” said Koh.Indonesia’s navy said it was investigating whether the submarine lost power during a dive and could not carry out emergency procedures as it descended to a depth of 600-700 meters, well beyond its survivable limits.An object with “high magnetic force” had been spotted “floating” at a depth of 50-100 meters, Indonesian Navy Chief of Staff Yudo Margono said on Friday, and an aerial search had earlier spotted an oil spill near the submarine’s last location.The diesel-electric powered submarine could withstand a depth of up to 500 meters, but anything more could be fatal, navy spokesperson Julius Widjojono said.Experts like Koh say Indonesia will have to expand the area of search again if the magnetic anomaly is proven not to be the vessel and warn that if the submarine is lost at an “extreme depth,” it might be possible to retrieve.The Bali Sea can reach depths of more than 1,500 meters.One of the people on board was the commander of the Indonesian submarine fleet, Harry Setiawan.Late Friday, the Pentagon said U.S. Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin had spoken with his Indonesian counterpart Prabowo Subianto and offered additional support, which could include undersea search assets.
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Fear Grips Hong Kong’s Public Broadcaster
An important Hong Kong public news broadcaster is at risk of becoming a government mouthpiece as Beijing tightens its grip, according to an insider who described rising editorial pressure and orders to pull out of journalism contests.Radio Television Hong Kong (RTHK) is feeling the changes under a newly appointed manager and the city’s new national security law, elevating concerns that the broadcaster will end up more closely aligned with the Communist Party-controlled Hong Kong government.Last month, the regional Hong Kong government appointed Patrick Li Pak-Chuen, a career bureaucrat with no media experience, as RTHK’s new director of broadcasting. Since then, local media have reported how several shows considered biased by the new RTHK management were suspended by Li, also editor-in-chief.VOA interviewed a senior RTHK employee familiar with internal discussions at the broadcaster, who asked for anonymity to avoid retaliation and speak candidly. Overall, the source said, RTHK journalists are feeling uncertain about the new management direction and are under pressure to conform.In response to VOA’s request for comment from the director of broadcasting, RTHK’s head of corporate communications and standards said the broadcaster is “editorially independent as stipulated in the charter of RTHK” that it “will continue to abide by.”’Repressive’ atmosphereBut the RTHK source described the atmosphere as “tense” and “repressive” with a “top-down approach.” Producers must now have current affairs shows preapproved, and directors are asking for more pro-government voices in segments. Even when “impartiality” is demonstrated, the employee said, show ideas are rejected with little explanation.“They won’t tell you the line until they suddenly say you crossed the line, but they didn’t give the details of how the line is crossed — like certain people you can’t interview, that’s all in the dark,” the source said. “Secretive.”VOA has found it increasingly difficult to contact sources within the broadcaster, with many declining interviews for fear of reprisal.The fear is that RTHK will end up closer to China’s state-controlled media. “It’s looming over us,” the source said. “There have been some opportunist people who have already offered to produce something that isn’t too far away from propaganda.”RTHK is Hong Kong’s sole public broadcaster. It launched its first radio program in 1928 under the British Hong Kong Government but later became an independent department. By the 1990s, RTHK was producing web, television and radio content and is bound by its Ng Chi-sam, right, and Tsang Chi-ho, hosts of RTHK’s satirical comedy show “Headliner,” perform the show, in Hong Kong, China, June 5, 2020.Censorship movesPolitics intruded on RTHK beginning in 2019 as anti-Beijing protests raged. Since then, several shows have been suspended because of perceived government criticism. They include a satirical show, “Headliner,” accused of bias against the Hong Kong police.An interview with Nathan Law, a prominent, now-exiled activist, was removed from the RTHK website after reports that Law was wanted for violating national security.Review teams have been set up within the broadcaster to vet future content, and China’s national anthem is now played daily on RTHK radio channels, an effort seen as promoting “patriotism” among Hong Kongers. The broadcaster also followed China’s decision to drop BBC World Service radio broadcasts after criticism by the Chinese government.Bao Choy Yuk-Ling, a freelance producer with RTHK, leaves West Kowloon Magistrates’ Courts after being found guilty of making false statements to obtain data for a documentary, in Hong Kong, China April 22, 2021.And on Thursday, a Hong Kong court found Bao Choy, a freelance producer of the now-award-winning Yuen Long documentary, guilty of illegally obtaining data for the episode. Bao was fined HKD $6,000 (U.S. $773). The documentary highlighted the delayed response by Hong Kong police to the mob attack, in which dozens were injured.RTHK Arrest in Hong Kong Is Further Blow to Press FreedomArrests, chilled climate since National Security Law came into effect may leave Hong Kong media deciding between self-censorship or revealing the truthThe government has recently called for Hong Kong “patriots” as it pushes to quell unrest in the city. In February, all civil servants, including hundreds of RTHK employees, were asked to sign an allegiance to the government. The fear is that this will allow government critics to be targeted under the new national security law.Nicholas Cull, a professor of public diplomacy at the Annenberg School for Communication and Journalism at the University of Southern California, told VOA that the “complete integration of media is the long-term goal of Beijing.”It’s part of a worsening environment globally for media, he said, as broadcasters in Poland, Slovenia and Hungary have been targeted. “In many places, there is an assumption of state control over the public broadcaster,” Cull said.’Especially dangerous’ for journalistsThe national security law was described by media watchdog Reporters Without Borders as “especially dangerous” for journalists. It ranked Hong Kong 80th out of 180 countries, where 1 is the most free, in its press freedom index released Tuesday.The RTHK source who spoke with VOA described a deteriorating situation, with low communication, few meetings, and less transparency and input from senior staff, as “political correctness” becomes the sole consideration for the new director.“Propaganda is propaganda and reporting is reporting,” the source said. “But then I’d say the boundaries would be blurrier and blurrier, and to the end of that road it could end up being CCTV [China Central Television Network].”
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Southeast Asian Summit to Address Myanmar’s Post-coup Crisis
When the 10-member Association of Southeast Asian Nations holds a special summit Saturday to discuss Myanmar, the regional body will be under as much scrutiny as the general who led the February coup ousting the elected government of Aung San Suu Kyi.
Opponents of the junta are furious that ASEAN is welcoming its chief, Senior Gen. Min Aung Hlaing, to its meeting in the Indonesian capital Jakarta, arguing that because he seized power by force, he is not Myanmar’s legitimate leader. Also weighing heavily against him is the lethal violence perpetrated by the security forces he commands, responsible for killing hundreds of largely peaceful protesters and bystanders.
“Min Aung Hlaing, who faces international sanctions for his role in military atrocities and the brutal crackdown on pro-democracy protesters, should not be welcomed at an intergovernmental gathering to address a crisis he created,” said Brad Adams, Asia director for New York-based Human Rights Watch.
“ASEAN members should instead take this opportunity to impose targeted, economic sanctions on junta leaders and on businesses that fund the junta, and press the junta to release political detainees, end abuses, and restore the country’s democratically elected government.”
The junta’s foes have promoted the idea that the opposition’s parallel National Unity Government, recently established by the elected lawmakers the army barred from being seated, should represent Myanmar, or at least have some role in the Jakarta meeting. It has not been invited.
“It’s unacceptable that they invite this murderer-in-chief, Min Aung Hlaing, who has just killed more than 730 people in Myanmar, and I think it is very unfortunate that they, again and again, talk to the military generals and not to the civilian government of Myanmar, which is the NUG,” says the parallel government’s Minister of International Cooperation, Dr. Sasa, who uses one name.
Evan Laksmana, a researcher for Indonesia’s Centre for Strategic and International Studies, a think tank with close government ties, told The Associated Press there is a very practical reason for engaging Min Aung Hlaing face to face.
ASEAN recognizes “the reality is that one party is doing the violence, which is the military, and therefore that’s why the military is being called to the meeting. So, this is not in any way conferring legitimacy to the military regime,” he said.
By talking to the general, ASEAN hopes to initiate a longer-term framework process, starting with ending the violence, that will “hopefully help facilitate dialogue among all the stakeholders in Myanmar, not just [with] the military regime.”
Skeptics feel ASEAN faces more basic problems in seeking to resolve Myanmar’s crisis. They point to the divergent interests of the group’s members, its longstanding conventions of seeking consensus and avoiding interference in each other’s affairs, and the historic obstinacy of Myanmar’s generals.
One faction in the group, comprising Indonesia, Malaysia and Singapore, believes the instability engendered by the coup threatens the entire region as well as ASEAN’s credibility as a group powerful enough to act independently of big power influence.
They also point out that the ASEAN Charter — adopted in 2007, 40 years after the group’s founding — includes democracy, human rights, good governance and rule of law as guiding principles.
“Now is a grave time for ASEAN’s much-touted centrality, the idea that ASEAN is a central regional platform for regional dialogue, for promoting peace and stability in the region,” said Prof. Thitinan Pongsudhirak, director of the Institute of Security and International Studies at Bangkok’s Chulalongkorn University. He said that conception of ASEAN is now facing “its most severe, grave challenge” in 53 years of existence.
Member countries with more authoritarian regimes — Laos, Cambodia and Vietnam — see little benefit in paying more than lip service to such principles and have treated Myanmar’s crisis as its own internal matter.
The Jakarta meeting is a hybrid one, with onsite attendance encouraged but virtual participation by video an option because of the coronavirus pandemic. Thai Prime Minister Prayuth Chan-ocha and Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte both announced they will stay home and send their foreign ministers in their stead, but they are dealing with serious COVID-19 outbreaks, obscuring any political message in their decisions.
“It is more difficult to communicate on a personal level between the leaders without the leaders being present fully, particularly with regards to the prime minister of Thailand, whom we believe to have the best relationship with the current senior general from Myanmar,” observed Indonesia’s Laksmana.
He believes ASEAN has a unique opportunity to engage productively with Myanmar’s ruling junta “because right now there is no other option on the table.”
“We haven’t seen any progress from the U.N. Security Council, for example. There is no collective effort by other countries. This is it. This is the first potential breakthrough for the current crisis,” he told The Associated Press.
U.N. specialized agencies and experts have been active in criticizing the coup and the junta’s crackdown. U.N. Special Envoy on Myanmar Christine Schraner Burgener will not take part in ASEAN’s deliberations, but intends to take part in sideline consultations. The junta has rejected her repeated requests to visit Myanmar.
The Security Council could effectively coordinate actions such as arms embargoes to pressure the junta, but Russia and China, major weapons suppliers to the junta, would veto such moves.
Western nations have already enacted targeted sanctions against members of the junta and businesses giving them financial support, but Myanmar’s past military governments have successfully stood up to such pressures, and would be expected to do so again, especially with support from Beijing.
ASEAN prefers quiet diplomacy to intimidation, seeking incremental gains. Even getting the two Myanmar sides to talk to each other could take some time, acknowledges Laksmana.
“I think the gravity of the situation on the ground is as such now that there is no space or even willingness for dialogue until we end the violence,” he said.
“So, I think the first steps would be to what extent can ASEAN facilitate the observance of a humanitarian pause first and then the delivery of the humanitarian aid,” he said. Only after that might a forum be possible where all the stakeholders could talk.
A Southeast Asian diplomat, speaking on condition of anonymity because he is not authorized to speak to the press, said another opening move is under consideration. This would involve having ASEAN’s current chairman, Brunei’s Prime Minister Hassanal Bolkiah, travel to Myanmar for meetings with the military leadership and Suu Kyi’s camp to encourage dialogue. He would go there with the ASEAN Secretary General Lim Jock Hoi — also from Brunei — if the junta gives them the nod.
ASEAN-style diplomacy with Myanmar has borne fruit in the past. The military regime in charge in 2008 was incapable of mounting sufficient rescue and recovery efforts in the wake of devastating Cyclone Nargis but refused to open up the country to an international aid effort. ASEAN took the initiative in offering to open a channel for foreign assistance, and the much-needed aid started flowing.
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Biden Touts Economic Benefits of Combatting Climate Change
U.S. President Joe Biden joined business and union leaders Friday in touting the economic benefits of addressing global warming when he delivered remarks from the White House on the last day of a two-day virtual climate change summit.“When we invest in climate resilience and infrastructure, we create opportunities for everyone,” Biden said. Biden’s remarks at a session on the “economic opportunities of climate action” came one day after he announced a new goal of cutting U.S. greenhouse gas pollution by 50-52% by 2030.Biden’s commitment is the most ambitious U.S. climate goal ever, nearly doubling the cuts the Obama administration pledged to meet in the Paris climate accord.The White House arranged for billionaires, CEOs and union executives to help promote Biden’s plan to reduce the U.S. economy’s reliance on fossil fuels by investing trillions of dollars in clean-energy technology, research and infrastructure while simultaneously saving the planet.Billionaire and former New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg declared “We can’t beat climate change without a historic amount of new investment,” adding “We have to do more, faster to cut emissions.” Biden climate change envoy John Kerry emphasized Biden’s call for modernizing U.S. infrastructure to operate more cleanly, maintaining it would provide long-term benefits for the U.S. economy. “No one is being asked for a sacrifice,” Kerry said. “This is an opportunity.”John Kerry, Special Presidential Envoy for Climate, looks up at a video screen while participating in a virtual Climate Summit with world leaders in the East Room at the White House in Washington, April 22, 2021.Leaders from Israel, the United Arab Emirates, Denmark, Norway, Poland, Spain, Nigeria and Vietnam are also participating in Friday’s session, along with representatives from the U.S. transportation, energy and commerce departments.The U.S. target is relative to 2005 levels and the White House says efforts to reach it, include moving toward carbon pollution-free electricity, boosting fuel efficiency of cars and trucks, supporting carbon capture at industrial facilities and reducing the use of methane. U.S. allies have also vowed to cut emissions, aiming to convince other countries to follow suit ahead of the November U.N. climate change summit in Glasgow, where governments will determine the extent of each country’s reductions in fossil fuel emissions. Japan announced new plans to cut emissions by 46%, while South Korea said it would halt the investment of public funding of new coal-fired power plants. Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said Canada would increase its cuts in fossil fuel pollution by about 10% to at least 40%.President Joe Biden speaks to the virtual Leaders Summit on Climate, from the East Room of the White House, April 23, 2021, in Washington.The two-day summit is part of Biden’s efforts to restore U.S. leadership on the issue after his predecessor, Donald Trump, withdrew the United States from the legally binding Paris Agreement on Climate Change in 2017. Biden reversed the decision shortly after taking office. There is skepticism about the commitment announced Thursday by Biden and there is certain to be a partisan political battle over his pledge to reduce fossil fuel use in every sector of the U.S. economy. “Toothless requests of our foreign adversaries and maximum pain for American citizens,” reacted the top Republican party leader in the Senate, Mitch McConnell, calling Biden’s climate plan full of “misplaced priorities.” World leaders agreed to limit global warming to below 2 degrees Celsius in the 2015 U.N. Paris climate agreement and to aim for 1.5 degrees Celsius. Averaged over the entire globe, temperatures have increased more than 1.1 degree Celsius since 1980. Scientists link the increase to more severe heat waves, droughts, wildfires, storms and other impacts. And they note that the rate of temperature rise has accelerated since the 1980s.
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Climate Summit Day 2 – Invest for Big Payoff WATCH LIVE
The White House brought out the billionaires, the CEOs and the union executives Friday to help sell President Joe Biden’s climate-friendly transformation of the U.S. economy at his virtual summit of world leaders.
The closing day of the two-day summit on climate change showcased Bill Gates and Mike Bloomberg, steelworker and electrical union leaders and executives for solar and other renewable energy.
“We can’t beat climate change without a historic amount of new investment,” said Bloomberg, who’s donated millions to promote replacing dirty-burning coal-fired power plants with increasingly cheaper renewable energy.
“We have to do more, faster to cut emissions,” Bloomberg said in his push for big investment.John Kerry, Special Presidential Envoy for Climate, looks up at a video screen while participating in a virtual Climate Summit with world leaders in the East Room at the White House in Washington, April 22, 2021.Biden envoy John Kerry stressed the political selling point that the president’s call for retrofitting creaky U.S. infrastructure to run more cleanly would put the U.S. on a better economic footing long-term.
“No one is being asked for a sacrifice,” Kerry said. “This is an opportunity.”
It’s all in service of an argument U.S. officials say will make or break Biden’s climate agenda: Pouring trillions of dollars into clean-energy technology, research and infrastructure will speed a competitive U.S. economy into the future and create jobs, while saving the planet.
“Climate change is more than a threat,” Biden declared on Thursday’s opening day of his climate summit. “It also presents one of the largest job creation opportunities in history.”
The new urgency comes as scientists say that climate change caused by coal plants, car engines and other fossil fuel use is worsening droughts, floods, hurricanes, wildfires and other disasters and that humans are running out of time to stave off catastrophic extremes of global warming.
The event has featured the world’s major powers — and major polluters — pledging to cooperate on cutting petroleum and coal emissions that are rapidly warming the planet.
But Republicans are sticking to the arguments that former President Donald Trump made in pulling the U.S. out of the 2015 Paris climate accord. They point to China as the world’s worst climate polluter — the U.S. is No. 2 — and say any transition to clean energy hurts American oil, natural gas and coal workers.FILE – Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell of Kentucky walks from the Senate floor to his office on Capitol Hill, in Washington.It means “putting good-paying American jobs into the shredder,” Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., said on the Senate floor Thursday in a speech in which he dismissed the administration’s plans as costly and ineffective.
“This is quite the one-two punch,” McConnell said. “Toothless requests of our foreign adversaries … and maximum pain for American citizens.”
In an announcement timed to his summit, Biden pledged the U.S. will cut fossil fuel emissions as much as 52% by 2030.
Allies joined the U.S. in announcing new moves to cut emissions, striving to build momentum going into November’s U.N. climate summit in Glasgow, where governments will say how far each is willing to go to cut the amount of fossil fuel fumes it pumps out.
Japan announced its own new 46% emissions reduction target, and South Korea said it would stop public financing of new coal-fired power plants, potentially an important step toward persuading China and other coal-reliant nations to curb the building and funding of new ones as well. Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said his nation would boost its fossil fuel pollution cuts from 30% to at least 40%.U.S. President Joe Biden is seen on a screen as European Council President Charles Michel attends a virtual Global Climate Summit via video link from the European Council building in Brussels, April 22, 2021.Biden was scheduled to address the summit Friday at a session on the “economic opportunities of climate action.” Leaders from Israel, Singapore, the United Arab Emirates, Kenya, Denmark, Norway, Poland, Nigeria, Spain and Vietnam also were scheduled to participate Friday, along with Biden’s transportation, energy and commerce secretaries and others.
Travel precautions under the coronavirus pandemic compelled the summit to play out on livestream, limiting opportunities for spontaneous interaction and negotiation. Its opening hours were sometimes marked by electronic echoes, random beeps and off-screen voices.
But the summit opening Thursday also marshaled an impressive display of the world’s most powerful leaders speaking on the single topic of climate change.A giant screen shows news footage of Chinese President Xi Jinping attending a video summit on climate change from Beijing, China.China’s Xi Jinping spoke first among the other global figures. He made no reference to disputes over territorial claims, trade and other matters that had made it uncertain until Wednesday that he would even take part in the U.S. summit.
“To protect the environment is to protect productivity, and to boost the environment is to boost productivity. It’s as simple as that,” Xi said.
The Biden administration’s pledge would require by far the most ambitious U.S. climate effort ever, nearly doubling the reductions that the Obama administration had committed to in the Paris climate accord.
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Amnesty International Calls on Indonesia to Prosecute or Extradite Myanmar’s Junta Leader
As members of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) are set to discuss Myanmar’s governance crisis at a summit in Jakarta on Saturday, Amnesty International is calling on the 10-member regional bloc to prioritize protecting human rights and preventing the situation from deteriorating into a human rights and humanitarian crisis.Amnesty is also urging Indonesia, as the host nation, and other ASEAN member states to investigate Myanmar’s coup leader, Senior General Min Aung Hlaing, who is expected to attend the summit “on credible allegations of responsibility for crimes against humanity in Myanmar,” the right group said in a statement Friday.“As a state party to the UN Convention Against Torture, Indonesia has a legal obligation to prosecute or extradite a suspected perpetrator on its territory,” the statement said.“The Myanmar crisis triggered by the military presents ASEAN with the biggest test in its history. The bloc’s usual commitment to non-interference is a non-starter: this is not an internal matter for Myanmar but a major human rights and humanitarian crisis which is impacting the entire region and beyond,” Amnesty International’s Deputy Regional Director for Research Emerlynne Gil said.“The Indonesian authorities and other ASEAN member states cannot ignore the fact Min Aung Hlaing is suspected of the most serious crimes of concern to the international community as a whole,” Gil said.The military in Myanmar, which is also known as Burma, overthrew the country’s elected leader Aung San Suu Kyi in early February, triggering a popular revolt followed by a violent crackdown on protesters and civilians who want a return to democracy.At least 738 people have been killed by junta security forces since the crackdown began, according to the Assistance Association for Political Prisoners.Most ASEAN member states say they plan to send representatives other than heads of states to the meeting in Jakarta.Thailand’s Deputy Prime Minister and top diplomat Don Pramudwinai will attend the summit instead of Prime Minister Prayuth Chan-ocha. The latter told local reporters that “some other countries will also send their foreign ministers.”
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Ethnic Armed Organizations Building Unity With Myanmar Anti-coup Activists
In a sleepy Karen village on the Myanmar-Thai border in Kayin state, a day after the March 27 Myanmar government air strikes, rebel soldiers stood guard as two dusty trucks stopped near a Karen National Defense Organization camp at the edge of the hamlet.Eight young men jumped off the tailgate of the truck beds with knapsacks and assembled near a bamboo hut.The group had come from Yangon to seek military training. They were obviously not soldiers.Their presence was the result of a growing new alliance between the most recent victims of Myanmar army attacks, prodemocracy forces, and non-Burman ethnic groups, such as the Karens, that have been involved in decades of conflict with Myanmar’s military.One of the young men explained why the group had come.“When we protest on the streets, the Burmese army and police shoot at us and crack down on our demonstration but we’re not afraid because we’ve been afraid of them for many years and this time we have to fight against their power,” the dark-haired man, wearing a surgical mask, said.“We can’t stay in our own home because the Burmese soldiers followed and tried to arrest us so in the nighttime, so we have to move from place to place,” he added, using a reference to Myanmar’s former name, Burma.As Myanmar’s civilian death toll rises in government-controlled areas, wide support for armed resistance and a federal army, comprised of Myanmar’s armed ethnic groups, is rising across the country.On March 19, Colonel Naw Bu, spokesperson for another ethnic organization, the Kachin Independence Organization, said the KIO supports the establishment of a federal army.”Now, many people want to join the federal army and the KIA [Kachin Independence Army] because the Burmese army are terrorizing the civilians in the government-controlled areas,” La Ring, a former Kachin Independence Army soldier, who now provides humanitarian training with the Free Burma Rangers, a Thai-based humanitarian organization, said.At the Karen National Defense Organization headquarters in eastern Myanmar, Major General Nerdah Bo Mya and his troops welcomed the new batch of recruits.Since then, hundreds more activists have reportedly sought protection and training in the country’s border regions.“We are more than happy to protect them, to help them and to give them what they need, like, for example, basic training so that they can protect themselves,” Nerdah Bo Mya said.“I am not very surprised what they are doing to the people right now because they have done it to the ethnic groups for so many decades. And so, for me it’s not a surprise to see them killing people brutally on the streets in the city,” he added in response to a question about the Myanmar military’s brutal crackdown.Although the Karen National Union was among the armed ethnic organizations that signed the 2015 Nationwide Ceasefire Agreement with the government in 2015, the Karens’ conflict with the government had persisted before February’s coup.Now, it seems, the majority ethnic Burmans — based in central Myanmar — are fully aware of the military’s history of brutality, if they weren’t already.“It’s been a long time coming but finally all the peoples of Myanmar truly realize the Tatmadaw is the nemesis of the nation’s progress, and the real enemy of social and economic in the country,” Human Rights Watch Asia deputy director Phil Robertson said, using a term for the country’s military.Anti-coup protesters release balloons with posters reading ‘We Support NUG,’ which stands for ‘National Unity Government’ during the welcoming NUG balloons campaign on April 17, 2021, in Yangon, Myanmar.“This new national alliance is a testament to just how thoroughly the Tatmadaw has violated human rights and run roughshod over democratic principles with their bloody coup d’etat,” he said.Analysts say that plans to unite ethnic groups with the majority ethnic Burman people will take time, but that the signs of cohesion are slowly forming, including formation of the Committee Representing Pyidaungsu Hluttaw by elected legislators kept from their seats.“After broad consultations with and support from numerous ethnic political parties, ethnic armed resistance organizations, and mass protest movements, the Committee Representing Pyidaungsu Hluttaw (CRPH) formed a new National Unity Government in accordance with the will and demand of the people,” said Linn Thant, a CRPH team consultant, now living in Czech Republic.The National Unity Government was announced April 16, and includes a range of ethnic representation, the former political prisoner, who was jailed for nearly two decades by junta forces before his 2008 release, said.“You can see that government’s body, vice president is Kachin man who represents all Kachin groups including KIA. Prime minister is a Karen man. The Kachin, the Mon, the Karen, the Kayah, the Chin, the Ta’ang are in the cabinet of the NUG. And the cabinet body of NUG will be reshaped and extended in a few weeks,” Linn Thant added.Military support on the ground, from the ethnic groups, remains a challenge because of vast areas of land in some regions, separating armed groups and protesters.“The reality is there is a significant distance between the armed battles in the ethnic borderlands, and the faceoffs between CDM protesters and security forces in the cities,” Robertson said, referring to Myanmar’s opposition Civil Disobedience Movement.“Mobilizing disparate groups and sustaining that push against a centralized, heavily armed military has always been the core challenge for those who want to change the situation on the ground in Myanmar,” he added.Anti-coup protesters hold leaf branches and signs to welcome the NUG, or National Unity Government, as they march April 17, 2021, in Yangon, Myanmar.The conditions that the ethnic civilian population has faced against the army have been longstanding for many villagers along the Myanmar-Thai border.Naw Bee Paw, a 65-year-old Karen villager, said she has witnessed the turmoil since her early teens.At 15, her father was arrested in the Ayeyarwady region on the Andaman Sea during a military crackdown. When he was released after four months, the family fled the region, settling in Kayin state.Fifty years later, she said she fears that the current conflict will escalate, displacing her family once again.“The Burmese army attacked the Karen area with air strikes so I’m very afraid,” she said.“I have heard that villagers can’t flee to the Thai side because Thai soldiers had blocked them, so I’m scared because we are the too elderly and live alone in this house,” she said.Thousands of Karen villagers, including inhabitants from Ee Thu Hat displaced persons camp, fled across the border following last month’s Myanmar army air strike but most of them were sent back by Thai soldiers, according to witnesses on the ground.The Myanmar military has intensified attacks on the ethnic minorities in Kayin state as well as the ongoing conflicts in neighboring Shan and Kachin states, as rebel forces have responded with counterattacks.Critics say instilling fear in the ethnic minorities has been practiced since the military coup in 1962, although documentation of the methodology was limited due to the country’s isolation.Now, tech savvy anti-coup protesters, along with the civilian population, can record many of the atrocities being committed by government security forces with mobile phones.
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Japan, Thailand, Vietnam Vie with China for Influence in Impoverished, Landlocked Laos
Laos is getting a new round of aid and investment offers this year as foreign governments hope to dilute China’s increasing influence over the poor, landlocked country, observers in the region say.Japan, Thailand and Vietnam have moved this year to offer new help or reaffirm the benefits of previous aid to Laos. Their assistance would arrive as a 400-kilometer, $5.9 billion China-invested railway is set for completion this year – the pinnacle of Chinese largesse for Laos.Japanese Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga spoke this month with Lao counterpart Phankham Viphavanh to affirm plans for advancing a strategic partnership, Japanese media outlets say. Japan has offered about $1.8 million to open COVID-19 vaccine storage facilities and pledged support for upgrading international airports, the reports say.In Thailand, Prime Minister Prayuth Chan-Ocha has spoken by phone to the new Lao leader, who took office in March, the official Lao News Agency reported this month. On those calls, Phankham thanked Thailand for providing scholarships in education, agriculture and health. Thailand has aided Laos further in fighting COVID-19, the news agency reported.Vietnamese officials have launched a 2021-2030 cooperation strategy and a five-year cooperation agreement, the Communist Party of Vietnam’s news website, Nhan Dan, said. Leaders from both sides are due to decide later what the two deals will cover. Vietnam gave COVID-19 aid and 1,000 scholarships to Laos last year as well.Chinese official flows of money into Laos have reached $11 billion per year, according to the Aiddata.org website operated by U.S. university William & Mary. Financing and investment would push the figure higher.Other top donors are Japan and Thailand, with Vietnam emerging as a new one. Japan gave $63.8 billion in 2016, including grants, loans and technical aid, according to Japan’s Foreign Affairs Ministry.Official development aid from all countries sometimes reaches 15% of Lao GDP. The economy has grown at an annual average of 5.8% during the past five years because of the “support of development partners and friendly countries,” the national news agency said. The support matters because about a quarter of the 7 million Laotians live in poverty.Mekong RiverMuch of Asia hopes to lessen China’s influence so the superpower does not wield too much clout over the Mekong River, which flows from China through Myanmar, Laos, Thailand, Cambodia, and Vietnam, or over the region’s overland transport links, analysts say. Chinese dams control flows in the upper Mekong. The U.S. government raised its aid offer to Laos and its neighbors last year.“Laos is kind of effectively being carved up in different directions but increasingly dominated by China,” said Thitinan Pongsudhirak, a political science professor at Chulalongkorn University in Bangkok. “What we’re seeing is [that] the major powers’ rivalry is dominating the region. Laos is just one pawn in this mix.”Japan wants more “connectivity” in continental Southeast Asia, said Jeffrey Kingston, a history instructor at the Japan campus of Temple University. Chinese control of water flows into the Mekong further worries Japanese officials, he said.“I just think that Japan is signaling that, [in] places that it looks like have been conceded to China’s influence, it is going to contest,” he said. “It is going to take an assertive posture toward these countries.”Japan relies on Thailand for automotive production, while Japanese manufacturers are increasingly active in Vietnam – the result of investments made there since the 1980s. Land shipments can lower the cost of sending goods to more remote seaports.Japan, alongside the United States. is pushing back against China, Thitinan said. Washington’s FILE – A local villager steers a boat where the future site of the Luang Prabang dam will be on the Mekong River, outskirt of Luang Prabang province, Laos, Feb. 5, 2020.Japan spars separately with China over sovereignty in waters near its outlying islands, and leftover World War II issues.Thailand typically finances Lao dams for hydropower and maintains close cultural ties with the bordering country, Thitinan said. Vietnam resents Beijing over its expansion in the disputed South China Sea and previous land border disputes, including a war in the 1970s.“There’s that little battle for influence between Vietnam and China and Vietnam has been slowly losing influence to China,” said Jack Nguyen, a partner at the business advisory firm Mazars in Ho Chi Minh City.China does not disclose aid and investment totals for Laos, but analysts say it depends more on China than on any other country. Now Laos, with a gross domestic product of less than $19 billion and an economy ravaged by COVID-19, is struggling to pay for the railway line.Laos owed $250 million on railway last year, the International Monetary Fund has said.
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Amnesty International: Virus-Hit Indonesia Ordering Executions Over Video Apps
Indonesia has sentenced scores of prisoners to death over Zoom and other video apps during the pandemic in what critics say is an “inhumane” insult to those facing the firing squad.The Southeast Asian nation turned to virtual court hearings as COVID-19 restrictions shut down most in-person trials, including murder and drug trafficking cases, which can carry the death penalty.Since early last year, almost 100 inmates have been condemned to die in Indonesia by judges they could only see on a television monitor, according to Amnesty International.The Muslim-majority nation has some of the world’s toughest drug laws and both Indonesian and foreign traffickers have been executed, including the masterminds of Australia’s Bali Nine heroin gang.This month, 13 members of a trafficking ring, including three Iranians and a Pakistani, learned via video that they would be shot for smuggling 400 kilograms (880 pounds) of methamphetamine into Indonesia.And on Wednesday a Jakarta court sentenced six Islamist militants to death using a video app over their role in a 2018 prison riot that left five members of Indonesia’s counter-terror squad dead.”Virtual hearings degrade the rights of defendants facing death sentences — it’s about someone’s life and death,” said Amnesty International Indonesia director Usman Hamid.”The death penalty has always been a cruel punishment. But this online trend adds to the injustice and inhumanity,” he added.Indonesia has pressed on with the virtual hearings even as the number of executions and death sentences dropped globally last year, with COVID-19 disrupting many criminal proceedings, Amnesty said in its annual capital punishment report this week. Virtual hearings leave defendants unable to fully participate in cases that are sometimes interrupted in countries with poor internet connections, including Indonesia, critics say.”Virtual platforms … can expose the defendant to significant violations of their fair trial rights and impinge on the quality of the defense,” NGO Harm Reduction International said in a recent report on the death penalty for drug offenses.Lawyers have complained about being unable to consult with clients due to virus restrictions.And families of the accused have sometimes been barred from accessing hearings that would normally be open to the public.“These virtual hearings present a clear disadvantage for defendants,” said Indonesian lawyer Dedi Setiadi.Setiadi, who defended several men sentenced to die in the methamphetamine case this month, said he would appeal their case on the grounds that virtual hearings were unfair.Relatives of the defendants were not given full access, the lawyer said.Death penalty cases are often reduced to long jail terms in Indonesia and an in-person trial might have brought about a less severe verdict, according to Setiadi, who described his clients as low-level players in the smuggling ring.”The verdict could have been different if the judges had talked directly with the defendants and seen their expressions,” he said. “A Zoom hearing is less personal.”Indonesia’s supreme court, which ordered online hearings during the pandemic, did not reply to requests for comment.But the country’s judicial commission told AFP that it has asked the top court to consider returning to in-person trials for serious offenses, including capital cases.Indonesia appears to be an outlier in holding virtual trials for death penalty cases, although reliable data can be hard to come by in some nations that impose executions.Neighboring Singapore, which executes convicted murderers and drug traffickers, has sentenced at least one person to hang via video since the global health crisis began.There are nearly 500 people, including scores of foreigners, awaiting execution in Indonesia, where condemned prisoners are marched to a jungle clearing, tied to a stake and shot.Indonesia has not carried out executions for several years. But its courts have continued to sentence defendants to death on the back of strong public backing for the ultimate punishment – support that may have been bolstered by the pandemic.”Advocates think that these criminals are continuing to commit crimes even during a time of crisis when everyone is suffering,” Amnesty’s Hamid said. “So they must be given the heaviest sentence possible.”
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Beijing Condemns Pakistan Suicide Blast Targeting Chinese Diplomats
Officials in Pakistan said Thursday the death toll had risen to at least five from an overnight suicide car bombing of a luxury hotel in a southwestern city, which apparently targeted visiting Chinese diplomats. The powerful explosion ripped through the parking lot of Serena Hotel in Quetta, the capital of Baluchistan province, late Wednesday, injuring at least 13 others, some of them critically.Security sources said the bomber detonated the “vehicle-born” explosives just before China’s ambassador to Pakistan, Nong Rong, was due to arrive back at the hotel from a dinner party elsewhere in the city.Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Wang Wenbin said at a daily briefing Thursday that Beijing “strongly condemns” the bombing and extended sympathies to the victims. Wenbin confirmed that Rong had been leading a delegation to the city and that they were staying at the Serena Hotel.“The Chinese delegation was not in the hotel when the attack happened. So far, no Chinese casualties have been reported in the attack,” Wenbin said. He offered no indication as to whether Rong’s delegation might have been specifically targeted in the attack. Suicide Blast Rips Through Parking Lot of Pakistan Hotel Pakistani Taliban claims responsibility for late-night bombing at Quetta’s Serena Hotel targeting local, foreign officials The outlawed Pakistani Taliban militant group claimed responsibility for the bombing, saying the intended target of the suicide bombing was a “high-profile meeting involving foreign officials.” It did not elaborate further. “At present, the relevant departments in Pakistan are making full effort to investigate the incident,” said Wenbin. “We believe that the Pakistani side will find out the truth at an early date and bring the perpetrators to justice.”The Chinese spokesman said that China will continue to “firmly support” Pakistan’s efforts against terrorism and “jointly maintain and promote regional security and stability and ensure the safety of Chinese personnel and institutions in Pakistan.”“I am deeply saddened by the loss of innocent lives in the condemnable & cowardly terrorist attack in Quetta yesterday,” Pakistani Prime Minister Imran Khan tweeted Thursday. I am deeply saddened by the loss of innocent lives in the condemnable & cowardly terrorist attack in Quetta yesterday. Our nation has made great sacrifices in defeating terrorism & we will not to allow this scourge to rise again. We remain alert to all internal & external threats— Imran Khan (@ImranKhanPTI) April 22, 2021He added that Pakistan has made “great sacrifices in defeating terrorism” and it will not allow this “scourge” to resurge. “We remain alert to all internal & external threats.”Pakistani Interior Minister Sheikh Rashid Ahmed said that the attack was a “major security breach” and a high-level investigation would be conducted to hold those responsible to account.”We condemn in the strongest terms last night’s bombing in #Quetta, a senseless act of terrorism that killed and injured several people,” the U.S. embassy in Islamabad tweeted Thursday. “Our thoughts and prayers are with the victims and their families, and we wish a speedy recovery for the survivors.” We condemn in the strongest terms last night’s bombing in #Quetta, a senseless act of terrorism that killed and injured several people. Our thoughts and prayers are with the victims and their families, and we wish a speedy recovery for the survivors.— U.S. Embassy Islamabad (@usembislamabad) April 22, 2021Baluchistan is at the center of a Chinese-funded, multibillion-dollar infrastructure development project, an extension of Beijing’s global Belt and Road Initiative. The bilateral cooperation, known as the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor or CPEC, has built the deep-water Arabian Sea port of Gwadar in the province and constructed new roads, as well as power plants elsewhere in Pakistan, over the past six years.Ethnic Baluch secessionist groups are waging an insurgency in Baluchistan, the country’s natural resource-rich and largest province. The separatists also routinely claim credit for plotting attacks against Pakistani security forces and other installations.
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Malaysia Issues World’s First Sovereign Sukuk to Fund Sustainability Projects
Malaysia has become the first nation to offer a sovereign U.S. dollar-based sukuk to exclusively fund environmental projects.
A sukuk is an Islamic financial certificate, similar to a bond in Western-based finance systems, that adheres to Sharia law. According to Investopedia, sukuk involves a direct asset ownership interest, as opposed to the function of a bond, which is an indirect interest-bearing debt obligation.
The Southeast Asian nation issued $800 million of 10-year trust certificates on Thursday, as well as $500 million in 30-year trust certificates. The initial target size was $1 billion, but the offering was oversubscribed by 6.4 times due to heavy demand.
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Australia Ends China Deals on National Interest Grounds
Australia has canceled two Chinese “Belt and Road” infrastructure building initiative deals with a state government, provoking an angry response from Beijing. The bilateral deals with Victoria state were among four vetoed under new laws that give the federal government power to overrule international agreements by lower-level administrations that violate the national interest, Foreign Minister Marise Payne said late Wednesday. The “Belt and Road” deals struck with Beijing in 2018 and 2019 triggered the legislative response. Victoria Education Department pacts signed with Syria in 1999 and Iran in 2004 were also canceled. “I consider these four arrangements to be inconsistent with Australia’s foreign policy or adverse to our foreign relations,” Payne said. The Chinese Embassy in Australia said in a statement the decision “further shows that the Australian government has no sincerity in improving China-Australia relations.” “It is bound to bring further damage to bilateral relations, and will only end up hurting itself,” the embassy said on Thursday, referring to the Australian government. Global Times, the Chinese Communist Party’s English-language mouthpiece, said in a headline: “Australia faces serious consequences for unreasonable provocation against China.” The move “marks a significant escalation that could push icy bilateral relations into an abyss,” the newspaper added. Relations at a low Australia’s bilateral relations with its most important trading partner are at their lowest point in decades. Chinese government ministers refuse to take phone calls from their Australian counterparts, and trade disruptions are widely seen as China imposing economic punishment. But Payne said Thursday she did not expect China would retaliate. “Australia is operating in our national interests. We are very careful and very considered in that approach.” Payne told Australian Broadcasting Corp. “It’s about ensuring that we have a consistent approach to foreign policy across all levels of government, and it isn’t about any one country,” she said. “It is most certainly not intended to harm Australia’s relationships with any countries.”
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Search for Missing Indonesian Submarine Enters Second Day as Neighbors Offer Help
A search for an Indonesian submarine that went missing with 53 people on board continued Thursday after rescuers found an oil spill near where the vessel dived and as neighboring countries pledged to help.The 44-year-old submarine KRI Nanggala-402 was conducting a torpedo drill in waters north of the island of Bali on Wednesday but failed to relay the results as expected, a navy spokesperson said.An aerial search found an oil spill near the submarine’s dive location, and two navy vessels with sonar capability have been deployed to assist in the search, the Defense Ministry said.A ministry statement said that requests for assistance had been sent and Australia, Singapore and India had responded.Australian defense forces would “help in any way we can,” Foreign Minister Marise Payne told ABC radio on Thursday.”We operate very different submarines from this one, but the Australian Defence Force and Australian Defence Organisation will work with defense operations in Indonesia to determine what we may be able to do,” Payne said.Indonesia’s military chief Hadi Tjahjanto told Reuters in a text message on Wednesday that contact with the vessel was lost at 4:30 a.m. and a search was under way for the submarine and its 53 crew members in ocean 96 kilometers off Bali.In a statement, the Indonesian Navy said: “It is possible that during static diving, a blackout occurred so control was lost and emergency procedures cannot be carried out and the ship falls to a depth of 600-700 meters.”The submarine was built to sustain pressure at a maximum depth of around 250 meters, an official said.The oil spill found on the surface could indicate damage to the vessel’s fuel tank, or it could be a signal from the crew, the navy said.The military chief will hold a media briefing in Bali about the search on Thursday, a spokesperson said.The 1,395-tonne KRI Nanggala-402 was built in Germany in 1977, according to the defense ministry, and joined the Indonesian fleet in 1981. It underwent a two-year refit in South Korea that was completed in 2012.Indonesia once operated a fleet of 12 submarines bought from the Soviet Union to patrol the waters of its sprawling archipelago.But now it has a fleet of only five, including two German-built Type 209 submarines and three newer South Korean vessels.Indonesia has been seeking to modernize its defense capabilities, but some of its equipment is old, and there have been deadly accidents in recent years.
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US Olympian Slams Call for China Winter Games Boycott
Clare Egan is an American athlete who qualified for the 2022 U.S. Olympic Team. She competes in the biathalon, a sport that combines the winter survival skills of cross-country skiing with target shooting.As chair of the FILE – Amanda Kessel (28), of the United States, drives the puck against Russia’s Yelena Dergachyova (59) during the third period of a women’s hockey game at the 2018 Winter Olympics in Gangneung, South Korea, Feb. 13, 2018The quadrennial international games draw vast audiences. In 2018, 1.92 billion people — or 28% of the world’s population — watched the Winter Olympic Games in South Korea, held February 9-25, FILE – Republican Senator Mitt Romney speaks with members of the media on Capitol Hill in Washington, March 16, 2020.”Rather than send the traditional delegation of diplomats and White House officials to Beijing, the president should invite Chinese dissidents, religious leaders and ethnic minorities to represent us,” he wrote, adding that broadcasters such as NBC, “which has already done important work to reveal the reality of the Chinese Communist Party’s repression and brutality … can refrain from showing any jingoistic elements of the opening and closing ceremonies and instead broadcast documented reports of China’s abuses.”Although world events such as the pandemic have caused cancellations of the Olympics, utilization of the games as a platform to advance human rights has a long and storied history. The U.S. last prohibited athletes from attending the games in 1980, when, along with 66 other countries, it boycotted the Moscow Games over the Soviet Union’s invasion of Afghanistan. “I know someone personally who missed the 1980 Olympics in Moscow because of that boycott,” said Egan. “And I thought that we have kind of learned our lesson from that, which was that it’s not effective and it’s definitely not fair to use young athletes as political pawns in that way.” Adrianna Zhang contributed to this report.
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US Hits Myanmar Pearl, Timber Companies With Sanctions
The United States has imposed sanctions on the Myanmar state-owned Myanma Timber Enterprise and Myanmar Pearl Enterprise to further pressure the military government, which seized power in a February coup.
“The Burmese military derives significant funding from state-owned enterprises in the natural resources market. Today’s action demonstrates the United States’ commitment to targeting this specific funding channel and promoting accountability for those responsible for the coup and ongoing violence,” said Andrea Gacki, director of the U.S. Department of the Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control.
There was no immediate response from the government in Myanmar, also known as Burma..
According to a news release, Myanma Timber Enterprise “is responsible for the production and export of timber on behalf of the Burmese military regime” and a “key generator of government revenue,” the Treasury Department said.
Myanmar Pearl Enterprise “is responsible for oyster fishing and collecting, artificial breeding of oysters, culturing and harvesting pearl, and selling pearl” and “is a key generator of government revenue,” the release said.
The military took power February 1, overthrowing the civilian government and detaining de facto leader Aung San Suu Kyi and other high-ranking officials.
Since the coup, widespread protests have rocked Myanmar, many of them turning violent as government officials cracked down. Hundreds of civilians, including dozens of children, have been killed by government troops and police since the coup.
The U.S has already sanctioned military leaders, some of their family members and other businesses in the country. Earlier this month, the U.S. sanctioned Myanma Gems Enterprise (MGE), calling it a state-owned business “responsible for all gemstone activities in Burma.”
The U.S. has called for the immediate release of Suu Kyi, leader of the National League for Democracy Party, ousted President Win Myint, and protesters, journalists and human rights activists it says have been unjustly detained since the coup.
Military officials claimed widespread fraud in last November’s general election, which Suu Kyi’s National League for Democracy won in a landslide, as justification for the February takeover. The fraud allegations have been denied by Myanmar’s electoral commission.
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Indonesia Searches for Missing Submarine With 53 on Board
Indonesia’s military said it is seeking assistance from Australia, Singapore and India after a navy submarine with 53 people aboard disappeared north of the resort island of Bali on Wednesday.
“It is true that the KRI Nanggala-402 lost contact since early this morning around 3 a.m.,” said First Admiral Julius Widjojono.
Authorities said contact was lost with the vessel during training exercises.
The vessel, which has been in use since 1981, was rehearsing for a missile-firing exercise scheduled for Thursday.
The German-built sub vanished about 95 kilometers north of the holiday Island.
In response, the navy employed warships and a helicopter to augment its search party.
Searchers spotted an oil slick near where the submarine was expected to report its location.
Indonesian media reported that the navy believes the submarine sank into a trough at a depth of 700 meters, according to the Associated Press.
The 1,300- ton naval vessel had onboard 49 crew members, three gunners and a commander whose identities have not been released.
Indonesia, a Southeast Asian country, has been improving its military infrastructure in recent years. It has a fleet of five submarines hoping to increase that number by three by 2024.
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Japanese Government Nears Decision on New COVID Emergency Decree
The Japanese government may declare a new state of emergency for the cities of Tokyo and Osaka in response to another surge of COVID-19 infections. The Mainichi newspaper reported Wednesday that Tokyo Governor Yuriko Koike is requesting to impose an emergency decree from April 29 to May 9, which coincides with Japan’s annual “Golden Week” public holiday period. Tokyo and Osaka, along with several other prefectures, are already under a quasi-state of emergency, with restaurants and bars operating under shortened business hours. Japan as a whole has been under two separate emergency decrees since the start of the pandemic, the last one having just expired on March 21. The previous decrees stopped short of imposing a legally binding nationwide lockdown, due to Japan’s post-World War II constitution, which weighs heavily in favor of civil liberties. The new state of emergency, if granted, would leave in place current restrictions on opening hours, and also lead to the closure of theme parks, shopping malls and other facilities. Osaka’s neighboring prefecture of Hyogo is also expected to be covered under the new emergency decree. Japan has 542,467 confirmed COVID-19 cases, including 9,682 deaths, according to Johns Hopkins Coronavirus Resource Center. The numbers are moderate compared to other nations, but enough to overburden Japan’s healthcare sector and complicate plans for the Tokyo Olympic Games, which are scheduled to begin in July after a one-year delay due to the pandemic. The Japanese capital posted a record-high 843 confirmed new coronavirus cases on Wednesday. Also complicating matters is the country’s sluggish vaccination drive, which got off to a slow start due to an acute shortage of vaccines. More infections in IndiaThe situation remains dire in India, which reported a single-day record 295,041 new COVID-19 infections on Wednesday, the seventh consecutive day the world’s second-most populous country has recorded more than 200,000 new cases. Health workers and relatives wearing personal protective equipment (PPE) carry the body of a man, who died from COVID-19, at a crematorium in New Delhi, India, Apr. 21, 2021.The latest surge has led to a severe shortage of oxygen canisters, hospital beds and drugs across the nation, and prompted officials in the capital, New Delhi, to impose a week-long lockdown on Monday. Several large cities have reported COVID-19-linked burials and cremations that far exceed the official tally. Johnson & Johnson resumes European rollout
On the vaccine front, Johnson & Johnson announced Tuesday it is resuming its European rollout of its one-dose vaccine after the European Medicines Agency, the drug regulator for the European Union, determined the drug’s benefits outweighs the risks of possible blood clots. FILE – The exterior of the European Medicines Agency is seen in Amsterdam, Netherlands, Dec. 18, 2020.The EMA reviewed the Johnson & Johnson vaccine following a small number of reports from the United States of six women between the ages of 18 and 48 developed a rare but serious blood-clotting disorder associated with low levels of blood platelets following vaccination. One woman died and one was hospitalized in critical condition. The agency concluded the drug’s product information should include a warning about the possible side effects, which should be listed as very rare. In the U.S., the Centers for Disease Control and the Food and Drug Administration jointly called for a pause in the administration of the Johnson & Johnson vaccine last week in response to the six blood clotting cases. The six women were among the 7 million Americans who have received the vaccine since its approval. Dr. Anthony Fauci, the head of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, has said he expects an independent CDC advisory panel to lift the suspension when it meets again later this week.
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S. Korean Court Dismisses Lawsuit Filed Against Japan by ‘Comfort Women’
A South Korean court has ruled against a group of women who were seeking compensation from Japan for being forced into prostitution by colonial Japanese forces during World War Two. The judge at Seoul Central District Court said Wednesday that Japan is immune from civil lawsuits filed in another country under the concept of international law, adding that lifting the immunity would spark an inevitable diplomatic clash. One of the original 20 plaintiffs in the case, 92-year-old Lee Yong-soo, denounced the decision outside the courtroom and vowed the group will take the case to the International Court of Justice. In a separate case back in January, a different judge ruled in favor of a group of 12 so-called “comfort women” and ordered Tokyo to pay more than $89,000 each to compensate for their wartime suffering. Japan angrily criticized the earlier decision on the grounds that it had settled the issue under a 1965 treaty that normalized bilateral relations with Seoul that included $800 million in reparations, as well as a separate deal reached in 2015.Portraits of the late former South Korean comfort women are displayed near Japanese Embassy in Seoul, South Korea, April 21, 2021.In Tokyo, Japanese Chief Cabinet Secretary Katunobu Kato refused to comment on the new case, citing the need to examine it further, but said the ruling in the previous case was “extremely regrettable and unacceptable” as it violated international law. Relations between the East Asian neighbors have grown acrimonious in recent years over South Korea’s lingering bitterness over Japan’s brutal colonial occupation of the Korean peninsula from 1910-45, when Japan surrendered to the Allied forces to bring an end to World War Two. In addition to the scores of Korean women forced to work in Japanese military brothels during the war, thousands of Koreans were also forced to work in Japanese factories during that time. South Korea’s Supreme Court issued a ruling last August that ordered the seizure of assets of Japan’s Nippon Steel to compensate four South Koreans who were forced into labor by Japanese forces.
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