A group of journalists in Japan called on Myanmar’s junta on Tuesday to free a colleague, Yuki Kitazumi, detained in Yangon following a crackdown on media amid ongoing protests against the military overthrow of an elected government. “We want the junta to stop oppressing the citizens of Myanmar, and we seek the swift release of the many detained journalists, including Kitazumi, who strive to tell the truth,” Isoko Mochizuki, a fellow journalist and long-time friend of Kitazumi, told a news conference. The group of journalists started an online petition on Monday addressed to Myanmar’s junta and the Japanese government calling for Kitazumi’s release. So far about 2,000 people have signed the petition. The journalists have asked the Japanese government to apply more pressure on the Myanmar authorities to free Kitazumi, who was detained on Sunday evening by the military outside his home in Yangon for allegedly “spreading falsehoods.” “It doesn’t feel at all like the Japanese government is putting enough pressure onto Myanmar,” Kanae Doi, director of Human Rights Watch Japan, told the news conference. “I hope this becomes a tipping point for Japan to do more,” she said, adding that the Japanese government has appeared to tread gently around the issue of what is happening in Myanmar, while the European Union and United States have imposed sanctions on people involved in the coup. Kitazumi, who runs a media production company, was arrested previously in February while covering protests against the February 1 coup but was released soon afterwards. According to the Assistance Association for Political Prisoners activist group, 737 people have been killed by security forces in Myanmar since the coup and 3,229 remain in detention.  
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China’s government on Tuesday rejected accusations of abuses in the Xinjiang region after a human rights group appealed for a U.N. investigation into possible crimes against humanity. Accusations of forced labor or detentions in the northwestern region are “lies and false information concocted by anti-China forces,” said a foreign ministry spokesman, Wang Wenbin. He accused critics of trying to “undermine Xinjiang’s stability and security and curb China’s development.” On Monday, Human Rights Watch appealed to the U.N. Human Rights Commission to investigate reports of mass detention of Muslims, a crackdown on religious practices and other measures against minorities. It said they amount to crimes against humanity as defined by the treaty that established the International Criminal Court. More than 1 million people have been confined to camps in Xinjiang, according to foreign governments and researchers. Authorities there are accused of imposing forced labor and birth controls. Beijing rejects complaints of abuses and says the camps are for job training to support economic development and combat Islamic radicalism. The government is pressing foreign clothing and shoe brands to reverse decisions to stop using cotton from Xinjiang due to reports of possible forced labor. Wang accused news outlets of acting as a “loudspeaker of lies and disinformation.” China has denied the United Nations unfettered access to the region to investigate. Wang called on foreign observers to “respect facts and truth” and to “stop the wrong practice of spreading disinformation about Xinjiang and making false statements at every turn.” 
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Human Rights Watch said China is “committing crimes against humanity” toward Uyghurs and other Turkic Muslims in the country’s western Xinjiang region.
In a report issued Monday, the group said, “The Chinese leadership is responsible for widespread and systematic policies of mass detention, torture and cultural persecution, among other offenses.”
It called for “coordinated international action” to hold those involved responsible, including “visa bans, travel bans and targeted individual sanctions” on authorities responsible for criminal acts.
“Chinese authorities have systematically persecuted Turkic Muslims — their lives, their religion, their culture,” Sophie Richardson, China director at Human Rights Watch, said in a statement.
“Beijing has said it’s providing ‘vocational training’ and ‘deradicalization,’ but that rhetoric can’t obscure a grim reality of crimes against humanity.”
Human Rights Watch said that while Chinese persecution of Turkic Muslims is not new, it has “reached unprecedented levels” in recent years.
“It’s increasingly clear that Chinese government policies and practices against the Turkic Muslim population in Xinjiang meet the standard for crimes against humanity under international criminal law,” said Beth Van Schaack, faculty affiliate at Stanford University’s Center for Human Rights and International Justice. “The government’s failure to stop these crimes — let alone punish those responsible — shows the need for strong and coordinated international action.”
The United States and others have said China is committing genocide in Xinjiang.
A spokesman for the ruling Communist Party on Monday rejected accusations Beijing has committed genocide or crimes against humanity in the region.
China’s launch of a sweeping security campaign in Xinjiang has led to the detention of more than one million people, according to rights groups. China denies international observers access to Xinjiang.
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Philippine troops killed a suspected Egyptian would-be suicide bomber and two local Abu Sayyaf militants in what military officials said Saturday was a setback that would make it harder for gunmen linked to the Islamic State group to stage suicide attacks.Army troops gunned down the three militants in a 10-minute firefight Friday night near a hinterland village off the mountainous Patikul town in southern Sulu province. They also recovered three assault rifles and bandoliers of ammunition, army brigade commander Col. Benjamin Batara Jr. said.Military officials did not indicate how the three were tracked down but military chief Gen. Cirilito Sobejana suggested that troops were helped by intelligence provided by villagers. “The support of the public in our peace and security operations is much, much needed,” Sobejana told The Associated Press.The Egyptian, who was identified by the military only as Yusop, was the son of an Egyptian militant Reda Mohammad Mahmud who used the nom de guerre Siti Aisyah and was killed when she detonated a bomb and was shot by troops two years ago at the gate of an army detachment in Sulu’s Indanan town. His Egyptian stepfather was killed in a gunbattle with troops at a military checkpoint in Indanan, also in 2019, the military said.”This is one less suicide bomber,” army Maj. Gen. William Gonzales said. “Without them, the possibility of another attack is slimmer.”Gonzales said without elaborating that the killing of the Egyptian would cut off foreign financial support to the Abu Sayyaf. The small but violent group has long been blacklisted by the United States and the Philippines for ransom kidnappings, beheadings of hostages and deadly bombing attacks.Aside from Yusop, troops also killed suspected bomb maker Abu Khattab Jundullah and another still-unidentified militant.They belonged to an Abu Sayyaf faction led by Mudzrimar Sawadjaan, who has been blamed for a series of suicide attacks, including the January 2019 bombings by an Indonesian militant couple of a Roman Catholic cathedral in Jolo town in Sulu that killed 20 people and wounded more than 100 others, Batara said.Gonzales said troops were hunting down the remaining militants and expressed optimism that Sawadjaan, one of the most wanted Abu Sayyaf commanders, “will soon meet his end.”Military intelligence indicates there may be four remaining foreign militants with the Abu Sayyaf group in Sulu, a poverty-wracked Muslim province, including an Egyptian and two Indonesians, the military’s Western Mindanao Command said.Abu Sayyaf, one of a handful of small but violent militant groups aligned with the Islamic State group, has been considerably weakened by battle setbacks, surrenders and factionalism but remains a national security threat.From hundreds of armed fighters in the 1990s, only about 60 to 70 Abu Sayyaf combatants remain in Sulu and outlying island provinces. Since January, about 60 Abu Sayyaf militants have surrendered, seven captured and three killed in military offensives in Sulu, where thousands of troops have been deployed in recent years, military officials said.Despite considerable setbacks, desperate Abu Sayyaf militants “could be looking to take new hostages, simply out of financial straits,” according to the Institute for Policy Analysis of Conflict, which assesses insurgencies and other violent conflicts in the region. The Jakarta-based think tank said a likely target are Indonesian-crewed Malaysian fishing vessels plying across the Sulu Sea’s richest fishing areas “where Abu Sayyaf group kidnappers lie in wait.”
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The United States and China are “committed to cooperating” on the pressing issue of climate change, the two sides said in a joint statement Saturday, following a visit to Shanghai by U.S. climate envoy John Kerry.”The United States and China are committed to cooperating with each other and with other countries to tackle the climate crisis, which must be addressed with the seriousness and urgency that it demands,” said the statement from Kerry and China’s special envoy for climate change Xie Zhenhua.Kerry, the former U.S. secretary of state, was the first official from President Joe Biden’s administration to visit China, signaling hopes the two sides could work together on the global challenge despite sky-high tensions on multiple other fronts.The joint statement listed multiple avenues of cooperation between the United States and China, the world’s top two economies, which together account for nearly half of the greenhouse gas emissions responsible for climate change.It stressed “enhancing their respective actions and cooperating in multilateral processes, including the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change and the Paris Agreement.”Biden has made climate a top priority, turning the page from his predecessor Donald Trump, who was closely aligned with the fossil fuel industry.Biden has rejoined the 2015 Paris accord, which Kerry negotiated when he was secretary of state and committed nations to taking action to keep temperature rises at no more than 2 degrees Celsius above pre-industrial levels.
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Large numbers of people here in the dry northeast region of Thailand bordering Laos and Cambodia, a region known as Isaan, are facing the consequences of changes in the natural rhythms of the Mekong River wrought by the construction in recent years of dams upstream in China and Laos.The dams have brought drought in the monsoon season and high waters when it should be dry, changing the lives of the many in the northeast of the country who depend on the river for food and work.Moreover, the hydropower plans for the Mekong have only begun, as China leads the dam charge with an eye on both the economic rewards and geopolitical advantage of controlling the key waterway.That has left one of the world’s great rivers, flowing for 5,000 kilometers from China through Myanmar, Laos, Thailand, Cambodia and Vietnam in retreat and decimating local fishing catches.Local fisher Sudta Insamran lamented the loss of “the same Mekong River that we knew,” as he tried to net silver-scaled Thai carp, a small species of Thai carp, here in Nong Khai, across the Mekong from the Lao capital of Vientiane. Fishers traditionally sold their catch locally or traded it for rice. There are about 3,000 such fishers from Nong Khai province’s six districts.“Please don’t build any more dams. Enough is enough,” he told VOA.Just a few years ago fishing in Nong Khai used to earn him around $250 a month, Sudta said, but now the catch has collapsed, forcing many to work inland as rubber tappers on other people’s farms.The costs of the ecological shock are being heaped onto the poorest people in the Mekong region and many villagers now eat farmed fish bought at markets rather than their own catch.Up to 60 million people rely in some way on the river as their main source of protein or income across the Mekong region in China, Myanmar, Laos, Thailand, Cambodia and Vietnam.The upstream dams and climate change are strangling the ecosystem — fish struggle to breed in water which fluctuates because of hydropower demands.“At least 69 species of fish have now disappeared. It has also an impact on plant species — many of which are a food source for fish,” Apisit Soontrawiwat, a local researcher who studies the impact of the dams and is a member of the People’s Network of Isaan Mekong Basin, a conservation group, said.Stretches of water turn green with algae which flourishes due to sudden low water levels; other areas go aquamarine as sediment is blocked by the 11 dams in China and two so far in Laos.“Villagers are not getting any benefits from these dams, the only people to gain are doing business linked to the dams,” Apisit said.Electricity overloadThe dams are being built by Chinese, Thai and Vietnamese companies selling electricity in the region, with transmission lines running hundreds of kilometers from the dams into Thailand, Vietnam and Cambodia.The operators say they are providing much needed development and power for economies in need of a kickstart.Conservationists say there is already an oversupply of electricity.“We are seeing a few elite families and companies earning enormously while the costs of ecological destruction are not incorporated,” said Paiporn Deetes of International Rivers, a conservation group.The Mekong River Commission, established by the lower Mekong countries of Cambodia, Laos, Thailand and Vietnam, said this month its next 10-year strategy is to mitigate the damage to the river.The commission does not have the power to stop a dam project, though, leaving the river without a powerful protector.Drone shot of the exposed Mekong river bed between Thailand and Laos. (Photo courtesy Black Squirrel Productions)Laos, in a bid to become the “battery of Asia,” has two major Mekong dams in operation with several more planned, mainly with Chinese state-backed firms.The game-changer for the northern Thai stretch of water was the Xayaburi dam in Laos, which began operation in 2019. Thai company CK Power, which led the construction, insists it operates with a “sustainable development” at its core, with extensive environmental impact studies and complex engineering including a “fish ladder” to allow species to migrate downstream.Experts say it will take several more years to effectively judge the impact of the dam.Yet, the same water is set to flow through another dam in Laos at Sanakham, a project planned by Chinese state power firm Datang International Power Generation.If it comes into operation as slated in 2028 locals fear the new $2 billion dam, which is to be nearly 60 meters high and produce 700 megawatts of electricity a year, will be the end of the living river in northern Thailand — that it will lack nutrients and the sediment that provides nutrients for fish.Thailand has kicked back against the project due its proximity to the countries’ shared border and there are hopes the dam builders could be forced to reconsider if the Thai government refuses to buy the power.“Thailand has no need to buy more electricity from Laos as we produce enough ourselves,” a source at the Electricity Generating Authority of Thailand told VOA, requesting anonymity.While debate on Sanakham rages, dam plans go uninterrupted with another proposed for Pak Chom in Thailand’s nearby Loei province which could be the first to straddle the Thai-Laos border.
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Several longtime pro-democracy advocates on Friday learned their fate for organizing one of Hong Kong’s largest-ever street protests during the height of anti-government demonstrations.Nine pro-democracy activists, including media mogul Jimmy Lai, 73, and former lawmakers Lee Cheuk-yan, 64, Leung Kwok-hung, 65, Cyd Ho, 66, and Au Nok-hin, 33, were jailed after being found guilty this month of involvement in an August 2019 march that attracted hundreds of thousands of protesters.District Judge Amanda Woodcock of Hong Kong’s West Kowloon Magistrates Court also suspended sentencing for four other activists because of their age and accomplishments, according to The Associated Press.Lai, who was Pro-democracy activist Martin Lee, center, walks out from a court after receiving a suspended sentence in Hong Kong, April 16, 2021.The four remaining activists — “father of democracy” Martin Lee, 82, Margaret Ng, 73, Albert Ho, 69, and Leung Yiu-chung, 67 — received suspended sentences.Former Democratic Party lawmaker Emily Lau, who was at the court for the sentencing, told VOA that it was a “very, very bad day for Hong Kong.””So many people who have fought for democracy and human rights and rule of law for so many years have been given such heavy jail sentences for engaging in peaceful and nonviolent protests,” she said. “It’s very, very sad. But we know everybody, including judges and the government, are under a lot of pressure from Beijing, and they really want to teach Hong Kong people a lesson.”Lau said the length of sentences didn’t come as a surprise, as they were notably longer than they had been for activists charged with illegal assembly.”We know times have changed,” said Lau. “Beijing is breathing down on us very heavily, and everybody feels the pressure.”Hong Kong Activists Feel Pressure as Chinese Authorities Approach Relatives in Mainland China Organizer of student political group is latest activist under threat of violating the National Security Law  
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U.S. President Joe Biden says he and Japanese Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga are committed to working together to counter challenges from China and North Korea, following Biden’s first White House summit since taking office. Biden told reporters after meeting with Suga during the one-day summit Friday that they affirmed their “ironclad support for the U.S.-Japanese alliance” and said they would work together to “take on the challenges from China and on issues like the East China Sea, the South China Sea, as well as North Korea.” The U.S. president called the discussions “very productive” and said the United States and Japan also agreed to work together to support global COVID-19 vaccination efforts as well as to promote new technological developments, including 5G networks, artificial intelligence, and quantum computing. Japan’s Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga and U.S. President Joe Biden hold a joint news conference in the Rose Garden at the White House in Washington, April 16, 2021.In a response to a reporter’s question, Suga said the two leaders had discussed Taiwan and said they reaffirmed the importance of “peace and stability” in the Taiwan Strait. He said he would not give further details on the Taiwan discussion. Suga said that he told Biden that he was committed to moving forward with the summer Olympic Games in Japan despite the coronavirus pandemic. Suga said that Biden offered his support. Suga was the first foreign leader to hold face-to-face talks with Biden since the U.S. president assumed office in January. Before the talks began Friday, Biden told reporters at the White House that he was “really pleased to welcome such a close ally, and good partner.”  Report: Japan’s PM to Visit India, Philippines to Strengthen Regional TiesYoshihide Suga’s trip would come after his White House visit, which also hinged on strengthening an alliance in the face of China’s growing influence across Indo-Pacific region Suga said he was grateful for the meeting and reaffirmed the “new and tight bond” between Japan and the United States.  Since Biden took office, he has focused on reviving the alliance with Japan, as well as U.S. involvement in multilateral institutions, which were often criticized or shunned by former President Donald Trump.The meeting underscored the importance of that alliance, particularly as their common rival, China, grows in strength and aggressiveness.   “We have to shore up American competitiveness to meet the stiff competition we’re facing from an increasingly assertive China,” Biden said earlier this week as he explained his decision to withdraw U.S. troops from Afghanistan.   Japan recently joined the U.S. and other democratic nations in calling out Beijing’s human rights abuses and incursions into disputed areas of the East and South China seas, seen as a departure from a longstanding trade and economics-centered approach. China is Japan’s largest trading partner. Sheila Smith, a senior fellow at the Council on Foreign Relations, told VOA that the United States and Japan want to present a united front on China, but “both governments understand that this is a delicate moment in the relationship with China. They don’t want to incite or provoke activities that they don’t desire.”  Japan’s ambassador to the U.S., Koji Tomita, told VOA this week that Japan is “very encouraged” by Biden’s active engagement in the Indo-Pacific region, citing last month’s virtual Quad Summit, in which Biden hosted the leaders of Japan, Australia and India.   Japan Ambassador Lays Out US Summit Priorities Koji Tomita notes similar backgrounds of US and Japanese leaders, predicting warm personal relationship “The international order is being challenged in various ways, so we hope to continue having specific discussions on the ways that Japan and the U.S. can take initiative in realizing our shared vision,” he added.   Before Suga’s meeting with Biden, China’s Foreign Affairs Ministry warned Japan against “being misled by some countries holding biased views against China.”   Earlier this month, China also sent a naval strike group near Okinawa, where the U.S. has troops, a signal Beijing is prepared to counter the U.S.-Japan alliance.   Japan hosts approximately 55,000 U.S. troops. The two sides routinely describe their alliance as the “cornerstone” of peace and stability in Asia.  VOA’s Patsy Widakuswara  contributed to this report.
 
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U.S. President Joe Biden plans to discuss ways to counter competitive pressure from China during a White House summit Friday with Japanese Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga aimed at revitalizing the U.S.-Japan alliance.
 
Biden, who took office in January, has focused on reviving the alliance, as well as U.S. involvement in multilateral institutions, which were often criticized or shunned by former U.S. President Donald Trump.
 
Suga will be the first foreign leader to visit the White House since Biden took office.
 
The meeting underscores the importance of the alliance between the two countries, particularly as their rival, China, grows in strength and aggressiveness.
 
“We have to shore up American competitiveness to meet the stiff competition we’re facing from an increasingly assertive China,” Biden said earlier this week as he explained his decision to withdraw U.S. troops from Afghanistan.
 WATCH LIVE: Joint press conference at 415pm EDT Japan recently joined the U.S. and other countries in calling out Beijing’s human rights abuses and incursions into disputed areas of the East and South China Seas, seen as a departure from a longstanding trade and economics-centered approach.
 
China, however, is Japan’s longtime rival and largest trading partner, leading some analysts to predict Suga will refrain from overtly antagonizing Beijing during his meeting with Biden.Japan’s ambassador to the U.S., Koji Tomita, recently told VOA the need for a stronger U.S.-Japanese alliance and a “free and open” Indo-Pacific region will be top issues at the summit.Japan Ambassador Lays Out US Summit Priorities Koji Tomita notes similar backgrounds of US and Japanese leaders, predicting warm personal relationship Tomita said Japan is “very encouraged” by Biden’s active engagement in the Indo-Pacific region, citing last month’s virtual Quad Summit, in which Biden hosted the leaders of Japan, Australia and India.
 
“The international order is being challenged in various ways, so we hope to continue having specific discussions on the ways that Japan and the U.S. can take initiative in realizing our shared vision,” he added.
 
Before Suga’s meeting with Biden, China’s Foreign Affairs Ministry warned Japan against “being misled by some countries holding biased views against China.”
 
Earlier this month, China also sent a naval strike group near Okinawa, where the U.S. has troops, a signal Beijing is prepared to counter the U.S.-Japan alliance.
 
Japan hosts approximately 55,000 U.S. troops. The two sides routinely describe their alliance as the “cornerstone” of peace and stability in Asia.William Gallo contributed to this story from Seoul, Natalie Liu from Washington.
 
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Malaysia and Vietnam intend to sign a memorandum of understanding that experts say could eventually help ease a decades-old, six-party dispute over sovereignty in the resource-rich South China Sea.Maritime law enforcement agencies from the two Southeast Asian countries aim to sign the memo this year and resolve at least 15 years of trouble over the movement of Vietnamese fishing vessels, the official Bernama news agency in Malaysia reported in early April. Bernama quoted the Malaysian Maritime Enforcement Agency director-general saying he’s confident the deal, now in its final stages, will solve the issue of Vietnamese fishing boats that enter Malaysian-claimed waters.Vietnamese boats are known for fishing in waters off the peninsular Malaysian east coast, leading Malaysian authorities to detain 748 vessels and 7,203 Vietnamese crew members from 2006 through 2019, Malaysia’s Foreign Affairs Ministry says on its website. The ministry calls the “encroachments” a violation of Malaysia’s sovereignty.If the memo helps both sides, their cooperation could eventually go deeper and enable them to resist the sea’s militarily strongest claimant, China — or work alongside it — some analysts believe. Deals to date call for joint use of parts of the sea, set up joint crime-fighting mechanisms and, in one case, require China to delineate its maritime boundary.’No other options but to cooperate’Brunei, the Philippines and Taiwan claim all or parts of the same 3.5 million-square-kilometer sea. Indonesia chafes with China over the waterways’ southern reaches.“If Vietnam, Malaysia, the Philippines and Indonesia can work together, then at that time China will have no other options but to cooperate with these Southeast Asian claimants,” said Nguyen Thanh Trung, Center for International Studies director at University of Social Sciences and Humanities in Ho Chi Minh City.China alarms the other governments by landfilling small islets for airstrips and hangars. Its fishing fleets, survey vessels and coast guard ships periodically enter waters claimed by the Southeast Asian states. Beijing rejected a 2016 ruling by the Permanent Court of Arbitration at the Hague. against the legal basis for its claims and has been unable to agree on a maritime code of conduct with the 10-member Association of Southeast Asian Nations, which includes four South China Sea claimants.A Malaysia-Vietnam memorandum should serve as a “role model” for other deals between South China Sea claimants, said Alexander Vuving, a professor at the Daniel K. Inouye Asia-Pacific Center for Security Studies in Hawaii.“This would be a very good steppingstone to more cooperation between Vietnam and Malaysia on the maritime domain,” Vuving said.Fishing a sticking pointAgreements around the South China Sea are few today but have a record of building trust by solving local problems even as the wider sovereignty issue lingers.Analysts believe the Vietnam-Malaysia memorandum would start by easing tension between Vietnam and Malaysia. Vietnamese fishing boats end up in Malaysian waters because the waters are close, not always clearly marked on maps and offer more fish than the seas nearer Vietnam.Fishing has become a sticking point for both countries, said Shariman Lockman, senior foreign policy and security studies analyst with the Institute of Strategic and International Studies in Malaysia. Malaysian authorities said in August a Vietnamese fisherman had been shot to death during a confrontation over the location of his vessel.“The Vietnamese fishing fleets, in search of stocks, they come south, so this [reported memo] is one way to regulate it. It’s becoming a real irritant in the bilateral relationship,” Lockman said. “When people in Malaysia talk about problems in the South China Sea, I think they tend to speak about China and Vietnam almost in the same breath.”China and Vietnam have abided since 2000 by a boundary demarcation in the Gulf of Tonkin, which extends along both Vietnamese and Chinese coastline and is one of the few places where Beijing has clarified the extent of its sovereignty. China uses a nine-dash line to delineate the remaining claim to about 90% of the South China Sea. China and Vietnam agreed in the same year to a joint Gulf of Tonkin fishing mechanism.Authorities from Indonesia, Malaysia and the Philippines agreed in 2017 to pool naval personnel who could track Islamic militants who had taken advantage of porous sea borders in waters near their coastlines.In 2009, Malaysia and Vietnam together sent to the United Nations Commission on the Limits of the Continental Shelf documents showing the extent of their South China Sea continental shelves.Their submission irked China but “forced claimant states to gradually clarify their positions on the legal status of features and the limits of their claims in the South China Sea,” Nguyen Hong Thao, associate professor of international law at the National University of Hanoi, wrote in a commentary this month.Any subsequent upgrade to the Vietnam-Malaysia memorandum would avoid content offensive to China, Lockman said. Vietnam regularly speaks out against Chinese activity in the disputed sea, but Malaysia keeps quieter. China is its biggest trading partner and top source of investment.
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Alex White thought he was watching a huge worm writhing in plastic-wrapped lettuce he’d just brought home from a Sydney supermarket — until a snake tongue flicked.”I kind of completely freaked out when I saw this little tongue come out of its mouth and start flicking around and realized it was a snake because worms don’t have tongues,” White said on Thursday.”I definitely kind of panicked a bit,” he added.It was a venomous pale-headed snake that authorities say made an 870-kilometer journey to Sydney from a packing plant in the Australian city of Toowoomba wrapped in plastic with two heads of cos lettuce.The refrigerated supermarket supply chain likely lulled the cold-blooded juvenile into a stupor until White bought the lettuce at an ALDI supermarket on Monday evening and rode his bicycle home with salad and snake in his backpack.White and his partner Amelia Neate spotted the snake moving as soon as the lettuce was unpacked onto the kitchen table.They also noticed the plastic wrapping was torn and that the snake could escape, so they quickly stuffed the reptile with the lettuce into a plastic food storage container.White phoned the WIRES rescue organization and a snake handler took the snake away that night.Before the handler arrived, White said WIRES had explained to him: “If you get bitten, you’ve got to go to hospital really quickly.”ALDI is investigating how a snake could have found its way into a supermarket.”We’ve worked with the customer and the team at WIRES to identify the snake’s natural habitat, which is certainly not an ALDI store!” the German-based supermarket chain said in a statement.WIRES reptile coordinator Gary Pattinson said while the snake was less than 20 centimeters long, it was “as venomous as it will ever be.”Pattinson is caring for the snake until it is returned to Queensland state next week, following the WIRES policy of returning rescued wildlife to where it comes from.”It’s the first snake I’ve ever had in sealed, packed produce,” Pattinson said. “We get frogs in them all the time.”Neate, a German immigrant, said her brush with a venomous snake in a Sydney kitchen was a setback in her efforts to assure relatives in Europe that Australia’s notoriously deadly Outback wildlife was nothing to worry about.”For the last 10 years or so, I’ve told my family at home that Australia’s a really safe country,” Neate said.”I’ve always said I’m just in the city; it’s totally fine here,” she added.
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The following is the full text of an interview with Koji Tomita, the Japanese ambassador in Washington, conducted this week in advance of a visit to the White House by Japanese Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga. An article based on the interview is also being published. VOA: What is the significance to Japan of the upcoming summit between President (Joe) Biden and Prime Minister (Yoshihide) Suga? What would Japan like to see happen at the summit? Will we see new evidence of closer cooperation between Tokyo and Washington in regional and global affairs? AMBASSADOR KOJI TOMITA: This is the first in-person Japan-U.S. summit for both leaders, an event that has always been important in setting a positive tone for our overall diplomatic relationship. We are also honored that Prime Minister Suga will be the first leader of a foreign nation to hold a face-to-face meeting with President Biden since he took office in January. Considering the circumstances with the COVID-19 pandemic and regional affairs, this meeting has an even higher profile than usual. I’m confident that both Prime Minister Suga and President Biden are going to rise to that challenge and build on the foundations of our strong relationship on a number of key points.  FILE – Japanese Ambassador to South Korea Koji Tomita, left, arrives at the foreign ministry in Seoul, March 6, 2020.First, the leaders will coordinate the strategy needed to further strengthen our alliance, and to realize a “Free and Open Indo-Pacific.” This is particularly important as the security environment in the region has become increasingly severe. President Biden and Prime Minister Suga will be building on the strong joint statement released following the recent “2 + 2” meetings in Tokyo, which endorsed the enhancement of the deterrence and response capabilities of the Japan-U.S. Alliance.We are very encouraged by President Biden’s active engagement in the Indo-Pacific region, as exemplified by the historic first Quad Summit meeting that he hosted. The international order is being challenged in various ways, so we hope to continue having specific discussions on the ways that Japan and the U.S. can take initiative in realizing our shared vision.  Second, Japan fully supports President Biden’s resolve to revert to multinationalism and to restore leadership in the international community. A multinational approach is critical for many of the challenges facing us today, and I expect the leaders to discuss our shared strategy in a number of these areas.  Climate change will certainly be one of those topics, especially in view of the Leaders Summit on Climate later this month, and the COP26 (United Nations Climate Change Conference) conference this November. Both Prime Minister Suga and President Biden have placed climate change policy at the center of their agendas, so I expect a substantial discussion during their meeting. I think this will be very productive, as they share a common vision on the topic, associating climate policy with economic growth realized through new investment, job expansion and innovation.  FILE – Japan’s Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga speaks during a press conference in Tokyo, March 18, 2021.Multilateralism is, of course, also important in response to the COVID-19 global pandemic, including the distribution of vaccines to countries in need. Japan and the U.S. have closely cooperated on the pandemic response so far, so this will be another important topic to be discussed.  Finally, as I mentioned, the visit will be a perfect opportunity for Prime Minister Suga and President Biden to a build a personal relationship and trust, as the leaders of our countries have always done.  The Japanese people admire President Biden’s warm personality, which will obviously be a big part of this initial encounter. We will never forget his visit to the affected area right after the 3/11 Great East Japan Earthquake 10 years ago. I was actually there for that visit, and I greatly appreciated the way that he consoled victims and gave them a sense of hope.  I think Prime Minister Suga has a lot of similarities to President Biden, as a leader who did not inherit a political support network and had to build up his career through politics by themselves. Prime Minister Suga’s strength is that he understands the life of ordinary citizens and feels their joy and pain. I think these shared personal traits will lead to a solid rapport, which will allow them to tackle the tough questions that they must face together.  VOA: Many see Japan as taking a more proactive approach in the security (e.g., the Quadrilateral Security Dialogue/Quad) and political realms (e.g., recent pronouncements concerning human rights issues in China) alongside the United States and other democratic nation-states, compared with a more economics and trade-centered approach. Could you explain the rationale behind this? To what extent does this have to do with Beijing’s rising power and posture? TOMITA: As the strategic environment around Japan has become increasingly complex and uncertain, we need to utilize an increasingly complex set of policy responses, using everything in our diplomatic and security toolkits. Today we are faced with a variety of nonconventional threats, including cyberattacks, terrorism, trade restrictions and threats to the freedom of navigation that endanger critical sea lanes. Japan places importance on multilateralism and aims to realize a “united world” that collectively tackles challenges facing the international community. While some of these challenges require us to develop new approaches, I think that it is important to note that continuing to build economic and trade ties will be key to addressing all of these areas. The progress of the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership and the entry into force of the Japan-U.K. Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement have contributed to the establishment of a free and fair economic order. As this year’s chair of the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) Commission, Japan will lead the discussions for the steady implementation and expansion of the TPP. As shown in the leadership that Japan is assuming, we will continue to be proactive on the trade front as well.  China’s growing economic and military influence is an important part of this changing landscape, but our approach, including our growing partnership with the Quad, is not directed toward any specific country. Our strategic goal has always been to maintain the peace and prosperity of the entire region. In this regard, the importance of the Japan-U.S. alliance has never been greater.  VOA: China, or the People’s Republic of China governed by the Chinese Communist Party, has been described as an adversary by the last U.S. administration and a competitor by the current one; rivalry between Washington and Beijing has been cast as a rivalry between democracy and autocracy. The European Union describes its ties with Beijing as one of “simultaneously (in different policy areas) a cooperation partner, a negotiation partner, an economic competitor and a systemic rival.” How does Japan see China/the PRC? TOMITA: While China is a growing topic in Washington, D.C., these days, I can assure you that as a country situated nearby, China is always a big presence for Japan. With the world’s second-largest economy, and a population of 1.4 billion, I think that China actually has the capacity and the responsibility to make positive contributions to efforts to solve global issues.  I therefore think it is in everyone’s interest to have stable relations with China. Having said that, we have to build that relationship on the basis of frank and open discussion, so we have to be honest with our Chinese friends about our concerns with certain aspects of their behavior, including trade practices, and the human rights situations in Xinjiang and Hong Kong. From Japan’s perspective, it is particularly troubling to see their maritime practices, which attempt to unilaterally change the status quo in the region.  I think our approach to China has been very consistent. We are seeking a stable relationship with China, but at the same time, will continue to be very clear about our concerns. And as I mentioned before, this is one of the areas where a multilateral approach will be critical: Japan isn’t alone in navigating our relationship with China, any more than the U.S. is.  VOA: U.S. allies with both Japan and the Republic of Korea and consistently calls for Japan and ROK to work more closely together, toward shared strategic goals in the region and beyond. You served as Japan’s ambassador to ROK before coming to Washington. In your view, do Japan and ROK share enough common strategic goals in the region and beyond to exercise the political will to put history behind, to address the trauma from wartime to a satisfactory degree, and work more closely together? TOMITA: Before I came to Washington, D.C., this year, I was the Japanese ambassador to the Republic of Korea, and with that experience in mind, I can assure you that the ROK is an important neighbor which shares democratic values with Japan. We believe that the trilateral Japan-U.S.-ROK relationship is key to the peace and stability of the region, and we will continue to engage with our Korean friends for the maintenance of trilateral solidarity and coordination on issues like North Korea.  I think many Americans who read updates from the region would be surprised by the extremely high levels of exchange that flourish between our two countries. From a deep economic relationship to people-to-people and cultural exchanges, the ties between Japanese and Koreans are actually very robust, although currently constrained due to COVID-19.  However, it is fair to say that Japan and ROK are going through a difficult patch due to a few outstanding issues. These issues originate from some recent Korean court decisions that are not in conformity with Japan-ROK agreements and the principles of international law. My answer to your question would be yes, Japan and ROK share so many common strategic goals in the region. But we must say that what is at stake at the moment is the very basis of our diplomatic relations in the postwar era. We would like to protect the foundation on which we have developed our relations, and this is why we are asking the Korean government to take firm action to prevent these issues from damaging our overall relationship. 
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