Aung San Suu Kyi, the leader of Myanmar’s now-defunct civilian government, was back in a courtroom in the capital Naypyidaw Monday for a new round of hearings on corruption-related charges brought against her by the military junta that ousted her from power.   Defense attorney Khin Maung Zaw told VOA Burmese Service that Suu Kyi faced three separate hearings on charges of violating the country’s natural disaster, communications and export-import laws respectively.   During the final hearing, he said it was discovered during cross-examination of the army officer who led the raid on Suu Kyi’s house that he did not have a search warrant to conduct the operation.  Six unregistered and illegally imported walkie-talkie radios were allegedly found in a search of her home in Naypyitaw. A hearing was also held Monday on charges brought against ousted President U Win Myint for violating the Disaster Management Law.   The attorney said both Suu Kyi and U Win Myint appeared to be “in good physical condition” when their lawyers met with them before Monday’s proceedings. He said Suu Kyi “voiced her grave concern” over the latest surge of COVID-19 infections in Myanmar, while U Win Myint also expressed his worries about the surge and passed on “his wishes for the people.” The hearings will resume next week.   FILE – A screen grab from Myawaddy TV video shows deposed Myanmar leader Aung San Suu Kyi (center-left) and others before a special court, in Naypyitaw, Myanmar, May 24, 2021. Suu Kyi, a Nobel Peace laureate, has been detained since February 1, when her civilian government was overthrown nearly three months after her National League for Democracy party scored a landslide victory in the elections.     The junta has cited widespread electoral fraud in the November 8 election as a reason for the coup, an allegation the civilian electoral commission denied. The junta has threatened to dissolve the NLD over the allegations.    The coup triggered a crisis in the Southeast Asian country that led to deadly anti-junta demonstrations and clashes between several armed ethnic groups and the ruling junta.  
In a campaign to quell the protests, the government has killed more than 800 protesters and bystanders since the takeover, according to the Assistance Association for Political Prisoners, a rights group tracking casualties and arrests in Myanmar.  VOA’s Burmese Service contributed to this report.  
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China’s technology ministry Monday announced a three-year action plan to develop the country’s cyber-security industry, which it estimates will be worth more than $38 billion by 2023, according to Reuters. The new strategy by the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology is being unveiled as Beijing tightens its grip on the country’s technology sector, underscored by its regulatory probe of ride-hailing giant Didi Global.   The company was valued at $68 billion after its June 30 initial public offering, or IPO, on the New York Stock Exchange.   But Chinese regulators launched a cybersecurity review of the company and said new users would not be allowed to register during the review, sending Didi Global share prices tumbling. The Cyberspace Administration of China then ordered Didi’s app removed from domestic mobile app stores. The agency has also ordered two other tech-based companies, Uber-like trucking startup Full Truck Alliance and Kanzhun, which connects job seekers and hiring enterprises via a mobile app, to suspend user registrations and submit to security reviews, citing risks to “national data security.”   The two companies, like Didi Global, had also recently issued IPOs on U.S. stock exchanges.   Some information for this report came from Reuters, CNBC, and the New York Times. 
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The head of a Thai-based volunteer aid group, speaking from inside Myanmar, has described increasing attacks by that country’s military in the ethnic areas along the country’s borders with China and Thailand.Speaking to VOA by satellite phone Friday from northern Kayin state in Myanmar’s east, David Eubank, the head of the Free Burma Rangers, said since the February 1 coup,  Myanmar’s military has not only attacked urban protesters but is now carrying out increasing offensives on the country’s fringes.The United Nations said last month that almost a quarter of a million people have been driven from their homes and villages by post-coup violence, and that millions risk hunger in coming months.  Most of them are spread across the border areas, where ethnic minorities with standing armies have been fighting the military for autonomy for decades.  Eubank’s Free Burma Rangers sends hundreds of volunteers into Myanmar’s conflict zones with medical services and supplies — from rice to schoolbooks — for remote rural areas.‘The gloves came off’“Once the coup happened,” Eubank said, “it was like the gloves came off the Burma military. Not only did they begin to crush the people in the streets, as you’ve seen; they began to unleash their power on the ethnics, and that’s when we saw this huge uptick of attacks and displacement.” Myanmar is also known as Burma.When the military started attacking targets in northern Kayin after the coup, by air for the first time in decades, the area’s displaced population jumped tenfold from 4,000 to 40,000 by April, Eubank said.He estimated the airstrikes have killed about 20 civilians in the area and wounded some 40 more. He said that is fewer than those killed by the military’s ground forces in northern Kayin, which he puts at about 40, “but the psychological impact of the airplanes is just huge up here.”“Way past the killing that the airstrikes [caused] and damage they did has been the fear,” he said.Myanmar government officials could not be reached for comment. In the past the military has said it has only uses proportionate force against threats to state security.In the jungleEubank said most of the 40,000 have returned home in recent weeks as the airstrikes died down and most of the new troops the military moved in were pulled back, although skirmishes with forces of the Karen National Union, one of the country’s many armed ethnic groups, have kept up.He said the most intense fighting since the coup is in the northernmost state of Kachin, where the military has been losing ground to the Kachin Independence Army, another ethnic armed group.People take refuge in a jungle area in Demoso, Kayah state, June 3, 2021In the past few weeks, though, fighting has picked up most in the tiny eastern state of Kayah, also known as Karenni, where the military is up against smaller militias and new “people’s defense forces” of locals who have pooled their weapons to resist the junta. Fighting there has driven more than 100,000 people out of their homes, now the most in any state or region, Eubank, who has teams there, said.Those teams, he said, report soldiers looting villagers’ homes and firing into the jungle with rifles and rocket-propelled grenades, both to keep any rebels at bay and to clear tracts of land of anyone else.“I’m looking at photos that my team sent right now. … I see wrecked houses. I’m looking at a destroyed church. I’m looking at a guy who was shot. I’m looking at pictures of IDPs [internally displaced persons] hiding in the jungle,” he told VOA.Heavy rains have only made it worse for those pushed into the jungle, he added, with many reduced to catching frogs and hunting squirrels to supplement their rice.Those who can, find caves, the rest make due under pitched tarps, or less, Eubank said.“Very often they fled out of the house with just what they could carry and maybe had a sheet of plastic over their shoulders. So maybe they’ll cut bamboo and make a frame, like a lean-to frame, and then lay banana leaves and other leaves over it to make a little shelter and huddle under that,” he said.“They live pretty rough. And then there’s no school, and they’ve got the clothes on their back. And if there’s hundreds of them on the same stream. then you have pollution problems and dysentery.”A looming crisisEubank said the military was also setting up checkpoints and sending out patrols to keep aid shipments from flowing from the plains into the hills  and rebel-controlled areas, where many of the displaced are taking shelter, checking people for everything from extra food and medicine to batteries and children toys.He said supplies were still getting in and that most of the newly displaced have enough rice right now and to last the next two to three months.Even those who have felt safe enough to return home, though, as in Kayin, are a month or two behind on their farming and coming back to overgrown fields that need extra work, he added. That could mean much less rice at harvest time.Some of those who have returned are also still under fire, he said.Eubank said he came across a woman in Kayin a few weeks ago being shot at with automatic and sniper rifles from the surrounding hills while planting her rice field. Determined to get the job done, he said, she gathered up her neighbors and together they finished the planting that night in the dark.The 100,000 still living rough in Kayah cannot even do that. Last month the U.N.’s special rapporteur on human rights in Myanmar, Thomas H. Andrews, warned of “mass death” among the displaced there from starvation, disease and exposure if the military continued to cut them off from critical supplies.Eubank said that could come to pass if more aid does not get in and if they cannot move to where they can find what they need to survive.“I think it’s a big risk if this goes on, especially for right now in Karenni,” he said. “We have these 100,000 people, and we’re moving literally tons of rice up there through a variety of means. But that’s not sure to meet all the needs. And if the Burma army continues the pressure against those 100,000, they’re going to have to move or they’re going to starve to death,” he said.The junta claims it toppled the country’s civilian government because it had ignored reports of widespread irregularities in last year’s general elections, in which the military’s proxy party was soundly defeated, but has shown no evidence to back it up. State media now run by the junta has blamed the crisis that has followed the coup on “dishonesty of democracy” in the election. 
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“Before the show, my mom asked me, ‘You’re performing tonight?’ I said, ‘Yeah.’ She said, ‘This is what you’re gonna wear? … This outfit looks cheap. It doesn’t look fashionable. It doesn’t complement your body. The shirt looks like nobody’s going to marry you, ever. For you to show up on stage looking like this, I think it’s very disrespectful of your audience.’”“I said, ‘Mom, it’s a free open mic, this is all they deserve.’ “The whole room burst with laughter.Meet Alex Shi, a 31-year-old from China’s northeastern city of Changchun. On this summer night, she’s performing standup comedy at Paddy O’Shea’s, a popular Irish bar in central Beijing.As one of the few standup comedians performing in English in Beijing, Shi works at different venues, from high-end hotels like the Hyatt Regency Beijing Wangjing to bars tucked away in Beijing’s few remaining narrow traditional alleys, or hutong. A longtime freelancer in the communications industry, she now devotes most of her free time to comedy.Live standup comedy in Gulou, Beijing. (Ma Jing)Standup comedy began making inroads in China more than a decade ago, but it took off over the past few years as open mics and standup comedy competitions became hit shows on China’s tightly controlled internet, where they are known in Mandarin as talk shows.Even though the comedians can make audiences cry with laughter, the performers skirt topics that might draw official condemnation. Those limits may force them to focus on jokes about more universal topics, such as nagging mothers. “I think Chinese performers are better than those in the West. Why? Because there are no taboo topics in Europe and the United States. You can talk about anything you want,” said Chen Xi, a 41-year-old journalist in Beijing who asked VOA Mandarin to use a pseudonym in fear of attracting attention.“In China, you can’t tell political jokes. You can’t tell jokes that will ‘hurt others’ feelings.’ It’s really not easy for them to still be this creative.”Chinese audiences appreciate the effort. Tencent, the multiplatform Chinese company known globally for its game Fortnight, hosts Rock & Roast, an online standup comedy competition that has nearly 6 billion Tony Chou performing standup. (Zeo Niu)“I think the standup comedy scene in China today is like the environment in the ’80s and ’90s in the U.S.,” he told VOA Mandarin in a phone conversation. “Many people have poured into the industry because they think they can make money. Most of them are always in a rush to perform but not to create.”“For me, I love standup comedy because of the freedom, the freedom to say what I want to say,” Chou said.For Shi, most of her jokes are related to her relationship with her mom — how her mom urges her to get married, how her mom gets into her business, how her mom is nagging her every minute of every day. Compared with anything-goes Western standup comedians, Chinese comedians remain cautious about the topics they target, Shi said. “I think there’s an unwritten rule that we shouldn’t talk about anything that’s vulgar or too extreme,” she added.Shi believes that because she performs in English, the official censorship is not as intense. Yet in popular online comedy competitions, contestants must avoid crossing the red line that will draw official ire. In an episode of Roast! — a Chinese version of the American Comedy Central Roast — that aired on March 14 — former Chinese men’s football team captain Fan Zhiyi mocked the disappointing performance of the Chinese men’s basketball team in the 2019 Basketball World Cup, an event, held in China, that was a qualifier for the 2020 Tokyo Olympics.“I can pass the ball to others [with my feet]. You can’t even do it using your hands!” Fan quipped. A clip of his routine became a Chinese internet sensation, with over 200 million views on Weibo.Yet Fan also touched some nerves. On March 15, the day after the show aired, the government-controlled Xinhua News Agency published an article criticizing him for “hurting the feelings of basketball fans” and blasting the producers for “using him to raise ratings.” On March 16, the Chinese Football Association rolled out a code banning players from “openly inciting animosity.” And while the code did not include retired players, it seemed meant to warn everyone affiliated with the association. “Article 59 of the code indicates that players or officials who publicly incite others to hostility and violence will be severely punished. Violation of this provision will result in a minimum suspension of one month and a fine of at least 200,000 yuan (about $30,000),” reported China’s party-backed news outlet Global Times, referencing a report in the Beijing Daily, the official newspaper of the Beijing Municipal Committee of the Chinese Communist Party.On March 21, citing “insufficient time for editing,” the producers of Roast! canceled the second half of the sports edition.In April, Beijing authorities fined the organizers of a standup comedy show in a small Beijing theater 50,000 yuan, or $7,700, for “using vulgar terms in its performance which violate social morality,” according to the Global Times.“This is the first case in Beijing where a standup comedy show has been punished with fines for banned content, and it shows zero tolerance for this behavior, setting a precedent for the emerging standup comedy genre in China,” said the state-backed news outlet.Chou believes that standup comedy not only should be a performance but should also reflect the actor’s perception of social issues. “In the West, standup comedy has evolved for a long time. The art is down-to-earth yet profound,” he said. “You can touch lots of social issues in your content.“Yet in China, if you want a bigger audience, you have to move from clubs to online platforms or theaters,” he said. “Then you will have to deal with stricter censorship. “For a good Chinese standup comedian, if you ask him or her to go to the theater, it’s like asking an artist to perform on CCTV’s New Year gala,” said Chou, referring to “Chunwan,” the annual variety show extravaganza that has been one of the world’s most-watched TV shows since its first broadcast in 1983.Chou concedes there are financial considerations to being tapped for a broadcast that can turn a performer into a star. Yet as a comedian who maintains that freedom of speech is the soul of standup, accepting an invitation to the really big show means that “he or she will have to perform according to ‘the main theme of the era.’ ” And, said Chou, “That’s torture.”Lin Yang contributed to this report.
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China’s market regulator on Saturday blocked the merger of Tencent-backed game streaming platforms Douyu and Huya following an anti-monopoly investigation, as authorities ramp up scrutiny of some of the country’s biggest technology companies.Huya and Douyu — which provide videogame live-streaming services akin to Twitch in the U.S. — are two of the largest companies of its kind in China. Both count gaming firm Tencent among their investors.China’s State Administration for Market Regulation said in a statement that a merger between Huya and Douyu would give Tencent control over the merged entity.”From the perspective of different key indicators like revenue, number of active users, resources for streamers, the total share is very substantial, and the elimination and restriction of competition can be foreseen,” the statement said.Authorities have stepped up oversight of some of China’s largest technology firms over concerns of monopolistic behavior and unchecked growth, as well as how companies are collecting and using data from their millions of users.Last week, regulators ordered a cybersecurity investigation into ride-sharing platform Didi Global Inc. Food delivery platform Meituan is also under an anti-monopoly probe, and e-commerce giant Alibaba was fined a record $2.8 billion earlier this year for antitrust violations.The market regulator said that the decision to ban the merger between Huya and Douyu is the first instance of regulators prohibiting market concentration in the internet sector.The two companies first announced last October that they planned to merge, but market regulators later said that they would review the $6 billion deal.Tencent said it was notified by the regulator that the merger has been halted.”The company will abide by the decision, comply with all regulatory requirements, operate in accordance with applicable laws and regulations, and fulfill our social responsibilities,” the company said in a statement Saturday.Earlier this week, Chinese authorities said they would also increase supervision of companies listed overseas.Under the new measures, regulation of data security and cross-border data flows, as well as the management of confidential data, will be improved.Authorities also plan to crack down on illegal activities in the securities market and will investigate and punish acts such as the fraudulent issuance of securities, market manipulation and insider trading.
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Myanmar’s post-coup ruling State Administration Council has, since the last week of February, been arresting family members of dissidents in an effort to pressure the dissidents to turn themselves in, according to dissidents, lawyers helping those charged, and an official of the opposition National Unity Government.Family members of activists, politicians, and officials involved in the Civil Disobedience Movement, they say, have been arrested and imprisoned by SAC. Some, they say, were beaten and tortured by security forces for failing to provide information about dissidents who have evaded arrest.”Arresting innocent family members is a coercive act. We strongly condemn this,” Aung Myo Min, the NUG’s human rights minister, who has spent three decades defending human rights, told VOA June 30.VOA made repeated attempts to get a comment from the SAC for this report but was unable to do so.SAC security forces began arresting dissidents’ family members during the last week of February, according to the Thailand-based Assistance Association for Political Prisoners.  While there were only a few cases in February and March, according to the AAPP, more than 30 family members were arrested in April.The AAPP said that as of June 22, at least 85 family members of dissidents have been arrested since the Feb. 1 coup in Myanmar, with 29 released and 53 still in custody. The total includes 41 girls or women ages 2 to 75 years old.Tin Htut Paing, a well-known activist in Yangon’s working-class North Okkalapa township told VOA June 23 that his mother, Mi Ngal, both of whose sons are activists, was beaten and arrested by SAC forces May 2.According to Tin Htut Paing, who has been evading arrest and is in hiding, he heard from his father that his mother had been sentenced to three years’ imprisonment under the country’s legal code.“Although my mother had not committed any crime, was sentenced by the military court to a maximum sentence,” he said.“As North Okkalapa township is under military rule, no appeal can be lodged of the sentence handed down by the military court,” he said.Students protest against the February military takeover by the State Administration Council as they march in Yangon, Myanmar, July 7, 2021. The sign reads, ‘Hold spirit and fight. Defeat the dictatorship in any way you can.’“Imprisoning my innocent mother was a manifestation of the atrocities of the military,” Tin Htut Paing added.Another activist, Zarni Kyaw, told VOA three of his family members had been arrested because of his actions.Zarni Kyaw, 41, a protest leader, left his township in central Myanmar after an arrest warrant was issued for him. Three weeks later, soldiers came to his home and arrested his 80-year-old father, 49-year-old sister and 60-year-old uncle, he told VOA.“My dad is a retired military personnel and had served for Tatmadaw [the Myanmar military] for many years. But they don’t care and appreciate his service,” said Zarni Kyaw, who is now training with opposition Karen National Union forces.The whereabouts of family members arrested by the military council are not easy to find out. They were not sent directly to prison, but some were detained in military-owned buildings, and some faced lengthy interrogations at the detention centers, activists and lawyers say.  In some cases, other family members did not know where the detainees were being held until they were sent to prison after days of harsh interrogations, according to lawyer Zarli Aye.”Some of them were detained for more than a month during interrogation and then were sent to prison,” said Zarli Aye, a member of a “Lawyers for You” team formed in early March to provide free assistance for those arrested.”When we met with them [arrested family members] in prison, I was told they were forced to call the fugitives to persuade them to come back. Soldiers used various methods against the prisoners when they failed to follow what soldiers asked,” she said.  She said some were beaten and denied food and water for a period of days, and a young girl was threatened with rape.The lawyers’ group is assisting 20 arrested activists’ family members being held in Yangon’s Insein Prison, but no one has been convicted yet. All cases are being heard in special courts inside the prison, Zarli Aye said.While the law does not allow anyone to be held for more than 24 hours, since the coup, many people, including activists’ relatives, have been detained illegally for several days with no reason given. Zarli Aye also said these prisoners are not receiving a fair trial  after they have been charged.”They have been subjected to human rights abuses since before the trial. They were detained for several days without remand. They are not allowed to see family members and to receive food from outside, even after being sent to prison. Also judges impose restrictions on us during the court hearings. My questions to police officers who filed complaints in the case were rejected by judges very often,” Zarli Aye said.The SAC’s arrests of fugitives’ family members do not seem to be succeeding; activists feel sorry for those arrested but remain determined to continue their fight.Zarni Kyaw understands his three family members would be released if he surrendered for arrest but still plans to join the Karen National Liberation Army, the military branch of the KNU.“Joining the KNU and fighting with them is the best way to overthrow the military regime. I hope my father would agree with my decision,” he told VOA.Tin Htut Paing, the activist whose mother was arrested, has made a similar decision, saying that he expects the opposition to win and on that day, “those unjustly detained with my mother will be released.”  
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Coronavirus infections are rising in Australia, despite a two-week-old lockdown intended to stop their spread. Officials are now focusing on how to enforce compliance with COVID-19 lockdown rules, particularly where such restrictions appear to be mostly ignored.Authorities have said that strict stay-at-home orders in some of Australia’s most ethnically diverse areas in Sydney have been widely flouted, although charities have said community health messages for some migrant groups have been inadequate.A major police operation is underway in parts of Sydney to ensure the rules are followed. Officers on horseback are expected to patrol main shopping areas.Senior commanders have denied the crackdown is targeting multicultural areas.Australian Prime Minister Prime Minister Scott Morrison said too many people have broken the rules.“We haven’t seen the compliance that has been necessary. It is important to get that compliance in place,” he said. “The virus does not move on its own. It moves by people moving the virus around, and that is why it is so important that the restrictions that have been put in place that are appropriate just need to be complied with.”Under Sydney’s lockdown, which is due to end on July 16, residents can only leave home to work, study, buy groceries, care for a relative or other dependent, or receive a COVID-19 vaccination.Starting Friday, people will only be able to exercise in groups of two and do so within 10 kilometers of their homes.The New South Wales chief health officer, Dr. Kerry Chant, urged residents to stay home.“People are looking at countries overseas where they are seeing people going about their work and pleasure in a sort of seminormal way, and I think that is really important to highlight. That is because those countries have got vaccination coverages for their adult population, and in some cases down in the childhood population, that is very different from our situation. We have only got 9% vaccination coverage.”Health officials have estimated there are 513 active coronavirus infections in Australia. Ninety–two patients are in the hospital.New South Wales, including the state capital, Sydney, recorded another 44 new infections Friday.Australia has recorded almost 31,000 COVID-19 cases and 910 deaths since the pandemic began.Its international borders remain closed to most foreign nationals. 
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At a time of global semiconductor shortages and rising trade tensions with China, U.S. officials are pledging to continue “strong, robust, and dynamic engagement” with Taiwan on economic and trade issues.Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company, Taiwan’s biggest chip producer, accounts for more than half of the world’s supply of semiconductors. When it comes to highly advanced semiconductors, experts say Taiwan accounts for 92% of global supply. But U.S. officials say the trade relationship with the United States goes much further.A week ago, the U.S. and Taiwan resumed trade talks through the Trade and Investment Framework Agreement (TIFA) Council after a five-year pause.“Taiwan is one of our most important partners in the region. They’re also a very critically important economic and trade partner as our ninth largest trading partner,” said Matt Murray, the State Department’s deputy assistant secretary for trade policy and negotiations, during an interview on Wednesday.Murray told VOA the U.S. will continue trade talks with Taiwan under the framework of TIFA, along with working-level consultations under the so-called Economic Prosperity Partnership Dialogue (EPPD) which was launched last November. Additional talks are focused on the resilience of global supply chains, including semiconductors.The following are excerpts from the interview. It has been edited for brevity and clarity.VOA: The U.S.-Taiwan trade talks resumed after a five-year pause. Is the U.S. now focusing on a bilateral trade deal with Taiwan? What is its implication to the ongoing review of U.S.-China trade policy?Matt Murray: We continue to go step by step and look for opportunities with Taiwan. My team is focused on three areas. One is the TIFA talk and resumption of that, which was successful last week. Another area that’s really important to us is the Economic Prosperity Partnership Dialogue (EPPD,) which was launched by our former Undersecretary of State Keith Krach last November, and which we have continued at the working level these past several months.For example, in February, under the auspices of the EPPD, the United States and Taiwan held a very successful public-private partnership type seminar on semiconductor supply-chain, which I was able to participate in. And so those kinds of engagements have also been hugely important.And then third, we’ve been very focused on the supply chain issue more broadly and talking to our friends in Taiwan about ways that we can address common concerns over supply chain resilience. So, I think as we go step by step and move forward with Taiwan, you know, we’ll see eventually what some of the outcomes might be over time.We continue to be undergoing a review on our China economic policy, as well as our friends at the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative, who are focused on reviewing the Phase One trade agreement. And so, we want to continue to have the time to figure that out, but certainly it’s whatever we do going forward with respect to China, engaging with like-minded partners and allies is going to have to be critically important.I would say that engagement with Taiwan, with Japan, with Korea, with our European allies, Australia, and many others — that’s going to be really the key for us going forward.VOA: In February, you had a virtual meeting with Taiwan’s Economics Minister Wang Mei-hua (王美花), where the global automotive semiconductor shortage was discussed. What was your takeaway?Murray: Several takeaways. It’s held under the auspices of the EPPD where we were able to set up a supply chain seminar to focus on semiconductors. And I think, you know, as often is the case, we were arranging for that meeting to happen before we realized that there was going to be a crisis in terms of the shortages in the auto sector. So that supply chain seminar was more broad than that — it wasn’t just focused on the shortages in the auto sector, it was really about how we could collaborate with Taiwan, with the many companies in Taiwan, with government agencies there. And again, we set that up through, under the auspices of Taipei Economic and Cultural Representative Office in the United States (TECRO) and our American Institute in Taiwan (AIT) to have that discussion.I think the key takeaway is that Taiwan is a really important partner, and they want to be a part of the solutions moving forward. So, whether that’s, you know, open communication with us on what’s available in the supply chain, what isn’t, where there might be issues coming forward, that’s really important. Whether that’s investments here in the United States, it’s also really important or whether that’s also coordinating with third countries and in the region, I think it is really important as we seek to address some of these disruptions to our supply chain that have happened over the last year.VOA:The global chip shortage — it is still a problem. Do you expect the situation to improve by the end of this year?Murray: I think there’s a lot of people in government and industry that are working very hard to make sure the problem does improve. I think one of the key things we found over the last six months is just how important it is to communicate about shortages, about where we might have problems or disruptions, because I think that the global supply chain particularly for semiconductors is so complex, it might start with wafer production in one economy but then move somewhere else for refinishing into another chip, then it ultimately goes into an auto part which ultimately goes into a car, but again it’s not just about the auto sector either.I mean, these are the same chips that also ultimately go into our phones or into the computers we use or into medical devices. And I think we’ve certainly seen, and the administration has been very clear about this, that semiconductors are very critically important sector, and that’s why it was one of the sectors identified in the 100-day report that was released by the White House on June 8th.VOA: As you mentioned, the Biden administration has issued a 100-day review on steps to strengthen critical supply chains. One of the recommendations is to use diplomatic tools, working with like-minded allies such as the Quad and the G-7, to facilitate resilient supply chains. What are the specifics? Can you unpack it for us?Murray: In the 100-day report, we identified four critical supply chains. One is semiconductors, another one is pharmaceutical APIs, another one is advanced capacity batteries, another one is critical minerals and critical materials. For each of those parts of the report, one U.S. government agency was designated as the drafter and then a lot of us then were able to contribute to those reports to look at what are some of the vulnerabilities in our supply chain, where are some of the opportunities that we could build a better supply chain, a more resilient supply chain. And so, we’ve taken those findings and we’ve gone out to a lot of our international partners just to share what we are finding out, what we are discovering, what we are learning, but also to hear from them, because every single government, every single country is going to have a slightly different twist or slightly different issue to deal with when it comes to supply chains.Ultimately, it’s going to be more of the multilateral organizations where we can have strong engagements on the margins to talk about supply chains, whether that’s the G-7, whether that’s the Quad, whether that’s the newly announced U.S.-EU Trade and Technology Council or so many other different opportunities, and we want to take advantage of those opportunities because these are issues of shared concern, not just for the United States but around the world.VOA: You were the Economic Minister Counselor at the U.S. Embassy in Beijing. China has opposed any official contacts between the U.S. and Taiwan. Is promoting the U.S.-Taiwan trade relationship an irritant to the U.S.-China relationship?Murray: Well, I think we’ve been very clear historically to Beijing and the Chinese government what our approach to Taiwan is, and how we want to continue to have a relationship with Taiwan.Given my new role here as the deputy secretary for trade policy negotiations, clearly when we talk about Taiwan being our ninth largest trading partner, we need to have a strong, robust, dynamic, engagement with Taiwan about economic and trade issues. That — that’s very clear to us.Looking at the China issues both from the time I was in Beijing and now, we’re addressing those issues separately. We have to address our own economic and trade concerns with China, and we’ve done that through a number of different dialogues and negotiations over the years. I’ve been working on China off and on for more than 15 years, and, you know, it goes back to when China also joined the World Trade Organization in 2001, but we still have very serious concerns about China’s behaviors in terms of whether it’s intellectual property rights, or whether it’s forced technology transfer, or its lack of market access for U.S. and foreign companies.We have very strong concerns about the way China treats U.S. companies and other foreign companies when they’re in China. We have very strong concerns about China not living up to the commitments that it’s made — either to the international community or to us bilaterally. And so we want to address those with China and separately from anything that we’re doing with Taiwan.
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China has declared the future of Afghanistan’s worsening conflict a “practical challenge” to neighboring countries and stressed the need for collectively tackling it to ensure regional peace.
 
Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi made the remarks in a pre-recorded video to a seminar in the Pakistani capital in connection with 70 years of Beijing’s diplomatic ties with Islamabad.
 
Wang said China, together with Pakistan, will continue to support the Afghan parties to the war in seeking a political settlement through peace talks and achieving national reconciliation and “enduring” peace.
 
“We should join hands in safeguarding regional peace. The future of the Afghan issue is a practical challenge to both China and Pakistan,” the Chinese chief diplomat told the event organized by the Islamabad-based independent Pakistan China Institute.
 
“We will encourage other stake-holding countries to strengthen communication and collaboration, effectively contain spillover of security risks, and especially prevent regional and international terrorist forces from wreaking havoc and prevailing,” Wang stressed.
 
Hostilities between Taliban insurgents and pro-government forces in Afghanistan have spiked to unprecedented levels since early May, when the United States and NATO formally began withdrawing their last remaining troops from the country under orders by President Joe Biden.
 
Deteriorating security in the wake of rapid Taliban advances across Afghanistan has raised concerns among the country’s neighbors, including Pakistan and Iran, that a new wave of Afghan refugees could come their way as a result of the turmoil.
 
The insecurity has also raised fears the crisis will likely encourage transnational terrorist groups, including the Islamic State terror group, to expand influence in the war-torn South Asian nation and threaten international security.
 
Wang has previously urged U.S.-led foreign military forces to withdraw from Afghanistan in “a responsible and orderly manner.”FILE – A plume of smoke rises amid ongoing fighting between Afghan security forces and Taliban insurgents in the western city of Qala-e-Naw, the capital of Afghanistan’s Badghis province, July 7, 2021.China is worried the continued Afghan crisis could undermine what it says are its gains against terrorism in its western Xinjiang region. Beijing blames the violence on insurgents from minority Uyghur Muslims and has launched a massive crackdown against the community in recent years amid growing allegations of human rights abuses.
 
Pakistan, which still hosts nearly three million Afghan refugees, is currently receiving billions of dollars in Chinese investment, building roads, railways, ports and power plants.
 
Islamabad and Beijing intend to extend the bilateral collaboration, known as the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor, to Afghanistan to bring much needed economic development to the conflict-ravaged and poverty-stricken country if peace is restored there.
 
The CPEC is regarded as a centerpiece of China’s Belt and Road Initiative, bringing more than $25 billion in Chinese investment and soft loans to Pakistan over the past six years.
 
Pakistan’s tension-marked ties with the government in Afghanistan, however, have lately worsened in the wake of growing allegations Islamabad’s covert support of the Taliban is behind the insurgent violence and territorial gains, charges Pakistani officials reject.
 
China has lately stepped up its diplomatic efforts to ease tensions between the two neighboring countries and to encourage them to work jointly for regional security and prosperity.
 
While presiding over a trilateral foreign ministers-level meeting last June, Wang pledged that China will continue to “play a positive role” to help improve and develop relations between Afghanistan and Pakistan.
 
He also urged the delegates to “deepen high-quality” Belt and Road cooperation and enhance connectivity among the three countries and in the region at large.
 
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A United Nations investigator is calling for international coordinated action to stem abuse by Myanmar’s military leaders against its people.   In a report to the U.N. Human Rights Council, the U.N. special rapporteur lists measures for bringing the country’s generals into compliance with international human rights norms.  Human rights investigator Tom Andrews accuses the international community of failing the people of Myanmar.   In an impassioned speech to the U.N. council, he presented documented evidence of widespread, systematic attacks by the military junta against the people of Myanmar. Since the Junta’s overthrow of the country’s democratically elected government five months ago, he says military forces have killed about 900 people.  He says they have forcibly displaced hundreds of thousands, tortured many and arbitrarily detained nearly 6,000 people. “Some in Myanmar have lost hope that help from the international community will be forthcoming and have instead sought to defend themselves through the formation of defense forces and acts of sabotage, while some are reportedly targeting suspected junta collaborators and officials — and the junta’s pattern of the use of grossly disproportionate force in response will likely lead to an even greater loss of life,” he said.  FILE – Protesters react after tear gas is fired by police during a demonstration against the military coup in the northwestern town of Kalay, March 2, 2021.Andrews says the people of Myanmar desperately need the support of the international community to end this nightmare, yet he says little action has been taken beyond international protestations of condemnation, the imposition of sanctions by some nations and resolutions by U.N. bodies.The U.N. investigator is calling for the establishment of a so-called Emergency Coalition for the People of Myanmar.  The plan proposes a series of five key measures he says would impose significant costs on the junta.  First and foremost, he asserts cutting off the junta’s source of income could reduce its ability to attack its citizens.  Therefore, he is calling on nations to impose economic sanctions on Myanmar’s oil and gas industry. “Oil and gas sector revenues are a financial lifeline for the junta and are estimated to be close to what is needed for the junta to maintain the security forces that are keeping them in power,” he said.  “They should be stopped.  Second, an Emergency Coalition for the People of Myanmar could outlaw the export of arms to Myanmar military, as called for in last month’s General Assembly resolution.”   The plan also calls for the pursuit of universal jurisdiction cases and filing charges against Myanmar’s senior security officials.  Other measures include ensuring that humanitarian aid goes directly to the people of Myanmar, and the denial of any claims of legitimacy by the junta, such as the false claim that it is recognized by the United Nations. 
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The Japanese government is expected to announce Thursday that it will impose a new state of emergency for Tokyo due to the rise of new COVID-19 cases across the country.Yasutoshi Nishimura, the government’s economy minister and head of its coronavirus response efforts, told reporters the state of emergency will begin Monday and last until Aug. 22 — a period that will cover the duration of the Tokyo Olympics, which will take place between July 23 and Aug. 8.The new state of emergency will likely prompt the government to either scale back the number of spectators allowed to witness Olympics events to 5,000 people, or ban them altogether. Organizers of the Tokyo Olympics announced just last month that it would allow just 10,000 people, or 50% of a venue’s capacity, at all events, despite health experts advising the government that banning all spectators was the “least risky” option for holding the games.Foreign spectators have already been banned from attending the event.Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga is expected to formally announce the state of emergency Thursday.Local and national government officials along with Olympic and Paralympic officials will make a final decision on Thursday or Friday about allowing spectators after meeting with International Olympic Committee President Thomas Bach. Bach is scheduled to arrive in Tokyo on Thursday and enter into a mandatory three-day quarantine period.Tokyo and several other prefectures shifted last month from a state of emergency imposed in April into “quasi-emergency” measures that are set to expire Sunday.However, Japan is coping with a fourth wave of new infections and a slow vaccination campaign that has left just 15% of all Japanese citizens fully inoculated. Tokyo reported 920 new infections Wednesday, its highest numbers since May.The surge has already affected two traditional Olympic events. Tokyo’s metropolitan government announced Wednesday that it will move the iconic Olympic torch relay off the city’s public roads; relay runners will instead carry the torch out of public view to private torch-lighting ceremonies across Tokyo after the Olympic symbol arrives Friday.In addition, Olympic organizers will request that the public not gather on the streets to witness the marathon races when they are staged in the final days of the games.The Tokyo Olympics are set to take place after a one-year postponement as the novel coronavirus pandemic began spreading across the globe. The current surge prompted staunch public opposition against going through with the Olympics, including a prominent group of medical professionals that urged Prime Minister Suga to call off the games.This report includes information from The Associated Press, Agence France-Presse and Reuters.  
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The international community is failing the citizens of Myanmar, a U.N. human rights official said Wednesday as he called for a coordinated imposition of oil and gas sanctions on the military junta ruling the country.Speaking to the U.N. Human Rights Council, Thomas Andrews, the special rapporteur on human rights in Myanmar, proposed several courses of action to ameliorate the crisis in the country.”Oil and gas sector revenues are a financial lifeline for the junta and are estimated to be close to what is needed for the junta to maintain the security forces that are keeping them in power. They should be stopped,” Andrews said.Five months ago, the Myanmar military toppled the country’s democratically elected government. Since seizing control, the ruling regime, officially known as the Tatmadaw, has responded to a popular uprising with force, killing nearly 900 people.Several world powers, including the U.S. and the European Union, have imposed sanctions on Myanmar since the February 1 coup. Last week, the U.S. government announced its harshest set of economic sanctions, targeting military officials and companies tied to the Tatmadaw.FILE – Anti-coup protesters shout slogans as they march during a protest in Pabedan township against the military junta, in Yangon, Myanmar, June 26, 2021.The people of Myanmar have staged mass protests against the regime since February. In response, the Tatmadaw has arrested over 5,000 citizens and forcibly displaced hundreds of thousands of others, according to the U.N.The military has even started to arrest family members in place of individuals with outstanding arrest warrants who can’t be found, Andrews said.Many of the Tatmadaw’s actions can be explained by its “four cuts” strategy, which entails targeting civilian communities thought to harbor opposition members and cutting them off from food, funding, intelligence and recruits.Andrews called the junta’s actions “crimes against humanity.”Stay-at-home orderTatmadaw leaders also announced on Wednesday a stay-at-home order for parts of Yangon, the largest city in Myanmar, citing health concerns related to the COVID-19 pandemic. Around 1.5 million people are currently banned from leaving their homes for nonmedical reasons. According to Andrews, 26% of Myanmar people tested for COVID-19 are positive. By comparison, the positivity rate in the U.S. currently sits around 2.5%.Only 3.2% of the country’s 54 million citizens have been vaccinated.”The public health system is in tatters and many are unwilling to get vaccinated in a junta-run operation,” Andrews said. “Myanmar is at grave risk of becoming a COVID-19 superspreader state, impacting untold numbers of people both inside and outside of its borders.”
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