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NUKU’ALOFA, Tonga — New Zealand’s Māori king, Kiingi Tuheitia Pootatau Te Wherowhero VII, died Friday at age 69, days after the celebration of his 18th year on the throne.

He was the seventh monarch in the Kiingitanga movement, holding a position created in 1858 to unite New Zealand’s Indigenous Māori tribes in the face of British colonization.

Tuheitia died in hospital after heart surgery, said Rahui Papa, a spokesperson for the Kiingitanga, the Māori King Movement, in a post on Instagram.

The movement’s primary goals were to end the sale of land to non-Indigenous people, stop inter-tribal warfare, and provide a springboard for the preservation of Māori culture, the Waikato-Tainui tribe website said. The monarch has a largely ceremonial but still consequential role in New Zealand, where Māori make up close to 20% of the population.

“The death of King Tuheitia is a moment of great sadness for followers of Kiingitanga, Maaoridom and the entire nation,” Papa wrote on social media.

New Zealand Prime Minister Christopher Luxon paid tribute to Tuheitia, saying his “unwavering commitment to his people and his tireless efforts to uphold the values and traditions of the Kiingitanga have left an indelible mark on our nation.”

“I will remember his dedication to Aotearoa New Zealand,” Luxon said, using the country’s Māori and English names, “his commitment to mokopuna (young people), his passion for te ao Māori (the Māori world), and his vision for a future where all people are treated with dignity and respect.”

In recent months, Tuheitia has coordinated national unity talks for Māori in response to policies of Luxon’s center-right government. Critics accuse the government of being anti-Māori in its efforts to reverse policies favoring Indigenous people and language.

King Charles III, New Zealand’s constitutional head of state, and his wife, Queen Camilla, were “profoundly saddened” by Tuheitia’s death.

“I had the greatest pleasure of knowing Kiingi Tuheitia for decades. He was deeply committed to forging a strong future for Māori and Aotearoa New Zealand founded upon culture, traditions and healing, which he carried out with wisdom and compassion,” Charles said in a statement.

The week before Tuheitia’s death, thousands traveled to Turangawaewae Marae, the Māori King Movement headquarters in the town of Ngāruawāhia, for annual celebrations of the king’s ascension to the throne.

The seat of the king is held by the Tainui tribes in the Waikato region, and it was not yet clear who will take the throne.

“It is expected that Kiingi Tuheitia will lie in state at Turangawaewae Marae for five days before he is taken to his final resting place on Taupiri Mountain,” Papa said.
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washington — In an unexplained and puzzling move, North Korea this week placed 13 of its several dozen known submarines on a public list maintained by an international maritime agency, only to have them removed a day later.

North Korea on Tuesday registered 11 Sang-O II-class submarines, as well as two more sophisticated vessels, with the International Maritime Organization’s (IMO) Global Integrated Shipping Information System (GISIS), even though military craft are not normally listed on the registry.

By Wednesday, all 13 submarines had been removed from the list.

When asked about the removal, a spokesperson for the IMO told VOA Korean on Thursday that “member states may request to have their own data updated.”

“GISIS is an online hub for the sharing of shipping-related data, based on information provided by member states,” the spokesperson added.

Rare move

It is unclear what motivated Pyongyang’s initial registration of the submarines, which was first reported Tuesday by VOA Korean.

Besides the 11 Sang-O II-class submarines, Pyongynang registered the Yongung, which is capable of launching ballistic missiles, and the Hero Kim Kun Ok, which is believed to have the capability to carry nuclear-armed ballistic missiles.

The Hero Kim Kun Ok was described by North Korea as its first operational “tactical nuclear attack submarine” at a launch ceremony in September 2023, just days before North Korean leader Kim Jong Un traveled to Russia.

A South Korean Foreign Ministry spokesperson told VOA Korean on Thursday that “the government is monitoring closely the situation related to North Korea’s acquisition of IMO vessel identification numbers” after the registration was reported.

A unique seven-digit identification number is assigned to a ship that registers with the IMO.

The same day the submarines were taken off the list, North Korea boasted that its naval forces “have developed into elite matchless ones” and referred to August 28 as “the Day of the Navy of the Korean People’s Army,” according to the country’s state-run media KCNA.

Choi Won Il, the retired captain of South Korea’s sunken naval ship Cheonan, told VOA Korean on Wednesday he found it “unusual” that North Korea had listed its submarines on a public registry, “because submarines are designed to be stealthy warships.” South Korea accused the North of sinking the Cheonan in 2010.

The IMO is a U.N. agency responsible for regulating maritime traffic, but warships are not required to be placed on its registry. The 13 submarines were registered as nonmerchant vessels operated by the Korean People’s Army Naval Force.

‘Unlawful’ weapons

A spokesperson for the State Department told VOA Korean on Wednesday that the U.S. was “aware of reports that the DPRK registered 13 military submarines” with the IMO and was “consulting closely” with South Korea, Japan and other allies and partners.

DPRK stands for the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea, North Korea’s official name.

The spokesperson continued, “We condemn the DPRK’s continued efforts to advance its unlawful WMD [weapons of mass destruction] and ballistic missile programs” and “call on the DPRK to refrain from its further destabilizing actions and return to dialogue.”

North Korea test-fired a 240 mm multiple rocket launcher with a new guidance system under the supervision of Kim, KCNA said Wednesday.

In addition to its ground capabilities, North Korea in recent years has emphasized boosting its underwater capabilities.

In January, North Korea said it test-fired the Pulhwasal-3-31, a newly developed submarine-launched strategic cruise missile, and the Haeil-5-23, an underwater nuclear launchable drone.

In April, construction of a new submarine similar to the Hero Kim Kun Ok at North Korea’s Sinpho South Shipyard was detected on commercial satellite imagery examined by 38 North, a program of the Stimson Center devoted to analyzing North Korea.

Growing threat

North Korea has one of the world’s largest submarine fleets, with an estimated 64 to 85 vessels, according to the Nuclear Threat Initiative, a nonpartisan global security organization.

“Submarines are viewed as an asymmetric capability whose stealth allows them to be a dangerous security threat,” said Terence Roehrig, a professor of national security and a Korea expert at the U.S. Naval War College.

“Though North Korean submarines are noisy” and “limited in how far they can operate from coastal waters,” the nation has “one of the largest submarine forces in the world and remains a serious maritime concern,” he said.

North Korea first acquired Soviet-era Romeo-class submarines from China in the 1970s, according to the Nuclear Threat Initiative.

All submarines that were previously registered with IMO are considered diesel-powered submarines.

The Yongung is a Gorae-class, also known as the Sinpo-class submarine, which was launched in 2014 and has limited capability to stay underwater for more than a few days without surfacing, according to NTI.
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Washington — Beijing has adopted a conciliatory tone in its reporting on this week’s visit by White House national security adviser Jake Sullivan, emphasizing cooperation and open communication channels while claiming that Washington remains “incorrect” on its China policies.

Sullivan’s tightly scheduled three-day trip to Beijing ended Thursday after he met with Chinese officials, including the country’s top leader, Xi Jinping.

In a readout of Sullivan’s meeting with Wang Yi, China’s top diplomat, the Foreign Ministry of China on Wednesday called the conversation “candid, substantive and constructive,” a phrase that was echoed by a White House statement regarding the meeting.

Sullivan was the first White House national security adviser to visit China in eight years, a period that saw contacts between the countries grow increasingly contentious over issues that included military-to-military relations, cybersecurity, espionage and the war in Ukraine.

It was Sullivan’s fifth in-person meeting with Wang since May 2023. The two had previously held talks in Bangkok, Vienna, Washington and Malta. But Wednesday’s meeting marks the first time in this series of talks that Beijing included some of the U.S. side’s views in its readout.

“The U.S. and China will coexist peacefully on this planet for a long time,” Sullivan was quoted as saying in the Chinese readout. “The goal of U.S. policies is to find a way that allows for a sustainable development of the U.S.-China relations.”

According to Beijing’s readout, Sullivan defined the two countries’ ties as a mixture of cooperation and competition, a characterization that’s been the core principle of the Biden administration’s China strategy.

Some experts say the fact that China allowed space in its readout for U.S. talking points signals Beijing’s increased openness to working with Washington.

Dali Yang, a political science professor at the University of Chicago, told VOA Mandarin Service that China used to reject the Biden administration’s characterization of the U.S.-China relationship.

“But it looks like the China side is now relatively more accepting of the U.S. side’s view,” Yang said. “Or at least Beijing has accepted that this is the kind of U.S. position that China must deal with.”

After Wang, Sullivan met separately with Xi and senior military official Zhang Youxia. These meetings focused on topics that included Taiwan, the South China Sea, trade policies, U.S. sanctions on Chinese businesses and entities, conflicts in Gaza and the war in Ukraine.

The meetings appeared to be cordial. Photos and footage released by Chinese state media show Sullivan shaking hands with a smiling Xi and a smiling Zhang.

US ‘incorrect’ in Beijing’s narrative

Smiling faces and words of cooperation aside, however, Beijing continues to paint the U.S. as the one that needs to adjust its policies and move closer to Beijing’s positions on issues.

Xi told Sullivan the U.S. should “work with China in the same direction, view China and its development in a positive and rational light, see each other’s development as an opportunity rather than a challenge, and work with China to find a right way for two major countries to get along.”

Zhang urged the U.S. to “correct its strategic perceptions of China” and respect China’s “core interests” by halting arms sales to Taiwan and to “stop spreading false narratives on Taiwan.”

Prior to Sullivan’s arrival in Beijing, the Global Times, China’s state media outlet, published a commentary criticizing Washington’s “incorrect” understanding of China.

“The U.S. needs to fundamentally change its perception of China and its strategic positioning toward China,” according to the article.

The Global Times told Sullivan that “truly listening to and understanding Beijing’s words and making a proper contribution to establishing the correct understanding between China and the U.S. should be one of the standards to evaluate the success of his visit to China.”

China’s political commentators have gone even further, calling on Beijing to remain tough.

In a commentary, Shen Yi, an international relations professor at Fudan University in Shanghai who has a huge following on social media, wrote that the U.S. is in no position to make any demands toward China because of the domestic economic difficulties in which he contends Washington is trapped.

“China should be sufficiently confident that it’s the U.S. who needs help from China,” he wrote. “Under this new frame of understanding, we have reasons to believe that China does not need to compromise with the U.S.”

This kind of tough narrative, often pushed by Beijing and adopted by online commentators during the past decade, remains popular on social media. But Yang of the University of Chicago told VOA Mandarin Service that Beijing seems to be moving away from this kind of rhetoric.

“When China is facing a variety of challenges, and when the leaders of China have to maintain and manage China-U.S. relations, they have to think beyond just making tougher and tougher talks” and relying on this type of approach to be effective.

“The two sides actually have a lot of common interests,” he said.
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Bangkok — In the shadow of Myanmar’s brutal and bloody civil war, a rebel army with close ties to China and the illicit drug trade is spreading out and bulking up without a fight.

Since the start of the year, the United Wa State Army, the largest and most powerful of Myanmar’s many ethnic armed groups, has been moving hundreds of its soldiers into new positions across the central part of Shan State, in the country’s east next to China, Laos and Thailand.

Officially, the UWSA says it is only trying to contain the fighting that has been spreading across Shan between the Myanmar military and other rebel groups since last year, and to shield its own properties and satellite offices. A spokesman for the group did not reply to VOA’s request for an interview.

With the junta’s control waning, analysts tell VOA the group sees a golden opportunity to build on its already formidable might, and that its growing footprint is likely both to advance China’s interests in Myanmar and give an already booming drug trade a boost.

“Part of what the UWSA strategy is here is to basically expand its power, influence and territorial control at very low cost,” said Jason Tower, Myanmar program director for the United States Institute of Peace, a U.S.-government funded think tank.

The UWSA is by far Myanmar’s biggest and best-equipped rebel army with some 30,000 soldiers. Tucked away in the rugged hills of the eastern part of Shan State, it controls two enclaves on the Chinese and Thai borders over an area greater than that of Belgium, running them much like an independent state for the ethnic minority Wa.

Secure in its remote strongholds, the UWSA has largely stayed out of the civil war that has followed the military’s 2021 coup, even after a trio of ethnic armed groups it allies with joined the fight on the side of those across Myanmar vying to oust the junta.

In January, though, the UWSA quietly took control of two towns recently seized from the junta by its rebel allies north of the Wa’s enclaves. In the last two months, it has moved hundreds more soldiers into other towns to the west, some recently seized by allied rebel groups, others still held by the junta.

The moves give the UWSA valuable new footholds west of the Salween River, which splits Shan in two from north to south.

Having built and nurtured relationships with all sides in the conflict, from business deals with the military to arms trades with other rebels, the UWSA has pulled it all off without having to do any of its own fighting.

“They do not have [to fire] a single shot … and they already occupy two [new] townships at least, and they have more influence in at least three to four,” said Amara Thiha, a Myanmar analyst at the Peace Research Institute Oslo in Norway.

Now, he added, “they can try to use this leverage to extend their influence. And they are playing a role in providing logistics, in providing all these armaments, and they can gain all the economic benefit out of it, so they are probably the biggest winner, without losing anything yet.”

Anthony Davis, a security analyst with the Jane’s intelligence company, says the UWSA has been creeping into south and central Shan since the coup, but in the guise and support of another allied rebel group, the Shan State Progress Party. What is new, he adds, is how big and bold its moves have become.

“The scale of Wa military movement west of the Salween is certainly something new, but perhaps as important is the fact that it’s public, in the open, in their own uniforms,” Davis told VOA.

“They see the [Myanmar military] as in a historically weak position, so I don’t think this is necessarily aimed at putting their finger on the scales, if you like, one way or the other. They’re basically taking advantage of a situation which is to their own benefit while remaining ostensibly neutral,” he said.

The analysts say the UWSA’s growing reach may also end up working to the advantage of China, which has billions of dollars invested in energy and mining projects across the country.

While Beijing has publicly stood by the junta, it is widely believed to be frustrated with its abject failure to end the fighting. It is also known to have long-running political and military ties with some of the armed groups on its border, none closer than with the UWSA.

Given the close ties, Tower said, the UWSA’s recent expansion could help give China more influence over eastern Myanmar, the overlapping Mekong River system, and the notorious Golden Triangle, where the crime-riddled borders of Laos, Myanmar and Thailand meet. He said China could gain especially if the UWSA can realize its longtime goal of linking its two enclaves on the Thai and Chinese borders.

Davis says the growing reach of the UWSA could, for one, help China move forward on planned hydropower dam projects if and when Myanmar is stable enough, a prospect, he adds, is probably some years away.

If a long-stalled Chinese dam project in the far north, the Myitsone, continues to flounder, for example, he said damming the Salween would look that much more attractive, and feasible, with the Wa in a position to help.

“If the UWSA is dominant along both banks of the Salween through much of Shan state, that can hardly be bad for China’s infrastructure objectives in the long term,” said Davis.

The UWSA is also known for playing a major role in the multibillion-dollar illegal drug trade radiating out of the Golden Triangle, which has only grown since the coup, according to the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime.

The UWSA has repeatedly said it abandoned the drug trade long ago.

But in 2008 the U.S. Treasury Department called the group “the largest and most powerful drug trafficking organization in Southeast Asia.”

Davis too says the UWSA has remained deeply involved, with most of its methamphetamine business set up east of the Salween.

“But there are indications that the expansion of Wa influence west of the river via the close relationship with the SSPP [Shan State Progress Party] may already have seen some production outsourced to the west, and in future this is only likely to grow,” he said.

Tower too said the UWSA’s growing reach could serve the crime syndicates it protects.

“The Wa are one of the main players in terms of providing an umbrella and protection to that trade, and so the expansion of Wa power, the expansion of Wa territory would give … individuals involved in that trade new spaces to exploit,” he said.
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