November 2023 - Investigative Journalism Reportika

Kim Jong Un’s sister hints nuke weapons are non-negotiable

Editor8 months ago05 mins

Kim Jong Un’s influential sister ramped up Pyongyang’s pressure campaign against the United States, indicating that she would not put the country’s nuclear weapons in negotiations with Washington. “The sovereignty of a sovereign state can never be a subject of negotiation, and therefore, we will not sit down with the United States due to this issue,” Kim Yo Jong said in a statement, according to North Korea’s official Korean Central News Agency Thursday. North Korea has long linked its nuclear weapons program to its state identity of self-reliance – Juche ideology – as well as to matters of the nation’s sovereignty. “If the U.S.’s definition of ‘peace through strength’ means talking about dialogue upfront while wielding military power behind the curtains, then we must also be prepared for both dialogue and confrontation, especially being more thoroughly prepared for confrontation,” Kim Yo Jong said. “This is our consistent stance towards the U.S.” The influential sister of North Korea’s leader Kim Jong Un often emerges as the face of Pyongyang’s pressure campaigns, typically delivering hardline messages against the U.S. and its allies. Her appearance on Thursday, her first public statement in about four months, came just days after the U.S. ambassador traded barbs with North Korea’s representative at the U.N. Security Council on Monday. North Korean Ambassador Kim Song criticized the U.S. in New York for being hostile to his country, as he defended Pyongyang’s launch of its satellite. North Korea launched its spy satellite last week in violation of U.N. Security Council resolutions. U.S. Ambassador Linda Thomas-Greenfield, however, said that the U.S. and its allies’ joint military exercises – which Pyongyang claims as hostile – are defensive in nature, emphasizing that these exercises cannot justify the North’s violation of Security Council resolutions. She added that Washington wants sincere dialogue with Pyongyang without any preconditions. Responding to the U.S. ambassador in the U.N., Kim Yo Jong said that her logic was “weak, fallacious, and shameful,” denying the “sovereign rights of the DPRK,” referring to North Korea’s formal name. Kim Yo Jong’s remarks are essentially aimed at preventing regime backers, China and Russia, from deviating from their positions in defending North Korea on the international stage, said Yang Moo-jin, a professor at the University of North Korean Studies in Seoul who had advised South Korean governments for years. “It appears that North Korea’s ultimate strategy is to frame the U.N. Security Council as a domain dominated by what-it-calls the U.S. hegemony. This approach aims to render the Council’s functions ineffective and secure a justification for evading sanctions against North Korea,” Yang added. The sister’s remarks carry a dual message, subtly reiterating Pyongyang’s stance on “conditional” dialogue, the pundit noted. Kim Yo Jong seems to “indirectly suggest the possibility of dialogue with the United States, but only following the abandonment of what North Korea perceives as a hostile policy towards it.” Edited by Elaine Chan and Mike Firn.

Vietnam officials monitor funeral for head of banned Buddhist church

Editor8 months ago06 mins

Local authorities attempted to take down banners at a funeral for the head of a banned Buddhist church in Vietnam as plain clothed security officials filmed monks and other guests, one of the church’s leaders told Radio Free Asia. Thich Tue Sy, 81, of the Unified Buddhist Church of Vietnam died on Nov. 24 at Phat An Pagoda in the southern province of Dong Nai. His funeral ceremony began on Nov. 25 and lasted until Wednesday, when he was cremated. On the first day of the funeral, provincial authorities and security officials asked that church members remove banners that read in Vietnamese: “Funeral of late Most Venerable Elder Thich Tue Sy – Chief Secretary cum Supreme Patriarch of the Unified Buddhist Church of Vietnam.” The request was rejected by the temple’s abbot, who told the officials that they would have to “shoot me to death” in order to bring the banners down, church official Thich Vinh Phuoc from Phuoc Buu Pagoda told RFA. In a blog post for RFA’s Vietnamese Service, musician Tuan Khanh said that one of the provincial officials pointed out that the church is not recognized by the government. A monk responded that the officials would need to produce a document stating that the church was illegal, according to Tuan Khanh. Thich Tue Sy of the Unified Buddhist Church of Vietnam died on Nov. 24, 2023. (Hoang Phap) Vietnam maintains strict laws on religious activity that require groups to be supervised by government-controlled management boards. The church, or UBCV, was the main Buddhist organization in south and central Vietnam before the country’s 1975 unification. Hanoi effectively banned the UBCV in 1981 because it refused to become part of the state-sanctioned Buddhist church. Since then, church members have repeatedly called on the party to change laws guiding religious freedom in the country. Banners stayed in place Thich Tue Sy was arrested in the 1980s and sentenced to death for his religious advocacy. After an international pressure campaign, the sentence was reduced and he was released in 1998. For years afterward, he served as one of UBCV’s top monks. He was named leader of the church in September 2022, following the death of Supreme Patriarch Thich Quang Do, a prominent dissident who had lived under de facto house arrest. At the funeral this week, the banners remained over the main gate and elsewhere at the temple, according to Thich Vinh Phuoc. “The funeral went well and smoothly, with the attendance of many Buddhist monks and followers from inside and outside the country,” he said. “It took place without many obstacles.” “However, it was awkward that all the cars of monks and delegations were filmed when they arrived,” he told RFA. “I, myself, was filmed right after I got out of a car and hadn’t had time to fix my clothes.” RFA contacted Dong Nai People’s Committee spokesman Nguyen Kim Long to ask about the presence of provincial authorities at the funeral. He said he couldn’t answer any questions until he received a request via postal mail. RFA also emailed Dong Nai Provincial Police with a request for comment. He didn’t immediately respond. The U.S. State Department said in a statement on Monday that Thich Tue Sy “was a tireless champion for freedom of religion or belief and related human rights, which led Vietnamese authorities to imprison him for more than a decade.” Translated by Anna Vu. Edited by Matt Reed.

N Korea closes diplomatic missions in Bangladesh, DR Congo: reports

Editor8 months ago04 mins

In a further shutdown of diplomatic missions, North Korea has been closing down its embassies in Bangladesh and the Democratic Republic of Congo, media reports showed. As of May 2023, North Korea operated a total of 53 foreign missions, but since then, media reports have confirmed the closure of North Korean embassies and consulates in as many as a dozen locations, including those in countries Pyongyang views as longtime allies. The North shut down its embassy in Dhaka on Nov. 20 and informed the Bangladeshi government that its embassy in India would assume responsibility for the relevant affairs, according to a Bangladeshi daily, The Daily Star, on Nov. 26. The paper quoted a Bangladeshi foreign ministry official as saying the North’s move would not affect Bangladesh “in any way” since it does not have any notable trade relations with Pyongyang. The two countries established diplomatic relations in 1973. The North Korean embassy in Bangladesh consisted of four diplomats, including the ambassador. Bangladesh does not have its mission in North Korea and maintains diplomatic relations with it through the Bangladesh embassy in China. Separately, NK News reported on Nov. 28 that the North Korean embassy in the Democratic Republic of the Congo is “set to close” and its operations will be handled by the embassy in Ethiopia, citing a spokesman for the country’s foreign ministry. But the spokesman said the North did not give a reason for the embassy closure. “Tightened international sanctions on North Korea have hampered its ability to earn foreign currency, making it difficult to maintain its diplomatic missions,” an official from South Korea’s Ministry of Unification, which oversees inter-Korean relations, said in October. “This is a glimpse of North Korea’s dire economic situation, where it is difficult to maintain even minimal diplomatic relations with traditional allies,” the ministry official said. But amid the speculation over its finances, a North Korean foreign ministry spokesperson said on Nov. 3 that it is in the process of “closing and opening” diplomatic missions in other countries, and this is a normal part of the business of sovereign nations. “We will continue to take the necessary diplomatic steps in the context of the prospective development of our external relations in line with the evolving international environment,” the spokesperson said at that time. Edited by Mike Firn and Elaine Chan.

Chinese navy drops anchor in Myanmar for joint drills

Editor8 months ago08 mins

Three Chinese naval vessels have arrived at Thilawa Port in Yangon for joint drills with Myanmar’s navy amid insurgent conflict along the neighboring nations’ shared border, according to the country’s military and pro-junta media reports. Nearly 700 sailors with a Chinese naval task force landed at Myanmar’s largest city on Monday aboard the destroyer Zibo, frigate Jingzhou and replenishment vessel Qiandaohu to take part in a maritime security drill and a goodwill visit, the Commander-in-Chief of Defence Services website said. Details about the date, location and format of the drills were not made publicly available. Junta Deputy Information Minister Major-General Zaw Min Tun categorized the visit as typical of two “strategic partners” who have “established a strong friendship between militaries.” But the arrival of the three vessels comes amid bilateral tensions stemming from a surge of conflict in northern Myanmar along the border with China since late October. Senior Myanmar naval officers [right] welcome members of the Chinese navy upon their arrival at Thilawa Port in Yangon, Myanmar, Monday, Nov. 27, 2023. (AFP/Myanmar’s Military Information Team) In the month since the “Three Brotherhood” Alliance of the Myanmar National Democratic Alliance Army, the Arakan Army and the Ta’ang National Liberation Army launched an offensive on Oct. 27 dubbed “Operation 1027” the rebels have made notable gains against the military in several key cities in Shan state in the country’s northeast. The alliance claims to have captured more than 170 military outposts since the start of the campaign. In an address to the National Defense and Security Council on Nov. 8, junta chief Senior-General Min Aung Hlaing said that the Myanmar National Democratic Alliance Army, or MNDAA, has been using drones to attack the military, which he noted “can easily be bought in China.” Not long after, pro-junta supporters staged a protest in front of the Chinese Embassy in Yangon, accusing Beijing of supplying arms to the Three Brotherhood Alliance. In the meantime, China’s People’s Liberation Army on Nov. 25 began conducting live-fire drills in southern Yunnan province near the border with Shan state. Chinese state media has run footage of the drills involving armored vehicles, artillery shelling and small arms fire, saying they are aimed at “safeguarding national sovereignty, border stability and the lives and property of the people against repercussions from civil war in northern Myanmar.” Shoring up ties Hla Kyaw Zaw, a China-based analyst of Myanmar affairs, told RFA Burmese that the visit is meant to reinforce the trade relationship of the two neighboring nations amid the border conflict. “The military recently raised an anti-Chinese voice, but now has praised the tour of Chinese vessels as a success in diplomatic relations,” he said. “China has made a lot of investments in its business across the world. It is also a major trade partner of more than 100 countries. So, China is seeking to maintain good relationships with its trade-partner countries.” Political and military commentator Aung Myo, a former officer in the Myanmar military, told RFA that China’s visit is meant to show support for the junta. “China has made a visit of navy vessels to offer their guarantee of a constructive, strategic relationship with Myanmar, and it is likely meant to relieve junta suspicions that China is involved in the armed conflict in northern Shan state,” he said. “Another message is to show that the influential power of China is standing with the [military] and its supporters.” Myanmar National Democratic Alliance Army troops examine the recaptured Nansalet military camp on Nov. 25, 2023. (The Kokang) However, political commentator Than Soe Naing noted that the joint drills were scheduled before the start of Operation 1027 in northern Shan state, suggesting they are not meant to signal support for the junta. “The visit of the navy vessels is likely to be part of a goodwill tour and does not indicate Chinese support for the junta in its armed conflict,” he said. “China has expressed an unwillingness to take any sides – either that of the military or the resistance forces – while calling for peace dialogue.” On Oct. 27, the day that Operation 1027 began, China’s foreign ministry called for dialogue to end the conflict. Since then, there have been several high-level meetings between Chinese and junta officials in both China and Myanmar that have included talks on the fighting in Shan state, but clashes have continued, and the analysts RFA spoke with say there is no end in sight. Myanmar National Democratic Alliance Army forces recaptured Nansalet military camp on Nov. 25, 2023. (The Kokang) Attempts by RFA to contact the Chinese Embassy in Yangon for comment on the drills and the state of Myanmar-China relations went unanswered Tuesday, as did requests for comment to junta officials. From Nov. 7-9, junta troops conducted drills alongside around 800 sailors and three destroyers from the Russian navy in the Bay of Bengal near Myeik township in southern Myanmar’s Tanintharyi region. Translated by Aung Naing. Edited by Joshua Lipes and Malcolm Foster.

Myanmar’s junta fires into Rakhine villages, killing 3 children

Editor8 months ago05 mins

Junta bombing in western Myanmar killed four people, locals told Radio Free Asia on Tuesday. Heavy artillery fired at Rakhine state’s War Shee Lar village on Monday evening exploded, injuring seven people. Five of the seven are in critical condition and were sent to Buthidaung Hospital in the township’s capital. The deceased include eight-year-old Arru Shu Lar and 11-year-old Abdullah, as well as 50-year-old Ha Bezar. The injured are in their 30s to 40s, said a War Shee Lar resident who wished to remain anonymous for fear of reprisals. “They died and were injured when a heavy weapon dropped while they were working in the vegetable farm. Arru Shu Lar and Ha Beza died on the spot,” he told RFA. “Another child died on the way to the hospital. The dead have been cremated in the village.” Heavy artillery was fired by a Buthidaung township-based junta battalion, he added. The shelling continued even as villagers cremated the bodies of the deceased in the village cemetery. War Shee Lar is a Rohingya village with about 1,000 people. Locals said that all the residents are afraid, but they have to hide in the village because there is no place to run. To Buthidaung’s southeast, a teenager was killed when junta troops fired at a village in Mrauk-U township. Fifteen-year-old Cho Cho died on Monday night in Pan Be Tan village after being struck in the stomach by a bullet in her home, residents said. The shooting was from a Mrauk-U-based junta infantry battalion, locals alleged. RFA contacted Rakhine state’s junta spokesperson Hla Thein by phone, but he did not reply by the time of publication. The junta has not released any information through official channels or regime-backed media regarding the killings. The junta’s army has been deliberately targeting civilians since Nov. 13, when fighting with the Arakan Army resumed, said Pe Than, a former member of parliament from the Arakan National Party in Rakhine state. “Now the junta army can no longer go directly to the battleground and fight. That’s why they open fire with small and heavy artillery from their camps. And they mainly target civilian areas,” he told RFA. “It’s like burning down the barn when they cannot hit the rats. [The junta] has been fighting in a way that harms the people since the beginning of the fighting in Rakhine state.” The military has blocked roads connecting Rakhine state from the rest of the country, as well as roads and waterways between towns and villages, he said, adding people’s livelihoods were severely affected by this tactic. Fighting between the junta and Arakan Army resumed on Nov. 13 after a year-long ceasefire. According to data compiled by RFA, fighting since Nov.13 has killed 17 civilians and injured 57 more. Translated by RFA Burmese. Edited by Mike Firn.

Chinese authorities fire tear gas at people fleeing Myanmar fighting

Editor8 months ago07 mins

Chinese authorities fired tear gas at people attempting to flee from intensifying fighting between Myanmar’s military junta and allied ethnic armed groups. Social media videos showed several dozen people covering their faces at the China-Myanmar border as tear gas hovered on one side of a fence in Shan state’s Laukkaing township on Saturday afternoon. “Chinese police and soldiers used tear gas to expel Kokang people who sought shelter at the border line,” a resident in Laukkaing township told Radio Free Asia on condition of anonymity for security reasons. “They recently fled there due to the escalation of armed conflict.” The allied resistance forces announced on Friday that they would intensify an offensive that has seen widespread gains over the last month. The “Three Brotherhood” Alliance of the Arakan Army, the Ta’ang National Liberation Army and the Myanmar National Democratic Alliance Army, or MNDAA, launched an offensive on Oct. 27 – dubbed “Operation 1027” – and have made notable gains against the military in several key cities in Shan state. On Saturday, the MNDAA seized the Kyin San Kyawt border gate near the key border town of Muse, about 90 kilometers (55 miles) from Laukkaing. The gate is one of five major entry points in the area that handles Myanmar’s largest volume of trade with China. It’s the second border gate in Muse township that the alliance now controls, along with two others elsewhere, according to the Associated Press, which noted that almost all legal cross-border trade with China has stopped over the last month because of the fighting. On Sunday, allied forces near another gate in the area carried out drone attacks, which disrupted a cargo inspection area and hit some buildings, while junta forces fired artillery shells from a highland area, locals told RFA. Junta spokesman Maj. Gen. Zaw Min Tun confirmed to state-owned media on Monday that there were clashes near Muse over the weekend, but he didn’t disclose details or comment on the loss of control of the Kyin San Kyawt gate. China’s live-fire exercises In Laukkaing, MNDAA spokesperson Li Kyar Win said he has seen the tear gas videos but didn’t have any further information. He noted that junta troops had carried out artillery attacks on nearby areas, which forced the local residents to move toward the border. Shan state-based media Shwe Phee Myay News Agency and the local Kengtung Hit Tine online news outlet reported on their Facebook pages that Chinese police had deployed tear gas on the border line.RFA has not independently confirmed the reports. Messages left with Chinese government sources seeking comment about the tear gas weren’t immediately returned on Monday. This house was damaged in fighting in the 105 Mile Trade Zone in the Myanmar-China border town of Muse on Nov. 27, 2023. Credit: Citizen journalist Also on Saturday, junta-controlled media reported that the Chinese government informed Myanmar’s military of live-fire exercises near the border over the weekend. “The regular military drill of the southern command of the People’s Republic of China was reported on Nov. 25,” Zaw Min Tun said. “It is aimed to ensure peace and stability at the border area.” Political analyst Than Soe Naing told RFA that the Chinese drills are the first in the area since 2017 – a period that also saw heavy fighting in Shan state. “I assume that the Chinese army conducts these drills to protect their sovereignty and to ensure the least impact on their people,” he said. “It is not directly related to Operation 1027, but it is their message for readiness on security of their people’s lives and property.” Chinese media reported that the exercises began Saturday and ended Monday, but didn’t disclose the exact location or the number of troops involved. “It is not an unordinary exercise,” said Thein Tun Oo, the executive director of Thayninga Institute for Strategic Studies, a think tank run by former military officers. “There may be some rumors and assumptions on this issue,” he said. “However, China and Myanmar have agreed on military exercises and cooperation in foreign affairs. A mutual understanding has been made between the two countries.” Translated by Aung Naing. Edited by Matt Reed and Malcolm Foster.

National Unity Govt army claims it arrested 16 Myanmar policemen

Editor8 months ago03 mins

A resistance group in central Myanmar arrested 16 junta policemen after capturing their police station, the people’s defense force told Radio Free Asia. The group captured a Sagaing police station after more than an hour of fighting, the leader said on Saturday, adding that they also seized a large number of weapons and ammunition. The People’s Defense Army, under the command of the civilian shadow National Unity Government, instigated the battle on Tuesday in Wetlet township’s Shwe Pan Kone village. “We had to prepare for a long time to take this camp,” the People’s Defense Army leader said, asking to remain anonymous for fear of reprisals. “The camp was seized, and so far, the military council has not returned or been stationed there.” The junta carried out airstrikes twice during the battle, the group said on Saturday, adding that they had confiscated a significant number of weapons from the police station. Over the course of the clash, the People’s Defense army claimed it seized over 6,400 different types of ammunition, 32 grenades, 38 magazines, 31 small firearms, and six landmines in addition to 900,000 kyat (US$428). One resistance fighter and three junta soldiers were killed during the battle, according to a statement on Saturday by the National Unity Government’s Military Regional 1, which oversees the People’s Defense Army and its local divisions. Resistance groups have targeted junta outposts frequently in November, with people’s defense forces reporting heavy junta losses during battle. On Nov. 12, a fire set by allied people’s defense forces killed four policemen, including a police outpost officer and three junta soldiers, in Salingyi township’s Kyar Tet town in Sagaing region. The junta has not released any information regarding the alleged arrests. Calls by RFA to Sagaing region’s junta spokesperson Naing Naing Kyaw went unanswered. Translated by RFA Burmese. Edited by Mike Firn.

‘We want to amplify the voices that have been censored in China’

Editor8 months ago016 mins

One year after crowds of protesters across China held up blank sheets of paper, chanting slogans calling for an end to the zero-COVID policy and for Communist Party leader Xi Jinping to step down, activists overseas vowed to keep the flame of the “white paper” revolution alive, despite attempts by Beijing to scare them away. While authorities in China moved quickly to quash the protests, arresting a number of young people for taking part, some managed to leave China, joining others who were already expressing their support on the streets of cities around the world, sometimes risking retaliation against their families back home. One of those overseas supporters was Apple, of the dissident group China Deviants, who was in touch with the protesters in real time via Telegram, and who organized a rally to mark the anniversary of their resistance in London this week. “On one voice call, a girl got busted right in the middle of the call,” Apple told Radio Free Asia. “People in the group were shouting ‘That girl got busted!’ and I was on the other end of the phone in London.” “I was thinking, ‘Oh my gosh! I really wish I could help her and bring her back’,” she recalled. Instead, she got active right where she was, taking to the streets of London to oppose Chinese Communist Party rule. The “white paper” protests were sparked by public anger at the delayed response to a deadly fire on Nov. 24 in Urumqi, capital of the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region, that was widely blamed on COVID-19 restrictions. The incident, which left at least 10 people dead, prompted an outpouring of public grief and tapped into pent-up frustrations of millions of Chinese who had endured nearly three years of repeated lockdowns, travel bans, quarantines and various other restrictions to their lives. Apple, a member of the dissident group China Deviants, organized a rally in London this week to mark the one-year anniversary of the White Paper resistance. Credit: Shi Shi But it wasn’t all about calling for an end to lockdowns and mass quarantines. Protesters also voiced calls for greater freedom of expression, democratic reforms, and even the removal of President Xi Jinping, who has been closely identified with the rigid policies. “We want to amplify the voices that have been censored in China overseas, because it’s impossible to have any form of civil society in [today’s] China,” she said. “We want all voices to be included … to be heard.” Fellow China Deviants activist Chen Liangshi said overseas activism is still not risk-free, and that the threat of violence and harassment from “little pink” supporters of Beijing is always there. “There are a lot of little pinks overseas, and I would never know how many people felt the way I did,” Chen said. “But since joining China Deviants, I have found a lot of like-minded friends.” “When we work together for the causes of resisting communist rule, and democracy for China, I feel very excited, and have found a sense of belonging,” he said. Feeling powerless Fellow China Deviants activist Ma Youwei agreed. “It’s very common to feel powerless as a Chinese person living in China,” Ma said. “I wanted to get rid of that feeling.” “How? You do it through action.” Yet the anniversary comes amid growing concern over Beijing’s “long-arm” law enforcement targeting overseas activists and students, who had expected to enjoy greater freedom of speech and association while living or studying in a democratic country. Both Chen and Ma said their families haven’t yet been directly targeted by the Chinese authorities, and insisted on pseudonyms to preserve their anonymity. “This is the way the Chinese Communist Party suppresses the overseas democracy movement,” Chen said. “They try to frighten us into not speaking out or protesting, so they can maintain their totalitarian rule.” “It’s normal to be afraid, but we can’t let that fear stop us, because it runs counter to our values and political ideas,” he said. “We still have to stand up.” Ma Youwei [left], Apple [center] and Chen Liangshi and are members of the China Deviants, a dissident group based in the United Kingdom. Credit: Shi Shi In Canada, Xiaopei recalled using his circumvention tools to go online on the morning of Nov. 27 to see large groups of people gathering on the streets of Shanghai, then heading out on his bicycle to join them. He was later detained at a protest in Shanghai’s Xuhui district, beginning an ordeal of torture and inhumane treatment at the hands of police. “They put my hands behind my back and hit my head against the wall. It was a concrete wall, so my head was bruised,” said Xiaopei, who declined to give his full name. “I protested again inside [the police station], so I was arrested and put on the tiger bench, which is an iron chair,” he said. “My wrists and ankles were all in restraints, and I sat there for more than an hour without being able to move.” Manacles and leg irons Xiaopei was released the following day, but placed under close surveillance, then redetained after taking part in a discussion on Twitter, now X, he said. This time, police put him in manacles and leg irons for 30 days, and was unable to move around freely. “I was in restraints for 30 days … I had problems sleeping, I couldn’t wash or change my clothes by myself, so anyone who monitored me would notice that I smelled bad,” said. “I couldn’t even eat or drink by myself, and I needed help going to the toilet,” he told Radio Free Asia. Xiaopei was eventually released, and decided he was leaving China, and boarded a plane to Canada, where he applied for political asylum. “Ordinary people [in China] are treated like ants and are trampled to death,” he said. “It takes a lot of courage to take part in action [like the white paper movement], and there are huge risks involved.”…

S Korea, Japan, China fail to set summit date, condemn N Korea

Editor8 months ago07 mins

South Korea, Japan, and China have not only failed to agree on a date for a landmark trilateral summit of their leaders, but also in jointly condemning North Korea’s latest illegal satellite launch, exposing the widening gaps in reinvigorating that three-party cooperation. The foreign ministers of the three nations did not hold a joint press conference on Sunday, after their first ministerial talks in four years – a rare occurrence that could signify the differing diplomatic stances among these key Asian geopolitical entities. “The countries have reaffirmed their agreement to hold the summit, the apex of their cooperative framework, at the earliest mutually convenient time,” South Korea’s Foreign Minister Park Jin said in a solo briefing after the trilateral meeting with his Japanese and Chinese counterparts, Yoko Kamikawa and Wang Yi in the South’s port city of Busan. A South Korean government source, who asked for anonymity due to sensitivity of the matter, told Radio Free Asia that the joint press conference did not take place as Wang had pre-arranged plans. The person did not elaborate. According to a separate South Korean government official who spoke to RFA prior to the meeting, the primary goal of the ministerial meeting was to set a date for the trilateral summit. The last trilateral summit took place in 2019 in Chengdu, China. “Efforts will be made to ensure that the summit takes place soon,” Park said, without specifying an exact date. The South Korean minister mentioned his proposal for the three countries to reactivate their intergovernmental mechanism as a means to fortify the framework of trilateral cooperation. However, he did not clarify whether this proposal was agreed upon by all parties. Whether China would want to continue the trilateral summit platform has become questionable as its emergence as a global power has relatively lessened its focus in the region. The increasing collaboration of South Korea and Japan under the trilateral framework with the United States also has been a source of discomfort for Beijing. In fact, with South Korea’s current conservative Yoon Suk Yeol administration, Seoul has been more vocal in criticizing China on the international stage – with concerns ranging from Beijing’s decision to repatriate North Korean defectors back to the Kim Jong Un regime to China’s coercive behavior towards the democratically self-governed island of Taiwan. North Korea The three ministers also failed to issue a joint statement in condemning North Korea’s latest provocation, a departure from previous trilateral foreign ministers’ meetings which usually included a consensus on security issues in the Korean peninsula. “I emphasized that North Korea’s recent so-called military reconnaissance satellite launch, along with its ballistic missile launches and nuclear development, are among the greatest threats to peace and security in the region,” Park said during his solo briefing, without saying what has been agreed with his Japanese and Chinese counterparts. North Korea launched a satellite last Tuesday, despite international warnings. Rocket technology can be used for both launching satellites and missiles. For that reason, the U.N. bans North Korea from launching a ballistic rocket, even if it claims to be a satellite launch. The lack of a joint statement is a sharp contrast with the trilateral foreign minister meeting among the U.S., South Korea and Japan in San Francisco, in which the three called the military cooperation between Pyongyang and Moscow, including Russia’s technological aid to help the North Korean launch, a “serious threat to international peace and stability.” Unlike previous occasions, when China’s foreign ministry often expressed its regrets, Beijing refrained from issuing a public criticism of North Korea’s latest launch, as the strategic value of Pyongyang has been raised due to intensifying U.S.-China relations. North Korea’s official Korean Central News Agency on Saturday claimed that its satellite passed over Hawaii and observed “a naval base in the Pearl Harbor, the Hickam air-force base in Honolulu,” as well as South Korea’s Busan.

Foreign ministers wield new brooms in Cambodia and Thailand

Editor8 months ago013 mins

Shortly after being appointed Thailand’s new foreign minister in early September, Parnpree Bahiddha-Nukara made a telling remark: “We want the Thai people to feel that the foreign ministry is contributing to their lives.” Sok Chenda Sophea, Cambodia’s new foreign minister, appointed a few days before Parnpree, told his new ambassadors: “All of you should work to represent the nation and enhance the Kingdom’s prestige, especially in areas like diplomacy, economics, food, sports and the arts. These are the focus of the new government’s foreign policy.” The two new foreign ministers bear a striking resemblance. Neither are career diplomats. Parnpree, whose father and grandfather were prominent in the foreign ministry, instead rose through the ranks of the commerce ministry under the Shinawatra sibling’s governments and then became chairman of the state oil company PTT. Thailand’s Foreign Minister Parnpree Bahiddha-Nukara arrives at the government house in Bangkok, Thailand, Sept. 5, 2023, to take his oath of office. Credit: Sakchai Lalit/AP Sok Chenda cut his teeth in the tourism ministry in the 1990s. Parnpree served as chairman of the Thailand Board of Investment. Sok Chenda was head of the Council for the Development of Cambodia, the country’s investment board, from 1997 until this year. Parnpree was head of a negotiation team for the creation of a free trade zone with India. Sok Chenda headed the Cambodian Special Economic Zones Board. Parnpree studied public administration at the University of Southern California. Sok Chenda studied economics at the University of Aix en Provence. Moreover, both are unlike their predecessors. Don Pramudwinai, a career diplomat and foreign minister under the years of Prayut Chan-ocha’s military-run government, was often accused of putting geopolitics, chiefly relations with Beijing, ahead of more balanced, economics-focused policy, as well as for conducting “cowboy diplomacy” over the Myanmar crisis that badly dented ASEAN unity. Another charge against Don was that, because he was appointed by a junta that had just taken power in a coup, he “spent a large part of his time explaining when, how, and to what extent his country would return, or has returned, to democracy.” As Benjamin Zawacki added, “His tenure has been marked by a conservative and defensive posture rather than one of enterprise or ambition.” Similar accusations have been leveled at Cambodia’s former foreign minister. Prak Sokhonn, who was quick to lash out against the perceived Western interference in Cambodia’s domestic affairs, was more aligned with Beijing than some officials in the economic ministries liked, and, one hears, not entirely trusted by the former prime minister Hun Sen. Indeed, Hun Sen is believed to have ignored Prak and the foreign ministry by condemning Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. Economics at the center Parnpree and Sok Chenda are new brooms, appointed to refashion their ministries away from a defensive posture on their relations with China and a fixation with stoking geopolitical tensions, and towards a more sustainable, front-foot policy that puts economics at the center. As one Thai newspaper put it, Parnpree is “expected to impart a new momentum to the country’s foreign policy with a strong emphasis on exploring economic dimensions of bilateral and multilateral relationships.” A Cambodian analyst has argued, “To maintain economic development, Cambodia cannot become subject to US or Western economic sanctions. Maintaining economic development may be Cambodia’s main priority under the leadership of Prime Minister Hun Manet. This appears to be the case with the appointment of Sok Chenda Sophea as the minister of Foreign Affairs.” These ideas aren’t radical. Surakiart Sathirathai, Thailand’s foreign minister between 2001 and 2005, sought to create “CEO ambassadors”. Surin Pitsuwan, a predecessor, established a “Team Thailand” approach, with diplomats supposed to represent the nation as much as the foreign ministry. But the return to a more stable, stripped-down foreign policy makes sense as Thailand and Cambodia undergo political change. Hun Sen speaks at a press conference at the National Assembly after a vote to confirm his son, Hun Manet, as Cambodia’s prime minister in Phnom Penh, August 22, 2023. It is said that Hun Sen did not entirely trust his foreign minister, Prak Sokhonn. Credit: Cindy Liu/Reuters Thailand has its first civilian, democratically elected government again for more than a decade. Cambodia has just undergone a once-in-a-lifetime generational succession of its ruling elites, with almost the entire old guard resigning in August to make way for a younger generation, mostly the children of that old guard. Neither Parnpree nor Sok Chenda are big characters. Indeed, they’re rather bureaucratic. And they are on the senior end of the age spectrum. At 66, Parnpree is one of the oldest in the new Thai cabinet. Sok Chenda, aged 67, is the oldest of Cambodia’s important ministers. (He’s 20 years older than the PM.) They are also excellent counterparts to their prime ministers. Srettha Thavisin, the Thai premier, is a businessman at heart. Although Hun Manet rose through the ranks of the military, he studied economics and played a guiding role in the companies owned by his wife. Parnpree and Sok Chenda appear happy to defer much of the more razmataz foreign policy, such as showing up for international summits, to their prime ministers. Srettha, the self-styled “salesman”-in-chief, clearly likes traveling around the world and meeting foreign leaders, and posing for rather ingratiating and embarrassing selfies with them. Cambodia’s ruling party obviously wants Hun Manet to be front-and-center of Cambodia’s engagement abroad, a role similar to the one played by his father. As such, having nose-to-the-grindstone foreign ministers makes sense alongside globetrotting premiers. Experienced foreign policy thinkers In part, too, the two new foreign ministers are also designed to appease the private sectors, especially as Cambodia and Thailand have untested and unsteady governments; Thailand in the form of an odd coalition and Cambodia with its dynastic succession of Hun Manet and almost the entire cabinet. It’s not quite the Biden administration’s evocation of a “Foreign Policy for the Middle Class” but it’s not far off. How the new foreign ministers translate their briefs into action remains to be seen. In…

Month: November 2023