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Category: ASEAN

Report tracks China’s assertiveness at sea over the decades

Editor08 mins

China is the source of destabilization in the South China Sea and has been for the last couple decades, but Beijing’s assertiveness has less to do with its rivalry with the United States than is commonly assumed, a new report says. In the report “Dynamics of Assertiveness in the South China Sea” published by the National Bureau of Asian Research (NBR), an U.S. non-profit research institution, U.K.-based academic Andrew Chubb examines maritime disputes and the changes in state behavior of the most active claimants including the People’s Republic of China (PRC), the Philippines and Vietnam. The report is based on based on data that measures the year-on-year changes in assertive behavior by the three countries between 1970 and 2015. Chubb identified four types of assertiveness which states are demonstrating while pursuing their interests in the South China Sea, ranging from verbal claim assertions via statements and diplomatic notes to threats of punishment and the use of force. One of the findings is that increasing Chinese assertiveness has been continuous in the South China Sea, with the PRC making assertive moves in most years since 1970. Furthermore, the PRC’s coercive actions, or those that involve the threat or use of punishment, became much more frequent after 2007, the year that marked the beginning of a rapid expansion of Chinese patrols and massive land reclamation efforts. China’s assertive actions have most frequently targeted the Philippines and Vietnam, the study found, and were generally not driven by dynamics in Sino-U.S. relations – although Washington, which is not a claimant in the South China Sea, has in the past decade become increasingly vocal about China’s behavior. More recently, it has also stepped up freedom of navigation operations and military drills in those waters. Deterrence strategy The study also draws conclusions about the stance of the China’s rival claimants. On Vietnam, it finds that as early as the 1990s, virtually every assertive move by Hanoi in the South China Sea concerned its disputes with China. Meanwhile, Vietnam remained a target for around 80 percent of PRC assertive actions through the 2000s. But by 2010, after three years of sustained Chinese advancements, Vietnam could no longer keep up with the PRC and from mid-2011 on, new Vietnamese assertive activities were mostly verbal declarations, as Hanoi switched its focus toward diplomacy, according to the study. Manila’s behavior in the South China Sea, on the other hand, has been more sporadic and inconsistent than that of the other claimants, and more likely to be one-off incidents rather than ongoing actions. The confrontation between Chinese maritime militia and the USNS Impeccable in the South China Sea in 2009. (Center for Strategic and International Studies). Serious U.S. concerns only started in March 2009 when the U.S. surveillance ship USNS Impeccable, believed to have been conducting hydrographic surveys, was harassed by Chinese maritime militia while operating near Hainan island in the South China Sea.  The study finds that PRC’s assertive policy in the South China Sea has not been driven by its great-power competition with the U.S. China’s policy gathered steam about a decade before the sharp downturn in Sino-U.S. relations from 2017. The author says it is challenging for Washington to formulate a response to Bejing’s assertiveness while continuing to be seen as a stabilizing force in the region. “Given the protracted nature of the PRC build-up, it definitely means that the U.S. has a lot of challenges if it wants to use policy tools to try to deter the PRC from engaging assertive moves,” Chubb said. The author looked into “the idea of trying to counter the PRC’s strategy by deliberately raising the risk of escalation … that has been advocated by a number of influential policy thinkers over the years.” Chubb advised against it, saying that one of the greatest strengths of the U.S. in the region is being seen as a stabilizing force. “Looking at the situation over the past couple decades, it’s quite clear that the PRC is the source of destabilization and the U.S. presence has been by and large a stabilizing one.” “Deterrence strategy should focus on economic measures such as trade negotiations rather than actions that raise the risk of military escalation,” he said. ASEAN countries could also do more to send a “subtle but loud deterrence signal” that will force Beijing to make concessions or at least give it incentives for moderation. “Over the past couple decades, the intra-ASEAN disputes have been neutralized, ASEAN countries are no longer advancing claims against each other in an active manner,” Chubb said. But he noted that even “symbolic gestures would be taken very seriously by the PRC as a sign that countries in the region are forming a united front against China.”  

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New civilian death toll since coup ‘unprecedented’ in Myanmar’s history

Editor012 mins

More than 5,600 civilians have been killed in Myanmar since the military seized power last year, according to a new estimate by an independent research institute, which called the death toll “unprecedented” in the country’s history. The Institute for Strategy and Policy (ISP Myanmar) said in a report last week that it had documented at least 5,646 civilian deaths between the Feb. 1, 2021, coup and May 10, including people killed by security forces during anti-junta protests, in clashes between the military and pro-democracy paramilitaries or ethnic armies, while held in detention, and in revenge attacks, including against informers for the regime. At least 1,831 civilians were killed in shooting deaths, the largest number of which occurred in war-torn Sagaing region, where junta troops have faced some of the toughest resistance to military rule in clashes with People’s Defense Force (PDF) paramilitaries that have displaced tens of thousands of residents since the coup. The numbers are largely in line with reporting by RFA’s Myanmar Service, which had documented at least 5,683 civilian deaths between the military takeover and May 12. On May 10 alone, junta troops slaughtered 29 civilians in Mon Taing Pin village, in Sagaing region’s Ye Oo township, sources recently told RFA, saying the victims appeared to have been “killed and burned intentionally” by soldiers targeting residents in retaliation for alleged ties to the PDF. ISP Myanmar said at least 3,107 civilians were killed after being named “Dalans,” or military informants, based on statements issued by the junta on Jan. 14 and by the chairman of the military proxy Union Solidarity and Development Party, Than Htay. A member of the PDF in Sagaing region told RFA on condition of anonymity that those who report paramilitary movements to the military have been targeted because the armed opposition is “handicapped in manpower and weapons.” “If these pillars supporting the junta are not removed in time, they will report every movement of ours to the military,” he said. “If the military finds out about our movements, they can easily crush our defenses on the ground. The military would always have the upper hand.” A similar form of revenge killing is on the rise with the emergence of the pro-junta Thway Thauk, or Blood Comrades, militia, whose members have killed at least 18 people — mostly members of the deposed National League for Democracy party and their relatives — in Mandalay region. The daughter of Zwee Htet Soe, a protester who died during a demonstration against the military coup, cries during her father’s funeral in Yangon, March 5, 2021. AFP ‘Unprecedented’ death toll Kyaw Htet Aung, a senior researcher at ISP Myanmar, called the death toll since the coup “unprecedented” in the history of Myanmar. “We are seeing pressures and reactions that are unprecedented in Myanmar’s history. As clashes between the two sides increased, so did civilian casualties. I think that’s the main reason why civilian deaths are the highest that have ever been in the post-independence era [beginning in January 1948],” he said. “One side is operating under the belief that the junta cannot be allowed to rule at all. But the junta is determined to work towards stability and dominance at all costs. So, I think the civilian casualties have increased because of these clashing ideologies.” Peace and security in Myanmar have been shattered, Kyaw Htet Aung said, and “people are living in fear.” When asked for comment on the estimated death toll, junta deputy minister of information, Maj. Gen. Zaw Min Tun, called ISP Myanmar’s numbers “baseless.” “These groups rarely provide true and accurate information,” he said. “We are publishing daily updates on what is happening. We can just ignore [the estimated death toll]. We don’t need to respond to them.” Spokesperson for the military proxy Union Solidarity and Development Party (USDP) Nanda Hla Myint told RFA the civilian deaths do not bode well for the country’s future. “It’s unfortunate that our fellow citizens are being killed in such ways,” he said. “Instead of carefully trying to understand the cause of why all this is happening, people have become accustomed to arming themselves and killing at will. It’s not right to say, ‘You’re my enemy if you’re not with us.’ It’s a matter of grave concern for the future of our country.” Nanda Hla Myint urged both sides to “use wisdom to think and act correctly” before resorting to bloodshed. “The main thing is to be able to think carefully. We need to have the wisdom to think and see correctly.” Political analyst Sai Kyi Zin Soe said Myanmar’s political crisis will only be resolved “when all parties concerned act in good faith.” “People are suffering,” he said. “[But] if all stakeholders with the power to make decisions operate under this kind of mindset, there is nothing that is unresolvable.” The bullet-pierced motorbike helmet of Mya Thwe Thwe Khine, the first protester to die in demonstrations against the Myanmar military coup, at her funeral in Naypyidaw, Feb. 21, 2021. US-ASEAN Summit The latest death toll statistics came as Myanmar’s shadow National Unity Government (NUG) called the decision not to invite junta representatives to last week’s U.S.-ASEAN Summit in Washington, while allowing NUG officials to engage with their counterparts there, “a major setback” for the military regime’s international standing and “a win for the people of Myanmar.” “Arranging a meeting with senior government officials is … a very good step for the NUG [and] a great result for the people of Myanmar,” said NUG President’s Office spokesperson Kyaw Zaw. “This makes the military regime even more isolated. It’s a big diplomatic defeat and a source of shame for them.” Myanmar was one of only two ASEAN countries whose rulers were not at the May 12-13 summit. The Philippines was represented at the summit by its foreign minister as it wrapped up a presidential election, while Myanmar’s junta chief, Sen. Gen. Min Aung Hlaing, was barred from the gathering for the brutal crackdown on opponents of his regime. While absent…

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PM Hun Sen threatens Cambodian opposition after shoe-throwing incident in Washington

Editor06 mins

Cambodia’s Prime Minister Hun Sen blasted a man who threw a shoe at him last week in Washington, saying that if the U.S. fails to condemn him, then similar attacks against his political opponents in Cambodia would be justified. “If the U.S considers shoe-throwing as freedom of expression, it is encouraging [the practice] in other countries,” said Hun Sen, a strongman who has ruled Cambodia since 1985 and who allows little opposition or criticism. “Now I am concerned for the safety of the opposition party leaders,” he said. “Here we can also throw shoes at opposition party leaders’ heads in Cambodia,” he said. As the 69-year-old Hun Sen prepared to meet supporters in Washington last week on the eve of a summit of U.S.-Southeast Asian leaders, a retired Cambodian soldier, Ouk Touch, flung a shoe that whizzed by his head and missed him. The incident at the Willard Intercontinental Hotel on May 11 was caught on video and went viral on social media. Ouk Touch, 72, a resident of California, last week told RFA that he had been planning the attack for quite some time and he hoped that Hun Sen would be humiliated.  He said family members died in a 1997 grenade attack on rival politicians in Hun Sen’s governing coalition that has been widely attributed to the prime minister’s supporters. He was able to talk his way into the group of Hun Sen supporters outside the hotel. He said Hun Sen’s bodyguards jumped toward him and attempted to beat him, but U.S. security officials intervened and urged him to leave the scene. Scene of an incident in which former Cambodian soldier Ouk Touch threw a shoe at visiting Prime Minister Hun Sen in Washington, D.C., May 11, 2022. Credit: Screengrab of official TV. Upon his return to Cambodia from the U.S. summit with leaders of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations, Hun Sen lashed out at Ouk Touch, saying the attack was premeditated. He said he would not be sending a diplomatic note to the U.S. over the issue, but promised that Ouk Touch would be prosecuted if he were to return to Cambodia. In February opposition activist Sam Sokha was released after serving a four-year prison term for throwing her shoe at a poster of Hun Sen and sharing it on social media. She is among scores of activist jailed in a sweeping crackdown on opponents of Hun Sen, the media and civic society groups that begin in 2017. Sam Sokha told RFA’s Khmer Service that Hun Sen “should be more patient and should not imprison people without finding out the reason” they protest, she said. “Pertaining to my case, [he] should have asked me why I did it. He should have tried to find out what the cause of the dissatisfaction is.” Throwing a shoe is nothing compared to the suffering of innocent people under Hun Sen’s rule, Khmer-American human rights lawyer Seng Theary told RFA’s Khmer Service. “It is an individual’s frustration, but the incident represents many people’s feelings,” she said. Exiled political analyst Kim Sok told RFA he is saddened that Hun Sen is taking the incident seriously and has allowed it to incite hatred among people and dilute Cambodia’s diplomatic relationships. The analyst, who took asylum in Finland to avoid arrest in the 2017 crackdown, said he feared concern Hun Sen’s supporters would start attacking opposition leaders. Many opposition figures are in hiding, exile or prison. “Any comment from Hun Sen should not be taken for granted. It is incitement. It will happen because Hun Sen is an influential figure managing all issues in the country,” he said.  Translate by Samean Yun. Written in English by Eugene Whong.

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Vietnamese blogger sent back to jail after three years in mental hospital

Editor08 mins

A Vietnamese blogger held for three years in a mental hospital while awaiting trial for criticizing Vietnam’s one-party communist state has been sent back to his former detention center on the orders of the Hanoi Police Investigation Agency, RFA has learned. Le Anh Hung, a member of the online Brotherhood of Democracy advocacy group, was returned to the agency’s Detention Center No. 1 on May 10 following a decision made the day before by police investigators, his mother Tran Thi Nem told RFA in a recent interview. His trial will now be held within a few months, Nem said. Hung, who had logged for Voice of America, was arrested on July 5, 2018 on a charge of “abusing democratic freedoms to infringe upon the interests of the state” under Article 331 of Vietnam’s criminal code. If convicted at trial, he could serve up to seven years in prison. He was transferred in April 2019 for “observation and treatment” from jail to Hanoi’s National Institute of Forensic Psychiatry, where he was beaten and forcibly injected with psychiatric drugs, including a powerful sedative that left him unconscious, to treat his supposed mental illness, sources told RFA in earlier reports. While held in hospital, Hung was confined with 15 female patients, journalist Huynh Ngoc Chenh—the husband of prisoner of conscience Nguyen Thuy Hanh, also held in the Institute—told RFA following a May 6 meeting with his wife. However, security guards and hospital staff had prevented Hanh and Hung from speaking with each other, Chenh said. Prisoners at Gia Trung Detention Center are shown returning from work in an undated photo. Photo: State Media Held in cells all day Meanwhile, political prisoners held at the Gia Trung Detention Center in Dak Lak, a province in Vietnam’s central highlands, are being kept in their cells all day, with only an hour allowed outside for meals, for refusing forced-labor assignments, prisoners’ relatives said. Prisoners convicted of political crimes have been singled out for harsh treatment at the center, said Le Khanh Duy—the former husband of prisoner of conscience Huynh Thuc Vy—citing a phone call made by Huynh to family members on May 16. “Vy told me that political prisoners at the detention center are being persecuted,” Le Khanh Duy told RFA this week. “They are locked up in their cells all day for refusing to go to work, and are allowed outside for only one hour each day to get their meals.” Vy, who is serving a 33-month jail term for “offending the national flag” under Article 276 of Vietnam’s criminal code, also reported being harassed by common prisoners suspected of acting under orders to make political prisoners’ lives “more difficult,” Duy said. Other political prisoners held at Gia Trung include Nguyen Trung Ton, a member of the Brotherhood for Democracy now serving a 12-year jail sentence, and Luu Van Vinh, a member of the Vietnam National Self-Determination Coalition, now serving a 15-year term. Phan Van Thu, the leader of a religious group called Council for the Laws and Public Affairs of Bia Son, named for a mountain in coastal Vietnam’s Phu Yen province, is also serving a life sentence at the center. Speaking to RFA, Luu Van Vinh’s wife Le Thi Thap said her husband had previously been allowed to leave his cell twice a day, but now was under heavier restrictions. “Vinh and some other inmates don’t go out to work, and therefore had to stay in their cells while others work outside, but they were allowed to go out for a while at noon and then later in the afternoon,” Thap said. “But I’ve heard that things have gotten worse since last month, so now I want to visit my husband and ask him about this in person,” she said. ‘No forced labor’ The use of forced labor in Vietnamese prisons has been strongly criticized by human rights organizations including Human Rights Watch and Amnesty International. In August 2020, the Vietnam Times Magazine, a publication of the Vietnam Union of Friendship Organizations (VUFO) published an article titled “There is no forced labor in Vietnam.” Making arrangements for prisoners to work is “a demonstration of the humanity in the policy of the Vietnamese Government and Communist Party,” wrote the article’s author Nguyen Van Dieu, an official of the Ministry of Public Security’s Department of Detention Center Management. Calls seeking comment from the Gia Trung Detention Center rang unanswered this week. Translated by Anna Vu for RFA’s Vietnamese Service. Written in English by Richard Finney.

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Junta troops murder 3 dozen civilians over 4 days in Myanmar’s Sagaing region

Editor09 mins

Junta forces brutally murdered nearly three dozen civilians — including members of the Buddhist clergy — over the course of four days in Myanmar’s embattled Sagaing region, sources said Monday. The military dismissed the allegations as “fabrications.” Residents told RFA’s Myanmar Service the killings took place from May 10-13 in Sagaing’s Ye Oo and Pale townships, beginning with an early morning raid on the former’s Mon Taing Pin village. A resident of Mon Taing Pin, who spoke on condition of anonymity citing fear of reprisal, said junta troops rained heavy artillery and mortar shells down on the village around dawn on May 10 in an attack that members of the anti-junta People’s Defense Force (PDF) paramilitary group later told RFA killed two of their fighters on guard in the area. “They entered our village after firing a variety of heavy weapons. Once in the village, they set up sentries all over and went to the monastery, where they arrested people hiding there and brought them out with hands tied behind their backs,” the resident said. “There was one group of 10 men, and then another group of eight, and another group of 12, and so on. All of them were later beaten to death and their bodies were placed under houses that the troops set on fire.” The villager called the attack “indescribably cruel” and “calculated.” On May 12, when the troops finally left the area and villagers were able to return, they discovered the charred remains of 28 people — 18 inside of homes destroyed by arson in Mon Taing Pin and another 10 similarly disposed of in nearby In Pin village. The victims were all men, between 20 and 60 years old, sources said, adding that in addition to Mon Taing Pin and In Pin, several homes burned in neighboring Si Son village, and around 10,000 residents from 10 area villages fled into the jungle during the attack. Photos provided to RFA by residents of the area appear to show human remains so thoroughly burned that little is left besides bone fragments and blackened internal organs. In other images, the bloated bodies of two young men lie askew next to a motorbike, their faces unrecognizable due to decomposition. One photo shows the lower half of a severed torso, next to a pair of amputated legs. Buddhist monks killed An aid worker, who also declined to be named, told RFA that his organization was compiling a list of victims on Monday. “The houses that were burned down are being cleared up — our main goal is to get the villages into a habitable state,” he said. “The houses were destroyed by fire, so we must make some makeshift repairs. We need funding to make food available. There villages are mostly destroyed, so we are in urgent need of donations.” Refugees from the attack are also in need of shelter as the rainy season approaches, he said. A member of the Ye Oo Township PDF told RFA that the threat of attack remains, as the military maintains a heavy presence in the area. “We don’t know at this time what they might do. The people in the region don’t dare to return to their villages, even though the situation has calmed down,” he said. “We’re trying to find ways to lift their spirits, to make them strong and help them. These are our priorities.” Separately, two Buddhist monks and two young novices were killed on May 13 when junta troops fired heavy artillery into the center of Sagaing’s Pale township, Po Thar, a fighter with the local Black Leopard PDF, told RFA.  Po Thar said that on May 12, the Black Leopards launched an attack on the military proxy Union Solidarity and Development Party office in Pale, setting it on fire. “The next day, when the military column that was on a mission to Let Yet Ma village returned to Pale, they learned that a PDF group was in the town and started firing artillery shells,” he said. “But the PDF fighters were gone, and they were hitting ordinary people. One of their shells hit the Mya Thein Dan Monastery in the center of the town and killed the abbot, another monk and two young novices.” ‘Fabricated’ reports Junta deputy minister of information, Maj. Gen. Zaw Min Tun, called the reports of civilian deaths “fabricated.” “These are just rumors. When they have a favorable outcome, [the PDF] says they were responsible. And if one of them is killed, they claim it was a [civilian],” he said, calling the reports part of the PDF’s “routine tricks.” He said the military attacked and captured a PDF camp near Ye Oo’s Sigone village on May 11, killing more than 10 paramilitaries and confiscating a cache of makeshift mortars, weapons and other related materials. Last week’s attacks follow a May 1 announcement by the military that Ye Oo had been upgraded from a township to a district level. PDF fighters in the area told RFA that a military tactical commander is now overseeing the area and that several armored vehicles and troop reinforcements have since been deployed there. Myint Htwe, a former lawmaker with the deposed National League for Democracy party in Ye Oo, said that since the beginning of May, the military has been clearing out an increasing number of villages in the township. Sagaing region has been the center of some of the strongest armed resistance to junta rule since the military seized power from the country’s democratically elected government in a Feb. 1, 2021, coup. Fighting between the military and the PDF in the area has intensified in recent months, displacing thousands of civilians, according to sources. Translated by Khin Maung Nyane. Written in English by Joshua Lipes.

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As borders reopen, labor shortage looms in Laos’ SEZs

Editor07 mins

Laos’ special economic zones (SEZs) are losing labor rapidly as workers move on to greener pastures in Thailand following a reopening of the borders between the neighboring Southeast Asian countries last week. Many of the workers who left for Thailand have previously worked in the country. When the pandemic hit and they lost their jobs, they returned home to Laos before the two countries sealed their borders. The large workforce later took jobs in SEZs in the capital Vientiane region, where Chinese companies are given concessions in exchange for development and jobs. With no other choice, the workers were forced to accept wages that were a mere fraction of what they could get in wealthier Thailand. But the reopening of the borders last week brought a mass exodus of workers, Thanongxay Khounphaithoun, director of the Special Economic Zone Management Department of Vientiane, told local media. In the five SEZs in Vientiane, only 3,375 workers are on the job and, of those, 2,737 are Laotian, he said. To operate at full capacity, the zones need a total of 6,000 Lao workers this year and 10,000 next year. The money is simply better in Thailand. “We can’t attract workers,” an employee at one of the SEZs told RFA’s Lao Service on condition of anonymity for safety reasons. “The problem is that most Laotians came to work with us only temporarily then quit. And now they went back to Thailand,” he said. Another factor that may cause workers to favor Thailand to the SEZs is the language barrier. The Thai and Lao languages are mutually intelligible. But working in the SEZs may require learning Chinese, ultimately for less money. “Chinese companies need Lao workers who speak Chinese,” an employee of a Chinese company in one of the capital’s SEZs told RFA on condition of anonymity for security reasons. “If you speak Chinese, you can send your application and resume to their email then wait for a call,” the employee said. But the companies in the SEZ badly need workers and are taking anyone they can get, another employee of a Chinese company in a different SEZ told RFA. “We need a lot workers in the production department. Those who have graduated from high school and are 18 years old or older can apply,” the second employee said. An unemployed Lao resident who used to work in Thailand told RFA that although he could find a job in the SEZs relatively easily, he did not plan to apply. “I don’t want to work in the special economic zones because the wages are too low. I’ve seen an announcement from the Labor Ministry that says the SEZs need a lot of workers, but I don’t want to apply because it’s not worth it,” he said. The difference in wages between the two countries is stark. A Lao worker who is employed in a suburb of Thailand’s capital Bangkok told RFA that she now makes more than three times what she did in Laos for the same job. “In Laos, I worked at a factory in Savannakhet province and I received a basic salary of 1.1 million kip [U.S. $85] per month,” she said.  “Here in Thailand I get 10,000 baht [$288] a month and the cost of living in Thailand is cheaper too.” The Lao Federation of Trade Unions in late March called on businesses to raise the minimum wage from 1.1 million kip ($85) to 1.5 million ($115), the Vientiane Times reported. RFA reported last week that the Lao kip is also in serious decline, losing value against the Thai baht and U.S. dollar to the tune of a 6% drop between January and April. This has coincided with a 15-50% increase imported household goods, meaning that wages paid in kip have gone down in terms of what they can purchase, and wages paid in baht have remained stable by the same measure, and have gone up when compared to the value of the kip. Translated by Max Avary. Written in English by Eugene Whong.

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Vietnamese delegation’s loose lips caught on video during US-ASEAN summit

Editor04 mins

A video that captured crass remarks made by Vietnamese Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh and other high-ranking officials prior to their meeting with U.S. Secretary of State Anthony Blinken went viral over the weekend and was removed from the U.S. State Department’s YouTube account. The Vietnamese officials met with Blinken on Friday as part of the two-day U.S.- summit with the 10-member Association for Southeast Asian Nations. According to a series of tweets about the incident by Southeast Asia analyst Nguyen Phuong Linh, the video shows the Vietnamese delegation laughing that U.S. President Joe Biden told Prime Minister Chinh that he could “not trust Russia.” Chinh also describes the meeting with Biden as “straightforward and fair and that Vietnam isn’t afraid of anyone,” after which the Vietnamese ambassador to the U.S., Nguyen Quoc Dzung, said they “put [Biden] into checkmate.” Minister of Public Security To Lam is also seen praising the former deputy national security adviser during the Trump administration, Matthew Pottinger, for being young and smart and having a wife who was born in Vietnam. The Vietnamese officials also refer to a number of U.S. officials without using honorific terms that in the Vietnamese language their titles alone would command. The State Department typically captures video footage of dignitaries prior to meetings with its senior staff and shares the videos on its YouTube account. In most cases, these videos will show smiles and handshakes and are largely uneventful. The video was published shortly after their meeting on Friday but by Saturday evening, the video became “unavailable” on YouTube. RFA was not able to determine why the video was removed from the State Department’s account. “So embarrassing for the Vietnamese that the State Dept. appears to have taken the video offline,” former BBC journalist Bill Hayton wrote on his Twitter account. The dialogue caught in the video “might indicate a more serious issue of how dysfunctional the incumbent cabinet in [Vietnam] is in general, and how incompetent the [Vietnamese] leaders are in terms of comms, foreign affairs and security,” Linh tweeted. RFA’s Vietnamese Service, which shared the video on its Facebook account, received comments from followers that were critical of the Vietnamese delegation. “Talking about your host while you’re a guest at their house is so uneducated,” Facebook user Kien Nguyen commented. “This kind of language, coming from the Prime Minister’s mouth. It sounds like what you hear in bus stations,” Hoa Nguyen, another Facebook user, said. Translated by An Nguyen. Written in English by Eugene Whong.

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Myanmar’s shadow government holds talks with powerful Arakan Army

Editor08 mins

Myanmar’s shadow National Unity Government (NUG) on Monday met for the first time with leaders from the country’s formidable Arakan Army (AA) insurgent group, prompting speculation over an alliance that an analyst said could give the opposition the upper hand over an overextended military. NUG Foreign Minister Zin Mar Aung and Min Ko Naing, the head of its Alliance Relations Committee, held a two-hour meeting via video conference with United League of Arakan/Arakan Army (ULA/AA) chairman, Gen. Tun Myat Naing, and Gen. Sec. Nyo Tun Aung. The NUG said in a statement that the two sides discussed “the current political situation in Myanmar.” “The parties held cordial discussions on the state of the nation and exchanged views,” said the statement, which referred to the Rakhine group as the “ULA/AA-led Rakhine People’s Government.” “Additionally, the current activities of the National Unity Government were discussed by relevant ministries,” it added, without providing further details. AA spokesperson Khing Thukha confirmed the meeting in an interview with RFA’s Myanmar Service, calling it an “exchange of views” on the political situation in Myanmar more than 15 months after the military took power in a Feb. 1, 2021, coup. The AA agreed to a ceasefire with Myanmar’s military in late 2020 after around two years of intensive fighting. The ceasefire was tested in February when the military attacked two AA bases in Rakhine state, prompting clashes in the region, sources told RFA at the time. Talks with the NUG, which the junta has labeled a “terrorist organization,” are likely to ruffle feathers in Naypyidaw. When asked whether the AA expects a resumption of fighting with the military in Rakhine, Khaing Thukha said that time will tell. “It depends on [the junta’s] actions, and whether they respond militarily or politically,” he said. “We will respond as necessary, depending on their actions.” Monday’s meeting came a day after the NUG issued a statement marking Rakhine National Day and expressing condolences for “the suffering of the people affected by the military and political conflict in Rakhine state,” and pledging to “work with relevant organizations to bring about justice.” The shadow government sent a similar message on April 10 to mark the 13th anniversary of the founding of the AA. Potential shift in power Political analyst Ye Tun said that if talks between the NUG and the ULA/AA are successful, fighting could resume in Rakhine and shift the nationwide balance of power in favor of the armed resistance, led by the NUG-aligned People’s Defense Force (PDF) paramilitary group. “If renewed fighting occurs there, the military will have to extend its forces even further to deal with a new battlefront,” he said. “It would not be able to mobilize and attack in one place, so the PDFs would enjoy a slight advantage over the other fronts.” Ye Tun noted that the AA has yet to respond to an invitation to peace talks last month from junta chief, Snr. Gen. Min Aung Hlaing. He said the ethnic Rakhine army would not attend if it pursues an alliance with the NUG. Earlier this month, the country’s four most powerful ethnic armed groups — the Kachin Independence Organisation, the Karen National Union, the Karenni National Progressive Party and the Chin National Front— all rejected the invitation, saying that by not offering the NUG and the PDF the chance to participate, the junta showed it is unwilling to meet halfway. The NUG has reportedly made overtures to the AA in the past. On April 16, ULA/AA Chairman Tun Myat Naing tweeted that the NUG had “invited us to join hands” in the aftermath of the coup, but the AA chose not to respond because “we had our own agenda to pursue.” Fierce fighting erupted between the military and the AA in December 2018 under deposed National League for Democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi’s civilian government, but the two sides brokered a ceasefire in November 2020 and the region had been largely quiet since. However, on May 15 this year, the AA announced that the junta had undermined the agreement and said clashes with the military “could occur at any time” in Rakhine state. Ten armed ethnic groups have signed a Nationwide Ceasefire Agreement with the government since 2015 and have suggested that the deal remains in place, despite an already flailing peace process that was all but destroyed by the unpopular junta’s coup. Previously, all 10 said they would not pursue talks with the military, which they view as having stolen power from the country’s democratically elected government. The military has made 12 invitations to the country’s armed ethnic groups since the coup, but the April offering marked the first time Min Aung Hlaing said he would attend. Translated by Khin Maung Nyane. Written in English by Joshua Lipes.

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Malaysian FM: ‘Junta should be more open to ASEAN proposals’

Editor08 mins

The Myanmar junta should do more to help ASEAN deliver humanitarian aid across the turmoil-hit country, Malaysia’s top diplomat said after meeting in Washington with the Burmese opposition’s foreign minister. Foreign Minister Saifuddin Abdullah spoke to reporters here on Saturday after his first in-person meeting with Zin Mar Aung, his counterpart from the opposition “shadow” government of Myanmar, made up of elected leaders who were overthrown in a military coup in February 2021. “I think the junta should be more open to ASEAN proposals, especially in the current situation in helping to distribute the humanitarian assistance,” Saifuddin told a press conference. “We have to be transparent. We want to make sure that whatever that is distributed will reach the actual target group. What we don’t want to happen is for humanitarian assistance to be weaponized by the junta and used in a certain way that is so discriminatory, that only certain people will receive the assistance.” The two diplomats met at a hotel near the White House, a day after the leaders of Malaysia and other members of the Association of the Southeast Asian Nations met with President Joe Biden and other senior U.S. officials for a special U.S.-ASEAN Summit here. Saifuddin described his discussion with Zin Mar Aung as a “heart-to-heart” one that focused largely on how to improve the distribution of humanitarian aid inside Myanmar. Zin Mar Aung, who represents the National Unity Government (NUG) on the world stage, later took to Twitter to post a message about the meeting with Saifuddin. “Had a productive meeting with Foreign Minister of Malaysia @saifuddinabd about the dire situation in Myanmar, and how the NUG and Malaysia can work together to restore peace and democracy in Myanmar, including humanitarian assistance and support for the Myanmar refugees,” she tweeted on Sunday. During her visit to Washington, Zin Mar Aung also met with Wendy Sherman, a senior U.S. State Department official who played a prominent role at the U.S.-ASEAN Summit, on the sidelines of that meeting. Among his ASEAN counterparts, Saifuddin has been leading calls lately for the Southeast Asian bloc to hold informal talks with the National Unity Government. The Burmese military government, in the meantime, has denounced reports of engagements in the U.S. capital between State Department and NUG officials and has sent protest notes to all ASEAN countries and the United States calling on them to not speak with the shadow government, Reuters reported on Saturday. It cited a statement from the junta-appointed foreign ministry.   During their meeting, Saifuddin and Zin Mar Aung also discussed the possibility of Malaysia allowing the NUG to open an office in Kuala Lumpur, Saifuddin said, adding this idea had yet to be discussed in detail. Given the NUG’s prominent role in Myanmar, the opposition government could play an important role in helping deliver and distribute humanitarian aid, Saifuddin said.   “[W]e have the same understanding that humanitarian assistance must be organized in a certain way that it is transparent. We cannot have only the junta doing the humanitarian assistance,” Saifuddin told reporters. “Malaysia’s proposal is that you must have a strong presence of international organizations, and the best way is to have organizations under the auspices of the United Nations.” The U.N.’s Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) is in Myanmar already, but more needs to be done, according to Saifuddin. Malaysia is proposing that each of ASEAN’s other member-states offer up one NGO to help deliver aid to the Burmese people, he said. Brutal crackdown According to human rights groups, at least 1,800 civilians have been killed during a brutal crackdown against opponents of the coup led by Senior Gen. Min Aung Hlaing, the junta chief, who was barred from attending the Washington summit. ASEAN has been heavily criticized for failing to carry out a five-point consensus that leaders from the bloc as well as the junta chief had agreed to at an emergency summit in Jakarta in April 2021. Since then, the junta has refused to allow a special envoy from ASEAN to meet with NUG officials during his visits to the country, and which was framed among the five points in the so-called consensus. At Saturday’s news conference, a reporter asked Saifuddin whether the conditions existed for ASEAN to open informal talks with the NUG. “I think the conditions [are] already here,” he said. “Now we are saying [that] after one year, nothing [has] moved. Since nothing [has] moved, more people are killed, more people [have] fled the country.” “We can’t wait for another one year, so we have to be creative,” Saifuddin said. “And this is why we are saying, look, we have been for one year talking to the junta and nothing seems to be moving, so it’s about time we also talk to the NUG, even if it is in an informal way.” BenarNews is an RFA-affiliated online news service.

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China, ASEAN to hold South China Sea code of conduct talks this month

Editor06 mins

China and countries from the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) will conduct face-to-face consultations on a Code of Conduct (COC) in the disputed South China Sea later this month in Cambodia, the Chinese Foreign Ministry has said. Spokesperson Zhao Lijian told reporters in Beijing that the consultations will be done in person “in the latter half of this month… despite the impact of COVID-19.” For the last two years, most of the negotiations over the South China Sea, the thorniest issue between China and ASEAN, have been conducted online because of the pandemic. China and ASEAN agreed on a Declaration of Conduct of Parties (DOC) in the South China Sea in 2003, but progress on a COC has been slow going amid an increasing risk of conflict. China’s diplomats are believed to be making fresh efforts to speed up COC negotiations with ASEAN, especially as China’s close ally Cambodia is holding the bloc’s chairmanship this year. “Establishing a COC is clearly stipulated in the DOC, and represents the common aspiration and need of China and ASEAN countries,” said spokesman Zhao. He said that China “is fully confident in reaching a COC,” which would provide a “more solid guarantee of rules for lasting tranquility of the South China Sea.” Yet analysts say there are still major stumbling blocks to be addressed, such as China’s self-proclaimed historical rights over 90 percent of the South China Sea and the long-standing division within ASEAN over maritime disputes. China and five other parties including four ASEAN member states –Brunei, Malaysia, the Philippines and Vietnam – hold competing claims in the South China Sea but the Chinese claims are the most expansive and a 2016 international arbitration tribunal ruled that they had no legal basis. “If the idea is to produce a comprehensive COC that addresses all of the different concerns of the claimant countries, I do not think it is achievable,” Jay Batongbacal, director of the Institute for Maritime Affairs and Law of the Sea at the University of the Philippines, told RFA in an earlier interview. Credit: RFA U.S.-ASEAN Special Summit The South China Sea was high on the agenda at last week’s Special Summit between ASEAN countries and the United States. The Joint Vision Statement issued at the end of the summit said that parties “recognize the benefits of having the South China Sea as a sea of peace, stability, and prosperity.” “We emphasize the importance of practical measures that could reduce tensions and the risk of accidents, misunderstandings, and miscalculation,” the statement said. Without mentioning China, the signatories of the joint vision statement “emphasized the need to maintain and promote an environment conducive to the COC negotiations” and said they welcomed further progress “towards the early conclusion of an effective and substantive COC.” Some analysts, however, think that the U.S. involvement may not be beneficial to the COC negotiation process. “I don’t think it will help improve the South China Sea situation,” said Kimkong Heng, a senior research fellow at the Cambodia Development Center. “The U.S. has its own agendas that might exacerbate rather than facilitate the South China Sea negotiation,” he said. Cambodia is not a claimant in the South China Sea. From Phnom Penh’s standpoint, the U.S. will likely “continue to pressure Cambodia on the potential Chinese military base in the kingdom,” added Heng “This will serve as a barrier for any meaningful negotiations between the U.S. and Cambodia on national and regional issues,” Heng said. ASEAN comprises ten members: Brunei, Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam.    

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Investigative Journalism Reportika © March 2022 by Ij-Reportika is licensed under CC BY 4.0