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Category: ASEAN

Myanmar junta can order migrant workers home to fight, agency says

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Read RFA coverage of this topic in Burmese. Myanmar’s Ministry of Labor has issued a ruling allowing it to call back overseas workers for military service and has made the employment agencies that send workers abroad responsible for bringing them back if ordered to, an agency told Radio Free Asia on Friday. Since the military ousted a democratically elected government in a 2021 coup, many thousands of Myanmar people have moved abroad to escape a crumbling economy, violent turmoil and, since early this year, the threat of being drafted into the military as it struggles against anti-junta forces. While many try their luck and head abroad in the hope of finding work, many others find work through employment agencies, filling jobs overseas through deals Myanmar has struck with other governments. The military’s ministry issued a regulation this week ordering job agencies to take full responsibility for their workers’ military service, and only to issue new contracts stipulating that workers and their foreign employers must agree that employees can be called back to serve, a member of staff at a Yangon-based employment agency told RFA. “Agencies have been given responsibility for their conscription. After we take that duty, the junta has a lot of ways of calling them back. It’s a lot of pressure,” said the agency employee who declined to be identified given the sensitivity of the matter. “If the workers we send are called back, then the trouble will start. If they don’t return, are we going to take action?” he said. Under the regulation, workers would only be called back after two years, the agency source said, while expressing concern that the time rule could easily be ignored. RFA was not able to determine the reaction of foreign employers to the regulation. RFA tried to call the junta’s labor minister, Nyan Win, to ask about the rule but he did not respond by the time of publication. The junta enacted a conscription law in February, making men aged 18 to 35 and women aged 18 to 27 to serve for up to three years, after various insurgent forces battling to end military rule went on the offensive and made significant advances. The law triggered an exodus of young people to places like Thailand. Myanmar authorities have detained and forcibly recruited people being sent back to Myanmar and turned to prisoners and even minors to fill gaps in the ranks, according to witnesses and residents of some communities. Struggling with a crippled economy, the junta has already ordered that Myanmar workers in Laos and Thailand make payments from their salaries to bolster foreign reserves and employment agencies risk having their licenses revoked if those remittances are not collected. Military authorities have also announced strict action against anyone caught trying to dodge the draft, state-run media reported on Nov. 7. Nationwide, there are 21,000 conscripts at 23 training schools, the independent research group Burma Affairs and Conflict Study said in a report on Oct. 15. RELATED STORIES Myanmar junta expands mandatory remittance for migrant workers Surge of Myanmar migrants into Thailand comes with grim costs 29 young men escape Myanmar junta’s conscription Translated by Kiana Duncan. Edited by RFA staff. We are : Investigative Journalism Reportika Investigative Reports Daily Reports Interviews Surveys Reportika

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Thousands flee fighting in Myanmar’s heartland

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Read RFA’s coverage of this topic in Burmese Fierce fighting between junta troops and rebels in central Myanmar’s Sagaing region over the past week has driven nearly 10,000 residents to flee their homes, sources said Thursday. The fighting in Sagaing, along the borders of Mandalay and Magway regions, marks the first bid by rebel forces to take Pale, a key town in Myanmar’s “dry zone” region – the country’s breadbasket and a stronghold of the military since its February 2021 coup d’etat. On Monday, the Bamar National Revolutionary Army or BNRA and allied forces launched an attack on a unit of some 40 junta troops stationed at the Pale Township General Administrative Office and police station, according to residents and rebel officials. The military responded with airstrikes and artillery, as well as reinforcements, and anti-junta forces were unable to capture the town as of Thursday, said Saya Naing, the station officer of the rebel Black Leopard Army, which is aligned with the Bamar National Revolutionary Army. “They drop soldiers with four or five helicopters every day,” he said, adding that on Thursday, as many as eight helicopters had brought reinforcements. “Our forces are surrounding them, but a Mi-35 helicopter attacked part of the town this morning, destroying about 50 houses.” RELATED STORIES Indian border fence cutting off key supply route to Myanmar’s Sagaing Four more killed in sweeping crackdown in Myanmar’s Sagaing Junta targeting aid groups, social workers in Myanmar’s Sagaing region Nearly 10,000 people have fled the fighting since Monday and are in need of aid, said a member of the Supporting Network for People in Sagaing relief group. “More than 2,100 households from 11 [nearby] villages and the town of Pale have fled from the intense fighting,” said the aid worker who, like others interviewed for this report, spoke to RFA on condition of anonymity due to security concerns. “As of [Wednesday], the number of displaced persons has exceeded 9,500.” The aid worker said that among the displaced are those suffering from seasonal illnesses, pregnant women and the elderly. Four days of airstrikes The junta has carried out at least 20 airstrikes over the past four days, killing some civilians, according to a member of the Pale Township Public Administration aid organization. “Fighting is still escalating between the [rebel] forces and the junta forces,” he said. “We are evacuating as many of the residents as possible. We have taken out more than 200 people.” The aid worker said his organization is still fielding requests to help evacuate civilians who were left behind as others fled the attacks, including the paralyzed and the blind. “Many buildings were destroyed in the town,” he said. “As far as we know, three people were reportedly killed, while the actual number may be higher. People displaced by fighting huddle under tarps in Pale township, Sagaing region, in March 2024. A resident of Pale township who also declined to be named told RFA that everyone in her village had fled since the fighting began. “We fled our homes since Monday amid frequent bombardment by the junta,” she said, adding that the military was “scattering bombs” around the village. “Entire villages are fleeing on cattle carts, by foot and by motorcycle. We are facing a shortage of food supplies.” Casualty numbers unclear A military analyst and former army officer who did not wish to be named told RFA that the BNRA would likely face higher casualties fighting urban warfare in Pale town. “This is largely a tactical move rather than a full-scale operation [by the BNRA],” he said. “Due to Pale town’s proximity to the Northwestern Military Command, the junta frequently conducts airstrikes, which has prevented them from fully securing the town.” The analyst said reports indicate that “many BNRA soldiers have been injured” in the fighting, although he could not provide details. Allied rebel forces told RFA that the extent of casualties on both sides of the conflict remains unknown. Attempts by RFA to contact Nyunt Win Aung, the junta’s spokesperson and social affairs minister for Sagaing region, went unanswered Thursday. According to residents, the military bombarded Pale’s Aing Ma village on Nov. 5, killing four civilians. Translated by Aung Naing. Edited by Joshua Lipes and Malcolm Foster. We are : Investigative Journalism Reportika Investigative Reports Daily Reports Interviews Surveys Reportika

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Myanmar’s Kachin rebels stop rare earth exports to China

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Read RFA coverage of this topic in Burmese. An ethnic minority insurgent group in Myanmar has closed crossings it controls on the border with China, cutting off exports of valuable rare earths in response to recent closures of the border by China, residents of the area said on Thursday. The Kachin Independence Army, or KIA, which has been fighting on and off for decades for self-determination in Myanmar’s northernmost state, has made significant gains against junta forces over the past year, capturing territory, including some major rare-earth mines, and 10 border checkpoints. Rare earths are used in the manufacture of numerous items, from electric cars to wind turbines and cell phones, in Chinese factories, but the mining of the minerals essential for the green transition causes significant pollution. China, which the environmental group Global Witness said in a recent report had effectively outsourced its rare earth extraction to Myanmar, has also been trying to press insurgent groups battling the Myanmar junta to make peace by sealing the border to trade. The KIA had responded by sealing the part of the border under its control, cutting off cross-border shipments of inputs needed for rare earth mining and the export of the minerals back to China, residents in the border region of Kachin state told Radio Free Asia. “China keeps opening and closing the gates. Now, the KIA has closed them,” said a resident of Mai Ja Yang town, which is on the border with China, about 130 kilometers (80 miles) southeast of the state capital, Myitkyina. The resident, who declined to be identified for security reasons, said the KIA had closed the border there and at crossings at Lai Zar and Pang War on Tuesday. “As for rare earth mining, that’s all been closed because we don’t have the materials we need to extract them,” the resident said, referring to fuel and chemical inputs. RFA tried to contact KIA spokesman Naw Bu for information about the situation but he did not respond by the time of publication. RFA was not able to contact Chinese authorities or rare earth processors for comment and China’s embassy in Myanmar has not responded to inquiries from RFA. Economic pressure China has extensive economic interests in resource-rich Myanmar including energy pipelines that traverse the Southeast Asian nation, from the Indian Ocean to southern China’s Yunnan province, and several mining projects. While China backs the Myanmar military it also has contacts with anti-junta insurgent groups, especially those in northern and northeastern Myanmar, including the KIA, and has called on the rival sides to negotiate. In late October, China shut six border gates, causing shortages and price surges for fuel and household goods along Kachin state border towns, residents there said. As well as closing border crossings to put economic pressure on the insurgents, China has also closed its border to civilians fleeing fighting. At the Pang War border crossing, about 160 km (100 miles) northeast of Mai Ja Yang, China has sealed the border to traders and civilians but was allowing trucks hauling rare earths from the Kachin state mines to enter China. So the KIA, which recently captured the border post, stopped the trucks, a person affiliated with the KIA said. “As for the gate, China closed it so the KIA did too,” said the person, who also declined to be identified for security reasons. “The KIA blocked the road with wood and barbed wire.” Global Witness said in a report this year that there are more than 300 rare earth mines in Kachin state’s Chipwi and Pang War townships exporting to China, which the group said controls nearly 90% of global rare earth capacity. RELATED STORIES China undermines its interests by boosting support for Myanmar’s faltering junta Myanmar rebels capture border base near Chinese rare-earth mining hub China-led rare earth mining in Myanmar fuels rights abuses, pollution: report Translated by Kiana Duncan. Edited by RFA staff. We are : Investigative Journalism Reportika Investigative Reports Daily Reports Interviews Surveys Reportika

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Jakarta seeks to contain fallout from South China Sea agreement with Beijing

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JAKARTA – Indonesia is seeking to contain the fallout from a maritime cooperation agreement with China that analysts say appears to indicate a softening of Jakarta’s stance on Beijing’s expansive claims in the South China Sea. A joint statement released after a meeting between Indonesian President Prabowo Subianto and Chinese President Xi Jinping in Beijing on Saturday said the two countries had reached an “important common understanding on joint development in areas of overlapping claims.” This “understanding” or agreement compromised Indonesia’s territorial and maritime rights, most regional experts said. One security analyst. though, noted on X that a clause stating that the cooperation would proceed only under the laws of both countries may mean the agreement will end up dead in the water. Jakarta had consistently rejected the Beijing-set boundary, which encompasses most of the South China Sea and encroaches into Jakarta’s exclusive economic zone (EEZ) north of the Natuna islands, noted Eddy Pratomo, an ex-member of the Indonesian government’s law of the sea negotiation team. “[But] with this Indonesia-China joint statement, it appears Indonesia is now acknowledging overlapping claims,” Eddy, an international law professor at Diponegoro University, told RFA affiliate BenarNews. “This could be seen as tacit recognition of China’s dashed-line claim over the South China Sea, particularly around the North Natuna Sea,” he said. Philippines President Ferdinand Marcos Jr (L) walks with Indonesia�s President-elect Prabowo Subianto during a courtesy call at Malacanang Palace in Manila on September 20, 2024. Opposition lawmaker Tubagus Hasanuddin, a member of the defense and foreign affairs committee in Indonesia’s House of Representatives, questioned the government’s approach to handling sensitive regional issues, particularly concerning the South China Sea. “The Foreign Ministry needs to exercise greater caution and responsiveness in handling official statements,” he said in a press release. “They shouldn’t act as a ‘firefighter’ only when problems arise.” He also raised concerns about the potential consequences of such an agreement for Indonesian fishermen, citing past instances of Chinese vessels entering Indonesian waters and engaging in illegal fishing. “Will this economic cooperation benefit us? Will Chinese fishing vessels then be free to roam in the Natuna area to catch our fish?” One clause in the joint cooperation agreement, however, could mean it would not go through, said Euan Graham, senior analyst at The Australian Strategic Policy Institute. “[T]he reference to “prevailing laws” means [the] agreement may be difficult for Prabowo to push through,” he noted on X. The part of the joint statement Graham is referring to says that the joint development would be “based on the principles of ‘mutual respect, equality, mutual benefit, flexibility, pragmatism, and consensus-building,’ pursuant to their respective prevailing laws and regulations.” Several analysts noted that Prabowo or Foreign Minister Sugiono needed to soon clarify what exactly the joint development was referring to and how the wording got into the joint statement. ‘Potential slippery slope’ The Indonesia-China joint development agreement has consequences not just for Indonesia but could potentially reshape geopolitical dynamics in Southeast Asia and draw responses from the United States and Japan, said international law expert Hikmahanto Juwana. “Countries in dispute with China will question Indonesia’s position,” Hikmahanto, a University of Indonesia professor, told BenarNews. The Indonesian government’s agreement with China might reflect a pragmatic alignment with a major political power, but it could potentially destabilize the region, said Muhammad Waffaa Kharisma, an international relations researcher at the Centre for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS). “In the short term, this statement may benefit Indonesia by easing tensions with China, particularly by reducing the likelihood of coast guard confrontations in the South China Sea,” he said. “However, in the long term, it could harm Indonesia’s standing with Southeast Asian neighbors. This is a potential slippery slope.” Pizaro Gozali Idrus in Jakarta contributed to this report. BenarNews is an RFA-affiliated online news organization. We are : Investigative Journalism Reportika Investigative Reports Daily Reports Interviews Surveys Reportika

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Myanmar junta bombs insurgent-held gem-mining hub killing 9

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Read RFA coverage of this topic in Burmese. Junta forces bombed a famous ruby-mining town under insurgent control in central Myanmar killing nine people and wounding 13 in a deliberate attack on civilians, an insurgent group official told Radio Free Asia on Tuesday. Junta aircraft bombed three neighborhoods in Mogok on Monday at around 11 p.m. while one of the military’s Russian helicopters also fired into the town for about 30 minutes, they said. “Nine people died. We have to say it really impacted them badly. The junta wasn’t fighting, they were targeting residents,” said Lway Yay Oo, a spokesperson for the anti-junta Ta’ang National Liberation Army, or TNLA. The insurgent group is part of a three-member alliance that has made striking gains over the past year in northeast Myanmar against forces of the junta that seized power in 2021. The TNLA has been in control of Mogok, in the Mandalay region, since July. Six men and three women were killed in the air raid, said Lway Yay Oo, adding that a child was among the 13 people being treated for their wounds. Radio Free Asia could not independently verify details of the attack and calls to Mandalay’s junta spokesperson, Thein Htay, went unanswered. TNLA fighters were combing through the rubble of 10 homes that were destroyed in the airstrike, said one resident of the town that has been famed for hundreds of years for its rubies and other gem stones. “They shot directly into residential neighborhoods so everyone is afraid,” said the resident. The Myanmar military has been pushed back in different regions of the country over the past year and has increasingly been resorting to airstrikes, on both insurgent positions and civilian areas, human rights groups say. Between January and October, junta airstrikes killed 540 civilians, according to the advocacy group the Assistance Association for Political Prisoners. RELATED STORIES Rebels capture 9 posts in Myanmar’s Mandalay region, open front Myanmar ethnic alliance says offensive will continue until junta overthrown Perhaps it would be better if Myanmar’s civil war became a ‘forgotten conflict’ Translated by Kiana Duncan. Edited by RFA staff. We are : Investigative Journalism Reportika Investigative Reports Daily Reports Interviews Surveys Reportika

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Minister in Myanmar’s ousted government dies days after release

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Read RFA coverage of this topic in Burmese. A former minister in Aung San Suu Kyi’s ousted government has died shortly after being released from prison, family friends and party colleagues told Radio Free Asia, the latest jailed member of Myanmar’s last elected government to die. Win Khaing, 74, was minister of electricity and energy in the government formed by Suu Kyi’s National League for Democracy, or NLD, which was overthrown on Feb. 1, 2021, when the generals ended a decade of tentative reform and reimposed hardline military rule. “The respected Win Khaing joined hands with the NLD to make it the best. He was involved in both management and policy reforms and was capable of carrying them out,” said NLD colleague Bo Bo Oo, the party’s deputy chairperson for the Sanchaung township in the main city of Yangon. “The loss of our distinguished Win Khaing is a loss for all Myanmar citizens, the whole country’s loss,” Bo Bo Oo told Radio Free Asia from an undisclosed location. Family friends said Win Khaing died of heart disease and diabetes in hospital late on Friday. He had been released from the infamous Obo Prison in Mandalay on Oct. 28 due to deteriorating health and taken to Mandalay General Hospital. Win Khaing was arrested shortly after the 2021 coup and later jailed for 28 years on corruption charges related to a hydro-power project. Almost all NLD leaders, including Suu Kyi, have been jailed on various charges that they have dismissed as politically motivated. Calls to Myanmar military spokesperson, Maj. Gen. Zaw Min Tun, went unanswered. Military-run media did not report Win Khaing’s death but the news spread quickly in Myanmar’s second-biggest city. ‘Military is responsible’ Some residents drew parallels with the death last month of Zaw Myint Maung, another top NLD member who died of cancer days after being released on medical grounds from a lengthy sentence in the same prison. “Of course, they only give amnesty to a person when they know they’re going to die,” said one resident who declined to be identified for security reasons. “People in Mandalay knew he had been released a week before he passed away.” The civilian shadow administration in exile, National Unity Government, or NUG, formed by former NLD members, has criticized the junta officials for failing to provide prisoners with adequate medical treatment. A spokesperson for the NUG, Nay Phone Latt, denounced the “ illegal capture and jailing” of pro-democracy politicians. “The military is completely responsible for this,” Nay Phone Latt said. The death of elderly NLD members raises concerns for the fate of Myanmar’s most popular politician, Suu Kyi. The 79-year-old daughter of the hero of Myanmar’s campaign for independence from colonial rule was also arrested after the 2021 coup. She was sentenced on various charges, that she dismissed as trumped up, and jailed for 33 years though her sentence was reduced to 27 years. The Nobel Peace Prize laureate is believed to be in solitary confinement in prison in the capital, Naypyidaw, but her exact whereabouts are unknown. About 2,000 other NLD members have been jailed by the military regime since the coup along with thousands of other democracy campaigners. Among those to have died in custody was Nyan Win, a top NLD adviser to Suu Kyi, who died of COVID-19 in 2021. A year later, the junta executed former NLD lawmaker Phyo Zayar Thaw, for treason and terrorism charges. RELATED STORIES Myanmar democracy champion Tin Oo, dead at 98 Relative of Myanmar’s ex-dictator arrested over social media posts Over 100 Myanmar political prisoners have died since coup, group says Translated by Kiana Duncan. Edited by RFA staff. We are : Investigative Journalism Reportika Investigative Reports Daily Reports Interviews Surveys Reportika

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Perhaps it would be better if Myanmar’s civil war became a ‘forgotten conflict’

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It’s become fashionable in some quarters to suggest the three-year-old Myanmar civil war might be solvable if only more people remembered that it was taking place. Julie Bishop, a former Australian foreign minister appointed the UN Special Envoy on Myanmar in April, recently gave her first address to a UN General Assembly committee, in which she warned that “the Myanmar conflict risks becoming a forgotten crisis.” One might enquire by whom this conflict is apparently becoming “forgotten.” One can hardly say with a straight face that it has been forgotten by the 54 million people of Myanmar, nor by the 3.1 million people who have been displaced, nor the million or so Rohingya who must still live in hell-hole refugee camps abroad because they know the military junta wants to finish the genocide it started years ago. It is certainly not forgotten by the people who matter the most. Displaced people from Lashio cross the Dokhtawaddy river as they flee their homes following clashes between Myanmar’s military and the Ta’ang National Liberation Army (TNLA), in Zin Ann village between Lashio and Hsipaw township in Myanmar’s northern Shan state, July 8, 2024 But the claim also invites the question: Would there be any improvement if the conflict was less forgotten? Frankly, if any Western democracy or the UN wanted to intervene, they’ve had several years to do so. If ASEAN wanted to stop play-acting at mediation, it’s had since April 2021 to carve some teeth into the Five-Point Consensus, its unrealized peace plan. Post-colonial settlement This conflict has been raging since February 2021, though some might say, quite accurately, that it has actually been waiting to erupt since the 1950s. Whereas nearly every other Southeast Asian country underwent something like a civil war or democratic revolution after gaining independence from European colonial powers, Myanmar never did so. That process was left stillborne by the military coup of 1962. Because the military has shown that it cannot be trusted to share power with a civilian government, only now, do the people of Myanmar have the possibility of throwing off the foul despotism that has enchained them throughout the post-colonial era. RELATED STORIES newsletter. The views expressed here are his own and do not reflect the position of RFA. We are : Investigative Journalism Reportika Investigative Reports Daily Reports Interviews Surveys Reportika

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Exclusive: How Chinese nationalism is sending jitters through the Arctic

Editor010 mins

This story was reported with the Norwegian Broadcasting Corporation. Read their story here On an early morning in late July, a luxury expedition cruise ship, boasting the latest in high-end Arctic travel, made a slow approach to the docks of Ny-Ålesund, a remote settlement in Norway’s Svalbard Islands. At 79 degrees north latitude, Ny-Ålesund is the northernmost inhabited outpost on Earth. Isolated in the Arctic’s desolate winter, it hosts just 30 year-round residents. Newayer, a Chinese travel agency, chartered the vessel for 183 tourists from Hong Kong, Shanghai, and Beijing. Each passenger paid at least $13,000 for a two-week “Three Arctic Islands” tour, marketed as an exclusive opportunity to reach the “top of the Earth,” complete with “the luxury of Chinese hospitality.” Clad in matching red jackets bearing a polar bear logo, the travelers disembarked at their first stop: China’s Yellow River Research Station in Ny-Ålesund. There they marked the 20th anniversary of the station – one of several research facilities established on Svalbard by different nations. More than 100 Chinese tourists waved national flags beneath a Chinese Communist Party-style banner hung on the research station’s door. The travel agency’s blog likened the celebration to “raising the Chinese national flag during the Olympics.” Among the participants, a woman in a People’s Liberation Army, or PLA, uniform was seen saluting and posing for photos. A PLA Ground Force patch is visible on her right arm, two professional cameras are slung over her shoulders. “The big picture of China’s ambitions in the Arctic is that it reflects a clear, long-term strategic goal: China wants to be a significant presence in the Arctic,” says Isaac Kardon, a senior fellow for China Studies at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, a Washington D.C. think tank. Since declaring itself a “near-Arctic state” in 2018—despite lacking territorial claims—China has steadily built its presence through legal, military, commercial, and individual channels. Svalbard has become the latest frontline. An Arctic Battleground for Great Powers A remote Norwegian archipelago roughly twice the size of Hawaii, Svalbard lies less than 1,000 kilometers from the North Pole, some 650 kilometers north of mainland Norway. Chinese tourists celebrate for a drone-style video at China’s Yellow River Research Station in Svalbard, Norway, July 2024 Entering the ‘gray zone’ Fan Li, the CEO of Newayer, the tour agency, told RFA and NRK that their tour group informed the research station of its plans to stage a celebration at Yellow River, and to hang banners and wave Chinese flags outside the station. The station never objected or even raised it as an issue. “The staff at the Yellow River Station came out to engage with us, and everyone was quite happy about that,” Li told RFA and NRK. A video of the tour group’s celebration was posted to Newayer’s social media account. It further features eight guests telling the camera that they are PLA veterans and perform coordinated military salutes to China while a patriotic song plays as a soundtrack. Afterward, passengers gathered to share their stories of service in the PLA. Li said that the presence of veterans on board was merely a “coincidence” and that when Newayer realized the connection, the company organized a ceremony and incorporated the clip into its video. According to Li, all of those featured were retired, as it’s difficult for active military members in China to travel abroad. However, one cruise participant, who identifies herself in the video as Yin Liu, was photographed wearing military garb bearing the insignia of the PLA on Svalbard. On camera, Liu says she enlisted in 1976 and fought in Vietnam in 1984 and gave the name of her unit. Ying Yu Lin, an expert on the PLA at Tamkang University in Taiwan, identified Liu’s fatigues as a “Type 21” training uniform issued by China’s Ministry of Defense in 2023. It is restricted to military personnel and would not be accessible to civilians, Lin said. The “Type 21” uniform can be seen on the Chinese Defense Department website. Members of China’s Arctic expedition team, based at the Yellow River Research Station, take a boat out for sampling on the Austre Lovenbreen glacier in Svalbard, Norway, June 22, 2024. Questions of diplomacy But sources familiar with diplomatic discussions say that Norway is unlikely to take a leading role in pushing back against China. “Like many countries, Norway just doesn’t have a lot of equities in its dealings with China,” says Kardon. Overt criticism or perceived slights can cause notable damage, like in 2010, when Beijing banned imports of Norwegian salmon after its Nobel committee awarded the Peace Prize to Chinese dissident Liu Xiaobo. But as long as that’s the case, room for more muscular tactics in the Arctic will grow. Last month as China celebrated the 75th anniversary of the People’s Republic, the Chinese Coast Guard engaged in joint operations with Russian forces in the Arctic. This was preceded in September by a meeting of Russian and Chinese officials in Beijing to discuss economic development and resource extraction in the region, and earlier, a Chinese and Russian meeting in Svalbard to explore opening a joint research center in Pyramiden, a former Soviet mining hub on the islands. “So if you’re looking for a pattern here, I would say this is the latest version of what China and Russia are trying to do—find a way to get to the red line without crossing it,” says Lanteigne, referring to the Yellow River celebration incident. “It is a very subtle signal, one that really demonstrates that China is now starting to deviate more directly from Norway regarding what is and is not proper activity on Svalbard.” Lanteigne views this as a pressing challenge that the Norwegian government must confront head-on. “I think there needs to be the understanding that with the Arctic beginning to militarize as a whole, Svalbard is caught in it, whether it likes it or not.” Edited by Boer Deng We are : Investigative Journalism Reportika Investigative Reports Daily Reports Interviews Surveys Reportika

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Myanmar junta chief seeks China’s help on border stability

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Read RFA coverage of these topics in Burmese. Myanmar’s junta leader called on China to help bring stability to their common border on his first visit to his northern neighbor, a year after insurgents in north Myanmar border regions launched an offensive that has raised questions about the sustainability of his military rule. China has extensive economic interests in Myanmar including energy pipelines running across it, from the Indian ocean to southern China’s Yunnan province, and is keen to see an end to the turmoil triggered by a 2001 military coup, when military chief Sen. Gen. Min Aung Hlaing ousted an elected government. Min Aung Hlaing arrived in the city of Kunming, the capital of Yunnan, on Tuesday for talks with provincial officials and regional meetings on investment opportunities. Myanmar’s state media has not reported any planned trip to the capital, Beijing. “The senior general discussed the need to place emphasis on stability of border areas and to accelerate cooperation for stability of border areas so that export and import trade can be conducted,” Myanmar’s military-run Myawady news outlet reported. A three-party insurgent alliance based in Shan state, on the northeastern border with China, made unprecedented gains against junta forces after launching an offensive on Oct. 27 last year, capturing at least five major border trade crossings. Insurgent allies in other parts of Myanmar have also been on the offensive, putting the military under unprecedented pressure and raising questions about the prospects of the military holding onto power. Analysts say China has become frustrated with the junta’s failure to end the chaos and had been reluctant to invite Min Aung Hlaing to visit Beijing, as a mark of its disapproval. While maintaining ties with the Myanmar junta, China also has contacts with the insurgent groups in northern and northeastern Myanmar battling to end military rule. China has called on both sides to negotiate and has offered to help the junta organize an election next year saying it hopes it can help encourage reconciliation. China has also pressed the insurgents to end their war and has closed border crossings to put economic pressure on them. China has also closed its border in some places to civilians fleeing fighting. In September, one Shan state insurgent group, the Myanmar National Democratic Alliance Army, which is part of an alliance responsible for major territorial gains from the junta over the past year, agreed to cooperate with China to reduce conflict and to stop its campaign to capture major cities. Political analyst Than Soe Naing said China was likely to maintain its pressure on the anti-junta groups. “I believe China will continue to help the junta and pressure them,” Than Soe told RAdio Free Asika. “They’ll also probably pressure them not to allow people to participate in the Spring Revolution,” he said, referring to the uprising against military rule triggered by the 2021 coup. Residents of Shan state said the latest Chinese restrictions were on the stretch of border controlled on the Myanmar side by the United Wa State Army, a powerful militia that has not battled the junta for decades and is known to have close contacts in China. Residents told Radio Free Asia that China’s closure of the border since Oct. 27 had led to shortages of medicine, fuel, food, electronics and household items causing prices to surge. RELATED STORIES China undermines its interests by boosting support for Myanmar’s faltering junta China border restrictions prompts pricing surge in Myanmar China calls for action after attack on consulate in Myanmar Translated by Kiana Duncan. Edited by RFA Staff. We are : Investigative Journalism Reportika Investigative Reports Daily Reports Interviews Surveys Reportika

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2024 US election live updates: Reactions from Asia

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What you need to know The U.S. presidential election is being keenly watched across Asia. The outcome of the race between Vice President Kamala Harris and former President Donald Trump will have a major impact on America’s relations with the region on issues like trade, security and climate change. Radio Free Asia reporters will be gauging reactions in Asia and will regularly update this post with what we hear from regular citizens and from governments. For most part, our reporting is from countries that are under authoritarian rule. Hopes run high in Harris’ ancestral village A tiny village located on the other side of the world in the south Indian state of Tamil Nadu is offering prayers at the local Hindu temple, hoping for victory for one of their own, Vice President Kamala Harris. Harris, 60, was born in California to an Indian mother and Jamaican father, both of whom immigrated to the United States for higher education. In the village of Thulasendrapuram – where Harris’s maternal grandfather Painganadu Venkataraman “P.V.” Gopalan was born – residents have been gathering each day at the village temple to offer special prayers to the Hindu deity Ayyanar – worshipped in rural parts of Tamil Nadu as a guardian or protector – to watch over Harris. The residents refer to Harris as the “daughter of the land,” and say they feel a deep connection with her because of her ancestral ties to the village. The village is decked out with signs featuring Harris‘s portrait and banners wishing her good luck in the election, which will determine whether or not she will become America’s first female president and first president of Indian descent. “We in this village offer daily prayers for Kamala Harris to win the election,” Aruna Murli Sudhagar, the leader of the village, told Radio Free Asia. Read more of this story Posted at 5:13 pm Eastern on 11/5/24 Take a moment to explore our election coverage Live U.S. election map Deep dive: How would Harris and Trump differ on Asia? China focuses on threat of violent unrest as US voters head to polls US presidential election sparks curiosity in North Korea Vietnamese show interest In Vietnam, social media platforms are abuzz about candidates Kamala Harris and Donald Trump, and at least three newspapers are asking, “Who will be elected U.S. president?” Nguyen Binh, a farmer in the southern province of Dong Nai, expressed surprise that Americans were free to talk openly about elections. He recalled that a number of independent candidates in Vietnam’s 2016 National Assembly election are in prison. “I only wish for one thing: that talented people in Vietnam and virtuous people in Vietnam can run for election fully, openly, and run comfortably without being coerced,” he said. “The right to self-determination belongs to the people with their votes, not from any political party.” Independent journalist Nam Viet said he believes that the interest shown by Vietnamese demonstrates their thirst for democracy. “The commenting, judging, choosing sides… of Vietnamese people in the U.S. election is sometimes funny, but it shows that a desire for change is still smoldering in the hearts of the nation,” he said. “The people must be rehearsing their right to self-determination,” Nam said, saying Vietnam holds “sham” elections. Posted at 5:34 pm Eastern on 11/5/24 Clockwise from top left, China’s President Xi Jinping, North Korea’s leader Jim Jong Un, Laos Prime Minister Sonexay Siphandone and Vietnam’s Communist Party General Secretary To Lam. How do elections work in authoritarian Asian nations? In a world bracing for a close U.S. presidential election result this week, a large swathe of Asia picks its leaders without suspense — and mostly with little popular participation. Chinese President Xi Jinping was confirmed by the National People’s Congress in March 2013 with 2,952 votes for, one against, and three abstentions. Last year the rubber stamp parliament voted unanimously to give him a third term, putting him on track to stay in power for life. North Korea’s leaders have inherited their power from father to son for three generations. They are technically “elected” – but there is no choice. In 2014, Kim Jong Un was elected to the Supreme People’s Assembly without a dissenting vote with 100% turnout. Fellow communist states Laos and Vietnam pursue their own variations of the same Marxist-Leninist party-state model copied from the Soviet Union, with Hanoi avoiding strongman rule in favor of collective leadership. Cambodia has been dominated by the ruling party of Hun Sen, who banned the main opposition parties in the previous two parliamentary elections. Myanmar held a credible multi-party election in November 2020, a vote that delivered a strong majority to the National League for Democracy of de facto national leader Aung San Suu Kyi. But the military didn’t like the results and staged a coup on Feb. 1, 2021. Read more here. Posted at 5:05 p.m. Eastern, 11/5/2024 We are : Investigative Journalism Reportika Investigative Reports Daily Reports Interviews Surveys Reportika

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