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Category: ASEAN

Myanmar junta arrests dozens for sending supplies to rebel zone

Editor04 mins

Junta forces in Myanmar arrested and interrogated about 70 residents in the capital of Rakhine state on suspicion of being rebel sympathizers and trying to send supplies into rebel zones, residents told Radio Free Asia on Monday.   The residents of Sittwe were targeted for trying to send goods and food to Arakan Army-controlled townships on Friday in violation of a junta blockade, residents said, adding that they had not been released as of Monday afternoon.  “They dropped the goods off on the bank of the Kaladan River headed for Pauktaw and Mrauk-U townships,” said one resident, who declined to be identified for security reasons, referring to two townships that the ethnic minority insurgents seized in recent months from forces of the junta that seized power in a 2021 coup. “Both the people who actually dropped the goods off and other people from the neighborhood were arrested, including women,” the resident said. The identities and exact charges that the detained people faced were not known, he said.  RFA tried to telephone Rakhine state’s junta spokesperson, Hla Thein, but he could not be reached for comment.  Another resident, who also asked not to be identified out of fear for their safety, said soldiers were holding the detainees at Sittwe Police Station No. 1, adding that the military had tightened security on Sittwe’s roads to block shipments to areas under AA control. Junta forces have lost significant amounts of territory to the AA in Myanmar’s western-most state since late last year and the guerrillas now control 10 of its 17 townships. Junta forces have for years battled insurgents with a so-called four-cuts strategy, cutting off rebels from food, funds, information and recruits. In Rakhine state, the military has tried to isolate the AA with transport blockades while rounding suspected sympathizers and setting up neighborhood militias to support the military. The AA, which draws its support from the state’s Buddhist ethnic Rakhine community and is fighting for self-determination, announced its intention to capture the junta-controlled capital of Sittwe in March. On Friday, the AA said it was planning an offensive to capture the remaining seven townships under junta control, including Sittwe.  RELATED STORIES Rebel army captures Myanmar navy training base Myanmar junta airstrike kills dozens including prisoners, rebels say Myanmar military court jails 144 villagers detained after massacre  Translated by RFA Burmese. Edited by Kiana Duncan and Mike Firn.  We are : Investigative Journalism Reportika Investigative Reports Daily Reports Interviews Surveys Reportika

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An overdue farewell to Southeast Asia’s pro-democracy icons

Editor013 mins

A decade ago, Southeast Asia seemed poised for democratic transformation, spearheaded by three icons: Myanmar’s Aung San Suu Kyi, Cambodia’s Sam Rainsy and Malaysia’s Anwar Ibrahim.  Suu Kyi’s National League for Democracy was on the cusp of a historic election victory, potentially gaining entry into government for the first time in the army-run nation.  Sam Rainsy’s Cambodia National Rescue Party had narrowly lost to the ruling party in the 2013 elections, but momentum hinted at a possible win at the next ballot.  Meanwhile, Anwar’s People’s Pact coalition won the popular vote in Malaysia’s 2013 elections, marking the start of a new political era. During a late 2013 visit, Sam Rainsy suggested in a meeting with his fellow pro-democracy icons that they should “work together to promote democracy in our region.” Fast forward to today, and all three have either fallen from power or seen their legacies tarnished—and the region’s democratic transformation now seems more distant than ever. Cambodian exiled political opponent and leader of the Cambodia National Rescue Party (CNRP), Sam Rainsy, in Paris, on July 27, 2023. (Joel Saget/AFP) Suu Kyi, ousted in early 2021, saw her international reputation go up in smoke for her defense of the military’s genocide against her country’s Muslim Rohingya minority.  Sam Rainsy went into exile in 2015 and his party dissolved two years later as the ruling Cambodian People’s Party tightened its authoritarian chokehold. Rainsy now writes financial updates with little hope of returning to Cambodia.  Anwar became Malaysia’s prime minister in 2022 but has abandoned his once-professed liberal, secular ideals. His government has launched “lawfare” campaigns against opponents.  In August, Malaysian prosecutors charged Muhyiddin Yassin, the leader of the opposition, with sedition for complaining that the king hadn’t asked him to form a government last year.  Anwar’s pluralist appeal has gone out of the window.  He’s unpopular with Malays, he has defended a deputy prime minister accused of corruption, his speeches are flecked with anti-Semitism and anti-Western vitriol, and he has drawn Malaysia closer to China and Russia. Anwar visited Moscow this month and now declares support for China’s “reunification” of Taiwan.  “Anwar had been a favorite of Western reporters and officials, heralded as a man who could liberalize Malaysian politics,” the Economist recently wrote. Since taking power, he has been “a very different kind of leader.” A milder form of tyranny One shouldn’t mourn the passing of Southeast Asia’s icons, the disappearance of a handful of individuals who were supposed to drag the region by their own sweat and sacrifice into a freer future.  There was too much focus on personalities rather than policies; too much about a single person’s fate to become premier and not on the people they were supposedly fighting for.  Suu Kyi was the National League for Democracy; she was destined to save Myanmar because her father had done the same when Burma emerged from British colonial rule in the 1940s.  Even before Sam Rainsy’s party was dissolved, it had become cleaved between the factions loyal to him and another leader. They, too, saw themselves as the embodiments of salvation for an entire country.   Myanmar opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi in Oslo on June 15, 2012. (Markus Schreiber/AP) As Suu Kyi and Anwar showed, you sacrifice your entire life in exile, imprisonment, scorn and harassment, and once you finally attain power, you believe you damn well need to stay there, whatever it costs.  After all, losing power means a return to tyranny and the bad old times—so a milder form of tyranny is justifiable to prevent that.  Southeast Asia isn’t unique; the worst leaders are those who have taken a long walk to power.  Seldom does a revolutionary not become a counter-revolutionary. Rarely does the liberal in opposition remain a liberal in power.  Suu Kyi gambled – badly – that publicly defending the military’s genocidal actions against the Rohingya was the price worth paying to prevent a military coup. She should sacrifice up the few for the apparent benefit of the majority, she reasoned.   The end of idolatry should allow Southeast Asian democrats to focus on strengthening political institutions rather than idolizing individuals.  A new example in Thailand The region should look at what’s happening in Thailand.  Unique in Southeast Asia, Thailand’s progressive movement has created a pro-democracy “archetype”— someone young, Western-educated, good-looking, conversant in English, ideally with a business background, and very social media savvy.  Pita Limjaroenrat, who employed this archetype to make his Move Forward Party the country’s largest at last year’s elections, was more of a character than an icon.  Pita played this role with Move Forward, but it was the same character that Thanathorn Juangroongruangkit played before him with the Future Forward party, Move Forward’s predecessor party, and that Natthaphong Ruengpanyawut now plays as leader of People’s Party, the successor to Move Forward.  This is a clever tactic. If the leader is disbarred from politics, as Thanathorn and Pita were, then someone else can easily assume the role, as Natthaphong has done.  If the party is dissolved, as Future Forward and Move Forward were, you make a new one led by the same character with the same script.  This prevents a party from being consumed by one person – à la Suu Kyi. It turns the dissolution of a party into an inconvenience, instead of the death knell of an entire movement, as was the case with Sam Rainsy and the Cambodia National Rescue Party.  Malaysia’s Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim in Berlin, Germany, March 11, 2024. (Liesa Johannssen/Reuters) It means that if the leader wins power, he knows he is there because of the script he has been given, not the one he’s written. The rest of Southeast Asia would be better off developing their own archetypes, not waiting for the next icons to appear.  Neither is the end of Southeast Asia’s pro-democracy icons a bad thing for the West, which was too quick in the 1990s and 2000s to put its faith in a few personalities being able to drive…

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Philippine coast guard ship leaves disputed shoal in South China Sea

Editor09 mins

UPDATED AT 5:30 ET on Sept. 15, 2024 The Philippines has withdrawn a coast guard vessel at the center of a standoff with China at a disputed shoal in the South China Sea, saying it had played a crucial role in “countering illegal activities” but had to return to port because of bad weather, low supplies and the need to get medical care for some of those on board. The Sabina Shoal,  about 140 km (85 miles) west of Palawan island, is claimed by both countries but is entirely within the Philippine exclusive economic zone, or EEZ, where the Philippines holds rights to explore for natural resources. The five-month standoff with China at the shoal resulted in several collisions between Philippine and Chinese vessels, especially during Philippine resupply missions to its ship, the BRP Teresa Magbanua, raising fears of a more serious conflict between the Philippines, a close U.S. ally, and an increasingly assertive China. “Their steadfast presence has played a crucial role in countering illegal activities that threaten our marine environment and thwarting attempts by other state actors to engage in surreptitious reclamation in the area,” the Philippine coast guard said in a statement, referring to the officers and men on board the ship. Ship tracking specialists earlier told Radio Free Asia the 2,200-ton coast guard flagship left the hotly disputed shoal, known in the Philippines as Escoda, at around 1 p.m. on Friday. Data provided by the website MarineTraffic, which uses automatic identification system (AIS) signals to track ships, show that the BRP Teresa Magbanua (MRRV-9701) was back in the Sulu Sea near the Philippines’ Balabac island, about 200 km (125 miles) to the south of the shoal. There was no immediate comment from China on the ship’s withdrawal from the shoal. The BRP Teresa Magbanua is one of the largest and most modern vessels of the Philippine coast guard. It was deployed to Sabina Shoal in April to monitor what the Philippines fears is a Chinese plan to reclaim land there, as China has done elsewhere in the South China Sea. Philippine officials insisted that the vessel could remain there for as long as necessary but China denounced what it saw as the “illegal grounding” of the BRP Teresa Magbanua and deployed a large number of ships there to keep watch. The Philippines denied that the vessel had been grounded. Beijing feared that by maintaining the vessel’s semi-permanent presence at the shoal, Manila aimed to establish de-facto control over it, similar to what it has done at the Second Thomas Shoal, where an old Philippine warship, BRP Sierra Madre, was deliberately run aground to serve as an outpost. For its part, the Philippines is worried that without the presence of its authorities, Chinese ships will swarm the area and effectively take control of it, as happened at Scarborough Shoal – another disputed South China Sea feature – where China has had control since 2012. Sabina Shoal is close to an area believed to be rich in oil and gas, and also served as the main staging ground for resupply missions to the Sierra Madre at the Second Thomas Shoal. Lower the tension The  Philippine coast guard said in its statement on Sunday that it was “firmly committed and determined in protecting the Philippines’ sovereignty, sovereign rights, and jurisdiction in the West Philippine Sea, including in Escoda Shoal.” But Ray Powell, director of the U.S.-based SeaLight project at Stanford University, said China was likely to deploy to the area as it did at the Scarborough Shoal. “The parallels are unavoidable,” said Powell, who monitors developments in the South China Sea. “China is also likely to declare victory – hard to avoid that conclusion,” added the maritime security analyst. The withdrawal comes days after Philippine Foreign Affairs Undersecretary Maria Theresa P. Lazaro met China’s Vice Foreign Minister Chen Xiaodong to discuss the situation at the shoal.  The Chinese side reportedly urged the Philippines to immediately withdraw its vessels while “Lazaro reaffirmed the consistent position of the Philippines and explored ways to lower the tension in the area,” the Philippines Department of Foreign Affairs said in a statement after the Sept. 12 talks. The Philippine coast guard made no mention of the talks in its statement. Philippine analyst Chester Cabalza, president of the International Development and Security Cooperation think tank, described the withdrawal of the ship as “anti-climactic,” adding that he thought both sides should withdraw from the vicinity of the shoal, which is in an important sea lane. Cabalza said if the Philippines and China had reached any agreement in their Sept. 12 consultation, that would become evident in the absence of any “swarming of Chinese armada” at the shoal. “The ball is with China now,” the analyst told RFA’s affiliate BenarNews. RELATED STORIES China, Philippines trade blame over ‘ramming’ at disputed shoal https://www.rfa.org/english/news/southchinasea/china-philippines-ramming-sabina-08312024064753.html China releases report to fortify claim over disputed shoal in South China Sea https://www.rfa.org/english/news/southchinasea/china-sabina-shoal-report-08302024043714.html Philippines, China clash near disputed shoal in South China Sea https://www.rfa.org/english/news/southchinasea/china-philippines-shoal-clash-08262024023722.html *Jason Guterriez in Manila contributed to this report.” Editing by RFA Staff This story has been updated to include comment from the Philippine coast guard. We are : Investigative Journalism Reportika Investigative Reports Daily Reports Interviews Surveys Reportika

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EXCLUSIVE: Dissident Chinese journalist works on her next book from exile in Thailand

Editor011 mins

Read this interview in Mandarin. At the far end of a quiet garden courtyard in Chiang Mai, home to a small “village” of exiled Chinese writers and intellectuals, is a communal study room with books lining the walls. Veteran investigative journalist Dai Qing, 83, once one of the Chinese Communist Party’s most influential critics, is often there, reading and writing as she enjoys a quiet life of contemplation in Thailand — as well as working on her forthcoming book, “Notes on History.” Dai, a former reporter for the party’s Guangming Daily, was an early and prominent critic of China’s flagship Three Gorges Dam project, publishing a book Yangtze! Yangtze! arguing against the move. She also served time in Beijing’s notorious Qincheng Prison for supporting the students during the 1989 pro-democracy protests in Tiananmen Square. Now part of a community of exiled Chinese writers and researchers in the northern Thai resort town, Dai spoke to RFA Mandarin — after her daily swim — about what led her there: RFA: Why Chiang Mai? Dai Qing: I should say that Chiang Mai wasn’t actually my choice. I’ve always lived in big cities, ever since I was a child. When they asked me where I was from, I said I was Chinese. For example, I was born in the wartime capital Chongqing, and later I worked in a Beijing high school. I have always been in big cities. I really don’t like big cities, I don’t like the bustle and prosperity — I like the quiet: trees and grass, blue sky and white clouds. When we set up this courtyard, it was as a small community of friends. We all shared the same values ​​and common hobbies, like reading. We set up a research center and invited people from foreign universities with an interest in China to come. We have so many people here who can talk to them, share our experiences, and they can stay here too. RFA: How many homes are here? Dai Qing: Today, there are 31 houses that were designed by [independent writer] Ye Fu. Many of the people here are his friends, and they just sort of came here. It costs less than one-fifth of the price of a place in Beijing, right? But they don’t all live here. Some are rented out. Who do they rent to? That’s another question. People who are dissatisfied with the Chinese education system, who want to bring their children here to study and enroll in the British education system. We rent houses to them. There are several families like that. You can see that the most lively ones are full of kids. Dissident journalist Dai Qing swims near her home in Chiang Mai, Thailand, Sept. 2024. (RFA) RFA: Did they come before or after the COVID years? Dai Qing: Some came before and some came after, so there are basically two groups. The first group is people who are dissatisfied with China’s education system and come here to have their children attend school. The second group is Ye Fu, Tang Yun, and Wang Ji, all people who have suffered political discrimination and oppression in China and can’t go back. RFA: So you came here because you were dissatisfied with Chinese politics? Dai Qing: It’s not that simple. It’s just that … before Hu Yaobang’s death in 1989, civil society in China hadn’t achieved a modern transformation, but it was actually much more relaxed than it is now. We could do a lot of things. Then Hu Yaobang died, and 58 days later, the crackdown continued, until it became what it is today. RFA: What happened to you in 1989? Dai Qing: Well, I was a journalist, so of course I was in contact with people from all walks of life. I told [1989 student leader] Chai Ling, do you think that just because you’re a good student of Chairman Mao that you can gather a bunch of heroes just by raising your arms, and be a leader? That’s not how things are. I kept telling them that they kept resisting and calling for democracy and demanding concessions even though the leaders had already made concessions. I told them it wasn’t right. I was trying to bring about peace, and they wound up putting me in Qincheng. RFA: When you left China, did the police warn you not to give interviews, or make other demands? Dai Qing: The police actually let me leave in 2023 because I had so many friends and relatives in the United States, and I wanted to go visit them now that my daughter had retired. She retired on her 55th birthday in 2023. I felt that I was in the later stages of my life, and I made an agreement with them that I wouldn’t give interviews or take part in activism, and they let me leave.  Then, when I went to various universities, everyone wanted to talk to me, but it had to be in closed-door meetings. Participants weren’t allowed to record audio or take photos or video with their phones. No one was allowed to publicize it. When I got back to Hong Kong and then to Beijing, the police were very happy. As far as they were concerned, I’d stuck to the deal. Later I asked … their boss who came to visit me whether he knew what I’d done back in the 1980s. He said they hadn’t bothered to research it. But they know now. RFA: How are you getting along here in Chiang Mai? Dai Qing: Actually it’s a question of “three noes and two don’ts” – that’s the way I describe my situation right now. I have no pension, no social security and no medical insurance, which is the “three noes” part. The “two don’ts” are: don’t get sick, and don’t hire help. I do all of the housework myself. RFA: Do you still follow what’s going on back in China, culturally, economically and politically? Dai Qing: Not so much. I…

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More Rohingya are arriving in Bangladesh, as Rakhine state burns

Editor08 mins

Some 20,000 Rohingya have entered Bangladesh in the last three months as they flee worsening conditions in Myanmar’s Rakhine state, with some new arrivals taking shelter in rented houses outside U.N.-administered camps, refugees and local officials say. The uptick comes with Bangladesh enmeshed in political turmoil and amid worsening violence in Rakhine, which lies just across its southeastern border. Arakan Army insurgents have been waging a fierce campaign to wrest control of the state from Myanmar’s military government.  “There is a terrible situation in Rakhine. There is no condition to stay there. No food, no shelter, no treatment for sick people,” said Mohammed Feroz Kamal, who arrived last week from Rakhine’s Maungdaw district. “Drone attacks are being carried out, especially on the people who have gathered to flee to the border in that country,” he told BenarNews. “Hundreds of people are dying. ”I saw many dead bodies on the way.” RELATED STORIES  Myanmar rebels say victory is near after battle near Bangladesh border Rohingyas face ‘gravest threats since 2017’ as fighting rages in western Myanmar Rohingya refugees drown fleeing Myanmar’s war as concerns mount Some 5,000 Rohingya who fled recent fighting waiting to cross to Bangladesh Rohingya community leader Mohammed Jubair, chairman of the Arakan Rohingya Society for Peace and Humanity, said at least 20,000 people had crossed into Bangladesh during the past three months.  But a Bangladeshi official put the number at around 16,000. “They used the poor law-and-order situation as an advantage,” Refugee Relief and Repatriation Commissioner Mohammed Mizanur Rahman told BenarNews, referring to the chaotic and lawless atmosphere in Bangladesh before and after the Sheikh Hasina government fell in early August. Earlier this week, in the face of new cross-border arrivals, Bangladesh transitional government head Muhammad Yunus called on the international community to speed up efforts to resettle Rohingya refugees in third countries. The “resettlement process should be easy, regular and smooth,” Yunus said during a meeting on Sept. 8 with the International Organisation for Migration, Reuters reported. The interim administration headed by Yunus, a Nobel Peace Prize winner and pioneer of microcredit loans, has been struggling to maintain law and order since Hasina resigned and fled the country amid student-led, anti-government protests. Two Rohingya families who recently escaped from Myanmar have taken refuge in this multistory building in Teknaf, Bangladesh, Sept. 10, 2024. (Abdur Rahman/BenarNews) This week, a BenarNews correspondent visited several villages, including the municipal town of Teknaf, which lies along the border with Myanmar.  According to local officials, Rohingyas are crossing the frontier into Bangladesh every day. “Border Guard Bangladesh and Bangladesh Coast Guard are working to prevent Rohingyas at the border,” Mohammed Adnan Chowdhury, executive officer of Teknaf Upazila sub-district, told BenarNews. “However, some Rohingyas are entering the border in the middle of the night. Many of them are renting houses in the main towns of the city and entering the villages.” He and others described how the recent influx differed from those in the past, including in 2017 when some 740,000 Rohingya fled into Bangladesh’s Cox’s Bazar district over a period of months. Rented digs Most of the new arrivals are businessmen or from relatively well-to-do families in Maungdaw district, Rohingya community leaders said. Feroz, who paid a broker 50,000 Bangladeshi taka (US$418) to enter Bangladesh, is now spending 4,000 taka (US$33) per month to stay in a six-room, tin-roofed house in Teknaf alongside two other Rohingya families already living there.  Another Rohingya, Nur Shahed, is staying in an apartment with another Rohingya family in Teknaf’s Shilbania neighborhood  He said he had intended to take his family to the Kutupalong refugee camp, but there was no more space.  “So many people like me have taken shelter here in villages and in rented houses,” he told BenarNews. Mohammed Rafiq stands at the door of a building in Teknaf, Bangladesh, where he is now living in an apartment with his family after fleeing from Myanmar’s Rakhine state, Sept. 10, 2024. (Abdur Rahman/BenarNews) Immigration expert C.R. Abrar, a professor at Dhaka University, underlined that regardless of their income status, the new arrivals were being forced to come to Bangladesh to save their lives. “Therefore, they should not be treated as criminals under any circumstances; they should be given facilities and security as refugees,” he said, noting that Bangladesh — with its huge refugee population — should pass laws on how to treat them, and participate in related international agreements.  “Those who are outside the refugee camps are in a more vulnerable situation than those inside the camps,” he said. “They are likely to face various forms of harassment and violence. Therefore, they should be taken to the camps, from a humanitarian point of view, as the primary task.” BenarNews is an RFA-affiliated online news organization. We are : Investigative Journalism Reportika Investigative Reports Daily Reports Interviews Surveys Reportika

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Civilians killed as Myanmar rebels attack junta forces in the north

Editor05 mins

Read RFA coverage of this story in Burmese. Thousands of people have fled from fighting between ethnic minority guerrillas and Myanmar junta troops that entered a fifth day on Thursday, and at least 10 civilians have been killed, residents told Radio Free Asia. The autonomy-seeking Kachin Independence Army, or KIA, and allied militias loyal to a shadow civilian administration, have made significant gains in Myanmar’s northernmost Kachin state since launching an offensive in March. The insurgents have forced junta troops in the resource-rich region on the border with China into dwindling areas of control, mirroring setbacks elsewhere in Myanmar for the military that seized power in a 2021 coup. A resident of Hpakant township, a major jade-producing region, said at least 10 civilians were killed in crossfire between insurgents and the military in Hseng Taung village since the anti-junta forces surrounded it and launched an attack on Sunday. “People died after being hit by both heavy and small weapons. There are a lot of wounded,” said the resident who declined to be identified for safety reasons. “Many, many houses have been destroyed. Bullets were raining down.” Junta airstikes also sparked major fires in the town, witnesses said. Most of those killed were men, he said, adding that a peace activist named Yup Zau Hkawng, who was wounded in shelling on Monday. By Thursday, the KIA-led attackers had seized and burned down the Hseng Taung police station, sources close to an anti-junta People’s Defense Force, or PDF, allied with the KIA told RFA. RFA telephoned Kachin state’s junta spokesperson, Moe Min Thein, for comment but he did not respond by the time of publication and a telecommunications outage in the area made it difficult to check accounts of the fighting. About 60 soldiers were at the police station when the attack was launched, said another resident, who also asked to remain anonymous. “The Hseng Taung police station was captured but fighting has been going on after they set it on fire,” he said. “Some junta soldiers are dead, others were caught alive, and the rest were able to flee.”  KIA fighters had sealed off all roads in and out of the village, said the KIA spokesman, Col. Naw Bu. Residents said about 10,000 people had fled from the village over the five days of fighting, many seeking refuge in Nam Hmaw, Hseng Awng and Hpakant towns. The KIA and allied forces control most roads in and out of Hpakant town and have captured all but five junta bases in the township, anti-junta forces say. RELATED STORIES Red Cross chief calls for greater aid access after visit to Myanmar  Myanmar rebels capture last junta base in township on Chinese border China fires into Myanmar after junta airstrike on border, group says  Translated by RFA Burmese. Edited by Kiana Duncan.  We are : Investigative Journalism Reportika Investigative Reports Daily Reports Interviews Surveys Reportika

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Floods swamp Myanmar’s capital, stranding thousands in typhoon’s aftermath

Editor06 mins

Floodwaters as high as five meters (15 feet) submerged parts of Myanmar’s capital Naypyidaw on Wednesday, sweeping away houses and trapping thousands of residents, as the remains of Typhoon Yagi swept inland and dumped rain after battering Vietnam over the weekend. After torrential rains that started Monday, water levels rose to the roofs of hundreds homes in villages around the capital, where the military junta’s top officers live. Some people were stranded on their rooftops. “Floods have swept away some houses,” a resident of Tatkon township told Radio Free Asia. “We remain trapped in the village. We cannot go anywhere. We have called rescue teams, but no one has come.” In Vietnam, the number of people killed or missing from Typhoon Yagi and related natural disasters rose to 292 people, including 152 confirmed deaths, according to Vietnam’s Disaster and Dike Management Authority. The storm – the biggest this year to hit Southeast Asia – battered northern Vietnam and southeastern China on Saturday, causing landslides and a bridge collapse northwest of Hanoi that was captured in dramatic dashcam footage.  Brimming rivers Heavy rainfall over the last several days has dumped water into already brimming rivers in Vietnam, Laos and elsewhere. In Laos, the Mekong River Commission issued a flood warning for Luang Prabang, a popular tourist destination that sits at the confluence of the Mekong River and a major tributary, the Nam Khan. More rain was forecast for Thursday in Luang Prabang and on Friday and Saturday in the capital, Vientiane.  The Mekong River Commission on Wednesday warned of flooding in northeastern Cambodia as water makes its way downriver from overflowing dams in Laos. In Myanmar’s northern Shan state, towns have also been affected by rising waters that have left people without electricity or phone service.  Further south in Kayin state, the Thaungyin River burst its banks in the important border town of Myawaddy on Tuesday, according to a rescue worker who spoke to RFA on condition of anonymity for security reasons. Several residential areas were quickly flooded, and people have since taken shelter at monasteries and schools, he said. About 5,000 have been affected by the flood. “The water level is rising faster and stronger than before in Myawaddy township,” the rescue worker said. “The flood has reached to rooftops in lowland areas.” More flooding is likely to take place in southern Myanmar’s delta region as water makes its way downriver on the Ayeyarwady river, according to meteorologist Win Naing. RFA wasn’t able to contact the junta’s Department of Disaster Management to ask about the status of rescue operations throughout the country. Hanoi evacuations Flooding in the streets of Hanoi prompted the evacuation of thousands of residents near the Red River on Wednesday. In Vietnam’s northern industrial zones, some factories have been forced to close and may not reopen for several weeks, according to Reuters, which cited business executives. Many factories in Quang Ninh and Hai Phong are without power and water, Bruno Jaspaert, CEO of industrial parks in Hai Phong, told Reuters. Several Samsung and Foxconn factories in Thai Nguyen and Bac Giang are also facing the risk of flooding due to rising floodwaters, according to Reuters. Flooding in some areas of northern Vietnam was also being affected by the release of water from a hydropower plant along China’s section of the Lo River, which is a tributary of the Red River. The Vietnamese government said it has asked Beijing to reduce the discharge. Translated by Aung Naing, Anna Vu and Sum Sok Ry. Edited by Matt Reed and Malcolm Foster. RFA Vietnamese and RFA Khmer contributed to this report. We are : Investigative Journalism Reportika Investigative Reports Daily Reports Interviews Surveys Reportika

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Vietnam defense minister Phan Van Giang visits US to boost ties

Editor09 mins

Updated Sept. 10, 2024, 07:03 a.m. ET. Vietnam’s minister of national defense Phan Van Giang is in the U.S. to bolster bilateral security cooperation amid rising tensions in the South China Sea. Vietnam is among the states that claim at least part of the waterway and it has been seeking to strengthen its maritime capabilities, including with purchases of defense technologies and equipment. Giang’s trip is his first official visit to the U.S. since he took office in April 2021. Hanoi and Washington upgraded their relations to the top tier of comprehensive strategic partnership in September 2023, during a visit by U.S. President Joe Biden to Vietnam. Yet their security and defense cooperation, deemed highly sensitive as the two countries fought each other in the past, remains limited and has focused mainly on the legacies of the Vietnam War, such as searching for American soldiers missing in action and decontamination of areas affected by toxic chemicals. U.S. Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin (R) welcomes Vietnamese Defense Minister Gen. Phan Van Giang (L) to the Pentagon in Washington, Sept. 9, 2024. (AP Photo/Kevin Wolf) Gen. Giang and his counterpart, Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin, had a meeting on Monday at the Pentagon, during which they “underscored the importance of working together to overcome war legacies,” according to a summary provided by the Department of Defense. They also “discussed opportunities to deepen defense cooperation, including on defense trade, industrial base resilience, and information sharing,” the department said without providing  further details. Shopping list According to the U.S. government, from 2016 to 2021, it authorized US$29.8 million – a relatively small amount – in defense articles to Vietnam via direct commercial sales. The Defense Department also has more than $118 million in active foreign military sales to Vietnam, mainly of trainer aircraft. This budget would be greatly expanded if Vietnam decided to procure more U.S. equipment, analysts say. “Defense equipment suppliers and subcontractors can expect increased demand for naval combatants, aerial defense, intelligence systems, and surveillance and reconnaissance equipment,” the U.S. government’s International Trade Administration said in its commercial guide. “Maritime security and air defense is where Vietnam has the biggest need, but I would expect Vietnam would start with maritime security first, as this dovetails with U.S. expectations,” said Alexander Vuving, a professor at the Daniel K. Inouye Asia-Pacific Center for Security Studies in Hawaii “But there is no clear-cut distinction between maritime security and air defense. For example, aircraft, radars and missiles are essential in both,” Vuving told Radio Free Asia. RELATED STORIES Closer Vietnam-US ties not based on Beijing issues, says conference Vietnam hosts its first international defense expo Vietnam mulls law that may open market to foreign arms firms US Defense Secretary Austin Meets in Hanoi With Vietnamese Officials The United States and Vietnam signed in 2015 a so-called Joint Vision Statement on defense relations – their most important document setting out defense cooperation, in which maritime security was highlighted. The U.S. has given the Vietnam coast guard two Hamilton-class cutters – a third one is scheduled to be delivered in the near future – as well as tactical drones and patrol boats. Veteran regional military watcher Mike Yeo said that coast guard cutters “would be an obvious item” on Hanoi’s shopping list. “But another possibility is the approval for transfer of subsystems to Vietnam such as jet engines for Korean FA-50 light attack planes should Vietnam decide to buy them,” Yeo said.  “Vietnam hasn’t bought the FA-50 yet but it seems like a logical choice going forward and as the engine used is a U.S. design an export clearance will be needed for any buyers,” he added. Not targeting China The United States lifted its lethal arms embargo on Vietnam in 2016, enabling it to procure U.S. equipment but “it will depend mainly on Vietnam’s needs and the prices,” said Vuving. Vietnam’s defense budget has not been made public, but could be about $7.8 billion in 2024, according to GlobalData. It remains dependent on cheaper Russian arms and equipment but there are efforts to diversify supplies with a major defense expo in Hanoi in 2022 and a second one slated for this December. Before the meeting with Gen. Giang on Monday, Secretary Austin said his department had accepted an invitation to the event that is due to be attended by defense suppliers from dozens of countries including Russia, India, the United Kingdom, Israel and France. Vietnam’s big neighbor China did not attend the first Vietnam Defense Expo and has yet to confirm its attendance at the second. A visitor looks into the U.S. Excelitas’ Merlin-LR Image Intensifier weapon-mounted sight during a defense expo in Hanoi on October 2, 2019. (Nhac Nguyen/AFP) Hanoi is always cautious not to antagonize Beijing while deepening ties with Washington, insisting that any effort to modernize its military is purely for self-defense and not aimed at any  country. “China will watch Vietnam-U.S. relations very closely,” said Vuving. “Beijing is unhappy with any progress in U.S.-Vietnam relations.”  Edited by Mike Firn. Updated to clarify Phan Van Giang’s schedule. We are : Investigative Journalism Reportika Investigative Reports Daily Reports Interviews Surveys Reportika

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Hong Kong turns away German activist as US warns of growing risks

Editor011 mins

Read coverage of this topic by RFA Mandarin, RFA Tibetan or RFA Cantonese. Authorities in Hong Kong have interrogated and denied entry to a German rights activist amid warnings from the United States of growing personal and business risks for those traveling to the city. Immigration officers turned away rights activist David Missal, deputy managing director & press officer for the Berlin-based Tibet Initiative Germany, after he arrived at Hong Kong International Airport on Sept. 7 from Beijing’s Daxing International Airport, according to a copy of an official “Refusal Notice” he shared to his X account on Sunday. “I was just refused entry to Hong Kong,” Missal, who is also the co-founder of a group called Freedom for Hong Kong, wrote in his X post.  “After 13 sleepless hours under immigration examination in the middle of the night, I was told that I could not enter the city and was eventually allowed to take a plane to Vietnam.” Missal, who isn’t the first foreign rights activist to be denied entry to Hong Kong, described being “questioned several times and held in a room without any daylight,” adding that immigration officers also searched his luggage.                    “The police did not provide any reason for the entry refusal. In the end, I was accompanied by plainclothes police officers to the plane to Vietnam,” Missal wrote, adding that he had been allowed to enter mainland China for two weeks on a visa waiver program with no issues. “I hope Hong Kong will be free – one day,” he said. Eroding freedoms Ray Wong, who heads Freedom for Hong Kong, said the erosion of the city’s freedoms was clear to all, including foreign passport-holders. “That Hong Kong has become less free is something not only we, who come from Hong Kong, notice,” Wong said in a statement. “Foreigners are also not safe from the regime’s arbitrariness. The National Security Police has become an instrument of repression.” Tenzyn Zöchbauer, executive director of Tibet Initiative Germany, strongly condemned the treatment of Missal. “It is unacceptable that even private travelers with critical voices are denied entry,” Zöchbauer said. “These measures are not only an alarming sign of the ongoing loss of Hong Kong’s autonomy but also a clear violation of international human rights standards.” Missal told RFA Mandarin in a later interview from Vietnam that the move was an example of China’s “transnational repression.” “The Hong Kong government and a lot of authoritarian countries are doing this now; I think it’s very common,” he said. “It’s pretty scary.” A screenshot of a post on X by David Missal, deputy managing director & press officer for the Berlin-based Tibet Initiative Germany he says shows a plainclothes policeman following him in the Hong Kong airport, Sept. 8, 2024. (@DavidJRMissal via X) Yet Missal was allowed to enter China, spending time in Beijing and southwestern Sichuan province in a private capacity before boarding the plane to Hong Kong.  This suggests the city’s officials are now even more zealous than their mainland Chinese counterparts when it comes to turning away “undesirables.” “I feel like Hong Kong is the same as mainland China now, or it may be more strict, which is a real shame,” Missal said, adding that he didn’t know if the incident would affect his ability to go back to mainland China in future. Personal details probed From Sept. 3, anyone traveling to Hong Kong will have their personal details sent to the city authorities before they board their flight, making it easier for officials to turn away foreign journalists, members of international organizations, and anyone else they see as “undesirable” before they travel. Missal’s denial of entry came as the U.S. government issued risk advisories to American citizens and businesses, warning them of “personal safety and legal risks” when traveling to Hong Kong or doing business there. Five government departments issued a statement to “highlight new and heightened risks” to U.S. companies operating in Hong Kong in the wake of the latest national security legislation, known as “Article 23.” “Hong Kong’s diminishing autonomy from the central government of the People’s Republic of China, creates new risks for businesses and individuals in Hong Kong that were previously limited to mainland China,” the departments said in a joint statement dated Sept. 6. A screenshot of a post on X by David Missal, Deputy managing director & press officer for the Berlin-based Tibet Initiative Germany that shows his denial for entry into Hong Kong, Sept. 8, 2024. (@DavidJRMissal via X) The warnings were aimed at individuals, businesses, academic institutions, media organizations, research service providers and investors operating in Hong Kong, it said. “The vaguely defined nature of the law and previous government statements and actions raise questions about risks associated with routine activities,” it said, in a reference to the “Article 23″ legislation passed in March. The U.S. State Department has warned Americans to “exercise increased caution when traveling to the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region (SAR) due to the arbitrary enforcement of local laws” since April 2024, when its advisory was updated following the implementation of Article 23. ‘I don’t think this ploy will succeed’ The Hong Kong government rejected the advisory as “misleading and untruthful,” accusing Washington of “trying to create panic.” The city’s second-in-command, Chief Secretary for the Administration Eric Chan said the U.S. advisory was an attempt to suppress China’s rise. “The National Security Law has been enacted for a long time and we can all see that we have never groundlessly arrested any business people,” Chan told reporters on Saturday. The warnings “involve an element of intimidation, to scare away business people hoping to invest in Hong Kong. I don’t think this ploy will succeed,” Chan said. Anouk Wear, U.S. Research and Policy Advisor for the London-based rights group Hong Kong Watch, welcomed the U.S. advisory, however. “This advisory … rightly highlights the new and increased risks of operating in Hong Kong,” Wear said in a statement, which called for further sanctions on Hong Kong officials…

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Rebel army captures major Myanmar navy training base

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Read coverage of this story in Burmese. Insurgents in western Myanmar have captured an important military training base after a month of fighting, the rebel army said in a statement, dealing what is likely to be a severe blow to the embattled military. .Arakan Army troops seized the Central Naval Diving and Salvage Depot between Thandwe township’s Maung Shwe Lay and Kwin Waing village in Rakhine state on Thursday, said the ethnic minority insurgent force battling for self-determination.  The Arakan Army, or AA, said the facility was the last naval base held by junta forces in Thandwe township, and it was defended on a “huge-scale” by the junta’s air force and navy as well as more than 1,200 soldiers, including many new graduates from the base. “More than 400 junta soldiers were killed during our attack, and junta weapons, ammunition and equipment were seized,” the AA said in  its statement.  Radio Free Asia was not able to independently verify that toll and the junta main spokesperson, Major Gen. Zaw Min, Tun did not respond to requests for comment.  The AA posted pictures of its fighters standing by a diving boards at the training center. The base is a major navy training facility and its loss will be of huge significance for the military, said Pe Than, a former member of parliament for the Arakan National Party, which in the past had affiliations with the AA. “Losing such a base will affect training as well as fighting. They’ve destroyed the navy and weakened the army, like cutting a man off at the waist,” he said. He said the Danyawaddy Naval Base in Kyaukpyu township, to the north of Thandwe, was the navy’s last facility in Rakhine state. “The military is like a bird with one wing now,” he said. Arakan Army forces after capturing the junta’s Central Naval Diving and Salvage Depot in Rakhine State on Sept. 5, 2024 (Arakan Army Information Desk) The loss of the base will not only dent the junta’s morale and reputation but also bring in more resources for the AA through the control of goods coming through a nearby port, he said. The AA said it expected junta retaliation against civilians in the area. Human rights investigators say junta forces have been increasingly attacking civilian targets as they lose ground to insurgent forces in different parts of the country. The military denies attacking civilians. The Arakan Army, which launched a new offensive against the military in November, controls nine townships in Rakhine state and one in neighboring Chin state, and is battling to take full control of three other townships.  Junta forces have launched crackdowns in the north of the state, near the Bangladesh border, and across the neighboring Ayeyarwady region after AA gains in the south of the state. Translated by RFA Burmese. Edited by Kiana Duncan and Mike Firn. We are : Investigative Journalism Reportika Investigative Reports Daily Reports Interviews Surveys Reportika

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