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Category: ASEAN

Manila rejects Beijing’s account of sea encounter

Editor06 mins

Manila for the second time this month has dismissed China’s version of a military encounter near the disputed Scarborough Shoal in the South China Sea. On Monday the Chinese military said it had monitored and warned off a Philippine warship that it accused of “trespassing” into the waters around the Scarborough Shoal. Senior Col. Tian Junli, the spokesperson for China’s Southern Theater Command, said in a statement that the Philippine frigate “intruded into the waters adjacent to China’s Huangyan Dao without the approval of the Chinese government,” referring to the shoal by its Chinese name. He said the naval and air forces of the Command “tracked, monitored, warned, and restricted the Philippine military vessel according to law.” On Tuesday, Philippine authorities responded with their own version of the incident. National Security Adviser Eduardo M. Año said the Navy’s BRP Conrado Yap (PS-39) “conducted routine patrol operations in the general vicinity of Bajo de Masinloc (Scarborough Shoal) without any untoward incident.” “China is again over hyping this incident and creating unnecessary tensions between our two nations,” Año said. This is the second time in three weeks that China claimed that Manila “violated China’s sovereignty over the reef” and that Chinese law enforcement forces drove Philippine ships away. Both times, the Philippines dismissed China’s claims and insisted that under international law, the Philippines had every right to patrol the area. Test of U.S. commitment “Such incidents will re-occur with increased frequency,” said Carlyle Thayer, a veteran political analyst based in Canberra, Australia. China seized Scarborough Shoal after a standoff with the Philippines in 2012 and has maintained control over it since. Manila brought Beijing to an international tribunal over its claims in the South China Sea, including of the islands, and won but China has refused to accept the 2016 ruling. “China considers Philippine vessels’ activities near the shoal a violation of China’s sovereignty and will react strongly every time,” said Thayer, adding “Beijing doesn’t want to be seen as weak.” This undated photo provided on Sept. 26, 2023, by the Philippine Coast Guard shows the anchor used to hold the floating barrier which was removed by a coast guard diver, in the Scarborough Shoal. Credit: Philippine Coast Guard via AP Another South China Sea scholar, Hoang Viet from the Ho Chi Minh City University of Law, said that the recent rapprochement between the Philippines and the United States under current Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. has also contributed to China’s ramped up response. In February, Manila granted the U.S. access to four more military bases in the country. “China wants to warn those countries which, in its opinion, are seeking to move closer to the U.S.,” Viet said. “With such incidents, Beijing also wants to test Washington’s commitment in the region, especially as the U.S. is being drawn into so many global conflicts and crises,” the analyst said.  The U.S. has repeatedly stated that Article IV of the 1951 U.S.-Philippines Mutual Defense Treaty extends to armed attacks on Philippine armed forces, public vessels, and aircraft – including those of its Coast Guard – anywhere in the South China Sea. For its part, Manila has “embarked on a tactic of assertive transparency,” as noted by Ray Powell from Stanford University’s Gordian Knot Center for National Security Innovation. That means incidents in disputed waters are being reported in a timely and transparent manner.  In late September, the Philippines said China had installed a 300-meter (984-foot) floating barrier to block Philippine fishermen from accessing the waters around the shoal. The Philippine coast guard carried out a “special operation” to cut the barrier and remove its anchor. Jason Gutierrez in Manila contributed to this article. Edited by Mike Firn and Taejun Kang.

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Myanmar junta shutters independent news outlet in Rakhine state

Editor05 mins

Myanmar junta troops raided and shuttered an independent news outlet in Rakhine state on Sunday, arresting one reporter and a guard, while the rest of the staff went into hiding, relatives of the employees said. Soldiers arrested Htet Aung, the Sittwe-based reporter for Development Media Group, or DMG, and night watchman Soe Win Aung, and no one has had any contact with them yet, they said. DMG was established in 2012 along the Thailand-Myanmar border, but later moved its operations to Rakhine’s capital Sittwe. The news outlet covers armed conflict and human rights violations in the western state that borders Bangladesh. When some family members went to the Sittwe police station where the two were detained, police did not allow them to meet, said Ma Aye Yi, mother of Htet Aung. “When I went there to take lunch [to my son], they told me that [he] had been taken to the military security affairs office for interrogation,” she said.  Silencing news outlets The ruling military junta, which seized power in a February 2021 coup, has cracked down on independent media outlets in Myanmar to silence them from reporting about the coup, its violent aftermath, and armed conflict.  In 2021, the junta shut down five media outlets that provided independent coverage of the protests against military rule. This year, the regime threatened legal action against Democratic Voice of Burma TV and Mizzima TV, demanding the shuttered independent news broadcasters pay thousands of dollars in transmission fees, VOA reported in July. Soldiers arrested Htet Aung while he was taking news photos at the Wingabar open field in Rakhine’s capital city. Sometime later, about 20 junta troops with police raided DMG’s office and arrested the night watchman. Development Media Group reporter Htet Aung was arrested by Myanmar junta forces in Sittwe, capital of western Myanmar’s Rakhine state, Oct. 29, 2023. Credit: Htet Aung/Facebook The soldiers and police also confiscated cameras, computers and office accessories before sealing the building, DMG news agency officials said. It was a violent suppression of the independent news media, one news agency official said. “We condemn the arresting of journalists and office staff and raiding of the office,” the person said. “It is an act of terrorism. No matter how they suppress us, we will report the truth from the ground as much as we can.” Not the first time Meanwhile, the families of the other workers who fled to safety said they don’t know about their whereabouts.    RFA’s calls to the state attorney general, who is the junta’s spokesman for Rakhine state, went unanswered. The State Administration Council, as the junta regime is known, has not yet issued a statement about the raid. This isn’t the first time the military has targeted DMG. In 2019, the military and the military-controlled Home Affairs Ministry under the previous civilian-led government filed a criminal case against DMG editor-in-chief Aung Min Oo for allegedly violating Section 17(2) of the country’s Unlawful Associations Act. The military filed defamation lawsuits under Section 66(d) of the Telecommunications Law against other DMG reporters in 2021. Translated by Htin Aung Kyaw for RFA Burmese. Edited by Roseanne Gerin and Malcolm Foster.

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Junta fires at Myanmar monastery, killing 3 children

Editor03 mins

Junta artillery shelling killed five civilians, including three children, in central Myanmar, according to residents.  Troops stationed in Magway region’s Pakokku township approached two nearby villages and fired heavy weapons at them on Sunday. The bullets hit a monastery in Kan Yat Gyi village, injuring five internally displaced people.  The troops were stationed about three miles away from the villages, said a resident, who declined to be named for security reasons. “In Kan Yat Gyi, shells fell into a monastery. Two novice [monks] died on the spot,” they told Radio Free Asia. Both novice monks were 10 years old.  “Shells fell on a house in Kin village around 11:30 in the morning. The villagers were having lunch at the time. They died soon after. One of them died on the road when she was being taken back to the village from the hospital.” Three Kin village locals, 32-year-old Soe Tint Oo and his six-year-old daughter Thet Htar Nwe, as well as 56-year-old Aye Sint, also died in the attack. Junta troops stationed in Pakokku township are also firing at Myaing township’s villages every day with 80-millimeter weapons, despite there being no clashes with People’s Defense Forces for the last three months, residents added. The unpredictable attacks have forced hundreds of residents from Kin village and two others nearby to flee, locals told RFA. Constant attacks are likely meant to discourage resistance groups from entering the area.  RFA’s calls to Magway region’s junta spokesperson Than Swe Win went unanswered. Junta soldiers have killed over 4,000 civilians since the regime seized power in February’s 2021 coup, according to independent monitoring group, Assistance Association for Political Prisoners. Translated by RFA Burmese. Edited by Mike Firn.

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Migration throws Laos’ communist government a lifeline

Editor015 mins

In a rare moment in the international spotlight, Laos was the topic of two articles published by major world media outlets in early October, although not with the sort of headlines the ruling communist party wanted to read.  The BBC ran a piece on October 8 under the banner: “’I feel hopeless’: Living in Laos on the brink”. Days later, the Washington Post went with “China’s promise of prosperity brought Laos debt — and distress”, presumably because the editors thought Laos isn’t interesting enough unless tales of Chinese debt traps are also included.  But both gave an accurate sense of the grim situation most Laotians, especially the young, now find themselves in. As the BBC report began: “Confronted with a barren job market, the Vientiane resident holds no hope of finding work at home, and instead aims to become a cleaner or a fruit picker in Australia.”  Laotians are leaving the country in droves. My estimate is that around 90,000, perhaps more, will have migrated officially by the end of the year, joining around 51,000 who left last year and the hundreds of thousands who have moved abroad earlier. Laos has had a horrendous last few years.  The landlocked Southeast Asian nation didn’t do particularly well during the COVID-19 pandemic. Since the early months of 2021, it has had one of the worst inflation rates in Asia, peaking at 41.3 percent in February and still hovering at around 25 percent. The kip, the local currency, is collapsing; it hit an all-time low in mid-September when it was trading in commercial banks at 20,000 to the U.S.  dollar, compared to around 8000 (US$44) in 2019. An acquaintance in Vientiane tells me that it used to cost 350,000 kip to fill up his car with diesel in 2019; today, it’s closer to 1.2 million kip (US$58)  and the price keeps rising—and bear in mind that the minimum wage is now just 1.6 million kip  (US$77), per a tiny increase in October. Another correspondent of mine, a foreigner, says he’s now leaving: “It’s got to the point where I’m just… done!”  Motorcyclists line up for gas in Laos amid shortages, May 10, 2022. Credit: RFA The communist government is hopeless in responding, and not even the rare resignation of a prime minister last December has added any vitality to its efforts. Worse, far larger structural problems remain. The national debt, probably around 120 percent of GDP, puts Laos at risk of defaulting every quarter. It cannot continue to borrow so the authorities are jacking up taxation, and because of flagrant corruption, the burden falls more heavily than it should on the poor.  Looking ahead, what is the national debt if not a tax deferred on the young and yet-to-be-born? There are not enough teachers in schools and not enough schools for students. Attendance rates have plummeted. Public expenditure on education and health, combined, has fallen from 4.2 percent of GDP in 2017 to just 2.6 percent last year, according to the World Bank’s latest economic update. More than two-thirds of low-income families say they have slashed spending on education and healthcare since the pandemic began, it also found. According to the BBC report, 38.7 percent of 18-to-24-year-olds are not in education, employment or training, by far the highest rate in Southeast Asia. A Laotian youth told me that few people want to waste money on bribes to study at university when they can quickly study Korean and try to get a high-paying factory job in Seoul.  In June, an International Labour Organization update gave a summary of the numbers of Laotians leaving by official means, as estimated by the Ministry of Labour and Social Welfare:  Thailand 2022: 51,501 (29,319 women) 2023, up until 30 June: 42,246 (23,126 women) Malaysia 2022: 469 men Japan 2022: 312 (122 women) 2023, up until 30 June: 289 (120 women)  South Korea, long-term (3 years contract) 2022: 796 (194 women) 2023, up until 30 June: 389 (54 women)  South Korea, short-term seasonal workers (5 months contract) 2022: 1,356 (598 women) The first thing to note is that this is emigration by official channels. To Japan and South Korea, that official process is arduous and involves a lengthy contract procedure before leaving the country. However, the workers in South Korea can earn in a day what they would earn in a month in Laos.  It’s less strenuous getting to Thailand although a considerable number of Laotians emigrate there by unofficial means, hopping across the border and not registering that they’ve left. In 2019, the Thai authorities estimated that there were around 207,000 Lao migrants working legally and 30,000 illegally, but the actual number of legal and illegal workers could have been as high as 300,000. (No one really knows how many Laotians work illegally in Thailand.) Also, consider how many Laotians have left the country so far this year compared to 2022. If we assume that emigration flows keep the same pace in the last six months of 2023 as they did in the first six, around 84,000 Laotians will have officially emigrated to Thailand by the end of this year, up from 51,000 in 2022.   In April, a National Assembly delegate castigated the government for the fact that “workers have left factories in Laos for jobs in other countries because the wages paid by factories here are not keeping pace with the rising cost of living…As a result, factories in Laos are facing a labor shortage.”  Saving grace? But isn’t this actually a saving grace for the communist Lao People’s Revolutionary Party (LPRP), at least in the short term? Much woe betide is made of Laos’ land-locked geography but it is rather convenient to border five countries, four of which are wealthier, if you want to avoid a situation of having disaffected, unemployed or poorly paid youths hanging around doing nothing but getting increasingly angry at their dim prospects. Conventional wisdom holds that authoritarian regimes constrain emigration as it can lead to mass labor shortages, one reason…

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Ethnic alliance launches offensive on junta in eastern Myanmar

Editor09 mins

An alliance of three ethnic armies opened an offensive against Myanmar’s military regime on Friday, launching attacks on outposts in seven different locations in Shan state, in the east, including the headquarters of the junta’s Northeastern Command. At around 4:00 a.m., the Northern Alliance made up of the Ta’ang National Liberation Army, Myanmar National Democratic Alliance Army and the Arakan Army simultaneously struck junta positions in the strategic Shan cities of Kunlong, Theinni, Chin Shwe Haw, Laukkaing, Namhkan, Kutkai, and Lashio – the state’s largest municipality. In a statement, the alliance said “Operation 1027” – named for the Oct. 27 date of the offensive – was initiated to protect the lives and property of civilians, defend its three member armies, and exert greater control over the self-administered regions within their territories. It said the operation was also part of a bid to reduce the junta’s air and artillery strike capabilities, remove the military regime from power, and crack down on criminal activities – including online scam operations – that have proliferated along the country’s northeastern border with China. Residents of Shan state told RFA Burmese that at least eight civilians were killed in Friday’s fighting, including three children. The number of combatant casualties was not immediately available, as the clashes were ongoing at the time of publishing. Pho Wa, a resident of Hopang, near Chin Shwe Haw in Shan’s Kokang region, said there were “many casualties” among junta troops and civil servants, and that key infrastructure, including bridges, had been destroyed, slowing the flow of goods in and out of the area. “Since multiple checkpoints … were raided, many customs agents, police officers and soldiers were killed,” he said. “The residents of Chin Shwe Haw have fled to [a region] administered by an [ethnic] Wa force called Nam Tit. Many are still trapped in Chin Shwe Haw city.” Residents said Myanmar National Democratic Alliance Army, or MNDAA, troops raided the downtown area of Chin Shwe Haw on Friday afternoon. They said inhabitants of Laukkaing were urgently preparing to flee the area ahead of an anticipated raid on the city by the armed group Kutkai and Lashio clashes In Kutkai township, Ta’ang National Liberation Army, or TNLA, soldiers attacked a pro-junta Pan Saye militia outpost on Friday morning, leading to fierce fighting, residents said. Myanmar National Democratic Alliance Army soldiers seize Myanmar military security gate near Laukkai city in Northern Shan state, Friday, Oct. 27, 2023. Credit: Screenshot from AFP video A woman from Kutkai said that junta troops based in nearby Nam Hpat Kar village counterattacked with artillery fire, drawing the village into the battlezone. At least two civilians – a man and a child – were killed and five others wounded, she said, speaking on condition of anonymity due to fear of reprisal. “I think there were more than 30 artillery strikes this morning,” the woman said. “Clashes broke out when the TNLA attacked the [junta’s] outposts … That’s why they counterattacked with artillery from Nam Hpat Kar, but many of the shells fell on Nam Hpat Kar village.” A 40-year-old man was also killed in a military air strike amid fighting near Kutkai’s Nawng Hswe Nam Kut village, residents said. In Mong Ko township, fighting between junta forces and MNDAA troops has been fierce since Friday morning, and at midday the junta sent two combat helicopters to attack, residents said. Junta outposts near villages of Tar Pong, Nar Hpa and Mat Hki Nu in Lashio township, which is the seat of the military’s Northeastern Command, as well as a toll gate in Ho Peik village, were attacked Friday morning. Lashio residents said they heard the sound of heavy weapons until 7:00 p.m. on Friday and that all flights out of the city’s airport had been suspended amid the clashes. Due to the complicated and fast-moving situation in the villages around Lashio, the exact number of casualties is not yet known, but a rescue worker said that two people had been injured and sent to the hospital. Fighting in the area was tense until noon on Friday. ‘Strategic shift’ for region RFA reached out to TNLA spokesperson Lt. Col. Tar Aik Kyaw regarding the alliance operation, but had yet to receive a response by the time of publishing. Attempts to contact the MNDAA and Arakan Army, or AA, went unanswered Friday. Myanmar’s shadow National Unity Government’s ministry of defense welcomed the operation in a statement. RFA was unable to reach junta Deputy Information Minister Major Gen. Zaw Min Tun for comment, but he confirmed to local media that fighting had taken place in Chin Shwe Haw, Laukkaing, Theinni, Kunlong and Lashio townships.  He said that the military and police had “suffered casualties” in attacks on outposts at Chin Shwe Haw’s Phaung Seik and Tar Par bridges. Chinese foreign ministry spokesperson Mao Ning told reporters at a regularly scheduled press conference that Beijing is “closely following” the latest fighting along its border and called for dialogue between all parties to avoid escalation of the situation. Speaking to RFA on Friday, military commentator Than Soe Naing said that the alliance operation was retaliation for recent junta attacks on the headquarters of their ally, the Kachin Independence Army, in Lai Zar, a remote town in Kachin state on the border with China. “I consider this to be a strategic shift for the entire northern region, centered on Shan state,” he said. Translated by Htin Aung Kyaw. Edited by Joshua Lipes and Malcolm Foster.

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Junta troops capture 15 Myanmar villagers to use as human shields

Editor03 mins

Junta troops arrested 15 people and displaced more than 10,000 during raids in northern Myanmar, residents told Radio Free Asia on Friday. Around 130 troops entered Sagaing region’s Tabayin township on Thursday, prompting more than 10,000 people to abandon some 10 villages in the area.  Soldiers captured 15 people remaining in Shan Taw village to use as human shields, according to locals. In the evening, the battalion also raided and burned down homes in Boke Htan village, roughly two miles away.  Locals don’t know the condition of the detainees or the full extent of the damage in their village, because as of Friday afternoon junta forces still occupied Boke Htan.  “Last night, I saw flames for about an hour, so I think that at least 10 homes will be burned down,” said one local who declined to be named for fear of reprisals. “They are still in the village, so I can’t say exactly.” The number of arrests may be higher than 15, because some people are still missing from Shan Taw village, he added. The troops have been razing parts of western Tabayin township since Saturday, when another 10,000 villagers fled. RFA called Sagaing region’s junta spokesperson Sai Naing Naing Kyaw seeking comment on the raids, but he did not reply by the time of publication.  Throughout October, junta troops have conducted several devastating multi-day raids through Sagaing region’s southern townships. Residents have accused the convoys of killing nine locals, including teenagers who were beaten and beheaded, in addition to burning villages and ambushing villagers with heavy weaponry and landmines. A five-day raid from Oct. 12 to 16 displaced more than 45,000 villagers. More than 800,000 people in Sagaing region have been forced to flee their homes due to violence since the Feb. 1, 2021 coup, according to the United Nations. Translated by RFA Burmese. Edited by Mike Firn.

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Vietnamese fisherfolk protest dock construction project

Editor07 mins

Dozens of residents from a fishing area in north-central Vietnam this week have protested the building of a port project, despite police launching a criminal investigation of them for disturbing public order, demonstrators said. On Wednesday, Thanh Hoa provincial authorities mobilized dozens of police officers to force protesting fisherfolk — mostly women — to leave the construction site where a dock is being built, one of the sources said. Though they stayed, police did not take any measures against them and left the area at noon. About 300 residents of Hai Ha commune first took to the streets on the morning of Oct. 23 with banners and placards to show their opposition to the Long Son Container Port project, which they say will adversely affect their livelihoods and living environment.  “We don’t want the Long Son Container Port project because it is located in the coastal area we inherited from our ancestors, and it has been passed down from generation to generation,” said a villager on Wednesday who declined to be named out of fear of reprisal by authorities. Fishing provides the only income to cover her family’s expenditures, including her children’s education expenses, she said.  “If the port is built, residents like us will be adversely affected by pollution, and there will be no places for our boats to anchor and no places for us to trade seafood,” she said. Generating income Long Son Ltd. Co. is investing more than US$30 million to build the 15-hectare (37-acre) project, which will have a 250-meter (820-foot) dock. It is expected to be operational in 2025.  The project will play a crucial role in the development of the first dedicated container port area at Nghi Son Port, according to state-run Vietnam News Agency. Once Dock No. 3 is built, it will serve as a dike against waves and winds and create a 10-hectare (33-foot) water area for local fishermen to safely anchor their boats. The port is expected to generate revenue and jobs in Thanh Hoa province, including Hai Ha commune.  State media reported that Thanh Hoa provincial authorities conducted thorough studies and environmental assessments as well as consulted local people on the project.  But the woman said representatives of the authorities only went around to people’s homes to try to persuade them not to oppose the project and its implementation.  The protest on Oct. 23 prompted Nghi Son town police to file charges against them for obstructing traffic and causing a kilometer-long (0.6 mile) vehicle backup. Police at the scene took photos of the protesters, recorded videos and collected other information, some villagers involved in the demonstration said.  Police also issued an order requiring Hai Ha residents to adhere to the law and not to gather in groups to disrupt public order, incite others, or be enticed to obstruct the construction of Dock No. 3 of the Long Son Container Port project.  Threatened with arrest Police threatened them with arrest for disrupting public order — which carries a sentence of up to seven years in prison — if they continued. Hai Ha commune includes nearly 3,000 households with about 11,000 inhabitants, most of whom rely on fishing to make a living. The villagers say they fear that port officials will cut off their access to the waters where they fish and prohibit them from anchoring their boats. Villagers ignored the police order and continued their protest on Tuesday and Wednesday, hoping to prevent the dock’s construction.   The woman quoted above said that the villagers are not afraid of going to jail because they don’t want to lose their home beach. But if they have to relocate as a result of a loss of livelihoods, villagers will expect satisfactory compensation and a new living area with spaces to safely anchor their boats, she said. “We staged a march and did not offend anyone or did not cause any harm,” she said. “None of us offended the police. We followed the traffic law, [and] we walked on the roadside and stayed in rows.”  The port will join four other industrial projects surrounding the 1,200-hectare (2,965-acre) commune. The others are a cement factory, a port for coal transportation in the north, a thermal power plant in the west, and a steel factory in the south. Though the projects have created jobs for locals, they have also created serious environmental pollution, negatively affecting residents’ lives, a second woman said. Translated by Anna Vu for RFA Vietnamese. Edited by Roseanne Gerin and Malcolm Foster.

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Newborns and women among 50 detained in southern Myanmar

Editor03 mins

Myanmar troops arrested around 50 villagers in an act of retaliation, locals told Radio Free Asia on Wednesday. After a local People’s Defence Force attacked a junta outpost, soldiers captured women, children and entire families from a nearby village. While the army has already released some detainees, others remain in custody in Tanintharyi, the country’s southern coastal region. Locals from Myeik township said soldiers captured them on Monday following a clash that allegedly left several junta soldiers dead. The arrests are ongoing, a resident who did not want to be named for security reasons told RFA on Wednesday. “They arrested all the villagers in Tone Byaw Gyi village. There are entire families, even mothers with newborn babies,” he said. “Some were released. Some are still being arrested.” The militia group attacked the post in Tone Byaw Gyi last week, an official from the local People’s Defense Force said. “We tried to seize the outpost, but we couldn’t because they laid many landmines around it,” he said, asking to remain anonymous for fear of reprisals.  “We left the battle because we were out of arms and ammunition. Our side lost a drone in the battle.” Junta forces are treating villagers harshly because of their heavy losses, he said, adding that 12 soldiers were killed and six were injured. RFA has been unable to confirm these claims. Tanintharyi region’s junta spokesperson Thant Zin did not respond to RFA’s request for comment by the time of publication.  The junta outpost in Tone Byaw Gyi is the site of many ongoing clashes since the country’s 2021 coup, with local resistance groups bombing the outpost in July.  Regime troops arrested over 3,200 people in Tanintharyi region between April 2022 and September 2023. Among them, 2,141 were released, according to the independent research group that goes only by the initials FEB Tanintharyi. More than 25,000 people, including pro-democracy activists, have been arrested since the coup, according to the Assistance Association for Political Prisoners. Translated by RFA Burmese. Edited by Mike Firn.

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Lao officials, villagers in the dark about impacts of new railway

Editor07 mins

Construction of the Laos-Vietnam high-speed railway is expected to begin in early 2024, but its potential impacts on villagers who live along the planned route through Laos’ Khammouane province have not yet been made public, provincial officials and residents said. The US$6.3 billion, 555-kilometer (345-mile) railway is being built under a public-private partnership and will connect Laos’ capital Vientiane to the Vietnamese seaport of Vung Ang in Ha Tinh province. The cross-border railway is a joint venture between Petroleum Trading Lao Public Company and Vietnam’s Deo Ca Group Joint Stock Company. The project is part of a larger plan by the Lao government to build several new railroads to increase trade in the mostly poor, landlocked country. The 150 kilometers (93 miles) of railway built during the first phase of construction in Laos will run from the Lao-Thai border in Khammouane province’s Thakhek district to the Lao-Vietnamese border.  During phase two, 313 kilometers (194 miles) will be built from the Laos-Thai border to Vientiane. The project survey and design for this phase has yet to be completed. The project’s environmental impact assessment and an environmental and social impact assessment have been completed but not disclosed to the public, the sources said. An official from the province’s Department of Natural Resources and the Environment told Radio Free Asia that he didn’t know how many Lao residents would be affected by the construction because the companies involved have not shared the information with him. “Everything has to be based on the information from the companies,” he said Monday. “I have not seen any reports about how many families and villages will be affected. The district has not been informed.” Major infrastructure projects in Laos, such as hydropower dams and other railways, have caused the forced relocation of villagers and the loss of land they use along with their planted crops. Those affected have complained of being shortchanged on monetary compensation offered by the companies involved in the projects. An official from Khammouane province’s People’s Council told RFA on Monday that he has not seen the assessments either, so he doesn’t know how many villagers will lose their land or be relocated. Representatives of companies involved in the Laos-Vietnam railway sign the contract for the project in Vientiane, Laos, Aug. 31, 2023. Credit: Vientiane Times Villagers express concern Some residents who believe they may be affected by the project said they have not received any information, and there is no relevant office they can go to for information about the project’s impacts. A villager in Thakhek district said he has not received any information about the railway construction project and that provincial administrators have not informed villagers because they are afraid that some will oppose the project and demand fair compensation.  With other development projects in the province, some affected residents complained about receiving low compensation, he said. The villagers were not happy about receiving compensation that was less than the market value of land they lost, he said.  “The Lao government rarely reports on this via state media,” the villager added. Another villager in Mahaxay district said she learned about the railway project via social media, but officials have yet to inform villagers about the potential impacts. The signing ceremony for the construction took place in Vientiane in late August between Petroleum Trading Lao Public Company, South Korea’s Yooshin Engineering Corporation, and Korea National Railway, which were tasked with conducting a detailed design study of the railway before construction began. Chanthone Sitthixay, chairman of Petroleum Trading Lao Public Company, told Lao Star Channel on Aug. 31 that phase one of the railways in Laos was expected to take a little over two years to complete. In Vietnam, the railway will span 103 kilometers (64 miles) from the Laos-Vietnam border to Vung Ang seaport. The Laos-Vietnam railway is expected to be completed and enter into operation by 2028. Translated by Phouvong for RFA Lao. Edited by Roseanne Gerin and Matt Reed.

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Myanmar junta gives 6 men life sentences under martial law

Editor04 mins

Myanmar’s junta gave life sentences to six men, lawyers told Radio Free Asia on Tuesday.  In a five-day military trial ending Monday, a tribunal sentenced the men for alleged acts of terrorism.  The punishment is especially harsh because they were sentenced in an area under martial law, one lawyer said. “If they can hire a lawyer for cases like these in civil courts, the maximum prison sentence is just 10 years,” he told RFA. The Northwestern Military Command tribunal found them guilty of supporting their local People’s Defense Force and related activities prohibited under the country’s notorious counter-terrorism laws.  The trial started on Thursday in Sagaing region in northwest Myanmar, where those accused include people from four townships.  Pale township’s Zayar Myo and Than Zaw Linn, Shwebo township’s Min Khant Kyaw, Banmauk township’s Than Naing Oo and Indaw township’s Hein Min Thu and Zaw Myint Tun all live in areas under harsh military law. Heavy punishments have often been imposed by the military just on suspicion after martial law was declared in Sagaing region, an official of the Yinmabin township’s People’s Defense Force said.  “If anyone is even suspected of supporting the revolution without participating, severe punishments are handed down. They [the junta] are above the law,” he said. Given the large presence of anti-junta groups in the area, some resistance soldiers say the military has begun arresting people without any due cause.  In early September, seven people in Sagaing region were sentenced to lengthy prison terms, including life in prison. One People’s Defence Force officer said the accused had no connection to any local resistance group.  In the seven months following the implementation of martial law, the Myanmar military arrested and imprisoned 30 Ayadaw township residents and sentenced 10 Indaw residents to death and life in prison.  Calls to Sagaing region’s junta spokesperson Sai Naing Naing Kyaw seeking comment on the sentences went unanswered. Fourteen townships in Sagaing region, including Pale, Shwebo, Banmauk and Indaw have been under martial law since February 2023, shortly after the military extended its emergency rule nationwide.  Since then, military courts have sentenced 285 civilians to prison terms, according to pro-junta broadcast groups on the messaging app Telegram. Translated by RFA Burmese. Edited by Mike Firn.

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