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China faces diplomatic setback in its push for influence in Pacific islands

Editor08 mins

China and 10 small Pacific island nations have failed to sign a Beijing-initiated agreement amid concerns in the region about geopolitical power play. An analyst said that was a diplomatic setback to China. It followed expressions of concern to Pacific nations from the U.S. and regional powers, but it was unlikely to diminish Beijing’s ambitions to expand its influence in the region. Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi was seeking to conclude the sweeping security and trade pact, dubbed the China-Pacific Island Countries Common Development Vision, at a meeting with Pacific counterparts in Fiji on Monday.  Wang is on an unprecedented 10-day, Pacific tour that includes the Solomon Islands, Kiribati, Samoa, Fiji, Tonga, Vanuatu, Papua New Guinea and Timor-Leste.  A draft copy of the pact seen by news agencies covers multiple sectors from security to data communication to fisheries.  Monday’s meeting, however, ended without an agreement because participating ministers couldn’t reach a consensus, Fijian Prime Minister Frank Bainimarama was quoted as saying by Australian broadcaster ABC. Bainimarama, who is also Fiji’s foreign minister, posted on Twitter afterward: “The Pacific needs genuine partners, not superpowers that are super-focused on power.” What Fiji was looking for in the cooperation with China was “stronger Chinese commitment to keep 1.5 alive, end illegal fishing, protect the #BluePacific’s ocean, and expand Fijian exports.” By “keep 1.5 alive” the prime minister was referring to the commitment to prevent global warming from exceeding more than 1.5 degrees Celsius above pre-industrial levels. Before that, Bainimarama also tweeted that “our greatest concern isn’t geopolitics – it’s climate change.” Fiji’s Prime Minister Frank Bainimarama speaks at a press conference at the Pacific Islands Foreign Ministers’ meeting in Suva, Fiji, May 30, 2022. Credit: Fiji government. Australia’s diplomatic efforts Fiji has just accepted a U.S. invitation to become a founding member of the newly-launched Indo-Pacific Economic Framework that comprises a dozen countries in the region. Several Pacific island nations have expressed concern about being caught up in superpower competition. Federated States of Micronesia’s President David Panuelo earlier urged “serious caution” about signing the agreement with China, which he said “is demonstrative of China’s intention to shift Pacific allegiances in their direction.”  Panuelo warned that “the Common Development Vision threatens to bring a new Cold War era at best, and a World War at worst.” The United States, Australia and New Zealand have been expressing concerns about China’s growing influence and security foothold in the Pacific. On the same day that Wang Yi started his eight-nation tour, Australia sent its new foreign minister, Penny Wong, to Fiji with promises that the new Labor government will renew the focus on climate change and continued economic support for the region. Alexander Vuving, a professor at the Asia-Pacific Center for Security Studies, a U.S. Department of Defense institute based in Hawaii, said: “I think the shelving of the China-Pacific Islands deal at the last minute resulted from pressure by the United States, Australia, and maybe some other regional powers. Penny Wong’s visit is part of this effort.”  “This is a diplomatic victory for these ‘China-wary’ nations and a diplomatic defeat for China,” he said, but added that China “will not accept a defeat.” The Chinese Ambassador to Fiji, Qian Bo, while admitting that some Pacific countries had “some concerns on some specific issues” said that there has been general support for the plan. China’s Foreign Ministry also hailed the foreign ministers’ meeting as a “success” and “an important step towards reaching the final agreement.” ‘Greater harmony, greater progress’ Foreign Minister Wang was telling his counterparts after Monday’s meeting: “Don’t be too anxious and don’t be too nervous.”   “Because the common development and prosperity of China and all the other developing countries would only mean great harmony, greater justice and greater progress of the whole world,” he was quoted by news agencies as saying. Meanwhile Global Times, a mouthpiece of the Chinese Communist Party, condemned “a few people” in the Pacific island countries, who “under the pressure and coercion of the U.S. and former colonizer, may be willing to serve American interests at the cost of their national and people’s interests.” During the foreign minister’s visits to Kiribati and Samoa, China signed separate bilateral deals with the two nations. The agreements signed in Kiribati last Friday focus on a range of areas including development planning, infrastructure, health and pandemic response, climate change, and maritime affairs. In Samoa on Saturday, China and Samoa signed an economic and technical cooperation agreement and two smaller cooperation projects, including for the construction of a police academy, according to a Samoan government statement. “The agreements China is signing with the Pacific Islands nations today represent the early steps on the road toward more ambitious goals,” said Vuving. “They may just talk about security cooperation in vague terms, but they are to pave the way for China’s ultimate military presence,” he said.

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UN: 1 billion meth pills seized in East, Southeast Asia last year

Editor07 mins

Tons of methamphetamine have been produced, trafficked and used in East and Southeast Asia where a record 1 billion methamphetamine tablets were seized in 2021, a United Nations agency says in a new report, warning that the synthetic drug trade has expanded and diversified. Regional law enforcers seized more than 170 metric tons of methamphetamine in tablets and crystal form, an all-time high, the United Nations Office of Drugs and Crime (UNODC) said in a report, “Synthetic Drugs in East and Southeast Asia.” In addition, the record 1 billion tablets were seven times more than the 143 million seized a decade ago, UNODC said, adding that more than 90 percent of the recent tablet seizures occurred in Thailand, Laos, Myanmar, Cambodia and Vietnam. “The region is literally swimming in methamphetamine and I think it’s high time that the region starts taking a hard look at policies in place to address the problem,” Jeremy Douglas, Southeast Asia regional representative for the UNODC, told reporters at a news conference in Bangkok on Monday to announce the report. “So, there’s going to have to be a radical policy shift to address this problem or it’s just going to continue to grow.” The 1 billion tablets, which would weigh about 91 tons, were part of a regionwide seizure of 171.5 tons of methamphetamine, the UNODC report said, adding that about 79 tons of crystal methamphetamine, which is smoked by users, were seized last year. Methamphetamine is the region’s most popular drug. Douglas said the “scale and reach of the methamphetamine and synthetic drug trade … is staggering, and yet it can continue to expand.” Law enforcers display bags of seized methamphetamine tablets during the 50th Destruction of Confiscated Narcotics ceremony in Ayutthaya province, Thailand, June 26, 2020. Credit: Reuters. The so-called Golden Triangle – Thailand, Laos, and Myanmar – has long been a hotspot for drug production and trafficking, primarily because of lax policing, porous borders and political instability, authorities have said. “Organized crime syndicates and armed groups have exploited the pandemic and political instability in the Golden Triangle and border areas of Myanmar to expand production the past year,” Douglas said in a statement, referring to COVID-19 and the February 2021 junta overthrow of the Myanmar government. “There are very few drug labs found in the region outside the Triangle anymore, the supply continues to surge and governments and agencies continue to report the same source.” According to UNODC, Laos “has become a major transshipment point for trafficking into Thailand and other parts of the Mekong and the Asia Pacific.” At the same time, Malaysia “has also been used extensively for transit and trafficking to Indonesia, the Philippines, Japan, Australia and New Zealand.” The increase in methamphetamine supply resulted in wholesale and street prices falling to all-time lows, especially in Malaysia and Thailand, the UNODC said. The drop in price “is particularly concerning as it has become much more accessible and available to those that could not afford it before,” said Kavinvadee Suppapongtevasakul, a UNODC regional drugs analyst. “The social consequences of increased use are significant, and health and harm reduction services remain limited across the region,” she said. “It is also likely that use has been seriously underestimated for years as most countries in the region do not monitor or study drug demand.” In a news release on Monday, a Thai official said addressing “the methamphetamine situation is a top priority” for the government. “We are working with UNODC and international and regional partners to update our laws and policies, develop important forensic, data and operational capacities, and address priorities including chemical trafficking,” said Thanakorn Kaiyanunta, deputy secretary-general at the Thai Narcotics Control Board. Primary meth source The report noted that Myanmar’s northern Shan state remains the region’s primary source of methamphetamine. Laos, dubbed “a soft target for traffickers” by Douglas, registered a more than a 669 percent jump in interceptions of meth tablets in 2021. In October 2021, police seized more than 55.6 million meth pills and 1,500 kg of crystal meth in a single raid in one of Asia’s biggest drug busts, according to state media. In January, authorities seized more than 36 million tablets and 590 kg of crystal methamphetamine. “Drug control authorities in the region have indicated that organized crime groups have also targeted Lao PDR for tableting of the drug,” the report said referring to the country by its proper name, the Lao People’s Democratic Republic. BenarNews is an RFA-affiliated online news service.

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Analysts: US notches win in wooing ASEAN countries to join economic deal

Editor013 mins

The United States has scored a win in its efforts to counter Beijing’s influence in Southeast Asia by getting most members of the ASEAN bloc to join the Biden administration’s new Indo-Pacific Economic Framework for Prosperity deal, analysts say. Although IPEF lacks the heft of a formal international trade agreement, according to analysts, the interest that seven members of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations have shown in it reflects their desire for greater U.S. engagement to balance out a regional economy dominated by China. Even in the weeks before President Joe Biden unveiled the deal at a conference in Tokyo, few ASEAN states were expected to join it, said one expert. “Well, I was surprised that so many ASEAN countries were initially part of the deal. This is a coup for the United States in a way,” Elina Noor, deputy director at the Asia Society Policy Institute in Washington, told BenarNews. The Biden administration has touted the framework as the bulwark of its economic strategy in the Indo-Pacific region. IPEF’s stated goals are ensuring the smooth and supple flow of goods, the use of the same digital economy standards, green and clean work processes and fair and honest business. “IPEF will strengthen our ties in this critical region to define the coming decades for technological innovation and the global economy,” the White House said in a statement launching IPEF on May 23. In addition to Brunei, Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam – all members of the 10-nation ASEAN bloc – Australia, India, Japan, New Zealand and South Korea also signed up as initial members. Hunter Marston, an international affairs analyst at Australian National University, had expected Singapore and Thailand to join the IPEF at the start, but that other ASEAN members would join later. “[I]t did surprise me a bit [that others joined initially]. … It was a major policy win for Biden,” Marston told BenarNews. “It shows that the region still supports the U.S. It is a signal there is a lot of interest in Washington’s continued engagement in the region. They see Washington’s engagement as critical to maintaining balance of power in the region.” China’s economic reach in Southeast Asia eclipses that of the U.S. China has been ASEAN’s largest trading partner for 12 consecutive years, with 2020 trade reaching nearly U.S. $517 billion, according to the regional bloc’s statistics, and $685 billion according to China’s statistics. By contrast, in 2020 U.S-ASEAN trade stood at $362 billion. Meanwhile, a regional survey of policy experts in ASEAN states conducted late last year showed that China is still seen as the most influential economic and political power, but that “has created more awe than affection.” Trust in Beijing dropped by about three percentage points, while trust in the U.S. rose by 18 percent compared with the previous year. “China is the only major power that has increased its negative ratings … the majority worry that such economic heft, combined with China’s military power, could be used to threaten their country’s interest and sovereignty” according to the State of Southeast Asia 2021 Survey published by the ISEAS-Yusof Ishak Institute in Singapore. In such a scenario, “if there is one thing the U.S. could do to reassure a Southeast Asia worried about U.S. commitment to the region, it is expand economic ties,” analyst Anne Marie Murphy at Seton Hall University told BenarNews before Biden launched IPEF. According to Marston, a security partnership alone would make ASEAN uncomfortable.  “It is less appealing without an economic component because an economic role gives ASEAN the pretense of working with the U.S. on other fronts not aimed at containing China,” he said. Four pillars But does the IPEF go far enough? “The framework doesn’t have a lot of substance,” Marston said. He was referring to how the IPEF is not a trade deal like the CPTPP, or Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership, or its predecessor, the Trans-Pacific Partnership. The U.S. once belonged to and had led negotiations on the latter until President Donald Trump pulled the superpower out of the agreement. China isn’t part of the CPTPP, but has applied to join, and Singapore, an influential economic member of ASEAN, has backed Beijing’s bid. The major trading bloc in the region is the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP), which the U.S. isn’t part of, but which includes China, most ASEAN states, as well as other big Indo-Pacific economies. IPEF is no RCEP or CPTPP, in Marston’s view. “This is definitely not a trade deal,” he said. “Calling it an economic framework is better, as watery as it sounds. It’s like the COP 26 – a pledge to participate that doesn’t require any enforcement,” he said, referring promises to reduce carbon emissions that were made at the 26th United Nations Climate Change conference. That means the U.S. doesn’t offer its partners in the agreement access to its markets or any tariff breaks. Therefore, any business deal under IPEF – whether one insists on green protocols or anti-corruption mechanisms – has no binding clauses, unlike in a trade agreement where in exchange for market access, partners have to adhere to certain standards. IPEF is the opposite of a multilateral trade agreement, “the traditional grail of free-traders,” according to Robert Kuttner, a professor at Brandeis University. “Countries can decide which areas they want to join; and not all deals with all participating countries will be the same,” he wrote in an article in Prospect magazine. Some critics say that is the reason Washington found so many Southeast Asian takers as initial partners in IPEF. Analyst Robert Manning, who calls walking away from what was called the TPP “a major strategic mistake,” is one of them. “I wasn’t surprised [so many countries joined]. The U.S. lowered the bar on all four pillars. No one had to sign on to any standards,” Manning, a senior fellow at the Atlantic Council, a Washington think tank, told BenarNews. The four pillars Manning referred to are resilient economy, or the creation of a…

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China, Australia vie for influence, as Beijing touts vision for the Pacific

Editor09 mins

As China launched a high-level diplomatic mission to build its influence in the Pacific islands, Australia’s new government responded with one of its own, promising to bring “more energy and resources” to the remote region. China’s Foreign Minister Wang Yi arrived Thursday in the Solomon Islands, kicking off a 10-day Pacific tour that will include Kiribati, Samoa, Fiji, Tonga, Vanuatu, Papua New Guinea and Timor-Leste.  Wang is hoping to strike a deal with 10 small nations. A draft copy of a so-called Common Development Vision seen by Reuters and the Associated Press covers multiple sectors from security to data communication to fisheries. China plans to reach some agreement on it at a meeting between Wang and his Pacific counterparts in Fiji on May 30. Richard McGregor, senior fellow at the Lowy Institute, an Australia-based think tank, wrote in The Guardian that Wang’s itinerary “is an emphatic statement by Beijing that it intends to entrench itself in the region, where it has been building influence for more than a decade.” Underscoring the growing strategic competition for influence in the Pacific – where the U.S. sent its own high-level diplomatic mission a month ago – Canberra’s new top diplomat Penny Wong arrived in Fiji on Thursday. She landed hours ahead of Wang’s arrival in the Solomons, promising to “put more energy and resources” into the Pacific. Wang Yi holding talks with Solomon Islands Foreign Minister Jeremiah Manele. Credit: Xinhua News Agency Western allies concerns International attention on the Pacific islands has built since April, when China and the Solomon Islands confirmed that they’d signed a security pact without divulging its contents. The deal sparked concerns about China’s growing presence and influence, especially as a leaked document suggested that it would allow Beijing to set up military bases and deploy troops in the Pacific island nation. On Thursday, Foreign Minister Wang sought to calm critics by saying that “the security cooperation between China and the Solomon Islands does not target any third party and China has no intention of building a military base there.” The deal is aimed at helping the island nation to improve its law enforcement capabilities to maintain public order while protecting the safety of Chinese citizens and organizations there, Wang was quoted as saying by state-run Xinhua news agency. The Chinese Foreign Ministry said that the two sides “agreed to jointly build major landmark projects under the Belt and Road Initiative, make good use of the zero-tariff preferential policy for products exported to China” as well as to expand bilateral cooperation to cover a wide range of fields including response to climate change and multilateral affairs. China will also help the Solomon Islands to prepare facilities for the upcoming Pacific Games 2023.  Wang said that China respects Solomon Islands’ ties with other countries, opposes all forms of power politics and bullying, and in Beijing the Solomon Islands have “one more good friend and one more sincere and reliable partner.” Australia’s Foreign Minister Senator Penny Wong speaks in Suva, Fiji, Thursday, May 26, 2022. Wong says it was up to each island nation to decide what partnerships they formed and what agreements they signed, but urged them to consider the benefits of sticking with Australia. Credit: Fiji Sun via AP. ‘Engagement rather than lecturing’ Similar words were employed by the new Australian foreign minister after she arrived in Suva, Fiji, which lies about 1,300 miles (2,100 kilometers) to the southeast of the Solomons’ capital, Honiara.  Wong, a senator, said Australia has “a strong desire to play our part in the Pacific family and build stronger relationships,” according to the Australian broadcaster ABC.  Australia respects the Pacific nations’ choice of friends and partners, she said, adding that her country wants to “be a partner of choice and demonstrate to your nation and other nations in the region that we are a partner who can be trusted and [is] reliable, and historically we have been.” Wong said the new Labor government in Australia, formed on Monday after the general election, will renew the focus on climate change and continued economic support for the region. In a speech to the Pacific Islands Forum secretariat in Fiji, the foreign minister said Australia “will be a partner that doesn’t come with strings attached nor imposing unsustainable financial burdens,” apparently drawing a contrast with China’s policies. Wong said she acknowledged that the previous Australian government “neglected its responsibility to act on climate, ignoring the calls of our Pacific family” and showed disrespect to Pacific nations. As Wong urged Pacific leaders to consider long-term and “think about where you might be in a decade” after reaching deals with China, a former Australian prime minister, Kevin Rudd, said Australia and allies should offer better proposals rather than deliver “a moral lecture.” Speaking Friday at the Future of Asia conference in Tokyo via video link, Rudd said China is showing “a much more assertive leadership style and intends therefore to change the status quo by adopting a more assertive foreign security policy in the region and the world.” “The way forward for Western allies like Australia, New Zealand and the U.S. is … to offer different, better, development-friendly proposals,” said Rudd, who is now president of the Asia Society Policy Institute in New York. New Zealand meanwhile said it would extend the New Zealand Defense Force’s deployment to the Solomon Islands until at least May next year.  Wellington deployed troops there at the request of the local government in December 2021 after riots broke out in Honiara after anti-government protests.

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Top US diplomat lays out ‘invest, align, compete’ strategy to meet China challenge

Editor08 mins

Secretary of State Antony Blinken on Thursday said the United States would employ a threefold strategy of investing at home, aligning efforts allies and partners, and competing with China to counter Beijing’s drive to change the existing rules-based world order. “To succeed in this decisive decade, the Biden Administration’s strategy can be summed up in three words — invest, align, compete,” Blinken said. “The foundations of the international order are under serious and sustained challenge,” he told an audience at George Washington University in Washington, D.C., citing Russian President Vladimir Putin’s war in Ukraine posing a “clear and present threat, and China as a long-term challenge. “Even as President Putin’s war continues, we remain focused on the most serious long-term challenge to the international order, and that’s posed by the People’s Republic of China,” he said. “China is the only country with the intent to reshape the international order and increasingly the economic, diplomatic, military and technological power to do it, Blinken said. “Beijing’s vision would move us away from the universal values that have sustained so much of the world’s progress over the past 75 years” since the end of World War II, he said. IPEF & Quad Blinken’s speech came several days after President Joe Biden returned from his first visit to Asia since taking office in January 2021. Biden visited U.S. allies South Korea and later Japan, where he unveiled the Indo-Pacific Economic Framework for Prosperity (IPEF) which 13 other nations signed up to with hopes that it will lead to a free trade agreement in the future. Biden also attended a summit of the Quad, an Indo-Pacific security grouping of the Australia, India, Japan and the U.S. that is widely seen as countering China’s rising influence and assertiveness in the region. Blinken noted that cooperation with China is necessary for the global economy and solving issues such as climate change and the COVID-19 pandemic and said the U.S. was not looking for conflict or a new Cold War. “To the contrary, we are determined to avoid both,” he said, adding that the U.S. is not seeking to block China or any other nation from growing economically or advancing the interest of their people. “But we will  defend and strengthen international law, agreements, principals and institutions that maintain peace and security, protect the rights of individuals and sovereign nations, and make it possible for all countries, including the United States and China, to coexist and cooperate,” said Blinken. Though China’s rise was possible because of the stability and opportunity that the international order provides, the country is now seeking to undermine those rules, he said. In his 40-minute talk, Blinken touched on hot-button issues like the South China Sea and China’s treatment of the Uyghur ethnic minority in Xinjiang, where Beijing’s heavy-handed policies have been branded genocide by the U.S. and other Western nations. “Under Xi Jinping, the ruling Chinese Communist Party have become more repressive at home and more aggressive abroad,” he said. “We’ll continue to oppose Beijing’s aggressive and unlawful activities in the South and East China Seas,” he said, noting a 2016 international court ruling that found Beijing’s expansive claims in those waters “have no basis in international law.” Uyghur genocide Human rights was another “area of alignment we share with our allies and partners,” said Blinken, who raised Chinese crackdowns on Uyghurs, Tibetans and repression in Hong Kong. “The United States stands with countries and people around the world against the genocide and crimes against humanity happening in the Xinjiang region, where more than a million people have been placed in detention camps because of their ethnic and religious identity,” he said. A leading Uyghur-American official welcomed his remarks, which came as the top United Nations official for human rights was poised to visit Xinjiang, amid expectations that Beijing will so tightly manage the itinerary that the official, U.N. High Commissioner for Human Rights Michelle Bachelet, will not get an accurate view of conditions there. “I was encouraged to hear Secretary’s commitment to align with US allies and partners to respond and stop the ongoing Uyghur genocide and crimes against humanity in the Uyghur homeland,” said Nury Turkel, vice chair of the U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom. “We stand together on Tibet, where the authorities continue to wage a brutal campaign against Tibetans and their culture, language, and religious traditions, and in Hong Kong, where the Chinese Communist Party has imposed harsh anti-democratic measures under the guise of national security,” Blinken added. “We’ll continue to raise these issues and call for change – not to stand against China, but to stand up for peace, security, and human dignity.” Additional reporting by Alim Seytoff in Munich, Germany.

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Japan criticizes ‘provocative’ China-Russia air patrol during Quad summit

Editor09 mins

Japan has described as “provocative” a joint patrol by Chinese and Russian air forces over the Sea of Japan and the East China Sea, conducted when Quad leaders met in Tokyo to discuss regional security. At Tuesday’s meeting, the leaders of Australia, India, Japan and the United States declared a “steadfast commitment to a free and open Indo-Pacific.”     Japanese Minister of Defense Nobuo Kishi said after the summit that Japan had “communicated through our diplomatic routes our grave concerns” over the China-Russia joint patrol. “We believe the fact that this action was taken during the Quad summit makes it more provocative than in the past,” Kishi told reporters in Tokyo, adding that it was the fourth such incident since November. The Chinese Ministry of National Defense said in a brief statement that a joint aerial strategic patrol was carried out “in the airspace over the waters of the Sea of Japan, the East China Sea and the western Pacific Ocean.” The two militaries staged the patrol “in accordance with their annual military cooperation plan,” the statement said. The Russian Defense Ministry denied that the joint patrol was aimed against third countries.  It said that during the 13-hour mission Russian and Chinese bombers did not intrude into Japanese and South Korean airspace. South Korea said at least four Chinese and four Russian warplanes entered its air defense zone several times during the day of the patrol, Reuters reported. Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese, U.S. President Joe Biden, Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida and Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi attend an event during the summit of Quad leaders in Tokyo, Japan, May 24, 2022. Credit: Reuters. China-Russia no-limit partnership The Russian ministry maintained that the Russian and Chinese aircraft “ operated strictly in compliance with the provisions of international law.”  It said the patrol included Tu-95MS strategic missile-carrying bombers of the Russian Aerospace Force and Hong-6K (commonly known as Xian H-6) strategic bombers of the Air Force of the Chinese People’s Liberation Army (PLA). A number of Russian Su-30SM jets provided fighter support for this air task force and at some sections of the route, the bombers were “escorted” by F-2 aircraft of the South Korean Air Force and F-15 jets of the Japanese Air Force, according to the Russian Defense Ministry. Japan’s Ministry of Defense Joint Staff confirmed that Japanese fighters “scrambled to cope with a suspected intrusion into Japan’s airspace over the Sea of Japan, the East China Sea and the Pacific Ocean.” It said in a press release that Japan identified four Chinese H-6 bombers, two Russian Tu-95 bombers and a Russian Il-20 reconnaissance aircraft. This is the fourth consecutive year that Chinese and Russian air forces have conducted such joint strategic air patrol. The two militaries have also carried out numerous joint exercises on land and at sea. At a briefing on Tuesday, U.S. State Department spokesperson Ned Price said the latest event demonstrated that the Sino-Russian partnership is “quite alive and well.” Russia’s President Vladimir Putin and Chinese leader Xi Jinping held a summit in February, in which they praised the bilateral partnership as having “no limits” and “no forbidden areas of cooperation.” “China-Russia cooperation is driven by strong internal dynamics and valued for its independence. It is not targeted at any third party and will not be affected by others,” said Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Wang Wenbin on Tuesday. The Russia-initiated war in Ukraine has pushed the two countries even closer and Beijing has so far refused to condemn the Russian invasion. “As the international community responds to Russia’s aggression against Ukraine, the fact that China took such action in collaboration with Russia, which is the aggressor, is cause for concern. It cannot be overlooked,” Japanese Defense Minister Kishi said, referring to Tuesday’s joint patrol. Containing China The Quad summit on Tuesday, though not mentioning China, did reaffirm the grouping’s “resolve to uphold the international rules-based order where countries are free from all forms of military, economic and political coercion.” Analysts say the four Quad nations share concerns about China’s growing influence and assertiveness in the Indo-Pacific. Beijing has been responding to international criticism by holding military drills and deployments. On Monday, U.S. President Joe Biden said his country is “committed” to defending Taiwan in the event of a Chinese invasion. On the same day, China announced increased naval activities in the two strategically important straits northwest and southwest of Japan.  Japan’s Ministry of Defense Joint Staff said two Type 054A frigates of the PLA Navy – the Xuzhou and the Handan – transited the Tsushima Strait towards the Sea of Japan while the Sovremenny-class destroyer Hangzhou entered the Pacific Ocean after crossing the Miyako Strait from the East China Sea. Meanwhile on Wednesday, the PLA Eastern Theater Command said it has “recently organized joint combat-readiness patrol and real-combat training exercises involving multiple services and arms in the waters and airspace around the Taiwan Island.” “These actions are stern warning against the recent collusion activities between the US and the ‘Taiwan independence’ separatist forces,” said command spokesperson, Senior Col. Shi Yi. He did not specify the dates when the exercises took place. China considers Taiwan a breakaway province that should be unified with the mainland, by force if necessary. The Eastern Theater Command of the PLA is responsible for Taiwan, Japan and the East China Sea.

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Australia, India, Japan and US end ‘Quad’ summit with eyes on China

Editor09 mins

Leaders of the Quadrilateral Security Dialogue (Quad) met on Tuesday in Tokyo, with China’s increasing influence and assertiveness in the Indo-Pacific region looming large over the four-nation summit. They announced the roll out of a major new maritime initiative that is expected to monitor Chinese maritime activities in the region.  Leaders of Australia, India, Japan and the United States said in a joint statement that they convened “to renew our steadfast commitment to a free and open Indo-Pacific that is inclusive and resilient.” Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese, Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida, and U.S. President Joe Biden reaffirmed “our resolve to uphold the international rules-based order where countries are free from all forms of military, economic and political coercion.” The statement did not mention China but said the Quad leaders opposed “the militarization of disputed features, the dangerous use of coast guard vessels and maritime militia, and efforts to disrupt other countries’ offshore resource exploitation activities” – actions that China has been accused of in the East and South China Sea.  “The Quad members would probably not say so out loud in public, but in private they would all acknowledge that the Quad only exists because all four members are nervous about the authoritarian tilt of an expansionist and assertive People’s Republic of China (PRC) under President Xi Jinping,” said John Blaxland, professor at the Strategic and Defence Studies Centre, Australian National University. “By not being explicit about the raison d’être, the Quad countries hope to provide some space for other regional states to continue to engage constructively on security issues with Quad nations,” Blaxland told RFA. The four leaders announced a so-called Indo-Pacific Maritime Domain Awareness (IPMDA) initiative that would support Indo-Pacific countries to monitor their waters, not only to respond to humanitarian and natural disasters but also to combat illegal fishing, another reference to China’s assertive actions in the regional seas and oceans. Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi (L) and Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida feed carp before their dinner at Akasaka State Guest House in Tokyo on May 24, 2022, following the end of the Quad leaders’ summit between the US, Japan, India and Australia. Credit: AFP ‘Strategic ambiguity’ on Taiwan  A White House fact sheet said the IPMDA will allow tracking of “dark shipping” and other tactical-level activities. “This initiative will transform the ability of partners in the Pacific Islands, Southeast Asia, and the Indian Ocean region to fully monitor the waters on their shores and, in turn, to uphold a free and open Indo-Pacific.” Asked about the Quad statement, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Wang Wenbin said Beijing “actively upholds the UN-centered international system and the international order underpinned by international law,” and  took a swipe at critics.  “We hope certain countries would not see China through tinted glasses and make unwarranted accusations. Building small cliques and stoking bloc confrontation is the real threat to a peaceful, stable and cooperative maritime order,” he told a news briefing in Beijing Tuesday. The Quad summit came a day after U.S. President Joe Biden attracted much attention and drew criticism from Beijing when he stated that he would be willing to use force to defend Taiwan in the case of any Chinese invasion. China considers the democratic island a breakaway province and vows to “reunify” it with the mainland, by force if necessary. Biden told reporters at a press conference on Tuesday that there was no change to the U.S. policy of “strategic ambiguity” on Taiwan, meaning the U.S. acknowledges the One-China policy but informally supports the island and provides it with defensive weapons. In Beijing, Wang said Washington had “publicly or stealthily incited and endorsed ‘Taiwan independence’ separatist activities” and warned it to stop. “If the U.S. continues to go down the wrong path, there will be irretrievable consequences for the China-U.S. relations and the U.S. will have to pay [an] unbearable price,” he said.. In his opening speech, Biden said the summit was about “democracies versus autocracies, and we have to make sure that we deliver.” The Quad leaders also discussed the war in Ukraine, which Biden said had become “a global issue” and Japanese Prime Minister Kishida said a similar invasion should not happen in Asia. Debut of Australia PM Albanese Without mentioning Russia, as Quad member India has so far refused to condemn Moscow, the four leaders said they “reiterated our strong resolve to maintain the peace and stability in the region” at a time of profound global challenges. This is the fourth meeting of the leaders of the Quad, but the second in person because of the Covid pandemic. This is also the first summit for Australia’s new Prime Minister Anthony Albanese who was sworn in just a day ago. Australia has been spooked by China’s growing presence in the Pacific islands, especially after Beijing signed a controversial security pact with the Solomon Islands that may allow China to deploy troops in Australia’s back yard. “The new Prime Minister has made clear that in terms of broad security policy choices, he is aligned with the previous government,” said Professor Blaxland from the Australian National University. “The difference lies in the rhetoric, Albanese probably will have a softer line.” “It also lies in some of the substance on the issue of the environment. Addressing the felt need of nervous small Pacific Island nations is now seen as being of fundamental importance,” Blaxland said.

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Biden unveils US Info-Pacific economic plan after summits in Japan, South Korea

Editor09 mins

U.S. President Joe Biden wound up his visit to South Korea and Japan Monday with the announcement of the Indo-Pacific Economic Framework for Prosperity (IPEF), drawing more Southeast Asian involvement than previously anticipated. A statement by the White House said the U.S.-led regional economic initiative includes a dozen initial partners: Australia, Brunei, India, Indonesia, Japan, Republic of Korea, Malaysia, New Zealand, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand, and Vietnam; together representing 40% of the world’s GDP. Earlier this month, diplomatic sources said that only two of the 10 members of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) – Singapore and the Philippines – were expected to be among the initial countries joining negotiations under IPEF. One of the reasons for hesitancy is the U.S. Indo-Pacific plans are considered to be designed to counter China’s rising influence in the region, and ASEAN countries, especially small- and medium-sized, may wish to stay neutral. It appears that the situation has changed after the special U.S.-ASEAN summit in Washington in mid-May, with Brunei, Malaysia, Thailand and Vietnam also signing up.  “The U.S. is finally re-engaging economically in the Indo-Pacific region,” said Norah Huang, associate research fellow at Prospect Foundation, a Taiwanese think tank. “The delay says there have been difficulties of the political climate back home and in this part of the world,” she said.  Indo-Pacific economic power Details remain vague but it is understood that IPEF is not a free-trade agreement, but an economic cooperation seeking to establish trade rules across “four pillars” – trade resiliency, infrastructure, decarbonization and anti-corruption. The White House said it will “enable the United States and our allies to decide on rules of the road that ensure American workers, small businesses, and ranchers can compete in the Indo-Pacific.” With U.S. direct investment in the region totaled more than U.S. $969 billion in 2020, the U.S. “is an Indo-Pacific economic power, and expanding U.S. economic leadership in the region is good for American workers and businesses — as well as for the people of the region.” China has been critical of the U.S. involvement in the region. On Sunday, Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi said “the so-called ‘Indo-Pacific Strategy’ is bound to fail.” Speaking in Guangzhou after talks with visiting Pakistani Foreign Minister Bilawal Bhutto Zardari. Wang said the strategy “is causing more and more vigilance and concern” because it is “attempting to erase the name “Asia-Pacific” and the effective regional cooperation architecture in the region.” IPEF “should promote openness and cooperation instead of creating geopolitical confrontation,” Wang said. The U.S. is “politicizing, weaponizing and ideologizing economic issues and using economic means to coerce regional countries to choose sides between China and the United States,” according to the Chinese Foreign Minister. Regional reaction Regional economic powers Singapore and Malaysia were the first to welcome the IPEF.  Malaysian International Trade and Industry Minister Mohamed Azmin Ali tweeted on Monday that IPEF “serves as an impetus for economic diplomacy between USA and the Indo-Pacific region.” “I am optimistic that this cooperation acknowledges that our economic policy interests in the region are intertwined, and deepening economic engagement among partners is crucial for continued growth, peace, and prosperity.” Singapore Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong last week said that he encouraged more ASEAN participation in the IPEF which he said “needs to be inclusive and provide tangible benefits.” “To get India and Indonesia signed up will be important to up the game and could serve as catalyst for hesitant actors to come off fence,” said Norah Huang from the Taiwanese Prospect Foundation. Staunch U.S. allies South Korea and Japan, which President Biden has visited since Saturday, both supported the IPEF as “they clearly support any U.S. engagement within the region,” said Stephen Nagy, senior associate professor at the Department of Politics and International Studies, International Christian University in Tokyo. Before the IPEF launch, Biden held a meeting with the Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida, their first formal face-to-face.  Quad meeting On Tuesday, the U.S. President will attend a summit of the Quadrilateral Security Dialogue, or Quad, with leaders of Japan, India and Australia. The meeting will “focus on a rules-based order, enhancing infrastructure and connectivity in the region and in general, providing public goods to the broader region,” said Nagy. “The leaders will also discuss security in the maritime environment, primarily secured through cooperation within the Quad, as well as peace and stability across the Taiwan Strait,” the analyst said. Taiwan has not been invited to IPEF, a decision called “regrettable” by Taipei. “As an important economy that plays a crucial role in the global supply chain, Taiwan is definitely qualified for inclusion in the IPEF,” the Taiwanese Foreign Ministry said in a statement. In Tokyo on Monday, however, President Biden said he would be willing to use force to defend Taiwan in the case of a Chinese attack. “We agree with a one-China policy. We’ve signed on to it and all the intended agreements made from there. But the idea that, that it can be taken by force, just taken by force, is just not, is just not appropriate,” Biden said in Tokyo, adding that it was his expectation that such an event would not happen or be attempted, Reuters news agency reported. China swiftly expressed its “strong dissatisfaction and firm opposition” in comments by Wang Wenbin, a spokesman for the Chinese Foreign Ministry. “On issues concerning China’s sovereignty and territorial integrity and other core interests, there is no room for compromise,” Wang told a daily briefing in Beijing.

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Myanmar junta gets effective diplomatic downgrade as a result of military coup

Editor012 mins

Myanmar’s 15-month-old military junta is suffering a diplomatic downgrade as Western and some Southeast Asian neighbors are withholding ambassadorial appointments to the country and increasingly meeting with elected officials overthrown by the army early last year, diplomats said. The trend of posting a number two in missions comes as the junta has been shunned by the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN), which held a summit last week with the U.S. in Washington, where Myanmar was represented by an empty chair symbolizing rejection of the February 2021 coup. The Australian Foreign Ministry said in a statement on May 16 that Australia has appointed a senior official to replace its ambassador in Myanmar, Andrea Faulkner, who completed her tenure last month. Britain likewise downgraded its ties with Myanmar from ambassadorial level to chargé d’affaires level in August 2021. The junta found that unacceptable and the British Ambassador, Pete Vowles, who went abroad on business, was barred from re-entering the country in February 2022. “The UK has a longstanding policy and practice of recognizing states, not governments,” Stephen Small, the embassy’s liaison officer, wrote in an emailed reply to RFA’s Myanmar Service. “We are engaging with the junta only where strictly necessary to deliver our political, development and humanitarian objectives and [for] the functioning of our embassy,” he added. “Changing the status of our head of mission ensures we can continue our role supporting the people of Myanmar without giving the military credibility by presenting our credentials to the Commander-in-Chief,” said Small. Vowles arrived in Myanmar in August 2021, seven months after the coup, and refused to hand over his credentials to the junta. In April the military regime told the embassy it would not accept him as ambassador any longer, the spokesman said. London did not recall Vowles, but decided to let him head the mission at a lower level and he is waiting for a new visa and entry permit for Myanmar, said Small. Police stand guard near the US embassy during a demonstration by protesters against the military coup in Yangon, Feb. 22, 2021. Credit: AFP Shunning an ‘unethical group’ Germany has likewise downgraded its representation in Myanmar, said embassy press officer Markus Lubawinski. “I can confirm that the German Embassy in Yangon, where we continue with our embassy work, is headed by a chargé d’affaires,” he wrote in an email to RFA. “The reduction from ambassadorial level to charge d’affaires, is, in layman’s terms, degrading,” said Kyaw Swa Tun, the third secretary at the Myanmar Embassy in Washington who joined the opposition after the coup. “It’s like saying we don’t need to pay attention to an unethical group,” he told RFA. “At present, most countries, including Europeans, have lowered their statuses in dealing with the regime. It also shows that they are not recognizing the junta and thus, the junta’s role is downgraded,” added Kyaw Swa Tun. Min Zaw Oo, executive director of the Myanmar Institute for Peace and Security said countries lowered the level of their diplomatic representation to avoid the poor optics of recognizing the junta. The regime is estimated to have killed at least 5,600 civilians in nearly 16 months since the coup. “When an ambassador comes in, he has to be officially recognized by the head of state. So, they do not want a big blaring photograph in the newspapers showing the current junta leader accepting their new ambassadors,” he said. Diplomatic sources in Yangon say Denmark, Italy, Israel and South Korea are considering following Britain, Germany and Australia in downgrading their level of representation. The U.S., European Union and Japan, however, are maintaining ambassadors at their embassies in Yangon. Hiram J. Ríos Hernández, spokesman for the U.S embassy in Yangon told RFA in an email that the US will continue to put pressure on the junta to return to the path of democracy in Myanmar. “Amb. Thomas Vajda presented his credentials to democratically elected President U Win Myint on January 19, 2021,” he told RFA by email. “The U.S. will continue to press the military regime to cease its violence, release all those unjustly detained, provide unhindered humanitarian access, and restore Burma’s path to democracy.” Zin Mar Aung, foreign minister of the National Unity Government, speaking with RFA during her visit to Washington May, 12, 2022. Credit: RFA Outreach to the NUG The European Union (EU) embassy in Yangon has said it will not change its current ambassadorial post, a spokesperson told RFA on behalf of Amb. Ranieri Sabatucci. “The EU does not envisage any change to my accreditation for the time being. The movements in the diplomatic sphere do not have any effect on our dealings with the military council,” he said, using a shorthand for the junta. Germany and Britain, the colonial ruler of what was formerly called Burma, and the EU have held meetings with representative of the country’s National Unity Government (NUG), a parallel administration made up of former lawmakers and officials of the government of leader Aung San Suu Kyi. “The federal government in Germany has spoken to individual members of the NUG. These exchanges have been made public,” said Lubawinski. “The U.K. sees the NUG as an important stakeholder for resolving the crisis,” said Small of the British Embassy. “The EU is having informal exchanges with the NUG. These are entertained by and from a number of interlocutors including our HQ in Brussels, the EU Mission to ASEAN and the EU Mission to the UN in New York,” said the EU mission in Yangon. “The EU retains the right to entertain relationships with any relevant party in Myanmar, including the NUG,” the statement issued on behalf of Sabatucci. Analyst Kyaw Swa Tun said that although the NUG has not yet been officially accepted by the international community, these contacts can been as a sign the group in increasingly being recognized as a legitimate government. Zin Mar Aung, who represents the NUG on the world stage, held key meetings on the sidelines of the U.S.-ASEAN summit in Washington last week with Wendy…

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Escape from Beijing: how a young man fled China’s zero-COVID policy

Editor012 mins

A Chinese citizen and former resident of Beijing who gave only the nickname Joseph took one look at the newly emerging COVID-19 restrictions in the Chinese capital, and decided he wanted no part of another lockdown like the one still under way in Shanghai. He spoke to RFA’s Mandarin Service about his roller-coaster exit from China. RFA: Did you feel you were on the run? Joseph: Of course I was on the run. I just escaped from Beijing. The Beijing authorities announced an eight-point rule on May 10, which seemed to imply that if a single person tested positive on your street, you and everyone else will immediately be barred from leaving town. When I saw that, I panicked, and said ‘that’s it. I’m running away’. RFA: You had already postponed a planned trip to New Zealand — how hard was it to leave? Joseph: I thought at first I could perhaps get on a flight on May 11, so I arrived in Shanghai on May 10. But I was wrong. The flight never left. I eventually took a flight on May 13. RFA: So even though you’d bought the ticket, you still didn’t know if you’d be able to get on the plane? Joseph: Everyone has to just guess. I could see the daily departures and arrivals on an app, which showed that Pudong, Hongqiao, and Guangzhou airports, the hardest-hit areas. You can tell from looking at it that the departure rate [for scheduled flights] is less than one percent, so it’s a guessing game that you can’t win. RFA: What did you do when your flight was canceled at Pudong International Airport? Joseph: I had brought some food, some cooked food, as well as crackers and the like. I was ready for a bit of hardship. I looked for a place to spend the night, but these airports all have marble floors. I had brought a sleeping bag, but I wasn’t well prepared because the floor was cold. I was OK, but cold. I made it through the nights. RFA: Was there no way to go anywhere else? You just had to stay at the airport? Joseph: Yes, all of the routes were cut off, so it’s basically an island there. There was an old lady in her 70s who flew to New Zealand on the same plane as me. New Zealand required the PCR test results in English, so we took the bus together for her to get the English test results. The bus was a bit late getting back. She’d done a PCR test but the results weren’t back yet, and it had been more than 48 hours after her earlier test. She was stopped and prevented from entering the terminal building. She begged them, saying her luggage and food were inside, and that she would starve, but she wasn’t allowed in. I tried to put in a word for her, and they nearly dragged me away. University student He Siyuan, who had to stay at Shanghai’s Pudong International Airport for 40 days because of the city’s strict COVID-19 lockdown. He took a PCR test every other day at the airport, and tested negative every time. Credit: Joseph RFA: Were there other people in your situation? Joseph: There was a college student next to me, a guy called He Siyuan who made the news a couple of days ago. It was broadcast on CCTV, and he slept next to me. The guy was very kind and very honest. He had been there more than 40 days, and I asked him how he was feeling. He said that it was quite bad at first, but that he had gradually gotten used to it. He said that he was worried at first, but now he is fine. He was barred from going back home by his neighborhood committee in Beijing, so he had no choice. He did a PCR test every two days at the airport, and every time it was negative. It was incredible all the people in Area A of Terminal 2. There was a gentleman from Zhejiang who was in Wuhan during the lockdown. When that ended, he went to Shanghai, where he was caught up in the lockdown there. He got there on April, like the college student. He had wanted to fly to Wuhan, but couldn’t, so he was stranded [at the airport]. I was touched by what he did. He started picking up the moisture-proof mats and sleeping bags left by the passengers from April 1, and used them to built a platform that could sleep more than 20 people along one of the walls in Area A. He surrounded it with luggage carts, leaving an exit, making a temporary shelter. He didn’t charge people to go in and sleep there. He would let you in if you asked him, as long as there was a spot. RFA: Where there any domestic flights leaving? Joseph: Yes, but sometimes only one, and sometimes none. Nobody knew exactly where they would be flying too, and they’d often be canceled. There was only the bus to Hongqiao or downtown Shanghai, but none to other provinces. There was the high-speed rail, but it was very, very hard to get tickets for it, so hard that it wasn’t worth bothering. RFA: What about international flights? Joseph: If there were eight flights a day, seven would be international and only one domestic. Maybe it’s because there would be diplomatic incidents if you cut off international flights and left foreigners in China for longer than they were supposed to be there. There were still international flights leaving Pudong and Guangzhou Baiyun airports. RFA: But people couldn’t actually get to Pudong Airport from Shanghai, could they? Some people were walking for 10 hours to get there. Joseph: Because there are almost no buses, and the buses that were running were on odd schedules. RFA: Didn’t you say that there was a bus from the airport to the city? Joseph: Yes, but only going to…

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