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In debt and desperate, misled Vietnamese seek political asylum in Australia

Editor014 mins

After four months in limbo about his refugee status and heavily in debt, Hung has some advice for anyone from Vietnam planning to work in Australia on a tourist visa: “If you are keen on coming to Australia, you’d better choose a legal way,” said the part-time laborer from Hanoi, who was duped into paying an immigration service company to apply for an entry visa on his behalf. “Arriving with a student or skilled labor visa is OK, but you should think twice about using a tourist visa,” he said. For years, Hung made ends meet in Hanoi on a monthly income of 10 million dong (US$400), but was unable to build any savings due to the high cost of living in Vietnam’s capital. After hearing stories of other Vietnamese landing good-paying jobs while visiting Australia, Hung, who spoke to RFA Vietnamese using a pseudonym due to security concerns, decided to travel the 5,000-odd kilometers (3,100 miles) southeast to try his luck. He hoped to earn a better salary Down Under – where minimum wage workers earn AU$70,000 (US$48,000) a year, or 14 times the average income in Vietnam – and save money to improve his living standard back home. Vietnamese who are unable to obtain work visas for Australia are eligible for a Work and Holiday Visa, which allows people to work while traveling in the country for up to one year. Applicants must be between the ages of 18 and 30, have no criminal record and provide evidence that they have completed at least two years of undergraduate study. They must also show that they can support themselves financially while in Australia and have attained a certain level of English proficiency. In debt and desperate Hung, who did not disclose his age, had no employer to sponsor a work visa and was unable to meet either the education or English proficiency requirements for a Work and Holiday Visa. But a Vietnamese immigration services company told him that he could legally work in Australia as a tourist. Australian tourist visas have a significantly lower barrier to obtain. They are good for three months and can be extended to a full year in special circumstances. However, entrants are not eligible to work during their visit. Unfamiliar with the application process, Hung took on debt to pay 100 million dong (US$4,000) – a substantial amount for the average Vietnamese laborer – to the immigration services company to handle his visa, as well as purchase an airline ticket, and he flew to Australia in July 2023. Hung had hoped to live and work in Australia for up to two years, to pay off what he had borrowed in getting there and to build wealth. Instead, by October, his tourist visa was about to expire and he had only accrued more debt while supporting himself for three months in a nation with a vastly higher cost of living. Increasingly desperate, Hung sought help from fellow Vietnamese through social media, and was advised to apply for an Australian Onshore Protection Visa (Subclass 866) as a political refugee, which would allow him to stay in Australia for longer and work legally. He paid someone AU$1,000 (US$650) to prepare his application, went to the local immigration department to be fingerprinted, and was granted a bridging visa (BVE 050) that allows him to lawfully reside in the country while awaiting a decision on his status. While Hung will be required to present evidence of his asylum claim, it is unclear when he will be called for an interview, due to the large backlog of applications. Topping the list for asylum seekers According to the Australian Department of Home Affairs, 2,905 Vietnamese nationals applied for the Australian Onshore Protection Visa in 2023, making them the largest ethnic group to do so and accounting for 12% of the total number of applicants. Vietnamese topped the list of asylum applicants in Australia, beating out Indians and Chinese, in each of the last five months of 2023, and ranked second in three other months last year. Thai officers talk to Vietnamese and Cambodian refugee and asylum seekers in Bangkok, Aug. 28, 2018 after rounding up more than 160 who are believed to be at risk of persecution if they are returned to their homelands. Refugee applications to the Australian Embassy in Vietnam, also sent from Thailand and Australia, tend to increase after political upheavals, says one immigration attorney. (AP) Many of them end up in situations like Hung’s, nervously awaiting a verdict on their claim to learn whether they will be granted residential status or forced to return home. The bridging visa does not expire and grants holders the right to work and access a national health insurance assistance program so that they can receive medical care in Australia. However, if asylum status is denied, the bridging visa will be automatically canceled within 28 days, and the holder will be required to leave the country. Those denied status have the right to appeal the decision with an immigration court. The chances of being awarded political asylum in Australia are fairly low. In 2023, the Australian Department of Home Affairs processed nearly 1,000 asylum applications, of which only 53, or 5.6%, were approved. The stakes are considerably higher for applicants who have fled persecution in Vietnam, where the one-party communist state brooks no dissent. Being forced to return home can often mean a jail sentence, or worse. ‘Extraordinary surge’ in applications Vietnamese-Australian immigration attorney Le Duc Minh told RFA that his law firm has helped many “genuine” Vietnamese political asylum seekers successfully apply for status in Australia. But he acknowledged that he regularly hears stories like Hung’s from people who ended up in debt after trying to work illegally in the country. “Some people simply ask me, ‘Please find a way for me to stay longer to earn money and pay off my debts. I borrowed hundreds of millions of dong in Vietnam to make this trip. I cannot go home…

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Pro-junta editor charged with defamation after criticizing ministry

Editor04 mins

The editor-in-chief of People Media was charged with defamation following critical comments he made in a livestream video – the first time an employee of a pro-junta news outlet has faced legal action by the military since the 2021 coup d’etat. Kyaw Soe Oo’s comments on Tuesday found fault with the Ministry of Home Affairs for not sending any senior police officials to attend the funeral of an officer who was recently killed in Kachin state.  Nay Pyi Taw police arrested Kyaw Soe Oo the same day, family members told Radio Free Asia.  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 and its violent aftermath.  In 2021, the junta shut down five media outlets that provided independent coverage of the protests against military rule.  Last year, the regime threatened legal action against Democratic Voice of Burma TV and Mizzima TV, demanding that the shuttered independent news broadcasters pay thousands of dollars in transmission fees, Voice of America reported. People Media is known for its pro-military views. Kyaw Soe Oo regularly broadcasts his video commentaries on Telegram and YouTube.  In Tuesday’s livestream, Kyaw Soe Oo noted that police officers who have ties to high-ranking officials are typically never assigned to dangerous frontier posts. It’s only the officers with no money or connections who are transferred to those areas, he said. He also invited viewers to send him information on possible bribery involving military and police officers and gambling businesses.  After his arrest, Kyaw Soe Oo underwent two days of interrogation before he was formally charged under Section 505(a) of the penal code, relatives said. That provision of the law was added by junta authorities after the coup to punish comments or implications that the coup or the military is illegitimate. Kyaw Soe Oo was sent to Nay Pyi Taw prison on Thursday, relatives said. Police raided People Media’s office in Nay Pyi Taw on Thursday morning and confiscated computers, phones and cameras, according to sources close to Kyaw Soe Oo. There has been no official statement from the military junta regarding the arrest. Translated by Kalyar Lwin. Edited by Matt Reed.

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Suspect in Lao bear cub trafficking case is on the run

Editor06 mins

A Chinese man found with 16 black bear cubs during a raid of a microfinance institute by Lao authorities last week is on the run, while the cubs are now being cared for by a wildlife conservation group in Luang Prabang province, a district official said Friday. The incident is the latest case of the illegal transportation of wildlife in Laos — a hub for wildlife trafficking for the exotic pet trade and medicinal purposes. Such activities are banned by the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora, or CITES, which protects endangered plants and animals. On March 17, police from the environment division of Vientiane’s Department of Public Security and from Sikhottabong district’s public security office raided the Chinese-owned Ya Thai Microfinance Institute in the district’s Nongsanokham village to rescue the animals. Police seized the bear cubs after the Chinese man’s Lao wife would not tell them where they came from. They said they arrested her and are searching for the man, who owns the institute, and others who may be involved. Asiatic black bears, also known as moon bears because of the white or cream-colored crescent pattern on their chests, are listed in CITES’ most crucial category of endangered due to overhunting and to loss of habitat as forests are felled.  As a CITES member, Laos must abide by the treaty’s prohibition on the international trade of live Asiatic bears or bear parts. Demand for bear bile Poachers can demand exorbitant sums for the bears’ gallbladders and bile, which are used in traditional medicines believed to cure a variety of ailments.  They extract the bile, which helps protect the bears’ livers and prevents gallstones and illness during long hibernations, during which the animals are subdued and jabbed in the abdomen with needles in an attempt to pierce their gallbladders. The official from the Sikhottabong district office, who declined to be named because he is not authorized to speak to the media, told Radio Free Asia that the Chinese owner of the institute fled after police raided the office, and authorities are now searching for him. The Chinese man has a history of trafficking wildlife and other illegal activities, he said. Lao authorities involved in the raid would not comment on the incident to RFA. No one at the Ya Thai Microfinance Institute answered the phone when RFA called. On March 20, police handed the cubs over to the Australian wildlife organization Free the Bears, to keep them in its wildlife sanctuary in Luang Prabang, according to a video on the Facebook page of Vientiane’s Department of Public Security.  In the video, the cubs, some of which are inside pet carriers, can be heard crying out. Lt. Col. Chansamouth Chanthalangsone, deputy head of the environment division at the department, said in the video that the bears were brought to the capital city without proper documentation, constituting the illegal transportation of wildlife. He did not mention how authorities knew to raid the office, though the institute is located in a building where people live close to each other, so they might have heard the bears screaming. The Free the Bears office in Luang Prabang declined to give RFA any information about the incident, citing the investigation. In mid-February, Free the Bears took possession of two male moon bear cubs that had been held in a cage for more than two years near the Laos-Thailand border. The bear cubs had been raised by a villager in remote Xayaburi province since their birth.  Translated by Phouvong for RFA Lao. Edited by Roseanne Gerin and Malcolm Foster.

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Victor Li ‘prays’ Hong Kong can keep global financial center status

Editor05 mins

Victor Li, chairman of Hong Kong’s Cheung Kong Holdings, says he “prays” that the city will not lose its international financial center status, as the international backlash mounts with the passing of the more expansive second national security law this week. “I pray very, very hard it will not be lost,” Li told reporters, after a sigh, at the company’s annual results press conference Thursday when he was asked to comment on Hong Kong’s economic outlook. The head of the Hong Kong-based conglomerate stressed that the city’s international financial center status hadn’t come easy. “There are only a few in the world that can be called true international financial centers, and Hong Kong has been one of them for many years. It has been hard-won.” Hong Kong is the world’s fourth most competitive financial center, trailing Singapore which has taken over the third spot from Hong Kong since September 2022, according to the latest edition of the Global Financial Centres Index by Z/Yen Group and the China Development Institute released this week.  Li, the elder son of Hong Kong’s richest billionaire and revered businessman Li Ka-shing, has followed in the tradition of his father. Before he stepped down from the public eye in his retirement, Li Ka-shing’s sought-after views always carried weight on the markets.  Victor Li pointed out that Hong Kong people have gone through a very tough past few years, their resilience put under “wave after wave of stress tests” – from the anti-government protests in 2019, to the COVID-19 pandemic and the ongoing economic downturn. How to address the economic headwinds, he said, is entirely up to the Hong Kong government. Still, without any crystal ball in the world or the ability to predict the future, Li said Cheung Kong Executive Director Justin Chiu had pointed out to him that all the news that could negatively impact Hong Kong had been released. On the property market front, restrictions were lifted last month and interest rate cuts are only a matter of time, while there are signs of consumption picking up.   “Once the real estate market booms, other industries will be better; Hong Kong is more unique in this respect,” he said. Li added that everything has its ups and downs, and “the probability for the downside is lower than that for the upside.” In recent years, pro-government media have chided the Li family for divesting its assets offshore and making fewer large investments in Hong Kong. At the press conference, Li countered that Cheung Kong has added a total of eight real estate projects in the city. But the company is also a multinational enterprise with interests in over 50 countries and regions across different sectors. If there are any projects that yield globally accepted returns, the company will certainly invest in Hong Kong, Li added. Translated by RFA Staff. Edited by Taejun Kang and Mike Firn.

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Dozens of Rohingya rescued from capsized boat off Indonesian coast

Editor07 mins

Indonesian rescuers on Thursday brought ashore 69 additional Rohingya who were found clinging to their wooden boat for nearly a day and suffering from hunger and dehydration after it capsized in the Indian Ocean off the coast of Aceh province, authorities said.  Those rescued were brought to shore for medical treatment, said Supriadi, captain of the rescue ship, even as some locals protested their arrival. Six others from the same boat were rescued Wednesday by local fishermen. “When they were found, they were weak due to dehydration and perhaps had not eaten for several days,” said Supriadi, who goes by one name.  Authorities reported that search efforts were complete.   A video taken by a fisherman on Wednesday showed more than 50 Rohingya standing on the overturned hull of the barely visible boat as they frantically waved for help. The boat had flipped over in waters off Kuala Bubon port (16 nautical miles from Meulaboh), possibly after being struck by large waves, according to officials. Zaned Salim, one of the original six to be rescued, said 150 Rohingya departed from a Malaysian refugee camp 24 days ago, hoping to sail to Australia, adding that about 50 people had died during the journey. Authorities said they did not recover any bodies during rescue efforts, adding that those efforts were finished.  Meanwhile, hundreds of residents blocked roads in protest against the latest Rohingya arrival.  “The residents demand that the Rohingya refugees not be placed in their village,” said Iswahyudi, West Aceh’s deputy police chief, who goes by one name. Local journalists reported that villagers were carrying banners and shouting their opposition to the refugees’ presence.  “We do not accept refugees here. … Why bring them to our village?” said one resident. Indonesia is not a signatory to the 1951 Refugee Convention, but has a long history of hosting refugees from various conflicts. It allows refugees to stay temporarily, while they wait for a third country to resettle them, a process that can take years. Aceh has a history of welcoming Rohingya, specifically, but there has been growing resistance fueled by negative sentiment on social media. Some residents claimed there are not enough resources for both themselves and the Rohingya. A Rohingya holds a floatation device as he swims toward a rescue boat in the waters off West Aceh, Indonesia, March 21, 2024. [Reza Saifullah/AP] Faisal Rahman, an associate with the United Nations refugee agency (UNHCR) praised the collaborative rescue operations by the local leadership and law enforcement. “The UNHCR deeply appreciates the swift and compassionate action of the West Aceh district officials and their teams in aiding the Rohingya,” Faisal said, adding several of those rescued were in poor health and rushed to a local hospital. Rahman said Zaned Salim’s claim that as many as 150 people were aboard the boat needed to be verified.  “If the refugee’s claims were true, it implies a tragic loss of lives at sea, as only 75 individuals have been accounted for,” he said.  A child and other Rohingya sleep aboard a National Search and Rescue Agency ship after being rescued from their capsized wooden boat about 16 nautical miles off the coast at a port in Meulaboh, West Aceh, March 21, 2024. [Zahul Akbar/AFP] Persecuted minority The Rohingya are members of a persecuted stateless Muslim minority from Myanmar who have been fleeing violence and oppression in their homeland for years.  Following a 2017 military offensive in Myanmar’s Rakhine state that the U.N. described as a “textbook example of ethnic cleansing,” about 740,000 Rohingya fled from their homes across the border to Bangladesh. About 1 million Rohingya live in crowded camps in and around Cox’s Bazar in southeastern Bangladesh. Desperate, many leave overcrowded refugee camps in Bangladesh, seeking better lives in other Muslim countries including Malaysia and Indonesia.  The latest wave of Rohingya began arriving in Aceh in October 2023.  Since then, over 1,800 refugees have landed in Indonesia and have been accommodated in locations across Aceh, according to the UNHCR. In January, the UNHCR reported that 569 Rohingya refugees had died or went missing at sea in 2023 while attempting to flee from Myanmar or Bangladesh. BenarNews is an online news affiliate of Radio Free Asia.

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Junta navy arrests around 80 Rohingya off Myanmar coast

Editor03 mins

Myanmar’s junta navy arrested around 80 Rohingya attempting to flee the country by boat, residents who witnessed the event told Radio Free Asia on Thursday.  Officials arrested the group on Tuesday morning in Myanmar’s coastal Mon state. The boat was intercepted off the shores of Ye township’s Kaleguak Island in the Andaman Sea. Mon state’s junta spokesperson Aung Myat Kyaw Sein told RFA that although Mon’s administration was made aware of the arrest, other details have yet to be confirmed. “The estimated number is about 80, but we do not know the genders yet,” he said, adding that unspecified official processes still need to be carried out. The arrested Rohingya will be treated well and officials will follow official procedures, he said.  RFA was able to confirm the group traveled on a boat named Zwel Khit San, but could not identify where the group traveled from or where it intended to go. Many Rohingya who had remained in Rakhine state after being targeted in a genocide by the Myanmar military in 2017 fled to Thailand, Malaysia and Indonesia following the country’s 2021 coup. In October and November 2023, junta troops arrested over 200 Rohingya escaping to nearby countries by boat, citing job scarcity, unemployment and increasing restrictions placed on the ethnic minority. After junta troops announced the enactment of the People’s Military Service Law on Feb. 10, videos originating from Rakhine state’s west a month later showed Rohingya undergoing military training. Troops have also preyed on Rohingya in internally displaced people’s camps, offering them freedom of movement in exchange for bolstering the junta’s numbers.  Mon state residents said that junta forces arrested 117 Rohingya on a rubber farm in Thanbyuzayat township’s War Kha Yu village in January, but the reason is still unknown.  The Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees reported on Jan. 23 that during 2023, at least 569 Rohingya died and went missing after leaving Myanmar and refugee camps in Bangladesh. Translated by RFA Burmese. Edited by Kiana Duncan and Mike Firn. 

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Overseas activists vow to keep fighting despite new Hong Kong security law

Editor09 mins

Overseas activists have vowed to keep up their campaign for Hong Kong’s promised rights and freedoms amid international condemnation of the city’s second national security law, which critics say will likely widen an ongoing crackdown on dissent when it takes effect on Saturday. The Taiwan-based advocacy group Hong Kong Outlanders said the Safeguarding National Security Law, passed unanimously in a Legislative Council with no opposition members on Tuesday, had been rushed through in just 11 days. “We will continue to speak out without fear of this evil law,” the group said, announcing a protest on the streets against the legislation on Saturday, to “defend the rights of Hong Kongers.” U.S. Senator Ben Cardin, who chairs the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, said the law will have “a chilling effect on the remaining vestiges of Hong Kong’s autonomy and freedoms.” He said he was “alarmed” about the impact of the law on American citizens, businesses and independent media in the city. “I urge the Beijing and the Hong Kong governments to rescind Article 23, as well as the 2020 National Security Law, and restore to the people of Hong Kong their basic rights and freedoms,” Cardin said, adding that Congress will continue to reevaluate the treatment of Hong Kong as a separate entity from the rest of China under U.S. law. Making life harder British Foreign Secretary David Cameron warned that the law will make it harder to live, work and do business in Hong Kong. “It fails to provide certainty for international organizations, including diplomatic missions, who are operating there,” Cameron said in a statement on the government website. A poster advertises a street activity in Taipei on the Facebook page of the Taiwan-based exile group Hong Kong Outlanders. (hkoutlanders.tw via Facebook) “It will entrench the culture of self-censorship which now dominates Hong Kong’s social and political landscape, and enable the continuing erosion of freedoms of speech, of assembly, and of the media,” he said.  In Beijing, foreign ministry spokesperson Lin Jian said such comments were “slander.” “China expresses strong dissatisfaction and firm opposition to certain countries and institutions that denigrate and smear Hong Kong’s Safeguarding National Security Ordinance,” Lin told a regular news briefing in Beijing. “The Chinese government is unswervingly determined to safeguard national sovereignty, security, and development interests, and … to oppose any external interference in Hong Kong affairs,” he said. ‘Puppet government’ U.S.-based Hong Kong rights campaigner Frances Hui said she had “struggled to get out of bed” due to depression after the government bypassed democratic institutions that took decades to build. “I know #JoshuaWong, Wong Ji-yuet, and others will probably spend more days in jail under this law,” Hui said via her X account, in a reference to democracy activists already imprisoned for taking part in protests in the city. “The only remaining bits of freedom in the city will soon be crumbled. Hong Kong will become just another Chinese city with a puppet govt that obeys China,” she wrote. But she added: “I know our determination for freedom & democracy will never change. One day, we will meet again.” Taiwan’s ruling Democratic Progressive Party condemned the passing of the law as the “darkest day” for Hong Kong.  Police officers stand guard outside the Legislative Council in Hong Kong, March 19, 2024. (Louise Delmotte/AP) “Hong Kong is now completely shrouded in the shadow of the Chinese Communist Party’s totalitarian rule,” the party said in a statement on Wednesday, adding that the Legislative Council was now just a “rubber stamp” for Beijing. It said the new law’s more expansive interpretations of national security crimes would “completely destroy what Hong Kong has left in the way of human rights or a legal system.” The party vowed to support the international effort to help Hong Kong, safeguard democracy and counter totalitarianism. Investors will leave In Japan, Foreign Ministry Press Secretary Kobayashi Maki said the government has “grave concern” about the law, and called on the authorities to ensure that the rights of Japanese nationals and companies in Hong Kong were respected, citing close economic ties with the city. U.S. State Department spokesperson Vedant Patel said the law has the potential “to accelerate the closing of Hong Kong’s once open society.” “We’re alarmed by the sweeping and what we interpret as vaguely defined provisions laid out in their Article 23 legislation,” he told a regular news briefing in Washington on Tuesday. “We think that this was fast-tracked through the non democratically elected Legislative Council after a truncated public comment period,” he said, adding that U.S. officials are in the process of analyzing potential risks to American interests under the law. Wu Jui-ren, an associate researcher at Taiwan’s Academia Sinica, predicted that the law will spell the end of Hong Kong’s status as a global financial center. Foreign investors will leave one after another, he predicted.  Patrick Poon, human rights campaigner and visiting researcher at the University of Tokyo, said the law gives officials too much power, especially when it comes to defining what is meant by “collusion with foreign forces” or “state secrets,” or what constitutes subversion. He said anyone working for foreign organizations in the city could be at risk under the law, even if they post something online that the government doesn’t like. “It’s all entirely up to those who enforce the law to decide, in line with the practice of totalitarian governments,” Poon said. “Hong Kong has gone a step further towards being just like mainland China.” Translated by Luisetta Mudie. Edited by Malcolm Foster.

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Resistance groups kill and threaten Myanmar junta’s conscription supporters

Editor06 mins

Rebel defense groups killed two administrators in vigilante slayings and are threatening the lives of more, according to resistance organizations. Since the country’s 2021 military coup d’etat, significant defeats for the junta have driven coup leader Senior Gen. Min Aung Hlaing to enact the People’s Military Service Law. Subsequent widespread panic from Myanmar’s youth has pushed them into hiding, across the Thai border in droves, with one even taking his own life. The law would require men and women between 18 and 35 to serve in the country’s military for two years and skilled professionals for longer terms.  In two regions in central Myanmar, Wundwin Township Revolution Force and Salin People’s Defense Force have taken action into their own hands. The groups admitted to gunning down two local administrators in Magway’s Salin township and Mandalay’s Wundwin township, according to the defense forces. Salin People’s Defense Force told Radio Free Asia they murdered 50-year-old Myint Htoo on Monday at 10:30 p.m. after he took a loudspeaker to the village’s streets to encourage young people in Pu Khat Taing to serve in the junta’s military. Radio Free Asia could not independently confirm details about Maung Pu’s death, but a Salin People’s Defense Force official reported that both village administrators were armed with hand-made guns.  An official of the Salin People’s Defense Force who spoke on the condition of anonymity for security reasons told RFA they plan to continue targeting administrators who support conscription. “We have made a list of local administrators, officials from the general administrative department and immigration officials who are taking advantage of political instability to threaten people and seek their own interests,” he told RFA on Wednesday. “We still have to continue to take action individually.” A representative from Wundwin Township Revolution Force said they are monitoring the behavior of local officials backing the junta. “Anyone who continues to work for the military service law according to the junta council must go the same way as Maung Pu,” he said. He agreed to speak about the group’s actions under the condition of anonymity.  RFA contacted Magway and Mandalay junta spokesmen Myo Myint and Thein Htay for comments on the deaths, but they did not respond. Nationwide threats As military recruitment begins in Yangon, five guerilla groups issued a statement on Tuesday night with warnings that they would take “severe action” against administrators supporting the law. The joint statement was issued by the Yangon Region People’s Defense Force, Yangon Urban Guerrillas, Yangon UG Association, Yangon Army and Yangon Guerrilla Army, who called the conscription system “a flagrant violation of human security.” Junta officials began their registration and recruitment operations to bolster army numbers on March 12. Still a deeply junta-controlled region, the vast majority of township and neighborhood-level officials are carrying out the orders, a Yangon resident said. “The current enumeration and enlistment are being led by the chairs of administration and administrators,” he said, asking to remain anonymous for fear of reprisals. “They have to send the lists to the township-level administration and carry it on, step by step. It looks like many of the lists have already reached their hands.” Yangon region’s junta spokesperson Htay Aung told RFA Wednesday that these procedures were not necessarily in connection with the conscription law, but merely business as usual. “Security is normal for us. Yangon is calm and peaceful as usual,” he said. “Normal procedures are being carried out in accordance with the law.” Twenty-one local administrators of Rakhine state’s Thandwe township submitted their resignations on March 18 after junta officials asked them to recruit a militia and compile lists of potential recruits. Translated by RFA Burmese. Edited by Kiana Duncan and Mike Firn. 

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Health authorities on alert as anthrax infects 14 in southern Laos

Editor03 mins

More than a dozen people have been infected by anthrax in two districts in southern Champassak province and authorities have responded by placing restrictions on the movement and slaughtering of some farm animals, several officials told Radio Free Asia.  Provincial health officials announced on March 12 that anthrax – a rare, serious infectious disease caused by bacteria – was found in the carcasses of 97 cows, buffaloes and goats.  Three people in Champassak tested positive for anthrax last week, but that number jumped to 14 on Tuesday, according to the provincial Health Department. The 14 patients all have large, dark scabs and are receiving treatment, a health official told RFA. Authorities believe they contracted anthrax – or what’s known as “black blood disease” – by eating meat from infected cows or buffaloes.. Anthrax usually affects livestock like cattle, sheep and goats, but humans can be infected if they are exposed to contaminated animal products or animals.  According to the World Health Organization, anthrax isn’t generally considered to be contagious between humans, although there have been some cases of person-to-person transmission. The provincial health department has issued a notice asking local medical centers and authorities to report any new cases and urging anyone who develops black bumps on their body to see a doctor as soon as possible. “We’re concerned. We have stopped eating meat,” a Soukhoumma district resident told RFA. “Now, we eat only pork and fish.” Transporting and slaughtering farm animals has been temporarily banned, and people are required to properly bury their dead animals, the department said. A slaughterhouse worker told RFA that they are complying with the order and have stopped buying animals from local farmers.  An agricultural official in Pathoumphone district said authorities have stepped up surveillance efforts and have officially warned the public not to eat locally slaughtered meat. Translated by Max Avary. Edited by Matt Reed and Malcolm Foster.

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Blinken stresses ‘ironclad’ support for Philippines in South China Sea standoffs

Editor07 mins

U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken met with his Philippine counterpart in Manila on Tuesday to lay the groundwork for a summit between the leaders of the United States, the Philippines and Japan next month. U.S. President Joe Biden, Philippine leader Ferdinand Marcos Jr. and Prime Minister Fumio Kishida will meet in Washington on April 11 for trilateral talks that will focus on protecting a “free and open” Indo-Pacific region, according to the White House. Speaking at a press conference alongside Blinken, Filipino Foreign Secretary Enrique Manalo said the three-way summit aimed to capitalize on “complementarities” between the countries, notably in infrastructure, critical minerals, energy and maritime security. Blinken said that collaboration on defense and economic issues would only result in all three countries becoming stronger. “So that’s what the summit is about, as well as our work together to uphold international law,” he said. He and Manalo had discussed ways of streamlining the budding trilateral alliance “to make sure that even as we have this leaders’ summit, we have mechanisms in place to make sure there are things working together day in day out.” Blinken’s visit comes at a crucial moment in bilateral relations between the two allies, who have ramped up defense cooperation amid increasing Chinese assertiveness in the South China Sea, including in waters that fall within the Philippine’s exclusive economic zone. China claims nearly all of the South China Sea while dismissing the territorial claims of several Southeast Asian nations and Taiwan. “The alliance has never been stronger, but we not only have to sustain that, we have to continue to accelerate the momentum,” said Blinken, who was making his second trip to Manila as America’s top diplomat. He first visited the Philippines in August 2022, weeks after Marcos took office as president. Filipino activists protest at the Mendiola Peace Arch outside the presidential Malacañang Palace in Manila ahead of a meeting between President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. and U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken on March 19, 2024. (Jojo Riñoza/BenarNews) Manalo said he had thanked Blinken for Washington’s “consistent support,” particularly in regards to Chinese harassment of Filipino supply boats. In the most recent incident, four Filipino sailors sustained minor injuries earlier this month when China Coast Guard boats intercepted a supply vessel and fired at them with water cannons. “We discussed regional issues, especially the situation in the South China Sea, and I stated that the Philippines is committed to managing disputes in accordance with our national interests, the rules-based international order and international law, especially UNCLOS,” Manalo said, referring to the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea. “We reaffirmed our shared view that a strong and capable Philippines would make a formidable ally for the United States.”  Blinken reiterated Washington’s “ironclad commitments” to defend the Philippines from outside aggression. He also said the two allies had shared concerns about Chinese “actions that threaten our common vision for a free and open Indo-Pacific,” including within the Philippine exclusive economic zone. “Repeated violations of international law and the rights of the Philippines – water cannons, blocking maneuvers, close shadowing, other dangerous operations – these waterways are critical to the Philippines, to its security, to its economy, but they’re also critical to the interests of the region, the United States, and the world,” Blinken said.   On Tuesday, China’s foreign ministry spokesman Lin Jian said the U.S. had no right to interfere in disputes between Manila and Beijing and China would take the necessary actions to defend its territory. “Military cooperation between the United States and the Philippines should not harm China’s sovereignty and maritime rights and interests in the South China Sea, let alone be used to prop up the Philippines’ illegal position,” Lin told a regular briefing, according to a report from Reuters.  Blinken is expected to meet with Marcos later on Tuesday. The Philippine leader recently returned from a trip to Germany and the Czech Republic in which he criticized Beijing’s expansive territorial claims and sought support for a free and open South China Sea.  Camille Elemia contributed reporting from Manila. BenarNews is an RFA-affiliated online news organization.

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