A suspected North Korean uranium enrichment facility that may have been toured by leader Kim Jong Un recently has grown significantly since construction was first spotted there in February, satellite imagery has revealed.
Myanmar junta authorities arrested two members of an urban guerrilla group planning to attack one of the military’s largest air bases, from where the air force launches attacks on civilians, the rebel group said. The two fighters were preparing to fire rockets at the Hmawbi Air Base, 40 kilometers (25 miles) north of the main city of Yangon, on Sunday when they were captured, the group called Dark Shadow said. “Troops stationed at the Hmawbi Air Base have been carrying out aerial bombardments on homes and camps for internally displaced people,” the group said in a statement issued on Wednesday. Dark Shadow said other members of the team preparing to attack the air base had escaped. Fighting has surged over the past year between anti-junta forces, who include pro-democracy activists and ethnic minority rebels – and the military that seized power in early 2021 with the overthrow of a government led by Nobel laureate Aung San Suu Kyi. Anti-junta forces have made significant gains in several parts of the country but they lack the weapons to take on the junta’s air force, which has increasingly been unleashing devastating attacks on the insurgents and on civilians in areas under their control. The U.N. special rapporteur on human rights in Myanmar said in June that military airstrikes against civilian targets increased five-fold in the first half of the year A spokesman for the junta, which denies targeting civilians, was not immediately available for comment on the reported attack on the air base. A former air force officer who now supports the campaign to end military rule told RFA aircraft flying out of Hmawbi mostly attack in Kayah state in the east and the Tanintharyi region in the south. “Hmawbi Air Base is close to Kayah state and Tanintharyi so the aircraft are used in operations in those areas,” said the former officer, who declined to be identified for safety reasons. The base is also a hub for the distribution of jet fuel across the country and for aircraft maintenance and parts, he added. Dark Shadow and its allies have launched urban attacks on the junta and its facilities, including air bases before. Junta authorities arrested seven people in June for plotting a rocket attack on the junta leader, Senior Gen. Min Aung Hlaing, as he attended a bridge opening ceremony in Yangon. Dark Shadow said at the time its members were involved in that. Two of those arrested for that plot died after being tortured during interrogation, a Dark Shadow spokesperson told Radio Free Asia in August. Another anti-junta activist, Nan Lin, head of a group called the University Students’ Union Alumni Force, said prospects were grim for the two detained members of Dark Shadow. “The way we see it, once revolutionary soldiers have been arrested, it’s unimaginable we’ll ever see them again or they’ll be protected according to the law,” Nan Lin told RFA on Thursday. RELATED STORIES: UN report describes torture and death of hundreds in custody since Myanmar coup Burmese filmmaker Pe Maung Same dies following release from junta prison Morale plunges amid setbacks as Myanmar’s junta looks for scapegoats Translated by RFA Burmese. Edited by Kiana Duncan and Mike Firn. We are : Investigative Journalism Reportika Investigative Reports Daily Reports Interviews Surveys Reportika
Laos’ most-populous province is short more than 500 teachers for the new school year starting this month, even as the central government slashes jobs to reduce the country’s enormous debt. The two problems can be traced to the economic crisis gripping Laos amid soaring inflation and living costs, a declining currency, poor job prospects and swelling debt from dams and other infrastructure projects. More than 300 teachers in Savannakhet province recently retired, Gov. Bounhom Oubonpaseuth said at a Sept. 9 meeting with other high-ranking provincial officials. That number includes volunteer teachers who help staff many classrooms. In Laos’ centrally planned economy, school staff are government employees, and many young people work as volunteer teachers in classrooms until there is an opening for salaried staff. But rampant inflation has made it less likely that volunteers will be offered a full-time state teaching job, and more volunteer educators have been walking away from the profession. A primary school in a rural area of Savannakhet province, Laos, in March 2023. (RFA) Interior Minister Vilayvong Boutdakham told lawmakers in the capital Vientiane last week that the government must cut more than 3,000 positions for nurses, teachers and other state workers by the end of 2025. The lack of teachers has been a growing issue in Savannakhet – with more than 1 million inhabitants – and elsewhere in the country since at least 2017, when the national government began reducing state employee quotas because of its shrinking budget. One teacher for several classrooms Earlier this year, the province began paying a living allowance of 1.5 million kip (US$68) a month to volunteer teachers. But that hasn’t been enough to keep enough volunteers in the schools. In the province’s Xayphouthong district, so many have quit that most kindergartens have no teachers and some schools have no teachers at all, a district education official said. In Sepon district, officials need to bring in 123 volunteer and salaried teachers, an education official there told Radio Free Asia. There are 109 schools in the district’s rural areas, where it’s especially hard to hire and keep teachers, he said. RELATED STORIES Volunteer teachers quit in Laos amid weak job prospects Severe teacher shortage in Laos causes schools to close, merge Laos needs more teachers, but budget cuts mean new hires can’t fill gap “Only nine schools have enough teachers – the rest don’t,” he said. “One teacher has to teach many classes or grades at the same time.” Other provinces are facing the same issues. Northern Oudomxay Province has a shortage of 273 teachers. Central Bolikhamxay province has openings for 413 teachers, according to Phophet Kounnavong, deputy director of the province’s Department of Education and Sports. Lao primary school students gather in a classroom in March 2023. (RFA) One teacher in Bolikhamxay who recently resigned said the salary of 1 million kip (US$45) a month wasn’t enough to meet living expenses. “I quit to set up a small business,” she said. “Many volunteer teachers have also quit. They couldn’t wait. Those who continue will have to teach many classes at the same time – especially in rural areas.” Nationwide, last year’s teacher shortage was 2,778, according to official statistics published by the Lao Ministry of Education and Sports. Translated by Max Avary. Edited by Matt Reed and Malcolm Foster. We are : Investigative Journalism Reportika Investigative Reports Daily Reports Interviews Surveys Reportika
Read RFA coverage of this story in Burmese. Rebel forces in central Myanmar ambushed a vehicle near a junta stronghold killing 12 women on their way to work in nearby fields, military-controlled media reported on Wednesday. No group claimed responsibility for the Tuesday attack in the Sagaing region but anti-junta activists there have set up groups, known as People’s Defense Forces, or PDFs, that launch ambushes and raids on military posts in their campaign against the junta that seized power in 2021. The women were on their way to work near Kywei Pon village when attackers opened fire with guns and a rocket launcher, the Myanmar Alin newspaper reported. Three wounded women were being treated in hospital. Armed people in the women’s vehicle returned fire before soldiers arrived, said one Kywei Pon resident, who declined to be identified for safety reasons. “Not long after the junta army arrived and took the injured away with emergency vehicles,” said the resident. There was no information about any casualties among the attackers. Many supporters of the junta, including members of militias that help the military, live in Kywei Pon so PDFs attack it often, the resident added. One PDF member in Sagaing, who also declined to be identified for saety reasons, told Radio Free Asia that anti-junta forces were not involved in the attack although he acknowledged he did not know details of the incident. The military was mounting security operations in response, the Myanmar Alin reported. Residents said the military fired artillery into Taung Kyar village nearby in the belief that PDF members were stationed there. There were no reports of casualties. Residents of other villages in the vicinity fled from their homes late on Tuesday in fear of more attacks by junta forces, residents said. Sagaing has seen some of Myanmar’s worst violence since the military took power three years ago, with clashes and airstrikes killing hundreds. Thousands of people have been displaced by the fighting. Seven of Sagaing’s PDFs, which are loosely organized under a civilian shadow National Unity Government, or NUG, are under investigation by the NUG for alleged human rights violations. RELATED STORIES Myanmar civilians trapped in monastery as clashes intensify Shortages in Myanmar lead to ‘socialist-era’ economy Myanmar’s civil war has displaced 3 million people: UN Translated by RFA Burmese. Edited by Kiana Duncan and Mike Firn. We are : Investigative Journalism Reportika Investigative Reports Daily Reports Interviews Surveys Reportika
Lightning strikes killed 50 people and injured 43 others during the first eight months of 2024 – a year after nearly 130 people died after getting hit by lightning, according to Cambodia’s National Committee for Disaster Management. The high rates of death underscore the need for more public awareness, electrician Pon Robang told Radio Free Asia. In order to avoid lightning strikes, farmers and others should remember to avoid taking refuge under tall trees, he said. They should also stay away from water sources during storms. Additionally, houses and high-rise commercial buildings should be equipped with lightning poles, he said. “These need to be tested during installation because I have seen some buildings burned by lightning,” he said. Lightning current is strong enough to cause heart attacks, skin burns and damage to people’s nervous systems. Most of the lightning strikes this year have occurred in Siem Reap, Battambang and and Banteay Meanchey provinces in the country’s northwest and Prey Veng and Tbong Khmum provinces in the east, according to the committee. A farmer in Battambang province’s Sangke district, Sem Bunthy, told RFA that he had never seen the government try to educate people about lightning strikes. “No one comes to tell us anything when we suffer from storms or lightning,” he said. “We just live among our people. If we cannot solve the problem, there’s nothing we can do. We depend on ourselves.” RFA was unable to reach National Disaster Management Committee spokesman Soth Kimkol Mony on Sept. 9 to ask further questions. Translated by Sum Sok Ry. Edited by Matt Reed. We are : Investigative Journalism Reportika Investigative Reports Daily Reports Interviews Surveys Reportika
Vietnam’s coast guard has held a rare live fire exercise to test responses to security threats, in an area off its central coast on the South China Sea. The Sept. 5-11 exercise was conducted by the Vietnam Coast Guard Region 3, in the waters off Binh Thuan province, the force said in a press release. Coast Guard Region 3 with headquarters in Ba Ria-Vung Tau province is one of Vietnam’s four coast guard zones, responsible for safeguarding its claims in the South China Sea as tensions are rising in the regional waterway. The tactical training and live five exercise – aimed at boosting combat readiness – is “one of the top priorities” of the coast guard, Col. Nguyen Minh Khanh, Region 3’s deputy commander, was quoted as saying. Coast guard personnel were responding to multiple scenarios such as “threats to sovereignty and security,” illegal incursions into Vietnam’s waters by foreign vessels, piracy and search-and-rescue and disaster relief. Vietnam coast guard personnel during live fire exercises Sept. 5-11, 2024. (Vietnam Coast Guard) Photographs and video clips released by the coast guard show troops, equipped with artillery, anti-aircraft guns and rocket launchers, shooting at airborne targets as well as firing water cannons and warning off foreign ships. “They have accomplished all the tasks with excellence,” Col. Khanh said. Vietnam rarely publicizes such activities despite having invested heavily in developing its coast guard in recent years. RELATED STORIES Philippine coast guard ship leaves disputed shoal in South China Sea Vietnam, Philippines to sign defense cooperation agreement Vietnam’s coast guard to hold first drills with Philippines The U.S. coast guard is reportedly planning to transfer the last of three Hamilton-class cutters to Vietnam in the near future. Maritime security is a defense priority for Vietnam, one of six parties that claim parts of the South China Sea, along with China, Brunei, Malaysia, the Philippines and Taiwan. Vietnam coast guard personnel during live fire exercises Sept. 5-11, 2024. (Vietnam Coast Guard) China, however, holds the most expansive claim and its authorities have become more aggressive against neighboring countries in disputed waters. This month, coast guard vessels from Vietnam and the Philippines took part in their first joint drills off Manila but they limited their activity to firefighting and search-and-rescue as Vietnam is careful not to be seen as siding militarily with any country. The Philippines and China have this year been in a tense standoff over disputed features in the South China Sea. The Philippines last week recalled a coast guard vessel from the disputed Sabina Shoal but officials pledged never to “abandon our sovereign rights over these waters.” Edited by Mike Firn. We are : Investigative Journalism Reportika Investigative Reports Daily Reports Interviews Surveys Reportika
Read RFA coverage of these stories in Burmese. The queue for cooking oil stretches down a Yangon street. Householders turn up before dawn to fill a plastic bottle at a subsidized rate in Myanmar’s commercial capital – the latest evidence of a tanking economy. “If you can come early, you will get your quota early. If you are late, you might end up with nothing … and have to start all over again the next day,” Daw Htoo, whose real name was changed in order to protect her identity, told RFA Burmese. “You have to wait for your turn for about two and a half hours everyday,” she said of the palm oil, which costs 20% less than the price of peanut oil sold outside government-subsidized shops. “Some have been waiting since 5 a.m.” Daw Myint, a resident of Yangon’s Thaketa township in her 70s, told RFA that with the price of peanut oil now more than 20,000 kyats (US$4) per viss, which is equal to about 1.7 kilograms or 3.5 pounds, “we simply can’t afford to use it anymore.” In a country wracked by conflict since the military takeover three-and-a-half years ago, basic products are becoming more scarce. People wait in line to purchase palm oil, Sept. 4, 2024 in Yangon. (RFA) Also, import restrictions are impeding the supply of basic medicines, deepening a humanitarian crisis. “It’s like we’re going back in time to when you had to line up for everything,” said a Yangon businessman who requested anonymity to avoid trouble with authorities. “Palm oil isn’t a rare product … This commodity is abundant and sold competitively around the world, but it’s being rationed in Myanmar.” Older residents say it reminds them of life under a previous military regime, led by Ne Win, when Myanmar followed a socialist political model. Under the system, all major industries were nationalized, including import-export trade, leading to price controls and the expansion of the black market to account for as much as 80% of the national economy. RELATED STORIES Red Cross chief calls for greater aid access after visit to Myanmar Political instability since coup prompts foreign investment exit from Myanmar Pumps run dry in Myanmar as forex crisis pushes up prices In late July, junta chief Senior Gen. Min Aung Hlaing announced that the country’s current situation is “most suited to socialist-era cooperative systems,” implying that, with Myanmar’s economy in freefall, the population should prepare to make sacrifices. One such sacrifice is cooking oil, according to residents and business owners in the country’s largest city Yangon. Major inconvenience Amid the conflict that has engulfed Myanmar since the military’s February 2021 coup d’etat, local production of vegetable oils from peanuts, sunflower seeds and sesame has dwindled or ceased entirely, forcing consumers to rely on imported palm oil to prepare their meals. But the junta has put restrictions on the hard currency needed to import palm oil, creating a shortage and a price jump in local markets. Yangon residents told RFA Burmese that the price of one viss container of palm oil now costs 16,000 kyats (US$3.20) – up from 8,000 kyats in January and 6,500 kyats in December 2023. Meanwhile, the value of the kyat has dropped from 3,500 kyats to 5,600 kyats per U.S. dollar over the same period. Early this month, a ration system went into effect, through which residents can purchase a maximum of half a viss each day at the subsidized price. An elderly woman buys palm oil Sept. 4, 2024. (RFA) An elderly woman in Yangon’s Lanmadaw township told RFA that the ration system is a major inconvenience. “If we were able to buy one viss at a time, we would only need to line up once a week,” said the woman who, like others interviewed for this report, spoke on condition of anonymity due to security concerns. A restaurant owner in Yangon’s North Dagon township told RFA that she has had to buy palm oil from the local market to supplement what she can buy through the junta’s ration system, because half a viss is not enough to meet her business’s daily needs. “Not only does it take time for us to buy palm oil [under the ration plan], but we can only buy a half viss at a time, which is only enough to cook five portions of rice,” she said. Attempts by RFA to contact the office of the junta’s Department of Consumer Affairs in Yangon for further clarification about the palm oil ration plan went unanswered. ‘Life-threatening’ Meanwhile, it has become increasingly difficult for people displaced by conflict to access essential medical supplies due to the junta’s restrictions on medical imports and a national shortage, According to aid workers and those who have fled fighting, the demand for medicine is particularly acute among those displaced by conflict in Sagaing region, Chin state, Kachin state, northern Shan state, Magway region and Rakhine state. “We are dealing with cases of seasonal flu and diarrhea here – it’s definitely a life-threatening situation,” said a displaced person from Chin state’s Kanpetlet township. “Access to medicine would be helpful, but it’s simply not available. The biggest challenge is the inability to purchase the necessary medication.” A pharmacy in Yangon, Myanmar, Jan. 12, 2008. (Patrik M. Loeff via Flickr) Aid workers said that the transportation of medicine to Chin state, where approximately 250,000 war displaced are located, has become difficult due to road blockades imposed by the junta. “The main issue is that the junta shuts down the roads whenever fighting intensifies, making transportation extremely difficult,” said one person assisting the displaced. “Pharmacy owners … are required to submit a list of their products to the junta’s General Administration Department and under these conditions, they are reluctant to sell openly. Everything is operating in secrecy right now.” According to a July 1 statement from the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs, more than 3 million people are internally displaced across Myanmar due to ongoing military…
Junta forces in Myanmar arrested and interrogated about 70 residents in the capital of Rakhine state on suspicion of being rebel sympathizers and trying to send supplies into rebel zones, residents told Radio Free Asia on Monday. The residents of Sittwe were targeted for trying to send goods and food to Arakan Army-controlled townships on Friday in violation of a junta blockade, residents said, adding that they had not been released as of Monday afternoon. “They dropped the goods off on the bank of the Kaladan River headed for Pauktaw and Mrauk-U townships,” said one resident, who declined to be identified for security reasons, referring to two townships that the ethnic minority insurgents seized in recent months from forces of the junta that seized power in a 2021 coup. “Both the people who actually dropped the goods off and other people from the neighborhood were arrested, including women,” the resident said. The identities and exact charges that the detained people faced were not known, he said. RFA tried to telephone Rakhine state’s junta spokesperson, Hla Thein, but he could not be reached for comment. Another resident, who also asked not to be identified out of fear for their safety, said soldiers were holding the detainees at Sittwe Police Station No. 1, adding that the military had tightened security on Sittwe’s roads to block shipments to areas under AA control. Junta forces have lost significant amounts of territory to the AA in Myanmar’s western-most state since late last year and the guerrillas now control 10 of its 17 townships. Junta forces have for years battled insurgents with a so-called four-cuts strategy, cutting off rebels from food, funds, information and recruits. In Rakhine state, the military has tried to isolate the AA with transport blockades while rounding suspected sympathizers and setting up neighborhood militias to support the military. The AA, which draws its support from the state’s Buddhist ethnic Rakhine community and is fighting for self-determination, announced its intention to capture the junta-controlled capital of Sittwe in March. On Friday, the AA said it was planning an offensive to capture the remaining seven townships under junta control, including Sittwe. RELATED STORIES Rebel army captures Myanmar navy training base Myanmar junta airstrike kills dozens including prisoners, rebels say Myanmar military court jails 144 villagers detained after massacre Translated by RFA Burmese. Edited by Kiana Duncan and Mike Firn. We are : Investigative Journalism Reportika Investigative Reports Daily Reports Interviews Surveys Reportika
A decade ago, Southeast Asia seemed poised for democratic transformation, spearheaded by three icons: Myanmar’s Aung San Suu Kyi, Cambodia’s Sam Rainsy and Malaysia’s Anwar Ibrahim. Suu Kyi’s National League for Democracy was on the cusp of a historic election victory, potentially gaining entry into government for the first time in the army-run nation. Sam Rainsy’s Cambodia National Rescue Party had narrowly lost to the ruling party in the 2013 elections, but momentum hinted at a possible win at the next ballot. Meanwhile, Anwar’s People’s Pact coalition won the popular vote in Malaysia’s 2013 elections, marking the start of a new political era. During a late 2013 visit, Sam Rainsy suggested in a meeting with his fellow pro-democracy icons that they should “work together to promote democracy in our region.” Fast forward to today, and all three have either fallen from power or seen their legacies tarnished—and the region’s democratic transformation now seems more distant than ever. Cambodian exiled political opponent and leader of the Cambodia National Rescue Party (CNRP), Sam Rainsy, in Paris, on July 27, 2023. (Joel Saget/AFP) Suu Kyi, ousted in early 2021, saw her international reputation go up in smoke for her defense of the military’s genocide against her country’s Muslim Rohingya minority. Sam Rainsy went into exile in 2015 and his party dissolved two years later as the ruling Cambodian People’s Party tightened its authoritarian chokehold. Rainsy now writes financial updates with little hope of returning to Cambodia. Anwar became Malaysia’s prime minister in 2022 but has abandoned his once-professed liberal, secular ideals. His government has launched “lawfare” campaigns against opponents. In August, Malaysian prosecutors charged Muhyiddin Yassin, the leader of the opposition, with sedition for complaining that the king hadn’t asked him to form a government last year. Anwar’s pluralist appeal has gone out of the window. He’s unpopular with Malays, he has defended a deputy prime minister accused of corruption, his speeches are flecked with anti-Semitism and anti-Western vitriol, and he has drawn Malaysia closer to China and Russia. Anwar visited Moscow this month and now declares support for China’s “reunification” of Taiwan. “Anwar had been a favorite of Western reporters and officials, heralded as a man who could liberalize Malaysian politics,” the Economist recently wrote. Since taking power, he has been “a very different kind of leader.” A milder form of tyranny One shouldn’t mourn the passing of Southeast Asia’s icons, the disappearance of a handful of individuals who were supposed to drag the region by their own sweat and sacrifice into a freer future. There was too much focus on personalities rather than policies; too much about a single person’s fate to become premier and not on the people they were supposedly fighting for. Suu Kyi was the National League for Democracy; she was destined to save Myanmar because her father had done the same when Burma emerged from British colonial rule in the 1940s. Even before Sam Rainsy’s party was dissolved, it had become cleaved between the factions loyal to him and another leader. They, too, saw themselves as the embodiments of salvation for an entire country. Myanmar opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi in Oslo on June 15, 2012. (Markus Schreiber/AP) As Suu Kyi and Anwar showed, you sacrifice your entire life in exile, imprisonment, scorn and harassment, and once you finally attain power, you believe you damn well need to stay there, whatever it costs. After all, losing power means a return to tyranny and the bad old times—so a milder form of tyranny is justifiable to prevent that. Southeast Asia isn’t unique; the worst leaders are those who have taken a long walk to power. Seldom does a revolutionary not become a counter-revolutionary. Rarely does the liberal in opposition remain a liberal in power. Suu Kyi gambled – badly – that publicly defending the military’s genocidal actions against the Rohingya was the price worth paying to prevent a military coup. She should sacrifice up the few for the apparent benefit of the majority, she reasoned. The end of idolatry should allow Southeast Asian democrats to focus on strengthening political institutions rather than idolizing individuals. A new example in Thailand The region should look at what’s happening in Thailand. Unique in Southeast Asia, Thailand’s progressive movement has created a pro-democracy “archetype”— someone young, Western-educated, good-looking, conversant in English, ideally with a business background, and very social media savvy. Pita Limjaroenrat, who employed this archetype to make his Move Forward Party the country’s largest at last year’s elections, was more of a character than an icon. Pita played this role with Move Forward, but it was the same character that Thanathorn Juangroongruangkit played before him with the Future Forward party, Move Forward’s predecessor party, and that Natthaphong Ruengpanyawut now plays as leader of People’s Party, the successor to Move Forward. This is a clever tactic. If the leader is disbarred from politics, as Thanathorn and Pita were, then someone else can easily assume the role, as Natthaphong has done. If the party is dissolved, as Future Forward and Move Forward were, you make a new one led by the same character with the same script. This prevents a party from being consumed by one person – à la Suu Kyi. It turns the dissolution of a party into an inconvenience, instead of the death knell of an entire movement, as was the case with Sam Rainsy and the Cambodia National Rescue Party. Malaysia’s Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim in Berlin, Germany, March 11, 2024. (Liesa Johannssen/Reuters) It means that if the leader wins power, he knows he is there because of the script he has been given, not the one he’s written. The rest of Southeast Asia would be better off developing their own archetypes, not waiting for the next icons to appear. Neither is the end of Southeast Asia’s pro-democracy icons a bad thing for the West, which was too quick in the 1990s and 2000s to put its faith in a few personalities being able to drive…
UPDATED AT 5:30 ET on Sept. 15, 2024 The Philippines has withdrawn a coast guard vessel at the center of a standoff with China at a disputed shoal in the South China Sea, saying it had played a crucial role in “countering illegal activities” but had to return to port because of bad weather, low supplies and the need to get medical care for some of those on board. The Sabina Shoal, about 140 km (85 miles) west of Palawan island, is claimed by both countries but is entirely within the Philippine exclusive economic zone, or EEZ, where the Philippines holds rights to explore for natural resources. The five-month standoff with China at the shoal resulted in several collisions between Philippine and Chinese vessels, especially during Philippine resupply missions to its ship, the BRP Teresa Magbanua, raising fears of a more serious conflict between the Philippines, a close U.S. ally, and an increasingly assertive China. “Their steadfast presence has played a crucial role in countering illegal activities that threaten our marine environment and thwarting attempts by other state actors to engage in surreptitious reclamation in the area,” the Philippine coast guard said in a statement, referring to the officers and men on board the ship. Ship tracking specialists earlier told Radio Free Asia the 2,200-ton coast guard flagship left the hotly disputed shoal, known in the Philippines as Escoda, at around 1 p.m. on Friday. Data provided by the website MarineTraffic, which uses automatic identification system (AIS) signals to track ships, show that the BRP Teresa Magbanua (MRRV-9701) was back in the Sulu Sea near the Philippines’ Balabac island, about 200 km (125 miles) to the south of the shoal. There was no immediate comment from China on the ship’s withdrawal from the shoal. The BRP Teresa Magbanua is one of the largest and most modern vessels of the Philippine coast guard. It was deployed to Sabina Shoal in April to monitor what the Philippines fears is a Chinese plan to reclaim land there, as China has done elsewhere in the South China Sea. Philippine officials insisted that the vessel could remain there for as long as necessary but China denounced what it saw as the “illegal grounding” of the BRP Teresa Magbanua and deployed a large number of ships there to keep watch. The Philippines denied that the vessel had been grounded. Beijing feared that by maintaining the vessel’s semi-permanent presence at the shoal, Manila aimed to establish de-facto control over it, similar to what it has done at the Second Thomas Shoal, where an old Philippine warship, BRP Sierra Madre, was deliberately run aground to serve as an outpost. For its part, the Philippines is worried that without the presence of its authorities, Chinese ships will swarm the area and effectively take control of it, as happened at Scarborough Shoal – another disputed South China Sea feature – where China has had control since 2012. Sabina Shoal is close to an area believed to be rich in oil and gas, and also served as the main staging ground for resupply missions to the Sierra Madre at the Second Thomas Shoal. Lower the tension The Philippine coast guard said in its statement on Sunday that it was “firmly committed and determined in protecting the Philippines’ sovereignty, sovereign rights, and jurisdiction in the West Philippine Sea, including in Escoda Shoal.” But Ray Powell, director of the U.S.-based SeaLight project at Stanford University, said China was likely to deploy to the area as it did at the Scarborough Shoal. “The parallels are unavoidable,” said Powell, who monitors developments in the South China Sea. “China is also likely to declare victory – hard to avoid that conclusion,” added the maritime security analyst. The withdrawal comes days after Philippine Foreign Affairs Undersecretary Maria Theresa P. Lazaro met China’s Vice Foreign Minister Chen Xiaodong to discuss the situation at the shoal. The Chinese side reportedly urged the Philippines to immediately withdraw its vessels while “Lazaro reaffirmed the consistent position of the Philippines and explored ways to lower the tension in the area,” the Philippines Department of Foreign Affairs said in a statement after the Sept. 12 talks. The Philippine coast guard made no mention of the talks in its statement. Philippine analyst Chester Cabalza, president of the International Development and Security Cooperation think tank, described the withdrawal of the ship as “anti-climactic,” adding that he thought both sides should withdraw from the vicinity of the shoal, which is in an important sea lane. Cabalza said if the Philippines and China had reached any agreement in their Sept. 12 consultation, that would become evident in the absence of any “swarming of Chinese armada” at the shoal. “The ball is with China now,” the analyst told RFA’s affiliate BenarNews. RELATED STORIES China, Philippines trade blame over ‘ramming’ at disputed shoal https://www.rfa.org/english/news/southchinasea/china-philippines-ramming-sabina-08312024064753.html China releases report to fortify claim over disputed shoal in South China Sea https://www.rfa.org/english/news/southchinasea/china-sabina-shoal-report-08302024043714.html Philippines, China clash near disputed shoal in South China Sea https://www.rfa.org/english/news/southchinasea/china-philippines-shoal-clash-08262024023722.html *Jason Guterriez in Manila contributed to this report.” Editing by RFA Staff This story has been updated to include comment from the Philippine coast guard. We are : Investigative Journalism Reportika Investigative Reports Daily Reports Interviews Surveys Reportika
