China is taking a page out of the Kremlin’s playbook and is seeking to highlight America’s faults and weaponize the culture wars and identity politics currently buffeting the West, according to disinformation analysts.Much like the Kremlin and state-owned Russian media, Chinese propagandists are focusing on the problems of racial injustice and income inequality in the U.S. and Western Europe — a move to distract attention from Beijing’s own rights abuses, including the internment of more than a million ethnic Muslim Uyghurs, analysts say. “Civil unrest in the United States following police violence against African Americans has been used to counter criticism of police abuse against [pro-democracy] protesters in Hong Kong,” according to a recent study by the Atlantic Council, a U.S.-based think tank.  FILE – Protesters march near the skyline of Hong Kong, July 7, 2019. China’s central government has dismissed Hong Kong pro-democracy protesters as clowns and criminals while bemoaning growing violence surrounding the monthslong demonstrations.”China’s disinformation efforts are becoming more sophisticated,” added Dexter Roberts, a senior fellow at the Atlantic Council’s Asia Security Initiative and author of the report, “China’s Disinformation Strategy.”Sarah Cook, research director for China and Hong Kong at Freedom House, a New York-based institute that conducts research on democracy and human rights, has also noted in a column in the think tank’s latest “China Media Bulletin” that Beijing’s disinformation tactics are maturing and becoming more sophisticated. She said recent studies indicate collectively that “significant human and financial resources are being devoted to the disinformation effort, the overall sophistication and impact have increased, and linkages between official accounts and fake accounts are more evident, rendering plausible deniability by the Chinese government more difficult.”She added, “When China-linked networks of social media bots and trolls appeared on the global disinformation scene in 2019, most analysts concluded their impact and reach were fairly limited, particularly in terms of engagement by real users and relative to more sophisticated actors in this realm, like the Russian regime. As many China watchers anticipated, that assessment now seems to be changing.”FILE – A resident wearing a mask against coronavirus walks past government propaganda poster featuring Tiananmen Gate in Wuhan in central China’s Hubei province, Apr. 16, 2020.Chinese messaging on social media sites reflects Beijing’s growing focus on racial politics in the U.S. Last month, Beijing published a report about human rights violations and the treatment of racial minorities in the United States, arguing that “racism exists in a comprehensive, systematic and continuous manner.” Ethnic minorities in the U.S. have been “devastated by racial discrimination,” the Chinese communist government said. The report, issued by China’s State Council Information Office, said the coronavirus epidemic in America had spun out of control, worsening inter-ethnic conflicts and social divisions, adding, “It further added to the human rights violations in the country.”For years, the Chinese government deflected most allegations of human rights abuses by saying outside powers, as well as the Western media, should stop meddling in China’s “internal affairs.” Now, analysts say, Beijing’s strategy is more confrontational and seeks to turn the tables on the West, copying the tactics of the Kremlin.  Just days before China’s report was issued, U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken and National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan sparred in Alaska with their Chinese counterparts at the first U.S.-China talks of Joe Biden’s presidency. FILE – Secretary of State Antony Blinken, accompanied by national security adviser Jake Sullivan, talks to the media after a closed-door morning session of U.S.-China talks in Anchorage, Alaska, March 19, 2021.In his opening remarks, Blinken raised Washington’s “deep concerns with actions by China, including in Xinjiang, Hong Kong, Taiwan, cyberattacks on the United States, [and] economic coercion of our allies.” The U.S. officials said China’s actions threaten the rules-based order that maintains global stability. “That’s why they’re not merely internal matters, and why we feel an obligation to raise these issues here today,” he added in his short opening remarks during a media photo opportunity. Yang Jiechi, the Chinese Communist Party’s foreign affairs chief, replied with a 17-minute lecture. He complained about “U.S. interference in China’s internal affairs” but also raised rights issues in America.  “China has made steady progress in human rights. And the fact is that there are many problems within the United States regarding human rights,” he said. Blinken responded, “What we’ve done throughout our history is to confront those challenges openly, publicly, transparently. Not trying to ignore them. Not trying to pretend they don’t exist. Not trying to sweep them under a rug.”The harsh Chinese rhetoric underscored Beijing’s increasingly forward-leaning strategy in the information wars.  It’s in line with what has been termed China’s “Wolf Warrior” diplomacy, which started to emerge in 2020 after Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi instructed his country’s envoys to be more assertive in representing Beijing’s interests overseas and vocal in defending the Chinese Communist government from criticism.   The tone and temper of Chinese diplomacy has sharpened dramatically, with Chinese envoys in Western capitals exhibiting a truculence that Western officials say is a far cry from what was seen during the leadership of Deng Xiaoping, who ruled as China’s paramount leader from 1978 until retirement in 1992.   Traditionally considered among the more reserved of the world’s ambassadors, China’s envoys have had a makeover, prompting an international backlash for what their critics say is an effort to spread fake news, doctored images and false equivalencies between Western failings and Chinese government policy.
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Brunei, current leader of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN), has called for a regional leaders’ meeting to discuss the situation in Myanmar, where the government has used violence to counter protests against the February 1 military coup.In a joint statement with Malaysia, Brunei said both countries have asked their ministers and senior officials to undertake “necessary preparations for the meeting to be held at the ASEAN Secretariat in Jakarta, Indonesia.” The statement followed a meeting between Malaysian Prime Minister Muhyiddin Yassin and Brunei Sultan Hassanal Bolkiah. Myanmar Activists Launch Radio Program to Promote Federalism Myanmar pro-democracy activists are turning to radio to reach the public, pro-democracy activists and even the military Indonesia has led efforts by members of ASEAN, of which Myanmar is a member, to encourage a negotiated solution, despite a long-standing policy of not commenting on each other’s domestic problems.Public demonstrations began after the coup which overthrew the elected government of de facto leader Aung San Suu Kyi, who was arrested along with President Win Myint and other government leaders. The government responded with force, leaving at least 557 dead and more than 2,750 people injured.Protesters remained defiant in the face of the violence and have found creative ways to continue their protests. Late Monday, in a gesture organized through social media, people went into the streets in various sections of the main city, Yangon, and began applauding.The gesture was designed to honor “Ethnic Armed Organizations opposing the government.” Meanwhile, media reports say the military junta over the weekend issued arrest warrants for 60 celebrities — most of whom are in hiding — accused of supporting the protests. The Global New Light of Myanmar newspaper published lists that include actors, musicians and social media “influencers” charged with “spreading news to affect state stability.” They could face up to three years in prison.
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Taiwan’s Defense Ministry on Monday reported a new incursion by China’s air force into the island’s air defense identification zone, made up of eight fighter jets and two other aircraft, one of which flew through the strategic Bashi Channel.Chinese-claimed Taiwan has complained over the last few months of repeated missions by China’s air force near the island, concentrated in the southwestern part its air defense zone near the Taiwan-controlled Pratas Islands.Late last month Taiwan reported 20 Chinese aircraft were involved in one such incursion.In the latest incident, Taiwan’s Defense Ministry said four Chinese J-16 and four J-10 fighters were involved, as well as an early warning plane and anti-submarine aircraft, the latter of which flew to the south of Taiwan through the Bashi Channel that connects the Pacific to the South China Sea.Taiwan’s air force sent up a combat air patrol and warned the Chinese aircraft away, the ministry added.There was no immediate response from China’s Defense Ministry, but the flights coincided with other Chinese military activity to Taiwan’s north.Japan’s Defense Ministry said on Sunday that the Chinese aircraft carrier the Liaoning, accompanied by five escort ships, had transited the Miyako Strait on their way to the Pacific.Though China’s air force has not flown over Taiwan itself, the flights have ramped up pressure, both financial and physical, on the island’s air force to ensure its aircraft are ready to go at any moment in what security officials describe as a “war of attrition.”China views democratic Taiwan as its own territory and has never renounced the use of force to bring the island under its control.While Taiwan’s air force is well trained, it is dwarfed by that of China’s. 
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Chinese tech giants are expanding in Singapore as they face a crackdown at home and growing pressure in other key markets — but they may struggle to find talent in the city-state. Messaging-and-gaming behemoth Tencent is opening a hub and TikTok owner ByteDance is on a hiring spree after establishing a regional headquarters, while e-commerce giant Alibaba is investing in property and recruiting. The tech firms are shifting their focus to booming Southeast Asian markets as authorities tighten the screws at home amid concerns about the platforms’ growing power. China’s regulators have launched a blitz on the sector, hitting several firms with heavy fines, and threatening to slice up massive companies whose reach now extends deep into the daily lives of ordinary Chinese.  Meanwhile, festering tensions between Washington and Beijing after an assault on Chinese tech titans during Donald Trump’s presidency make the United States an unattractive prospect, and problems abound elsewhere. “Chinese tech companies are facing regulatory pressures and sanctions from governments in other countries, notably the U.S. but also other nations such as India,” Rajiv Biswas, Asia Pacific chief economist at IHS Markit, told AFP.   India has banned a swathe of Chinese apps since a border clash last year, while the European Union and other Western powers recently imposed sanctions over China’s treatment of the Muslim Uyghur minority, prompting retaliatory sanctions.  But Singapore, a prosperous financial hub, maintains good ties with Beijing and the West, and tech firms have come to view it as a safe bet to expand their operations without upsetting either side.   In the current climate of geopolitical uncertainty “Singapore is considered as a more neutral country,” Chen Guoli, professor of strategy at the Singapore campus of business school INSEAD, told AFP. Hiring spree    In addition, long-running turmoil in traditional rival Hong Kong may have dimmed the territory’s appeal, although observers stress other factors are likely more important.   The influx of Chinese cash will be welcome in Singapore, whose economy has been hammered by the coronavirus and which is seeking to build itself up as a tech center. It is already home to major offices of U.S. tech titans Facebook, Google and Twitter, while ByteDance recently moved into bigger offices in the financial district and has launched a hiring drive. Between September and February, a third of ByteDance’s job postings were in Singapore, more than twice the ads it placed in China, with a focus on hiring specialized engineers, said Ajay Thalluri, an analyst with data and analytics firm GlobalData.   Meanwhile, Alibaba last year bought a 50 percent stake in an office tower, where its e-commerce unit Lazada is the main tenant, while its affiliate, fintech giant Ant Group, won a license to operate a wholesale digital bank in the city-state. Alibaba “is building teams in Singapore with significant key senior and mid-level job postings related to talent acquisition, product management, and legal compliance,” said Thalluri.   The e-commerce firm, co-founded by Jack Ma, has come under fierce pressure in China, with authorities pulling the plug on Ant’s record initial public offering in November.    Talent crunch    ByteDance and Tencent, which announced its Singapore expansion plans in September, say they are primarily focused on growing their businesses in Southeast Asia, a booming region of 650 million, rather than avoiding tensions elsewhere. By building up their Singapore presence, the tech giants are hedging their bets in case frictions with the West hit a new nadir, analysts say.   Chen of INSEAD said Chinese companies needed a “plan B” in case they had to separate their global and Chinese operations, in which case Singapore could become their international hub.  However, a major challenge in expanding in the city, with a population of just 5.7 million, is recruiting workers with the correct skills.  “Technology is developing and accelerating at a speed that far surpasses the supply of talent needed to scale,” said Daljit Sall, senior director for information technology at the Singapore office of global recruitment firm Randstad. Singapore is trying to attract overseas talent, although that may cause unease in a country where there are already concerns about the large foreign population, while schools are offering courses to prepare youngsters for tech jobs. Nevertheless, “there still remains an urgent need to fill these skills gaps now,” Sall said. 
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A Malaysian court heard an appeal Monday by former Prime Minister Najib Razak of his conviction last year in connection with the massive graft scandal at state-owned 1Malaysia Development Berhad or 1MDB investment fund. The 67-year-old Najib was sentenced to 12 years in prison on charges of abuse of power, breach of trust and money laundering. Prosecutors accused Najib of illegally receiving nearly $10 million from SRC International, a former unit of 1MDB. Najib claims he was misled by Malaysian financier Jho Low and other rogue 1MDB officials into believing the money deposited into his personal accounts was donated by the Saudi royal family. Najib faces as many as 42 charges involved with the embezzlement of up to $4.5 billion from 1MDB, which he created in 2009 to spur Malaysia’s economic development. U.S. investigators say the missing money was used to buy hotels, luxury items such as a yacht, jewelry and classic artwork, and to finance the 2013 Hollywood feature film The Wolf of Wall Street. Investigators say as much as $1 billion ended up in Najib’s personal accounts. Najib’s wife, Rosmah Mansour, is also facing several corruption charges after a raid on the couple’s properties found over $270 million in cash, jewelry, luxury handbags and other valuables.  The 1MDB scandal angered Malaysians, who ousted Najib’s ruling United Malays National Organization party or UNMO in the 2018 parliamentary elections. UNMO was the biggest party in a coalition that had ruled Malaysia since gaining independence in 1957.  The charges against Najib were filed by the government led by his successor, Mahathir Mohamad, who led the coalition that defeated Najib’s ruling UNMO coalition. Mahathir ruled Malaysia with an iron fist from 1981 to 2003 as UNMO’s leader. But Mahathir’s coalition collapsed in February due to internal divisions, allowing UNMO to return to power by joining a coalition with a party led by Prime Minister Muhyiddin Yassin. 
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Demonstrations against military rule continued in Myanmar Sunday, with many protesters using Easter eggs to aid their movement.Eggs bearing slogans such as “Spring Revolution” and “We Must Win” as well as drawings of a three-finger salute were in the hands of thousands of protesters across Myanmar Sunday, in a nod to the Christian holiday.Protesters began taking to the streets after the February 1 coup by the military, in which de facto leader Aung San Suu Kyi, President Win Myint and other government leaders were arrested.  Hundreds of people have been killed in violent crackdowns on protests over the past two months, according to media and other accounts. The Assistance Association for Political Prisoners, a nonprofit human rights organization based in Myanmar, has tallied 557 deaths and more than 2,750 arrested since the protests began.5 Die in Myanmar Protests as Junta Cracks Down on Online Critics Security forces again opened fire on pro-democracy protesters, media sayOn Sunday, protests drew thousands into the streets in Yangon and Mandalay, among other cities. Local news outlets reported that security forces opened fire on a crowd of protesters in the city of Pyinmana in central Myanmar, killing at least one person.In Naypyitaw, the capital, police fired on protesters on motorbikes, killing two men, the Irrawaddy news site reported. One man was killed earlier in the northern town of Bhamo, the Myanmar Now news outlet said.Police and a spokesman for the junta did not answer telephone calls seeking comment.During his Easter Sunday address, Pope Francis acknowledged the young people of Myanmar, praying for those “committed to supporting democracy and making their voices heard peacefully, in the knowledge that hatred can be dispelled only by love.”Sunday’s so-called “Easter Egg Strike” is one of many themed protests over the past two months, including a “Flower Strike” in which protesters laid flowers in public places to honor victims of security forces. And a “Silent Strike” that left the streets of the country deserted.“Easter is all about the future and the people of Myanmar have a great future in a federal democracy,” said Dr. Sasa, the United Nation international envoy for the ousted civilian government, on Twitter. A member of the Christian minority in what is largely a Buddhist nation, Sasa uses only one name.   “May this Easter bring the new hope and strength to United States of Myanmar,” he tweeted. Our people’s creativities, braveries and courages are the future of Myanmar. Easter is all about the future, the people of Myanmar has great future in federal democracy, May this Easter bring the new hope and strength to United States of Myanmar.(Photo: CJs)/Easter Egg Strike pic.twitter.com/PwKLhIQT2W— Dr. Sasa (@DrSasa22222) April 4, 2021The junta, which had been turning off internet service at night, told internet service providers last week to shut down wireless broadband service until further notice, according to Ooredoo, one of several providers to report the move Thursday.Myanmar Junta Orders Shutdown of Internet, Providers Say Defiant protesters use alternative communications technology as they continue to march, observe strikes  This internet shutdown was condemned by several dozen U.N. member countries via a statement written by Lithuania, France and Greece.
 
Protesters have used the internet and their cellphones to publicize violent acts by security forces against protesters and to organize against military rule.
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Flash floods and landslides from torrential rains have killed at least 23 people and displaced thousands in eastern Indonesia, while several people were still missing, the country’s disaster agency, the BNPB, said Sunday.Mud from surrounding hills hit almost 50 houses in Lamenele village shortly after midnight Saturday, BNPB spokesperson Raditya Jati said. The village is located on Flores Island in East Nusa Tenggara province.“Dozens of houses were buried in mud in Lamanele village,” Raditya said in a statement. “Residents’ houses [were] washed away by the flood.”Raditya said extreme weather was expected to continue this week.In the city of Bima in the province of West Nusa Tenggara, the rising waters after nine hours of downpour overflowed the dams in four subdistricts, submerging almost 10,000 houses and killing at least two people, Raditya said. In neighboring East Timor, a landslide killed eight people on the outskirts of Dili, the capital, state news agency Tatoli reported.Seasonal flash floods and landslides kill dozens annually in Indonesia. Forty people died in two landslides in West Java province January. 
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Taiwan’s transport minister said on Sunday he would not shirk his responsibility for a deadly train crash even as his resignation offer was rejected amid growing questions over safety lapses that could have contributed to the disaster.In the island’s worst rail accident in seven decades, 51 people have been confirmed dead after a packed express train slammed into a truck near the eastern city of Hualien on Friday, causing it to derail and the front part to crumple.Speaking at the crash site overlooking the ocean and backed by precipitous mountains, Lin Chia-lung said he would “not avoid” responsibility.”I am also in charge of minimizing the damage caused by the entire accident. After the whole rescue work is completed, I believe I will take the responsibility,” he said.Premier Su Tseng-chang’s office said Lin had made a verbal offer to resign on Saturday, but Su rejected it for the time being, saying efforts for now should focus on rescue and recovery.The truck that the train hit had slid down a sloping road onto the track just outside a tunnel. Officials are investigating the manager of the construction site, Lee Yi-hsiang, whose truck is suspected of not having its brakes properly applied.Lee had been released on bail, though the high court’s Hualien branch on Sunday rescinded that decision after the prosecutors appealed it, sending the case back to the lower court.Lee read out a statement apologizing for what happened as police took him away from his residence on Sunday, Taiwan media reported.”I deeply regret this and express my deepest apologies,” he said. “I will definitely cooperate with the prosecutors and police in the investigation, accept the responsibility that should be borne, and never shirk it. Finally, I once again express my sincerest apologies.”The transport ministry, and the rail administration which comes under it, are facing scrutiny over a number of questions, including why there was no proper fencing at the site and whether too many standing-only tickets were sold.Deputy transport minister Wang Kwo-tsai said late on Saturday the railway administration needed to take hard look at all these issues, adding that his personal feeling was that “initially it looks like negligence” on the part of the building site contractor.The railway administration is also without a permanent director after its former chief retired in January. The position is being filled in an acting capacity by another deputy transport minister, Chi Wen-chung.Wang said Lin was working hard to find the right person to fill the job.’Daughter’s voice became quieter and quieter’The uncle of the youngest confirmed victim, a five-year-old girl, tearfully told reporters he was still waiting for an apology for the accident.”I’m so angry,” he said.The government has promised compensation and that it will do everything it can to help survivors and their relatives.The damaged section of the track will not reopen until April 20 at the earliest, Wang said, though rail traffic continues on a parallel track that runs through another tunnel and was not affected by the accident.Minister Lin said rescue and recovery work would continue.”We continue to pull out the cabins stuck inside. The third cabin was dragged out last night. We expect to pull out two other cabins today,” he added.The accident occurred at the start of a long weekend for the traditional Tomb Sweeping Day, when people return home to tend to family graves.Survivors have described horrible scenes inside the wreck.Priest Sung Chih-chiang told Reuters what surviving passenger Chung Hui-mei had told him.”She could not find her daughter. When she yelled, she found her daughter was under the steel panels. She put her effort to move those pieces one by one, but her daughter’s voice became quieter and quieter, and then there was no response,” he said. 
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Landslides and flash floods from torrential rains in eastern Indonesia have killed at least 23 people and displaced thousands, the disaster agency said Sunday.Mud rolled down from surrounding hills shortly after midnight and struck nearly 50 houses in Lamenele village on Flores Island in East Nusa Tenggara province. Rescuers recovered 20 bodies and nine injured, said Raditya Jati, the National Disaster Mitigation Agency spokesperson.Three more bodies were found of villagers who were swept away by flash floods in Oyang Bayang village.In another village, Waiburak, four were injured and two are missing when overnight rains caused rivers to burst their banks, sending muddy water into large areas of East Flores district. Hundreds of people fled submerged homes, some of which were swept away by flash floods, Jati said.Hundreds of people were involved in rescue efforts, but distribution of aid and relief was hampered by power cuts, blocked roads and the remoteness of the area that’s surrounded by choppy waters and high waves, Jati said.Photos released by the agency showed rescuers and police and military personnel taking residents to shelters while roads were covered by thick mud and debris.Severe flooding also has been reported in Bima, a town in the neighboring province of West Nusa Tenggara, forcing nearly 10,000 people to flee, Jati said.Seasonal downpours cause frequent landslides and floods and kill dozens each year in Indonesia, a chain of 17,000 islands where millions of people live in mountainous areas or near fertile flood plains. In January, 40 people died in two landslides in West Java province.
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Russian troops have been clearing an area of around 500 hectares of unexploded ordnance, or UXO, in Laos’ Xieng Khouang province with plans to build a new airport and military facility as part of an expansion of military aid to the impoverished Southeast Asian nation, according to Lao officials.A Russian demining team has been working with Lao counterparts to clear the UXO since Dec. 5, provincial officials recently told RFA’s Lao Service, speaking on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to discuss the plans with the media.“The Russians came here to build a military airport on the other side of the Plain of Jars,” one of the officials said, referring to the archeological landscape in the Xieng Khouang Plateau that was designated a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 2019.“They’re currently clearing the UXO and then they’re going to upgrade the existing airport, making it larger and more beautiful.”Another Xieng Khouang official, who is a provincial military officer, provided further details about the new airport to RFA.“The Russian and Lao armed forces together are building this new airport that will be larger than the existing one and will be divided in two different zones,” he said.“One zone is for Lao and Russian military use and the other is for civilian use.”The officer said that the Russian military intends to provide substantial assistance to Laos going forward, including with training and developing the latter’s armed forces.“Some work on the new airport has already begun, but the actual construction will not start anytime soon because the UXO clearance will take some time,” he said.“Once the UXO has been cleared, we’ll lay underground powerlines. We’ll do our work step by step.”Besides the airport, the Russians intend to expand military cooperation with Laos that will include building a facility to train Lao troops on how to use Russian military equipment, according to a report by Russian news agency Sputniknews.com.A former senior government official in Laos told RFA that the two sides are expanding cooperation in line with an agreement they have in place on security and defense, as well as the new airport.“In the agreements, most cooperation would include training and teaching military techniques to the Lao armed forces,” said the former official, who also declined to be named.“We had more cooperation and more Russian military presence in Laos during the Soviet era,” he added.RFA spoke with an official at the Lao Ministry of Foreign Affairs who claimed not to know anything about the Russian military aid projects.Increased cooperationIn 2018, Laos ordered four jet fighters and 10 Yak-130 tanks from Russia following a state visit to Moscow a year earlier by Laos’ then-Prime Minister Thongloun Sisoulith, during which the two nations signed a military cooperation agreement. Four of the tanks were later delivered to the Lao Ministry of Defense by Russia’s Rosoboronexport Company and took part in a 2019 parade commemorating the 70th anniversary of the Lao People’s Armed Forces in the capital, Vientiane.In April 2019, Russia’s TASS news agency reported that the Russian and Lao defense ministries had agreed on the areas of expanding military cooperation between their two countries on the sidelines of the Moscow International Conference on International Security, citing Lao Defense Minister Chansamone Chanyalath. The report did not provide details of the agreement.In June last year, Laos unveiled plans to build statues to honor two unnamed Soviet pilots who died while serving in the Southeast Asian country, angering citizens who said the $775,000 earmarked for the project could be better spent on recovering from the coronavirus pandemic. The pilots were in Laos as part of Moscow’s military presence in the fellow communist country between 1975 and 1992 and are believed to have been involved in training pilots in Laos’ air force. An official from the Ministry of Information Culture and Tourism told RFA at the time that the pilots were killed in a crash over Xieng Khouang province while on a practice mission.According to a report on the Lao Defense Ministry website, Chansamone met with Russian Ambassador to Laos Vladimir Kalinin at the Russian Embassy in Vientiane on Dec. 29 and thanked him for Russia’s gift of a hangar to store tanks in Xieng Khouang province. Chansamone also expressed gratitude for joint military exercises held in the province in 2019, Russia’s assistance with UXO clearance, its work in upgrading the airport in Xieng Khouang, and for building an office of the Russian military representative in the province. The meeting took place a week after Russia’s military donated an air force training center to Laos.Source of aidMoscow was a major arms supplier to Laos after its communist government, closely associated with the Soviet-aligned communist government in Vietnam, was established in 1975. According to a January report in The Diplomat, recent aid to Laos highlights the country’s importance in Russia’s desire for broader defense cooperation in Southeast Asia.Russia has provided various forms of assistance to Laos in recent years.In January, TASS cited Russian Ambassador Kalinin as saying that Moscow and Vientiane had agreed on deliveries of 2 million doses of Russia’s homegrown Sputnik V vaccine, which would be used to inoculate around 25% of the Lao population against the coronavirus.
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Millions of Christians around the world are celebrating Easter Sunday in unusual circumstances again this year due to the coronavirus pandemic, but there are fewer restrictions than the last year in some countries.In the United States, as more than 100 million people have received at least one dose of the vaccine, churches in some states are open for Easter services.Half a world away, Australians were celebrating Easter Sunday in a relatively unrestricted environment as the country did not report new locally acquired coronavirus cases. Community transmission of COVID-19 is largely eliminated in the country, according to health officials.In Italy, however, a strict Easter lockdown was observed, as the entire country is considered a high-risk zone.In a scaled-back Easter vigil service in St. Peter’s Basilica, in the Vatican on Saturday, Pope Francis urged the faithful not to lose hope during the “dark months” of the pandemic.Due to social-distancing requirements, only about 200 people wearing masks attended the service, which marks the period between Christ’s crucifixion and his resurrection on Easter Sunday.The Vatican cut out the traditional sacrament of baptism for a few adults to decrease the chance of contagion.
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A collision between a cargo ship and a fishing boat left 17 people missing off Indonesia’s main island of Java, officials said Sunday.The fishing boat with 32 aboard capsized after hitting the Indonesian bulk carrier MV Habco Pioneer late Saturday off Indramayu district, said the head of the Search and Rescue Agency, Deden Ridwansyah.Fifteen were rescued from the fishing boat and local fishermen and the navy were searching for the others, said Wisnu Wardana, a spokesperson for the sea transportation directorate general.The cargo ship, which was loaded with crude oil from Borneo island, was moored after its propeller got caught in the fishing net, Ridwansyah said.
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A Taiwan court on Saturday released on bond the manager of a construction site whose truck authorities believe caused a train accident that killed at least 51 people.The crash Friday was Taiwan’s worst rail accident in seven decades. An express train hit the truck that had slid down a bank beside the track from the building site. The site’s manager is suspected of having failed to properly engage the truck’s brake.The train, with almost 500 people aboard, was traveling from Taipei, the capital, to Taitung on the east coast when it derailed in a tunnel just north of the city of Hualien. Forty-one people were in hospital Saturday, from among the 188 reported injured.Rescue workers remove a part of the derailed train near Taroko Gorge in Hualien, Taiwan, April 3, 2021.Prosecutors had applied to a court to detain the manager on charges of causing death by negligence, a justice ministry official told reporters Saturday.But a court in Hualien released the manager, Lee Yi-hsiang, on a bond of T$500,000 ($17,525), although it restricted him from leaving Taiwan for eight months and said he had to stay in Hualien.The court said that while the truck’s fall into the path of the train possibly resulted from negligence, there was “no possibility of conspiracy.”Yu Hsiu-duan, head of the Hualien prosecutors office, said the office was not pleased with the decision. “The court said there was no reason to keep him in custody,” she told reporters.Lee’s court-appointed lawyer declined to comment to reporters as he left the court.Lin Jinn-tsun, head of the Justice Ministry’s Prosecutorial Affairs Department, said the department had lodged an appeal against the decision to release Lee on bond.Meanwhile, victims’ relatives visited the accident site Saturday afternoon to mourn the dead, some crying out “Come back!” and bringing personal belongings with them, like dolls.The youngest person confirmed to have died was a 6-year-old girl, the oldest a 79-year-old man, according to a government-issued casualty list.Rescue workWorkers have begun moving the train’s rear portion, which was relatively unscathed because it had stopped away from the collision site. Other mangled sections remained in the tunnel, where fire department official Wu Liang-yun said more bodies were likely to be found.”We’re still carrying out rescue work,” he added.In this photo released by her office, Taiwan President Tsai Ing-wen visits those injured in Friday’s train derailment, at a nearby hospital in Hualien, Taiwan, April 3, 2021.President Tsai Ing-wen visited hospitals in Hualien to speak to family members and survivors, thanking ordinary people and nongovernment groups for their efforts to help.”This shows the good side of Taiwanese society,” she said.The government has ordered flags flown at half-staff for three days in mourning.The de facto French Embassy in Taipei confirmed that one of its citizens had died in the crash.Taiwan’s transport ministry said two U.S. citizens were among the dead, while two Japanese, an Australian and a Chinese citizen were among the injured.In a rare sign of goodwill from China, which claims Taiwan as its own territory, President Xi Jinping expressed his condolences over the crash, state news agency Xinhua said.The accident happened at the start of a long holiday weekend. The train was packed with tourists and residents going home for the traditional Tomb Sweeping Day to clean the graves of ancestors.Taiwan has no domestic travel curbs as the COVID-19 pandemic is well under control, with only 43 active cases in hospitals.Taiwan’s worst train crash, in 1948, killed an estimated 64 people.  
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A flagship Chinese research organization recently said U.S. military forces had an unusually intense presence in the South China Sea last year as Washington sought to check Beijing’s maritime expansion.  
 
“The intensity, in terms of the scale, number and duration of the U.S. military activities in the region in 2020 was rarely seen in recent years,” the March 12 report, An Incomplete Report on US Military Operations in the South China Sea in 2020, said.
 
“To begin with, military forces deployed to the South China Sea were of large scale and long duration,” according to the report, issued by the South China Sea Strategic Situation Probing Initiative.
 
The U.S. Indo-Pacific Command in Hawaii confirms 10 warship passages into the sea last year following 10 in 2019. Just five were logged in each of the two years before 2019. In July, the U.S. Air Force also acknowledged sending a B-52 Stratofortress bomber to join two aircraft carriers in a South China Sea exercise. Command spokespersons would not answer a request for comment on whether 2020 was an unusual year overall.   
 
Analysts say U.S. forces effectively slowed China’s militarization of the sea as well as any ambitions to expand or capture islets. Brunei, Malaysia, the Philippines, Taiwan and Vietnam vie with Beijing’s claims to the 3.5 million-square-kilometer waterway. China has the strongest armed forces among regional powers, prompting other claimants to look toward the United States for support.
 “The reality is of course [China] would like to carve out a sort of sphere of influence and a sort of a buffer zone and the U.S. is of course trying to break through both of these,” said Oh Ei Sun, a senior fellow with the Singapore Institute of International Affairs specializing in Southeast Asia.
Beijing cites historical usage records to back its claims to about 90% of the sea, which is prized for fisheries and undersea fossil fuel reserves. China has alarmed the other Asian claimants by developing contested islets for military infrastructure and sending its ships into their exclusive economic zones.
 
Washington does not have a claim to the sea but keeps an eye on China as a rival superpower and potential threat to U.S. allies such as Taiwan and the Philippines. Former U.S. President Donald Trump’s administration ramped up Navy ship passages, called freedom of navigation operations, to show the South China Sea is open internationally, the U.S. Indo-Pacific Command has said.
 
U.S. military activity is not new but might have reached a new high last year because Trump was “gung-ho against China,” Oh said. The Trump administration sparred with Beijing over trade and technology sharing, as well as China’s geopolitical reach. Current U.S. President Joe Biden has followed Trump’s South China Sea strategy since taking office in January.Why Biden Sends Warships to the South China Sea, Just as Trump Did The US government has carried out one “Freedom of Navigation Operation” in the contested Asian waterway since February and sent two more close to it Southeast Asian claimants to the sea, all militarily weaker than China, welcome the U.S. maritime presence but worry that too much of it will prompt China to sustain its own, said Shariman Lockman, senior foreign policy and security studies analyst with the Institute of Strategic and International Studies in Malaysia.
 
“It is both a deterrent as well as a way for China to say, ‘look we are there because of the Americans,’” Lockman said.
 
Last April, a U.S. warship joined one from Australia to flex “muscle in sensitive waters near China’s survey ship in the South China Sea to show that they had Malaysia’s back and provoke a China-Malaysia ‘standoff,’” the March 12 report says.
 
China will keep building up its position at sea but will not be able to stop the U.S. activity, analysts say.
 
“In Beijing, they know very well that the U.S. and its allies have the naval supremacy Indo Pacific-wise and also in the South China Sea, and they know very well that an incident would have very serious consequences,” said Fabrizio Bozzato, senior research fellow at the Tokyo-based Sasakawa Peace Foundation’s Ocean Policy Research Institute.  
 
China will still deter the Southeast Asian states from exploring for gas or oil, keep the sea open for Chinese fishing fleets and consider landfilling more semi-submerged reefs, Oh forecast.
 
“In summation, China will complain vocally, continue with its military buildup, deploy new and more modern forces there, but they will not be able to do much to oppose the freedom of navigation operations by the U.S., its allies and other U.S.-aligned powers,” Bozzato said. 
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A group of Australians unable to return home because of a strict COVID-19 quota on arrivals has filed legal action against their government.
 
The complaint has been lodged with the United Nations Human Rights Committee in Geneva over claims that Australians are being excluded from entering their own country.
 
Authorities in Canberra closed international borders in March 2020 to curb the spread of the new coronavirus.
 
Citizens and permanent residents are allowed back, but numbers returning are limited because of capacity constraints on airlines and in mandatory hotel quarantine.
 
Since the pandemic began, almost 500,000 Australians have come home, but tens of thousands are still waiting to fly back.
 
With community transmission of COVID-19 largely eliminated, the greatest risk to Australia is returning travelers who have brought the virus with them and have inadvertently infected hospital and hotel staff, according to health officials.
 
Queensland Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk says it is a major concern.
 
“The numbers from overseas in our hospitals is now 68 returned travelers coming back, and like I said, that is a real risk for us.”
 
A group of frustrated Australians has taken legal action because of what is described as the government’s “extreme restrictions.”  They say they are “ordinary Aussies who have been left high and dry by an unfeeling government.”
 
In Canberra, officials have conceded that they could not predict when all stranded Australians would finally return home. They have said that quotas on those permitted to return were “temporary and will be reviewed.”
 
Jane McAdam, director of the Kaldor Centre for International Refugee Law, a research center at the University of New South Wales, says both sides of the dispute have valid arguments.
 
“Under international human rights law, there is no absolute right to enter one’s country, but at the same time the government cannot arbitrarily deprive you of that right. So, what that means is that people’s entry may be subject to brief, temporary restrictions provided that they are reasonable, they are necessary, and they are based on clear legal criteria,” McAdam said.
 
India has the largest number of Australian citizens and permanent residents who want to come home, followed by Britain, the United States, the Philippines, and Thailand.  
 
Australia has indicated that its international borders are unlikely to fully reopen until 2022.
 
Australia has diagnosed just over 29,300 COVID-19 cases since the pandemic began. The Health Department says 909 people have died.
 
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Myanmar security forces opened fire on pro-democracy protests on Saturday killing five people, a protester and media said, as the military reinforced its bid to end dissent with arrest warrants for online critics and internet blocks.Despite the killing of more than 550 people by the security forces since the Feb. 1 coup, protesters are coming out every day, often in smaller groups in smaller towns, to voice opposition to the reimposition of military rule.Security forces in the central town of Monywa fired on a crowd killing three people, the Myanmar Now news service said, while one man was shot and killed in another central town, Bago, and one in Thaton to the south, the Bago Weekly Journal online news portal reported.“They started firing non-stop with both stun grenade and live rounds,” the protester in Monywa, who asked not to be named, told Reuters via a messaging app. “People backed off and quickly put up … barriers, but a bullet hit a person in front of me in the head. He died on the spot.”Police and a spokesperson for the junta did not answer telephone calls seeking comment.The Assistance Association for Political Prisoners activist group said earlier on Saturday the security forces had killed 550 people, 46 of them children, since the military overthrew an elected government led by Aung San Suu Kyi.The demonstrations that drew tens of thousands of people in the early days of defiance in big cities have largely stopped with opponents of the coup adopting “guerrilla rallies” — small, quick shows of defiance before security forces can respond.People also gather at night for candlelit vigils.The authorities are waging a campaign to control information. They had shut down mobile data and on Friday ordered internet providers to cut wireless broadband, depriving most customers of access, though some messages and pictures were still being posted and shared on social media.Authorities issued warrants for 18 celebrities, including social media influencers and two journalists, under a law against material intended to cause a member of the armed forces to mutiny or disregard their duty, state media reported late on Friday.All of them are known to oppose military rule. The charge can carry a prison term of three years.Actress Paing Phyoe Thu said she would not be cowed.“Whether a warrant has been issued or not, as long as I’m alive I’ll oppose the military dictatorship who are bullying and killing people. The revolution must prevail,” she said on Facebook.Paing Phyoe Thu regularly attended rallies in the main city of Yangon in the weeks after the coup. Her whereabouts were not immediately known.Silencing the voices?State broadcaster MRTV announced the warrants for the 18 with screenshots and links to their Facebook profiles.While the military has banned platforms like Facebook, it has continued to use social media to track critics and promote its message.MRTV maintains a YouTube channel and shares links to its broadcasts on Twitter, both of which are officially banned.The United States condemned the internet shutdown.“We hope this won’t silence the voices of the people,” State Department spokesperson Jalina Porter told a briefing.The coup has rekindled old wars with autonomy-seeking ethnic minority forces in the north and the east.Myanmar’s oldest insurgent group, the Karen National Union (KNU), has seen the first military air strikes on its forces in more than 20 years, after it announced its support for the pro-democracy movement.The KNU said more than 12,000 villagers had fled their homes because of the air strikes. It called for an international embargo on arms sales to the military.“Their inhuman actions against unarmed civilians have caused the death of many people including children and students,” the group said in a statement.Media has reported that about 20 people were killed in air strikes in KNU territory in recent days, including nearly a dozen at a gold mine run by the group.The KNU signed a cease-fire with the government in 2012 to end their 60-year insurgency.Fighting has also flared in the north between the army and ethnic Kachin insurgents. The turmoil has sent several thousand refugees fleeing into Thailand and India.
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Once-warm relations between the European Union and China have taken a sharp turn for the worse, punctuated by a series of tit-for-tat sanctions imposed by Beijing and Brussels.Only three months after China and the EU struck a landmark economic treaty, the 27 foreign affairs ministers of the EU announced sanctions last week against officials involved in China’s mistreatment of its ethnic Uyghur minority in its northwest Xinjiang region.Hours later, Beijing retaliated with its own sanctions on 10 EU individuals and four entities, including five members of the European Parliament, or MEPs.While U.S.-China relations have declined in recent years, the European countries have enjoyed a much softer ride. After years of negotiations, Beijing and Brussels finally struck a deal aimed at liberalizing trade between them in the last days of December.The breakthrough was made possible by last-minute concessions from Chinese President Xi Jinping and pushes from German officials. The deal, which remains subject to approval by the European Parliament, would ensure that European investors have better access to the fast-growing Chinese market and can compete on a more level playing field in that country.Until recently, this trend seemed to continue. According to data released by Eurostat on March 18, EU exports to China totaled 16.1 billion euros ($19 billion) in January, an increase of 6.6% year-on-year.The momentum is reversed now, however, with the tit-for-tat sanctions and a boycott of European brands being encouraged by Beijing.”It is the EU’s first sanctions against China on human rights issues since the Tiananmen Square incident in 1989,” said Grzegorz Stec, an expert at the Mercator Institute for China Studies in Germany, one of the four entities sanctioned by China.Stec told VOA that the EU has imposed sanctions on China for other reasons, including a move against two Chinese people for cyberattacks last year. But this time, he said, “the EU made it clear that it was due to the human rights issue. China clearly regards this issue as China’s internal affair, and China’s countermeasures are unprecedented.”MEPs outragedAmong the individuals being sanctioned by China are five MEPs.Raphael Glucksmann, a French MEP and longtime French human rights advocate, said he sees the Chinese action, which includes a ban on visits to the country, as a recognition of his advocacy for Uyghur rights. After his election in 2019, Glucksmann was widely quoted as saying his goal was to become “the voice of the voiceless people.””Fortunately, we have worked hard to raise the public’s attention to this issue, which is why they (China) are angry with me,” Glucksmann told VOA.He pointed out that in addition to individuals, China sanctioned the Parliament’s Subcommittee on Human Rights. “It is a sanction on the democratic institution of the Parliament.”Shortly after Glucksmann was put on the blacklist by the Chinese Foreign Ministry, he became the target of attacks on Chinese social media. In a show of solidarity with the legislator, French Foreign Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian met Glucksmann last week and tweeted: “On the documented human rights abuses in Xinjiang, France’s position is firm.”Another sanctioned parliamentarian, Ilhan Kyuchyuk of Bulgaria, told VOA in an email that the EU sanctions on China are based on solid legal evidence.”Our relation with China is very important. It is a strategic relationship because we both are key actors in global scene. However, we cannot remain silent when it is obvious what is happening to the Uyghurs and other minorities.”Kyuchyuk said the EU “will continue to express concerns about freedom of expression and association, including the situation of persons belonging to minorities.”Michael Gahler, the foreign policy coordinator and spokesperson of the European People’s Party, the largest political party in the European Parliament, told VOA that he suspected he had been included in the sanctions because of his role as chair of the chamber’s Taiwan friendship group. The German politician said future dialogue between the EU and China will be “more difficult and burdensome.”Gahler pointed out that the Mercartor Institute, one of the most respected European research institutes, is also on the sanctions list. He said in an email that this should be taken into consideration by all the universities and think tanks that are co-financed by the Chinese state through Confucius Institutes or Chinese companies.”Academic freedom is for all or none,” he said. “Those who engage in appeasement are also responsible.”Slovakian MEP Miriam Lexmann said she believes that “credible reports show that the (Chinese Communist Party’s) actions fulfill all criteria of a genocide under the 1949 Genocide Convention.”Lexmann, also on the Chinese sanctions list, accused China of engaging “in threats and countersanctions against those, especially democratically elected parliamentarians, who seek to raise awareness to these terrible human rights abuses.”If China continues with this kind of response, it will make clear that it is not interested in being a partner but a systematic rival that undermines fundamental values and principles which are a ‘condicio sine qua non’ for any cooperation,” Lexmann said in an email.Deal jeopardized?It took seven years and 35 rounds of talks to negotiate the EU-China Comprehensive Agreement on Investment. Now, just months later, its ratification by the European Parliament is in doubt because of the tit-for-tat sanctions.The agreement was scheduled to be reviewed and implemented this year, but three of the main political parties in the Parliament have said that as long as the sanctions remain in place, the Parliament will refuse to even open the debate for ratification.”The lifting of sanctions against MEPs is a precondition for us to enter into talks with the Chinese government on the investment deal,” said Kathleen van Brempt, an MEP from the left-leaning Socialist and Democrats group.Glucksmann, one of EU’s most effective activists on the Uyghur issue, said he believes it is time for China to pay a price.”What we should do is to announce clearly that we won’t be voting on the China-Europe investment agreement as long as the sanctions are going on,” Glucksmann said in a telephone interview.Stec, founder of the Brussels-based nonprofit platform “EU-China Hub,” said Beijing may not believe that the diplomatic turmoil will wipe out the achievements of the agreement.Eyck Freymann, a China expert at Oxford University, said last week was more of a political turning point than an economic one. “China and Europe remain deeply integrated in trade, and this relationship will not unravel overnight — if it ever does,” he told VOA.The author of the book One Belt One Road: Chinese Power Meets the World, Freymann pointed out that there are still powerful interest groups in Europe that want to maintain a good relationship with China.However, he said, “As long as human rights is on the top of the agenda, the China-Europe economic relationship cannot deepen or broaden.”   
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The United States, South Korea and Japan agreed in high-level security talks Friday to work together to keep up pressure on North Korea to give up its nuclear and ballistic missile programs.In a joint statement after a day of talks, U.S. President Joe Biden’s national security adviser, Jake Sullivan, and his Japanese counterpart, Shigeru Kitamura, and South Korea’s national security adviser, Suh Hoon, reaffirmed their commitment to address the issue “through concerted trilateral cooperation towards denuclearization.”The three countries also agreed on the need for full implementation by the international community of U.N. Security Council resolutions on North Korea, “preventing proliferation, and cooperating to strengthen deterrence and maintain peace and stability on the Korean Peninsula,” the statement said.The national security advisers also discussed the value of working together to address other challenges, such as COVID-19, climate change and promoting an immediate return to democracy in Myanmar, the statement said.The talks held at the U.S. Naval Academy in Annapolis, Maryland, were the most senior-level meeting among the three allies since Biden took power Jan. 20, and it came against a backdrop of rising tensions after North Korean missile launches last week.Biden, whose administration is finalizing a review of North Korea policy, said last week the United States remained open to diplomacy with North Korea despite its ballistic missile tests, but warned there would be responses if North Korea escalates matters.The White House has shared little about its policy review and whether it will offer concessions to get Pyongyang to the negotiating table to discuss giving up its nuclear weapons.However, State Department spokesperson Ned Price said on Thursday that denuclearization would remain at the center of policy and any approach to Pyongyang will have to be done in “lockstep” with close allies, including Japan and South Korea.Biden’s Republican predecessor, Donald Trump, held three meetings with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un but achieved no breakthrough other than a pause in nuclear and intercontinental ballistic tests. Biden, a Democrat, has sought to engage North Korea in dialogue but has been rebuffed so far.Pyongyang, which has long sought a lifting of international sanctions over its weapons programs, said last week the Biden administration had taken a wrong first step and revealed “deep-seated hostility” by criticizing what it called self-defensive missile tests.A U.S. official briefing before the talks said the North Korea review was in its final stages and “we’re prepared now to have some final consultations with Japan and South Korea as we go forward.”Joseph Yun, who was the U.S. special envoy for North Korea under both former President Barack Obama and Trump and is now at the United States Institute of Peace, said the policy options were obvious: “You want denuclearization, and you want to use your sanctions to get to denuclearization.””But how to make the first step, so that at least North Korea is persuaded not to do anything provocative. That’s the challenge.” he said.Some proponents of dialogue are concerned that the Biden administration has not highlighted a broad agreement between Trump and Kim at their first meeting in Singapore in 2018 and warn this could make it difficult to build trust.Asked whether that agreement still stood, the official said: “I understand the significance of the Singapore agreement,” but did not make clear to what extent the issue would be part of the Annapolis talks.The three officials were also expected to discuss a global shortage of semi-conductor chips that has forced U.S. automakers and other manufacturers to cut production.
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Myanmar’s military junta ordered an internet shutdown in the country Friday that was met by defiance among anti-government protesters. Undaunted by the shutdown and the government’s deadly crackdowns on demonstrators that have killed hundreds since the February 1 coup, protesters continued to march, observe strikes and use communications technology that operates without network connections. Local wireless broadband internet services said they were ordered to shut down until further notice by the Ministry of Transport and Communications. The government previously shut down mobile phone cellular networks and most of the military-controlled media outlets in the Southeast Asian country.  People take part in a demonstration against the military coup in Win Yay township, in eastern Myanmar’s Karen state, in this handout photo from the Karen Information Center taken on April 1, 2021, and released to AFP on April 2, 2021.Protesters have used the internet and cellphones to publicize violent acts that security forces have perpetrated against peaceful protesters and to organize against military rule. The government did not announce the internet shutdown or explain its order to providers. On Thursday, the United Nations Security Council repeated its call for the immediate release of all detainees in Myanmar, including State Counselor Aung San Suu Kyi and President Win Myint, and an end to violence. In a statement late Thursday, the council expressed its deep concern for the “rapidly deteriorating situation” in Myanmar and strongly condemned the use of lethal force by security forces and police against peaceful pro-democracy protesters and the deaths of hundreds of civilians, including women and children. The council also called on the military “to exercise utmost restraint” and on all sides “to refrain from violence.” The Security Council also reiterated the need for full respect for human rights and the pursuit of “dialogue and reconciliation in accordance with the will and interests of the people of Myanmar.” Suu Kyi, Myanmar’s de facto leader, was charged Thursday with breaking a secrets law that dates to the country’s colonial days, her lawyer said. It is the most serious of the charges leveled against her by the military since the February 1 coup. Suu Kyi and President Win Myint, among other members of Suu Kyi’s National League for Democracy, have been detained since the coup. She has been accused of breaking COVID-19 protocols and having in her possession six handheld radios. Her lawyer, Khin Maung Zaw, told Reuters Thursday that Suu Kyi, three of her cabinet ministers and Sean Turnell, an Australian economic adviser, were charged a week ago under the secrets law. If convicted, they face up to 14 years in prison. Suu Kyi appeared via video for the Thursday hearing and appeared to be in good health, said Min Min Soe, another of her lawyers.  A spokesman for the junta did not answer telephone calls from Reuters seeking comment. Anti-coup protesters were back on the streets Thursday, some symbolically burned copies of the country’s constitution as a group of deposed lawmakers announced a new civilian government to run counter to the ruling military junta. Reuters, citing media reports, said two more protesters were killed. A supporter of the Karen National Union (KNU) holds a sign supporting the Committee for Representing Pyidaungsu Hluttaw (CRPH), in this handout photo from the KNU Doo Pla Ya District taken and released to AFP on April 2, 2021.The rebel government, dubbed the Committee Representing Pyidaungsu Hluttaw, is made up of members of deposed NLD government who were elected in November but not allowed to take their seats after the military detained Suu Kyi and replaced the civilian government.  The CRPH also announced a new federal constitution to replace the one drafted by the military in 2008, which brought democracy to Myanmar after five decades while still maintaining the army’s power and influence in any civilian government. The CRPH-drafted constitution was written to meet the longstanding demands of Myanmar’s regional ethnic groups, who have been fighting for decades for greater autonomy. The junta’s violent crackdown against pro-democracy opponents across Myanmar has expanded in recent days against ethnic rebels, who are siding with the protesters. The military launched airstrikes against ethnic Karen rebels in eastern Myanmar in response to rebel attacks on military and police stations. The airstrikes prompted thousands of people to flee through the jungle and over the border into neighboring Thailand.  A Karen migrant living in Thailand holds her one-month-old baby in Mae Sam Laep town on the Thai side of the Salween river in Mae Hong Son province on April 2, 2021, across from where Myanmar refugees earlier attempted to cross the Thai border.The junta, which had been turning off internet service at night, told internet service providers to shut down wireless broadband service until further notice, according to Ooredoo, one of several providers to report the move Thursday. This internet shutdown was condemned by several dozen U.N. member countries via a statement written by Lithuania, France and Greece. The countries condemned “the use of internet shutdowns to restrict access to information and the apparent specific targeting of local and international journalists,” said the statement of the three European countries, co-presidents to the U.N. Group of Friends to Protect Journalists. The worsening situation prompted Christine Schraner Burgener, the U.N. special envoy for Myanmar, to warn the Security Council Wednesday that “a bloodbath is imminent” and of an increasing “possibility of civil war” in the country if civilian rule is not restored. The Assistance Association for Political Prisoners, a nongovernmental organization, estimates that 536 people have been killed by the junta since the peaceful protests began, including more than 100 protesters — many of them women and children — last Saturday during the annual Armed Forces Day celebration. More than 2,700 have been arrested, charged or sentenced.  The U.S. State Department has ordered all nonessential personnel and their family members to leave Myanmar as the military’s bloody crackdown against anti-coup demonstrations continues. 
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Japanese Nobel laureate Isamu Akasaki, who won the physics prize for pioneering energy-efficient LED lighting — a weapon against global warming and poverty — has died aged 92, his university said Friday.
 
Akasaki won the 2014 prize with two other scientists, Hiroshi Amano and Shuji Nakamura. Together they developed the blue light-emitting diode, described as a “revolutionary” invention by the Nobel jury.
 
He died of pneumonia on Thursday morning at a hospital in the city of Nagoya, according to a statement on the website of Meijo University, where Akasaki had been a professor.
 
LED lamps last for tens of thousands of hours and use just a fraction of energy compared with the incandescent lightbulb pioneered by Thomas Edison in the 19th century.
 
Red and green diodes had been around for a long time, but devising a blue LED was the holy grail, as all three colors need to be mixed to recreate the white light of the Sun.
 
The trio made their breakthrough in the 1990s, after three long decades of dogged work, when they managed to coax bright blue beams from semiconductors.
 
“Their inventions were revolutionary. Incandescent light bulbs lit the 20th century. The 21st century will be lit by LED lamps,” the Nobel jury said in 2014.
 
As well as providing the missing piece of the puzzle for bright white lamps, their breakthrough also helped develop the color LED screens used in smartphones and a plethora of modern tech.
 
After winning the prize, Akasaki had advice for young researchers: “Don’t be fooled by fashionable subjects. Do whatever you like if it’s really what you want to do.”
 
“At first, it was said that this could not be invented during the 20th century. A lot of people left (the research project), but I never considered doing so,” he said.
 
Born in 1929 in Kagoshima in southern Japan, Akasaki graduated from the prestigious Kyoto University in 1952.
 
After working for several years as a researcher at Kobe Kogyo Corporation — now Fujitsu — he began his academic career at Nagoya University in 1959.
 
In an interview published by Meijo University in 2010, he described the trio’s struggle to earn recognition for their work.
 
“When we announced in 1981 results which were important at that time at an international conference, there was no reaction. I felt alone in the wilderness,” he said.
 
“But I was determined not to quit this research, even if I was alone.”
 
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A fire on Friday destroyed more than 20 shops in a makeshift market near a Rohingya refugee camp in southern Bangladesh, killing at least three people, police and witnesses said.Local police chief Ahmed Sanjur Morshed said they recovered the bodies from the debris after it took firefighters several hours to bring the blaze under control. Several other people were injured.The fire broke out early Friday when residents of the sprawling Kutupalong camp for Myanmar’s Rohingya refugees were asleep.Sayedul Mustafa, the owner of a shop, confirmed the dead were his staff.”We had five workers who slept in the shop but three of them were missing. Then after the fire was put out with water, we found one body first, then all three. Two people survived by the grace of Allah,” said Aneesul Mustafa, a Rohingya refugee and the owner’s relative.It was not clear how the fire began.Aid agencies and the government had started rebuilding shelters after another massive fire last month left 15 people dead, 560 others hurt and about 45,000 homeless.Authorities have sent about 13,000 refugees to an island in recent months, promising better life for more than 1 million Rohingya, most of whom fled Myanmar in 2017 in a major crackdown by the country’s military.Bangladesh has hosted the refugees in crowded camps and is eager to begin sending them back to the Buddhist-majority Myanmar, but several attempts failed because the Rohingya refused to go, fearing more violence in a country that denies them basic rights including citizenship.The repatriation effort was made even more uncertain in February, when Myanmar’s military staged a coup and replaced the elected, civilian government that had been in office since 2016.
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The United Nations Security Council has repeated its call for the immediate release of all detainees in Myanmar, including State Counselor Aung San Suu Kyi and President Win Myint, and an end to violence.In a statement late Thursday, the council expressed its deep concern for the “rapidly deteriorating situation” in Myanmar and strongly condemned the use of lethal force by security forces and police against peaceful pro-democracy protesters and the deaths of hundreds of civilians, including women and children.The council also called on the military “to exercise utmost restraint” and on all sides “to refrain from violence.”The Security Council also reiterated the need for full respect for human rights and the pursuit of “dialogue and reconciliation in accordance with the will and interests of the people of Myanmar.”Suu Kyi, Myanmar’s de facto leader, was charged Thursday with breaking a secrets law that dates to the country’s colonial days, her lawyer said. It is the most serious of the charges leveled against her by the military since the Feb. 1 coup.Suu Kyi and President Win Myint, among other members of Suu Kyi’s National League for Democracy, have been detained since the coup. She has been accused of breaking COVID-19 protocols and having in her possession six handheld radios.Her lawyer, Khin Maung Zaw, told Reuters on Thursday that Suu Kyi, three of her cabinet ministers and Sean Turnell, an Australian economic adviser, were charged a week ago under the secrets law. If convicted, they face up to 14 years in prison. Suu Kyi appeared via video for the Thursday hearing and appeared to be in good health, Min Min Soe, another of her lawyers, said.A spokesperson for the junta did not answer telephone calls from Reuters seeking comment.Anti-coup protesters were back on the streets Thursday, some symbolically burned copies of the country’s constitution as a group of deposed lawmakers announced a new civilian government to run counter to the ruling military junta. Reuters, citing media reports, said two more protesters were killed.The rebel government, dubbed the Committee Representing Pyidaungsu Hluttaw, is made up of members of deposed NLD government who were elected in November but not allowed to take their seats after the military detained Suu Kyi and replaced the civilian government.The CRPH also announced a new federal constitution to replace the one drafted by the military in 2008, which brought democracy to Myanmar after five decades while still maintaining the army’s power and influence in any civilian government. The CRPH-drafted constitution was written to meet the longstanding demands of Myanmar’s regional ethnic groups, who have been fighting for decades for greater autonomy.
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A Chinese push to create civilian settlements along disputed borders in the Himalayan region has emerged as a major new concern for India as, analysts in India say, it replicates Beijing’s strategy to consolidate claims in the South China Sea.The latest red flag has been raised by a new village built by China in an area disputed by the two countries along the border in India’s northeastern state of Arunachal Pradesh.The construction of the village in territory also claimed by India is a strategy to reinforce China’s claim to the area by altering facts on the ground, analysts say.“The border villages are the Himalayan equivalent of China’s artificially created islands in the South China Sea and let us not forget that in the South China Sea, China has redrawn the geopolitical map without firing a single shot,” Brahma Chellaney, professor of strategic studies at New Delhi’s Center for Policy Research, said.“Beijing advanced the expansionism not by directly employing force but through asymmetrical and hybrid warfare. That success in the South China Sea has emboldened China and it has taken that playbook to the Himalayan borderlands,” he said.Contested borderThe new Chinese village is of particular concern to India because it lies along a sensitive, contested border. China claims the state of Arunachal Pradesh as part of southern Tibet, while India says the northeastern state is an integral part of India.After Indian broadcaster NDTV reported in January, based on satellite images, that a new village had appeared, China’s Foreign Affairs Ministry defended its construction, saying the country’s “normal construction on its own territory is entirely a matter of sovereignty,” and is “beyond reproach.”“We have never recognized the so-called Arunachal Pradesh illegally established on the Chinese territory,” spokesperson Hua Chunying said.The village of about 100 homes according to satellite images was built last year as the two countries were involved in a tense military standoff thousands of kilometers away, along the western Himalayan mountains in Ladakh. Although troops have pulled back, soldiers from both sides remain massed along other stretches of the Himalayas amid continuing territorial disputes on their 3,500-kilometer border.The construction of the new village that has raised concern in India is part of a program by China to build hundreds of settlements along its Himalayan borders, according to several analysts, who say their development has been officially linked by Beijing to poverty alleviation and defense of the borders.“They change the status of an area which was previously uninhabited to inhabited with people either from Tibet or mainland China. So they change the demography in a disputed area,” said Claude Arpi, a scholar on Tibet and an expert on India and China relations.“They bring infrastructure, they bring roads, optical fiber cable, electricity, which can be used for civilian purposes and military purposes also. For India it is really a huge challenge because it has no way to counter it.”Arpi said China’s development in remote mountain areas that have little economic activity shows they have a larger strategic purpose.’A village-building spree’Late last year, satellite images showed a new Chinese village close to the strategic junction of India, Bhutan and Nepal that some analysts said is inside Bhutanese-claimed territory. However, both Bhutan and China have denied that that is the case.“China is on a village-building spree coupled with a major buildup of new military installations in the Himalayan borderlands and it is targeting not just India, but also Bhutan and Nepal,” according to Chellaney. “It is a difficult strategy to counter as it does not involve armed aggression. What it is doing is using villagers and herders at the vanguard and they are backed by regular army troops.”Indian officials have made no specific mention of the new village along the Arunachal Pradesh border.However, in Parliament last week, India’s minister of state for external affairs, Vellamvelly Muraleedharan said that India is aware China is developing infrastructure in the border regions opposite India in Tibet and Xinjiang autonomous regions, and that it keeps constant watch on all developments having a bearing on the country’s security. He said India is also focusing on improving infrastructure in the border regions to facilitate economic development and meet the country’s strategic and security requirements.In recent years India has been speeding development of border roads and rail networks in a bid to catch up with China, which has rapidly increased connectivity to areas near its borders with India, Bhutan and Nepal.However, China’s new civilian settlement presents India with a difficult set of challenges.“It’s serious because it is what they call in strategic terms salami slicing. China always follows the same pattern – that is to present the neighbor or adversary with a fait accompli,” Arpi said.
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“Every aspect of North Korea policy” will be discussed when national security advisers from the United States, South Korea and Japan meet on Friday, according to a senior administration official in Washington.It will be the first such three-way meeting of the countries since Joe Biden became U.S. president.The talks come amid important differences in policy toward North Korea among Washington, Seoul and Tokyo, according to analysts.North Korea’s recent missile provocations, the response by Pyongyang to the coronavirus, and recent diplomatic discussions between China and North Korea are on the agenda, according to the U.S. official, who told reporters Thursday that “our intent is to have a deep review that will inform our process forward.”The meeting at the U.S. Naval Academy in Annapolis, Maryland, comes after North Korea test-fired into waters a cruise missile and then a pair of short-range ballistic missiles.FILE – People watch a TV showing an image of North Korea’s new guided missile during a news program at the Suseo Railway Station in Seoul, South Korea, March 26, 2021.”Anything that we do with respect to North Korea, we believe we need to do in partnership and in harmony with Japan and South Korea,” said the senior administration official, speaking on condition of not being named.”It’s unlikely that there will be any trilateral breakthroughs at Annapolis or in the coming year before the South Korean presidential election” next year, predicted Sue Mi Terry, senior fellow and Korea chair at the Center for Strategic and International Studies.US seeks changeThe conversations at the Naval Academy will follow travel by Secretary of State Antony Blinken and Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin to Japan and South Korea. Such visits meant to demonstrate that Biden seeks to bolster U.S. alliances in Asia following a rocky four years under the previous administration.Former President Donald Trump criticized Tokyo and Seoul as “free riders” that did not contribute sufficiently for their own defense under the U.S. nuclear umbrella. Trump sought more money from Japan and South Korea, which both host numerous U.S. military bases on their soil.The senior administration official said Friday’s talks would also touch on other regional issues of mutual concern, including the “tragic situation in Myanmar” and Beijing’s growing assertiveness in the South China Sea.”It’s very critical for them to get on the same page and closely coordinate on China and North Korea. But a big challenge is getting Seoul on board,” Duyeon Kim, adjunct senior fellow of the Indo-Pacific Security Program at the Center for a New American Security, told VOA.South Korean President Moon Jae-in is viewed as reluctant to join efforts to increase pressure on China, more so if that includes open cooperation with Japan.”Getting Seoul’s participation on China and in trilateral cooperation will require a ton of creativity and spin at best,” predicted Kim. “Anti-Japan sentiment runs especially deep in Moon’s base, to the point where they can’t compartmentalize and cooperate on common challenges like North Korea, in contrast to the previous conservative government [in South Korea].”Better ‘atmospherics’Yuki Tatsumi, a Stimson Center senior fellow, agreed and noted “a great amount of frustration” among those in Washington due to Seoul’s continuing to push Tokyo, its former colonizer, on issues about history “when there’s way more serious stuff going on in Pyongyang.”FILE – Protesters hold banners during a rally to mark the March First Independence Movement Day against Japanese colonial rule, in front of a statue symbolizing a wartime sex slave, near Japan’s embassy in Seoul, South Korea, March 1, 2021.The fundamental differences between Japan and South Korea over history “can’t readily be altered,” Terry concurred. “But at least the atmospherics should improve somewhat after the rock-bottom relations between Japan and South Korea in recent years, because the Biden administration has made it a priority to get Seoul and Tokyo more in alignment or at least less at odds. There will be at least a show of cooperation even if the substance is lacking. But symbols count for a lot.”South Korea has been slightly warming to Japan because it desires a four-way meeting with North Korea at this year’s Tokyo Olympics, hoping that could lead to a renewed flurry of summitry, according to Kim.”But it’s pretty clear Washington and Seoul are at odds on the timing and conditions for a U.S.-North Korea summit,” Kim told VOA.Tatsumi said Japan shares some of the blame for the state of its relationship with South Korea, which hinders three-way progress because “they are completely wary of the current government [in Seoul] and have zero interest in engaging with them in any way whatsoever.”Analysts expect Pyongyang, in response to the trilateral huddle, will have an attention-seeking reaction.”North Korea will likely engage in further provocations, starting slowly to test the Biden administration and increasingly building up pressure if they don’t get what they want,” Terry told VOA. ”In other words, they will likely revert to their tried-and-true tactics to deal with any new administration.”    
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