North Korea said Monday that the U.N. Security Council showed a double standard as its sanctions committee criticized the country’s recent missile test as a violation of U.N. resolutions.North Korea launched a new type of tactical short-range ballistic missile last week, prompting Washington to request a gathering of the U.N. Security Council’s (UNSC) sanctions committee.At the committee meeting Friday, the United States called for imposing additional sanctions and tightening the implementation of existing measures, denouncing the test as a violation of U.N. resolutions, according to Jo Chol Su, director-general for international organizations at North Korea’s foreign ministry.Jo said the meeting was “designed to negate the right of our state to self-defense,” warning it would devise a “countermeasure.””It constitutes a denial of sovereign state and an apparent double standard that UNSC takes issue, on the basis of the U.N. ‘resolutions’ — direct products of the U.S. hostile policy,” Jo said in a statement carried by the official KCNA news agency.”It does not make any sense that only our righteous self-defensive measure should be singled out for denunciation, when many other countries across the globe are firing all kinds of projectiles for the purpose of increasing their military strength.”The statement came after North Korea said Saturday that the administration of U.S. President Joe Biden had taken a wrong first step and revealed “deep-seated hostility” by criticizing its self-defensive missile test. 
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Taiwan’s Myanmar community came out in force on Sunday to protest the continued crackdown in that country following the military coup on February 1.Gathered beside Taipei’s Liberty Square, demonstrators sat for hours singing songs, holding anti-coup posters and waving the flag of Myanmar. Even younger demonstrators banged pots and pans as a form of protest, as seen within the embattled country. Estimates for numbers in attendance have ranged from 1,000 to 3,000, according to student organizers and event volunteers. A week earlier, a similar rally at the plaza in Taiwan took place.Myanmar Military Opens Fire on FuneralMourners fled the funeral in Bago, near commercial capital of Yangon, as gunfire erupted, according to witnesses; there were no immediate reports of casualties A group that calls itself the University Youth Prayer Committee, made up of students, assisted in organizing the rally that lasted from mid-afternoon until early evening.On stage, several people took to the microphone to condemn the junta’s crackdown, telling harrowing stories of those within Myanmar and re-enacting some of the violence soldiers have orchestrated since the coup. Some in attendance were visibly emotional.  Demonstrators repeatedly sang “Kabar Ma Kyay Buu” – (We will be holding a grudge until the world ends) – an unofficial anthem to remember the 3,000 people killed during the 8888 Revolution in 1988.Taiwan is a self-ruled democracy that is home to a population of more than 23 million, with 40,000 people reportedly from Myanmar originally.  China considers Taiwan part of its territory despite their break since the end of China’s civil war in 1949, when nationalist forces were driven off the mainland by Communist forces and fled to the island.Su Wai Lin, a volunteer for the University Prayer Youth Committee for Sunday’s event, told VOA, “Our heart and our mind is still in Burma and we didn’t accept the military coup. We want to show the people of Myanmar, even though we are outside of Myanmar, we are with them,” the volunteer said, using a former name for Myanmar.More Than 100 Killed in Bloodiest Day of Myanmar’s Military Crackdown Junta leader marks Armed Forces Day by defending February coup, vows to step down after future elections without specifying date Hein Dway San, a volunteer from Myanmar’s Bago region, stressed the importance to help those within the country.“A lot of people in Myanmar every time they see the people from other countries, support from Facebook, Twitter, support from the internet, they are really, really happy…I think that can give them a lot of courage,” he said.“A lot of people have to move from their place because they are doing Civil Disobedient Movement so the military forced them to move from their place, the people need a place, money, to eat. Mostly we get a lot of donations here, and we are planning to send to CRPH,” he added.But the volunteer acknowledged he has family still in his home country and is concerned about what might happen next because of the continued violence.“My parents told me a few days ago they hear the gunshot so I’m not sure about tomorrow but until now they are safe,” he told VOA.Myanmar gained independence in 1948 from Britain, but most of its modern history has been governed under military rule.In 2015, Aung San Suu Kyi and her National League for Democracy party won the country’s first open democratic election.But in last November’s general elections, the military contested the results, claiming widespread fraud, without evidence. On February 1, the Myanmar military, also known as Tatmadaw, removed the NLD government. De factor leader Aung San Suu Kyi and President Win Myint were detained and have since been charged. In response to the coup, ousted NLD members formed the Committee Representing Pyidaungsu Hluttaw (CRPH), refusing to recognize the military government’s Cabinet. A civil disobedience movement (CDM) consisting of Myanmar professionals, such as health workers and lawyers, has also refused to work under military rule.The military has deployed armored vehicles and live ammunition to suppress protests, while martial law has been imposed across the country. The junta has implemented daily internet shutdowns for the sake of the country’s “stability.”A spokesperson for the non-governmental Hong Kong Outlanders, spoke onstage during the rally in Taiwan, denouncing the brutal crackdown from the Myanmar military.Based in Taipei, the NGO raises awareness of political issues in Hong Kong following a proposed, now withdrawn, extradition bill that sparked months of anti-government protests in 2019.“The Myanmar situation is a thousand times worse than Hong Kong, so we’re here to do whatever we can in the international community to support Myanmar at this point.” the spokesperson told VOA. “Myanmar students, the people, they’re allowed to voice out for their country and gather so many people without getting hurt here.”This past Saturday saw Myanmar’s bloodiest day so far with more than 100 people killed as the junta continues a brutal crackdown on pro-democracy protesters nationwide. The day marked Armed Forces Day, formerly Resistance Day, to commemorate the country’s rebellion against Japanese occupation in 1945.According to the Assistance Association For Political Prisoners Burma (AAPPB), more than 420 people have been killed in Myanmar since the February 1 coup.Taiwan’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MOFA) released a statement condemning the Myanmar military’s forceful suppression of demonstrations and that the violence “makes the current situation more chaotic.”“The Ministry of Foreign Affairs once again called on the Myanmar military not to use force to resolve domestic political issues, but to resolve conflicting situations through peaceful and rational dialogue and to restore Myanmar’s democratic politics as soon as possible,” part of the statement read.
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Two suspected suicide bombers blew themselves up outside a Catholic church in Makassar, the provincial capital of South Sulawesi, during a Palm Sunday Mass, wounding at least 19 people. Argo Yuwono, an Indonesian police spokesperson told reporters that the suicide bombers were intercepted by security at the gate to the church compound and then the bomb exploded.   “We suspect that there are two perpetrators who [were] riding a motorbike” Yuwono said. “Initially, they would enter the courtyard or gate of this Cathedral Church which has just finished Sunday mass.”    Yuwono said that authorities were not able to immediately confirm how many people were killed, and whether the body parts scattered at the site were of the perpetrators or victims. “Everything is still under investigation,” he said.  Indonesian Minister of Religion, Yaqut Cholil Qaumas, strongly condemned the bombing in a video response he sent VOA’s Indonesian Service.   “I urge all religious leaders, whatever the religion is, to reiterate to their followers that no religion justifies terrorism,” Qaumas said. “Religion always teaches us about love, peace, to love one each other. The heinous act that we see today is not a behavior of religious communities.”   He called on people not to be afraid of such terror acts. “Fear will destroy our social cohesion,” Qaumas said. Stanislaus Riyanta, an expert on terrorism at the University of Indonesia, said in an interview with VOA’s Indonesian Service it was likely that the perpetrators came from Jamaah Ansharut Daulah (JAD), a radical group affiliated with Islamic State. The Sunday bombing, he said, was carried out in the same way as the one at Surabaya Church in 2018 which left more than 30 dead, and one at Medan Police in 2019.   “Since the law enforcement is very intense in eradicating terror networks in Indonesia, I think this action may occur as a revenge or resistance, as well as a form of reaction due to the increasing pressure on the group by the security apparatus,” Riyanta said.    Noor Huda Ismail, a visiting fellow at the S. Rajaratnam Institute of International Studies at Nanyang Technological University of Singapore said the explosion at the Catholic cathedral in Makassar was not a new trend, but rather “a continuation and disturbing trend in Indonesia.” “Observing the pattern, by having two perpetrators riding a motorbike and carrying explosives, I think, this is not Jemaah Islamiyah (terrorist group),” Ismail told VOA’s Indonesian Service. “I suspect the perpetrators are the Jamaah Ansharut Daulah group.”  Indonesia has long suffered Islamic militant violence and has seen a series of attacks, including the deadly terror attack in Bali in 2002 which killed more than 200 people. VOA Indonesian Service’s Eva Mazrieva contributed to this report.
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Moves by the World Bank and Asian Development Bank to freeze funds to post-coup Myanmar could make many vulnerable communities worse off even as the lenders look for ways to keep some projects going without the government, analysts and experts say.The World Bank said February 19 it was freezing outlays to Myanmar “as we closely monitor and assess the situation.” The ADB followed suit March 10, putting a hold on new contracts and funds to existing public-sector projects. Together, the institutions have put hundreds of millions of dollars in aid to Myanmar on hold to avoid working with the country’s new military junta, which has shot and killed more than 400 people since seizing power February 1 to quell protests, according to local media and activists.Counting the costLosing the average $500 million to $600 million both bank earmark for Myanmar each year will not on its own cripple the country’s $76 billion economy, said Bryan Tse, country analyst for the Economist Intelligence Unit and a former consultant specializing in international development projects.However, much of the work they fund does have an outsized impact on the communities they target, he added, from malaria treatment in the south to harm reduction programs for drug addicts in the north and village farming projects across the country.“If these projects get suspended for an extended period of time, then that would have an impact on people’s well-being, and these are things that are not necessarily visible in the headline GDP [gross domestic product] figures,” Tse said.“If you are part of that community, then there will be a direct impact. So, at the end of the day, it’s not necessarily the broad economy but the people, especially the vulnerable population, that will suffer the most.”FILE – A farmer works in the field in Nyaung Woon village, Kyauk-Se, central Myanmar, Dec. 18, 2018.Their projects are also often of the type the private sector or the state are unlikely to pick up on their own, Tse added.“These are not the kind of populations that would generate a lot of revenue for private business, or it may not even be worth it for the government to do,” he said. “That’s where a lot of these development organizations step in.” Their grants and loans span major infrastructure projects, too, from highways to power grids.The banks have not said exactly how much money is on hold.The World Bank would not elaborate, and referred VOA back to its February 19 statement, which offers no figures or any other details. The ADB did not provide VOA with figures either.According to its website, the World Bank has 24 active projects in Myanmar worth a combined $2.73 billion and another 13 worth $1.68 billion in the pipeline. The ADB says it has committed $3.57 billion to Myanmar over the years up to the end of 2019, with 99 active or approved projects as of February and 10 more planned.Alternate spendingMoe Thuzar, a Myanmar analyst for the Institute of Southeast Asian Studies in Singapore, said the banks will try to keep projects going where they can find ways around the military-run government.In its statement, the World Bank said it was bolstering efforts to monitor projects already underway to ensure compliance with the group’s policies, while the ADB’s announcement left open the possibility of continuing with private-sector programs.“They’re not halting projects that would affect the life of communities, of grassroots, of people across the country in these difficult times and where I think direct delivery or assistance can be done without necessarily having [to work with] entities that purport to represent the government as it is right now,” Moe Thuzar said.“It’s about the ‘do no harm’ principle, which really is not to let any action taken by the banks, by these financial institutions, [have] any negative or adverse consequences on the people,” she added.However, as most of the banks’ grants and loans go to, or at least through, government bodies, many of their projects will surely grind to a halt, said Jared Bissinger, a development economist who has done consulting work for the World Bank, United Nations and other organizations in Myanmar.While health care projects might lend themselves to new partnerships with private clinics and independent charities that can help to keep them running, others do not.“For a lot of what they do it’s going to be very difficult if not impossible,” Bissinger said. “You’re not going to be working on the national electrification grid without the government; it’s just not possible.”Moe Thuzar said strikes at local banks, part of a nationwide civil disobedience movement against the junta, will make it hard to send money to anyone in Myanmar, the government or otherwise. She said local charities are also coming under added scrutiny from authorities for foreign ties, making any activity with even a hint of resistance to the new regime risky.Earlier this month the junta arrested a local employee of the Open Society Foundation, a U.S.-based philanthropic group that champions democracy and human rights around the world. State-run media claimed the group ran afoul of fund-transfer rules, which the group denies.Donors’ dilemmaThe coup also risks derailing donors’ projects to help Myanmar combat the COVID-19 pandemic, which has hit the country harder than most others in Southeast Asia.The World Bank and ADB had both committed tens of millions of dollars to the effort ahead of the coup.“It’s a no-win situation,” Bissinger said.“The World Bank just can’t continue working with and thereby sort of implicitly endorse this military-controlled government,” he said. “But at the same time, by not doing that, yeah, it’s going to interfere with plans to address the COVID pandemic. So, it really does put organizations like the bank in a really difficult position.”Myanmar’s military claims it took power because the country’s civilian government failed to address its allegations of rampant fraud in last year’s general election, which the National League for Democracy party of Nobel laureate Aung San Suu Kyi had won in a landslide. Local and international election monitors had raised concerns with the poll but said the results on the whole did reflect the will of the people.The U.N., local media and nongovernment groups say police and soldiers have killed hundreds and arrested thousands since the coup in a failing bid to quash near-daily protests and strikes. The U.S., European Union and others have imposed sanctions on the top generals and some of their business interests in response. 
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Two suspected suicide bombers blew themselves up outside a Catholic church in Makassar, the provincial capital of South Sulawesi, during a Palm Sunday Mass, wounding at least 14 people.Argo Yuwono, an Indonesian police spokesperson, told reporters that the suicide bombers were intercepted by security at the gate to the church compound, and then the bomb exploded.“We suspect that there are two perpetrators who [were] riding a motorbike” Yuwono said. “Initially, they would enter the courtyard or gate of this Cathedral Church, which has just finished Sunday Mass.”Yuwono said that authorities were not able to immediately confirm how many people were killed, and whether the body parts scattered at the scene were of the perpetrators or victims. “Everything is still under investigation,” he said.Indonesian Minister of Religion Yaqut Cholil Qaumas strongly condemned the bombing in a video response he sent VOA’s Indonesian Service.“I urge all religious leaders, whatever the religion is, to reiterate to their followers that no religion justifies terrorism,” Qaumas said. “Religion always teaches us about love, peace, to love one each other. The heinous act that we see today is not a behavior of religious communities.”He called on people not to be afraid of such terror acts. “Fear will destroy our social cohesion,” Qaumas said.Stanislaus Riyanta, an expert on terrorism at the University of Indonesia, said in an interview with VOA’s Indonesian Service it was likely that the perpetrators came from Jamaah Ansharut Daulah (JAD), a radical group affiliated with Islamic State. The Sunday bombing, he said, was carried out in the same way as the one at Surabaya Church in 2018, which left more than 30 dead, and one at Medan Police in 2019.“Since the law enforcement is very intense in eradicating terror networks in Indonesia, I think this action may occur as a revenge or resistance, as well as a form of reaction due to the increasing pressure on the group by the security apparatus,” Riyanta said.Noor Huda Ismail, a visiting fellow at the S. Rajaratnam Institute of International Studies at Nanyang Technological University of Singapore, said the explosion at the Catholic cathedral in Makassar was not a new trend, but rather “a continuation and disturbing trend in Indonesia.”“Observing the pattern, by having two perpetrators riding a motorbike and carrying explosives, I think, this is not Jemaah Islamiyah (terrorist group),” Ismail told VOA’s Indonesian Service. “I suspect the perpetrators are the Jamaah Ansharut Daulah group.”Indonesia has long suffered Islamic militant violence and has seen a series of attacks, including the deadly terror attack in Bali in 2002 which killed more than 200 people.VOA Indonesian Service’s Eva Mazrieva contributed to this report.
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A suspected suicide bomber blew themselves up outside a Catholic church in the Indonesian city of Makassar on Sunday, wounding nine people on the first day of the Easter Holy Week, police and a witness said.The congregation had been inside the church on the island of Sulawesi at the time of the explosion and the lone attacker was the only fatality, police said.The Rev. Wilhemus Tulak, a priest at the church, told Indonesian media that the suspected bomber tried to enter the church grounds on a motorbike, but had been stopped by a security guard.Security camera footage showed a blast that blew flame, smoke and debris into the middle of the road.Police did not say who might be responsible for the apparent attack and there was no immediate claim of responsibility.Police blamed the Islamic State-inspired Jamaah Ansharut Daulah (JAD) group for suicide attacks in 2018 on churches and a police post in the city of Surabaya that killed over 30 people.Boy Rafli Amar, the head of the country’s National Counterterrorism Agency, described Sunday’s attack as an act of terrorism.Makassar Mayor Danny Pomanto said the blast could have caused far more casualties if it had taken place at the church’s main gate instead of a side entrance.Makassar, Sulawesi’s biggest city, reflects the religious makeup of Indonesia, the world’s largest Muslim-majority country with a substantial Christian minority and followers of other religions.“Whatever the motive is, this act isn’t justified by any religion because it harms not just one person but others, too,” Yaqut Cholil Qoumas, Indonesia’s religious affairs minister, said in a statement.Gomar Gultom, head of the Indonesian Council of Churches, described the attack as a “cruel incident” as Christians were celebrating Palm Sunday and urged people to remain calm and trust the authorities.Indonesia’s deadliest Islamist militant attack took place on the tourist island of Bali in 2002, when bombers killed 202 people, most of them foreign tourists.In subsequent years, security forces in Indonesia scored some major successes in tackling militancy, but more recently there has been a resurgence of militant violence.
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Defense chiefs from a dozen countries, including the United States, issued a rare joint statement Saturday condemning Myanmar’s use of lethal force against pro-democracy, unarmed people.“A professional military follows international standards for conduct and is responsible for protecting — not harming — the people it serves,” the statement said.“We urge the Myanmar Armed Forces to cease violence and work to restore respect and credibility with the people of Myanmar that it has lost through its actions.”The statement released after the violence in the country on Saturday, is backed by defense chiefs from Australia, Britain, Canada, Denmark, Germany, Greece, Italy, Japan, the Netherlands, South Korea and New Zealand.More than 100 people were killed Saturday as the military junta backed by police continues a brutal, countrywide crackdown on pro-democracy protesters on Armed Forces Day, marking the deadliest day of protests since the Feb. 1 military coup.In reaction to Saturday’s killings, United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres’ spokesperson said Guterres, “condemns in the strongest terms the killing of dozens of civilians, including children and young people, by security forces in Myanmar” and urged the military to refrain from violence and repression, in a statement issued on March 27.Myanmar Now news site reported late Saturday a nationwide death toll of at least 114, with at least 29 people killed in the northern city of Mandalay, including a boy as young as 5. The Associated Press cited a Yangon-based independent researcher who put the death-toll at 107 — both numbers exceeding what activists have previously been reporting with a high of 90 killings on March 14.Security forces killed civilians in the central Sagaing region, the eastern town of Lashio, the southcentral region of Bago, near Yangon, and in other parts of the country, according to news wires.“They are killing us like birds or chickens, even in our homes,” said Thu Ya Zaw, a resident of the central town of Myingyan, where at least two protesters were killed, according to reports. “We will keep protesting regardless. We must fight until the junta falls.”The military government further escalated the use of deadly force Saturday with fighter jets launching air strikes in an area near the Thai border controlled by an armed ethnic group dedicated to overturning the coup, according to Reuters.The Karen National Union (KNU), an armed political group, said the jets attacked Day Pu Noe village about 8:00 p.m. local time (3:30 UTC), killing two people and forcing residents to take refuge elsewhere.The KNU said earlier Saturday it killed 10 soldiers, including a lieutenant colonel, as it overran an army base.The Myanmar government has not responded to requests for comment on the civilian killings or on reports of the KNU’s killing of soldiers at an army base.In a show of force, the military regime held a massive parade in the capital, Naypyitaw Saturday to celebrate the 76th Myanmar Armed Forces Day, which commemorates the start of local resistance to the Japanese occupation during World War II.
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The Chinese and Iranian foreign ministers on Saturday signed a 25-year cooperation agreement between the two allies in a ceremony carried live on state television.
 
“Our relations with Iran will not be affected by the current situation, but will be permanent and strategic,” Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi was earlier quoted by Iranian news agencies as saying.
 
“Iran decides independently on its relations with other countries and is not like some countries that change their position with one phone call.”
 
Wang met President Hassan Rouhani ahead of the signing of the agreement, which is expected to include Chinese investments in key sectors such as energy and infrastructure.
 
The accord is an example of “successful diplomacy,” Rouhani’s adviser Hesameddin Ashena was cited by Iranian media as saying. “A country’s strength is in its ability to join coalitions, not to remain isolated.”
 
Saeed Khatibzadeh, an Iranian foreign ministry spokesman, said the document was a “roadmap” for trade, economic and transportation cooperation, with a “special focus on the private sectors of the two sides.”
 
China, one of Iran’s largest trading partners and a long-standing ally, agreed in 2016 to boost bilateral trade by more than 10 times to $600 billion over a decade.
 
Its commerce ministry said on Thursday that Beijing will try to safeguard the 2015 Iran nuclear deal and defend the legitimate interests of Sino-Iranian relations.
 
The United States and the other Western powers party to the deal are at odds with Tehran over which side should first return to the accord, which was abandoned by former U.S. President Donald Trump in 2018.
 
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At least 90 people were killed Saturday in Myanmar as the junta continues a brutal, countrywide crackdown on pro-democracy protesters that coincided with a military parade, according to witnesses and multiple news reports. It was one of the deadliest days of protests in the country since the February 1 military coup.
 
The Myanmar Now news site reports at least 29 people were killed in the city of Mandalay, including a boy as young as 5 years old, and at least 24 protesters died in violent night clashes with police in Yangon.
 
Security forces also reportedly killed civilians in the central Sagaing region, the eastern town of Lashio, the southcentral region of Bago, near Yangon, and in other parts of the country.
 
“They are killing us like birds or chickens, even in our homes,” said Thu Ya Zaw, a resident of the central town of Myingyan, where at least two protesters were reportedly killed. “We will keep protesting regardless. We must fight until the junta falls.”
 
In a show of force, the military regime held a massive parade in the capital, Naypyidaw, to mark Armed Forces Day, which commemorates the start of local resistance to the Japanese occupation during World War II.
 
As troops marched alongside army vehicles, junta leader General Min Aung Hlaing defended the coup again and pledged to relinquish power after new elections, without specifying any date. Min Aung Hlaing seized power in a February 1 coup. Myanmar’s junta leader General Min Aung Hlaing, who ousted the country’s elected government in a Feb. 1 coup, presides an army parade on Armed Forces Day in Naypyitaw, Myanmar, March 27, 2021.Myanmar’s military government has not responded to requests for comment on the killings.  
 
Junta leaders have justified the coup by saying the November 8 general election won by Aung San Suu Kyi’s National League for Democracy (NLD) party was fraudulent — an accusation the electoral commission rejected. Ongoing protests have spread nationwide since the coup, often followed by a heavy-handed security crackdown against protesters.
 
Myanmar’s military government had warned protesters they could risk being shot in the head during anti-coup demonstrations Saturday as the country observed Armed Forces Day, according to state media.
 
The junta’s warning came one day after nine people were killed in Myanmar, according to the daily report of the activist group, the Assistance Association for Political Prisoners (AAPP).
 
In reaction to Saturday’s reported killings, the United Nations said in a statement it is “horrified by the needless loss of life” and denounced the violence as “completely unacceptable,” while calling for it to “stop immediately.”
 
The U.S. ambassador to Myanmar, Thomas Vajda, released a strongly worded statement, asserting that the country’s security forces are “murdering unarmed civilians, including children, the very people they swore to protect.”
 
“This bloodshed is horrifying,” Vajda added. “We call for an immediate end to the violence and the restoration of the democratically elected government.”An injured anti-coup protester is brought to a hospital for medical treatment, in Yangon, Myanmar, March 27, 2021.The 27-nation European Union said in a statement the killings will be recorded in the annals of the history of the Southeast Asian country.   
 
“This 76th Myanmar Armed Forces Day will forever stay engraved as a day of terror and dishonor,” the statement said. “The killing of unarmed civilians, including children, are indefensible acts.”
 
The EU also called for an immediate end to the violence and “the restoration of democracy.”
 
Britain’s ambassador to Myanmar, Dan Chugg, said security forces “have disgraced themselves by shooting unarmed civilians.”
 
“At a time of economic crisis, COVID, and a worsening humanitarian situation, today’s military parade and extra-judicial killings speak volumes for the priorities of the military junta, Chugg added.”
 
Before Saturday, military forces had killed at least 320 people during the crackdown and more than 2,900 people had been arrested, charged or sentenced since the crackdown began, the AAPP said in a report.
 
The United States and Britain imposed sanctions on Myanmar’s ruling junta on Thursday, blacklisting military-controlled businesses.
“Today the United States is taking its most significant action to date to impose costs on the military regime,” said Secretary of State Anthony Blinken in a statement Thursday.
 
The United States has designated two entities linked to the coup leaders, Myanma Economic Holdings Public Company Limited (MEHL) and Myanmar Economic Corporation Limited (MEC). “MEHL and MEC are the two largest military holding companies in Burma, and all shares in them are held and managed by current or former Burmese military officers, regiments, and units, and organizations led by former service members,” the statement said.   
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New Chinese government statistics reveal the devastating consequences of what the United States and other countries have condemned as a genocidal campaign against the nation’s ethnic Uyghur population, mainly based in Xinjiang, the northwestern region of China.According to the China Statistical Yearbook 2020, compiled by the “While the CCP is increasingly keen for more couples to have a second child to reverse the decline in the size of China’s labor force and to redress the gender imbalance, it wants more Han children rather than ethnic minority children to shore up the Han-majoritarian state,” Finley said.Accusations of genocideChina has built a vast system of reeducation camps targeting ethnic Uyghurs, which the United States and other countries have said amount to an act of genocide. Outside rights groups estimate more than a million people have been detained in them.While China insists the camps provide education and training aimed at lifting people out of poverty, Finley is one of many observers who describe them as punitive internment camps.“The knowledge that upwards of 1 million Uyghurs and other [ethnic minorities] are interned in these camps, in many cases because of bearing too many children, serves as a powerful disincentive to either have more children or to resist the state’s coercive birth control policies,” she said.“We have stacks of evidence that show couples exceeding birth limits are subject to incarceration, mainly in the form of ‘reeducation,’” said Tim Grose, associate professor of China Studies at Indiana’s Rose-Hulman Institute of Technology.Allegations of forced sterilizationsWhile China’s official yearbook attributes declining birthrates to a cultural shift away from marriage and family, Ilshat Hassan Kokbor of the Uyghur American Association offers a simpler explanation — forced sterilizations and abortions by the Chinese government.According to an Associated Press investigation based on government statistics, state documents and interviews with 30 ex-detainees, family members and a former detention camp instructor, the state regularly subjects minority women to pregnancy checks, and forces intrauterine devices, sterilization and even abortion on hundreds of thousands of detainees, leading to what some experts call a campaign of “The Communist Party “has also effectively mobilized ‘public health’ officials who have distributed and, in many cases, imposed birth control methods on women,” Grose told VOA. “The party has also incentivized smaller families in some rural communities of southern Xinjiang by offering monetary rewards for couples who forego a third birth.”In a response to a similar report by CNN last September, the Chinese government insisted that those who complied with the family planning policies did so voluntarily.“People of all ethnic groups are free to choose whether or not to have contraception and how to practice it with no organization or individual intervening,” said an August 2020 article in China’s state-run Global Times newspaper.Statistical accuracy questionedYi Fuxian, a senior scientist at the University of Wisconsin-Madison and author of Big Country with an Empty Nest, said discrepancies within official Chinese statistic make it especially challenging to draw firm conclusions.Data from the Xinjiang Statistical Yearbook, for example, shows the Uyghur population in the region in 2018 is 11.6786 million, while the analysis of population changes in Xinjiang published by Tianshannet, a Xinjiang government-run news website, states the number is 12.7184 million, a difference of more than 1 million people.Yi said the region has also experienced urbanization, which can delay marriages, birthrates and people’s attitudes towards having children.“On the other hand, education in Xinjiang has improved. The people’s attitudes towards fertility have changed, marriages have been delayed and urbanization rates have increased rapidly,” said Yi. “The so-called ‘concentration camps’ as described by the West, what China calls reeducation camps, have led to separation of families, affecting fertility rate.”Regardless of the cause, results show an alarming decrease in Uyghur birth rates that critics say amounts to a slow-motion genocide.Finley of Newcastle University said the overall policy suggests an intent to destroy foundations on which the Uyghur ethnic group is based.“This is not a dramatic, sudden episode of mass killings; it is slow, progressive, creeping,” she said.”But it is nonetheless a genocidal act and process, which, taken together with the other policies of cultural erasure, will ensure a vastly depleted Uyghur population in numerical terms, and that only a hollow shell or husk of the Uyghur identity will remain.”
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Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi arrived in Iran on Friday for a visit that Iranian state media said would see the signing of a 25-year cooperation agreement between the two countries, which are both under U.S sanctions.The accord, final details of which are yet to be announced, is expected to include Chinese investments in Iran’s energy and infrastructure sectors.In 2016, China, Iran’s largest trading partner and longtime ally, agreed to boost bilateral trade by more than 10 times to $600 billion in the next decade.”The signing of the comprehensive cooperation program of the Islamic Republic of Iran and the People’s Republic of China by the foreign ministers of the two countries is another program of this two-day trip,” state news agency IRNA said.Iran is hardening its stance towards the United States and the European parties to Tehran’s 2015 nuclear accord with world powers.”This document is a complete roadmap with strategic political and economic clauses covering trade, economic and transportation cooperation … with a special focus on the private sectors of the two sides,” Foreign Ministry spokesperson Saeed Khatibzadeh told state TV.On Thursday, China’s commerce ministry said Beijing will make efforts to safeguard the Iran nuclear deal and defend the legitimate interests of Sino-Iranian relations.China made the comments after Reuters reported that Iran has “indirectly” moved record volumes of oil into China in recent months, marked as supplies from other countries, even as China customs data showed that no Iranian oil was imported in the first two months of this year.U.S. President Joe Biden has sought to revive talks with Iran on the nuclear deal abandoned by former President Donald Trump in 2018, although harsh economic measures remain in place that Tehran insists be lifted before any negotiations resume.The United States and the other Western powers that joined the 2015 deal appear at odds with Tehran over which side should return to the accord first, making it unlikely that U.S. sanctions which have crippled Iran’s economy can be quickly removed.However, the OPEC member’s oil exports climbed in January after a boost in the fourth quarter, despite U.S. sanctions, in a sign that the end of Trump’s term may be changing buyer behavior. Since late 2018 there was a sharp drop in Iranian exports to China and other Asian customers.
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Myanmar’s military government reportedly has warned protesters they could be shot in the head during possible anti-coup demonstrations Saturday as the country observes Armed Forces Day.   
 
The warning was broadcast on the Myanmar Radio and Television channel, according to Reuters.
 
“You should learn… that you can be in danger of getting shot to the head and back,” the MRTV broadcast reportedly said.  
 
Activists have called for more nationwide protests on Armed Forces Day, when the country’s military might will be on display during its annual parade.   
 
“The time has arrived again to fight the military’s oppression, activist Ei Thinzar Maung wrote in a Facebook post.
 
The junta’s warning came one day after nine people were killed in Myanmar, according to the daily report of the Assistance Association for Political Prisoners.
 
Demonstrators were out in force in a continued show of opposition against the ruling military junta, one day after Wednesday’s “silent” strike left the streets of many cities across the country practically empty.  
    
There were scattered reports of soldiers using force to break up protests in the southeastern city of Mawlamyine and in Hpa-An, the capital of southeastern Karen state.  Soldiers also confronted protesters staging candlelight vigils across the country, with reports of at least one man shot and killed.
 
The AAPP said in the report that at least 320 people have been killed by military forces during the crackdown.  One of those killed was a 7-year-old girl who was shot Tuesday when soldiers broke into her home in Mandalay, according to Myanmar Now and Reuters. The child was reportedly sitting on her father’s lap when the soldiers broke in and demanded to know if everyone in the family was at home.  The father said yes, but the soldiers accused him of lying and opened fire, hitting the girl.   This photo received from an anonymous source via Facebook March 26, 2021, shows protesters carrying signs during a demonstration against the military coup in Yangon, Myanmar.The AAPP also said that more than 2,900 people have been arrested, charged or sentenced since the crackdown began. But more than 600 protesters were released Wednesday from Insein prison in the main city of Yangon in an apparent goodwill gesture by the junta.  Associated Press journalist Thein Zaw, who was arrested while covering a street protest in Yangon along with eight other media workers, was among those released.
 
Agence France-Presse has reported that a Molotov cocktail thrown at the Yangon headquarters of the National League for Democracy party of detained civilian leader Aung San Suu Kyi caused a small fire.
 
AFP quoted Soe Win, an NLD member in charge of the headquarters, saying that “when the residents nearby knew about the fire, they called the fire service department to put it out … it was under control by around 5 a.m.”
 
The United States and Britain imposed sanctions on Myanmar’s ruling junta on Thursday, blacklisting military-controlled businesses.
 
“Today the United States is taking its most significant action to date to impose costs on the military regime,” said Secretary of State Anthony Blinken in a statement Thursday.
 
The United States is designating two entities linked to the coup leaders, Myanma Economic Holdings Public Company Limited and Myanmar Economic Corporation Limited.  MEHL and MEC are the two largest military holding companies in Burma, and all shares in them are held and managed by current or former Burmese military officers, regiments, and units, and organizations led by former service members.”
 
Blinken added that Britain would be taking similar actions against MEHL.FILE – Soldiers take part in a military parade to mark Armed Forces Day, in the capital Naypyitaw, Myanmar, March 27, 2019. Farhan Haq, a spokesman for United Nations Secretary-General António Guterres, issued a statement Wednesday urging the junta to exercise “maximum restraint” as Armed Forces Day on March 27 approaches. He called for “accountability for all the crimes and human rights violations that continue to be perpetrated in Myanmar.”    
 
Suu Kyi is facing four criminal charges, including the possession of unlicensed walkie-talkies, violating COVID-19 restrictions, breaching telecommunication laws and incitement to cause public unrest.  She has also been accused by the junta of accepting $600,000 in illegal payments.   
 
Suu Kyi was scheduled to appear in court via videoconferencing Wednesday, but the session was postponed until April 1. Khin Maung Zaw, a lawyer for Aung San Suu Kyi, told VOA that police blocked the thoroughfare that led to the courthouse, and only allowed two junior lawyers to enter. Khin said the judge told the two lawyers the video conferencing sessions on the docket could not take place.  
 
Wednesday’s appearance by Suu Kyi was originally scheduled for March 15 but was called off because of a lack of internet service.  Authorities have imposed nightly internet shutdowns for several weeks to prevent any sharing of protests from across the country.   
 
Junta leaders also justified their coup by saying the November 8 election won by Suu Kyi’s NLD was fraudulent – an accusation the electoral commission rejected.  
 
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The house detention of a Uyghur leader during the Chinese foreign minister’s visit to Turkey this week is stoking concerns among Turkey’s large Uyghur refugee community about deepening ties between Ankara and Beijing.
Uyghur leader Seyit Tumturk, head of the East Turkistan National Assembly, was detained at home during Wang Li’s visit to Turkey.  Speaking to VOA, Tumturk said health authorities quarantined him without a COVID-19 test, after he called for protests against the Chinese minister’s visit.
 
“This time they used the COVID tracking method to prevent me from protesting, how will they prevent me next time from protesting in front of [the] Chinese embassy when someone else comes,” he said. “I am having serious worries and concerns about my security, my health and my freedom,” Tumturk said.
Uyghurs protested in Ankara and Istanbul during Wang Li’s three-day visit, which ended Friday. Many Uyghurs have found refuge in Turkey. But with Turkey’s relations increasingly strained with its traditional western allies, Ankara is deepening its economic and financial ties with Beijing, despite China’s ongoing crackdown on Uyghurs. During Wang’s visit, both countries committed to work together towards developing a strategic partnership.Turkey’s President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, right, and Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi pose for a photo before a meeting, in Ankara, Turkey, March 25, 2021.Beijing is pressing Ankara to ratify a new extradition agreement, as it seeks Uyghur dissidents’ return. Human rights lawyer Ibrahim Ergin who represents Uyghurs in Turkey says he is alarmed.  
   
“If this extradition agreement is approved in the parliament, we can foresee that this will result in some or all our clients’ death,” he said.
 
The Turkish parliament is yet to ratify the extradition agreement. Support of the Turkic-speaking Muslim group is strong in Turkey, crossing the country’s deep political divide.
 
But Cagdas Ungor of Istanbul’s Marmara University says economic pragmatism could prevail, with geopolitics playing a role.
   
“If the world is going to be polarized between the western hemisphere led by the United States and China, I think it’s going to be a harder game to keep good relations with China. Because in a cold war, bipolar environment, the gray area, the room to maneuver, that’s going to be narrow,” Ungor said.Ankara has invited Chinese President Xi Jinping for a state visit. Still, at the same time, Turkey is seeking to repair strained ties with the United States. But whatever road Ankara takes is likely to be closely followed by Uyghurs who’ve found sanctuary in Turkey. 
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A Philippine demand for the removal of 220 fishing Chinese vessels spotted in a contested sea has further hurt relations between two Asian countries that had gotten along just fine years ago, despite the simmering maritime dispute, analysts believe.  
    
According to the state-funded People’s Television Network in Manila, a Philippine government task force “expressed concern” that the Chinese fishing flotilla had reached a reef in the Spratly Islands of the South China Sea and the country’s defense chief demanded that they leave.  Chinese “maritime militia” were believed to be with the ships when they approached the unoccupied reef March 7, the network said.    
    
Defense officials contacted a Chinese counterpart Wednesday as 183 boats remained at the reef this week, the Armed Forces of the Philippines said Thursday on its Facebook page. “We conveyed the defense secretary’s demand for the vessels to leave,” the Facebook page says.
 
Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte met with the Chinese ambassador earlier in the week to raise concern about the number of boats and vow that he would defend his country. The ambassador said the boats are operated by fishermen seeking shelter, presidential office spokesman Harry Roque told a news briefing Thursday.    
Manila’s discovery of the boats deepens a decline in Sino-Philippine goodwill that peaked after Duterte took office five years ago, analysts say.  
 
The Chinese vessels are “definitely having an impact,” said Jay Batongbacal, international maritime affairs professor at the University of the Philippines.  
 
“For sure many in government, even among many Duterte supporters, are not as enamored with China because of this,” he said.    
   
The flotilla reminds many Filipinos of 2012, when Chinese vessels occupied Scarborough Reef, a fishery in the contested South China Sea, sparking a lengthy standoff, Batongbacal said.This satellite image provided by Maxar Technologies shows Chinese vessels at the Whitsun reef, in a disputed part of the South China Sea, March 23, 2021.Duterte sought Chinese aid and investment in 2016 to accelerate economic development. Beijing wanted Manila to set aside their maritime sovereignty dispute after an international tribunal ruled against the legal basis for Chinese claims to 90% of the 3.5 million-square-kilometer waterway.   
    
The reef where the Chinese boats are holding is 859 kilometers southwest of Manila and just dozens of kilometers from the 10 Spratly islets under day-to-day Philippine control.    
    
Sino-Philippine relations had already weakened over perceptions among Filipinos that $24 billion that China pledged in aid and investment was reaching them too slowly.    
    
A Chinese vessel had caused alarm in 2017 by planting a 3-meter-high flag on Sandy Cay in a Philippines-controlled area of the Spratly Islands, a congressman in Manila said at the time. Two years ago, China allowed more than 100 fishing boats to pass through the Spratly Islands.   
    
A mid-2020 survey by Quezon City-based research institution Social Weather Stations found that Filipinos’ “trust” in China fell from “poor” to “bad” with a net trust rating of -36. It was the lowest showing since April 2016, two months before Duterte took office.    
    
The 2020 survey took place amid “aggressive” Chinese acts in the sea, domestic media outlet Rappler.com said.   
    
Officials in Beijing are bristling too. They resent the United States for helping the Philippines militarily, said Carl Thayer, an emeritus professor from the University of New South Wales in Australia. Duterte still allows annual Philippines-U.S. military exercises, despite talk years ago of ending them, and last year his government deferred plans to cancel a visiting forces agreement with the U.S. military.The United States periodically sends warships and aircraft to the sea as support for pro-U.S. governments such as Taiwan and the Philippines. China intends its 220-boat flotilla to challenge the U.S.-Philippines military connection, Thayer said.
 
In Beijing this past Monday, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Hua Chunying said her country’s fishing boats “have been fishing in the waters near (Whitsun) reef all along and that “recently, due to maritime situation, some fishing boats have been taking shelter from the wind…which is quite normal.”
    
Brunei, Malaysia, Taiwan and Vietnam also claim all or parts of the South China Sea. They look to the waters for fisheries and undersea fuel reserves. Beijing, which cites historical usage records to back its claims, has alarmed the other governments by landfilling islets for development, including military infrastructure.   
   
Within the Philippine navy alone now, “people express views at odds with Duterte, on China,” said Thayer, who has attended conferences with navy personnel. “They’re humiliated and they’re upset.”   
    
Sino-Philippine relations continue, however, as the Philippines needs Chinese COVID-19 vaccines and aid with post-pandemic economic recovery, said Yun Sun, East Asia Program senior associate at the Stimson Center in Washington. China was aiming as of mid-December to send the Philippines 25 million doses of the Chinese-made Sinovac vaccine by this month.   
    
“Although the relationship between China and the Philippines is rocky currently because of the 220 fishing boats, I don’t think we’re at the breaking point just yet,” Sun said.    
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The British government announced Friday its full support for parliamentarians and other citizens of Britain sanctioned by China for raising their voices in defense of the Uyghur Muslim minority in the Asian country.  
 
“The MPs [Members of Parliament] and other British citizens sanctioned by China today are performing a vital role shining a light on the gross human rights violations being perpetrated against Uyghur Muslims,” Prime Minister Boris Johnson said in a tweet.  
 
“Freedom to speak out in opposition to abuse is fundamental and I stand firmly with them,” Johnson said.The MPs and other British citizens sanctioned by China today are performing a vital role shining a light on the gross human rights violations being perpetrated against Uyghur Muslims. Freedom to speak out in opposition to abuse is fundamental and I stand firmly with them.— Boris Johnson (@BorisJohnson) March 26, 2021China is imposing sanctions against nine Britons and four British entities, raising allegations that they had “maliciously spread lies and disinformation” over Beijing’s treatment of Uyghurs.
 
Also, British Foreign Secretary Dominic Raab and Justice Minister Robert Buckland strongly condemned China’s move.  
   
“While the UK joins the international community to sanction human rights abuses, Chinese govt sanctions its critics. If Beijing want to credibly rebut claims of human rights abuses in Xinjiang, it should give @UNHumanRights access to verify facts,” Raab tweeted.While the UK joins the international community to sanction human rights abuses, Chinese govt sanctions its critics. If Beijing want to credibly rebut claims of human rights abuses in Xinjiang, it should give ⁦@UNHumanRights⁩ access to verify facts. https://t.co/FP3676fFlB— Dominic Raab (@DominicRaab) March 26, 2021“We strongly deprecate the statement of the Chinese Foreign Ministry” imposing sanctions on British citizens and entities, including a British law firm that has taken up Uyghur rights causes, Buckland said.We strongly deprecate the statement of the Chinese Foreign Ministry imposing sanctions on, among others, a set of Chambers for “spreading lies and disinformation” @DXWQC 1/2— Robert Buckland (@RobertBuckland) March 26, 2021The European Union, Britain, the United States, and Canada have sanctioned several members of Xinjiang’s political and economic power elite this week over allegations of widespread human right abuses there. 
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Nine people were killed Thursday in Myanmar, according to the daily report of the Assistance Association for Political Prisoners.Demonstrators were out in force in a continued show of opposition against the ruling military junta, one day after Wednesday’s “silent” strike left the streets of many cities across the country practically empty.There were scattered reports of soldiers using force to break up protests in the southeastern city of Mawlamyine and in Hpa-An, the capital of southeastern Karen state. Soldiers also confronted protesters staging candlelight vigils across the country, with reports of at least one man shot and killed.The AAPP said in the report that at least 320 people have been killed by military forces during the crackdown. One of those killed was a 7-year-old girl who was shot Tuesday when soldiers broke into her home in Mandalay, according to Myanmar Now and Reuters. The child was reportedly sitting on her father’s lap when the soldiers broke in and demanded to know if everyone in the family was at home. The father said yes, but the soldiers accused him of lying and opened fire, hitting the girl.The AAPP also said that more than 2,900 people have been arrested, charged or sentenced since the crackdown began. But more than 600 protesters were released Wednesday from Insein prison in the main city of Yangon in an apparent goodwill gesture by the junta. Associated Press journalist Thein Zaw, who was arrested while covering a street protest in Yangon along with eight other media workers, was among those released.Anti-coup protesters march with flags during a demonstration in Yangon, Myanmar, March 26, 2021.Agence France-Presse has reported that a Molotov cocktail thrown at the Yangon headquarters of the National League for Democracy party of detained civilian leader Aung San Suu Kyi caused a small fire.AFP quoted Soe Win, an NLD member in charge of the headquarters, saying that “when the residents nearby knew about the fire, they called the fire service department to put it out … it was under control by around 5 a.m.”The United States and Britain imposed sanctions on Myanmar’s ruling junta on Thursday, blacklisting military-controlled businesses.“Today the United States is taking its most significant action to date to impose costs on the military regime,” said Secretary of State Antony Blinken in a statement Thursday.The United States is designating two entities linked to the coup leaders, Myanma Economic Holdings Public Company Limited and Myanmar Economic Corporation Limited. MEHL and MEC are the two largest military holding companies in Burma, and all shares in them are held and managed by current or former Burmese military officers, regiments, and units, and organizations led by former service members.”Blinken added that Britain would be taking similar actions against MEHL.Anti-coup protesters march with a banner reading ‘Mya Taung Strike’ in Mandalay, Myanmar, March 26, 2021.Farhan Haq, a spokesperson for United Nations Secretary-General António Guterres, issued a statement Wednesday urging the junta to exercise “maximum restraint” as Armed Forces Day on March 27 approaches. He called for “accountability for all the crimes and human rights violations that continue to be perpetrated in Myanmar.”Suu Kyi is facing four criminal charges, including the possession of unlicensed walkie-talkies, violating COVID-19 restrictions, breaching telecommunication laws and incitement to cause public unrest. She has also been accused by the junta of accepting $600,000 in illegal payments.Suu Kyi was scheduled to appear in court via videoconferencing Wednesday, but the session was postponed until April 1. Khin Maung Zaw, a lawyer for Aung San Suu Kyi, told VOA that police blocked the thoroughfare that led to the courthouse, and only allowed two junior lawyers to enter. Khin said the judge told the two lawyers the video conferencing sessions on the docket could not take place.Wednesday’s appearance by Suu Kyi was originally scheduled for March 15 but was called off because of a lack of internet service. Authorities have imposed nightly internet shutdowns for several weeks to prevent any sharing of protests from across the country.Junta leaders also justified their coup by saying the Nov. 8 election won by Suu Kyi’s NLD was fraudulent – an accusation the electoral commission rejected.
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A 16-year-old Thai is potentially facing jail for allegedly defaming the country’s King Maha Vajiralongkorn by wearing a crop top, as Thailand’s youth-driven pro-democracy protests are gradually being quashed by a royalist establishment armed with draconian laws.The country’s lèse-majesté law, known better as “112,” after its section in the Thai criminal code, carries three to 15 years in jail for each charge of “defaming, insulting or threatening” key players in the palace, effectively shielding the powerful monarchy from criticism.Lèse-majesté allegations have been filed against at least 71 protesters, with seven key leaders denied bail so far as they await trial.The alleged crime of the teenager — whose identity VOA News is withholding, as he is a minor — was to wear a crop top at a protest with an anti-monarchy slogan written on his stomach.That was deemed an insult to the king, who has been repeatedly shown in European media wearing a crop top while overseas.“Why am I being punished for having a different opinion?” he asked.“I’m not afraid for myself, but I’m scared others will end up like me. I’m scared this might be the reason people might not come out to protest anymore,” he told VOA last month.The youth is expected to learn Monday whether he will be formally charged by a court, which can then also deny him bail. He is believed to be the youngest protester so far to face the hardline law.Anger seethesAt their peak last year Thailand’s protests rattled the government and caught the royalist establishment off-balance.The protests began by calling for the government of the prime minister, ex-army chief Prayuth Chan-Ocha, to quit and the Thai Senate to be elected instead of hand-picked, but quickly morphed into calls for the monarchy to be constrained under the constitution.Their attacks on the palace are unprecedented, with protesters using anti-monarchy slogans and memes, shouting “My Taxes” and wielding banners urging an end to the 112 law, once unthinkable acts of defiance against the top of the Thai power pyramid.Protester numbers have ebbed to just thousands, as the royal defamation law picks off their leadership and scares many from attending rallies.Those who remain on the streets are increasingly angry at the wielding of the law.Police fired tear gas, rubber bullets and water cannons at protesters Saturday near the Grand Palace in Bangkok, while on Wednesday demonstrations pulled around 10,000 people to a downtown intersection, many scrawling anti-112 slogans on the road in chalk.According to the teen facing the courts, the problem of Section 112 “is it’s a law designed to maintain inequality and when there’s no equality, the law can be used to apply differently to different human beings.”Pro-democracy activists display placards during a rally in Bangkok, Thailand, March 24, 2021, ahead of indictment against 13 protest leaders on Thursday for allegations of sedition and defaming the monarchy.In Thailand, kings have for generations had a semi-divine status despite in theory being outside politics under a 1932 constitution.Yet in practice the ultra-rich monarchy gives the nod to promotions of army generals, signs off on coups and draws on the loyalty of judges and billionaire tycoons in one of Asia’s most unequal societies.Thailand is a split kingdom where many still profess total loyalty to the monarchy, and royalists have trolled the teen despite his young age, calling him a “nation-hater” on social media among other slurs. Critics say the royal defamation law is rotten and smothers open discussion on the pivotal issue of Thailand’s future.Section 112 is broadly worded and encompasses all manner of perceived infringements — from sharing a tweet to wearing a crop top — and any member of the public can file a complaint to police or the courts, who rarely throw out an allegation no matter how spurious.For the first four years of Vajiralongkorn’s reign, no new 112 convictions were recorded, but the law is now being seen as a steamroller on the protests.In a possible sign of the mood of the courts, a 60-year-old woman was sentenced in January to a record 87 years in jail for posting defamatory clips on social media. Her sentence was halved after she pleaded guilty.“Criminal punishment is meant for those who commit a violent crime,” said Pornpen Kongkachornkiet, director of the Cross-Cultural Foundation, a Thai human rights organization.“Speaking or dressing a certain way is neither violent nor immoral. Freedom of expression in this country is so low to be almost nonexistent.”In its annual report, Freedom House downgraded Thailand to “Not Free,” in large part because of the use of the lèse-majesté law, while United Nations human rights experts last month said they were “profoundly disturbed” by the rise in prosecutions.
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Chinese state TV called Thursday for a boycott of H&M as Beijing lashed out at foreign clothing and footwear brands following Western sanctions on Chinese officials accused of human rights abuses in the Xinjiang region.The ruling Communist Party criticized H&M for saying in March 2020 it would stop buying cotton from the northwestern Chinese region. The Swedish retailer joined other brands in expressing concern about reports of forced labor there.The party newspaper Global Times also criticized statements by Burberry, Adidas, Nike, New Balance and Zara about Xinjiang as early as two years ago.”For enterprises that touch the bottom line of our country, the response is very clear: don’t buy!” China Central Television said on its social media account. It said the ‘H’ and ‘M’ in the Swedish name stood for Chinese words meaning lie and falsehood.The attacks follow Monday’s decision by the 27-nation European Union, the United States, Britain and Canada to impose travel and financial sanctions on four Chinese officials blamed for abuses in Xinjiang.More than 1 million people in Xinjiang, most of them from predominantly Muslim ethnic groups, have been confined to work camps, according to foreign researchers and governments. Beijing denies mistreating them and says it is trying to promote economic development and stamp out radicalism.”The so-called existence of forced labor in the Xinjiang region is totally fictitious,” said a Commerce Ministry spokesman, Gao Feng. He called on foreign companies to “correct wrong practices” but did not say what they were expected to do.Celebrities including Wang Yibo, a popular singer and actor, announced they were breaking endorsement contracts with H&M and Nike.H&M products were missing from China’s most popular e-commerce platforms, Alibaba Group’s TMall and JD.com. News reports said they were removed due to public criticism over its Xinjiang statement. The companies didn’t respond to requests for comment.Beijing often attacks foreign clothing, auto, travel and other brands for actions by their governments or to pressure companies to conform to its official positions on Taiwan, Tibet and other sensitive issues.Companies usually apologize and change websites or advertising to maintain access to China, one of the biggest global markets. But Xinjiang is an unusually thorny issue. Western brands face pressure at home to distance themselves from possible abuses.A man wearing a mask rides past a Uniqlo store in Beijing on March 25, 2021.A loss of sales in China, the only major economy where consumer spending has rebounded to above pre-pandemic levels, can be especially painful at a time when U.S. and European demand is weak.H&M Group “doesn’t represent any political standpoint” and “respects Chinese consumers,” the company said on its social media account.The company said it deals with 350 Chinese manufacturers to make products that “comply with the principles of sustainable development.” H&M said it “is committed to long-term investment and development in China.”Brian Ehrig, partner in the consumer practice of global strategy and management consulting firm Kearney, said it is likely that roughly 60% to 70% of H&M’s raw materials, like fabrics, come from China. He said that if H&M is cut off, it will be much harder for the company to get access to these materials and could mean higher prices and production delays.H&M had 520 stores and $1.4 billion in sales in China in 2019, the last year for which annual figures have been reported. China is its third-largest market after Germany and the United States.The criticism began when the ruling party’s Youth League on Wednesday called attention to last March’s H&M statement on its social media account. It gave no indication why it singled out the company or an explanation for citing a year-old statement.A delivery man walks past an Adidas store and an H&M store in Beijing on March 25, 2021.”Spreading lies to boycott Xinjiang while wanting to make money in China? Wishful thinking,” the Youth League said.The Global Times said Burberry, Adidas, Nike and New Balance also made “cutting remarks” about Xinjiang cotton. A separate Global Times report cited what it said was a statement by Zara that it had a “zero-tolerance approach towards forced labor.”H&M’s statement last year cited a decision by the Better Cotton Initiative, an industry group that promotes environmental and labor standards, to stop licensing Xinjiang cotton because it was “increasingly difficult” to trace how it was produced. In September, H&M announced it would stop working with a Chinese manufacturer that was accused of using forced labor in a unit unrelated to the Swedish brand.In January, Washington imposed a ban on imports of cotton from Xinjiang, a major supplier to clothing producers for Western markets.China’s official outrage has focused on Europe, possibly because relations with the EU had been amicable amid rancor with Washington over trade disputes and accusations of Chinese spying and technology theft.Official criticism of H&M reflected that tone of grievance at being hurt by a friend.”How can H&M eat Chinese rice and then smash China’s pot?” state television said in a commentary Wednesday.Comments on the internet cited clothing brands Uniqlo of Japan and The Gap of the United States as other possible offenders. It was unclear how many of those accounts were members of the public and how many were run by the ruling party’s vast propaganda apparatus.The pop star Wang’s announcement that he was quitting as a Nike “brand ambassador” didn’t mention Xinjiang. It said he “firmly resists any words and actions that pollute China.”Others including singer and actress Song Qian, a former member of Korean pop group f(x) who also is known as Victoria Song, and actor Huang Xuan, who announced they would end endorsement contracts with H&M. Actress Tang Songyun said she was breaking ties with Nike.Chinese athletic shoe brand ANTA announced it was pulling out of BCI, the industry cotton group.
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The U.S. Treasury Department issued new sanctions Thursday imposing penalties on two companies with ties to Myanmar’s military. As VOA’s Congressional correspondent Katherine Gypson reports, U.S. lawmakers are calling for more sanctions against oil and gas companies to help prevent a civil war in Myanmar. Produced by: Katherine Gypson  
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With waves, smiles and streamers, but no cheers, the Olympic torch relay kicked off Thursday, beginning a four-month countdown to the postponed 2020 summer Games in Tokyo, the first ever organized during a deadly pandemic.
 
Casting a pall over celebrations already scaled back because of coronavirus measures, North Korea launched two short-range ballistic missiles before the relay began in Fukushima, an area hit hard by the 2011 earthquake, tsunami and nuclear disaster.
 
“For the past year, as the entire world underwent a difficult period, the Olympic flame was kept alive quietly but powerfully,” Tokyo 2020 President Seiko Hashimoto said at an opening ceremony closed to spectators.
 
“The small flame did not lose hope, and just like the cherry blossom buds that are ready to bloom, it was waiting for this day,” Hashimoto said.
 
Foreign spectators won’t be allowed in stadiums and it remains unclear how many Japanese will be permitted to attend.
 
With organizers billing the games as the “Recovery Olympics,” a nod to the disaster as well as the pandemic, Thursday’s runners included many evacuees who fled their homes after the meltdowns at the Fukushima Dai-ichi power plant.
 
“This town is where I was born and raised, and I never thought a torch relay would be held here,” said Takumi Ito, 31, in Futaba, one of the towns worst hit by the nuclear disaster.
 
“We are still in the coronavirus pandemic, but I think it’s great we could hold the relay.”
 
Japan has fared better than most countries, with about 9,000 coronavirus deaths, but Tokyo reported 420 cases on Wednesday, the highest single-day figure this month. Polls show the majority of the public oppose holding the Olympics as scheduled.
 
About 10,000 runners will take part in the four-month relay, which will go through all Japan’s 47 prefectures.
 
Tokyo 2020 organizing committee executive Toshiro Muto said the first day of the relay had gone smoothly and organizers were able to maintain adequate social distancing among spectators.
 
Asked by a reporter what organizers planned to do if prefectures where runs are planned declare states of emergency over the spread of the virus, Muto said they would consider alternative celebrations instead of the relay.
 No Crowds or Cheering
 
The relay, culminating with the Olympic opening ceremony on July 23, has been hit by several high-profile runner cancellations as celebrities and top-level athletes have pulled out, citing late notice and worries over the pandemic.
 
The brief, solemn opening ceremony was held at J-Village in Fukushima, a sports complex converted into a staging ground for workers decommissioning the crippled nuclear power plant.
 
“For the torch relay viewing, please ensure you are wearing a mask, keep proper distance, don’t stand close to each other and support with things like clapping, instead of using a loud voice,” an announcer said.
 
Members of the Japanese women’s soccer team were the first to run with the flame, wearing white uniforms decorated with red.
 
The number of spectators, some waving Olympic flags or carp-shaped cloth streamers, increased throughout the day, ranging from nursery school children in colorful caps to elderly people clapping in front of flowering spring trees.
 
Most stood far apart from each other on the side of the road and wore masks.
 
Some runners grinned and posed as they handed off the torch, waving, while others set off to the beat of traditional Japanese drums. One man pushed himself in a wheelchair, the torch mounted in a bracket.
 ‘You Must Be Joking’
 
Though Games organizers in Tokyo and Lausanne insist the Olympics will go ahead, doctors and nurses have complained about the strain on hospitals and experts warn about the spread of virus variants.
 
Japan was the last of the Group of Seven industrialized nations to launch a vaccine drive. Only 700,000 people have been inoculated so far, mostly medical workers.
 
After the torch relay finished for the day, dozens of protesters gathered in downtown Tokyo, holding placards calling on Japan to scrap the event.
 
Toshio Miyazaki, 60, who organized the anti-Olympics rally, said he was worried about the spread of the virus due to visiting athletes and officials.
 
“It’s meaningless to hold the Olympics that no one supports,” said Miyazaki, who works for Tokyo’s metropolitan government.
 
Japan has spent nearly $300 billion to revive the Fukushima region, but many locals are apprehensive about the Games, as some areas remain off-limits, worries about radiation linger and many have settled elsewhere. Decommissioning of the stricken plant will take up to a century.
 
“Fukushima’s recovery is going steadily,” Fukushima governor Masao Uchibori said at the launch ceremony.
 
“But there are still many people who can’t return to their homes, and many difficult issues such as reviving these areas and rebuilding the lives of their residents,” he said.
 
A protester driving a van near the relay shouted over a loudspeaker, questioning how the Olympics could contribute to the region’s recovery.
 
“You must be joking,” the man yelled. “Everyone knows we can’t have the Olympics.”
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The Japanese owner of a huge container ship that is blocking the Suez Canal has issued an apology, as the crucial waterway remained closed to shipping traffic for the second full day.Operators of the 400-meter cargo ship Ever Given – the size of skyscraper – say it lost power as it encountered strong winds and ran aground sideways as it headed into the Suez Canal from the Red Sea Tuesday.  Efforts to tug or dig it out have so far been unsuccessful. It was carrying 20,000 shipping containers loaded with goods when it ran aground.Massive Container Ship Runs Aground, Blocks Traffic in Suez Canal Waterway carries 10- to 12 percent of world’s trade On its website, the Japanese firm Shoei Kisen Kaisha wrote “We sincerely apologize for causing a great deal of concern to the vessels scheduled to sail and their related parties while navigating the Suez Canal due to the accident of this vessel.”Up to 12 percent of the world’s total trade passes through the Suez Canal, which links Europe and Asia by connecting the Mediterranean to the Red Sea. By late Wednesday, more than 150 ships were waiting to pass through it.At a Tokyo news conference Thursday, Japanese Chief Cabinet Secretary Katsunobu Kato, said the Japanese government is working closely with Egyptian authorities on the situation. However, Kato said, ”there is no estimated time for it to be resolved.”The Suez Canal Authority says about 50 ships a day pass through the 193-kilometer manmade waterway, including oil tankers. The market research firm Kpler tells The New York Times the canal accounts for about one tenth the world’s daily oil supply.Media reports say some ships were being diverted to an older, alternate channel, while others were offloading cargo containers onto trucks to get around the backup.The canal is also a major source of income for Egypt, which controls the waterway and collects an average of $700,000 per ship in tolls. The Suez Canal Authority says nearly 19,000 ships a year pass through it.
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A huge flood recovery operation is underway in eastern Australia as overflowing rivers continue to threaten homes. Two people have died, and thousands of others have been forced from their homes.Officials say two men were killed after being caught in floodwaters in the states of Queensland and New South Wales.Near Sydney, the body of a 25-year-old man from Pakistan was found inside a submerged car.Detective Inspector Chris Laird said the man called emergency services to say his vehicle was sinking before contact with him was lost.“Given what I have seen of the damage to the vehicle it could very well be the electrics totally failed and he was simply unable to escape from the car, which is an absolute tragedy,” Laird said.The military is being brought in to help communities recover from some of the worst flooding Australia has seen in decades. Thousands of homes have been affected, and many roads, bridges and rail lines damaged.Resident Angela Stewart was forced to leave her home north of Sydney. She told the Australian Broadcasting Corp. the floods are the latest disaster to strike her community.“This is Australia, isn’t it?” she said. “We had all the bushfires within about 3 kilometers of our house last year, we thought this is the safest place to be during the COVID-19 pandemic, but then, you know, life has a tendency to equalize things out, doesn’t it?”The torrential rain has eased across New South Wales, although some thunderstorms were forecast Thursday and the flood risk is expected to continue into the weekend. Dozens of schools remain closed. On Wednesday, a group of campers was rescued by a military helicopter after roads were cut by floodwaters.Thousands of residents are being allowed to return to their homes to survey the damage from some of Australia’s wildest storms in years.Several communities remain cut off by the floodwaters and supplies are being delivered by boat and helicopter.Australia is a land experienced with nature’s extremes, but some of the downpours in recent days have been described as a once-in-a-century weather event.
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Hong Kong’s sudden suspension of a COVID-19 vaccine developed by Pfizer and BioNTech is another blow to a vaccination program already struggling against a wall of public distrust.Hong Kong on Wednesday suspended use of the Pfizer vaccine, distributed by Chinese pharmaceutical firm Fosun Pharma, after defective packaging such as loose vial lids and cracks on bottles were found in one of two batches of the vaccine.For now, Hong Kong residents can only get the Chinese-made Sinovac vaccine, which is reported to have an efficacy rate of 62%, compared with Pfizer’s 97%. Wariness toward the Sinovac shot has grown after seven people who were vaccinated with it died, though authorities say the deaths were not linked to the vaccine.When the government launched the vaccination drive in February, 66-year-old Chan Yuet Lin was eager to get inoculated. A mainland Chinese immigrant in the semi-autonomous city, she hoped vaccination would help her eventually visit her family in the Chinese mainland, whom she had not seen since the pandemic began, without enduring onerous quarantines.But after seeing reports on television that several people with chronic illnesses had died days after having the Sinovac vaccine, Chan decided against getting inoculated.”I have high blood pressure, high cholesterol and high blood sugar. Right now with my health condition I don’t think I can get the shot, I will wait and see,” she said, adding that she planned to seek her doctor’s advice at her next appointment.Since vaccinations began on Feb. 26, about 5.7% of Hong Kong’s 7.2 million residents have gotten inoculated — a far cry from a goal of vaccinating 70%. The slow uptake trails Singapore’s. It started giving COVID-19 shots just days before Hong Kong and has administered vaccines to more than 13% of its population of 5.7 million.The government has expanded the range of people who can get the shots, allowing those 30 and above after initially prioritizing those 60 and older, and employees from essential industries. It is considering giving the shots to anyone older than 16.Slow progress on vaccinations could slow the city’s economic recovery. Hong Kong is still grappling with coronavirus outbreaks and stringent social distancing measures that are especially hard on bars, restaurants and the tourism industry. The jobless rate climbed to 7.2% in February, the highest level since 2004.Hong Kong leader Carrie Lam and health officials are urging people to get vaccinated. They insist the shots, including the Sinovac vaccine, are safe. Hong Kong, a former British colony, relies heavily on tourism but has been closed to foreign visitors since March 2020 and Lam has said social distancing precautions and border controls can only be relaxed after most people have gotten the shots.”If we can’t control the epidemic, there’s nothing we can do about the economy,” she told lawmakers last week.In this Monday, March. 22, 2021, photo, Hong Kong Chief Executive Carrie Lam receives the second dose of the Sinovac Biotech COVID-19 vaccine at a Central Government office in Hong Kong.Hesitancy toward the vaccines partly reflects growing mistrust of the government, as Beijing has asserted growing influence following months of anti-government protests in 2019. Authorities have arrested and jailed dozens of pro-democracy activists under a tough new national security law.Some residents are worried by the seven deaths that occurred after Sinovac shots.”According to the government, none of the deaths are related to the vaccine. Most of the patients had cardiovascular conditions, so there must be some association, but the government seems to be trying to dissociate it,” said Belinda Lin, a Hong Kong resident in her 30s.”It’s an issue of responsibility, the willingness to take responsibility – I haven’t seen this yet,” said Lin, who does not plan to get the vaccine as she says there is a lack of studies showing long-term effects.”From what we’ve seen in the news so far it seems like people have more side effects from the (Sinovac) vaccine that’s less effective,” said Agnes Wong, a sales executive in Hong Kong who also had no immediate plans to get vaccinated.Unease over the vaccines, which were developed in under a year using varying levels of clinical trials, are not confined to Hong Kong.In Europe, reports of problems with blood clotting following the AstraZeneca shot raised concerns. So have questions over some of AstraZeneca’s clinical data.The number of people who have booked but failed to show up for their Sinovac vaccine appointments currently stands at around 20%, up from about 11% a week into the program. That compares with a 5% no-show rate for the Pfizer shot before those were halted.A staff member in a protective suit directs a HSBC staff to a temporary testing center for COVID-19 near the entrance to the HSBC headquarters in Hong Kong, March 17, 2021.Martin Wong, a professor at the Chinese University of Hong Kong, co-authored a survey published in January that showed only 37% of Hong Kong residents were willing to get a COVID-19 vaccine. He says the technology used, a manufacturer’s track record and reports of side effects can all affect willingness to get the shots.The government has advised people with chronic illnesses to ask their doctors before getting the COVID-19 vaccines. That can be difficult for many underprivileged Hong Kong seniors, said Ivan Lin from the rights advocacy group Society of Community Organization.”The public health system should be more proactive in providing advice,” said Lin. “For many of these elderly, their long-term illnesses are taken care of by public hospitals where appointments take place every three months, so they are not able to get (timely) medical advice.”Policies that would reward people for getting vaccinated are essential, says Wong.”New incentives may be required such as exemptions from certain travel bans or issuance of a certificate of vaccination that can be used for different purposes,” he said.Lam, the city’s leader, has said the government might considering such measures, such as relaxing certain social distancing restrictions. Hong Kong is also discussing with Chinese authorities on easing restrictions for travelers who are vaccinated.That might work for some.Bilal Hussain, a doctoral student at the Hong Kong Polytechnic University, signed up to receive his first shot of the Sinovac vaccine after learning that China had eased its policy to allow foreign workers and their families to apply for visas into the country.Hussain’s wife and 5-year-old son are in China. He hasn’t seen them since January 2020.”I’m hoping that maybe in the near future, China will open up their borders for students who have been vaccinated,” he said.  
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The Olympic torch relay will start in Fukushima on Thursday, kicking off a four-month countdown to the Summer Games in Tokyo, delayed from 2020 and the first-ever organized during a global pandemic.Some 10,000 runners will take the torch across Japan’s 47 prefectures, including far-flung islands, starting from the site of the 2011 quake and tsunami that killed about 20,000 people, highlighting the government’s “Reconstruction Olympics” theme.The first section will not have spectators to avoid large crowds, and roadside onlookers elsewhere will have to wear masks and socially distance along the way as Japan battles the deadly virus and scrambles to vaccinate its people.Casting a pall over the celebrations, North Korea on Thursday launched at least two projectiles suspected to be ballistic missiles, officials in the region said, the first such test reported since U.S. President Joe Biden took office in January.Japanese Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga assured reporters in Tokyo the government was cooperating with the Tokyo metropolitan government and the International Olympic Committee to host a secure Games.Local people wait for torchbearers to arrive at the torch relay route of the first section of the Fukushima Torch Relay in Naraha, Fukushima prefecture, northeastern Japan, March 25, 2021.”We will do our utmost in terms of coronavirus measures and continue to work with related areas to contain the spread of infections and hope to work towards a safe and secure Games,” Suga said.The starting ceremony will be held at J-Village in Fukushima, a sports complex converted into a staging ground for workers decommissioning the crippled nuclear power plant that caused tens of thousands to flee.On Thursday, members of the Japanese national women’s soccer team will use the Olympic flame, flown in from Greece, to light the torch.The relay, which will culminate with the Olympic opening ceremony on July 23, has been hit by several high-profile runner cancellations as celebrities and top-level athletes have pulled out, citing late notice and worries over the pandemic.The opening ceremony — originally planned for thousands of fans as a celebration of Japan’s recovery — will be closed to the public. It will feature a drum concert and dance performances by a group of residents from Fukushima, followed by a children’s choir.Japan has fared better than most countries during the pandemic, with fewer than 9,000 coronavirus deaths. But a third wave of infections has pushed the numbers to record highs, triggering a state of emergency in Tokyo and other areas that was lifted this week.The majority of the public are against the Olympics being held as scheduled, polls show, and Japan is the slowest among advanced economies with its vaccination rollout.At Fukushima, J-Village will be decorated with local flowers arranged using Japan’s traditional ikebana techniques. Japan has spent nearly $300 billion to revive the disaster-hit region.But many locals are apprehensive about the Games, as areas around the plant remain off-limits, worries about radiation linger and many who left have settled elsewhere. Decommissioning will take up to a century and cost billions of dollars.
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