US Secretary of State Antony Blinken reaffirmed America’s commitment to NATO as he sought to strengthen the transatlantic relationship in a two-day summit this week in Brussels, which wrapped up Wednesday. As Henry Ridgwell reports, a broad agenda included the growing threat posed by China.
Camera: Henry Ridgwell
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North Korea conducted an apparent ballistic missile test early Thursday, its first such launch during U.S. President Joe Biden’s administration.The North fired two missiles that fell outside Japanese waters, according to Japanese Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga.South Korea’s Defense Ministry said the two projectiles were launched from South Hamgyong province but provided no other details.Both Japanese and U.S. media quoted officials in their countries as saying the launches involved ballistic missiles.If confirmed, the ballistic missile test would be  North Korea’s first in about a year, though it has more recently fired smaller projectiles.South Korean officials said Wednesday that North Korea launched two cruise missiles Sunday from its western coast.U.S. officials downplayed the importance of that launch, saying it was part of North Korea’s “normal testing” that did not violate U.N. Security Council resolutions.North Korea is prohibited from any ballistic missile activity by Security Council resolutions.US policy reviewThe Biden administration is in the final stages of its North Korea policy review and has repeatedly spoken of its desire to renew diplomacy with the North.North Korea, which is unhappy at the U.S. refusal to relax sanctions and provide other concessions, has said it will not respond to Washington’s offers of dialogue.Many experts expect North Korea will soon resume bigger tests, including possibly of longer-range ballistic missiles.North Korean leader Kim Jong Un said in January 2020 that he no longer felt bound by his self-imposed moratorium on long-range missile and nuclear tests.Pyongyang has not conducted a nuclear test or launched an intercontinental ballistic missile since 2017 — before his diplomacy with former U.S. President Donald Trump.Kim has repeatedly tested shorter-range ballistic missiles, but Trump downplayed those tests, saying they were unimportant. 
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Myanmar’s military continues its violent pushback against anti-coup protests, more than seven weeks after it forcibly took control of the country.
 
Since the coup on February 1, thousands of pro-democracy protesters have demanded the return to power of the democratically elected government.
 
In the military’s efforts to subdue demonstrators, thousands have been detained and hundreds have been killed, according to the non-profit Assistance Association for Political Prisoners Burma (AAPPB). The group is based in Thailand and says it is founded by former political prisoners living in exile on the border between the two countries.
 
And Myanmar’s annual Armed Forces Day is fast approaching with the violent unrest continuing unabated.
 What is Armed Forces Day?
 
On March 27, Myanmar’s Armed Forces Day commemorates the army’s rebellion against Japanese occupation in 1945. The annual event is a public holiday that typically features a large-scale military parade in the capital city, Naypyitaw.
 
But this year is expected to be different.
 
Because of the coronavirus pandemic, last year’s 75th anniversary event was postponed. This year’s celebrations are proposed to go proceed but could be reduced because of the ongoing pandemic and anti-coup protests.  
 
Burmese political analyst Aung Thu Nyein told VOA in February the military could use the day as a reason to celebrate its “victory.”
 
“Regularly, the military celebrates its Armed Forces Day on March 27 with a parade and honoring its achievement. For this reason, as the military is in power, they will use the event as a victory,” he said.
 
According to one Myanmar activist, demonstrators are approaching the day with caution. Calls for nationwide protests have not been widely announced because of the increasingly violent risks posed by the military crackdown.
 
Moe Thway, founder of Myanmar’s Generation Wave, says the “price is so high” for anti-coup protesters.
 
“They are using a very brutal way to crack down on protests, only protests; they are shooting without any reason. To call mass protests is very risky, no one wants to do that to risk the life of the people,” he told VOA.FILE – Soldiers take part in a military parade to mark Armed Forces Day, in the capital Naypyitaw, Myanmar, March 27, 2019.The activist acknowledges, though, that because the pro-democracy resistance is leaderless, it appears likely protests will occur.
 
“Nobody can stop the people protesting. In the whole movement, there is no particular leading group or [a] particular leader,” he added.
 
Evidence of changing tactics among anti-coup demonstrators was apparent Wednesday as the country saw a nationwide “silent strike.” Images circulated online of deserted streets and empty roads. Witnesses said shops and businesses were closed with people not turning up for work on Wednesday in Yangon, according to a Reuters report.
 
But amid the change of approach, one Myanmar security analyst, who chose to remain anonymous, told VOA that Armed Forces Day will still see “wider protests,” which could turn ugly.
 
“The police brutality over the past four weeks has radicalized the younger generation and we are going to see not just peaceful protests, but hit-and-run sort of attacks on police outposts and family residences,” the security analyst said.
 Background
 
Myanmar, formerly known as Burma, was under military rule from 1962 until 2011. In 2015, Aung San Suu Kyi led her National League for Democracy (NLD) party to victory in the country’s first open democratic election.
The NLD gained another win in November’s general elections, but the military-backed opposition contested the results, claiming widespread fraud, without offering any proof. On February 1, the Myanmar military, also known as the Tatmadaw, removed the NLD government and detained Suu Kyi and President Win Myint.  
 
Protesters have demanded the military release its leaders, with widespread protests nationwide. But the army has responded by using armored vehicles and opening fire, while imposing martial law and implementing daily internet shutdowns across the country.
 
Despite scant communication about the military event, the junta—officially the State Administrative Council (SAC)—already has suggested the day will hold some form of celebrations. Invitations already have been sent to some of Myanmar’s armed ethnic organizations (EAOs), though several already have snubbed the invites, A car is seen on an empty street in downtown Yangon, Myanmar, March 24, 2021, during what anti-coup protesters called a “silent strike.”The Karen National Union (KNU), a separatist political organization claiming to represent the ethnic Karen people of Myanmar, tweeted, “The KNU will only attend ceremonies that reflect dignity, humanity, justice and freedom for all.”
 
Khin Ma Ma Myo, a Burmese military analyst and author, told VOA the military will seek to use the parade as a show of strength.
 
“The military used to do testing-the-ground method for crowd control and dispersal in previous uprisings, and time-buying strategy to make people feeling exhausted before starting their operations. The military will motivate their soldiers by setting Tatmadaw day as the victory day in March.”
 
The analyst noted the military’s strategy to discourage dissidents will be the use of long-term jail sentences.
 
“In my opinion, politicians including Daw Aung San Suu Kyi will face long-term prison sentences,” she added.
 
Suu Kyi is facing at least four charges from the junta government that include possessing unlicensed walkie-talkies and incitement to cause public unrest.
 
The NLD leader was scheduled to be in court Wednesday but the hearing was adjourned until April 1 after internet connectivity issues prevented videoconferencing for the proceedings.
 
Suu Kyi’s lawyer, Khin Maung Zaw, confirmed to VOA he has been unable to meet with his client, and said he was blocked from going to the courthouse. Suu Kyi has been in detention since February 1, and she currently is being held in an undisclosed residence in Naypyitaw.
 
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Record flooding in Australia this week as had an unexpected consequence, driving hordes of spiders – including one of the world’s deadliest species – out of their usual habitat and into homes and backyards.Flooding in Australia’s southeastern New South Wales state forced 18,000 people to evacuate and at least 100 others to be rescued after days of heavy rain forced rivers in the region to overflow.Those rains subsided Wednesday, but the flooding appears to have forced eight-legged residents of the region out of their homes as well. Social media posts showed pictures and videos of fences, walls and backyards covered with spiders seeking dry and higher ground.The phenomenon also prompted the Australian Reptile Park in Somersby, north of Sydney, to issue a warning Wednesday regarding funnel web spiders, considered one of the world’s deadliest, and indigenous to New South Wales State.In a statement, the park director said the floods have also likely driven funnel web spiders out of their habitats and into populated areas.  The spiders, named for their funnel-shaped webs, can be aggressive if cornered and have a highly toxic, fast-acting venom that can kill a person, with 13 recorded deaths from bites.  There have been no deaths reported since an antivenom was developed in the early 1980s. The statement encouraged people who “feel safe enough to do so” – using gloves and other protective equipment – to catch and deliver wandering funnel web spiders to the park or other designated collection facilities to help create more anti-venom.
 
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Regional experts say U.S. officials are using a range of aircraft to make speedy yet thorough checks on China’s expansion in a disputed Asian sea. The flights, added to the more obvious passages of navy ships through the South China Sea, will further inflame China, analysts say, adding that planes see more than ships and complete their missions faster.  Aircraft can handily survey the sea and due to their altitude see “a lot of things a vessel cannot” from a “bird’s eye” view, said Alexander Vuving, a professor at the Daniel K. Inouye Asia-Pacific Center for Security Studies in Hawaii. Planes come and go faster than ships, he added. U.S. warship passages into the South China Sea doubled in 2019. The American planes fly more than 22 kilometers from China’s shoreline, Vuving said.   “Whether it’s intensifying or not is already accepted, even already included, in China’s strategic calculations,” said Eduardo Araral, associate professor at the National University of Singapore’s public policy school.   Range of aircraft Among the more visible U.S. aircraft are B-52 bombers, which were sighted in 2018 and in July last year when they joined an aircraft carrier exercise. Last month planes took off from U.S. aircraft carrier strike groups that were moving through the sea.US Bombers in South China Sea Satisfy Southeast Asia by Needling China

        Recent U.S. 

Washington regularly sends reconnaissance aircraft to the South China Sea, Chinese sources say. From March to November last year, the U.S. sent three civilian contractor surveillance aircraft to “monitor” the South China Sea among other waterways, the Chinese government-backed research website South China Sea Strategic Situation Probing Initiative says. The civilian planes are backing up eight types of military reconnaissance aircraft, the database says. The U.S. military sent “strategic bombers” to the South China Sea last year, it adds.  Reconnaissance aircraft flew over the South China Sea three times in February, Beijing’s state-monitored Global Times reported.  The U.S. Indo-Pacific Command did not answer a request for comment.   In 2019, the U.S. Marines Corps sent its F-35B Lightning II aircraft for joint military exercises in the Philippines, marking an increase in military capability “committed to a free and open Indo-Pacific region”, the U.S. Navy says on its website.  Chinese reaction   Airspace outside the 22 kilometers normally belongs to no single country, but Beijing claims 90% of the South China Sea and cites historical records that indicate Chinese use of the waterway.    Brunei, Malaysia, the Philippines, Taiwan and Vietnam call all or parts of the same 3.5 million-square-kilometer sea their own, causing friction with China. Claimant states look to the warm waters for fish and undersea fuel reserves. The Chinese research website calls U.S. reconnaissance operations “frequent” and says they have “built up strong momentum for battlefield construction and warfighting readiness across the U.S. military.” Officials in Beijing say U.S. military units disrupt peace and violate international law. The United States, China’s former Cold War rival and modern-day superpower rival, makes no claim to the sea. It has stepped in as Beijing takes a military lead in the maritime dispute, threatening a network of pro-U.S. governments such as Taiwan and the Philippines.  China, which is backed by a growing military that ranks as the world’s third strongest, would take “strong steps” if an American plane entered its air space, Araral said. Chinese planes and warships already hold periodic drills in the contested sea. Both powers will probably keep flying until two-way relations improve, said Alexander Huang, strategic studies professor at Taiwan’s Tamkang University. The two countries stand at odds over trade and technology as well as China’s military pressure against its neighbors.   “The real thing is that if the United States-China mil-mil [military ties] is not going back to normal, then we will continue to see this kind of reports (and) complaints,” Huang said.   Welcomed outside China   The five other South China Sea claimants look to Washington for support against Beijing’s maritime expansion as they’re all militarily weaker than China. They resent China’s land reclamation on some of the sea’s tiny islets as well as the circulation of Chinese ships near sensitive natural gas and oil reserves. Military infrastructure occupies some Chinese-held islets today, and Chinese fighter jets have been spotted as recently as July on Woody Island – a feature vigorously contested by Vietnam. Southeast Asian claimants hope the U.S. flights will deter China from extending its maritime claims, analysts believe. For the Philippines, “when the U.S. does these things, it in a sense demonstrates some sort of a balance of power,” said Aaron Rabena, a research fellow at the Asia-Pacific Pathways to Progress Foundation in the Philippines’ Quezon City. 
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Thousands of people across Myanmar are staging a “silent” strike as a continued show of opposition to the ruling military junta enters its 51st consecutive day.   Pro-democracy activists are urging others to stay home and not patronize any businesses for the day, a new tactic devised to avoid the military’s increasingly deadly response to the daily demonstrations, which have taken place non-stop since de facto leader Aung San Suu Kyi and other high-ranking members of the civilian government were removed from power and detained by the military on February 1. The local activist group Assistance Association for Political Prisoners says at least 275 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.Muslim men pray during the funeral of 7 year-old girl Khin Myo Chit who was shot at her home during protests against military coup in Mandalay, March 24, 2021.The AAPP says more than 2,000 people have been arrested and detained since the crackdown began.  News outlets say several buses full of anti-coup protesters drove away from Insein Prison in the main city of Yangon Wednesday in an apparent goodwill gesture by the junta.  Both the Associated Press and Agence France Presse (AFP) puts the number of those freed at more than 600.   Among those who have been released is AP journalist Thein Zaw, who was arrested while covering a street protest in Yangon along with eight other media workers.   Meanwhile, Reuters says a virtual court appearance scheduled for Wednesday for Suu Kyi in the capital, Naypyitaw, has been postponed until April 1.  Wednesday’s appearance 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.   The 75-year-old Nobel Peace laureate is facing four charges, including the possession of unlicensed walkie-talkies, violating COVID-19 restrictions, breaching telecommunication laws and incitement to cause public unrest.  The military regime has also accused Suu Kyi of accepting $600,000 in illegal payments plus gold bars while in office.   Junta leaders also justified their coup by saying the Nov. 8 election won by Suu Kyi’s National League for Democracy (NLD) was fraudulent – an accusation the electoral commission rejected.  
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Despite initiatives by the previous and current administrations, there are fresh concerns the United States is falling short to counter China’s rising geopolitical influence. Beijing’s evolving Belt and Road Initiative (BRI), for the past eight years, has financed projects globally, including roads, railways, power plants and telecommunications infrastructure.  “U.S. inaction, as much as Chinese assertiveness, is responsible for the economic and strategic predicament in which the United States finds itself. U.S. withdrawal helped create the vacuum that China filled with BRI,” according to a report of an independent task force released Tuesday by the Council on Foreign Relations.  “Although the United States long ago identified an interest in promoting infrastructure, trade and connectivity throughout Asia and repeatedly invoked the imagery of the Silk Road, it has not met the inherent needs of the region. Its own lending to and investment in many BRI countries was limited and is now declining,” FILE – Clerks stand at a display of goods at a Belt and Road Products New Year’s Marketplace at a shopping mall in Beijing, Jan. 10, 2020. The market showcases products created from countries and regions involved in China’s Belt and Road Initiative.BRI is “boosting China’s ability to project its power across the region and the world,” said Jack Lew, who previously was a U.S. Treasury secretary and White House chief of staff. “U.S. policymakers need to offer alternatives to BRI where it can and to educate other countries about what it entails and push back when necessary.”  China is now perceived to be more powerful than the United States in parts of Africa and Asia because of BRI, said former U.S. Trade Representative General Counsel Jennifer Hillman, one of the other authors of the CFR report.  BRI encompasses the land-based Silk Road Economic Belt (with digital, health and “green” subsets), the 21st Century Maritime Silk Road and the Polar Silk Road.  “We have to get back in the game,” with the United States joining or rejoining trade agreements it left during the Donald Trump presidency, said Hillman, who was among those speaking Tuesday at an online forum about the CFR report.  “China has made investing in infrastructure a high priority. The United States has not,” Lew said during the event.   SALPIE InitiativeCurrent U.S. officials say the administration of President Joe Biden is going to change that. “Competition with China is a factor that is encouraging the United States to up its diplomatic game across the board,” a senior administration official told VOA.  During the Trump administration, relatively modest initiatives were taken to counter BRI, including the International Development Finance Corporation, the Blue Dot network for infrastructure project certification and a U.S.-Taiwan infrastructure initiative, as well as the reauthorization of the Export-Import Bank. “There was a lot of rebranding, but there weren’t additional resources given to these initiatives,” Sacks said.  The Biden administration this week launched the Small and Less Populous Island Economies (SALPIE) Initiative, announcing it will strengthen U.S. economic collaboration with island countries and territories in the Caribbean, North Atlantic and Pacific regions.  “It’s important to strengthen our alliances, particularly among smaller countries that might otherwise come under a certain amount of pressure from China,” a senior administration official told VOA on Tuesday. The White House official announcement of SALPIE notes the importance of “countering predatory investment practices by malign actors.”  National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan and National Economic Council Director Brian Deese co-hosted Monday a virtual event with envoys from island countries and territories, inviting them to partner with Washington under the SALPIE Initiative, which brings 29 U.S. departments and agencies together to coordinate ongoing and future engagements.  The administration, later this week, is convening a meeting involving those 29 entities “to actually make this kind of meaningful and real and operational,” a senior official explained.  Another senior U.S. official explained SALPIE “is a different approach than Blue Dot and some of these other initiatives,” promising that “it really does leverage the convening power that we have from here to ensure that we are able to implement in a way that’s effectively addressing the priorities we’ve outlined.”  The status of the Trump-era FILE – President Joe Biden speaks during a virtual meeting with Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison and Japanese Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga, from the State Dining Room of the White House, March 12, 2021.“Why not use the Quad as a mechanism to promote infrastructure in Asia and establish an infrastructure fund that has billions of dollars behind it to go do this?” Sacks asked. “You know these are the right partners” with the potential to add South Korea and Taiwan.  While the Biden administration’s plans to counter BRI may be ambitious and sprawling, there is concern it will not receive sufficient attention due to a lack of centralization and influential leadership. Thus, the idea for an “infrastructure czar” to orchestrate the U.S. response to China’s global investment ambitions. “It’s hard for the State Department or the Department of Commerce to have that convening power,” Sacks said. “Sometimes it’s not helpful to have czars on so many issues, but I do think — given the scale of the challenge and the need for a coordinated interagency response — it might make sense to have in the National Security Council or the National Economic Council an infrastructure czar who reports to the president.”  Biden has already appointed so-called czars for climate policy, the border with Mexico and the COVID-19 economic rescue plan. There is also similar discussion about selecting officials to oversee cyberpolicy and for busting monopolies. 
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North Korea conducted a short-range projectile launch several days ago, according to U.S. officials, in what appears to be Pyongyang’s first missile-related activity this year.  The Washington Post first reported the launches late Tuesday, saying “multiple short-range missiles” were launched “last weekend” but providing no other details.  In a briefing, a senior U.S. administration official confirmed but downplayed what he called “military activity” involving a “short-range system.”  “It is a normal part of the kind of testing that North Korea would do,” the U.S. official said.  It is not clear which missiles were tested, when they were fired or how far they flew. But U.S. officials say the launch was not prohibited by United Nations Security Council resolutions banning North Korea from conducting ballistic missile activity.  “Because this does not, it probably gives you an indication of where it falls on the spectrum of concern,” the official said. “We do not believe it is in our best interest to hype these things,” he added.  U.S. and South Korean officials usually provide details shortly after North Korean launches. Pyongyang also usually heralds the activities on the front pages of its state media the following day.  None of that happened this time, leading some experts to question whether the missiles tested were small or evaded radar detection by the U.S. and its allies.  Policy review   The launches came days after visits to Seoul and Tokyo by U.S. Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin and Secretary of State Antony Blinken.     FILE – South Korean President Moon Jae-in poses for a photo with U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken and U.S. Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin during their meeting at the presidential Blue House in Seoul, South Korea, March 18, 2021.The Biden administration is carrying out a wide-ranging North Korea policy review, which is in its “final stages,” according to the U.S. official who briefed reporters Wednesday.  The official said Japanese and South Korean officials will visit Washington next week to discuss the outcome of the review.  “All I can tell you is that we are on our forward foot in terms of wanting to clearly signal that we are prepared for continuing engagement with key partners, and indeed with North Korea,” he added.  North Korea stance   Last week, North Korea blasted U.S.-South Korea joint military exercises, warning against what it sees as provocative actions that cause a “stink.”  The Biden administration says it has reached out to North Korea through several channels to renew dialogue. But North Korea says it won’t respond until the U.S. drops what it calls Washington’s “hostile policy.”  North Korea’s latest short-range missile tests appear to be a “relatively subtle message to the Biden administration that time is running out for restarting direct talks,” said Jessica Lee, senior research fellow on East Asia at the Washington-based Quincy Institute.   Others see the test as an indication of a more obstinate stance from the North.   “Pyongyang is signaling it will tolerate continued economic reliance on China in order to come out of the pandemic on the offensive against Washington and Seoul,” said Leif-Eric Easley, a professor at Ewha University in Seoul.   More tests coming?   Many experts expect North Korea will soon resume bigger tests, possibly of longer-range ballistic missiles.     North Korean leader Kim Jong Un said in January 2020 that he no longer felt bound by his self-imposed moratorium on long-range missile and nuclear tests.    Pyongyang has not conducted a nuclear test or launched an intercontinental ballistic missile since 2017 — before his diplomacy with former U.S. President Donald Trump.   Kim has repeatedly tested shorter-range ballistic missiles, but Trump downplayed those tests, saying they were unimportant.   North Korea is prohibited from any ballistic missile activity by United Nations Security Council resolutions. Late Tuesday, U.S. President Joe Biden also shrugged off the North’s latest launch, saying “nothing much has changed.” This is North Korea’s first reported missile test since July 2020. That launch, which involved an anti-ship cruise missile and flew less than 100 kilometers, also went unreported for several weeks.    Some missile experts believe North Korea’s latest launch may have involved cruise missiles, which fly lower than ballistic missiles and may be missed by radars.  Second, the story reads like the missile was not detected in real-time, but rather US officials learned about it later. That’s much more likely with a cruise missile, which can fly low than with a ballistic missile that will pop up above the horizon, clouds, etc.— Dr. Jeffrey Lewis (@ArmsControlWonk) March 23, 2021South Korea’s Yonhap news agency reported Wednesday that the launch involved cruise missiles off North Korea’s west coast. 
 
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Several western countries announced new sanctions this week against Chinese officials involved in the mass detentions of ethnic Uyghur Muslims, marking a new united front to pressure Beijing over its human rights abuses.The European Union sanctioned four Chinese Communist Party officials in Xinjiang, including a top security director, and one entity, under the Global Magnitsky sanctions program, a decision later mirrored by Britain and Canada. It is the EU’s first significant sanction against China since the EU arms embargo after the Tiananmen Massacre in 1989.The U.S. added two of the four individuals to its sanction list whom it had not sanctioned before. The sanctioned individuals face travel bans and asset freezes.The foreign ministers of Canada and Britain issued a joint statement with U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken, saying the three countries are united in demanding that Beijing end its “repressive practices” in Xinjiang.“These actions demonstrate our ongoing commitment to working multilaterally to advance respect for human rights and shining a light on those in the PRC government and CCP responsible for these atrocities,” Blinken said in a statement.Over 1 million detainedAt least 1 million Muslims have been detained in camps in Xinjiang, according to U.N. rights experts. The activists and some Western politicians accuse China of using torture, forced labor and sterilizations.Members of Uighur minority demonstrate to ask for news of their relatives and to express their concern about the ratification of an extradition treaty between China and Turkey, Feb. 22, 2021, near China consulate in Istanbul.Analysts said this week’s sanctions are notable because they involve large economies that are important trading partners for Beijing and show that Washington is not alone in trying to publicly pressure China to improve the treatment of its citizens.Julian Ku, Senior Associate Dean and law professor at Hofstra University, told VOA, “It changes the narrative for China, which has been saying this is a U.S. plot to keep China down.”He said the move shows many countries around the world “have a similar view of the United States as to how serious what’s going on in Xinjiang is and that the rest of the world should care about what’s going on. That does change the conversation.”Ku said the Biden administration’s coordinated strategy contrasts with former President Donald Trump, who Ku said tended to make policy decisions without working with traditional allies.FILE – Residents line up inside the Artux City Vocational Skills Education Training Service Center at the Kunshan Industrial Park in Artux in western China’s Xinjiang region, Dec. 3, 2018.Christopher Balding, an American professor who taught at Peking University’s HSBC School of Business in Shenzhen for nine years, said the sanctions still remain a “symbolic” step forward because they focus on regional officials, not anyone at the central government level. He said the Biden administration deserves credit for pulling the coordinated action together, but it’s only a small step forward.“There’s a lot of heavy lifting that needs to be done with regards to changing how Europe and even Canada are going to react to China, and how they’re going to treat China,” he said.Australia and New Zealand followed up with a statement expressing “grave concerns about the growing number of credible reports of severe human rights abuses against ethnic Uyghurs and other Muslim minorities in Xinjiang.”Ku said it’s worth waiting to see if other countries in Southeast Asia and Africa would support the sanctions.China has denied all accusations of abuse and hit back with similar sanctions against 10 individuals and four entities in the EU. 
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Myanmar’s military junta Tuesday accused the leaders of the ongoing nationwide protests of arson and inciting violence and sought to justify last month’s coup by repeating accusations of fraud against deposed de-facto leader Aung San Suu Kyi.  
The comments come a day after the United States and European Union imposed new sanctions against the military leaders for their February 1 coup and the subsequent crackdown on the protests against it.
At a lengthy news conference Tuesday, the military presented displays of seized homemade weapons and videos of street battles to argue that the demonstrators are violent and that efforts to stop them are justified.  
Junta spokesman Zaw Min Tun compared the military response to U.S. police responding to the January 6 siege at the U.S. capitol, saying, “Which country would accept these kind of violent acts?”  The spokesman said 164 protesters had been killed in Myanmar’s violence and expressed sadness at the deaths.
The Assistance Association for Political Prisoners (AAPP) activist group says it can verify at least 261 people have been killed by Myanmar security forces, but the total is likely much higher. It also reports, from their Twitter account, 2,682 have been arrested, charged or sentenced and 2,302 are still in detention or have outstanding warrants.
Several of Myanmar’s neighboring countries have condemned the violence, including Bangladesh, China, India, Laos and Thailand. Zaw Min Tun told reporters the junta has been cooperating with those countries and wants to maintain good relations with them, as well as all the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) and the rest of the world.
Junta leaders also justified their coup by saying the Nov. 8 election won by Suu Kyi’s National League for Democracy (NLD) was fraudulent – an accusation the electoral commission rejected. They also claim Suu Kyi accepted bribes, a charge her lawyer has denied. She has been in detention since the coup.
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Australia’s ruling party is dealing with a new sexual misconduct scandal involving male staffers that Prime Minister Scott Morrison calls “absolutely shameful.” A report carried by The Australian newspaper and the national Ten Network on Monday revealed that several staffers had filmed themselves performing sex acts in Parliament House, including on the desk of at least one female lawmaker, and shared the images on a special Facebook group chat page. Prime Minister Morrison told reporters Tuesday that he was “shocked and disgusted” by the report, and that a lawmaker’s staff member has been fired for taking part in the group.   The prime minister and his conservative Liberal Party has come under intense scrutiny in recent weeks over a series of allegations of sexual misconduct within its ranks. The most serious allegation came from Brittany Higgins, a former staff member of Defense Minister Linda Reynolds, who said she was raped by a senior staffer in Parliament House in 2019. Another involves Attorney-General Christian Porter, who has also been accused of raping a 16-year-old girl in 1988 when he was 17, an allegation he denies.   The scandals prompted mass rallies across Australia more than two weeks ago with protesters demanding an end to sexual violence against women.Women Rally Across Australia Demanding End to Violence Against Women “March 4 Justice” marches sparked by allegations of rape lodged against members of ruling Liberal Party Prime Minister Morrison said Tuesday that he was open to the Liberal Party introducing a minimum quota on female candidates in order to increase the number of female lawmakers.   
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Australian authorities said Tuesday that more evacuation orders may be issued as relentless rains pummeled the country’s east coast, with several regions in Sydney’s west facing the worst floods in half a century. The wild weather system pounding New South Wales (NSW) over the last three days was expected to gather more strength in the next 24 hours thanks to the combination of a tropical low over northern Western Australia and a coastal trough off the east. “Overnight, unfortunately, some weather conditions have worsened, and those weather conditions are likely to worsen during the day so many communities will experience increasing heavy rainfall,” NSW Premier Gladys Berejiklian told reporters. Berejiklian said 15,000 more residents may need to be evacuated soon after authorities moved 18,000 to safe zones Monday.Severe flooding in Sydney, March 22, 2021.With 38 disaster areas declared in the state, authorities Tuesday described the next 24 hours as critical, as fast-moving flood waters overflowed riverbanks and inundated houses, farms and bridges across large swathes of the state. Though the weather system is likely to start easing starting late Wednesday, officials warned that residents may not be able to return to their homes immediately as incessant rains dump more water in river catchment areas. “Some of you may be wondering why you can’t go back home because it’s a sunny day. It’s because conditions are unsafe for that to occur,” Berejiklian said. Neighboring Queensland was also bracing for heavy showers Tuesday in the southern parts of the state, with the weather system expected to shift south to parts of Victoria and the island state of Tasmania over the next few days. About 10 million people in all states and territories except Western Australia will be affected by the extreme weather, the weather bureau said, with NSW and Queensland expected to bear the brunt of the system. 
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UNICEF workers have arrived at the scene of a fire at a Rohingya refugee camp in Bangladesh to assist local authorities with rescue and recovery efforts, according to a press statement Monday. The Rohingya refugee camp in Cox’s Bazar is one of the largest refugee settlements in the world. It is home to about 877,000 refugees, many of whom escaped ethnic cleansing in Myanmar four years ago. More than half of the refugees are believed to be children, the UNICEF statement said. “Our priority is to secure the immediate safety, security and protection of children in coordination with the concerned authorities, first responders and partner organizations in the U.N. and NGO community,” UNICEF said in the statement. UNICEF fears many of the injured are children and that many have been separated from their families, according to the statement, which said efforts are under way to assist children in need, reunite families, and deliver emergency supplies as well as clean drinking water. The Bangladesh Red Crescent Society tweeted “reports of casualties are being verified.” In the same tweet, it indicated that the fire was “finally coming under control” in the Balukhali camp, noting it had destroyed a large expanse of shelters and facilities. Reports suggest about 1,200 shacks have been destroyed while some 10,000 people were sheltered in schools. Although UNICEF said many of the residents displaced by the inferno were evacuated, it said “the full extent of the disaster is yet to be confirmed.” 
 
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Experts say that skepticism about Chinese vaccines in developing nations may counter Beijing’s goal of increasing its influence by distributing doses.China approved the first batch of domestically produced COVID-19 vaccines last December without publishing clinical trial data. By February 2021, China had exported or was in the process of exporting Sinopharm and Sinovac vaccines to 22 countries and will provide vaccine aid to 53 developing countries including Pakistan, according to FILE – Medical workers in protective suits attend to a patient inside an isolated ward of Wuhan Red Cross Hospital in Wuhan, the epicenter of the novel coronavirus outbreak, in Hubei province, China February 16, 2020.Although China has largely contained the outbreak in its population with strict and pervasive social controls and vaccinations, in January, YouGov, a British market research firm, surveyed about 19,000 people in 17 countries and territories and found that Chinese-made vaccines were perceived negatively, scoring above only one made in Iran.China denies that it is using the coveted vaccine as a diplomatic tool, one that Chinese President Xi Jinping has said will be used for global good. “China has promoted cooperation in the fight against the pandemic but never pursued any geopolitical objectives, nor calculated any economic benefits or attached any political conditions,” the state-run news agency Xinhua wrote in a signed opinion article.News reports say none of China’s vaccines has been approved by the World Health Organization.Vuk Vuksanovic, researcher at the London School of Economics (LSE) and the Belgrade Center for Security Policy, said that it is appropriate to use “vaccine diplomacy” to characterize China’s vaccine policy, which is a continuation of China’s “mask diplomacy” aimed at shaping China as a responsible player able to lessen global shortages of critical items during the pandemic.Vuksanovic told VOA, “The (vaccine) policy is about repairing the reputational damage caused to China by the initial outbreak, increasing Chinese political influence with individual countries, building China’s global soft power capital, and trying to win a share of the global vaccination market in competition with Western and Russian vaccine manufacturers.”Hong Kong Secretary for Justice Teresa Cheng, left, receives the second dose of the Sinovac Biotech COVID-19 vaccine at Central government office in Hong Kong, March 22, 2021.China has linked vaccine exports to global strategic objectives. The “Health Silk Road” has become an important part of the initiative with Chinese health officials publicly calling for providing vaccines to Belt and Road countries first, as a counterweight to the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI). Sometimes referred to as the New Silk Road, the BRI is one of the most ambitious infrastructure projects the world has ever seen. Xi launched it in 2013 with a vision of Chinese investment and development projects expanding China’s global influence.Daniel Aldrich, director of the security and resilience studies program at Northeastern University in Boston, told VOA Mandarin that “China has not offered vaccines to South Korea, Japan, or other neighboring countries; instead, it has focused on projecting its soft power abroad to developing nations where it hopes to create a favorable reputation and build a network of allies.”In the summer of 2020, China began offering vaccine assistance to Middle Eastern, Latin American and African countries, promoting opportunities for local trade and investment.Martha Delgado, Mexico’s deputy foreign minister, said on March 15 Mexico would remember the assistance from China.People wait to receive the first dose of China’s Sinovac Biotech CoronaVac vaccine against COVID-19, in Ecatepec, Mexico state, Feb. 22, 2021.China also sees gaining international recognition for its vaccines as a way to raise the profile of its medical products. Before the coronavirus pandemic, Chinese pharmaceutical companies rarely qualified to provide medical products to international agencies. In 2019, China accounted for only 1.9% of the total purchases of medical products made by the United Nations while rival India accounted for 21.9%.Beijing also plans to ease restrictions on entry for foreigners who have been vaccinated against COVID-19 with formulations made in China.Nicholas Thomas, associate professor in health security at the City University of Hong Kong told VOA, “This incentive that is clearly targeted at the business community, in particular, and is one way that China can help to ensure that its vaccine remains the preferred choice — and clearly shows how much these efforts are focused on the diplomatic element as much as the provision of a medical public good.”China’s export advantage in vaccines initially was due to a lack of competition from Western countries. But on March 12, Australia, India, Japan and the United States agreed at the Quadrilateral Security Dialogue (QUAD) to provide 100 million doses of the vaccine developed by Johnson & Johnson in the United States to most of Asia by the end of 2022 to counter China’s influence in the Indo-Pacific region.Employees with the McKesson Corporation scan a box of the Johnson & Johnson COVID-19 vaccine while filling an order at their shipping facility in Shepherdsville, Kentucky, March 1, 2021.“Now with the QUAD deal, that dominance is no longer assured. It will be interesting to see the choice regional populations make between Chinese and the J&J vaccine,” said Thomas in an email. “The choice will be a clear indication as to how much the region’s people and not just their governments trust the Chinese option.”Aldrich said the QUAD members “are all countries that see evidence of aggressive expansionism and revisionism by China. This effort from the QUAD, in an attempt to contain China’s soft power influence, will definitely produce more vaccinations for the world.”Vaccines from Sinovac Biotech, Sinopharm and Johnson & Johnson can be stored at 2- to 8°C (36°F to 46°F). This solves the problem of storage conditions in many developing countries because other vaccines need ultra-low conditions — -80 degrees C to -15°C (-112°F to 5°F) — to remain effective.China’s vaccines require two injections, and the Johnson & Johnson vaccine requires only one shot, meaning the latter can be used to immunize a target population more quickly.Further complicating China’s push is a plan by the World Health Organization (WHO). In cooperation with two other vaccine promotion groups, WHO launched COVAX, which began administering vaccines in Africa on March 1 with the goal of distributing at least 2 billion doses by the end of 2021 in poor and middle-income countries.  Adrianna Zhang contributed to this story.  
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Eight Hong Kong democracy activists, jailed in China last year after being captured at sea, arrived back in the city and were immediately detained on Monday in a case that has drawn international attention and concern over their treatment.
 
They were among 12 activists facing charges in Hong Kong over pro-democracy protests, who were intercepted by mainland authorities in August 2020 on a boat allegedly en route to Taiwan.
 
They were sent home to Hong Kong on Monday after serving a sentence in China for illegally crossing the border, only to be detained on arrival on the previous Hong Kong charges.
 
Activist and barrister Chow Hang-tung, speaking on behalf of a concern group for the defendants, said she was unhappy with the handover arrangements for them.
 
“(Authorities) never communicated with the family about the whole arrangement so the family members are forced to come here and wait all day until now,” Chow said at a press briefing outside a Hong Kong police station close to the mainland border.
 
“Just for the very thin hope of seeing their families, waving to them, shouting to them, even till now, they still haven’t had any chance to meet their sons.”
 
Johnny Patterson, policy director for rights group Hong Kong Watch, said the “appalling ordeal” the group faced “shines a spotlight on the draconian new normal in Hong Kong.”
 
“It’s a case of out of the frying pan, into the fire.”
 
Among the eight is Andy Li, arrested under a sweeping national security law Beijing imposed on the Asian financial hub in June 2020 that critics say is aimed at crushing dissent.
 
In December, a Chinese court sentenced 10 of the 12 to between seven months and three years in jail. Defendants Tang Kai-yin and Quinn Moon, who were sentenced to three and two years, respectively, are still in southern Guangdong province.
 
Two minors who were among the 12 pleaded guilty to illegally crossing the border and were returned to Hong Kong in December.
 
During the detention of the 12 in the southern Chinese city of Shenzhen, mainland authorities denied their families and lawyers access, insisting they be represented by officially appointed lawyers, provoking criticism from rights groups.
 
Pro-democracy activists began fleeing Hong Kong for Taiwan from the early months of the protests in 2019, most legally by air, but some by boat, activists in Taipei have told Reuters.
 
Hong Kong, a former British colony, returned to Chinese rule in 1997 with the guarantee of freedoms not seen on the mainland, including freedom of speech and assembly. Democracy activists complain that Communist Party rulers in Beijing are whittling away at those freedoms, a charge China rejects.
 
Since Beijing imposed the national security law on Hong Kong, scores of democracy campaigners have been arrested, some elected legislators have been disqualified and others have fled overseas.
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EU foreign ministers meeting in Brussels on Monday approved sanctions over abuses in China, Myanmar and Russia, as the bloc expands measures targeting global rights breaches.The 27 nations are due to place four Chinese officials and one state-run entity on a blacklist over Beijing’s crackdown on the Uighur minority after ambassadors gave the go-ahead last week.The highly symbolic move — reported by EU diplomats and expected to be formally unveiled in the EU’s official journal later Monday — is the first time Brussels has hit Beijing over human rights abuses since it imposed an arms embargo in 1989 after Tiananmen Square.China’s foreign ministry has warned that Beijing will “react with a firm hand” against any punishment over its actions in the western Xinjiang region.The measures are part of a package of human rights sanctions targeting a dozen people that also includes individuals in Russia, North Korea, Eritrea, South Sudan and Libya, diplomats said.”This is a very important step which shows how committed we are,” Slovak Foreign Minister Ivan Korcok said.The mechanism — designed to make it easier for the bloc to target rights abusers — was launched this month with sanctions on four Russian officials over the jailing of Kremlin critic Alexei Navalny.Diplomats said the fresh sanctions on Russia will target individuals behind abuses in the country’s Chechnya region, which is ruled with an iron-fist by Kremlin loyalist Ramzan Kadyrov.The EU will also slap asset freezes and visa bans on 11 officials of Myanmar’s junta over the military coup last month and crackdown on demonstrators.”What we see there in terms of excesses of violence is absolutely unacceptable,” German Foreign Minister Heiko Maas said. “That is why we will not be able to avoid imposing sanctions.”Myanmar has been in turmoil since the military ousted civilian leader Aung San Suu Kyi on February 1, triggering a mass uprising that security forces have sought to crush with a campaign of violence and fear. Diplomats have said businesses tied to the military will likely be placed under sanctions in the coming weeks.People stage a protest in support of pro-Kurdish Peoples’ Democracy Party, or HDP, in Istanbul, in Istanbul, March 18, 2021. The European Union voiced concerns over the “backsliding of rights” in Turkey.Turkey tiesTurkey will feature prominently at the meeting as member states debate efforts to improve ties after a spike in tensions last year over the eastern Mediterranean.Brussels has welcomed steps by Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan to reduce tensions by restarting talks with Greece over their disputed maritime border. But there remain major concerns, including over domestic freedoms after moves to ban a key opposition party and Erdogan’s decision to leave a global treaty to prevent violence against women. EU foreign policy chief Josep Borrell has drawn up a report outlining the bloc’s options to be discussed by leaders at a video conference this week.Warming ties have seen efforts to impose sanctions agreed on in December over Turkish drilling off Cyprus put on the back burner for fear of derailing the rapprochement.”There are different signals from Turkey,” Maas said.”We will continue to try to remain in dialogue, but also to use this dialogue to address the issues where we believe that Turkey is sending out the wrong signals.”
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Widespread flooding is disrupting the rollout of COVID-19 vaccinations in Australia as thousands of people are forced to leave their homes.Emergency crews in eastern Australia have responded to thousands of calls for help.  The rain in many areas has been unrelenting. For the first time in years, Sydney’s main reservoir is overflowing, putting suburbs at risk of flooding. Authorities are reporting once-in-a-century downpours north of Sydney, and thousands of people have been told to leave their homes.     Near the town of Taree, a house occupied by a young couple was washed away down a river by floodwaters on what was supposed to have been their wedding day.    The bride, Sarah Soars, told Australian television the property was swept away within minutes.  “I am lost for words. I do not know even what to say, like, everything that we owned, everything that we worked hard for (has) gone within ten minutes and it was out of our sight,” Soars said.Campaign group Greenpeace has linked the severe storms in eastern Australia to climate change, and the burning of coal, oil and gas.   The wild weather is disrupting Australia’s mass coronavirus inoculation program. More than six million Australians are now eligible for an injection in the next phase of the vaccination rollout. Australia’s medical regulator has approved domestic production of the AstraZeneca vaccine.   Federal health minister Greg Hunt says the drug is safe.    “This is a fundamental decision which locks in for Australia access to 50 million units of domestically produced vaccines. It means that the manufacturing process has been approved. It is safe, effective (and) meets all of the requirements from one of the toughest regulators in the world,” Hunt said.Vaccines made by AstraZeneca and Pfizer are approved for use in Australia. One of Australia’s most senior medical officials, Federal Health Department secretary Brendan Murphy, has said international travel into and out of Australia would be severely restricted for the rest of the year until global COVID-19 vaccinations are more widely administered.   Australia closed its international borders a year ago to foreign travelers because of the pandemic.   Murphy said life in Australia would get back to normal, but it would take time and patience was needed. Australia has recorded 29,196 coronavirus cases since the pandemic began. 909 people have died, according to the Health Department. 
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Anti-coup protests broke out again across Myanmar early Monday as popular acts of defiance against the military junta continue despite the regime’s violent and increasingly deadly pushback.   Hundreds of demonstrators marched along a main road in Mandalay before dawn, many of them doctors, nurses, students and other medical personnel wearing white coats, repeating a similar demonstration carried out the night before.  Scores of motorists in the commercial capital of Yangon honked their car horns in response to a call on social media, according to Reuters.  Myanmar has been in turmoil ever since the military jailed de facto leader Aung San Suu Kyi and other members of the democratically elected civilian government on February 1. At least three people were killed Sunday in violent clashes between police and civilians, including two in Mandalay, Myanmar’s second-largest city and a major hub of opposition. An activist group, the Assistance Association for Political Prisoners, said nearly 250 people have been killed since the coup, with more than 2,000 people detained. Australian authorities confirmed Sunday that two of its citizens, businesspeople, were detained in Myanmar. Australia’s government declined to provide further details, citing the privacy of the concerned parties.  Singapore’s Foreign Minister Vivian Balakrishnan will visit Brunei Darussalam on Monday before going to Malaysia and Indonesia as part of a regional diplomatic push to bring an end to the crisis in Myanmar, Reuters reported.Firecrackers explode as protestors take cover behind a barricade during a demonstration against the military coup in Mandalay, March 21, 2021.On Monday, the European Union’s (EU) foreign policy chief Josep Borrell who is in Brussels for EU foreign ministers meeting said the EU will impose sanctions in connection with the violence. “We are going to take sanctions against 11 persons involved in the coup and the repression of the demonstrators.” The United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres strongly condemned the continuing brutality of the Myanmar military, after at least eight anti-coup demonstrators were killed in the central town of Aungban in eastern Shan state. “The killing of peaceful demonstrators and arbitrary arrests, including of journalists, is utterly unacceptable,” Guterres’ spokesman Stephane Dujarric told reporters Friday. “The military continues to defy calls, including by the [U.N.] Security Council, to end violations of fundamental human rights and return to the path of democracy.”   He said that a firm, unified international response is urgently needed.   “The secretary-general will continue to stand with the people and their aspirations to achieve a peaceful, stable and prosperous Myanmar,” Dujarric added. VOA Burmese Service contributed to this report.
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The espionage trial of former Canadian diplomat Michael Kovrig began Monday behind closed doors in a Beijing courtroom. Kovrig’s trial is being held just three days after another Canadian, entrepreneur Michael Spavor, was put on trial in a closed door hearing on espionage charges in the northeastern city of Dandong.   Both Kovrig and Spavor were arrested separately in December 2018 days after Canadian authorities arrested Meng Wanzhou, the chief financial officer of China’s Huawei Technologies, in Vancouver on a U.S. warrant.   Diplomats from several nations, including Canada and the United States, gathered outside the Beijing courthouse where Kovrig is being tried. The diplomats said they have been barred from attending the trial on what China claims are national security reasons.Policemen wearing face masks chat each other at No. 2 Intermediate People’s Court in Beijing, March 22, 2021.Spavor’s trial last Friday, in which diplomats were also barred, ended without a verdict being rendered.   The arrests of Kovrig and Spavor have plunged relations between Ottawa and Beijing to their lowest levels in decades. Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau has denounced China’s actions as “completely unacceptable, as is the lack of transparency around these court proceedings.” Meng remains under house arrest in Vancouver as she fights the extradition warrant from the U.S. As chief financial officer of Huawei — one of the world’s largest manufacturers of smartphones — Meng is accused of lying to U.S. officials about Huawei’s business in Iran, which is under U.S. sanctions.   The U.S. has also warned other countries against using Huawei-built products, suspecting the Chinese government of installing spyware in them.   
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Australian authorities are planning to evacuate thousands of more people Monday from Sydney’s flooded western suburbs, in the worst flooding the city has seen in 60 years with another day of drenching rain expected. Unrelenting rains over the past three days swelled rivers in Australia’s most populous state of New South Wales (NSW), causing widespread damage and triggering calls for mass evacuations. “Flooding is likely to be higher than any floods since Nov 1961,” NSW emergency services said in a tweet late Sunday. Authorities expect the wild weather to continue until Wednesday. The fast-moving flood waters detached houses, swept away vehicles and farm animals, and submerged roads, bridges, houses and farms, television and social media footage showed. Nearly 2,000 people have been evacuated from low lying areas, NSW emergency services said. Large parts of the country’s east coast will receive more heavy rains from Monday thanks to the combination of a tropical low over northern Western Australia and a coastal trough off NSW, the weather bureau said. “These two moisture feeds are merging and will create a multistate rain and storm band from Monday,” the Bureau of Meteorology said in a statement. A severe flood warning has been issued for large parts of NSW as well as neighboring Queensland. “These are very, very serious and very severe storms and floods, and it’s a very complex weather system, too. … So, this is a very testing time,” Prime Minister Scott Morrison told radio station 2GB on Monday. Sydney on Sunday recorded the wettest day of the year with almost 111 mm (4.4 inches) of rain, while some regions in NSW’s north coast received nearly 900 mm (35 inches) of rain in the last six days, more than three times the March average, government data showed. 
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The Philippine defense chief on Sunday demanded more than 200 Chinese vessels he said were manned by militias leave a South China Sea reef claimed by Manila, saying their presence was a “provocative action of militarizing the area.” “We call on the Chinese to stop this incursion and immediately recall these boats violating our maritime rights and encroaching into our sovereign territory,” Lorenzana said in a statement, adding without elaborating that the Philippines would uphold its sovereign rights. A government watchdog overseeing the disputed region said about 220 Chinese vessels were seen moored at Whitsun Reef, which Beijing also claims, on March 7. It released pictures of the vessels side by side in one of the most hotly contested areas of the strategic waterway. The reef, which Manila calls Julian Felipe, is a boomerang-shaped and shallow coral region about 175 nautical miles (324 kilometers) west of Bataraza town in the western Philippine province of Palawan. It’s well within the country’s exclusive economic zone, over which the Philippines “enjoys the exclusive right to exploit or conserve any resources,” the government watchdog said. The large numbers of Chinese boats are “a concern due to the possible overfishing and destruction of the marine environment, as well as risks to safety of navigation,” it said, although it added that the vessels were not fishing when sighted.  Chinese fishing fleets have long been suspected of being utilized as maritime militias to help assert Beijing’s territorial claims, although China has played down those claims. Philippine military chief Lt. Gen. Cirilito Sobejana said the military’s “utmost priority remains to be the protection of our citizens in the area, particularly our fishermen, through increased maritime patrols.” When asked if the Philippines would file a protest, Foreign Secretary Teodoro Locsin Jr. tweeted, “only if the generals tell me.” Chinese Embassy officials did not immediately issue any comment. China, the Philippines and four other governments have been locked in a tense territorial standoff over the resource-rich and busy waterway for decades. Critics have repeatedly called out President Rodrigo Duterte, who has nurtured friendly ties with Beijing since taking office in 2016, for not standing up to China’s aggressive behavior and deciding not to immediately demand Chinese compliance with an international arbitration ruling that invalidated Beijing’s historic claims to virtually the entire sea. China has refused to recognize the 2016 ruling, which it called “a sham,” and continues to defy it. “When Xi says ‘I will fish,’ who can prevent him?” Duterte said two years ago as he defended his nonconfrontational approach, referring to Chinese President Xi Jinping. “If I send my marines to drive away the Chinese fishermen, I guarantee you not one of them will come home alive,” Duterte said then, adding that diplomatic talks with Beijing allowed the return of Filipinos to disputed fishing grounds where Chinese forces had previously shooed them away. Duterte has sought infrastructure funds, trade and investments from China, which has also donated and pledged to deliver more COVID-19 vaccines as the Philippines faces an alarming spike in coronavirus infections. “We cannot barter our exclusive economic zone even for China’s vaccine,” Renato Reyes of the left-wing political alliance Bayan said. “We must protest the latest incursions.”  
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Philippine troops killed an Abu Sayyaf rebel commander blamed for years of ransom kidnappings and on Sunday rescued the last of his four Indonesian captives, the military said.   Marines wounded Amajan Sahidjuan in a gunbattle Saturday night and he later died from loss of blood on Kalupag Island in the southernmost province of Tawi Tawi. Two other militants managed to flee and dragged along the last of four Indonesian hostages, but troops finally rescued him on Sunday, regional military commander Lt. Gen. Corleto Vinluan Jr. said.   On Thursday night, three Indonesian men were rescued by police who also captured one of their Abu Sayyaf captors along the shores of South Ubian town in Tawi Tawi.   The military said the Abu Sayyaf militants led by Sahidjuan were fleeing assaults in nearby Sulu province when their speedboat was lashed by huge waves and overturned off Tawi Tawi.   A military officer said the militants were attempting to cross the sea border to Tambisan Island in neighboring Malaysia’s Sabah state to release the captives in exchange for a ransom of at least five million pesos ($104,000), but the Philippine military got wind of the plan and launched covert assaults.   The officer, who has a keen knowledge of anti-Abu Sayyaf operations, spoke to The Associated Press on condition of anonymity because of a lack of authority to speak publicly.   Vinluan said the rescue of the Indonesian men, the last known hostages held by the Abu Sayyaf, would allow government forces to finish off the ransom-seeking rebels.   “It will just be relentless in a massive and focused military operation because now we would not worry about kidnap victims getting hit,” Vinluan told reporters by telephone.   Vinluan said there were about 80 Abu Sayyaf gunmen left in Sulu and outlying island provinces. One of their remaining elderly leaders, Radulan Sahiron, has fallen ill and was wounded in a recent offensive in Sulu, he said.   Sahidjuan, who uses the nom de guerre Apuh Mike, has been blamed for carrying out ransom kidnappings since the early 1990s. He was reportedly among Abu Sayyaf militants who attacked the southern largely Christian town of Ipil in 1995, where they killed more than 50 people after robbing banks and stores and burning the town center in one of their most audacious raids.   The Abu Sayyaf is a small but violent group that has been separately blacklisted by the Philippines and the United States as a terrorist organization for bombings, ransom kidnappings and beheadings. Some of its factions have aligned themselves with the Islamic State group.   The militants have been considerably weakened by years of military offensives, surrenders and battle setbacks but remain a national security threat. They set off a security alarm in the region in recent years after they started venturing away from their jungle encampments in Sulu, a poverty wracked Muslim province in the largely Roman Catholic nation, and staged kidnappings in Malaysian coastal towns and targeted crews of cargo ships.  
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Defying Myanmar’s military crackdown, anti-coup protesters in Mandalay held a rally at dawn early Sunday to avoid major confrontations with security forces and police.Medical personnel, including doctors, nurses, medical students and pharmacists in white coats, joined pro-democracy protesters marching overnight, Saturday to Sunday, chanting slogans and holding banners, saying “Save our leader,” referring to the country’s former de facto leader, Aung San Suu Kyi, “Save our future.”Suu Kyi and other democratically elected leaders have remained in detention since Feb. 1.Who Is Aung San Suu Kyi?Aung San Suu Kyi is the daughter of independence hero Aung San and spent much of her youth overseasMandalay has been a major hub of opposition to the military takeover.Other protests took place overnight from Kachin state in the far north of Myanmar to the south of the country, with residents lighting hundreds of candles.On Saturday, Myanmar security forces and police cracked down again on anti-government protesters across the country in the face of mounting global criticism over their increasingly aggressive campaign to end the demonstrations triggered by the coup.Protesters ran away as tear gas and live rounds were fired in northern Myanmar, according to international and local media reports.Myanmar Now, a local news agency reported that one neighborhood night guard was fatally shot and two others critically injured in the central city of Mogok.Demonstrations also continued across the former capital of Yangon.On Friday, United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres strongly condemned the continuing brutality of the Myanmar military, after at least eight anti-coup demonstrators were killed in the central town of Aungban in eastern Shan state.“The killing of peaceful demonstrators and arbitrary arrests, including of journalists, is utterly unacceptable,” Guterres’ spokesperson Stephane Dujarric told reporters. “The military continues to defy calls, including by the [U.N.] Security Council, to end violations of fundamental human rights and return to the path of democracy.”He said that a firm, unified international response is urgently needed.“The secretary-general will continue to stand with the people and their aspirations to achieve a peaceful, stable and prosperous Myanmar,” Dujarric added.Protesters targeted with live ammunition, tear gas“The army and the police have definitely increased the violence over the last couple of weeks in an attempt to get control of the situation, but the protests and the resistance continues,” U.N. Resident Coordinator for Myanmar Andrew Kirkwood said. “It is led by doctors and nurses and teachers and truck drivers and farmers who have all coalesced under this civil disobedience movement.”Kirkwood briefed reporters via video conference from his home in Yangon, where it was evening, and he said the nightly symbolic banging of pots had just finished and the nationwide curfew had gone into effect.“This is when often the military trucks start to roll by and the nightly raids begin,” he said, noting that even in the middle-class neighborhood where he lives, residents hear gunfire at night.“It’s really at night that people start to live in fear,” he said. “People are dragged from their homes. Everybody knows somebody who has been arrested.”He said security forces have arrested at least 2,400 people for suspected participation in the anti-coup demonstrations since Feb. 1.“The vast majority of these people are held incommunicado still,” Kirkwood said. “We are hearing increasing reports of sexual-based violence against detainees.”He said his office is very concerned that a humanitarian crisis could be developing. The United Nations was already providing assistance to 1 million people before the coup. Now, food prices have risen as much as 20% in some areas in the past month and an ongoing banking crisis has caused supply chain disruptions.The health care sector is collapsing, and COVID-19 testing and treatment has stopped since the coup. Kirkwood said security forces have also occupied at least 36 hospitals and, in some cases, patients have been evicted.People are also starting to become displaced. The junta imposed martial law on six townships in Yangon, Myanmar’s commercial hub, effectively putting about 2 million people under their direct control. Kirkwood said tens of thousands of people have fled back to their villages in recent days.“From the United Nations’ point of view, it is really important to emphasize that the situation could get worse and spin totally out of control,” he warned.He said the people of Myanmar have high expectations for concerted international action. Some have even said they hope to see a U.N. peacekeeping mission come to the country.More arrestsThe Associated Press reports that authorities have arrested a spokesperson for Suu Kyi’s National League for Democracy party.The military arrested two journalists Friday in the capital of Naypyidaw while they were covering a court hearing for a member of the NLD.VOA’s Burmese Service has identified the detained journalists as Aung Thura of the BBC and Than Htike Aung, a former reporter for Yangon-based Mizzima News.At least 50 journalists have been arrested since the coup began, and more than 20 have been released.At least 20 others remain under arrest for inciting unrest, according to VOA’s Burmese Service.The United States and other Western countries have condemned the coup and called for an end to the violence. They have also called for the release of Suu Kyi and other political detainees.VOA’s Burmese Service contributed to this report.
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People in the northwestern parts of Sydney were ordered to evacuate their houses in the middle of the night as heavy rains continued to batter Australia’s east coast Sunday with fast-moving waters causing widespread destruction throughout the region.Flooding risk and evacuation warnings were in place for about 12 areas in New South Wales (NSW), Australia’s most populous state with 8 million people, with rivers swelling and rain accumulation posing danger.“It’s not just the rain which is causing the devastation,” Jonathan How, senior meteorologist with the Bureau of Meteorology, told the ABC News state broadcaster. “It’s strong winds as well.”How added that the heavy downpour is set to continue for the rest of Sunday in Sydney and throughout the state, with some areas expected to get up to 20 centimeters of rain.Emergency services said they had received about 600 calls overnight asking for help; more than 60 of those were pleas for rescue from floods.Television and social media footage showed fast-moving water unmooring houses, engulfing roads, breaking trees and damaging road infrastructure.The extreme weather was affecting Australia’s COVID-19 vaccine delivery to Sydney and throughout the state and disrupting the country’s plans to deliver the first vaccine doses to almost 6 million people over the next few weeks.NSW Premier Gladys Berejiklian, who is expected to hold a briefing later on Sunday, said the weather system moving through the state could be a one-in-25-year rain event.“This will be a deep-seated, extreme weather event,” she said on Saturday.
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