Thursday, December 5, 2013

The Irrawaddy Magazine

The Irrawaddy Magazine

Tens of Thousands of Burmese Baptists Join Celebration

Posted: 05 Dec 2013 04:27 AM PST

Adoniram Judson, American Baptists, Burmese Baptists, Baptist Christianity, missionary, British colony, religion

Burmese Baptists celebrate the 200-year anniversary of the arrival of American Baptist Adoniram Judson, at the Alone Poe Karen Baptist Church in Rangoon on Thursday. (Photo: JPaing / The Irrawaddy)

RANGOON — Tens of thousands of Burmese Baptists are celebrating the 200-year anniversary of the arrival of an American missionary who is credited with translating the first Burmese-language Bible and bringing Baptist Christianity to the country.

A four-day commemoration began on Thursday in Rangoon to commemorate the arrival of Adoniram Judson, a Massachusetts native who also compiled the first Burmese grammar book and the first English-Burmese dictionary, in addition to introducing the printing press to the Buddhist-majority Southeast Asian country. The celebration in Rangoon is the first mass gathering of Baptists in Burma, where gatherings of more than five people were forbidden during decades of military rule.

Over 25,000 people registered to attend the commemoration, said the Rev. Samson, secretary of the committee for the Bicentennial Baptist Mission.

"Many more people came this morning, and we gave out more than 10,000 additional registration cards," he told The Irrawaddy on Thursday before the opening ceremony. "We even had to close the registration office because we could no longer handle registration for all the visitors. We just allowed everyone to come in."

Tens of thousands of visitors wearing ethnic attire poured into the Alone Poe Karen Baptist Church compound, where the ceremony was held.

"We believe the number of visitors will reach over 40,000," Samson said. "This celebration will be a historical gathering of Baptists across the country in one place."

Also in attendance were government officials, including Rangoon Division's chief minister, Myint Swe, together with ethnic Karen parliamentarians.

The four-day celebration will include a praise and worship program at the Alone Poe Karen Baptist Church compound and the Myanmar Baptist Convention compound, also in Rangoon. Historical photos will also be on display in an exhibition.

"There will be some historians and veteran Burmese writers to tell the history of Judson," Samson said. "We would like to spread the message that Judson came to Burma not only as a Baptist missionary, but that he also helped us with education and advancing our knowledge."

Ethnic Baptists from Kachin, Karenni, Karen, Chin, Mon, Arakan and Shan states attended the opening ceremony in traditional dress. Dancers from each ethnic group were also set to perform traditional songs and dances on Thursday evening.

"I'm very thankful to God that I have a chance to participate in this centennial celebration. I will perform my best to show gratitude for the Rev. Judson and the grace of God," said Arze Mee, a 24-year-old from the Akha ethnic dance troop.

Judson and his family came to Burma via India's Chennai, hoping to spread the Baptist faith. When he arrived in the early 1800s Burma was ruled by Burmese King Bodawphaya and facing conflicts with British colonial troops.

Along with his wife, Judson spent more than three years studying Burmese language as he attempted to start a mission in the country. He compiled the first Burmese grammar book, and in 1817 he translated the Gospel of Matthew from the New Testament into Burmese. In 1819 a Burmese man was baptized for the first time.

A bitter relationship between the British and the Burmese king affected Judson's ambitions to continue spreading his faith. The king and his officials assumed Judson was an English spy, and in 1824 when the first Anglo-Burmese War broke out, Judson and other English men were imprisoned.

One year later he was freed. He served as an interpreter while the British and the Burmese king worked to sign a treaty. In 1826 the English-to-Burmese dictionary compiled by Judson was printed and distributed by the Calcutta Baptist Mission of India.

Christians make up about 4 percent of the population in Burma, while about 90 percent of people are Buddhist.

The post Tens of Thousands of Burmese Baptists Join Celebration appeared first on The Irrawaddy Magazine.

Burma Activist Detained for Burning Chinese Flag

Posted: 05 Dec 2013 03:57 AM PST

Letpadaung, China, Myanmar, Burma, Rangoon, Chinese Embassy, protests, Buddhist monks, mining, Monywa

Activists burn a Chinese flag outside the Chinese Embassy in Rangoon last week on Friday. (Photo: Tay Za Hlaing / The Irrawaddy)

RANGOON — A Burmese activist who burned a Chinese flag during a protest outside the Chinese Embassy in Rangoon last week has been detained by the police.

The activist was detained on Tuesday after joining a protest of more than 100 people outside the embassy last Friday, the one-year anniversary of a violent police crackdown on monks and local villagers who opposed a controversial Chinese-backed copper mine in northwest Burma.

Tin Htut Paing, a leader of Generation Youth, an advocacy group, was charged with violating Section 505 (b) of the Penal Code and a law on peaceful assembly that requires individuals to obtain a permit to demonstrate. Three other protesters were charged with similar violations but have not been detained.

The protesters were demonstrating against Chinese mining company Wanbao, which is cooperating with the Burma government and a Burmese military-backed company to run the controversial Letpadaung copper mine in Monywa, northwest Burma.

The mine is opposed by many local people for its environmental and social impacts. At protests around the mine last year in November, police violently cracked down with incendiary devices, injuring dozens of people, the majority of whom were monks.

At the anniversary protest last week outside the Chinese Embassy in Rangoon's Dagon Township, demonstrators called on authorities to determine who was responsible for the Letpadaung crackdown and to force Wanbao out of Burma.

The Dagon Township Police called Tin Htut Paing for questioning at midday on Tuesday and said they would release him shortly, according to Min Nay Htoo, who took part in the embassy protest. "But at night they charged him and kept him in custody," he told The Irrawaddy.

"They had no plan to burn it, but after a conflict with authorities, who could not negotiate with the protesters in front of the embassy, they did burn it," he said, referring to Tin Htut Paing and Aung Soe, one of the three other protesters facing charges.

Section 505 (b) of the Penal Code allows for up to two years of imprisonment for anyone who "makes, publishes or circulates any statement, rumor or report with intent to cause, or which is likely to cause, fear or alarm to the public, or to any section of the public whereby any person may be induced to commit an offense against the State or against public tranquility."

Tin Htut Paing and at least one of the other activists facing charges have been arrested and imprisoned in the past for their involvement in protests.

Chinese state media on Thursday commented on the embassy protest, warning that "the political intervention of monks in Myanmar [Burma] has significantly worsened the country’s investment environment."

"The Chinese embassy in Myanmar recently witnessed a protest over the ongoing Monywa Copper Mine project at its doorstep. From the photos spread online, monks were detected once again among the protesters, waving fists and shouting slogans. Their continuous presence in these protests signals a risk to this nation in transition," Ding Gang, a senior editor with People's Daily, wrote for the Global Times.

Ding Gang said the copper mine was a joint project between China and Burma, with the Burmese government drawing 51 percent of the profit. He said issues concerning relocation of villagers and compensation for their land, as well as environmental protection, were being dealt with "fairly and squarely according to Myanmar's laws."

He said monks were protesting the relocation of a temple on the mine site where they said an ancient master once transcribed Buddhist scriptures. "However, according to the local historical records, this 'cultural relic' hypothesis is groundless," he wrote. "This temple is simply a memorial for a great master after he passed away.

"In this Buddhist country, monks enjoy a high social status. But their sense of xenophobia is also strong, especially in face of the Muslims which account for less than 10 percent of the total population," he continued, citing violence between Buddhists and Muslims around the country.

"The political intervention of monks in Myanmar has significantly worsened the country’s investment environment. The Monywa Copper Mine, unfortunately, is becoming a card in their hands to confront the Myanmar government and military. This tendency casts grave shadows on Chinese companies and other foreign investments. Economic losses can be calculated, but if this religious extremism was given free rein, the disastrous consequences to Myanmar society would be incalculable."

About 150 villagers and several local monks in northwest Burma resumed protests against the Letpadaung mine last month after a controlled explosion at the mine allegedly damaged a local Buddhist pagoda.

The mine has long been a source of conflict, as local villagers claim it has polluted their water sources and farmland, while they also feel they received unfair compensation for their loss of farmland to the project.

A parliamentary committee reviewed the project earlier this year and said it should continue if the social and environmental impacts were properly addressed.

The post Burma Activist Detained for Burning Chinese Flag appeared first on The Irrawaddy Magazine.

Suarez Fires Liverpool as Arsenal, Chelsea, City Win

Posted: 05 Dec 2013 03:46 AM PST

Premier league, soccer, football, EPL, Liverpool, Suarez, Chelsea,

Liverpool's Luis Suarez (L) scores a goal against Norwich during their English Premier League soccer match at Anfield in Liverpool, northern England, Dec. 4. (Photo: Reuters)

LONDON — Liverpool's Luis Suarez showed his devastating ability to act as a one-man wrecking ball with four goals in a 5-1 demolition of Norwich City as Arsenal's forgotten man Nicklas Bendtner jogged a few memories in the Premier League on Wednesday.

Suarez delivered a dazzling collection of goal-of-the-season contenders at Anfield and Bendtner scored two minutes into his first start in more than two years to help the Premier League leaders beat Hull City 2-0.

Second-placed Chelsea and Manchester City in third came through tight tussles to beat Sunderland and West Bromwich Albion, but champions Manchester United lost 1-0 at home to Everton to slip 12 points behind the leaders.

While the pressure on United manager David Moyes increased, Tottenham Hotspur eased the stress on boss Andre Villas-Boas by coming from behind to beat Fulham 2-1 in their manager Rene Meulensteen's first game in charge.

Arsenal, with 34 points, stayed four points clear of Chelsea at the top of the table, with Manchester City two adrift in third and Liverpool a point further back in fourth, ahead of Everton on goal difference.

Tottenham moved up to sixth on 24 and Manchester United dropped to ninth.

Suarez must wish he could play Norwich every week, a team against whom he has now scored 11 goals in his last four Premier League games.

He grabbed a first-half hat-trick including two genuine contenders for goal of the season.

The first, a stunning volley into the top corner from almost 40 meters, was followed by a more modest poacher's effort, before he wowed the home fans further by juggling the ball and cracking in an unstoppable shot from distance.

He completed his personal show-reel with another moment of quality, bending a 25-meter free kick into the top corner, before Norwich pulled a goal back through Bradley Johnson and Raheem Sterling rounded off the scoring for the hosts.

Casual Observer

Arsenal's Bendtner has been little more than a casual observer in their superb start to the season, yet with the transfer window looming, he delivered a timely reminder to Arsene Wenger that he could yet be an able deputy to Olivier Giroud.

Having not started a game since March 2011, Bendtner took just two minutes to etch his name on the scoresheet, rising to meet a Carl Jenkinson cross and slamming a powerful header into the net from four meters out.

Mesut Ozil calmed the nerves by finishing from close range two minutes after the restart following some creative gold dust from Aaron Ramsey.

The creative firepower that Arsenal have at their disposal seems to be a missing ingredient at Old Trafford where United failed to break down Everton and were picked off by Bryan Oviedo's 86th-minute sucker punch.

Moyes was given a hostile reception from Everton's travelling fans, but the mood turned to jubilation for those clad in blue as left back Oviedo converted Romelu Lukaku's cross from the right.

After Moyes had failed to ever get a positive result at Old Trafford, new boss Roberto Martinez picked up three points at the first time of asking, the Toffees' first win at the ground since 1992.

"I'm very disappointed. We needed a bit of good fortune and we didn't get it. Everton kept at it and showed us what a good team they are," Moyes said.

"It wasn't about me tonight, I was fortunate to manage Everton and I'm fortunate to be managing Manchester United. It's a big catch up for us now."

There was also disappointment for Sunderland manager Gus Poyet as the former Chelsea midfielder came unstuck against his old club.

Eden Hazard starred for Chelsea by scoring twice as they edged a seven-goal encounter 4-3 with Frank Lampard and a Phil Bardsley own goal the other names on the scoresheet for the visitors.

Manchester City also came out on top by a single goal, beating West Brom 3-2 as they welcomed back captain Vincent Kompany after a two-month injury layoff.

Sergio Aguero opened the scoring on nine minutes and two goals from Yaya Toure, the second a penalty, helped them to a 3-0 lead.

An 85th-minute own goal from City keeper Costel Pantilimon and a second West Brom goal from Victor Anichebe five minutes into stoppage-time gave the scoreline a touch of respectability.

Aston Villa ended Southampton's unbeaten home record with a 3-2 win, Swansea City beat Newcastle United 3-0 and Stoke City and Cardiff played out a goalless stalemate.

The post Suarez Fires Liverpool as Arsenal, Chelsea, City Win appeared first on The Irrawaddy Magazine.

A Burmese Master of Oil Painting Tries His Hand at Watercolors

Posted: 05 Dec 2013 03:42 AM PST

Myanmar, Art, Burma, painting, watercolor, WPM, Win Pe Myint

Win Pe Myint's exhibition "50 Watercolors" includes landscapes from his travels in Upper Burma. (Photo: Sai Zaw / The Irrawaddy)

RANGOON — Normally, Burmese artist Win Pe Myint is known for his still-life oil paintings. But since 2010, the noted painter has ventured out into new territory: watercolors.

Three years into his experiment with the new form, he has a solo exhibition named "50 Watercolors" at Myanmar Ink Art Gallery in Rangoon. As the title of the show suggests, all the paintings on display are in watercolor.

"I'm not that good at watercolor," the 65-year-old artist said. "There are many others better than me."

But the masterful paintings on display, mostly depicting the landscapes of upper Burma and Shan State, contrast to his modesty.

"Those paintings are the results of my trips around the country," said the artist, who is also known as '"WPM" for his sign in his painting.

"I feel that working on watercolor is fun and free, so I have been attached to it since three years ago," said he,admitting that these days he rarely put his hands on his old love: oil paints.

For him, his newly acquired medium is "mysterious," as, like any other watercolor painter, he is not sure whether he will end up with a good painting or bad one.

"You can't know in advance," he said. "That's what I like most about it."

"50 Watercolors" is open until Saturday (9 am to 6 pm) at the Myanmar Ink Art Gallery, 32/1, Alen Pya Pagoda Street, Rangoon (Opposite the Park Royal Hotel).

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‘Federal Army’ Already Exists, Says Military Chief

Posted: 05 Dec 2013 03:31 AM PST

Myanmar, Burma, Min Aung Hlaing, United Nationalities Federal Council, UNFC, Tatmadaw

Snr-Gen Min Aung Hlaing gives a gift to a local police officer in Kyaukphyu, Arakan State, this week. The backdrop is notable for its inclusion of a picture of Gen Aung San, long denied a place of prominence in Burmese history by the former military regime. (Photo: Facebook / Myawaddy Media)

RANGOON — Amid calls from Burma's ethnic armed groups for the establishment of a "federal army," the country's commander-in-chief has claimed that the current military is already a federally constituted institution, owing to its inclusion of ethnic minority members within the ranks.

In remarks made to troops in Thandwe Township during a visit to Arakan State on Tuesday, Snr-Gen Min Aung Hlaing appeared to reject ethnic rebels' proposal for a military that would decentralize the command structure and see the battalions in certain regions comprised largely of soldiers from the dominant resident ethnic group.

The Burmese government has not yet indicated whether it will consider the ethnic armed groups' pitch for a future army that is federal in nature, and the issue is expected to be discussed at upcoming peace talks in Karen State's Hpa-an. Ahead of that meeting, which will likely take place sometime after the Christmas and New Year's holidays, Min Aung Hlaing seemed to stake out the military's position on the issue.

"Different ethnic groups are enlisted in our army and our army is the Union Army. This is why our army needs to build up union spirit. It is the duty of everyone in our army to avoid misunderstandings between either individuals or battalions," said Min Aung Hlaing, who commands a fighting force, known as the Tatmadaw, that is made up largely of Burmans, the country's ethnic majority.

During a visit on the same day to Sittwe, the capital of Arakan State, Radio Free Asia's Burmese service reported that Min Aung Hlaing told the public that he wanted Burma to practice "disciplined democracy," adding that the military would participate in the realization of this goal.

"We want to have real, disciplined democracy. This is the first time I've told the public," Min Aung Hlaing was quoted as saying. "We really want to become a democratic country. We want to have similar [system of governance] as other countries that have enjoyed peaceful and stable development. We are working to attain it. We need to have peace, rule of law and unity."

Burma has undergone a series of political reforms since 2011, after nearly 50 years of military rule. The junta presided over a withering of the country's economy under the mismanaged policies of the generals' "Burmese Way to Socialism," and a number of ethnic armed rebel groups waged war against the central government, demanding greater autonomy or outright independence.

Reformist President Thein Sein has made peace with the various armed groups a major priority of his administration since he took power in 2011, signing ceasefire agreements with more than a dozen of them.

Hkun Htun Oo, a leader of the ethnically affiliated Shan National League for Democracy, said Min Aung Hlaing's authority did not transcend that of the Constitution, adding that only the Constitution could determine what form a future military in Burma might take.

"There is a Parliament and Constitution in the country. He does not have power to decide for it," Khun Htun Oo said.

The current Constitution, drafted by the military and enacted in 2008, gives the military significant power, but discussions propelled by the ethnic armed groups and Burma's main opposition party, the National League for Democracy (NLD), have focused on amending the charter or scrapping it altogether.

Khun Okkar, secretary of the alliance of 11 ethnic armed groups known as the United Nationalities Federal Council (UNFC), dismissed Min Aung Hlaing's comments as merely the general's personal opinion. Ethnic armed groups, Khun Okkar said, were not yet fairly represented within the ranks of Burma's military.

The UNFC leader said the comments were likely intended to downplay a growing call for discussions about the issue among the ethnic armed groups.

"I found that he wanted to make light of the issue, which we want to talk about," Khun Okkar said.

The post 'Federal Army' Already Exists, Says Military Chief appeared first on The Irrawaddy Magazine.

MAI to Begin Weekly Flights to Japan, South Korea

Posted: 05 Dec 2013 02:40 AM PST

business, South Korea, Japan, Myanmar Airways International, aviation industry

Airbus planes of Myanmar Airways International wait at Rangoon International Airport. (Photo: Steve Tickner / The Irrawaddy)

RANGOON — Myanmar Airways International (MAI) plans to expand its international flight schedule and begin weekly flights to South Korea and Japan early next year, a company representative said on Thursday.

In 2013, MAI began operating several charter flights per month to Seoul, Tokyo and Osaka, but Aye Mra Tha, MAI's sale and marketing director, said that the airline now planned to set up regular flights due to growing demand in the East Asian countries.

She said MIA would schedule weekly flights to South Korea and Japan using its 120- and 180-seat passenger Airbus planes. "There are a lot of Japanese and Korean businessmen coming [to Burma], we need to make preparations to start [flights] now," Aye Mra Tha said.

She said the company was still determining how many weekly flights it would operate, but added that flights are expected to start in the first quarter of 2014.

"We also have more Japanese and Korean tourists here. That's why we are already running charter flights," Aye Mra Tha said, adding that Burmese demand for flights to South Korea and Japan was limited.

MIA also has a codeshare agreement with Korean Air, under which the airlines share a flight route between Rangoon and Seoul. "We've already linked up with Korean Air through codeshare, we're selling tickets for them and I can say that operations are running well because we sell tickets at reasonable prices," Aye Mra Tha said.

MAI has a fleet of 11 planes that fly international flights to Singapore, Thailand and Cambodia, Malaysia, India, China, Japan and South Korea. The airliner is 80 percent owned by Kanbawza Bank and 20 percent state-owned.

Burma's aviation industry is expected to grow rapidly in the coming years. Domestic demand and the number international tourist and business visitors are projected to increase dramatically as a result of economic reforms and the opening up of the country after decades of military rule.

According to the Department of Civil Aviation, the number of passengers in 2013 will climb to 4.2 million, up from 3.6 million last year. In 2030, the total number of air passengers is projected to rise to 30 million.

Japan and South Korea are among the largest group of foreign visitors, according to data of the Ministry of Hotels and Tourism, with about 30,000 and 23,000 visitors, respectively, between January and September.

Japan's All Nippon Airline (ANA) and Korea Air operate flights to Burma, while ANA has also bought a 49-percent stake in Burma's Asia Wings.

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Burma Collects Private Sector Data for GDP Estimates

Posted: 05 Dec 2013 02:31 AM PST

Business, investment, Myanmar, Burma, Yangon, Rangoon, GDP, gross domestic product,

The Burma government is collecting data from private companies to better estimate economic activity in the country. (Photo: The Irrawaddy)

RANGOON — Burma will this month collect detailed data on the activities of private sector companies for the first time, in order to give more reliable figures for the output of the country's economy, officials said.

Burma has been using the same approach to measure gross domestic product (GDP) since 1968, a time when Gen Ne Win's regime ran a disastrous planned economy.

But the country's economy is now under heightened international scrutiny since free market reforms and the removal of some economic sanctions have fed optimism among investors. According to International Monetary Fund estimates published in August, based on Burmese government data, GDP was US$55.3 billion for the 2012-13 fiscal year, and was expected to grow to $59.4 billion in 2013-14.

To give a more reliable picture of the economy, the government, with help from the United Nations Development Program (UNDP), is about to begin collecting up surveys from all private sector business, according to Aung Myint Than, director of the Ministry of National Planning and Economic Development's (MPED) planning department.

Aung Myint Than said the nationwide survey was the first step toward a System of National Accounts—the internationally agreed method of measuring economic activity—which will take into account the activity all businesses, of any size, registered in Burma.

He said the survey this month would address a severe lack of information on the private sector, which now accounts for 90 percent of all enterprises in Burma.

"We have to change our GDP approach from the potential approach to the expenditure approach. So, we need so a lot of data from private sector," he said. "As the economic system changes, the role of private sector will develop more in the near future."

A pilot survey conducted in May by the Central Statistical Committee, under MPED, took stock of the number of private sector businesses in the country. Questionnaires about economic activity were distributed to businesses and they must submit their answers to MPED between Dec. 9 and Dec. 20.

"We asked about 100,000 businesses and firms to test our questionnaire," said Aung Myint Than. "We can approximate capital information, intermediate consumption and depreciation this way."

Khin Khin Thu, assistant director of MPED's branch office in Rangoon's Southern District, said training was underway for local officials on how to collect the data.

But with such a large amount of data to be collected, the government is relying on companies to willingly provide their data.

"The willingness to give actual data is essential, so the challenges ahead for the survey we cannot estimate," she said, adding that it would take some time to finalize the data once it is collected.

Southern Rangoon, which is the least commercial part of the city, has 500 business, while the northern, western and eastern sectors of the city have at least 8,000 enterprises each, Khin Khin Thu said.

The post Burma Collects Private Sector Data for GDP Estimates appeared first on The Irrawaddy Magazine.

Is Khin Nyunt Afraid of His Own Shadow?

Posted: 05 Dec 2013 01:09 AM PST

Last week Khin Nyunt, the ex-chief of Burma’s feared military intelligence unit, was asked whether he would apologize for the mistreatment of dissidents under the former military regime. After saying that political prisoners were guilty of crimes, he responded with a question of his own — “To whom should I apologize?” — and declined further comment. Read more here.

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Thailand Secretly Dumps Burma Refugees Into Trafficking Rings

Posted: 04 Dec 2013 11:05 PM PST

A Thailand Immigration Police van carries a group of Rohingya Muslims to a port outside Ranong city Oct. 30. (Photo: Reuters)

RANONG, Thailand — One afternoon in October, in the watery no-man's land between Thailand and Burma, Muhammad Ismail vanished.

Thai immigration officials said he was being deported to Burma. In fact, they sold Ismail, 23, and hundreds of other Rohingya Muslims to human traffickers, who then spirited them into brutal jungle camps.

As thousands of Rohingya flee Myanmar to escape religious persecution, a Reuters investigation in three countries has uncovered a clandestine policy to remove Rohingya refugees from Thailand's immigration detention centers and deliver them to human traffickers waiting at sea.

The Rohingya are then transported across southern Thailand and held hostage in a series of camps hidden near the border with Malaysia until relatives pay thousands of dollars to release them. Reporters located three such camps—two based on the testimony of Rohingya held there, and a third by trekking to the site, heavily guarded, near a village called Baan Klong Tor.

Thousands of Rohingya have passed through this tropical gulag. An untold number have died there. Some have been murdered by camp guards or have perished from dehydration or disease, survivors said in interviews.

The Thai authorities say the movement of Rohingya through their country doesn't amount to human trafficking. But in interviews for this story, the Thai Royal Police acknowledged, for the first time, a covert policy called "option two" that relies upon established human-smuggling networks to rid Thailand of Rohingya detainees.

Ismail was one of five Rohingya who said that Thai immigration officials had sold him outright or aided in their sale to human traffickers. "It seemed so official at first," said Ismail, a wiry farmer with a long narrow face and tight curly hair. "They took our photographs. They took our fingerprints. And then once in the boats, about 20 minutes out at sea, we were told we had been sold."

Ismail said he ended up in a camp in southern Thailand. So did Bozor Mohamed, a Rohingya whose frail body makes him seem younger than his 21 years. The camp was guarded by men with guns and clubs, said Mohamed, and at least one person died every day due to dehydration or disease.

"I used to be a strong man," the former rice farmer said in an interview, as he massaged his withered legs.

Mohamed and others say they endured hunger, filth and multiple beatings. Mohamed's elbow and back are scarred from what he said were beatings administered by his captors in Thailand while he telephoned his brother-in-law in Malaysia, begging him to pay the US$2,000 ransom they demanded. Some men failed to find a benefactor in Malaysia to pay their ransom. The camp became their home. "They had long beards and their hair was so long, down to the middle of their backs, that they looked liked women," said Mohamed.

"Holding Bays"

What ultimately happens to Rohingya who can't buy their freedom remains unclear. A Thai-based smuggler said some are sold to shipping companies and farms as manual laborers for 5,000 to 50,000 baht each, or $155 to $1,550.

"Prices vary according to their skills," said the smuggler, who spoke on condition of anonymity.

The Arakan Project, a Rohingya advocacy group based in Thailand, says it has interviewed scores of Rohingya who have passed through the Thai camps and into Malaysia. Many Rohingya who can't pay end up as cooks or guards at the camps, said Chris Lewa, Arakan Project's director.

Presented with the findings of this report, Thailand's second-highest-ranking policeman made some startling admissions. Thai officials might have profited from Rohingya smuggling in the past, said Police Maj-Gen Chatchawal Suksomjit, Deputy Commissioner General of the Royal Thai Police. He also confirmed the existence of illegal camps in southern Thailand, which he called "holding bays."

Tarit Pengdith, chief of the Department of Special Investigation, Thailand's equivalent of the US FBI, was also asked about the camps Reuters discovered. "We have heard about these camps in southern Thailand," he said, "but we are not investigating this issue."

Besieged by a political crisis and violent street protests this week, Thailand faces difficult questions about its future and global status. Among those is whether it will join North Korea, the Central African Republic and Iran among the world's worst offenders in fighting human trafficking.

The signs are not good.

The US State Department's annual Trafficking In Persons (TIP) report ranks countries on their record for combating the crime. For the past four years, Thailand has sat on the TIP Report's so-called Tier 2 Watch List, the second-lowest rank. It will be automatically downgraded to Tier 3 next year unless it makes what the State Department calls "significant efforts" to eliminate human trafficking.

Dropping to Tier 3 status theoretically carries the threat of US sanctions. In practice, the United States is unlikely to sanction Thailand, one of its oldest treaty allies in Asia. But to be downgraded would be a major embarrassment to Thailand, which is now lobbying hard for a non-permanent position on the United Nations Security Council.

The Rohingya Exodus

Rohingya are Muslims from Burma and Bangladesh, where they are usually stateless and despised as illegal immigrants. In 2012, two eruptions of violence between Rohingyas and majority Buddhists in Rakhine State in western Myanmar killed at least 192 people and made 140,000 homeless. Most were Rohingya, who live in wretched camps or under apartheid-like segregation with little access to healthcare, schools or jobs.

And so they have fled Burma by sea in unprecedented numbers over the past year. Ismail and Mohamed joined tens of thousands of Rohingya in one of the biggest movements of boat people since the end of the Vietnam War.

Widespread bias against the Rohingya in the region, however, makes it difficult for them to find safe haven—and easy to fall into the hands of traffickers. "No one is there to speak for them," says Phil Robertson, deputy director for Asia at Human Rights Watch. "They are a lost people."

Rohingya men, women and children squeeze aboard overloaded fishing boats and cargo ships to cross the Bay of Bengal. Their desired destination is Malaysia, a Muslim-majority country where at least 31,000 Rohingya already live. As Reuters reported in July, many of these refugees were waylaid in Thailand, where the Thai navy and marine police worked with smugglers to extract money for their onward trip to Malaysia.

Hundreds of Rohingyas were arrested in two headline-grabbing raids by the Thai authorities on Jan. 9 in the towns of Padang Besar and Sadao, both near the Malaysia border. At the time, Colonel Krissakorn Paleetunyawong, deputy commander of police in the area, declared the Rohingya would be deported back to Burma. That never happened.

Ismail and Mohamed were among the 393 Rohingya that Thai police say were arrested that day in Padang Besar. So was Ismail's friend Ediris, 22. The three young men all hailed from Buthedaung, a poor township in northern Rakhine State.

Their story reveals how Thailand, a rapidly developing country in the heart of Southeast Asia, shifted from cracking down on human trafficking camps to facilitating them.

A Secret Policy

After their arrest, Ediris and Ismail were brought to an immigration detention center (IDC) in Sadao, where they joined another 300 Rohingya rounded up from a nearby smuggler's house. The two-story IDC, designed for a few dozen inmates, was overflowing. Women and children were moved to sheltered housing, while some men were sent to other IDCs across Thailand.

With about 1,700 Rohingya locked up nationwide, the Thai government set a July deadline to deport them all and opened talks with Burma on how to do it. The talks went nowhere, because the Burmese government refused to take responsibility for what it regards as illegal immigrants from Bangladesh.

Men and teenage boys languished for months in cramped, cage-like cells, often with barely enough room to sit or stand, much less walk. In June, Reuters journalists visited an IDC in Phang Nga, near the tourist Mecca of Phuket. There were 269 men and boys crammed into a space built for no more than 100. It reeked of urine and sweat. Some detainees used crutches because their muscles had atrophied.

A doctor who inspected Sadao's IDC in July said he found five emaciated Rohingya clinging to life. Two died on their way to hospital, said the doctor, Anatachai Thaipratan, an advisor of the Thai Islamic Medical Association.

As the plight of Rohingya detainees made world headlines, pressure mounted on Thailand. But Burma wouldn't take them, nor would Malaysia. With thousands more arriving, the UN's refugee agency issued an urgent appeal for alternative housing. The government proposed building a "mega camp" in Nakhon Sri Thammarat, another province in southern Thailand. It was rejected after an outcry from local people.

In early August, 270 Rohingya rioted at the IDC in Phang Nga. Men tore off doors separating cells, demanding to be let outside to pray at the close of the Muslim holy month of Ramadan. Over the last three weeks of August, more than 300 Rohingya fled from five detention centers.

By this time, Mohamed, the 21-year-old refugee, could no longer walk, let alone escape. His leg muscles had wasted away from months in detention in a cell shared by 95 Rohingya men. Ismail and Ediris were shuttled between various IDCs, ending up in Nong Khai, a city on Thailand's northern border with Laos.

Thailand saw its options rapidly dwindling, a senior government official said, speaking on condition of anonymity. It couldn't protest to Burma's government to improve the lives of Rohingya and stem the exodus, the official said. That could ruffle diplomatic feathers and even jeopardize the access of Thai companies hoping to invest in Burma, one of the world's hottest frontier markets.

Nor could Thailand arrest, prosecute and jail the Rohingya for breaking Thai immigration law—there were simply too many of them. "There would be no room in our prison cells," Police Maj-Gen Chatchawal said.

That growing problem gave birth to "option two" in October, a secret policy to deport the refugees back to Burma that led to Rohingyas being sold to human trafficking networks.

A hint of the policy shift came weeks earlier, on Sept. 13, when Police Lt. Gen. Panu Kerdlarppol, chief of the Immigration Bureau, met with officials from other agencies on the resort island of Koh Samui to decide what to do with the Rohingya. Afterwards, Kerdlarppol announced that immigration authorities would take statements from the Rohingya "to arrange their deportation" and see if any want to go home. Arrangements would be made for those who did.

By early October, 2,058 Rohingya were held in 14 IDCs across Thailand, according to the Internal Security Operations Command, a national security agency run by the Thai military. A month later, that number stood at about 600, according to non-governmental organizations and Muslim aid workers. By the first week of December, it was 154, Thailand's immigration department said.

Rohingya were fast disappearing from Thailand's IDCs, and nobody knew where they were going.

"We Now Belonged to Them"

Central to the policy was Ranong, a sparsely populated Thai province whose geography has always made it a smugglers' paradise. Ranong shares a long, ill-policed land and sea border with Burma. Its coastline is blanketed in dense mangrove forest and dotted with small, often uninhabited islands.

The provincial capital, also called Ranong, was built on tin mining but now lives off fishing and tourism. Rust-streaked trawlers from Thailand and Burma ply the same waters as dive boats and yachts. So do wooden "long-tail" boats, named after their extended drive-shafts, which ferry Burmese migrant workers to the Burmese port of Kawthaung, only a 30-minute voyage away.

By late October, hundreds of Rohingya were being packed onto immigration trucks and driven to Ranong for processing and deportation. Among them were Ismail and Ediris, who arrived in the port city after a grueling, standing room-only journey of 1,200 km (746 miles) from Nong Khai.

At Ranong's IDC, they were photographed and told by Thai immigration officers they were being sent back to Burma. "They said no other countries were accepting Rohingya, and Myanmar had become peaceful," said Ismail.

Then they were driven to a Ranong pier and herded onto four long-tail boats, each with a three-man crew of Thais and Burmese. Once at sea, the Rohingya asked the boat driver to help them. The Burmese-speaking driver shook his head and told the Rohingya they had been sold by Thai immigration officials for 11,000 baht ($350) each.

"They told us we now belonged to them," said Ismail.

After about 30 minutes at sea, the boats stopped. It was early afternoon on Oct. 23. The vessels waited until about 6 pm, when a large fishing boat arrived. They were loaded aboard and sailed through the night until they reached a jungle island, separated from the mainland by a narrow river. It was about 4 am.

Ismail said he saw about 200 other Rohingya in that camp, mostly sleeping and guarded by men with guns. The guards shoved Ismail and the others into a muddy clearing. There was no water or food. He was told he must pay 60,000 Thai baht ($1,850). Did he have family who could send the money? If he did, he could go wherever he wanted, Ismail said he was told. "If you don't, we'll use this," one guard said, showing an iron rod.

Ismail had some cash but not enough. "We need to escape," he whispered to Ediris. After an hour at the camp, just before dawn, the two men made their move. A guard fired shots in the air as they ran through the jungle and waded through a river to reach the mainland. For the next 24 hours, they survived by drinking stream-water and eating the bark of banana trees. They emerged onto a rubber plantation, their feet lacerated from the bare-foot jungle trek, and met a Burmese man who promised to spirit them into Malaysia for 8,000 baht, or $250, each.

They agreed and were driven to a house in southern Thailand, where Reuters interviewed them hours before they were smuggled by pick-up across the Malaysian border.

The Jungle Camps

Bozor Mohamed, the third young Rohingya from Buthedaung, said he was held for 10 days at a jungle camp in Padang Besar.

He, too, said he had been delivered by Thai officials to trafficking boats along the maritime border with Burma. Afterwards, in torrential rain and under cover of darkness, along with perhaps 200 other Rohingya, Mohamed said he was ferried back across the strait to Thailand, where a new ordeal began.

The men were taken on a two-day journey by van, motor-bike, and foot to a smuggler's camp on the border with Malaysia. On the final hike, men with canes beat the young Rohingya and the others, many of them hobbled by months of detention. They stumbled and dragged themselves up steep forested hills.

Making the same trek was Mohamed Hassan, a fourth Rohingya to escape Thailand's trafficking network. Hassan is a baby-faced 19-year-old from the Rakhine capital of Sittwe.

He said he arrived at the camp in September after an overnight journey in a pick-up truck, followed by a two-hour walk into the hills with dozens of other Rohingya. Their captors ordered them to carry supplies, he said. Already giddy with fatigue and hunger after eight days at sea, the 19-year-old shouldered a sack of rice. "If we stopped, the men beat us with sticks," he said.

The camp was partially skirted by a barbed-wire fence, he said, and guarded by about 25 men with guns, knives and clubs. Hassan reckoned it held about 300 Rohingya. They slept on plastic sheets, unprotected from the sun and rain, and were allowed only one meal a day, of rice and dried fish. He said he was constantly hungry.

One night, two Rohingya men tried to escape. The guards tracked them down, bound their hands and dragged them back to camp. Then, the guards beat the two men with clubs, rods and lengths of rubber. "Everybody watched," said Hassan. "We said nothing. Some people were crying."

The beating lasted some 30 minutes, he said. Then a guard drew a small knife and slit the throat of one of the fugitives.

The prisoners were ordered to dispose of his corpse in the forest. The other victim was dumped in a stream. Afterwards, Hassan vomited with fear and exhaustion, but tried not to cry. "When I cried they beat me. I had already decided that I would die there."

His only hope of release was his older brother, 42, a long-time resident of Thailand. Hassan said he had his brother's telephone number with him, but at first his captors wouldn't let him call it. (Traffickers are reluctant to deal with relatives in Thailand, in case they have contacts with the Thai authorities that could jeopardize operations.)

Eventually, Hassan reached his brother, who said he sold his motorbike to help raise the equivalent of about $3,000 to secure Hassan's freedom, after 20 days in the camp.

Reporters were able to trace the location of three trafficking camps, based on the testimony of Rohingya who previously were held in them.

Three journalists traveled on motor-bikes and then hiked through rubber plantations and dense jungle to directly confirm the existence of a major camp near Baan Klong Tor.

Concealed by a blue tarpaulin tent, the Rohingya were split into groups of men and women. Some prayed. The encampment was patrolled by armed guards and protected by villagers and police. The reporters didn't attempt to enter. Villagers who have visited the camp said the number of people held inside ranged from an estimated 500 to a thousand or more, depending on the number of people arriving, departing or escaping.

Interviews with about a dozen villagers also confirmed two other large camps: one less than a mile away, and another in Padang Besar, near the Malaysia border.

"That Red Line in the Sea"

Major General Chatchawal of the Royal Thai Police in Bangkok admitted there was an unofficial policy to deport the Rohingya to Burma. He called this "a natural way or option two." But he said the Rohingya went voluntarily.

"Some Rohingya in our IDCs can't stand being in limbo, so they ask to return to where they came from," said Chatchawal. "This means going back to Myanmar." Rohingya at the IDCs, for instance, sign statements in the presence of a local Islamic leader, in which they agree they want to return to Burma.

These statements, however, were at times produced in the absence of a Rohingya language translator. When reporters visited the Sadao IDC for this story, the translator was a Muslim from Burma who spoke only Thai and Burmese, and thus unable to explain what the detainees were signing.

Chatchawal was also presented with recent testimony from Rohingya who said they weren't taken to back to Burma. Instead, they were put in boats by Thai immigration officials, told they had been sold and taken under duress to Thailand's camps. Reporters interviewed four Rohingya for this story who said they fell prey to trafficking with official complicity.

At the house where Ediris and Ismail were interviewed were two other survivors of the trafficking camps: Abdul Basser, 24, and Fir Mohamed, 28. They told similar stories. Both were arrested after arriving in Thailand on January 25, and held at the overcrowded Phang Nga IDC for about eight months. On October 17, the two men, along with dozens of other Rohingya, were driven overnight to Ranong.

"We were told we could go back to Myanmar," said Mohamed.

That day, 48 Rohingya and five Buddhist Burmese were loaded into trucks and driven to a pier. The five Burmese were put on one boat; the Rohingya were put on another. After about a half hour at sea, the captain cut the engine. "We thought the engine had stalled or broke down," said Basser. "The captain told us we could not go back to Myanmar, that we had been sold by the immigration and police," he added.

Mohamed and Basser, too, escaped after being brought to an island near mainland Thailand.

Until now, the Thai government has denied official complicity in the smuggling or trafficking of Rohingya. But in a break with that position, Chatchawal said Thai officials might have received money previously in exchange for Rohingya, but not anymore. "In the past, and I stress in the past, there may have been cases of officials taking payments for handing over migrants to boats," he said. "I am not ruling it out, but I don't know of any specific cases recently."

He said it was possible the Rohingya were intercepted by brokers and never made it to Burma. "Once they've crossed that border, that red line in the sea, they are Myanmar's responsibility," he said.

He also admitted the camps uncovered by Reuters exist in breach of Thai laws. He referred to them as "temporary shelters" for a people who ultimately want to reach Malaysia. The smugglers who run the camps "extort money from Rohingya" but police don't accept bribes from them, he said.

As for the trafficking way stations in Padang Besar and Sadao, Chatchawal said: "I do believe there could be more camps like these. They could be hidden deep in the jungle."

The post Thailand Secretly Dumps Burma Refugees Into Trafficking Rings appeared first on The Irrawaddy Magazine.

US Seeks Limited Military Ties With Burma

Posted: 04 Dec 2013 10:12 PM PST

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US President Barack Obama shakes hands with Burma's President Thein Sein during their meeting in Rangoon in November 2012. (Photo: Reuters)

WASHINGTON — The Obama administration faced strong bipartisan opposition Wednesday to plans for limited US engagement with Burma's powerful military due to concerns over human rights and its lingering ties with North Korea.

Senior administration officials called for congressional support for non-lethal assistance to the military, such as training on human rights. But both Republicans and Democrats were skeptical about the military's willingness to reform, saying abuses against ethnic and religious minorities persist in the country and the military remains involved in weapons deals with North Korea against UN sanctions.

"I personally don't believe that the Burmese military needs to be trained to stop killing and raping and stealing lands from people within their own country," Democratic Rep. Joe Crowley of New York told a hearing of a House panel that oversees US foreign policy toward East Asia.

Republican panel chairman, Rep. Steve Chabot of Ohio, also said the administration was being too hasty to engage with the military, and that the United States risks losing its remaining leverage to encourage further reforms.

The introduction of democracy after five decades of repressive military rule has ended Burma's diplomatic isolation and seen a rapid easing of sanctions by the United States and other Western nations. Some 1,100 political prisoners have been freed and opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi, who spent years under house arrest, has been elected to Parliament.

But in the past 18 months, a bloody upsurge in sectarian violence that security forces have failed to stop against minority Muslims has displaced more than 200,000 people and cast a shadow over the country's move toward democracy.

While there is now a nominally civilian government, the military remains a critical force with an effective veto on constitutional reforms. Its troops continue to clash with ethnic armed groups despite nascent peace talks.

Senior US defense official Vikram Singh said there have been initial contacts between the United States and Burmese militaries, including discussions on military law, but current sanctions prevent a formal training program. He said engagement was an opportunity to shape the military's outlook and dilute its reliance on old partners and arms suppliers, like China.

"Burma is finding itself having, for the first time in many years, to actually figure out where it wants to place its bets, where it wants to put its cards, who it wants to deal with," Singh said. "We want to shape the kind of choices that Burma makes."

Judith Cefkin, the State Department's senior adviser on Burma, said that some officers have a vested interest in the military's continued involvement in the nation's economy and politics, but that "carefully calibrated military-to-military engagement to share lessons on how militaries operate in a democratic framework will strengthen the hand of reformers."

Chabot, however, said Burma's military leaders have not demonstrated a sincere interest in reforms and the government of President Thein Sein has not fulfilled promises to allowing international humanitarian access to conflict areas and end illicit weapons deals with North Korea.

Republican Rep. Trent Franks called the Burma military "one of the worst oppressors of human rights in recent history" and said it should meet clear benchmarks before any sanctions are lifted.

Singh, who acknowledged Burma had yet to sever its military ties with North Korea, said a normalization of US-Burma military relations would require fundamental reforms and was likely years away. Cefkin said assistance being proposed now for the Burma military would provide "nothing to enhance their tactical warfighting capability."

Crowley wasn't reassured. He said to begin even a non-lethal US training program would offer the military a public relations victory.

"I'm concerned our military-to-military [engagement] is moving too quickly because they feed off this prestige. I want us, visually and in reality, to slow this down," he said.

The post US Seeks Limited Military Ties With Burma appeared first on The Irrawaddy Magazine.

Undergrads Return to Crumbling Rangoon University

Posted: 04 Dec 2013 10:06 PM PST

Yangon University, education, Myanmar, reforms, higher education

The old Convocation Hall of Rangoon University. (Photo: JPaing / The Irrawaddy)

RANGOON — The campus is overrun by a tangled web of weeds and vines. Many of the books in the open-air library are ancient, their pages yellow. Students will have to share a handful of donated computers and put up with slow-speed Internet, at least at first. And professors are struggling to catch up with developments in their fields.

This is Rangoon University, once among Asia’s most prestigious institutions of learning. It reopens to undergraduates Thursday for the first time in nearly two decades, finally emerging from a crackdown by military rulers who considered education a threat to their supremacy.

"It’s a start," Thaw Kaung, one of the country’s most respected scholars, said with a smile.

The junta that ruled Burma for half a century gutted education, which received 1.3 percent of the budget, compared to 25 percent for defense.

Education spending has shot up since President Thein Sein was inaugurated to lead a nominally civilian government, jumping from US $340 million in 2011 to $1 billion this year. But experts say more needs to be done.

"We need educated people to run the country," said Thaw Kaung, an octogenarian in thick, black-rimmed glasses who long served as the university’s chief librarian. "We can’t just rely on foreign aid and experts. Without a university producing capable persons, it will be difficult to sustain development in the long run."

Foreign investors are eager to do business in this desperately poor nation of 60 million that only recently opened up to the rest of the world. They are no longer hindered by U.S. and European sanctions, but now must figure out how to deal with an enthusiastic but utterly unprepared work force.

Even finding English-speakers for five-star hotels can be a challenge, investors say, let alone business and information technology professionals, lawyers or accountants.

The onslaught on education in Burma began when Gen. Ne Win seized power in 1962. Troops blew up Rangoon University’s Student Union because of protests and tightened control over classes. Soldiers stormed the campus again in 1974 to quell protests.

The biggest blow came in 1988, following the failed student uprisings that put a global spotlight on pro-democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi. The junta shut down urban campuses, seen as hotbeds of political dissent, and restricted what could be taught.

Rangoon University produced many of Burma’s leaders and its most famous dissidents and intellectuals, including Suu Kyi’s father, independence leader Aung San. The school closed repeatedly for long stretches under the junta, and up until this week, only a handful of graduate students could be seen roaming the 200-acre campus.

"It’s a dream come true," said 16-year-old May Thin Khaing, clutching the straps of her backpack as she looked for her name on the board near registration.

"My parents both went here in the 1980s and often spoke nostalgically about those days," said the teenager, who will study chemistry. "I hope I can feel the same sense of pride that my parents once enjoyed."

The school once had 60,000 students, but it’s a long way from that now.

Initially, only 300 students — 15 from each of the 20 disciplines — were supposed to head to class on Thursday. Following criticism from academics and lawmakers, the number was boosted at the final hour to 1,000 — or 50 for each discipline.

That left professors scrambling to prepare extra lab equipment and clean up vacant classrooms. Workers were frantically putting in light bulbs ahead of the reopening and sweeping away thick, dusty cobwebs.

Dr. Phone Win, a physician who heads Mingalar Myanmar, a group promoting education, said enrollment should be even higher: "Why only 50 for each discipline? Who came up with that number?"

He said that despite economic and political reforms in the last three years, the government maintains a top-down approach across almost every sector, including education.

"It’s very hierarchical," Win said. The ministry is reluctant to give too much control to the university rector, and the rector limits professors’ autonomy, he said.

"What these students need now is academic freedom," he said.

Students also may be skeptical that such freedom has arrived. Political science has returned to the curriculum, but so far only six students have signed up.

With urban campuses closed, 70 percent of the country’s students have in recent years relied on distance learning, with graduation depending largely on their memorization skills. Others made long, daily commutes to newly built sterile institutions on the outskirts of bustling cities.

Nay Oak, a professor of English at Rangoon in the 1960s and ’70s, said that as the military closed down universities, its answer to education was to allow students to take crash courses. Many walked away with degrees after just six months of study.

"In many cases, they didn’t have to learn a thing," Nay Oak said.

Rangoon University is getting international help to remake itself. Johns Hopkins, Cornell and Oxford universities and the Gates Foundation are among the groups that have provided assistance or expressed interest in doing so.

Charles Wiener, a professor at the Johns Hopkins School of Medicine, has taken part in several recent workshops for university faculty. Training intended to draw 25 or 30 participants regularly attracted 70 to 100, he said, and many in the packed rooms impressed their instructors with their academic rigor.

They knew they had a lot of catching up to do, he said, but were clearly excited.

"The metaphor of a starving child," he said, "is not that distant."

The post Undergrads Return to Crumbling Rangoon University appeared first on The Irrawaddy Magazine.

China Gives No Ground to Biden in Air Zone Dispute

Posted: 04 Dec 2013 09:59 PM PST

China, United States, US, Joe Biden, Japan, air defense zone

Chinese President Xi Jinping shakes hands with US Vice President Joe Biden, left, inside the Great Hall of the People in Beijing on Dec. 4, 2013. (Photo: Reuters / Lintao Zhang)

BEIJING — Giving no ground, Chinese President Xi Jinping and US Vice President Joe Biden traded strong arguments Wednesday over China's contentious new air defense zone, with little indication of progress toward defusing a situation that is raising anxieties across Asia and beyond.

Though Biden made clear the deep concern of the United States and other countries during the five-and-a-half hours of talks—themselves highly unusual for an American vice president and Chinese president—Xi vigorously made his case, too, for China's declaration of new rules concerning a strip of airspace more than 600 miles long above disputed islands in the East China Sea.

Speaking to American business leaders here the next morning, Biden said he had been "very direct" about the firm US position and Washington's expectations for Beijing in his conversation with Xi.

"China's recent and sudden announcement of a new air defense identification zone has, to state the obvious, caused significant apprehension in the region," Biden said.

But Biden said he also put the issue in a broader context when he met with Chinese leaders. As China's economy grows, its stake in regional security grows, too, because China will have more to lose. "That's why China will bear increasing responsibility to contribute positively to peace and security," he said.

The United States worries that China's demand that pilots entering the airspace file flight plans with Beijing could lead to an accident or a confrontation spiraling dangerously out of control. Now it is up to the Chinese to take steps to lower tensions, and "it's a question of behavior and action," said a US official, who briefed reporters on the private talks.

The official was not authorized to be quoted by name and spoke only on condition of anonymity.

Though Biden expressed no disappointment publicly, the outcome of his visit was not what the United States might have hoped for.

Earlier in the week, the vice president had stood shoulder to shoulder in Tokyo with the leader of Japan, China's regional rival, pledging to raise Washington's concerns with Xi directly. But as he arrived in Beijing, an editorial in the state-run China Daily charged Washington with "turning a blind eye to Tokyo's provocations," warning that Biden would hit a dead end should he come "simply to repeat his government's previous erroneous and one-sided remarks."

Echoing Biden's concerns from Washington, Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel called China's announcement of the zone "destabilizing," complaining that it came without consultation. "That's not a wise course of action to take for any country," Hagel said at a Pentagon news conference.

Neither Biden nor Xi mentioned the dispute as they appeared briefly before reporters during the talks. But in private, the issue came up at length at the beginning and again near the end of the long-planned meeting, which also focused heavily on concerns about North Korea's nuclear program, senior Obama administration officials said.

The typically upbeat Biden appeared subdued Wednesday evening as he reflected on the complexity of the relationship between China and the United States, two world powers seeking closer ties despite wide ideological gulfs they have as of yet been unable to bridge.

"This new model of major-country cooperation ultimately has to be based on trust, and a positive notion about the motive of one another," Biden said, flanked by top advisers in a resplendent meeting room steps away from Tiananmen Square.

The calibrated public comments played down the deep strains permeating the relationship between the world's two largest economies.

Earlier, however, Biden told Chinese youngsters waiting to get visitor visas processed at the US Embassy that American children are rewarded rather than punished for challenging the status quo, an implicit criticism of the Chinese government's authoritarian rule.

"I hope you learn that innovation can only occur where you can breathe free, challenge the government, challenge religious leaders," Biden said.

Xi, for his part, stuck to the script—at least in public. The Chinese leader touted the benefits of closer US-China ties as he laid out "profound and complex changes" underway in Asia and across the globe.

"The world, as a whole, is not tranquil," Xi said.

Behind closed doors, Xi made his own case for why China's action to establish the air zone is appropriate, said the US administration officials, who weren't authorized to comment by name and demanded anonymity. Xi listened earnestly as Biden presented his own arguments, the officials said, but it was unclear what impact there might have been.

Turning his focus the next morning to brighter spots in the relationship, Biden praised China's leaders for committing to sweeping economic and other reforms that he said coincide with US interests. Biden said he had no doubt China intended to follow through with the proposals, announced weeks earlier in a Communist Party conference, to ease restrictions on foreign investment and private competition with state-dominated industries

"This is going to be difficult," Biden said. "But if we get it right, the outcome for our children and grandchildren can be profound—profoundly positive."

Still, the simmering dispute over the tiny islands and the airspace above them has trailed Biden throughout his weeklong trip to Asia. After meeting with China's premier and speaking to business leaders Thursday, he will fly to Seoul in South Korea—another neighbor whose air defense zone now overlaps with China's.

American officials say as far as Washington is concerned China's newly claimed zone doesn't exist, and the US military has flown B-52 bombers through it to drive the point home. But US guidance to commercial pilots to abide by the airspace rules has rankled Japan and other allies, who urged the United States to stand firm against China as Biden headed to the region.

The Obama administration sees China's move as part of a broader strategy to solidify its claims to territory as the country asserts its power more vigorously in the region. Wary that nationalist sentiments in China may preclude Xi from backing down now that he's established the zone, Washington has sought to persuade Beijing to quietly refrain from enforcing it, nullifying it in practice if not in deed.

"Xi has no room on this, at least right now," said Victor Cha, who headed Asian affairs for the White House National Security Council in the George W. Bush administration. "Maybe the space will come later in terms of enforcement of the zone, but now they are butting heads on the issue, and the Chinese see us as carrying too much of Japan's water."

The United States has also urged China not to implement new zones over other disputed territories, as China has already claimed it has the right to do. Defending such actions, Chinese officials point out that other countries including Japan and the United States have similar defense zones over their lands.

Japan and China both claim the islands in the East China Sea. The United States takes no position but recognizes that Japan administers them. China is entangled in other disputes as well, including a long-running argument with the Philippines over islands in the South China Sea.

Tensions between the United States and China were temporarily glossed over earlier when Biden arrived here for an elaborate welcoming ceremony in Beijing's Great Hall of the People. Chinese Vice President Li Yuanchao greeted his American counterpart with an elaborate honor guard and a military band that played the two countries' national anthems, as Biden and Xi stood together on a platform above the massive hall's marble floors and crisscrossing red carpets.

The post China Gives No Ground to Biden in Air Zone Dispute appeared first on The Irrawaddy Magazine.

Thailand Awaits King’s Word on Political Conflict

Posted: 04 Dec 2013 08:53 PM PST

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A boy holds a picture of Thailand’s King Bhumibol Adulyadej as well-wishers camp outside the palace where he is staying in Hua Hin, Prachuap Khiri Khan province, a day before his birthday Dec. 4, 2013. (Photo: Reuters)

BANGKOK — Thailand put politics aside Thursday to honor the country's revered monarch, as people of all political persuasions waited to hear if their king would offer advice in his annual birthday speech to help resolve a crisis that divided the nation.

Violence and street battles between anti-government protesters and police were put on hold as both sides observed a truce to mark the 86th birthday of King Bhumibol Adulyadej, who has often served as a unifying figure in times of crisis.

Vast crowds dressed in the royal color of yellow lined the roads in the seaside town of Hua Hin, where the king was to deliver a speech as part of his traditional birthday ceremonies.

Many people are hopeful the king can step in—as he has done before—to ease the current standoff, which results from years of enmity between supporters and opponents of former Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra. Thaksin was deposed by a 2006 military coup after being accused of corruption and disrespect for the king.

As a constitutional monarch, the king has no official political role, but no other figure commands the same moral authority or the same loyalty from the armed forces in the coup-prone country.

On two occasions when the country seemed to be coming apart, his intervention turned the tide, restoring peace literally overnight.

When a pro-democracy uprising against a military dictatorship in 1973 left Bangkok in a state of anarchy, with the army ready to unleash a bloodbath, he showed support for the demonstrators and persuaded the dictators to go into exile.

A similar disaster was avoided in 1992 during another mass protest against a military-backed government. After a crackdown threatened to spin out of control, the king summoned the protest leader and the prime minister to a late-night televised meeting where he chastised them for tearing apart the nation.

The latest conflict is far less severe, but it is violent and seemingly intractable.

Traditionally the king speaks his mind during his birthday speech, one of the rare occasions on which he talks directly to the public. He often makes his points through humor and aphorisms, but their meaning is usually clear.

Sukanya Chaisilapin, 27, an employee for a courier company, said she thought his speech "will be a way out."

"Previously his majesty has given speeches about reconciliation and unity, and it could help with this kind of situation," she said.

However, Thailand's political environment has changed vastly since 1973 and 1992, when public sentiment was solidly on one side against abusive military leaders.

The king is a less vigorous figure than he used to be. In July, he ended a nearly four-year hospital stay—initially for treatment of a lung infection—to live in a palace in the seaside town of Hua Hin, where he is to deliver his speech.

The monarchy, once an untouchable institution, has also fallen in esteem in recent years after being abused for political gain by different parties.

Those who sought to oust Thaksin accused him of trying to usurp the king's authority, and some alleged that he sought to establish a republic.

The 2006 coup that toppled Thaksin polarized Thailand. He had won the support of the country's urban poor and rural majority by implementing populist programs such as cheap health care, while many in the urban-based elite see Thaksin as a corrupt threat to their privileged positions and to the monarchy.

Thaksin's supporters believe the king's top adviser helped arrange the 2006 coup. While the king kept out of the fray, his wife, Queen Sirikit, made a show of support in 2008 for anti-Thaksin demonstrators, creating the perception that the palace had cast its lot with one faction.

Political street fighting that had wracked pockets of Bangkok since the weekend ended abruptly Tuesday ahead of the birthday celebrations. The protesters are seeking to bring down the government of Thaksin's sister, Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra, and institute an unelected "people's council" to administer the country.

Although police have stood aside the last several days and let protesters enter public buildings the last several days, earlier violence killed five people and wounded at least 277 since the weekend.

Protest leader Suthep Thaugsuban has vowed to keep up the struggle to topple Yingluck, saying that "our battle" will resume Friday.

The post Thailand Awaits King's Word on Political Conflict appeared first on The Irrawaddy Magazine.
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