Burmese migrant workers cross the Three Pagodas Pass on the Thai-Burmese border. (Photo: Lawi Weng / The Irrawaddy)
The bodies of nine Burmese nationals — six men and three women — were found floating near Koh Chang and Koh Phayam, two islands of the coast of Ranong Province, on Sunday, Thai newspaper The Bangkok Post reported. Three more bodies were reportedly found floating in the area on Saturday.
Niran Chuayjit, an inspector of Thailand's Marine Police Division 8, told the newspaper that 38 Burmese nationals were rescued by Thai authorities on Saturday, adding that they arebeing detained in Ranong town for illegal entry. Those who died at sea are believed to be illegal migrants as they lacked proper travel documents, Thai officials said.
Sources in Burma told The Irrawaddy that four boats smuggling dozens of migrant workers had attempted to cross the estuary of Kra Buri, a tidal riverthat separates Burma's Kauwthang Township and Thailand's Ranong Province, on Friday night.
Two vessels made a safe landing on the Thai coast, but another was discovered by Thai border guard forces, according to a local man with close connections to the Kawthaung Police. The vessel sailed away in the night and it is unclear what happened to it, he said, adding that the boat might have sunk due stormy weather.
"Thai security gave a signal to the boat to stop [for inspection]. But, it didn’t stop and tried to sail away. And the weather was very bad," said the source, who declined to be named.
Earlier on Friday night, a fourth boat carrying 41 Burmese migrants sank while making the crossing, but Thai authorities spotted the migrants holding on to parts of the vessel and rescued 38, according to the local source. Three who were on board are believed to have drowned.
Burmese police in Kawthaung confirmed that a group of migrant workers had drowned over the weekend, but officers declined to discuss details of the accidents. "Many migrants are still using the old tactic of crossing the Thai-Burma border illegally by boats, with the help of smugglers," said an officer.
He added thata Burmese anti-human trafficking team in Kawthaung, led by police officer Lon Ling, was investigating the case and questioning a detained man who had steered one of the boats smuggling the workers.
Kawthaung is one of the main border crossing points used by Burmese migrant workers to enter neighboring Thailand in search of work. Local residents have said that perhaps as many as 500 workers cross into Ranong Province illegally every day.
Despite recent anti-human trafficking campaigns in Burma, hundreds of thousands of migrant workers continue to enter Thailand — often with the help of people's smugglers — in search of a better livelihood.
The illegal entry is fraught with danger, and accidents or incidents involving Thai border guard forces are common. In April 2008, 54 Burmese migrant workers suffocated to death in a container truck, while they were being smuggled from Ranong to the Thai resort island of Phuket.
The governments of Thailand and Burma have been trying for several years to jointly come up with a way of regulating the illicit flow of migrant labor and providing official identity papers to the more than 2 million Burmese workers in Thailand.
These attempts have produced few results however, and most Burmese workers say that they are still forced to rely on underground channels and bribe-paying to gain entry and employment in Thailand.
Posted: 03 Jun 2013 04:39 AM PDT
Security forces and local officials stand behind a sign that warned protesters in April that they would be shot if they proceeded beyond that point. (Photo: Han Win Aung)
Activists protesting against the Letpadaung copper mine in Sagaing Division have condemned the sentencing of three detained demonstrators, accusing the judiciary of a lack of transparency and failing to provide the defendants with due process of law.
Sagaing locals and colleagues of the detained said the three men were sentenced without having a chance to hire a lawyer. Their family members were not informed of the trial, they also claimed.
"This is simply an abuse of human rights. They've been missing for about a month since they were arrested. The authorities failed to inform the family members," said Min Min, a local.
Aung Soe, from Rangoon People's Support Network, and the two farmers were detained after security forces moved in to stop farmers from plowing their confiscated fields in the villages of Hse Te and Moegyopyin on April 25.
"They even refuse to provide information concerning the detainees when the families went to inquire about where they were and what kind of trial they were facing. The authorities treated us poorly when we went to ask about the detainees as well."
The district court of Shwebo on Saturday sentenced Aung Soe, who helped the protesting farmers, to 18 months in prison, while two other farmers from Hse Te who plowed on their confiscated lands were each penalized with six months in prison for gathering illegally.
"We were never informed that they were moved to Shwebo prison either. I think the authorities, somehow, are afraid of unrest, for we are continuously protesting for the release of these people and an end to mining in the area," he said. "However, we believe this action by the authorities shows there's still no transparency and there's no justice in the judicial system."
Protests have been staged periodically since early 2012, with farmers and other locals looking to win back their confiscated lands and halt mining in the area.
More than 7,000 acres of land from 26 villages were confiscated and many families were displaced due to the copper mining project, which is a joint venture between the Chinese-owned company Wanbao and Burma's military-owned Union of Myanmar Economic Holdings Ltd (UMEHL). The mining project was launched in 2010.
Posted: 03 Jun 2013 02:56 AM PDT
Aung San Suu Kyi, center, receives the National Endowment for Democracy award from Carl Gershman and Madeleine Albright during a ceremony in Washington on Sept. 20, 2012.
Albright is on a five-day visit to Burma, arriving on Friday and meeting with Burmese political parties, ethnic leaders and civil society organizations on Sunday.
"She said she recognized the process of change in Burma and that she and the NDI are planning to help the country to continue this process," said Thu Wai, chairman of the Democratic Party.
"She said the NDI is currently helping Parliament by sending the parliamentarians abroad to learn about the politics and legislatures of foreign nations," he added. "She said NDI is willing to help civil society groups as well as every political party in order to foster effective participation in the reform process. She also said that she personally is willing to assist the country's education sector."
At the meeting, Albright asked party leaders about Burma's political environment and inquired as to the state of the country's civil society organizations. She also heard comments on the ongoing reform process more broadly.
"Albright asked us about the situation of the ethnic groups and the peace process with the government. We've explained to her that we will encourage the peace process and will go step by step to maintain the peace and stability of the country," said Khun Htun Oo, chairman of the Shan National League for Democracy.
"Since the visit of President Obama, the relationship between the US and Burma has already recovered, followed by the lifting of sanctions. Albright's visit will strengthen these relations, hopefully," he added.
Albright, who is currently the chairman of the NDI, is scheduled to meet with Burmese government officials and the country's pro-democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi, according to a statement released by the NDI.
"Secretary Albright said she will stress the importance of democracy and development hand in hand with the rule of law and the fundamental principles of tolerance, compromise and inclusiveness," the statement said.
Albright will also deliver remarks at Rangoon University in Burma's commercial capital on Tuesday.
On her last visit, Albright delivered tough talk to Burma's generals, warning that the country would face continued isolation if the leaders of the military junta at the time did not take steps toward greater political freedom and democracy for Burma's people. She met in 1995 with military intelligence leader Lt-Gen Khin Nyunt and other government officials, as well as Suu Kyi.
Posted: 03 Jun 2013 12:57 AM PDT
Bee Ya Nyein Pyit Naing sits outside the Buddhist monastery in Lashio, Shan State, where Muslims displaced by recent violence are sheltering. (Photo: Steve Tickner / The Irrawaddy)
It was there that Bee Ya, who is 18 years old, told The Irrawaddy his story; of how his parents tried to flee the violence last week, but were thwarted when their car came upon one of the angry mobs.
"There were about 30 people," Bee Ya said. "They blocked the car on the road. Then, they smashed the glass windows of the car while my parents were inside. My father was killed in the car while my mother escaped."
It was 1 pm on Wednesday, one day after a mosque, an Islamic orphanage and several shops in Lashio were burned to the ground.
"I was very close to my father when they blocked his car. I was driving my motorbike behind my father's car. Many of them [the rioters] attempted to slash me with their knives and I tried to avoid them and escaped from the incident. I could not do anything to help my father," he said.
Bee Ya is the youngest in a family that includes one older brother and two older sisters. He said his family ran a business selling cars and lived in Quarter Seven, which saw the worst of the violence. While their house remained untouched when they fled to the monastery, he said it was not clear if it would still be standing when the family returned.
"I did not know what had happened to my parents until the evening as I was afraid and hid. I came back to the place where my father was attacked to look at the situation. I found cloth from my father at the place.
"I asked some people near the neighborhood about my parents and they told me my father was killed on the spot and my mother was being treated at the hospital," he added.
He said it was only when he attended his funeral that he learned his father had been beaten to death.
"I visited my mom at the hospital with help from the Red Cross this morning [Friday]," Bee Ya said. Red Cross members hid him in a car and transported him to the hospital to see his mother.
Bee Ya described the relief he felt when he arrived at the hospital to find his mother with only minor wounds: a black eye, and some scrapes and bruises on her chin and head.
"My mind has a little calm now after I visited my mother, but I am sad for my father," he said.
"It is very sad to be without my father. I do not know and worry a lot about what will happen to my family without my father. All our family used to stay together and used to be a happy family. I have become a son without a father now."
Posted: 03 Jun 2013 12:48 AM PDT
An advertisement is seen for Myanmar Beer, which is partly controlled by the military-owned Union of Myanmar Economic Holdings. Another major Burmese beer maker, Mandalay Beer, is at the center of a long legal battle between its former joint owner and Burma's government, after the military junta nationalized the company in 1997.
Win Win Nu—who owned Mandalay Beer in a joint venture between Burma's Ministry of Industry (1) and her Singapore-based company, Yaung Chi Oo Trading—earned rights to produce the beer in a five-year contract starting in 1993.
In 1997, the brewery was confiscated by the military, reportedly after a fallout between Win Win Nu's company and Aung Thaung, then the minister of information. Win Win Nu left the country and was forced to withdraw from the investment.
The case was heard not only in Burma's domestic courts, but also in the International Court of Justice (ICJ) in The Hague, where Win Win Nu accused Burma's junta of forcibly nationalizing the company. The junta claimed Win Win Nu had misappropriated funds and later sued her in a court in Rangoon for allegedly scaring away other foreign investors.
Win Win Nu lost the ICJ case, but now under Burma's nominally civilian government she has decided to try her luck again.
"I was unlikely to get compensation if I asked the former military regime," Win Win Nu told The Irrawaddy recently. "Having presented the case to the International Court of Justice, I have strong evidence: I neither committed embezzlement nor had personal problems with U Aung Thaung."
Singapore-based Yaung Chi Oo suffered losses of US $7 million when the venture was compensated, she said. "And the factory still hasn't been transferred to a government department," she added.
During Win Win Nu's joint ownership, Mandalay Beer competed for market share with popular international brands including Heineken, Carlsberg, Singha and Foster's, as well as Chinese beers which entered Burma on the black market.
Many international brands including Heineken later left the Burmese market, facing pressure to stop conducting business in a country ruled by a junta with grave rights violations. Many are now forming joint ventures to reinter the market under the new government.
Win Win Nu was believed to have close ties to members of the former junta, including Khin Nyunt, who was then the head of the military intelligence unit.
Aung Thaung, the former minister, told The Irrawaddy that the Mandalay Beer contract was terminated because Yaung Chi Oo did not fulfill its obligation to invest $6 million within five years. He said the Singapore-based company invested just $1 million and did not cooperate with the factory's director on business matters.
"She [Win Win Nu] tried to show that she was familiar with authorities of higher rank, half the members of the cabinet and the military intelligence. I don't know what she intended, but it was intimidating for me," Aung Thaung, now a parliamentarian, said of their relationship during the joint venture.
"As Win Win Nu prosecuted the ministry at the International Court of Justice, we also did the same to her in domestic court for telling lies," he added. "But she didn't come to trial. So we regard her as an outlaw."
Aung Thaung said that the military's decision to nationalize Mandalay Beer was legal and that he believed Win Win Nu should provide compensation to the government.
Critics have said the junta's takeover of the brewery without prior negotiation made a stain on the country's investment record, raising concern for foreign investors.
The beer factory, built in 1859 and originally used to produce artillery, was turned into a brewery under the British in 1886. Japan operated the factory during World War II. The brewery is currently owned by the military-owned Union of Myanmar Economic Holdings Ltd.
Posted: 02 Jun 2013 11:18 PM PDT
The bodies of 12 people believed to be Burmese migrants workers are found off the coast of Thailand.
Posted: 02 Jun 2013 11:17 PM PDT
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Posted: 02 Jun 2013 11:16 PM PDT
Britain's top military chief, Gen Sir David Richards, is making a two-day visit to Burma, according to a report by the UK's Sky News network. Richards will meet with Burmese military leaders as well as President Thein Sein and opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi, the report said. The visit was described as "significant" because Richards is the highest-ranking military official to visit Burma since 1962, when the Burmese military seized power in a bloody coup. Richards is expected to congratulate the current government on its reforms over the past two years. He will also report on his assessment of the situation in Burma human rights abuses continue unabated, when he returns to the UK.
Posted: 02 Jun 2013 11:15 PM PDT
Twelve bodies believed to belong to Burmese migrants have been found floating off the coast of Thailand's Ranong Province, the Bangkok Post reports. The bodies of three women were discovered on Saturday, and nine others were found the next day, according to the newspaper. Pol Lt-Col Niran said that all 12 may have been traveling together by boat when they were hit by a severe storm. Thai police said are contacting their Burmese counterparts to beef up measures to prevent people travelling to Thailand illegally on boats.
Posted: 02 Jun 2013 11:15 PM PDT
Despite growing interest in Burma among foreign investors, the country has yet to attract a substantial influx of money from overseas. According to a report by the Wall Street Journal, foreign direct investment in Burma came to just US $1.4 billion in the fiscal year that ended in March—the same amount that Laos received last year, despite having a population 10 times smaller. The trickle was blamed in part on the lingering effect of decades of sanctions, but lack of infrastructure, power shortages, high land costs, scarcity of skilled workers, cronyism and corruption, unclear regulation and insufficient official capacity are also hurdles, the report said.
Posted: 02 Jun 2013 11:14 PM PDT
The Rakhine Nationalities Development Party (RNDP), which won 34 seats in Burma's Parliament in 2010, has set out a plan to merge with the Arakan League for Democracy, according to a report by the Narinjara news agency. In a statement issued on May 29, the RNDP said the move was the first part of its six-point plan, which also includes abolishing the rights of non-citizens who hold temporary National ID cards to establish political parties and vote in elections. Dr Aye Maung, president of RNDP, said the party had "formed a combining committee to merge with ALD party in order to achieve our goal of national unity," which he said was the party's "first priority."
Posted: 02 Jun 2013 11:14 PM PDT
China has increased its nuclear weapons by about 10 warheads in the past year, and other nuclear states appear set on maintaining their arsenals, a Swedish think tank said on Monday. At the start of the year, China had raised its number of nuclear warheads to 250 from 240 in 2012 as part of a process to modernize its defense, the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute said. However, it also said China is "highly non-transparent" when it comes to its nuclear arsenal. Bitter rivals Pakistan and India also increased their arsenals by around 10 warheads each. Meanwhile, the US and Russia continued their disarmament in accordance with the new START treaty that they signed in 2010.—AP
Posted: 02 Jun 2013 10:41 PM PDT
Zaw Zaw, center right, stands next to Burmese opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi at a children's hospital in Rangoon's Yankin Township. (Photo: Max Myanmar Facebook page)
The 366-room Novotel holds a story of how one man, who remembers being too poor to afford a soccer ball, built an empire by befriending the military government in what was one of the most oppressive and isolated countries on earth; and how, as Burma opens up, he is quickly breaking with the past to embrace a prosperous, cosmopolitan future in which one thing seems certain: He will not lose.
"I am friends with everybody," Zaw Zaw says, a big smile spreading across his youthful face.
The 45-year-old tycoon, who built his fortune capitalizing on Burma’s old networks of patronage and power, has demonstrated an agility in reconfiguring his business — and image — to suit a new global audience, and at a speed few have matched.
As the country emerges from a half century of military rule, his Max Burma Group is on track to more than double revenues, according to data he has not made public before.
His ability to ride the waves of change suggests that the old economic order may not be overturned as Burma opens its markets and deepens its embrace of democracy.
Just as the former military leaders have taken off their uniforms to refashion themselves as civilian lawmakers and bureaucrats, many of Burma’s dozen or so economic giants are rebranding themselves as entrepreneurs and working hard to take the stink out of the word “crony.”
Zaw Zaw, widely regarded as among the cleanest of the bunch, has moved faster — and more publicly — than his peers to take advantage of Burma’s reintegration with the global economy.
Though he remains on a US blacklist that bans American companies from doing business with friends of the old regime, the Max Burma Group is one of the nation’s most successful conglomerates, employing 11,000 people in sectors from hotels and banking to cement and construction.
France’s Accor Group has a deal with him to manage the Novotel in Rangoon and an MGallery hotel in Naypyitaw, the capital. Zaw Zaw says he is pursuing a joint venture with a Thai cement company, and trying to get his Ayeyarwady Bank in shape so he can bring in a foreign partner. He also made a bold effort to list his energy subsidiary on the Singapore Stock Exchange, though that was rejected in April over lingering concerns about his past.
Zaw Zaw acknowledges being friendly with the old military regime, arguing that there was no other way to succeed. "Only the government has projects," he says. "If I don’t do projects with them, who will I do projects with?"
His only crime as he sees it? "In this poor country, I have become rich."
Zaw Zaw was not born to power. The youngest of six children, he grew up in a two-room wooden house in Yeygi township in Burma’s southern delta. His father was a government servant, and his mother sold food and household sundries from their home.
In 1988, during his final year at the University of Rangoon, he was swept up in student protests against the military government that galvanized the nation. When the government began rounding up student leaders, he hid in the countryside for four months, then went to Singapore with the help of a cousin who found him a job as a sailor. He had US $80 in his pocket. It was the beginning of a six-year odyssey abroad.
While Burma’s xenophobic government sank deeper into isolation, Zaw Zaw saw the world, earning $200 a month as a deckhand. He went to Australia, Hong Kong, Iran, Taiwan, Japan and Africa. He learned English. He saw the development in other countries and grew ashamed of the poverty and repression of his own.
He saved $8,000 and headed to Bangkok, where he blew most of it at nightclubs with friends. In 1991, he bought a ticket to Japan with his last $650.
In Tokyo, he worked three jobs, as a cook, a dishwasher and a waiter. He learned Japanese. Determined to go into business, he began flipping through the yellow pages and cold-calling used car dealers. One was named Max Trading Co. Zaw Zaw became friendly with the owner, bought two Nissan sedans and sold them to his friends.
Thus was born the Max Burma Group. Zaw Zaw exported used cars to Burma and other developing countries. Taking advantage of a Burmese law that allowed each citizen living overseas to import one car, he snapped up other people’s import permits on the black market for around $500 each.
He also met his future wife, a woman from Burma then working in Japan too. "She was buying the car from me," he says. "At the end, she bought me."
The couple moved back to Burma in 1995 to marry. Zaw Zaw kept importing cars, then added more profitable sales of heavy construction equipment. From there, he went into construction, first as a subcontractor and then winning government contracts himself.
His businesses thrived on connections he developed with the military rulers. He founded a construction company in 2005 that laid the roads for Naypyitaw. Five months later, he started a hotel company that built hotels in the same city in exchange for coveted vehicle import licenses. He developed a jade mine in 2007 in a joint venture with the government.
In 2010, the ruling junta oversaw a rush of privatizations before handing power to a nominally civilian government. MaxBurma acquired 12 gas stations, part of the land for the coming Novotel hotel and a banking license, putting Zaw Zaw in good position to capitalize on the ensuing opening of Burma’s economy.
Today, the Max Burma headquarters in downtown Rangoon are outfitted with sleek burnished wood. Zaw Zaw welcomes visitors in royal red chairs rimmed with ornate silver. He is surrounded by a coterie of assistants, young men with firm handshakes, bright smiles and perfect English, some of whom left successful careers abroad to join Zaw Zaw.
He says he wants to become a global, or at least regional, player. "In Burma, we don’t have any single brand to compete in the world, or even the region," he says. That quest is forcing him to break many of the old rules. He has courted the political opposition and Western diplomats, both of which were anathema to the former military government. And in a system that long prized secrecy, he agreed to open his books, first to 48 inspectors from the Singapore Stock Exchange, and then to The Associated Press.
The revenues of the privately-held Max Burma Group, as reported to Burma’s tax authorities, show the direction Zaw Zaw is steering his empire, as well as the extent to which he has benefited from his friends in the former military government.
Revenues grew to $240 million in the year ended March 31, 2012, the latest full-year data available, up from $180 million a year earlier. They then jumped to an estimated $293 million in the six months through Sept. 30, thanks to a surge in construction income.
The banking license Zaw Zaw got three years ago has given rise to the fastest growing part of Zaw Zaw’s empire.
He and three other tycoons were summoned to a meeting with the government in June 2010 and given the licenses, he says. "Maybe they trust me," says Zaw Zaw, who had no prior experience in the field. "I really don’t know why they gave me the license."
Revenues at Ayeyarwady Bank grew to $20.2 million in the year ended March 31, up from $7.5 million the prior year, while net income surged from about $825,000 to $7 million.
The Max Burma Group’s business is shifting away from areas traditionally associated with cronyism. Revenues from his jade mine, which is nearing the end of its productive life, plunged to $1 million in the first half of this fiscal year, after totaling $17 million the prior year. His construction business still accounts for more than 90 percent of group revenue, but it is weaning itself from government projects in favor of private ones such as the Novotel. And he stopped importing cars in 2010.
Zaw Zaw says he has long admired opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi and began cultivating a relationship with her after her release from house arrest in November 2010. Her rapprochement with him and other crony businessmen has dismayed some of her allies.
"My objection is up till now what they are practicing is not good business, but making monopolies," says Win Tin, a journalist who spent 19 years as a political prisoner and helped found the National League for Democracy, the party led by Suu Kyi. "We can’t forgive them."
But he commends Zaw Zaw for handing back some disputed land for public use and for his high-profile charity projects — which totaled $2.3 million from 1993 through 2012, according to a glossy 75-page company brochure. "As far as I know, Zaw Zaw is the best one," he says of the cronies.
Despite his outreach and pro-reform rhetoric, Zaw Zaw remains on the US sanctions list, which makes it harder for him to access foreign capital. The US Embassy, in a June 2009 cable released by WikiLeaks, described him as "one of several mid-level cronies actively attempting to curry favor with the regime."
The sanctions list does not allow for redemption. It is designed to hold people accountable for past wrongs, regardless of whatever good work they may be doing now, a US State Department official said on condition of anonymity, because he was not authorized to speak to the media.
The Singapore Stock Exchange’s top concern in rejecting Zaw Zaw’s bid to list Max Energy — which now operates 31 gas stations — was his presence on the US sanctions list and the "lack of clarity" as to why he was placed there, according to a filing by the Singapore-based company that would have been his partner. The exchange also flagged unresolved allegations of human rights violations and tax evasion.
Zaw Zaw insists he has done nothing wrong and was placed on the US blacklist based, in part, on inaccurate information. “If somebody did wrong, they should be punished,” he says. “But don’t create rumors.”
The Accor Group, for one, is happy to do business with him. Patrick Basset, a senior vice president for the region, said in an email that the hotel group sees its partnership with Zaw Zaw partly as a way "to encourage positive changes."
And, as the glowing financial results in his books suggest, the US sanctions may be hurting Zaw Zaw’s pride more than his pocketbook.
Posted: 02 Jun 2013 11:06 PM PDT
In this photo taken on July 21, 2011, Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung gestures at the opening session of the new legislature in Hanoi, Vietnam. (Photo: AP)
Tensions in the decades-old territorial dispute between six Asian claimants have risen in recent weeks after Chinese vessels converged near a ship the Philippines ran aground on a reef in 1999 to mark its territory.
"Somewhere in the region, there have emerged preferences for unilateral might, groundless claims and actions that run counter to international law and stem from imposition and power politics," Nguyen Tan Dung said in a speech on Friday at the Shangri-La Dialogue, an annual regional security forum in Singapore.
"A single irresponsible action or instigation of conflict could well lead to the interruption of huge trade flows, causing unforeseeable consequences not only to regional economies but also to the entire world," he said in remarks translated from Vietnamese.
China claims almost all of the South China Sea as its territory, setting it directly against the Philippines and Vietnam as it displays the growing "blue water" reach of its navy and the United States turns more of its attention to Asia.
Brunei, Taiwan and Malaysia also claim parts of the South China Sea, whose waters are vital to the international flow of goods and energy and whose seabed is believed to contain rich deposits of oil and natural gas.
US Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel was attending the three-day forum convened by the International Institute for Strategic Studies (IISS), with the US "pivot" toward Asia, the region’s military build-up and the South China Sea high on the agenda.
Stressing the need for "strategic trust", Dung said the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) must stay united and strong, without any of its 10 members 'forced to take sides with one country or the other for the benefit of their own relationships with big powers."
ASEAN has been talking to China about a binding code of conduct to ease tensions but Beijing has said it will negotiate "when the time is ripe". ASEAN foreign ministers are due to meet in Thailand in August to forge a position on the code of conduct before meeting Chinese officials in Beijing.
Vietnam will not be a military ally to anyone or allow any country to set up military bases on its soil, Dung said, adding the modernization of its forces was “only for self-defense and to safeguard our legitimate interests”.
"OPPORTUNISTIC ASSERTIVENESS"
China’s response to the actions of its rival claimants may be part of a very long-term negotiating strategy, said Christian Le Miere, a senior fellow at the IISS.
"I would call it a form of opportunistic assertiveness whereby China is often aware that these actions are going to happen and then uses them as a justification for its overzealous reactions," Le Miere told a news conference.
"What we will continue to see is China trying to change the facts on the water and trying to build a stronger legal case and adapt the legal environment to its own benefit wherever possible and continue with its maximalist claims because they will, in the future, provide China with a stronger negotiation position."
A Chinese military think-tank, the Centre for National Defense Policy, said this week the US pivot to Asia had "shattered" the relative calm of the South China Sea.
"While the conditions do not yet exist for a large-scale armed clash, the dispute is becoming normalized and long-term … and ineffective management may lead to a serious crisis," the report said, according to the China News Service.
Washington says it is focusing more security, economic and diplomatic attention on Asia to engage the fast-growing region, which has fuelled Chinese suspicions that the United States is trying to contain its economic and military might.
Posted: 02 Jun 2013 10:31 PM PDT
US Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel (C) poses with Japan’s Defense Minister Itsunori Onodera (L) and South Korea’s Defense Minister Kim Kwan-jin at the 12th International Institute for Strategic Studies Asia Security Summit in Singapore. (Photo: Reuters)
In remarks laying out his vision for regional security, Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel assured allies and partners at the annual Shangri-La Security Dialogue in Singapore that the United States was fully able to continue its strategic pivot to the region despite budget constraints at home.
“It would be unwise and short-sighted to conclude … that our commitment to the rebalance cannot be sustained,” he said in prepared remarks, noting the United States represented 40 percent of global defense spending even under the “most extreme budget scenarios.”
Hagel sketched out some of the region’s thorniest security issues, including North Korea’s effort to develop nuclear weapons and missiles, competing territorial claims in the seas around China and disruptive activity in space and cyberspace.
While noting US concerns about cyber intrusions linked to the Chinese government and military, Hagel underscored his belief that resolving many regional security issues would require closer cooperation between Washington and Beijing.
“Building a positive and constructive relationship with China is … an essential part of America’s rebalance to Asia,” he said. “While the US and China will have our differences … the key is for those differences to be addressed on the basis of a continuous and respectful dialogue.”
On Friday, Hagel said cyber threats posed a “quiet, stealthy, insidious” danger to the United States and other nations, and called for “rules of the road” to guide behavior and avoid conflict on global computer networks.
CHINA QUESTIONS US MILITARY FOCUS
In questions and answers after Hagel’s speech, Chinese Major General Yao Yunzhu, an expert on US-China defense relations, asked the Pentagon chief what the United States could do to reassure China it really wants a positive relationship when it is focusing so many military resources on the region.
“That’s really the whole point behind closer military-to-military relationships,” Hagel said. “We don’t want miscalculations and misunderstandings and misinterpretations. And the only way you do that is you talk to each other, you have to be direct with each other … And I think we’re on track with that.”
Hagel outlined numerous military contacts between the two countries over the past year and said the United States encouraged the responsible rise of China and other powers because they would have a vested stake in regional stability.
The speech to the Asian security summit was Hagel’s first as defense secretary. But as a US senator he was an early supporter of the event, led the US congressional delegation to the inaugural session and has addressed the group several times.
Hagel emphasized US efforts to deepen ties with allies and partners in the region through both bilateral and multilateral engagement. He announced he was inviting defense ministers from the ASEAN grouping of nations to a first-ever US-hosted meeting in Hawaii next year.
“Relationships, trust and confidence are what matter most … in the region,” Hagel said.
The US defense chief used the speech to underscore his long experience with Asia – from his military service in Vietnam, to business travels in China as a cell phone executive to later visits to the region as a US senator.
“What I took away from all these experiences was a firm belief that the arc of the 21st century would be shaped by events here in Asia,” Hagel said, adding that was clear the United States would need to rebalance its resources toward the region once it ended its wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.
Hagel’s predecessor, Leon Panetta, told the Shangri-La gathering last year that the United States would commit 60 percent of its naval forces to the Asia-Pacific by 2020, a shift of about eight ships from the current deployment.
Building on that, Hagel told the conference the US Air Force would commit 60 percent of its overseas-based aircraft and airmen to the region – about the same level as now – while US Army troops and Marines would resume their Asia-Pacific roles as they draw down following the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.
Hagel said in the future the Pentagon would “prioritize deployments” of its most advanced weapons systems to the Pacific, including the radar-evading F-22 Raptor jet fighter, the stealth F-35 Joint Strike Fighter and the Virginia-class fast attack submarine.
He indicated the region could soon see other advanced systems as well, noting the Navy planned to deploy a directed energy laser weapon on the USS Ponce next year and last month successfully launched an experimental jet drone from an aircraft carrier for the first time.
“Combined with new concepts, doctrine and plans that integrate these new technologies and other game-changing capabilities, we will ensure freedom of action throughout the region well into the future,” Hagel said.
Posted: 02 Jun 2013 10:21 PM PDT
Student Scott Teng (L) speaks during a demonstration at "Speaker’s Corner" in Singapore October 5, 2008, when a small group protested against censorship at a university newspaper. (Photo: Reuters)
Last Tuesday, the Singapore Media Development Authority issued the new regulations, which it said were designed to place the websites "on a more consistent regulatory framework with traditional news platforms which are already individually licensed."
The protest group, calling itself "Free My Internet," is asking Singaporeans to rally in Hong Lim Park, the site of Singapore’s speaker’s corner, where a May 1 protest drew 3,000 participants protesting the government’s plans to let in vast numbers of new immigrants. It was said to be the biggest protest crowd in Singapore in modern times.
"We encourage all Singaporeans who are concerned about our future and our ability to participate in everyday online activities and discussions, and to seek out alternative news and analysis, to take a strong stand against the licensing regime which can impede on your independence," the organizers said.
"We urge Singaporeans to turn up to send a clear message to our elected representatives to trust the Singaporeans who elected them."
The message was signed by 35 bloggers, who asked all Singapore bloggers to go black for 24 hours from midnight June 6.
"You can choose to create your own blackout notice, or use www.freemyinternet.com we have created for your convenience," the group said. "When you reopen your blog, write your account of the protest, about the new regulations and censorship, or anything related to media freedom in Singapore. Share your thoughts. Share your hope that the light that free speech provides will not go out on us."
The Speaker’s Corner, modeled after London’s free speech site of the same name, is hardly free. Demonstrations are allowed only by Singapore citizens and attended by Singapore citizens. Banners, films, flags, photographs, placards, posters, signs, writing or other visible representations or paraphernalia containing violent, lewd or obscene material must not be displayed or exhibited, the government says.
Events must not deal with any matter that relates directly or indirectly to any religious belief or to religion generally, or which may cause feelings of enmity, hatred, ill-will or hostility between different racial or religious groups.
Events adhering to the regulations are not immune from other existing laws, such as those relating to defamation and sedition, which in Singapore can be extremely broad, especially when the Lee governing family is mentioned.
Asia Sentinel’s attempts to reach the Media Development Authority by telephone and email went unanswered last week.
The Singapore-based Channel News Asia, however, quoted the agency in an article on May 29 as saying the new licensing framework "is not intended to clamp down on internet freedom," adding that the regulations will only apply to news sites that meet the content and reach criteria.
But while the government was characterizing the new regulations as merely bringing the internet into line with print publication restrictions, the protesters said, they apply to all content on the news sites including readers’ comments. In the recent past, the Singapore government has gone after news sites for not erasing what are deemed to be offending comments fast enough, threatening lawsuits.
Any blog that reaches more than 50,000 unique visitors in a month and prints a single article of Singapore news within two weeks is liable to come under the regulation and to be forced to withdraw the story within 24 hours or be faced with forfeiting the bond although the bigger problem, for most bloggers, is coming up with the money in the first place.
Although bloggers have been a circumspect presence in Singapore for more than a decade, the government apparently grew irritated by reporting particularly by Yahoo News, the giant news aggregator that claims nearly 700 million Internet readers across the planet, for carrying stories on the arrest and deportations of striking Chinese bus drivers last December and the aftermath.
Among sites named as currently falling under the MDA’s guidelines, including Asia One, Business Times, Channel News Asia, Omy, Stomp, Straits Times, TNP, Today Online, Zaobao, and Yahoo, Channel News Asia reported.
"The License also makes it clear that online news sites are expected to comply within 24 hours to the MDA’s directions to remove content that is found to be in breach of content standards," the authority said on its website.
Presumably, that would mean Yahoo must remove the offending articles about the striking bus drivers, Leslie Chew and others within 24 hours of being notified by the authority. In particular, the MDA said the websites must take down content that "is prejudicial to racial harmony."
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