AllSBNews: The Irrawaddy Magazine

Thursday, February 5, 2015

The Irrawaddy Magazine

Peace Talks to Continue After Union Day, Bypassing Ceasefire Goal
Bagan Named World’s 2nd-Best City in Travel Awards
Tourism Ministry Moves to License International Tour Companies
Corporate Tax Evaders to Lose Their Licenses
Week of Protests Planned Against Suffrage for White Card Holders
Australian MP Pledged to Support Karen Resistance: KNDO Commander
UN Rights Envoy Rebuffs Foreign Ministry Criticism
$360k Drug Bust in Pa-O Territory, Shan State
Correction:
Mon National Day Festivities in Rangoon Draw Thousands
Death Toll From TransAsia Plane Crash in Taiwan Rises to 31
China Tightens Rules on Internet Use, Online Comments
India Eyes US Aircraft Carrier Technology as Arms Ties Deepen
Bird of Peace

Peace Talks to Continue After Union Day, Bypassing Ceasefire Goal

Posted: 05 Feb 2015 06:13 AM PST

President's Office Minister Aung Min addresses journalists after informal peace negotiations in Thailand on Feb 5, 2015. (Photo: Nyein Nyein / The Irrawaddy)

CHIANG MAI, Thailand — The signing of a nationwide ceasefire agreement on Union Day is officially off the agenda, after further talks between the government and ethnic army representatives were postponed to the middle of February.

The government's Union Peacemaking Working Committee and ethnic armed groups' Nationwide Ceasefire Coordinating Team (NCCT) met in Chiang Mai, on Thursday afternoon, a week before the Feb. 12 date President Thein Sein has set for the signing of a nationwide ceasefire accord with the country's rebel armies.

President's Office minister Aung Min told The Irrawaddy that after Thursday's meeting there had been no agreement on further talks on the draft ceasefire text before Union Day, a prerequisite of the NCCT for any possibility of a national peace accord.

Aung Min blamed the delay on the inability to bring all ethnic leaders to meet for discussions on account of numerous ethnic national days held over January and February.

"On our side, we have three parties in the Union Peacemaking Working Committee," he said, referring to the President, the parliament and the Burma Army. "It is much easier to make agreements between us than with representatives of the 16 different ethnic groups."

Nai Hong Sar, one of the leaders of the NCCT, said that while Thursday's meeting canvassed the United Nationalities Federal Council's proposals for a federal system of government, no decisions could be reached during the meeting.

"There has been no decision made yet for anything, including the next formal talks or the draft text of the ceasefire agreement," he said.

Aung Min said that he remained "positive" on the progress of peace talks, saying that 122 points of disagreement in the ceasefire text had been reduced to just eight disagreements left for resolution. He noted that official invitations had been extended to each of the 16 ethnic armed groups for the government's official Union Day commemoration.

The government peace negotiators also separately met leaders of the the Restoration Council of Shan State and will hold informal discussions with the Kachin Independence Organization on Friday.

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Bagan Named World’s 2nd-Best City in Travel Awards

Posted: 05 Feb 2015 06:00 AM PST

A hot air balloon glides over the temples of Bagan. (Photo: Reuters)

RANGOON — A UK-based travel magazine has designated the ancient Burmese city of Bagan as the second-best city in the world to travel to in its annual Travel Awards Survey, based on the votes of readers.

Bagan came in second behind the Unesco World Heritage-listed city of Luang Prabang in Laos in the "Top City" category of the Wanderlust Travel Magazine's 2015 awards, which also included the categories of top country, top emerging destination and top international airport.

Founded in 1993, the magazine announced the results of its latest survey on Jan. 29 during "Destinations," a holiday and travel show held in London. Burma also polled 9th in the "Top Country" awards category, with New Zealand claiming top spot.

Bagan was built from the 9th to 11th centuries, a period in which some 55 Buddhist kings ruled during the Bagan Dynasty. The ancient city covers an area of about 26 square km and features more than 3,000 temples. Around 120 temples have stucco paintings and 460 have mural paintings that are in urgent need of conservation work.

Zaw Win Cho, a resident of Bagan and a local tour guide, told The Irrawaddy that the award designation could help attract even greater numbers of tourists to the already popular city that was "full of ancient pagodas and scenes of rural life." He said that most visiting foreign tourists had told him that Bagan was a very peaceful city to spend time in.

"To sustain Burma's tourist attractions is a challenge," said Tin Aung Tun of the Union of Myanmar Travel Association. "The number of tourists coming to Burma has increased rapidly since 2013 and due to weakness in infrastructure and human resources we have had to work hard."

Kai Weise, a World Heritage expert involved in formulating a heritage nomination and protection plan for the temple complex of Bagan, told The Irrawaddy in October last year that the site was on track to achieve a Unesco World Heritage Site listing within the next few years.

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Tourism Ministry Moves to License International Tour Companies

Posted: 05 Feb 2015 04:35 AM PST

The Mahabodhi temple compound in the Indian sacred city of Bodh Gaya is one of the most popular overseas destinations for Burmese nationals. (Photo: Desmond Boylan / Reuters)

RANGOON — The government will begin issuing licenses for outbound international tour operators starting from this month, an official from the Ministry of Hotels and Tourism said.

Myo Win Nyunt, a director from the Ministry of Hotels and Tourism, told The Irrawaddy on Thursday that the Ministry had released the regulations for outbound tour companies on Feb. 1 and travel companies can now begin applying for licenses to offer overseas trips for Burmese nationals. According to the new regulations, local operators will be able to legally partner with foreign companies.

"Many Burmese citizens are traveling to overseas countries for medical treatment, tourism and other reasons," he said. "But local travel agencies don't have the authority to offer overseas travel. Now customers will have legal guarantees and can complain if companies provide poor service."

Ordinary Burmese citizens have long been subject to onerous restrictions on international travel, and the 1993 Tourism Law, which remains in effect despite growing momentum towards a legislative overhaul, subjects local tour operators and hoteliers to a strict operating framework. The restrictions on outbound tours now being relaxed are the result of a regulatory change at the Tourism Ministry.

As more Burmese citizens are able to travel abroad, Myo Win Nyunt said that a study of travel markets in neighboring countries and extensive consultations with operators and the Union of Myanmar Tourism Association has prompted a redrafting of ministry rules on travel.

Eligible tour companies will need to have operated for at least two years and prove bank deposits of at least 10 million kyats (US$9700) to cover potential legal liabilities.

"The regulation is needed for both companies and customers, so that customers can seek legal redress if they encounter problems during their travel," said Tin Tun Aung, joint secretary of the Union of Myanmar Travel Association.

Despite the longstanding ban, many local tour companies are already offering international travel packages. A growing number of Burmese citizens are traveling to the Buddhist sacred site of Bodh Gaya in India, along with destinations in Asia and Europe, since the gradual introduction of political and economic reforms in Burma over the last four years.

"Bodh Gaya is the site that most Burmese citizens are traveling to, and Singapore and Bangkok are popular for shopping trips and medical treatment," said Tin Tun Aung.

The biennial license fee for tour operators currently stands at 400,000 kyats (US$388), with over 1600 companies registered for internal tour operations. Myo Win Nyunt said that the Tourism Ministry expects local companies currently offering international trips to seek accreditation under the new regulations, potentially leading to ramifications further down the line for outbound operators unable to meet required bank deposit levels.

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Corporate Tax Evaders to Lose Their Licenses

Posted: 05 Feb 2015 04:29 AM PST

Cashiers behind piles of kyat banknotes in a private bank in Rangoon. (Photo: Reuters)

RANGOON — In an effort to tighten up Burma's loosely enforced tax system, nearly 200 domestic companies will be de-registered for evasion, officials announced on Wednesday.

The Directorate of Investment and Company Administration (DICA) said a total of 197 firms in Karen State, Tennasserim and Pegu divisions will lose their legal standing as of Feb. 28 after several years of skirting payments.

The announcement, published on the directorate's website, did not specify what sectors dominated the list. Those companies set to be delisted were instructed to contact the Myanmar Investment Commission before the end of the month to settle outstanding debts and re-register.

Section 247 of the Myanmar Company Act grants the directorate authority to revoke business licenses for tax evasion, though it has never before been publicly accountable for implementing the procedure.

DICA collaborates with the Internal Revenue Department (IRD) by reporting the total number of companies that applied for business licenses throughout the fiscal year. The IRD then calculates the disparity between total businesses and corporate taxpayers.

Saw Swe, assistant director of the Rangoon Division IRD corporate tax collection department, said the city alone has 4,913 companies that have yet to pay their taxes as the registration deadline nears. Some of those companies haven't paid in as many as three years.

"We've been contacting those companies about making tax payments, but those are just the ones in Yangon [Rangoon]," he said, explaining that the companies delisted on Wednesday were located in other states and divisions making them difficult to contact. Tax assessments are made by state and divisional departments of DICA and the IRD.

Tax evasion is a chronic problem for Burma's revenue department, which claims a total of 10,670 companies nationwide did not pay duties for the 2012 fiscal year. DICA's current roster of registered licensed companies suggests there could be more than 30,000, which would mean less than two-thirds of companies paid up.

Taxpayer data are not yet available for the 2013 fiscal year. An IRD inspector told The Irrawaddy that the number of active companies with outstanding tax balances won't be calculated until all companies seeking to renew their licenses are checked against the IRD's annual records.

The IRD was formed in 1972 and falls under Burma's Ministry of Finance. The department is responsible for the collection of income tax, commercial tax, stamp duties and lottery tax, which is expected to bring in roughly 4 trillion kyats (US$4 billion) in the coming year.

In the first half of the current fiscal year, nearly $2 billion was collected: $1 billion in income and property tax; $900 million in commercial tax; $37 million in stamp duties; and $16 million in lottery tax.

In late December 2014, the department published a list of the top 1,000 corporate taxpayers, headed by Kanbawza Group of Companies' $17 million in payments. Myawaddy Trading Co Ltd and Dagon Beverages Co Ltd topped the sales tax list, each paying upwards of $10 million.

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Week of Protests Planned Against Suffrage for White Card Holders

Posted: 05 Feb 2015 03:41 AM PST

A man identified as an ethnic Bengali holds up his temporary citizen "white card." (Photo: JPaing / The Irrawaddy)

RANGOON — Nationalist monks and laypeople plan to stage seven days of protests beginning on Monday to denounce a parliamentary decision this week allowing temporary citizens to vote in a nationwide referendum on constitutional reform.

Burma's Union Parliament on Monday passed the controversial law enfranchising temporary citizens, also known as "white card holders," ahead of the charter vote in May. In doing so, the 2015 referendum law grants the ballot to about 1.5 million people who live in Burma but do not enjoy full citizenship rights.

Protests will be held in Rangoon and Sittwe, Arakan State, with organizers in the commercial capital planning a march from the eastern gate of Shwedagon Pagoda to the Rangoon Division parliamentary building. Applications seeking authorities' permission for the protests have already been submitted to the Bahan Dagon townships' police stations, organizers say.

"If there is not a single response after seven days of protests, we plan a protest march to Naypyidaw," said Win Ko Ko Latt, one of the protest organizers. "Others townships also have an interest in this issue. We will alert them in order to coordinate."

"It's not like we won't protest because it's the government or a big organization," said the abbot of Magwe Monastery, U Parmoutkha. "We will do what we should be doing to any government or any organization that harms the nation and [will ensure] religion in this country does not disappear."

The National Democratic Force (NDF) party has also joined in the backlash against Parliament, releasing a statement on Wednesday urging the legislature to reconsider and reverse its decision granting temporary citizens the right to vote in the referendum.

"The Union Parliament's decision is officially allowing non-citizens 'the right to vote'—the highest right for a citizen. That decision diminishes a Burmese citizen's birthright … and is also officially sanctioning the infringement of state sovereignty."

The NDF also urged the government to provide national identity cards in short order to any person who currently holds only a temporary citizen white card if they belong to one of the 135 officially recognized ethnic groups in Burma, in accordance with the 1982 Citizenship Law.

White card holders lack full citizenship for a variety of reasons and include Burma-born ethnic Chinese and Indians, but the largest group of white card holders is Rohingya Muslims in Arakan State, a group that is not recognized as one of Burma's 135 ethnic groups. The government refers to them as Bengali, implying they are illegal immigrants from Bangladesh.

Though white cards have existed for more than two decades, the controversy took an overtly political turn in the lead up to the 2010 parliamentary election, when the then junta government enfranchised about 1.5 million non-citizens for a poll that swept the military-backed Union Solidarity and Development Party (USDP) to power. Critics said the move effectively amounted to vote buying.

The Buddhist nationalist monk U Wirathu released a statement on Tuesday, asking the president, Parliament and Union Election Commission to rescind temporary citizens' referendum franchise, calling white card holders "illegal immigrants."

"If white card holders—who are harming ethnic interests—are allowed to vote in the coming general election as they will [in the referendum], I will lead in meting out the retribution," he said.

Additional reporting by May Sitt Paing.

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Australian MP Pledged to Support Karen Resistance: KNDO Commander

Posted: 05 Feb 2015 03:29 AM PST

Soldiers from the Karen National Liberation Army and the government-backed Border Guard Force enjoy a brief moment of détente during Karen Resistance Day celebrations in 2013. (Photo: Vincenzo Floramo / The Irrawaddy)

CHIANG MAI, Thailand — Australian MP Luke Simpkins, who last month made a covert visit into eastern Burma, has conveyed his support to Karen ethnic armed groups and spoken against continuing human rights violations in the country.

Australia's Fairfax newspaper group reported on Tuesday that Simpkins made an unauthorized crossing into Burma from the Thai border town of Mae Sot in order to attend the Jan. 31 celebrations of Karen Resistance Day, the anniversary of the 1949 commencement of the Karen independence struggle against Burmese rule.

Simpkins travelled to a base of the Karen National Defense Organization (KNDO), one of the military wings of the Karen National Union, at the invitation of Maj-Gen Ner Dah Mya.

"[Mr. Simpkins] recognized that there are still human rights abuses in ethnic regions in Burma," Ner Dah Mya told The Irrawaddy on Thursday. "He supports our resistance movement and said that our struggle is the right thing to do. We stand for our people, and he encouraged us."

Simpkins presented an Australian flag to the KNDO chief during the ceremony. Speaking to Fairfax on his return to Thailand, the MP justified the use of arms by ethnic groups in their pursuit of a political settlement with the Burmese government, and said he would be reporting on the situation to the Australian Foreign Minister.

The KNDO commander was hopeful that the MP would help influence the Australian government's foreign policy on Burma.

"As he is a member of parliament in Australia, he has official authority to speak out. And I hope he can explain to his government the situation on the ground when he arrives back in Australia," Ner Dah Mya. "We are still struggling for our fundamental rights. It is not easy to succeed in our objective without support from the international community. We need support for our demands of equal rights, self-determination, and autonomy."

Simpkins is a member of the Liberal Party of Australia, the senior partner of the incumbent Coalition government. Before his election to parliament in 2007, he was an officer of the Australian Federal Police and spent 15 years in the army, retiring with the rank of Major.

He has raised human rights issues in Burma several times over the course of his political career, according to the Australian parliamentary Hansard. In 2008, Simpkins used an adjournment debate to denounce the State Peace and Development Council and the continuing house arrest of National League for Democracy chairwoman Aung San Suu Kyi.

In recent years, Simpkins has described conditions at refugee camps on the Thai-Burma border to advocate the Liberal Party's refugee resettlement policies, highlight the human rights abuses facing ethnic minorities in Burma, and question the sincerity of the political and economic reforms initiated by President Thein Sein.

The politician joins the ranks of several other Australians to have become enthralled by the Karen cause. Professor Des Ball, a security expert from the Australian National University, has instructed KNLA in insurgency techniques since the beginning of the last decade. Former Special Air Service soldier David Everett joined the Karen rebellion in 1986, before returning to Perth and committing a spate of armed robberies in the hopes of raising funds for the Karen National Liberation Army (KNLA). Everett was ultimately apprehended and jailed for 11 years.

Aung San Suu Kyi made her first visit to Australia last year, a country which is home to a significant Burmese diaspora. The Australian Bureau of Statistics reports that over 20,000 people claim Burma as their country of birth, and Burmese nationals were the third highest recipients of Australian humanitarian visas in 2012-13, according to Australia's Department of Immigration and Border Protection.

Sean Gleeson contributed reporting from Rangoon.

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UN Rights Envoy Rebuffs Foreign Ministry Criticism

Posted: 05 Feb 2015 01:39 AM PST

Yanghee Lee speaks to reporters in Rangoon in July 2014. (Photo: JPaing / The Irrawaddy)

CHIANG MAI, Thailand — The United Nations human rights envoy to Burma on Thursday hit back at government claims she was infringing upon state sovereignty and exacerbating tensions in the country, saying the criticism was "hard to comprehend."

Yanghee Lee, the Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights in Burma, told The Irrawaddy she was surprised at the various charges leveled at her by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in a press release published in state-run media on Wednesday.

"I have a mandate to monitor and report on the human rights situation of Burma and it's really difficult to understand why the sovereignty issue was brought up," Lee said. "I [report] in a constructive manner and I've been very transparent throughout my mandate so far."

The ministry's Wednesday press release, issued in response to Lee's statement on Jan. 16 at the conclusion of a 10-day visit to the country, accused the rapporteur of "selectivity" and specifically objected to her remarks on Rohingya, land issues, political prisoners, media freedom and the controversial "protection of race and religion" legislative package currently before parliament.

Lee, who was appointed to the role of rapporteur in June 2014, told The Irrawaddy, "I would certainly encourage the foreign minister to go back and read my end of mission statement very carefully because I [also] brought out a lot of positive developments that I'd seen in the past six months."

The rapporteur questioned the ministry's assertion that the race and religion draft laws were in accordance with the will of the people, describing the four bills as "clearly against all international norms" and in breach of Burma's international human rights treaty obligations.

She also defended her use of the term Rohingya to describe the group of over 1 million people in conflict-torn Arakan State derogatively referred to by some members of the Burmese government as "Bengali." In its statement, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs said that using such "controversial terminology" would only exacerbate tensions in the state.

"Everybody has the right to self-identification," Lee said, while acknowledging sensitivities over the term and the concerns of Buddhists in Arakan State. "The fixation on the word is really paralyzing any resolution and we need to go beyond this fixation."

Special rapporteurs in Burma have routinely attracted the ire of Burmese officials determined to play down human rights concerns. Community opposition to envoys' visits has also occasionally surfaced, including in September 2013, when the convoy of then UN Special Rapporteur Tomás Ojea Quintana was set upon by a crowd of around 200 people while traveling through the city of Meiktila in central Burma.

Yanghee Lee also encountered some local opposition during her second visit to the country last month, including demonstrations in Sittwe and Rangoon.

In a now infamous address at a demonstration in Burma's commercial capital on Jan. 16, nationalist Buddhist monk U Wirathu labeled the envoy a "whore" and a "bitch" for her criticism of the draft race and religion bills.

"Freedom of expression is a right that everybody [is entitled to] and should be protected," Lee told The Irrawaddy. "However, I was rather shocked to hear these statements come from a man of the Buddhist clergy, Wirathu…I don't think there's anybody in the United Nations system that has ever been described in those terms."

Asked whether the government should have issued a statement condemning Wirathu's inflammatory speech, Lee said that would have been the "common expectation."

"As a responsible member of the international community, [Burma should] eradicate and prevent hate speech and incitement," Lee added.

The Special Rapporteur is due to submit her latest report on the human rights situation in Burma to the UN Human Rights Council in March.

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$360k Drug Bust in Pa-O Territory, Shan State

Posted: 05 Feb 2015 01:31 AM PST

Five drug-busts have been carried out in Shan State's Pinlaung Township since the start of 2015. (Photo: Pinlaung Police Force Anti-Narcotics Squad)

RANGOON — Anti-narcotics police seized a major drug haul in the Pa-O self-administered zone of eastern Burma on Tuesday, the fifth such operation since the start of the year.

During a raid on a house in Nan Hta village, located in the ethnic Pa-O territory in Shan State, police hauled in more than 360 million kyats (US$360,000) worth of raw opium, morphine and an array of materials typically used to refine opium.

"We seized the raw opium from the top floor of the house, and the morphine was buried in the ground under the lower floor. Materials used for refining opium were found in a cave about 50 yards from the house," said Officer Kyaw Min Tun of Pinlaung Township's Anti-Narcotics Squad No. 26.

The officer said that the owner of the house has been arrested and two of his accomplices fled the scene and remain at large.

The raid was the fifth and largest in the township this year, while a total of 88 similar operations were carried out in 2014, he added.

Police Chief Myint Thein said two refineries were found and shut down just outside the township in early 2014, but the effort to eradicate drugs in the area is ongoing.

Burma is the world's second biggest opium producer after Afghanistan, yielding 670 metric tons with a wholesale value of around US$340 million in 2014, according to the UN Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC). A total of 57,600 hectares of land were used to cultivate opium, much of which is located in ethnic minority areas, such as the Pa-O self-administered zone.

The UNODC warned late last year that drug use among communities in opium-producing areas has more than doubled since 2012.

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Correction:

Posted: 05 Feb 2015 12:42 AM PST

In a story titled "Hurdles and Wins for Emerging Business," by contributor William Boot, published in the January edition of The Irrawaddy magazine and online on Jan. 28, some information was incorrectly attributed to the Rangoon-based business advisory group Consult Myanmar. In fact Consult Myanmar was not the source for any information in the story, and the contributor made an error in attribution. The Irrawaddy apologizes for the error and has removed the story from its online edition.

February 05, 2015

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Mon National Day Festivities in Rangoon Draw Thousands

Posted: 04 Feb 2015 11:32 PM PST

Ethnic Mon in Rangoon celebrate Mon National Day on Wednesday. (Photo: Timo Jaworr / The Irrawaddy)

RANGOON — Thousands of ethnic Mon in Rangoon on Wednesday celebrated the 68th anniversary of their national day, a spirited commemoration marking the establishment of their most enduring kingdom nearly 15 centuries ago.

Nai Pe Tin, who organized the event as a member of the Mon Literature and Culture Committee, said the day was a chance to bring together a community whose ancestors also founded Rangoon in the 11th century.

"We wanted all our Mon in Rangoon to meet in one place because we have scattered a lot from each other," he said. "This is the time when we can meet here once a year. We can help each other. We want you all to be happy and love your nationality. This is why we celebrate this event."

Mon National Day is also celebrated across Mon State in southeast Burma, both in government and Mon rebel-controlled areas. At the festivities on Wednesday in Mon State, performers marched with ethnic Mon flags, wearing traditional white tops and red longyis as they sang and danced to the beat of drums.

The ethnic Mon population in Burma is estimated at more than 2 million.

Since the advent of Burma's political reforms in 2011, the ethnic Mon population in Rangoon has been allowed to celebrate its national day openly. Previously, the military government prohibited widespread commemoration in Burma's biggest city.

This year's celebration comes as the Burmese government pushes the country's ethnic armed groups to sign a nationwide ceasefire agreement. The ethnic Mon armed group known as the New Mon State Party, which renewed a bilateral ceasefire with the government in 2012, is one of the organizations that have been asking to sign the accord.

Dr. Min Tin Mon, a Mon leader, spoke on the country's peace process at Wednesday's event in Rangoon.

"Better to negotiate until we can reach a peace agreement between the Mon and the government. If we can reach an agreement, this life will be delightful. By fighting each other, our country has become more and more poor. People have become homeless and jobless in the country. Crime has grown in the country because there is no peace."

Mon National Day commemorates the establishment of the first Mon kingdom, Hongsawadee, in 573 AD. It is marked annually one day after the full moon day of the lunar month of Thabodwe.

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Death Toll From TransAsia Plane Crash in Taiwan Rises to 31

Posted: 04 Feb 2015 10:29 PM PST

Emergency personnel retrieve the body of a passenger from the wreckage of a TransAsia Airways turboprop ATR 72-600 aircraft after it crashed in a river in New Taipei City on Feb. 4, 2015. (Photo: Reuters)

TAIPEI — The death toll from a TransAsia Airways plane that crashed into a Taipei river shortly after taking off has risen to 31, Taiwanese officials said on Thursday, and could rise further with 12 people still missing.

TransAsia Flight GE235, carrying 58 passengers and crew, lurched between buildings, clipped an overpass with one of its wings and crashed upside down into shallow water shortly after taking off from a downtown Taipei airport on Wednesday.

Taiwan's Civil Aeronautics Administration (CAA) said 15 people survived. Sixteen of those killed were from among a group of 31 Chinese tourists, most from the southeastern city of Xiamen, it said. Three Chinese passengers were rescued.

The pilot and co-pilot of the almost-new turboprop ATR 72-600 were among those killed, the CAA said. TransAsia identified the pilot as 42-year-old Liao Chien-tsung.

Both the pilots' bodies had been recovered, TransAsia said on Thursday as sketchy details of the plane's final moments began to emerge.

Dramatic pictures captured by a passing motorist showed the plane careening over an overpass, its nose up as its port-side wing struck the roadway just meters from passing cars.

Taiwanese media reported that it appeared Liao had fought desperately to steer his stricken aircraft between apartment blocks and commercial buildings close to Taipei's Songshan airport before crashing into the river.

The head of Taiwan's CAA, Lin Tyh-ming, has said Liao had 4,916 flying hours under his belt and the co-pilot 6,922 hours.

Taiwanese media reported that Liao came from a poor family.

The son of two street vendors, he studied hard before passing exams to join Taiwan's air force. He later flew for China Airlines, Taiwan's main carrier, before joining TransAsia.

TransAsia's shares closed down 6.9 percent on Wednesday, its biggest percentage decline since late 2011. The crash was the latest in a string of aviation disasters in Asia in the past 12 months.

Macau's Civil Aviation Authority said in a statement on Wednesday the engines of the plane that crashed had been replaced at Macau Airport on April 19 last year, during its delivery flight, "due to engine-related technical issues."

It said the engines were replaced by TransAsia engineers and the plane left Macau airport two days later.

Lin from Taiwan's CAA said the aircraft last underwent maintenance on Jan. 26.

The plane was powered by two Pratt & Whitney PW127M engines. Pratt & Whitney is part of United Technologies.

The last communication from one of the pilots was "Mayday Mayday engine flameout," according to an air traffic control recording on liveatc.net.

A flameout occurs when the fuel supply to the engine is interrupted or when there is faulty combustion, resulting in an engine failure. Twin-engined aircraft, however, are usually able to keep flying even when one engine has failed.

Taiwan officials said on Wednesday the plane's black box data recorder had been recovered but no information from it had been made available yet.

Television footage overnight showed cranes lifting the broken fuselage from the river after rescuers in rubber boats had pulled survivors from the water.

The plane was bound for the Taiwan island of Kinmen, not far from Xiamen. TransAsia said it would fly members of the Chinese passengers' families to Taiwan on Wednesday.

Taiwan has had a poor aviation safety record in recent years, including the disintegration of a China Airlines 747 on a flight from Taipei to Hong Kong in 2002, killing 225.

One of TransAsia's ATR 72-500 planes crashed while trying to land at Penghu Island last July, killing 48 people.

The disappearance of a Malaysia Airlines jet last March and the downing of a sister plane over Ukraine four months later resulted in the combined loss of 537 lives. The crash of an AirAsia jet bound for Singapore from Indonesia on Dec. 28 killed all 162 people on board.

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China Tightens Rules on Internet Use, Online Comments

Posted: 04 Feb 2015 09:34 PM PST

An internet café in Shanxi province. (Photo: Reuters)

BEIJING — China announced Wednesday that users of blogs and chat rooms will be required to register their names with operators and promise in writing to avoid challenging the Communist political system, further tightening control over Internet use.

The announcement follows what technology companies say are official efforts in recent weeks to block virtual private networks that are used to circumvent China’s extensive Internet filters. China has the world’s biggest population of Internet users with 649 million people online but increasing censorship has chilled the popularity of social media.

Beijing has required Internet companies since 2012 to obtain real names of some users. But compliance was uneven and the rules failed to specify what services were covered.

The latest announcement extends that "real name" registration requirement to blogs, microblog services such as the popular Sina Weibo and website comment sections. Such settings offer many Chinese their only opportunity to express themselves in public in a society in which all media are controlled by the ruling Communist Party.

The rules also require Internet services for the first time to have users sign a contract that includes a pledge to refrain from "illegal and unhealthy" activity.

Wednesday’s announcement affirmed an earlier prohibition against posting material deemed a threat to state power or national security—terms the ruling party uses to describe opposition to Communist rule. It said operators will be required to deactivate accounts of violators.

The ruling party encourages Internet use for business and education but tries to block material deemed subversive or obscene. Beijing regularly launches new censorship initiatives to respond to changes such as the growing popularity of social media.

The Cyberspace Administration of China said the latest rules are needed to combat "username chaos." In a statement, the agency said users took inappropriate online names such as Putin and Obama, promoted "vulgar culture," committed fraud by pretending to be Communist Party officials or agitated for separatist causes.

Operators will be required to assign an employee to review and keep track of user details to ensure they comply, the agency said.

The government of President Xi Jinping has been calling on Internet companies since last year to "spread positive energy" online.

In May, Sina Corp., which operates one of China’s most popular Internet platforms, said it was penalized for allowing "unhealthy and indecent content" online. Sina was fined $815,000 and stripped of two of its licenses for Internet publication and online transmission of audio-visual programs.

In a statement on its own Sina Weibo microblog account, Sina said it "firmly supports" the new measures. It posted instructions for users to alert censors to possible violators.

China operates the world’s most extensive system of Internet monitoring and filters. It blocks access to websites abroad run by human rights and other activist groups, as well as popular services such as the Google search engine and Facebook.

Until recently, users of virtual private network, or VPN, services were able to skirt those restrictions to reach business tools operated by Google and other blocked sites. But in recent weeks, some companies that operate VPNs, which encrypt traffic to prevent censors from reading it, say tighter controls have disrupted their services.

The government has not confirmed it was responsible for the blockage. But an official of the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology, responding to a question about it at a Jan. 27 news conference, said, "harmful information should be managed according to Chinese laws."

Censorship also has eroded the popularity of social media such as Sina Weibo, which freelance journalists and independent commentators used to distribute news reports and essays. The number of users has declined since Beijing tightened control in 2013 over how such services could be used.

The number of microblog users as of the end of last year declined to 249 million, some 7.1 percent, or 32 million people, below 2013, according to a state-authorized research body, the China Internet Network Information Center.

The post China Tightens Rules on Internet Use, Online Comments appeared first on The Irrawaddy.

India Eyes US Aircraft Carrier Technology as Arms Ties Deepen

Posted: 04 Feb 2015 09:28 PM PST

A crew member walks on the deck of INS Vikramaditya, Indian Navy's aircraft carrier, anchored off the coast of Mumbai on Dec. 3, 2014. (Photo: Reuters)

NEW DELHI — India wants to use state-of-the-art US technology to boost the range and potency of a planned aircraft carrier, defense sources said, a move that would tie their arms programs closer together and counter China's military influence in the region.

The proposal, referred to only obliquely in a joint statement at the end of US President Barack Obama's recent visit to New Delhi, is the clearest signal yet that Washington is ready to help India strengthen its navy.

Ashton Carter, Obama's nominee for defense secretary, said he would take a strong interest in strengthening US-India ties if confirmed, and a "great deal" could be done to expand military and defense technology cooperation.

"India is destined to be a strategic partner of the United States," Carter told the US Senate Armed Services Committee at his confirmation hearing on Wednesday.

Although the aircraft carrier in question would not be ready for at least another decade, such cooperation could act as a balance against China's expanding presence in the Indian Ocean.

It would also represent a shift away from India's traditional reliance on Russia for military hardware, particularly if, as some experts expect, it leads to knock-on orders for US aircraft in the longer term.

After years of neglect, India's navy is in the midst of accelerated modernization under Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

It inducted an old aircraft carrier from Russia in 2014 to add to an ageing British vessel likely to be decommissioned in 2018. Soon after taking office last year, Modi cleared funds to ensure another carrier being built domestically was ready for service in 2018.

He also endorsed navy plans for a further carrier which would be its largest. It is this one that may be built with US technology, a Defense Ministry source and two former navy vice admirals with ties to the naval establishment said.

The joint statement by Obama and Modi spoke of a "working group to explore aircraft carrier technology sharing and design" as part of the Defense Trade and Technology Initiative.

Defense officials said this could lead to direct US participation in building the 65,000-tonne INS Vishal carrier.

"The US Navy is the only one that operates large carriers today, so we are looking at what they can offer, what is possible," the defense source said.

Former Indian vice admiral Arun Kumar Singh said naval planners want a carrier that can launch heavier planes, and the only way to do that is from flat decks which US carriers have instead of Russian "ski-jump" decks.

"The Americans, I believe, have said 'OK, we will help you design a ship and you also buy our catapults' to launch aircraft," he said.

Former rear admiral Ravi Vohra said the Indian navy's ultimate objective was a five-carrier fleet comprising a mix of large and small carriers.

At the heart of the proposed collaboration is a US offer to share the Electromagnetic Aircraft Launch System (EMALS) developed by General Atomics and which is now being installed on the Gerald R. Ford class of carriers that are joining the navy.

The new system means jets can launch off a flat deck at a faster rate and with less fatigue to aircraft.

US defense and industry officials said sensitivities over selling advanced EMALS technology to India meant any major movement on the carrier question was unlikely in the near term.

Two sources familiar with the issue added that the US response to Indian overtures had been cool until very recently.

"Things are finally beginning to look a lot more positive," said one of the sources, who was not authorized to speak publicly.

For India it is a big leap. Its existing carrier force uses ski-jump ramps to help planes take off and uses wires to slow them down when landing. For that reason, planes have to be lighter and fewer in number.

With an EMALS system on a flat deck, India's navy planners hope to increase the number of aircraft on board the INS Vishal to 50 from 34 and field heavier fighter jets with longer range as well as airborne early warning aircraft.

"EMALS is one of the most revolutionary things in carrier technology because it completely changes the way you fire a plane off the top of a ship," said James Hardy, Asia-Pacific editor for IHS Jane's Defense Weekly.

"The Chinese have been talking about getting it for their carriers for a long time … but it's quite a big technological ask."

The Indian defense source said representatives of General Atomics showed the technology to members of a Naval Design Bureau working on the next-generation carrier back in 2013.

The Defense Ministry declined to comment.

China is operating a lone carrier, the 60,000-tonne Liaoning bought from Ukraine, but reports have circulated of a second carrier under development.

Beijing wants to develop an ocean-going "blue water" navy capable of defending its interests as it adopts a more assertive stance in territorial disputes with its neighbors in the South China Sea.

Modi has sought to improve ties with China, seeing it as a vital economic partner. But New Delhi has been rattled by Chinese naval forays in the Indian Ocean, including when a submarine docked last year in Sri Lanka.

Vijay Sakhuja, director of the Defense Ministry-funded National Maritime Foundation think tank, said US involvement in the flight-launch technology of an Indian carrier could lead to future deals for US aircraft makers.

"It is early days yet, but once we get this carrier deck technology from the US, maybe there will be a joint development of fighter jets to be operated out of it."

The post India Eyes US Aircraft Carrier Technology as Arms Ties Deepen appeared first on The Irrawaddy.

Bird of Peace

Posted: 04 Feb 2015 08:52 PM PST