| Violence Flares Again in Arakan State Posted: 04 Nov 2013 08:09 AM PST  Children displaced by violence in Pauktaw Township in 2012 wash themselves at Owntaw IDP camp for Muslims outside Sittwe in Arakan State. (Photo: Reuters) An Arakanese woman was killed and another severely injured after they were stabbed by Muslim men wielding spears in a village of Pauktaw Township on Saturday, in an attack reportedly carried out in retaliation for the discovery a Muslim man's dead body in strife-torn Arakan State. The three unidentified Muslim men confronted a group of six Arakanese women who were collecting mussels along the coast near Sinai village, some 10 miles from Pauktaw.Ma Hla Khin, an Arakanese woman in her 30s, died from stab wounds to her abdomen, and the other victim was seriously injured in the attack, according to a state parliamentarian representing Pauktaw. May Than Khin, a young woman in her late teens, is receiving treatment at a hospital in Sittwe, the state capital, according to Tet Htun Aung, an Arakanese lawmaker of the Arakan State Parliament who visited Sinai village on Sunday. "Her injuries are severe and the doctor said she would require lengthy treatment for her wounds," he told The Irrawaddy. Hla Thein, the Arakan State attorney general, said the other four women managed to escape unharmed. "It is supposed that the killing of the Arakanese woman on Saturday afternoon was a reprisal for the discovery of a dead Muslim man earlier that day in Sin Thet Maw village," Hla Thein told The Irrawaddy. Local police are investigating that case, and the cause of the Muslim man's death is not yet known, the attorney general said. "The body of a Bengali Muslim covered with wounds was found in Sin Thet Maw village, and I think the Bengalis suspect the Arakanese for this," said Hla Thein, referring to the Rohingya man as a "Bengali," a term that reflects many locals' belief that the Muslim minority are illegal immigrants from neighboring Bangladesh. Hla Thein said another Muslim man was later injured when police fired shots to disperse a growing crowd that was gathering outside of a local mosque where a funeral was to take place for the Rohingya whose body was discovered on Saturday. Tet Htun Aung said residents of Sinai village did not know about the dead Muslim man in Sin Thet Maw. "In this case, all of the assaulted were women. They said if they had known about Sin Thet Maw and the anger of the Bengalis, they would have taken greater precautions," he said. Aung Win, a Rohinga rights activist, had a different version of the weekend's events, telling The Irrawaddy on Monday that four Rohingya were killed over the weekend in two separate incidents. He said two of the deaths came when police opened fire on a gathering crowd, though it was not clear if he was referring to the same incident in which Hla Thein said one Muslim was wounded outside a mosque. One died on the spot and the other died in hospital, according to Aung Win. One other Muslim was found dead and another remains missing and is presumed dead, Aung Win said, adding that it was believed that they were killed while collecting firewood on Saturday. In Sin Thet Maw, Arakanese Buddhists and Rohingya Muslims have self-segregated, with a road separating the two populations, in an arrangement illustrative of the tense inter-communal relations that have characterized much of Arakan State since two bouts of violence between Arakanese Buddhists and Rohingya Muslims last year. Residents of Sinai, a coastal village, have complained about the frequent loss of livestock since the religious strife erupted in Arakan State, with Tet Htun Aung saying Muslims in the area are blamed. "Local authorities are not taking these problems seriously … The loss of buffalos and cows is happening almost every day," said Tet Htun Aung. On Sunday, Arakanese residents of Pauktaw held a meeting to voice dissatisfaction with international nongovernmental organizations' work in the area. The complainants accused the INGOs of bias in favor of the Muslim minority in Arakan State, saying they had neglected to assist the local Arkanese women who were assaulted on Saturday. In Arakan State, resentment toward INGOs is not new, and a growing chorus of Arakanese have called for expelling the aid organizations. On Monday, the Arakan State government met with representatives from 18 INGOs in Sittwe, according to Hla Thein. "We discussed the locals' complaints about the INGOs' unequal treatment to the displaced people in both communities," he said. "The INGOs claimed that their assistance is provided fairly, but they promised to heed the government's suggestion," Hla Thein added. Meanwhile, medical services from Doctors Without Borders (MSF) in Sittwe have reportedly been suspended, according to a local aid worker in the city, after a group of local Arakanese residents including Buddhist monks surrounded the aid organization's office in the state capital. "They closed their office, their boat service, and even stopped their car services because some local Arakanse and monks surrounded their office today," the aid worker in Sittwe said on Monday. The Arakanese group that surrounded the office was also alleging biased provision of medical services by MSF in favor of Muslims, he said. "I am a witness. They [MSF] hired a speed boat and brought only the Bengali patient. They did not come to bring our patient," said Maung Maung, who is a community leader from Arakan Blood Donors, which donates blood to local Buddhists in need of transfusions. MSF Deputy Head of Mission Vickie Hawkins told The Irrawaddy that her organization was impartial in its work, and provided medical services "regardless of ethnicity and based only on a patient's need to be transferred to hospital." Hawkins said MSF was not contacted to provide assistance in the case of the Arakanese women. "If we had been contacted, MSF would have been very ready to provide emergency medical care and referral services and have facilitated this on several occasions in the past," she said. The post Violence Flares Again in Arakan State appeared first on The Irrawaddy Magazine. |
| Burma’s Transition ‘Important for Global Democracy’ Posted: 04 Nov 2013 08:02 AM PST  Aung San Suu Kyi, center, receives a National Endowment for Democracy award from Carl Gershman, left, and Madeleine Albright during a ceremony in Washington on Sept. 20, 2012. RANGOON — The head of a US-funded pro-democracy group says Burma is unlikely to revert to its authoritarian past, but that setbacks to the country's democratization are inevitable as it shakes off 50 years of military rule. Speaking to The Irrawaddy following meetings with government leaders, activists and civil society groups in Rangoon and Naypyidaw last week, Carl Gershman of the National Endowment for Democracy (NED) said the country's political trajectory was "important for global democracy, not just important for democracy in Burma." "This is not a good time for democracy in the world. There's a lot of pushback by regimes in Russia, in Latin America, China's being very tough, Vietnam. It's very tough," said the NED president during his first visit to the formerly isolated Southeast Asian nation. "There are other transitions that are under way, like in Tunisia, but this is really the most interesting and arguably the most important process that is now under way. And I believe that if it can work here, it will give encouragement to people around the world. So it's terribly important." Gershman, whose Washington-based organization is funded largely by the US Congress, said he was optimistic that a Burmese government that once considered the NED an "external destructive element" was moving irrevocably toward democracy. "I think it's going to be very, very difficult to turn back," he said. "I met people, a lot of people in both civil society, independent media as well as in the government, and everybody wants to at least show that they're committed to this process, and everybody says they're for democracy. "As we say often, the genie is out of the bottle. You can't put it back in. That's the nature of democracy." But citing the political turmoil in Egypt as a cautionary tale, Gershman acknowledged that Burma faces "great challenges ahead," including grappling with the inter-communal violence that has accompanied reforms over the last two years and amending a Constitution widely regarded as undemocratic. "It's not going to be easy," he said. "There will be reversals. There's no doubt that there will be. There have been reversals in every transitional situation. There will be disillusionment, but it's very hard to turn something like this back." Regarding ongoing efforts by the government and leaders of Burma's many ethnic armed rebel groups to reach a "nationwide ceasefire agreement" this month as a precursor to the more complicated process of national reconciliation, Gershman said the issue was closely linked to achieving a freer and more democratic Burma. "We've made the point repeatedly while we've been here, that this is the critical issue for democracy. There are many issues that are critical—development issues, building civil society, having free and fair elections and so forth—but there's nothing that's more important than the ethnic issue," he said. Over the weekend, most of Burma's ethnic armed groups agreed to support a nationwide ceasefire on the condition that nine points, including a demand that Burma's military reduce its political role in the country, were met. Another major condition requires that the government agree to initiate a political dialogue early next year, when ethnic groups will push an agenda that is expected to include emphasis on the creation of a federal state granting greater autonomy to ethnic minority regions. Many of Burma's ethnic minority groups have for decades been at war with the central government, fighting for a range of issues including greater control over natural resources. The NED, an organization that distributes grants to pro-democracy causes including The Irrawaddy, has for much of its 30-year history directed funds toward democracy promotion in Burma. Last year the NED bestowed its annual Democracy Award on five Burmese activists, including the prominent former student leader Min Ko Naing. Burma is one of four countries in Asia where the NED currently focuses its advocacy, along with democracy-bereft China and North Korea, and military-dominated Pakistan. Speaking at the inaugural assembly of the Asia Democracy Network (ADN) in Seoul on Oct. 22, Gershman said Burma would continue to be a priority of the ADN, which brings together more than 100 civil society groups from across the continent. "One of the historic tasks facing the new Asia Democracy Network will be aiding the transition in Burma by promoting the reform of official state institutions; advising on how others have reached agreement on fair rules and inclusive processes, especially regarding minority rights; and helping to strengthen independent civil society and free media," he said. The post Burma's Transition 'Important for Global Democracy' appeared first on The Irrawaddy Magazine. |
| Burma’s Substandard Peanut Oils Put to the Test Posted: 04 Nov 2013 04:12 AM PST  A vendor sells cooking oil at a market in Rangoon. (Photo: Steve Tickner / The Irrawaddy) RANGOON — A consumer protection agency says it will examine peanut oils in local markets next month to root out the brands that are fake or substandard and potentially harmful to health. Peanut oil, a mild tasting vegetable oil derived from peanuts, is popular in Burmese cooking, but profit-minded producers have found ways to market and sell varieties that are cheaper to produce because they contain only a small quantity of peanuts. These fake or substandard varieties will be examined by Burma's Consumer Protection Agency, according to chairman Ba Oak Khaing. He noted three main types of fake or substandard oils sold in Burma. Some varieties are produced by mixing real peanut oil with palm oil, a cheaper product. A second type has no peanut oil at all, but instead mixes palm oil with chemicals to achieve the correct color, smell and consistency. Sodium hydroxide is used to prevent the palm oil from solidifying, according to the consumer protection association. Sodium hydroxide is a strong chemical base that is used to manufacture pulp and paper, textiles, drinking water, soaps and detergents. Food-grade sodium hydroxide can be used for washing or chemically peeling fruits and vegetables, caramel coloring production, cocoa processing and soft drink processing. Pretzels may be glazed in sodium hydroxide before baking for crispiness, while olives may be soaked in the chemical for softening. A third variety of fake peanut oil mixes reused cooking oils with sodium hydroxide. "Mixing peanut oil with palm oil is fake peanut oil. If they don't put that information on their brand-name oil bottles, they are violating the consumers' right to be informed," Ba Oak Khaing told The Irrawaddy on Monday. He warned of potential health effects. "If consumers eat fake peanut oils, especially the kinds made from reused oils, it can cause cancers and diseases," he said. "We are taking samples of peanut oils starting this month in Mandalay, Yangon [Rangoon] and Taunggyi [in Shan State], where we heard about the sale of fake peanut oils." He said the consumer protection association has already taken samples from 15 oil brands in Mandalay and Rangoon's South Dagon Township, but had not yet sent those samples to the laboratory for analysis. One viss (1.65 kilograms) of peanut oil requires about 2.5 viss of peanuts to be milled, Ba Oak Khaing said. One viss of peanuts costs about 1,500 kyats (US$1.50), so a viss of genuine peanut oil should cost at least 3,800 kyats. "A viss of peanut oil which costs less than 3,800 kyats cannot be 100 percent peanut oil," he said. "But most fake peanut oils are sold for about 1,500 kyats per viss. I urge consumers not to believe that all peanut oils are authentic, and to avoid buying the cheaper varieties, which can be bad for their health." He said it would take about one month to test the peanut oils, and that the association would then declare which brand-name oils should be avoided. Some oil vendors questioned whether fully fake peanut oils were actually being sold but acknowledged that mixed products were common. "There is no fake peanut oil. There is only the mix of peanut oil with palm oil in the market, but if the Consumer Protection Association can test precisely, it will be good for the public," said San Linn, general secretary of the Myanmar Edible Oil Dealers Association. He said he had not heard about the production or sale of fake peanut oils in Rangoon, but that officials were investigating how vendors in Mandalay could access illegally imported and substandard edible oils. "All brand-name oils have backing from the FDA [Food and Drug Administration], and all producers must be fully responsible for their products," he said. He added that Magwe Division was a main producer of edible oils in Burma, and that one viss of peanut oil from the division currently costs 3,500 kyats. According to data from the Myanmar Edible Oil Dealers Association, Burma imports about 2.5 million tons of edible oil annually, while 8.5 million tons are consumed. The country produces 6 million tons of peanut, sesame and sunflower oils. The post Burma's Substandard Peanut Oils Put to the Test appeared first on The Irrawaddy Magazine. |
| Ethnic Leaders Emphasize Need for Sincerity in Myitkyina Talks Posted: 04 Nov 2013 03:29 AM PST  A meeting between the government's negotiators and ethnic armed group leaders in the Kachin State capital, Myitkyina, on Monday. (Photo: JPaing / The Irrawaddy) MYITKYINA, Kachin State — Representatives of Burma's ethnic armed groups have emphasized that sincerity in negotiations is the key to building peace between the government and the ethnic armed groups who have been fighting for more than 60 years. At the opening of peace talks between the government delegation led by Minister Aung Min and ethnic rebel leaders in Myitkyina on Monday, Saw Mutu Say Poe, chairman of the Karen National Union (KNU), one of the oldest ethnic rebels in Southeast Asia said the talks were the best hope for peace in Burma. "None of us won on the battle field. So, we believe [political] conflicts must be solved at the negotiating table, not on the battle field," he said. "But, we must not be dishonest. We must not have the mindset of beating each other. I emphasized this every time I have met with government delegations. I told President [Thein Sein] when I met him. I told
armed forces chief [Snr-Gen Min Aung Hlaing] when I met him. We must not build internal peace by using dishonest tactics." At the meeting at Majoi Hall in the Kachin State capital of Myitkyina, Lt-Gen Thet Naing Win, Burma's minister of border affairs, and Lt-Gen Myint Soe, commander of the government's bureau of special operations for Kachin, gave speeches. Lt-Gen Thet Naing Win also read out letters from Thein Sein and Snr-Gen Min Aung Hlaing. Thein Sein's letter, which sets out the government delegation's negotiating position, listed four points: the nationwide ceasefire agreement the government is seeking to sign this year, the need for a framework for political dialogue with the ethnic armed groups, holding political dialogue under the framework and holding an inclusive political conference with all groups. Ethnic rebel groups individually signed numerous ceasefire agreements with the former military regime in late 1989 and early 1990. But some of those agreements with many ethnic rebels, including Kachin Independence Organization (KIO), broke down in 2010 and 2011. Ethnic leaders are hoping the government side will not repeat itself by breaking its promises. Nai Hong Sar, the general secretary of the United Nationalities Federal Council, an alliance of ethnic groups, said a lasting peace was vital for Burma, a country with vast natural resources, to develop. "All know that our country is behind other countries due to the civil wars. I want to give the example of Singapore. In Singapore, even water is supplied from others countries, but it is a developed country. Our country is poor. It is because of war," he said. Col Sai La, spokesperson of the Restoration Council of Shan State (RCSS), said that government delegation led by Aung Min proposed to the ethnic groups to form an ethnic technical team with representatives from all ethnic groups and foreign experts, in order to plan negotiations before talks with the government. The ethnic leaders formed a 13-member joint peace negotiation team at a conference for rebel groups in Laiza last week. The group will represent the ethnic armed groups in negotiations with the government peace delegation. "The government's peace delegation passed its draft proposal about political framework and nationwide ceasefire agreement to us," Col Sai La said. "We will need to learn about it and negotiate again later." The meeting between the ethnic leaders and the government peace delegation in Myitkyina started Monday and is set to end Tuesday. Representatives from all Burma's ethnic armed groups, except for the United Wa State Army (UWSA) and its ally the National Democratic Alliance Army (NDAA), also known as the Mongla militia, attended the meeting. The post Ethnic Leaders Emphasize Need for Sincerity in Myitkyina Talks appeared first on The Irrawaddy Magazine. |
| All Talk, No Action? Posted: 04 Nov 2013 03:22 AM PST |
| Burma Economic Zone to ‘Go Down in History’ Posted: 04 Nov 2013 03:17 AM PST  Set Aung is chairman of the Thilawa Special Economic Zone (SEZ) management committee. (Set Aung / Facebook) RANGOON — Burma's first special economic zone is set to begin operations next month on a sprawling complex about 25 kilometers south of Rangoon, and Set Aung is playing a major role. As chairman of the Thilawa Special Economic Zone (SEZ) management committee, he has helped oversee preparations to launch the Japanese-backed zone, which is 51 percent Burmese owned and will include a deep sea port, factories and large housing projects. The Thilawa SEZ has been controversial among local farmers, who say their land was confiscated without proper compensation, but despite complaints the project has moved forward, and last week Japan's Thilawa SEZ Company Ltd. (JTSC) signed a joint-partnership agreement in Tokyo with Myanmar Thilawa SEZ Holdings Public Ltd. (MTSH). In this interview, Set Aung offers more details about the timeline, investment and possible benefits of the special economic zone, while also responding to allegations of unfair compensation. Question: When will the Thilawa SEZ project be up and running? Answer: We expect that the Thilawa Special Economic Zone's construction will start next month—in December—or in early January. Q: Japanese investors have signed a joint-venture deal that gives 51 percent ownership of the project to Burma. The Burma government and a Burmese company, the MTSH, are expected to sell shares to the public. Can you tell me more about that? A: For the shares, 51 percent is on Myanmar side. Of that, 41 percent is private [belonging to MTSH]. I can't say when they will start to sell shares, but I can say that we, the government, have given them guidelines—for example, regarding how much a share price should be. Q: How big is the SEZ? A: The project includes 400 hectares, which is about 900 acres. [The first stage includes work on 400 hectares of the 2,400-hectare Thilawa SEZ.] Q: At a press conference last month, complaints were heard from farmers who lost their land for the project. They said they had been pressured by the government to accept unfair compensation for their property. A: Farmers held a press conference, but none of them had lost land from the 400-hectare project area. Actually, people in the 400-hectare area have already signed an agreement. The farmers at the press conference will need to move in five years—they will not move in the first stage. They said they were not accepting compensation, but people in the first stage have already agreed to move. Q: How much Japanese investment will be required for the entire project? A: There will be two phases, internal and external. For internal projects, such as the construction of factories, it will cost US$1 million. But for external projects, such as infrastructure, I can't say exactly how much because related ministries will take responsibility. For example, the Ministry of Electric Power will take responsibility for power plants, while the Ministry of Construction will take responsibility for roads and the drainage system. Q: Thilawa will be the first operational special economic zone in Burma. What benefits will it have for the people? How will the zone promote the country's economic reform, and what products to you expect to be produced? A: This SEZ will be an industrial zone that goes down in Burmese history. It will be quite a change in the industrial zone sector. We're constructing infrastructure and factories to produce projects. In 2015, factories will be finished and infrastructure in the zone will also be complete. The post Burma Economic Zone to 'Go Down in History' appeared first on The Irrawaddy Magazine. |
| Suspect Arrested in Relation to Elephant Killings in Pegu Division Posted: 04 Nov 2013 03:05 AM PST  Myint Wai, a villager from Pegu Division's Daik-U Township who is fighting against elephant poachers, shows the skull of a shot elephant. (Photo: Jpaing / The Irrawaddy) RANGOON — Police in Pegu Division's Daik-U Township said they have arrested a man suspected of involvement in the poaching of several wild elephants in the forests of Pegu mountain range in the past year. Tin Oo, a police sergeant in Daik-U Township, said a suspect named Kar Zin was arrested last week on accusations of being responsible for the killing of elephants in the forests near Baw Ni village. He added that two local villagers had been brought into to testify as witnesses in the case. "Some people who are eyewitnesses informed us that he [Kar Zin] was involved in hunting elephant; this is why we detained him," Tin Oo told The Irrawaddy on Monday. "We charged him with a criminal charge … of illegal killing of wild animals in the forest. We arrested him in Thaton Township in Mon State. We are still interrogating him about who else is involved in killing elephants," he said. The suspect Kar Zin is reportedly from Thaton Township and married to a woman from Baw Ni village. The Irrawaddy first reported on a spate of elephant killings in Pegu mountain range in Daik-U Township on Oct. 21. Reporters found one elephant carcass and local villager Myint Wai, who is fighting to stop the killings, shared photos that showed that about 20 other elephants were killed in the area in the past year or so. Policeman Tin Oo said authorities were looking for another two suspects involved in elephant poaching. He added that police had opened an investigation after the head of the Daik-U Township Forest Department filed a complained at the local court. "As we know, Kar Zin and other two persons are involved in killing elephants. But, we do not know the two other persons' names yet, as we are still interrogating him," he said. Tin Oo said it was too early to comment on police findings about the illegal wildlife trade in elephant tusks and skin, which fetch high prices on the Asian black market. The Burma Army and police launched an operation last week at Baw Ni village in order to investigate the elephant slaughter and catch the poachers. Local hunters have started killing Asian elephant in the forests of Pegu Mountain near Baw Ni village since 2010, according to Myint Wai, a villager who has been keeping track of the elephant killings. When the number of killings started to suddenly rise this year to about 20 deaths, he began to call attention to the situation by contacting the media and lawmakers. "I feel a lot of pity [for elephants] when I saw the dead elephants as I am a Buddhist. They did not make any problem for people, but a group of people tried to kill them. This is why I wanted to find justice in order to stop the killing," he said. A Daik-U Township policeman, however, scolded him after he informed reporters about the killings. "He called me at 11 pm and yelled at me, asking why I gave information to media and he even blamed me for giving the wrong information," said Myint Wai. According to local villagers, there are about 150 wild elephants in Pegu mountain range, but their numbers have fallen sharply in recent years due to illegal poaching and logging of their forest habitat. Villagers said there are different groups of elephant hunters who use a waterway at the Baw Ni dam to carry the elephant skins by boats after killing the animals. Myint Wai has said that hunters could earn more than US$10,000 from the sale of the skin of a dead elephant. The ivory tusks, which are highly prized in Asia, are likely to fetch far higher prices. The post Suspect Arrested in Relation to Elephant Killings in Pegu Division appeared first on The Irrawaddy Magazine. |
| Spy Me, Spy You, Sa-Bai Thailand Posted: 04 Nov 2013 02:08 AM PST Last week's revelation that the US embassies in Jakarta, Kuala Lumpur, Phnom Penh, Rangoon and Bangkok nested spying facilities produced different reactions. Indonesia raised hell and fire, while other Asean countries were more discreet. The most interesting was Thailand's attitude towards the whole affair. Senior officials played dumb as if nothing happened. Lt Gen Paradorn Pattanatabutr, Secretary General of National Security Council, did not think the US would use Thailand as a spying base. Teerat Tatanasevi, the government spokesman, said that there were no intelligence reports about the US spying bases. Better still no comments came from the Thai military and Ministry of Foreign Affairs. The Thais did not want to say too much for good reasons. It is an open secret within the intelligence and diplomatic community that Thailand was and has been the hub of spying bases of foreign intelligent agencies for decades. During the Cold War, Thailand was the bulwark against communism as the closest US ally in mainland Southeast Asia. The country housed the region's largest information-gathering base for Washington. When the American troops pulled out from Thailand in 1976, one of the contentious points was the ownership and operation of Ramasun spying facilities in Udorn Air Force base. The government, under Prime Minister Kukrit Pramoj, rejected the US request to continue the use of the facilities beyond the July 1976, the deadline for American troop withdrawal from Thailand. In the world without internet, Thailand's location was ideal. It bordered communist countries in Indochina—dispatching spies across the border and gathering information through electronic devices was easy. During the Vietnam War followed by the Cambodian conflict, Thailand served as the center of intelligence gatherings from all countries around the world. Beyond spooking, these spy communities also engaging in recruiting, kidnapping and undermining each other's capacity in obtaining classified information. All that has changed after the tragedy of Sept. 11, 2001, the whole Western spying operation in Thailand, led by the US, has been upgraded and running focusing on anti-terrorism campaign. The Bush administration minced no words and identified Southeast Asia as the second front for terrorism. It was later disclosed that Thailand and other Southeast Asian countries were used by terrorists in the Sept. 11 attacks to map out their plans. The arrest of Hambali in August 2003 was the accumulative efforts of the US and Thai intelligence agencies working together to track down the Southeast Asian chief of al-Qaida. That helped to explain why throughout the past decade, Thailand was muted over the surveillance and anti-terrorism activities from the US. In mid-2005, as the US government was paying more attention to halting the proliferation of weapons of mass destruction, the spying operation intensified along the Thai-Burma border including North Korea's activities in Thailand and the region. The growing ties between Burma and North Korea before the current reform took place in 2011 alarmed the US and the West. With the assistance from Thailand, mobile and fixed spying facilities set up and manned by American and Australian intelligence officials to gather information and intercept electronic signals. The evidence gathered by the tripartite surveillance operation succeeded in pressuring Burma to halt missile technology exchanges with North Korea. Before the normalization of US-Burma relations, Naypyidaw also pledged to abandon its nuclear ambitions. The interceptions of North Korean ships in high sea carried sanctioned products and weapons including its plane in December 2009 at Don Mueang were thanks to joint spying efforts. Foreign citizens or agencies interested in Thailand and its leaders understand full well that lots of information and data are available in open sources. Mining confidential information can be done through person-to-person communications and media outlets which regularly publicized classified information. For instance, sensitive economic forecasts and data, treated as secret with jail terms in other countries, could be accessed openly. In addition, defense related matters including details of specific arms procurements and strategies find their way on front pages of local newspapers. Before WikiLeaks disclosure of confidential information on Thailand passing through the US Embassy, Thai officials were very fond of talking to American diplomats over lunch and good wines. They gave information and opinions in a casual manner. After they found their names and rare views being quoted in the thousands of cables dispatched from Bangkok, they were shocked and embarrassed. Now the whole Thai bureaucrats have become more circumspect in conversations, if at all, with American and other diplomats. Thailand has benefitted from the US surveillance operation, both inside and outside the embassy, on a need-to-know and case-by-case basis. So, it is better to keep quiet. This article was originally published in The Nation on Sept. 3. Some parts have been edited for clarity. Kavi Chongkittavorn is assistant group editor of Nation Media Group and his views do not necessarily reflect those of The Irrawaddy. The post Spy Me, Spy You, Sa-Bai Thailand appeared first on The Irrawaddy Magazine. |
| Displaced Civilians Weigh in On War and Peace in Kachin State Posted: 03 Nov 2013 10:00 PM PST  A mother who fled from her home amid fighting between the government and ethnic Kachin rebels. (Photo: JPaing / The Irrawaddy) LAIZA, Kachin State — Sitting outside her bamboo shelter in the Je Yang camp for displaced civilians, Kaw Hpang, 61, cannot forget the day she was attacked by government soldiers. "I lost everything," says the 61-year-old, an ethnic Kachin woman who fled her home in Nam San Yang village, Waimaw Township, in June 2011. Since then, she has lived in this camp near the town of Laiza, a stronghold for Kachin rebels. "I lost my home, my land and my garden. I can't control my mind when I recall this memory. I want to cry every time I talk about it." More than 8,200 civilians have sought shelter at the Je Yang camp since June 2011, when a 17-year ceasefire deal broke down and clashes resumed between government troops and the Kachin Independence Army (KIA). These internally displaced people (IDPs) came from more than 50 villages in different parts of the state. Amid peace talks, they say they are tired of war. "I pray every morning and every night, wishing for a chance to return home," says Zing Htung Ji Tawng, another resident at the temporary camp. "It doesn't matter whether we are happy or unhappy here—we have no choice but to stay." IDPs at the camp live in shelters that were constructed with wood, bamboo and plastic sheets. Like 90 percent of people in Kachin State, most of them are Christian, and they look forward to celebrating Christmas next month. They hope it will be happier than the holiday last year, when the government army launched airstrikes against the KIA on Christmas Eve, forcing thousands of civilians to flee their homes. The United Nations has joined local and international NGOs in providing aid to IDPs throughout the state, though assistance to rebel-held areas around Laiza has been heavily restricted by the government. The Je Yang camp has received food and other supplies, but camp life has taken a toll on livelihoods. "Back home in our village, we could go hunting or work to make extra income," says La Htaw Brang Gun. He and his neighbors dare not leave the camp for fear of attack. The KIA's political wing, the Kachin Independence Organization (KIO), is one of two major rebel groups in the country that has not signed an individual ceasefire deal with President Thein Sein's government, which has sought to end decades-long conflicts in several ethnic minority states since coming to power in 2011. However, KIO members have been meeting with a government peace delegation this year, most recently last month. Both sides signed an agreement to de-escalate hostilities, but clashes have continued. This week the KIO is hosting a major conference in Laiza with leaders of ethnic rebel groups from around the country. The goal is to discuss strategy before next month, when the government plans to invite all rebel groups to Naypyidaw to consolidate individual ceasefires into a nationwide ceasefire agreement. But among the IDPs, confidence about a genuine peace deal is mixed. "In my life I have fled repeatedly from war while they talked about ceasefire," says La Htaw Brang Gun. "I'm now over 60 years old. I can't even count how many times my family and I have fled from war and been displaced." "We want peace, for sure. We want the peace talks to be successful. But I still have doubts because I have suffered the consequences of war repeatedly, even though a ceasefire agreement was reached in the past," he added, referring to the KIO's 1994 ceasefire deal. Y J Kaw Seng, a housewife in Je Yang camp, agrees. "We don’t want short-term peace," she says. "We want real peace, and peace that lasts forever. They hold talks often. They signed an agreement, but we feel nothing has changed. We want an end to the fighting." In the camp environment, uncertainty has led to speculation of further conflict. "We have heard the government army sent weapons, artillery and ammunition to store at their frontline bases," says Kaw Hpang. "They are prepared, so we don't know what will happen. We heard that if the KIO does not sign a ceasefire agreement, they will launch offensives. "We feel unsafe and unhappy now. We worry. But we hope the world will know our situation. We want the world to help us." The post Displaced Civilians Weigh in On War and Peace in Kachin State appeared first on The Irrawaddy Magazine. |
| Scores Missing After Rohingya Boat Sinks Off Burma Coast Posted: 03 Nov 2013 09:44 PM PST  Members of Bangladesh Navy are seen with people rescued from a sunken boat in the Bay of Bengal in Teknaf in November last year. (Photo: Reuters) RANGOON — Around 50 members of a Muslim minority in Burma are feared drowned after trying to flee Arakan State in a boat that sank in the early hours of Sunday, according to a community leader and a security official. Rohingya have been leaving Burma in droves since clashes with ethnic Arakanese Buddhists, who make up the majority of the state’s population, erupted in June and October 2012. The government said at least 192 people died in the violence and the United Nations says about 140,000 people remain in camps. The vast majority of those killed and displaced were Rohingya and growing numbers are now making treacherous journeys by boat to countries including Malaysia and Indonesia. Many have been in Arakan State for generations, but the government considers them illegal immigrants from Bangladesh and severely limits their movements. Families of the missing people kept watch on the beach throughout Sunday, said Aung Win, a leader of the Muslim Rohingya community. "I saw people waiting there to find dead bodies," he told Reuters by phone from the state capital, Sittwe. A security officer said seven passengers on the boat that sank were rescued and there were unconfirmed reports that eight more may have reached land north of Ohntawgyi, a village about 12 miles north of Sittwe where there is also a camp for displaced Rohingya and where the boat departed from. Some survivors clung to debris while fisherman rescued others, said the officer who requested anonymity. The boat was carrying 60 people, he said. Ohntawgyi was the site of clashes in August between Rohingya and police who opened fire on a crowd that had gathered to protest after the battered corpse of a Rohingya fisherman washed ashore. The security officer said more violence erupted on Saturday in Pauktaw, an area about two hours northeast of Sittwe by boat, killing at least three Rohingya and one Arakanese. The body of a Rohingya man was discovered in an area near a Buddhist pagoda where a group of Rohingya had gone from their camp to collect firewood, he said. Police confronted an angry crowd at the camp and opened fire, wounding three people, including one who later died in hospital. An Arakan woman was killed in what appeared to be a retaliatory attack, and the body of another Rohingya man was discovered on Sunday morning, he said. The United Nations refugee agency has warned of a mass exodus of Rohingya as the rainy season ends in coming weeks. A spokesman for the agency in Geneva said about 24,000 Rohingya were thought to have left Burma by boat this year, and more than 400 had died or gone missing during the journey. The post Scores Missing After Rohingya Boat Sinks Off Burma Coast appeared first on The Irrawaddy Magazine. |
| Burma’s ‘God’s Army’ Twins Reunite, Seek Comrades Posted: 03 Nov 2013 09:35 PM PST  Luther and Johnny Htoo, twin brothers allegedly under 10 years old when this photo was taken in 1998, sit in Kamerplaw, headquarters of the God’s Army, a Karen splinter group which they led. (Photo: Thierry Falise) SANGKHLABURI, Thailand — When they were kids, Johnny and Luther Htoo were bulletproof and invulnerable to land mines—or so went the story that briefly made them famous as hundreds of guerrillas followed and even worshipped them in the southeastern jungles of Burma. Today, well over a decade later, their "God's Army" is no more, and the twins' greatest accomplishment may be that both are still alive. Luther lives in Sweden. Johnny remains at an unofficial refugee camp inside Thailand, not far from where the brothers were sent after they surrendered to Thai authorities in 2001. Now 25, Johnny has hopes of reuniting with family in New Zealand, and Luther has questions about their former comrades that may never be answered. Members of their Karen ethnic group, who have long sought autonomy in Burma, have laid down their arms since a military dictatorship gave way to a nominally civilian government in 2011. Last month, during his first trip back to Thailand since leaving for Sweden in 2009, Luther said he would fight only if his people were hurt again. "It's not fun to fight anymore, now that I'm afraid to die. No one wants to fight unless they have to, you know," Luther said. The legend of the twins began to form in 1997, when Burma troops entered their village during a sweep of Karen territory. At the time, the rebel Karen National Union was in sharp decline. "We had to defend ourselves because we didn't like anyone to hurt us," Luther recalled. "We love our motherland, so we chose to fight. We got seven rifles from the KNU and there were seven of us. We used them to fight against the Burmese army. We prayed before we fought, and then we won." They dubbed themselves God's Army. The boys were rambunctious, but strict discipline was maintained, as well as a rigorous Christian routine. There was no liquor in their village and a church service was held at least once a day. Journalists were amazed when they traveled to their small village of Ka Mar Pa Law, far from any towns or even paved roads. Video showed the twins living what looked like a kid's pirate fantasy, shooting tropical fruit off the trees and being worshipped by adult followers who carried them around on their shoulders. Probably the most famous image of the twins was shot by Associated Press photographer Apichart Weerawong when they were 12. The tightly cropped portrait shows Luther with shaved forelocks and raised brows, insouciantly puffing on a hand-rolled cigarette. Johnny, with neatly parted and combed long hair, softly feminine face and a sad, soulful gaze, stands behind his brother's right shoulder. A joint interview with the AP last month highlighted the very different lives the Htoo brothers have led since then. Luther appeared almost chic in a traditional Karen blouse over jeans, one silver hoop earring on his left ear and two on his right. Johnny wore an old button-down shirt several sizes too big, an evident charity hand-me-down. He looked weary and nervous. Luther now lives in Götene, a town 335 kilometers (208 miles) west of Stockholm, where he studied economics, history and other liberal arts subjects and has worked several jobs, including caregiver for the elderly. While in Sweden, he married a Karen woman from another tribe and had a child with her, but they later got divorced, the child staying with the mother. "I like Sweden but it's very cold. Cold and snow, but I like it there because the country is peaceful," Luther said. "There's no one shooting at each other and no one hurting each other." Johnny eventually settled down to work as a rice farmer but returned less than a year ago to the refugee camp in Thailand where he had stayed with Luther. He was shy during the interview and inclined to defer to his brother. Before departing Thailand last month, Luther tried to learn more about what happened to dozens of his comrades who disappeared after surrendering. "Their wives and children have been waiting," he said. "It's been 13 years. I think all of them are dead." They may have been victims of a calamitous turn in God's Army's fortunes that came after it became enmeshed with an even more fringe Burma anti-government group. The so-called Vigorous Burmese Student Warriors seized the Burma Embassy in the Thai capital, Bangkok, in 1999. After a short siege, Thai officials arranged a getaway by helicopter for them to the Burma border area where God's Army was based. Johnny and Luther took them in. But the student warriors were targets of two countries, Burma and Thailand, which lost face from the embassy takeover despite resolving it peacefully. Reportedly, Thailand began shelling the twins' village to help corner the embassy raiders. Shambles turned to disaster when the student warriors and some God's Army members crossed back into Thailand and seized a provincial hospital in Ratchaburi in 2000. By Luther's account, student warriors and some members of God's Army went to the hospital to ask for medicine and doctors to help people wounded by the shelling. He did not explain why they went armed. In the end, no hostages at the hospital were hurt, but all 10 attackers were shot dead by Thai authorities—some after surrendering, according to witnesses. God's Army quickly fell, and the boys surrendered at their village. They were treated well, but their comrades, who lacked the shield of international publicity, may not have been. "They were separated into groups of men, women and children. The Thai soldiers took 55 men with them and said they would be brought to work for the soldiers," Luther told members of the Lawyers Council of Thailand as he sought their advice on tracking down the men. "Since that day, no one ever saw them again." Luther and Johnny stayed together at a refugee camp in Thailand, but later became separated. In 2006, Burma state television reported that Johnny and eight of his God's Army comrades had turned themselves in because "they could not put up with the bullying of fellow rebels" and realized "the goodwill of the government." Luther said the truth is that Johnny was lured back to Burma by false promises of work. A "surrender" was staged for TV, he said, with uniforms and a handover of weapons that didn't belong to them. Now Luther is helping Johnny seek ways to stay with their mother and sister, who now live in New Zealand. "But I will have talk to a lot of people to make that happen," Luther said. Their father lives in another Thai refugee camp. The AP interview marked the last time Luther and Johnny would see each other before Luther returned to Sweden. As the brothers parted, Johnny's eyes appeared to well with tears. "C'mon, real men don't cry," Luther told his brother. He promised to return to see him next year. The post Burma's 'God's Army' Twins Reunite, Seek Comrades appeared first on The Irrawaddy Magazine. |
| Won for the Money: North Korea Experiments With Exchange Rates Posted: 03 Nov 2013 09:26 PM PST  North Korean leader Kim Il-sung is seen on this 5,000 North Korea won banknote in this photo illustration. (Photo: Reuters / Carlos Barria) SEOUL — In a dimly-lit Pyongyang toyshop packed with Mickey Mouse picture frames and plastic handguns, a basketball sells for 46,000 Korean People's Won—close to US$500 at North Korea's centrally planned exchange rate. Luckily, for young North Koreans looking to shoot hoops with Dennis Rodman, the new friend of leader Kim Jong-un, the Chinese-made ball actually costs a little less than $6 based on black market rates. Once reserved for official exchange only in zones aimed at attracting foreign investment, and in illegal underground market deals elsewhere, black market rates are being used more frequently and openly in North Korean cities. Publicly advertised prices at rates close to the market rate—around 8,000 won to the dollar versus the official rate of 96—could signal Pyongyang is trying to marketize its centrally planned economy and allow a burgeoning "gray market" to thrive. This could boost growth and capture more of the dollars and Chinese yuan circulating widely so that North Korea can pay for imports of oil and food. Unofficial market rates could become more widespread following an announcement last month of 14 new special economic zones (SEZs) aimed at kick-starting a moribund economy where output is just 1/40th of wealthier South Korea's. A spokesperson for the Korea Economic Development Association, a local organization tasked with communicating policy in the new SEZs, told Reuters that exchange rates in the new zones are to be "fixed according to [local] market rates." "The official rate for the won is like a placeholder," said Matthew Reichel, director of the Pyongyang Project, a Canadian NGO that organizes academic exchanges with North Korea. "We all know that the value of the won is not this." An estimated 90 percent of economic transactions along North Korea's border with China are in yuan, an embarrassment for a country whose policy stresses economic independence, and something that reduces the grip that authorities attempt to exercise over its people and economy. Pyongyang does not publish economic data, but is believed to have run a sizeable current account deficit for years, straining its ability to pay for imports in hard currency. An attempt in 2009 to revalue the won and confiscate private foreign currency savings prompted protests from market traders and forced a rare policy reversal and public apology from state officials. "Due to its lack of foreign currency, the North Korean government will have to tolerate black market rates, even if it has difficulty in officially recognizing them," said Cho Bong-hyun, a North Korea economics expert at the IBK Economic Research Institute in Seoul. Others have gone down this route before. "This is comparable to Cuba, which implements a dual currency system between convertible pesos and national pesos, and Myanmar [Burma], which for years refused to recognize the black market value of the kyat until it became completely uncontrollable," said Reichel at the Pyongyang Project. Not only does North Korea not provide official data on its economy, but when things are actually paid for using the official rate, the maths don't add up. Pyongyang's two-line metro system, which only accepts won, is one of the world's cheapest at just 5 won a ticket. However, the equivalent gray market value is so small that no single coin in any currency is small enough to cover it. State salaries are also paid according to official rates, meaning the 6,000 won a month paid to a civil servant only just covers the cost of a pack of cigarettes and a lighter. The difference in official salaries and unofficial prices is made up from an economy that, despite government restrictions, has become increasingly marketized. Even workers with stable jobs in Pyongyang are tasked with extra money-making activities. Women in particular, less bound by obligations to work state-controlled jobs, dominate North Korea's countless urban and rural marketplaces. While low-end goods and services are increasingly expressed according to gray market rates, transactions at more expensive shops are usually priced using the official rate, but conducted in dollars or yuan. The Chongjon Sunrise Supermarket in central Pyongyang sells Hershey's chocolate bars at 150 won and, for the ambassadors in town, boxes of Ferrero Rocher at 1,850 won—the low prices indicate the vendor expects to be paid in foreign currency, not won. Reichel said that when he once teasingly tried to pay for his midnight snacks with a couple of crumpled North Korean won banknotes, the shop assistant smiled patiently, and politely asked for dollars. At gray market rates, the assistant would have had to accept an armful of 5,000 won notes, the largest denomination, for the 160,000 won the chocolates cost. "Black market rates are set by larger scale currency traders working in major urban areas," said Christopher Green of the Daily NK, a website that tracks black market rates in North Korea. Kim Jong-un, the third of his line to rule impoverished North Korea, has repeatedly pledged that austerity is over. The North experienced a famine in the mid-1990s and its economy was hurt by the collapse of the Soviet Union that propped it up in a Cold War battle for supremacy in Asia. Trading partners such as China and Russia now insist on being paid in hard currency, draining reserves. Stacked up against South Korea, whose economy it once outmuscled, and China, which has gone from failed collectivization to the world's second-largest economy, Pyongyang faces some tough choices. Economic reform and freer markets could accelerate the growth of a middle class that is not beholden to Kim and the dynastic rule of his father and grandfather. One step would be to broaden out the number of institutions like the Golden Triangle Bank in the Rason Special Economic Zone, which regularly advertises rates for the euro, dollar, yuan, yen and ruble that no longer reflect the official policy rate. "There are people who are trying to push for some sort of policy implementation," said Reichel. "But we won't start to see sustainable economic development until the government accepts their currency system does not work in the long term, and continuing with this idea of a state-provided salary is futile." "At this stage, it's still like cowboys and capitalism." The post Won for the Money: North Korea Experiments With Exchange Rates appeared first on The Irrawaddy Magazine. |
| The Mekong Under Threat Posted: 03 Nov 2013 09:17 PM PST  A Cambodian fisherman who lives by the Mekong River casts his net outside Phnom Penh in 2011. (Photo: Reuters) Nineteen local, regional and international environmental groups under an umbrella called Save the Mekong are calling for an urgent moratorium on plans by the Laotian government to build a new hydroelectric dam that they fear will do irreparable damage to the giant river's ecosystem. The Laos government says it expects to start construction of the Don Sahong dam this month near the picturesque Khone Falls, with commercial operation of its 260 MW of power to begin in 2018. One of the world's most impoverished countries, Laos has a wealth of natural resources that it is anxious to exploit in a drive to build a more sophisticated economy. With annual per capita gross domestic product a minuscule US$3,100 per year by purchasing power parity, it ranks 176th in the world. The government in Vientiane nonetheless hopes energy sales, mostly to Thailand and China, can put it on the way to lower middle income status and provide jobs outside of agriculture, which currently accounts for 75 percent of employment. However, the dam, the environmentalists said, "will irreversibly alter the Khone Falls and Mekong River basin. It will create a non-passable barrier across the Hou Sahong channel, recognized by fishery experts as one of the worst possible sites to build a dam, as it is the passage of maximum fish migration on the Mekong, which supports the world's largest inland fisheries." The Laotian government appears ready to ignore a 1995 agreement that mainstream Mekong projects can only proceed if a consensus is reached between MRC's four member countries—Cambodia, Laos, Thailand and Vietnam. The riparian countries are growing increasingly alarmed at Laos's plans, which could threaten to restrict the flow of sediment to Vietnam's rice fields and block the pathway of migrating fish, which feed millions in the Lower Mekong. Vietnam, Cambodia and seven Thai provincial governments have already objected to the construction of another dam, the Xayaburi deep inside the mountains of northern Laos on the lower Mekong, to no avail. While the Laotian government has repeatedly paid lip service to calls for moratoriums, it has continued construction work. Environmental groups including the World Wildlife Fund (WWF) have also warned for the possible impact on Mekong's unique biodiversity, second in scope only to the Amazon's. Additionally, according to Save the Mekong, more than two million cubic meters of riverbed will be excavated from the Mekong River to increase flows into the Hou Sahong channel. The Don Sahong, the group said, will have "serious negative repercussions on fisheries and local livelihoods, as well as the food security of millions of people within the Lao PDR and in the neighboring countries of Cambodia, Thailand and Vietnam. The project will also threaten such rare and internationally recognized giant migratory fishes as Pangasius krempfi, Pangasianodon gigas, Probarbus jullieni, and Probarbus labeamajor." The group said it has little faith in the Mekong River Commission or the ability of the 1995 Mekong Agreement to adequately address the threat. One clear indication, it said, is the MRC's failure to resolve disagreement among the four member governments over whether the "prior consultation" process for the Xayaburi Dam remains open or closed. While the Laotian government has claimed that the Don Sahong Dam is "not on the Mekong mainstream," the group said, "we totally reject this claim, for there is absolutely no question that the Don Sahong Dam is a mainstream project that will deeply impact flows and fish migration, and have immense transboundary implications. For these reasons, we believe that the MRC will once again fail, should resolution of the Don Sahong Dam controversy remain solely in the hands of the Lao government." The Vietnam minister of natural resources and environment, the former Cambodian minister of environment, and members of the Thailand National Mekong River Committee have all objected to further damming of the Mekong. "In light of the many ambiguities around the Don Sahong Dam, as well as other projects on the Mekong mainstream, deliberations over all these projects must be halted," Save the Mekong said. "A new joint platform is urgently needed to review, clarify, and resolve outstanding issues through regional-level decision-making based on the principles of transparency and full participation of all stakeholders. Necessary studies, including transboundary impact assessments for all projects, must also be carried out in order to allow for informed decision-making." The post The Mekong Under Threat appeared first on The Irrawaddy Magazine. |
| Tensions With Allies Rise, But US Sees Improved China Ties Posted: 03 Nov 2013 09:06 PM PST  US President Barack Obama, right, meets with China's then Vice President Xi Jinping in the Oval Office of the White House on Feb. 14, 2012. Xi will meet Obama again this week, this time as China's president. (Photo: Reuters) WASHINGTON — With ties between Washington and many close allies strained because of eavesdropping revelations and differences over US policies in the Middle East, the Obama administration can take some comfort from an improvement in ties with China. A year after China's President Xi Jinping took over the helm of the country's ruling Communist Party, senior US officials say they see increased cooperation on a range of issues from climate change to North Korea's nuclear weapons ambitions. They also regard greater bilateral military contacts as an important safety valve if there are any potential flare-ups. On the economic front, Washington is focused on China's Nov. 9-12 Communist Party conclave where Xi's blueprint for making the world's second-largest economy more open is expected to be unveiled. Xi's administration already has spawned optimism with an agreement to reopen bilateral investment treaty talks and a pilot free trade zone in Shanghai that augurs well for deeper reforms to address Chinese investment and trade barriers. Both could help dent the US$300 billion annual US trade deficit with China. Not all is rosy. Serious fault lines remain over issues that have long vexed the Sino-US relationship, such as human rights. Western experts and Chinese activists are concerned that China's record on human rights may be worsening under Xi, who became China's president in March, given there have been crackdowns on lawyers, activists and Internet opinion leaders. Potential discord also lurks in China's recent increasing recourse to what its critics call gunboat diplomacy in maritime territorial disputes with Asian neighbors, including US allies such as Japan and the Philippines. But officials from both countries say they are committed to what China calls a "new model of major country relations"—a Xi mantra that aims to minimize Sino-US rivalry as China's global power grows. To Washington, the concept means "there is room on planet Earth for a rising, strong, stable, prosperous China and a United States that continues to serve as the champion of a liberal, democratic, free-market and rules-based system," said Daniel Russel, the State Department's top Asia diplomat. Washington and Beijing intend to "avoid a mechanistic dynamic in which a rising power and an enduring power were inevitably destined for conflict," he added. The most common concrete example US officials give of a better working relationship is North Korea, whose nuclear weapons and ballistic missile programs are seen as one of Asia's most serious security threats. Washington has long sought to convince Beijing to do more to rein in Pyongyang, a Chinese ally since the Korean War. North Korea's nuclear test in early 2013, the latest of three since 2006, was accompanied by threats of nuclear attack on the United States and South Korea. "We've seen [China] be more forward-leaning in applying pressure on the North Koreans," said Ben Rhodes, Obama's deputy national security adviser for strategic communications. "That's in part because the cycle of provocation that was taking place in the spring was concerning to them because it was destabilizing the region…and ultimately it was not consistent with their own interest," he told Reuters. China, often criticized by the United States and its allies for weak enforcement of UN Security Council sanctions on the North, last month published a detailed list of technologies and goods banned from export to North Korea because of their potential use in weapons of mass destruction. Priority Issues The narrowing of differences on North Korea was a key outcome from Xi's informal summit with President Barack Obama last June in Rancho Mirage, California—a desert retreat that allowed the two leaders to meet for eight hours over two days. That informal summit, mainly designed as a trust-building exercise, also produced an agreement to reduce the use of greenhouse gases and to launch a bilateral working group to hold regular discussions on cyber-security. "The US and China are cooperating not on boutique projects, not on off-Broadway, where it doesn't really matter, but on priority, critical issues that genuinely matter to both of our people and genuinely matter to the region and the world," said Russel, who attended the summit, in an interview. In early 2012, when Xi was China's vice president, he toured the United States as a guest of US counterpart Joe Biden, visiting a small town in Iowa where he did a brief home stay in 1987, as well as Los Angeles and Washington. The Washington trip included a visit to the Pentagon, which helped set up a packed 2013-14 calendar of exchanges between the two countries' militaries. Military-to-military ties have long been the weakest link between the two powers. Waiting for Xi's plan US-China ties have warmed but then cooled in the past, and analysts warn that Xi's agenda may only start to become clearer after this month's Communist Party Central Committee Plenum sees him put his full stamp on Chinese policy. On economic policy, Americans see room for optimism, based on Xi's record since the 1990s as a business-friendly party and government leader overseeing roaring economies in Shanghai and the vibrant coastal provinces of Fujian and Zhejiang. "Everything about his past where he served before in China indicates that there are reasons to be optimistic that he will take a more pro-market approach than his predecessor," said Kenneth Jarrett, president of the American Chamber of Commerce in Shanghai and a former US diplomat in China. The US Treasury on Wednesday said China was not a currency manipulator and had allowed the yuan to appreciate 12 percent against the dollar since June 2010, while adding that the Chinese currency still appears undervalued. But in a semiannual report to Congress, the criticism of China was muted and less prominent than an attack on Germany, which was accused of hampering economic stability in Europe and hurting the global economy because of its focus on exports rather than boosting domestic demand. On human rights and regional security, however, there are more question marks. A party directive called Document No. 9, believed to reflect Xi's beliefs, makes it a taboo to discuss publicly "Western notions" such as constitutional rule, universal values, press freedom, judicial independence and civil society. In less abstract terms, China's widening crackdown on bloggers, lawyers and activists has seen the detention or arrest of scores if not hundreds of people. Obama, while not dropping the human rights issues, appears to have decided not to turn it into a make-or-break issue for Sino-American relations. Xi has broken with Beijing's traditionally reactive and defensive foreign policy, said Stephanie Kleine-Ahlbrandt of the US Institute of Peace. She sees Xi testing US allies and pushing back against Obama's decision to shift diplomatic and security attention to Asia. "Xi Jinping has come in and essentially pivoted on a dime and is now the first to really embrace China's role as a 'great power' and he's making foreign policy with a great power mindset," she said. US officials say they do not expect Beijing to escalate its maritime disputes with Japan or other smaller neighbors because it would risk harming China's economic growth. "If Xi Jinping wants to realize the goal of the Chinese dream, of becoming a middle-class country by 2049, the 100th anniversary of the PRC, they're going to want to do that without any kind of disruption or distraction," said a senior US official. The post Tensions With Allies Rise, But US Sees Improved China Ties appeared first on The Irrawaddy Magazine. |
