Day: March 10, 2022

Unregulated mining of rare earth minerals in Myanmar’s Kachin state for export to nearby China is irreparably damaging the environment, local watchdogs in the northern state told RFA.

Myanmar exported more than 140,000 tons of rare earth deposits to China, worth more than U.S. $1 billion between May 2017 and October 2021, a statement from China’s State Taxation Administration said.

Since Myanmar’s military wrested control of the country from Myanmar’s democratically elected government more than a year ago, exports to China of rare earths–which are used in smart phones, electric cars and other high-tech products–have increased, a local activist group told RFA.

According to residents of Kachin, the rare earths were discovered in the Pangwa area in Chi-pwe township, in Myitkyina district in the east of the province, only a few years ago. Since the coup the regulations on mining have disappeared and the military and its trading partners appear to be in total control of the mines there.

“Under junta rule, and the minister of natural resources being in the junta, there are a lot of opportunities for these illegal miners,” a resident living near the mines told RFA’s Myanmar Service.

“They are so much more active than ever. Following the overthrow of Myanmar’s elected government in a February 2021 coup, the number of people coming to this region from the lower parts of the country increased significantly,” said the resident, who requested anonymity to speak freely.

Each illegal miner must pay 10,000 kyat ($5.63) at the entrance of town after they are tested for COVID-19. From this, the town is able to collect about 1 million kyat per day ($563) from all the workers passing through.

“As far as I can tell, the number of people entering this part of the country must be in the tens of thousands since the end of the rainy season at the start of winter,” the resident said.

The border between Kachin State and China was temporarily closed in early 2020 at the height of a major COVID-19 outbreak, but it reopened last November. During the closure, 3,000 to 4,000 tons of rare earth ore mined in Myanmar were found stranded at the border.

When the closure was lifted, a manager of a Chinese state-owned mining company based in Guangzhou on Dec 2 said all the ore was trucked to Jiangxi province, China’s Global Times reported.

The U.S. Geological Survey estimated that about 240,000 tons of rare earth minerals were mined globally in 2020, with China accounting for 140,000 tons, followed by the United States with 38,000 tons and Myanmar with 30,000 tons.

Though China is the world’s largest producer of rare earth minerals, it buys the ore from neighboring Myanmar, exploiting its cheaper labor.

An environmental activist in Pangwa told RFA unregulated mining in Kachin State has destroyed many local forests and mountains.

“The main business owners are Chinese. Their allies inside Myanmar make arrangements with local landowners for use of their land. Now we can see the mountains disappearing,” the activist said.

“These miners usually clear the ground and then dig holes. After that, they pour in chemically treated liquid into the holes. When they are done, they don’t cover up the holes in the ground, causing landslides when the rains come,” said the activist.

Growing international demand for rare earths is closely linked to illegal mining in Myanmar, and the demand is increasing as developed countries shift toward technologies like electric cars and wind turbines, Yadanar Maung of Justice Myanmar, a Myanmar-based activists’ group, told RFA.

She said that after the coup, the junta has been using various means to raise revenue, including mining, putting local people at greater risk.

According to The Harvard International Review, the amount of hazardous waste in Myanmar was estimated at 284 million tons and radioactive waste at around 14 million tons during the period from May 2017 to Oct 2021.

A worker who was involved in one of the mining operations told RFA that five toxic chemicals, including oxalic acid and ammonium bicarbonate, were used in the mining of rare earth minerals.

“In the beginning, we had to test the topsoil to see if there were any possible deposits. After that, if the deposits were found, we’d build the ponds and get pipes connected. And then soil was fed into the pipes once every five or 10 days. Later, the metallic deposits are dug up and baked. After that the ore is taken away to China,” he said.

“The boss here is only in charge of us. It is said that the actual bosses are all in mainland China. Drinking water for us had to be brought in from another area. The water near the mining site was said to be undrinkable. The Chinese said we must not drink the water there,” he said.

The Myitkyina-based Shwe Social Development Foundation and the Chi-pwe-based environmental group Laung Byit Khaung told a news conference in December 2018 that they had tested the water sources near the mining areas and found them to contain toxic chemicals. 

Local sources told RFA that Myo Ko Ko, a Myanmar medical company, has been awarded a license to set up to mine rare earth minerals in Kachin State, quoting a 2019 report of the Ministry of Natural Resources and Environmental Conservation. The licensed area is 281 acres of land in Chi-pwe Township, equivalent to 159 football fields.

Myo Ko Ko did not respond to emails from RFA inquiring about the current mining situation and environmental impact. RFA also attempted to contact the director of the Kachin State Department of Mines about the matter, but he could not be reached either.

Chemicals from mining are definitely seeping into citizens’ drinking water, Tu Khaung, Minister for Environmental Conservation and Natural Resources for Myanmar’s shadow National Unity Government (NUG) told RFA. The NUG consists of lawmakers and officials ousted in the coup.  

“Basically, acidic chemicals were poured into different places all over the mountain to get the rare earth deposits. You get this liquid that comes out from the bottom of the mountain after pouring in that acid,” he said.

“The workers cannot take out all the chemicals they poured in and some of them seep into the mountain soil and through the underground water and then into the surrounding area. People living near the mining areas usually have to rely on natural water for drinking and now this water is all polluted,” said the minister.

Translated by Khin Maung Nyane. Written in English by Eugene Whong.

An appeals court in Cambodia Thursday denied bail to eight union leaders from the NagaWorld Casino strike, on the grounds that their case is still under investigation by the Phnom Penh Municipal Court.

Thousands of NagaWorld workers walked off their jobs in mid-December, demanding higher wages and the reinstatement of the eight jailed union leaders, three other jailed workers and 365 others they say were unjustly fired from the hotel and casino, which is owned by a Hong Kong-based company believed to have connections to family members of Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Sen.

Cambodian authorities have called the strike “illegal” and alleged that it is supported by foreign donors as a plot to topple the government. But a series of mass arrests in recent weeks have been attributed to alleged violations of pandemic health regulations in Cambodia’s capital. Activists said the charges were trumped up to break up the strike.

On Thursday, the appellate court’s presiding Judge Khun Leang Meang decided to uphold the municipal court’s decision to keep the eight union leaders detained at Prey Sar prison until their trials.

He read the decision in front of the eight leaders at the court, which did not allow NGOs to monitor the hearing. They were then taken back to the prison.

Both courts ignored requests of the accused, and continuing to detain them is unnecessary, their lawyer Sam Chamroeun told RFA’s Khmer Service.

“We will examine the court’s decision to find their mistakes and make an appeal in front of the Supreme Court,’ he said.

The court’s decision was saddening, Am Sam Ath of the Cambodian League for the Promotion and Defense of Human Rights, a local NGO, told RFA.

He said the court failed to take into consideration that the conflict stems from a labor dispute without any solution in sight for over an entire year.

The court should have released them because they lawfully expressed their rights through the strike to seek labor solutions and should not be charged and detained, said Am Sam Ath

“If they are not released, there will be no solution,” he said.

During Monday’s hearing, about 50 workers protested in front of the court. One of the workers told RFA the dispute should be resolved between the union, NagaWorld and the Ministry of labor.

“This is a labor dispute so don’t try to provoke us to have problem with authorities,” Sok Ratana said.

Through Wednesday, 147 of the 373 laid off workers accepted compensation to end their tenure with NagaWorld, the Ministry of Labor said in a statement Thursday.

The statement urged the remaining workers to stop demonstrating so that the ministry can continue to seek solutions.

“The ministry urges the ex NagaWorld workers and those who are absent from work to stop making more mistakes that can affect their benefits. The ministry will work with relevant authorities to resolve your concerns while also considering the rights of investors’ rights,” the statement said.

It also urged that the workers follow the government’s COVID-19 measures.

Translated by Samean Yun. Written in English by Eugene Whong.

The promotion of Chinese leader Xi Jinping’s theory of “cultural nourishment” by Uyghurs at this year’s session of China’s rubber-stamp parliament points to new efforts to supplant the culture of the Uyghurs with Chinese customs and traditions, Uyghur and Chinese analysts said.

The 2022 sessions the National People’s Congress (NPC), and its advisory body, the Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference (CPPCC) wind down this week. The largely symbolic meetings ratify decisions made by the Communist Party, which allows no opposition.

Slogans from an address to parliament by Xi — including “cultural nourishment” and the “consciousness of the whole of the Chinese nation” — were immediately promoted by pro-government representatives from the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region (XUAR), drawing scorn from the Uyghur diaspora.

One CPPCC representative, ethnic Uyghur dancer Dilnar Abdullah, advocated the further strengthening of the theory of cultural nourishment proposed by Xi and spoke in favor of “investment into the culture and arts of the ethnic groups,” according to a report on Tengritagh (Tianshan), the official website of the XUAR government.

In her speech, Dilnar emphasized that current research into the theory of culturally nourishing Xinjiang was insufficient, and that educational textbooks did not adequately reflect Chinese cultural tradition, particularly for young people.

The Tianshan report quoted Dilnar as promoting introducing “consciousness of the unity of the Chinese nation” in textbooks at all levels to educate and cultivate artists in Xinjiang, and to bring Chinese classical poetry, literature, and painting into schools there to “weave cultural nourishment into school education.”

The Chinese government’s use of Uyghurs like Dilnar to promote the adoption of Chinese culture in Xinjiang is an old and familiar tactic, said Ilshat Hassan Kokbore, the U.S.-based vice chairman of the Executive Committee of the World Uyghur Congress (WUC).

“The Chinese government uses them, so of course they champion ethnic unity,” he said. “What they’re calling cultural nourishment here is assimilation by means of Chinese culture.”

Ilshat noted that Dilnar is the daughter-in-law of Ismail Amat, a politician of Uyghur ethnicity who held several political positions, including chairman of the XUAR and chairman from 1979 to 1985, and minister of the State Ethnic Affairs Commission from 1986 to 1998.

Ilshat called Dilnar and other Chinese government appointees “puppets” — officials who have faithfully carried out Beijing’s policies.

“She is a puppet of China, Dilnar Abdullah,” he said. “We can say she is a tool of theirs. If they tell her to do something, she does it. In this way, the Chinese government can say they’re doing things that Uyghurs themselves want.”

‘In danger of disappearing’

U.S.-based political commentator Hu Ping told RFA that Xi’s cultural nourishment is tantamount to cultural destruction.

The government’s emphasis on this concept and that of the “unity of the Chinese nation” are aimed at eradicating the ethnic identities of non-Chinese groups, including Uyghurs and Tibetans, and forcing them to adopt Han Chinese cultural identity with an end goal of eliminating so-called “threats to stability,” he said.

Hu Ping also noted that the Chinese government is using Uyghur-speaking government officials and other individuals to promote the idea of cultural nourishment as a way of forcing Uyghurs to give up their ethnic and cultural identities.

“What they’re calling cultural nourishment here is in fact forcibly imposing an outside culture on local people,” he said. “For that reason, we can call this a forcible assimilation of local people, or a destruction of the traditional culture of local people.”

This is one way they believe they can fulfill the duty of social stability, Hu added.

Zubayra Shamseden, Chinese outreach coordinator at the Washington-based Uyghur Human Rights Project and vice president of WUC, said Sinification is the goal of the cultural nourishment policy and others because the Chinese government sees Uyghurs as a threat to stability and wants to eliminate them.

“If they are able to assimilate the Uyghurs and make them all Chinese — if Uyghurs are all Chinese — then, according to the logic of the Chinese regime, China will be peaceful,” she said.

“We are a people in danger of disappearing, and so China is using puppets like these in order to fully realize its rule over and colonization of us,” Zubayra added.

For years, Chinese authorities have subjected Uyghurs and other Turkic minorities in Xinjiang to arbitrary arrests and detentions in internment camps, physical abuse, and restrictions on their religious practices and culture in what the United States and legislatures of several other Western countries say amounts to genocide and crimes against humanity.

Translated by RFA’s Uyghur Service. Written in English by Roseanne Gerin.

Nearly two dozen ambassadors from the European Union, Norway, Switzerland and the United States serving in Vietnam have called on Hanoi to support Ukraine, following the Southeast Asian Nation’s abstention in a vote on a United Nations resolution on Russian aggression against the Eastern European country.

At an emergency session in New York on March 2, the U.N. General Assembly adopted the resolution demanding that Russia immediately end its invasion of Ukraine and unconditionally withdraw all its military forces by an overwhelming majority of 141 member states backing the measure, with only five against and 35 abstentions. A dozen member states did not vote.

Belarus, North Korea, Eritrea, Russia and Syria were the nations among the 193-member world body that voted against the resolution.

Vietnam and Laos were the two countries among the 10-member Association of Southeast Asian Nation (ASEAN) that abstained on the resolution. Russia’s ally China also abstained.

“Given the geographical distance, it is natural that Vietnam has its own interests and some different viewpoints to those of us in Europe,” said the op-ed signed by 22 ambassadors in Vietnam’s capital Hanoi. “But in this time of crisis we must all focus on the fundamental question of whether it is justified for Russia, a big country, to bully and invade its neighbor Ukraine, in order to try and redraw boundaries on the map against international rules?”

“Is it in Vietnam’s interests for the world to be ruled by that logic rather than international law and peaceful settlement of disputes?” the piece asked.

The diplomats acknowledged Vietnam’s important historical relationship with the former Soviet Union, which served as benefactor and ally to the smaller communist nation after the Vietnam War ended in 1975.

When the Soviet Union collapsed in 1991, it focused on its own political and economic reordering and no longer subsidized poor developing countries like Vietnam, which had racked up billions of dollars in outstanding debt to Soviet Russia.

The ambassadors made reference to Vietnam’s wartime experiences, saying that this is why the country knows that it important to fight for freedom and to uphold the sovereignty and territorial integrity.

“Vietnam, like Europe, understands very well what the people of Ukraine are going through,” they wrote.

“And it is precisely because of these bitter memories of war and because we all value real peace, that we should all stand together with the people of Ukraine and the overwhelming majority of the international community and call for an end to this unjust conflict,” the ambassadors said.

The op-ed also mentioned that Russia’s invasion of its western neighbor is having an effect on the global economy, supply chain shortages and rising inflation.

“Energy, transport, commodity and food prices have all spiked. None of this will benefit Vietnam,” they wrote.

In conclusion, the diplomats implored Vietnam to share their view that de-escalation and withdrawal are the right actions for legal and humanitarian reasons as well as correct political choice for Russia for the international community for the sake of peace and stability.

Though the U.N. vote surpassed the two-thirds majority required to be approved. Though General Assembly resolutions are not legally binding, they carry political weight, in this case demonstrating strong international support for Ukraine and isolating Russia.

There was no mention of the op-ed in Vietnam’s state media.

Much of the Vietnamese media’s coverage of the military action in Ukraine has been pro-Moscow, though less pro-Russia bias than when Russia annexed Crimea in 2014. Hundreds of Vietnamese have been evacuated from Ukraine in recent days.

On Feb. 25, the day after Russia began what it calls a “military operation” in Ukraine, Le Thi Thu Hang, spokesperson of Vietnam’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs said that the country was deeply concerned with the armed conflict.

“We call on all relevant parties to exercise restraint, observe the United Nations Charter and the fundamental principles of international law, avoid the use of force, protect the people, and keep up dialogue to seek a peaceful solution,” she said in a statement.

Conservative Yoon Suk-yeol of the main opposition People Power Party won a razor-thin victory over the ruling Democratic Party’s Lee Jae-myung in South Korea’s presidential election March 9. Analysts say Yoon will build closer ties with the United States and Japan, take a more hawkish view of North Korea and show less deference toward the North’s chief ally, China – stances that reflect a souring of public opinion in the South toward the communist regimes of Kim Jong Un and Xi Jinping.

President Rodrigo Duterte is willing to allow American forces to use Philippine bases and facilities if the crisis in Ukraine stemming from the Russian invasion spreads to Asia, the Filipino ambassador to Washington said Thursday.

The Philippines would honor the decades-old Mutual Defense Treaty (MDT), which binds the two allies to aid each other in times if a foreign power attacks either country, and would allow the U.S. to use former American naval and air bases here, envoy Jose Manuel Romualdez said.

If the U.S. asks for support, Duterte “was very clear that – if push comes to shove – the Philippines will be ready to be part of the effort, especially if this Ukrainian crisis spills over to the Asian region,” Romualdez told reporters in Manila during an online forum.

“He offered that the Philippines will be ready to open its doors, especially to our ally the U.S. in using our facilities, any facilities they may need,” Romualdez said, speaking from Washington.

Officials at Malacañang, the presidential palace in Manila, did not respond immediately on Thursday to an inquiry from BenarNews for further comment on what Duterte told the Philippine ambassador.

Romualdez, who met recently with the president in Manila, said that Duterte indicated his approval to open former military bases in the event of an “emergency situation” and allow the U.S. forces to come back to the Subic Bay Naval Base and Clark Air Base if the Ukrainian conflict spills over in Asia.

The two bases were among United States military’s largest overseas installations but were shut down after the Philippine Congress voted to end their lease in the early 1990s, at the end of the Cold War. Since U.S. forces vacated both sites, they have been transformed into free ports and investment zones.

“I’m pretty sure that the president meant this to be in an emergency situation where – let’s pray it does not happen – but, if it spreads out in the Asian region for some reason or another, the President obviously sees that need for us to make a choice,” Romualdez said.

“And our choice is … since we have an MDT with the United States, we have this special relationship and military alliance, he [Duterte] said he is allowing the use of facilities,” the ambassador said.

Since Duterte came to power in mid-2016, he has tried however to forge closer economic and bilateral relations with America’s rivals, China and Russia.

Still, the U.S. has not wavered in the military alliance and has helped the Duterte administration defeat pro-Islamic State militants when they took over the southern city of Marawi for five months in 2017.

In February 2021, U.S. Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin III reaffirmed Washington’s commitment to the 1999 Visiting Forces Agreement (VFA) and the 1951 Mutual Defense Treaty during his first official phone call with his Philippine counterpart, Delfin Lorenzana.

The VFA, which came into force in 1999, provides legal cover for large-scale joint military exercises and allows U.S. troops to operate in the Philippines on a rotational basis. It has remained in effect since Manila deferred its termination.

The comments by Romualdez to reporters came less than a week after Duterte said that the Philippine should remain “neutral” over the Ukraine crisis because it was too far from Russia geographically.

The ambassador made the comments hours after remarks during a congressional hearing in Washington by Adam Smith, chairman of the House Armed Services Committee, who called on the United States to strengthen its defense ties in the Indo-Pacific region in light of the Ukrainian crisis and a potential similar one involving China and Taiwan.

Russia started attacking Ukraine on Feb. 24, drawing international condemnations and strict economic sanctions, led by the U.S., in a bid to stop President Vladimir Putin’s punishing military offensive.

On Mar. 2, the Philippines joined 140 other U.N. member-states to vote in favor of a General Assembly resolution that condemned Russia’s military strike on Ukraine.

Romualdez said that while Duterte “values the friendship he made with President Putin and President Xi [Jinping of China], he knows that this thing happening right now in Ukraine is something that should not have happened because it was unprovoked.”

“The president was very concerned about it, and his major concern was how it will affect our economy, which already is,” Romualdez said, adding it was the top priority in their discussion.