Day: August 3, 2022

The Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) ratcheted up its criticism of member state Myanmar’s junta on Wednesday, as Russia’s top diplomat visited Naypyidaw despite international outrage of the regime’s execution of four prominent democracy activists.

In a speech delivered at the opening ceremony of the 55th ASEAN Foreign Ministers’ Meeting in Phnom Penh on Wednesday, Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Sen, whose nation holds the rotating chair of the bloc, acknowledged that no progress has been made on Myanmar’s political crisis, despite junta chief Snr. Gen. Min Aung Hlaing’s pledge to end violence in April last year.

Hun Sen said that if the junta continues to execute its political opponents he would be forced to “reconsider ASEAN’s role” in mediating Myanmar’s conflict.

“The situation is now very volatile with the execution of the four opposition activists, and can be said to be worse than before the Five-Point Consensus (5PC),” he said, referring to the agreement Min Aung Hlaing made with ASEAN in April 2021 during an emergency meeting on the situation in Myanmar.

“ASEAN is deeply shocked and horrified by the execution of these opposition activists.”

ASEAN’s 5PC called for an end to violence, constructive dialogue among all parties, the mediation of such talks by a special ASEAN envoy, the provision of ASEAN-coordinated humanitarian assistance and a visit to Myanmar by an ASEAN delegation to meet with all parties.

Even Min Aung Hlaing acknowledged that the junta had failed to hold up its end of the bargain on the consensus in a televised speech on Monday in which he announced that the junta was extending by six months the state of emergency it declared following its Feb. 1, 2021 coup. He blamed the coronavirus pandemic and “political instability” for the failure and said he will implement “what we can” from the 5PC this year, provided it does not “jeopardize the country’s sovereignty.”

Frustration with the junta boiled over last week after it put to death veteran democracy activist Ko Jimmy and former opposition lawmaker Phyo Zeya Thaw, as well as activists Hla Myo Aung and Aung Thura Zaw, despite a direct appeal from Hun Sen to Min Aung Hlaing. The executions prompted protests in Myanmar and condemnation abroad, including from outspoken ASEAN member-state Malaysia, which said “no Myanmar military regime representative” should be allowed at any meeting of the bloc, including this week’s gathering of foreign ministers from ASEAN countries and nearly 40 ASEAN partner nations.

Wednesday’s comments sounded a different tune for Hun Sen who, on assuming the ASEAN chair earlier this year, predicted that he would use his skill as a negotiator to resolve the situation in Myanmar. 

Hun Sen’s decision in January to become the first foreign leader to visit Myanmar following the coup was widely panned by the international community as conferring legitimacy on the junta and he has since remained relatively quiet while the crisis has worsened.

Call for stronger measures

Speaking to RFA Khmer, observers said ASEAN stakeholders should not remain silent on the junta and suggested that the bloc call on the United Nations to intervene in Myanmar if it is unable to resolve the crisis on its own.

Cambodian political analyst Em Sovannara said that refusing the junta a seat at the table for ASEAN gatherings doesn’t go far enough.

“For example, the ASEAN Chair should start talking to Myanmar’s [shadow] National Unity Government (NUG), not the military government,” he said.

Similarly, Soeung Senkaruna, spokesman for the Cambodian rights group Adhoc, said ASEAN should review its 5PC and, if unable to resolve the crisis, seek assistance from the U.N.

“There should be strong measures in place to punish the abuse and killing of innocent people,” he said.

“We think that with no such measures, Myanmar’s dictatorial leaders will continue to persecute their opponents in any way they see fit.”

Attempts by RFA to reach Cambodian Foreign Ministry spokesman Chum Sontory for comment on the situation in Myanmar went unanswered on Wednesday.

Russian visit

While many Western governments have sought to punish Myanmar’s junta for killing what rights groups say is at least 2,148 civilians over the past 18 months, Russia has continued to support the regime both diplomatically and militarily.

Moscow reiterated that support on Wednesday when, ahead of attending the ASEAN Foreign Ministers’ Meeting in Phnom Penh, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov visited Naypyidaw and met with Min Aung Hlaing and junta Minister of Foreign Affairs Wunna Maung Lwin.

Details of the meetings remain unknown, but in a post on Twitter Russia’s foreign ministry cited Lavrov as saying that Moscow “appreciate[s] the traditionally friendly nature of our partnership, which is not affected by any opportunistic processes,” apparently in reference to efforts by the international community to sanction the junta.

The junta’s foreign ministry said Lavrov and Wunna Maung Lwin “cordially exchanged views on promotion of bilateral relations and cooperation and reaffirmed their commitment to enhance cooperation between the two countries in the multilateral arena based on mutual trust and understanding.”

RFA Burmese was unable to reach junta Deputy Information Minister Maj. Gen. Zaw Min Tun for further comment on the meetings Wednesday.

Lavrov’s visit comes two weeks after Min Aung Hlaing traveled to Russia on an unofficial trip, which political analyst Ye Tun described as part of the junta’s bid to secure weapons from Moscow.

“The frequent back-and-forth visits between the leaders and the Russian foreign minister’s current visit all point to expanded economic ties between Russia and Myanmar and the effort to obtain military assistance – especially military equipment – from Russia,” he said.

Lavrov said in a press release on Tuesday that his trip sought not only to promote bilateral relations, but also strengthen economic cooperation and defense and security ties.

Amid the uptick in cooperation between Russia and Myanmar since the coup, the two countries’ relationship has become increasingly complex.

Complex relationship

Myanmar-based political analyst Than Soe Naing said the junta is relying more than ever on Russia to uplift the country’s economy, which is in shambles due to Western sanctions.

“Myanmar’s economic situation is already in a serious state … as international oil companies, like Total, are withdrawing from the country,” he said.

“I believe that the junta is embracing Russia so that Russia can help the country in the face of an economic crisis – especially a fuel shortage.”

Thein Tun Oo, executive director of the Thaningha Strategic Studies Group, a think tank of former military officers, said the junta has become closer to Russia as a strategic partner in order to reduce its dependence on neighboring China for economic and military assistance.

“It may be a disadvantage to be dependent on a single country, so it’s not uncommon to find another strategic partner with whom you can have a really close relationship,” he said.

“It’s mainly for this reason that [Myanmar is] now looking at Russia as a strategic partner.”

Observers also suggested that junta leaders are more impressed with Russia than China when it comes to military technology.

Four months after last year’s coup, during his June 2021 visit to Russia, Min Aung Hlaing told Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu that he was grateful to Moscow for making Myanmar’s army one of the strongest in the region. That same month, the U.N. General Assembly adopted a resolution to prevent the flow of military equipment to Myanmar, but Russia abstained.

Observers said Russia might see Myanmar as an important country if it hopes to expand its economic influence in East Asia.

The website Global Firepower, which tracks the development of military forces from around the world, said last month that Myanmar maintains a fleet of 280 aircraft, including fighter jets and attack helicopters, 664 tanks, and 155 warships, including one submarine.

Translated by Khin Maung Nyane. Written in English by Joshua Lipes.

 U.S. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi wound up her visit to Taiwan in a symbolic meeting with rights activists, from former political prisoners from Taiwan’s authoritarian past to Chinese pro-democracy leaders and members of the beleaguered Uyghur and Tibetan ethnic minorities.

In her meetings at Taiwan’s National Human Rights Museum, built at the site of a notorious jail and military court from Taiwan’s dark era of martial law, she contrasted the now-democratic island’s willingness to address its past with the Chinese Communist Party’s (CCP) extensive suppression of historical debate.

Participants told RFA she also stressed the need to bolster Taiwan that was a theme of her public remarks and published statements during the 20-hour visit, which China harshly condemned and launched war games and threatened a missile barrage and blockade of the island.

“We cannot stand by as the CCP proceeds to threaten Taiwan — and democracy itself,” she wrote in an op-ed published in the Washington Post as she arrived in Taipei during a Congressional tour of Asia.

She was given a tour of the museum’s Jingmei White Terror Memorial Park, commemorating Taiwan’s 38-year period of brutal martial law under the Nationalist Party, by Chen Chu, chairwoman of Taiwan’s Human Rights Council who was once a political prisoner held and tried in that facility.

“Our delegation visited the National Human Rights Museum with ex-political prisoners: a tribute to the heroes who suffered and fought for Taiwan’s democracy,” Pelosi tweeted. Another tweet showed her in tears after hearing stories from former prisoners.

She also met Wuer Kaixi, an ethnic Uyghur and prominent student leader of the 1989 Tiananmen Square protests, Lam Wing-kee, a Hong Kong bookseller forced out of business and into exile in Taiwan, for books critical of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP), and Lee Ming-che, a Taiwanese activist who was jailed for five years in China.

The rights forum also included Kelsang Gyaltsen, the Dalai Lama’s representative in Taiwan, and Yang Xianhong, director of the Taiwan Coalition for Human Rights in China.

Participants in the meeting said she highlighted the differences between Taiwan’s democracy and the dictatorship in China and the threat authoritarianism posed to free societies.

“She said that she came to Taiwan and came to this forum to express her support for Taiwan’s freedom and democracy. She hopes that we can talk to young people about human rights in China,” said Lee.

Lee was released in April after serving five years in jail for “subverting state power” for his NGO work assisting the families of Chinese political prisoners.

Noting that Pelosi has been a critic of Chinese human rights practices for most ofher 35 years in Congress, he said “she believes that China’s human rights and rule of law have moved increasingly backward in recent years.”

Lee said he told Pelosi of his concerns about abusive Chinese practices including “residential surveillance in a designated location” under which political prisoners are detained in secret for a long time, and heavy surveillance of inmaes after they serve their terms.

Lam, the former manager of Hong Kong’s Causeway Bay Bookstore who was secretly kidnapped by the CCP, told RFA that Pelosi spent a lot of time focusing on the understanding of young people in Taiwan on the issues of mainland China, Hong Kong and Tibet.

He said he told Pelosi that many young people in Hong Kong cannot leave the city, move abroad or obtain residency status overseas and called for help in allowing imperiled Hong Kong democracy protesters emigrate.

The Taiwan representative of the Dalai Lama as well as Tibet’s government-in-exile, Kelsang Gyaltsen, told RFA that he informed Pelosi that the human rights situation in Tibet is getting worse and that the CCP’s totalitarian dictatorship is getting more and more extreme.

He said he highlighted Chinese assimilation policies in which boarding schools provide meals, housing and free tuition to draw Tibetan children to schools, away from their parents, culture and religion.

For former Tiananmen pro-democracy leader Wuer Kaixi, deputy secretary-general of the Taiwan Legislative Yuan Human Rights Promotion Association, “her trip itself is one very, very loud message” that repudiates years of U.S. policies aimed at bringing China into the world system through trade and engagement.

“It didn’t bring China into the world arena as a responsible stakeholder. It didn’t bring China into capitalism and give birth to a middle-class civil society, and eventually to democracy. It didn’t make China more reasonable,” he told RFA Uyghur in an interview Wednesday.

“On the other hand, it made China more greedy. And then, they [China] feel they are invincible and that the whole world will give in to whatever they do,” added Wuer Kaixi.

I think the sacrifices of the Uyghur people and the resilience fighting from Hongkongers, Uyghurs, Tibetans and the Chinese democracy movements have also made the United States realize that the previous China policy is not working for them.” he added.

Written in English by Paul Eckert.

North Korean authorities are scrambling to deter a rapid rise in prostitution in the country’s major cities as a dire economy pushes more women into the sex trade, sources inside the country said.

North Korean leader Kim Jong Un ordered authorities to act to prevent prostitution from spreading in the reclusive and impoverished nation, a resident of the northeastern city of Chongjin in North Hamgyong province told RFA on Monday.

The Ministry of Social Security and the Socialist Patriotic Youth League, which is the country’s main youth organization under the direct control of the Central Committee of the Workers’ Party of North Korea, are moving in cities such as Chongjin and Hamhung to stop young women from selling themselves.

“The crackdown began when a central official in Pyongyang submitted a proposal after he saw some women propositioning men on the street for prostitution at night,” said the source, who spoke on condition of anonymity for safety reasons.  

“Kim Jong Un signed onto the proposal of the official and ordered the Social Security Department and the Socialist Patriotic Youth League to take action,” he said.

Though illegal, prostitution is generally tolerated in North Korea, with occasional crackdowns by local authorities looking to extract bribes from those they catch. 

But North Korea’s economic paralysis due to the authoritarian regime’s extreme measures to battle the COVID-19 virus and the effects of ongoing international economic sanctions have left ordinary citizens under extreme financial distress.

The Ministry of Social Security and the Socialist Patriotic Youth League are jointly conducting intensive crackdowns on prostitution and providing ideological education for young people to ensure they adhere to socialist mores, the Chongjin resident said. The two organizations have mobilized day and night patrols to surveil places where the crime occurs, such as train stations and parks.

Additionally, the Socialist Patriotic Youth League is increasing its ideological education for young people in an effort to deter them from selling their bodies for money, the resident said.

On July 30, district-level organizations divided league members into groups and gathered them together for lectures, he said. 

“Kim Jong Un’s message to reject decadent reactionary thought and culture and not get involved in antisocialism was delivered,” the source said.

Also on July 30, the Socialist Patriotic Youth League held a meeting in Chingjin’s Sunam district to publicly criticize several young female prostitutes. 

“The meeting was a form of public shaming, with each of the eight women on the stage revealing their names, ages, home addresses, and their jobs, and forcing them to criticize themselves.

“More than half of the women caught in several intensive crackdowns are reportedly from other regions. It seems that women, whose lives have become difficult due to lockdown measures and movement control for three years, have been forced to engage in prostitution for themselves and their families,” he said. 

Doing anything for money

A resident of the city of Hamhung in the eastern province of South Hamgyong told RFA on Monday that local officials from the Ministry of Social Security and the Socialist Patriotic Youth League were searching train stations, parks and streets for suspected prostitutes.

“About 30 women were arrested on the first day of the crackdown around Hamhung Station, held jointly by the Ministry of Social Security and the Youth League last week,” said the source who declined to be named for safety reasons.

Most of the women were in their 20s, but several were teenagers who were recent high school graduates, she said.

Many women have become prostitutes due to financial hardship, and more and more of them are begging men to pay for sex as they wait for the train at Hamhung Station at night, the woman said. Some men arrange to use the services of prostitutes under the pretext of staying overnight while waiting for a train, she added.

Prostitutes in Hamhung usually are paid 80,000-50,000 won (U.S. $11.40-$21.40) for their services, though some women at the train station get as little as 30,000 won (U.S. $4.30), she said. 

“Even during daylight, I often see women roaming around crowded places like train stations for prostitution,” the second source said.

“Most of the women who go into prostitution are people in need, but there are cases where this is not the case,” the resident said. 

“As our society gradually transforms into a society where anything is possible with money, the interest in earning money is growing,” she added. “I am worried that there is a growing tendency among residents who do not hesitate to do anything for money.”

In August 2020, RFA reported that more than 50 female students of two prominent Pyongyang performing arts colleges were sent to a labor camp for their alleged involvement in a prostitution ring that catered to the capital city’s elites.

Many of the young women were driven into prostitution by poverty brought on by endless demands from their highly selective schools for fees, North Korean sources said.

Translated by Claire Shinyoung Oh Lee and Leejin J. Chung for RFA Korean. Written in English by Roseanne Gerin. 

Evidence linking Cambodian diplomat Wang Yaohui to Birmingham City Football Club is now in the possession of the English Football League, RFA has learned.

The EFL last month successfully applied to Singapore’s Supreme Court to access records in a case brought against one of Wang’s companies, according to sources familiar with the court’s ruling who asked not to be identified as they were not authorized to speak about it publicly. The application was made as part of an ongoing investigation by the league into allegations that Wang secretly controls a substantial portion of Birmingham City’s shares, in contravention of EFL regulations.

One of the defendants in the Singapore court case is a company registered in the city state, Gold Star Aviation Pte Ltd. Corporate records show that Gold Star Aviation’s sole shareholder is a British Virgin Islands company called Dragon Villa Ltd, which also controls 12.81 percent of Birmingham City’s shares.

Among the court files obtained by the EFL is a sworn affidavit given by one of Wang’s most trusted lieutenants, Jenny Shao, who is also a defendant in the case and has enjoyed power of attorney over Wang’s affairs for more than a decade. In the affidavit, which RFA has seen, Shao states that, “Gold Star’s sole shareholder is Dragon Villa Ltd (“DVL”) and DVL is beneficially owned by Mr Wang.”

As an EFL member playing in the league’s highest division, Birmingham City is obligated to disclose the identity of any individual controlling more than 10 percent of its shares. While Dragon Villa features in the club’s ownership statement, Wang does not. The disclosure describes Dragon Villa instead as being “controlled” by an individual named Lei Sutong, who is a director or shareholder at multiple Wang-linked companies.

The discrepancy between Shao and Birmingham City’s descriptions of Dragon Villa’s ownership could have serious repercussions for the club, including potential misconduct charges or point deductions.

A club spokesperson did not respond to a request for comment, but RFA understands that Birmingham City’s management is standing by its existing ownership disclosure.

Birmingham City’s assurances do not seem to have satisfied the league, which confirmed in a statement to RFA that its investigation is ongoing. 

“As a result of our ongoing investigations into the ultimate beneficial ownership of Birmingham City Football Club, we are not in a position to comment,” an EFL spokesperson told RFA via email, commenting anonymously in line with the league’s policies.

The league launched its probe into Wang’s ties to the club in early June, following an RFA investigation, which found the Chinese-born Cambodian diplomat and advisor to Prime Minister Hun Sen controlled a large but undeclared stake in the club through a series of proxies and shell companies. Birmingham City is one of England’s most storied soccer teams and currently competes in the nation’s second-highest tier, just below the elite Premier League.

That the EFL now holds the Singapore court files may explain why a putative takeover of the club has stalled in recent weeks. Long beset by financial troubles and with its stadium in need of serious repairs, many Birmingham City fans are hankering for new ownership. They may have thought their prayers had been answered when a bid was submitted last month by former club director Paul Richardson and retired professional soccer player Maxi Lopez.

Before any transfer of ownership can take place at a soccer club playing in one of the EFL’s three divisions, the league must approve the sale. In order to do so, it requires information from both the buyer and the seller about what the club’s ownership structure will be after the sale.

Writing in The Athletic last week, soccer journalist Matt Slater reported the EFL’s chief executive Trevor Birch as saying the league hadn’t received enough information “to even consider” Richardson and Lopez’s bid.

While the EFL has not elaborated on exactly what information it is yet to receive, Slater suggested the data deficit lies with the club’s current owners.

“The Athletic understands that Richardson and Lopez have submitted as much information as they can at this stage,” he wrote. “But the club and their current owners have not yet provided full answers to the league’s standard set of takeover questions.”

An RFA analysis last month calculated that Wang and a close relative named Vong Pech control more than half of Birmingham City’s shares between them. While Vong’s name does appear in the club’s official ownership disclosures, as well as stock exchange filings by its Hong Kong-listed parent company, Wang’s does not.

Birmingham City’s owners are now in a bind. It appears that the EFL will not allow them to sell until they offer some more transparency about who exactly the owners are. But if they do, they risk sanctions from both the league and the authorities in Hong Kong.

Southeast Asian governments on Wednesday urged China and rival superpower the United States to hold back from “provocative actions” that could inflame tensions, saying they were watching the situation around Taiwan after U.S. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s controversial visit.

From Manila to Jakarta, Bangkok, Hanoi and other capitals, governments across the region reiterated their support for the One China Policy, under which Beijing is recognized as the sole government of China.

The United States also holds this policy, but maintains close unofficial ties with Taiwan and is obligated to provide defense support. Washington only acknowledges China’s sovereignty claim over Taiwan rather than endorsing it.

The foreign ministry of Indonesia, Southeast Asia’s largest country, expressed grave concern about the “increasing rivalry among major powers,” without naming the U.S. and China. 

“If not managed well, it may lead to open conflict and disrupt peace and stability, including in the Taiwan [S]trait,” Jakarta said in a statement as it called on “all parties to refrain from provocative actions that may worsen the situation.”

“The world is in dire need of wisdom and responsibilities of all leaders to ensure peace and stability are maintained,” said Indonesia, which has faced its own territorial tensions with China in waters around the Natuna Islands in the far southwestern reaches of the South China Sea.

In Bangkok, Thailand’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs expressed similar concern in the wake of Pelosi’s visit to Taiwan.

“We do not wish to see any actions that would aggravate tensions and undermine peace and stability in the region,” ministry spokesman Tanee Sangrat said. 

“We hope that all parties concerned exercise utmost restraint, abide by international law and principles of respect for sovereignty and territorial integrity and resolve their differences through peaceful means.”

As the military jet carrying Pelosi and her delegation touched down in Taipei on Tuesday evening after a flight from their previous stop in Kuala Lumpur, China’s People’s Liberation Army (PLA) announced live-fire drills at six locations around Taiwan, some overlapping the island’s sovereign territorial waters.

In addition, 21 Chinese military aircraft, including 10 J-16 fighter-jets and two reconnaissance airplanes, flew into Taiwan’s air defense identification zone (ADIZ).

While in Taipei, Pelosi visited Taiwan’s parliament before meeting with President Tsai Ing-wen who called her “one of Taiwan’s most devoted friends.”

During a brief speech following their meeting, Pelosi praised Taiwan for its resilience.

“America’s determination to preserve democracy here in Taiwan and around the world remains ironclad,” the house speaker said, adding that the U.S. “will not abandon our commitment to Taiwan.” 

Pelosi was the first senior-most American official to visit Taiwan in 25 years. In the days leading up to her visit, Beijing had issued stern warnings against it, claiming that the trip would encroach on Chinese sovereignty. 

The Philippines, which has also had confrontations with China in the South China Sea and maintains a Mutual Defense Treaty with the United States, said it was tracking Pelosi’s visit over concerns that it could escalate tensions with Beijing. The Pelosi-led U.S. delegation left Taiwan Wednesday evening and traveled on to South Korea.

“Our military and our DFA (Department of Foreign Affairs) are closely monitoring the situation as they would in any other similar circumstance,” said Trixie Cruz-Angeles, spokeswoman for President Ferdinand Marcos Jr.

“On matters of international relations, reactions are studied. We don’t make knee-jerk reactions because they could adversely affect international relations,” she said, stressing that “loose words” could impact Philippine-China relations.

Cruz-Angeles said China’s envoy to Manila, Huang Xilian, had reminded officials to adhere to the One China Policy.

“There is only one China in the world. Taiwan is an inalienable part of China’s territory,” Huang said Tuesday ahead of Pelosi’s visit.

The Chinese ambassador said he hoped the Philippines would “handle all Taiwan-related issues with prudence to ensure sound and steady development of China-Philippines relations.”

Malaysia’s foreign minister, meanwhile, said his government wanted to ensure peace, stability and prosperity in the region as officials in Kuala Lumpur seek to maintain good relations with their counterparts in Beijing and Washington.

“[W]e want everyone concerned to look at the situation and address it in the best way because we appreciate and we’ve put a lot of value in both the U.S. and China when it comes to trade and technology in the region and want to be friends to both,” Minister Saifuddin Abdullah said from Phnom Penh, where foreign ministers from the Association of Southeast Asian Nations were assembling for the ASEAN Regional Forum Meeting and meetings this week with the top Chinese, American and Russian diplomats, among others.

‘Maximum restraint’

Late on Wednesday, the foreign ministers of the 10 ASEAN members-states prepared a collective statement about “the cross strait development.”

The bloc, it said, was “concerned with the international and regional volatility, especially in the recent development […] adjacent with the ASEAN region.”

That situation “could destabilize the region and eventually could lead to miscalculation, serious confrontation, open conflicts and unpredictable consequences among majors powers,” the top ASEAN diplomats said.

Elsewhere, officials in Cambodia, the Lao People’s Democratic Republic, Myanmar and Vietnam reaffirmed support for One China policy while also calling for peace and stability in the region.

“The Lao PDR reiterates its support for the policy of the government of the People’s Republic of China on the national reunification by peaceful means,” it said in a Facebook post.

The military government in Myanmar, for its part, reaffirmed its belief that Taiwan is “an integral part of the People’s Republic of China” while expressing concern over Pelosi’s visit, “which is causing escalation of tensions on the Taiwan Straits.”

“Myanmar calls all concerned parties to deescalate the tensions through constructive dialogue and peaceful negotiation for peace and stability across the Taiwan Straits,” the junta said in a Facebook post.

China has become the largest source of foreign investment in Myanmar since Western businesses pulled out after the February 2021 military coup.

Like a frontline soldier

In northern Thailand, an analyst at Chiang Mai University lauded Pelosi while casting doubt on some media reports suggesting that her Taiwan visit could have ignited a new cold war.

“As the U.S.’s third most influential figure after President Joe Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris, Pelosi could have laid a milestone on the U.S.’s new approach in Asia. Her trip to Taiwan is a strong political gesture and is vitally important for the relationship of the U.S. and East Asia in the future,” Isa Gharti told BenarNews. “She is like the first U.S. soldier who lays milestones to locate flash points.

“By reading some analysis lately, I am surprised that they think this is the start of a new cold war,” he said. “I don’t think so because the superpowers have yet to get their economies recovered and cannot afford to lose any partners.” 

Tria Dianti in Jakarta, Jason Gutierrez in Manila, Nontarat Phaicharoen and Wilawan Watcharasakwet in Bangkok, Kunnawut Boonreak in Chiang Mai, Thailand, and RFA contributed to this report by BenarNews, an RFA-affiliated online news service.

As U.S. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi left Taiwan Wednesday after a stopover that angered China, authorities in the eastern Chinese province of Zhejiang announced the arrest of a Taiwanese man under its national security law, accusing him of engaging in “separatist” activities and supporting formal independence for the democratic island.

Yang Chih-yuen was arrested by state security police in Zhejiang’s Wenzhou city, state broadcaster CCTV cited a police statement as saying, accusing Yang of having founded the pro-independence Taiwan National Party, with the aim of “promoting Taiwan to join the United Nations as a sovereign and independent country.”

“For some time, a very small number of ‘Taiwan independence’ die-hards have colluded with external forces, tried to split the country … [and] tried their best to incite cross-strait confrontation,” the report said.

“State security police will make resolute use of legal weapons like the Anti-Secession Law and the National Security Law to severely punish ‘Taiwan independence’ separatists … [who] reject unification,” it said.

Chinese Communist Party (CCP) leader Xi Jinping has repeatedly said that Taiwan must be “unified” with China, and refused to rule out the use of military force to annex the island. Taiwan has never been ruled by the CCP,  nor formed part of the 72-year-old People’s Republic of China.

But Taiwan president Tsai Ing-wen, who was re-elected in a 2020 landslide after vowing to stand up to China on the issue, has repeatedly said that Taiwan’s 23 million population have no wish to give up their sovereignty, a view that is borne out by repeated opinion polls.

Beijing has a track record in making political arrests as a form of diplomatic statement, in what has been termed “hostage diplomacy,” and Yang’s arrest appears to be a way for China to register its displeasure with Pelosi’s trip, during which she reaffirmed U.S. support for Taiwan’s “flourishing democracy.”

Taiwanese democracy activist Lee Ming-cheh, who served a five-year sentence in China for “incitement to subvert state power,” said during a meeting with Pelosi that the Chinese government shouldn’t use “national security” as an excuse to jail political prisoners.

Lee, who may not have read the news of Yang’s arrest at the time of speaking, called for an end to “residential surveillance at a designated location,” which enables the authorities to deny visits from lawyers or family members for six months where the person has been accused of a “national security” offense.

‘Unnecessary’ China reaction

Pelosi said during her meeting with Tsai on Wednesday that Taiwan, which made a transition to full democracy in the 1990s from authoritarian rule under the Kuomintang (KMT), that the island had “created a flourishing democracy” out of its challenging history.

“Now more than ever, America’s solidarity with Taiwan is crucial,” Pelosi said. “America’s determination to preserve democracy here in #Taiwan and around the world remains ironclad.”

China’s People’s Liberation Army (PLA) stepped up military exercises in the vicinity of Taiwan ahead of and during Pelosi’s trip, a move that both Pelosi and Tsai termed “unnecessary.”

“Facing deliberately heightened military threats, Taiwan will not back down. We will… continue to hold the line of defense for democracy,” Tsai said during the meeting.

“Military drills are unnecessary responses. Taiwan has always been open to constructive dialogue,” she said.

Tsai also presented Pelosi with a Taiwanese honor: the Order of Propitious Clouds.

Pelosi said she wasn’t sure why Beijing “made a big fuss” over her Taipei trip, though she speculated it may have been because she was the House speaker, Taiwan’s Central News Agency (CNA) reported.

The military drills could also be the result of “certain insecurities on the part of the president of China as to his own political situation that he’s rattling the saber,” the agency quoted her as saying.

Pelosi said in an official statement that her trip in no way represented a shift in U.S. policy on Taiwan, which involves not offering the island formal diplomatic recognition while pledging to help it defend itself from the CCP.

“Our visit is one of several Congressional delegations to Taiwan – and it in no way contradicts longstanding United States policy, guided by the Taiwan Relations Act of 1979, U.S.-China Joint Communiques and the Six Assurances,” the statement said. “The United States continues to oppose unilateral efforts to change the status quo.”

But it added: “America’s solidarity with the 23 million people of Taiwan is more important today than ever, as the world faces a choice between autocracy and democracy.”

Important regional message

Lo Chih-cheng, a member of the foreign affairs and defense committee at Taiwan’s Legislative Yuan, said the meaning of Pelosi’s trip was largely symbolic.

Coming as it did under pressure of Chinese threats and warnings, Pelosi’s trip sent an important message to the entire Asia-Pacific and Indo-Pacific region that “the United States and democracies will not yield to Chinese threats and pressure,” Lo told RFA.

Taiwanese military analyst Chieh Chung said the PLA exercises had made deep incursions into Taiwan’s territorial waters during Pelosi’s visit.

The exercises are taking place east of the central line of the Taiwan Strait, further diluting the tacit understanding of the median line formed by the military on both sides of the strait since 1999, Chieh told RFA.

Soong Kuo-cheng, a researcher in international relations at Taiwan’s National Chengchi University, said China’s response had made the international community more aware of the island’s importance of Taiwan, and placed it in the international spotlight.

“The CCP displayed a highly violent and irrational reaction to this visit by Pelosi, which has woken the rest of the world up to Taiwan’s significance,” Soong told RFA.

“Right now everyone is slowly realizing that what is happening to Taiwan is actually happening all over the world,” he said. “The crucial thing is this global boost to Taiwan’s visibility and [international] importance.”

“Pelosi’s visit to Taiwan will set a precedent for other countries … especially democratic countries, who may take a more open approach … to Taiwan’s participation in all fields other than as a sovereign [diplomatic partner],” Soong said.

Yang Haiying, a professor at Japan’s Shizuoka University, said the visit will likely further consolidate the relationship between Japan, Taiwan, and the United States.

“[Pelosi] went to Taiwan to represent the United States, to stand with Taiwan, and Japan will decide on its relationship with the United States based on this,” Yang said. “It could be said that the destinies of Taiwan and Japan have been tied together by this … visit, further consolidating the relationship.”

Stop the threats

Mainland Affairs Council spokesman Chiu Chui-cheng called on Beijing to cease its “threatening and provocative actions.”

“We must seriously urge the CCP authorities to immediately cease their threatening and provocative actions, and not to misjudge the situation, giving rise to unbearable and serious consequences,” Chiu said.

“The fact that there is no affiliation between [Taiwan and China] is an objective reality, and the status quo,” he said. “No amount of extreme pressure from Beijing can change this fact.”

He said Taiwan’s government, which still uses the name of the 1911 Republic of China founded by Sun Yat-sen, would never surrender its sovereignty despite the threat of military force.

Foreign ministry spokeswoman Joanne Ou said Taiwan insists on being treated as an equal partner with China, an idea that is anathema to Beijing.

“The Republic of China on Taiwan is a sovereign and independent country,” Ou said. “Neither the Republic of China nor the People’s Republic of China is subordinate to the other … this is the status quo that has been maintained across the Taiwan Strait for many years.”

Translated and edited by Luisetta Mudie.