Day: May 25, 2023

China’s new ambassador to the United States, Xie Yang, started his tenure by stating baldly that he is there to look after his country’s interests, first and foremost.

Arriving in Washington amid unprecedented tension over Taiwan and the shooting down of a Chinese spy balloon over U.S. soil, former Hong Kong foreign affairs envoy Xie Feng fills a post that has been empty for five months, the longest hiatus in the history of bilateral ties.

In a brief statement at the airport on Tuesday, Xie, 59, kicked off by recognizing the “serious difficulties and challenges” in the U.S.-China relationship.

“We hope that the United States will work together with China to increase dialogue, to manage differences and also to expand our cooperation, so that our relationship will be back to the right track,” Xie said in remarks delivered in English.

But he also named the “Taiwan question” among the sensitive issues at the top of his agenda, striking a tone that is becoming known as China’s “wolf-warrior” diplomatic style.

“I have come here to safeguard China’s interest. This is my sacred responsibility,” he said after landing at New York City’s John F. Kennedy International Airport.

“I’m also the envoy of Chinese people, so I’ve come here to enhance China-U.S. exchanges and cooperation,” said Xie.

‘Wolf warrior’ reputation

Xie’s reputation is generally in line with the “wolf warrior” image of some Chinese diplomats, and he has engaged in blunt rebukes of U.S. actions on issues ranging from trade to official contact with the democratic island of Taiwan, which Beijing has threatened to annex by military force if necessary.

As the foreign ministry’s envoy to Hong Kong during the 2019 protest movement, Xie blamed the protests against the loss of the city’s freedoms as the work of a “minority” of angry and disaffected youth who “desecrated the national flag and waved foreign ones, begging for outside intervention.”

Xie also has a strong track record in delivering diplomatic retorts specifically targeting the United States, having served in Washington as a junior attache as early as 2000, where he rose to become embassy spokesman.

After his transfer back to Beijing in January 2021, Xie took up the post of vice minister of foreign affairs in charge of policy planning and regional affairs for the Americas and Oceania, where he accused Washington of not doing enough to fight the pandemic, and of hypocrisy over its criticism of China’s human rights record.

Efforts to repair U.S.-China ties have struggled since then-U.S. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi visited Taiwan in August 2022, sparking days of military saber-rattling by the People’s Liberation Army around the island.

In February, just hours before Secretary of State Antony Blinken was set to leave Washington for a visit to Beijing, he called off the trip after an alleged Chinese spying balloon was found in U.S. airspace. 

Then, Taiwan President Tsai Ing-wen’s March meeting with U.S. House Speaker Kevin McCarthy during a U.S. stopover prompted Beijing to launch aircraft carriers into the Western Pacific just south of Taiwan, with Beijing accusing the United States of “crossing the line” with the trip.

And there has been scant sign of any thaw since, State Department counselor Derek Chollet told the Voice of America in a recent interview, saying there are currently no plans for a regular meeting between Blinken and China’s most senior diplomat, Wang Yi. The two last met on the sidelines of the Munich Security Conference on Feb. 18.

“There’s no decision at all on a regular meeting,” Chollet said. “As you know very well, Secretary Blinken was just hours from departing for Beijing several months ago, until the Chinese irresponsibly and unacceptably flew a surveillance balloon over the United States.”

But he said U.S. Ambassador to China Nick Burns had recently returned from public service leave to Beijing where he had had “several meetings” to try to find “a floor” for the relationship.

And he described national security adviser Jake Sullivan’s May 11 meeting with Wang Yi in Vienna as another attempt to find “guardrails” following recent tensions.

“We’ve had a very difficult several months and as President Biden mentioned … he’s, of course, hoping that there’ll be a moment for thaw in the relationship in what’s been a difficult period,” Chollet said.

‘Can set a positive tone’

Bonnie Glaser, managing director of the Indo-Pacific Program at the German Marshall Fund of the United States, said Xie Feng differs from his predecessors in that he has been dealing with the United States for a long time, appearing at a video meeting between President Joe Biden and China’s Xi Jinping last November.

“Xie Feng has been dealing with the United States for quite some time,” Glaser said. “He is an expert who has been in the foreign ministry responsible for U.S. affairs, whereas [his predecessor] Qin Gang did not have a strong background in the U.S.-China relationship, so I think that is an important difference.”

According to the Wall Street Journal, Xie’s appointment could be an attempt to signal that Beijing is hoping for better communication with Washington despite recent tensions and the long hiatus between ambassadors.

“It has been over six months since the United States has had an ambassador from China, and I think that has hampered to some extent communications between the U.S. and Chinese governments,” Glaser said. “The ambassador can set a positive tone for the relationship, but the ambassador does not make decisions about policy.”

Wang Dan, who heads the Washington-based think tank Dialogue China, said Xie’s appointment says little about how the bilateral relationship will pan out over the next few months, however.

“Ever since Xi Jinping was voted in again [at the 20th party congress in October 2022], the [whole of Chinese diplomacy] has basically become the attitude of Xi Jinping alone,” Wang said. “I don’t think [Xie’s appointment] should be regarded as some kind of political signal.”

Wang said even China’s more moderate diplomats will be under pressure to demonstrate their “wolf warrior” credentials under Xi.

“We’ve all seen this happen in the past, and I believe Xie Feng will go the same way,” he said.

The Chinese embassy declined to comment on Xie’s appointment or its likely effect on bilateral ties, responding only: “We will be releasing relevant information in due course. Please check our website and official social media platforms.”

Chollet said he had “no announcements to make” on a rescheduled visit by Blinken to Beijing.

Translated by Luisetta Mudie. Edited by Matt Reed.

A court in Myanmar’s central Mandalay region has handed down 22-year sentences to three Buddhist monks accused of supporting anti-junta People’s Defense forces, a local resident told RFA Thursday.

Tuesday’s sentences came after the monks from Taw Kyaung Gyi monastery in Patheingyi township were found guilty under Section 50 (j) of the Counter-Terrorism Law, which prohibits the financing of terrorist groups.

The local, who didn’t want to be named for safety reasons, said the monks became involved because anti-junta militia often seek refuge in religious buildings, thinking they will be safer.

“A monk is not a People’s Defense Force [member]. PDF youths set up camp in that monastery and sent drones over Mandalay city,” he said.

“The monks probably encouraged them because locals are involved. Monks host the PDF and collect donations for them.”

RFA has not been able to find out the names of the monks but the local said one was the chair of Mandalay’s Madaya township Sangha Maha Nayaka Committee, established by the government in 1980 to oversee the Buddhist clergy.

Another local, who also requested anonymity, told RFA the three monks are being held in Mandalay’s Obo Prison following the hearing in Mandalay city’s Aungmyaythazan District Court 

Some 18,364 people are currently in detention in Myanmar, 6,076 of them serving prison sentences, according to the Assistance Association for Political Prisoners.

Translated by RFA Burmese. Edited by Mike Firn.

Asia’s 10 major river systems — that play a vital role in the economies and energy security of 16 countries — are facing significant disruptions due to climate change, a new report warns, calling for urgent action to safeguard regional water flow.

The basins of the 10 rivers originating from the Hindu Kush-Himalayan water towers are inhabited by 1.9 billion people and contribute U.S.$4.3 trillion to annual gross domestic product, said the report “No River, No Power” by China Water Risk (CWR), a non-profit think tank based in Hong Kong.

The climate change risk means up to one in two Asians could be affected by increasing water scarcity due to accelerated glacial melt, reduced snowfall, changing monsoon patterns and overexploitation of groundwater resources, the report released Wednesday said.

Asia gets most of its water from the Himalayas, Hindu Kush, Karakorum mountains, and the Tibetan Plateau. Collectively, they are often called the “Third Pole” or “Asia’s Water Towers,” making up 10 major river basins. 

These include the Amu Darya, Brahmaputra, Ganges, Indus, Ayeyarwady, Mekong, Salween, Tarim, Yangtze and Yellow rivers. They flow through 16 countries, including China and most of Central, South, and Southeast Asia before reaching the seas or ending in a desert. 

Known as the continent’s cradles of civilization, they are also responsible for almost three quarters of global rice production. 

The report said that most of the countries are developing, which means more people will flock to more than 280 large cities along the rivers, adding pressure to already stressed systems.

According to the report’s projection, all rivers face escalating and compounding water risks due to climate change, with four of the 10 rivers seeing an overall decrease in river flows by 2050 if the earth heats by the 1.5 to 2 degrees Celsius threshold set by Paris climate agreement.

Such impacts will affect the 10 river systems’ power generation, currently responsible for 865 gigawatts (GW), or 46% of the total electricity capacity in the 16 countries, the report said. It is more than the combined capacity of Brazil, Canada, Germany, Japan and Russia.

Over 94% of this installed capacity (865GW) needs water to generate electricity, with coal and hydropower making up most of the share, while more than a third already lie in river basin areas that face “High” to “Extremely High” water stress or are in arid regions.

“Uncertain future flows of the 10 rivers and extreme weather mean we must curate mountains-to-oceans waternomic roadmaps and energy systems that are resilient to climate change,” said Debra Tan, head of the think tank and lead author of the report.

“National energy and water security plans must thus dovetail. The need to do all this is ever more urgent as doing so will help us manage escalating and compounding water risks as well as meet rising demand for water.”

Laos, Cambodia and Myanmar highest-risk countries

According to the report, landlocked Laos is the most exposed among the risk groups, along with Myanmar and Cambodia in the overall high-risk group, while China is considered a mid-high risk and Vietnam low risk. 

In Laos, the Mekong accounts for two-thirds of its surface water and houses over 90% of its population and gross domestic product, according to the report, with almost 100% of Laos’s national installed capacity on the Mekong. 

Similarly, Cambodia receives 26% of its surface water from the Mekong, home to 79% of its population and 85% of its GDP. Around two-thirds of Cambodia’s national installed capacity as hydropower sits in the Mekong river basin.

In Myanmar, the Ayeyarwady, Salween, and Mekong provide 35% of the country’s surface water and house 58% of its population and contribute 46% to its GDP. Almost two-thirds of its installed power capacity is on the Ayeyarwady and one-third on the Salween.

The report also noted that a surge in “just-in-case” coal-fired power additions in China after the severe droughts along the Yangtze in 2022 is just one of many cascading effects of climate change impacts. 

Out of the 10 rivers, only Amu Darya does not flow through China. The other nine rivers provide half of China’s surface water, support about 44% of its population, and contribute about 30% to its GDP.

China has around half of its national power dispersed among seven rivers, with the lion’s share in the Yangtze and Yellow river basins.

The Asia-Pacific is home to 80% of global coal generation, while power sector emissions in the region make up 62% of the total worldwide. 

Asia’s heavy reliance on still expanding coal-fired power fleet only accelerates climate change and exacerbates water scarcity, the report said, warning that such power generation requires water for cooling and driving steam turbines, making energy security even more vulnerable during a water crisis. 

The transboundary nature of the river systems also adds to the risk, it said, giving an example of the Mekong that flows through five countries. 

“This means that the transboundary management of eight out of the 10 rivers should not just be about water sharing but also energy policies and development as well,” said CT Low, CWR’s geospatial risk lead and coauthor of the report.

Edited by Mike Firn.