Day: March 12, 2024

The United States is going “all in on the Philippines” and its semiconductor sector in a bid to diversify the global chip supply chain amid growing tensions with China, U.S. Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo said Tuesday.

Raimondo made the announcement during a two-day trade mission to Manila in which she was joined by 22 American business executives from companies including Alphabet’s Google, Visa and Microsoft.

“This is historic. The message is: We are all in the Philippines,” Raimondo said at a meeting with U.S. and Philippine business associations in Makati City, the city’s financial hub.

She also announced that American companies would invest $1 billion in the Philippines, spanning solar energy, electric vehicles and digitization.

The U.S. delegation, the first of its kind to the Southeast Asian nation, comes as the battle for semiconductor supremacy heats up between the world’s two largest economies.

Washington has stepped up sanctions to limit China’s access to the tiny electronic devices that power the modern economy, while encouraging American firms to diversify hi-tech supply chains.

“U.S. companies have realized that our chip supply chain is way too concentrated in just a few countries in the world. Forget about geopolitics; just add that level of concentration. It’s the old adage: ‘Don’t put your eggs in one basket’,” Raimondo said.

“The Philippines has 13 semiconductor assembly, testing, and packaging facilities. Let’s double it,” she added, without providing details on how that would be achieved.

Raimondo said the Philippines was rich in critical minerals, which “are more important than ever.”

“So as companies are thinking about how to make their supply chain more resilient, they are looking for countries in the world where they can establish an operation. I believe you are at the top of the list,” she said.

Raimondo did not publicly refer directly to China by name during the Manila visit.

U.S. engagement with the Philippines has increased since President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. took office in June 2022, especially on security matters. 

At the same time, Washington has done more to cultivate economic ties with nations in the so-called Indo-Pacific region, which comprises 40% of the global economy, in a bid to counter China’s expanding influence. 

In May 2022, the U.S. launched the Indo-Pacific Economic Framework for Prosperity (IPEF) with a focus on four pillars: Trade, supply chains, the clean economy and the fair economy, the latter of which covers tax and anti-corruption.

Aside from the U.S. and the Philippines, IPEF partners include Australia, Brunei, Fiji, India, Indonesia, Japan, South Korea, Malaysia, New Zealand, Philippines, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam.

However, the initiative is not a traditional free-trade agreement and has faced criticism for not providing any market access.

On Monday, Raimondo met with Marcos in Malacañang before the president departed for a trip to Germany.

“Today’s gathering not only signifies a meeting of officials, but also celebrates the enduring relations between the Philippines and the United States – ties that have been built on shared sacrifices, mutual support and unwavering respect,” Marcos said.

In 2023, the U.S. ranked as the Philippines’ third biggest trading partner, its largest export market and fifth highest source of imports, according to data from the Philippine government. In the same period, total bilateral trade amounted to $19.96 billion, with exports valued at $11.54 billion and imports at $8.41 billion.

The Philippines’ top bilateral trade partner last year was China, with which it had a deficit of about $2 billion.

Most of the Raimondo-led trade delegation was from the technology, artificial intelligence, renewable energy and information and communications sectors. 

Tech giant Microsoft said Tuesday it would partner with the Philippines’ Technical Education and Skills Development Authority (TESDA) to train 100,000 Filipino women on AI and cybersecurity. 

Ted Osius, president and CEO of the non-profit US-ASEAN Business Council, said the U.S. commitments were good for the region.

“It’s in our national interest as well as in our economic interest to invest in the Philippines, to be involved in the Philippines, to support the Philippines’ growth and prosperity,” he told reporters after Raimondo’s address.

Resilient supply chains were important not just because of “challenges with China,” he said.

“We found during the COVID-19 pandemic that supply chains are more fragile than we expected. Even right now, there’s action in the Red Sea that is causing delays in shipping, causing delays in parts, needed parts, getting goods,” he said.

BenarNews is an RFA-affiliated online news organization.

Week-long fighting between the junta and a northern ethnic army is responsible for mass displacement in Myanmar, locals told Radio Free Asia on Tuesday.

Junta troops entered Hsihseng city in western Shan state on March 3, where gunshots could still be heard as of Monday at noon, said one Hsiseng resident, asking for anonymity. 

“The battle is still going on. The junta based in Hsaik Hkawng village and Bang Yin city are shelling towards Hsihseng city,” he said. “On March 3, the junta troops returned to enter Hsihseng city, and the fighting has been going on ever since and hasn’t stopped yet.”

The Pa’O National Liberation Army captured Hsihseng on Jan. 22, causing junta troops and the allied Pa-O National Army to retaliate with heavy weapons and airstrikes. The Pa-O National Liberation Army is an insurgent group composed of the Pa-O, an ethnic group native to northeast Myanmar’s Shan state.

More than 100,000 people from six urban Hsihseng neighborhoods and 60 villages in Hsihseng township have fled to safety, as have the residents of 31 villages in neighboring Hopong township.

Fighting also resumed in southern Shan state’s Pinlaung township on Saturday, forcing nearly 10,000 civilians from 17 villages to temporarily relocate.

A Pinlaung resident who wished to remain anonymous for security reasons told RFA on Monday that fighting between the junta and Karenni Nationalities Defense Forces and allied Pa-O National Liberation Army resumed in the township after junta troops carried out an offensive.

“The junta army carried out the offensive and confronted them there. It’s been three days since March 9,” he said.

On Sunday and Monday, fighting grew more intense as the junta began using airstrikes and heavy weapons, he added.

Heavy damage in southern Shan state

The renewed conflict has killed nearly 50 civilians and injured 60 more from Jan. 22 to March 11, despite a Nationwide Ceasefire Agreement signed by both the Pa-O National Liberation Army and junta officials in Hsihseng, Hopong and Loilen townships, according to the Pa-O Youth Organization.

Roughly half of the dead were killed by airstrikes or heavy weapons, among them five children, according to the youth organization’s Monday statement. 

“The military council has increased the airstrikes and drone bombings in the Hsihseng city battles. In Hopong’s Mae Nel mountain ridge, the junta carried out an airstrike when the locals returned after fighting calmed on March 8,” said Nan, a spokeswoman of the Pa-O Youth Organization. 

“It killed a man on the spot in Kyauk Ka Char village, Hopong township. About 10 houses were damaged, although there was no fighting in that village.”

In some areas, civilians are continuing to die from airstrikes, she added.

Thirteen of the near 50 deaths occurred when people died after being arrested and interrogated by the junta. Eight people, including those internally displaced, died due to other causes.

Five children were among the 60 injured. Airstrikes injured 36 people, artillery shells injured 18 and six were injured by landmines and other causes, according to the statement. 

The junta army fired over 1,500 explosives, and conducted over 400 attacks by air and drones, destroying nearly two hundred homes, as well as 15 religious buildings. 

RFA reached out to Shan state’s junta spokesperson Khun Thein Maung to confirm the organization’s statistics, but he did not answer calls.

In early 2023, conflict killed more than 30 civilians and displaced more than 10,000 during fierce battles between the Karenni National Defense Forces, affiliated resistance groups, or People’s Defense Forces, and junta troops in Pinlaung township.

Translated by RFA Burmese. Edited by Kiana Duncan and Mike Firn. 

The Taiwanese gangster film, The Pig, The Snake and The Pigeon, has hit the bull in the eye with mainland Chinese moviegoers who saw the cult featured in the movie as an allusion to the Chinese Communist Party. 

In less than a week of its release in China, it has chalked up close to 370 million yuan (US$51.55 million) in box office, received more than 580,000 reviews and earned an 8.1 high score on Douban, a social media site with streaming service. The film, currently streaming on Netflix, only sold NT$50 million (US$1.59 million) in Taiwan when it was released in October 2023. 

Some scholars have attributed the popularity of this violent film in China to reflect the public’s distrust of the Chinese judiciary. The plot of the movie also exposes lawlessness in the society through labor exploitation and fraud that resonated with the economic hardships that Chinese citizens currently face.

The film’s Chinese title “Zhou Chu Eliminates Three Evils” pays homage to Zhou Chu, a Western Jin-era Chinese general reputed for his uprightness and integrity. Zhou sought to kill a tiger and a dragon that terrorized his hometown. The third evil referred to himself when he was a cruel and violent ruffian in his youth.

The movie’s protagonist is a notorious hitman and gangster Chen Kui-lin, who after learning that he has terminal lung cancer, wanted to leave his mark by taking out the two most wanted criminals ahead of him.

“Have you heard the story of ‘Zhou Chu Eliminates Three Evils’? Everyone only remembers Zhou Chu, and no one will remember the two people he killed. So Zhou Chu is the person of value, and everyone remembers him,” said Chen, who is played by Taiwanese actor Ethan Juan, in the movie.

Cult Party?

One of Chen’s two targets was a cult leader who was swindling money from cult followers. 

Lai Rongwei, Taiwan Inspiration Association’s chief executive officer, said the movie made it pass Chinese censors despite the violence and gore because the Chinese Communist Party wanted to warn citizens to be careful of religious gatherings.

Lai said the CCP itself is a religion alienating the Chinese people, and the film’s allusion of the cult, which constantly seeks donations from followers, to the Party coincided with what Chinese President Xi Jinping is doing. 

“Xi Jinping constantly talks about ‘common prosperity,’ about how the private sector should contribute to society,” said Lai. 

Akio Yaita, Taipei bureau chief of the Japanese newspaper Sankei Shimbun, believes that the movie passed Chinese censors because the film’s underworld backdrop depicting the underbelly of Taiwanese society would illustrate Taiwan as a place where “the weak eat the strong and the people live in dire straits.”

Taiwan is a self-governed democracy that China claims its own and has vowed to reclaim, even by force if needed.

A hit among Chinese influencers

The protagonist Chen’s other confrontation with the other wanted man “Hongkie” represented the issue of labor exploitation, which resonated with Chinese workers exploited and owed wages as the economy sputters, according to Taiwan Inspiration Association’s Lai.

“This movie resonated with many because it shows how hard many Chinese people’s lives are, a typical M-shaped society; the rich are very rich and corruption is rampant. The Party, the government and the judiciary collude.” 

The M-shaped society describes demographic distribution of wealth where there is a shrinking and greater disparity between the rich and the poor. The statistical curve appears in the form of the letter “M”.

The Pig, The Snake and The Pigeon has also sparked heated discussions online, with Chinese internet celebrities criticizing Chinese gangster films as not realistic enough. One of them, Dadonggua, pointed out that the characterization of Chen truly met the expectations of the Chinese people.

“Chen Kui-lin hunted down Hongkie and destroyed the cult organization all by himself. These are things neither ordinary people dare think or do, nor can the police handle,” said Dadonggua. “With the brutality of the evil forces and the incompetence of the government, people will naturally regard those who use violence to fight violence as heroes.”

In a Facebook post, Nick Wang, a well-known Taiwanese writer, wrote that if Xi had accidentally watched the film, he would certainly realize the cult satirized him and the CCP, as well as predicted their perish.

Still, Lai raised a concern that if public opinion continues to link cults with the CCP, the film may be axed as history has shown.

Translated and additional reporting by RFA Staff. Edited by Taejun Kang. 

Chinese authorities arrested 726,000 people last year, a jump of 47.1% from the previous year, the country’s chief prosecutor told the National People’s Congress that ended Monday amid a crackdown on crimes linked to “hostile foreign forces.”

Authorities also formally prosecuted 1.688 million people last year, up 17.3%, Chief Prosecutor Ying Yong said. 

Ying said more than 2.4 million people were “arrested or prosecuted” last year for offenses related to “national security,” although he didn’t provide a breakdown for each category.

The Chinese authorities have typically employed a highly elastic definition of what constitutes a state secret, and national security charges are frequently leveled at journalists, rights lawyers and activists, often based on material they posted online.

Ying’s annual work report on behalf of the Supreme People’s Procuratorate said the focus of last year’s “strike hard” campaign was crimes linked to “hostile foreign forces” including “infiltration, sabotage, incitement and separatism.”

The ruling Communist Party blames “hostile foreign forces” for the “white paper” protests that spread across the country in November 2022 as people vented their anger and frustration, holding up blank sheets of paper as a symbol of what they can’t say, about Xi Jinping’s three-year long zero-COVID policy.

It also claims that foreign forces were behind waves of mass popular protest in Hong Kong against national security legislation, patriotic education and extradition to mainland China in recent years.

Social unrest

Cheng Xiaofeng, a former police detective from the Zhuzhou municipal police department in the central province of Hunan, said the rise in arrests is likely linked to growing social unrest.

“2024 is the year in which China is heading into a state of social unrest,” Cheng told RFA Mandarin. “Various social tensions are emerging, one after the other.”

“The official crime data tells us that people are having a hard time, and is a true reflection of the state of society,” he said.

Lu Jun, who founded the Beijing-based health non-profit Yirenping, agreed.

“The explosion of these numbers is either due to a rise in social resistance during the past year, or it’s due to the Communist Party itself, which may be acting to maintain stability, catch spies … to ward off a crisis.”

He said he knows of many volunteers in the non-profit sector who have been detained and even sentenced during the past year.

“If they’re like this in the public welfare sector, then it’s even more likely in other fields,” he said. “Of course, legally speaking, it’s total nonsense.”

The nationwide obsession with “hostile foreign forces” is being seen in Hong Kong too, where the authorities are getting ready to pass another law safeguarding “national security” that provides for harsher penalties where foreign forces are deemed to have been involved.

Currently, pro-democracy media mogul Jimmy Lai is on trial for “collusion with foreign forces” under the 2020 National Security Law — the case against him relies heavily on opinion articles published in Lai’s now-defunct Apple Daily newspaper.

Sedition penalties

The law also boosts penalties linked to “sedition,” criminalizing online posts or displays that “cause hatred” towards the authorities or “contempt” for residents of China, according to a draft “Safeguarding National Security” bill currently before the city’s Legislative Council.

Penalties for “sedition” have been raised from two years to seven years, while “failing to report treasonous acts” carries a maximum jail term of 14 years.

Anyone with links to overseas groups will incur harsher sentences in all cases, according to the bill.

Exiled former pro-democracy lawmaker Ted Hui said the draft bill will “further deprive the people of Hong Kong of their rights.”

For example, Hui said many in Hong Kong are hotly supportive of Taiwan, and have gone out of their way to buy its produce amid an ongoing trade war with China.

“In the future, you could be accused of treason and sentenced to life imprisonment if you don’t side with the Chinese government,” Hui warned, adding that the definition of the crimes under the draft law was overly vague.

“This approach puts Hong Kongers at extreme risk,” he said.

The law will also allow police leave to hold a suspect for up to 14 days without charge, a stark contrast to the two days previously allowed.

There are also restrictions on legal representation under the bill, Hui said.

“You can’t see a lawyer, and you can’t specify which lawyer you see,” he said. “People released on bail will also be placed under effective house arrest.”

Patrick Poon, a rights researcher at the University of Tokyo, said the new provisions will mean police have similar powers to their counterparts in mainland China.

“The biggest issue [with the draft bill] is that it gives a huge amount of latitude to the police,” Poon said. “Catch-all charges will become a serious problem, and there is no way to get a lawyer or to receive legal protection.”

“It’s exactly the same as the approach in mainland China, and it’s a very serious violation of human rights,” he said.

Translated by Luisetta Mudie. Edited by Malcolm Foster.