Day: March 18, 2024

Tom Andrews has served as the U.N. Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights in Myanmar since 2020. The former U.S. Congressman for Maine is the author of papers examining the military’s claim as the government of Myanmar following its February 2021 coup d’etat and international arms networks that enable rights violations by the junta in the Southeast Asian nation.

Ahead of a trip to the United Nations in Geneva on Tuesday, Andrews spoke with Ye Kaung Myint Maung of RFA’s Burmese service about how the international community can support the people of Myanmar in the absence of a stronger stance by the UN Security Council. The interview has been edited for length and clarity.

RFA: In light of the dire circumstances in Myanmar, what message would you like to convey to both the junta and the people in Myanmar?

Andrews: Well, the junta’s days are numbered. They are losing ground, literally. They are losing troops. They have lost all legitimacy. They are desperate. And so the idea that they tried to create – this idea that they are inevitable – everyone now can see through this. They are declining and they will continue to decline. The people of Myanmar have shown remarkable tenacity and courage. They are truly an inspiration to me and to many others. They deserve the support of the international community. 

The international community has failed to provide that support in any kind of adequate measure. So my job is to work with member states of the United Nations and with the United Nations itself to encourage much stronger support for the people of Myanmar as they step forward to reclaim their country and their future.

RFA: Many people are trying to leave the country because of the compounding impact of the armed conflict and also the fear caused by the conscription law. What do you want to say to the countries who are receiving Myanmar refugees and migrants?

Andrews: Respect the principle of non-refoulement, accept people that are coming from Myanmar into your country. Protect them, support them, care for them, respect them. People from Myanmar are not crossing the border because they want to. They’re doing so because they have to. Their lives are at stake. And so it is critically important for the international community and those living right next to Myanmar to support those people who are seeking safety.

Humanitarian aid

RFA: We’re seeing the international community pressure the junta to allow humanitarian access in the country. Is there an update on the international collaboration on open access into Myanmar?

Andrews: Well, first of all, the reason that there’s a humanitarian crisis in Myanmar is precisely because of the junta. Before the coup, there were about a million people who were in need of humanitarian aid. Today, there’s 18.6 million people in need of humanitarian aid. That’s all since the coup. So it’s the junta that’s driving the need for humanitarian aid, driving this desperation. 

On top of all of that, they are restricting access to those who are seeking to provide humanitarian aid to those in desperate need. They’re blocking roads. They’re creating all these bureaucratic obstacles, requirements for travel authorizations, a variety of ways in which aid is being blocked. It’s a horrific situation that’s being made worse by the junta and driven by the junta.

I think what the international community needs to do is look at those areas – those expanding areas, those conflict areas outside of what the junta can control – and find ways to provide greater aid, greater support to those conflict areas, using the organizations – the citizen organizations, CSOs, NGOs – that have direct access to those communities. Provide that aid, get it into their hands so that they can in turn get that aid to people inside of these conflict areas.

That’s where I think a greater focus of the international community needs to be, because the growth in the need for humanitarian aid is in these areas that are under siege.

Ending support for junta

RFA: So your recent report at the United Nations highlighted Russian involvement with Myanmar’s military. So can you shed some light on that?

Andrews: Well, I’ve released two reports on how the junta is getting its weapons. And the report that you’re referring to, what I call “the billion dollar death trade,” I released this past year. And I list the countries that are providing these weapons. Number one, as you say, Russia. Number two, China. And number three, in that report, Singapore. 138 Singapore-based entities were involved in the transfer of US$254 million worth of weapons materials into Myanmar.

Now, the bad news is I don’t see much changing with respect to Russia as being the number one source of weapons. I made it clear in the report that, unlike Russia or China, there was no evidence that Singapore knew that these transfers were being made. 

I’m about to head to Geneva … I’ll be giving an updated report on what’s been developing. And in that report, I’m going to indicate that there has been a significant reduction in the transfer of weapons materials from Singapore over the course of the last several months. So that’s a very, very good sign.

RFA: With regard to the international collaboration to cut ties with the junta and to cut their resources and revenue – where are we on that?

Andrews: Well, first of all, we’re nowhere when it comes to the Security Council. The Security Council has the authority to establish an arms embargo, to refer the junta – those responsible for these atrocities – to the International Criminal Court, to take these measures. 

Because they’re unable or unwilling to do so, because of the lack of political will, it leaves it up to member states who care about human rights in Myanmar, who want to stand with the people of Myanmar, to do it themselves.

Now, the good news is many [member states] have been doing so. And I’ve been reporting on arms embargoes, the freezing of assets, the fact that countries like the United States and now Australia are sanctioning banks. These are all positive steps to continue to weaken the junta’s capacity to commit its violence. The problem is they’re not being done in a strategic, coordinated way.

And what I’ll be recommending … in Geneva is that those countries who support pressuring the junta need to build a network, a coalition, if you will. Sit down and identify together what are the points in which we think we can be most effective in undermining the capacity of the junta to continue its violence. Target those points of vulnerability of the junta, and then coordinate actions, all the sanctions and other types of actions, to those points and then work together to enforce those sanctions. I think that kind of coordinated approach is necessary, particularly because the Security Council is not going to take those actions.

Onus on member states

RFA: What can we expect from the upcoming U.N. General Assembly and U.N. Security Council meeting?

Andrews: I’m an optimist by nature. The U.N. General Assembly has passed resolutions that have expressed their support for human rights in Myanmar, for the people of Myanmar. They’ve called for member states to prevent the flow of weapons into Myanmar. The Security Council has expressed, to various degrees, support for the people of Myanmar and called for a cessation of violence.

But those are words. It’s not action. And what the people of Myanmar desperately need right now are not more words from member states or from politicians, but some action to back those words up.

That action is going to have to come from individual member states working together in coordination to cut off the weapons that the junta needs, cut off the money that they’re going to need and to support the humanitarian needs of the people of Myanmar. That takes more than words. That takes action.

Edited by Josh Lipes and Malcolm Foster.

The number of high school students registered to take a key exam in Myanmar has plummeted nearly 87% from the academic year before the military took control in a February 2021 coup d’etat, showing the devastating impact of war on education.

This year, more than 146,500 students registered for the military-administered university entrance examination held at 841 test centers across the nation and abroad, according to a March 13 report by Global New Light of Myanmar, an online news outlet, citing Ministry of Education figures.  

During the 2019-20 academic year, when the civilian-led National League for Democracy was still in power, nearly 970,800 students registered for the test, also called the matriculation examination, a benchmark for the country’s educated workforce for decades. 

About 128,725 students out of those who registered sat for the English subject test on March 12, the second day of the exam period, which runs Mar. 11-19, though nearly 17,800 others didn’t show up for the exam, the report said.

Under a new education system curriculum, students complete separate tests in several subjects, including Burmese, English, mathematics, chemistry, geography, physics, history, biology, economics and social science.

Conscription law

The development comes amid an exodus of young people following the ruling junta’s announcement of a conscription law in February to increase military manpower in the face of numerous battlefield defeats and large-scale surrenders in recent months during Myanmar’s civil war. 

Young people are applying for visas to go to Thailand or contemplating becoming monks, as the junta looks to recruit up to 50,000 men and women this year, Radio Free Asia reported earlier.

When RFA contacted Kyaw Swar Thwin, director general of the Department of Basic Education and a member of the junta’s press team, for comment, he claimed to have no knowledge of the current absentee test-taker situation.

But parents and teachers said fighting between the military and rebel forces has kept students away from the exams, while others point to the sluggish economy.

Test administrators in Kayah state, where fighting is intense, could not open exam centers. 

Similarly, in Chin state, more than 1,300 registered students did not take the exam, according to a list issued by the military council.

‘No one dares’

A parent of a student from Khaikam in the state’s Tedim township, told RFA that students could not sit for the university entrance exams because residents, including students and teachers, had fled with their families to escape the armed conflict.

“No one dares to enter the city right now,” he said, adding that those who already left have yet to return to Khaikam.

In Rakhine state, another conflict-ridden region, 18,602 youths were registered for the exam, but more than half – some 10,071 – didn’t show up, according to the junta’s list.  

The lack of security and blocked roads and waterways were key reasons, said a resident of Kyaukphyu in Rakhine.  “There are many people who are uncomfortable coming for exams,” he said, asking not to be identified.

Those taking the exams must carry a flag with the emblem of the Ministry of Education, he said. If they don’t, the junta soldiers might “do something,” he said. “Many parents are concerned. Consequently, a significant number of people opt out of taking the exams altogether.”

With the stagnating economy, some young people are prioritizing work over study, said a high school teacher in Yangon’s Mingaladon township.

“When the parents were a little easier with the economic situation, children could continue their education,” the teacher said. “But some children have stopped attending school due to a lack of interest in education.”

Translated by Kalyar Lwin for RFA Burmese. Edited by Roseanne Gerin and Malcolm Foster.

A junta aerial bombardment killed and injured dozens in western Myanmar, residents told Radio Free Asia. 

Most residents in Thar Dar, a predominantly Rohingya village in Myanmar’s Rakhine state, were sleeping when a fighter jet dropped a bomb around 1 a.m. Friday, a resident said. 

“Twenty-three people died on the spot and more than 30 were injured. There are piles of corpses in the village,” said the man who didn’t want to be named for safety reasons. “Children and elderly are among the dead, covered with tarpaulin and everything. Most of those who died and were injured lost their limbs.”

Thar Dar village, nearly five kilometers (three miles) north of Minbya city, was captured by the Arakan Army on Feb. 26.

The rebel group has also seized six other townships in Rakhine state, including most recently Kyaukphyu, where a large Chinese mega-project is located. The army also controls Pauktaw township in neighboring Chin state to the north.

While the Arakan Army has announced its intentions to control the state’s capital of Sittwe, junta troops have focused their resources on both small and large-scale attacks against civilians, which villagers have labeled a pattern of indiscriminate killings. Thar Dar village has little more than 300 houses and a population of under 2,000, residents said.

While there was no battle in the area to warrant an attack, residents told RFA the village had become a brief refuge for Rohingya fleeing nearby Sin Gyi Pyin village after it was also targeted. Rakhine state has also seen other attacks on the ethnically persecuted group, including an attack that killed an entire Rohingya family in Sittwe. 

RFA contacted Rakhine state’s junta spokesperson U Hla Thein for more information on Thar Dar’s aerial bombardment, but he did not pick up the phone.

Junta columns regularly shell and drop bombs on villages in Minbya, Mrauk-U, Pauktaw and Ponnagyun townships where they have already lost control, residents said. 

As of March 3, the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs reported more than 170 civilians had been killed and over 400 injured since the fighting in Rakhine state began again on Nov. 11, 2023.

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

China’s economy improved in the first two months of the year buoyed by a 7% rise in industrial output despite the ongoing decline in the beleaguered real estate industry, a major economic driver.

The two-month increase in industrial output from enterprises above designated size was also a 0.2 percentage point increase from December, according to data from the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) on Monday. 

A 5% jump in retail sales – a gauge of consumption – also boosted growth in the world’s second-largest economy which is facing its slowest economic growth since 1990 and hamstrung by structural problems such as the property sector.

“China’s activity data broadly stabilized at the start of the year. But there are still reasons to think some of the strength could be one-off,” said Louise Loo, a China economist at Oxford Economics in a note on Monday.

“Consumers were buoyed temporarily by festivities-related spending at the start of the year. In the absence of decisive consumption-related stimulus this year, we think it would be difficult to sustain a robust consumer spending pace this year,” Loo wrote.

Still, the numbers surpassed market expectations, according to a Reuters poll of economists, which forecast a 5% increase.

The state’s investment push would also have boosted overall growth. Fixed asset investments, including those in infrastructure projects, expanded 4.2% to 5.08 trillion yuan (US$706 billion) in January and February from the year-earlier period. Investments in real estate continued to be a drag as, minus property investments, the increase was 8.9%.

On the other hand, investments in property slid 9%, underlined by a 20.5% drop in the amount of newly built floor area compared with the first two months of 2023. In tandem, sales of new homes plunged 29.3% to 1.05 trillion yuan ($145.9 billion). 

Still, Liu conceded that the worst is over.

She said industries and companies continue to suffer operational pressure due to rising costs and insufficient orders.

But she was quick to add that a “new leap forward” to modernize the industrial system and accelerate the development across sectors like electric vehicles, hydrogen power, new materials, life sciences and commercial spaceflight would revive growth. 

It is also part of the domestic consumption drive under Chinese President Xi Jinping’s latest mantra to unleash “new productive forces,” to buffer the structural challenges hammering economic prospects clouded by not just the real estate market crisis but also local government indebtedness and economic issues due to demographic shifts. 

The consumption campaign urges industries to upgrade their equipment and citizens to trade in their old vehicles and home appliances for new ones. Granted, investments in the manufacturing sector rose 11.9%.

Policy-makers project that an over 5 trillion yuan ($694 billion) market could be created annually as industries and companies upgrade their equipment to raise development quality. A similar billion-dollar trade-in market is also expected when consumers replace old vehicles and home appliances.

“From a demand perspective, the consumer market continues to recover and the potential consumption for product upgrade to unleash,” said Liu Aihua, NBS spokesperson. 

To support the domestic demand policy, Beijing will issue 1 trillion yuan of special long-term bonds this year, and more in the next few years. 

Externally, China continues to face a complex and difficult global trade environment, even though exports edged up 10.3% in the first two months of this year, compared with the previous year.

Edited by Mike Firn and Taejun Kang.

The U.S. Air Force has outlined plans to spend US$400 million on upgrading the international airport on the Micronesian island of Yap to overcome what it says is a lack of military-capable airports in the strategically important Pacific region.

The plan is detailed in budget documents for the 2025 fiscal year and is one of the air force’s largest outside-of-America appropriation requests for that year. It adds to other significant expansion of U.S. military infrastructure in the Pacific in response to China’s increased defense spending. 

“Development of Yap Airport is essential because there are very few divert or contingency airfields available as potential United States defense sites in the region,” according to the budget request submitted to Congress last month.

“The strategic intent is to support and conduct current, emerging, and future United States Air Force training activities, and to ensure the capability to meet mission requirements in the event that access to other western Pacific locations is limited or denied,” it said.

U.S. President Joe Biden earlier this month signed a budget bill that included funding for the renewal of close ties with Federated States of Micronesia, Palau and the Marshall Islands. The three countries give the United States military access to their vast ocean territories between the Philippines and Hawaii in exchange for economic assistance and the right to live and work in the U.S. 

The U.S. is building an over-the-horizon radar facility in Palau that will add to its early-warning capabilities for the western Pacific and also has expanded military bases in the U.S. Pacific island territory of Guam over several years.

In the South Pacific, the U.S. envisages upgrades over several years to sea and air ports in Papua New Guinea under a defense cooperation agreement signed last year. It also plans to base nuclear-capable B-52 bombers in the far north of Australia after upgrading airport infrastructure.

China’s annual military budget has about doubled over the past decade to $298 billion in 2022, according to the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute’s military spending database. U.S. military spending fell over that period but remains nearly three times greater than China’s. 

Competition between China and the U.S. has been sharpest in East Asia due to possible flashpoints such as Taiwan – which China regards as a rebel province – and Beijing’s claims to the South China Sea that overlap with the claims of Southeast Asian nations.                            

The Pacific has also become a focus for the rivalry as the U.S. responds to China’s inroads with island states over several decades. U.S. interest in the Pacific was particularly galvanized after the Solomon Islands signed a security agreement with China in 2022.

Yap, one of the four states that make up Federated States of Micronesia, comprises islands with a total area of about 100 square kilometers (39 square miles) and is known for maintaining a strong traditional culture and its giant stone money.

The airport project on Yap island, which is the largest island in the remote group, would lengthen the runway so more U.S. military aircraft can safely use it, according to the budget document. The construction work could begin in the second half of next year.

Yap’s strategic location is vital to the U.S. military’s Indo-Pacific Command and the U.S. Pacific Air Force for future missions and for aircraft involved in humanitarian and disaster relief efforts in the area, it says. 

An additional project planned for Yap would expand the area for aircraft parking and improve access to the runway, according to the document.

BenarNews is an RFA-affiliated online news organization.

Updated March 17, 2024, 11:10 p.m. ET.

Vietnam’s parliament will hold an extraordinary session on Thursday to discuss ‘personnel issues,’ according to a letter sent to legislators and seen by Reuters.

The news agency quoted Vietnamese officials and diplomats as saying the resignation of President Vo Van Thuong may be on the agenda.

United States-based lawyer Le Quoc Quan told RFA extraordinary meetings of Vietnam’s National Assembly have become normal because of the recent turbulence in senior leadership positions.

Quan said even though state media had not reported on the meeting, social media posts led him to believe President Thuong would resign to take responsibility for a corruption case involving officials from Vinh Phuc and Quang Ngai provinces.

He said Thuong’s likely replacement is Minister of Public Security To Lam.

“Recently, the Ministry of Public Security has been given a lot of budget, the ministry has a lot of power, it has influenced the National Assembly to pass many laws to protect the police sector. 

“The Ministry of Public Security is actually consolidating its power firmly and strongly and is like [Communist Party of Vietnam General Secretary] Nguyen Phu Trong’s right hand to carry out the so-called anti-corruption work, or in other words, suppressing subjects that General Secretary Nguyen Phu Trong himself as well as the Ministry of Public Security found inappropriate, including senior leaders of the Communist Party of Vietnam and activists.”

Radio Free Asia’s  call to Vietnam’s foreign affairs ministry to confirm details of Thursday’s meeting went unanswered.

The session comes after Vietnam canceled a state visit by the Dutch King and Queen planned for March 19-22, due to unspecified “internal circumstances,” according to a statement from the Dutch Royal House.

President Thuong has only been in the job for a year. He was appointed in March, 2023, after a special meeting of the National Assembly two months earlier saw the sudden resignation of then president Nguyen Xuan Phuc who took responsibility for a series of major COVID scandals.

The Vietnamese presidency is largely a ceremonial role.

Translated by RFA Vietnamese. Edited by Mike Firn and Taejun Kang.

Updated to include comments from lawyer Le Quoc Quan.