Day: December 23, 2022

China Sanctions 2 US Citizens Over Action on Tibet

Chin@Strategy

Beijing —  China has sanctioned two U.S. citizens in retaliation for action taken by Washington over human rights abuses in Tibet, the government said Friday, amid an ongoing standoff between the sides over Beijing’s treatment of religious and ethnic minorities. The Foreign Ministry said in a statement that Todd Stein and Miles Yu Maochun, along with their close family members, would be banned from entering China. Any assets they had in China would be frozen and they would be barred from contact with people or organizations within China. The notice…

Myanmar’s casualties of war face a perilous journey

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It was pitch black when Ku Phe Law stepped on a landmine and shattered his legs during a skirmish with Myanmar junta troops in eastern Kayah State earlier this year.  Drifting in and out of consciousness, the Karenni Nationalities Defence Force (KNDF) soldier was then taken on a grueling eight-hour car journey in a bid to save his life. “It was quite far and it took a long time to reach. I don’t know what happened next,” said the 23-year-old, recalling how he ended up in a clinic close to…

China’s Stretched Health System Braces for Peak in COVID Infections

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BEIJING/SHANGHAI —  China is expecting a peak in COVID-19 infections within a week, a health official said, with authorities predicting extra strain on the country’s health system even as they downplay the disease’s severity and continue to report no new deaths. In the face of a surging outbreak and widespread protests against its “zero-COVID” regime of lockdowns and testing, China began dismantling it this month, becoming the last major country to move toward living with the virus. Its containment measures had slowed the $17 trillion economy to its lowest growth…

Myanmar Diplomat Cites Keys to Passage of Security Council Resolution  

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This week the U.N. Security Council passed its first resolution on Myanmar in 74 years, demanding the military junta immediately end violence in the Southeast Asian nation and free all political prisoners, including ousted leader Aung San Suu Kyi and President Win Myint. Junta allies China and Russia abstained instead of vetoing Wednesday’s measure. On Friday, the junta’s foreign ministry released a statement accusing the U.N. of “exerting pressure to destabilize Myanmar rather than supporting the government’s efforts.” Earlier this month, the United Nations upheld the credentials of Myanmar’s U.N.…

Myanmar’s NUG, analysts criticize Thailand for hosting junta foreign minister

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Myanmar’s shadow government, analysts and human rights groups have lambasted the Thai government for holding a meeting on the post-coup crisis there that included the Burmese junta’s foreign minister. The meeting in Bangkok on Thursday yet again exposed a sharp divide in the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN), as member-states opposed to the Burmese junta – Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines and Singapore – were notably absent. Regional analysts say the meeting hosted by Thailand was a deliberate attempt to deepen a schism within ASEAN between authoritarian governments and the…

UN Security Council Trying to ‘Destabilize’ Myanmar, Junta Says

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Yangon, Myanmar —  Myanmar’s junta on Friday slammed a United Nations Security Council resolution calling for an end to violence and the release of ousted leader Aung San Suu Kyi, accusing the body of attempting to “destabilize” the country. The Security Council adopted its first-ever resolution on the situation in the turmoil-ridden Southeast Asian nation on Wednesday, after junta allies China and Russia abstained rather than veto the document. The 15-member council has been split on Myanmar for decades and was previously able to agree only on formal statements about…

Two Americans sanctioned by China say they don’t care

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Two U.S. citizens sanctioned by China in retaliation for U.S. sanctions issued over rights abuses in Tibet say they don’t care and focus should remain on Beijing’s treatment of ethnic minorities. China’s Foreign Ministry on Friday announced sanctions against American historian Miles Yu and Todd Stein, a deputy staff director on the U.S. Congressional-Executive Commission on China. Both are banned from traveling to China or contacting anyone there. The Congressional-Executive Commission on China is a bipartisan body made up of members of congress and mandated to provide an annual report…

North Korea inspects party membership cards after alcohol bill goes unpaid

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Authorities in North Korea are inspecting membership cards for the ruling Workers’ Party after a man used his to get out of paying for alcohol, thereby sullying the party’s good name, sources in the country told Radio Free Asia. Membership in the Korean Workers’ Party was once seen as prestigious as it conferred many benefits to citizens, such as preferable job placement and access to better education and housing. To be a member of the party requires exemplary action, such as superior military service. But with the country’s economy in…

One year on, still no justice for Burmese killed in Christmas Eve massacre

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Rights activists and the relatives of nearly 50 civilians brutally killed and burned a year ago in a Christmas Eve massacre in eastern Myanmar’s Kayah state blamed on ruling junta troops say they are still trying to bring the perpetrators to justice. Soldiers forced the civilians from their vehicles, killed them and burned their bodies in the incident near Moso village in Hpruso township, drawing strong condemnation from the United Nations and the United States. Despite clear evidence and witness accounts pointing to national troops as the perpetrators, Myanmar’s military…

Guangzhou police deny visit to mother of detained anti-lockdown protester

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Police in the southern Chinese city of Guangzhou are denying the mother of a rights activist detained after an anti-lockdown protest permission to meet with her daughter. Yang Zijing, who uses the social media handle “Dim Sum,” was taken away on Dec. 4 by plainclothes police from her home in Guangzhou on suspicion of “picking quarrels and stirring up trouble,” a charge frequently used to target critics of the government, the Hubei-based Civil Rights and Livelihood Watch website reported on Dec. 14. Yang was detained after getting home from a…