Xi Jinping is playing deadly games with Myanmar and North Korea | Observer editorial

Instead of acting as a responsible superpower, China is putting millions of lives at risk in the region and beyond Military coups and dictatorships rarely come to any good. But has any army takeover in recent times led to more utterly disastrous consequences than those suffered by the people of Myanmar since February 2021? For sheer, vicious stupidity and criminality, Gen Min Aung Hlaing, the junta chief, and his bloodstained associates take some beating. Yet a beating is what they are getting at the hands of Myanmar’s civilian resistance groups,…

Myanmar hands over junta-backed warlords to China in telecoms scam case

Myanmar has extradited 10 people, including notorious warlords, to China, where they are wanted for their alleged role in running abusive online and telephone fraud centres in which tens of thousands of foreign nationals are trapped and forced to run scams. The centres – which target people in China as well as in other countries – have flourished since the Covid-19 pandemic and China says about 44,000 people have been involved, including victims of human trafficking. The Chinese embassy in Myanmar on Tuesday named six of the people who had…

Myanmar junta and armed rebels agree ceasefire

Myanmar’s military and an alliance of armed ethnic minority groups have announced a China-mediated ceasefire after months of conflict that has posed the biggest threat to the junta since it seized power in 2021. Fighting has claimed hundreds of lives and displaced more than half a million people since October, when the alliance launched an offensive against the junta. The alliance has seized several towns and border hubs in Myanmar’s northern Shan state that are vital for trade with China, a major arms supplier and ally of the military. “With…

7 Months Inside an Online Scam Labor Camp

Neo Lu had been looking forward to starting his lucrative new job as a translator. But from the moment he arrived, he knew something was off. He hadn’t been hired. He had been kidnapped and forced to work for an abusive online scam operation. Only by understanding how it worked could he hope to escape. He had been promised a generous salary. A better work-life balance. A chance to live in the vibrant metropolis of Bangkok. His fluency in English would be put to good use as a translator for…

China, Myanmar and now Darfur … the horror of genocide is here again | Simon Tisdall

It’s happening again. In Darfur, scene of a genocide that killed 300,000 people and displaced millions 20 years ago, armed militias are on the rampage once more. Now, as then, they are targeting ethnic African tribes, murdering, raping and stealing with impunity. “They” are nomadic, ethnic Arab raiders, the much-feared “devils on horseback” – except now they ride in trucks. They’re called the Janjaweed. And they’re back. How is it possible such horrors can be repeated? The world condemned the 2003 slaughter. The UN and the International Criminal Court (ICC)…

Australia rethinks ‘quiet diplomacy’ tactic as Cheng Lei marks 1,000 days in Chinese detention

The Australian government is rethinking how to help citizens embroiled in “hostage diplomacy” as it marks the 1,000th day of the journalist Cheng Lei’s detention in China. The foreign affairs minister, Penny Wong, called for Cheng to be reunited with her children, saying the government shared “the deep concerns of her family and friends about the ongoing delays in her case”. Cheng remains in limbo after the verdict in a closed national security trial was delayed multiple times. Tuesday will be her 1,000th day in detention in China. The Department…

Military construction on Myanmar’s Great Coco island prompts fears of Chinese involvement

Since the early 1990s, Myanmar’s Great Coco – a small, remote island in the Bay of Bengal – has been at the centre of intrigue. Rumour had it that the island was home to a Chinese intelligence facility, a claim lacking hard evidence. Now concerns over the island, and its uses, have re-emerged. Satellite images taken in January 2023 show telltale signs of military modernisation, according to a report by the thinktank Chatham House. There’s a newly lengthened 2,300-metre runway and radar station, two new hangars, what appears to be…

‘Endless record heat’ in Asia as highest April temperatures recorded

Asia is experiencing weeks of “endless record heat”, with sweltering temperatures causing school closures and surges in energy use. Record April temperatures have been recorded at monitoring stations across Thailand, Myanmar, Laos and Vietnam, as well as in China and South Asia. On Tuesday, four weather stations in Myanmar hit or matched record monthly temperatures, with Theinzayet, in eastern Mon state, reaching the highest, at 43C (109.4F). On Wednesday, Bago, north-east of Yangon, reached 42.2C, matching an all-time record previously recorded in May 2020 and April 2019, according to Maximiliano…

Global action is needed to topple Myanmar’s criminal junta boss

It’s a country where children are imprisoned, tortured and sexually abused. Hundreds have been killed since the military coup two years ago. In total, more than 2,600 people have been murdered and nearly 17,000 detained by a brutal regime led by a genocidal war criminal. In case you’re wondering, this isn’t Ukraine and it isn’t Vladimir Putin. The criminal in question is Myanmar’s junta boss, Gen Min Aung Hlaing, who struts about in a uniform adorned with meaningless decorations and gaudy gold braid. As a general rule, the more medals…

Your Tuesday Briefing: Kenya’s Next President?

Good morning. We’re covering uncertain election results in Kenya and a possible prisoner swap between Russia and the U.S. A new Kenyan president? Kenya’s vice president, William Ruto, won the country’s presidential election, the head of the electoral commission said yesterday. The result came days after a cliffhanger vote. Ruto gained 50.5 percent of the vote, narrowly defeating Raila Odinga, a former prime minister, said a top official. That percentage is enough to avert a runoff vote, but a majority of election commissioners refused to verify the results. Here are…