VOI - Voice of Indonesia | RRI - Radio Republik Indonesia

VOINews, Jakarta - Indonesia must take real actions to end the violence in Myanmar, a United Nations expert said, noting that the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) is deadlocked on how to resolve the ongoing crisis.

Speaking at a press conference in Jakarta on Wednesday, Thomas Andrews, the Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights in Myanmar, said that ASEAN must consider alternative options to break what has become "a deadly stalemate."

If ASEAN remains deadlocked, Indonesia must reach out to those nations who support the people of Myanmar and engage in coordinated actions that will isolate and degrade the junta's capacity to attack the people, he advised.

Indonesia, as ASEAN chair, has been trying to advance the peace process by engaging key stakeholders in Myanmar's conflict for months. Those steps have been undertaken in keeping with the five-point peace plan agreed by ASEAN and the junta after it seized power in a 2021 coup.

However, Andrews said, Indonesia's effort to advance the Five-Point Consensus through engagement and accountability is facing major pushback from two quarters.

First, the junta, which has continued to refuse to abide by the consensus. Second, a group of governments that have convened a high-level meeting with junta representatives.

ASEAN is divided on how to deal with Myanmar. This week, the Thai government invited ASEAN foreign ministers and junta representatives to a meeting to discuss a proposal for the bloc to re-engage Myanmar's junta. But some ASEAN members declined to attend the meeting.

Thailand justified the meeting by saying that direct talks were necessary to protect the country, which shares a long border with Myanmar.

Andrews said the meeting in Thailand "can have the dangerous effect of legitimizing the junta and undermining ASEAN unity."

The ASEAN region consists of Indonesia, Thailand, Myanmar, Brunei Darussalam, the Philippines, Cambodia, Laos, Malaysia, Singapore, and Vietnam.

Since the junta, led by General Min Aung Hlaing, carried out the coup on February 1, 2021, it has perpetrated violence against the people of Myanmar.

According to a UN report, the junta’s troops have killed more than 3 thousand civilians, detained more than 19 thousand people, and displaced at least 1.5 million people from their homes, with more than 58 thousand houses, schools, and clinics burned to the ground so far. (Antaranews)

Japan plans to push for women's participation in society, especially in politics, top government spokesperson Hirokazu Matsuno said on Wednesday, after an annual report showed the country was struggling to narrow the gender gap.

The World Economic Forum report measuring gender parity ranked Japan 125th out of 146 countries this year, down from 116th in last year's report.

"We need to humbly accept our country's current situation," Matsuno, the chief cabinet secretary, told reporters during a briefing.

In economic participation and opportunity, a category that examines labour force participation, wage equality and income, Japan was 123th, the lowest among East Asian and the Pacific countries.

Its gender parity in political empowerment was one of the world's lowest, at 138th, behind China, Saudi Arabia and Turkey.

Women account for just two of Prime Minister Fumio Kishida's 19 cabinet ministers and roughly a tenth of lower house lawmakers.

Investors, particularly those overseas, are cranking up the pressure on Japanese businesses to diversify their boards, traditionally skewed toward older men.

Norges Bank Investment Management, the world's largest sovereign wealth fund, will oppose the appointment of board chairs for Japanese companies lacking female board members, the Nikkei business daily said in April.

Kishida laid out a gender equality initiative this month, aiming for women to occupy at least 30% of executive positions in top companies by the end of the decade, from 2.2% in July 2022.

Voters and activists have also pushed politicians to take action. The ruling Liberal Democratic Party compiled a plan this month to boost the share of its female lawmakers to 30%. (Reuters)

North Korea on Wednesday criticised U.S. Secretary of State Anthony Blinken's recent visit to Beijing as a "begging trip" to ease tensions in what it called a policy failure to pressure China.

At one of the most significant U.S.-China exchanges since U.S. President Joe Biden took office, Blinken and Chinese President Xi Jinping met on Monday and agreed to stabilise their intense rivalry so it did not veer into conflict.

Blinken said after the meeting on Monday that he urged China to encourage North Korea to stop launching missiles as Beijing holds a "unique position" to press Pyongyang to engage in dialogue.

In a commentary carried by the North's KCNA news agency, Jong Yong Hak, whom it described as an international affairs analyst, said the rare visit was aimed at begging for the relaxation of tensions as the "attempt to press and restrain China may become a boomerang striking a fatal blow to the U.S. economy."

"In a word, the U.S. state secretary's recent junket can never be judged otherwise than a disgraceful begging trip of the provoker admitting the failure of the policy of putting pressure on China," the commentary said.

The commentary said the United States was responsible for escalating regional tensions with "anti-China complexes," such as the QUAD grouping with Japan, India and Australia and the AUKUS pact with Britain and Australia.

"It is the height of the double-dealing and impudence peculiar to the U.S. to provoke first and then talk about the so-called 'responsible control over divergence of opinion,'" the commentary said.

Daniel Kritenbrink, the U.S. assistant secretary of state for East Asian and Pacific Affairs who was also on the Beijing trip, is expected to visit South Korea on Wednesday to brief Seoul officials on the two days of talks in China, South Korea's Yonhap news agency reported. (Reuters)

The United States on Wednesday imposed sanctions on Myanmar's defense ministry and two banks used by the ruling military junta to buy arms and other goods from foreign sources.

The U.S. Treasury Department said in a statement the military has relied on foreign sources, including Russian entities under sanctions, to purchase and import arms, equipment and raw materials to manufacture weapons to support its "brutal repression".

Washington accused the defense ministry of importing goods and materiel worth at least $1 billion since the 2021 coup in which the military leaders seized power.

State-owned Myanmar Foreign Trade Bank (MFTB) and Myanma Investment and Commercial Bank (MICB), were also hit with sanctions. The Treasury said they allowed revenue-generating state-owned enterprises, including Myanma Oil and Gas Enterprise (MOGE), access to international markets.

The banks receive and transmit foreign currencies for Myanmar's government.

"Burma’s military regime has leveraged state-run access to international markets to import weapons and materiel, including from sanctioned Russian entities, to continue its violence and oppression," the Treasury's Under Secretary for Terrorism and Financial Intelligence, Brian Nelson, said in the statement.

The United States and other Western nations have imposed several rounds of sanctions on Myanmar's military leaders since they seized power in a coup in 2021, overthrowing the democratically elected government led by Aung San Suu Kyi and killing thousands of opponents in a crackdown.

A spokesman for Myanmar's military junta ahead of the announcement said it was not worried about any new sanctions.

Zaw Min Tun told the state media channel MWD on Tuesday the country has experienced sanctions before and they will not face losses if there are new ones on Myanmar state-owned banks.

He said the United States was "just doing this to cause difficulties in economics and politics".

"These kinds of things will cause unnecessary delays while we walk towards the multi-party democratic system."

The Bangkok Business News, cited Thai sources as saying the sanctions would hit Thailand and other countries in the region financially because of their connections with local banks.

The U.S. Embassy said it had regular conversations with the Thai government on Myanmar including how to mitigate the impact of any sanctions on Thailand or other countries.

Experts say the sanctions on the banks, while short of targeting gas projects that are a big source of revenue for the junta, could have an impact on the junta’s ability to fund its war against ethnic groups and insurgencies.

A February report by campaign group EarthRights International said the two banks were the Myanmar government’s "foreign currency treasuries" and were now under junta control.

It said the junta relied on foreign currency to buy jet fuel, parts for small arms production, and other supplies that could not be bought with the Myanmar kyat, EarthRights said.

"As a result, sanctions against MFTB and MICB could contribute substantially to cutting off the junta’s access to foreign currency, especially if combined with strong enforcement," it said. (Reuters)