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July
Myanmar Supreme Court to hear Suu Kyi appeal this week - source
Written by Nur Yasmin
The Supreme Court in military-ruled Myanmar will hear an appeal this week by former leader Aung San Suu Kyi against two of her convictions, a source familiar with the case said on Monday, as the Nobel laureate seeks to reduce her 33 years of jail time.
The 78-year-old has been convicted of a litany of offences from incitement and election fraud to multiple counts of corruption since the military arrested her during a February 2021 coup against her elected government.
Suu Kyi's allies and Western governments have condemned her incarceration as a junta play to prevent any comeback by the popular figurehead of Myanmar's decades-long struggle for democracy.
The Supreme Court has announced it will hear appeals on Wednesday against Suu Kyi's conviction for a breach of the official secrets act and for electoral fraud. The source, who declined to be identified because of sensitivities over her cases, said a decision could take two months.
A spokesperson for the junta could not immediately be reached for confirmation.
The military insists defendants are afforded due process by an independent judiciary, countering criticism from human rights groups over the jailing of multiple members of the pro-democracy movement in secret trials, and the resumption of executions after a decades-long hiatus.
Myanmar has been locked in conflict since the military seized power on the grounds of unaddressed irregularities in a November 2020 election that Suu Kyi's National League for Democracy (NLD) party swept in a landslide.
The NLD denied fraud and has since been dissolved along with 39 other parties for failure to register for an election for which the generals have yet to set a date.
Activists have urged the junta not to hold the election, warning it could see an intensification of bloody violence between the military and a pro-democracy resistance movement. (Reuters)
July
Thai king inaugurates parliament as Move Forward looks to lead new government
Written by Nur Yasmin
Thailand's King Maha Vajiralongkorn inaugurated the opening of parliament on Monday, setting the stage for an attempt by the progressive Move Forward Party to form a government after its surprise election win six weeks ago.
Move Forward won big support from youth voters and the capital Bangkok, campaigning overwhelmingly on social media on an anti-establishment platform that could complicate its effort to win enough support to form a coalition government.
It will team up in parliament with the populist heavyweight Pheu Thai Party after the two won the lion's share of seats, trouncing parties allied with a royalist military that has controlled government since a 2014 coup.
The two are part of an eight-party alliance and have played down talk of a rift over the house speaker post, which could determine the passage of flagship legislation and timing of key votes.
Late on Monday, in what is being seen as a compromise between Move Forward and Pheu Thai, the alliance nominated veteran politician Wan Muhamad Noor Matha for house speaker and gave a deputy speaker position each to the two main parties.
Wan Noor, 79, of the Prachachart Party has been closely allied with Pheu Thai in the past, and served in its administration led by billionaire Thaksin Shinawatra between 2002 and 2005.
Parliament is expected to endorse the speaker on Tuesday.
Analysts say a Move Forward-led government is still not a certainty.
The speaker is expected later this month to table a joint session of parliament to decide on a prime minister, which requires the votes of more than half of the 750 members of the bicameral legislature.
The alliance is backing Move Forward leader Pita Limjaroenrat, 42, to become premier and Pita needs 376 votes to secure the post. He currently has 312.
He will need 64 more votes from either rival parties or members of a conservative-learning Senate that was appointed under the military and has previously locked horns with Move Forward over some of its policies.
Pita last week said he had secured enough support in the Senate. He also faces an investigation for breaching election rules, which could further complicate his bid, Kiatkwankul said.
"Worst-case, they become a formidable opposition ... No matter how it turns out, it is not the end of Move Forward and democratic forces," he added. (Reuters)
July
China's top diplomat urges greater co-operation with Japan, South Korea
Written by Nur Yasmin
China, Japan and South Korea need to send a clear signal of regrouping towards co-operation, and resist "the coercion of bullying and domination", China's top diplomat, Wang Yi, said on Monday, in an apparent swipe at the United States.
The remarks come at a time of heightened tension as the United States moves to forge closer ties with allies Japan and South Korea to push back against China's growing regional influence.
Wang was speaking on efforts to revitalise co-operation among the three neighbours at a forum organised by the Trilateral Cooperation Secretariat, a body set up by agreement among Beijing, Seoul and Tokyo.
He called for them to "foster a sense of strategic autonomy, maintain regional unity and stability, resist the return of the Cold War mentality, and be free from the coercion of bullying and domination," the Chinese foreign ministry said.
Although Wang stopped short of mentioning the United States, he said "certain major countries outside the region" had attempted to replace unity with division while seeking geographical gains, the ministry said in a statement.
"If this trend is allowed to develop, it will not only seriously interfere with the smooth progress of trilateral co-operation, but also increase tension and confrontation in the region," Wang added.
Wang emphasised the need to solve disputes through dialogue and consultation, and oppose words or deeds that could plunge the region into war.
At the event in the eastern coastal city of Qingdao, Wang also called for accelerating talks on free trade zones and efforts to free up and smoothe trade among the neighbours.
However, Wang reiterated Beijing's opposition to Japan's plan to release into the sea treated water from Tokyo Electric Power Co's (9501.T) Fukushima nuclear plant, saying it would affect the marine ecosystem and people's safety.
South Korean Foreign Minister Park Jin and Japanese Foreign Minister Hayashi Yoshimasa addressed the event via video link. (Reuters)
July
Taiwan opposition presidential candidate vows to shorten military service
Written by Nur Yasmin
Taiwan's main opposition presidential candidate has promised to reverse an extension of compulsory military service due to take effect in January, saying he will ease tensions with China making the longer service unnecessary.
The democratically governed island's relationship with Beijing is a central issue in the run-up to a presidential election on Jan. 13 next year, as fears have grown in recent years that China might invade the island it claims as its own.
Responding to the growing security concerns, President Tsai Ing-wen of the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) announced in December that compulsory military service for all men would be extended to one year from four months from Jan. 1.
Hou Yu-ih, candidate of the main opposition Kuomintang (KMT) party, said the DPP had triggered the "danger of war" but he would work to ensure peace.
"After I am elected president, I will work hard to ensure stability and peace across the strait. After that, I will resume the four-month service," Hou said in an interview with TVBS broadcast late on Monday.
"Stability across the strait will decide the issue of our military service, and that's why I will work hard to ensure stability," said Hou, who is mayor of New Taipei City.
China claims Taiwan as its own and has stepped up military and diplomatic pressure to get the island to accept Chinese sovereignty. The island's DPP-led government says only the Taiwanese people can decide their future.
The KMT traditionally favours close ties with China while Tsai has infuriated Beijing by rejecting its position that both sides are part of a single China.
Hou is running against the DPP's William Lai, who is now vice president and is leading in the polls.
Hou said he supported the KMT position that both Taiwan and China are part of a single China though each can have its own interpretation of the term.
Tsai took office in 2016 and cannot run again due to term limits. (Reuters)
July
China buzzes Taiwan Strait again, minister decries 'disinformation' about safety
Written by Nur Yasmin
Chinese fighter jets again crossed the median line of the Taiwan Strait on Tuesday, as a senior Taiwanese official decried "annoying disinformation" about how safe the island is given the mounting tensions with Beijing.
Taiwan, which China claims as its own territory despite the island's strong objections, has over the past three years reported almost daily missions by Chinese military aircraft nearby, and since last August, regular crossings of the median line that used to serve as an unofficial boundary.
Taiwan's defence ministry said on Tuesday morning that eight Chinese fighters had crossed the median line and four Chinese warships also joined a "joint combat readiness patrol".
"We believe that any unilateral and irrational provocations are not helping regional security," ministry spokesman Sun Li-fang told reporters in Pingtung in southern Taiwan on a trip to see pre-planned anti-aircraft drills, where soldiers fired U.S.-made Stinger missiles to shoot down drone targets.
China practised precision strikes and blockading the island in war games around it in April after Taiwan President Tsai Ing-wen met U.S. House of Representatives Speaker Kevin McCarthy in Los Angeles.
Despite China's frequent military activities, there has been no sign of public alarm in Taiwan and life has carried on as normal.
Speaking to reporters in Taipei, Taiwan deputy foreign minister Roy Lee said one of the reasons the government wanted foreign lawmakers, officials and academics to visit was to see the situation on the ground.
"A lot of colleagues and friends outside of Taiwan are subject to this annoying disinformation campaign. They have a mismatched conception and understanding about the situation in Taiwan," he said. "We are confident that when they are here they will see Taiwan is very calm; we are not provoking or making any dangerous movements. On the other hand we are demonstrating a very high level of resilience against China's intimidation and threats."
As Lee spoke, Tsai met a delegation led by U.S. Representative Kevin Hern, who leads the Republican Study Committee (RSC), the latest in a string of such visits to Taipei.
"Support for Taiwan as an independent and sovereign nation has been one of the founding principles of the RSC," Hern told Tsai.
Taiwan's government strongly objects to China's sovereignty claims and has vowed to defend itself if China attacks the island. (Reuters)
July
North Korea appears to lift COVID mask mandate, reports say
Written by Nur Yasmin
North Korea appeared to have eased a strict COVID-19 mask mandate, media reports said this week, after state news agencies showed many people maskless.
The isolated country has maintained border lockdowns and other anti-COVID measures long after most other nations ditched such restrictions.
North Korean state television and newspapers did not make any official announcement, but showed crowds of people at theatres and other locations without masks.
That was a "stark change" compared to newspaper coverage dating back to September, according to analysts with NK News, a Seoul-based site that monitors North Korea.
Residents, factories and social groups were told that the mandate was lifted as of July 1, U.S.-based Radio Free Asia (RFA) said on Monday, citing unnamed sources.
The report said authorities had eased the mandates because wearing used masks and strict mask control had led to the spread of skin and eye infections.
Last August, North Korean state news agency KCNA said Pyongyang had dropped a face mask mandate along with other social distancing rules as leader Kim Jong Un declared victory over COVID-19.
But one month after the announcement, the authorities ordered citizens to wear masks in public again, citing flu and infectious diseases that can occur during fall and winter, but without specifying COVID-19.
South Korea's spy agency has said defectors who fled North Korea in May decided to do so because of the country's strict COVID-19 controls.
North Korea's strict coronavirus curbs have also been criticized by a United Nations report last year as worsening its human rights violations. (Reuters)
July
Taliban administration orders beauty salons in Afghanistan to close
Written by Nur Yasmin
The Taliban administration in Afghanistan has ordered beauty salons to close within a month, the morality ministry said, in the latest shrinking of access to public places for Afghan women.
"The deadline for the closing of beauty parlours for women is one month," Mohammad Sadiq Akif, a spokesperson for the Ministry for the Prevention of Vice and Propagation of Virtue, said on Tuesday, referring to a ministry notice.
Foreign governments and U.N. officials have condemned growing restrictions on women since the Taliban returned to power in 2021 after defeating a U.S.-backed government as foreign forces withdrew.
Last year, authorities closed most girls' high schools, barred women from university and stopped many female Afghan aid staff from working. Many public places including bathhouses, gyms and parks have been closed to women.
Beauty salons sprung up in Kabul and other Afghan cities in the months after the Taliban were driven from power in late 2001, weeks after the Sept. 11 attacks on the United States.
Many remained open after the Islamists returned to power two years ago but with their signs and windows covered up, providing some women with jobs and their customers with their services.
Western government and international organisations have signalled that restrictions on women are hampering any possible progress to international recognition for the Taliban administration.
The administration says it respects women's rights in accordance with its interpretation of Islamic law and Afghan customs. (Reuters)
July
South Korea's Yoon tells unification ministry to be less soft on North
Written by Nur Yasmin
Having appointed a new unification minister days earlier, South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol said on Sunday that the ministry had focused too much on providing aid for North Korea in the past and needed to change.
The new minister Kim Yung-ho is a conservative scholar and outspoken critic human rights abuses in North Korea, which Yoon has sought to spotlight amid rising tensions on the Korean Peninsula.
"The Unification Ministry has been acting like the ministry of North Korea aid and it is wrong," Yoon was quoted as telling staff in a statement issued by his press secretary. "It's time for the unification ministry to change."
Yoon also urged the ministry to stand up for liberal democratic values and said unification should bring a "better and more human life" to people in the South and North.
In 2019, Kim wrote in an online column that the path to unification would open once North Korean leader Kim Jong Un's "regime is overthrown and North Korea is liberated." (Reuters)
July
Pakistan expects heavy monsoon rain raising risk of floods
Written by Nur Yasmin
Heavy monsoon rain is expected to hit Pakistan on Monday and last for several days, the weather office said, raising the risk of flooding in areas still recovering from a devastating deluge last year.
Large swathes of the South Asian country were submerged last year due to extremely heavy monsoon rains and melting glaciers, a phenomenon linked to climate change that damaged crops and infrastructure and killed at least 1,700 people.
Heavy thunder and rain was expected from Monday evening in the capital, Islamabad, as well as in the cities of Lahore and Peshawar, spreading to other areas until Saturday, the Pakistan Meteorological Department said.
The weather office warned that flooding was possible in low-lying areas of Islamabad, Rawalpindi, Peshawar, Gujranwala, and Lahore, with the risk of flash floods in hilly western areas late this week.
Pakistan has received commitments of more than $9 billion from international donors to help recover from last year's floods with rebuilding efforts estimated to cost about $16.3 billion. (Reuters)
July
Taiwan military holds live fire drills on strategic southern coast
Written by Nur Yasmin
Taiwan's military carried out live fire drills on its strategically-located southern coast on Monday, firing missiles from highly mobile armoured cars to destroy targets close to shore in a simulation of repelling invading forces.
China, which views democratically governed Taiwan as its own territory, has ramped up military pressure over the past three years to try to assert its sovereignty claim, and the island's armed forces routinely practice seeing off a Chinese attack.
Camouflaged Taiwan army Humvees roared around the coastal drill area in Pingtung county's Fangshan near the far southern tip of the island, before firing off U.S.-made TOW anti-tank missiles to destroy static targets near the shoreline.
"Most of the drills we carried out today involved live artillery because the defence exercise needs to be similar to actual combat, allowing our army to be confident and have the capability to protect our homeland," Defence Ministry spokesperson Sun Li-fang told reporters.
Pingtung, which looks out on the Taiwan Strait, South China Sea, Pacific Ocean and Bashi Channel that separates Taiwan from the Philippines, is a highly strategic spot to watch Chinese military activity, and a potential landing site in an invasion.
Taiwan holds its most important drills, the annual Han Kuang exercises, at the end of this month, with a focus on combating a blockade and preserving the fighting ability of its forces.
Those drills are expected to see air force jets operating at civilian airports, including the island's main international airport at Taoyuan, to practice using their facilities in case air bases are rendered unusable in a war.
China practised precision strikes and blockading the island in drills around it in April after Taiwan President Tsai Ing-wen met U.S. House of Representatives Speaker Kevin McCarthy in Los Angeles.
Beijing has never renounced using force to bring the island under its control. Taiwan rejects Beijing's sovereignty claims and has vowed to defend its freedom and democracy. (Reuters)