YANGON: Myanmar’s military government announced on Wednesday (Mar 31) it is implementing a unilateral one-month ceasefire, but made an exception for actions that disrupt the government’s security and administrative operations - a clear reference to the mass movement that has held daily nationwide protests against its seizure of power in February.
The announcement came after a flurry of combat with at least two of the ethnic minority guerrilla organisations that maintain a strong presence in their respective areas along the borders.
More than a dozen such groups have for decades sought greater autonomy from the central government, sometimes through armed struggle. Even in times of peace, relations have been strained and ceasefires fragile.
The movement against the Feb 1 coup that ousted the elected government of Aung San Suu Kyi focuses on civil disobedience, calling on employees in the public and private sectors to stop work that supports the machinery of governing.
It has been seeking an alliance with the ethnic minority armed groups to boost pressure on the military government. It would like them to form what they are calling a federal army as a counterweight to the government armed forces.
Anti-coup protesters hold slogans during a demonstration in Yangon, Myanmar on Mar 31, 2021. (Photo: AP)
Largely peaceful demonstrators in the cities and towns of Myanmar have been facing police and soldiers armed with war weapons that they have used freely. At least 536 protesters and bystanders have been killed since the coup, according to Myanmar’s Assistance Association for Political Prisoners, which counts those it can document and says the actual toll is likely much higher.
There was no immediate reaction to the ceasefire announcement from the ethnic minority forces. Several of the major groups - including the Kachin in the north, the Karen in the east and the Rakhines’ Arakan Army in western Myanmar - have publicly denounced the coup and have said they will defend protesters in the territory they control.
The Kachin Independence Army, the armed wing of the Kachin Independence Organization, attacked a police station in Kachin state’s Shwegu township before dawn Wednesday, according to local news outlets The 74 Media and Bhamo Platform. The attackers were reported to have seized weapons and supplies and wounded one police officer.
The Kachin have staged a series of attacks on government forces in their territory since the coup, saying the latest round of fighting was triggered by government assaults on four Kachin outposts. After one Kachin assault in mid-March, the military retaliated with a helicopter attack on a Kachin base.
Wednesday’s Kachin attack followed new conflict in eastern Myanmar, where Karen guerrillas seized an army outpost Saturday. Myanmar’s military followed with airstrikes through Wednesday that killed at least 13 villagers and drove thousands more across the border into Thailand, according to the Free Burma Rangers, an established humanitarian group that provides medical assistance to the area’s villagers.
After the airstrikes, the Karen National Union issued a statement from one of its armed units saying Myanmar military “ground troops are advancing into our territories from all fronts” and that it may have to respond. The KNU is the main political body representing the Karen minority.
The conflict in eastern Myanmar spread the crisis to neighbouring Thailand, where an estimated 3,000 Karen took temporary shelter. Prime Minister Prayut Chan-o-cha said they quickly went back across the border voluntarily and were not forced by Thailand. Thai authorities said Wednesday that only about 200 remained in the country and were preparing to go back.
Anti-coup protesters run to avoid military forces during a demonstration in Yangon, Myanmar on Mar 31, 2021. (Photo: AP)
Protests continued in Myanmar’s cities against the military takeover that reversed a decade of progress toward democracy in the Southeast Asian country that came after five decades of army rule.
Demonstrators marched through at least one area of Yangon despite reduced numbers in the face of the ever-climbing death toll. The mainly young protesters in the city’s Hlaing suburb stopped to honour a protester killed in an earlier confrontation with security forces.
A long column of teachers, perched on motorbikes, kept the spirit of opposition to the coup alive in southern Myanmar. Two per bike, they carried signs reading “We Want Democracy” and shouted slogans as they rode through the town of Launglone and into the surrounding countryside.
An outside visitor was able to see Aung San Suu Kyi for the first time since she was detained when the military staged its coup. She spoke by video link with one of her lawyers, Min Min Soe, according to the online news site The Irrawaddy.
Aung San Suu Kyi has been held on several minor criminal charges, and the army said it is investigating more serious allegations of corruption against her. Her supporters dismiss the legal actions as politically motivated, aimed at discrediting her and preventing her from returning to the political arena, where she is the country’s most popular figure.
The Irrawaddy quoted Min Min Soe saying that Aung San Suu Kyi, who is thought to be held somewhere in the capital Naypyitaw, is in good health.
“She even urged us to stay healthy. She was smiling and looked relaxed,” the lawyer said.
According to the Assistance Association for Political Prisoners, 2,729 people have been detained in the crackdown since the coup, and arrest warrants issued for 120 others.
"We need to respect science and respect the opinions and the conclusions reached by scientists," Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Hua Chunying told a daily briefing in Beijing on Wednesday (March 31). "The WHO should play a leading role."
In a separate briefing, Chinese scientists working alongside the 17 international experts assembled by the WHO for the mission to Wuhan - the central Chinese city where coronavirus was first detected in late 2019 - also defended the thoroughness of their findings and conclusion.
Professor Liang Wannian, an epidemiologist who headed the team of Chinese experts working with the WHO, said at a separate press briefing that the merit of the report should be judged by scientists.
China's comments came a day after the release of the study into the origins of Covid-19. The report, written after four weeks of investigative work in Wuhan city - capital of Hubei province - drew widespread criticism from countries including the United States.
The US and 13 other countries expressed concerns on Tuesday that the WHO report lacked access to complete data, according to a joint statement. The statement was signed by Australia, Canada, Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia, Israel, Japan, Latvia, Lithuania, Norway, South Korea, Slovenia, the United Kingdom, and the US.
WHO director-general Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus unexpectedly also critiqued the report, saying it had not sufficiently examined the controversial hypothesis that the virus could have leaked from the Wuhan Institute of Virology, where researchers have been studying different coronaviruses, including ones with similarities to Sars-CoV-2, which causes Covid-19.
"I'm not sure how he understands the issue," Prof Liang said of Dr Tedros' comments. "Whether the examination was sufficient or not should be judged by scientists and history."
The coronavirus probably spread from bats to humans via another animal, according to the WHO-China study. The most productive research would be to look for such an animal link, it said.
Dr Peter Ben Embarek, co-leader of the WHO investigation trip to Wuhan, has said that the lab hypothesis - which was promoted by former US president Donald Trump's administration - was not the main focus of the investigation and so did not receive the same depth of attention and work as other theories.
The team did not do a full investigation of the labs, he added.
Ms Hua on Wednesday also refuted the joint statement made by the US and 13 other countries, saying this was evidence of certain countries' disrespect for science and political manipulation of the origin-tracing issue.
She said politicising the origin-tracing issue was immoral and will jeopardise anti-pandemic cooperation.
"These countries should engage in some self-reflection and ask themselves, how has their own anti-epidemic work gone? What have they done for international cooperation in the fight against the pandemic?" Ms Hua said.
The experts "said they went to places they wanted to and they met people they wanted to", she added.
Prof Liang also told reporters that researchers from both sides had access to the same data throughout the investigation and that the assertions about lack of access were not accurate.
"Of course, according to Chinese law, some data cannot be taken away or photographed, but when we were analysing it together in Wuhan, everyone could see the database, the materials - it was all done together," said Prof Liang.
Women who made allegations last month of rape and sexual abuse in Chinese detention camps have been harassed and smeared in the weeks since. Rights groups say the attacks are typical of an aggressive campaign by China to silence those who speak up.
Qelbinur Sedik was making breakfast when the video call came, and the sight of her sister's name made her nervous. Many months had passed since the two had spoken. In fact, many months had passed since Sedik had spoken to any of her family in China.
Sedik was in the kitchen of her temporary home in the Netherlands, where she shared a room with several other refugees, mostly from Africa. Two weeks earlier, she and three other women had spoken to the BBC for a story about alleged rape and torture in China's secretive detention camps in the Xinjiang region, where Sedik worked as a camp teacher.
Now her sister was calling.
She hit answer, but when the picture appeared it wasn't her sister on the screen, it was a policeman from her hometown in Xinjiang.
"What are you up to Qelbinur?" he said, smiling. "Who are you with?"
This was not the first time the officer had called from her sister's phone. This time, Sedik took a screenshot. When he heard the sound it made, the officer removed his numbered police jacket, Sedik said. She took another screenshot.
Police composite
'You must think very carefully'
In conversations with the BBC over the past few weeks, 22 people who have left Xinjiang to live abroad described a pattern of threats, harassment, and public character attacks they said were designed to deter them from speaking out about alleged human rights abuses back home.
According to UN estimates, China has detained more than a million Uyghurs and other Muslims in camps in Xinjiang. The Chinese state has been accused of an array of abuses there including forced labour, sterilisation, torture, rape, and genocide. China denies those charges, saying its camps are "re-education" facilities for combatting terrorism.
Among the few who have fled Xinjiang and spoken publicly, many have received a call like the one to Sedik that morning - from a police officer or government official at their family home, or from a relative summoned to a police station. Sometimes the calls contain vague advice to consider the welfare of their family in Xinjiang, sometimes direct threats to detain and punish relatives.
Others have been publicly smeared in press conferences or state media videos; or been subjected to barrages of messages or hacking attempts directed at their phones. (Last week, Facebook said that it had discovered "an extremely targeted operation" emanating from China to hack Uyghur activists abroad.)
Some of those who spoke to the BBC - from the US, UK, Australia, Norway, the Netherlands, Finland, Germany, and Turkey - provided screenshots of threatening WhatsApp, WeChat and Facebook messages; others described in detail what had been said in phone and video calls. Everyone described some form of detention or harassment of their family members in Xinjiang by local police or state security officials.
A gate of what is officially known as a "vocational skills education centre" in Xinjiang
When Qelbinur Sedik recounted the call from the policeman that morning, via her sister's phone, she buried her head in her hands and wept.
"He said, 'You must bear in mind that all your family and relatives are with us. You must think very carefully about that fact.'
"He stressed that several times, then he said, 'You have been living abroad for some time now, you must have a lot of friends. Can you give us their names?'
When she refused, the officer put Sedik's sister on the call, she said, and her sister shouted at her, 'Shut up! You should shut up from now on!', followed by a string of insults.
"At that point I couldn't control my emotions," Sedik said. "My tears flowed."
Before the officer hung up, Sedik said, he told her several times to go to the Chinese embassy so the staff there could arrange her safe passage back to China - a common instruction in these kinds of calls.
"This country opens its arms to you," he said.
'Misogyny as a communication style'
Reports of this type of intimidation are not new, but Uyghur activists say China has become more aggressive in response to growing outrage over alleged rights abuses in Xinjiang. The Chinese government has gone on the attack in public in recent weeks, directing a slew of misogynistic abuse specifically at women who have spoken up about alleged sexual abuse.
At recent press conferences, China's foreign ministry spokesperson Wang Wenbin and Xinjiang official Xu Guixiang held up pictures of women who gave first-hand accounts of sexual assault in detention camps and called them "liars"; said one was "morally depraved" and of "inferior character"; and accused another of adultery. One woman was branded a "bitch of bad moral quality" by a former husband in what appeared to be a staged video put out by state media; another was called a "scumbag" and "child abuser" by a Chinese official.
Wang Wenbin holds up pictures of witnesses Zumrat Dawat and Tursunay Ziawudun in Beijing last month
Wang, the foreign ministry spokesman, revealed what he said were private medical records, claiming that they disproved one woman's account of having an IUD forcibly fitted. Officials have also claimed that sexually transmitted diseases were responsible for fertility problems suffered by former camp detainees, rather than violent physical abuse, and put out a range of propaganda material calling the women "actresses".
Tursunay Ziawudun, a former camp detainee who is now in the US, was one of the women attacked at a press conference. When she watched it, she was relieved Wang had not mentioned her family, she said, but "deeply sad" about the rest. Ziawudun has previously recounted being raped and tortured during her detention in Xinjiang in 2018.
"After all the horrors they inflicted on me, how can they be so cruel and shameless as to attack me publicly?" she said in a phone interview after the press conference.
The attacks on Ziawudun and others showed that China was "adopting misogyny as a style of public communication," said James Millward, a professor of Chinese history at Georgetown University.
"We have these various women coming forward and telling very credible stories about how they've been abused," he said. "And the response shows a complete tone deafness and misunderstanding of how sexual assault and sexual trauma is now being understood and treated now. Besides being horrifying, it's also completely counterproductive for the Chinese state."
The Chinese embassy in London told the BBC that China stood by its assertions that the women's accounts of rape and sexual abuse were lies, and said it was reasonable to publicise private medical records as evidence.
Tursunay Ziawudun at her new home in the US last month
Two other women who spoke to the BBC have been the targets of what appear to be highly staged videos, published by Chinese state media, in which their family and friends insult them and accuse them of stealing money and telling lies. According to a report published last month by the US-based Uyghur Human Rights Project, China has produced at least 22 videos in which individuals are allegedly forced to make scripted statements, often denouncing their family members as liars or thieves.
Aziz Isa Elkun, a Uyghur exile in the UK, had not been able to contact his elderly mother and sister for years when he saw them in a Chinese state media video calling him a liar and a shame on the family. Elkun's crime had been to draw attention to the destruction of Uyghur cemeteries in Xinjiang, including his father's tomb.
"You could tell what they were saying was scripted, but it was still extremely painful to see my elderly mother in a Chinese propaganda film," Elkun said.
Qelbinur Sedik is worried a similar video of her husband could be released any day, she said. He told her on the phone late last year that Chinese officials had visited him at home in Xinjiang and forced him to recite lines calling her a liar. He said he struggled so much to say the lines correctly that it took four hours to film the short clip.
'Maybe we can co-operate'
Another common form of harassment described by those who spoke to the BBC was pressure to spy on fellow Uyghurs and organisations that scrutinise China, often in return for contact with family, guarantees of relatives' safety, or access to visas or passports.
A Uyghur British citizen who did not want to be named said he was harassed repeatedly by intelligence officials during and after a visit to Xinjiang and told to spy on Uyghur groups and on Amnesty International, by joining the charity as a volunteer. When he refused, he received repeated calls from his brother pleading with him to do it, he said.
Jevlan Shirmemmet, who left Xinjiang to study in Turkey, gave the BBC a recording of a call he received a few weeks after posting on social media about his family's mass arrest in Xinjiang. The caller, who said he was from the Chinese embassy in Ankara, told Shirmemmet to "write down everyone you've been in contact with since you left Xinjiang," and send an email "describing your activities," so that "the mainland might reconsider your family's situation". Another Uyghur in exile in Turkey described a similar call from the same embassy.
Mustafa Aksu, a 34-year-old activist in the US whose parents are detained in Xinjiang, showed the BBC text and voice messages from an old school friend, now a Chinese police officer, who Aksu said was pressuring him to provide information about Uyghur activists.
"He says, 'Maybe we can co-operate. I'm sure you must miss your parents.'"
Jevlan Shirmemmet has publicly protested for the release of his mother
Not everyone feels that they can refuse these requests. "When I say no, they get my younger brother and sister to call and tell me to do it," said a Uyghur student in Turkey, who provided screenshots of the messages from police. "They could send my brother and sister to a concentration camp. What choice do I have?" she said.
Some have sought to protect themselves by gradually cutting off means of contact. "You can throw away the phone and cancel the number," said Abdulweli Ayup, a Uyghur linguist in Norway, "but you cancel your number and they contact you on Facebook; you delete Facebook and they contact you by email."
Others have tried beyond hope to stay in touch. A Uyghur exile in the Netherlands said she still sends pictures and emojis to her young son and parents, four years after her number was blocked. "Maybe one day they will see," she said.
The BBC was not able to independently verify the identities of the people behind the calls and messages provided by various interviewees, but Uyghur rights activists say efforts to coerce Uyghurs to spy for the Chinese government are common.
"It comes as an offer first - 'You won't have any more visa problems', or 'We can help your family' - that kind of thing," said Rahima Mahmut, a prominent UK-based Uyghur activist. "Later it comes as a threat," she said.
The UK Foreign Office told the BBC it was "closely monitoring reports that members of the Uyghur diaspora in the UK have been harassed by the Chinese authorities", and that it had "raised our concerns directly with the Chinese embassy in London".
The Chinese embassy in London told the BBC that the allegations in this story were "completely untrue" and it was "baffling that the BBC so readily believes whatever is said by a few 'East Turkestan' elements outside China" - using another term for the Xinjiang region.
Uyghur protesters in Istanbul last month. Uyghurs in Turkey fear they could be deported to China
Despite the growing public outrage over alleged abuses in Xinjiang, the number of people who have spoken publicly remains vanishingly small compared with the estimated number detained. China has been tremendously successful at silencing people through fear, said Nury Turkel, a commissioner on the US Commission on International Religious Freedom.
"Millions of people have disappeared into the camps, and yet we have only a handful of Uyghurs speaking out against the detention of their loved ones," Turkel said. "Why? Because they are afraid."
Some Uyghurs who have criticised China have managed to maintain limited contact with loved ones. Ferkat Jawdat, a prominent activist in the US, speaks to his mother regularly now, after campaigning publicly for her release from detention. She is under house arrest, and her calls are monitored, but she is there on the other end of the line.
It can be hard to make sense of why some Uyghurs are harassed and others are not; some allowed contact with loved ones and others not. Some have speculated that China is "A/B testing" - trying to work out whether fear or kindness is more efficient. For the thousands who are cut off, it can feel ruthless and arbitrary.
Jawdat knows that the likelihood of seeing his mother again before she dies is diminishing, so when they speak on the phone they speak carefully. He did tell her once that Chinese state media had put out a video of her saying she was ashamed of him. She said she knew, they had come to film it a few days earlier. "How did I look?" she joked. Then, taking a risk, she told him she had only ever been proud of him.
STOCKHOLM: Swedish clothing giant H&M said on Wednesday (Mar 31) it was doing "everything" to resolve a boycott in China that was sparked by its decision to stop sourcing cotton from Xinjiang over forced labour concerns.
H&M and other fashion brands have been under fire in China for statements voicing concern about allegations of labour violations in cotton fields in the far west region.
Chinese celebrities and tech firms pulled partnerships with H&M, Nike, Adidas, Burberry and Calvin Klein. H&M was even erased from Chinese shopping apps.
"We are working together with our colleagues in China to do everything we can to manage the current challenges and find a way forward," H&M said in a statement.
"We are dedicated to regaining the trust and confidence of our customers, colleagues, and business partners in China," it said.
Australian Olympians were the latest to be embroiled in the row on Wednesday as the country revealed its uniforms for the upcoming Tokyo Games.
The vice president of the Olympic committee said it had been assured that none of the cotton came from that region.
Rights groups say more than one million Uyghurs and other mostly Muslim ethnic minorities have been held in internment camps in Xinjiang, where they have also been forced to work in factories.
"VERY IMPORTANT MARKET"
H&M makes around 6 per cent of its revenue in China, which is home to nearly 10 per cent of its stores.
China had become H&M's third-biggest market before the boycott.
The company has not released the figures on the financial impact of the boycott or which measures it has taken in response to the controversy.
"China is a very important market to us and our long-term commitment to the country remains strong," H&M said, noting it has been presented in the country for more than 30 years.
"We want to be a responsible buyer, in China and elsewhere, and are now building forward-looking strategies and actively working on next steps with regards to material sourcing."
The statement was issued on the sidelines of quarterly results which showed a net loss of 1.07 billion kronor ( US$123 million) in the December to February period due to the coronavirus pandemic.
In late March, about 1,500 of the company's 5,000 stores were temporarily closed due to coronavirus restrictions, H&M said.
Sales, however, jumped 55 per cent in March compared to the same month last year.
At least 521 civilians have been killed in two months of protests against the Feb 1 coup, 141 of them on Saturday (Mar 27), the bloodiest day of the unrest, according to the Assistance Association for Political Prisoners (AAPP).
The advocacy group said a further eight people died on Tuesday, when thousands came out to march in several towns, according to media and photos on social media.
There were also new candle-lit protests overnight in towns across Myanmar in defiance of a curfew and at least one dawn march on Wednesday by demonstrators, media reports said.
Myanmar has been in turmoil since the army ousted an elected government led by Nobel laureate Aung San Suu Kyi, detaining her and reimposing military rule after a decade of tentative steps towards democracy.
Fighting has also flared between the army and insurgents in frontier regions, and refugees are spilling over borders.
The Karen National Union (KNU) rebel group, which operates along the eastern border with Thailand, said on Tuesday that it was bracing for a major government offensive.
The group urged the international community, neighbouring Thailand in particular, to help Karen people fleeing the "onslaught" and called for countries to cut ties with the junta to stop the violence against civilians.
Meanwhile, the Kachin Independence Army (KIA), a rebel group in the north, attacked a police station in Kachin state at 3am on Wednesday, the Kachin News Group said.
A march by civilian protesters also took place at dawn on Wednesday in Moegaung in Kachin, the news service reported.
Police and a spokesman for the Myanmar junta did not answer calls seeking comment.
UN REFUGEE AGENCY CONCERNED
The US on Tuesday ordered the departure of non-emergency US government employees and their family members from Myanmar due to concerns over civil unrest.
Opponents of the coup have called for a united front with insurgent groups.
Rebels have battled the government for decades for greater autonomy in remote border regions. The military has justified its long grip on power by saying it is the only institution capable of ensuring national unity.
Military aircraft bombed KNU fighters on the weekend, sending about 3,000 villagers fleeing to Thailand.
Thailand denied accusations from activists that refugees were being forced to return, but a Thai official on the border said the army was sending most people back because it was deemed safe on the Myanmar side.
A spokesman for the United Nations refugee agency said it was concerned about reports that people were being sent back and it was seeking information from Thailand.
A border state in India withdrew an order to refuse refugees food and shelter after the measure drew fierce public criticism.
US SAYS VIOLENCE "REPREHENSIBLE"
The military seized power saying that last November's elections won by Aung San Suu Kyi's party were fraudulent, an assertion dismissed by the election commission.
A civil disobedience campaign of strikes has paralysed parts of the economy, and protesters stepped it up by asking residents on Tuesday to leave rubbish at city intersections.
Western countries have condemned the coup and the violence and called for Aung San Suu Kyi's release, and some have imposed limited sanctions.
In Washington, US Secretary of State Antony Blinken said some foreign countries and companies with significant investments in enterprises that support Myanmar's military should reconsider those stakes.
He said the recent violence was "reprehensible" and followed a pattern of "increasingly disturbing and even horrifying violence" against demonstrators opposing military rule.
Indonesia has led efforts by members of the 10-country Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN), of which Myanmar is a member, to encourage a negotiated solution, despite an old agreement not to comment on each other's problems.
Foreign criticism and Western sanctions against previous Myanmar juntas have had little short-term impact.
SYDNEY: Australian Olympians became embroiled in the global row over Chinese forced-labour cotton on Wednesday (Mar 31) as the country revealed its uniforms for the upcoming Tokyo Games.
The Australian Olympic Committee faced criticism as it rolled out Asics-branded sportswear, with the company facing questions over its use of cotton from the Xinjiang region.
"We've been assured that none of the cotton for the Australian Olympic team comes from that region," said Ian Chesterman, Australian Olympic Committee vice president.
"I think athletes at the moment need to focus on what their job is, which is to get out there and compete for Australia," he said during a press conference.
At least 1 million Uyghurs and people from other mostly Muslim groups are believed to have been held in camps in Xinjiang, in China's north-west.
Human rights groups, independent media and foreign governments have found evidence that the local authorities have carried out mass detention, forced labour, political indoctrination, torture and forcible sterilisation.
The United States has described the situation as genocide and banned all cotton from Xinjiang. Australia's parliament is considering a similar move.
Several major fashion brands recently announced they would no longer use cotton from Xinjiang - for fear it has been produced by forced labour.
But Asics was one of several firms - hoping to safeguard access to China's vast marketplace - that initially responded to the allegations by vowing to "continue to purchase and support Xinjiang cotton".
"DISGUSTING AND SHAMEFUL"
Nathan Ruser, a researcher at the Australian Strategic Policy Institute, was among the critics describing Australia's use of Asics sportswear as "disgusting and shameful".
An Asics spokesperson told AFP on Wednesday that the initial company statement on Chinese social media was "unauthorised" and did not represent "our official corporate position on this matter".
"We are fully committed to working closely with business partners to ensure human rights are respected and environmental standards are met at all times," the spokesperson said.
The Chinese government has denied carrying out rights abuses but companies that have voiced concerns have been punished.
Swedish fashion retailer H&M disappeared from Chinese shopping apps and has been targeted for boycott.
Chinese state-run tabloid the Global Times on Tuesday said Asics had become "the latest target of a boycott by Chinese customers" and was facing "catastrophic losses" after backtracking on its initial statement.
China is one of the world's largest suppliers of cotton, making up around one-fifth of the global total.
Almost 90 per cent of China's cotton comes is believed to come from Xinjiang.
"I don't think any Australian athlete wants to wear a uniform produced by a company that is sourcing cotton from Xinjiang," Elaine Pearson, Australia director for Human Rights Watch, told AFP.
"This is a test case for companies like Asics about how committed they are to upholding human rights principles," she said.
"They should do their due diligence and be transparent in reporting about their supply chain."
"The Chinese government is showing its true colours by pressuring companies to be complicit in abuses rather than working to end violations against Uyghurs and other Turkic Muslims," Pearson added.
WASHINGTON: The Biden administration on Tuesday (Mar 30) announced a set of measures responding to rising anti-Asian violence, including deploying US$49.5 million from COVID-19 relief funds for US community programs that help victims.
White House officials said in a statement that the Department of Justice is also focusing on a rising number of hate crimes targeting Asian Americans.
"We can’t be silent in the face of rising violence against Asian Americans," Biden wrote on Twitter. "These attacks are wrong, un-American, and must stop."
The measures come after a shooting in Atlanta earlier this month left eight people dead, six of them Asian-American women.
The shooting stoked fears among those in the Asian-American Pacific Islander community, which has reported a spike in hate crimes since March 2020 when then-President Donald Trump began referring to the novel coronavirus as the "China virus".
Biden's new steps include US$49.5 million of pandemic relief funds for "community based, culturally specific services and programs for survivors of domestic violence and sexual assault" as well as a new task force dedicated to countering xenophobia against Asians in healthcare.
The Justice Department is also planning new efforts to enforce hate crime laws and report data on racial crimes, the statement said.
GENEVA: Data was withheld from World Health Organization investigators who travelled to China to research the origins of the coronavirus epidemic, WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said on Tuesday (Mar 30).
The United States, the European Union and other Western countries immediately called for China to give "full access" to independent experts to all data about the original outbreak in late 2019.
In its final report, written jointly with Chinese scientists, a WHO-led team that spent four weeks in and around Wuhan in January and February said the virus had probably been transmitted from bats to humans through another animal, and that a lab leak was "extremely unlikely" as a cause.
One of the team’s investigators has already said China refused to give raw data on early COVID-19 cases to the WHO-led team, potentially complicating efforts to understand how the global pandemic began.
"In my discussions with the team, they expressed the difficulties they encountered in accessing raw data," Tedros said. "I expect future collaborative studies to include more timely and comprehensive data sharing."
The inability of the WHO mission to conclude yet where or how the virus began spreading in people means that tensions will continue over how the pandemic started - and whether China has helped efforts to find out or, as the United States has alleged, hindered them.
"The international expert study on the source of the SARS-CoV-2 virus was significantly delayed and lacked access to complete, original data and samples," Australia, Canada, the Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia, Israel, Japan, Latvia, Lithuania, Norway, Korea, Slovenia, Britain, the United States and the European Union said in a joint statement.
"NOT EXTENSIVE ENOUGH"
Although the team concluded that a leak from a Wuhan laboratory was the least likely hypothesis for the virus that causes COVID-19, Tedros said the issue required further investigation, potentially with more missions to China.
"I do not believe that this assessment was extensive enough," he told member states in remarks released by the WHO. "Further data and studies will be needed to reach more robust conclusions."
The WHO team's leader, Peter Ben Embarek, told a press briefing it was "perfectly possible" the virus had been circulating in November or October 2019 around Wuhan, and so potentially spreading abroad earlier than documented so far.
"We got access to quite a lot of data in many different areas, but of course there were areas where we had difficulties getting down to the raw data and there are many good reasons for that," he said, citing privacy laws and other restrictions.
Second phase studies were required, Ben Embarek added.
He said the team had felt political pressure, including from outside China, but that he had never been pressed to remove anything from its final report.
Dominic Dwyer, an Australian expert on the mission, said he was satisfied there was "no obvious evidence" of a problem at the Wuhan Institute of Virology.
The European Union called the study "an important first step" but renewed criticisms that the origin study had begun too late, that experts had been kept out of China for too long, and that access to data and early samples had fallen short.
In a statement, Walter Stevens, EU ambassador to the United Nations in Geneva, called for further study with "timely access to relevant locations and to all relevant human, animal and environmental data available".
GENEVA (REUTERS) - Data was withheld from World Health Organisation (WHO) investigators who travelled to China to research the origins of the coronavirus epidemic, WHO director-general Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said on Tuesday (March 30).
He made the comments to the agency’s member states as a WHO-led team that spent four weeks in and around Wuhan, China, in January and February released its final report to the public.
China refused to give raw data on early Covid-19 cases to the WHO-led team, one of the team’s investigators has already said, potentially complicating efforts to understand how the global pandemic began.
“In my discussions with the team, they expressed the difficulties they encountered in accessing raw data,” Tedros said.
“I expect future collaborative studies to include more timely and comprehensive data sharing.”
The conclusions that the virus origins remains incomplete likely means that tensions over how the pandemic started – and whether China has helped or hinder efforts to find out, as the United States has alleged – will continue.
“I do not believe that this assessment was extensive enough,” Tedros said.
“Further data and studies will be needed to reach more robust conclusions.”
The WHO team’s leader, Peter Ben Embarek, told a separate virtual press briefing on Tuesday that it was “perfectly possible” Covid-19 cases were circulating in November or October 2019 around Wuhan, potentially leading to the disease spreading abroad earlier than documented so far.
He said the team felt political pressure, including from outside China, but that he never was pressed to remove anything from its final report.
ISMAILIA, EGYPT (BLOOMBERG) - The immediate crisis of the Suez Canal blockage may have ended, but the battle over damages from the waterway's longest closure in almost half a century is just beginning.
The long-term cost of the canal's estimated US$10 billion (S$13.5 billion) a day closure will likely be small, given that global merchandise trade amounts to US$18 trillion a year.
Yet with cargoes delayed for weeks if not months, the blockage could unleash a flood of claims by everyone affected, from the shipping lines to manufacturers and oil producers.
"The legal issues are so enormous," said Ms Alexis Cahalan, a partner at Norton White in Sydney, which specialises in transport law.
"If you can imagine the variety of cargoes that are there - everything from oil, grain, consumer goods like refrigerators to perishable goods - that is where the enormity of the claims may not be known for a time."
But the blockage, which began last Tuesday, was the canal's longest closure since it was shut for eight years following the 1967 Six-Day War and offered a reminder of the fragility of global trade infrastructure and threats to supply lines already stretched by the pandemic.
The Egyptian authorities were desperate to get traffic flowing again through the waterway that's a conduit for about 12 per cent of world trade and around one million barrels of oil a day.
Leth Agencies, one of the top providers of Suez Canal crossing services, said 37 ships exited from Great Bitter Lake by 3.30am local time and 76 are scheduled to go on Tuesday.
South Korea's shipping giant HMM said the HMM Gdansk, one of the world's largest container vessels and which can carry 24,000 20ft boxes, was scheduled to transit through the waterway on Tuesday after being held up since last week.
It may take as long as four days to return the canal to normal, Suez Canal Authority chairman Osama Rabie said at a Monday evening press conference.
That assessment may be optimistic, and it could take weeks for the situation to be fully resolved, according to Mr Arthur Richier, senior freight analyst at energy market intelligence firm Vortexa.
"Coordinating the logistics of who gets to go through first and how that's going to be sorted out, I think the Egyptians have quite a job on their hands," Mr John Wobensmith, chief executive officer of Genco Shipping and Trading, said on Tuesday in an interview with Bloomberg Television.
To prevent future disruptions and help accommodate higher volumes of shipping traffic, the authorities could consider widening the Suez Canal, he said.
The canal's blockage will reduce global reinsurers' earnings, which have already been hit by winter storms in the US and flooding in Australia, as well as the pandemic, according to Fitch Ratings.
Prices for marine reinsurance will rise further as a consequence, it said. Fitch estimates losses may amount to hundreds of millions of euros.
In a potential merry-go-round of legal action, owners of the goods on board the Ever Given and other ships could seek compensation for delays from their insurers, if they have one.
Those insurers for cargo on board can in turn file claims against Ever Given's owners, who will then look to their insurers for protection.
Taiwan's Evergreen Line, which chartered the Ever Given, says Japan's Shoei Kisen Kaisha - the ship's owner - is responsible for any losses. Shoei Kisen has taken some responsibility, but says charterers need to deal with the cargo owners.
Evergreen is being represented by Ince Gordon Dadds as legal adviser, according to people familiar with the matter, who asked not to be identified because they aren't authorised to speak to the media. London-based Ince Gordon Dadds and Evergreen declined to comment.
Taiwan's Evergreen Line, which chartered the Ever Given, says Japan's Shoei Kisen Kaisha - the ship's owner - is responsible for any losses. PHOTO: AFP/SUEZ CANAL AUTHORITY
An official at Shoei Kisen said the company hasn't received any compensation claim from various parties yet.
The firm doesn't have an estimate on the amount of potential claims and is still examining what it is responsible for.
The ship's hull is insured through three Japanese companies.
Responsibility for the giant ship's grounding will be determined after an investigation, the Suez Canal's Mr Rabie said, adding that the authority isn't at fault and that the ship's captain - and not the pilot - was responsible for the vessel.
Inspections of potential damage are continuing to the Ever Given, which has been moved north to the Great Bitter Lake.
Those checks will determine whether the vessel can resume its scheduled service, and what happens to the cargo onboard, Evergreen said in a statement.
YANGON: Rubbish piled up on the streets of Myanmar's main city on Tuesday (Mar 30) after activists launched a "garbage strike" to oppose military rule as the toll of pro-democracy protesters killed by the security forces since a Feb 1 coup rose to more than 500.
Out of 14 civilians killed on Monday, the Assistance Association for Political Prisoners (AAPP) said at least eight were in the South Dagon district of the biggest city, Yangon.
Security forces in the area fired a heavier calibre weapon than usual on Monday towards protesters crouching behind a barricade of sand bags, witnesses said. It was not immediately clear what weapon it was but it was believed to be some type of grenade launcher.
State television said security forces used "riot weapons" to disperse a crowd of "violent terrorist people" who were destroying a pavement and one man was wounded.
People protest against the military coup in Launglon township, Myanmar on Mar 30, 2021 (Photo: Reuters/Dawei Watch)
A South Dagon resident said on Tuesday security forces had been cracking down in the area overnight, raising concern of more casualties.
"There was shooting all night," said the resident who declined to be identified.
Residents found a badly burned body on a street in the morning, the resident said, adding it was not known what had happened to the person and the military took the body away.
Police and a junta spokesman did not answer calls seeking comment.
Thousands of protesters came out in several other towns across the country, according to media and photos on social media. There were no immediate reports of violence.
People protest against the military coup in Launglon township, Myanmar on Mar 30, 2021 (Photo: Reuters/Dawei Watch)
People protest against the military coup in Launglon township, Myanmar on Mar 30, 2021. (Photo: Reuters/Dawei Watch)
UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres urged Myanmar's generals to stop the killings and repression of demonstrations.
A civil disobedience campaign of strikes against military rule has paralysed large parts of the economy and in a new tactic, protesters sought to step up the campaign by asking residents to leave garbage at main road intersections.
"This garbage strike is a strike to oppose the junta," read a poster on social media. "Everyone can join."
Pictures posted on social media showed piles of rubbish building up in Yangon.
The campaign comes in defiance of calls issued via loudspeakers in some neighbourhoods of Yangon on Monday urging residents to dispose of garbage properly.
"UNACCEPTABLE"
At least 510 civilians had been killed in nearly two months of opposition to the ouster of an elected government led by Nobel laureate Aung San Suu Kyi, and the return of military rule after a decade of tentative steps towards democracy, according to a tally by the AAPP advocacy group.
The total killed on Saturday, the bloodiest day of the protests, had risen to 141, its figures showed.
One of the main groups behind the protests, the General Strike Committee of Nationalities, called on Monday in an open letter for ethnic minority forces to help those standing up to the "unfair oppression" of the military.
This combination photo of screengrabs from a UGC video provided to AFPTV from an anonymous source and taken on Mar 29, 2021 shows protesters hiding behind a makeshift barricade before it exploded (top) and running away from the same barricade after it exploded during a demonstration against the military coup in Yangon's South Dagon township.
In a sign that the call may be gaining more traction, three groups - the Myanmar National Democratic Alliance Army, the Arakan Army (AA) and Ta'ang National Liberation Army - called in a joint statement on Tuesday for the military to stop killing protesters and resolve political issues.
If not, they said they would cooperate with all ethnic groups "who are joining Myanmar's spring revolution" to defend themselves.
"This kind of brutal killing of innocent civilians is unacceptable," AA spokesman Khine Thu Kha told Reuters in an audio message.
Insurgents from different ethnic groups have battled the central government for decades for greater autonomy. Though many groups have agreed to ceasefires, fighting has flared in recent days between the army and forces in both the east and north.
This photo taken and received from an anonymous source via Facebook on Mar 29, 2021 shows protesters gathering while demonstrating against the military coup in Yangon's South Dagon township. (Photo: AFP/Facebook/Handout)
Heavy clashes erupted on the weekend near the Thai border between the army and fighters from Myanmar's oldest ethnic minority force, the Karen National Union (KNU), which has also denounced the coup.
About 3,000 villagers fled to Thailand when military jets bombed a KNU area.
Thailand has denied accounts by activist groups that refugees were being forced back. Its foreign ministry said there was no policy of turning away refugees fleeing conflict and they would be accepted on humanitarian grounds.
More than a dozen people were allowed to cross into Thailand on Tuesday for medical treatment at a border village, Reuters witnesses said.
Myanmar's military has for decades justified its grip on power by saying it is the only institution capable of preserving national unity. It seized power saying that November elections won by Aung San Suu Kyi's party were fraudulent, an assertion dismissed by the election commission.
But foreign criticism and Western sanctions have failed to sway the generals and Aung San Suu Kyi remains in detention at an undisclosed location and many other figures in her party are also in custody.
