CANBERRA: Australia on Monday (Feb 8) moved to reassure its citizens over the efficacy of AstraZeneca's COVID-19 vaccine after South Africa suspended use of the shot because data showed it offered limited protection against a new strain of the virus.
Citing data that showed the AstraZeneca vaccine reduced mild-to-moderate COVID-19 by 22 per cent, South Africa said on Sunday it would put on hold the use of the AstraZeneca vaccine.
But Australia's Minister for Health, Greg Hunt, said the vaccine is effective in its primary objective.
"There is currently no evidence to indicate a reduction in the effectiveness of either the AstraZeneca or Pfizer vaccines in preventing severe disease and death. That is the fundamental task, to protect the health," Hunt told reporters in Canberra.
Australia is expected to approve the use of the AstraZeneca vaccine within days. Last month, it approved the use of the Pfizer -BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine, although it has secured enough doses for less than half of its population and orders remain delayed.
Australia is expected to begin using the Pfizer vaccine later this month though Canberra's hopes for a complete inoculation programme rests with the AstraZeneca vaccine.
The country has ordered 53 million doses of the AstraZeneca vaccine, the vast majority of which will be manufactured locally by CSL.
YANGON: Opponents of Myanmar's coup called for more protests and work stoppages on Monday (Feb 8) after tens of thousands of people joined weekend demonstrations against the removal and detention of elected leader Aung San Suu Kyi a week ago.
Protests that swept the country on Sunday were the biggest since a 2007 Saffron Revolution led by Buddhist monks that helped prompt democratic reforms that were upended by the Feb 1 coup.
"Marchers from every corner of Yangon, please come out peacefully and join the people's meeting," activist Ei Thinzar Maung posted on Facebook, using VPN networks to rally protesters despite a military attempt to ban the social media network.
The location and time would be announced later, said the former student leader, who has emerged as one of the faces of the new protest movement.
So far gatherings have been peaceful, unlike bloody crackdowns during previous widespread protests in 1988 and 2007. A convoy of military trucks was seen passing into Yangon late on Sunday, raising fears that could change.
Reuters has been unable to contact the military for comment on the protests and state television has not mentioned them.
CALLS FOR WORK STOPPAGES
The government lifted a day-long Internet ban at the weekend that prompted even more anger in a country fearful of returning to the isolation and even greater poverty before a transition to democracy began in 2011.
Activists Maung Saungkha and Thet Swe Win posted on their Facebook pages that police had been to search for them at their homes, but that they were not there and were still free.
In addition to the street protests, a campaign of civil disobedience has begun, first with doctors and joined by some teachers and other government workers.
"We request government staff from all departments not to attend work from Monday," said activist Min Ko Naing, a veteran of the demonstrations in 1988 that first brought Aung San Suu Kyi to prominence.
She won the Nobel Peace Prize in 1991 for campaigning for democracy, and spent nearly 15 years under house arrest during decades of struggling to end almost half a century of army rule.
Aung San Suu Kyi, 75, has been kept incommunicado since army chief Min Aung Hlaing seized power in the early hours of Feb 1.
The coup has drawn international condemnation. The United Nations Security Council called for the release of Aung San Suu Kyi and other detainees last week and the United States is considering targeted sanctions.
"Protesters in Myanmar continue to inspire the world as actions spread throughout the country," Thomas Andrews, the United Nations special rapporteur on Myanmar said on Twitter.
"Myanmar is rising up to free all who have been detained and reject military dictatorship once and for all. We are with you."
NEW DELHI: The Myanmar military coup that took the world by surprise has created headaches for countries figuring out a response that best safeguards their national interest.
But in short, we should expect a repeat of the international community’s approach during the years of the junta’s rule, ranging from sanctions to constructive engagement.
The United Nation’s is a case in point. After an emergency meeting on Feb 2 failing to agree on a text condemning the military coup, the UN Security Council hemmed and hawed until Thursday (Feb 4).
Its eventual statement expressing a vague level of deep concern and calling for the release of State Counselor Aung San Suu Kyi and President Win Myint, without mentioning the coup, was a product of compromise, pushed for by China, backed by Russia, which rejected an initially more aggressive British draft.
Unfortunately, what transpired is likely to be the norm in the coming weeks and months, for as long as the military regime remains in place.
Most countries recognise they have little sway on what happens next in Myanmar – though perhaps this is true for some more than others.
CHINA’S PRACTICAL INTERESTS
Chinese Foreign Affairs Minister Wang Yi had warned the international community must prioritise Myanmar’s political and social stability, and avoid escalating the conflict or complicating the situation, prior to the security council's Thursday’s statement.
Supporting this stance is Chinese media Xinhua news agency’s downplaying of the significance of the coup, referring to it as a “major cabinet reshuffle” which has earned the country rebuke online.
But the calculations underpinning the overall Chinese response to Myanmar has been more complex than a superficial reading suggests.
Most observers would say Beijing’s standing up to defend the Myanmar military’s action is in line with precedence. After all, China had vetoed a UN Security Coucil resolution in August 2007 condemning Myanmar in the aftermath of a violent crackdown on anti-government protestors quickly joined by Buddhist monks. But even that move came at a cost to China’s international reputation in the lead-up to the high-stakes Beijing Olympics.
Many say Chinese authorities have a stronger affinity with the military government and wish for a return to those years when China was Myanmar’s chief patron state.
But for Beijing, it matters less which party is in power in Myanmar.
In this Jan 11, 2021, file photo, Aung San Suu Kyi and Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi pose for a photo during their meeting at the President House in Naypyidaw, Myanmar. (File photo: AP/Myanmar President Office)
Many initially thought that Aung San Suu Kyi, a long-time human rights and democracy advocate, would forge closer ties with Western democracies and distance herself from Beijing, which shielded the military leaders who placed her under house arrest for more than a decade.
Instead, she signed the China-Myanmar Economic Corridor agreement, under the Belt and Road Initiative framework, demarcating a special economic zone and deep-water port in the area.
She visited China in 2015, where she met President Xi Jinping prior to the election.
The NLD also continued to cultivate relations with Beijing, particularly after coming under international condemnation for the Rohingya crisis.
Indeed, Myanmar’s gaze away from China and towards the US preceded Aung San Suu Kyi’s political ascend to power after the 2015 election. It was former President Thein Sein in 2012 who hosted Barack Obama’s visit to Myanmar, the first for a sitting US president, and visited the White House in 2013.
If anything, China’s stance has been consistent and principled: That developments within Myanmar are internal matters, with sanctions exerting undue international pressure tantamount to interference in domestic issues.
This position may have indeed been driven by China’s longstanding, vested interest in the stability of Myanmar. It shares a common land border and has huge economic interest in the country, being its top investor.
WHITHER THE US?
The timing of Myanmar’s coup could not be more unfortunate for the US, as the first foreign policy test on Southeast Asia for newly inaugurated Joe Biden.
The US response thus far seem to be overcompensating for something. Since Monday, the US has led international condemnation of Myanmar, with G7 countries calling for the release of detained NLD leaders and a return to democracy.
Mr Biden has proclaimed he would “stand up for democracy wherever it is under attack.” His administration has threatened the imposition of further targeted sanctions against individuals and entities controlled by the military.
President Joe Biden signs an executive order. (Photo: AFP/MANDEL NGAN)
This stance could have been motivated by domestic politics considerations. At a time when Biden’s administration must work with Congress on a host of ambitious, contentious first 100-days initiatives, a tough response on Myanmar’s coup has emerged as a policy that enjoys bipartisan support.
Yet what action could Biden take that would move the needle on this issue? Some symbolic US sanctions banning entry into the US for top Myanmar generals are already in place following the Rohingya crisis.
US assistance to Myanmar has also been curbed under Donald Trump, after the US foreign policy establishment had to contend with accusations that the country had given too many bargaining chips away under Obama, including the loosening up of restrictions on US investments.
More importantly, what does Mr Biden hope to achieve? And can he do so without this renewed emphasis on democracy and human rights potentially alienating Myanmar and other Asian countries, pushing them closer to China?
The US and its allies may understand these sanctions to be symbolic in their aim, in sending a message of support for the NLD and Myanmar’s fledgling democracy, rather than as a tool to achieve a reversion to the status quo before the coup, but are these sentiments shared by Asian countries who focus on the painful effects of such sanctions?
Following the US’ demarche of ASEAN ambassadors on Thursday, some think the US is now looking like a less-than-reliable partner, where strategic relations and past goodwill built up seem to have taken a backseat to the promotion of democratic values.
CHINA NOT ALONE
China knows its stance is widely shared by many countries, particularly the Southeast Asian nations within ASEAN, whose charter is premised on the principle of non-interference in the internal affairs of countries, and of which Myanmar is a member state.
Malaysia and Indonesia may have called on the ASEAN foreign ministers to discuss Myanmar’s political turmoil at a special session but other ASEAN countries are less sanguine that such discussions can lead to meaningful change.
ASEAN flags. (Photo: AFP/TANG CHHIN SOTHY)
Even Japan, a Chinese competitor for investment opportunities in Myanmar, which has been largely supportive of democratic ideals and human rights, has called for dialogue with the Myanmar military and refrained from taking a more aggressive stance.
India, once vocal about human rights in Myanmar during the late 1980s and early 1990s, has also since adopted a calibrated position to deal with whichever leaders are in power in Myanmar, seeing how important a strategic and security partner it has become for India’s Act East and the Neighbourhood First policies.
The sum of these actions suggest little coordinated approach by the international community in response to the military coup, which works to the Myanmar’s military advantage.
UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres may be right when he said that the UN cannot guarantee Aung San Suu Kyi’s early release from house arrest.
Worse, the military may take further steps, including amending the constitution, to prevent Aung San Suu Kyi from holding office again.
But the bigger impact of the coup may be its imprint on geopolitics.
It has shone the uncomfortable spotlight on US credibility, after much bluster from the Biden administration in recent days with action still not forthcoming a week after the coup, and US-China superpower competition, seeing how any strident foreign policy stick the US might apply to Myanmar may not bring about change, at a time when Asian countries are watching what both countries will do.
Dr Nehginpao Kipgen is a Political Scientist, Associate Professor and Executive Director at the Center for Southeast Asian Studies, Jindal School of International Affairs, O P Jindal Global University. He is the author of three books on Myanmar, including Democratization of Myanmar.
YANGON - Tens of thousands of people in Myanmar marched in protest against the military coup for the second straight day on Sunday (Feb 7), as a partial restoration of Internet connection flooded Myanmar social media with images of the massive demonstrations.
“We want democracy!” the young crowd shouted in downtown Yangon, as they wove through cars stuck in the traffic and drivers blasted their horns in support.
Smaller protests also took place in Mandalay as well as Shan, Mon and Kayin states. The demonstrations were largely peaceful, with people holding up pictures of deposed state counsellor Aung San Suu Kyi – detained by the military regime since the Feb 1 coup – and three-finger salutes as a symbol against dictatorship.
In the eastern town of Myawaddy however, videos posted on Facebook showed policemen trying to break up demonstrators and shots being fired. It is not known if there were any casualties.
While there were no other reports of confrontations, analysts warned that the risk of a crackdown remained high.
During the 2007 protest led by monks that was dubbed the Saffron Revolution, the then ruling junta launched raids only after several days.
“If they feel greatly threatened by the crowds, they will take more immediate action,” political analyst Soe Myint Aung said of the military, when reached by The Straits Times on Sunday. “But from what I gathered from the army-run Myawaddy TV, the regime is trying to give an impression of normalcy.”
Television stations now commandeered by soldiers aired dance performances and educational programmes.
The protests were the biggest since the seizure of power by commander-in-chief Min Aung Hlaing alleging massive fraud in the Nov 8 general election in which Ms Suu Kyi’s National League for Democracy Party won 396 of the 476 contested seats in parliament.
He has promised to hold another election after a state of emergency imposed for one year.
Even before the coup, Myanmar’s military was essentially autonomous by virtue of the junta-drafted 2008 Constitution. It also controlled three ministries and a quarter of all parliamentary seats.
In a videoconference with diplomats on Friday, the regime-appointed minister for international cooperation Ko Ko Hlaing said his government understood “the concerns of the international community on the continuation of Myanmar’s democratic transition process”, reported the state-run newspaper Global New Light of Myanmar.
“He reaffirmed that the very architect of this process is the Tatmadaw (military). In fact, the last thing (the) architect would love to do is to destroy this own structure,” reported the paper.
Protesters hold placards and flowers during a demonstration against the military coup in Yangon on Feb 7, 2021. PHOTO: AFP
To thwart protests and acts of civil disobedience swiftly organised and spread through social media, the regime banned Facebook, Twitter and Instagram. When users tried to get around them with virtual private networks, the regime shut down Internet access on Saturday.
Partial Internet access was restored on Sunday afternoon from around 2pm local time, according to internet monitoring group NetBlocks.
A 25-year-old protestor in Yangon who gave his name as Aung, told The Straits Times he was taking a stand for the “truth”, rather than the NLD.
“We will protest until the military regime transfers authority back to the elected government,” he said. “We will protest until we send the commander-in-chief to jail.”
YANGON - Tens of thousands of people in Myanmar marched in protest against the military coup for the second straight day on Sunday (Feb 7), as a partial restoration of Internet connection flooded Myanmar social media with images of the massive demonstrations.
“We want democracy!” the young crowd shouted in downtown Yangon, as they wove through cars stuck in the traffic and drivers blasted their horns in support.
Smaller protests also took place in Mandalay as well as Shan, Mon and Kayin states. The demonstrations were largely peaceful, with people holding up pictures of deposed state counsellor Aung San Suu Kyi – detained by the military regime since the Feb 1 coup – and three-finger salutes as a symbol against dictatorship.
In the eastern town of Myawaddy however, videos posted on Facebook showed policemen trying to break up demonstrators and shots being fired. It is not known if there were any casualties.
While there were no other reports of confrontations, analysts warned that the risk of a crackdown remained high.
During the 2007 protest led by monks that was dubbed the Saffron Revolution, the then ruling junta launched raids only after several days.
“If they feel greatly threatened by the crowds, they will take more immediate action,” political analyst Soe Myint Aung said of the military, when reached by The Straits Times on Sunday. “But from what I gathered from the army-run Myawaddy TV, the regime is trying to give an impression of normalcy.”
Television stations now commandeered by soldiers aired dance performances and educational programmes.
The protests were the biggest since the seizure of power by commander-in-chief Min Aung Hlaing alleging massive fraud in the Nov 8 general election in which Ms Suu Kyi’s National League for Democracy Party won 396 of the 476 contested seats in parliament.
He has promised to hold another election after a state of emergency imposed for one year.
Even before the coup, Myanmar’s military was essentially autonomous by virtue of the junta-drafted 2008 Constitution. It also controlled three ministries and a quarter of all parliamentary seats.
In a videoconference with diplomats on Friday, the regime-appointed minister for international cooperation Ko Ko Hlaing said his government understood “the concerns of the international community on the continuation of Myanmar’s democratic transition process”, reported the state-run newspaper Global New Light of Myanmar.
“He reaffirmed that the very architect of this process is the Tatmadaw (military). In fact, the last thing (the) architect would love to do is to destroy this own structure,” reported the paper.
Protesters hold placards and flowers during a demonstration against the military coup in Yangon on Feb 7, 2021. PHOTO: AFP
To thwart protests and acts of civil disobedience swiftly organised and spread through social media, the regime banned Facebook, Twitter and Instagram. When users tried to get around them with virtual private networks, the regime shut down Internet access on Saturday.
Partial Internet access was restored on Sunday afternoon from around 2pm local time, according to internet monitoring group NetBlocks.
A 25-year-old protestor in Yangon who gave his name as Aung, told The Straits Times he was taking a stand for the “truth”, rather than the NLD.
“We will protest until the military regime transfers authority back to the elected government,” he said. “We will protest until we send the commander-in-chief to jail.”
NEW DELHI: Nine people were confirmed dead and at least 140 missing in northern India, after a Himalayan glacier broke and swept away a hydroelectric dam on Sunday (Feb 7), with floods forcing the evacuation of villages downstream.
Surjeet Singh, a police official, said nine bodies were recovered so far amid intensified rescue operations.
The flood was caused when a portion of Nanda Devi glacier broke off in Tapovan area of the northern state of Uttarakhand on Sunday morning, sending a massive flood of water and debris slamming into two dams and damaging a number of homes.
A video shared by officials and taken from the side of steep hillside shows a wall of water surging into one of the dams and breaking it into pieces with little resistance before continuing to roar downstream.
A view of the damaged Dhauliganga hydropower project at Reni village in Chamoli district after a portion of the Nanda Devi glacier broke off in Tapovan area of the northern state of Uttarakhand, Feb 7, 2021. (Photo: AP)
An eyewitness said he saw a wall of dust, rock and water as an avalanche roared down the Dhauli Ganga river valley located more than 500km north of New Delhi.
"It came very fast, there was no time to alert anyone," Sanjay Singh Rana, who lives on the upper reaches of Raini village in Uttarakhand, told Reuters by phone. "I felt that even we would be swept away."
Uttarakhand's Police Chief Ashok Kumar told reporters more than 50 people working at the dam, the Rishiganga Hydroelectric Project, were feared dead though some others had been rescued.
Kumar also said authorities had evacuated other dams to contain the water rushing in from the flooded Alakananda river.
Indo Tibetan Border Police begin rescue work after a portion of the Nanda Devi glacier broke off in Tapovan area of the northern state of Uttarakhand, India, Feb 7, 2021. (Photo: Indo Tibetan Border Police via AP)
Uttarakhand is prone to flash floods and landslides and the latest disaster prompted calls by environment groups for a review of power projects in the ecologically sensitive mountains.
State utility NTPC said Sunday's avalanche had damaged a part of its Tapovan Vishnugad hydropower plant that was under construction further down the river. It gave no details but said the situation is being monitored continuously.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi said he was closely monitoring the situation.
"India stands with Uttarakhand and the nation prays for everyone's safety there," he said on Twitter after speaking with the state's Chief Minister Trivendra Singh Rawat.
People inspect the site near the damaged Dhauliganga hydropower project at Reni village in Chamoli district after a portion of the Nanda Devi glacier broke off in the Tapovan area of the northern state of Uttarakhand, Feb 7, 2021. (Photo: AP)
India's air force was being readied to help with rescue operations, the federal government said, while Home Minister Amit Shah said disaster response teams were being airlifted in to help with relief and rescue. Army soldiers have already been deployed and its helicopters were doing an aerial reconnaissance of the area.
"All the concerned officers are working on a war footing," Shah said on Twitter, referring to Uttarakhand by its nickname, the Hindi term for "land of the gods" - due to the numerous Hindu temples and pilgrimage centres located across the state.
State Disaster Response Fund personnel prepare for deployment in Srinagar of Uttarakhand state on Feb 7, 2021 after a glacier broke off in Chamoli district causing flash floods in the Dhauli Ganga river. (Photo: AFP)
A police officer asks pilgrims to leave as ghats along the river Ganges are emptied as a precautionary measure in Haridwar, India, Feb 7, 2021. (Photo: AP)
The neighbouring state of Uttar Pradesh, India's most populous, put its riverside areas on high alert.
Footage shared by locals showed the water washing away parts of the Rishiganga dam as well as whatever else was in its path.
Videos on social media, which Reuters could not immediately verify, showed water surging through a small dam site, washing away construction equipment.
"Currently no additional water flows are being reported and there is no flood situation anywhere," Chief Minister Rawat said on Twitter.
"No loss has been reported from villages along Alaknanda."
This screen grab from video provided by KK Productions shows a massive flood of water, mud and debris flowing at Chamoli District after a portion of Nanda Devi glacier broke off in Tapovan area of the northern state of Uttarakhand, India, Feb 7, 2021. (Photo: KK Productions via AP)
"HIMALAYAN TSUNAMI"
It was not immediately clear what had set off the avalanche at a time when it is not the flood season. In June 2013, monsoon rains in Uttarakhand caused devastating floods that claimed close to 6,000 lives.
That disaster was dubbed the "Himalayan tsunami" by the media because of the torrents of water unleashed in the mountainous area, which sent mud and rocks crashing down, burying homes, sweeping away buildings, roads and bridges.
Uma Bharti, India's former water resources minister and a senior leader of Modi's party, criticised the construction of a power project in the area.
Police personnel prepare in Srinagar of Uttarakhand state on Feb 7, 2021 after a glacier broke off in Chamoli district causing flash floods in the Dhauli Ganga river. (Photo: AFP)
"When I was a minister I had requested that Himalaya is a very sensitive place, so power projects should not be built on Ganga and its main tributaries," she said on Twitter, referring to the main river that flows from the mountain.
Environmental experts called for a halt to big hydroelectric projects in the state.
"This disaster again calls for a serious scrutiny of the hydropower dams building spree in this eco-sensitive region," said Ranjan Panda, a volunteer for the Combat Climate Change Network that works on water, environment and climate change issues.
"The government should no longer ignore warnings from experts and stop building hydropower projects and extensive highway networks in this fragile ecosystem."
