Jumat, 19 Maret 2021
First high-level US-China talks under Biden administration kick off in Alaska - CNA
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2021-03-19 12:54:19Z
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Malaysia denounces North Korean decision to sever diplomatic ties - CNA
KUALA LUMPUR: Malaysia's foreign ministry on Friday (Mar 19) denounced a decision by North Korea to sever diplomatic ties, describing the move as "unfriendly and unconstructive".
In a statement, the ministry said Malaysia would close its embassy in Pyongyang in response and would order all diplomatic staff and their dependants at the North Korean embassy in Kuala Lumpur to leave the country within 48 hours.
"Malaysia denounces the decision as unfriendly and unconstructive, disrespecting the spirit of mutual respect and good neighbourly relations among members of the international community," said the statement.
"Malaysia reserves our every right to respond to the decision of the DPRK (Democratic People's Republic of Korea) in order to protect our sovereignty and to safeguard our national interest."
North Korea earlier announced it would sever diplomatic relations with Malaysia after a court in Malaysia ruled that a North Korean man could be extradited to the United States to face money laundering charges, state media KCNA reported on Friday.
North Korea's foreign affairs ministry also warned Washington would "pay a price", in a statement carried by KCNA.
The North Korean statement did not name its citizen, but in early March, Malaysia's top court ruled that a North Korean man, Mun Chol Myong, could be extradited.
Mun had been arrested in 2019 after the United States accused him of laundering funds through front companies and issuing fraudulent documents to support illicit shipments to North Korea. He fought the extradition request, arguing that it was politically motivated.
"DEEP REGRET"
There was a heavy police presence outside the North Korean embassy in Kuala Lumpur on Friday as hordes of journalists arrived following the announcement.
Malaysia had been one of North Korea's few allies until Kim Jong Un's half-brother was murdered with a banned nerve agent as he waited to catch a flight from Kuala Lumpur four years ago.
Before the assassination of Kim Jong Nam, Malaysia and North Korea enjoyed particularly warm relations, but afterwards they expelled each other's ambassadors and axed a reciprocal visa-free travel arrangement for visitors.
Malaysia has had diplomatic relations with Pyongyang since 1973. The Malaysian foreign ministry said it "deeply regrets" North Korea's move to sever ties and that it had considered North Korea to be "a close partner" since the establishment of diplomatic relations.
The ministry defended the extradition of Mun, saying it was only carried out after due legal process had been exhausted, and that North Korea had pressured the government to intervene in the case.
Mun's application for the writ of habeas corpus at the High Court of Kuala Lumpur on Dec 29, 2019, and his appeal at the federal court on Oct 8 last year were dismissed, said the statement.
It also said that Mun's rights while in custody in Malaysia were also "guaranteed and fulfilled", and that he had access to his own defence counsel, consular assistance and family visits.
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2021-03-19 11:37:30Z
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9 Myanmar protesters shot dead as crackdown triggers exodus from Yangon - CNA
YANGON: Roads out of Myanmar's biggest city were choked on Friday (Mar 19) with people fleeing the junta's deadly crackdown on anti-coup dissent, as authorities in neighbouring Thailand said they were preparing for an influx of refugees.
Myanmar has been in turmoil since the military ousted civilian leader Aung San Suu Kyi on Feb 1, triggering a mass uprising that security forces have sought to crush with a campaign of violence and fear.
At least nine more protesters were killed on Friday, a funeral services provider and media said, bringing the confirmed death toll across the nation since the coup to more than 230.
An official with Aungban's funerary service, who declined to be identified, told Reuters eight people were killed, seven on the spot and one wounded person who died after being taken to hospital in the nearby town of Kalaw.
The spokesman for the junta was not immediately available for comment but has previously said security forces have used force only when necessary. Critics have derided that explanation.
One protester was killed in the northeastern town of Loikaw, the Myanmar Now news portal said, and there was some shooting in the main city of Yangon, but no word on casualties.
The total number killed in weeks of unrest has risen to at least 233, according to the latest report and a tally by the Assistance Association for Political Prisoners activist group.
The junta also this week imposed martial law over six townships in Yangon, the nation's former capital and commercial hub, effectively putting nearly 2 million people under direct control of military commanders.
Some of those areas have become battle zones, with protesters firing sling shots and throwing petrol bombs at security forces who have fired live rounds.
Smoke has also risen above nearly deserted streets, with security forces burning barricades made of vehicle tyres and fences that have been set up by protesters.
READ: Thailand braces as refugees from Myanmar coup flee to border regions
On Friday, local media showed traffic clogging up a main highway going north out of Yangon, reporting that people were fleeing the city for rural areas.
AFP also spoke with residents who had already fled or were preparing to leave.
"I no longer feel safe and secure anymore - some nights I am not able to sleep," a resident near one of the districts where security forces have killed protesters this week told AFP.
"I am very worried that the worst will happen next because where I live ... is very intense, with security forces taking people from the streets."
The woman said she had bought bus tickets for her home state in Myanmar's west and would leave in a couple days.
One resident told AFP he feared being shot by security forces, who had been threatening people if they did not clear barricades.
"We are like house rats searching for something to eat in another person's kitchen," said one man who described the fear of leaving his house this week to get milk for his two children.
Multiple residents across the city told AFP that soldiers and police were forcing them at gunpoint to remove barricades protecting their neighbourhoods.
READ: Yangon residents flee martial law area as Myanmar death toll grows
A 29-year-old man who works as a goldsmith in Yangon told AFP by phone he had left the city.
"It was too distressing to stay," he told AFP. "After arriving here in my home, I feel much more relieved and safe."
Mobile data across Myanmar has also been down since Monday, plunging those without Wi-fi set-ups into an information blackout.
READ: Ousted Myanmar lawmakers eyeing crimes against humanity probe at International Criminal Court
PREPARING FOR REFUGEES
Across the Myanmar border in Thailand's Tak province, authorities said they were preparing shelters for an influx of potential refugees.
"If many Myanmar people flow across the border because of an urgent case, we have prepared the measures ... to receive them," said provincial governor Pongrat Piromrat.
He said Tak province would be able to support about 30,000 to 50,000 people, though he confirmed that no one appears to have flooded across the border yet.
About 90,000 refugees from Myanmar already live along the porous border, fleeing decades of civil war between the military and ethnic armed groups.
READ: Indonesia president calls for ASEAN high level meeting on Myanmar crisis
READ: Myanmar faces growing isolation as military tightens grip
The junta has repeatedly justified the power seizure by alleging widespread electoral fraud in November's elections, which Suu Kyi's National League for Democracy (NLD) party had swept in a landslide.
According to an NLD MP, the party's information officer Kyi Toe - who had regularly posted updates about the Nobel laureate's health and whereabouts - was arrested on Thursday night in Yangon.
Many of the ousted MPs are in hiding, and have formed a group called the Committee Representing Pyidaungsu Hluttaw (CRPH) - the Burmese word for "parliament".
This week, the CRPH's UN envoy - who goes by the name Dr Sasa - and its vice president Mahn Win Khaing Than were charged with "high treason".
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2021-03-19 10:07:30Z
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Mumbai logs most COVID-19 cases since start of pandemic - CNA
MUMBAI: India's wealthiest state Maharashtra and its capital Mumbai recorded on Friday (Mar 19) the most daily coronavirus cases since the pandemic began, stoking a new nationwide wave.
The Asian nation of 1.3 billion people was this month overtaken by Brazil as the country with the second most infections after cases dipped in December and January.
But recent weeks have seen an uptick, particularly in Maharashtra which on Friday reported a record 25,833 new cases, with financial capital and megacity Mumbai logging 2,877.
In total India recorded almost 40,000 new cases - almost double the rate of a week earlier - although still less than half the peak of almost 100,000 seen in September.
READ: India's richest state suffers surge in COVID-19 cases
Several badly hit states including Maharashtra, Gujarat and Madhya Pradesh have imposed fresh restrictions such as curbs on movement and public gatherings in some cities.
However, major nationwide restrictions imposed during a months-long lockdown last year have mostly been lifted, with immense religious and political gatherings taking place.
"There is going to be no lockdown in the state," Gujarat chief minister Vijay Rupani said on Thursday.
READ: India's COVID-19 vaccine wins over some sceptics after promising data
READ: India's COVID-19 vaccine wins over some sceptics after promising data
Prime Minister Narendra Modi told regional leaders earlier this week to step up efforts to contain the pandemic and to ramp up testing.
"We have to stop the emerging second peak of the pandemic through quick and decisive steps," Modi told the virtual meeting.
"In recent weeks, some 70 districts have witnessed a more than 150 percent increase in the number of cases and if we do not stop the pandemic right now, it could lead to a nationwide outbreak."
India has so far administered almost 40 million vaccines, with the aim of inoculating 300 million people by the end of July.
In total the country has recorded more than 11.5 million cases and almost 160,000 deaths.
BOOKMARK THIS: Our comprehensive coverage of the coronavirus outbreak and its developments
Download our app or subscribe to our Telegram channel for the latest updates on the coronavirus outbreak: https://cna.asia/telegram
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2021-03-19 08:03:02Z
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US-China Alaska meeting: Contentious tone at opening of talks not surprising, experts say - The Straits Times
WASHINGTON - If Beijing went into its talks with the United States in Anchorage, Alaska, seeking a reset in their relationship after years of fraught ties and a bruising trade war under the Trump administration, the hard line adopted by Biden administration officials in the opening minutes of their meeting quickly made it clear that was not going to happen.
There was remarkable continuity in the Trump administration's hardline approach to China in the envoys' first face-to-face meeting since President Joe Biden took office.
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2021-03-19 08:46:44Z
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Chinese delegation faults US for flouting protocol at high-level talks - The Straits Times
BEIJING – Chinese officials on Friday (March 19) accused their American counterparts of speaking for too long, being “inhospitable” and violating diplomatic protocol at high-level bilateral talks, state media reported.
China’s top diplomat Yang Jiechi and Foreign Minister Wang Yi are in Anchorage, Alaska, to meet United States Secretary of State Antony Blinken and National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan, in the first in-person talks of the Biden administration.
But the two-day meeting got off to a rocky start with both sides having differing accounts of the encounter, with the Chinese state media sending out a flurry of reports and alerts setting out the Chinese version of events after the first round of talks ended.
China was prepared to conduct the dialogue “with sincerity” in accordance with what had been agreed in advance, the Chinese delegation told state broadcaster CCTV in a briefing after the first round of talks.
“But the US side, which started speaking first, severely exceeded the time allocated for their opening remarks, made unreasonable attacks and accusations of Chinese domestic and foreign policies, and provoked quarrels,” one official said.
“This is not the way to treat your guests and it violates diplomatic protocols.”
In his opening remarks, Mr Yang emphasised that the US was not qualified to speak condescendingly with China, and that dealing with China must be on the basis of mutual respect.
“History will prove that it is oneself who suffers in the end if a hard-headed strategy is used with China,” Mr Yang said, according to CCTV.
Mr Yang criticised the US’ own human rights record at home and abroad, citing how African Americans were being “slaughtered” and America’s record of using force to “topple other regimes” and “massacre people of other countries”.
Chinese social media was rife with nationalistic comments commending the diplomats, mostly on videos of Mr Yang’s remarks telling the US not to be condescending.
“Show (the US) that China is not to be trifled with,” wrote one comment on the Twitter-like Weibo, responding to a video of the meeting.
This “unprecedented” open confrontation between both countries is a moment of “great symbolism”, wrote newspaper editor Hu Xijin, who heads the state-owned Global Times tabloid.
“It tells Americans that they should stop pretending that they can point fingers at China. That era is already over,” he wrote on Weibo.
Much was also being made of the fact that protocol officers tried to usher journalists out after the opening remarks but were called back in by Mr Blinken, who wanted his response to Mr Yang to be heard.
Chinese analysts, however, cautioned against reading too much into the events, which they saw as “necessary” for the relationship to move forward.
Three facets - competition, tension and cooperation - made up the US-China relationship, said government advisor Zhu Feng, and the events at Anchorage only highlighed one part of that.
“A heated exchange doesn’t mean that the US-China relationship is crumbling, this is to be expected... what is important is to how there can continue to be cooperation amid the tension and rhetoric as both sides work towards resetting the relationship,” said Professor Zhu, who is also the dean of Nanjing University’s Institute of International Studies.
Furthermore, much of the messaging had been for domestic audiences, he added.
“(Secretary of State) Blinken knows he needs to make sure the Republicans can’t accuse him of being soft on China... while the Chinese side also has to be accountable to the Chinese people.”
A second session of talks are under way with a third round scheduled for Friday morning local time.
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2021-03-19 07:41:08Z
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Ousted Myanmar lawmakers eyeing crimes against humanity probe at International Criminal Court - CNA
Ousted Myanmar lawmakers are exploring whether the International Criminal Court (ICC) can investigate any crimes against humanity committed since the Feb 1 coup, as an activist group said three more people had died in clashes with security forces.
Military and police are using increasingly violent tactics to suppress daily demonstrations by supporters of detained elected leader Aung San Suu Kyi.
The total number killed in weeks of unrest has risen to at least 224, the Assistance Association for Political Prisoners activist group said, noting another death in the commercial hub of Yangon and two in the cities of Monywa and Bago on Thursday (Mar 18).
Myanmar's UN envoy, who publicly broke with the junta, said a committee of ousted lawmakers was looking at ways people can be held accountable for violence following the coup.
"The ICC is one of them," Kyaw Moe Tun told an event in New York. "We are not a state party to the ICC, but we need to ... explore the ways and means to bring the case to the ICC."
In Geneva, United Nations human rights experts denounced forced evictions, arbitrary detentions and the killings of pro-democracy protesters. They said foreign governments should consider pursuing those responsible for crimes against humanity.
READ: Indonesia president calls for ASEAN high level meeting on Myanmar crisis
READ: Myanmar faces growing isolation as military tightens grip
Hundreds have fled Myanmar's towns and cities since the coup and are sheltering in areas controlled by ethnic militias on the Thai border, an official from one group said. People have also fled to the Indian side of the border.
The United Nations food agency said this week that rising prices of food and fuel meant many poor families faced shortages and hunger.
A junta spokesman has said the security forces have used force only when necessary.
INDONESIA CALLS FOR HIGH-LEVEL ASEAN MEETING
Western countries have condemned the coup and called for an end to the violence and for Aung San Suu Kyi's release. Asian neighbours have offered to help find a solution, but Myanmar's military has shown no sign of seeking reconciliation.
Coup leader General Min Aung Hlaing took part in a video conference with other Southeast Asian defence chiefs on Thursday, his first international engagement since seizing power, state television showed.
During the meeting, head of Indonesia's armed forces Hadi Tjahjanto expressed concern over the situation in Myanmar, according to the military's website.
A junta spokesman did not answer telephone calls seeking comment.
READ: Fears of 'digital dictatorship' as Myanmar deploys AI
READ: Myanmar factory attacks put focus on Chinese influence
Indonesian President Joko Widodo on Friday called for democracy to be restored and violence to be halted in Myanmar and for Southeast Asian leaders to hold a high-level meeting to discuss the situation there.
Indonesia has led diplomatic efforts in Southeast Asia to resolve the crisis but a Mar 3 regional meeting it helped coordinate failed to make headway.
The European Union is due to place sanctions on individual military figures on Monday and then target businesses they run in what would be its most significant response so far since the coup.
The EU's expected sanctions follow a US decision last month to target the military and its business interests. Britain last month froze the assets and placed travel bans on three Myanmar generals.
The army has defended its coup, saying its accusations of fraud in a Nov 8 election swept by Aung San Suu Kyi's National League for Democracy were rejected by the electoral commission. It has promised a new election but not set a date.
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2021-03-19 06:08:01Z
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