LONDON (REUTERS) - Myanmar’s ambassador to the United Kingdom, who has been locked out of his embassy by representatives of the military, on Thursday (April 8) urged the British government not to recognise the junta’s envoy and to send them back to Myanmar.
In a move that could have implications for Myanmar’s diplomats across the world, the ambassador was locked out of his own embassy on Wednesday by his deputy at the behest of the Myanmar military which seized power in February.
“The ambassador has been recalled by the Myanmar military regime – since then he has stopped following instructions from the Myanmar foreign ministry,” Ambassador Kyaw Zwar Minn said through a spokesman.
“We believe the UK government would not back those who are working for the military junta and we also would like to urge the UK government to send them back,” the ambassador said through his spokesman who read out his statement in English.
In a letter to the British foreign ministry from the Myanmar embassy, seen by Reuters, those in control of the embassy said that deputy ambassador Chit Win had taken over as charge d’affairs as of April 7.
Mr Kyaw Zwar Minn was recalled on March 9, the letter said.
The ambassador said through his spokesman that “he had full faith that the UK government will continue to demonstrate their rejection of the unlawful military regime".
The spokesman said that the ambassador "is trying to walk in the middle ground but there is no doubt which is the right side: the military council has killed nearly 600 people including 48 children".
The ambassador said: “We call on the UK government specifically to refuse to work with the charge d’affairs Chit Win that the military council have nominated or any other ambassador that they might try to nominate in future.”
Earlier, he told Reuters outside the embassy in central London: “It’s a kind of coup, in the middle of London...you can see that they occupy my building."
Police officers were standing guard outside the embassy, where protesters against the military junta had gathered.
“We are aware of a protest outside the Myanmar embassy in Mayfair, London. Public order officers are in attendance. There have (been) no arrests,” police said in a statement.
Wild. In last 2 hrs #Myanmar’s Military Junta allies took over the country’s Embassy in London, UK.
The Burmese embassy in London has been raided by military junta members Even Ambassador Kyaw Swa was not allowed to enter the embassy. pic.twitter.com/z39sZP0sFN
Britain has sanctioned members of Myanmar’s military and some of its business interests in the wake of the coup, and has demanded the restoration of democracy.
British officials were talking to representatives from both sides and the police, with the aim of resolving the stand-off at the embassy quickly and calmly.
“We are seeking further information following an incident at Myanmar’s embassy in London,” a British Foreign Office spokesman said in a statement.
More violence
Anti-coup demonstrators in Myanmar fought back with hunting rifles and firebombs against a crackdown by security forces in a town in the northwest but at least 11 of the protesters were killed, domestic media reported on Thursday.
Initially, six truckloads of troops were deployed to quell the protesters in the town of Taze, the Myanmar Now and Irrawaddy news outlets said. When the protesters fought back with guns, knives and firebombs, five more truckloads of troop reinforcements were brought in.
Fighting continued into Thursday morning and at least 11 protesters were killed and about 20 wounded, the media said.
There was no word of any casualties among the soldiers.
That would take the toll of civilians killed by security forces to over 600 since the junta seized power on Feb 1, according to the Assistance Association for Political Prisoners. It had a toll of 598 dead as of Wednesday evening.
A spokesman for the junta could not be reached for comment.
BEIJING: Tickets to tourist attractions, shopping coupons and report cards naming and shaming stores where staff haven't been vaccinated: China is veering from compulsion to persuasion in its bid to inoculate its population against COVID-19.
The country has administered around 140 million doses - most people will require two shots - since vaccinations began last year, and aims to fully inoculate 40 per cent of its 1.4 billion people by June.
But many in China have been slow to sign up for jabs, feeling that they are no longer at risk of catching the virus as the country has largely brought domestic outbreaks under control.
China reported just 11 domestically transmitted cases on Thursday, while life has returned largely to normal in most parts of the country, where most malls, nightclubs and amusement parks have been open for a year.
China has administered around 140 million doses since vaccinations began last year, and aims to fully inoculate 40 per cent of its 1.4 billion people by June. (Photo: AFP/Jade Gao)
Keen to meet vaccination goals, local officials have had to get creative.
Walls across the narrow alleys of Beijing's Xicheng district are now plastered with green, yellow and red signs, indicating the vaccination rate of people working and living in roadside stores and courtyard homes.
"I feel it's a little strange," said Wang Ying, a barista at a cafe that had received a red sign right by its door - the lowest grade of less than 40 per cent vaccination.
"I originally thought vaccination should be based on individual wishes, but now it seems like everyone must get the vaccine."
Wang told AFP that she had reservations about the safety of the vaccines, but that she and her colleagues would eventually all get jabs.
"In the food and beverage business, doing so will put everyone more at ease," she said.
Meanwhile, Daxing, a suburban district of Beijing, is handing out shopping coupons to people who have received the full two doses of a COVID-19 vaccine.
Neighbourhood committees in another district have promised boxes of eggs to older residents who have been inoculated, while others who receive their jab have been promised free visits to the popular Lama Temple tourist site.
But elsewhere, Chinese authorities and employers have opted for compulsion rather than persuasion to vaccinate millions of people.
Chinese authorities are using a mix of perks and pressure to hasten the uptake of COVID-19 jabs. (Photo: AFP/Leo Ramirez)
Officials in south-western China's Yunnan province, which recently discovered a small outbreak, last week launched a push to vaccinate all residents of Ruili city within five days, state media reported.
It's unclear how easy it will be to opt out of having the jab in the city, which borders Muse in neighbouring Myanmar, where escalating unrest since a Feb 1 military coup has raised fears that people may try to cross into China if the violence intensifies.
National vaccination numbers have shot up in recent weeks, with a long line of residents waiting outside one inoculation centre in Beijing's Chaoyang district on Thursday (Apr 8).
"I'd been thinking about it for a while, because this is a new thing, but now more and more people have been getting the vaccine," Zhang, a young man waiting in line to register for a shot, told AFP.
SINGAPORE: Mario Draghi, the Prime Minister of Italy, recently blocked the export of 250,000 AstraZeneca vaccine doses from his country to Australia.
To many in the international community, this was an act of “vaccine nationalism”. In fact, Mr Draghi’s decision reflected different variants of nationalistic behaviour, spurred on by geopolitical forces and compounded by COVID-19.
At the outbreak of the pandemic in early 2020, for example, China, the US, the EU, India and the UK all imposed export restrictions on personal protective equipment (PPE). Shipments of ventilators and antiseptic chemicals were also blocked as national health services competed for scarce supplies.
This behaviour contradicted the norms of international commerce, science and social exchange, which, for decades, have benefitted from a highly interconnected and interdependent global system.
Worse, vaccine nationalism may be the precursor to “vaccine diplomacy,” a form of realpolitik that compels nations to leverage their nation’s vaccine capabilities for geopolitical gain.
Boxes containing Sinovac's COVID-19 vaccines arrive at Phnom Penh International Airport, in Phnom Penh, Cambodia, Friday on Mar 26, 2021. (Photo: AP/Heng Sinith)
But vaccine diplomacy has shed light on an even more fundamental truth: A hybrid cold war is underway, involving the US, China and other pivotal states.
Its by-product is hybrid warfare, a mix of diplomatic, economic, cyber and information-related actions, all of which fall below the threshold of armed conflict but are, nonetheless, disruptive to the workings of the international system.
There will be no returning to the kind of globalisation the world experienced over the past four decades. Consequently, state and non-state actors must adapt.
Consider what has been playing out on the world stage.
Beijing recently eased restrictions on travel into China for international travellers, on the condition they show proof of vaccination with China-made brands such as Sinovac and Sinopharm - despite lack of complete final stage clinical trial data over their actual efficacy of Chinese vaccines.
When Russia became the first nation to authorize a vaccine (the Sputnik V, which now has a reported efficacy rate of 92 per cent) American, British and other Western diplomats stationed in Moscow rejected offers from the Putin government for free vaccinations, despite not having access to alternative vaccines at the time.
Although Phase 3 data wasn’t yet available at the time, the optics of British or American diplomats receiving a Russian vaccine would have been a propaganda coup for Moscow.
Beyond vaccine nationalism, the Philippines recently became a victim of vaccine diplomacy in a very tangible way.
In March, a surge in COVID-19 cases threatened to wreak havoc across the nation, which prompted the Rodrigo Duterte government to turn to China for more vaccines - even though both countries were locked in an escalating confrontation over disputed territory in the South China Sea.
More than two hundred ships were first spotted on Mar 7, 2021, at Whitsun Reef, about 320km west of Palawan Island in the South China Sea. (File photo: AFP/Handout)
As Beijing was supplying its vaccines to Manila, some 200 Chinese vessels were moving to occupy Whitsun reef, an atoll claimed by both China and the Philippines.
The timing of Beijing’s South China Sea gambit was no coincidence: Manila’s dependence on Chinese vaccines meant the Duterte regime had essentially agreed to forfeit its challenge to Beijing’s power play.
Beijing’s move in the Philippines sparked a reaction from the US and its allies. Even as Chinese vessels were dropping anchor at Whitsun reef, US Secretary of State Antony Blinken was conducting meetings with his counterparts from Japan, Australia and India - all members of the Indo-Pacific Quad security forum - to begin preparations for a multilateral vaccine diplomacy campaign.
One country with a lot to gain from vaccine diplomacy is India. The Serum Institute of India (SII) is the world’s largest manufacturer of vaccines, making approximately 1.5 billion doses per year under license from, among others, companies such as AstraZeneca.
In January, India launched the Vaccine Friendship initiative, which aims to supply made-in-India vaccines, gratis, to developing countries around the world - a direct challenge to China’s vaccine diplomacy. New Delhi has already reached out to Manila and will provide the Philippines with a steady supply.
India, which views China’s rise as a strategic threat, has been looking to capitalise on its growing importance to Washington in the broader context of a US-China hybrid cold war.
Its vaccine manufacturing capabilities are a major asset, particularly as New Delhi hopes to promote Make-in-India initiatives to attract strategic supply chains as they decouple from China. Having Washington’s endorsement provides New Delhi with a historic opportunity.
THE BATTLE IN CYBERSPACE
Vaccine nationalism has been linked to state-backed disinformation, propaganda and cyber intrusions - all key elements of hybrid warfare.
A man holds a laptop computer as cyber code is projected on him in this illustration picture taken on May 13, 2017. (Photo: REUTERS/Kacper Pempel/Illustration)
On the information front, for example, Russia, allegedly engaged in digital disinformation operations to undermine confidence in Pfizer’s and other vaccines produced in the US and Europe. This was done not only to promote its own vaccine, the Sputnik V, but to sow confusion and mistrust among citizenry of other countries.
In cyber-space, vaccine nationalism has been linked to a surge in cyber-intrusions and the theft of data at pharmaceutical companies, NGOs and government agencies.
In the early days of the pandemic, for example, in 2020, Pfizer, an American company, and its German partner, BioNTech, reported that sensitive documents had been hacked in a cyberattack on the European Medicine Agency (EMA). Like other regulatory agencies, the EMA regulates and approves medicines and has extensive information on trial drugs.
(Listen to the behind-the-scenes considerations and discussions going into what might be Singapore’s biggest vaccination programme ever on CNA's Heart of the Matter podcast:)
ECONOMIC AND TECH NATIONALISM
Early on, COVID-19 wreaked havoc with decentralised, pluralistic governments in the US and Europe, leaving them conspicuously absent from the world stage.
As Western governments turned inward to cope with COVID-19, China’s “wolf-warrior” diplomats used social media to paint American and European pharmaceutical companies as greedy opportunists - peddling unsafe vaccines while depicting their governments as self-serving and callous. This narrative has resonated on both social media and traditional media in many of the world’s poorer countries.
China moved quickly to launch a global vaccine diplomacy campaign, promoting itself as the provider of a sorely needed public good.
Beijing has announced it will supply its Sinopharm and Sinovac vaccines in more than 60 nations, targeting its neighbours as well as strategically important states in Africa, Southeast Asia and the Middle East. It has made early inroads with its vaccine offers in Latin America and the Caribbean, as well as in Eastern and Central Europe.
China’s vaccines are to be distributed as limited “donations” or as “samples” for larger purchases in the future. In other instances, the vaccines will be offered with credit guarantees from Chinese State-owned banks, a familiar practice used to push Chinese telecommunications technology and other infrastructure into countries along its Belt and Road initiative (BRI).
Here, an economic-diplomatic-technology feedback loop becomes apparent as Beijing-administered vaccines are linked to other essential services and products provided by Chinese companies.
For example, as telemedicine and medical technologies become ubiquitous, an ocean of private data will become accessible through a worldwide vaccination campaign administered by state-backed entities.
Chinese state-funded company BGI, for example, which already provides COVID-19 testing and DNA sequencing services for 80 countries, offers a compelling example of the kind of scale, depth and power of vaccine diplomacy.
It obtains DNA samples from billions of people around the world, which has triggered fears of digital dystopia on a massive scale.
The US and its allies are mobilising. A report from the non-profit ONE Campaign found that five nations, along with the European Union, are on track to have over 1 billion surplus doses after vaccinating their populations. Many of these will be donated to countries around the world, under the banner of vaccine diplomacy.
A box with China's SINOVAC vaccines against COVID-19 is seen during the mass vaccination program for the elderly people at Movistar Arena in Bogota, Colombia on Mar 9, 2021. (Photo: REUTERS/Luisa Gonzalez)
CONTRADICTIONS: STATES, FIRMS AND MARKETS
While governments pursue self-serving realpolitik, the scientific, medical and corporate communities, to a large extent, remain country-agnostic.
This was on display during the initial race for a vaccine, as researchers, health professionals and other stakeholders shared data and collaborated using open-sourced genome sequencing software on the internet.
Scientific research was accessible as a global commons. Open-sourced artificial intelligence and powerful machine learning helped produce effective vaccines in less than a year - an absolute wonder of science and technology.
Hybrid cold war has produced contradictions between governments, markets and non-state actors, therefore, which will extend beyond vaccines. Affected parties must learn how to navigate through these contradictions.
Just weeks after the Draghi proclamation, police in Italy discovered another 29 million doses of AstraZeneca vaccines, stashed away in a warehouse in Anagni, Italy.
It was not surprising, then, that AstraZeneca’s official response was that the company was trying to keep out of the political fray while it awaited the outcome of highly charged negotiations between the UK and the EU, and which countries would win the right to receive its COVID-19 vaccines.
Alex Capri is Research Fellow, Hinrich Foundation and Visiting Senior Fellow, NUS Business School. His new book Techno-Nationalism: How its Reshaping Trade, Geopolitics and Society” (Wiley) is due in stores in September.
YANGON: Myanmar troops fired at anti-coup protesters on Wednesday (Apr 7), killing at least 13 people and wounding several, a media outlet said, as a series of small blasts hit the commercial capital Yangon and a Chinese-owned factory was set on fire.
The country's military ruler said the civil disobedience movement was "destroying" Myanmar.
More than 580 people have been killed, according to an activist group, in the turmoil in Myanmar since a Feb 1 coup that ended a brief period of civilian-led democracy. Nationwide protests and strikes have persisted since then despite the military's use of lethal force to quell the opposition.
Security forces opened fire on Wednesday on protesters in the north-western town of Kale as they demanded the restoration of Aung San Suu Kyi's civilian government, domestic media said.
A resident of the area and the Myanmar Now news outlet said 11 people were killed and several wounded.
Reuters could not independently verify the toll.
Two protesters were killed in the town of Bago near Yangon, Myanmar Now said.
At least seven small explosions were heard in Yangon, including at government buildings, a military hospital and a shopping mall, residents said. There were no casualties and no claims of responsibility.
The United States embassy in Yangon said it had received reports of "handmade 'sound bombs' or fireworks meant to create noise and cause minimal damage".
A fire broke out in the Chinese-owned JOC Garment Factory in Yangon on Wednesday, news reports and the Fire Department said. There were no reports of casualties and no details on the extent of damage.
In another Yangon neighbourhood, activists set fire to the Chinese flag, according to pictures posted on Facebook.
Senior General Min Aung Hlaing, the head of the junta, said in a statement published on Wednesday that the civil disobedience movement, or CDM, had halted the working of hospitals, schools, roads, offices and factories.
"Although protests are staged in neighbouring countries and the international community, they do not destroy businesses," he said. "CDM is an activity to destroy the country."
According to the Association for Political Prisoners (AAPP) advocacy group, 581 people, including dozens of children, have been shot dead by troops and police in almost daily unrest since the coup, and security forces have arrested close to 3,500 people, with 2,750 still detained.
Among those detained are Aung San Suu Kyi and leading figures in her National League for Democracy party, which won an election last November that was then annulled by the coup.
JUNTA "LOSING CONTROL"
The mostly youth-led anti-coup movement's ability to organise campaigns and share information via social media and instant messaging has been severely hamstrung by curbs on broadband wireless Internet and mobile data services.
Fixed-line services, which few in Myanmar have access to, are available.
"Myanmar has been subject to a stepwise collapse into the information abyss since February," Alp Toker, founder of Internet blockage observatory NetBlocks told Reuters.
"Communications are now severely limited and available only to the few."
With print media also halted, protesters have sought workarounds to get their message across, producing their own A4-sized daily news pamphlets that are shared digitally and printed for distribution among the public.
Arrest warrants have been issued for hundreds of people, with the junta this week going after scores of influencers, entertainers, artists and musicians.
The country's most famous comedian, Zarganar, was arrested on Tuesday, media reported.
British Foreign Secretary Dominic Raab discussed how Britain and the international community could support a Southeast Asian effort to resolve the crisis in Myanmar, Indonesia's Foreign Minister Retno Marsudi said, after meeting her British counterpart in Jakarta.
Indonesia is among several Southeast Asian countries leading a push for high-level talks on Myanmar.
Western countries including the US, Britain and Australia have imposed or tightened sanctions on the generals and the military's huge network of business monopolies in response to the coup, detentions and use of lethal force against demonstrators.
The European Union is expected to follow suit.
Russia, which has shown support for Myanmar's ruling military council, on Tuesday said the West risked triggering civil war by imposing sanctions on the junta.
Fitch Solutions said in a report issued on Wednesday that targeted Western sanctions alone were unlikely to succeed in restoring democracy. It predicted in the medium-term a violent revolution pitting the military against an armed opposition comprised of members of the anti-coup movement and ethnic militias.
Some ethnic minority forces, which control large swathes of border regions, have said they cannot stand by as the junta kills people and have already engaged the military in skirmishes.
Fitch said Myanmar was heading towards being a failed state.
"The escalating violence on civilians and ethnic militias show that the Tatmadaw (military) is increasingly losing control of the country," it said, adding that the vast majority of people backed Aung San Suu Kyi's ousted government.
BANGKOK: Bangkok could be declared a COVID-19 red zone ahead of the Thai water festival next week after new clusters involving pubs and bars caused a sharp increase in infections in the Thai capital.
The Centre for COVID-19 Situation Administration (CCSA) reported 334 new COVID-19 cases on Wednesday (Apr 7), which included 216 patients from Bangkok alone.
On the same day, local media reported that transport minister Saksayam Chidchob has tested positive for the coronavirus.
Several cabinet ministers and dozens of lawmakers were also in self-isolation after coming into contact with patients of COVID-19. They include health minister Anutin Charnvirakul, education minister Treenuch Thienthong and deputy prime minister Wisanu Kreungam.
Several new clusters have been found in Bangkok’s pubs and bars, particularly in Wattana district. Between Mar 22 and Apr 6, CCSA reported 257 COVID-19 infections from this area, which houses a number of entertainment venues frequented by partygoers and musicians.
Besides Bangkok, more COVID-19 infections were also reported at entertainment venues in surrounding provinces such as Chonburi, Samut Prakarn, Suphan Buri and Nonthaburi.
Given the approaching water festival Songkran - Thailand’s public holidays which fall on Apr 12 to 15 this year - Thailand’s academic committee under the Communicable Disease Act of 2015 proposed that the Disease Control Department recategorise different provinces into zones to reflect the level of COVID-19 control measures.
“The committee has considered the situation and determined that provinces where the communicable disease is gaining strength be categorised as red zones, especially when infections involve entertainment venues and a lot of travelling,” said director-general of the Disease Control Department Opas Kankawinpong on Monday.
Night clubs and go-go bars street Soi Cowboy is seen empty after Thai government ordered the closure of cinemas, bars and other entertainment facilities as part of a raft of measures intended to control the spread of the coronavirus outbreak in Bangkok
The proposed red zones include Bangkok, Pathum Thani, Nonthaburi, Samut Prakarn and Nakhon Pathom.
According to CCSA, the decision will be decided by the Public Health Ministry and the Interior Ministry.
“The Disease Control Department and the Public Health Ministry have expressed concern that entertainment venues could contribute to interprovincial transmission because once an entertainment venue has to close temporarily, its staff may need to find work elsewhere," CCSA assistant spokesperson Apisamai Srirangsan said in a press conference on Wednesday.
"As a result, there has been a proposal to recategorise provinces and areas into different zones."
She added that as of now, the recategorisation has yet to happen. "However, we’d like the public to closely follow developments because within the next few days, the Health Ministry and the Interior Ministry will discuss this issue in detail."
On Monday, Bangkok governor Aswin Kwanmuang ordered temporary closure of entertainment venues, massage parlours and businesses similar to pubs, bars and karaoke venues in Wattana, Klongtoei and Bangkae districts from Apr 6 to 19.
Prime Minister Prayut Chan-o-cha said on Wednesday he has "several concerns" about the pandemic and urged the public to protect themselves by wearing face masks, maintaining social distancing and avoiding areas at risk of infections.
"The government needs to close certain venues. If any venue is detected without COVID-19 control measures in place, it'll face closure immediately," he said after a Cabinet meeting.
Thailand's Prime Minister Prayuth Chan-ocha receives an injection of the AstraZeneca coronavirus disease (COVID-19) vaccine at the Government House in Bangkok, Thailand, March 16, 2021. Thailand Government House/Handout via REUTERS
According to the prime minister, he has ordered field hospitals to be prepared in Bangkok in case of high transmission rates.
Meanwhile, Dr Yong Poovorawan from the Center of Excellence in Clinical Virology at the Faculty of Medicine, Chulalongkorn University in Bangkok, shared a preliminary report about the coronavirus variant found at entertainment venues in Wattana district.
"The COVID-19 strain spreading at the entertainment venues, based on a preliminary test, is the UK strain," he wrote on his Facebook page, adding confirmation is pending on genomic sequencing.
The preliminary report shared by Dr Yong said the UK strain can spread 1.7 times faster than the "wild type" strain found previously in Bangkok.
Currently, more than 1,700 patients are receiving treatment for COVID-19, CCSA said on Wednesday, adding 13 of them are in critical conditions.
This year, the Thai government has banned the street water fights that usually take place during the Songkran celebrations due to the pandemic.
"Water splashing will not happen this Songkran. We must ask you to cooperate with us," Taweesin Wisanuyothin, a spokesman for Thailand's COVID-19 taskforce, told a briefing last month.
He said foam parties would also be banned, though a tradition of pouring water over the hands of older people, religious activities and travel between provinces to visit relatives would be allowed.
