ASEAN IN FOCUS

Myanmar junta charges Japanese journalist with encouraging dissent

Yangon, Myanmar | AFP A Japanese journalist detained in Myanmar has been charged with breaching immigration law and encouraging dissent against the military, the ruling junta said Thursday. Myanmar’s military has clamped down on press freedoms since its coup last year, arresting reporters and photographers as well as revoking broadcasting licences as the country plunged into chaos. Toru Kubota, who was held while covering a protest in Yangon last week, “has been charged under section […]

ASEAN ministers warn Taiwan tensions could spark ‘open conflicts’

  by Lisa Martin and Rose Troup Buchanan Agence France Presse PHNOM PENH (AFP) — Southeast Asian foreign ministers urged restraint Thursday as China launched massive military drills off Taiwan, warning the situation risked spiralling into “open conflicts”. A furious Beijing kicked off its biggest-ever exercises around Taiwan in response to US House Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s visit this week to the self-ruled island. Ministers from the 10-member Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) meeting in […]

Pelosi Taiwan visit set to dominate ASEAN meet

  by Rose Troup Buchanan and Lisa Martin Agence France Presse PHNOM PENH, Cambodia (AFP) — Southeast Asian foreign ministers will seek ways to help quell the diplomatic storm over Taiwan at regional talks Wednesday, after US House Speaker Nancy Pelosi arrived on the island, enraging Beijing. Pelosi’s dramatic late-night flight to Taipei, defying threats of reprisals by China, looks set to dominate the meeting of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) in Phnom […]

ASEAN says Myanmar executions ‘highly reprehensible’

Phnom Penh, Cambodia | AFP Myanmar’s execution of four prisoners, including a former member of Aung San Suu Kyi’s party, is “highly reprehensible,” said the chair of a regional bloc leading diplomatic efforts to resolve the post-coup crisis. Cambodia, which currently heads the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN), said the bloc was “extremely troubled and deeply saddened” by the executions — Myanmar’s first in decades. In a statement issued Tuesday, it accused the junta […]

Executed Myanmar prisoners deserved ‘many death sentences’: junta spokesman

Yangon, Myanmar | AFP The four prisoners Myanmar’s junta executed in the first cases of capital punishment in the country in decades “deserved many death sentences”, a military spokesman said on Tuesday. “If we compare their sentence with other death penalty cases, they have committed crimes for which they should have been given death sentences many times,” junta spokesman Zaw Min Tun said at a regular press briefing. The executions announced on Monday sparked widespread […]

ASEAN says Myanmar executions ‘highly reprehensible’

PHNOM PENH, Cambodia (AFP) — Myanmar’s execution of four prisoners, including a former member of Aung San Suu Kyi’s party, is “highly reprehensible,” said the chair of a regional bloc leading diplomatic efforts to resolve the post-coup crisis. Cambodia, which currently heads the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN), said the bloc was “extremely troubled and deeply saddened” by the executions — Myanmar’s first in decades. In a statement issued Tuesday, it accused the junta […]

Myanmar junta executions ‘act of utter cruelty’: HRW

Bangkok, Thailand | AFP The Myanmar junta’s execution of four men, including a former member of parliament and a prominent democracy activist, was “an act of utter cruelty,” Human Rights Watch said on Monday, The executions of activist Kyaw Min Yu and opposition lawmaker Phyo Zeya Thaw “was an act of utter cruelty,” said Elaine Pearson, acting Asia director at Human Rights Watch, calling for the international community to “show the junta that there will […]

Myanmar junta executes two pro-democracy rivals

YANGON, Myanmar (AFP) — Myanmar’s junta has executed four prisoners including a former lawmaker from Aung San Suu Kyi’s party and a prominent activist, state media said Monday, in the country’s first use of capital punishment in decades. The four were executed for leading “brutal and inhumane terror acts”, the Global New Light of Myanmar newspaper said. The paper said the executions were carried out “under the prison’s procedure” without saying when or how the […]

UN court rejects Myanmar challenge to genocide case

  The Hague, Netherlands | AFP by Danny KEMP The UN’s highest court ruled on Friday that a landmark case accusing military-ruled Myanmar of genocide against minority Rohingya Muslims can go ahead. The International Court of Justice (ICJ) in The Hague threw out all of Myanmar’s objections to a case filed by the west African nation of The Gambia in 2019. The decision paves the way for full hearings at the court on allegations over […]

US citizen detained in Myanmar: embassy

  Yangon, Myanmar | AFP An American citizen is being wrongfully detained in junta-ruled Myanmar, a US embassy spokesperson told AFP on Friday. “We are aware of the wrongful detention of a US citizen in Burma,” the spokesperson told AFP, using the country’s former name. The US has led Western criticism of the coup that ousted Aung San Suu Kyi’s government last year and slapped sanctions on top-ranking members of the junta and military-linked companies. Several foreigners have […]

Thailand scrambles F-16s as Myanmar jet violates airspace

  BANGKOK, Thailand (AFP)  – Thailand scrambled F-16s after a Myanmar jet involved in clashes with anti-coup fighters violated its airspace, officials said Thursday, as a regional envoy urging dialogue visits Yangon. Fighting in eastern Myanmar has escalated since a putsch last year ousted a civilian government led by Aung San Suu Kyi, with thousands fleeing to Thailand to escape the violence according to the United Nations. The conflict has sparked concern among Myanmar’s neighbours, […]

Indonesian president delivers Zelensky’s message to Putin

  MOSCOW, June 30, 2022 (AFP) –  Indonesian President Joko Widodo said in Moscow on Thursday he delivered a message from Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky to Russian leader Vladimir Putin. Putin hosted Widodo more than four months into Moscow’s offensive in Ukraine, as Russia seeks to pivot toward Asia and Africa following the onset of unprecedented Western sanctions. Indonesia holds the rotating presidency of the G20 this year and is preparing to host a summit […]