Chinese energy companies lobby junta to import Russian gas

~ Đào Thu Hằng ~ Bình luận về bài viết này

frontiermyanmar.net

A leaked junta memo shows three Chinese firms appealing to Nay Pyi Taw to arrange liquified natural gas imports from Russia amid economic turmoil in Myanmar.

By FRONTIER

A leaked document from the junta’s Ministry of Electric Power reveals that three Chinese energy companies appealed to the junta for help importing liquified natural gas from the Russian government, as the regime’s economic policies wreak havoc on the energy sector.

The document, in the form of a memo, indicates a meeting took place on July 25 in Nay Pyi Taw with representatives from MoEP, Hong Kong-listed VPower and Chinese state-owned firms CNTIC and Genertec. (VPower is also part-owned by CITIC, another Chinese state-owned investment firm).

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Council on Foreign Relations – Daily news brief Sept. 22, 2022

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Top of the Agenda

Iran Curbs Internet Access as Protests Over Woman’s Death Spread

Protests in support of women’s rights and Iran’s political opposition have spread to dozens of cities (NYT) in the country following a woman’s death after being detained by police last week. Authorities have deployed security forces and disrupted internet and cellular services to contain the demonstrations, Iran’s largest since 2019. Many of those protesting are women. Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps called on the judiciary to prosecute (Reuters) anyone spreading “false news and rumors” related to the protests. 

Twenty-two-year-old Mahsa Amini died after being detained by Iran’s morality police, who accused her of dressing immodestly and violating the country’s headscarf law. Iranian state television reported today that seventeen people, including demonstrators and police, had died (AFP) in the protests.
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Iran’s President abandons CNN interview (in New York) after Amanpour declines head scarf demand

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Updated 1551 GMT (2351 HKT) September 22, 2022

CNN

Iran’s President cancels interview after Amanpour refuses head scarf demand 03:23

(CNN) Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi withdrew from a long-planned interview with CNN’s chief international anchor Christiane Amanpour at the United Nations General Assembly in New York on Wednesday, after she declined a last-minute demand to wear a head scarf.

Some 40 minutes after the interview was scheduled due to start and with Raisi running late, an aide told Amanpour the president had suggested that she wear a head scarf. Amanpour said that she “politely declined.”

Amanpour, who grew up in the Iranian capital Tehran and is a fluent Farsi speaker, said that she wears a head scarf while reporting in Iran to comply with the local laws and customs, “otherwise you couldn’t operate as a journalist.” But she said that she would not cover her head to conduct an interview with an Iranian official outside a country where it is not required.

“Here in New York, or anywhere else outside of Iran, I have never been asked by any Iranian president — and I have interviewed every single one of them since 1995 — either inside or outside of Iran, never been asked to wear a head scarf,” she said on CNN’s “New Day” program Thursday.

Iran protests rage as Mahsa Amini's father says authorities lied about her death

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The Roots of Cambodia’s Actions against Illegal Vietnamese Immigrants

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ISEAS – 1-8-2022- Jing Jing Luo and Kheang Un

Since 2015, the Cambodian government has been addressing the politically and diplomatically sensitive issue of illegal Vietnamese immigrants through methods such as documentation, deportation, eviction, relocation and registration. In this picture, Cambodia’s Prime minister Hun Sen (R) and his then Vietnamese counterpart Nguyen Xuan Phuc (L) inspect the guard of honour during a welcome ceremony at the Presidential Palace in Hanoi on 4 October 2019. Photo: Nhac NGUYEN/AFP.

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY

  • Since 2015, the Cambodian government has been addressing the politically and diplomatically sensitive issue of illegal Vietnamese immigrants through methods such as documentation, deportation, eviction, relocation and registration.
  • These actions are the ruling Cambodian People’s Party’s response to the opposition Cambodia National Rescue Party’s successful politicisation of anti-Vietnamese sentiments among Cambodian voters.
  • The Cambodian government’s Vietnamese immigrant policies also serve the ecological development goal of improving Cambodian water systems, as well as beautifying and developing its urban areas.
  • Given Cambodia’s asymmetrical power relationship with Vietnam and the sensitive issue of illegal Vietnamese immigrants, the closer bond between Cambodia and China serves as an enabling factor for the Cambodian government in adopting tougher policies.
  • The Cambodian government’s measures will however neither reduce the fear held by many Cambodians of Vietnamese domination nor will they alleviate the potential diplomatic fallout.

*Jing Jing Luo is Post-Doctoral Researcher at the School of Public Affairs, Xiamen University, China. Kheang Un is Professor of Political Science at Northern Illinois University, USA.

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Khmer Rouge tribunal ends work after 16 years, 3 judgments

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By SOPHENG CHEANG and GRANT PECK September 22, 2022 GMT Associate Press

In this photo released by the Extraordinary Chambers in the Courts of Cambodia, Khieu Samphan, right, the former head of state for the Khmer Rouge, sits in a courtroom during a hearing at the U.N.-backed war crimes tribunal in Phnom Penh, Cambodia, Thursday, Sept. 22, 2022. The international court convened in Cambodia to judge the brutalities of the Khmer Rouge regime that caused the deaths of an estimated 1.7 million people in the 1970s ends its work Thursday after spending $337 million and 16 years to convict just three men of crimes. (Nhet Sok Heng/Extraordinary Chambers in the Courts of Cambodia via AP)

PHNOM PENH, Cambodia (AP) — The international court convened in Cambodia to judge the Khmer Rouge for its brutal 1970s rule ended its work Thursday after spending $337 million and 16 years to convict just three men of crimes after the regime caused the deaths of an estimated 1.7 million people.

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After 40 years, UNCLOS remains significant to Vietnam

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This photo taken on 20 August 2022, shows a worker sorting a fresh catch of fish at Sa Ky port on Vietnam’s offshore Ly Son island. Ly Son island, situated north-east of central Vietnam’s Quang Ngai province, is the country’s closest island to the disputed Paracel archipelago in the South China Sea region. (Photo: Nhac Nguyen / AFP)

Why UNCLOS Matters

fulcrum – PUBLISHED 20 SEP 2022

THU NGUYEN HOANG ANH

Editor’s Note:

This article is part of “UNCLOS 40th Anniversary Series – Why UNCLOS Matters” conceptualised by the Blue Security programme. The series, which commemorates the 40th anniversary of the U.N. Convention on the Law of the Sea, brings together established and emerging maritime security scholars from Southeast Asia and the broader Indo-Pacific to address the pertinence and relevance of UNCLOS. Blue Security brings together Australian and Southeast Asian experts to look at a range of maritime security issues across the region. The series was developed by Dr. Troy Lee-Brown and Dr. Bec Strating. It is published in collaboration with the team at Fulcrum.

UNCLOS’s relevance to Vietnam is significant, but the Convention must be updated if Vietnam and other signatories are to succeed in dealing with contemporary challenges in maritime affairs.

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Thailand and Vietnam emerge as ASEAN crypto trading hot spots

~ Trần Đình Hoành ~ 1 bình luận

Nikkei

Each country logs over $100bn transactions in a year, topping Singapore

Chainalysis said Thailand and Vietnam saw high web traffic to marketplaces for non-fungible tokens.   © Reuters

DYLAN LOH, Nikkei staff writerSeptember 21, 2022 19:00 JST

SINGAPORE — Thailand and Vietnam have become the top crypto trading hubs among the 10 members of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations, beating even financial center Singapore, which has been grappling with new legislation to control the nascent sector.

The two ASEAN members recorded over $100 billion each in crypto buying and selling values from July 2021 to June 2022, according to numbers published on Wednesday by blockchain data platform Chainalysis.

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Professor accused of selling secrets to China sues the U.S. government

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USnews.com

Temple Prof Seeks Reinstatement of Damage Claims Against FBI

A Temple University physicist who was charged with sharing scientific technology with China only for the case to collapse before trial and be dismissed by the Justice Department is asking a federal appeals court to reinstate his claims for damages against the FBI agent who investigated him.

By Associated Press

The Associated Press

FILE – An American flag flies outside the Department of Justice in Washington, March 22, 2019. A Temple University physicist who was charged with sharing scientific technology with China only for the case to collapse before trial and be dismissed by the Justice Department is asking a federal appeals court to reinstate his lawsuit against the FBI agent who investigated him. Lawyers for Xiaoxing Xi and his wife say in a brief filed Monday with a Philadelphia-based appeals court that a judge erred last year when he dismissed their claims for damages. (AP Photo/Andrew Harnik, File) THE ASSOCIATED PRESS

By ERIC TUCKER, Associated Press

WASHINGTON (AP) — A Temple University physics professor who was charged with sharing scientific technology with China only for the case to collapse before trial and be dismissed by the Justice Department asked a federal appeals court on Monday to reinstate his clams for damages against the U.S. government.

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New Data Confirms: Forest Fires Are Getting Worse

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WRI.org

New data on forest fires confirms what we’ve long feared: Forest fires are becoming more widespread, burning nearly twice as much tree cover today as they did 20 years ago.

Using data from a new study by researchers at the University of Maryland, we calculated that forest fires now result in 3 million more hectares of tree cover loss per year compared to 2001 — an area roughly the size of Belgium — and accounted for more than a quarter of all tree cover loss over the past 20 years.

World map of tree cover loss from forest fires over time (2001-2021)

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Extreme Weather Is Brutalizing Asia

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foreignpolicy.com

Floods, droughts, tropical storms, and heat waves are severely testing the resilience of a region with a lot of vulnerable people.

Two people on a makeshift raft during flooding in Pakistan

Two people on a makeshift raft during flooding in Pakistan. People make their way along a waterlogged street in a residential area after a heavy monsoon rainfall in Hyderabad, Pakistan, on Aug. 24. AKRAM SHAHID/AFP VIA GETTY IMAGES

AUGUST 24, 2022, 5:07 PM

High temperatures, frequent droughts, torrential rains, and other extreme weather events this summer have throttled Asia, forced industries to shut down, slowed global business, disrupted food supplies, and upended the lives of ordinary people living in some of the world’s most populous countries and densely packed cities. 

For months, countries across the Asia-Pacific have been experiencing a mix of heavier rains and higher temperatures, creating unpredictable weather patterns. When the rains aren’t falling a lot—as in Pakistan, where eight monsoon cycles have left thousands of people homeless—they aren’t falling at all, causing energy shortages as droughts have seriously restricted access to hydroelectric power. Record-breaking temperatures in China, for example, have sparked intense wildfires in the country’s center and dried up rivers that cities bank on to power industries and homes.

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Council on Foreign Relations – Daily news brief Sept. 21, 2022

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Top of the Agenda

Putin Escalates Russian War Efforts With New Troop Mobilization ”

Russian President Vladimir Putin announced a new mobilization of troops (FT) to fight in Ukraine in a televised address today. Three hundred thousand reservists will be called up to fight, Russia’s defense minister said. Putin also hinted at his willingness to use nuclear weapons, saying Russia “will use all the means at its disposal” if its territorial integrity is threatened. 

In addition, Putin voiced support for referendums that would let Russia illegally annex four occupied regions of Ukraine. The votes could happen as soon as this weekend. Yesterday, the Russian parliament increased penalties (RFE/RL) for soldiers who surrender or refuse to fight and used the words “mobilization” and “martial law” to describe the conflict in Ukraine for the first time. 
Analysis

“Mobilization…would radically upset the Kremlin’s careful management of the war at home. Dramatically increasing Russia’s manpower might seem a logical choice for a country with a population that is three times the size of Ukraine’s, but the war’s popularity has depended on it being far away,” the German Marshall Fund of the United States’ Liana Fix and Michael Kimmage write for Foreign Affairs. 

“If the Kremlin’s annexation gambit fails to stop the fighting and support to Ukraine, the Kremlin will need to lash out to show it is serious. That means escalation that could come in different forms,” the RAND Corporation’s Dara Massicot tweets. 
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Responsible Business Conduct and the Tourism Industry in Vietnam: Guidance for Companies (2022) – THỰC HÀNH KINH DOANH CÓ TRÁCH NHIỆM VÀ NGÀNH DU LỊCH TẠI VIỆT NAM – HƯỚNG DẪN DÀNH CHO CÁC CÔNG TY

~ Đào Thu Hằng ~ Bình luận về bài viết này

humanrights.gov.au

Download here

Also available in Vietnamese

As Vietnam’s tourism industry expands, the Australian Human Rights Commission and the Vietnam Chamber of Commerce and Industry have partnered to produce guidance for companies operating in the tourism industry in Vietnam. The guidance aims to strengthen business capability and equip future business leaders to promote responsible business conduct and respect for human rights in Vietnam.

Tourism plays an important role in Vietnam’s economy by creating jobs, infrastructure, and market opportunities. It can also assist in fostering greater mutual understanding across cultures, regions and nations. However, the tourism sector can also create significant challenges for the promotion, protection and realisation of human rights. A range of human rights risks exist for workers, local communities and tourists interacting with the tourism industry. This guidance seeks to support business to navigate these challenges in a responsible and sustainable manner by assisting them to understand the key human rights challenges in the tourism industry and how to respond appropriately.

Green technology as driving force for local agriculture

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“The smoke is clear and the factory is clean. Most importantly, the material for fuel comes from agricultural and forestry by-products. These are cheap and readily available.

Tran Nam Cooperative

Mr. Quy

oxfarm

Đọc tiếng Việt tại đây.

We visited Mr. Dinh Quy’s tea factory on a sweltering day in June. Surrounded by the scent of freshly-brewed tea, Quy wiped the sweat off his brow as he put compressed sawdust into the biomass gasification stove. “Our cooperative used to use firewood to process tea. The burning fire and the high temperature, together with a lot of smoke and dust, made it debilitating for workers.”

Tran Nam Clean Tea Cooperative (Dai Tu district, Thai Nguyen province) has been operating since 2019 with an annual revenue of around three billion VND from processing and selling clean tea. The owner, Mr. Quy, is always nervous about rising fuel prices. “Firewood is cheap, but it needs to be refilled every 10 minutes. The clouds of smoke from burning firewood imbue the tea and deprive workers of breathable air. Gas and electricity are cleaner, but they cost more. Therefore, we can only afford them for certain stages, such as drying and flavouring tea.”

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ILO: Chỉ 6% lao động giúp việc gia đình được hưởng an sinh xã hội toàn diện

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ILO – Lao động giúp việc gia đình đóng góp quan trọng cho xã hội, cung cấp dịch vụ chăm sóc thiết yếu cho gia đình và hộ gia đình, nhưng họ vẫn chưa được đánh giá đúng mức.

Ngày 16 tháng 6 năm 2022

© Kate Holt / Solidarity Center

GENEVA ‒ Theo một báo cáo mới của Tổ chức Lao động Quốc tế (ILO), chỉ có 6% lao động giúp việc gia đình trên toàn thế giới được tiếp cận an sinh xã hội toàn diện.

Điều này đồng nghĩa với việc hơn 94% trong số họ không được tiếp cận đầy đủ các cơ chế bảo vệ, bao gồm chế độ liên quan đến chăm sóc y tế, ốm đau, thất nghiệp, tuổi già, tai nạn nghề nghiệp, gia đình, thai sản, thương tật và tử tuất.

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Europe turns on China

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Bethany Allen-Ebrahimian
Illustration of the EU stars arranged as a no sign over a map of China.

Illustration: Lindsey Bailey/Axios

Illustration of the EU stars arranged as a no sign over a map of China.
Illustration: Lindsey Bailey/Axios

Once skeptical of America’s increasingly hostile stance toward China, the EU and its member states are adopting a cascade of new measures that bring their policies closer in line with those of the United States.

Why it matters: Beijing’s push for Europe to adopt “strategic autonomy” from the United States — in the hope the EU would maintain warmer ties with China — now looks like a moot point.

What’s happening: Last week, the European Commission unveiled a proposed ban on products made with forced labor, after intense pressure from lawmakers and human rights activists concerned about forced labor in Xinjiang.

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