Day: February 17, 2022

A Chinese anti-submarine helicopter was spotted inside Taiwan’s air defense identification zone (ADIZ) for the first time this week, the island’s Ministry of National Defense said.

The ministry said in its regular briefing note that a KA-28 ASW helicopter was seen flying within the southwestern sector of the ADIZ on Wednesday but didn’t provide details of the flight path.

On the same day, an Y-8 electric intelligence aircraft (Y-8 ELINT) and an Y-8 long-range electronic warfare aircraft (Y-8 EW) were also spotted entering Taiwan’s ADIZ.

An ADIZ is an area where civilian aircraft are tracked and identified before further entering into a country’s airspace.

The sorties took place just a few days after the United States announced its new Indo-Pacific strategy, in which it outlined “maintaining peace and stability across the Taiwan Strait” as one of the priorities.

U.S. Assistant Secretary of State for the Bureau of East Asian and Pacific Affairs Daniel Kritenbrink reiterated in a telephone press conference to discuss the new strategy on Thursday that the “U.S. support for Taiwan is rock solid.”

“We will continue to assist Taiwan in maintaining credible self-defense,” he said.

Earlier this month, the U.S. approved a possible $100 million sale of equipment and services to Taiwan to “sustain, maintain, and improve” its Patriot missile defense system, provoking an angry reaction from Beijing.

The Chinese Foreign Ministry quickly condemned the deal, saying it “seriously violates the one-China principle” and “damages China’s sovereignty and security interests.”

China maintains that Taiwan is a Chinese province and pledges to “reunite” it with the mainland, by force if needed.

‘Insufficient response’

Since the beginning of the year, the Taiwanese Ministry of National Defense has reported a total of 173 Chinese military planes entering the island’s ADIZ.

The Global Times – the hawkish sibling of Chinese Communist Party’s mouth-piece People’s Daily – claimed in an editorial last month that “it has become normal for PLA warplanes to fly around Taiwan and approach the island for patrols.” PLA stands for China’s People’s Liberation Army.

The Taiwanese defense ministry has confirmed that on Feb. 5 a Chinese civilian aircraft flew closely to Dongyin island, a strategic location on Taiwan’s defense map.

The ministry’s spokesperson, Shih Shun-wen, told reporters the flyby was likely “to test the response of our military.”

Dongyin is part of the Matsu archipelago, 50 kilometers (30 miles) east of China’s Fujian province. The Matsu islands have been under Taiwan’s control since the end of the Chinese Civil War in 1949.

It is “Taiwan’s northernmost point and a strategic base … Dongyin is solid granite, full of tunnels and bunkers packed with long range missiles,” Ian Easton, Senior director at the Project 2049 Institute, a U.S. think-tank, described the island on his Twitter page.

The Air Force Chief of Staff Huang Chih-wei was quoted in Taiwanese media as saying that the aircraft was a civilian Y-12 light twin-engine plane, which came near Dongyin, but did not enter Taiwanese airspace.

Project 2049’s Easton said the flyby was “classic political warfare.”

“Chinese authorities sent a civilian aircraft over one of the most dangerous and heavily fortified islands on the planet,” Easton wrote.

“If Taiwan shoots, it provokes an armed response. If Taiwan shows restraint (which it did), it looks and feels weak.”

Shen Ming-Shih, a Taiwanese military expert, said that although the Taiwanese air force quickly learned about the aircraft’s flight trajectory, “it was insufficient in response.”

Shen, acting deputy chief executive officer at Taiwan’s Institute for National Defense and Security Research, a government think-tank, said it was “China’s testing the outlying islands in the northwest of Taiwan” in order to gather intelligence and information for future attacks on the island.

“Taiwan must take it seriously and take military precautions,” he said.

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After campaigning vigorously for reform of the Thai monarchy, activist Chonthicha “Lookkate” Jangrew is now setting her sights on entering politics and becoming an MP.

Introduced last Saturday as an opposition Move Forward Party candidate for the next general election, Chonthicha vowed to continue her push for monarchy reform in Parliament if elected.

Chonthicha, 27, was quoted in the Thai media that if voted in, she would seek cuts in the budget for the monarchy and changes to Article 112 of the Penal Code covering lèse-majesté.

For her, reform of the monarchy is a middle ground uniting both political sides — royalists on one and reformists on the other.

“I sincerely believe that our country has people who love and have faith in the monarchy but also people who no longer love [the monarchy]. It’s not wrong to not love someone, but you also can’t tell people to stop loving someone,” she was quoted as saying.

Activist turned would-be politician

On February 12, Move Forward unveiled Chonthicha as its candidate for Constituency 3 in Pathum Thani, along with five other candidates the party will field in the province at the next national vote. The others include an activist, a businessman, a former journalist, and a lawyer.

Move Forward leader Pita Limjaroenrat said Chonthicha was selected because of her strong will, work experience and reputation as a “fighter for democracy” — both domestically and overseas.

“She is ready to prove herself in switching from an activist to a representative [of the people],” Pita said.

He pointed out that Chonthicha was following in the footsteps of fellow former activist Rangsiman Rome, now an MP and the party’s deputy secretary-general.

Some observers view that Rangsiman’s success demonstrates Move Forward’s strategy to turn pro-democracy activists into MPs to achieve a peaceful political transition.

Rangsiman and Chonthicha worked together at the Democracy Restoration Group (DRG) formed to campaign against junta rule and demand early elections after the 2014 military coup led by then-Army Chief Gen Prayut Chan-o-cha.

Chonthicha took over the DRG helm from Rangsiman after he entered politics by joining Move Forward’s predecessor, the now-defunct Future Forward Party, to contest the March 2019 general election.

Facing multiple charges

In June 2015, a little over a year after the coup, Chonthicha joined a protest against military rule. She was arrested and charged with sedition along with 13 male protesters, before being held in detention on remand for 12 days.

After being released she joined other protests, which drew many more charges against her, including insulting the monarchy under Article 112.

Meanwhile, royalists alleged she had been “bought off” by the US government to undermine her motherland.

In 2020 and 2021, Chonthicha also took part in student-led protests organized by the Free Youth, Ratsadon and other groups. She often took the role of “chief of staff” of the young protesters, even negotiating with anti-riot police.

Chonthicha was an environmental activist until the military coup in 2014.

Potential legal obstacle

Observers say that legal cases stemming from her political activism could prove an obstacle to her entry into politics. The Constitution prohibits anyone found guilty of a criminal offense from contesting in an election.

However, Chonthicha and Pita have voiced confidence that court trouble would pose no problem for her. The Move Forward leader said the party would take care of the legal issues.

Chonthicha told reporters that all cases against her remain under trial, and she has not been convicted. “I am sure I will not be disqualified from contesting the [next general] election,” she said.

Told to change surname

Chonthicha comes from a military family and recalls growing up in a culture of authoritarianism.

She said senior family members who were upset by her activism pressured her parents to get her to change her surname. The relatives in question argued that her political moves — protesting against the junta and also Gen Prayut’s post-election government — affected their status as a businessman and a senior military officer.

However, she opted to keep her original family name after receiving moral support from other relatives.

Source: Thai Public Broadcasting Service

YANGON, MYANMAR — Ethnic armies in Myanmar opposed to the country’s post-coup junta, and anti-junta resistance groups say they plan to increase military operations and guerrilla warfare in cities, despite difficulties in obtaining and weapons and ammunition, although some are coming in from neighboring Thailand.

Even before last February’s coup, Myanmar’s military was fighting the ethnic armies in the states of Kayin and Kachin in the east, bordering Thailand and China; in Rakhine state, on the Indian Ocean; and in the northern part of Shan state, bordering China. Now, junta forces have also been fighting resistance forces in Sagaing and Magway regions and Chin state in the northwestern part of the country, and in Kayah state, bordering Thailand.

Young people who have taken up arms in the face of a brutal military crackdown on anti-coup activities initially received military training from the ethnic armed groups, which had decades of experience fighting government forces, including those of the country’s previous junta. Now, many of these new resistance fighters have joined forces with ethnic armies, launching attacks on military outposts, police stations and administrative offices.

“At first we fought with handmade rifles, but now we can fight with real guns,” said Aung Thu, 26, serving with opposition forces in an area controlled by the Karen National Union, the country’s oldest ethnic organization. He spoke to VOA by phone February 4.

Meanwhile, KNU spokesman Padoh Saw Taw Nee indicated a change in his organization’s strategy.

“We have been fighting on the defensive for a long time. Now it is time to fight on the offensive to overthrow military dictators,” he told VOA February 4 by phone.

The KNU has not previously attacked military bases, but fought back against military attacks in KNU territory, Padoh Saw Taw Nee said. Now, he said, the KNU is planning to attack military bases in cooperation with the opposition’s People’s Defense Forces.

The other armed groups are attacking military outposts and infrastructure and ambushing military convoys.

The Chin National Front, another ethnic army, plans to launch more offensives against the military in coordination with the Chinland Joint Defense Committee – a coalition of People’s Defense Forces, which are under the control of the opposition National Unity Government, and locally based forces active in Chin and Sagaing.

The Karenni Nationalities Defense Force, another armed group, said on Facebook February 1 that Karenni People’s Defense Forces “have controlled almost all of the access roads into and out of state” so junta forces must deliver weapons and supplies by air.

“Although there are many PDFs and LDFs (local defense forces) across the Karenni state, all the groups unite under the command of the Karenni Army to launch military offensives,” said U Aung San Myint, a deputy secretary of Karenni National Progressive Party. He was referring to a Karenni armed group and to Kayah state, formerly known as Karenni state.

Similarly, the Kachin Independence Army, a powerful armed group in northern Myanmar, has joined forces with local defense forces and has been attacking military outposts and infrastructure in Kachin state since late January. On February 1, the force seized a junta military base, but fighting is still going on there as the junta has been trying to take the base back.

“I do not think there will be peace in the near future because the military keeps launching heavy offensives including air strikes in ethnic areas,” the Kachin Independence Organization spokesperson, Colonel Naw Bu, told VOA.

Urban guerrilla unit leaders say they mounted fewer operations after the November arrest of Phyo Zeyar Thaw, a former lawmaker from jailed opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi’s National League for Democracy party, who has been accused of masterminding deadly attacks on regime targets in Yangon. However, urban guerilla forces conducted 24 explosive attacks on junta infrastructure and its affiliated property in 11 townships in the Yangon region on the February 1 coup anniversary.

Weapons, ammunition

“We could do nothing without enough weapons and ammunition,” said Soe Lin Naing, 20, a member of a Yangon guerrilla unit. Many groups are now working under the control of the NUG’s defense ministry, but they receive little in the way of arms and ammunition, and about 80% of that is funded by public donations from the Myanmar community inside the country and abroad.

People’s Defense Forces units fighting in conflict areas face an arms shortage. Members of a PDF unit in a district controlled by the Karen National Union said the imbalance of power in the conflict has become a barrier to defeating junta forces.

“Arms supplied by [the opposition National Unity Government] are very limited. Mostly we rely on individual donors having weapons,” said a PDF fighter who asked not to be named. Some of the weapons reportedly come from the black market in Mae Sot, Thailand, on the border.

“We have enough courage and manpower to kill junta forces, but we don’t have arms. Many comrades have died because of imbalance of power,” a member of a PDF unit in Sagaing told VOA.

The People’s Soldiers Production Team, an NUG entity made up of soldiers who have defected, said February 10 that it could produce weapons and begin equipping PDF/LDF groups. It did not specify the type of weapon. It has said people can donate and have their name engraved on the gun for around $100 per gun.

Speaking to media outlet Myanmar Now January 30, Naing Htoo Aung, secretary of the NUG’s defense ministry, said at least $2 million is needed to arm each PDF chapter and cited difficulties in buying arms and transporting them to targeted areas. He said, though, that the NUG will be providing more weapons to PDF forces soon.

Source: Voice of America

Move Forward MP Padipat Suntiphada accused the government today (Thursday) of covering up the spread of African Swine Fever (ASF) since October 2019, as there was an official letter issued, which was acknowledged by Prime Minister Prayut Chan-o-cha, Commerce Minister Jurin Laksanawisit and Agriculture Minister Chalermchai Srion, ordering the setup of an ad hoc committee to try to contain the contagious pig disease.

Speaking in Parliament on the first day of the two-day general parliamentary debate, Padipat claimed that ASF was first detected in 2019 and spread until last year, during which time about 300,000 pigs died, either from the disease or through culling to prevent the disease from spreading. About one billion baht in compensation has been paid by the government to affected pig farmers.

As a direct result of the cover-up of the spread of ASF in 2020, Padipat said that the disease had spread across almost the entire country, forcing many small pig farmers to sell off their animals at fire-sale prices to middlemen who pushed the prices of live pigs down to 300-500 baht each, instead of having the animals culled.

The Move Forward MP said that the government’s cover-up and persistent claims that pigs died from porcine reproductive and respiratory syndrome (PRRS), not ASF, prompted a network of deans from several veterinary faculties to conduct their own tests, which confirmed that the animals died of ASF.

He added that he, accompanied by veterinarians, went to Nakhon Pathom province last December to exhume a few pig carcasses for tests and found ASF disease in the remains.

“We did not just find stinking decomposed pig remains, but also the foul smell of the rotten Department of Livestock Development Department. After three years of infections, they still have the nerve to say that there is no ASF in Thailand,” said Padipat.

He claimed that the Cambodian authorities found ASF in pig blood being sent from Thailand since September 29th last year and yet the government has denied the existence of the contagious disease.

Regarding the surge in pork prices, Padipat said they started to climb last October, from about 125 baht/kg to between 190-220 baht/kg in January which, he noted, was contradictory to the global trend in the prices of pork.

Pork prices continued to rise until January 11th, when they started to stabilise and decline when the government, for the first time, admitted to ASF infections in Thailand.

In the meantime, he said, the government ordered a check on frozen pork meat in cold storage facilities throughout the country, in a bid to bring pork prices down.

He called this exercise by the government just a “charade” to deceive the Thai people, who have been kept in the dark for years about the ASF infections, adding that the cover-up was intended to protect the interests of a handful of people who were aware of the contagious disease and took advantage of the situation to make lucrative profits, while the public in general and the small pig farmers were suffering.

As a long-term solution, the opposition MP said the government should provide funding for small and medium-sized pig farmers, to bring their farms up to standard, and set a pig production quota system, to be applied to big, medium and small-sized pig farmers.

He also said that the government should invest in research into and development of animal vaccines, to reduce Thailand’s dependence on imported vaccines and the oligopoly of vaccines by pharmaceutical manufacturers.

Source: Thai Public Broadcasting Service