State media in army-ruled Myanmar yesterday hailed the visit by a US senator as a success and said it allowed the authorities to show their friendliness and respect for human rights.
A commentary carried by three official newspapers said US Democrat Senator Jim Webb’s three-day visit, the first by a senior US figure in more than a decade, demonstrated Myanmar’s openness towards international engagement.
“The visit of Mr Jim Webb is a success for both sides as well as the first step to the promotion of relations between the two countries,” the commentary said. “The Myanmar government was able to show a positive and friendly attitude in the area of international relations. It has also been able to show its respect of humanitarianism and human rights.”
Webb met at the weekend with junta supremo Than Shwe and opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi, who was sent back to her lakeside home on Aug. 11 to serve another 18 months’ house arrest for violating an internal security law.
He called, unsuccessfully, for the Nobel peace laureate to be freed during talks that secured the release of US citizen John Yettaw, who was jailed on charges stemming from a swim to her home, which led to her latest trial.
The US is reviewing its policy towards Myanmar, and has extended a ban on US investment and imports from the country.
In Bangkok on Monday, Webb said he had urged the generals to allow Aung San Suu Kyi to take part in Myanmar’s political reform process and to ensure next year’s elections — the first in two decades — were free, fair and inclusive.
“I was very frank with [Than Shwe] in terms of my views,” said Webb, chairman of a Senate subcommittee on East Asia and the Pacific. “The best thing on those issues is to see how the government responds.”
Nearly half of China’s major cities are suffering “moderate to severe” levels of subsidence, putting millions of people at risk of flooding, especially as sea levels rise, according to a study of nationwide satellite data released yesterday. The authors of the paper, published by the journal Science, found that 45 percent of China’s urban land was sinking faster than 3mm per year, with 16 percent at more than 10mm per year, driven not only by declining water tables, but also the sheer weight of the built environment. With China’s urban population already in excess of 900 million people, “even a small portion
UNSETTLING IMAGES: The scene took place in front of TV crews covering the Trump trial, with a CNN anchor calling it an ‘emotional and unbelievably disturbing moment’ A man who doused himself in an accelerant and set himself on fire outside the courthouse where former US president Donald Trump is on trial has died, police said yesterday. The New York City Police Department (NYPD) said the man was declared dead by staff at an area hospital. The man was in Collect Pond Park at about 1:30pm on Friday when he took out pamphlets espousing conspiracy theories, tossed them around, then doused himself in an accelerant and set himself on fire, officials and witnesses said. A large number of police officers were nearby when it happened. Some officers and bystanders rushed
Beijing is continuing to commit genocide and crimes against humanity against Uyghurs and other Muslim minorities in its western Xinjiang province, U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken said in a report published on Monday, ahead of his planned visit to China this week. The State Department’s annual human rights report, which documents abuses recorded all over the world during the previous calendar year, repeated language from previous years on the treatment of Muslims in Xinjiang, but the publication raises the issue ahead of delicate talks, including on the war in Ukraine and global trade, between the top U.S. diplomat and Chinese
HYPOCRISY? The Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs yesterday asked whether Biden was talking about China or the US when he used the word ‘xenophobic’ US President Joe Biden on Wednesday called for a hike in steel tariffs on China, accusing Beijing of cheating as he spoke at a campaign event in Pennsylvania. Biden accused China of xenophobia, too, in a speech to union members in Pittsburgh. “They’re not competing, they’re cheating. They’re cheating and we’ve seen the damage here in America,” Biden said. Chinese steel companies “don’t need to worry about making a profit because the Chinese government is subsidizing them so heavily,” he said. Biden said he had called for the US Trade Representative to triple the tariff rates for Chinese steel and aluminum if Beijing was