Myanmar’s junta is endangering the life of jailed democracy figurehead Aung San Suu Kyi, her political party said yesterday, accusing the military of depriving her of medical care and food.
Aung San Suu Kyi has been detained since the generals seized power in February 2021, ending a 10-year democratic experiment and plunging the Southeast Asian country into turmoil.
In the past few days, local media have reported that the Nobel laureate, 78, was having dizzy spells, vomiting and unable to eat because of a tooth infection.
Photo: AFP / MYANMAR’S MINISTRY OF INFORMATION
“We are particularly concerned that she is not receiving adequate medical care and they are not providing healthy food nor accommodation sufficiently with the intention to risk her life,” the National League for Democracy said.
“If Daw Aung San Suu Kyi’s health is not only impaired, but her life also is endangered, the military junta is solely responsible,” the statement said, using a Burmese honorific.
During her 19-month trial in a junta court, Aung San Suu Kyi regularly missed hearings on health grounds.
That trial ended last year, with Aung San Suu Kyi jailed for 33 years, a term later partially reduced by junta chief Min Aung Hlaing.
Aung San Suu Kyi’s UK-based son last week told the BBC that the junta was denying treatment to his mother for dizziness and a gum disease, although he is not in direct contact with her.
A junta spokesman told reporters last week that reports of Aung San Suu Kyi’s ill health were “rumors.”
“She’s not suffering from anything as her medical doctors are taking care of her health,” Zaw Min Tun said.
Aung San Suu Kyi was being held as a “hostage ... in secret places,” her party said.
Taiwan’s exports soared to an all-time high of US$61.8 billion last month, surging 49.7 percent from a year earlier, as the global frenzy for artificial intelligence (AI) applications and new consumer electronics powered shipments of high-tech goods, the Ministry of Finance said yesterday. It was the first time exports had exceeded the US$60 billion mark, fueled by the global boom in AI development that has significantly boosted Taiwanese companies across the international supply chain, Department of Statistics Director-General Beatrice Tsai (蔡美娜) told a media briefing. “There is a consensus among major AI players that the upcycle is still in its early stage,”
The Central Weather Administration (CWA) yesterday said it expected to issue a sea warning for Typhoon Fung-Wong tomorrow, which it said would possibly make landfall near central Taiwan. As of 2am yesterday, Fung-Wong was about 1,760km southeast of Oluanpi (鵝鑾鼻), Taiwan’s southernmost point, moving west-northwest at 26kph. It is forecast to reach Luzon in the northern Philippines by tomorrow, the CWA said. After entering the South China Sea, Typhoon Fung-Wong is likely to turn northward toward Taiwan, CWA forecaster Chang Chun-yao (張峻堯) said, adding that it would likely make landfall near central Taiwan. The CWA expects to issue a land
‘SECRETS’: While saying China would not attack during his presidency, Donald Trump declined to say how Washington would respond if Beijing were to take military action US President Donald Trump said that China would not take military action against Taiwan while he is president, as the Chinese leaders “know the consequences.” Trump made the statement during an interview on CBS’ 60 Minutes program that aired on Sunday, a few days after his meeting with Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) in South Korea. “He [Xi] has openly said, and his people have openly said at meetings, ‘we would never do anything while President Trump is president,’ because they know the consequences,” Trump said in the interview. However, he repeatedly declined to say exactly how Washington would respond in
Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi said yesterday that China using armed force against Taiwan could constitute a "survival-threatening situation" for Japan, allowing the country to mobilize the Japanese armed forces under its security laws. Takaichi made the remarks during a parliamentary session yesterday while responding to a question about whether a "Taiwan contingency" involving a Chinese naval blockade would qualify as a "survival-threatening situation" for Japan, according to a report by Japan’s Asahi Shimbun. "If warships are used and other armed actions are involved, I believe this could constitute a survival- threatening