China's Xi hails 'new era' of ties with Central Asia at summit

MSN – AFP, 18 May 2023 

Map showing Central Asia countries. China's President Xi Jinping will host a two-day
summit with the leaders of five Central Asian leaders in Xi'an starting May 18. Laurence CHU

Chinese President Xi Jinping hailed a "new era" of ties with Central Asia on Thursday, kicking off a summit Beijing hopes will deepen relations with the strategically vital region. 

Held in the ancient Chinese city of Xi'an, the historic eastern end of the Silk Road that linked China to Europe through Central Asia, Beijing has said this week's meeting is of "milestone significance".

Chinese President Xi Jinping is hosting a summit with the leaders of five Central
Asian states as he seeks to build China's influence in the region. FLORENCE LO

And in a speech to the region's leaders at a welcoming banquet Thursday evening, Xi said strengthening ties was a "strategic choice". 

"I am confident that with our joint efforts, tomorrow's summit will be a full success and will herald a new era of China-Central Asia relations," Xi was quoted as saying in a readout of the speech seen by AFP. 

The leaders of five Central Asian states arrive for the welcoming ceremony of
a summit being hosted by Chinese President Xi Jinping. © FLORENCE LO

"Join us in opening up a bright future of China-Central Asia cooperation," he said. 

This week's meeting is the first of its kind since the establishment of formal relations 31 years ago. 

Beijing says trade with Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan reached $70 billion in 2022 and expanded 22 percent year-on-year in the first quarter of 2023. 

Central Asia has also become key to China's trillion-dollar Belt and Road Initiative, a defining geopolitical project for Xi, with Beijing keen to restart cooperation and fill the vacuum left in former Soviet states by Russia's war in Ukraine.

China, the world's second-largest energy consumer, has invested billions of dollars to tap natural gas reserves in Central Asia, while rail links connecting China to Europe criss-cross the region. 

Analysts told AFP this week's summit is likely to see efforts to reach agreements to further expand that vast network, including a long-stalled $6 billion China-Kyrgyzstan-Uzbekistan railway and an expansion of the Central Asia-to-China gas pipeline. 

'Global economic leadership' 

Kazakhstan President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev hailed the "unique scope" of that project at a meeting with Xi ahead of the summit. 

Xi also told Kyrgyz President Sadyr Japarov in talks on Thursday that China was "willing to work with Kyrgyzstan to build a community of good neighborliness, friendship, shared prosperity, and a shared future". 

He then met with the leaders of Uzbekistan, Tajikistan and Turkmenistan, lauding the close ties between them and pledging to expand economic and cultural exchanges. 

"Your policies will ensure the development and further prosperity of a modern socialist state, the strengthening of the authority and the global economic leadership of the country in the nearest future," Uzbekistan President Shavkat Mirziyoyev told Xi. 

Xi and Chinese first lady Peng Liyuan greeted the heads of state at a grand welcoming ceremony in the evening, posing for a group photo in front of an old-style Chinese building lit by red lanterns. 

Dozens of dancers then performed a musical show inspired by the Tang Dynasty, when relations between China and Central Asia were considered very strong. 

A media event will be held on Friday morning, expected to be attended by all six presidents, at which a joint statement is likely to be released. 

Growing influence 

This week's summit also comes as Beijing works to replace Russia as Central Asian nations' preferred partner -- and as Xi positions himself as a global statesman keen to expand China's reach far beyond its borders. 

"Xi will position himself as a leader that can promote global development and peace," Zhiqun Zhu, a Professor of International Relations and Political Science at Bucknell University, told AFP. 

The summit also coincides with a meeting of the G7 in Hiroshima that will likely focus on efforts to "push back China's growing influence around the world", Zhu said. 

"The diplomatic and strategic significance cannot be underestimated," he said.

ASEAN leaders say 'deeply concerned' about Myanmar violence

Yahoo – AFP, Martin Abbugao and Allison Jackson, May 10, 2023 

The turmoil in junta-ruled Myanmar has dominated talks at the ASEAN
summit in Indonesia

Southeast Asian nations said Wednesday they are "deeply concerned" about the violence ravaging Myanmar, and condemned a recent attack on a convoy of diplomats delivering humanitarian aid in the country. 

Turmoil in junta-ruled Myanmar has dominated talks at this week's Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) summit in Indonesia, as the regional bloc faces criticism for its perceived inaction. 

ASEAN has led diplomatic attempts to resolve the festering crisis, but its efforts so far have failed to stem the bloodshed unleashed by a military coup in 2021. 

"We were deeply concerned with ongoing violence in Myanmar and urged the immediate cessation of all forms of violence and the use of force to create a conducive environment for the safe and timely delivery of humanitarian assistance and inclusive national dialogues," ASEAN leaders said in a statement. 

The junta has ignored international criticism and refused to engage with its opponents, which include ousted lawmakers, anti-coup "People's Defence Forces" and armed ethnic minority groups. 

An air strike on a village in a rebel stronghold last month that reportedly killed about 170 people sparked global condemnation and worsened the junta's isolation. 

Pressure on the regional bloc increased Sunday after a convoy of vehicles carrying diplomats and officials coordinating ASEAN humanitarian relief in Myanmar came under fire. 

Singapore and Indonesia said earlier that staff from their embassies in Myanmar were in the vehicles that came under fire in eastern Shan State but were unharmed. 

"We condemned the attack and underlined that the perpetrators must be held accountable," ASEAN leaders said in their statement. 

Addressing the summit Wednesday, Indonesian President Joko Widodo said he was "confident" the 10-member bloc could deal with growing global challenges if its members were united. 

"With unity, ASEAN will be able to play a central role in bringing peace and growth," Widodo said through a translator as he opened the leaders' session of the summit. 

Low expectations 

Foreign ministers and national leaders meeting on the Indonesian island of Flores are trying to kickstart a five-point plan agreed upon with Myanmar two years ago after mediation attempts to end the violence failed. 

Myanmar remains an ASEAN member but has been barred from top-level summits due to the junta's failure to implement the peace plan. 

Diplomatic sources told AFP that the foreign ministers of some countries, which they did not name, had suggested eventually inviting back the junta, citing "Myanmar fatigue". 

Jakarta's chairmanship of the bloc this year had raised hopes ASEAN could push for a peaceful solution, using its economic weight as well as its diplomatic experience. 

Indonesian Foreign Minister Retno Marsudi said Friday that her country was using "quiet diplomacy" to speak with all sides of the Myanmar conflict and spur renewed peace efforts. 

But Indonesia was running out of time to achieve a breakthrough, said Lina Alexandra, an analyst at the Centre for Strategic and International Studies in Jakarta. 

After the next leaders' summit in September, Alexandra added, Indonesia will hand the bloc's influential chairmanship to communist-ruled Laos, which could bring Myanmar back "into the fold" and allow the junta to attend ASEAN summits. 

"It is time for Indonesia to show that it can do what it should do," she said. 

ASEAN's charter principles of consensus and non-interference have hamstrung its ability to stop the violence in Myanmar, which critics say poses an existential threat to the bloc. 

Divisions among its members over Myanmar and other issues, including China's growing assertiveness in the disputed South China Sea, have undermined the bloc. 

On Wednesday, diplomats were fine-tuning an implementation plan for the peace process that would be announced by their leaders on Thursday. 

The latest draft of the end-of-summit statement seen by AFP has left the paragraph on Myanmar open, reflecting diplomatic difficulties over the issue. 

Expectations for progress were low. 

"I don't think that there's going to be very much there that will surprise people," said Aaron Connelly, an analyst for International Institute for Strategic Studies in Singapore.

High-level defection: why N. Korean diplomatic family chose freedom

Yahoo – AFP, Kim Il-sung, March 1, 2023 

Born into an elite North Korean family with ties to the ruling dynasty, Oh Hye Son grew up believing she was "special" -- but then she tasted freedom overseas and decided to defect. 

Most of the tens of thousands of North Koreans who have escaped repression and poverty at home make an arduous, high-risk journey across the country's land border with China, where they face arrest and possible deportation. 

Oh's family's defection was less dangerous but equally as wrenching: she convinced her husband Thae Yong Ho, then deputy ambassador at North Korea's London embassy, to give up their privileged place in the Pyongyang regime for the sake of their children. 

"I wanted to never return to North Korea and questioned why North Koreans had to live such a hard life," she told AFP in an interview in Seoul, where she now lives. 

Years of postings across Europe -- in Denmark, Sweden, and Britain -- exposed the family to a different life, she said, adding that when she first arrived in London she thought: "If there is paradise, this must be it". 

Oh, who recently published a Korean-language memoir, was once part of Pyongyang aristocracy -- a descendent of a famed North Korean general who fought alongside leader Kim Il Sung against the Japanese in the 1930s. 

But despite this impeccable pedigree, she still "lived in fear of power", she said. 

"No one except the Kim family had privileges, and as my children learned about freedom and democracy when they lived abroad, I realised there was no future for them in North Korea," she added. 

NHS love 

Oh's eldest son Thae Juhyok had chronic health problems including nephrotic syndrome, a condition which can cause life-threatening kidney problems if not treated. 

Getting that treatment was near impossible in Pyongyang's crumbling health system -- one of the world's worst -- where doctors had to be bribed to do anything and crucial medicines were lacking. 

Oh said it was eye-opening when the family first arrived in London in 2004 and became eligible for the National Health Service. 

Her son was soon able to get free treatment at one of the best medical facilities in the city, she said, adding that her children also went to British schools, where they settled in well. 

"The children grew up so bright in England, in a society that respected them," she said. 

It was a stark contrast to life in Pyongyang, to which they returned in 2008 after her husband's first London posting ended. 

Juhyok attended the Pyongyang Medical University, but instead of studying he was put to work on a construction site hauling cement, Oh said. 

North Korea is beset by labour shortages across economic sectors and it is common for the government to order students, even schoolchildren, to do manual labour as a demonstration of loyalty. 

If one fails to comply, the government reportedly withholds food rations or imposes taxes, according to a 2022 Trafficking in Persons Report published by the US State Department. 

As her overseas-raised children began questioning the corruption and injustice they observed in North Korea, Oh realised it would be impossible for them to fully integrate into Pyongyang society. 

"They had completely different values," she said. 

"It was then that I began thinking that if I ever had a chance to go overseas again, I will not return." 

Escape 

Oh's chance came when her husband was again posted to London as the deputy ambassador, and she convinced him to defect as she did not want to be "resented by her children in the future". 

She had hoped the North Korean regime would collapse after the death of Kim Jong Il, the father and predecessor of current leader Kim Jong Un, and was crushed when his son emerged as the third generation of Kims to rule. 

"In North Korea, you existed -- from morning to night -- for the sake of the Kim family," Oh said. 

Thae became the first defector to be elected to South Korea's parliament, where he is now a high-profile lawmaker for the conservative People Power Party. 

Oh loves her new life in Seoul, but is haunted by thoughts of her mother and siblings left behind in North Korea, which is known to punish defectors' family members. 

She can't check in with them: civilian contact is banned between the two Koreas, although some defectors have used intermediaries to smuggle Chinese mobile phones across the border. 

Oh has not managed to contact her family, but she once glimpsed her brother-in-law when he was part of an official North Korean delegation that visited Seoul in 2018 during a rare bout of diplomacy. 

It gave her hope that her relatives had not been purged by the Kim regime as a result of her family's escape. 

"Will they resent me? Will they envy me? Or will they silently cheer for me?" she said, wiping away tears.