asiapacificresearch--2020-12-11--Red-tagging in the Philippines Has Gone to a Terrifyingly Alarming Level

Red-tagging in the Philippines is getting to be quite fearfully alarming .
The new wave all started some couple of months ago when certain showbiz celebrities were warned by the Armed Forces of the Philippines ( AFP ) Chief of Staff himself to refrain from being too critical of the government .
Along with this warning was the insinuation that they were in one way or another more or less closely associated with the local communist movement and could even therefore be supportive of the activities and operations of the local communist armed group called the New People ’ s @ @ @ @ @ @ @ all blatant surmises coming from a paranoid government whose massive mismanagement of national affairs is epic due to its unparalleled corruption .
People have become extremely dissatisfied and the more courageous ones of the thinking segment have been openly voicing out their legitimate concerns .
The government doesn ’ t like it and the simplest tactical alternative at the most immediate time is to hastily accuse them without any solid evidence of being communists : simply put , red-tagging .
And red-tagging Philippine version follows a unique equation that goes like this : @ @ @ @ @ @ @ logic , the shortened equation is : At this very point in time , the Philippine government has stepped up the red-tagging operation by arresting protesting activists while staging street demonstrations and rallies .
There are also those falsely tagged as “ communist-terrorists ” and were already arrested .
Within a group of trade union organizers , a journalist was arrested during the International Human Rights Day in the Philippines .
She is a former student of mine , ROMINA ASTUDILLO .
After a police raid during the wee hours of the morning @ @ @ @ @ @ @ she and two of her colleagues are now in the custody of the Philippine National Police ( PNP ) and have been slapped with trumped-up cases in line with the Philippine government ’ s “ Intensified Campaign Against Loose Firearms and Criminal Gangs.
” No evidence , no nothing .
Just out of the blue .
And if the court demands the presentation of evidence , it has been a disgusting practice of both the police and the military to present PLANTED pieces of evidence .
Red-tagging is an old hat .
In @ @ @ @ @ @ @ ’ 50s when it was viciously implemented through the diabolical initiative of US Senator Joseph McCarthy and it was the reason why that period in modern US history became known as the Era of McCarthyism .
Unabashed accusations sans evidence were issued here and there and those considered to be the most dangerous among the accused were indiscriminately arrested .
It was a time of no-holds-barred desecration of human rights in a nation known to be “ the land of the free and the home of the brave.
” What is happening now @ @ @ @ @ @ @ of human rights desecration as the government desperately tries to muffle the voices of thinking Filipinos in their fearless initiative to express their most critical views against a government that has not been doing its mandated responsibilities for the interest , benefit and welfare of its constituents , the Filipino people .
The Philippines is now suffering from an excruciating experience as it continues to struggle amidst the economically debilitating scourge of the so-called “ Covid-19 pandemic ” and the punitive control of a fascist government out to crush with its diabolical power @ @ @ @ @ @ @ people to create a better social , political and economic milieu for a more sustainable future of the next generations .
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Prof. Ruel F. Pepa is a Filipino philosopher based in Madrid , Spain .
A retired academic ( Associate Professor IV ) , he taught Philosophy and Social Sciences for more than fifteen years at Trinity University of Asia , @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Featured image is from The STAR/Miguel de Guzman , File

Red-tagging in the Philippines is getting to be quite fearfully alarming. The new wave all started some couple of months ago when certain showbiz celebrities were warned by the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) Chief of Staff himself to refrain from being too critical of the government. Along with this warning was the insinuation that they were in one way or another more or less closely associated with the local communist movement and could even therefore be supportive of the activities and operations of the local communist armed group called the New People’s Army (NPA).
These are all blatant surmises coming from a paranoid government whose massive mismanagement of national affairs is epic due to its unparalleled corruption. People have become extremely dissatisfied and the more courageous ones of the thinking segment have been openly voicing out their legitimate concerns. The government doesn’t like it and the simplest tactical alternative at the most immediate time is to hastily accuse them without any solid evidence of being communists: simply put, red-tagging. And red-tagging Philippine version follows a unique equation that goes like this:
“If one is critical of the government, s/he is against the government. If s/he is against the government, s/he must be a communist. If s/he is a communist, s/he must be a supporter of the communist armed rebellion. If s/he is a supporter of the communist armed rebellion, s/he must be a terrorist.”
Using “hypothetical syllogism” in formal logic, the shortened equation is:
“If one is critical of the government, s/he must be a terrorist.”
At this very point in time, the Philippine government has stepped up the red-tagging operation by arresting protesting activists while staging street demonstrations and rallies. There are also those falsely tagged as “communist-terrorists” and were already arrested. Within a group of trade union organizers, a journalist was arrested during the International Human Rights Day in the Philippines. She is a former student of mine, ROMINA ASTUDILLO.
After a police raid during the wee hours of the morning in her home in Quezon City, she and two of her colleagues are now in the custody of the Philippine National Police (PNP) and have been slapped with trumped-up cases in line with the Philippine government’s “Intensified Campaign Against Loose Firearms and Criminal Gangs.” No evidence, no nothing. Just out of the blue. And if the court demands the presentation of evidence, it has been a disgusting practice of both the police and the military to present PLANTED pieces of evidence.
Red-tagging is an old hat. In the US, it was in the ’50s when it was viciously implemented through the diabolical initiative of US Senator Joseph McCarthy and it was the reason why that period in modern US history became known as the Era of McCarthyism. Unabashed accusations sans evidence were issued here and there and those considered to be the most dangerous among the accused were indiscriminately arrested. It was a time of no-holds-barred desecration of human rights in a nation known to be “the land of the free and the home of the brave.”
What is happening now in the Philippines is the same brand of human rights desecration as the government desperately tries to muffle the voices of thinking Filipinos in their fearless initiative to express their most critical views against a government that has not been doing its mandated responsibilities for the interest, benefit and welfare of its constituents, the Filipino people.
The Philippines is now suffering from an excruciating experience as it continues to struggle amidst the economically debilitating scourge of the so-called “Covid-19 pandemic” and the punitive control of a fascist government out to crush with its diabolical power all fearless efforts of its critically thinking people to create a better social, political and economic milieu for a more sustainable future of the next generations.
*
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Prof. Ruel F. Pepa is a Filipino philosopher based in Madrid, Spain. A retired academic (Associate Professor IV), he taught Philosophy and Social Sciences for more than fifteen years at Trinity University of Asia, an Anglican university in the Philippines.
Featured image is from The STAR/Miguel de Guzman, File


asiapacificresearch--2020-12-11--“Five Eyes Spy” Agreement Threatens New Zealand’s Independence and Relationship with China?

Diplomacy is always a tightrope but what happens when your old mates turn on your new friends and demand you line up with them ?
Today , The Detail looks at the stoush over “ the club ” – the Five Eyes security agreement – that ’ s turned ugly , and whether it threatens New Zealand ’ s independence and relationship with China .
Tension between Five Eyes and China has ramped up over the crackdown on Hong Kong .
Last month , the intelligence alliance issued a joint statement criticising Beijing ’ s imposition of new rules to @ @ @ @ @ @ @ China responded with the warning : “ They should be careful or their eyes will be plucked out.
” New Zealand has also got involved with the row between China and Australia over the doctored image of an Australian soldier holding a knife to the throat of an Afghani child .
Robert Ayson , Professor of Strategic Studies at Victoria University , tells Sharon Brettkelly “ quiet diplomacy is over but at the same time every time there ’ s an opportunity to bash China do we really want to be part of @ @ @ @ @ @ @ of Five Eyes and how the “ world is ripe for intelligence playing a broader role ” .
Five Eyes is an intelligence alliance with “ common adversaries , common threats , common risks ” whose origins go back to World War Two and led to an agreement between the US and Britain to exchange information on signals intelligence .
By 1956 Canada , Australia and New Zealand had joined .
Ayson says there are three rings to Five Eyes , the first is the intelligence-sharing , the second is the growth of @ @ @ @ @ @ @ police and law enforcement .
New Zealand Five Eyes ministers regularly attend a meeting of the alliance members with topics ranging from cyber security to co-operation against people smuggling .
The third ring , he says , is the way Five Eyes is being used as a diplomatic community .
“ Because Five Eyes symbolises and connects us back to that original commitment to intelligence co-operation , to thinking about common adversaries , it ’ s easy to see why countries on the other end of Five Eyes statements are going to take @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Ayson describes a level of trust between the Five Eyes members that each of the participants believes the other four will “ safeguard the material that they exchange and that ’ s a very intimate and close relationship going back decades ” .
“ That type of relationship and trust is quite rare in international politics and it ’ s one of the reasons the Five Eyes , the intelligence dimension in particular , remains really quite unique and quite special.
” But he says because Five Eyes symbolises and connects us back @ @ @ @ @ @ @ about common adversaries , it ’ s easy to see why other countries might take umbrage from time to time .
And – “ increasingly we are seeing ( us being ) drawn into this contest between the United States and China.
” “ Probably not enough of us in the broader debates have taken this up and said ‘ Do we really want to do this ?
’ I think it ’ s a quiet , step by step evolution.
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Sharon Brettkelly is the co-host of Newsroom ’ s daily podcast , The Detail .
Featured image : The Government Communications Security Bureau ( GCSB ) ’ s spy base at Waihopai , near Blenheim , after an attack on it .
Photo : RNZ/Supplied taken from Newsroom

Diplomacy is always a tightrope but what happens when your old mates turn on your new friends and demand you line up with them?
Today, The Detail looks at the stoush over “the club” – the Five Eyes security agreement – that’s turned ugly, and whether it threatens New Zealand’s independence and relationship with China.
Tension between Five Eyes and China has ramped up over the crackdown on Hong Kong. Last month, the intelligence alliance issued a joint statement criticising Beijing’s imposition of new rules to disqualify elected legislators in Hong Kong.
China responded with the warning: “They should be careful or their eyes will be plucked out.”
New Zealand has also got involved with the row between China and Australia over the doctored image of an Australian soldier holding a knife to the throat of an Afghani child.
Robert Ayson, Professor of Strategic Studies at Victoria University, tells Sharon Brettkelly “quiet diplomacy is over but at the same time every time there’s an opportunity to bash China do we really want to be part of it?”
Ayson explains the history of Five Eyes and how the “world is ripe for intelligence playing a broader role”.
Five Eyes is an intelligence alliance with “common adversaries, common threats, common risks” whose origins go back to World War Two and led to an agreement between the US and Britain to exchange information on signals intelligence. By 1956 Canada, Australia and New Zealand had joined.
Ayson says there are three rings to Five Eyes, the first is the intelligence-sharing, the second is the growth of wider policy areas such as Customs, police and law enforcement. New Zealand Five Eyes ministers regularly attend a meeting of the alliance members with topics ranging from cyber security to co-operation against people smuggling.
The third ring, he says, is the way Five Eyes is being used as a diplomatic community.
“Because Five Eyes symbolises and connects us back to that original commitment to intelligence co-operation, to thinking about common adversaries, it’s easy to see why countries on the other end of Five Eyes statements are going to take some umbrage from time to time.”
Ayson describes a level of trust between the Five Eyes members that each of the participants believes the other four will “safeguard the material that they exchange and that’s a very intimate and close relationship going back decades”.
“That type of relationship and trust is quite rare in international politics and it’s one of the reasons the Five Eyes, the intelligence dimension in particular, remains really quite unique and quite special.”
But he says because Five Eyes symbolises and connects us back to a commitment where we are thinking about common adversaries, it’s easy to see why other countries might take umbrage from time to time.
And – “increasingly we are seeing (us being) drawn into this contest between the United States and China.”
“Probably not enough of us in the broader debates have taken this up and said ‘Do we really want to do this?’ I think it’s a quiet, step by step evolution.”
*
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Sharon Brettkelly is the co-host of Newsroom’s daily podcast, The Detail.
Featured image: The Government Communications Security Bureau (GCSB)’s spy base at Waihopai, near Blenheim, after an attack on it. Photo: RNZ/Supplied taken from Newsroom


asiapacificresearch--2020-12-11--Video: Thailand: US Openly Backs Anti-Government Mob

US Senators Bob Menendez and Dick Durbin introduced a resolution openly siding with the anti-government and anti-monarchy mobs in Thailand .
I have exposed the US government ’ s funding and backing of these mobs for years – and now the US government has openly sided with them – a possible sign of escalation .
I explain who Menendez and Durbin are – their history of backing US intervention and regime change around the globe – and why Thailand needs to take this threat seriously .
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US Senate Committee on Foreign Relations – Menendez , Durbin , colleagues introduce Senate Resolution in Support of Thailand ’ s Pro-Democracy Movement : https : //www.foreign.senate.gov/press/ranking/release/menendez-durbin-colleagues-introduce-senate-resolution-in-support-of-thailands-pro-democracy-movement US National Endowment for Democracy – Board of Directors : CNN – Bob Menendez becomes second Senate Democrat to oppose Iran deal : https : //edition.cnn.com/2015/08/18/politics/bob-menendez-corker-iran-nuclear-deal/index.html Menendez Statement on New Sanctions Against Maduro Regime : Dick Durbin Senate.gov – Durbin Presses President Trump To Demand Syria And Russia End Horrific Bombing Of Eastern Ghouta : @ @ @

US Senators Bob Menendez and Dick Durbin introduced a resolution openly siding with the anti-government and anti-monarchy mobs in Thailand.
I have exposed the US government’s funding and backing of these mobs for years – and now the US government has openly sided with them – a possible sign of escalation.
I explain who Menendez and Durbin are – their history of backing US intervention and regime change around the globe – and why Thailand needs to take this threat seriously.
*
Note to readers: please click the share buttons above or below. Forward this article to your email lists. Crosspost on your blog site, internet forums. etc.
Sources
US Senate Committee on Foreign Relations – Menendez, Durbin, colleagues introduce Senate Resolution in Support of Thailand’s Pro-Democracy Movement: https://www.foreign.senate.gov/press/ranking/release/menendez-durbin-colleagues-introduce-senate-resolution-in-support-of-thailands-pro-democracy-movement
Senate Resolution (full text):
https://www.foreign.senate.gov/imo/media/doc/DAV20G50%20-%20Thailan.pdf
US National Endowment for Democracy – Thailand:
https://www.ned.org/region/asia/thailand-2019/
US National Endowment for Democracy – Board of Directors:
https://www.ned.org/about/board-of-directors/
Bangkok Post – US ‘does not back protests’:
https://www.bangkokpost.com/thailand/general/1983359/us-does-not-back-protests
Examples: Menendez and Durbin’s Pro-Intervention, Pro-War Statements:
CNN – Bob Menendez becomes second Senate Democrat to oppose Iran deal: https://edition.cnn.com/2015/08/18/politics/bob-menendez-corker-iran-nuclear-deal/index.html
Menendez Statement on New Sanctions Against Maduro Regime:
https://www.menendez.senate.gov/newsroom/press/menendez-statement-on-new-sanctions-against-maduro-regime
Dick Durbin Senate.gov – Durbin Slams Trump Administration Decision To Remove 12,000 Troops From Germany:
https://www.durbin.senate.gov/newsroom/press-releases/durbin-slams-trump-administration-decision-to-remove-12000-troops-from-germany
Menendez Statement on Trump’s Dangerous Troop Withdrawal from Germany
https://www.menendez.senate.gov/newsroom/press/menendez-statement-on-trumps-dangerous-troop-withdrawal-from-germany
Dick Durbin Senate.gov – Durbin Presses President Trump To Demand Syria And Russia End Horrific Bombing Of Eastern Ghouta: https://www.durbin.senate.gov/newsroom/press-releases/durbin-presses-president-trump-to-demand-syria-and-russia-end-horrific-bombing-of-eastern-ghouta


asiapacificresearch--2020-12-11--How Australia Sabotaged Its Own Interests in Relations with China

The destruction over the past five years of Australia ’ s mutually beneficial diplomatic and trade relationship with China was probably a successful ’ Five Eyes ’ information warfare operation , facilitated by the Australian political class ’ s own foolish arrogance and ignorance towards China .
Australia is now back in the laager , an American strategic satellite and odd man out in the Asia-Pacific region and with a weakened economy .
The address to Federal Parliament by Chinese President Xi Jinping on 17 November 2014 marked a highwater mark in bilateral relations .
Xi was in Australia for @ @ @ @ @ @ @ PM Tony Abbott .
His theme was that China was committed to peace but ready to protect its interests .
Since then the relationship has gone downhill – first slowly and haltingly , but over the past two years with sickening acceleration .
Now the relationship seems irretrievable .
For educated Chinese , Australia is now an object lesson in Western arrogance , hypocrisy and betrayal of friendship .
The dinner party has ended in upended chairs , shouts and bitter accusations as both sides angrily walk away .
After the high symbolism @ @ @ @ @ @ @ well .
In 2015 the Darwin Port was leased to a Chinese company for 99 years .
Growing numbers of Chinese students and tourist visitors to Australia were becoming mainstays of Australia ’ s thriving higher education , tourism and property sectors .
China as an Australian export market grew steadily in significance : last year it represented nearly 50 % of Australian commodity export earnings .
Victoria in 2018 signed a memorandum of understanding with China to work with China ’ s Belt and Road Initiative .
From the beginning , there @ @ @ @ @ @ @ to cripple Australian-Chinese engagement : and they have now seemingly won .
The present breakdown is tragic for Australian economic and political interests .
Many innocent Australians ’ livelihoods are being harmed by our own government ’ s and political class ’ s stupidity .
It is hard to see now how the damage done to Australia-China relations may be healed anytime soon .
Controversially , I contend that Australia has over the past six years lived through a textbook experiment of covert foreign policy interference by powerful Anglo-American influences , subtly working @ @ @ @ @ @ @ .
Australian political elites – already culturally predisposed to trust Anglo-American friends , and naive as to their power and guile – have been persuaded to adopt increasingly adversarial positions against China across a broad front .
This essay can only hint at the breadth and skill of this classic Five Eyes information warfare operation : it would take a book to expose it fully .
Clive Hamilton ’ s notorious attack on China , ‘ Silent Invasion ’ , was published early in 2018 .
Hamilton had been China-bashing on the fringes @ @ @ @ @ @ @ but was still being generally dismissed as an embarrassing outlier .
Andrew Podger ’ s 21 March 2018 was typical of the Australian mainstream rebuttal of Hamilton ’ s views , then considered extreme : ‘ Perhaps Hamilton ’ s book is a useful reminder that we must not be naïve about our relationship with China .
But his prescription , premised on China being our enemy and determined to achieve world domination , is precisely the wrong direction for addressing the genuine issues he raises .
We should engage more , not @ @ @ @ @ @ @ China ’ s agenda , supported by well-funded Canberra think-tanks like Australian Strategic Policy Institute and Lowy Institute , were quietly gaining influence in strategic areas of Australian governance .
Attorney-General Christian Porter , Home Affairs Minister Peter Dutton , backbencher Andrew Hastie and Senator Eric Abetz emerged as vocal critics of China .
On the Labor side , Penny Wong and Kimberley Kitching seemed ready to join the pile-on .
Others were silent , anxious not to be tagged as ‘ panda-huggers ’ .
In 2018 , the influential and US-sympathetic Joint @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Trade supported Malcolm Turnbull ’ s Foreign Interference Legislation , pressed by Australian security agencies and aimed principally at China .
The law was passed in 2019 .
Chinese academics and journalists , even a senior NSW parliamentarian , have been harassed and vilified under its powers .
Now , a further bill will strengthen Commonwealth control over state and university links to foreign governments : again , the prime target is China , and any Australian premiers who may dare to enmesh their states economically with her .
Victoria ’ s and @ @ @ @ @ @ @ particular targets .
On the foreign policy front , Australia , misled by obviously foreign encouraged street violence against the Hong Kong government , became a vocal critic of China on democracy issues there .
Australia criticised alleged human rights abuses against the Uighur ethnic group in Xinjiang Province .
But we do not criticise human rights abuses in India and Palestine .
Australia conducts repeated naval freedom of navigation exercises in the South China Sea , in protest against Chinese consolidation of its military control over islands there .
Australia supported a @ @ @ @ @ @ @ China in the International Court of Arbitration , a case bitterly condemned and rejected from the outset by China .
Since 2018 , Australia responding to American pressure has banned Huawei from telecom operations here , causing a major rift .
The philosophy of economic engagement expounded by Abbott and Xi in 2014 is since 2018 under direct frontal attack .
In August 2020 , a non-strategic Chinese purchase of a large Australian dairy company was vetoed .
The message had now become , Australia wants to go on profitably exporting minerals and @ @ @ @ @ @ @ little to do with China as possible at the human level .
Chinese students here have been accused of doing the bidding of the Chinese Communist Party , and concerns raised about Chinese influence in our universities .
Chauvinism and Sinophobia in Australia have grown .
COVID-19 caused further major rifts in 2020 .
Scott Morrison clumsily mishandled a peremptory Australian demand to WHO – reportedly originating in a request to him from US President Trump – to mount an intrusive international investigation in Wuhan into the origins of the ‘ Chinese virus @ @ @ @ @ @ @ particular as a gross act of treachery by a friend .
Morrison never apologised .
The tone of Australian mainstream media commentary on China has by now changed utterly to hostility .
Establishment commentators and leader writers compete on who can season their journalism with the strongest anti-Chinese language .
All pretence of objectivity or straight reporting of tensions is gone : this is now advocacy journalism .
Dissenting opinions are discouraged .
As media increasingly runs with the ball of Sinophobia , Morrison has began to try to step back .
He @ @ @ @ @ @ @ , now call unconvincingly for moderation .
Not just the Murdoch Press but the Australian Financial Review is full of anti-Chinese polemic .
China is bitterly criticised as seeking to dictate terms to the world .
The Western media outside Australia are picking up the cue .
The campaign has taken on McCarthyist , even racist-tinged tones : how dare these Chinese presume to stand up to our Western ‘ universal values ’ ?
Every Chinese effort to rebut the growing abuse is taken as sign of further Chinese bullying .
Their Canberra @ @ @ @ @ @ @ ’ – an effort to list the problem China has with Australian behaviour towards them as a basis for public discussion – were mocked .
China is falsely stereotyped as the provocateur and Australia the victim .
Around a few weeks ago , China would have finally decided that Australia could no longer be regarded as a trustworthy and decent partner in dialogue .
They would have given up on Australia .
The Brereton Report with its reported SAS murders in Afghanistan was an irresistible opportunity for what the West has offensively labelled @ @ @ @ @ @ @ The photoshopped image of a SAS baby murder , illustrating a tweet by a senior Chinese foreign ministry official criticising Australian hypocrisy , was emphatically condemned by Morrison , who demanded a Chinese apology .
China refused .
La commedia e finita .
Australian politicians have swung in behind Morrison , while our traders and growers look on with helpless horror .
How can what was a good relationship in 2015 it have degenerated to this in just five years ?
Senior people in industry and trade – like Morrison ’ s own @ @ @ @ @ @ @ 2 December for a diplomatic solution to ease tensions between Beijing and Canberra .
But those who want to see Australia decoupled from China in as many ways as possible stay contentedly silent , looking back with satisfaction on their hidden work of destruction .
Australia is safely back in the Five Eyes laager , and those who hoped economic rationality would triumph over global geopolitical exclusion games have been defeated .
See this .
Australia ’ s all-important Asia-Pacific region quietly draws a different lesson from this sad story : the lesson @ @ @ @ @ @ @ has done in dealing with China .
Treat China with normal diplomatic respect and courtesy , as befits friendly neighbours .
Even regional countries that have clashed militarily with China know not to provoke her needlessly , as Australia has done .
Morrison probably sees stoking up anti-Chinese prejudices as a useful distraction from his many governance failures at home : on Robodebt , on COVID-19 preparedness , on bushfires and climate change .
Sock the Chinese as if there are no consequences for us .
But the consequences will be great .
@ @ @ @ @ @ @ isolated from our region , and more dependent on the uncertain protection of faraway Five Eyes friends .
Without a dialogue with China , our necessary engagement with our region will be handicapped .
Lee Kuan Yew ’ s friendly warning – ‘ be careful or you will be the poor white trash of Asia ’ – comes back now to haunt us .
Note to readers : please click the share buttons above or below .
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Crosspost on your blog site , internet forums @ @ @ @ @ @ @ former Australian ambassador to Poland and Cambodia , an Emeritus Fellow at Australian National University , Canberra , and the author of ‘ Return to Moscow ’ ( 2017 ) .

The destruction over the past five years of Australia’s mutually beneficial diplomatic and trade relationship with China was probably a successful ’Five Eyes’ information warfare operation, facilitated by the Australian political class’s own foolish arrogance and ignorance towards China. Australia is now back in the laager, an American strategic satellite and odd man out in the Asia-Pacific region and with a weakened economy.
The address to Federal Parliament by Chinese President Xi Jinping on 17 November 2014 marked a highwater mark in bilateral relations. Xi was in Australia for the G20 summit in Brisbane hosted by PM Tony Abbott. His theme was that China was committed to peace but ready to protect its interests.
Since then the relationship has gone downhill – first slowly and haltingly, but over the past two years with sickening acceleration. Now the relationship seems irretrievable. For educated Chinese, Australia is now an object lesson in Western arrogance, hypocrisy and betrayal of friendship. The dinner party has ended in upended chairs, shouts and bitter accusations as both sides angrily walk away.
After the high symbolism of the Xi speech, all seemed well. In 2015 the Darwin Port was leased to a Chinese company for 99 years. Growing numbers of Chinese students and tourist visitors to Australia were becoming mainstays of Australia’s thriving higher education, tourism and property sectors. China as an Australian export market grew steadily in significance: last year it represented nearly 50% of Australian commodity export earnings. Victoria in 2018 signed a memorandum of understanding with China to work with China’s Belt and Road Initiative.
From the beginning, there were signs that powerful forces were determined to cripple Australian-Chinese engagement: and they have now seemingly won. The present breakdown is tragic for Australian economic and political interests. Many innocent Australians’ livelihoods are being harmed by our own government’s and political class’s stupidity. It is hard to see now how the damage done to Australia-China relations may be healed anytime soon.
Controversially, I contend that Australia has over the past six years lived through a textbook experiment of covert foreign policy interference by powerful Anglo-American influences, subtly working through local sympathisers in public life here. Australian political elites – already culturally predisposed to trust Anglo-American friends, and naive as to their power and guile – have been persuaded to adopt increasingly adversarial positions against China across a broad front. This essay can only hint at the breadth and skill of this classic Five Eyes information warfare operation: it would take a book to expose it fully.
Clive Hamilton’s notorious attack on China, ‘Silent Invasion’, was published early in 2018. Hamilton had been China-bashing on the fringes of Australian academe for some years beforehand but was still being generally dismissed as an embarrassing outlier. Andrew Podger’s 21 March 2018 review in the Conversation was typical of the Australian mainstream rebuttal of Hamilton’s views, then considered extreme:
‘Perhaps Hamilton’s book is a useful reminder that we must not be naïve about our relationship with China. But his prescription, premised on China being our enemy and determined to achieve world domination, is precisely the wrong direction for addressing the genuine issues he raises. We should engage more, not less.’
Meanwhile, negative views of China’s agenda, supported by well-funded Canberra think-tanks like Australian Strategic Policy Institute and Lowy Institute, were quietly gaining influence in strategic areas of Australian governance. Attorney-General Christian Porter, Home Affairs Minister Peter Dutton, backbencher Andrew Hastie and Senator Eric Abetz emerged as vocal critics of China. On the Labor side, Penny Wong and Kimberley Kitching seemed ready to join the pile-on. Others were silent, anxious not to be tagged as ‘panda-huggers’.
In 2018, the influential and US-sympathetic Joint Parliamentary Committee on Foreign Affairs Defence and Trade supported Malcolm Turnbull’s Foreign Interference Legislation, pressed by Australian security agencies and aimed principally at China. The law was passed in 2019.
Chinese academics and journalists, even a senior NSW parliamentarian, have been harassed and vilified under its powers. Now, a further bill will strengthen Commonwealth control over state and university links to foreign governments: again, the prime target is China, and any Australian premiers who may dare to enmesh their states economically with her. Victoria’s and Western Australia’s Labor premiers are particular targets.
On the foreign policy front, Australia, misled by obviously foreign encouraged street violence against the Hong Kong government, became a vocal critic of China on democracy issues there. Australia criticised alleged human rights abuses against the Uighur ethnic group in Xinjiang Province. But we do not criticise human rights abuses in India and Palestine. Australia conducts repeated naval freedom of navigation exercises in the South China Sea, in protest against Chinese consolidation of its military control over islands there. Australia supported a bogus US-influenced South China Sea case against China in the International Court of Arbitration, a case bitterly condemned and rejected from the outset by China.
Since 2018, Australia responding to American pressure has banned Huawei from telecom operations here, causing a major rift. The philosophy of economic engagement expounded by Abbott and Xi in 2014 is since 2018 under direct frontal attack. In August 2020, a non-strategic Chinese purchase of a large Australian dairy company was vetoed. The message had now become, Australia wants to go on profitably exporting minerals and foodstuffs to China but to have as little to do with China as possible at the human level. Chinese students here have been accused of doing the bidding of the Chinese Communist Party, and concerns raised about Chinese influence in our universities. Chauvinism and Sinophobia in Australia have grown.
COVID-19 caused further major rifts in 2020. Scott Morrison clumsily mishandled a peremptory Australian demand to WHO – reportedly originating in a request to him from US President Trump – to mount an intrusive international investigation in Wuhan into the origins of the ‘Chinese virus’. China saw that act in particular as a gross act of treachery by a friend. Morrison never apologised.
The tone of Australian mainstream media commentary on China has by now changed utterly to hostility. Establishment commentators and leader writers compete on who can season their journalism with the strongest anti-Chinese language. All pretence of objectivity or straight reporting of tensions is gone: this is now advocacy journalism. Dissenting opinions are discouraged. As media increasingly runs with the ball of Sinophobia, Morrison has began to try to step back. He and Turnbull having started the hares running, now call unconvincingly for moderation. Not just the Murdoch Press but the Australian Financial Review is full of anti-Chinese polemic. China is bitterly criticised as seeking to dictate terms to the world. The Western media outside Australia are picking up the cue. The campaign has taken on McCarthyist, even racist-tinged tones: how dare these Chinese presume to stand up to our Western ‘universal values’ ?
Every Chinese effort to rebut the growing abuse is taken as sign of further Chinese bullying. Their Canberra embassy’s circulated ‘fourteen grievances’ – an effort to list the problem China has with Australian behaviour towards them as a basis for public discussion – were mocked. China is falsely stereotyped as the provocateur and Australia the victim.
Around a few weeks ago, China would have finally decided that Australia could no longer be regarded as a trustworthy and decent partner in dialogue. They would have given up on Australia. The Brereton Report with its reported SAS murders in Afghanistan was an irresistible opportunity for what the West has offensively labelled ‘wolf warrior’ Chinese diplomacy. The photoshopped image of a SAS baby murder, illustrating a tweet by a senior Chinese foreign ministry official criticising Australian hypocrisy, was emphatically condemned by Morrison, who demanded a Chinese apology. China refused.
La commedia e finita. Australian politicians have swung in behind Morrison, while our traders and growers look on with helpless horror. How can what was a good relationship in 2015 it have degenerated to this in just five years? Senior people in industry and trade – like Morrison’s own COVID recovery adviser Nev Power pleaded on 2 December for a diplomatic solution to ease tensions between Beijing and Canberra. But those who want to see Australia decoupled from China in as many ways as possible stay contentedly silent, looking back with satisfaction on their hidden work of destruction. Australia is safely back in the Five Eyes laager, and those who hoped economic rationality would triumph over global geopolitical exclusion games have been defeated. See this.
Australia’s all-important Asia-Pacific region quietly draws a different lesson from this sad story: the lesson is, do not behave as Australia has done in dealing with China. Treat China with normal diplomatic respect and courtesy, as befits friendly neighbours. Even regional countries that have clashed militarily with China know not to provoke her needlessly, as Australia has done.
Morrison probably sees stoking up anti-Chinese prejudices as a useful distraction from his many governance failures at home: on Robodebt, on COVID-19 preparedness, on bushfires and climate change. Sock the Chinese as if there are no consequences for us.
But the consequences will be great. Australia will be needlessly poorer, more isolated from our region, and more dependent on the uncertain protection of faraway Five Eyes friends. Without a dialogue with China, our necessary engagement with our region will be handicapped. Lee Kuan Yew’s friendly warning – ‘be careful or you will be the poor white trash of Asia’ – comes back now to haunt us.
*
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Tony Kevin is a former Australian ambassador to Poland and Cambodia, an Emeritus Fellow at Australian National University, Canberra, and the author of ‘Return to Moscow’ (2017).


asiapacificresearch--2020-12-15--What Lessons Can We Learn from Protests in India?

In the last one decade we are witnessed three major protests in different issues , but the outcome of each protest was the same .
The protesters became popular but the issue lost in between the crowd of protesters .
The issues are carved to harness more and more crowds irrespective of the issues .
The three major protests at least indicate a pattern that we can learn a lesson from protests as well .
I am using three major protests to decode the similar outcome .
The ongoing farmers ’ protests is the third consecutive popular movement in the @ @ @ @ @ @ @ In the beginning of this decade , during 2011-12 , India was witnessed a first media sponsored protests in the name of India Against Corruption ( IAC ) , led by Anna Hazare and his team mates , nowadays everyone related to IAC was enjoying top echelon in the country-from Shri V K Singh to Shri Arvind Kejriwal to Mrs. Kiran Bedi and many more who won Parliamentary election in 2014 and Assembly election of Delhi in 2015 respectively .
The protest was well carved and deliberated in their structures and constituents from @ @ @ @ @ @ @ last stage of protest where you ride on power and become law makers as a part of protest .
Later , the myth of IAC was busted that how the protest was politically motivated against , then Congress led UPA II govt .
The IAC protest was a media driven protest , when media outlets both traditional media and social media provided extra coverage in the name of people ’ s issue-corruption .
Does corruption end ?
Or , if it was a protest , then how did the leaders of protests ride @ @ @ @ @ @ @ criticized but it was a matter of time , now , they are enjoying the same power .
Nothing changed in the war against corruption except someone replaced the someone through a meta-narrative in the sense of IAC , that was carved against Congress led UPA II govt only and only .
The second moment arrived during CAA/NRC protest when suddenly Muslims started agitation and protested against the present BJP led Central NDA government that promulgated an amendment in the Citizenship laws in shape of Citizen Amendment Act , 2019 .
Which provides @ @ @ @ @ @ @ people of minority communities except Muslims from neighbouring countries in South Asia .
The protest started from Jamia Millia Islamia and spread across the cities in the country .
With time the protest intensified and Shaheen Bagh ’ s protest became an epicentre during the protest .
However , Shaheen Bagh ’ s protest was led by females in the majority .
During the protest , Bhim Army leader Shri Chandrshekhar Azad emerged as youth icon , later he used the CAA/NRC protest as a major platform to launch himself as the Pan @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Moreover , the activist , Shahzad Ali , was among those who sat in the protest against the CAA-NRC combine in Shaheen Bagh and later he joined BJP .
The octogenarian , Bilkis Dadi too emerged as one of the faces of resistance during the protest .
There are many more who shined themselves during the protest in the name of CAA/NRC .
However , the law is very much in their existence but protests rolled down by shadow of Corona , that caused lockdown in the country .
In other words , @ @ @ @ @ @ @ and government in various political interpretations .
Few people use the protest to materialize the same for personal gain rather than helped to ease the causes that caused inconvenience to many .
The present farmer ’ s protest can be understood in such an extension that when along with farmers there are many so called political aspirants who want to exploit the protest to be visible across the media or in between crowds .
In fact , such personalities neither have sanctity with the protesters nor have any background knowledge in the concerned @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Yadav who has started his political journey with Aam Adami Party ( AAP ) but he was expelled from the party on political and leadership issues .
During the protest , it is difficult to draw a line as to who will lead the protest rather there are many faces that emerged due to the media or else when a face became face of such protest .
For example , a protester was beaten by police became headline across the social media platforms and the matter took ugly turn when BJP IT Cell @ @ @ @ @ @ @ s tweet in response to Rahul Gandhi ’ s tweet in the issue was marked as “ manipulated media ” by twitter .
There were many such instances reported across the social media platform when political aspirants took the protest for their own benefits rather than to enrich the peaceful protest to strengthen democracy .
The point taken is that during protest there are many who have political aspirations and when found the moment to jump in the protest then , therefore he/she exploits the protest for their own purposes .
The protests @ @ @ @ @ @ @ .
However , being a politician , it is tough to suppress your own political aspirations through protests .
These three protests made the protesters not the issues for which the protest was organized .
We must keep this lesson for ever before joining any protest in the future that is your real intake .
Note to readers : please click the share buttons above or below .
Forward this article to your email lists .
Crosspost on your blog site , internet forums .
etc .
Shekh Moinuddin authored four books Media @ @ @ @ @ @ @ , Mapping Media ( 2015 ) , Mediascape and the State ( 2017 ) and The Political Twittersphere in India ( 2019 ) .
He has been teaching geography to UG , PG and MPhil/PhD students for the last ten years and successfully submitted six funded research projects .
His research areas include media geography , social media , digital spatiality , cultural mappings , image-politics , digital shutdown , political economy of digital gadgets , digital loneliness , platform democracy , digital religiosity in India .

In the last one decade we are witnessed three major protests in different issues, but the outcome of each protest was the same. The protesters became popular but the issue lost in between the crowd of protesters. The issues are carved to harness more and more crowds irrespective of the issues. The three major protests at least indicate a pattern that we can learn a lesson from protests as well. I am using three major protests to decode the similar outcome.
The ongoing farmers’ protests is the third consecutive popular movement in the last one decade in the country. In the beginning of this decade, during 2011-12, India was witnessed a first media sponsored protests in the name of India Against Corruption (IAC), led by Anna Hazare and his team mates, nowadays everyone related to IAC was enjoying top echelon in the country-from Shri V K Singh to Shri Arvind Kejriwal to Mrs. Kiran Bedi and many more who won Parliamentary election in 2014 and Assembly election of Delhi in 2015 respectively. The protest was well carved and deliberated in their structures and constituents from the first stage of protest to the last stage of protest where you ride on power and become law makers as a part of protest. Later, the myth of IAC was busted that how the protest was politically motivated against, then Congress led UPA II govt. The IAC protest was a media driven protest, when media outlets both traditional media and social media provided extra coverage in the name of people’s issue-corruption. Does corruption end? Or, if it was a protest, then how did the leaders of protests ride into power? The same power they criticized but it was a matter of time, now, they are enjoying the same power. Nothing changed in the war against corruption except someone replaced the someone through a meta-narrative in the sense of IAC, that was carved against Congress led UPA II govt only and only.
The second moment arrived during CAA/NRC protest when suddenly Muslims started agitation and protested against the present BJP led Central NDA government that promulgated an amendment in the Citizenship laws in shape of Citizen Amendment Act, 2019. Which provides a chance to give citizenship to the people of minority communities except Muslims from neighbouring countries in South Asia. The protest started from Jamia Millia Islamia and spread across the cities in the country. With time the protest intensified and Shaheen Bagh’s protest became an epicentre during the protest. However, Shaheen Bagh’s protest was led by females in the majority. During the protest, Bhim Army leader Shri Chandrshekhar Azad emerged as youth icon, later he used the CAA/NRC protest as a major platform to launch himself as the Pan India leader of downtrodden or others. Moreover, the activist, Shahzad Ali, was among those who sat in the protest against the CAA-NRC combine in Shaheen Bagh and later he joined BJP. The octogenarian, Bilkis Dadi too emerged as one of the faces of resistance during the protest. There are many more who shined themselves during the protest in the name of CAA/NRC. However, the law is very much in their existence but protests rolled down by shadow of Corona, that caused lockdown in the country. In other words, corona became a savage to the politicians and government in various political interpretations. Few people use the protest to materialize the same for personal gain rather than helped to ease the causes that caused inconvenience to many.
The present farmer’s protest can be understood in such an extension that when along with farmers there are many so called political aspirants who want to exploit the protest to be visible across the media or in between crowds. In fact, such personalities neither have sanctity with the protesters nor have any background knowledge in the concerned protest. The case of Mr Yogendra Yadav who has started his political journey with Aam Adami Party (AAP) but he was expelled from the party on political and leadership issues. During the protest, it is difficult to draw a line as to who will lead the protest rather there are many faces that emerged due to the media or else when a face became face of such protest. For example, a protester was beaten by police became headline across the social media platforms and the matter took ugly turn when BJP IT Cell head’s Mr Amit Malviya’s tweet in response to Rahul Gandhi’s tweet in the issue was marked as “manipulated media” by twitter. There were many such instances reported across the social media platform when political aspirants took the protest for their own benefits rather than to enrich the peaceful protest to strengthen democracy.
The point taken is that during protest there are many who have political aspirations and when found the moment to jump in the protest then, therefore he/she exploits the protest for their own purposes. The protests are in fact producing politicians not leaders. However, being a politician, it is tough to suppress your own political aspirations through protests. These three protests made the protesters not the issues for which the protest was organized. We must keep this lesson for ever before joining any protest in the future that is your real intake.
*
Note to readers: please click the share buttons above or below. Forward this article to your email lists. Crosspost on your blog site, internet forums. etc.
Shekh Moinuddin authored four books Media Space and Gender Construction(2010), Mapping Media (2015), Mediascape and the State(2017) and The Political Twittersphere in India (2019). He has been teaching geography to UG, PG and MPhil/PhD students for the last ten years and successfully submitted six funded research projects. His research areas include media geography, social media, digital spatiality, cultural mappings, image-politics, digital shutdown, political economy of digital gadgets, digital loneliness, platform democracy, digital religiosity in India.
Featured image is from Countercurrents


asiapacificresearch--2020-12-15--Bangladesh Wins and Loses in China-India Rivalry

This was originally published in October 2020 .
Bangladesh is in the middle of rising Indian and Chinese competition for South Asian influence , a position that could benefit or imperil the Muslim majority developing nation of over 161 million people .
On one hand , Bangladesh enjoys robust strategic ties with India , witnessed in just- completed joint naval exercises with India where the two sides held surface warfare drills in the Bay of Bengal .
On the other , China is bankrolling billions of dollars worth of needed infrastructure projects in Bangladesh , checkbook diplomacy that has helped @ @ @ @ @ @ @ than perhaps ever in their modern history .
Which of the two Asian giants has more sway in Dhaka these days is debatable .
But with India distracted with a spiraling Covid-19 epidemic and with several unresolved bilateral sore points , China may have an upper hand , one it is now seeking to consolidate to its strategic advantage .
Bangladesh , of course , can not escape the geographical reality that it is almost completely surrounded by India with a 4,096-kilometer shared border .
Robust and cordial ties with India are thus @ @ @ @ @ @ @ and national security .
Most crucially , Bangladesh ’ s water supply is dependent on rivers that flow into the country from neighboring India .
Water sharing issues have badly strained bilateral relations , a conflict that China has sought to leverage to its own advantage .
After failing to secure a water-sharing agreement with India over the Teesta river , the fourth-longest river in the country that flows from India , Bangladesh turned to China to develop a US $ 1 billion agreement to prevent floods and erosion during rains and water @ @ @ @ @ @ @ the same time , as the Bangladeshi newspaper Daily Star reported on October 7 , work on almost all nine China-funded projects worth $ 7.1 billion is reportedly moving ahead .
Those include a multi-purpose rail and road bridge on the Padma river ( known as the Ganges in India ) built by the state-owned China Major Bridge Engineering Company , a telecom network modernization program and upgrades to the national power system .
With annual bilateral trade valued at approximately $ 15 billion , China is Bangladesh ’ s largest trading partner @ @ @ @ @ @ @ more than a third of that amount .
Dhaka and Beijing also forged a strategic partnership when Chinese president Xi Jinping visited Bangladesh in 2016 .
On the occasion , Bangladesh formally joined Xi ’ s Belt and Road infrastructure-building initiative .
The groundwork has also been laid for stronger strategic ties .
Bangladesh ’ s military is now equipped with Chinese tanks , Chinese-built frigates and submarines and Chinese-made fighter jets .
Bangladeshi military personnel receive training in China while Chinese military delegations pay regular visits to Bangladesh , raising antennae in @ @ @ @ @ @ @ t gotten everything that it wants in Bangladesh .
During Xi ’ s 2016 visit , the Chinese leader proposed 27 major infrastructure projects under the BRI but so far only nine have broken ground .
Most analysts would argue China ’ s main interests in Bangladesh are not bridges and electric power systems but rather access to its strategic ports on the Bay of Bengal .
China is keen to build a new deep seaport in Bangladesh , as part of a wider scheme to secure its power and influence in the @ @ @ @ @ @ @ China ’ s investments in the Hambantota port in Sri Lanka , the Kyaukphyu port in Myanmar , Gwadar in Pakistan and the establishment of a naval base in Djibouti , China ’ s first overseas military base .
So far , Beijing has only received a pledge made in November last year by Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina that it may use Bangladesh ’ s two major ports at Chittagong and Mongla for trade .
Hasina ’ s commitment to China came just weeks after Dhaka signed an agreement with New Delhi for @ @ @ @ @ @ @ for sending goods to the isolated states in India ’ s northeast known as the “ Seven Sisters.
” Those often restive states are connected with the rest of India through a narrow strip of land between northern Bangladesh and Bhutan .
At the same time , the Rohingya refugee crisis has hampered China-Bangladesh relations .
In June 2019 , Dhaka asked for Beijing ’ s support for what Foreign Minister Abul Kalam Abdul Momen termed “ the safe and dignified return of Rohingya Muslims to their own land in Myanmar.
” Currently @ @ @ @ @ @ @ refugees in Bangladesh , most of them living in squalid camps in the already densely populated nation ’ s southeast .
Momen said that “ China has been playing a role in favor of Bangladesh on the Rohingya issue.
” That is highly unlikely , however , given the strategic importance China places on maintaining strong relations with Myanmar , the only country that provides China with direct access via land to the Indian Ocean .
Myanmar has made it abundantly clear that it does not want the return of the Rohingyas , @ @ @ @ @ @ @ ” from Bangladesh .
Soon after the August 2017 attacks by the insurgent Arakan Rohingya Salvation Army ( ARSA ) on Myanmar security forces , crude assaults which prompted the Myanmar military ’ s brutal clear operations that forced hundreds of thousands of Rohingyas to flee across the border , China showed its hand .
Chinese officials have also warned Myanmar ’ s ethnic armed organizations with which they have contacts to refrain from dealing with ARSA or similar outfits .
That ’ s because China believes they are or could be connected @ @ @ @ @ @ @ the Uighurs it holds in vast detention camps in western Xinjiang state .
Indeed , all that Hasina received when she visited China in July 2019 was a promise to send some 2,500 tonnes of rice to the refugees , hardly a superpower overture to help broker a solution to the still vexed issue .
It is also not forgotten in Dhaka that China supported its close ally Pakistan during the 1971 liberation war when the eastern part of the country broke away to form Bangladesh .
Dhaka and Beijing did not establish @ @ @ @ @ @ @ on the other hand , supported the movement and even sent troops and tanks to expel the Pakistan military from what later became the independent country of Bangladesh .
Yet today India faces bigger problems with Bangladesh than does China .
India-Bangladesh relations deteriorated last year when India passed an amendment to its citizenship laws which made it easier for non-Muslim migrants from Bangladesh , Pakistan and Afghanistan to acquire Indian citizenship .
The law was passed after a program to register residents in the northeastern state of Assam , where many illegal @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Many in Bangladesh feared that the registration program and new law could spark an exodus of Muslims in India into Bangladesh .
Hasina denounced both moves and Bangladesh canceled some planned visits by Indian ministers in protest .
Then came this year ’ s pungent onion controversy .
Onions are a staple in Bangladeshi cooking but to meet all of its domestic demand Dhaka imports thousands of tonnes every year from India .
Due to Covid-19 caused shortages , India recently banned the export of onions without informing Bangladesh .
It was only @ @ @ @ @ @ @ , at the end of September , allowed some exports of onions — but only to prevent China and another bitter rival , Pakistan , from filling the gap .
It is uncertain whether the recent joint India-Bangladesh naval exercise will improve broader ties .
They will certainly irk China .
The Indian side sent an anti-submarine warfare corvette to the exercise with the stated aim of taking “ measures to stop unlawful activities.
” The only foreign submarines active in the maritime region are China ’ s .
In recent years , @ @ @ @ @ @ @ submarines have made increasingly frequent forays into the Bay of Bengal .
The anti-submarine aspect of the joint India-Bangladesh exercise was thus likely not lost on Beijing ’ s security planners .
India and Bangladesh hold joint Bongosagar exercises in the Northern Bay of Bengal , October 2020 .
Image : Indian Navy Despite being especially hard hit by the Covid-19 crisis , India is also competing with China to deliver vaccines to Bangladesh .
Here , too , Bangladesh is hedging its bets .
It is considering offers from both China ’ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ of India .
That could become an important issue as China and India seek to play health politics at a time the virus has devastated Bangladesh ’ s economy .
The country ’ s normally booming and export-oriented garment industry has been especially hard hit .
Factories are idle and unemployment is rising as the number of recorded infections on October 11 hit 378,266 with 5,524 deaths .
Most observers agree the likely actual figures are much higher .
Bangladesh , despite impressive economic growth over the last decade , is still a @ @ @ @ @ @ @ its people still living under the poverty line .
And it clearly lacks the resources and facilities to handle a health crisis of this magnitude .
Bangladesh thus now finds itself in the vulnerable middle of the region ’ s budding new Cold War .
Faced with its own resource constraints , India is reportedly now looking at the possibility of cooperating with Japan to counter China ’ s rising influence in Bangladesh .
In December 2017 , premiers Narendra Modi and Shinzo Abe established the India-Japan Act East Forum , which , @ @ @ @ @ @ @ time : “ aims to provide a platform for India-Japan collaboration under the rubric of India ’ s Act East Policy and Japan ’ s Free and Open Indo-Pacific Strategy.
” The forum is focused on specific projects in India ’ s northeast and the development of connecting infrastructure between the remote area and Bangladesh as well as Myanmar .
Indian External Affairs Minister Subrahmanyam Jaishankar said last month that the two sides are looking to cooperate on projects in Bangladesh to forge new partnerships “ with countries across the Indo-Pacific in the @ @ @ @ @ @ @ and assertive activities.
” The Bangladesh Institute of Peace and Security Studies , a think tank , said similarly that India and Japan ’ s initiatives in Bangladesh are “ part of a broader move to activate the Indo-Pacific strategy ” of the Quad , namely the budding alliance of India , Japan , the US and Australia .
It ’ s not clear for now that Bangladesh desires any association with what many see as an overtly anti-China alliance .
More likely , Dhaka will continue to walk a tight rope between @ @ @ @ @ @ @ their competing offers of assistance and support .
Everything from onions to vaccines to water and Indian Ocean warfare is in play in Indian-Chinese competition for Bangladesh .
Whether Dhaka can continue to strike a fine balance between the two giants could determine if it gets caught in the crossfire or hovers above the region ’ s budding new Cold War .
Note to readers : please click the share buttons above or below .
Forward this article to your email lists .
Crosspost on your blog site , internet forums .
etc @

This was originally published in October 2020.
Bangladesh is in the middle of rising Indian and Chinese competition for South Asian influence, a position that could benefit or imperil the Muslim majority developing nation of over 161 million people.
On one hand, Bangladesh enjoys robust strategic ties with India, witnessed in just- completed joint naval exercises with India where the two sides held surface warfare drills in the Bay of Bengal.
On the other, China is bankrolling billions of dollars worth of needed infrastructure projects in Bangladesh, checkbook diplomacy that has helped to pull the two sides closer together than perhaps ever in their modern history.
Which of the two Asian giants has more sway in Dhaka these days is debatable. But with India distracted with a spiraling Covid-19 epidemic and with several unresolved bilateral sore points, China may have an upper hand, one it is now seeking to consolidate to its strategic advantage.
Bangladesh, of course, cannot escape the geographical reality that it is almost completely surrounded by India with a 4,096-kilometer shared border. Robust and cordial ties with India are thus critical for Bangladesh’s economic development and national security.
Most crucially, Bangladesh’s water supply is dependent on rivers that flow into the country from neighboring India. Water sharing issues have badly strained bilateral relations, a conflict that China has sought to leverage to its own advantage.
After failing to secure a water-sharing agreement with India over the Teesta river, the fourth-longest river in the country that flows from India, Bangladesh turned to China to develop a US$1 billion agreement to prevent floods and erosion during rains and water shortages in the dry season.
At the same time, as the Bangladeshi newspaper Daily Star reported on October 7, work on almost all nine China-funded projects worth $7.1 billion is reportedly moving ahead.
Those include a multi-purpose rail and road bridge on the Padma river (known as the Ganges in India) built by the state-owned China Major Bridge Engineering Company, a telecom network modernization program and upgrades to the national power system.
With annual bilateral trade valued at approximately $15 billion, China is Bangladesh’s largest trading partner. Trade with India is only slightly more than a third of that amount.
Dhaka and Beijing also forged a strategic partnership when Chinese president Xi Jinping visited Bangladesh in 2016. On the occasion, Bangladesh formally joined Xi’s Belt and Road infrastructure-building initiative.
The groundwork has also been laid for stronger strategic ties. Bangladesh’s military is now equipped with Chinese tanks, Chinese-built frigates and submarines and Chinese-made fighter jets.
Bangladeshi military personnel receive training in China while Chinese military delegations pay regular visits to Bangladesh, raising antennae in New Delhi.
But China hasn’t gotten everything that it wants in Bangladesh. During Xi’s 2016 visit, the Chinese leader proposed 27 major infrastructure projects under the BRI but so far only nine have broken ground.
Most analysts would argue China’s main interests in Bangladesh are not bridges and electric power systems but rather access to its strategic ports on the Bay of Bengal.
China is keen to build a new deep seaport in Bangladesh, as part of a wider scheme to secure its power and influence in the Indian Ocean. That is seen in China’s investments in the Hambantota port in Sri Lanka, the Kyaukphyu port in Myanmar, Gwadar in Pakistan and the establishment of a naval base in Djibouti, China’s first overseas military base.
So far, Beijing has only received a pledge made in November last year by Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina that it may use Bangladesh’s two major ports at Chittagong and Mongla for trade.
Hasina’s commitment to China came just weeks after Dhaka signed an agreement with New Delhi for access to the same ports, including for sending goods to the isolated states in India’s northeast known as the “Seven Sisters.” Those often restive states are connected with the rest of India through a narrow strip of land between northern Bangladesh and Bhutan.
Source: Facebook
At the same time, the Rohingya refugee crisis has hampered China-Bangladesh relations. In June 2019, Dhaka asked for Beijing’s support for what Foreign Minister Abul Kalam Abdul Momen termed “the safe and dignified return of Rohingya Muslims to their own land in Myanmar.”
Currently, there are around a million Rohingya refugees in Bangladesh, most of them living in squalid camps in the already densely populated nation’s southeast. Momen said that “China has been playing a role in favor of Bangladesh on the Rohingya issue.”
That is highly unlikely, however, given the strategic importance China places on maintaining strong relations with Myanmar, the only country that provides China with direct access via land to the Indian Ocean. Myanmar has made it abundantly clear that it does not want the return of the Rohingyas, who many there consider “illegal migrants” from Bangladesh.
Soon after the August 2017 attacks by the insurgent Arakan Rohingya Salvation Army (ARSA) on Myanmar security forces, crude assaults which prompted the Myanmar military’s brutal clear operations that forced hundreds of thousands of Rohingyas to flee across the border, China showed its hand.
Foreign Ministry spokesman Geng Shuang said:
“The Chinese side condemns the violent attacks that happened in Rakhine state of Myanmar [and] supports Myanmar’s efforts to safeguard the peace and stability of Rakhine state.”
Chinese officials have also warned Myanmar’s ethnic armed organizations with which they have contacts to refrain from dealing with ARSA or similar outfits. That’s because China believes they are or could be connected with Muslim militants in Asia, including the Uighurs it holds in vast detention camps in western Xinjiang state.
Indeed, all that Hasina received when she visited China in July 2019 was a promise to send some 2,500 tonnes of rice to the refugees, hardly a superpower overture to help broker a solution to the still vexed issue.
It is also not forgotten in Dhaka that China supported its close ally Pakistan during the 1971 liberation war when the eastern part of the country broke away to form Bangladesh. Dhaka and Beijing did not establish diplomatic relations until 1976.
India, on the other hand, supported the movement and even sent troops and tanks to expel the Pakistan military from what later became the independent country of Bangladesh. Yet today India faces bigger problems with Bangladesh than does China.
India-Bangladesh relations deteriorated last year when India passed an amendment to its citizenship laws which made it easier for non-Muslim migrants from Bangladesh, Pakistan and Afghanistan to acquire Indian citizenship.
The law was passed after a program to register residents in the northeastern state of Assam, where many illegal migrants from Bangladesh live and work. Many in Bangladesh feared that the registration program and new law could spark an exodus of Muslims in India into Bangladesh.
Hasina denounced both moves and Bangladesh canceled some planned visits by Indian ministers in protest.
Then came this year’s pungent onion controversy. Onions are a staple in Bangladeshi cooking but to meet all of its domestic demand Dhaka imports thousands of tonnes every year from India.
Due to Covid-19 caused shortages, India recently banned the export of onions without informing Bangladesh. It was only after loud protests in Bangladesh that India, at the end of September, allowed some exports of onions — but only to prevent China and another bitter rival, Pakistan, from filling the gap.
It is uncertain whether the recent joint India-Bangladesh naval exercise will improve broader ties. They will certainly irk China. The Indian side sent an anti-submarine warfare corvette to the exercise with the stated aim of taking “measures to stop unlawful activities.”
The only foreign submarines active in the maritime region are China’s. In recent years, to India’s chagrin, Chinese submarines have made increasingly frequent forays into the Bay of Bengal. The anti-submarine aspect of the joint India-Bangladesh exercise was thus likely not lost on Beijing’s security planners.
India and Bangladesh hold joint Bongosagar exercises in the Northern Bay of Bengal, October 2020. Image: Indian Navy
Despite being especially hard hit by the Covid-19 crisis, India is also competing with China to deliver vaccines to Bangladesh. Here, too, Bangladesh is hedging its bets.
It is considering offers from both China’s Sinovac Biotech and the Serum Institute of India. That could become an important issue as China and India seek to play health politics at a time the virus has devastated Bangladesh’s economy.
The country’s normally booming and export-oriented garment industry has been especially hard hit. Factories are idle and unemployment is rising as the number of recorded infections on October 11 hit 378,266 with 5,524 deaths. Most observers agree the likely actual figures are much higher.
Bangladesh, despite impressive economic growth over the last decade, is still a developing country with the vast majority of its people still living under the poverty line. And it clearly lacks the resources and facilities to handle a health crisis of this magnitude.
Bangladesh thus now finds itself in the vulnerable middle of the region’s budding new Cold War. Faced with its own resource constraints, India is reportedly now looking at the possibility of cooperating with Japan to counter China’s rising influence in Bangladesh.
In December 2017, premiers Narendra Modi and Shinzo Abe established the India-Japan Act East Forum, which, according to a statement issued at the time: “aims to provide a platform for India-Japan collaboration under the rubric of India’s Act East Policy and Japan’s Free and Open Indo-Pacific Strategy.”
The forum is focused on specific projects in India’s northeast and the development of connecting infrastructure between the remote area and Bangladesh as well as Myanmar.
Indian External Affairs Minister Subrahmanyam Jaishankar said last month that the two sides are looking to cooperate on projects in Bangladesh to forge new partnerships “with countries across the Indo-Pacific in the face of China’s growing aggressive and assertive activities.”
The Bangladesh Institute of Peace and Security Studies, a think tank, said similarly that India and Japan’s initiatives in Bangladesh are “part of a broader move to activate the Indo-Pacific strategy” of the Quad, namely the budding alliance of India, Japan, the US and Australia.
It’s not clear for now that Bangladesh desires any association with what many see as an overtly anti-China alliance. More likely, Dhaka will continue to walk a tight rope between India and China while aiming to maximize their competing offers of assistance and support.
Everything from onions to vaccines to water and Indian Ocean warfare is in play in Indian-Chinese competition for Bangladesh. Whether Dhaka can continue to strike a fine balance between the two giants could determine if it gets caught in the crossfire or hovers above the region’s budding new Cold War.
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asiapacificresearch--2020-12-15--Australia’s Stop Adani Campaign in Solidarity with Indian Farmers’ Protests

As a people-powered movement that has prevented the Adani company from digging its climate-wrecking coal mine for ten years , the Stop Adani movement stands in solidarity with Indian farmers leading mass peaceful protests against [ Prime Minister Narendra ] Modi and [ Gautam ] Adani ’ s farm laws .
Arguably the largest protests in human history , with organisers estimating 250 million people took part , farmer-led protests erupted in response to three laws passed by Modi ’ s Government , with farmers concerned deregulation of agricultural markets will favour corporate interests such as billionaire Adani ’ s @ @ @ @ @ @ @ to exploitation .
Blatant crony capitalism in India and Australia favours billionaires at the expense of communities , families and the environment .
Recent news of a $ 1 Billion ( 5000 crore ) loan from the State Bank of India to Adani confirms that Modi ’ s Government is working for corporate interests above all else .
In Australia too , Governments have showered Adani ’ s coal project with public funds and special treatment , with mass protests stopping a $ 1 Billion public loan to Adani in 2017 .
Governments @ @ @ @ @ @ @ putting farmers , communities and the environment first .
The Stop Adani movement will continue to push government decision-makers to act for the public good , and support those campaigning against crony capitalism in India .
“ My family in Punjab comes from generations of farmers , the same farmers that are currently protesting against Modi and Adani ’ s farm laws .
“ My father , grandfather , and many before me have been farming wheat on the same land , for generations .
My family wants to continue farming for generations @ @ @ @ @ @ @ and climate change threaten our way of life .
My grandfather has seen the weather change , seen the river he used to play in become polluted , and struggled against drought .
“ Crony capitalism in India is driving Indian farming communities to the brink – from deregulating agricultural laws for big corporates to the State Bank ’ s 5000 crore ( AUD $ 1 Billion ) loan to Adani for their dangerous coal project , a project that will mine and burn coal and bring more climate disasters to Indian farming @ @ @ @ @ @ @ their existence are the ones who deserve support from the state bank and protection from the Government , not billionaire coal companies like Adani.
” “ As an Australian farmer in Queensland , I stand in solidarity with the millions of Indian farmers who are pushing back on Adani and the Government ’ s farm laws .
“ It can be tough being a farmer , not only do we battle the elements and increasingly , climate change impacts , but we are now called on to protect farmers rights against billionaire coal @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Australian farmers understand , and it ’ s a fight we can ’ t shy away from .
“ Adani and pro-coal Governments are ruining farmers ’ livelihoods from India to Australia.
” Amongst other changes , the farm laws could lead to minimum support price ( MSP ) safeguards being scrapped .
MSP guarantees a price for farmers for particular crops , no matter the seasonal outlook .
As the world experiences more droughts , heatwaves , floods and storms from climate change , driven by export coal from Australian coal mines @ @ @ @ @ @ @ farmers even more vulnerable to the seasonal disruptions that will intensify with climate change .
Projections estimate climate change will reduce wheat yield in India by up to 23 % by 2050 .
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As a people-powered movement that has prevented the Adani company from digging its climate-wrecking coal mine for ten years, the Stop Adani movement stands in solidarity with Indian farmers leading mass peaceful protests against [Prime Minister Narendra] Modi and [Gautam] Adani’s farm laws.
Arguably the largest protests in human history, with organisers estimating 250 million people took part, farmer-led protests erupted in response to three laws passed by Modi’s Government, with farmers concerned deregulation of agricultural markets will favour corporate interests such as billionaire Adani’s agricultural businesses, and make farmers vulnerable to exploitation.
Blatant crony capitalism in India and Australia favours billionaires at the expense of communities, families and the environment. Recent news of a $1 Billion (5000 crore) loan from the State Bank of India to Adani confirms that Modi’s Government is working for corporate interests above all else.
In Australia too, Governments have showered Adani’s coal project with public funds and special treatment, with mass protests stopping a $1 Billion public loan to Adani in 2017.
Governments must act in the public interest by putting farmers, communities and the environment first. The Stop Adani movement will continue to push government decision-makers to act for the public good, and support those campaigning against crony capitalism in India.
Stop Adani spokesperson and Indian-Australian Manjot Kaur said:
“My family in Punjab comes from generations of farmers, the same farmers that are currently protesting against Modi and Adani’s farm laws. “My father, grandfather, and many before me have been farming wheat on the same land, for generations. My family wants to continue farming for generations to come, but these law changes and climate change threaten our way of life. My grandfather has seen the weather change, seen the river he used to play in become polluted, and struggled against drought. “Crony capitalism in India is driving Indian farming communities to the brink – from deregulating agricultural laws for big corporates to the State Bank’s 5000 crore (AUD $1 Billion) loan to Adani for their dangerous coal project, a project that will mine and burn coal and bring more climate disasters to Indian farming communities. Farmers that are fighting for their existence are the ones who deserve support from the state bank and protection from the Government, not billionaire coal companies like Adani.”
Central Queensland farmer Simon Gedda said:
“As an Australian farmer in Queensland, I stand in solidarity with the millions of Indian farmers who are pushing back on Adani and the Government’s farm laws. “It can be tough being a farmer, not only do we battle the elements and increasingly, climate change impacts, but we are now called on to protect farmers rights against billionaire coal barons. This is a fight many Australian farmers understand, and it’s a fight we can’t shy away from. “Adani and pro-coal Governments are ruining farmers’ livelihoods from India to Australia.”
Amongst other changes, the farm laws could lead to minimum support price (MSP) safeguards being scrapped. MSP guarantees a price for farmers for particular crops, no matter the seasonal outlook.
As the world experiences more droughts, heatwaves, floods and storms from climate change, driven by export coal from Australian coal mines, these farm law changes make Indian farmers even more vulnerable to the seasonal disruptions that will intensify with climate change. Projections estimate climate change will reduce wheat yield in India by up to 23% by 2050.
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Featured image: Farmers’ protest in India. (Source: Green Left)


asiapacificresearch--2020-12-15--Papua Sawmill Loses Legal Timber Stamp over Allegations of Permit Forgery

A major sawmill operation linked to widespread deforestation and corruption in Indonesia has had its legality certification revoked by the licensing authority over allegations of a forged permit , meaning it will not be allowed to export any wood products .
Operator PT Tulen Jayamas Timber Industries ( TJTI ) had established the sawmill in Boven Digoel district , in Indonesia ’ s easternmost province of Papua , to process an estimated $ 6 billion worth of logs anticipated to be cut to make way for the Tanah Merah mega plantation project there .
The plantation , earmarked mostly for @ @ @ @ @ @ @ clearing of up to 280,000 hectares ( 692,000 acres ) of rainforest — an area nearly twice the size of New York City .
But the multibillion-dollar project has been mired in a litany of controversies , with a 2018 investigation by Mongabay and The Gecko Project showing how permits were issued by an official in jail on corruption charges ; Indigenous peoples were coerced into relinquishing the rights to their ancestral lands ; and the true identities of the individuals behind the project were concealed behind fake nominees and shell companies in @ @ @ @ @ @ @ emerged that fake licenses had been issued to some of the operators involved in the project .
Specifically , the Boven Digoel district investment agency alleged that the environmental license for TJTI ’ s sawmill was fake .
Officials sent a letter to TJTI demanding that it stop operating .
Officials from the Papua provincial investment agency also got involved , alleging that permits for the seven concessions in the Tanah Merah project were falsified at a critical stage of the licensing process .
While the permits bore the signature of the former @ @ @ @ @ @ @ reported in writing that it was forged .
The allegations were uncovered in a follow-up investigation by Mongabay and The Gecko Project .
Following the allegations , Earthsight , a U.K.-based nonprofit investigative organization , found that the sawmill had been certified under the Indonesian government ’ s timber legality scheme , or SVLK .
The system , accepted by some of the most stringent market regulators for timber legality , including the EU , is meant to ensure that all parties in the timber supply chain obtain their wood and timber products @ @ @ @ @ @ @ trading operations in accordance with existing laws and regulations .
But with the permits underpinning the plantations and the sawmill suspected to be forged , Earthsight sent an inquiry to PT Borneo Wanajaya Indonesia ( BWI ) , the third-party assessor that certified the sawmill as SVLK-compliant in 2019 .
After being notified of the allegations and the stop work order , BWI conducted an audit in March 2020 .
The results confirmed that TJTI ’ s environmental permit was faked , thus invalidating its compliance with the timber legality standard .
The @ @ @ @ @ @ @ sawmill ’ s SVLK certificate for three months to give TJTI the opportunity to prove that the allegation of a forged environmental permit was not true .
TJTI failed to meet the deadline , however , and its SVLK certificate was permanently revoked as of July 17 .
“ Since that date , the [ SVLK ] certificate of TJTI has been revoked by us and they ’ re no longer our client , ” BWI told Mongabay .
“ This is because there were complaints from stakeholders and the complaints have had @ @ @ @ @ @ @ sawmill ’ s SVLK certificate means that TJTI can not legally export timber products , as compliance with the SVLK scheme is mandatory for all timber exports from Indonesia .
However , it can still sell timber domestically , even though the sawmill has not begun to operate yet .
Djukmarian , the Boven Digoel district investment agency head , said his office has not yet decided what to do with TJTI ’ s case , pending instructions from the district government .
“ TJTI has ceased to operate since last year until @ @ @ @ @ @ @ “ We are focusing on making sure that the company is not operating.
” It ’ s also not clear whether the government will follow up on the allegations of the forged plantation permits for the seven concessions .
Instead , the government has agreed with the companies that have already started operating and cleared forests that they may redo the entire permit process from the beginning to be allowed to keep operating .
BWI said it didn ’ t look into the allegations of the forged plantation permits because those fell outside @ @ @ @ @ @ @ was focused solely on the sawmill and its legality .
Djukmarian said his office was powerless to pursue those allegations retroactively .
“ I ’ m sorry but I can ’ t take further action , ” he said .
“ One of the reasons is because when the permits [ alleged to be falsified ] were issued , the investment office [ in Boven Digoel ] wasn ’ t established yet.
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Forward this article to your email lists @ @ @ @ @ @ @ internet forums .
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Featured image : Deforestation in the Tanah Merah project .
Image by Nanang Sujana for The Gecko Project .

A major sawmill operation linked to widespread deforestation and corruption in Indonesia has had its legality certification revoked by the licensing authority over allegations of a forged permit, meaning it will not be allowed to export any wood products.
Operator PT Tulen Jayamas Timber Industries (TJTI) had established the sawmill in Boven Digoel district, in Indonesia’s easternmost province of Papua, to process an estimated $6 billion worth of logs anticipated to be cut to make way for the Tanah Merah mega plantation project there. The plantation, earmarked mostly for oil palms, could lead to the clearing of up to 280,000 hectares (692,000 acres) of rainforest — an area nearly twice the size of New York City.
But the multibillion-dollar project has been mired in a litany of controversies, with a 2018 investigation by Mongabay and The Gecko Project showing how permits were issued by an official in jail on corruption charges; Indigenous peoples were coerced into relinquishing the rights to their ancestral lands; and the true identities of the individuals behind the project were concealed behind fake nominees and shell companies in tax havens.
In 2019, allegations emerged that fake licenses had been issued to some of the operators involved in the project. Specifically, the Boven Digoel district investment agency alleged that the environmental license for TJTI’s sawmill was fake. Officials sent a letter to TJTI demanding that it stop operating.
Officials from the Papua provincial investment agency also got involved, alleging that permits for the seven concessions in the Tanah Merah project were falsified at a critical stage of the licensing process. While the permits bore the signature of the former head of the agency, he has reported in writing that it was forged. The allegations were uncovered in a follow-up investigation by Mongabay and The Gecko Project.
Following the allegations, Earthsight, a U.K.-based nonprofit investigative organization, found that the sawmill had been certified under the Indonesian government’s timber legality scheme, or SVLK.
The system, accepted by some of the most stringent market regulators for timber legality, including the EU, is meant to ensure that all parties in the timber supply chain obtain their wood and timber products from sustainably managed forests and conduct their trading operations in accordance with existing laws and regulations.
But with the permits underpinning the plantations and the sawmill suspected to be forged, Earthsight sent an inquiry to PT Borneo Wanajaya Indonesia (BWI), the third-party assessor that certified the sawmill as SVLK-compliant in 2019.
After being notified of the allegations and the stop work order, BWI conducted an audit in March 2020. The results confirmed that TJTI’s environmental permit was faked, thus invalidating its compliance with the timber legality standard. The audit resulted in a suspension of the sawmill’s SVLK certificate for three months to give TJTI the opportunity to prove that the allegation of a forged environmental permit was not true.
TJTI failed to meet the deadline, however, and its SVLK certificate was permanently revoked as of July 17.
“Since that date, the [SVLK] certificate of TJTI has been revoked by us and they’re no longer our client,” BWI told Mongabay. “This is because there were complaints from stakeholders and the complaints have had been proven.”
The revocation of the sawmill’s SVLK certificate means that TJTI cannot legally export timber products, as compliance with the SVLK scheme is mandatory for all timber exports from Indonesia. However, it can still sell timber domestically, even though the sawmill has not begun to operate yet.
Djukmarian, the Boven Digoel district investment agency head, said his office has not yet decided what to do with TJTI’s case, pending instructions from the district government.
“TJTI has ceased to operate since last year until now,” he told Mongabay. “We are focusing on making sure that the company is not operating.”
It’s also not clear whether the government will follow up on the allegations of the forged plantation permits for the seven concessions. Instead, the government has agreed with the companies that have already started operating and cleared forests that they may redo the entire permit process from the beginning to be allowed to keep operating.
BWI said it didn’t look into the allegations of the forged plantation permits because those fell outside the scope of its audit, which was focused solely on the sawmill and its legality.
Djukmarian said his office was powerless to pursue those allegations retroactively.
“I’m sorry but I can’t take further action,” he said. “One of the reasons is because when the permits [alleged to be falsified] were issued, the investment office [in Boven Digoel] wasn’t established yet.”
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Featured image: Deforestation in the Tanah Merah project. Image by Nanang Sujana for The Gecko Project.