分类： politics

BANGKOK – Nearly four years after seizing control of Myanmar from the elected civilian government of Aung San Suu Kyi, the country’s long-time military leader Min Aung Hlaing has been formally inaugurated as the nation’s president, cementing the military’s grip on power behind a veneer of electoral legitimacy. The 69-year-old, who ruled Myanmar with an iron fist as the head of the ruling junta since the 2021 coup, took the oath of office on Friday in Naypyitaw’s newly renovated parliament building, which sustained damage during a 2023 earthquake. He was joined by two vice presidents: Nyo Saw, a retired general and close personal adviser, and Nan Ni Ni Aye, an ethnic Karen politician from the military-aligned Union Solidarity and Development Party (USDP).

Min Aung Hlaing’s ascent to the presidency follows his April 3 election by the national legislature, where the pro-military bloc controls close to 90 percent of seats across both parliamentary chambers. The government formed after his inauguration reflects the military’s enduring dominance: 28 of the 30 newly sworn-in cabinet members are either active or retired military generals, USDP lawmakers, or holdovers from the previous junta administration. In a post-inauguration address, Min Aung Hlaing claimed Myanmar has “returned to the path of democracy” and pledged to work toward peace with anti-junta armed groups and repair strained relations with the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN), which has isolated the junta over its post-coup political repression and ongoing conflict.

The inauguration is the final step in the junta’s plan to transition to a nominally civilian government, a move widely dismissed by global observers as a calculated tactic to retain full military control. The December 2024 general election that paved the way for the new government has been universally condemned by United Nations experts, human rights organizations, and independent election monitors as fundamentally unfree and unfair. The popular National League for Democracy (NLD), Suu Kyi’s party which won landslide victories in the 2015 and 2020 democratic elections, was barred from participating after being forced to disband in 2023 for refusing to comply with restrictive military-backed electoral rules.

Independent election monitor the Asian Network for Free Elections, based in Bangkok, released a new assessment Friday noting that voting was only able to proceed in 42 percent of Myanmar’s territory due to the ongoing civil war that broke out immediately after the 2021 coup. The group added that every stage of the electoral process, from the composition of the election management body to the design of electoral rules and party registration requirements, was intentionally structured to guarantee a preordained outcome favorable to military-aligned parties. Ahead of taking office, Min Aung Hlaing stepped down from his post as commander-in-chief of the armed forces to comply with constitutional term limits, handing the powerful role to his close confidant Gen. Ye Win Oo.

Min Aung Hlaing’s presidency comes as he faces a defining challenge: ending a years-long civil war that has engulfed the country since his 2021 coup ousted Suu Kyi and sparked widespread armed resistance from pro-democracy and ethnic minority groups. According to the Assistance Association for Political Prisoners, a Thailand-based human rights monitoring group, nearly 8,000 civilians have been killed since the coup, and more than 22,000 political detainees remain imprisoned, including Suu Kyi herself. The 80-year-old former leader is currently serving a 27-year prison sentence on charges that are widely recognized as politically motivated and fabricated.

Min Aung Hlaing also remains a controversial figure globally for his central role in the 2017 persecution of the Rohingya Muslim minority. When he served as military commander under Suu Kyi’s pre-coup government, he oversaw a brutal counterinsurgency campaign that forced more than 700,000 Rohingya to flee to neighboring Bangladesh. The campaign has been labeled a genocide by multiple international courts and human rights bodies, though Min Aung Hlaing has never faced accountability for the alleged atrocities. As he begins his five-year presidential term, the international community continues to reject the legitimacy of his government, while the country’s civil war shows no sign of de-escalation.

Against a backdrop of growing global volatility and cross-border uncertainty, relations between the United States and China – the world’s two largest economies – are undergoing a gradual evolution, with geopolitical friction, economic strategic interests, and high-level political timelines emerging as core determinants of the bilateral relationship’s long-term trajectory, experts concluded during a recent high-level discussion. The event, hosted by the New York-based National Committee on United States-China Relations, gathered senior policymakers and seasoned diplomatic veterans to dissect the current state of Sino-US engagement and its far-reaching implications for the entire global order.

Moderated by committee President Stephen Orlins, the discussion featured contributions from two veteran US diplomats: Stephen Biegun, former US Deputy Secretary of State, and Sarah Beran, the former Deputy Chief of Mission at the US Embassy in Beijing. The pair explored the shifting global geopolitical landscape and prospects for upcoming high-level exchanges between the two nations.

One of the most pressing topics on the agenda was the spillover effect of growing Middle East tensions on Sino-US ties, particularly as Washington has ramped up pressure on Iran, including sharp warnings over escalating activity in the critical Strait of Hormuz – a global chokepoint for 20% of the world’s daily oil trade. Beran noted that the widespread regional instability directly conflicts with China’s long-term strategic and economic interests. “This is a conflict that China would never have chosen for the United States to pursue,” she said, explaining that sudden volatility in global energy markets and disruptions to established global supply chains would carry severe cross-border consequences.

“The volatility coming out of the Middle East – the disruption to energy supplies, petrochemical production, and global trade and investment – does not serve Beijing’s long-term goals,” Beran added. She also acknowledged that China has proactively taken steps in recent years to boost its economic resilience, including diversifying its global energy import partners and building out large strategic energy reserves, to help cushion the impact of sudden external shocks like Middle East supply disruptions.

Biegun argued that both Washington and Beijing share a common incentive to push for de-escalation of the Middle East conflict before the planned upcoming summit between the two nations’ leaders. “Expectations in Washington are that President Donald Trump wants this conflict resolved before he boards a plane for Beijing,” Biegun said. The planned Sino-US leadership summit is widely viewed by observers on both sides as a critical opportunity to reset and stabilize bilateral relations, even though most analysts remain cautious about expectations of major, transformative breakthroughs at the meeting.

Beran emphasized that both sides are already dedicating significant resources not only to negotiating the substantive agenda of the summit but also to shaping how the event will be perceived by global audiences. “A summit is a one-of-a-kind moment that can motivate both sides to move stalled initiatives forward,” she said, stressing that ongoing pre-summit working-level channels are critical for addressing complex issues that extend far beyond bilateral trade tensions.

Beyond the immediate timeline of the summit and Middle East tensions, speakers underscored that Sino-US relations are defined by deep, persistent structural challenges rather than temporary short-term fluctuations. Beran framed the current moment as a period of transition, marked by what she called a “tactical truce” or temporary stalemate, where both sides are actively leveraging strategic and economic choke points to advance their respective interests.

She explained that the long-term trajectory of the relationship will depend on a web of interconnected variables, including shifts in the global balance of power, domestic economic performance in both countries, and the lasting strategic fallout of ongoing conflicts like the Iran standoff. Beran added that the broader international context – particularly alliances between the US and its global partners – will also shape bilateral dynamics, noting that growing divisions between Washington and its allies in Europe and Asia have raised serious concerns. “Fissures in the trans-Atlantic relationship, and between the US and its allies in Asia, will be extremely difficult to repair,” she said, adding that these internal divisions will weaken coordinated US policy toward China.

The discussion also turned to bilateral cross-border investment, a sector that remains both a key untapped opportunity and a persistent point of friction in the current political climate. Both speakers agreed that pervasive policy uncertainty is the single largest barrier to expanded bilateral investment. Beran pointed out that Chinese firms are increasingly cautious about committing capital to the US market without ironclad guarantees of long-term policy consistency. “If you are a Chinese enterprise, you want certainty that your investment will remain protected and welcome not just through the next midterm elections, but through the next presidential transition,” she explained.

GWACHEON, South Korea — In a rare, frank acknowledgment of historical state wrongdoing, South Korean Justice Minister Jung Sung-ho has announced sweeping new measures to expand access to justice for survivors of government-sanctioned human rights abuses, most notably the mass, fraudulent overseas adoption scheme operated under decades past military regimes. Speaking to a group of journalists at a roundtable discussion Thursday, Jung used blunt, uncharacteristically strong language for a top South Korean official, describing the country’s mid-to-late 20th century overseas adoption program as nothing less than “forced child trafficking.” He added that the national government will largely stop appealing court rulings that favor abuse survivors seeking financial compensation for state misconduct. The announcement marks a major shift from decades of legal obstruction that has left many verified victims fighting for redress for years.

The issue of fraudulent Korean adoptions has reemerged as a national reckoning after South Korea relaunched its Truth and Reconciliation Commission (TRC) in February, following the expiration of the body’s original investigative mandate last November. Hundreds of Korean adoptees now residing in Western countries have already submitted requests for the TRC to investigate their cases, seeking official confirmation of government responsibility that they can use as legal backing for damage claims against the state or private adoption agencies that facilitated their adoptions. The first iteration of the TRC had already concluded that the South Korean government bore clear accountability for a corrupt adoption system rife with systemic fraud and misconduct. Backed by military leaders who saw the program as a tool to cut public welfare spending and reduce population growth, state-authorized private agencies systematically falsified children’s birth records, fabricated consent documentation from biological parents, and obscured their true origins to speed up international placements.

Prior to Jung’s announcement, victims who secured favorable court rulings after being recognized by the TRC often faced years of prolonged litigation, as state prosecutors routinely appealed positive rulings on the grounds of expired statutes of limitations or questioned the conclusiveness of the commission’s findings. That pattern is now set to change. Under a new law that came into force in February, survivors of verified state abuses have a three-year window to file damage claims even if the original statute of limitations for their case has already expired. Last week, Jung’s ministry — which represents the South Korean government in all civil legal claims against the state — announced it would withdraw time-limit-based appeals in more than 800 ongoing cases, and Jung confirmed Thursday that the same cooperative approach will be extended to adoptees’ future lawsuits. “Once the truth commission firmly establishes the basic facts (regarding the abuses), we intend to cooperate to ensure the process moves swiftly,” Jung stated.

The push for greater accountability builds on an apology issued by South Korean President Lee Jae Myung, a close political ally of Jung, for the historic adoption abuses last October. While the new framework clears major legal barriers for many survivors, some adoptees and advocates still point to ongoing delays in processing direct compensation claims. Yooree Kim, who was sent to a French adoptive family in 1984 without her biological parents’ consent and has spoken publicly about abuse at the hands of her adoptive parents, is one of the adoptees who has filed for compensation under South Korea’s State Compensation Act. This law theoretically allows survivors to secure damages without extended, costly court battles, but the Justice Ministry has missed its statutory 4-week deadline to rule on Kim’s and other adoptees’ claims, leaving them waiting more than six months for a decision, according to Choi Jung Kyu, a lawyer representing the group of adoptees. Jung responded to these concerns by saying he would order ministry officials to address backlogs and delays, though he stopped short of creating a new, standalone expedited process as some advocates have demanded.

Between the 1970s and early 2000s, South Korea facilitated the overseas adoption of roughly 200,000 Korean children, with annual placements peaking at more than 6,000 per year throughout the 1980s. At the time, the country was ruled by an authoritarian military government that framed rapid population growth as a major barrier to its ambitious economic development goals, and framed international adoption as a low-cost solution to reduce public welfare spending. The original TRC’s findings align with an independent investigation published by the Associated Press and PBS Frontline, which drew on thousands of government documents and dozens of survivor interviews to expose how South Korea’s government, Western adoption intermediaries, and receiving countries collaborated to move children overseas despite widespread documentation of corrupt and illegal procurement practices.

Beyond addressing the legacy of adoption abuses, Jung also outlined the government’s new commitments to root out human trafficking and forced labor in South Korea’s agricultural sector, particularly at remote salt farms off the country’s southwest coast, where decades of abuse against vulnerable migrant workers have drawn widespread international criticism. These efforts have gained new urgency in recent weeks, after the Trump administration launched investigations into dozens of countries accused of failing to curb forced labor, a move that paves the way for new tariffs and trade restrictions. The policy shift came after the U.S. Supreme Court struck down Trump’s earlier emergency power-based tariffs, clearing the way for this new enforcement structure. Last year, the U.S. already blocked all imports from one major South Korean salt farm over well-documented claims of slave labor, marking the first punitive trade action taken against the long-running abuse crisis in the country’s salt industry.

Jung said the South Korean government will strengthen its enforcement of anti-trafficking and labor laws, including directing prosecutors to pursue harsher criminal penalties for violators and increasing regulatory oversight of businesses that hire foreign migrant workers. “We cannot monitor every corner of the private sector, but I think we are capable of supervising these matters more thoroughly than almost any other country,” Jung said.

In a landmark event that marks the first high-level encounter between China’s ruling Communist Party and Taiwan’s main opposition Kuomintang (KMT) in more than a decade, Kuomintang chairperson Cheng Li-wun held a formal meeting with Chinese President Xi Jinping at Beijing’s Great Hall of the People on Friday. Both leaders used the historic gathering to issue joint commitments to upholding cross-strait peace across the Taiwan Strait and advancing the goal of eventual unification between mainland China and the self-governing island that Beijing claims as its sovereign territory.

The meeting comes amid escalating cross-strait tensions in recent years. Beijing has ramped up military pressure on Taiwan, conducting regular large-scale military exercises that send warships and fighter jets into areas adjacent to the island, while steadily poaching the small number of diplomatic allies that still recognize Taipei’s sovereignty. Beijing has never renounced the option of using military force to bring Taiwan under its control, a stance that has fueled widespread international concern over potential conflict in the strategically vital region.

Opening the meeting to a round of applause from delegates from both sides, President Xi welcomed Cheng and her KMT delegation, emphasizing the unshakable trajectory of closer ties between people on both sides of the Taiwan Strait. “The larger trend of compatriots on both sides of the strait walking nearer and nearer together will not change. This is a historical necessity. We have full confidence in this,” Xi stated.

Cheng, who framed her five-day trip to mainland China as a “journey for peace” long before her arrival, struck a conciliatory tone in her remarks. “Although people on both sides of the Taiwan Strait live under different systems, we will respect each other and move towards each other,” she said, adding that the KMT’s core goal is to “seek systemic solutions to prevent and avoid war” across the Taiwan Strait.

Cheng began her mainland visit on Tuesday, stopping first in Shanghai and Nanjing before traveling to the Chinese capital for Friday’s meeting. A longstanding advocate for peaceful cross-strait engagement, she has openly opposed large increases to Taiwan’s defense budget, and her KMT party currently holds enough legislative sway to block incumbent Taiwanese President Lai Ching-te’s proposed special defense allocation. The budget would fund major arms purchases, including the development of the “Taiwan Dome,” a domestically built air defense interception system.

The historical context of cross-strait relations stretches back to the end of the Chinese Civil War in 1949. When Mao Zedong’s Communist Party seized control of mainland China, defeated KMT forces retreated across the Taiwan Strait to the island, where they established a separate governing administration that has remained in place ever since.

A core point of agreement reaffirmed by both leaders at Friday’s meeting was commitment to the 1992 Consensus, the informal tacit agreement that underpinned decades of cross-strait engagement. While the agreement has never been formalized in a signed official document, both sides agree that it upholds the core principle that Taiwan and mainland China are part of a single “one China.” The two sides have long differed on interpretation, however: the KMT has long held that each side is free to interpret what “one China” means individually, a position Beijing has never formally recognized.

In closing her remarks, Cheng emphasized that both parties would work together to ensure the Taiwan Strait is transformed from a potential conflict flashpoint into a region of lasting peace, and would prevent the island from becoming a geopolitical pawn manipulated by outside powers.

This report was compiled with contributions from correspondent Wu reporting from Bangkok, Thailand.

In a landmark meeting that marks the first high-level engagement between China’s ruling Communist Party and Taiwan’s main opposition Kuomintang in a decade, Chinese President Xi Jinping hosted Kuomintang chair Cheng Li-wun in Beijing’s Great Hall of the People on Friday, with both leaders centering their dialogue on a shared commitment to cross-strait peace. This meeting breaks a long period of limited formal interaction between Beijing and major Taiwanese opposition figures, and it comes at a time of heightened regional tensions over the Taiwan Strait status quo.

Cheng Li-wun’s visit is the first by a sitting Kuomintang leader to mainland China since 2016. That same year, Beijing cut off all high-level official communications with Taiwan after Democratic Progressive Party candidate Tsai Ing-wen took the Taiwanese presidency, a move driven by Tsai’s refusal to publicly acknowledge the 1992 Consensus, the one-China principle that forms the baseline of cross-strait dialogue for Beijing. Cheng has framed her current trip as a mission for peace, but the ruling DPP in Taiwan has already lashed out at the visit, accusing Cheng of bowing to Beijing’s demands to undermine Taiwan’s sovereign status.

Beijing has long maintained that Taiwan is an inalienable part of Chinese territory, and has repeatedly declined to rule out the use of military force to bring the self-governing island under its control if formal independence is declared. Speaking during the meeting, President Xi emphasized that the historic gathering of leaders from the two parties was intended to protect peace and stability across the Taiwan Strait, advance the peaceful development of cross-strait ties, and build a prosperous shared future for generations on both sides of the strait. He added that Beijing remains open to strengthening exchanges and dialogue with all major Taiwanese parties, including the Kuomintang, as long as both sides uphold the shared political foundation of opposing Taiwan independence. Xi also reiterated that people on both sides of the Taiwan Strait are ethnic Chinese who all share a common desire for lasting peace.

In her response, Cheng echoed Xi’s remarks, noting that the rejuvenation of the Chinese nation is a common goal shared by people across both sides of the strait, and that stable cross-strait relations would represent a positive contribution to global peace and human progress. Political analysts note that while the Kuomintang has a long history of maintaining friendly, open ties with Beijing, Cheng’s willingness to pursue this high-profile meeting marks a departure from the more cautious approach taken by recent KMT leaders, who have sought to balance cross-strait engagement with domestic political pressure to protect Taiwan’s autonomous status.

Beijing has refused to enter into any formal official dialogue with current Taiwanese President Lai Ching-te, who took office earlier this year, labeling Lai a committed separatist. Lai has repeatedly stated that he will maintain the current cross-strait status quo, but Chinese authorities and state-run media have launched relentless verbal attacks against him, referring to him as a troublemaker and a warmonger who risks dragging the region into conflict. Public opinion data from recent surveys in Taiwan shows that while a majority of Taiwanese residents identify as citizens of a sovereign nation, a large plurality still favors maintaining the current status quo—avoiding both immediate formal unification with China and a formal declaration of full independence that would trigger a strong response from Beijing.