DOCSLIB.ORG

The Murder of 13 Sailors on the Mekong Was the Deadliest Attack on Chinese Nationals Overseas in Modern Times. China Has Respond

Total Page：16

File Type：pdf, Size：1020Kb

Download full-text PDF Read full-text
The Murder of 13 Sailors on the Mekong Was the Deadliest Attack on Chinese Nationals Overseas in Modern Times. China Has Respond SPECIAL REPORT | JANUARY 2012 The murder of 13 sailors on the Mekong was the deadliest attack on Chinese nationals overseas in modern times. China has responded with military muscle in the opium-growing Golden Triangle MURDERS ON THE MEKONG BY ANDREW R. C. MARSHALL ON THE MEKONG RIVER, JAN 27 REUTERS/SUKREE SUKPLANGREUTERS/SUKREE SIGN OF DANGER: A marker at the Thai village of Sop Ruak on the Mekong river at the point where the borders of Thailand, Laos and Myanmar meet. thin line divides tourism, trade boatman, cutting his engine as he drifts just The Thai military says the victims were and terror in the Golden Triangle, inside Myanmar waters from Thailand. “It’s killed upriver before their ships floated where the lawless borders of too dangerous.” downstream into Thailand. But evidence Thailand, Myanmar and Laos It was here, according to the Thai military, gleaned from Thai officials and unpublished Ameet. that 13 Chinese sailors on two cargo ships police and military reports suggests that In Myanmar, where the jungly banks of the laden with narcotics were murdered in early some, if not all, of the sailors were still alive Mekong River vanish into the mist, lies an October. It was the deadliest assault on when their boats crossed into Thailand, anarchic realm of drug smugglers, militiamen Chinese nationals overseas in modern times. and that they were executed and tossed and pirates on speedboats. “I’m scared to But a Reuters investigation casts serious overboard inside Thai territory. go any further,” says Kan, a 46-year-old doubts on the official account of the attack. Their assailants remain unknown. Initially, the prime suspect was a heavily armed Mekong pirate who terrorizes shipping in Myanmar. But then the investigation turned to nine members of an elite anti-narcotics taskforce of the Thai military. New patrols by Chinese gunboats were supposed to restore peace to the region. But a visit to the Golden Triangle also found that attacks on Mekong shipping continue. Incongruously, just across the river from where the ill-fated ships were found moored, on the Laos side of the triangle, Reuters also discovered a vast casino complex catering to Chinese tourists. Its Chinese owner regards it as a “second homeland”; others worry it could morph into a strategic Chinese outpost. CHINA’S MEKONG AMBITIONS The events are unfolding at a time when Myanmar is in the international spotlight. The country’s decision last year to end a half-century of isolation by freeing political REUTERS/INTERNET MEKONG PIRATE: A screenshot from Interpol web site shows Naw Kham. prisoners and reaching out to the West has the potential of to reshape this promising but impoverished nation and the entire region. extending its law enforcement beyond its down the Mekong into Thailand. The Hua The geopolitical murder mystery is set borders, down a highly strategic waterway Ping was carrying fuel oil; the Yu Xing 8 against the backdrop of Southeast Asia’s and into Southeast Asia. They come as the had apples and garlic. Sometime after they famed Mekong River, which flows from the U.S. re-engages with Asia, where Thailand is crossed the border, the ships were boarded Himalayas through China, where it is called one of its oldest military allies. by an elite Thai military unit called the Pha the Lancang, and into Myanmar, Laos, “This tough new China policy toward Muang Taskforce, named after an ancient Thailand, Cambodia and Vietnam. any obstacles to their Mekong commerce Thai warrior king. On the Yu Xing 8’s blood- Around 60 million people depend on the could in future be met with charges of splattered bridge, slumped over an AK-47 river and its tributaries for food, transport gunboat diplomacy,” said Paul Chambers, assault rifle, was a dead man later identified and many other aspects of their daily lives. an American academic who co-authored as its captain, Yang Deyi, the taskforce said. Beijing has invested heavily in the Mekong “Cashing In Across The Golden Triangle” The Hua Ping was deserted. as part of a strategy to expand its economic with Myanmar economist Thein Swe. “In the Aboard the two ships were 920,000 and diplomatic influence in Southeast Asia, future, some Mekong states may increasingly methamphetamine pills with an estimated dynamiting some sections to allow bigger turn to the U.S. to offset China’s influence.” Thai street value of $6 million. ships to pass, streamlining import and export The corpses of the 12 other crew members procedures, and improving shipping support METH MADNESS were soon plucked from the Mekong’s facilities. But as Chinese influence grows, it is swirling waters. Their horrific injuries were The Mekong is an increasingly lucrative encroaching on a region dominated for recorded in a Thai police report. Most victims trade route. Cargo volumes between decades by a much more profitable trade: had been gagged and blindfolded with duct Thailand’s Chiang Saen and ports in China’s narcotics. The mountainous Golden Triangle tape and cloth, with their hands bound or Yunnan province have tripled since 2004, is probably named after the gold once used handcuffed behind their backs. Some had with about 300,000 tonnes of mainly to barter for opium. Today, Myanmar is the massive head wounds suggesting execution- agricultural goods now transported along world’s second-biggest opium producer after style killings; others had evidently been the Mekong every year, Mekong River Afghanistan. Methamphetamine production sprayed with bullets. Commission statistics show. here is soaring as well. Li Yan, 28, one of two female cooks among All Chinese shipping on the Mekong was Even a show of strength by China hasn’t the victims, also had a broken neck. suspended after the October massacre, tamed this wilderness. Three Myanmar which sparked popular outrage in China, soldiers were reportedly killed in December THAI INVOLVEMENT? with photos of the sailors’ bodies circulating when their joint patrol with Laos clashed with As a furious Beijing dispatched senior officials widely on the Internet. Shipping resumed five armed bandits about 20 km (12 miles) upriver to Thailand to demand answers, a suspect weeks later, with the departure of 10 cargo from the Thai border town of Sop Ruak, near for the massacre emerged: Naw Kham, the boats from the Mekong port of Guanlei -- the Mekong pirate Naw Kham’s haunt of Sam fugitive “freshwater pirate” of the Mekong, a protected by heavily armed Chinese border Puu Island. member of Myanmar’s ethnic Shan minority guards on speedboats. It was here that the two Chinese vessels whose hill tribe militia is accused of drug The patrols, ostensibly conducted with were supposedly attacked. trafficking, robbery, kidnapping and murder. Myanmar, Laos and Thailand, are a major On the morning of Oct. 5, the two cargo Naw Kham is not the only suspect. On Oct. expansion in Beijing’s role in regional security, ships, Hua Ping and Yu Xing 8, drifted 28, nine members of the Pha Muang Taskforce MEKONG MURDERS 2 appeared before police in the northern city of so publicity shy only two photos purporting Chiang Rai to answer allegations of murder to be him exist. Both are blurred, and show Lawless Golden and tampering with evidence. During a visit a faintly smiling man with protruding ears, to Bangkok in late October, China’s vice thick eyebrows and a mop of black hair. Triangle minister of public security, Zhang Xinfeng, One of the photos is attached to an Interpol …Where traders, tourists and described this as “important progress” and red notice seeking the arrest of a fugitive pirates roam concluded: “The case has been basically Myanmar national of the same name. The cracked.” notice lists the man’s birthplace as Mongyai, Lancang R. In reality, the case is far from solved. a remote area of Myanmar’s war-ravaged Thai police have interviewed more than Shan State. CHINA 100 witnesses and are still investigating. A second big difference between Khun Sa Despite reports to the contrary in Chinese and Naw Kham: the drugs that allegedly Irrawaddy R. and Thai media, the nine soldiers -- who enriched them. include a major and a lieutenant -- have not Opium and heroin are no longer the Golden MYANMAR LAOS been charged with any crime and remain on Triangle’s only products. Since the late 1990s, active military duty. secret factories in Shan State have churned Mekong R. The Pha Muang Taskforce says its out vast quantities of methamphetamine. The Golden Triangle members boarded the Chinese ships after This highly addictive drug is known across they had moored near the Thai port of Chiang Asia in pill form by the Thai name yaba THAILAND Saen. But a prominent Thai parliamentary (“crazy medicine”) and in its purer crystalline M A committee, which is also investigating the form as ice or shabu. CAMBODIA N Andaman T massacre, not only undermined this assertion It is now the top drug in Japan, South E Sea I V but alleged official complicity. Korea, the Philippines, Thailand, Cambodia, “Circumstantial evidence suggests that Laos and Brunei, the United Nations Office Gulf of 200 km Thailand Thai officials were involved in the sailors’ of Drugs and Crime reported in 2011. Naw deaths,” the House Foreign Affairs Standing Kham’s rise coincided with this explosion of Committee said on Jan. 12 in an apparent meth use, which transformed the ill-policed reference to the military task force. “However, Mekong between Myanmar and Laos -- Naw their motive, and whether it is connected Kham’s patch -- into one of Southeast Asia’s 2 km to the drugs found on the ships, remains busiest drug conduits.
Load more

Recommended publications
  • Mekong 2030’ Anthology to Focus on Plight of Mekong River
    ‘Mekong 2030’ Anthology to Focus On Plight Of Mekong River - dia) Soul River is a cautionary tale framed as a lighthearted road (or, rath- er, river) movie. Set in 2030 in a remote northeast region of Cambodia, it urges contemporary audiences to reconsider their attitudes toward environmental degradation and the impact of climate change on the Mekong basin. Courtesy of Luang Prabang Film Festival - Filmmakers (from left) Sai Naw Kham, Kulikar Sotho and Anysay Keola. A new Luang Prabang Film Festival sioning the condition of the river — was raised. There, he intervenes in a which carves its course through China, dispute between his siblings over the Myanmar, Laos, Thailand, Cambodia ethics of exploiting their elderly moth- and Vietnam — as well as the commu- er’s blood. The blood has become a nities that depend on it. valuable commodity to a Western cor- Five Southeast Asian directors will poration that has been developing a present their visions — and fears — for The river has come under increasing cure for a deadly plague outbreak. the future of the Mekong river, one of threat from pollution and from a series Asia’s most vital waterways, through of massive dams, according to the Me- - the anthology , which is kong River Commission (MRC). set to tour the world’s festival circuit next year. “We need to address these issues now to claim their lost spirits’ attachment in order to minimize further environ- to the Mekong River, while channeling “I heard about global warming and mental harm and protect remaining community resilience toward its pro- climate change and stuff like that, but wetlands and riverine habitats before tection.
    [Show full text]
  • Drug Trafficking in and out of the Golden Triangle
    Drug trafficking in and out of the Golden Triangle Pierre-Arnaud Chouvy To cite this version: Pierre-Arnaud Chouvy. Drug trafficking in and out of the Golden Triangle. An Atlas of Trafficking in Southeast Asia. The Illegal Trade in Arms, Drugs, People, Counterfeit Goods and Natural Resources in Mainland, IB Tauris, p. 1-32, 2013. hal-01050968 HAL Id: hal-01050968 https://hal.archives-ouvertes.fr/hal-01050968 Submitted on 25 Jul 2014 HAL is a multi-disciplinary open access L’archive ouverte pluridisciplinaire HAL, est archive for the deposit and dissemination of sci- destinée au dépôt et à la diffusion de documents entific research documents, whether they are pub- scientifiques de niveau recherche, publiés ou non, lished or not. The documents may come from émanant des établissements d’enseignement et de teaching and research institutions in France or recherche français ou étrangers, des laboratoires abroad, or from public or private research centers. publics ou privés. Atlas of Trafficking in Mainland Southeast Asia Drug trafficking in and out of the Golden Triangle Pierre-Arnaud Chouvy CNRS-Prodig (Maps 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 25, 31) The Golden Triangle is the name given to the area of mainland Southeast Asia where most of the world‟s illicit opium has originated since the early 1950s and until 1990, before Afghanistan‟s opium production surpassed that of Burma. It is located in the highlands of the fan-shaped relief of the Indochinese peninsula, where the international borders of Burma, Laos, and Thailand, run. However, if opium poppy cultivation has taken place in the border region shared by the three countries ever since the mid-nineteenth century, it has largely receded in the 1990s and is now confined to the Kachin and Shan States of northern and northeastern Burma along the borders of China, Laos, and Thailand.
    [Show full text]
  • Mong La: Business As Usual in the China-Myanmar Borderlands
    Mong La: Business as Usual in the China-Myanmar Borderlands Alessandro Rippa, Ludwig Maximilian University of Munich Martin Saxer, Ludwig Maximilian University of Munich The aim of this project is to lay the conceptual groundwork for a new understanding of the positionality of remote areas around the globe. It rests on the hypothesis that remoteness and connectivity are not independent features but co-constitute each other in particular ways. In the context of this project, Rippa and Saxer conducted exploratory fieldwork together in 2015 along the China-Myanmar border. This collaborative photo essay is one result of their research. They aim to convey an image of Mong La that goes beyond its usual depiction as a place of vice and unruliness, presenting it, instead, as the outcome of a particular China-inspired vision of development. Infamous Mong La It is 6:00 P.M. at the main market of Mong La, the largest town in the small autonomous strip of land on the Chinese border formally known in Myanmar as Special Region 4. A gambler from China’s northern Heilongjiang Province just woke up from a nap. “I’ve been gambling all morning,” he says, “but after a few hours it is better to stop. To rest your brain.” He will go back to the casino after dinner, as he did for the entire month he spent in Mong La. Like him, hundreds of gamblers crowd the market, where open-air restaurants offer food from all over China. A small section of the market is dedicated to Mong La’s most infamous commodity— wildlife.
    [Show full text]
  • L'asie Du Sud-Est Dans Le « Siècle Chinois
    L’ASIE DU SUD-EST DANS LE « SIÈCLE CHINOIS » (CAMBODGE, LAOS ET VIÊT NAM) 1 Danielle Tan est docteur en science politique (Sciences Po Paris 2011). Spécialiste de l’Asie du Sud-Est, ses principaux axes de recherche portent sur l’économie politique de la péninsule indochinoise, en particulier les dynamiques transnationales, ainsi que les transformations politiques, socio-économiques et territoriales qui résultent de la globalisation et de l’influence croissante de la Chine dans la région. Elle a commencé ses recherches au Cambodge en retraçant l’histoire de sa diaspora chinoise et a ensuite exploré le rôle joué par les réseaux transnationaux chinois dans la transformation de l’État au Laos. Ses recherches postdoctorales s’orientent désormais vers une analyse comparée des transformations contemporaines survenant dans les « enclaves chinoises » du Triangle d’or (nord de la Thaïlande et du Laos, État Shan en Birmanie). Après deux postdoctorats à ANU (Australian National University, Canberra) et à IIAS (International Institute for Asian Studies, Leiden), elle occupe actuellement un poste d’ATER à Sciences Po Lyon, et est rattachée à l’IAO (Institut d’Asie Orientale – CNRS, ENS Lyon). Elle est également chercheure associée à l’Irasec. Avec la contribution de Caroline Grillot Caroline Grillot est anthropologue (Paris X-Nanterre) et sinologue (Inalco). Elle a passé plus de dix ans en Chine où elle a étudié le chinois à l’Université du Shandong (1994-1995) et du Sichuan (1998-2000) grâce au soutien du ministère des Affaires Étrangères et Européennes. Elle a également travaillé dans divers domaines, assistant notamment le bureau de l’Unesco à Pékin dans la mise en place de programmes en sciences sociales.
    [Show full text]
  • On the Butcher's Block
    Wildlife On The Butcher’s Block: The Mekong Tiger Trade Trail 5 March, 2020 Wildlife ©tigersintheforest.co.uk ©EIAimage We would like to thank ABOUT EIA EIA UK Above: As indicators of the CONTENTS 62-63 Upper Street, health of the ecosystem Ximporae.EIA would Utlike aut to fugitisthank restithe ut atia We investigate and campaign against they live in, the forests that London N1 0NY UK secure water for millions of Introduction 4 nobitfollowing ium foralici their bla conesupport consequam for environmental crime and abuse. T: +44 (0) 20 7354 7960 people and mitigate climate cusresearch aci oditaquates and analysis dolorem on the volla tiger change, tigers are a symbol of Fighting extinction 5 Our undercover investigations E: [email protected] good governance. Of cultural vendam,trade: Sophie consequo Rhodes molor Legacy, sin net David expose transnational wildlife crime, eia-international.org importance and a source of Cultivating demand 7 fugitatur,Shepherd qui Wildlife int que Foundation, nihic tem The tourist income, they are making with a focus on elephants and a comeback in countries that aspedRufford quei Foundation oditaquates and dolorem Ernest Lacking leadership 9 tigers, and forest crimes such as still value them alive and in the vollaKleinwort vendam, Charitable conseqci Trust. oditaquates EIA US wild. illegal logging and deforestation for Thailand 10 dolorem volla vendam, consequo PO Box 53343 Under a partnership project funded cash crops like palm oil. We work to Front cover: butchered tiger molor sin net fugitatur,
    [Show full text]
  • Sin City: Illegal Wildlife Trade in Laos' Special Economic Zone
    SIN CITY Illegal wildlife trade in Laos’ Golden Triangle Special Economic Zone ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS CONTENTS This report was written by the Environmental Investigation Agency. 2 INTRODUCTION Special thanks to Education for Nature Vietnam (ENV), the Rufford Foundation, Ernest Kleinwort 3 PROFILE OF THE GOLDEN TRIANGLE SPECIAL Charitable Trust, Save Wild Tigers and Michael Vickers. ECONOMIC ZONE & KINGS ROMANS GROUP Report design by: 5 WILDLIFE TRADE AT THE GT SEZ www.designsolutions.me.uk March 2015 7 REGIONAL WILDLIFE CRIME HOTSPOTS All images © EIA/ENV unless otherwise stated. 9 ILLEGAL WILDLIFE SUPERMARKET 11 LAWLESSNESS IN THE GOLDEN TRIANGLE SPECIAL ECONOMIC ZONE 13 WILDLIFE CLEARING HOUSE: LAOS’ ROLE IN REGIONAL AND GLOBAL WILDLIFE TRADE 16 CORRUPTION & A LACK OF CAPACITY 17 DEMAND DRIVERS OF TIGER TRADE IN LAOS 19 CONCLUSIONS 20 RECOMMENDATIONS ENVIRONMENTAL INVESTIGATION AGENCY (EIA) 62/63 Upper Street, London N1 0NY, UK Tel: +44 (0) 20 7354 7960 Fax: +44 (0) 20 7354 7961 email: [email protected] www.eia-international.org EIA US P.O.Box 53343 Washington DC 20009 USA Tel: +1 202 483 6621 Fax: +202 986 8626 email: [email protected] COVER IMAGE: © Monkey Business Images | Dreamstime.com 1 INTRODUCTION This report takes a journey to a dark corner of north-west Lao PDR (hereafter referred to as Laos), in the heart of the Golden Triangle in South-East Asia. The Environmental Investigation While Laos’ wildlife laws are weak, there The blatant illegal wildlife trade by Agency (EIA) and Education for Nature is not even a pretence of enforcement in Chinese companies in this part of Laos Vietnam (ENV) have documented how the GT SEZ.
    [Show full text]
  • The Chinese Special Economic Zone and Its Impact in Northwestern Laos
    Canadian Journal of Development Studies / Revue canadienne d'études du développement ISSN: 0225-5189 (Print) 2158-9100 (Online) Journal homepage: http://www.tandfonline.com/loi/rcjd20 Negotiating post-resettlement livelihoods: the Chinese special economic zone and its impact in northwestern Laos Pinkaew Laungaramsri & Souksamone Sengchanh To cite this article: Pinkaew Laungaramsri & Souksamone Sengchanh (2018): Negotiating post- resettlement livelihoods: the Chinese special economic zone and its impact in northwestern Laos, Canadian Journal of Development Studies / Revue canadienne d'études du développement, DOI: 10.1080/02255189.2019.1524748 To link to this article: https://doi.org/10.1080/02255189.2019.1524748 Published online: 18 Oct 2018. Submit your article to this journal View Crossmark data Full Terms & Conditions of access and use can be found at http://www.tandfonline.com/action/journalInformation?journalCode=rcjd20 CANADIAN JOURNAL OF DEVELOPMENT STUDIES REVUE CANADIENNE D’ÉTUDES DU DÉVELOPPEMENT https://doi.org/10.1080/02255189.2019.1524748 Negotiating post-resettlement livelihoods: the Chinese special economic zone and its impact in northwestern Laos Pinkaew Laungaramsria and Souksamone Sengchanhb aSociology and Anthropology Department, Chiang Mai University, Chiang Mai, Thailand; bFaculty of Economics, Souphanouvong University, Luangprabang, Lao PDR ABSTRACT ARTICLE HISTORY Special economic zones (SEZs) are often employed by the state as a Received 20 June 2017 development mechanism to attract foreign direct investment and as Accepted 18 May 2018 a key engine for rural transformation. Drawing on fieldwork in KEYWORDS northwestern Laos, this article examines the development impacts Special economic zone; post- of the SEZ, the broker state and the development investor. resettlement; broker state; Deprived of their lands, many post-resettlement villagers were not Laos; negotiating livelihood incorporated into the economy of the SEZ.
    [Show full text]
  • Golden Triangle Special Economic Zone
    Golden Triangle Special Economic Zone The Golden Triangle Special Economic Zone (Lao: ເຂດ ເສດຖະກິ ດພິ ເສດ ສາມຫຼ ່ຽມທອງຄໍ າ, Chinese: 金三角经济特区) is located along the Mekong River in the Ton Pheung District of Bokeo Province in Laos. The zone has an area about 3,000 hectares and was created in 2007 by the Lao Government together with the Chinese- owned Hong Kong registered company Kings Romans Group with the hope of generating economic development. The zone is dominated by the Kings Romans casino which attracts mostly Chinese visitors, and several hotels. It is part of a wider trend of casinos emerging in the Mekong region following the displacement of money laundering from Macao in 2014.[1] Since its commencement, it has gained a reputation of being a Chinese city rife with illegal activities such as drug, human and animal trafficking[2][3] although Kings Romans' owner has denied the The Golden Triangle Special Economic Zone by the banks of the allegations[4] while Lao authorities have also carried out some Mekong River enforcement action following the reports.[5] In January 2018, the United States Treasury Department sanctioned Kings Romans, its owner, Zhao Wei, and the "Zhao Wei Transnational Crime Organization," alleging the casino was used to launder money and traffic drugs, among other serious crimes.[6] Despite this, consignments of drugs and precursors still transit near the Golden Triangle Special Economic Zone. Seizures of high-grade crystal methamphetamine traced back to the Laos border are up over 200% in 2020 in northeast Thailand,
    [Show full text]
  • Protecting China's Overseas Interests
    SIPRI Policy Paper PROTECTING CHINA’S 41 OVERSEAS INTERESTS June 2014 The Slow Shift away from Non-interference mathieu duchâtel, oliver bräuner and zhou hang STOCKHOLM INTERNATIONAL PEACE RESEARCH INSTITUTE SIPRI is an independent international institute dedicated to research into conflict, armaments, arms control and disarmament. Established in 1966, SIPRI provides data, analysis and recommendations, based on open sources, to policymakers, researchers, media and the interested public. The Governing Board is not responsible for the views expressed in the publications of the Institute. GOVERNING BOARD Jayantha Dhanapala, Acting Chairman (Sri Lanka) Dr Dewi Fortuna Anwar (Indonesia) Dr Vladimir Baranovsky (Russia) Ambassador Wolfgang Ischinger (Germany) Professor Mary Kaldor (United Kingdom) The Director DIRECTOR Ian Anthony (United Kingdom) Signalistgatan 9 SE-169 70 Solna, Sweden Telephone: +46 8 655 97 00 Fax: +46 8 655 97 33 Email: [email protected] Internet: www.sipri.org Protecting China’s Overseas Interests The Slow Shift away from Non-interference SIPRI Policy Paper No. 41 MATHIEU DUCHÂTEL, OLIVER BRÄUNER AND ZHOU HANG June 2014 © SIPRI 2014 All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system or transmitted, in any form or by any means, without the prior permission in writing of SIPRI or as expressly permitted by law. Printed in Sweden ISSN 1652–0432 (print) ISSN 1653–7548 (online) ISBN 978–91–85114–85–6 Contents Preface iv Acknowledgements v Summary vi Abbreviations viii 1. Introduction 1 2. Chinese debates on non-interference 5 China’s strict adherence to non-interference 5 Normative developments in the international system 8 The expansion of China’s overseas interests 13 Towards a pragmatic and flexible interpretation of non-interference 17 3.
    [Show full text]
  • China Dream, Space Dream: China's Progress in Space Technologies and Implications for the United States
    China Dream, Space Dream 中国梦，航天梦China’s Progress in Space Technologies and Implications for the United States A report prepared for the U.S.-China Economic and Security Review Commission Kevin Pollpeter Eric Anderson Jordan Wilson Fan Yang Acknowledgements: The authors would like to thank Dr. Patrick Besha and Dr. Scott Pace for reviewing a previous draft of this report. They would also like to thank Lynne Bush and Bret Silvis for their master editing skills. Of course, any errors or omissions are the fault of authors. Disclaimer: This research report was prepared at the request of the Commission to support its deliberations. Posting of the report to the Commission's website is intended to promote greater public understanding of the issues addressed by the Commission in its ongoing assessment of U.S.-China economic relations and their implications for U.S. security, as mandated by Public Law 106-398 and Public Law 108-7. However, it does not necessarily imply an endorsement by the Commission or any individual Commissioner of the views or conclusions expressed in this commissioned research report. CONTENTS Acronyms ......................................................................................................................................... i Executive Summary ....................................................................................................................... iii Introduction ................................................................................................................................... 1
    [Show full text]
  • Special Economic Zone and the Neoliberalization of the Lao Frontier1
    Commodifying Sovereignty: Special Economic Zone and the Neoliberalization of the Lao Frontier1 Pinkaew Laungaramsri2 ABSTRACT Laos has followed its Chinese neighbor in creating the Special Economic Zones (SEZs) as part of the new economic engine that allows distinctive economic policies and flexible governmental measures conducive to doing business in certain areas of the country. SEZs in Laos operate as one form of “self-imposed extraterritoriality” tailored to foreign investors especially the Chinese. Vast areas of local land have been turned into entertainment and tourist complex. This paper uses the case of the Golden Triangle Special Economic Zone to examine the paradox between the desire to civilize and the will to survive played out in the border zone of northern Lao PDR. It investigates the means and mechanism that facilitate the process of the civilizing mission by the Chinese investor. Commodifying sovereignty has contributed to the creation of the space of exception necessary for the new economic possibilities to reshape the “wild zone” and its people into a productive resource. Negotiation and reluctance by the Lao villagers to participate in the new economic enterprise has kept them in the state of “abeyance”. The paper also analyzes the role of the Burmese migrant workers as the key actor -- the neo-liberal subjects that help make the Chinese civilizing mission possible. Keywords: Special Economic Zone, commodifying sovereignty, Neoliberalism, abeyance, neoliberal subjects INTRODUCTION The condition of exception is thus a political liminality, and extraordinary decision to depart from a generalized political normativity, to intervene in the logics of ruling and of being ruled (Aihwa Ong, 2006: 5).
    [Show full text]
  • China and Thailand's Security Cooperation in the 21St Century
    China and Thailand's Security Cooperation in the 21st Century And Its Effect Song Qingrun, Associate Professor & Ph.D, Unit Chief of Bay of Bengal Unit, Institute of South Asian, Southeast Asian and Oceanian Studies, China Institutes of Contemporary International Relations(CICIR) The Importance, Necessity for China-Thailand's Security Cooperation • Security and stability are the preconditions for economic development and people’s wellbeing in Asia. According to the SIPRI ’s (Stockholm International Peace Research Institute) report, in 2014, the global military spending dropped by 0.4 percent in real terms since 2013,but in Asia, the military expenditure rising by 5 percent, reaching a total of $439 billion, because there are many security challenges in this region. We should avoid “security dilemma” and war. China advocates New Asian Security Concept • Xi Jinping, the President of China, pointed out that, “We believe that it is necessary to advocate common, comprehensive, cooperative and sustainable security in Asia. We need to innovate our security concept, establish a new regional security cooperation architecture, and jointly build a road for security of Asia that is shared by and win-win to all.” China advocates common security in Asia • Common security means respecting and ensuring the security of each and every country. Asia is a region of great diversity. Countries differ in size, wealth and strength. They vary in historical and cultural traditions as well as social systems, and have different security interests and aspirations”. China advocates comprehensive security in Asia • comprehensive security means upholding security in both traditional and non-traditional fields. Asia's security challenges are extremely complicated, which include both hotspot and sensitive issues and ethnic and religious problems.
    [Show full text]