China is preparing to test thousands of blood samples from Wuhan taken in the early months of the pandemic - away from the eyes of outside observers in what many fear will become Beijing's latest Covid cover-up.
Chinese officials say preparations are underway to test 200,000 blood donations taken in Wuhan - ground zero of the pandemic - in the two months before the first official case was reported to check for traces of the virus.
If traces of infection are found, then it would prove the disease was circulating earlier than previously though - as many already suspect - and may help identify the first person who caught the virus and, crucially, how they became infected.
But a Chinese official said earlier this year that the tests will be carried out in China by Chinese experts, raising fears that they could be faked or tampered with.
News (4)
Foreign scientists urge WHO to intervene and carry out the probe in a neutral location
Western scientists are now urging the WHO - which first identified the blood samples as potential evidence - to intervene and carry out the probe in a neutral location.
It is also not clear what will happen to the samples once they have been tested, and there are claims that China could use bogus blood samples or that scientists already carried out the testing and have withheld the results.
The Chinese Community Party has been repeatedly slammed for its failure to report the early signs of Covid-19 as scientists who first detected it were arrested and silenced and blame was deflected to the US.
China then kept evidence from a WHO probe into the virus's origins, prompting the health body to call for a new investigation with access to raw data after its initial report was lambasted as a politicised white-wash.
News (5)
Signals to test the blood samples a step in the right direction
The signals to test the blood samples will be welcomed as a step in the right direction, with investigators hoping they can provide a source of key information that can identify when the virus first crossed into humans.
News (6)
200,000 samples were taken in 2019 and have been stored in Wuhan
The 200,000 samples span 2019 when the outbreak was first detected in Wuhan although there remain doubts over when the virus first emerged.
China says there is a statutory two-year blood storage limit in which samples can only be used to settle legal or medical disputes.
That waiting period is soon due to expire for the key months of October and November 2019 when the virus is believed to have entered humans.
Once the two years have passed, testing will be able to take place and preparation is already underway, an official from China's National Health Commission told CNN.
Maureen Miller, associate professor of epidemiology at Columbia University, said the samples "absolutely will contain vital clues" but she urged China to allow foreign experts to observe the testing, saying, "No one will believe any results that China reports unless there are qualified observers at the very least."
She added, "'I'm not completely certain that China has not done this testing and not shared the results."
News (7)
Results of the blood sample tests to be delivered to foreign experts
Liang Wannian, the head of the Chinese team who worked with the WHO probe who called for the samples to be analysed, said in July they would be tested in China.
He added that the results will then be delivered to foreign experts.
The samples have been sealed shut and stored and come from the tubes that carry the blood into the donor bag.
Dr William Schaffner from the Vanderbilt University Department of Medicine's infectious disease division said they offer a "fascinating opportunity. You would like to go back to find out exactly during which months this this virus started to leave fingerprints in the human population in China.'"
He suggested they should be transferred to a neutral destination such as Geneva to allow WHO experts to take part in the analysis.
The expert feared that without foreign checks, there would be no way to guarantee 'the integrity of the blood samples - ensuring they had not been recently created'.
He added that the samples taken might not be representative of the whole population.
If they were taken from healthy individuals, they may only represent asymptomatic cases of the virus.
News (8)
Testing blood samples an opportunity for the CCP to start bearing responsibility
Huang Yanzhong, senior fellow for global health at the Council on Foreign Relations, said it remains to be seen if the world trusts China's findings from the testing, but it marks an opportunity for the CCP to start bearing responsibility.
China first told the WHO it was treating a pneumonia 'of unknown origin' in Wuhan on December 31, 2019, and provided genetic data on the disease on January 5.
But it was not until January 11 that it reported the first death, and took until January 20 to warn the disease was spreading person-to-person.
Wuhan and the surrounding regions were placed into strict lockdown - earning strong praise from the WHO - but by then cases had already spread overseas.
News (9)
The CCP is dissatisfied with the new WHO covi traceability investigation team
Reporter : Zhang Ting / Editor : Lin Yan / https://www.epochtimes.com/gb/21/10/13/n13302420.htm
The World Health Organization (WHO) nominated 26 experts on Wednesday (13 October 2021) to form a "Scientific Advisory Group on the Origin of New Pathogens" (Scientific Advisory Group) for Origins of Novel Pathogens, SAGO). The WHO said the team may be the last chance to determine the origin of covi and urged Beijing to cooperate. The CCP instead asked the WHO team to investigate in other countries.
The WHO nominated 26 experts as proposed members of SAGO on Wednesday, including the Dutch virologist Marion Koopmans who participated in the WHO joint investigation in Wuhan earlier this year, and the Danish epidemiologist Thea Fischer, Vietnamese biologist Hung Nguyen, and Chinese animal health expert Yang Yungui (transliteration).
Maria van Kerkhove, WHO's head of COVID-19 technology, expressed the hope that more international delegations led by WHO will go to China.
Fankhovs said that China's testing of Wuhan residents' antibodies in 2019 is "absolutely vital" to understanding the origin of the virus.
Mike Ryan, WHO's chief emergency expert, said that the new team of experts may be the last chance to determine the origin of SARS-CoV-2 (covi).
The team will be formally confirmed after the public consultation period.
The Chinese Communist Party’s ambassador to the United Nations Geneva Office, Chen Xu, said at a press conference on Wednesday that the conclusions of the last joint study were “very clear” and urged the investigative team to investigate in other countries.
The covid epidemic first broke out in Wuhan, China in 2019, and the origin of covi has always attracted international attention. The CCP has repeatedly denied that the virus has leaked from the Wuhan laboratory and has refused further investigation by the international community.
During January and February this year, a team of experts led by WHO and Chinese scientists conducted a four-week survey in Wuhan and surrounding areas, and released a report in March. The report concluded that the possibility that the virus originated from a leak in a Wuhan laboratory was defined as "extremely unlikely" and believed that the virus was "very likely" to be transmitted from bats to humans through another animal.
However, WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said at the time that the WHO investigative mission to Wuhan to study the origin of the virus was blocked from obtaining raw data in China, and the origin of the virus needs further investigation. He also publicly admitted for the first time in his speech that the possibility of the virus leaking from the Wuhan laboratory was not ruled out.
Tedros said that the WHO investigation team did not fully analyze the possibility of laboratory leaks before reaching the conclusion that the pathogen may be transmitted from bats to humans through another animal. He said that further investigations are still needed and an additional investigation team may be sent back to China to investigate again.
News (10)
Evidence for "lab leak" theory mounts, thanks to private sleuths, says Pottinger
Reporter : Jerry Denleavy, The Washington Examiner
Evidence is mounting that SARS-CoV-2 (covi) leaked from a lab
Matthew Pottinger, who served on the Trump National Security Council, made the remarks during the Soufan Center’s Global Security Forum . While he said the natural origin theory is still possible, the lab leak scenario is becoming much more likely.
“I’ve looked at the ledger of circumstantial evidence on both sides," Pottinger told author Lawrence Wright. "I would say that the list of evidence accumulating on the side that this was an accidental leak far outweighs the circumstantial evidence on the side that this time it was another natural origin.”
Pottinger said that China has worked to thwart international investigators from getting to the bottom of the covid origin mystery but Beijing may be no match for the global, crowd-sourced inquiry that is combing through available evidence.
“The things that are emerging from the public space, from enterprising scientists and others who are digging into this, just really as private detectives ... the circumstantial evidence is certainly accumulating pretty rapidly on the side of this having been an accidental leak,” he said.
DASZAK'S "GAIN OF FUNCTION" CORONAVIRUS GRANT REJECTED YEAR BEFORE COVID-19 PANDEMIC
One such detail was revealed last week by online sleuth group DRASTIC. That group released documents showing that EcoHealth Alliance’s Peter Daszak in 2018 unsuccessfully sought a Pentagon contract that involved dangerous “gain-of-function research,” or engineering of a virus to make it more transmissible.
Daszak, a longtime collaborator with China's Wuhan Institute of Virology, has scoffed at the possibility that covi was created through gain-of-function research. But his group's $14.2 million proposal to Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) sought to make bat viruses more dangerous by inserting spike proteins that could bind to human cells.
“I highly suspect that the intel community was not aware that the Wuhan Institute of Virology had submitted a grant proposal to create a virus very similar to the one that’s making us all sick,” Pottinger remarked.
Pottinger noted that the World Health Organization is attempting to conduct another inquiry in China related to COVID-19’s origins, but he said the U.N. agency likely was not up to the task.
“One of the things that we have to be honest with ourselves about is that global institutions, U.N. agencies, including the WHO, play an important role, but we often imbue them with responsibilities and authority that they don’t have and they never really can have because they’re not sovereign governments,” Pottinger said. “They are institutions that every country in the world, including China, have some stake in.”
See also: https://staygate.blogspot.com/2021/10/ccp-denies-who-access-to-hundreds-of.html
News (11)
Report: University of North Carolina researchers implant aborted fetal tissue in mice, dubbed "BLT Sandwich" in 2019 "Humanized Mice Study"
Reporter : Andrew White, National File
A particularly
disturbing report touched on a research effort in 2019 at the University of
North Carolina Chapel Hill that describes how a team of scientists created “BLT
sandwich” of “humanized mice” by implanting the rodents with aborted fetal
tissues.
According to a potentially disturbing report by Julie
Collorafi yesterday, researchers at the University of North Carolina (UNC)
Chapel Hill made a “BLT sandwich” of aborted baby organs in a 2019 “humanized
mice” study.
“Ralph S. Baric and his team of researchers buried a gruesome insider joke in the 2019 scientific paper on precision mice test models conducted at the University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill. I missed it the first few times I read the study, but a few days ago the word “sandwich” suddenly popped out at me in the section entitled “Generation of Humanized Mice,” and upon closer inspection I realized the full meaning and horror of the reference,” wrote Collarafi.
Baric is mentioned in the Fauci emails,
and he is believed by many to have played some role in the Wuhan lab where many
believe the China-originated COVID-19 virus emerged. U.S. House candidate Jarome
Bell of Virginia has called for the so-called “virus hunter” to be
investigated, as well as the “gain of function” research conducted during this
time at UNC.
The report includes a screenshot
of the Generation of Humanized Mice
section of the scientific paper that describes “BLT-L mice”
being “constructed by implanting a sandwich of human fetal thymus-liver-thymus
tissue (Advance Bioscience Resources) under the kidney capsule of irradiated
(200 rad) 10-15-week-old male and female NSG mice.”
“In plain language, the BLT-L
(bone marrow, liver, thymus, lung) mice test models are made by first
implanting a sandwich of human fetal thymus-liver-thymus under the mouse’s
kidney capsule,” she explained. “Then a human fetal-derived bone marrow
transplant [sic] is injected into the tail of the mouse. A BLT sandwich. Two
pieces of fetal lung tissue are also implanted onto the mouse’s back, thus the
BLT-L label: bone marrow-liver-thymus-lung.”
Collorafi further noted that Advanced Bioscience Resources is
the “premier aborted baby organ trafficking company in partnership with Planned
Parenthood,” adding that “every informed reader would realize that the
researchers are emphasizing the fact that the thymus, liver and bone marrow are
derived from aborted babies.”
The following is
a graphic by Creative Biolabs website, showing how a “sandwich” of aborted
fetal organs are placed under the renal capsule of the mouse, with fetal bone
marrow being injected into the rodent’s tail.
“The development
of novel techniques and systems to study human diseases in both an in vitro and in vivo settings is usually in high demand. Preferably, small
animal models are the most efficient approach for studying human afflictions.
The immunodeficient mice can permit efficient engraftment with human
hematopoietic cells and then generate a functional human immune system. These
humanized mouse models are becoming increasingly important for preclinical
studies of human immunity, tissue regeneration, hematopoiesis, cancer, and
infectious diseases etc. As a world leader in the industry of animal model, Creative Biolabs provides a range of validated humanized BLT mice for
our worldwide clients to evaluate the safety and efficacy of potential novel
agents.”
Ref: https://nationalfile.com/unc-researchers-implant-aborted-fetal-tissue-in-mice-dubbed-blt-sandwich-in-2019-humanized-mice-study-report/
News (12)
Erdene - The best of Mongolia adds resort with Malaysian hospitality
The
Genghis Khan statue complex at Erdene, where a 40m-tall statue of the founder
of the Mongol Empire stands, is the location where he found his
golden whip that set him on the path of conquest over Central Asia and China.
For those inclined towards nature travel, the sprawling
Gorkhi-Terelj National Park is teeming with lush greenery, with picturesque
landscapes and hills. Its famed attractions include the Turtle Rock and Ariyabal
Meditation Temple.
Another reason for tourists from Southeast Asia to visit Erdene is that the Yeruu
Tsonjin Tour Resort in Erdene is owned by Malaysian investment holding company
Radiance Assets Berhad which acquired a 100% stake in the hotel.
Radiance Assets aims to rebrand the hotel as the Radiance Gerelt
Resort, billed as the first-ever halal resort in Mongolia.
The hotel sits on 5.66 ha of land. It has been in operation
since 2013 with a full suite of facilities and an auxiliary farm to boost
tourism and horticulture in Mongolia. The hotel works with local and overseas
tourism organisations to hold programmes that introduce Mongolian culture to
the world.
Under new
management by Radiance Assets, the hotel will build traditional Malaysian
chalets at the premises to showcase Malaysian culture in Mongolia. This is part
of the group’s initiative to promote cultural tourism between the two countries.
The hotel will have senior-friendly facilities for multi-generational families to travel together easily to
see nomadic Mongolia.
Besides recreational activities for elderly visitors, there will
be treatment facilities as well as special services for seniors and caregivers.
With the resort’s auxiliary farm and greenhouse facilities,
Radiance Gerelt Resort aims to be a tourism industry leader in Mongolia and
would add new attractions for tourists from all over the world to experience the culture and nomadic lifestyle of Mongolia.
News (13) to (15) / Source : Myanmar Now
News (13)
Generals threatened "harm" to President Win Myint after he refused to resign
Two Myanmar military generals tried to force President Win Myint
to resign as the coup unfolded on 1 February 2021 and said “harm” would come to
him after he refused the request, the ousted leader told a court in Naypyitaw
on Tuesday.
The generals, who Win Myint did not name in his testimony, came
to the presidential residence in the capital in the early hours of the morning
as the civilian leadership was rounded up across the country and told him to
resign on the grounds of ill health, he told the court.
“The president turned down their proposal, saying he was in good
health,” said a lawyer for the defence, who did not want to be named. “The
officers warned him the denial would cause him much harm but he told them he
would rather die than consent.”
The president told the generals that they should handle things
in accordance with the law and should not stage a coup, the lawyer added.
The revelation came as Win Myint, 69, took the stand to defend
himself against an incitement charge at the court in Zabuthiri Township.
Judge Maung Maung Lwin indicted Win Myint under Section 505b of
the Penal Code in late September, along with detained State Counsellor Aung San
Suu Kyi and detained Naypyitaw Mayor Myo Aung.
The charges were based on statements released by the National
League for Democracy (NLD) party on 7 and 13 February 2021 denouncing the junta
that had forced it from power and calling on the public to resist.
Win Myint told the court that he had no connection to the NLD’s
statements as he had been in detention since 1 February, his lawyer said.
The president then said that “the accusations against him were
groundless as he had been held incommunicado, so the alleged statements were
released without his knowledge,” the lawyer told Myanmar Now.
After Win Myint and Suu Kyi were detained, first vice president
Myint Swe, a former lieutenant general, became acting president and then
declared a state of emergency while transferring power to military chief Min
Aung Hlaing.
The junta then charged the two civilian leaders with several
offences that carry a combined sentence of decades in prison.
News (14)
Win Myint was asked irrelevant questions on Pyidaungsu Hluttaw, NUG and PDF
At Tuesday’s hearing Win Myint was also questioned by the
junta’s public prosecutor, who asked him whether he knew about the Committee
Representing Pyidaungsu Hluttaw, a group formed by ousted lawmakers to
challenge the junta’s legitimacy.
The prosecutor also asked the president about his knowledge of
the underground National Unity Government and the People’s Defence Force (PDF)
it has established.
Win Myint’s lawyers objected to the questioning, saying the questions were irrelevant because the organisations were formed after Win Myint was arrested
and he has not had a chance to learn anything about them.
The junta’s prosecutor also asked if Win Myint knew about the
alleged “atrocities” committed by the PDF, a reference to junta claims that
resistance fighters have carried out acts of terrorism. Win Myint’s
lawyers objected to the question and said it was irrelevant.
Also on Tuesday, the court heard a second charge against Suu Kyi
under the Disaster Management Law, which was filed by a civilian. The judge
said he would announce whether or not he was indicting her under that charge at
the next hearing.
News (15)
Suu Kyi and Win Myint indicted for breaching covid restrictions during the election campaign
On Monday the judge indicted Suu Kyi and Win Myint under the
same law for alleged breaches of Covid-19 restrictions during last year’s
election campaign.
The next hearing for both cases is scheduled for 26 October,
after the Thadingyut holiday, the defence team for both leaders said.
The ASEAN special envoy to Myanmar, Erywan Yusof, delayed a planned visit to the country
after the junta denied his request to meet with Suu Kyi and Win Myint.
News (16) to (28) / Source : The Irrawaddy
News (16)
Myanmar's detained President exposes coup illegality in Court testimony
Court testimony from Myanmar’s ousted civilian President U Win Myint on Tuesday (12 October 2021) showed that commander-in-chief Senior General Min Aung Hlaing breached the military’s own 2008 Constitution when he seized power on 1 February.
On multiple occasions over the past eight months, whether in meetings with members of the State Administration Council (SAC) he chairs, or at gatherings with his subordinates, the commander-in-chief has repeatedly claimed that there was no coup on 1 February and that the military takeover was carried out “constitutionally”.
However, on 12 October, the 70-year-old detained President, testifying in his own defense, told a court in Naypyitaw that early in the morning of the takeover, two military generals entered his room at the Presidential Residence in Naypyitaw and tried to force him to resign from his post on the grounds of ill health.
According to his lawyer, the President told the court that the officers threatened him, saying that if he did not do as they instructed he would come to “harm”.
The lawyer added U Win Myint told the generals that he would rather die than consent to their proposal.
The President said he told the generals that he was not concerned about being harmed, and that things should be handled as per the law and not by staging a coup, his lawyer said.
The first public revelation of the circumstances of President U Win Myint’s detention came as he personally defends himself against an incitement charge brought by the regime over statements released by his National League for Democracy (NLD) urging the public to resist the coup.
The same charge has also been brought against detained State Counselor Daw Aung San Suu Kyi, the NLD chairwoman, and detained Naypyitaw Mayor U Myo Aung.
News (17)
Win Myint's statement shows the military coup is unconstitutional
A lawyer told The Irrawaddy that Tuesday’s court testimony from the President has emerged as the strongest confirmation yet of assertions made by both local and international legal experts that the military takeover was unconstitutional.
According to Article 417 and Article 418 of the 2008 Constitution, in the event that a state of emergency is to be declared in the country, the President must announce the order in coordination with the military-dominated National Defense and Security Council (NDSC). The President then transfers the government’s executive, legislative and judicial powers to the Commander-in-Chief of the Defense Forces.
However, a few hours after the country’s civilian leaders including President U Win Myint and State Counselor Daw Aung San Suu Kyi were arrested on 1 February, the military convened an NDSC meeting. Former general U Myint Swe, the military-appointed vice president, attended the meeting as “acting president” and declared the country to be under a nationwide state of emergency for one year. Then, he immediately transferred the country’s legislative, administrative and judicial powers to the commander-in-chief.
Trying to force the sitting president to resign by using threats could be seen as coup maker Min Aung Hlaing’s desperate attempt to make his takeover constitutional. The charter’s Article 73 (a) states that one of the two vice presidents—the one who won the second-highest number of votes in the presidential election—shall serve as Acting President “if the office of the President falls vacant due to his resignation, death, permanent disability or any other reason.”
In other words, the two senior military officers’ suggestion that U Win Myint quit his position for health reasons was nothing more than a pretext to make the coup legal.
News (18)
U Myint Swe's acting presidency is illegal
However, given the then president’s refusal to resign, it’s hard to say that Article 73 provides valid support for U Myint Swe’s acting presidency, let alone the coup.
“The President has notified the entire nation as well as the world, through the court, that the takeover violates the Constitution,” the lawyer said.
News (19)
Myanmar Junta commit high treason
The President’s words clearly reveal the commander-in-chief and his fellow generals to be criminals who have committed high treason, he said.
“It is the strongest evidence that they committed high treason as [it comes from] the head of state himself,” the lawyer said.
Lawyers in Myanmar have called for the prosecution of the coup leaders for high treason, which carries the death sentence.
Amid these calls, the SAC led by coup leader Min Aung Hlaing has amended the country’s high treason law in an attempt to guarantee impunity for the military leaders who seized power in February.
News (20)
Myanmar lawyers: All changes to the law made by the junta after 1 February 2021 are illegal
While the original Article 121 of the Penal Code says anyone who “attempts or otherwise prepares by force of arms or other violent means to overthrow the organs of the Union or of its constituent units established by the Constitution” is guilty of high treason, the coup leader has amended it so that only unconstitutional use of force of arms constitutes high treason, meaning it is acceptable to use force of arms as long as it is done in line with the Constitution.
However, lawyers said that because the takeover was carried out in breach of the Constitution, every order, every appointment and removal of an official, and all changes to the law made by the junta are illegal.
Daw Aung San Suu Kyi has dismissed his claims as ‘all absurd’. On 8 October, lawyers for the National League for Democracy leader cross-examined U Phyo Min Thein about the corruption accusations at the special court in Naypyitaw where Daw Aung San Suu Kyi is on trial. One of her lawyers, U Kyi Win, revealed details about the cross-examination.
The lawyers cross-examined U Phyo Min Thein, a NLD central executive committee member and a former chief minister, about his claim that he gave seven viss of gold and US$600,000 as bribes to Daw Aung San Suu Kyi on three separate visits. He was asked if it was true that he was not charged, while President U Win Myint, other central executive committee members and chief ministers were detained and charged. He answered ‘Yes.’ He said that he had been at the interrogation camp for nearly nine months.
However, U Phyo Min Thein did not remember the dates when he gave the gold and dollars to Daw Aung San Suu Kyi. He also said that he knew that no gold and dollars were found in Daw Aung San Suu Kyi’s possession or were submitted as evidence to the court.
Suu Kyi did not take bribes from chief minister
Daw Aung San Suu Kyi said she had no reason to hold meetings with chief ministers. She said she had not held meetings with them and thus had no reason to take bribes from them, while the chief ministers also had no reason to bribe her.
So then, there emerged a legal question and the lawyers asked U Phyo Min Thein if it is true that region and state chief ministers are appointed by the President under Section 265(b) of the 2008 Constitution. He answered "Yes." The lawyers asked if it is true that chief ministers are responsible to the President. He answered "Yes." So, they argued that Daw Aung San Suu Kyi was appointed as State Counselor under the 2016 State Counselor Law, and she is assigned with only four responsibilities under the law: the promotion of democracy, the market economy, peace and federal democracy. So, she has nothing to do with chief ministers. Their job descriptions are different. There is no reason for her to use her influence on U Phyo Min Thein.
According to Section 55 of Anti-Corruption Law, it is not corruption unless one abuses their position of power to take bribes. So the lawyers phrased their question to highlight that there was no violation of Section 55.
News (22)
Suu Kyi: U Phyo Min Thein's statement on bribes when he tells lies is all absurd
Suu Kyi does not interfere in the work of her lawyers. She was asked if U Phyo Min Thein gave her the gold and cash. She said he did not and that she had no reason to take it if he had offered it. That is why she said it is all absurd.
According to Section 59 of the Anti-Corruption Law, one can sue the plaintiff if he intentionally files a false complaint. Daw Aung San Suu Kyi might have some legal knowledge and she said, ‘It is possible to sue someone if they tell lies, isn’t it?’
Suu Kyi was interested in U Phyo Min Thein's statement and questions raised. She was cheerful and talked with the lawyers. After the trial, she stood up and said goodbye to them.
News (23)
International pressure grows on Myanmar Junta to cooperate with ASEAN
Myanmar’s military regime is facing mounting regional and international pressure to cooperate with ASEAN to resolve the country’s political crisis, as calls grow for the regime to be excluded from the bloc’s summit scheduled for later this month if it fails to do so.
For all his promises to follow the five-point consensus agreed by ASEAN at its summit in April to tackle the political turmoil that has gripped the country since the military coup in February—including an immediate cessation of violence and a visit by a special envoy—regime leader Min Aung Hlaing has largely failed to implement it.
Plans for a visit to the country by the regional bloc’s special envoy Erywan Yusof are still in limbo, as his request to meet all stakeholders including the country’s detained leader Daw Aung San Suu Kyi has been refused by the regime.
News (24)
APHR and ALTSEAN urge ASEAN leaders not to invite the regime leader
On Wednesday, ASEAN Parliamentarians for Human Rights (APHR); the Alternative ASEAN Network on Burma (ALTSEAN), an NGO working to promote human rights and democracy in Myanmar; and more than 50 local rights groups urged the bloc’s leaders not to invite the regime leader to the upcoming ASEAN Summit. They reasoned that the junta had failed to respect the five-point consensus and pointed to its continued refusal to cooperate with the regional bloc on its implementation.
News (25)
EU called on Myanmar Junta to engage with ASEAN special envoy
On the same day, the European Union called on the Myanmar regime to engage with the ASEAN special envoy to fully implement the consensus, while stressing the need for the military to facilitate regular visits by Erywan and allow him to “engage freely with all [those] he wishes to meet.”
News (26)
EU calls for unconditional release of Win Myint, Suu Kyi and other detainees
In its statement, the EU also called for the immediate and unconditional release of President U Win Myint, State Counselor Daw Aung San Suu Kyi and all those detained in connection with the coup, the establishment of a genuine political dialogue and a peaceful return to the country’s democratic path.
News (27)
EU supports CRPH and NUG
“The European Union underlines that a meaningful political dialogue must include all relevant stakeholders, including the Committee Representing the Pyidaungsu Hluttaw (CRPH), the National Unity Government (NUG), ethnic groups, political parties and other pro-democracy forces committed to working towards a peaceful resolution of the current crisis,” it said. The CRPH was formed by ousted elected lawmakers from Daw Aung San Suu Kyi’s National League for Democracy (NLD). The NUG was organized by the NLD parliamentarians and their ethnic allies in the wake of the coup as the “legitimate government of Myanmar.”
The European Parliament last week also agreed to support the CRPH and NUG.
News (28)
Calling NUG and PDF "illegal organizations" a stumbling block for Myanmar Junta recognition in the ASEAN community
Zaw Min Tun, the military’s spokesman, recently said that dialogue between the ASEAN special envoy and State Counselor Daw Aung San Suu Kyi, the NUG and People’s Defence Forces could not take place because they have been declared by the junta as “illegal organizations”.
The regime’s refusal to allow the special envoy to enter the country has drawn the ire of some ASEAN member countries including Malaysia. Its Foreign Minister Saifuddin Abdullah said coup leader Senior General Min Aung Hlaing could be excluded from the regional summit over the junta’s failure to cooperate with ASEAN’s efforts. He also said his country is ready to hold talks with Myanmar’s shadow government if the junta continues to fail the bloc.
Following the tussle, Erywan said last week that the bloc was “deep in discussions” about not inviting the junta leader to the summit after the issue was raised by the Malaysian foreign minister and others.
“Up until today there has been no progress on the implementation of the five-point consensus, and this has raised a concern,” he said, according to Reuters.
News (29) to (30) / Reporter : Luo Tingting / Editor: Wen Hui / https://www.ntdtv.com/gb/2021/10/14/a103242560.html
News (29)
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