New museum to host over 100,000 relics

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The Fine Arts Department (FAD) is building a national museum in Pathum Thani’s Khlong Luang district with a warehouse for over 100,000 artefacts, according to Chandrajoti Phanombootra, its director-general.

Mr Chandrajoti said the warehouse will include the biggest database for artefacts in Thailand, while the museum will be the first in the country that meets international curation standards.

The warehouse will have 24,000 square metres of usable space, ready to exhibit over 200,000 artefacts, he said, before adding the space will open in August.

“The FAD is grateful that Her Royal Highness Princess Maha Chakri Sirindhorn has given her advice on the warehouse construction and promotion as a research centre,” he said.

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MFP reveals 100-day roadmap

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The Move Forward Party (MFP) yesterday revealed a roadmap for its first 100 days in office, believing it will form the next government and make good on its 300-point campaign promises.

MFP leader Pita Limjaroenrat outlined policy priorities for implementation within that time frame. He added those not among priority policies would be progressively implemented within the first year of government.

Mr Pita promised within the first 100 days in office, the party would exercise its power as the executive branch to push for a referendum to be held that would pave the way for the constitution to be rewritten by a drafting assembly made up of elected members.

He said the party would propose the cabinet to immediately seek an immediate resumption of the deliberation of the contentious Marriage Equality Bill currently put on the back burner.

The pending legal cases of a political nature will be reviewed, while an amnesty law will be put forth to absolve those being prosecuted or who had been prosecuted in such cases.

In addition, new rules and ministerial regulations will be issued, while some existing ones will be abolished to reform the entire bureaucratic system for transparency reasons. Specifically, many regulations enforced by the Interior Ministry deemed to hold back the progress of local administrative organisations and keep them from achieving administrative independence will be cancelled.

Other priority tasks include pushing for enacting the party’s progressive liquor bill, which was shot down in its second and third readings in the House last year. The bill sought to amend the Excise Tax Act, with supporters claiming it would break the monopoly held by a few corporate distillers and allow small-scale producers to enter the market.

Mr Pita added the urgent policies would extend to the distribution of title deeds covering 6.5 million rai of land to people in the cooperatives and self-established settlements.

Also, the party will introduce “net metering”, an electric billing tool that uses the electric grid to “store” excess energy produced by a home solar panel system. Under the policy, energy produced by household solar panels left unused will be credited back to the household.

The party leader said the MFP has prepared 45 draft laws to be put to the parliament if and when it gets to work as the government.

Mr Pita said the party stands ready to pass the legislation to scrap military conscription and replace it with voluntary enlistment. He added that the MFP would also revive the criminal cases related to the crackdowns on the red-shirt protests in 2010.

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Use of conscripts as servants ‘wrong’

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The National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) says using conscripts as servants by army officers is a human rights violation and has called on the Defence Ministry to eliminate the practice within 90 days.

NHRC commisioner Wasan Paileeklee yesterday told a press conference that the commission has looked at the use of conscripts as servants for senior commissioned officers, including their wives and children.

According to a Defence Ministry ministerial regulation (1912), commissioned officers can appoint conscripted men to serve them and their families, specifically for household affairs. Mr Wasan said that sections 49-57 of the ministerial regulation also allows commissioned officers to punish conscripts as they see fit.

However, the Defence Ministry’s Public Administration Act (2008) eliminated the use of servant conscripts. Instead, the act enables the army to deploy conscripts for duties such as administration, sanitation and other affairs concerning retired army officials.

“The use of both servant and service conscripts is a misuse of drafted men. Even though some of them are willing to serve their superiors, it is against the purpose of military conscription,” Mr Wasan said.

He said the ministerial regulations created ambiguity allowing senior officers to call in conscripts for their personal affairs. Even worse, some of them have abused conscripts mentally and physically, a violation of the constitution and the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights.

The NHRC has pointed out to the Defence Ministry the rights violations and called for the scrapping of the clause in the 1912 ministerial regulations.

“The NHRC expects the Defence Ministry to endorse the new protocol within 90 days,” he said.

In August last year, a former soldier filed a report with Muang police in Ratchaburi stating she was abused by a female police corporal. The victim claimed her employer burned her using a hair curler, hit her with a metal bar, and once sprayed alcohol on her hair and set it on fire.

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US and South Korea reach nuclear weapons deal

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The United States and South Korea have unveiled an agreement under which leaders in Seoul will be handed an enhanced role in planning any nuclear response to a strike in the region by North Korea.

Announced at a state visit to Washington by South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol on April 26, 2023, the so-called “Washington Declaration” will see US deployments of “strategic assets” around the Korean Peninsula, including an upcoming visit by a nuclear submarine. The last time the US had nuclear weapons in South Korea was in 1991.

Sung-Yoon Lee, an expert on U.S.-Korean relations at Tufts University, explains what the decision to revamp nuclear relations means and why it has come now.

What is in the ‘Washington Declaration’?

Well, there’s strong language. Whereas the U.S. has repeatedly “reaffirmed” its commitment in the past to the defense of South Korea, the wording in the Washington Declaration is more robust. It builds on the language contained in the joint statement released during Biden’s visit to Seoul soon after Yoon assumed office in May 2022.

On that occasion, the US pledged its “extended deterrence commitment to the Republic of Korea using the full range of US defense capabilities, including nuclear, conventional and missile defense capabilities.”

This time, lest there be doubt, that affirmation is made “in the strongest words possible.”

But what does that mean in real terms? First, the US “commits to make every effort to consult” with the Republic of Korea “on any possible nuclear weapons employment on the Korean Peninsula.”

More substantively, the two sides commit “to engage in deeper, cooperative decision-making on nuclear deterrence,” including through “enhanced dialogue and information sharing regarding growing nuclear threats” to South Korea.

It will come as a welcome development to decision-makers in South Korea, although it raises questions about just how much intel on North Korea’s threat and capabilities the US – and Japan, with its advanced signal intelligence systems – did not share with previous administrations in Seoul.

Second, the two allies will establish a new nuclear consultative group to “strengthen extended deterrence, discuss nuclear and strategic planning and manage” the growing threat posed by Pyongyang. This means Seoul now will have a seat at the table when it comes to planning any nuclear response strategy and in readying its “conventional support to US nuclear operations in a contingency.”

From right, US First Lady Jill Biden, US President Joe Biden, South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol and, behind him, Kim Keon Hee, first lady of South Korea, attend a wreath-laying ceremony at the Korean War Memorial in Washington, DC, on Tuesday, April 25, 2023..Photo: EPA

In sum, Seoul will now have a much greater say in intel-sharing and planning for a joint long-term nuclear strategy, with a focus on its own role in any future flare-up in the Korean Peninsula.

It is a big step forward.

Why are the US and South Korea announcing this now?

The international security environment has drastically changed over the past year, necessitating credible countermeasures from the two allies, in cooperation with Japan. North Korea has fired well over 100 missiles since January 2022. Meanwhile, Russia’s invasion of Ukraine has only pulled China and North Korea closer into its sphere. And China has gone beyond its usual “wolf-warrior diplomacy” rhetoric by conducting threatening military drills around Taiwan last August and, again, this April.

The Washington Declaration comes on the 70th anniversary of the alliance between Washington and Seoul. The timing serves as an opportunity to reflect on and reassess the relationship. But, no doubt, the main drivers in this strongly worded reaffirmation of the alliance are the recent actions taken by the governments in Pyongyang, Moscow and Beijing.

How has South Korea’s position on nuclear options evolved?

The Korean Peninsula has been through two periods of actual “denuclearization” since the 1953 armistice that ended combat during the Korean War.

The first was in the 1970s when the US, catching wind of South Korea’s secret nuclear weapons program, threatened to withdraw all its troops from the South unless Seoul completely dismantled the program. And, so, the government abandoned its nuclear ambitions.

The second came in 1991 when the US and South Korea – perhaps anticipating the coming collapse of the Soviet empire and a severely debilitated North Korea – agreed to withdraw all US tactical nuclear weapons from the South, even as the North was working on its own nuclear program while vigorously talking “denuclearization.”

But in recent years, public opinion in South Korea has strongly shifted toward self-nuclearization rather than reliance on the US stockpile off South Korea’s shores. North Korea’s relentless pursuit of more powerful nuclear and missile capabilities, starting with the resumption of ballistic missiles tests in May 2019 after an 18-month lull, has stiffened views in the South.

President Yoon himself floated the idea of self-nuclearization earlier this year. But the Washington Declaration appears to have tamped down such sentiment. In it, Yoon “reaffirmed” the Republic of Korea’s “longstanding commitment” to the Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty, which would prevent the country from building up its own nuclear weapons stockpile.

How will the declaration affect regional tensions?

A staple of North Korean propaganda is that its arms program is a response to US “hostile policy” – which Pyongyang defines as anything from Washington raising concerns about the North’s egregious human rights record to the stationing of US troops in South Korea and joint US-South Korea military drills.

North Korea has launched more than 100 missiles since the beginning of 2022. Photo: KCNA

As such, it is reasonable to assume that Pyongyang will respond with a threatening act or two in the coming days. Using the Washington Declaration as cover, expect North Korea to embark on another brazen act of defiance.

Last December, Kim Yo Jong, the North Korean leader’s sister and deputy, threatened an intercontinental ballistic missile test on a normal trajectory, rather than the steep angle launches that avoid threatening nearby countries. And in 2017, North Korea’s former foreign minister Ri Yong Ho suggested that Kim Jong Un was considering testing a hydrogen bomb test over the Pacific. Either would represent a ratcheting up of North Korea’s provocations.

China, meanwhile, is likely to fall back on its decades-old mantra that issues on the Korean Peninsula need to be resolved “through dialogue” – a position that not only fails to penalize Pyongyang but indirectly empowers the isolationist state.

Sung-Yoon Lee is a professor in Korean studies at Tufts University.

This article is republished from The Conversation under a Creative Commons license. Read the original article.

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US friend-shoring hurts China’s industrial profits

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Chinese industrial firms made lower profits in the first quarter than a year ago as the United States’ “near-shoring” and “friend-shoring” strategy has started showing a negative impact on the Chinese manufacturing sector.

China’s industrial firms’ profits fell 21.4% year-on-year to 1.52 trillion yuan ($220 billion) in the first three months from 1.93 trillion yuan a year ago, the National Bureau of Statistics said Thursday. The year-on-year decline was 22.9% in the first two months of this year.

Of the 413 billion yuan drop in industrial profits in the first quarter, the computers, telecommunication and other electronic equipment sector contributed 20%. The rest was attributable to the chemical, metal and oil refinery industries, which are more sensitive to changes in commodity prices.

Manufacturers of computers, telecommunication and other electronic equipment saw their revenue down 6.4% to 3.24 trillion yuan in the first quarter from a year earlier while their profits contracted 57.5% to 60.73 billion yuan.

Chinese officials concluded that the shrinking profits were a result of weak external demand but some analysts suggested that the problem is more of a structural one.

Zhang Zhongjie, an economist at Huajin Securities, writes in a research report that the export of electronic products has regained its growth momentum in the first quarter of 2023 from the fourth quarter of last year after China ended its zero-Covid policy last December. He says, however, the recovery was slowed by the protectionist US policy. 

Zhang Yansheng, chief researcher at the China Center for International Economic Exchanges, has recently said on two occasions that the decline in China’s industrial profits was caused by not only a slowing external demand but also the restructuring of the US supply chains.  

“At present, the biggest challenge for China’s foreign trade is the decoupling of the Sino-US supply chain,” Zhang says. “In 2018, the US used trade disputes to push forward ‘re-shoring’ and ’near-shoring,’ and now it is promoting ‘friend-shoring’ to achieve its decoupling goal.”

He notes that the US has recently forced its companies to reduce their purchases in China while some traditional foreign customers have also encouraged Chinese manufacturers to relocate to some Southeast Asian and South Asian countries.

“Geopolitics can cause huge and far-reaching damage to the stability of the global supply chain, and this will have a major impact on China’s future foreign trade situation,” he says. “China is now selling more and more intermediate products to South and Southeast Asia, Eastern European and Mexico, which will do the processing and assembly and then ship the end products to the US and Europe.”

Zhang says China can boost industrial profits by strengthening its research and development to fight for high-value manufacturing orders, and also partnering with overseas scientists, engineers and entrepreneurs to sell professional services. 

Since the Sino-US trade war began in 2018, US officials have pushed forward a “re-shoring” and “near-shoring” strategy, encouraging companies to produce their goods in Mexico and the US.

In June last year, the Biden administration said it would waive tariffs on solar panels imported to the US from Cambodia, Malaysia, Thailand and Vietnam for 24 months. The move provided incentives for Chinese solar panel suppliers to move to these four countries.

Last November, Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen visited India to promote the US “friend-shoring” drive, which will also benefit Vietnam and Indonesia.

Auto, metal and energy sectors

Meanwhile, other industries performed differently in terms of their profitability during the first quarter. 

Automakers recorded a 1.3% growth in revenue to 2.14 trillion yuan but their profits contracted 24.2% to 81.9 billion yuan due to a price war in the sector. In March, their profits climbed 9.1%, in sharp contrast to a decrease of 41.7% in the January-February period.

Many metal suppliers and oil refiners recorded shrinking profits as the selling prices of their products fell faster than their raw materials. The electricity and thermal supplying sector recorded a 49% growth in profit while the electrical machinery and equipment manufacturing sector saw a 27.1% profit growth.

“Overall, the profit drop of Chinese industrial firms remains significant while the scope of profit losses for some companies is large,” NBS statistician Sun Xiao said in a media briefing on Thursday. “Hopefully, the easing of raw material prices will help improve the profitability of Chinese firms.”

Sun added that China has seen some signs of recovery in March when industrial profits dropped only 19.2% year-on-year, compared with a slump of 22.9% in the first two months.

To accelerate the recovery of industrial profits, Sun urged efforts to expand market demand, perk up confidence and give enterprises reason to feel positive about the future.

On Wednesday, the General Office of the State Council issued a circular laying out measures to improve the scale and structure of foreign trade to ensure its stable and high-quality growth.

Governments at all levels should promote the full resumption of important domestic offline expos for better supply and purchase matchmaking, and facilitate cross-border business personnel exchanges, according to the circular.

Efforts will be made to enhance market development services to stabilize exports to developed economies and guide enterprises to further develop markets in developing countries, ASEAN and other regional markets.

The circular came after some Chinese manufacturers said they met fewer buyers from Europe and the US at the Canton Fair, the largest trade show in China, which is being held in Guangzhou between April 15 and May 5.

They said they saw more buyers from Latin America, Africa, Southeast Asia and Russia but these customers may provide lower margins. 

Read: US sanctions turn away Canton Fair’s Western buyers

Follow Jeff Pao on Twitter at @jeffpao3

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Two Singaporean families safely evacuated from Sudan to Saudi Arabia: MFA

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SINGAPORE: Two Singaporean families, comprising 14 Singaporeans and a family member, were safely evacuated from Khartoum in Sudan, said the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MFA) on Thursday (Apr 27). 

The families were evacuated to Jeddah in Saudi Arabia, together with a group of Malaysians and other nationals, with help from the Malaysian, Saudi Arabian and the United Arab Emirates governments. 

“Since the outbreak of the conflict in Sudan, MFA has been rendering consular assistance to the Singaporeans in Sudan and exploring options to evacuate them,” the ministry said in a statement. 

The Singapore embassies in Riyadh and Abu Dhabi, as well as the Singapore Consulate-General in Jeddah worked closely with their host governments and their counterparts from the Malaysian embassy to facilitate the families’ departure from Khartoum to Jeddah. 

“The Singapore government would like to express its deepest appreciation and gratitude to the governments of Malaysia, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates for facilitating the safe return of our citizens,” said MFA. 

Fighting broke out in the country on Apr 15 between Sudan’s army, led by General Abdel Fattah al-Burhan and the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF) commanded by his deputy turned rival, Mohamed Hamdan Daglo. 

The fighting has continued despite the US-brokered three-day ceasefire that started on Tuesday.

According to health ministry figures, at least 512 people have been killed and 4,193 wounded in the fighting although the real death toll is likely much higher.

Countries globally have rushed to extract foreign diplomats and citizens from the country. 

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Move Forward reveals 100-day roadmap

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Policy priorities include referendum on new charter, land title deed distribution and Marriage Equality Bill

A supporter waves a Move Forward flag at a rally that drew a large crowd to Samyan Mitrtown in Bangkok on Saturday evening. (Photo: Apichart Jinakul)
A supporter waves a Move Forward flag at a rally that drew a large crowd to Samyan Mitrtown in Bangkok on Saturday evening. (Photo: Apichart Jinakul)

The Move Forward Party (MFP) on Thursday revealed a roadmap for its first 100 days in office, outlining how it will form the next government and make good on its 300 campaign promises.

Party leader Pita Limjaroenrat said the roadmap contained the policy priorities to be implemented within the 100-day time frame. Other policies would be progressively implemented within the first year of government.

Details of all 300 of the party’s policies can be found (in Thai) on its Facebook page.

Mr Pita promised that within its first 100 days in office, a Move Forward-led government would exercise executive power to push for a referendum to pave the way for the constitution to be rewritten by a drafting assembly made up of elected members.

He said the party would also propose that the cabinet seek an immediate resumption of deliberation of the contentious Marriage Equality Bill, currently on the back burner.

Pending legal cases of a political nature will be reviewed, he said, while an amnesty law will be proposed to absolve those being prosecuted or who had been prosecuted in such cases in the past.

In addition, new rules and ministerial regulations will be issued, while some existing ones will be abolished to reform the entire bureaucratic system to improve transparency.

Specifically, many regulations enforced by the Interior Ministry deemed to hold back the progress of local administrative organisations and keep them from achieving administrative independence will be cancelled, said Mr Pita.

Other priority tasks include pushing to enact the party’s progressive liquor bill, which was shot down in its second and third readings in the House last year. The bill sought to amend the Excise Tax Act, with supporters claiming it would break the monopoly held by a handful of corporate distillers and brewers and allow small-scale producers to enter the market.

Other urgent policies would extend to the distribution of title deeds covering 6.5 million rai of land to people in cooperatives and self-established settlements.

As well, the party will introduce “net metering”, an electricity billing tool that uses the grid to “store” excess energy produced by home solar panel systems. Under the policy, energy produced by household solar panels and left unused will be credited back to the household.

Mr Pita said the party has prepared 45 draft laws to be put to parliament if and when it gets to work as the government.

As well, he said, the party stands ready to pass legislation to scrap military conscription and replace it with voluntary enlistment.

He added that Move Forward would also revive the criminal cases related to the crackdowns on the red-shirt protests in 2010.

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Mediacorp wins 39 awards at World Media Festivals 2023, including 22 golds

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SINGAPORE: Mediacorp won a total of 39 awards at this year’s World Media Festivals Television and Corporate Media Awards, including 22 golds. 

The company also took home 16 silver awards, as well as a prestigious grand award – which is conferred on the top entry in each category – for CNA’s “What causes mental illnesses? The human brain and its link to mental health”. 

The news report also bagged a gold award in the News Reports and Features category, the company said in a media release on Thursday (Apr 27).

“What causes mental illnesses? The human brain and its link to mental health” aired on CNA last October and examines the causes of mental illness and how various parts of the human brain affect one’s everyday life. 

“Presented by CNA presenter Steve Lai, the news report gives viewers an in-depth, visual look at the physiology of the brain and its link to mental health,” said the company. 

CNA won a total of nine golds and four silvers at this year’s awards. Of the nine gold awards, one went to an episode of Talking Point and two went to two episodes of Undercover Asia. 

Of the 22 gold awards won by Mediacorp, one was in the Documentaries: Activism category for “Looted”, a current affairs programme that looks at how activists, archaeologists and social media sleuths are working to retrieve priceless artefacts stolen during the colonial era. 

Produced by Make Waves, the programme shows how they gather first-hand testimonies from looters, with photographic and forensic evidence to prove from where and when they were stolen.

Another gold award went to Mediacorp’s Malay drama “Kaki Bola” in the Entertainment: Family Special category. 

Produced by Millenia Motion Pictures, the show recounts the story of Singapore’s football legends such as Fandi Ahmad and Sundram Moorthy, who played for The Lions national football team during the Malaysia Cup years.

In the Marketing and Promotions: Programme Openers and Titles category, “Abyss of Greed” took gold. The series also bagged a silver award in the Documentaries: Docudrama category. 

Hosted by Mediacorp artiste Ayden Sng, the series looks at how the Corrupt Practices Investigation Bureau successfully turned Singapore into one of the least corrupt nations in the world. The series also features various infamous corruption cases in both the public and private sectors over the decades. 

Chief Executive Officer of Mediacorp Tham Loke Kheng thanked the company’s production partners and colleagues for putting Mediacorp “firmly on the global map of content creation once again” at the 2023 awards. 

“This year’s total haul of 39 awards, which includes a coveted Grand Award, is a fitting tribute to your efforts at producing compelling, insightful and informative content that resonates with audiences both at home and abroad.” 

The award-winning programmes can be viewed on mewatch, Mediacorp’s video streaming service.

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