Afghanistan’s Taliban released a new video Wednesday showing two professors, one American and one Australian, urging U.S. President Donald Trump to negotiate their freedom with the Islamist insurgent group.

American Kevin King, 60, and Australian Timothy Weeks, 48, teachers with the American University of Afghanistan in Kabul, were kidnapped at gunpoint near the campus last August.

The Taliban wants freedom for its “soldiers” being held at the U.S.-run Bagram air base and the Afghan prison called Pul-e-Charkhi in return for freeing the two professors, the hostages said in their video message.

“My captors treat me well. They treat me and my colleague Tim Weeks as their guests; but every prisoner’s final wish is to get freedom from the prison,” said King, who was seen with a long beard.

King said he recorded the message on June 16.

Plea to Australian PM

For his part, Weeks urged Australian politicians to raise the issue in Parliament, saying the only way for him to go home is for the Australian prime minister, Malcolm Turnbull, to speak to the Taliban and Trump in order to reach an agreement with their captors.

“I pray that this happens shortly and that the Taliban soldiers may be returned home to their families for Eid [the Muslim festival marking the end of Ramadan] and that I may be able to go home to my family and to my friends. Help, please. Thank you,” said Weeks.

A U.S. State Department official said later Wednesday, “We are aware of a recent video purporting to feature a U.S. citizen kidnapped in Afghanistan. We are still working to examine the video and are not currently in a position to comment on it.”

“We continue to call for the immediate and unconditional release of all hostages. Taking and holding civilian hostages is reprehensible and we condemn such actions in the strongest terms. The U.S. government is committed to seeing our citizens returned safely to their families and the department works closely with agencies across the government to do so,” the official said.

The official said the department would be unable to comment further “due to privacy considerations.”

The Afghan government did not immediately respond to the video.

Second video

This was the second video distributed by the Taliban to the news media since January as “proof of life” of the abductees in a bid to press for demands.

The hostages are believed to be in the custody of the notorious Haqqani network, an ally of the Taliban.

Barnett Rubin, associate director of the Center on International Cooperation at New York University and writer of several books on Afghanistan, said, “The video appears to show that the two men are in reasonable physical health but under tremendous emotional strain, as is natural.

“They repeat the demands of the Taliban for a prisoner exchange. It would be wrong to speculate about the sincerity or insincerity of their statements, nor does it even mean anything, as no one can make free decisions under such conditions,” Rubin said. “I don’t want to comment on specific demands as that could disrupt ongoing efforts. I am sure the U.S. and Australian and Afghan governments are doing their utmost.”

Michael Kugleman, a Pakistan-Afghanistan analyst at the Wilson Center, a nonpartisan policy research group in Washington, said, “Watching this video is heartbreaking. The professors do not look or sound well, they look nervous, and they appear to be engaging in propaganda on the Taliban’s behalf.”

Execution plans

The video’s release comes at a time when Afghan authorities are reportedly planning to execute a group of Taliban prisoners convicted on terrorism charges.

It is not clear, however, whether Annas Haqqani, a son of the founder of the Haqqani network, Jalaluddin Haqqani, is among the group of prisoners.

Afghan officials have not confirmed the reports, and the Taliban, in response, has threatened to unleash new attacks against all Afghan institutions if the government goes ahead with the executions.

The Afghan insurgents are also holding another U.S. citizen, Caitlan Coleman, 31, and her Canadian husband, Joshua Boyle, 33. They were kidnapped by the Taliban in 2012.

In a video message released in December, the couple urged then-President-elect Trump to negotiate with the Taliban to secure their release in return for the prisoners.
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Economic analysts say many foreign investors are finding an up side to the suppression of dissent in Vietnam, taking comfort in the expectation of business stability as the country’s one-party government moves toward a landmark economic summit later in the year.

Plain-clothed authorities beat rights campaigners and bloggers in 36 incidents between January 2015 and April 2017, often resulting in serious injuries, the New York advocacy group Human Rights Watch said Sunday. Some had joined demonstrations to protect the environment or pushed for human rights, the group said.

Analysts in the country say foreign investors and others with business in Vietnam will either ignore the suppression or take it as a sign that the government is eliminating possible threats to its promotion of a fast-growing economy that depends largely on foreign direct investment.

“At the moment it’s almost implicit that the one-party state will continue indefinitely, and if you want to really criticize it in public, you’re asking for trouble,” said Adam McCarty, chief economist with Mekong Economics in Hanoi. “Businessmen like that sort of stability. You might object to it ethically, morally or on democratic grounds, but on business grounds, it’s a stable business environment.”

Executives from the American and European chambers of commerce in Ho Chi Minh City were unavailable for comment Wednesday on what member companies think of Vietnam’s human rights issues.

Image control

The Southeast Asian Communist government is keen to control dissent ahead of the Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) leadership meetings that it will host through November, analysts say. Vietnam first hosted APEC in 2006. U.S. President Donald Trump and leaders from 20 other countries could attend this year.

Vietnam wants to avoid any embarrassment from protests while showing foreign APEC guests it is “open-minded and eager,” said Frederick Burke, partner with the international law firm Baker & McKenzie in Ho Chi Minh City.

“There’s not much to complain about, I think. (APEC) will be a big showcase for Vietnam,” McCarty said. “The authorities just don’t want it to be used as a protest scene, as well.”

Human Rights Watch said Vietnamese agents beat activists and bloggers with “impunity.” The rights group demanded Sunday that the government end the attacks and hold the perpetrators responsible. Donor governments, it added, should tell Vietnam to stop.

Vietnamese prosecutors also have formally charged Nguyen Ngoc Nhu Quynh, a blogger better known as Mother Mushroom, over suspected anti-state propaganda. The blogger, who was awarded the International Women of Courage Award in absentia from U.S. first lady Melania Trump in March, faces 12 years in prison if convicted.

But Vietnam lets a lot of chatter pass to keep the internet open for the benefit of economic and social development, Burke said.

Economic growth

Vietnam’s economy grew more than 6 percent in 2015 and 2016 to $200 billion largely on the back of export manufacturing, which in turn has expanded the middle class among an overall population of 92 million. Foreign direct investment disbursements in industries from furniture to consumer electronics last year reached a record high of $15.8 billion. Four decades ago, Vietnam was emerging from wars with China and the United States.

“There’s always a lot of hot politics going and people spout off on the internet,” Burke said. “But there also still seems to be a lot of openness on the Vietnam internet. You can hang yourself from your own tree but the point is that Facebook, Google, all these thing that are closed off in China are open here and it does help the economy.

“But as usual there’s always some sensitivity in different sectors about what gets said about who and how,” he said.

EU concerns

Members of the European Parliament may seek improvements in human rights before ratifying a Vietnam free trade pact signed by negotiators in December 2015, said Oscar Mussons, senior associate with the Dezan Shira & Associates business consultancy in Ho Chi Minh City.

European Parliament members voiced concerns in February when a human rights subcommittee visited Vietnam.

Companies invested in Vietnam for cheap factory labor – a source of wildcat workplace strikes that were common before 2011 – also want to be clear on pay and hours.

“From an investor point of view they will come here and say, ‘so what’s the situation with the workers’ rights and how many hours of extra time can we have them working and what is the minimum salary?’” Mussons said. “So the investors really care about having everything into place.”

 
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The first summit between South Korean President Moon Jae-in and U.S. President Donald Trump will occur next week (June 28) in the wake of the death of Otto Warmbier, the U.S. student who had been held prisoner in N. Korea for over 15 months.. Both leaders are expected to emphasize the common threat of the repressive and nuclear armed Kim Jong Un regime. But Brian Padden in Seoul reports increasing differences over security and trade could undermine the show of unity.
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A recent government decision regarding dual use property has left thousands in China in asset limbo and over the past few weekends residents in Beijing and Shanghai have started taking to the streets to vent their frustration with the policy change.

Over the weekend, homeowners strolled around a major shopping complex in the capital, some of whom were taken away by police as they tried to draw attention to their plight. Scores of police vans and officers were out calming the streets around the Sanlitun’s Taikoo Village shopping mall.

A decision by Beijing and other major cities in late March to impose strict measures for loft-style apartments has dealt a huge blow to homeowners in China’s already highly regulated property market. Analysts say the city’s new regulations are the stiffest property restrictions to date. The measures include raising down-payments on mortgages as well as toughening home buyer eligibility requirements.

Impact

The government curbs have immediately put a halt on sales of such properties, of which owners say values are quickly slipping.

“There’s definitely a negative impact. The new policy has a bigger impact on such properties, which were not as restricted [in the past as residential property]. A 20 to 30 percent price decline can be expected when closing sales,” a real-estate agent surnamed Zhang told VOA.

Among the country’s first-tier cities, Beijing has the harshest terms, which stipulate that, starting March 27, only commercial buyers will be allowed to purchase such dual use properties. The policy is aimed at ensuring that properties with a minimum floor space of 500 square meters are only for commercial use.

Stiffest restrictions

The city insists, however, that existing owners’ rights would be safeguarded as they can continue their residential use of the properties or resell to individuals in accordance with the new guidelines.

One homeowner surnamed Bi said the government’s safeguards are meaningless as the market has now cooled dramatically. He purchased his dual use property because it was cheaper and his only option as someone who does not have legal residence in the city. In China, a wide range of citizens’ rights are restricted based on a system of household registration called a hukou.

“Many migrant workers [like me] in Beijing had rushed to purchase [dual-use property]. Since it was allowed, our ownership should be considered legal,” Bi complained, “Yet, the latest restriction has caused our property value to plummet. It’s hard for our units to change hands now since no one is interested in buying.”

Population growth

Analysts say the trend of migrant workers buying up such property has worried the city government as it strives to cap population growth.

Typically, dual use property on a 40- to 50-year land-use lease is sold at half the pricing of residential property on a 70-year land-use lease. But owners have to pay a higher tab for commercial utility rates and face relatively graver health hazards as the property’s fire safety regulation may not live up to residential standards.

“If dual-use property is fully occupied by residents, the population will see huge growth. With an aim to cap population, the capital city has to exert property ownership controls to contain population growth, which also helps deflate some of the property bubble or demand,” said Cui Xiuzheng, a senior analyst with the China Real Estate Information Corp (CRIC) – a research arm under a leading real-estate service provider, E-House China.

According to E-House statistics, Beijing’s sale of dual use property more than tripled in recent years from some 11,500 units annually in 2008 to 41,700 units last year.

What has equally worried the government is the speculative investment in such property, Cui said. He noted that investors were taking advantage of the dual-use property market’s loophole to buy up multiple units – a restriction that applies to residential property. Property is seen as one of the safest insurance places for Chinese citizens to invest given the unpredictability of the nation’s stock market and low interest rates at banks.

In addition to Beijing, other cities such as Shanghai and Guangzhou have also announced cooling measures.

Inventory level

With the inventory level of dual-use property still running high, big developers are trying to find ways to repackage their products for future liquidation, analysts say.

Paul Lin, director of LLL Strategic Consulting for North China, recommends residential owners and developers could find the way out through the commercial leasing market.

“For those, [which] are located in the right location, generally, the leasing market is pretty good. What they need to do is to maybe make some small changes to improve some of the services and quality of their leasing space. And there is [still] demand for these commercial units,” Lin said.

Allen Ai contributed to this report.
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The United States is urging China to play a more prominent role in combating global terrorism and help “change the calculus” on North Korea, ahead of high-level security talks with Beijing.

The first round of the U.S.-China Diplomatic and Security Dialogue kicks off in Washington Wednesday.

Secretary of State Rex Tillerson and Secretary of Defense James Mattis will host a Chinese delegation led by State Councilor Yang Jiechi and General Fang Fenghui, chief of the People’s Liberation Army’s Joint Staff Department.

Senior U.S. officials say China has “taken a fairly limited profile” in counterterrorism efforts. It is not a member of the 68-nation global coalition countering the Islamic State militant group

“We would like to see them step up and take more responsibility,” Acting Assistant Secretary of State for East Asia Susan Thornton told VOA on Monday.

Thornton said China has “a lot of interest in Iraq,” and the U.S. thinks it should be doing more to contribute to the efforts of the international coalition to defeat IS.

Killings concern China

Earlier this month, two Chinese citizens were killed by Islamic State militants after being kidnapped in southwestern Pakistan. In November 2015, IS said it killed Chinese national Fan Jinghui. Both cases triggered grave concern from Beijing.

“We have seen them [Chinese officials] become more interested over time,” added Thornton, noting the talks are “an early feeler” on getting China more involved.

On Tuesday, Chinese officials said both countries have been victims of terrorism.

“Cooperation is in the interests of both sides,” Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Geng Shuang said in Beijing.

Leveraging China’s ties to North Korea

On North Korea, the U.S. is looking for China to “change the calculus” of the isolated regime and exert its leverage as North Korea’s largest trading partner.

“The most urgent and dangerous threat to peace and security in the Asia-Pacific region is North Korea,” said Acting Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense for East Asia David Helvey on Tuesday. “We seek to deepen our cooperation to realize the outcome which is in the best interest of peace and security in the region and the world.”

The United Nations has blacklisted hundreds of North Korean entities, but many of them try to get business done though China, according to U.S. officials.

The issue is a sticking point between Washington and Beijing that experts say needs to be the focus of frank discussion.

“The Chinese remain unconvinced that the U.S. goal is not regime change. The U.S. side remains unconvinced that China’s goal is not to use the North Korean problem as leverage in the relationship,” Dennis Wilder from Georgetown University’s U.S.-China Initiative told VOA.

“This is a matter of strategic trust that can only be built through this type of dialogue at the most senior levels,” added Wilder, who served as the senior director for East Asian affairs at the National Security Council under former President George W. Bush.

’Freeze’ proposed

Rand Corporation senior defense analyst Derek Grossman notes the “last thing Beijing wants is a conflict that would end Kim Jong Un’s regime and unleash new power dynamics at its doorstep.”

Grossman said China’s perpetual security concern is reflected in its proposal that the U.S. and South Korea “freeze” routine joint exercises in exchange for Pyongyang suspending its missile and nuclear programs.

U.S. officials say they welcome actions by countries that have ramped up pressure on Pyongyang, including phasing out the use of North Korean laborers, and denying the landing rights and refueling privileges of North Korea’s national airline Air Koryo.

“A lot of the wages of these workers go to the regime and to fund unlawful programs in North Korea,” Thornton told reporters.

U.S. officials said Wednesday’s Diplomatic and Security Dialogue is a departure from the Strategic and Economic Dialogue of years past that covered a wide range of issues. Instead, they say this week’s discussion reflects a “streamlined approach” and will “more narrowly focus on key security issues.”

South China Sea

Another area in which Washington hopes to make headway is the disputed South China Sea, where Beijing’s island building has raised concerns.

U.S. officials are calling for a binding code of conduct to resolve differences.

“All parties should freeze any construction or militarization of features that they have outposts on in this space and make room and create the conditions for diplomacy,” said Thornton.
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The death this week of U.S. student Otto Warmbier, who was recently released by North Korea after spending several months in detention there, was an “unfortunate event,” Chinese officials said Tuesday at a news conference in Beijing.

Warmbier, 22, from Ohio, was detained in February 2016 during a so-called adventure trip to North Korea. He was medically evacuated in a coma to the U.S. last week and died Monday. Doctors at Cincinnati Hospital said he had brain damage that most likely was caused by deprivation of oxygen, not botulism, which the North Korean government said had caused Warmbier’s illness.

South Korean President Moon Jae-in expressed condolences to Warmbier’s family, according to the Korean publication Chosun Ilbo.

Young Pioneer Tours, headquartered in Xi’an, China — the agency that arranged Warmbier’s “budget” tour to North Korea — released a statement Tuesday saying it would no longer organize tours for U.S. citizens to North Korea. The travel agency said that after Warmbier was arrested in North Korea at the airport, representatives tried to see the University of Virginia student, but their requests were rejected.

On its Facebook page, Young Pioneer Tours expressed deep sympathy to Warmbier’s friends and family. “We have been struggling to process the result,” the agency said in a post.

VOA called Young Pioneer Travel repeatedly at its Xi’an headquarters but reached only its answering machine.

Effect on tours

One Beijing-based travel agent who said his name was Gong told VOA that Warmbier’s death “no doubt” would negatively impact “foreigners’ interest in traveling to North Korea.” A number of foreign travel agencies in Beijing that arrange travel to the DPRK said they were suspending these tours.

Travel agents in Asia pointed out that at the North Korean Embassy in Beijing, foreign tourists can apply for a travel visa by submitting a passport and photo at a cost of 70 euros, and receive approval within a few days for a four-to-five-day tour. Foreign tourists to the DPRK are accompanied by at least two local tour guides and are free to move only 50 meters away from the hotel, Gong said.

Spokesperson Geng Shuang from the Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs said the Chinese government hoped the U.S. and North Korea would be able to handle the incident “properly.”

North Korean authorities said Warmbier was arrested for alleged theft of political slogans hanging in a Pyongyang hotel where he was staying. When brought to court, he was seen on video tearfully pleading guilty in March 2016 and was sentenced to 15 years at a labor camp.

Pyongyang has not responded to Warmbier’s death. North Korean authorities said last week that Warmbier’s release was “out of humanitarian considerations.”

Three other U.S. citizens are detained in North Korea.
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Countries that make up the Association of Southeast Asian Nations will be a wellspring of opportunity for the United States because of growth in the region’s digital economy and its young population, researchers say.

Those combined forces will “create a much more dynamic [economy] … over the coming decades,” said Satu Limaye, head of the Washington office of the East-West Center, which has conducted research on major trends in Southeast Asia. “You have a young population, very adept at technology, adaptive to innovation, so … they are going to be moving up the supply chain in terms of their comfort with technology-based innovation.”

ASEAN is the world’s fastest-growing internet market, with nearly 4 million Southeast Asians coming online every month, according to data from ASEAN Matters for America/America Matters for ASEAN, which was released in May.

The report projected that by 2020, up to 480 million Southeast Asians would be online, compared with 260 million in 2016, driven largely by the adoption of smartphones. This young and tech-savvy population, with a growing middle-class base, is projected to help the digital economy grow by 500 percent to around $200 billion by 2025.

The report marking ASEAN’s 50th anniversary was published in collaboration with the U.S.-ASEAN Business Council (USABC) and the Singapore-based ISEAS-Yusof Ishak Institute, formerly known as the Institute of Southeast Asian Studies.

Global players

Alexander Feldman, chairman and chief executive of USABC, said ASEAN’s digital dynamism means Southeast Asia-based companies will become global players, and the United States should play a key role in ensuring that this digital growth will help narrow economic inequality.

“Technology is a great leveler and it is something that ASEAN has been focusing on,” Feldman told VOA Khmer. “How do we ensure the prosperity is shared throughout the economy and that you have equal growth in ASEAN? I think the digital economy is a key, and American companies are the key to the digital economy.”

Feldman, who attended the World Economic Forum on ASEAN, a three-day event in Phnom Penh that focused on youth and digital technology, said the host country, Cambodia, sees big potential in its nascent technology sector in addition to its traditional agriculture sector, where growth appears more promising because of technology.

In both sectors, Feldman sees room for U.S. companies working in logistics, a key component of e-commerce, which is just getting started in Cambodia and its neighbors.

ASEAN ambassadors who attended the launch of the report in Washington in May agreed that the digital economy presents new opportunities for boosting their economies, while strengthening their relationships with the U.S. They agreed that U.S. digital engagement in helping less-developed ASEAN countries like Cambodia will help kick-start their digital economies.

Accent on technology

Chum Bunrong, Cambodia’s ambassador to the U.S., said his government has now made technology a priority for development. He said the U.S. has been particularly helpful in investment and tech-related education through exchange programs.

Singapore’s ambassador to the U.S., Ashok Kumar Mirpuri, said many young Southeast Asians look to the U.S. as they hope to launch their startups in California’s Silicon Valley. Singapore is home to the regional offices of Facebook and Google and has taken advantage of the U.S. tech sector. For example, two years ago, Singapore expanded its famed “Block71” tech ecosystem to Silicon Valley.

Increased connectivity among ASEAN economies and emerging country-based technologies like fintech (financial technology) will only increase the region’s two-way digital trade with the U.S., according to Mirpuri.

The biggest challenges ASEAN nations now face are protecting data and digital transactions to increase consumer confidence in cybersecurity, said Feldman, who is working with U.S. companies to help build a common data security framework for ASEAN’s diverse economies.

“We hope that there will be harmonization of regulations, especially around data in the ASEAN Economic Community,” he said, “and we hope that that harmonization will allow for free flow of data.”

U.S. exit from pact

Feldman added that the recent withdrawal of the U.S. from the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) would affect “digital trade” with ASEAN.

“We fully understand that in America, some will benefit more than others and some that will not benefit at all” from the TPP, he said. “I think it’s silly for America to solely focus on industries of the past. We definitely need to focus on the industries we are strong on currently and in the future. And technology and the digital economy are certainly areas where America is strong.”

This report originated on VOA Khmer.
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