On Monday (Feb. 1), the Burmese military staged a coup d’état, arresting several government officials, including Senior State Minister Aung San Suu Kyi and President Win Myint. The Chinese Communist Party‘s Belt and Road is now in flux. The situation of the stranded Chinese worsens, with more than 100,000 people trapped and no sense of resilience on the part of Communist Party officials. Local Chinese provide an update on the situation. Biden calls for international solidarity to force the Burmese military to relinquish power immediately.
Leak? House Democratic leader Pelosi suspected of providing inside information as husband buys tesla stock for big profit. Conservative views crash into political correctness under fire, U.S. Justice Alito says bluntly, no surprise. Trump, son-in-law Kushner and aides all nominated for Nobel Peace Prize. Ten Republicans meet Biden, suggest $1,000 bailout check.
Biden calls for international unity to force Burma’s military to give up power immediately
In a Feb. 1 statement on the situation in Burma, Biden said the military’s seizure of power, detention of Aung San Suu Kyi and other civilian officials, and declaration of a national emergency are a direct attack on Burma’s transition to democracy and the rule of law. He called on the international community to work together to force the Burmese military to immediately relinquish the power they have seized. It is worth noting that the White House statement did not use the term “military coup.
Myanmar’s military coup, foreign investors may pull out, Belt and Road now in flux
The Burmese military staged a coup on Monday (Feb. 1), arresting a number of top government officials from the ruling National League for Democracy, including Senior State Minister Aung San Suu Kyi and President Win Myint. The military declared a one-year state of emergency throughout the country. In the capital Nay Pyi Taw and the major city of Yangon, large numbers of military personnel were stationed in government buildings. Bank services are suspended nationwide.
Photo: On Feb. 1, 2021, Myanmar’s military coup d’état saw the military declare a one-year takeover of the country and a state of emergency.
Myanmar, which was scheduled to hold its first session of the new parliament on Monday, has undergone a political sea change. A number of Myanmar’s members of parliament and local officials were arrested by the military at their doors in the morning. The ruling National League for Democracy (NLD) party said senior state leader Aung San Suu Kyi, President Win Myint and other senior officials were detained by the military early in the morning, and Aung San Suu Kyi was placed under house arrest.
A staff member of the Myanmar Chinese Chamber of Commerce said that the state-run television station announced on social media sites that it was unable to broadcast due to a technical problem, and that there was no signal at all when the television was turned on.
The SCCCI employee said, “At the moment, we have no access to all phones. Cell phones and telephones are completely out of service, TVs are also out of service, and we see this situation when we wake up in the morning.”
The military said the operation was a response to serious fraud in last November’s general election and declared a one-year state of emergency under the constitution. Military television reported that the presidency handed over state power to Min Aung Hlaing, commander-in-chief of the defense forces.
Tu Guoding, president of the Zhejiang Chamber of Commerce, who is in Yangon, told Free Asia that a large number of soldiers were deployed outside the local city hall office. Although the National League for Democracy called on people to take to the streets in protest, no riots broke out in Yangon for the Time being. National banks suspended services on Monday. Long queues outside some bank teller machines in Yangon.
Tu Guoding: “The city hall building is now taken over by the military. There are no big marches or riots on the streets. A notice came out from the bank that it is not convenient to withdraw and remit money due to network problems, and the bank is also closed, and when it will reopen depends on the central bank’s instruction.”
Photo: The Burmese military takes over some government buildings and guards the main streets in the capital on Feb. 1, 2021.
The U.S. White House issued a statement demanding that the military immediately release those detained, opposing any attempt to overturn the election results or undermine Burma’s transition to democratic institutions, and warning that the U.S. would take action against those responsible if Burmese authorities did not reverse their approach.
Mr. Lee, a Hong Kong businessman who runs a garment factory in Yangon, said, “After the Rohingya incident, the European Union said it would sanction Burma, and the U.S. government sent a negative signal. Many Americans are not going to invest in Myanmar. Once the West takes sanctions again because of Aung San Suu Kyi’s house arrest, it will inevitably result in a ‘disaster ending’, with many factories closing down and many workers losing their jobs.”
Lee Ming Kong, an associate professor at the School of International Relations at Singapore’s Nanyang Technological University, interpreted the military’s action on Monday as a coup d’etat.
Li Mingjiang: “It was preceded by this military action where there was a clearly democratically elected government in place. The military has completely overthrown the democratically elected government, which is a military coup from this point of view. The Democratic Alliance has been in power for the past few years and was doing quite well economically. Now that there is a relatively big mess, the future socio-economic development is now a big question mark.”
Myanmar is an important country in the Communist Party’s Belt and Road strategy to assist the Communist Party in expanding its influence in the Indian Ocean.
Chong Ka Ying, an associate professor of political science at the National University of Singapore, said the military takeover of power in Burma is feared to overturn previous agreements reached with the Chinese Communist Party.
A new regime will have to negotiate with different localities on how to get some of them to accept its jurisdiction. China, including the Belt and Road, has brought in different interests, resources and costs, and who will bear them? I think it will take some time for the process of consolidation. This will have a more critical impact on the continued development of Belt and Road in Myanmar.”
Myanmar’s political turmoil has worsened the situation of stranded Chinese, with more than 100,000 people trapped and no sense of response from the Chinese Communist Party
Mr. Chen, a media personality living in Yangon, told Radio Free Asia that after the coup by the Burmese military on Monday morning, local communications were once cut off and there was soon a rush to buy goods and a crush in front of bank cash machines, but soon all banks were closed and self-service teller machines were also shut down.
Mr. Chen revealed that the military government is still arresting people, but the people in Yangon city are still in a wait-and-see situation. The atmosphere on the streets is tense, but there is no large-scale unrest yet, but the shopping malls only accept cash.
A Radio Free Asia reporter called the Chinese Communist Embassy in Myanmar on the matter, but no one answered the phone at several departments.
In response to the station’s inquiries, the Chinese Foreign Ministry said they had not received any notification of evacuation either. Chinese people in Myanmar can only pay attention to the embassy’s official website for now.
The Foreign Ministry said, “You said the situation over in Myanmar, right? It is possible that its local network is in this situation, so wait a bit, wait for it that communication is restored. We have not received any notification so far, so you can only read more information on the embassy and consulate websites to see if there are any corresponding arrangements.
Since the Xin Guan Epidemic (Chinese Communist Party virus) spread worldwide early last year, Chinese Communist Party officials have taken drastic measures to restrict overseas citizens from returning to China to intercept imported cases. Previously, Chinese businessmen have been killed in attacks in Myanmar as a result of increased China-hating sentiment due to the epidemic. With the recent resurgence of the epidemic in China, officials have stepped up restrictions to prevent widespread movement of people over the New Year, and the situation of Chinese people stranded in Myanmar after the coup has become more of a concern.
Burma’s Commander-in-Chief, Friendly with Communist China, Challenges Biden’s Asia Strategy
The Burmese military surrendered power in 2015, allowing national elections to be held, but still enjoying 25 percent of parliamentary seats and the right to consent to constitutional amendments and appointments of key officials in defense, Home affairs and border affairs. Kim Jolliffe, who specializes in the relationship between Burma’s citizens and the military, said the coup may reflect the internal dynamics of the military, and that Min Aung Hlaing, who was due to retire at the end of this year, is consolidating his power through the coup.
Bloomberg analyzed that Min Aung Hlaing had met with Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi last month, who at the time called China a “brother” of Myanmar, showing respect to Min Aung Hlaing.
Trump, son-in-law Kushner and aides nominated for Nobel Peace Prize
Reuters news agency said senior White House adviser Jared Kushner and his deputy, U.S. Middle East envoy Avi Berkowitz, were nominated for the Nobel Prize for their role in negotiations last year to normalize relations between Israel and several Arab countries.
Their names were submitted by U.S. attorney Alan Dershowitz, a supporter of former U.S. President Donald Trump who has the right to nominate candidates for the Nobel Prize in his capacity as professor emeritus at Harvard Law School.
With the prospect of a prolonged confrontation between Middle Eastern countries and Iran, the Abrahamic Agreement, which led to the signing of normalized relations between Israel and many Arab countries, is considered the biggest diplomatic breakthrough in the Middle East in 25 years.
Many people or organizations have been nominated before, including Belarusian opposition leaders, Russian opposition leaders, Swedish environmental girls, Trump, Assange, Black Lives Matter, WHO, Reporters Without Borders, the Society for the Protection of Journalists, the International Fact Check Network and others.
Ten-member Republican panel meets Biden, suggests $1,000 bailout check
President Joe Biden met with a group of ten Republican senators on Monday (Feb. 1) to negotiate a scaled-down version of the economic bailout draft, a proposal put forward by the Republican Party with $618 billion in funding. The lawmakers said Biden’s previous proposal was too expensive and a slimmed-down version of the proposal should be used to boost the market.
Prior to the meeting, Republican senators explained that their version of the bailout would provide “more targeted assistance” to Americans in need of relief, with bailout checks totaling about $220 billion out of a total of $618 billion; for vaccine development, distribution, large-scale expansion of testing, tracking, treatment and other Critical supply funding would be approximately $160 billion.
Details of the proposal include a check for the full $1,000 for individuals with annual incomes up to $40,000 and for couples with annual incomes up to $80,000. Individuals with annual incomes between $40,000 and $50,000 and couples with annual incomes between $80,000 and $100,000 will receive decreasing check denominations as their incomes increase. Finally, individuals earning more than $50,000 per year, and couples earning more than $100,000 per year, would not be eligible for benefits.
The proposal does not include any support for state and local governments.
Conservative views under fire, U.S. Justice Alito: Hostility rings true
Conservative U.S. Justice Samuel Alito has come under fire for his argument in a speech last year that “city closures in an epidemic are a stress test of individual liberties guaranteed by the U.S. Constitution. In an interview on Jan. 31, Alito explained that he was not surprised by the criticism.
According to USA Today, Alito, who has served as a justice for 15 years, has been frequently criticized by the outside world after his speech at the Federalist Society, a conservative think tank, on Nov. 12 last year, when he suggested that “the restrictions on personal freedom imposed by the epidemic are unprecedented and are a constitutional stress test. The speech was criticized. In response, Alito explained, “Virtually every specific argument that I made in that speech came either from my open court written opinion or from my collegial written opinion.”
Alito, who predicted in his speech that his words would be twisted by people of a particular position, also said in an interview yesterday, “I’m not surprised by the reactions.”
Alito pointed out that there is a growing trend in American society today where hostility surrounds a person when they state an unfashionable viewpoint. Alito also resents the current Culture of political correctness and speech scrutiny that produces a list of banned statements.
Pelosi suspected of providing inside information as husband buys Tesla stock for big profit
Recently a number of U.S. media disclosed that the Biden Administration is about to announce the federal fleet to achieve full automation, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (Nancy Pelosi) husband has bought a large amount of shares of the car company Tesla (Tesla) in advance, and Tesla’s share price rose sharply after the introduction of the above policy. Outsiders suspect that Pelosi provided her husband with insider information.
Photo: U.S. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (center) attends her weekly press conference at the Capitol on Jan. 28, 2021.
Trading records show that Pelosi’s husband, Paul Pelosi, bought $1 million worth of Tesla stock a month ago at a price of $640.34 per share, according to several media reports, including The Washington Times and Fox News. But after the Biden administration announced a policy to fully automate the federal fleet, Tesla’s stock price soared to $838 per share by Jan. 28.
Members of the U.S. Congress have the power to consider bills, and Pelosi, who is speaker, holds the power to schedule the agenda. As a result, the conservative political group Take Back Our Republic (TBOR) has questioned whether Pelosi leaked insider information in advance, causing her husband to buy call options on Tesla with millions of dollars in advance of the new policy.
If Pelosi did disclose insider information to her husband in advance, that would amount to embezzlement.
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