Need To Know: April 15
The Liaoning
Taiwan Strait One-upsmanship
China’s first aircraft carrier, the Liaoning, along with two guided-missile destroyers, a pair of guided-missile frigates, and a combat support ship, were spotted sailing between Taiwan and Okinawa on Saturday evening before turning south along Taiwan’s eastern coast. Taiwan scrambled several warships in response.
On Friday, A U.S. Navy guided-missile destroyer sailed through the Taiwan Strait — the same day Chinese fighter jets drilled in waters close to the democratically-ruled island. The USS Barry made the voyage, tailed by the Chinese missile frigate the Nantong.
Over the weekend, U.S. EP-3E electronic warfare and reconnaissance aircraft were seen flying south of Taiwan. The U.S. military vessels and aircraft showed up in the area after Chinese J-11 jet fighters, KJ-500 early warning aircraft, and H-6 bombers were spotted Friday morning flying southwest of Taiwan and entering the Bashi Channel between Taiwan and the Philippines.
China considers Taiwan a “renegade province,” and Beijing has never ruled out use of force to bring the island under its control.
China has been angered by the Trump administration's stepped-up support for Taiwan, such as more arms sales, U.S. patrols and a visit to Washington by Vice President-elect William Lai in February.
Cambodia’s Authoritarian Slide
With Covid-19 as the pretext, Cambodia’s parliament has passed “State of Emergency” legislation.
The new law gives Prime Minister Hun Sen sweeping powers and unlimited time to impose martial law during an emergency. It also allows the government to monitor communications, control media and social media, and prohibit or restrict distribution of information that could “generate public fear or unrest, or damage national security.”
Critics say Hun is again shredding civil rights enshrined in the Cambodian Constitution and called the new powers a “recipe for dictatorship.”
The parliament’s 125 lawmakers, all of whom belong to Hun’s Cambodian People’s Party, unanimously voted for the bill.
Hun will not enact the law immediately. But now that it’s in his back pocket, the emergency measures can be wielded any time he says there is a national crisis.
He may need it soon. The World Bank forecasts economic growth to slump to between 2.5 percent and 1 percent this year, but even that may be optimistic. Cambodia needs growth of more like 5% a year to create enough good jobs for its still huge numbers of poor.
Having crushed any serious organized political parties — the street is all that’s left for Cambodians to show dissatisfaction. Hun is now trying to suppress that.
Laos Economic Slide
The economy of neighboring Laos has also been hammered by Covid-19.
Beautiful Luang Prabang
The World Bank predicted the Lao economy to grow by 3.6 percent if the spread of coronavirus in the country remained under control, dropping to 2.2 percent if the situation grows worse.
Laos has very few reported cases - just 16. But fearing an outbreak in a country with an underdeveloped medical system, Lao Prime Minister Thongloun Sisoulith has now ordered that nonessential workers remain home.
And tourism - a major driver of the Lao economy - has plummeted.
A source in Luang Prabang, a UNESCO World Heritage site that’s the country’s biggest draw, told Radio Free Asia,“We’re literally trying to survive. There are no tourists, and all entertainment venues and guesthouses have now closed.”
Lao’s economic problems are compounded by the rapid return from Thailand of a pool of suddenly jobless Lao migrant workers.
The International Labor Organization estimates 60,000 returned home following Bangkok’s closure of its borders on March 23.