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Jonathan Fairfield
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Saving Thailand's AnimalsCan Thailand's new animal welfare laws curb cruelty inside lucrative tiger temples, elephant parks and wildlife parks?Visiting a tiger temple, watching a performing monkey show or riding an elephant are the top attractions on Thailand's tourist trail.What guides do not tell visitors are that many of these animals have been abused.Thailand recently introduced laws to protect animals born in captivity.But critics claim they will do little to prevent mistreatment in this multi-million dollar entertainment industry.Source: http://www.aljazeera.com/programmes/101east/2015/06/saving-thailand-animals-150616150713091.html
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Suu Kyi warns instability could delay Myanmar electionsYANGON, Myanmar (AP) — Myanmar opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi told her party's senior members Saturday that this year's general election could be delayed if there is any instability in the country.The former Nobel Peace Prize winner did not go into specifics but Myanmar has seen several deadly outbreaks of violence between Buddhists and Muslims in the last few years amid a surge of Buddhist nationalist sentiment. This weekend, a movement of ultra-nationalist Buddhist monks is holding a keenly watched conference.Suu Kyi spoke at the opening of a two-day conference of her National League for Democracy, which is expected to mount a sharp challenge in the polls to the current military-backed government.In her speech at the party's twice-yearly meeting of central committee members, Suu Kyi said that stability ahead of the poll was "very important" as she wanted to see it go ahead on time."The election is getting closer. I want to stress that stability in the country is very important ahead of elections," said Suu Kyi. "I want to warn that elections could be delayed using instability as a reason."Suu Kyi's remarks can be seen as suggesting that the government or the military — which holds power behind the scenes — might want to take advantage of disorder to hold on to power.The election is slated for late October or early November but no exact date has yet been set. The NLD is expected to see heavy gains against the ruling Union Solidarity and Development Party.Suu Kyi also said when her party contested by-elections in 2012, it pledged to work for amending the 2008 constitution, and it continues to seek that. The current constitution contains clauses that bar her from becoming president. Parliament this coming week will debate several constitutional amendments.
-- (c) Associated Press 2015-06-20
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Thanks so much for this post, Jonathan. I saw this trailer years ago and wondered if the film would ever be finished. A can't-miss for me.
Why is it that the music was so compelling at that time? I have no idea, really. Perhaps because we try to defy death by choosing celebration and life in the midst of war and chaos.
We now live in different, but similar times, and the war gods and destructive nature of our economy are running rampant. Music can soothe, heal, inspire, and create.
Unfortunately, it cannot do the hard work for us. That is a much more gritty and grinding task... of organization and struggle against the machine.
The Cambodian musicians and people-- their liveliness and vivacity-- stand out in these clips.
another link:
http://www.austinchronicle.com/screens/2015-06-19/combat-rock/
To be honest, I knew nothing of Cambodian rock and roll (and still don't) until I stumbled upon that article purely by chance. However, the music isn't half bad.
I wouldn't mind watching the film.
Anyone know anything about Cambo rock and roll of today?
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Cambodia on Alert After MERS Found in ThailandNeou Vannarin, VOA KhmerPHNOM PENH— Cambodian health authorities are on high alert, following the first confirmed case of Middle East Respiratory Syndrome, or MERS, in Thailand, Thursday.Diagnosis systems have been installed at major border checkpoints and at the airports of Phnom Penh and Siem Reap.Health officials say people traveling in either the Middle East or South Korea should pay special attention to health symptoms and report any suspicious symptoms immediately.Cambodia has no confirmed cases of the disease, Ly Sovann, deputy director for epidemiology at the Ministry of Health, told VOA Khmer. But the country has set up a special response team and is actively monitoring, he said.Read more: http://www.voacambodia.com/content/cambodia-on-alert-after-mers-found-in-thailand/2829181.html
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Myanmar returns rescued migrants to BangladeshThirty-seven Bangladeshi migrants rescued from a boat at sea by Myanmar authorities were handed over to Bangladesh authorities on Friday."Bangladesh verified 37 Bangladeshi citizens and confirmed that they are the Bangladeshi nationals," said Lieutenant Colonel Saiful Alam Khandakar, the commanding officer of Border Guard Bangladesh at the port of Cox’s Bazar.Thousands of people, many of them Bangladeshi or Muslim Rohingya from Myanmar, have taken to the sea in recent months in dangerously crowded boats run by people-traffickers, heading south toward other southeast Asian countries.The 37 were among 208 migrants whom the Myanmar navy said it rescued from a boat in the Bay of Bengal on May 21.Read more: http://www.reuters.com/article/2015/06/19/us-southasia-migrant-bangladesh-idUSKBN0OZ1QJ20150619
-- Reuters 2015-06-20
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Myanmar's government accuses newspaper of contempt of courtAYE AYE WIN, Associated PressYANGON, Myanmar (AP) — Myanmar's Information Ministry has filed a contempt of court complaint against the publisher and 16 editorial employees of a newspaper it is already suing for defamation, an action critics charge is an attempt at intimidation ahead of elections set for later this year.The editor-in-chief of the Daily Eleven newspaper, Wai Phyo, said Friday the ministry accused the newspaper of reporting unfairly on the defamation case.He and three other executives of the newspaper are on trial for defamation after being sued by the ministry over a report alleging irregularities in its purchase of a printing press.Earlier this week, the human rights group Amnesty International accused Myanmar's government of using threats and harassment to intimidate the media ahead of the polls. The London-based group said efforts to restrict freedom of expression have intensified over the past year, with at least 10 media workers now being held in prison, all of them jailed in the last 12 months.The Daily Eleven, taking advantage of new press freedoms after a military regime was replaced by a civilian elected government in 2011, has published a series of stories on alleged corruption, abuse of power and inefficiency in the judicial system.The new complaint by the Information Ministry's managing director says the newspaper's reporting on his testimony in March at the defamation trial could unfairly prejudice the judges in its favor. Disseminating information that could interfere or disturb a trial, or affect its fairness, is punishable by up to six months in jail. Defamation carries a penalty of up to two years in prison.Aung Thein, a prominent lawyer who was charged with contempt of court under military rule, said he could not comprehend how such a large group of people could face contempt charges."This indicates that the government wants to pressure the media before elections," he said.Amnesty International said authorities often drag the media through lengthy and costly legal processes, or seek collective punishment in response to one critical story by prosecuting several people from the same outlet to effectively shut it down.The Information Ministry last year sued 11 staff members of the Myanmar Herald weekly journal for printing an article referring to President Thein Sein as a fool."This is the first time in newspaper history that such a large group of newspaper men were summoned to court," veteran journalist Khin Maung Lay, who was jailed several times by the military, said about the action against Daily Eleven. "This is done with vengeance and it is a very bad precedent."
-- (c) Associated Press 2015-06-20
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Suu Kyi Calls for ‘Clean Politics’ in 70th Birthday MessageRANGOON—Burma’s opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi has used a video message recorded for her 70th birthday on Friday to call for ‘clean politics’ ahead of the general election this year.In the 10-minute, Burmese language message posted on the National League for Democracy Facebook page, Suu Kyi thanked the public for their support and urged them to act lawfully and in unity to ensure Burma’s stability and development.“Please don’t cheat people. Please avoid dishonest means for your party’s success. This year is very important,” she said.Read more: http://www.irrawaddy.org/burma/suu-kyi-calls-for-clean-politics-in-70th-birthday-message.html
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Monks fight luxury building plan 'threat' to Myanmar pagodaThe Schwedagon Pagoda, a giant gold 99-metre tall pagoda, is one of Myanmar's most famous Buddhist landmarks.It is currently at the centre of a campaign by monks to stop proposals for a luxury residential and retail complex close by.As the BBC's Jonah Fisher reports, the land is owned by the Burmese army, and they are determined the project will go ahead.Watch the video report here: http://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-33192133
-- BBC 2015-06-19
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RELATEDMystery of man found dead in Far East apartmentMYSTERY surrounds the death of a 53-year-old man who was discovered dead in an apartment in Cambodia.The man, named in the Far East country as Stephen William King from Scunthorpe, was working as an office manager.The Foreign Office has confirmed it has been made aware of the death of a British national – and it is understood officials are now seeking his next of kin.A source in Cambodia told the Scunthorpe Telegraph Mr King's death was the 48th death of foreign nationals in the country already this year.
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Don't Think I've Forgotten: Cambodia's Lost Rock and RollFar from being just a musical survey of 20th century Cambodian music, Don’t Think I’ve Forgotten achieves a much loftier goal of cataloging the cultural history of a country fraught with conflict and genocide, with its musical past acting as a grounded through line from the Fifties to the late Seventies.John Pirozzi purportedly spent nine years gathering material for the project, and the film spotlights musicians and performers who would have been completely forgotten if not for this enterprise.We begin with Cambodia’s independence from being a French colony in 1953, that country still having a cultural sway over the music of the day. Soon, Afro-Cuban and American doo-wop start to influence the sound, and all of a sudden it’s 1965 and the U.S. has engaged with Vietnam, and here comes the unrelenting swagger of rock & roll to f*** everything up.There follows an innovative musical renaissance until 1975’s arrival of the brutal regime of the Khmer Rouge and Pol Pot sends the country into a cultural tailspin, with musicians and artists being slaughtered outright, as others go into hiding to avoid being “disappeared” by “authorities.”
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The Great DebateWhy is no one helping Myanmar’s Rohingya?By Amy TenneryMyanmar is currently in the throes of a massive humanitarian crisis. Thousands of ethnic Rohingya are fleeing persecution. Boarding overcrowded boats (and often enduring horrific conditions), they’re going to countries scarcely able to help them — or in some cases, frankly, not interested in helping them.How did this happen?Who are the Rohingya?The Rohingya are an ethnic Muslim minority in the majority Buddhist Myanmar. Many of their enemies refuse to acknowledge that the Rohingya are an ethnically distinct group. They claim instead that the Rohingya are Bengali and that their presence in Myanmar is the result of illegal immigration (more on that later). The Rohingya, for their part, claim to be pre-colonial residents of Myanmar’s Rakhine state, the Middle East Institute explains, with the earliest known appearance of the term Rohingya in 1799.Why are the Rohingya fleeing Myanmar?The Rohingya face violence and lack basic rights such as access to healthcare, education and employment. They live in “apartheid-like conditions” due to, among other things, Myanmar’s refusal to recognize them as citizens. But this is nothing new. Between May 1991 and March 1992, more than 260,000 Rohingya fled the country over “human rights abuses committed by the Burmese military, including the confiscation of land, forced labor, rape, torture, and summary executions,” the nonprofit group Physicians for Human Rights wrote in a 2013 report.OK, but if it’s been going on almost 25 years, why is everyone talking about it now?While this problem isn’t new, it’s gotten demonstrably worse in recent years.Myanmar’s 2010 transition from a military-led government to a somewhat more democratic system led to some of the worst violence against Muslims. The national government has tacitly permitted the rise of the 969 movement, a group of Buddhist monks who employ “moral justification for a wave of anti-Muslim bloodshed,” Reuters reports. Since 2012, roughly 140,000 Rohingya have fled northwestern Myanmar amid deadly fighting with the majority Buddhists.Read more: http://blogs.reuters.com/great-debate/2015/06/17/why-is-no-one-helping-myanmars-rohingya/
-- Reuters 2015-06-19
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Indian raid in Myanmar raises regional tensionsBy Sanjoy MajumderBBC News, ManipurA cross-border raid last week by Indian soldiers into Myanmar has raised regional tensions. The unusual operation targeted insurgents after the biggest rebel attack on Indian soldiers in two decades.The BBC's Sanjoy Majumder travelled to the north-eastern state of Manipur where the attack took place.MYANMAR:-- The road from the remote Manipur district of Chandel to Myanmar is deserted. It is not until an hour into our drive that we come across the first sign of life: an Indian army patrol is moving slowly across the mountains, looking into the thick foliage for any sign of activity.The soldiers are from the 6 Dogras unit. Earlier this month, on this very road which winds across the mountains through thick forest, 18 of their colleagues were killed in an ambush by rebels.A radio set crackles to life and the unit commander relays the information that we are safe.A few kilometres ahead we reach the site of the attack. An army truck is almost on its side, completely charred. There are large dark patches on the ground and on one side are the remains of three rocket-propelled grenades.
-- BBC 2017-06-19
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Thailand confirms first MERS case: Health ministryBANGKOK:-- (Reuters) - Thailand confirmed its first case of Middle East Respiratory Syndrome (MERS) on Thursday, becoming the fourth Asian country to register the deadly virus this year.Public Health Minister Rajata Rajatanavin told a news conference that a 75-year-old businessman from Oman had tested positive for MERS."From two lab tests we can confirm that the MERS virus was found," Rajata said, adding the man had travelled to Bangkok for medical treatment for a heart condition."The first day he came he was checked for the virus. The patient ... contracted the MERS virus."The health minister said 59 others were being monitored for the virus, including three of the man's relatives who travelled with him to Bangkok.MERS is caused by a coronavirus from the same family as the one that triggered China's deadly 2003 outbreak of Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS).
-- Reuters 2015-06-18
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'Pray for Anna'She totally paralyzed, unable to speak and move, after visiting Thailand.from Taya Soon
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Myanmar officials offer new ID cards to skeptical RohingyaWill new 'green cards' lead to citizenship or push it further out of reach for the persecuted minority?MYANMAR:-- Officials in Rakhine state last week began issuing new identity verification cards to Rohingya Muslims in 14 townships. Authorities say the move creates a path to citizenship for the embattled ethnic minority, yet many Rohingya fear it will instead drive them further away.Khin Soe, an immigration officer in Sittwe, said the new identification cards have been issued following a decision by the government to reclaim a previous form of temporary identification for Rohingya — so-called ‘white cards’.“We are issuing green cards and accepting application forms for verifying citizenship for those who want it. Then we will carry out the process according to the 1982 citizenship law,” Khin Soe told ucanews.com on Wednesday.The Myanmar government revoked the white cards in February and set a deadline of May 31 for cardholders — predominantly stateless Muslims who identify their ethnicity as Rohingya — to turn them in as part of a national citizenship program.Some 400,000 white cards have been collected as of the deadline, according to the government.Read more: http://www.ucanews.com/news/myanmar-officials-offer-new-id-cards-to-skeptical-rohingya/73799
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Myanmar: Aung San Suu Kyi says Rohingya issue needs careful handlingMyanmar's opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi for the first time spoke about her country's persecuted Rohingya Muslims, saying that the sensitive issue must be addressed "very, very carefully."When asked if the Rohingya Muslim community should be given citizenship, she said: "The government is now verifying the citizenship status under the 1982 citizenship law. I think they should go about it very quickly and very transparently and then decide what the next steps in the process should be."She told the Washington Post via a telephone interview that Myanmar has many minorities and that she is always "talking up for the right of minorities and peace and harmony and for equality and so on and so on ...."Aung said the protection of rights of minorities is an issue which should be addressed very, very carefully, and as quickly and effectively as possible, adding that the government was not doing enough about the issue.Read more: http://www.ibtimes.co.uk/myanmar-aung-san-suu-kyi-says-rohingya-issue-needs-careful-handling-1506733
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Bangladesh and Myanmar patrols exchange fire along river border
DHAKA: One Bangladesh border guard was wounded and another seized by his Myanmar counterparts on Wednesday after the two sides exchanged gunfire while chasing drug smugglers on a river separating their countries.The Bangladeshis were pursuing the smugglers by boat near Teknaf on the Naff River separating the neighbouring states near Cox's Bazar in southern Bangladesh. The border runs down the middle of the wide river that flows into the nearby Andaman Sea.The smugglers got away, but a Myanmar border patrol boat opened fire on their Bangladesh counterparts, said Colonel M M Anisur Rahman, the local Bangladesh border guard commander in Cox's Bazar. The Bangladesh patrol fired back. -
Topic is now running in News: http://www.thaivisa.com/forum/topic/833683-leicester-city-orgy-trio-sacked-for-verbally-abusing-thai-women/
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Amnesty accuses Myanmar government of intimidating mediaAYE AYE WIN, Associated PressYANGON, Myanmar (AP) — Myanmar's government is using threats, harassment and imprisonment to intimidate the media ahead of national elections later this year, Amnesty International said Wednesday.The London-based human rights group said efforts to restrict freedom of expression have intensified over the past year, with at least 10 members of the media currently languishing in prison, all of them jailed in the last 12 months.Such actions belie claims of liberalization since the country started a democratic transition in 2011 from a military regime to an elected civilian government that vowed democratic reforms, Amnesty said in a 22-page report.Significant changes have been made in moving the country to a free-market economy, and Myanmar has a parliament for the first time in more than two decades. Formal censorship has been dropped and the electronic and print media opened to competition, but the government has aggressively prosecuted publications and journalists over stories it has found offensive."What we are seeing in Myanmar today is repression dressed up as progress," Amnesty said in a statement that quoted its Southeast Asia research director, Rupert Abbott. "Authorities are still relying on the same old tactics — arrests, surveillance, threats and jail time to muzzle those journalists who cover 'inconvenient' topics."Information Minister and presidential spokesman Ye Htut disputed Amnesty's criticism."We usually don't pay attention to such statements by international organizations because they focus solely on freedom of expression," he said.Ye Htut said that because Myanmar is still making a transition to democracy, it has to measure freedom based on "the country's fragile social and political factors, freedom along with responsibility and abidance of media ethics."Myanmar most serious challenges include placating armed ethnic minorities who for decades have been seeking greater autonomy, and ending often violent communal tensions between Buddhist and Muslims. The upcoming polls are expected to see Nobel laureate Aung San Suu Kyi's National League for Democracy party perform strongly against the current military-backed government, threatening the power of the army, which many see as still pulling the strings in running the country.Amnesty cited the cases since 2014 of at least 10 journalists imprisoned from two to seven years under criminal charges and "vaguely formulated laws" and the killing of a journalist in military custody.The group charged that the authorities are also often dragging the media through lengthy and costly legal processes, or relying on collective punishment where the response to one critical story is prosecuting several people from the same outlet to effectively shut down the whole outlet.The Information Ministry last year sued 11 staff members of the Myanmar Herald weekly journal under a media law for printing an article referring to President Thein Sein as a fool, and five people including the CEO, editor-in-chief, editor and publisher from the influential newspaper "Daily Eleven" are being sued for defamation for publishing a report about alleged irregularities in the purchase of a printing press by the ministry."The media plays a crucial role in holding a free and fair election," said Zaw Thet Htway, a former political prisoner under the military regime and editor-in-chief of the weekly "Tomorrow" news journal.
-- (c) Associated Press 2015-06-17
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Water reveals two sides of Myanmar's economic boomYangon (AFP) - Every morning on his way to work in Yangon, builder Zaw Min Tun takes a swig of water at a Buddhist temple, a vital place to quench a thirst for the many ordinary citizens left behind by Myanmar's economic boom.Bottled water is among the plethora of consumer industries set to take off as the country emerges from decades of isolated junta rule, putting more money in the pockets of the country's rich and a growing middle class.But, at around 300 kyats (25-30 US cents) a litre, it remains too pricey for the majority of people in a country where the average annual per capita income of $1,105 remains one of the lowest in Asia.Decades of weak investment under junta rule means the vast majority of people -- eight in 10 -- are forced to drink from unsafe supplies such as wells, boreholes, springs and streams while only nine percent have access to tap or piped water.Poor infrastructure combined with the high prices of bottled water mean many locals like Zaw Min Tun rely on the terracotta jars of water left by kindly strangers at the many Buddhist temples across the country."This is where I have to wait for the bus," he tells AFP under a baking hot sky outside the temple in downtown Yangon. "And when I'm thirsty I take a drink."On the other side of Myanmar's consumer boom, adverts for purified water cover billboards and the sides of delivery trucks in Yangon and other cities, pushing aspirational and wholesome messages."With Alpine, live longer and healthier," says the slogan of market leader Alpine, a local company which produced 200 million bottles in Myanmar last year, and projects to churn out 300 million by the end of 2015.- Purity matters -Myanmar's bottled water market is, as yet, far from saturated.In 2013 consumption of bottled water per head stood at just 0.1 litres, according to a 2014 report by researchers at Euromonitor International, compared with 21 litres in the Asia-Pacific as a whole.Nestle is among the international companies that have circled the market for water, although the Swiss food and drink giant has shied away from major investment so far."This business has a great future. As people get richer, the middle class has more expectation," Sai Sam Htun, CEO of Lo Hein Company, which owns the Alpine brand, told AFP.For the country's newly minted middle class, such bottlers offer a sense of security in what had been, until recently, a notoriously unreliable cottage industry."Previously, there were a lot of small players, they did not care about water treatment," Sai Sam Htun added."They just got it from underground or from the pipe from the city water. They treated it very lightly."Concerns over poorly purified water became such an issue that in February the Ministry of Health banned more than 70 brands after spot checks showed they failed basic safety tests.Fenton Holland, an Australian specialist who has helped Western drinks companies and hotels access safe water supplies in Myanmar, said businesses are becoming aware they need access to safe water."Even when you make potato chips you need high-purity water," he said.- Herculean task -Decades of economic mismanagement under the brutal junta has left Myanmar with a creaking and decrepit infrastructure and the water supply is no exception.According to national census figures released this month, only 31 percent of inhabitants living in cities consume purified water in some form, falling to just two percent in the countryside.Even in Yangon, the nation's economic heart, wells and ponds are a common water source for the city's seven million inhabitants, especially outside of the centre.On the city's western outskirts, far removed from the construction cranes and car dealerships of the city centre, Thein Ham, 51, fills up some water jars on the side of the street.Bottled water "is for other people. My mother did the same thing," she explained.On paper, Myanmar should not lack for fresh, drinkable water.As a tropical country boasting three mighty rivers, it is annually soaked by life-giving monsoon rains, although the dry season often brings brings drought due to poor management.Revamping the country's infrastructure is a Herculean task, even in a city like Yangon.French firm Egis has been commissioned by Yangon's authorities to come up with a plan to rehabilitate thousands of kilometres (miles) of water pipes under the city."These pipes have to be cleaned and repaired," explained Marion Hasse, a project coordinator for Egis. "Most of the pipe network is between 50 and 70 years old."She estimates that the centre of Yangon could see safe drinking water delivered via taps within five years, but for the whole city, it could take more like two decades.
-- (c) Copyright AFP 2015-06-15
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Chris Evans to be new Top Gear presenterLONDON:-- TV and radio personality Chris Evans will replace Jeremy Clarkson as the lead presenter of an all-new Top Gear line-up, the BBC has announced.Evans said he was "thrilled" to get the job, describing the motoring show as his "favourite programme of all time"."I promise I will do everything I possibly can to respect what has gone on before and take the show forward," he added.Clarkson was dropped in March after punching a producer while on location.Car enthusiast Evans, who has signed a three-year deal with the BBC Two show, had been tipped to replace his good friend Clarkson but had previously insisted he was not interested.An "all-new" line-up means Clarkson's co-hosts Richard Hammond and James May will not be involved.Read more: http://www.bbc.com/news/uk-33158464
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OPINIONReligious extremism looms over MyanmarBy David Scott Mathieson(CNN)The impact of Myanmar's repressive policy toward Rohingya Muslims was made clear in recent weeks with scenes of desperate people crammed into boats, an escalation of a miserable maritime flight in which an estimated 90,000 people have fallen prey to smugglers and traffickers since early 2014. The United Nations estimates that around 1,000 people have died on the way.The root cause is the long-term reprehensible treatment of the Rohingya in Myanmar (also known as Burma) -- stateless, officially and socially reviled, with severe curbs on their rights to work, travel, get health care and education, and practice their religion.Yet even as this anguishing exodus has gripped international attention, it has obscured a connected and equally troubling pattern of rising religious extremism in Myanmar. At the height of the boat drama, parliament passed the "population control law," which permits the government to identify areas in Myanmar that could be subject to repressive birth control measures. The law was inspired by Buddhist extremists whose stated agenda is opposition not just to Rohingya, but to all of Myanmar's sizable Muslim minority. The law was sharply criticized by many activists in Myanmar and opposed by the opposition National League for Democracy, but passed a joint parliamentary vote, 530 to 443, with 39 abstentions.The population control law is one element of a package of four "race and religion protection" bills. The other elements are an interfaith marriage bill, which grants government oversight of any marriage between a Buddhist and non-Buddhist; a religious conversion law, which requires government permission to change one's religion; and a monogamy law, which could limit the rights of people living in unmarried relationships and potentially target Muslims.
-- CNN 2015-06-17
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China polishes Myanmar relations as West closes inThe perfect place to see the close economic ties between China and Myanmar is at the vibrant jade market in the Chinese border town of Ruili.Myanmar traders such as 47-year-old Soe Paing sell raw jade - one of the Southeast Asian country's many natural resources - in the most important trading hub between the two longtime allies. His family has been in the jade trade for generations."Chinese people didn't just start to like jade. They have always liked jade and used it for thousands of years," he said while examining various pieces of raw jade in his shop-office. "Our business depends mainly on China though since other countries are not as fond of jade as the Chinese."What's happening in Ruili is part of a bigger geopolitical game between China and the West.Read more: http://www.cnbc.com/id/102761107
In Myanmar, Cash Remains King, and It Had Better Be Clean
in Myanmar News
Posted