Six farmers in central Myanmar were arrested on Friday after trying to plant crops to challenge army confiscation of their land, while in the east hundreds of farmers complained that a probe by authorities into a military-backed grab of their property was too limited in scope.

The two disputes highlight a growing number of conflicts over land rights in Myanmar, which has implemented significant democratic reforms since a nominally civilian government took power from the country’s former military dictatorship in 2011.

The six arrested in Sinbaungwe township, Magway division were among farmers from 13 villages who until last year had been paying the army for permission to work 12,000 acres (5,000 hectares) of farmland since it was confiscated by the military nearly two decades ago, local residents said.

But this year, the army branch in the area, which is working to build a weapons factory for the defense department, had refused to give the farmers permission to plant, even in exchange for payment.

Dissatisfied at being refused permission, the six farmers had gone to plant sesame on the army-owned land when they were arrested by members of the army branch and then held by authorities in Mangyipin-pu village, local residents said.

“They were arrested by a major named Kyaw Myat Thu … and he said that this land is owned by the army,” local farmer Hla Oo told RFA’s Myanmar Service.  

Hla Oo said the army had seized the land in 1996 without giving any compensation to local residents, who had lived there for generations.

“We farmers from the 13 villages had to pay 8,000 kyat [U.S. $9] per acre for permission to work on our own land and we had been paying for 12,000 acres each year until 2012,” Hla Oo said.

Land disputes

The dispute over the confiscated land is one of many rising to the fore as Myanmar emerges from decades of military misrule.

Under Myanmar’s former army junta, farmers had little recourse when their land was seized by the powerful government and military elite, but now that the country has begun pursuing democratic reforms, some farmers have been emboldened to make their grievances public.

Lawmakers have discussed plans to create legislation to protect farmers, and rights groups have raised concerns about a potential “land-grabbing epidemic” as the country opens up to foreign investment.

Analysts say many of the emerging land disputes are not new, dating back to a period when the former military junta attempted to open up to investors in the early 1990s. Others, they say, are linked to fresh conflicts emerging as the former pariah state invites new global foreign investment as part of ongoing reforms.

Attempts to address petitions from farmers have also been fraught with tension, as a group of farmers in eastern Myanmar’s Shan state who demanded the return of confiscated land found this month.

Complaint over land grab probe

In response to a request submitted earlier in May by a group of more than 100 farmers for the return of land confiscated by the army’s No. 353 artillery division, the military’s Eastern Command has ordered an investigation into lands claimed by 11 of the protest leaders.

But the remaining farmers say that the investigation is too limited in scope as only the 11 protest leaders’ lands are being considered for return while claims by the other farmers are ignored.

“The authorities are investigating only those eleven leaders’ lands,” local resident Ei Ei Linn said.

“Those protest leaders are likely to get their land back, but other farmers also want theirs as well because each of us cleared the wild land with our own hands.”

The group of 124 farmers had jointly submitted a request to the Eastern Command for an investigation into the land dispute on May 4.

Reported by Yadanar Oo and Kyaw Myo Tun for RFA’s Myanmar Service. Translated by Khet Mar. Written in English by Rachel Vandenbrink.

A top-ranking envoy from North Korea delivered a letter from regime leader Kim Jong Un to China’s President Xi Jinping Friday as part of efforts to clear the air between the two neighbors following months of Pyongyang’s ignoring calls from Beijing to tone down on its threats of war.

Tensions have been high on the Korean Peninsula after months of fiery rhetoric by Pyongyang directed against South Korea, Japan and the United States, including threats of an imminent nuclear conflict.

North Korean Vice Marshal Choe Ryong Hae handed the communiqué to Xi during an afternoon meeting at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing, the official Chinese Xinhua news agency reported, though it did not provide details about the letter’s contents.

During the meeting Choe told Xi that North Korea is ready accept China’s proposal that it return to the table for multiparty talks on nuclear disarmament, following a series of rocket launches and a nuclear test it carried out in recent months which drew Beijing’s ire and raised tensions on the Korean peninsula.

Xi had stressed that denuclearization and stability on the peninsula are of the utmost importance to the region and called on all parties concerned to “remain calm and with restraint, ease the situation and restart the process of the six-party talks” between the two Koreas, Russia, China, the U.S. and Japan, Xinhua said.

“China has a very clear position concerning the issue that all the parties involved should stick to the objective of denuclearization, safeguard the peace and stability on the peninsula, and resolve disputes through dialogue and consultation,” Xi said.

Xinhua said that Choe expressed “the sincere wish of [North Korea] to create a peaceful external environment to develop its economy and improve people's livelihood.”

He said that the North is ready to work with concerned parties to solve relevant issues through dialogue, including the six-party talks, and willing to adopt “active moves to safeguard peace and stability” on the peninsula.

The meeting between Xi and Choe followed nearly a half year of no high-level contacts between China and North Korea, during which Pyongyang angered Beijing by launching a long-range rocket in December and conducting a nuclear test in February—raising tensions with South Korea and the U.S.

The North had also snubbed an invitation by Beijing to high-level meetings and angered the Chinese public by detaining a Chinese fishing crew this month.

Choe’s three-day visit to Beijing comes ahead of a trip to California by Xi to meet with U.S. President Barack Obama in early June and a trip to Beijing by South Korean President Park Geun-hye late next month. Choe had arrived in Beijing on Wednesday.

Tenuous relations

China is impoverished North Korea's main diplomatic and economic ally but has shown growing irritation with Pyongyang's war threats, and in March backed tough U.N. sanctions against the hardline communist neighbor for its weapons tests.

It also cut off dealings with North Korea’s Foreign Trade Bank.

It is believed that China agreed to a visit by Choe only after it was decided ahead of time that the envoy would publicly state North Korea’s willingness to return to negotiations.

Earlier on Friday, Xinhua quoted top Chinese General Fan Changlong as telling Choe that the threat of nuclear war in the region had “intensified strategic conflicts among involved parties and jeopardized the peace and stability of the peninsula.

Choe responded that there was “no guarantee of peace” but that North Korea was “willing to work with all sides to search for a method of solving the problems through dialogue.”

On Thursday, Choe told the ruling Chinese Communist Party’s fifth-ranked official Liu Yunshan that the North “is willing to accept the suggestion of the Chinese side and launch dialogue with all relevant parties.”

A senior Buddhist monk with ties to a political party challenging Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Sen’s hold on power has been found beaten to death in what one opposition figure called a politically motivated killing.

Keo Touch, 78, the chief monk of Thmang Pagoda in Svay Rieng province’s Bavet city, was found dead in his residence on Thursday night, sources said.

Speaking to RFA’s Khmer Service, opposition Cambodia National Rescue Party (CNRP) provincial leader Riel Khemrin described the murder as “premeditated” and “politically motivated.”

“Authorities found bruises on his neck and near his eyebrows,” he said.

The dead monk was the father of CNRP provincial member Keo Romanea, who had recently been promoted to a senior position in the party, sources said.

Pin Bunroth, provincial coordinator for the Cambodian rights group Licadho, said that though a motive for the killing has not yet been established, “the killers after murdering the monk took his corpse and put it where he slept, and didn’t take any of his belongings.”

“I haven’t concluded anything about the murder,” provincial deputy police chief Hem Saban told RFA, adding that police are still investigating the case.

“We must wait until the investigation is finished,” he said. “For now, we are still in the dark.”

Party meeting disrupted

Meanwhile, supporters of the ruling Cambodian People’s Party (CPP) disrupted a public meeting called on Friday by acting CNRP president Kem Sokha in Pailin province, according to a CNRP statement.

Hecklers shouted and shoved participants and used a bullhorn to prevent the audience from hearing Kem Sokha’s speech, the party statement said.

“The National Rescue Party appeals to the national and international community to investigate this disturbance and judge whether all [Cambodian] political parties can act freely,” the statement said.

Speaking later in an interview with a government-linked radio station, Pailin provincial governor Y Chhieng said the meeting was disrupted because Kem Sokha had invited villagers to attend a public forum but had then “talked politics.”

“People ousted Kem Sokha because they know that this individual with the National Rescue Party is not a nationalist,” he said.

“Kem Sokha and [party candidate] Sam Rainsy are cheaters,” he said.

Sam Rainsy, who is contesting national elections in Cambodia scheduled for July 28, has been living in self-imposed exile in France since 2009 after being tried and convicted in absentia on a string of charges that critics contend were politically motivated.

Cambodia’s National Election Commission (NEC), whose nine members were approved by a CPP-dominated parliament last year, says that he cannot stand for office because of his criminal convictions.

The United States and other countries have criticized Cambodian authorities for blocking Sam Rainsy from running in the elections, saying that his exclusion will call into question the vote’s legitimacy.

Reported by Sek Bendit for RFA’s Khmer Service. Translated by Samean Yun. Written in English by Richard Finney.

CHIN STATE, Myanmar—It was Easter Sunday and the two Chin women had just left Hakha Baptist church on the second holiest day of the Christian calendar.  They were headed to festive family dinners, until their cell phones rang.

Chin State, on Myanmar’s western border with India, has a population of about 500,000. Ninety-five percent of them are Christian. But Myanmar is a Buddhist country, and in Chin state, Buddhists control the government bureaucracy, the army, the police, the education system and most of the corporate hierarchy, such as it is.

The women worked at one of the national banks. Their boss, a Buddhist, was summoning them to work.  He told them there was an emergency to deal with. The women were furious.

“This is typical,” one of them told me, through an interpreter. The woman declined to give her name, out of fear of being fired. “They have no respect for us or our religion.”

Religion is just one of the factors that sets the Chin apart from the Myanmar people. Ethnically and culturally, they are more akin to their Chin cousins just across the border in India. Economically, they are practically isolated in a mountainous region with no airport and terrible roads. Politically, as one of Myanmar’s ethnic minorities, they are of little import to the central government.

“They [the government] always think we are the low class,” said Pu Zo Zam, chairman of the Chin National Party (CNP), one of the political parties that has emerged in Myanmar’s democratic development.  “That’s the problem:  they look down on us.”

Christians told me they are concerned about the violence between Buddhists and minority Muslims in Myanmar but are confident there will be no such conflict between Buddhists and Christians because they have always coexisted peacefully.

Symbolic visit

President Thein Sein, who has spearheaded Myanmar’s move to democracy, made a symbolic first visit to the Chin capital, Hakha, on Chin National Day, Feb. 20, and pledged U.S. $1.5 million to help jump-start the moribund Chin economy. It was a gesture of goodwill by the government but fell short of Chin expectations.

“It’s nothing,” said Zing Cung, secretary general of the Chin National Front (CNF), which had fought the central government since 1988 until a cease-fire was signed in May 2012. “We are the poorest region in Myanmar. We need much more than that.”

The cease-fire agreement, in theory, put an end to the oppression of the old military regime. It called for freedom of religion; the right to teach and speak the Chin language; the preservation of Chin culture and traditions; development in an environmentally responsible way; better roads, an airport and electrification, and a human rights commission to investigate abuses.

Ultimately, what the Chin want is self-rule under a federal system, similar to what states have in the United States. That would require a change in the country’s new constitution.

In the meantime, Pu Zo Zam of the CNP said the new government has ended most of the abuses of the past, including using Chin people as forced labor, but “lots of people are still afraid to speak … The bottle [government] has a new label, but we still have to taste more of what’s inside before we can trust it.”

Freedom of religion

Central to the Chin people’s opinion of the Thein Sein administration is whether it respects their freedom of religion. So far, they are not persuaded, especially when Buddhist pagodas continue to go up around the capital, Hakha, and second-largest Chin city, Falam. And there’s the contentious issue of hilltop crosses being torn down by the government.

“The government keeps telling us that Christianity is a western religion and that we should convert to Buddhism,” said Siang Mang, a township manager for one of the nongovernmental organizations working to develop Chin State. “But it won’t work. No one here will become a Buddhist.”

Christianity gained a foothold in Chin State with the arrival of American Baptist missionaries in 1899, when Buddhism was nonexistent in this region. With the advent of almost 50 years of Myanmar military rule in 1962, missionaries were banned. But by then, Christianity was deeply rooted, with churches big and small dotted across the landscape.

The pioneering missionaries Arthur and Laura Carson of Columbus City, Iowa, are buried in Hakha, in a memorial adjacent to the biggest church, Hakha Baptist.

Even though Westerners are now officially welcome in previously restricted Chin State, the government is suspicious that missionaries are among them. I was questioned twice by immigration and intelligence agents:  where was I going, what was I doing, who was I meeting, etc. That my guide was from the Chin National Front added to their curiosity.

Still, amid the doubts, there is optimism among some Chin clerics, including Pastor Pezamang of the Evangelical Assembly Church.

“It is much better under the new government,” he said. “Everything has changed. New churches are being built, and we can now publish religious articles and talk freely. It gives me hope.”

Tyler Chapman is a regular contributor to RFA.

Two village officials in western China’s restive Xinjiang region were stabbed to death by a suspected fugitive from earlier clashes while conducting house searches in their village, according to local officials and residents.

The alleged fugitive, farmer Alim Ebey, 32, was beaten to death after killing the two men, and his wife died in police custody following the May 9 incident in Uchar township in Kashgar prefecture’s Yengisar (in Chinese, Yingjisha) county, the sources said.

According to local religious leaders in the township, police had been searching for Alim Ebey over a possible connection to April clashes in nearby Maralbeshi (Bachu) county which left 21 people dead in the Xinjiang’s worst violence in four years.  

The religious leaders said they had been told by local authorities that Alim Ebey stabbed the two officials—Village No. 7 Party Secretary Memtimin Tohsun, 52, and village chief Enver Obulqasim, 48—after they and other members of a community watch group searched his mother-in-law’s home where he had been staying.

Seeing that Alim Ebey was a stranger who had been living there, members of the community watch group asked him to go with them to the police station for registration, but after walking with them for a distance, he stabbed the two men in the throat, they said.

In one account, a township official speaking on condition of anonymity said the conflict had been prompted when officials ordered Alim Ebey’s wife and mother-in-law-to remove veils covering their faces.

An undated photo of Nurimangul Hashim. Photo courtesy of an RFA listener.

Illegally high levels of poisonous heavy metals found in rice grown in southern China have highlighted a lack of openness among officials charged with environmental protection and food safety, activists said this week.

Authorities in the southern province of Guangdong took the unprecedented step last week of naming rice producers whose products contained "excessive amounts" of cadmium, amid growing public pressure for transparency over the scandal.

Of 18 batches of rice tested during quarterly spot-checks, eight were found to contain excessive amounts of the carcinogenic heavy metal, the Global Times newspaper reported on Tuesday.

Samples of the tainted rice were taken from two college canteens and two other restaurants in the provincial capital, Guangzhou, and revealed readings of between 0.21 and 0.4 milligrams of cadmium per kilogram, in excess of a national limit of 0.2 milligrams, the paper said.

However, expert studies revealed as early as 2011 excessive cadmium levels in around 10 percent of rice sold across China.

Sichuan-based environmental activist Yang Yong said the rice had likely been contaminated by the water used to irrigate the rice paddies in which it is grown.

"Heavy metals can be found in water and in soil, and can be transferred into food," Yang said. "This can have a huge impact as it accumulates in the human body."

Causes sought

According to Xue Shikiu, a water resources management expert at the University of Florida, there are three main sources of heavy metal contamination of crops.

"The first is from natural minerals which permeate into the water supply through weathering," Xue said. "The second is from industrial pollution, and the third is pollution from various sources during agricultural production."

Some media reports focused on recent investigations in Hunan, which also revealed higher-than-permitted levels of heavy metals in rice grown near the Dongting Lake.

Experts told local media that local farmers' fertilization of the fields could be a factor.

Landfill trash for compost

A recent investigation by RFA's Cantonese Service in Guangdong found that local farmers were using trash from nearby landfill sites as compost, mixing it together with commercial fertilizers, and spreading it on their fields.

Footage obtained by RFA showed spent batteries, which contain heavy metals, spread around on fields of green, leafy vegetables.

According to Yang Yong, the contamination in Hunan could be linked to China's biggest center for phosphate mining, on the border with nearby Guizhou.

"There are large amounts of heavy metals in the wastewater and slurry produced by the phosphate mining industry," Yang said.

Official information lacking

But he said that expert opinions are often guesswork amid a widespread lack of official information about levels of pollution and possible causes of contamination.

"They very rarely make information public, and their laboratory work and testing procedures aren't reliable, either," Yang said.

"Basically, the general public has zero information on this issue ... and sometimes such information is regarded as a state secret by the authorities."

"People should be very concerned about this situation."

Worsening levels of air and water pollution, as well as disputes over the effects of heavy metals from mining and industry, have forced ordinary Chinese to become increasingly involved in environmental protection and protest, according to a 2013 report from the Friends of Nature group.

Many ordinary citizens have been prompted into action by China's environmental crisis, sparking a rise in "mass incidents" linked to pollution, while environmental groups have raised growing concerns over the falsification of pollution testing and environmental impact assessments.

Campaigners say that China has an exemplary set of environmental protection legislation, but that close ties between business and officials mean that it is rarely enforced at a local level.

Reported by Shi Shan for RFA's Mandarin Service and by Bi Zimo for the Cantonese Service. Translated and written in English by Luisetta Mudie.

The recent pulling from Chinese movie theaters—and subsequent reinstatement—of Quentin Tarantino's Django Unchained cast the spotlight on Beijing's system for censorship of movies and television and sparked calls for a classification system similar to that used in many other countries. Germany-based Chinese film critic Zhou Lei recently spoke to RFA's Mandarin Service about her view of the sometimes troubled relationship between Hollywood and the ruling Chinese Communist Party:

"There are various ways in which [China and Hollywood] collaborate right now," said Zhou. "One of these is the use of cheap Chinese labor to carry out post-production work [on Hollywood films]. Another is the entry of ready-made feature films into the Chinese market."

"This is a huge problem, because it has to go through a censorship process, and there is huge competition. Yet another [form of collaboration] is jointly produced movies," she added.

Zhou said Hollywood producers were often willing to make substantial changes to a film in order to have it accepted by Beijing's State Administration for Radio, Film and Television, which must approve any film slated for general release and public performance in China.

She cited the example of Iron Man 3, which opened recently in Beijing, after the inclusion of a number of Chinese movie stars to make a "China edition" of the film.

But Zhou said such an approach could involve considerable headaches for foreign production companies working with the Chinese authorities.

"A few years ago, there was a Sino-German joint production called The Diaries of John Rabe," she said.

"Everyone found the subject matter acceptable. But I know that the process of production was extremely chaotic, and the movie that resulted from it could hardly be described as exceptional."

With China producing nearly 900 movies of its own for the domestic market in 2012, experts say differences in taste and a formidable censorship process will continue to be a major obstacle to foreign movies seeking a return at the Chinese box office.

Reported by Shi Shan for RFA's Mandarin Service. Translated and written in English by Luisetta Mudie.

A series of sex scandals involving underage girls has prompted widespread public anger and calls for a review of Chinese laws, lawyers said on Friday.

Earlier this month, official media reported that six primary schoolgirls aged around 10 and 11 were taken by a headmaster and a government official to hotels in Hainan island's Wanning city and sexually assaulted.

The news was followed by reports from nearby Zhanjiang city that a primary school principal surnamed Zheng had lured two sixth-grade primary school students to a dormitory on the pretext of "revision coaching" and raped them repeated since the beginning of May.

Similar cases have been reported in recent years in Guangxi, Hunan, Guizhou, Yunnan, and Fujian provinces, sparking widespread anger and allegations from netizens that underage sex has fast become a "perk" expected by Chinese officials.

'A lot of officials do this'

Guangzhou-based lawyer Sui Muqing said some Chinese officials held a superstitious belief that sex with a virgin could boost their chances of promotion.

"There is a superstitious pun based on the similarity between the words for virgin and 'initial level' official which means that an evil custom has become customary among many ignorant officials," Sui said.

"This states that if you want to be sure that a girl is a virgin, you have to get a girl who is still in primary school."

"Taking a girl's virginity is supposed to boost chances of a promotion," he added. "I think a lot of officials do this as a pastime."

He said a general lack of education rendered underage girls in China vulnerable to being used in such a way.

Loss of a moral benchmark

Meanwhile, Guangzhou lawyer Wang Hongjie blamed a decline in social morals, particularly among teachers.

"The responsibility has got to be with the teacher, and the reason for this decline in professional ethics has to do with the loss of a moral benchmark [throughout society]," Wang said.

"Also, there isn't enough of a curb placed by the law, either," he added.

1997 law

Before 1997, sex with a person under 14 was deemed to be rape, regardless of whether or not consent was given, as children of that age were deemed incapable of giving consent.

But the introduction of the Sex Crimes Against Girls Law in 1997 led to the separate treatment of sexual contact with a minor from the existing rape law.

Defendants can plead ignorance of a child's age, and crimes under the law carry a maximum penalty of 15 years, compared with a maximum penalty of death under pre-existing rape legislation.

Online anger

Netizens reacted angrily to the latest reported scandals.

"So, what, has [child rape] become a perk available to the rich and powerful now?" wrote a microblog user @shanjiuzhai, while user @nichengrumuchunfeng added: "Actually this is a case of unchecked power, where the law is only there for decoration."

"If the root cause isn't eradicated, then such things will become more and more common."

Popular current affairs commentator Du Chifu said on his microblog account that the laws of a country tend to serve the interests of those who make them.

"The Sex Crimes Against Girls Law was the brainchild of Huang Songyou, former deputy head of the Supreme People's Court," Du wrote.

"Huang Songyou, as a number two in charge of the judiciary, is the highest-level official ever to lose his job for suspected corruption."

Law 'lenient'

Shanghai-based lawyer Li Honghua said the law had been brought in to serve the interests of the rich and powerful.

"This should be a draconian law with even heavier penalties, but the way they have drafted it means sentences won't be severe," Li said.

"The people most likely to commit sex crimes with girls are the leadership at every level, so this law is fairly lenient," he said.

Last November, more than 95 percent of netizens who responded to an online poll supported making "child abuse" a specific offense under Chinese criminal law.

The International Union for Child Welfare in 1981 defined "child abuse" as consisting of "neglect or abuse" of children by family members and institutions, or of exploitation outside the home in the form of child labor or prostitution.

Reported by Yang Fan for RFA's Mandarin Service. Translated and written in English by Luisetta Mudie.

Authorities in western Myanmar’s Rakhine state have introduced a local regulation setting a two-child limit on Rohingya families in a bid to restrict population growth among the Muslim minority group, according to a government spokesman.

Officials announced the measure—part of a directive that also enforces a ban on polygamy—this month but have not said how it will be enforced.  

The new rules have been imposed in northern Rakhine state’s Maungdaw district, which comprises Maungdaw and Buthidaung townships, along the border with Bangladesh.

The two-child limit only applies to Rohingyas, a stateless group widely considered in Myanmar to be illegal immigrants from Bangladesh even though they have lived in the country for generations.

Rakhine state spokesman Win Myaing said the measures were being implemented to curb Rohingyas’ high population growth and were in line with recommendations made by a central government panel probing communal violence that tore through the region last year.

“The birth rates for Muslim families in this area are too high,” he told RFA’s Myanmar Service.

“The Rakhine inquiry commission advised controlling the birth rate in its report, and we will follow their advice,” he said.

The inquiry commission’s report, issued in April, recommended family planning education be provided to Rohingya families, saying their “rapid population growth” had “fuelled insecurity among some Rakhines” and been a factor leading to the violence between the two groups.

Buddhist Rakhines and Muslim Rohingya held bloody clashes in the region in June and October last year, which left nearly 200 dead and 140,000 displaced.

Rights groups have said Rohingyas bore the brunt of the violence, with Human Rights Watch accusing security forces of complicity in “ethnic cleansing" against the group.

“According to many Rakhines, the implementation of family planning programs amongst [Rohingya] communities would go some way to mitigating such concerns and would support the goal of peaceful coexistence,” the inquiry comisson's report said.

“If, as proposed, family-planning education is provided to the [Rohingya] population, the government should refrain from implementing nonvoluntary measures which may be seen as discriminatory or that would be inconsistent with human rights standards.”

Surprise checks

Though Myanmar’s nearly 800,000 Rohingyas are a minority in Rakhine state and the rest of the country, the group makes up a majority of the population in Maungdaw and Buthidaung, which are also home to a small Rakhine Buddhist minority.

Authorities are making surprise inspections of Rohingya homes in the townships to check for compliance with the birth control regulation, Myanmar Eleven media quoted a district immigration official as saying last week.

Win Myaing said families who break the new rules will be dealt with “according to the Immigration Law,” but did not give further details. It remained unclear what measures would be taken against families that have more than two children or are involved in polygamous marriages.

The measure could later be extended to other townships if necessary, he said.

Myanmar has no national laws limiting reproduction, but its ethnic state governments have the authority to introduce regulations in accordance with regional security demands.

Reported by Min Thein Aung for RFA’s Burmese Service. Translated by Khet Mar. Written in English by Rachel Vandenbrink.

China's ruling Communist Party kept up a "stranglehold" on dissidents and rights activists last year, subjecting thousands to arbitrary detention in labor camps and unofficial "black jails," while the rate of self-immolations among Tibetans continued to rise amid continuing cultural repression, a new human rights report said.

London-based rights group Amnesty International hit out at the growing number of self-immolations among Tibetans, which it said came amid continuing repression of Tibetans’ right to enjoy and promote their own culture as well as their rights to freedom of religion, expression, peaceful association, and assembly.

"During the year, at least 83 ethnic Tibetan monks, nuns and lay people set themselves on fire, bringing the total number of self-immolations in Tibetan populated areas in China to at least 95 since February 2009," the group said in its 2013 annual report.

Beijing-based Tibetan writer Woeser said the number of self-immolations during the whole of 2012 stood at 85, however.

Two monks burned themselves in protest in April this year, bringing to 118 the number of Tibetan self-immolations since the wave of fiery protests began in 2009.

"There are self-immolations every month," Woeser said, in reaction to the report. "What we are seeing is the use of self-immolation as a form of protest, and this was particularly so last year."

"That they choose such a means of protest, that they use their own lives in protest, shows the terrible situation in Tibetan areas," she said.

Authorities in Tibet also kept up a series of “patriotic” and “legal education” campaigns to force Tibetans to denounce the Dalai Lama, Amnesty International said, adding that officials stepped up interference in Buddhist monasteries.

Critics criminalized

Across the rest of China, the government continued to use the criminal justice system to punish its critics, the report said.

"Hundreds of individuals and groups were sentenced to long prison terms or sent to Re-education Through Labour (RTL) camps for peacefully exercising their rights to freedom of expression and freedom of belief," it said.

Many of those handed lengthy jail terms for “endangering state security,” “inciting subversion of state power” and “leaking state secrets” had simply made online posts, or communicated information overseas that was deemed sensitive, the report said.

Online activist Wu Bin, known by his nickname "Xiucai Jianghu," said the state had definitely stepped up its security activities targeting those who spoke out online.

"I definitely felt that," Wu said. "I was subjected to plenty of persecution."

"My online accounts were blocked and I was hounded in various aspects of my life," he said. "Sometimes they confiscated my cell phone; at other times they took my computer and ID card."

"Things are getting more and more intense," he said.

Targeted for punishment

Wu said China's army of petitioners—many of whom pursue complaints against the government over forced evictions, wrongful detention, physical attacks and deaths in custody—are increasingly targeted by police and officials for punishment.

"You are supposed to be allowed to oppose the Party and the government, and yet if you go and complain, they detain you and bring you home or throw you in a black jail," he said.

"A lot of petitioners have told me that their human rights have been violated, with illegal detentions and horrific treatment inside them," he added.

The authorities earmarked 701 billion yuan (U.S. $112 billion) in funding for "stability maintenance," an increase of over 30 billion from 2011, the Amnesty International report said.

While criminal laws had been revised to strengthen protection of minors and the mentally ill, police had also been authorized to detain people in secret for up to six months for some crimes, including "endangering state security," it said.

Such detentions could be carried out without notifying the suspect’s family of the location or reasons for detention, potentially legalizing enforced disappearance, the report said.

Reported by Hai Nan and Wei Ling for RFA's Cantonese Service, and by Xin Lin for the Mandarin Service. Translated and written in English by Luisetta Mudie.

A Vietnamese court on Thursday reduced the jail sentences of four activists convicted on charges of plotting to overthrow the government but upheld those of four others, a lawyer said, while a banned opposition group they were said to have links with called for their immediate release.

The People’s Court of Vinh city in Nghe An province heard the appeals of eight defendants from a group of 13 Catholics, bloggers, and students who had been jailed following a trial on Jan. 8-9, as supporters were blocked from viewing the proceedings and, according to some reports, detained.

Three of the appellants—including Ho Van Oanh, Nguyen Van Duyet, and Nguyen Xuan Anh —had their jail terms reduced by between six months and two-and-a-half years, while prominent Catholic blogger Paulus Le Van Son had his 13-year sentence cut to four years, according to lawyer Ha Huy Son.

“Four people's sentences were upheld while those of four others were adjusted,” lawyer Son told RFA’s Vietnamese Service.

“The four adjusted sentences include Le Van Son to four years in prison and four years of probation, Nguyen Van Duyet to three-and-a-half years in prison and four years' probation, Nguyen Xuan Anh to two years in prison with no probation, and Ho Van Oanh to two-and-a-half years in prison with no probation.”

Duyet had originally been sentenced to four years, while Anh and Oanh had both received three years in prison.

“The four others—Ho Duc Hoa, Nguyen Dinh Cuong, Tran Minh Nhat, and Thai Van Dung—had their sentences upheld, though Nhat no longer faces probation after his jail time is completed,” Son said.

The lawyer said that the court had disregarded nearly all of the recommendations by the defendants’ legal team during the appeal hearing, though he granted that “some progress had been made” compared to the previous trial.

“They did adjust sentences. They also listened to the lawyer's opinions—they did not limit arguments at this trial,” he said.

“However we were unsatisfied with some opinions raised at the trial. For example, [the court] maintained that any request for pluralism or a multiparty system is a violation of the law and that nonviolent protest is a crime.”

The group of eight defendants were initially convicted—along with five others who did not appeal Thursday—under Article 79 of the Penal Code for their involvement with Viet Tan, an opposition group considered a terrorist organization in one-party Vietnam.

Supporters blocked

Family members and supporters of the eight on trial Thursday said security personnel had blocked them from entering the court and arrested an unknown number of people.

A relative of one of the defendants, who spoke to RFA on condition of anonymity, said he had been barred from the hearing and that loudspeakers broadcasting the trial outside the courtroom had the sound intentionally lowered to prevent the crowd from hearing what was taking place.

“Even if they had let me in, there might have been nothing to see. They usually just let defendants say some last words and then deliver the verdicts,” he said.

“The loudspeakers were not loud enough to hear. When the prosecutor talked, they made them loud, but when the defendants or [defense] lawyers said something, they made them low.”

Another witness outside the court said that ahead of the trial plainclothes policemen had arrived outside the court and taken posters expressing support from the family members of the defendants.

“When the trial started, they sent a lot of police there to chase people away and blocked all access to the court. They wouldn’t let people stand nearby, except for scores of policemen,” the witness told RFA.

“The trial ended around 5:00 p.m. The family members were all very sad. Now people are gathering to ask the police to release [supporters] they arrested, including Minh Hang, Dan, and Thuy Nga. They are going to Nghe An provincial police office to do that.”

The witness provided no further details about detentions outside the court.

Sentences condemned

Viet Tan was quick to dismiss the reduction in sentences as an attempt by the Vietnamese government to deflect international and grassroots pressure over the continued jailing of the eight dissidents, calling for them to be “immediately released.”

“These eight human rights defenders continue to face harsh prison terms for their peaceful political advocacy,” the opposition party said in a statement Thursday.

Last month, Viet Tan said the eight had faced various deprivations and abuses in jail, including assault and having their medicine withheld.

“Since detaining these human rights defenders in 2011, the Hanoi regime has yet to show how these activists actually harmed the country’s interests or engaged in any activity that could be considered illegal under international standards,” the group said in Thursday’s statement.

Viet Tan said the leaders of Vietnam “should be embarrassed” for silencing citizen bloggers who take part in nonviolent civic action.

“That’s why the authorities conducted today’s trial behind closed doors, prevented international observers from attending the proceedings, and even roughed up family members of the defendants outside the court.”

In a statement ahead of Thursday’s appeal, Phil Robertson, deputy director of Human Rights Watch’s Asia Division, said the latest trial showed how the Vietnamese government refuses its people the right to freedom of expression.

“The People’s Supreme Court should try something new and different by breaking with the orders it receives from its political overseers and vacating the judgment against these eight activists,” he said.

“The hubris and hypocrisy of Vietnam’s leaders is really on display as the government imprisons people for exercising their rights, yet also somehow inexplicably believes it deserves serious consideration for a seat at the U.N. Human Rights Council for the 2014-2017 term.”

Vietnamese authorities have come under fire from human rights groups and some Western governments for jailing and harassing dozens of activists, bloggers, and citizen journalists since stepping up a crackdown on protests and freedom of expression online in recent years.

This year alone, at least 38 activists have been convicted of anti-state activity—many under Article 88, which rights groups and press freedom watchdogs say is a vaguely worded provision used by Hanoi to silence dissent.

Reported by RFA’s Vietnamese Service. Written in English by Joshua Lipes.

A Tibetan protester was warmly greeted by relatives and friends following his release from a Chinese prison this week, with area residents lining the roads and offering ceremonial scarves to welcome his return, according to local sources.

Dondrub, 30, had been jailed for taking part in a March 18, 2012 demonstration challenging Chinese rule in Qinghai province’s Gepasumdo (in Chinese, Tongde) county, and was released this year on May 20, a Tibetan living in the area told RFA’s Tibetan Service on Wednesday.

“Local Tibetans lined up along the roads to warmly welcome him,” the man said, speaking on condition of anonymity. “Some embraced him with tears of joy, and others offered him scarves as a sign of respect and good wishes.”

“Dondrub’s relatives arranged a simple welcome reception at his house, where many more Tibetans came together to greet and welcome him,” he said.

“Dondrub briefed the Tibetans who were gathered there on the details of his ordeal in prison,” he said, adding that Dondrub’s hands are now “unwell” following long periods of restraint in handcuffs.

Dondrub’s father’s name is Rigdor and his mother’s name is Khandro Gyal, the source said.

Taken into custody with Dondrub following the protest in March last year were Gyarig Thar, Dorje Tsebe, and Pathar Gyal, RFA’s source said.

“Gyarig Thar died of injuries a few months after he was detained, and the last two were released, also after a few months. But Dondrub was held until the end of his full term in prison,” he said.

Police attack protesters

Described as initially peaceful, last year’s protest turned violent when Chinese police assaulted the crowd, wounding an unknown number in an apparent grenade attack, Tibetan sources told RFA at the time.

“On March 18, Chinese security forces threw explosives into a crowd of Tibetan protesters in Gepasumdo county in the Tsolho [in Chinese, Hainan] prefecture,” a Tibetan living in South India said, citing sources in the region.

“Seven who were severely injured were taken to hospital, but some of those who were hurt could not be taken for treatment,” the source said.

Details of the police assault, and the nature of the “explosives” used in the attack, could not be independently confirmed.

The incident followed three days of local protests calling for the release of 50 monks from nearby Ba Shingtri monastery who were detained three days before for raising the banned Tibetan national flag and shouting political slogans, sources said.

One month later, Chinese authorities seized land from three Tibetan nomad villages in Gepasumdo for distribution to Han Chinese migrating to the area, a Tibetan resident told RFA.

The new wave of migration will result in the growth of a Chinese town fueled by construction of two hydroelectric projects, the source said, speaking on condition of anonymity.

Chinese officials told local Tibetans that their animals would not be allowed to remain on the land taken over by the government, and villagers were advised to reduce the number of their animals by selling them to slaughterhouses, RFA’s source said.

Reported by Lumbum Tashi for RFA’s Tibetan Service. Translated by Dorjee Damdul. Written in English by Richard Finney.

Updated at 3:30 p.m. ET on 2013-05-23

Dozens of high-school students in China's  troubled western Xinjiang region took to the streets in a rare protest over the right of Uyghur girls to wear traditional head-coverings in school, local residents said on Thursday.

Nearly 100 students from the Kizilsu (in Chinese, Kezhou) No. 1 High School in Xinjiang's Atush (in Chinese, Atushi) city marched out of the gates and onto the streets in anger on Wednesday after the school tried to enforce a ban on headscarves, they said.

"It was at 8:30 a.m. or 9:00 a.m. that they came out," a Uyghur restaurant owner in the same neighborhood as the school said.

"It was [because the school banned headscarves]," he added, when asked to confirm online reports.

He said had seen around 70 students take part in the demonstration, but no police had been visible at the scene.

Photos of the protest posted online showed a large group of young people wearing headscarves and traditional Uyghur embroidered caps gathered outside school gates.

Ban reversed

"Sophomore high-school students from Kezhou High had a successful demonstration today over the issue of headscarves for girls," a tweet on the popular Baidu microblogging service said.

A second tweet said the school authorities had reacted by handing out a new, replacement headscarf to all female students.

"[They] said they would respect our customs," the tweet said.

An official who answered the phone at the school declined to comment.

"I don't know anything about this," the official said, before hanging up the phone.

A second Uyghur restaurant owner in the neighborhood said he had heard about the protest but did not see it himself.

"Most of the girls in that school wear a headscarf, while some of them do not," he said, adding that many students from Kezhou High School ate at his restaurant.

Fears of repercussion

Dilxat Raxit, Sweden-based spokesman for the World Uyghur Congress (WUC), welcomed the school's response to the protest, but warned that repercussions could follow for those who took part.

"I think that the students' courage is laudable, but I am worried that the authorities will retaliate after the event," Dilxat Raxit said. "This sort of thing has happened in the past."

He called on the Chinese authorities to behave with unconditional respect towards the customs and cultural values of Muslim Uyghurs, a Turkic-speaking ethnic group that chafes under Beijing's rule.

"The Chinese government continually suppresses and provokes Uyghurs with these attacks on their mode of dress and their religious beliefs," Dilxat Raxit said.

"This has made the students extremely angry."

Hotan protest

Earlier this month, students at a high school near Hotan, in the south of the region, walked out of class in protest at the lack of Uyghur-language signage on school premises.

They returned to class after the school authorities promised to install some.

Raxit said the southern part of Xinjiang was still under tight security following last month's violence that left 21 people dead in Maralbeshi (in Chinese, Bachu) county in Kashgar prefecture.

Police have stepped up spot-checks and raids in the wake of the violence, which Beijing has blamed on "terrorists," but which the WUC has said was triggered by such raids in the first place.

Tarim University students

Meanwhile in northwestern Xinjang's Aksu prefecture, authorities at Tarim University are preparing to try three of its students in secret after detaining around 12 of them in early May, the Uyghur Online website (Uyghurbiz.net) reported this week.

The website named the three men as Alimjan, Dilshat, and Ablimit, adding that at least two of those detained but not charged had since been released.

Repeated calls to the offices of Tarim University went unanswered during office hours this week.

However, a teacher at the school said he wasn't free to talk about the students' situation.

"All I can say is that they probably got involved in something, but right now we have no freedom of speech," he said.

A student at the college commented: "Basically, we don't talk about [sensitive topics]," he said. "It's not that we aren't allowed; it's that everyone avoids sensitive topics."

He said the university sometimes surveys the mood of students by issuing questionnaires or calling them in "for a chat."

Tarim University was built in 1958 by the army-backed Xinjiang Production and Construction Corps, also known as the "bingtuan."

The People's Liberation Army production companies, or bingtuan, are units of command that enable Beijing to maintain key areas and exploit rich resources in the largely Muslim northwestern region of Xinjiang, according to exile groups.

Uyghurs say they have long suffered ethnic discrimination, oppressive religious controls, and continued poverty and joblessness, blaming the problems partly on the influx of Han Chinese into the region.

Reported by Qiao Long for RFA's Mandarin Service and Gulchehre Keyum for the Uyghur Service. Translated by Luisetta Mudie and Mamatjan Juma. Written in English by Luisetta Mudie.

On the heels of the long-range rocket launch  in December last year and a nuclear test in February this year, North Korea fired multiple short-range missiles this week, raising tensions with the United States, South Korea, and the rest of the international community. Six-party talks on North Korea’s denuclearization have been stalled for nearly four years, and efforts by the Obama administration to engage North Korea in meaningful dialogue have been countered with defiant provocations, including the recent missile launches, nuclear test, and threats of war.  Changsop Pyon of RFA’s Korean Service interviews Gary Samore—former White House Coordinator for Arms Control and the Weapons of Mass Destruction, Proliferation, and Terrorism and current director of Harvard University's Belfer Center for Science and International Affairs—on the current situation on the Korean peninsula and possibilities for a breakthrough in the stalled nuclear talks.

Q: North Korea conducted several short-range missile launches from May 18 to 20. What do you make of their motivation behind such a belligerent action at this time?

A: The short-range missile tests are a way for Pyongyang to show that it is not submissive and weak even if it does not test longer-range missiles.

Q: Some say Pyongyang fired the missiles to draw attention from the United States. Do you agree?

A: No, I don’t think the short-range missile launches get much attention in Washington because they are so routine.

Q: I don’t think the missile launch would have happened without North Korean leader Kim Jung Un’s orders. As you know, it’s been almost a year and a half since Kim Jong Un assumed the supreme leadership of North Korea. There were some expectations that the new young leader might take a different course from his late father Kim Jong Il in dealing with the outside world. However, we still see the same pattern of North Korea’s belligerent behavior as evidenced by its long-range rocket launch last December and nuclear test in February. What do you make of Kim Jong Un, compared with his late father? Is he a more dangerous leader?

A: I don’t think we know yet. I think one of the big question marks about Kim Jong Un’s policy is whether he will follow the pattern his father established, which was basically a cycle of provocation and tension followed by a cycle of diplomacy, and whether Kim Jong Un is prepared to take more chances and engage in additional provocations and even limited attacks against South Korea. My guess is Kim Jong Un will be restrained by a combination of factors including China, the United States, and the ROK [South Korea].  So, my best guess is that when the U.S. and ROK exercises wind down, we’ll see that North Korea will indicate a willingness to return to the bargaining table, and then the question will shift to what are the conditions and preconditions for resumption of the negotiations. So, my guess is in the coming weeks and months the North Koreans will stake out their conditions and the U.S., ROK, and Japan will stake out their preconditions. And then the issue will be whether or not the two sides can come to an agreement on the conditions for resuming the negotiations.

Q: Let me turn to North Korea’s nuclear issue, our main topic for this interview.  There are many explanations as to why North Korea has chosen to take the road to nuclear development.  Some say it’s for their own security, while others say it’s for some sort of deterrent against the U.S. What’s your take?

Fear.  I think North Korea is afraid of all of its neighbors: China, ROK, Japan, the United States. And I think North Koreans have always seen nuclear development primarily as a means to deter external pressure and attack.  Secondarily, they have tried to use their nuclear program as a bargaining chip to extract foreign assistance from their neighbors.  But I think the primary motivation has been to create deterrent, deterrent not just against the United States. I don’t think North Korea trusts anybody. They don’t trust Chinese, they don’t trust South Koreans, they don’t trust Japanese, and to the extent North Koreans can hold the threat of using military force to create conflict and instability on the Korean peninsula, they can blackmail China to leave them alone, to give them special treatment. They can deter the United States and South Korea.  So, for all of these reasons I think Pyongyang has seen the development of nuclear weapons as an important part of their foreign policy and their defense policy.

Q: What’s the price that North Korea had to pay for continuing its nuclear program?

A: Well, it’s come with a very heavy price.  If you look at North Korea, you see a really desperately poor, isolated, backward dictatorship. And that has basically been the price of North Korea’s nuclear program. So, somewhere along the way whether it was Kim Il Sung or Kim Jong Il, North Korea had a choice to make: do we go down the path of nuclear development or do we decide to accept limits on our nuclear program in exchange for better relations with the United States and the rest of the world.  And they made the wrong choice.

Q: I guess the North Korean leadership might have known a better alternative without going nuclear. In other words, without nuclear development, North Korea could have developed a successful economy with the necessary foreign assistance and economic aid, in addition to better political relations with the United States and the rest of the world. Why do you think North Korea has given up such a golden opportunity to build a better nation without nuclear weapons?

A: Very good question. I don’t know how much of it was the personality of the leaders; I don’t know how much of it was the system in North Korea that has a very suspicious and paranoid view of the outside world.  It’s very difficult for me to explain their decisions because we don’t have good understanding. All I can say is that they were faced with their critical choice, you know, back in the 1990s, and they made the wrong choice.  And I think the result of this is that North Korea has nuclear weapons and not much else. And ultimately I think it’ll mean the end of the system.  I’m not sure when that will happen. Ultimately I think North Korea’s strategic choice will result in the collapse of the country, of the government.

Q: It seems Pyongyang thinks it can still expect better relations with the U.S. while keeping its nuclear program. As a former U.S. government official directly involved in North Korea policy, what do you make of that?

A: I don’t think it’s true that North Korea can have it both ways. North Korea can’t keep its nuclear programs and expect good relations with the United States. The two objectives are completely incompatible.  So, Kim Jong Un has to make a choice.  If he wants to have good relations with the United States, including the benefits that would come from economic and political opening with the United States and the rest of the world, including the big international institutions, the North Koreans have to be willing to limit and ultimately give up their nuclear weapons.

Q: As you know, North Korea has demanded that the United States recognize it as a nuclear power. Is there any possibility for the current or future U.S. administration to do so?

A: I don’t think so.  If the United States did that, it would put tremendous pressure on Korea and Japan to leave NPT and build nuclear weapons.  And I don’t think the United States wants to see further proliferations of nuclear weapons in East Asia.  So, the U.S. has very strong national security interests in opposing, not accepting the North as a nuclear power.  And in doing everything we can to limit North Korea’s nuclear capacity, (a) it doesn’t threaten the United States with long-range missiles, and (b) so it doesn’t threaten our allies, Korea and Japan, and put pressure on them to build their own nuclear forces.

Q: Do you think the U.S. can respond at all to the North Koreans’ demands for nuclear reduction talks instead of denuclearization?

A: I don’t think so.  The U.S. will insist on the talks being about denuclearization of the Korean peninsula. I think that Pyongyang will very likely agree to that, even though they are not sincere, that they’ll say they accept the talks are about denuclearization of the Korean peninsula.

Q: You served as the White House czar on weapons of mass destruction (WMD) and terror during the Obama administration’s first term.  What were your biggest headaches while serving that position?

A: Well, I would say that the biggest headaches were the limits on America’s ability to persuade or put pressure on North Korea to give up or to significantly limit their missile and nuclear activities.  The U.S. has limited options.  The use of military forces is very unattractive because it’s likely to trigger a broader conflict on the Korean peninsula that would be very costly in terms of human lives and in terms of economic costs. And sanctions are very difficult to be very effective because China has not been willing to fully support the kind of economic pressure that could jeopardize the stability of the North Korean regime. And diplomacy is very limited as a tool because the North Koreans lie and cheat. So, at the end of the day, the U.S. has very limited capacity to affect the nuclear and missile program.

Q: Hearing what you say, I feel it seems impossible for the United States to make a breakthrough in the stalled nuclear talks.

A: I don’t think it’s possible to have a breakthrough. I think we can limit the nuclear and missile program, but ultimately the only solution is when the North Korean government changes.

Q: You just said, “when the North Korean government changes.” By that do you mean the end of the current North Korean regime?

A: Yes, but I don’t know when that’s going to happen. I do think it will happen. Obviously I can’t predict with any accuracy when that might take place.

A prominent U.S. lawmaker has said he plans to let sanctions legislation against Myanmar lapse, making the announcement as Myanmar President Thein Sein wrapped up a historic visit to Washington that saw the two countries ink an unprecedented trade and investment agreement.

Senate minority leader Mitch McConnell voiced his support for dropping the sanctions Tuesday after meeting Thein Sein along with several other legislators who have helped to shape U.S. relations with the country also known as Burma, including Senators Harry Reid and Lindsay Graham.

On Monday, Thein Sein became the first leader of Myanmar to visit the White House in nearly five decades and was hailed by his counterpart President Barack Obama for the democratic changes he has implemented since taking power from the country’s military junta in 2011.

While Obama has waived the majority of sanctions against Myanmar enacted to punish rights abuses by the former regime, the legislation enabling the sanctions has remained in place, with Congress using the threat of their renewal as leverage meant to encourage further reforms.

But McConnell—the Republican Party’s lead senator who had pushed for sanctions against Myanmar over the past  two decades—said he would no longer support a ban on imports from the country when it comes up for renewal.

A lapse in legislation would mean that Washington could not reimpose the ban if Myanmar backtracks on reforms.

“I believe renewing sanctions would be a slap in the face to Burmese reformers and embolden those within Burma who want to slow or reverse reform,” Agence France-Presse quoted the lawmaker as saying.

“Many of us who have followed Burma for years never thought reform would come to this troubled country. This is an important moment and I believe it is time for Congress to take responsible action," he said.

McConnell said that not renewing the trade restrictions would also allow U.S. companies looking to invest in Myanmar to gain an equal footing with their Western competitors in the European Union, which last month lifted its economic sanctions against the former pariah nation.

He said Congress would retain leverage on Myanmar through other sanctions that remain on the books.

Trade agreement

McConnell’s change of tack followed an announcement by the Office of the United States Trade Representative (USTR) Tuesday that Washington and Naypyidaw had signed an agreement to promote cooperation on trade and investment.

“As part of this dialogue, the two sides will work together to identify initiatives that support the ongoing reform program and promote inclusive development that benefits the people of Burma, including the poorest segments of its population,” the USTR said.

U.S. Trade Representative Demetrios Marantis, who signed the pact along with Myanmar’s deputy commerce minister Pwint San, said that Washington is in support of far-reaching economic reforms by Myanmar’s new leadership, which is seeking greater investment from the U.S. and other nations.

“Economic reforms and trade are mutually supportive. Stronger institutions, transparency, and rule of law create stronger foundations for commercial transactions, trade, and investment,” Marantis said.

On Wednesday, the International Monetary Fund (IMF), which is the investment arm of the World Bank, said that reforms in Myanmar had grown the country’s economy by 6.5 percent last year and are likely to fuel additional acceleration.

The IMF predicted that Myanmar’s economy would grow by around 6.75 percent in the 2013-2014 financial year, driven by gas production and investment.

“The authorities’ ambitious reform program is bearing fruit, with macroeconomic stability and high investor interest,” the IMF’s Matt Davies said, marking the end of a mission this month to the country, whose economy had stagnated for decades due to misrule by the former junta.

“International reserves will continue rising as foreign direct investment inflows outweigh a widening current account deficit,” he said.

Myanmar is expected to draw significant foreign investment as companies look to cash in on the country’s huge amount of extractive and timber resources, as well as its large population.

Hurdles remain

But while the U.S. government and the international investment community have showered praise on Myanmar’s leadership for its ambitious reforms, hurdles remain for the fledgling government as the country pushes forward on its path to becoming a democratic nation.

On Tuesday, members of the U.S. House of Representatives pressed Thein Sein to release the country’s estimated 200 remaining political prisoners, who rights groups say have been used as a form of leverage in matters of international diplomacy.

His government has also faced criticism for falling short of pledged reforms and failing to address abuses, including ethnic violence against Muslims in Rakhine state and central Myanmar over the past year.

Two outbreaks of violence in Rakhine state last year left nearly 200 dead and hundreds of thousands of ethnic minority Muslim Rohingyas displaced, while clashes in central Myanmar this spring killed dozens.

Thein Sein’s government has yet to forge a lasting peace with several ethnic minority militias in the country’s borderlands, including with the Kachin Independence Army (KIA) in northern Myanmar’s Kachin state.

Protesters had gathered outside the White House on Monday during Thein Sein’s unprecedented visit with Obama at the Oval Office, warning that Washington’s welcome of the ex-general was likely to take pressure off of his government to proceed with reforms.

U.S.-based Human Rights Watch cautioned that “if the U.S. keeps delivering carrots on the same schedule while Burma breaks its promises, Burma’s leaders will conclude that they are no longer under serious international pressure to follow through on reforms.”