Televised claims of a ceasefire by separatist militants were derided yesterday as a hoax in Thailand’s Muslim-majority south, after a veteran insurgent leader disavowed the move.
A group called Ruam Pak Tai Khong Prathet Thai (Thailand’s United Southern Underground group) made a videotaped announcement on Thursday, broadcast on an army-run TV station, declaring an end to the violence.
The declaration was greeted with widespread doubts among the Thai military, other insurgent leaders and residents of the southern region along the Malaysian border who have suffered through four years of near-daily attacks.
Thailand’s army commander General Anupong Paojinda said the military was surprised by the announcement, and an official statement later distanced the army further from the ex-army chief who had apparently negotiated the move.
General Chetta Thanacharo, also the former defense minister, claimed he had orchestrated a ceasefire.
“The royal Thai army has nothing to do with the announcement by the militant group on Thai television. It was carried out by a private person, General Chetta, who hopes for peace in the southern provinces,” the statement said.
“The Thai army continues to adhere to a policy of non-violence and strict law enforcement to solve the problems in the south and to create justice along with development and security for local residents,” it said.
Hours after Thursday’s televised statement, leaflets written in Thai and Arabic began circulating around the restive town of Yala, urging militants to continue their armed struggle and to ignore the ceasefire announcement.
DISCONTENT: The CCP finds positive content about the lives of the Chinese living in Taiwan threatening, as such video could upset people in China, an expert said Chinese spouses of Taiwanese who make videos about their lives in Taiwan have been facing online threats from people in China, a source said yesterday. Some young Chinese spouses of Taiwanese make videos about their lives in Taiwan, often speaking favorably about their living conditions in the nation compared with those in China, the source said. However, the videos have caught the attention of Chinese officials, causing the spouses to come under attack by Beijing’s cyberarmy, they said. “People have been messing with the YouTube channels of these Chinese spouses and have been harassing their family members back in China,”
The Central Weather Administration (CWA) yesterday said there are four weather systems in the western Pacific, with one likely to strengthen into a tropical storm and pose a threat to Taiwan. The nascent tropical storm would be named Usagi and would be the fourth storm in the western Pacific at the moment, along with Typhoon Yinxing and tropical storms Toraji and Manyi, the CWA said. It would be the first time that four tropical cyclones exist simultaneously in November, it added. Records from the meteorology agency showed that three tropical cyclones existed concurrently in January in 1968, 1991 and 1992.
GEOPOLITICAL CONCERNS: Foreign companies such as Nissan, Volkswagen and Konica Minolta have pulled back their operations in China this year Foreign companies pulled more money from China last quarter, a sign that some investors are still pessimistic even as Beijing rolls out stimulus measures aimed at stabilizing growth. China’s direct investment liabilities in its balance of payments dropped US$8.1 billion in the third quarter, data released by the Chinese State Administration of Foreign Exchange showed on Friday. The gauge, which measures foreign direct investment (FDI) in China, was down almost US$13 billion for the first nine months of the year. Foreign investment into China has slumped in the past three years after hitting a record in 2021, a casualty of geopolitical tensions,
‘SOMETHING SPECIAL’: Donald Trump vowed to reward his supporters, while President William Lai said he was confident the Taiwan-US partnership would continue Donald Trump was elected the 47th president of the US early yesterday morning, an extraordinary comeback for a former president who was convicted of felony charges and survived two assassination attempts. With a win in Wisconsin, Trump cleared the 270 electoral votes needed to clinch the presidency. As of press time last night, The Associated Press had Trump on 277 electoral college votes to 224 for US Vice President Kamala Harris, the Democratic Party’s nominee, with Alaska, Arizona, Maine, Michigan and Nevada yet to finalize results. He had 71,289,216 votes nationwide, or 51 percent, while Harris had 66,360,324 (47.5 percent). “We’ve been through so
RSS