Hi all, 

In today’s bulletin: Myanmar junta adds bribery charge on Aung San Suu Kyi, China seeks Biden-Xi meeting next month if Alaska talks go well, Malaysian opposition leaders urge Anwar against collaborating with ‘kleptocrats’, Singapore next in line for potential travel bubble with Taiwan, and more

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Myanmar junta adds bribery charge on Aung San Suu Kyi

Myanmar’s military junta has piled more charges on ousted leader Aung San Suu Kyi as it seeks to justify a Feb 1 coup and ensure she stays behind bars. Ms Suu Kyi has been charged with violating an anti-corruption law, which carries up to 15 years in jail, state-run MRTV reported. That adds to four other charges previously filed against her. 

The MRTV broadcast showed a video of Say Paing Construction chairman Maung Weik saying that he paid Ms Suu Kyi US$550,000 (S$738,000) in four batches from 2018 to April last year in order to be able to do his projects smoothly. He said there were no witnesses. The authorities have prevented Ms Suu Kyi from meeting her legal team. 

Meanwhile, Myanmar is facing growing isolation with increasingly limited Internet services. The authorities have restricted the Internet services that protesters have been using to organise, with access to Wi-Fi in public areas largely shut off. The private Tachilek News Agency published photos of workers cutting cables it said were fibre links with Thailand. 

Get the latest developments in Myanmar here. 

China seeks Biden-Xi meeting next month if Alaska talks go well

Beijing is seeking a meeting between Mr Joe Biden and Mr Xi Jinping next month if the first high-level United States-China talks in Alaska that started on Thursday (March 18) are productive, according to people familiar with the situation. 

The Biden-Xi meeting, as envisioned by Chinese officials, would be organised around Earth Day on April 22 to show that the leaders of the two world powers are focused on combating climate change, a source said. Mr Biden is already set to gather global leaders together on that day to push the world for greater ambition in curbing greenhouse gas emissions.

Meanwhile, Chinese state media outlet China Daily said that the European Union should expect Beijing to “retaliate” if it imposes sanctions against Chinese officials over alleged human rights abuses. Beijing’s policy in Xinjiang is no different from what Western countries have done to fight terrorism, the editorial said, adding that claims of genocide and forced labour in the region were “politically motivated to disadvantage China”.

North Korea says US tried to initiate contact in ‘cheap trick’

A top North Korean diplomat has acknowledged that the US recently tried to initiate contact, but blasted the attempts as a “cheap trick” that would never be answered until Washington drops its hostile policies against the country.

The statement by Ms Choe Son Hui, first vice-minister of foreign affairs for North Korea, is the first formal rejection of tentative approaches by US President Joe Biden’s administration, and came as US Secretary of State Antony Blinken was visiting South Korea in the first overseas trip by top-level members of the new administration. 

Both pressure and diplomatic options are on the table for dealing with North Korea, Mr Blinken said, hours after Ms Choe’s comment, adding that the US would complete its review of North Korea policy in the next few weeks in close consultation with its allies. 

Go deeper: US switch on North Korea wording raises debate 

China regulators met with Alibaba, Tencent, others over ‘deepfake’ tech

Chinese regulators recently summoned 11 domestic tech firms, including Alibaba, Tencent and ByteDance for talks on use of “deepfake” technologies on their content platforms, further stepping up scrutiny of the sector.

China’s cyberspace administrator said that it and the public security ministry met with the companies to talk about “security assessments” and potential problems with deepfakes and audio social apps. Kuaishou Technology and Xiaomi also attended the meeting. 

In other Chinese tech news, ByteDance, the owner of viral video app TikTok, is on a hiring spree in Singapore, as the group further expands outside the mainland. The Beijing-based firm is hiring hundreds of engineers and senior management roles in the Lion City.

M’sian opposition leaders urge Anwar not to work with ‘kleptocrats’

Four Malaysian opposition MPs and a senator have urged opposition chief Anwar Ibrahim to reject any cooperation with “kleptocrats”. Political cooperation must involve only groups that share common ideals, they said in their joint statement, after Datuk Seri Anwar revealed that he had met Umno leaders in preliminary talks to work together in the next general election. 

As Mr Anwar is leader of the three-member Pakatan Harapan (PH) opposition pact, it is widely assumed that he wants to bring a PH-Umno alliance into the polls. But there are worries in the opposition that he might tarnish their parties by choosing to work with Umno leaders who face corruption charges or have been found guilty of such charges in court. 

In case you missed it: Anwar and Umno draw closer, rocking opposition boat in Malaysia

In other news

Long-awaited Super Mario theme park opens in Japan: After months of pandemic delays, Nintendo’s first ever theme park, featuring a Mario Kart ride in a real-life Bowser’s Castle, has opened in Japan to delighted fans. The attraction is part of the existing Universal Studios Japan amusement park in the western city of Osaka. 

Taiwan says Singapore next in line for potential Covid-19 travel bubble: A day after confirming the launch of a travel bubble with Palau, Taiwan’s health minister said the next on the island’s list for a travel bubble would likely be Singapore. Discussions have already begun between the two sides, Mr Chen Shih-chung said. 

Malaysia backtracks on Covid-19 fines after public outrage: The Malaysian government has backtracked over penalties for non-compliance of Covid-19 safety protocols, following widespread criticism of what were described as excessive and unfair fines. The constant changing of the rules and a lack of clarity over the penalties also stoked public anger. 

Hong Kong defends physically restraining children under quarantine: Hong Kong health authorities have defended their practice of physically restraining some babies and children to beds in coronavirus isolation wards, after criticism built over the treatment of families under the city’s strict anti-virus measures. 

That’s it for today. Thank you for staying with us and check back tomorrow for more. 

Magdalene

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