“MI has to promote and develop training and assist in knowledge for its member countries, while solving social problems,” Narongchai Akrasanee, chairman of a committee supervising MI, said yesterday.

The new focus on social assistance with knowledge training in GMS countries was a shift from economic aid, he said at the Mekong Forum on “New Geo-economics: Reshaping the Future of the GMS?” in Khon Kaen.

Workers have been driven back to their own countries, which leads to unemployment problems in Thailand’s neighbouring countries while Thailand faces a labour shortage, he said. MI’s next move not only aims at GMS countries, but also Asean countries, he said, pointing to a key strategic point – the Korean Peninsula. If anything happens, Asean’s landscape will be changed.

Watcharas Leelawath, executive director of MI, said social problems now come as the forefront work in GMS countries and discussion will be needed with them to jointly attack social problems.

Societies find difficulties to continue development and more collaboration will be required to fight them in manufacturing, services and Mice (meetings, incentives, conferences and exhibitions), he said.

Puripan Bunnag, director of domestic mice at the Thailand Convention and Exhibition Bureau, said if the bureau joins MI to hold meetings, seminars and training, the Mice market will be effectively broadened, given the broad and potential customer bases in these countries.

“MI holds the Mekong Forum every year and this is the market that can make connection with GMS and Asean countries,” he said. “If we see that Thailand cannot grow alone, its growth will be driven together with Asean countries, while promoting the exchange of products, exhibitions and booths for business decision-making and joint economic development.”

Narongchai said global development is centred not only in Western countries, but also Asean’s neighbours, particularly when economic power has been shifted to China.

“We see China growing into the world’s economic power, overtaking the United States, whose policy changes after its new president.

“Our development plan in trade and investment must be set to accord with China, the economic power that is in closest proximity to GMS countries,” he said.

Given the Sino-Thailand, Sino-Laos and Sino-Myanmar railway projects, China plays a role in infrastructure development in GMS and CLMV (Cambodia, Laos, Myanmar and Vietnam) countries, he said.

Thailand should produce for trade and make a big improvement in infrastructure, he said.

MI will be the intermediary, coordinating with all countries to produce people to drive development for the six GMS countries with international legal issues in particular, Watcharas said.

According to the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development, in the first six months of this year, rice exports reached 2.8 million tonnes, up 6.3 per cent in quantity and 4.9 per cent in value over the same half last year.

While this marked a recovery after a somewhat quiet period, Trac Trung, director of Vinh Phat Investment Corporation, said the real reason behind the increase was lower prices offered by Vietnam than the region.

Vietnamese businesses did not have enough information regarding the international rice market to increase their own prices in time, he said.

Statistics for the past two months show that at the beginning of May, Vietnamese 5-per-cent broken white rice was priced at about US$350 (Bt11,856) to $354 per tonne, while the same type of rice from a Thai exporter was $390 per tonne, $388 for Indian rice and a whopping $412 for Pakistani rice.

International buyers opted for Vietnamese rice, pushing the turnover way up in June, he said.

This trend is further confirmed by data from the Vietnam Food Association.

Price hikes occurred mostly in the first three months of 2017, while the average price for exported rice since April has been recorded as lower than the previous year, despite the average of six months being $13.2 per tonne higher than the same period in 2016.

Of particular note is that rice export prices dropped $20 per tonne and $11.38 per tonne in April and May over the same months last year.

Vietnamese rice exporters agree that for the first five months, the export market was quiet as businesses had to wait for the government to finish signing contracts with traditional markets like Malaysia, Bangladesh and the Philippines.

When the contracts were finalised in June, market prices had already surpassed the quoted prices.

The price for 5-per-cent broken white rice on the open market is estimated at about $405-$410 per tonne, while the price agreed to in the contracts is just $370.

Foreign ministry spokesman Geng Shuang told reporters that China made the representations following their remarks over the democracy activist’s death on Thursday.

Its newly announced chairman Dr Mahathir Mohamad, the former premier of 22 years, said that this would follow the legal process with the application of a royal pardon for Anwar who has been jailed for sodomy.

“We will wait for the law to take its course, not immediately because the prime minister who takes over will have a lot to do,” he said at a press conference early Friday morning after a Pakatan Harapan presidential council meeting at the PKR headquarters.

He was asked if Anwar would become prime minister if Pakatan Harapan wins the next general election.

Anwar served as deputy prime minister under Dr Mahathir for five years before being sacked by the latter in 1998.

Anwar, 69, was sentenced to five years’ jail for sodomising Mohd Saiful Bukhari, 30, at Desa Damansara condominium in Bukit Damansara on June 26, 2008.

He is currently serving the sentence at the Sungai Buloh prison.

When asked who would be Pakatan Harapan’s choice for the post of prime minister, Dr Mahathir said they would announce it soon.

“The seventh (PM) we will announce but today we are announcing the eighth (PM),” he quipped, suggesting that Anwar was the choice as the eighth prime minister of the country.

Dr Mahathir said among their goals were to topple the administration of Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak, free all political prisoners and drop all politically motivated charges in court, the reform of laws and institutions, and placing a two-term limit to the prime minister’s post.

The coalition also vowed to eliminate the Goods and Services Tax (GST), stabilise the price of fuel and form a Royal Commission of Inquiry (RCI) on 1MDB, among other things, within 100 days of forming the next government.

Pakatan Harapan which comprises PKR, Parti Pribumi Bersatu Malaysia, Amanah and DAP also unveiled its logo at the press conference.

Mao Jian works as a driver for the company. On June 23, Mao was assigned to drive No.云 AL0558 tourist coach to Kunming Changshui International airport. When cleaning the coach, he caught sight of a wallet left on a seat

Looking through, he realized it belongs to a Thai tourist passenger. The wallet also contained several bank cards and cash of around Bt100,000 (RMB 20,000). He immediately called the tour guide about the wallet found.

When Mao handed the wallet to the anxious Thai tourist who was about to board the plane, the Thai guest was moved and thanked him repeatedly.

After the incident, China Comfort Travel (Kunming) sent a thank-you note to his company.

China bears a “heavy responsibility” for the death of Liu, the Nobel Committee said, less than two months after the 61-year-old was transferred to hospital from prison.

International human rights groups, Western governments and Chinese activists had urged authorities to free Liu and grant his final wish to be treated abroad.

German Chancellor Angela Merkel hailed Liu as a “courageous fighter for human rights”, while British Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson said it was “wrong” China did not allow him to travel overseas for treatment.

US Secretary of State Rex Tillerson called on China to free Liu’s widow, who has been under house arrest since 2010 but was allowed to be at the hospital as he said his final goodbye.

Liu became the first Nobel Peace Prize laureate to die in custody since German pacifist Carl von Ossietzky in 1938, who had been held by the Nazis.

The Nobel Committee said in a statement: “We find it deeply disturbing that Liu Xiaobo was not transferred to a facility where he could receive adequate medical treatment before he became terminally ill.”

“The Chinese government bears a heavy responsibility for his premature death.”

However, even as Germany called him a “hero” of democracy and voiced “regret” that China brushed off its offer to host Liu, US President Donald Trump and his French counterpart Emmanuel Macron offered praise for China’s Xi Jinping at a press conference Thursday in Paris, avoiding comment on Liu’s death.

UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said he was “deeply saddened” but refrained from criticising China for refusing to allow the Nobel laureate to receive treatment abroad.

The legal bureau in the northeastern city of Shenyang said on its website that Liu succumbed to multiple organ failure, three days after being taken into intensive care at the First Hospital of China Medical University.

His family was by his side and he said goodbye to his wife, the poet Liu Xia, and in his final moments told her to “live well”, his main doctor said at a news conference.

The bespectacled writer’s death silences a government critic who had been a thorn in the side of the authorities for decades and who became a symbol of Beijing’s growing crackdown on dissenting voices.

Liu was detained in 2008 after calling for democratic reforms and sentenced to 11 years in prison for “subversion” a year later.

He was represented by an empty chair at the Nobel Peace Prize ceremony in Oslo in 2010.

– ‘Giant of human rights’ –

===========================

International human rights groups, Western governments and local activists had urged authorities to free Liu and alow him to be treated abroad.

But China’s foreign ministry repeatedly said other countries should not interfere in its internal affairs.

Chen Guangcheng, one of China’s best-known activists who fled to the US in 2012, said Liu was “deliberately killed” by the country’s rulers, urging the international community to maintain pressure on Beijing.

“He was killed by the CCP (Chinese Communist Party), deliberately killed by them,” Chen told AFP in a telephone interview from Washington.

Chen alleged that China had refused to allow Liu to travel abroad for treatment because they “were likely to discover what was really wrong with him and would probably reveal that they had been harming him with medication or some such things”.

Germany had offered to host Liu as recently as Wednesday, calling for a “signal of humanity” from Beijing. The US and Taiwan were also willing to take him in.

Liu’s Chinese doctors had said he was not healthy enough to travel abroad, a position contradicted by US and German medical experts invited by the hospital to examine Liu’s condition last weekend.

But Liu Yunpeng, the hospital’s head of internal medicine, said Thursday that the writer’s condition abruptly deteriorated after the foreign doctors requested an assessment to determine if he could travel.

“The danger (of travelling) was extremely great,” doctor Liu said.

Rights groups accused authorities of manipulating information about his health and refusing to let him leave because they were afraid he would use the freedom to denounce China’s one-party Communist regime.

“The Chinese government’s arrogance, cruelty, and callousness are shocking – but Liu’s struggle for a rights-respecting, democratic China will live on,” said Human Rights Watch’s China director Sophie Richardson.

– ‘I’m sorry, Xiaobo’ –

=======================

Liu was arrested nine years ago after co-writing Charter 08, a bold petition that called for the protection of basic human rights and reform of China’s political system.

During the Tiananmen Square protests in Beijing, he helped negotiate the safe exit of thousands of student demonstrators on the night of June 3-4, 1989 when the military bloodily suppressed six weeks of protests.

Fellow activists and family friends were in mourning.

“I’m sorry, Xiaobo. I’m sorry. We put forth our greatest effort, but we could not win your freedom while you were still living,” Beijing-based activist Hu Jia said on Twitter.

“But we will continue fighting for freedom for your love Liu Xia. The world is sorrowful. Your unfulfilled wish is our mission.”//AFP

The prominent democracy advocate died aged 61, more than a month after he was transferred from prison to a heavily-guarded hospital to be treated for late-stage liver cancer.

Liu’s death puts China in dubious company as he became the first Nobel Peace Prize laureate to die in custody since German pacifist Carl von Ossietzky, who passed away in a hospital while held by the Nazis in 1938.

International tributes poured in for a “hero” of democracy while human rights groups accused the government of “cruelty”.

“We find it deeply disturbing that Liu Xiaobo was not transferred to a facility where he could receive adequate medical treatment before he became terminally ill,” the Nobel committee said in a statement.

“The Chinese government bears a heavy responsibility for his premature death.”

The legal bureau in the northeastern city of Shenyang said on its website that Liu succumbed to multiple organ failure, three days after being taken into intensive care at the First Hospital of China Medical University. The official Xinhua news agency, which had not mentioned his hospitalisation, reported his death in English.

Shortly after the announcement, the street in front of the hospital was nearly empty, with a dozen plainclothes men standing guard just outside a gate.

The writer’s death silences a government critic who had been a thorn in the side of the authorities for decades and became a symbol of Beijing’s growing crackdown on dissenting voices.

Liu was detained in 2008 after calling for democratic reforms and he was sentenced to 11 years in prison for “subversion” a year later.

At the Nobel Peace Prize ceremony in Oslo in 2010 he was represented by an empty chair.

“His non-violent resistance made him a hero in the battle for democracy and human rights. RIP,” German Justice Minister Heiko Maas wrote on Twitter.

‘Giant of human rights’

International human rights groups, Western governments and local activists had urged authorities to free Liu and grant his final wish to be treated abroad.

“The Chinese government’s arrogance, cruelty, and callousness are shocking – but Liu’s struggle for a rights-respecting, democratic China will live on,” said Human Rights Watch’s China director Sophie Richardson.

Amnesty International secretary general Salil Shetty said: “Today we grieve the loss of a giant of human rights. Liu Xiaobo was a man of fierce intellect, principle, wit and above all humanity.”

Germany had offered to treat Liu as recently as Wednesday, calling for a “signal of humanity” from China. The United States also said it was willing to take him in.

But officials insisted that Liu was receiving treatment from top Chinese doctors since being granted medical parole following his diagnosis in late May.

“I’m sorry, Xiaobo. I’m sorry. We put forth our greatest effort, but we could not win your freedom while you were still living,” Liu’s friend and Beijing-based dissident Hu Jia said on Twitter.

“But we will continue fighting for freedom for your love Liu Xia. The world is sorrowful. Your unfulfilled wish is our mission.”

In response to calls to allow Liu to leave China, the foreign ministry repeatedly said other countries should not interfere in China’s internal affairs, using the same line on Thursday before his death was announced.

In early July, Liu’s Chinese doctors said he was not healthy enough to be sent abroad for treatment, a position that was contradicted by US and German medical experts invited by the hospital to examine Liu’s condition.

Wife’s fate

Rights groups accused authorities of manipulating information about his health and refusing to let him leave because they were afraid he would use the freedom to denounce China’s one-party Communist regime.

Liu was arrested nine years ago after co-writing Charter 08, a bold petition that called for the protection of basic human rights and reform of China’s political system.

Liu is also known for his role in the 1989 Tiananmen Square protests in Beijing.

His wife, Liu Xia, was placed under house arrest in 2010, but she was allowed to see him at the hospital. Her fate will now worry human rights groups, which had urged the government to free her alongside Liu Xiaobo.

“We must do all we can to end Liu Xia’s illegal house arrest and surveillance and ensure that she is no longer persecuted by the authorities,” Amnesty’s Shetty said.