The Belt and Road Initiative does not aim at a geopolitical or military alliance, nor will it establish a small bloc or set up a “China club”, President Xi Jinping said on Monday.

Xi, also general secretary of the Communist Party of China Central Committee and chairman of the Central Military Commission, made the remark while presiding over a meeting that marks the fifth anniversary of his proposal of the BRI.

China will uphold dialogue and coordination, pursue shared growth, seek win-win cooperation and boost communication with countries along the routes of the BRI to strengthen political mutual trust, enhance integration of economies and expand people-to-people exchanges, Xi said.

The Belt and Road Initiative, put forward by Xi in 2013, aims to build the Silk Road Economic Belt and the 21st Century Maritime Silk Road to achieve policy, infrastructure, trade, financial and people-to-people connectivity and build a new platform for international cooperation.

The initiative, which reflects a sense of a community with a shared future, has provided new thoughts and solutions for the reform of the global governance system, Xi said at the meeting on Monday.

During the meeting, Xi was briefed by six government officials, two entrepreneurs and a researcher on the current situation of building the Belt and Road as well as proposals and suggestions.

China has promoted free trade and facilitated investment through jointly building the Belt and Road with other countries, Xi said, adding that China’s trade volume with countries involved in the BRI has exceeded $5 trillion in the past five years.

Xi told the officials and entrepreneurs to have strategic views, set a global vision, have a sense of risk and at the same time seize the historic opportunity in order to move forward in the right direction when facing great changes.

The significance of jointly building the Belt and Road goes beyond economic cooperation, and it is a great way to improve the global development model and promote economic globalization, Xi said.

Saying that the BRI has gained wide support from the world, Xi added that it responded to the wishes of relevant countries, especially developing nations, to promote peace and pursue development.

Xi said that building the Belt and Road should mean pursuit of high-quality development, with focus on such things as construction of major projects in infrastructure and production capacity cooperation.

Xi required the addressing of key issues including major projects, financial support, investment environment, risk management and security in order to achieve more tangible outcomes.

Xi also required carrying out more projects that could benefit the local people along the routes of the BRI, expanding markets and investments, making efforts to ensure financial support and boosting exchanges in education, science, culture, sports and tourism.

The president called for great attention to preventing risks overseas, improving the system of security precautions and raising the capability to deal with risks overseas.

His comments follow a breakthrough in US-Mexico bilateral talks to revamp the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) that saw Foreign Minister Chrystia Freeland interrupt a European trip to rejoin trilateral NAFTA negotiations in Washington.

Carr on the August 28-30 trip will look to promote bilateral trade and investment with Thailand and Singapore — which, along with Canada, is expected to soon ratify the Trans Pacific Partnership — and press for free trade with the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN).

“Expanding into the Southeast Asia region will help Canadian-owned businesses access one the world’s fastest-growing markets,” he said in a statement.

Canada and the EU provisionally entered into a free trade pact last September, as NAFTA appeared to falter and the US exited from the Trans Pacific Partnership.

A deal with the ASEAN bloc, which includes Thailand, Malaysia, Singapore, Indonesia, Philippines, Brunei, Vietnam, Laos, Burma and Cambodia, would give Canada access to 650 million consumers.

Ottawa is also eying free trade with Argentina, Brazil, Paraguay and Uruguay, which form the Mercosur bloc, and has suggested a trade deal with China is also in the works, which if successful would make Canada the first Western nation to do reach a free trade deal with Beijing.

“Despite our differences on policy and politics, I respect Senator John McCain’s service to our country and, in his honor, have signed a proclamation to fly the flag of the United States at half-staff until the day of his interment,” Trump said.

The proclamation affects the flag atop the White House and all public buildings, as well as military installations and embassies.

Trump said Vice President Mike Pence would speak at a ceremony on Friday at the US Capitol in remembrance of McCain.

Defense Secretary Jim Mattis, Chief of Staff John Kelly and National Security Advisor John Bolton will represent Trump at a memorial service for McCain, the president added.

Trump has faced criticism, including from veterans groups, about his response to the death on Saturday of McCain, who passed away after a yearlong battle with brain cancer.

In a letter to the president, the national commander of the American Legion, Denise Rohan, urged the White House to “follow long-established protocol following the death of prominent government officials” and honor McCain.

The move against Myanmar’s army chief and other top military brass on Monday — which came on the heels of an explosive UN investigation — was the first time Facebook has barred members of the military or state actors, the company confirmed.

Facebook’s actions came after repeated complaints that the platform was being used to spread hate and incite violence against the Rohingya.

The UN report, which recommended that military leaders face prosecution for genocide over their crackdown on the Muslim minority, said Facebook had become “a useful instrument” for those seeking to spread hate.

Facebook and other social networks have been under pressure to curb the spread of disinformation, especially when it can be seen as “hate speech” that may incite violence. Governments themselves can be the sources of such false information.

Jennifer Grygiel, a Syracuse University professor who studies social media, said while the move in Myanmar was “a significant development,” the company “has a lot more work to do.”

She added that Facebook had to “find a balance” between addressing how state entities are using the platform — and making sure governments do not block the service.

Several countries have already banned Facebook while others use the platform as part of efforts to reinforce control.

Oxford University researchers said in a report this year they found “organized social media manipulation” in 48 countries.

“A range of government agencies and political parties are exploiting social media platforms to spread junk news and disinformation, exercise censorship and control,” they said.

More ‘proactive’ move

Irina Raicu, director of the internet ethics program at Santa Clara University, said Facebook appeared to go further than in the past by banning 20 individuals and organizations even if they had no prior presence on the network.

“That seems to be a much more proactive stance than Facebook has taken before — and it raises the question about what criteria are applied in determining which individuals and groups are prevented from using the platform in the first place, rather than in response to terms of service or community guidelines violations,” Raicu said.

Daniel Castro, vice president of the Information Technology and Innovation Institute, a Washington think tank, said Facebook could face more questions on its approach to hate speech.

“Social networks are getting better at enforcing their codes of conduct, but it is harder for them to make these distinctions when it comes to government leaders, since their use of violence may be seen as legitimate under certain circumstances,” Castro said.

Castro said it was notable that Facebook relied on the report from the UN Human Rights Council’s investigators rather than act on its own because “the average company is not well-suited to investigate each case for themselves,” he said.

“However, the downside is that (the Council) likely moves too slow for the digital era. But that suggests the UN, or some other body, should update its processes for the digital era, not that social networks should take on these additional roles.”

Facebook said its move Monday was based on exceptional circumstances following the release of the report.

“We’ve taken this step in Myanmar following findings by international experts, including a recent UN-commissioned report, that many of these officials committed serious human rights abuses in the country,” said Ruchika Budhraja, a Facebook spokeswoman.

“And we believe that their use of Facebook may have fueled ethnic and religious tension in Myanmar.”

Budhraja said that because so many people rely on Facebook for information in Myanmar, the situation is “fairly unique.”

“That said, we recognize that people in other parts of the world face devastating violence on a daily basis, and we will continue to investigate and take action when we have enough facts to do so,” she added.

“I unequivocally oppose this appointment of a brutal assaulter of an innocent man, as he lay there blindfolded & handcuffed – left w/out medical attn for days. This being then lied 2 d whole world as to d victim’s whereabouts & well being. Shame on those who executed this travesty,” she tweeted on Monday (Aug 27).

Nurul Izzah is the daughter of PKR leader and former deputy prime minister Anwar Ibrahim.

Bernama previously reported that Abdul Rahim replaced Datuk Seri Ahmad Zamzamin Hashim, who was picked for the role by the former Barisan Nasional led government.

Abdul Rahim, who served as the country’s fifth IGP from 1994 to 1999, was widely linked to the “black eye” incident where Anwar was beaten while in police custody after being detained on sodomy and corruption charges in 1998.

Abdul Rahim was eventually charged for the assault and was given a two-month prison sentence and fined RM2,000.

The mission called for the situation in Myanmar to be referred to the International Criminal Court (ICC) or for an ad hoc international criminal tribunal to be launched. In the interim, it called for an independent, impartial mechanism to collect, consolidate, preserve and analyse evidence of violations. It also recommended targeted individual sanctions against those who appear to be most responsible.

Now that the UN Security Council has been clearly apprised of the horrors, there is no reason to delay referral of the situation in Myanmar to the ICC and bring those responsible to justice, Human Rights Watch’s Sunai Phasuk said.

“The ICC was created precisely to deal with crimes against humanity like those committed in Myanmar. Myanmar is neither a party to the ICC nor has it accepted the court’s jurisdiction. The UN Security Council needs to refer the situation to the court,” Sunai told The Nation.

Kobsak Chutikul, a former member of the advisory board for the implementation of recommendations to Rakhine state, said many committees and task forces had been set up to address the issue. “It’s time for the UN Security Council to establish an ad-hoc legal mechanism to ensure accountability, as called for in the fact-finding report,” he said.

Kobsak stepped down from the panel chaired by Thai former foreign minister Surakiart Sathirathai shortly before the submission of the final report. He said his action was to send a cautionary message to Nay Pyi Taw that it needed to seriously address the Rakhine crisis ahead of action by the international community. “The gloves are off, and the relationship between international community and the Myanmar government will become more confrontational,” he said.

Meanwhile, Facebook banned Min Aung Hlaing and removed pages tied to the country’s military yesterday after a UN probe called for him to be prosecuted for genocide. “We are banning 20 Burmese individuals and organisations from Facebook – including Senior General Min Aung Hlaing,” Facebook said in a statement on its site, adding that it wants to prevent them from using the platform to “further inflame ethnic and religious tensions”, according to AFP.

Established by the UN Human Rights Council in March 2017, the mission found patterns of gross human-rights violations and abuses committed that “undoubtedly amount to the gravest crimes under international law”, principally by the Tatmadaw (Myanmar’s military).

Dating back to 2012 when communal conflict erupted in the country, the UN blamed the Tatmadaw for its intention to systematically eject ethnic groups from the state. The exodus of Rohingya from Rakhine took place after the Tatmadaw’s clearance operation in August last year, resulting in thousands being killed and more than 700,000 fleeing to Bangladesh.

Conflicts between Myanmar authorities and other ethnic groups in Kachin and Shan states at around the same time were mentioned in the report. The crimes against humanity committed in Kachin, Shan and Rakhine included murder, imprisonment, enforced disappearance, torture, rape, sexual slavery and other forms of sexual violence, persecution and enslavement, it said.

Five other military commanders were also named in the report – deputy commander-in-chief Vice Senior-General Soe Win; commander of the Bureau of Special Operations-3 Lt-General Aung Kyaw Zaw; commander of the Western Regional Military Command, Maj-General Maung Maung Soe; commander of the 33rd Light Infantry Division, Brig-General Aung Aung; and commander of the 99th Light Infantry Division, Brig-General Than Oo.

The report notes that civilian authorities had little scope to control the actions of the Tatmadaw. It also finds that “through their acts and omissions, the civilian authorities have contributed to the commission of atrocity crimes”.

“The State Counsellor, Aung San Suu Kyi, has not used her de facto position as head of government, nor her moral authority, to stem or prevent the unfolding events in Rakhine state,” the report states.