Economy

What Happened: In mid-May, the Arakan Army advanced on and eventually captured Buthidaung town, near Myanmar’s border with Bangladesh. In the process, the AA was accused by international media and human rights organizations of a deliberate campaign of retribution against the Rohingya ethnic group, including widespread burning of Rohingya homes. In June, The Diplomat’s Rajeev Battacharyya visited Buthidaung in person, speaking to locals – including Buthiduang residents, people living in local IDP camps, as well as Arakan Army functionaries – about the situation in the town.

Our Focus: Bhattacharyya’s investigation pointed to a complex web of motivations for arson and looting in Buthidaung. Before the AA captured the town, Myanmar’s military joined hands with the Arakan Rohingya Salvation Army (ARSA), a terrorist group that itself targeted the Rohingya population with forced recruitment. ARSA then burned and looted the homes of non-Rohingya residents of Buthidaung. “We were instructed by the military to guard military outposts, burn houses of Rakhine Buddhists in the town, dig trenches, and erect bunkers,” recalled one Rohingya who was coerced to join ARSA. Eyewitnesses were divided on who burned the homes of the Rohingya: Some claimed that ARSA had done so, targeting the houses of Rohingya who resisted its recruitment and taxation demands. Others refused to answer the question, showing clear signs of fear when asked about the arson attacks.

What Comes Next: The arson attacks in Buthidaung point to complicated questions at the heart of Myanmar’s resistance movement. With many of the most powerful anti-junta armed groups representing specific ethnicities, there is cause for concern about minority populations caught in the crossfire. However, we should not imagine a neat split along ethnic lines, either. Many Rohingya sided with the AA – and opposed ARSA – as the Arakan Army advanced on Buthidaung. One Rohingya leader who was working with the AA summed up his thoughts: “Earlier, the Myanmar government had imposed severe restrictions on the Rohingya populace. Not only were we denied citizenship and passports but we were barred from traveling as well. Arakan Army has assured that there will be equal rights for all communities. There is no option but to be optimistic and support the Arakan Army.”

INTERVIEW

Ambassador Alexander Tah-Ray Yui on Taiwan’s relationship with Europe: “European countries’ attitudes toward Taiwan have changed… More and more European countries are willing to deal with Taiwan separately from the People’s Republic of China.”

Northeast Asia

Ishiba Shigeru took office as Japan’s prime minister on October 1. Just over a week later, he’s heading to Laos for a round of high-level meetings surrounding the ASEAN Summit. That’s no small feat, given his Liberal Democratic Party is in the midst of preparing for the snap general election Ishiba called for October 27. Of particular note will be Ishiba’s first interactions with his counterparts from, relationships that followed opposite trends under Ishiba’s predecessor. And those conversations will help set the stage for Ishiba’s policies toward Taiwan and North Korea.

South Asia

As the Taliban continue to restrict women’s rights and movements in Afghanistan, some governments are trying a new tactic. Australia, Canada, Germany, and the Netherlands unveiled a plan to press the Taliban to uphold Afghanistan’s commitments under the U.N. Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women – which could ultimately see the Taliban brought up before the International Court of Justice. The Taliban are unlikely to pay much attention to the case, particularly since they have disavowed the previous government’s international commitments. But Western governments continue to seek ways to pressure the Taliban to honor the most basic rights of girls and women.

Southeast Asia

This week, Southeast Asian leaders are in Vientiane for the 45th Summit of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) and a constellation of broader related meetings, including the East Asia Summit. As in recent years, the 10-nation bloc faces an agenda filled with regional challenges that are stress-testing its unity and effectiveness. At the top of the list is the civil war in Myanmar, which has moved into a more decisive phase over the past year as resistance groups have seized large swathes of territory from the military junta. Another pressing issue will be the frictions between the Philippines and China in the South China Sea, which have intensified further over the past year, intersecting with broader China-U.S. tensions.

Central Asia

As expected, Kazakhstan's referendum on whether to pursue the construction of a nuclear power plant or not passed in a nationwide vote on October 6. But like other referendums and elections in Kazakhstan, the fairness of the vote was called to question by critics who say the "no" camp was systematically silenced, with activists jailed and little discussion in official media of the opposition to the proposal. The road ahead is long, with nuclear power plants far from simple to build.

A map of Rakhine state showing Buthidaung’s location in an area where Rohingya people make up the majority of the population.

Diplomacy

Chinilpa, Korean for “pro-Japan faction,” once referred to collaborators with Imperial Japan during its rule of Korea. Today the term is used to denote individuals and intellectuals within South Korean society who receive Tokyo’s support in exchange for promoting pro-Japan positions.