Two Koreas march together as Asian Games burst into life

Yahoo – AFP, Faisal KAMAL, August 18, 2018

The two Koreas also marched together at this year's Pyeongchang Winter
Olympics opening ceremony. (AFP Photo/CHAIDEER MAHYUDDIN)

North and South Korea marched together in a stirring display of unity as the Asian Games, one of the world's biggest sports events, opened in a blaze of colour in Jakarta on Saturday.

South Korean women's basketball player Lim Yung-hui and North Korean footballer Ju Kyong-chol jointly held the Korean Unification flag aloft as they led the athletes out to an ovation from the packed crowd.

It is the second such symbolic gesture this year by the two Koreas, who also walked together at the Pyeongchang Winter Olympics opening ceremony -- an event that heralded an unprecedented warming of ties.

The North and South, still technically at war, are joining forces in women's basketball, canoeing and rowing during the 40-sport, two-week regional Olympics in the Indonesian capital and Palembang, a port city on Sumatra island.

South Korean Prime Minister Lee Nak-yon and North Korean Deputy Prime Minister Ri Ryong-nam, watching from the VIP seats, rose together holding hands and beaming as the Korean athletes marched.

The ceremony opened with a skit purportedly showing President Joko Widodo doing stunts on a motorbike in Jakarta's streets before riding into the Gelora Bung Karno stadium, to roars from the crowd.

About 1,500 dancers in traditional dress then performed a tightly choreographed routine before Afghanistan led the athletes' parade into the stadium.

Indonesian President Joko Widodo declared the Games open. (AFP 

Photo/Jewel SAMAD)

There were huge cheers when the two Koreas, whose athletes together number about 1,000, marched into the stadium together wearing pristine white and blue uniforms.

'You can feel proud'

Widodo was then seen dancing in his seat as Indonesian singer Via Vallen took to the stage, before the stadium fell silent to honour the victims of the recent Lombok earthquake.

"You can feel proud of your home country Indonesia," said Sheikh Ahmed Al-Fahad Al-Sabah, president of the Olympic Council of Asia, before Widodo declared the Games open.

Indonesian badminton great Susi Susanti, the women's singles Olympic champion in 1992, lit the Games cauldron and the ceremony closed with a noisy music performance and spectacular fireworks.

It provided a vibrant start to the Games, whose build-up has been dogged by logistical headaches and security fears after Indonesia suffered its deadliest terror attack in a decade in May.

The sprawling archipelago has also been grappling with its latest earthquake disaster after strong tremors in Lombok, an eastern island, left more than 400 people dead.

Indonesia, a country of about 270 million, stepped in to host the Games at short notice after Vietnam pulled out, citing the event's eye-watering costs.

Indonesia is hosting one of the world's biggest sporting events. (AFP 

Photo/BAY ISMOYO)

Indonesia has a poor track record in hosting multi-sports events -- the 2011 Southeast Asian Games in Jakarta and Palembang suffered serious corruption problems and delays, and two people died in a stadium stampede.

Rights group Amnesty International said at least 31 people were killed in a "shoot first and ask questions later" police crackdown on petty crime.

But officials say all venues are ready for competition and tournament-related problems so far have been relatively minor, from the ticket website crashing to misspelt words on signs.

About 18,000 athletes and officials from 45 Asian countries will be at the Asiad, organisers said, looking to make their mark across a range of sports from swimming to sepak takraw and bridge.

The Asian Games encompass nearly the full Olympic programme and are considered the pinnacle by many participating nations, for whom Olympic success often proves elusive.

Indonesia is about to open the #AsianGames but its traffic-clogged capital Jakarta remains shrouded in a toxic haze of air pollution, despite drastic efforts to cut down on congestion https://t.co/ukFXJoXVIl pic.twitter.com/qVoOaPt9LO

— AFP news agency (@AFP) August 17, 2018

Related Article:

Science & Spiritually Conference 2018, BC – Canada (4), June 16-17, 2018 (Kryon Channelling by Lee Carroll) - (Predictions - Text version) - New 

"The second thing I told you about was this: There's a 50% chance that the new leader of North Korea, the son, would not follow in the footsteps of his father. I told you there was a 50% chance of this. Then I started itemizing the reasoning why this might make sense, especially to the Korean leader. I then told you it might take a long time if it manifested at all. I told you the problems would be within the old advisors for his father's family. He had to tread slowly and lightly to do something against all odds. This will all come out someday because of the handshake.

Here was the potential or the prediction of what might happen: Those who had the machine guns in the DM zone would drop them, because this North Korean leader would unify the two Koreas. There would be no nuclear weapons in his land and there would be the beginning of abundance for his people. His people and the world would then give him something he had always wanted and was imbued with from birth - the desire for accolades and more accolades. Like his father before him, he was the premier egotist, and this would be the unexpected way to create a world at his feet. That's what I said. Then I said, "Watch for it, but don't be anxious." I talked about that in 2013, and five more times since then. In August 2017, I itemized my advice for him, point by point. The advice that I gave followed the potentials that were there and those were the very points in the handshake this week in June of 2018.

Now, you tell me what happened. "Kryon, you're going to be famous because you predicted these things!" Dear ones, all I did was look into a field that is being shown to you today [by the scientists at the conference]. And all I did was to show you the potentials that were already there. In other words, he was thinking about these things and talking to others behind the scenes about them. No matter what his advisors told him right up to the brink of sending his missiles, he was always thinking that there might be another way that would gain him ultimate fame. Dear ones, this has been in progress since his father died! Therefore, it was in the field, but not a given, dear ones - a potential.

Next, I want to show you the bias of humanity at this time, something I have spoken of many times. This potential of the handshake is amazing, and it has started to be manifested. What should the reaction be to something that deflects the potential of war, or saves thousands lives? Instead of joy or amazement or celebration, Humans go for the reverse: It can't happen. It's a trick. It's a bad deal.

I want you to start reading the reactions of the press. I want you to read the reactions even from the South Koreans. They said, "Well, we know North Koreans, and that's never going to happen. We know who they are, and we know their nature. Because in the past, they never performed what they said they would. So it's a joke." That is a quote from a South Korean. "It's a joke."

What happened to this comment? "Isn't this a beautiful potential? Look at this amazing thing - against all odds!" Now, your free press, the reporting segment of our culture, has decided not only to report it, but to let you know it's probably not going to happen! They say: "Nay. Maybe yes, maybe no. We'll see. We expect the worse." And this continues and continues, and all it shows you is the monstrous bias of the dark side that wants to pull anything good back to what the past gave to you."

Why didn't Indonesia's Jokowi stop the execution of drug traffickers?

Indonesia has ignored last-minute appeals by foreign leaders and executed six people convicted of drug trafficking. Analyst Yohanes Sulaiman tells DW President Jokowi is trying to convey the image of a "decisive leader."

Deutsche Welle, 20 Jan 2015

Brazil and the Netherlands recalled their ambassadors from Indonesia on January 18 after Jakarta ignored their pleas and executed two of their citizens by firing squad along with four other drug offenders from Vietnam, Malawi, Nigeria and Indonesia. The six were the first people executed under new Indonesian President Joko "Jokowi" Widodo, who has disappointed rights activists by voicing support for capital punishment.

President Jokowi defended the executions, saying those convicted of drug trafficking will not receive a presidential pardon since Indonesia is facing an "emergency" over drug use. Jakarta had an unofficial four-year moratorium on executions until 2013, when five people were put before the firing squad. There were no executions last year.

In a DW interview, Indonesia analyst Yohanes Sulaiman says President Jokowi appears to have been under no apparent pressure to restart executions and that he is simply trying to convey the image of being a decisive leader in a country where there seems to be public support for the death penalty.

DW: Why does Indonesia have such a strong policy against drug traffickers?

'Overt international pressure to stop the 

executions will backfire spectacularly,' 

says Sulaiman

Yohannes Sulaiman: Drug abuse is a big problem in Indonesia. Each year the number of addicts is increasing. Since it is believed that the majority of drugs in Indonesia are imported, the government believes that by imposing harsh punishment on traffickers, they could reduce or halt the importation of drugs.

Why has President Joko Widodo decided to stick to the country's policy of executing drug offenders?

There is actually no overt pressure from either the party, the media, or the public. However, while there are a lot of discussions on death penalty, generally the public and media in Indonesia are clamoring for the death penalty to be expanded to people engaged in corruption.

A quick glimpse of the media in the past couple of years reveals that there have been few discussions on the death penalty being imposed on drug traffickers - except during a couple of occasions when there were new developments such as the release of Schapelle Corby, an Australian who was convicted and imprisoned for drug smuggling. So the sudden restart of executions comes out of the blue.

My guess is that President Jokowi wants to show "results" and his "decisiveness" especially in the first 100 days of his administration. Keep in mind that the issue of "being decisive" has hobbled Jokowi since the election campaigning, where the opposition kept claiming that he was and would be a very weak leader.

It seems to me that burning ships engaged in illegal fishing and re-imposing the death penalty are things that he could do to stress and buttress the idea that he is a strong, decisive leader, while giving him a huge boost in popularity. In fact, if he stops executions now, he could actually lose a huge amount of prestige and popularity. The death penalty genie is already out of the bottle.

How do you think the latest executions will affect Indonesia's relations with nations such as Brazil or the Netherlands?

I don't see any long-term damage in ties between Indonesia and the Netherlands. Indonesia is one of the most important countries in Southeast Asia and, one could argue, even in the world, thanks to its demographic and geostrategic position. The Dutch have a strong economic relationship with Indonesia - the Netherlands is one of the five main investors in Indonesia. The situation is similar with Brazil, with bilateral trade booming.

Sulaiman: 'The death penalty is
 popular in Indonesia'

Furthermore, both Netherlands and Brazil have close political ties with the country. It is therefore very doubtful that both countries would risk this strong relationship. So while there will be a short-term dip in relations, I don't think this will have a strong impact in the long run.

What about the reactions from human rights groups?

The human rights groups are obviously disappointed, considering many believed that Jokowi would have much better track record in terms of human rights than his electoral rival Prabowo Subianto, who was suspected of being involved in human rights abuses back during the era of Indonesian strongman Suharto.

However, the main question is: Who voted for Jokowi? As already mentioned, the death penalty is popular in Indonesia even though you can argue that its effectiveness is overrated and it is not applied fairly.

What's important is to convey the image that you have a decisive president willing to impose the death penalty on those who are bent on poisoning the minds of the youths with drugs. That could be the image that wins the next election - or shows at least that the president is doing something in the first 100 days of his administration.

Will diplomatic appeals help prevent other executions?

It is a difficult question to answer because there are plenty of factors that might influence this. Obviously, overt international pressure, I think, will backfire spectacularly. The last thing Jokowi wants to have is the image of him kowtowing to foreign governments and pardoning drug smugglers on the death row.

Sulaiman: 'The government believes it
could halt the importation of drugs by
imposing harsh punishment on traffickers'

The opposition and the media would have a field day condemning the government and that also runs counter to the image that Jokowi wants to cultivate, which is the image of him as a "decisive leader" who wants Indonesia to be respected abroad.

I think diplomatic appeals, done quietly and with some incentives behind it, could prevent the executions. The death penalty genie is already out of the bottle, so there's no way that Jokowi could declare that he would stop the executions.

But, he could use the oldest trick in the book: just do nothing and people will forget about it. In order to do that, though, the Australians should put something on the table in exchange for another moratorium on the death penalty. That might work, but it has to be done very quietly.

Yohanes Sulaiman is Lecturer in International Relations and Political Science at the Indonesian Defense University.

Related Articles:

Foreign Ministry: Netherlands, Brazil Ties Not Harmed, Oz Efforts ‘Respected’
Indonesia Says Diplomatic Relations Will Not Suffer Because of Executions

Amid Execution Outcry, AG Says Respect Indonesia’s Laws

Brazil and Netherlands recall Indonesia ambassadors over drug executions

Indonesia executes six drug convicts, five of them foreigners

Last ditch efforts to stop Indonesia executing Utrecht man

Brazil and Netherlands recall Indonesia ambassadors over drug executions

Brazilian Marco Archer Cardoso Moreira and Dutchman Ang Kiem Soei among six convicts executed by firing squad under tough anti-drugs laws

The Guardian, AFP, Jakarta,  Sunday 18 January 2015

Brazilian citizen Marco Archer Cardoso Moreira, one of the six people executed
for drugs offences in Indonesia. Photograph: Beawiharta/Reuters 

Brazil and the Netherlands have recalled their ambassadors from Indonesia and expressed fury after Jakarta defied their pleas and executed two of their citizens along with four other drug offenders.

The other convicts to face a firing squad were from Vietnam, Malawi, Nigeria and Indonesia. The six were the first people executed under new President Joko Widodo.

Indonesia has tough anti-drugs laws and Widodo, who took office in October, has disappointed rights activists by voicing support for capital punishment despite his image as a reformist.

He defended the executions, saying drugs ruin lives.

A spokesman for the Brazilian president, Dilma Roussef, said she was “distressed and outraged” after Indonesia ignored her last-ditch pleas and put to death Marco Archer Cardoso Moreira, who was convicted of smuggling cocaine into Indonesia in 2004.

“Using the death penalty, which is increasingly rejected by the international community, seriously affects relations between our countries,” the spokesman said in a statement on Sunday.

The Brazilian ambassador to Jakarta was being recalled for consultations, the spokesman added.

Meanwhile, the Dutch foreign minister, Bert Koenders, said the Netherlands had also recalled its ambassador over the execution of Dutchman Ang Kiem Soei, and in a statement described all six deaths as “terribly sad”.

“My heart goes out to their families, for whom this marks a dramatic end to years of uncertainty,” Koenders said. “The Netherlands remains opposed to the death penalty.”

The Dutch monarch, Willem-Alexander, and prime minister Mark Rutte had been in contact with the Indonesian president about the matter, he said, and the government had done “all in its power” to try to halt the execution.

Widodo on Sunday defended the death penalty in a Facebook post.

“The war against the drug mafia should not be half-hearted measures, because drugs have really ruined the good life of the drug users and their families,” he said.

“There is no happiness in life to be gained from drug abuse. The country must be present and fight with drug syndicates head-on,” he added.

“A healthy Indonesia is Indonesia without drugs.”

All the prisoners, who had been sentenced to death between 2000 and 2011, were executed shortly after midnight, the attorney general’s office said.

The 53-year-old Brazilian, who was caught with drugs stashed in the frame of his paraglider at Jakarta airport, and the 62-year-old Dutchman were executed at the high-security prison on Nusakambangan island, off the main island of Java.

A Nigerian, Daniel Enemuo; Namaona Denis, from Malawi; and an Indonesian woman, Rani Andriani, were executed at the same location.

The sixth convict, Vietnamese woman Tran Thi Bich Hanh, was executed in the Boyolali district in central Java.

They were all caught attempting to smuggle narcotics, apart from the Dutchman, who was sentenced to death for operating a huge factory producing the drug ecstasy.

All had their appeals to the president for clemency rejected last month.

Jakarta had an unofficial moratorium on executions for several years from 2008 but resumed capital punishment again in 2013. There were no executions last year.

Widodo, known as Jokowi, has taken a particularly hard line towards people on death row for narcotics offences, insisting they will not receive a presidential pardon since Indonesia is facing an “emergency” over drug use.

Following Sunday’s executions, the number of people on death row for drugs-related offences stood at 60, around half of whom were foreigners, said a spokesman for the national narcotics agency.

Widodo’s tough stance has sparked concern for other foreigners sentenced to death, particularly two Australians who were part of the “Bali Nine” group caught trying to smuggle heroin out of Indonesia in 2005.

One of the pair, Myuran Sukumaran, also had his appeal for clemency rejected last month but authorities say he will be executed with fellow Australian Andrew Chan as they committed their crime together.

Chan is still awaiting the outcome of his appeal for clemency.

Also on death row is British grandmother Lindsay Sandiford. She was sentenced to death in 2013 after being caught trying to smuggle cocaine into Bali.

Related Articles:

Amid Execution Outcry, AG Says Respect Indonesia’s Laws

Indonesia executes six drug convicts, five of them foreigners

Last ditch efforts to stop Indonesia executing Utrecht man

Indonesia executes six drug convicts, five of them foreigners

Indonesia has executed six people convicted on drug charges, despite international pleas for them to be spared. They are the first executions to take place under new President Joko Widodo.

  

Deutsche Welle, 17 Jan 2015

Five foreigners and an Indonesian woman sentenced to death on drug charges will
 be executed by firing squad despite international pleas, Indonesian officials
said Saturday. (AP Photo/Wagino)

Indonesia on Sunday put to death five foreigners and an Indonesian woman who had all been sentenced to death on drug charges, despite calls for a stay of execution from around the world.

The foreigners came from Brazil, the Netherlands, Vietnam, Malawi and Nigeria. The executions were carried out by firing squad.

Indonesian authorities refused to heed all international requests for clemency. These included a last-minute appeal to President Joko Widodo by Brazilian President Dilma Rousseff to spare the life of her compatriot Marco Archer Cardoso Moreira.

"The enforcement of the death penalty, which is increasingly rejected by the international community, has grave consequences for the relations between our two countries," Rousseff said on Saturday local time after Moreira, 53, was executed despite her plea.

Ex-pilot Moreira was among those
executed

The Dutch government also made a last-minute plea for the life of its citizen, Ang Kiem Soei, 62, that was disregarded as well.

The others who died were Indonesian woman Rani Andriani, Nigerian Daniel Enemuo, Namaona Denis from Malawi, and a woman from Vietnam, Tran Thi Bich Hanh.

'Cruel and inhumane'

The European Union had earlier also urged Indonesia to halt the executions. Foreign policy chief Federica Mogerini called the plan "deeply regrettable," and described the death penalty as "a cruel and inhumane punishment that fails to act as a deterrent and represents an unacceptable denial of human dignity and integrity."

Amnesty International's research director for Southeast Asia and the Pacific, Rupert Abbott, said the executions were "a seriously regressive move," and called on Jakarta to halt plans for future ones. Indonesian authorities say 20 are planned for this year.

Indonesia, which has strict drug laws, ceased executing people in 2008, but began again in 2013, though 2014 saw no one put to death.

Widodo has pledged to bring
reform to Indonesia

Widodo, who took office in October, has disappointed activists by his strong support for capital punishment despite promises to improve the human rights situation in his country. Last month, he rejected appeals for clemency from all those executed on Sunday.

His tough stance has raised concern about other foreigners facing a death sentence, including two Australians who were part of a group, dubbed the "Bali Nine," that tried to smuggle heroin out of Indonesia in 2005.

One of them, Myuran Sukumaran, also had his clemency appeal rejected last month, but his accomplice Andrew Chan is still waiting for the outcome of his.

tj/bw AFP, AP, dpa)

Related Articles:

Amid Execution Outcry, AG Says Respect Indonesia’s Laws
Dutch ambassador to Indonesia recalled following execution

Last ditch efforts to stop Indonesia executing Utrecht man

Vietnamese Drug Convict Awaiting Execution Expresses One Final Wish
Attorney General Announces Six Executions to Take Place Sunday

Widodo has pledged to bring reform to Indonesia

Jokowi Signals Break With ‘Thousand Friends’ Foreign Policy

Editorial: Respect Human Rights, Commute Death Sentences
Jakarta Archbishop Criticizes Indonesia’s Use of Death Penalty
Activists Condemn Upcoming Executions in Indonesia

Vietnam hosts third gay pride parade as attitudes soften

Hanoi hosts Vietnam's third ever gay pride parade with around 300 cycling and marching through the streets in a sign of growing tolerance in the communist led country

South China Morning Post Asia - AFP, 03 August, 2014

Hundreds take part in gay pride event in Hanoi. Photo: EPA

Around 300 activists led a colourful parade through Hanoi on Sunday in Vietnam’s largest ever gay pride event, as the communist country shows signs of increasing tolerance over differences in sexual orientation.

The city streets were awash with rainbow flags, as a mainly young crowd cycled and danced through the capital urging an end to discrimination against the lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) community.

Homosexuality remains taboo in Vietnam, but a series of gradual advances, including the removal of fines for same-sex wedding parties, have been welcomed by the LGBT community in recent years.

In 2012 lawmakers even briefly considered legalising gay marriage – a move which would have thrust the authoritarian country to the forefront of gay rights in Asia – but stopped short.

Sunday’s event was the third gay pride parade in Vietnam and attracted a wide range of people including local activists, foreigners and curious by-standers.

“I’m here for the rights of homosexuals. I want them to be treated fairly like everyone else,” Le Kieu Oanh, a 20-year-old art student told journalists.

Another activist praised the government’s move to end curbs on same-sex wedding ceremonies – which are symbolic but non-legally binding.

But “public opinion is not ready for same-sex marriage,” the sociologist added on condition of anonymity.

 

Dancers under a large rainbow flag during the third gay pride
parade in Vietnam. Photo: AFP

  

Hanoi faces frequent criticism by international watchdogs for human rights abuses, making it an unlikely champion for the region’s LGBT community.

One of the parade organisers, Nguyen Trong Dung, said homosexuals need to be “accepted by their families” before wider society ends its prejudice.

“If they are recognised by their own families, they have a high chance of integrating into society,” he added.

Demonstrations of any kind are tightly controlled in Vietnam, especially following riots in May in protest at China’s placement of an oil rig in the South China Sea, known in Vietnam as the East Sea.

Police, however, did not intervene in Sunday’s parade.

One of the firsts at this year's boat parade was a Moroccan
boat. Photo: Novum

Related Articles:

Moroccan and Jewish boats debut at Gay Pride canal parade in The Netherlands

China court hears first gay 'conversion therapy' case
Uganda anti-gay law declared 'null and void' by constitutional court


"The Akashic Circle" – Jul 17, 2011 (Kryon channelled by Lee Carroll) - (Subjects: Religion, The Humanization of God, Benevolent Design, DNA, Akashic Circle, (Old) Souls, Gaia, Indigenous People, Talents, Reincarnation, Genders, Gender Switches, In “between” Gender Change, Gender Confusion, Shift of Human Consciousness, Global Unity,..... etc.)  - (Text version)

“… Gender Switching

Old souls, let me tell you something. If you are old enough, and many of you are, you have been everything. Do you hear me? All of you. You have been both genders. All of you have been what I will call between genders, and that means that all of you have had gender switches. Do you know what happens when it's time for you to switch a gender? We have discussed it before. You'll have dozens of lifetimes as the same gender. You're used to it. It's comfortable. You cannot conceive of being anything else, yet now it's time to change. It takes approximately three lifetimes for you to get used to it, and in those three lifetimes, you will have what I call "gender confusion."

It isn't confusion at all. It's absolutely normal, yet society often will see it as abnormal. I'm sitting here telling you you've all been through it. All of you. That's what old souls do. It's part of the system. …”

"The Recalibration of Awareness – Apr 20/21, 2012 (Kryon channeled by Lee Carroll) (Subjects: Old Energy, Recalibration Lectures, God / Creator, Religions/Spiritual systems  (Catholic Church, Priests/Nun’s, Worship, John Paul Pope, Women in the Church otherwise church will go, Current Pope won’t do it),  Middle East, Jews, Governments will change (Internet, Media, Democracies, Dictators, North Korea, Nations voted at once), Integrity (Businesses, Tobacco Companies, Bankers/ Financial Institutes, Pharmaceutical company to collapse),  Illuminati (Started in Greece, with Shipping, Financial markets, Stock markets, Pharmaceutical money (fund to build Africa, to develop)), Shift of Human Consciousness, (Old) Souls, Women, Masters to/already come back, Global Unity.... etc.) - (Text version)

“… New Tolerance

Look for a softening of finger pointing and an awakening of new tolerance. There will remain many systems for different cultures, as traditions and history are important to sustaining the integrity of culture. So there are many in the Middle East who would follow the prophet and they will continue, but with an increase of awareness. It will be the increase of awareness of what the prophet really wanted all along - unity and tolerance. The angel in the cave instructed him to "unify the tribes and give them the God of Israel." You're going to start seeing a softening of intolerance and the beginning of a new way of being.

Eventually, this will create an acknowledgement that says, "You may not believe the way we believe, but we honor you and your God. We honor our prophet and we will love you according to his teachings. We don't have to agree in order to love." How would you like that? The earth is not going to turn into one belief system. It never will, for Humans don't do that. There must be variety, and there must be the beauty of cultural differences. But the systems will slowly update themselves with increased awareness of the truth of a new kind of balance. So that's the first thing. Watch for these changes, dear ones.  …”

Chinese Tourists Abandon Vietnam After Oil Rig Row

Jakarta Globe, Cat Barton, Jul 20, 2014

Tourists touring downtown Hanoi. (AFP Photo/Hoang Dinh Nam)

For years Nguyen Huu Son has guided Chinese tourists around Vietnam’s popular coastal city Danang, but a bitter maritime dispute between Hanoi and Beijing means he is now out of work.

Relations between the communist neighbors plunged to their lowest point in decades when Beijing moved a deep-sea oil rig into disputed waters in the South China Sea in early May, triggering deadly riots in Vietnam.

The rig has since been withdrawn. But the Chinese tourists have not returned.

“It’s never been this bad before … My company has almost no customers, no work,” Son told AFP.

Son’s salary has been cut by two-thirds, but he feels “embarrassed” to take even this reduced pay package as he knows his company is not making any money at all.

“We focus on individual travelers, not tour groups, and 100 percent of them cancelled … I have nothing to do with my time,” he said, adding that he was mulling a change of career.

After the mid-May riots, in which China says four of its nationals were killed, Beijing evacuated thousands of citizens and issued a “yellow” travel warning for Vietnam.

While this was reasonable in the immediate aftermath of the riots — which mostly affected Taiwanese and South Korean businesses — maintaining the travel warning when any danger to tourists has passed smacks of politics, said Professor Jonathan London at City University of Hong Kong.

“It reminds one of Beijing’s campaign to reduce mainland tourism to the Philippines,” London said, referring the economic fallout from the 2012 standoff over the Scarborough Shoal.

After a dispute over the uninhabited shoal, Beijing warned its citizens about travel safety in the Philippines, prompting mass cancellations.

Economic impact

Chinese tourist arrivals to Vietnam were down 29.5 percent in June from the previous month, according to official figures.

In June, 136,726 Chinese visited Vietnam, down from 194,018 in May and 216,659 in April this year, the figures show.

Vietnam will continue tourism promotion efforts in China, aiming to show “Vietnam is a safe destination,” said Nguyen Manh Cuong, an official at the tourism department.

Tourism is an important source of revenue for communist Vietnam, contributing nearly six percent of the country’s gross domestic product in 2013, official statistics show.

Chinese visitors make up the largest single group of arrivals — more than 1.1 million in 2014 overall, despite the sharp fall off after May.

The next largest group, South Korea, saw 405,634 arrivals.

The average Chinese visitor stays five days and spends $300 if they travel by land, or $700 if they have arrived by airplane, Cuong said.

This compares to an average stay of about 10 days by European or American tourists, who spend up to $3,000 during that period, official figures show.

Tourism politics

The fall in Chinese arrivals after the maritime dispute erupted is understandable as Beijing uses outbound tourism as a “negative sanction,” according to Tony Tse, a professor at the school of hotel and tourism management at Hong Kong Polytechnic University.

“Outbound tourism can be used by the Chinese government to show its aggression,” he said in a 2013 paper, citing the examples of the Philippines and Japan — where tourism was hard hit after a 2012 dispute with the latter over the Senkaku islands, known as the Diaoyu in China.

“The hostility in withholding tourism acts like a punishment and China is powerful enough to exercise this kind of sanction,” Tse wrote in the paper on how China uses outbound tourism as a form of diplomacy.

Vietnamese tourists have also been cancelling trips to China in droves, although the government has not issued any travel warning, said one travel agent who declined to be named.

“It’s a way to express patriotism. Vietnamese like travelling in China… but now they cancel to show their patriotism,” he said.

Tran Thi Lan, 54, a primary school teacher from central Nghe An province, had booked a trip to China for this summer which she was “very excited” about.

“We decided to cancel, not the tour operator. The Chinese government’s behaviour was unacceptable,” she told AFP.

“We decided not to go to show our attitude… We don’t want to go on holiday to a country that is invading our waters,” she said.

Agence France-Presse

Related Articles:

Chinese travelers cancel Malaysia Airlines tickets after MH17 tragedy

CNPC exploratory drilling near Paracels complete

Len Dong: an ancient shaman dance for modern Vietnam?

Yahoo – AFP, Tran Thi Minh Ha, 13 June 2014

A "Len Dong" dancer performs with candles at a local temple in Hanoi

on March 25, 2014 (AFP Photo/Hoang Dinh Nam)

Hanoi (AFP) - The Vietnamese spirit medium dances in a trance, attacking invisible enemies with a sword as drums beat, musicians chant, and dozens of curious onlookers watch in amazement.

Civil servant by day and practitioner of traditional spiritual possession rituals when the mood takes her, Nguyen Thi Hoa is clad in a richly embroidered red robe as she performs a Len Dong ceremony at a private Hanoi temple.

"I have no idea what I've been doing," Hoa told AFP after the five-hour performance, which involved at least 15 costume changes.

A "Len Dong" dancer performs as attendees

 watch at a local temple in Hanoi on March

25, 2014 (AFP Photo/Hoang Dinh Nam)

"I could not believe I had smoked like a chimney and drunk like a fish," the normally teetotal 52-year-old said.

"Could you tell me what I told you to do?" Hoa, who is not a professional Len Dong shaman and only undertakes the rituals when the spirits move her, asked friends who had watched the entire performance.

Len Dong, which uses musical invocations to lure spirits to possess mediums and communicate with others, has been performed in Vietnam for centuries.

Practitioners and attendees -- people can donate to help cover the costs of a Len Dong performance without having to directly participate -- usually turn to the ancient ritual to ease stress or hoping for help from the spirits with romantic or professional problems.

For decades, Len Dong was restricted by French colonial and Vietnamese communist leaders, but the tradition is enjoying a flurry of popularity since restrictions were relaxed a decade or so ago -- and some say it is a useful vent for stressed citizens.

Old cure for new ills?

Six years ago, Hoa began suffering from insomnia, lack of appetite and tiredness. Conventional doctors could not rid her of her ills.

A "Len Dong" dancer performs as

attendees watch at a local temple in

Hanoi on March 25, 2014 (AFP Photo/

Hoang Dinh Nam)

On the advice of a friend, she visited a Len Dong practitioner, who told her to try performing the spirit possession ritual herself.

"To my surprise, my health started improving at once," she said, adding that she started seeing positive changes at work as well.

Len Dong is an ancient Vietnamese custom which involves "calling the spirits of the dead into the bodies of the living to connect past and present," one of the main research books on the topic says.

Musicians play traditional songs to help the shaman enter a trance. Multiple assistants help the shaman to change costumes or prepare offerings -- from chickens to "ChocoPie" snack cakes -- for the altar.

During the ceremony -- an auspicious date for the event is carefully picked in advance by the shaman -- the practitioner will seemingly drift in and out of a trance, singing, chanting and dancing to the minimalist, rhythmic music.

"It's not just the insane dancing of people who have lost their dignity," said cultural researcher Ngo Duc Thinh.

The practise of Len Dong can help people under intense stress or suffering from low-level psychological disorders, Thinh, a renowned professor of Vietnamese culture at a top state research institute, said.

"They practice Len Dong to rid themselves of their problems and return to their normal life," the professor, who has spent more than three decades studying Len Dong, told AFP.

A "Len Dong" dancer performs with

 incense sticks at a local temple in

Hanoi on March 25, 2014 (AFP

Photo/Hoang Dinh Nam)

"As society develops, spiritual pressures multiply. Stress becomes more serious -- and this creates more chances for Len Dong," according to Thinh.

Social stigma

Hoa practices Len Dong at least twice a year.

"I don't dare tell my mother as she would say I was crazy," said the bureaucrat, who spends around 40 million dong (nearly $2,000) to put on each performance.

Her work colleagues, mostly communist party members, are also not aware of her Len Dong practice -- the ritual has at times been considered heresy, and was totally banned until the 1980s by the communists, although rituals continued in secret.

"I received several warnings from police, asking me to stop my practice," said a professional Len Dong practitioner, speaking on condition of anonymity about that period of time.

Even now, practicing Len Dong can carry a government fine of around $250 which aims to prevent private for-profit practitioners rather than genuine Len Dong devotees like Hoa.

"The government tried to ban it, but they in fact have failed. It's impossible to ban Len Dong," researcher Thinh said.

Votive paper horses, used as offerings,

 are placed outside a Hanoi temple while a

 "Len Dong" dancer performs on March 25,

2014 (AFP Photo/Hoang Dinh Nam)

But it might be necessary to regulate it, some experts say.

Len Dong practitioners usually offer their services at temples between Vietnam's lunar new year -- usually around late January -- to the end of the third lunar month in April.

Since restrictions on the practice were lifted, business is booming and some newly wealthy Vietnamese are willing to pay up to $50,000 for a Len Dong service.

The trouble is, it is hard for people to tell the difference between genuine Len Dong practitioners and con artists.

"Several practitioners, who have only some ability, have used that to cheat people for money," one practitioner told AFP.

"That makes people confused -- they can't differentiate between real and fake Len Dong."

Tai chi practitioners in Yunyang, Chongqing. (File
photo/Xinhua)

Related Articles:

Tai chi helps reinvigorate stem cells, researchers find

"Soul Communication" - Feb 22-23, 2014 (Kryon Channelling by Lee Carroll) - (Text version Part 1, Text version Part 2)

“…  Spiritual Survival

Let me take you back a bit. How many lifetimes have you slogged through old energy? Slogged through it? You picked yourself up and the old energy of the planet knocked you back. This is a metaphor of the old soul awakening to the realization of divine purpose for itself and the planet, only to be ignored, or worse, to be "found out" and then feared.

Old soul, it seemed that you just get started on a spiritual path and it kills you. You come back again and then you're enlisted in a war and it kills you again. You come back, you awaken; you become even shamanic, and it kills you for being enlightened. How many lifetimes has it been where all you can do is hold your own and try to survive in a world of very old, dark thinking? Survival becomes a word that means something completely different to the old soul. High consciousness in an old energy is like a square peg in a round hole, and this is what the old soul is used to.

Dear ones, this is ending - all of it - and this was the prophecy of the indigenous of the planet for this time. Here you are, ready for it. But the planet is not going to suddenly become higher in consciousness, dear ones. Instead, the systems around you and the energy around you are going to start getting easier, making it far easier to survive for those like you. There will be far less resistance and more openness of many people than ever before. This is the beginning of a very slow shift.

This also means that it's going to be easier for you to balance. We've used this "balance" word over and over. Many times, those in esoteric belief systems go into certain Human life categories because it's pure survival. It's easy for you to be a hermit, speaking even to my partner. If you don't have to show your light, it's easier. In the past if you showed your light, you were hunted! You understand what I'm saying, don't you? For when you open the door and the light spills out, everybody looks at you because you are different. What's wrong with this picture? In the past, it has meant your demise. This is what is changing. But it's hard to forget it. …”