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Month: April 2022

Cambodian activist safe in Thailand after 6-day flight through jungle

Editor09 mins

A prominent Cambodian activist who fled her country in a six-day journey through the jungle safely arrived in Thailand, where she plans to seek asylum with the U.N. In Cambodia, meanwhile, government officials said they would not call foreign officials as witnesses in a “treason” case against another critic of the country’s ruling party. Sat Pha, who has supported the now-banned Cambodia National Rescue Party (CNRP), told RFA that she fled after a hand-written threat, which she believed was from the government of Prime Minister Hun Sen, saying she could be “disappeared” was tacked to her door. “Authorities know how to assault, arrest and imprison [activists],” she told RFA’s Khmer Service. Opponents of the ruling Cambodian People’s Party (CPP) have been targeted in a 5-year-old crackdown that has sent leaders of the CNRP into exile and landed scores of its supporters in prison. Cambodia’s Supreme Court dissolved the CNRP in November 2017 in a move that allowed the CPP to win all 125 seats in Parliament in a July 2018 election. Sat Pha is one of the many Cambodians who has become disenfranchised in land disputes with the government or developers. She has also protested the detention of former CNRP politicians, and, she says, been beaten by governmental officials. “The authorities attacked me until my legs were injured. Has the govt. arrested any authorities? As a leader [Hun Sen] he doesn’t protect citizens. He knows how to assault, arrest and imprison. Killers are never brought to justice,” she said. Sat Pha said she became ill in her journey but is now in a safe location in Thailand. She said she is in the country illegally and is running low on food. She plans to request asylum from the U.N. Refugee Agency (UNHCR) office in Thailand. Sat Pha was released from prison in Cambodia six months ago after serving a year in detention for inciting social unrest during a peaceful protest in front of Chinese Embassy in Phnom Penh.  RFA was unable to contact Phnom Penh Municipal Police spokesman San Sok Seiha for comment.  However, Cambodian People Party spokesman and lawmaker Sok Ey San told RFA that he believes Sat Pha fabricated her story to earn sympathy. “Police have a duty to look for the suspects. There is a need for cooperation between the victim and the police. It might be a personal dispute,” he said. Sok Ey San previously denied that the threat came from CPP leadership. Sat Pha has the right to ask NGOs for help when she doesn’t have any confidence in the authorities, Soeung Seng Karuna, spokesperson for the Cambodian Human Rights and Development Association told RFA. “It is normal for a victim who is threatened to seek asylum,” he said. Kem Sokha Trial In the treason trial of CNRP former leader Kem Sokha in Phnom Penh, prosecutors on Wednesday refused to summon representatives of any foreign governments that he is accused of colluding with.  The prosecution citied the Vienna Convention on Diplomatic Relations, an international agreement that codifies diplomatic immunity. Defense lawyer Ang Odom told RFA after Wednesday’s session that the convention does not forbid representatives of foreign governments from testifying, adding that the prosecution told the defense they could ask the foreign governments to testify. “They need to do it, but they asked us to instead,” he said, adding that the defense plans to officially request that the prosecution summon foreign government representatives to testify in next week’s session, scheduled for April 27. “All relevant parties will help the court seek the truth. They need to speak the truth about the alleged collusion to commit treason,” he said. The government claims Kem Sokha was in league with Indonesia, Yugoslavia, Serbia, Australia, the United States, Canada, the European Union, Taiwan and India in plots to commit treason against Cambodia. The government may have a legitimate point regarding the Vienna Convention, Cambodian American legal analyst Theary Seng, who is herself on trial in Phnom Penh for treason and incitement, told RFA. “Rarely do I have the opportunity to agree with this regime’s political tool [the court], but in this instance it is right to deny the defense’s request. First, there is clear international custom and provision enshrined in Article 31 of the Vienna Convention on Diplomatic Relations that gives diplomats immunity from criminal proceedings as a charged person or a witness,” she said. “Second, it is not politically feasible that any country, especially a superpower, would give way to an incendiary charge as ‘treason’ in another country’s court system, as that carries countless criminal and political implications,” she said. Theary Seng said that putting a diplomat on trial would be a loss of face for the country he or she represents. “It is understandable that Kem Sokha’s lawyers will look to influential figures or countries to come their client’s defense in denying this most serious charge of treason. But it is a dead-end road. Rather, the defense lawyers should place the onus on the prosecutors and court in demanding why the regime did not expel the diplomats or close down the embassy, making the diplomat persona non grata or communicating to the sending state the extremely serious nature of the change,” she said. Translated by Samean Yun. Written in English by Eugene Whong.

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US, Chinese diplomats square off on Twitter over human rights, jailed Uyghur

Editor010 mins

U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations Linda Thomas-Greenfield sparked a social media spat with her Chinese counterpart on Wednesday after she called on the head of the U.N. Human Rights Council to release an overdue report on rights abuses in China’s Xinjiang region. In a tweet, Thomas-Greenfield urged Michelle Bachelet, the U.N. high commissioner for human rights, to release the report on Xinjiang, which Bachelet previously said would be finished in September 2021. “And let’s be clear: any visit by the High Commissioner to China must have unhindered and unfettered access,” Thomas-Greenfield tweeted, referring to Bachelet’s upcoming visit to China. Bachelet announced in March that she had reached an agreement with the Chinese government for a visit “foreseen to take place in May” to China, including the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region (XUAR). No dates have been announced. In response, the spokesperson of Chinese mission to the U.N. tweeted that, “China welcomes the visit by @mbachele including a trip to Xinjiang. This is a normal exchange between two sides. There is no place for political manipulation and malicious pressure. Such indiscreet remarks only reveal the US intention to set up obstacles to disrupt the visit.” A second tweet said, “To some U.S. politicians who are obsessed with making lies: STOP turning a blind eye to the human rights violations in your own country. Save your own people from desperate racism, violence and inequality. Smearing and defaming China cannot cover or divert your failure.” Bachelet first announced that her office sought an unfettered access to the Uyghur region in September 2018, shortly after she became the U.N.’s top human rights official. But the trip has been delayed over questions about her freedom of movement through the region. International rights groups have said that Bachelet’s visit to Xinjiang must be independent and unhindered to be credible. Bachelet’s office is under pressure from rights activists to issue the overdue report on alleged serious rights violations by Chinese authorities who target Uyghurs and other Turkic communities in the XUAR. In March, about 200 human rights groups urged Bachelet to make the report public without delay. Up to 1.8 million Uyghurs and others have been held in a vast network of internment camps operated by the Chinese government under the pretext of preventing religious extremism and terrorism among the mostly Muslim groups. The U.S. government and the legislatures of several Western countries have declared that China’s maltreatment of the Uyghurs and other minority Muslims in Xinjiang constitutes genocide and crimes against humanity. ‘A political pawn’ Thomas-Greenfield’s tweet followed a meeting on Wednesday with the family Gulshan Abbas, a Uyghur physician detained for more than three years in an internment camp in northwestern China’s Xinjiang region. “Just met with the family of Dr. Gulshan Abbas, a Uyghur medical doctor who’s been unjustly detained in China,” Thomas-Greenfield tweeted. “The U.S. will continue to push for her safety and release — and speak out against PRC [People’s Republic of China] atrocities toward Uyghurs and other members of ethnic and religious minority groups.” On Sept. 11, 2018, Chinese police took Gulshan Abbas, now 59, from her home to one of the region’s camps. Her family, including her sister, Rushan Abbas, a Uyghur American activist who is the founder and executive director of the nonprofit Campaign for Uyghurs based in Washington, D.C., later learned that Gulshan had been sentenced in March 2019 to 20 years in prison on false charges. Rushan has said that her sister was detained on trumped-up “terrorism” charges after she spoke out against the Chinese Communist Party (CPP). Gulshan’s daughter, Ziba Murat, told RFA on Thursday that her mother was a “nonpolitical, kind, generous person and gentle grandmother” with chronic health issues. “As a health care provider, she devoted her life providing medical treatments for people suffering from illnesses/disease,” Murat said. “The CCP defiled my mother’s name as if she is a political pawn. My mother is a law-abiding and caring human being, deserving of dignity.” In response to the Thomas-Greenfield’s tweet, the Chinese mission account tweeted: “Q: Who is Gulshan Abbas? A: a criminal sentenced to jail for crimes of participating in a terrorist organization, aiding terrorist activities. It is common sense to respect the rule of law. Time to stop making yourself a laughing stock.” That prompted Rushan Abbas to join in the exchange: “Did I make my sister up or is she in prison? Your claims have 0 credibility. 1st #China denied the existence of my sister (see) & called me a liar, saying I stole images of others. Now they falsely link her to ‘terrorism.’” In reference to the upcoming visit to China by Bachelet of the U.N., 56 civil society organizations on Tuesday issued a statement laying out certain conditions that must be met in order for the visit to be credible, including the release of the overdue report on serious human rights violations in Xinjiang. They also demanded that Bachelet meet with independent civil society groups, human rights defenders and diaspora groups before leaving for China and to set up unsupervised meetings with human rights defenders and others who have been forcibly disappeared or who have been arbitrarily detained. The groups also said they were concerned that Bachelet has remained silent on the human rights crisis in Tibet, in contrast with her predecessors. The World Uyghur Congress (WUC), a Germany-based Uyghur activist group that signed on to the statement, said Bachelet also has a responsibility to meet with Uyghur groups and survivors to hear directly from them before her visit to China. “Engagement with the affected communities must be a priority for her and her office,” WUC president Dolkun Isa said in a statement. Meanwhile, the U.S. Congressional-Executive Commission on China on Thursday issued a letter to Claude Heller, chair of the U.N. Committee Against Torture, urging him to release a review of China’s actions. “The human rights situation in China has demonstrably worsened since the committee’s last review in 2015, particularly in the XUAR, which prompted the United States…

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Water release from Chinese dam causes Mekong River to rise downstream

Editor06 mins

Residents in Laos said they were surprised to find water on the Mekong River rising this week due to unannounced releases from the Jinghong Dam upriver in China, although there were no reports of significant damage. The Mekong in parts of Laos rose more than 30 centimeters (0.98 feet), according to a notice issued Wednesday by water authorities in Thailand. Water levels rose higher in Thailand, to between 70 and 80 centimeters in Chiang Khan district in Loei province and Chiang Saen district of Chiang Rai province, Thailand’s Office of National Water Resources said. Officials in Laos and in Thailand said they were not notified of the release from the dam in in southwestern China’s Yunnan province. China has 11 massive dams, including two large storage dams, along the mainstream of the Upper Mekong Basin, known as the Lancang in China. Laos has two hydropower dams in operation on the Mekong mainstream and dozens more on its tributaries as part of the government’s aim to bring in revenue by exporting electricity to the country’s richer neighbors. A Lao fisherman who lives in Tonpheung district said he noticed higher water on Wednesday. “At 10 a.m. on April 20, the Mekong River water level in front of Tonpheung district was about 30 centimeters higher than it was the day before, and it is expected to be higher today and tomorrow,” he said. “So far, we haven’t been affected yet. We’ve already secured our boats by tying them up to the stakes on the riverbank.” The dam near Jinghong includes a 1,750-megawatt hydroelectric power station, and water is sometimes released to generate more electricity. But sudden releases of water can pose a threat to communities downstream. The Office of National Water Resources said that the Mekong’s water flow rose to 1,626 cubic meters per second, from 970 cubic meters per second, following the release at Jinghong. Thai water authorities and the Mekong Dam Monitor, which tracks water levels in the river, expect levels to increase between 80 centimeters and 160 centimeters, or 1.6 meters, on Thursday and Friday. Lao officials received no notice about the increased water discharge from China, an official at the Natural Resources and Environment Department of northern Laos’ Bokeo province said. “Usually there must be some kind of a notice or a letter informing us of the discharges so that we can issue a warning to our residents,” said the official, who like other sources in this report requested anonymity for safety reasons and to speak freely. An estimated 80% of the nearly 65 million people who live in the Lower Mekong River Basin depend on the river for their livelihoods, according to the Mekong River Commission (MRC), an intergovernmental organization representing Cambodia, Laos, Thailand and Vietnam that manages the shared water resource. Agriculture and fisheries production in the Lower Mekong River Basin can be harmed by either higher or lower levels of water discharge from China. A resident of Bokeo’s Tonpheung district, which sits along the Mekong River, told RFA that locals heard about the upstream water release from the crew of a Chinese cargo ship. “Oh, the water level is now inching up,” he said. An MRC member told RFA that it also did not receive any notice or warning from the Chinese about the dam discharge. A member of the Hak (Love) Chiang Khong Group, a Thai nonprofit environmental campaign in Chiang Rai, told RFA that the Jinghong Dam has discharged more water nine times since the beginning of the year, including twice in April. “We believe that the dam will release more water whenever it wants to produce more electricity or to raise the Mekong River’s water level so that Chinese cargo boats can navigate down to Laos and Thailand,” he said. Reported by RFA’s Lao Service. Translated by Max Avary. Written in English by Roseanne Gerin.

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Cooking oil prices in North Korea remain high despite more imports

Editor06 mins

Cooking oil prices in North Korea remain high despite more imports from China, the result of the government diverting the new supplies to food factories in preparation for a major holiday, sources in the country told RFA. Food prices skyrocketed during the COVID-19 pandemic when the Sino-Korean border was shut down and all trade was suspended for about two years, starting in January 2020. As supplies dwindled, sugar, cooking oil and other ingredients became unaffordable luxuries to many North Korean families. Poor harvests in North Korea in both 2020 and 2021 added market pressure by creating shortages of staples like rice and corn. Ahead of the Day of the Sun, a holiday celebrating the life of leader Kim Jong Un’s late grandfather, national founder Kim Il Sung, North Korean authorities began importing more ingredients for cakes and sweets, but residents outside the capital Pyongyang are not seeing much benefit. Though freight trains laden with cooking oil are now rolling in from China, North Koreans are not seeing a price drop, a resident of the northwestern province of North Pyongan told RFA’s Korean Service Tuesday on condition of anonymity for security reasons. “In early April, the news spread that the Dandong-Sinuiju freight train was importing 20 cargo compartments of sugar, flour and cooking oil almost every other day, raising hopes that the cooking oil prices would fall soon,” he said. “However, the price of 1 kg (2.2 lbs.) of cooking oil is still equivalent to 5 kg (11 lbs.) of rice. Residents are wondering where all the imported cooking oil is going. They are complaining that they don’t know when they will be able to add oil to their dishes,” the source said. The current price of cooking oil is 22,000 won per kg ($7.43 per lb.) at the marketplace in Sinuiju, a border city that lies across the Yalu River from China’s Dandong, the source said. Locally produced cooking oil costs 25,000 won per kg. In 2019, before the pandemic, cooking oil cost 13,000 to 15,000 won per kg. In contrast, prices for flour are falling as supplies increasingly come in via maritime trade through Sinuiju and are distributed to local markets as far away as South Pyongan province, north of Pyongyang. At the height of the pandemic, flour cost as much as 30,000 won per kilogram, but now it costs 11,000 to 12,000 won per kilogram. In the city of Pyongsong in South Pyongan, food factories received orders to increase production of sweets, instant noodles and bread, a resident there told RFA on condition of anonymity to speak freely. “Raw materials such as flour, sugar, and cooking oil are imported on the Dandong-Sinuiju weekly freight train,” the second source said. “On the occasion of Kim Il Sung’s birthday, authorities ordered the import of food materials from China by increasing the frequency of freight trains. They ordered gifts of sweets and food to distribute to high-ranking officials, national contributors and Pyongyang citizens,” he said. Residents of the capital Pyongyang live lives of privilege, with more access to luxuries than people living in the provinces. “Food products from the Dandong-Sinuiju freight train are not released to the market,” the second source said. “After the cargo is disinfected at the Uiju food-quarantine facilities, it is only supplied to food production plants in Pyongyang and other food production companies under the party and the military. The price of food products in the marketplace is not going down,” he said. Translated by Claire Lee. Written in English by Eugene Whong.

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Self back patting in Myanmar

Editor01 mins

Myanmar’s military junta leader Min Aung Hlaing did not let such problems as a civilian death toll topping 1,700, international pariah status and a ruined economy stand in the way of awarding himself the country’s two top honorary titles—Thiri Thudhamma and Maha Thray Sithu—that traditionally recognize those who have done great work for the country. The leader of the Feb. 2021 army coup also marked the Burmese New Year by bestowing the highest honors on previous military dictators from Myanmar’s five decades of army rule.

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Concerns remain over pro-CCP stance of U.K.-based Chinese community organizations

Editor010 mins

Hong Kong activists based in the U.K. have repeated warnings that community groups in the county may have been infiltrated by people loyal to the Chinese Communist Party (CCP), posing potential threats to incoming migrants from Hong Kong under the British National Overseas (BNO) visa scheme. Former Hong Kong lawmaker Nathan Law said via his Twitter account on April 19 that most the of 100,000 people who have left the city following the imposition of the draconian national security law to make new lives in the  U.K. support the 2019 mass protest movement, which called for fully democratic elections and greater official accountability. “HKers are anxious and insecure. Most of them are in support of the pro-democracy movement, therefore they left Hong Kong with trauma and worries of persecution,” Law wrote. “They fear that Chinese agents in the UK would send their activity records back to Hong Kong, thus endangering them.” Law voiced his concerns as The Times reported that pro-CCP figures appeared to have infiltrated large Chinese community organizations in Southampton and Birmingham, both of which have received tens of thousands of pounds in government funding to help newly arrived Hongkongers integrate into British society. Law added: “The Chinese govt is a dictatorial regime that destroyed our home. Many Chinese community organizations in the UK support the political lines of CCP. More than 200 of them endorsed the National Security Law,” he said, adding that Hongkongers would feel “scared and unwelcome” if government funds were awarded to such groups. According to The Times, two of the Birmingham center’s directors worked with the British Chinese Project, a scheme founded by Christine Lee, a lawyer who MI5 warned was trying to influence parliamentarians on behalf of Beijing in January 2022. A patron of the center, James Wong, has visited China on a trip sponsored by the Overseas Chinese Affairs Office, part of the CCP’s outreach and influence operation known as the United Front Work Department. The Birmingham Chinese Community Center denied it was under CCP influence, saying it had no wish to be drawn into the politics of the Hong Kong protest movement, and had no wish to become involved with such “toxicity.” A screenshot of former Hong Kong lawmaker Nathan Law’s Twitter account where he raises concerns that Chinese agents in the UK have infiltrated large Chinese community organizations in British cities. Allegiances hard to trace Meanwhile, U.K.-based activist Ping Hua, who has termed reports of the mass incarceration of Uyghurs in Xinjiang “appalling lies and fabrication,” founded the Southampton group, which told the paper she is no longer part of the organization. Law tweeted a day after being quoted in the article: “We must know more about the infiltration activities of the Chinese govt and prevent these mistakes from happening. The best way is to engage with the UK-based Hong Kong community and conduct thorough background checks on the org’s connection to the Chinese embassy.” U.K. activist and former consular worker Simon Cheng said that while the links between Wong and Ping and the CCP were fairly clear, many other Chinese community organizations have made statements that suggest where their allegiances lie, even if connections with the CCP are harder to trace. “They want to carefully blunt our democratic consciousness and fighting spirit,” Cheng said. “For example, they could, once people have settled in, encourage them to move on from the past.” “If they really have a pro-CCP agenda, or are United Front, the most important concern is that they could report people’s personal information to the national security police [in Hong Kong],” he said. “Then, you could run into problems if you go back to Hong Kong, or to any country that has a current extradition treaty with either China or Hong Kong.” According to a 2017 report by New Zealand political science professor Anne-Marie Brady, Chinese leader Xi Jinping is leading an accelerated expansion of political influence activities worldwide, much of which rely on overseas community and business groups, under the aegis of the United Front Work Department. Some 100,000 Hongkongers have emigrated to the U.K. under a pathway-to-citizenship visa scheme aimed at around three million people eligible for the BNO passport. Overseas properties Community groups have sprung into action to offer career, job-hunting and taxation workshops to new arrivals, provide entertainment and social opportunities and to offer advice on education, mental health and starting a new business. Meanwhile, the U.K.-based rights group Hong Kong Watch said nine high-ranking Hong Kong officials and 12 lawmakers elected under Beijing’s approval to the city’s legislature hold property overseas, including in the U.K., Canada, the U.S., Australia, Japan, and France. In a new report, the group lists health secretary Sophia Chan as owning or co-owning three properties in London, civil service secretary Patrick Nip as owning a flat in Islington, and former University of Hong Kong senior leader Arthur Li as owning two west London properties. All are members of chief executive Carrie Lam’s cabinet, the Executive Council, and are collectively responsible for implementing the national security law, which bans public criticism of the government and criminalizes acts of political opposition, journalism and online dissent. All of the officials and lawmakers in question have pledged allegiance to Beijing and expressed their public support for the national security law, the report said. “The report recommends that like-minded countries consider auditing the assets of Hong Kong officials and introducing a Hong Kong specific sanctions list covering those named,” it said. The group’s senior policy adviser Sam Goodman said: “The Hong Kong officials and lawmakers who are complicit in the ongoing human rights crackdown in Hong Kong are more than happy to continue to use the West as a safe haven for their hidden wealth.” Translated and edited by Luisetta Mudie.

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Mystery fences spring up blocking Shanghai streets overnight amid ongoing lockdown

Editor07 mins

Mysterious fences have begun appearing overnight blocking city thoroughfares in Shanghai amid a grueling COVID-19 lockdown affecting some 26 million people, residents told RFA. Photos from a number of different locations across the city were visible on social media on Thursday, showing wire netting fences with steel posts driven deep into the ground, blocking all traffic on the street. “The posts supporting the wire fencing have all been driven into the ground,” Minhang district resident Feng Enhao told RFA. “It has been a unified move across the whole city, including Minhang, Putuo and Jiading districts, completed overnight.” “The sections left unblocked are around party and government buildings,” Feng said. “It’s very strange, because even police vehicles can’t get through, and the military and police can’t move around.” The move came as vice premier Sun Chunlan and Shanghai municipal government officials promised that the end of COVID-19 “dynamic clearance” restrictions in Shanghai is just around the corner, with cases in the city beginning to dip. Wu Ganyu of the Shanghai municipal health commission told a news conference on Wednesday that community transmission of the virus had been “effectively curbed,” after newly confirmed cases fell for three days straight. Road blockages have been reported in more than a dozen districts of Shanghai, including Changning, Huangpu and Xuhui. One resident said there is no sign of COVID-19 measures being lifted any time soon, despite official promises. Transferring negative tests The move comes after large numbers of residents from Huangpu district were transported out of the city to Hangzhou on Wednesday, following a directive from the Pingwangjie neighborhood committee to residents of Nanjing East Road. At the start of lockdown, anyone testing positive during mass, compulsory COVID-19 testing was sent to mass isolation facilities in the city. When those filled up, then were bused out to neighboring provinces, including Zhejiang. More recently, however, those testing negative have been bused out of town, leaving those who tested positive to isolate in Shanghai, with some residential communities requisitioned as isolation facilities. A Huangpu resident told RFA on Wednesday: “They are transferring the people test negative because too many people are testing positive in the community,” the resident said. “So they are turning it around and sending those who tested negative to Hangzhou today.” “There are very few negatives in the community, so they only need two buses to transport them,” she said. Those testing negative will remain in Hangzhou for seven days before being sent back home for a further seven days of quarantine, the Pingwangjie directive said. Anger over restrictions Public anger and despair over the restrictions continues to bubble over onto social media despite the best efforts of government-backed censors to delete such accounts. In one video, a woman is shown about to jump from a building while onlookers try to dissuade her. “Someone from the [temporary] cabin hospital is about to jump off the building,” the person shooting the video says. “Some people can’t bear being held in those conditions.” “Fierce types like me make trouble, but those who don’t dare to do that and can’t bear it any longer do this instead.” “They fooled people into coming [to the temporary facility] and then gave them nothing,” the person says. “There are no sanitary towels for the women and no toilet paper for the men.” Another video clip showed a woman in a residential community berating a police officer over supplies that were ordered but hadn’t arrived. “Our pandemic supplies are being left to rot in the civic center, and nobody is distributing them,” the woman asks loudly. “What happened to our pandemic supplies?” In another, a man shoots video from inside a compulsory isolation center where people are shown crammed in to a large hall on camp beds, with no measures taken to avoid infection. “First day in the isolation center, and I’ve got a cough. I didn’t have a cough before I went into isolation, but I have one now,” the man says. “Look at this — so many people isolating together. No measures to limit transmission, no masks … no members of staff come here. What’s the point of isolating if it’s like this?” Translated and edited by Luisetta Mudie.

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Analyst suspects China pressure as Philippines suspends oil exploration

Editor06 mins

The Philippines has suspended oil and gas exploration activities in the disputed South China Sea, a presidential spokesman said, under what an analyst described as “coercion” from China. Martin Andanar, spokesman for President Rodrigo Duterte, told reporters on Tuesday in Manila that the Security, Justice and Peace Coordinating Cluster (SJPCC), or the government’s security advisors, decided to suspend all exploration activities within the disputed areas in West Philippine Sea. West Philippine Sea is the name used by the Filipinos for the part of the South China Sea over which Manila claims sovereignty. Local companies in the Philippines have been test drilling two sites at Reed Bank, also known as Recto Bank, off Palawan province for survey purposes, but the Department of Energy (DOE) has now ordered them to stop. Andanar said that the DOE has requested the government to reconsider the suspension because “under international law, a geophysical survey is perfectly legitimate activity in any disputed area.” In 2018, Manila and Beijing signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) for joint oil and gas development in contested areas and those two sites were identified by the DOE as possible sites for joint exploration with China. Jay Batongbacal, director of the University of the Philippines’ Institute for Maritime Affairs and Law of the Sea, said Beijing has been pressuring Manila to accept its exploration terms or to stop drilling. “Through diplomacy and the actions of the China Coast Guard, Beijing has been trying to coerce Manila to stop conducting seabed exploration and research activities in the West Philippine Sea until the latter submits to China’s conditions for joint development,” Batongbacal said. The Philippines, China, Brunei, Malaysia, Taiwan and Vietnam all hold claims in the South China Sea but China’s claim is the most expansive, occupying nearly 90 percent of the sea. In 2016, the Philippines brought a case against China to an international tribunal and won but Beijing refused to accept the ruling. Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte gestures as he meets cabinet officials at the Malacanang presidential palace in Manila, Philippines, March 7, 2022. Credit: Malacanang Presidential Photographers Division via AP Joint exploration in contested waters In 2014, under Duterte’s predecessor President Benigno Aquino, the Philippines imposed a ban on oil and gas exploration in the disputed areas of the South China Sea in protest against China’s aggression. Duterte lifted the moratorium in 2020, paving the way for joint development with China, hoping to attract new investment from the biggest player in the region. There were also fears that unilateral exploration activities might hurt the Sino-Philippines relationship. Yet until now, the MOU the two countries signed in 2018 has not resulted in any actual project. All efforts made to date by other countries in prospecting for oil and gas in the South China Sea have made little progress because of heavy opposition from China, said Fitch Solutions, a global market analysis agency. “China has formally claimed the rights to explore and exploit hydrocarbon resources in the disputed waters, but has not done so in practice and appears content to prevent others from exploring the area,” said Fitch Solutions. “There is limited scope for the current deadlock over the South China Sea to ease,” it added. Tensions have been high between the Philippines and China in the last few months of Duterte’s presidency. In the latest incident, the Philippines lodged a diplomatic protest against China after a Chinese coastguard ship maneuvered dangerously close to a Filipino vessel in the disputed Scarborough Shoal in March.

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1 in 100 displaced by conflict since Myanmar coup, UN says

Editor09 mins

One out of every 100 citizens of Myanmar became displaced by conflict in the nearly 15 months since the junta seized power, according to the United Nations, pushing the total number of internal refugees to a staggering 912,700 and pushing the country ever closer to the brink of a humanitarian crisis.  In a statement on Tuesday, the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs said that 566,100 people — or more than 1% of Myanmar’s population of around 55 million — were made refugees since the Feb 1, 2021, coup, adding to some 346,000 people already identified as internally displaced persons (IDPs) prior to the takeover. The agency said that for the first time, displacement in the northwest, where the military is carrying out a scorched earth campaign in Chin state and the regions of Sagaing and Magway, exceeded 300,000 people. Eastern Myanmar, which includes the embattled states of Shan, Kayah, and Kayin, also saw substantial displacement since the coup. Junta troops killed at least 1,600 people, including some 100 children, since the coup, the U.N. office said. Many of the victims died in military airstrikes, artillery strikes or as the result of triggering landmines. “Hundreds of thousands of men, women, boys and girls have fled their homes for safety since the February military takeover, many of them forced to move multiple times exposing people to grave protection risks,” the statement said. The U.N. said in mid-January that the number of people displaced in Myanmar since the coup totaled 320,000, suggesting an increase of nearly 600,000 in the past three months alone. The displacement has placed a tremendous strain on resources and IDPs are in desperate need of assistance. “Overall, humanitarian actors, in close coordination with local partners, continue providing critical life-saving assistance to the most affected people but face ongoing challenges in addressing urgent needs due to access constraints and funding shortfalls,” the U.N.’s humanitarian office said. “To meet their obligations to people in need, humanitarian actors, including the U.N., international and national NGOs, need quicker, simpler and more predictable access processes.” Among the needs of IDPs identified by the agency were funding for educational activities, food security, health care, nutritional supplements, protection from violence, shelter, water, sanitation and hygiene. The smoking remains of homes destroyed by the military in Khin-U township’s Ngar Tin Gyi village, April 4, 2022. Credit: Citizen journalist Scarce supplies and food shortages Speaking to RFA’s Myanmar Service on Wednesday, a refugee in Sagaing’s Yinmabin township said that obtaining things like rice, cooking oil and salt must be done in the city but are subject to seizure by junta troops at checkpoints. “Many people are facing starvation. Our homes have been burned down. The fire has also destroyed our storage and all our supplies for the entire year. We are sharing what is left among the villagers,” he said, speaking on condition of anonymity citing fear of reprisal. “We went to Monywa to purchase some bags of rice, but [the soldiers] seized them on the way home. We are not allowed to transport large bags of rice or other food supplies.” He said those displaced are forced to scrape by trading their remaining rice supplies with nearby villages. In Kayah state, food transport routes have been cut off by fighting between the military and anti-junta People’s Defense Force paramilitaries, forcing people to ration what they have left. An IDP from Kayah’s Demoso township, which has been the center of intense clashes in recent weeks, told RFA that his group of refugees is at risk of running out of food. “We cannot find more foods. The roads are closed, so we must ration what we have,” said the IDP, who also declined to be named. “We can use cooking oil only once or twice a month. We prepare foods without cooking, often by grinding it into a powder. We skip some meals. We have only one meal instead of two meals a day. We adults try to adapt and give priority to the children.” A volunteer helping IDPs in Kayah’s Hpruso township said his aid group is working to obtain extra food supplies in anticipation of future scarcity. “It has become more difficult to transport food. We can’t carry as much as we need. For example, we order 100 rice bags, but we are allowed to transport only 50 — the authorities are controlling things very strictly,” he said. “I think we need to save up more food for the future because we expect things will become even more difficult. Whenever there is fighting, we face shortages.” In Chin state, a volunteer told RFA his group can’t transfer food because of fighting near the roads. Additionally, he said, troops require permits to transport food and other commodities along closed routes, leading to price hikes in local markets. Attempts by RFA to contact Maj. Gen. Zaw Min Tun, the junta’s deputy information minister, for comment on the military closing roads in conflict regions went unanswered on Wednesday. Salai Za Oak Lein, the deputy executive director of the Chin Human Rights Organization, accused the military of closing roads to prevent aid from reaching IDPs. “This action shows that they lack humanitarian spirit. The military is trying to weaken the local resistance by cutting of food supplies, but they are impacting local civilians,” he said. “They intentionally create food shortages and force people to abandon their homes. These are horrible human rights violations.” Translated by Ye Kaung Myint Maung. Written in English by Joshua Lipes.

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Hun Sen’s call for fair local elections this June in Cambodia raises eyebrows

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Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Sen said Wednesday that he would not stump for his party in local elections in June and urged authorities to remain neutral during the campaign, an appeal that did little to comfort the beleaguered opposition. After a spate of violence and harassment directed against aspiring candidates, however, critics and political opponents told RFA that Hun Sen must allow real challenges to candidates from his ruling Cambodian People’s Party (CPP) in the nationwide elections. Hun Sen’s comments came during a ceremony for a flood prevention and improvement project in Phnom Penh. He said local officials must work to ensure the June 5 elections are free and fair. “If CPP wins the election, all people can live together. Now we have 17 parties participating in the election,” he said. “I won’t … campaign, but I want to stress that we please don’t allow any types of violence during the election process.” Earlier this month, the Committee for Free and Fair Elections in Cambodia, an electoral watchdog, criticized Hun Sen for appealing for votes while on official duty, a violation of the country’s election laws. A CPP spokesman said the prime minister was simply promoting his administration’s accomplishments. Cambodian authorities also barred 100 candidates from the emerging Candlelight Party from participating in the elections. The party, has been gaining steam  despite a crackdown against it and other opposition parties. On Wednesday, Hun Sen said that all political parties should have equal rights during the election, including parties that oppose his government.  “I appeal to all places, to allow people to participate in the election so they can vote for their candidates freely,” he said. Hun Sen has made similar statements in the past, but the situation for his political opponents continues to worsen, Thach Setha, vice president of the Candlelight Party, told RFA’s Khmer Service. “If he talks without taking any measures against the perpetrators [of violence], it can’t guarantee a good election environment free from intimidation and assault,” Thach Setha said, noting that many political activists remain in prison. “This needs to end to ensure that the election will be free and fair. Please stop using the court to issue warrants and summons” to political opponents, he said. On Monday, RFA reported that Seam Pluk, president of the National Heart Party, is in hiding after an arrest warrant for forgery of documents for June local elections was issued. Critics said his charges were trumped up amid a government crackdown on the opposition. Hun Sen’s appeal Wednesday for fair elections will be ineffective without concrete action, Kang Savang, a monitor with the Committee for Free and Fair Elections in Cambodia, told RFA. Several NGOs have asked the government to ensure a safe election environment, but the government has so far not acted on their request, Kang Savang said. “If there is only a message without an order toward the local authorities it is not enough,” he said. Opponents of the CPP have been targeted in a 5-year-old crackdown that has sent leaders of the opposition Cambodia National Rescue Party (CNRP) into exile and landed scores of its supporters in prison. Cambodia’s Supreme Court dissolved the CNRP in November 2017 in a move that allowed the CPP to win all 125 seats in Parliament in a July 2018 election. The June 5 election will decide who serves in a total of 11,622 seats in local districts known as communes across Cambodia. Translated by Samean Yun. Written in English by Eugene Whong.

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Investigative Journalism Reportika © March 2022 by Ij-Reportika is licensed under CC BY 4.0