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Month: May 2022

China clamps down on dissident writer who criticized cult of personality around Xi

Editor010 mins

Despite asking for public input ahead of a key party congress later this year, Chinese authorities appear to be stepping up its clampdown on public dissent amid a growing cult of personality around ruling Chinese Communist Party (CCP) leader Xi Jinping. Retired writer and member of the Independent Chinese PEN Association Tian Qizhuang is apparently incommunicado after he submitted an “opinion” opposing the Xi personality cult, saying it was in breach of the CCP charter. In an open letter to CCP disciplinary chief Zhao Leji, Tian accused Guangxi regional party secretary Liu Ning of “serious violations” of the party charter in a speech he made in a recent communique. “We must work hard to forge our party spirit and loyalty to core [leader Xi Jinping] with a high degree of political awareness,” the communique read, after the regional party CCP conference elected Xi as a delegate after he was nominated by the CCP Central Committee, in an exercise aimed at requiring and demonstrating loyalty to Xi. “[We must] always support our leader, defend our leader and follow our leader,” the communique said. In his letter, Tian argued that the communique was in breach of a clause added to the CCP charter at the 12th Party Congress in 1982, forbidding personality cults around Chinese leaders. “The key point about cults of personality is that they privilege personal power over the constitution and the law, violating the republican principle that everyone is equal before the law,” Tian wrote. “The Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region party committee has blatantly issued this communique in violation of the CCP charter,” he said. “This denial of the basic policy of sticking to the rule of law also shows that the cult of personality [around Xi] has already reached a dangerous level,” Tian wrote, calling on the Central Commission for Discipline Inspection (CCDI) to “investigate and deal with the matter promptly, and make the results and punishment known to the whole party … to prevent such corrupt thoughts and culture from making a comeback.” The CCP, instructed by Xi, has said it is soliciting online opinions and suggestions ahead of the party congress from April 15 through May 16, in a bid to “brainstorm and promote democracy.” But several days after the letter was published, Tian received a visit from local state security police, who swept his home for “evidence,” confiscating his cell phone and computer. Paeans to Xi The Guangxi communique came after outgoing Shenzhen party secretary Wang Weizhong lauded Xi to the skies in his valedictory speech, listing five of the leader’s attributes for which he would remain “eternally grateful.” Current affair commentator Wei Xin said paeans to Xi are likely to become even more frequent in the run-up to the 20th CCP National Congress later this year. “On the one hand, we have a wave of populism, accompanied on the other by structural changes in the highest echelons of the CCP Central Committee, which is inclining itself more and more towards individual totalitarianism,” Wei told RFA. “The party constitution isn’t enough to rein in the cult of personality or the centralization of power in one individual in the face of those changes,” he said. “[These tendencies within] the CCP will get stronger and stronger in the next six months as we approach the 20th party congress, and will likely peak in the fall.” Wei’s warning harks back to a 2010 essay by Chengdu party school professor Liu Yifei titled “Never forget to oppose personality cults.” In it, Liu warns that a lack of clear understanding in party ranks of the dangers led to disaster in the absence of strong institutional constraints, resulting in “a leader who couldn’t be curbed” by his own party: late supreme leader Mao Zedong. Feng Chongyi, a professor of Chinese Studies at the Sydney University of Technology in Australia, said the emerging personality cult around Xi is linked to the CCP leader’s successful removal of presidential term limits via China’s rubber-stamp parliament, the National People’s Congress (NPC), in 2018. “After the Cultural Revolution [1966-1976] ended, the party line was against individual autocracy, and the abolition of lifelong leadership was part of that,” Feng said. “No leader from Hu Yaobang, to Zhao Ziyang, to Jiang Zemin and Hu Jintao, served more than two terms in office, but he is now breaking that rule and bringing back lifelong tenure.” “To achieve that, he needs a deification campaign and a personality cult; it’s all part of the same operation,” he said. Distractions from bad news Feng said there is plenty of bad news from which Xi needs to distract people through populism. “There is trouble at home and abroad, with a constantly weakening economy, and worsening confrontation with developed countries,” he said. “This has created a lot of dissatisfaction within party ranks, but China doesn’t have … democratic elections or any political process.” “So, as long as they can suppress people like this writer, he will get his re-election,” Feng said. Tian’s silence came as online platforms including Weibo, Douyin and WeChat began requiring users to supply their IP address, making it easier to locate people when they comment or post. WeChat said it will begin displaying the location of users when they publish content, using their IP address, with domestic accounts showing the user’s province, autonomous region or directly governed municipality, and overseas accounts showing their country. Hebei-based political scientist Wei Qing said the move feeds into the growing use of “grid management,” which divides localities up into grids, giving officials responsibility for the actions of anyone living in their square. “The goal is grid management, which is central government policy, and the Cyberspace Administration is implementing that central policy,” Wei said. “Controlling the movement of people is the biggest characteristic of an autocratic society.” “Now that China is heading back to the Cultural Revolution, the movements of people both in physical space and in cyberspace, will be one of the most important goals.” He said local officials’ knowledge of who is posting from where…

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Shanghai fires, probes officials after man placed in body bag while still alive

Editor08 mins

Authorities in Shanghai on Monday announced punishments for five officials in the city’s Putuo district after an elderly man was found alive in a body bag en route between a care home and a morgue. “Five people in Putuo District, Shanghai were held accountable for wrongly transferring an elderly person from a care home,” the city’s Putuo district government said in an announcement on its official Weibo account. “On the afternoon of May 1, reports were posted online that a so-called dead body being transferred from the Shanghai New Long March Care Home was found to show signs of life,” it said. “Putuo district government … launched an immediate investigation and sent the elderly man to receive treatment in hospital, where he is currently stable.” It said Putuo civil affairs bureau chief Zhang Jiandong, section chief Liu Yinghua and social development director Wu Youcheng had been fired pending a ruling Chinese Communist Party (CCP) disciplinary case against them. Meanwhile, a doctor surnamed Tian had been struck off for signing the man’s death certificate, and is currently under police investigation, it said. A team has been sent from the civil affairs bureau to carry out further supervision at the care home, which has also been subjected to an administrative punishment, the statement said. The move came after a video clip saw staff load, then unload, a yellow body bag from a vehicle outside the care home. “The care home said the person is dead, but the people from the funeral home said they’re still alive; they’re moving,” a person behind the camera says. “They’re not even dead, yet they’re declared dead.” “Now they’re discussing what to do. Get them out of there; what else can you do? What you’re doing is immoral.” “They’re not even dead, and they’re put in a van to go to the funeral home,” the man’s voice says. Widespread anger The staff then push the gurney back into the care home courtyard with the zip partially unfastened and leave. The care home later apologized, but online comments showed widespread anger, as Shanghai’s 25 million residents continued into a fifth week of COVID-19 lockdown that has brought havoc to the city. Some 400 deaths from COVID-19 have been reported in care homes, amid growing suspicion that the figure is being under-reported, in a city where only 62 percent of over-60s have been fully vaccinated, and just 15 percent of those over 80 have received two shots. The average age of deaths is 84, according to the government. Vice mayor Liu Duo said the city’s disease control and prevention efforts were “stable and improving,” however. “Disease control and prevention work has entered a critical phase,” Liu told reporters. “Effective disinfection measures can play a positive role in cutting off transmission routes.” Liu made no mention of the New Long March incident. Current affairs commentator Fang Yuan said the huge amount of political pressure on staff and officials during lockdown has led to “chaotic actions.” “The disease prevention and control regulations are too aggressive,” Fang told RFA. “This kind of chaotic action is worse than inaction.” ‘Total chaos’ He said it could also be a way to show those higher up how the system is failing to function under CCP leader Xi Jinping’s zero-COVID policy. “It’s also a form of passive resistance,” Fang said. “Better to cause incidents through the chaos and get the attention of those higher up, because only then will order return.” Fang said the incident had generated huge amounts of public anger in a city where people are regularly banging pots and pans from apartments in a muted form of mass protest. “They want to deal with these kinds of incidents in as low-key a manner as possible, but there is huge pressure from public opinion,” Fang said. “It’s not okay to ignore it.” A Shanghai resident surnamed Chen said the authorities have restarted mass PCR testing in several districts of the city in recent days, but that he has refused to take part, as others have done, fearing being transported out of their homes where they are more likely to catch the virus. “I didn’t go; I’m not doing it,” Chen said. “The whole thing is total chaos; they can’t control it.” “The highways are all blocked, and there’s nowhere to run,” he said. “There’s a lot of tension all over the country.” Beijing municipal health commission spokesman Li Ang has ordered restaurants in the city to stop allowing customers to eat in for four days, in a bid to stem rising cases over the May holiday break. The city is also starting to build makeshift hospitals to isolate those who test positive for the virus, in a sign that the capital will keep going with Xi’s favored approach to managing COVID-19 risk. Translated and edited by Luisetta Mudie.

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Myanmar’s junta vows to defend China-backed copper mine after PDF threats

Editor010 mins

Myanmar’s junta has vowed to defend a suspended Chinese copper mine, seen as a key source of revenue for the military regime, after the country’s armed opposition threatened to destroy the project if owners resume operations. The Letpadaung copper mine in Sagaing’s Salingyi township is a joint venture between China’s state-owned Wanbao Co. and the military-owned Myanmar Economic Holding Limited (MEHL) company. Following the military’s Feb. 1, 2021 coup, employees walked off the job to join the anti-junta Civil Disobedience Movement (CDM), reducing the mine’s operating capacity by more than 80 percent. In early April, junta Foreign Minister Wunna Maung Lwin met with his Chinese counterpart Wang Yi in eastern China’s Anhui province in what analysts said signaled Myanmar’s desire for deeper economic ties to its northern ally. Not long after the trip, residents of Salingyi reported that workers were being called back to the mine to restart the project after more than a year of downtime, prompting threats from anti-junta People’s Defense Force (PDF) paramilitaries. Late last week, junta Deputy Information Minister Maj. Gen. Zaw Min Tun told RFA’s Myanmar Service that the military would deploy troops to protect the mine in the event of an attack. “As a government, we have a responsibility to protect all investments in the country, both legally and on the ground, and we must work to provide security for them,” he said, adding that the junta is “working to get things back on track” at Letpadaung. Zaw Min Tun didn’t provide details on the status of the mine or whether any other foreign projects had come under threat. His comments came in response to an April 21 joint statement from 16 PDF groups from Salingyi and nearby Yinmarbin townships threatening to destroy the mine if Wanbao brought it back online. A spokesman from the NRF, one of the PDF groups that issued the warning, told RFA that Chinese and other foreign-owned assets in Myanmar qualify as fair game for the armed opposition if they are generating income for the junta. “If the military can purchase weapons with that money, the people will suffer further persecution,” he said, calling the statement a warning to other foreign companies in Myanmar “earning money that will be used [by the junta] to buy bullets to kill people.” Sit Naing, a spokesperson from the Salingyi PDF, clarified that the groups “don’t have a plan to attack foreigners,” but said if foreign companies “keep working with the military and take part in persecuting the people, we will have to attack them, without fail.” Zin Mar Aung, foreign minister for Myanmar’s shadow National Unity Government (NUG), to which the prodemocaracy PDF has pledged its loyalty, expressed disappointment with China for its support of the junta in a recent statement. An excavator works on a section of the Letpadaung copper mine site in Sagaing region’s Salingyi township, in a file photo. Credit: RFA Resident protests Reports that operators are restarting the 60-year-old Letpadaung copper mine project – which has already faced criticism for appropriating land from 26 area villages and damaging the environment with chemical waste and dust – have also prompted opposition from Myanmar’s civilian population. Residents of Letpadaung have held daily protests demanding that Beijing respect the wishes of the people of Myanmar by shutting the mine down, and on April 25, nearly 560 prodemocracy groups sent an open letter to Chinese President Xi Jinping urging him to stop supporting the junta through the mine and other China-backed development projects. In an interview with RFA, a member of the CDM in Salingyi called on all copper mine staff to remain in the movement, even if they are called back to work by Wanbao. “As the project is directly affiliated with the junta, we are urging staff to hold out and refuse to return to work to resume operations, no matter how much incentive the company offers,” the CDM member said. “We ask that they go back to work only when the country is liberated.” Other sources were more direct in their condemnation of China, including a Salingyi township protest organizer who noted that Beijing has been backing the junta for much of the 15 months since the military’s coup. “They don’t give priority to the people, and they are prioritizing our enemy the military’s leader [Snr. Gen. Min Aung Hlaing], so China is our common enemy,” she said. “I want to appeal the workers to stand with the people. No matter how many incentives or extra salary they offer, don’t consider working for the enemy.” Reassessing control in Myanmar In response to an RFA email seeking comment on the situation in Salingyi, China’s embassy in Yangon said that Chinese projects in Myanmar “are meant to benefit Myanmar’s economic development, bilateral interests, and the livelihoods of the local people.” Attempts by RFA to contact Wanbao and Letpadaung copper mine officials went unanswered, as did calls to junta Deputy Minister of Information Maj. Gen. Zaw Min Tun. According to Myanmar’s Institute for Policy and Strategic Studies, 32 Chinese garment factories were set on fire in the early months of the coup, while PDF attacks on Chinese projects have damaged the water supply pipeline to the Letpadaung project, as well as a gas pipeline and nickel plant in Mandalay region. A Myanmar-based analyst on China-Myanmar relations, who declined to be named, said the NUG’s statement was a “warning” to China, emboldening local PDF groups. “The PDFs are trying to make China reconsider whether the junta can effectively protect its interests, after it offered support to the junta,” the analyst said. “China should reassess who is really in control on the ground … We will have to wait and see if they decide to negotiate with the NUG after they do so.” Translated by Ye Kaung Myint Maung and Khin Maung Nyane. Written in English by Joshua Lipes.

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Delivery of US Howitzers to Taiwan delayed due to Ukraine crisis

Editor04 mins

An arms contract between the United States and Taiwan is facing severe delays due to “crowded production lines” caused by the war in Ukraine, prompting Taipei to look for alternatives, the island’s Ministry of National Defense has confirmed. The first batch of U.S.-made M109A6 “Paladin” self-propelled howitzers will not be delivered in 2023 as planned as the production capacity of the U.S. arms industry has been affected by the ongoing Ukrainian war, Taiwan has been notified. Instead, the U.S. has offered some alternative long-range precision strike weapon systems such as the High Mobility Artillery Rocket Systems (HIMARS), the Taiwanese Ministry said, adding that officials are currently evaluating the proposal before making a final decision. Last August, Washington approved the sale of 40 M109A6 “Paladin” self-propelled howitzers and related equipment at an estimated cost of U.S. $750 million to Taiwan. It was part of the first arms sale to Taiwan approved by President Joe Biden since taking office that also included 20 M992A2 Field Artillery Ammunition Support Vehicles, 1,698 multi-option Precision Guidance Kits, and other related equipment and logistical support. The first eight units were due to be delivered next year, with another 16 each in 2024 and 2025, but U.S. manufacturers have now said it would be 2026 at the earliest. Eight weeks into the war, Washington decided to ramp up the delivery of artillery guns including a large number of howitzers to Ukraine as part of an additional U.S.$800-million military assistance package, the Associated Press reported. The Taiwanese military has been using two older howitzer variants – the M109A2 and M109A5. The “Paladin” is believed to be far superior with increased armor and an improved M284 155mm howitzer cannon. The proposed alternative – HIMAR – is a multiple-launch rocket system made by Lockheed Martin Corp. It can be mounted on a military truck, is mobile and has a strike distance of 300 kilometers (185 miles) when carrying M57 Army Tactical Missile Systems. Local media reported that besides the howitzers, a Taiwanese Navy’s plan to purchase 12 MH-60R Seahawk anti-submarine helicopters from the U.S. may also run into difficulties as the U.S. deemed that the helicopter is not suitable for asymmetric warfare. Although Washington and Taipei do not have formal diplomatic ties, the U.S. is committed by law to help provide Taiwan with the means to defend itself. Those arms sales have long been an irritant in relations between Washington and Beijing which regards the island as part of China, although Taiwan governs itself.

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China enlists foreign vloggers to whitewash Uyghur situation in Xinjiang

Editor020 mins

China has enlisted some fresh faces in its pushback against charges it is committing genocide against the Uyghurs in Xinjiang: young foreign social media influencers who produce short videos showing happy minorities in the far-western region. Travel videos recorded by video bloggers known as vloggers are carried on platforms such as Twitter that are banned in China and spread by state media and affiliated sites. The echo and amplify Beijing’s massive propaganda effort to depict Uyghurs as content with and grateful for Chinese rule. The videos show “foreign travelers” interviewing people in factories in Xinjiang, with captions such as “Friends, it’s a lie that there is a genocide of the Uyghurs.” “Everything is normal here,” and “Is there a single piece of evidence that there are more than 1 million people in concentration camps?” State-owned media outlets and local governments organize the pro-China campaign, paying vloggers to take trips, according to documents posted online and video producers familiar with the system. “What happens is you’ll have a state media like CGTN or CRI or iChongqing or any number of organizations which are run by the Chinese government — which are the Chinese government — and what they will do is they will pay for the flights, pay for the accommodation, organize the trip, and liaise with the content creator and invite them to go on these trips,” said YouTuber Winston Sterzel, who lived in Xinjiang. Minders working as translators or fixers are always present to make sure the content creators follow the script, he said. Vloggers, who post short videos on their personal websites or social media account on platforms like YouTube, say that local government officials arrange their travel and logging during trips they are hired for to make videos that put China in a good light. “They arrange our travel, and they pay for our lodging and food,” said YouTuber Lee Barrett in a video he recorded.   Business Insider reported in January that China’s consulate general in New York signed a U.S. $300 million contract with U.S.-based Vippi Media in New Jersey to create a social media campaign promoting positive messaging about China TikTok, Instagram, and Twitch as a lead-up to the 2022 Olympic Games in Beijing. Social media influencers were asked to produce content for their target audiences on Chinese culture, positive diplomatic relations between China and the U.S., and consulate general news. ‘Living happily and joyfully’ On the YouTube channel “Two Brothers,” Netherlands-based Tarekk Habib and Anas Habib, both of Egyptian descent, published a video on Dec. 31, 2021, in which they say a Chinese company agreed to pay them U.S. $1,000 to produce and share a video extoling the government’s measures to prevent the spread of the COVID-19 virus at the Olympics and to ensure the safety of athletes. They said they turned down the request and instead produced a video discussing China’s oppression of Uyghur Muslims. China’s struggle to shape world opinion about Xinjiang will come into sharp focus this month, when U.N. human rights chief Michelle Bachelet makes a long-awaited visit to China, including Xinjiang. Since 2017, about 1.8 million Uyghurs and other Turkic peoples are believed to have been incarcerated a vast network of internment camps in Xinjiang. The U.S. and a handful of European countries have labelled these practices genocide, while China has angrily rejected criticism and maintains the camps are vocational training centers designed to combat religious extremism and terrorism. In fall 2021, the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region (XUAR) government began an initiative to mobilize foreign students in China to praise “Xinjiang policy.” The effort was part of the central government’s larger plan to portray ethnic minorities in Xinjiang as happy and content, according to an article in Xinjiang Daily. Under the title “The people of all ethnic groups in Xinjiang are living happily and joyfully,” the report cited a series of letters written by Chinese Communist Party General Secretary Xi Jinping in which he called on foreign students in July 2021 to increase their understanding of the “real China,” so that their knowledge would inspire others to understand the country as well. The XUAR government in October 2021 sponsored a trip to Xinjiang for students from 16 countries, including Bangladesh, Afghanistan, Burundi, Uganda, Russia, Pakistan, Korea, Mongolia, Sri Lanka, the U.S. and the U.K. Chinese state media said the students visited Kashgar (Kashi), Hotan (Hetian), and other places, and saw Xinjiang’s economic development, social stability, quality of life, culture, ethnic unity and religious harmony. “They are not only able to look after the young and old people in their homes, they can also earn a salary. Their work environment is very good, and they are truly happy,” an Armenian student was quoted as saying. Such accounts are meant to counter a growing tide of well-researched reports by researchers and foreign media about conditions in Xinjiang. Government minders Since the start of 2018, authorities have prevented most international journalists from entering Xinjiang and forced foreigners living in the region to leave. YouTubers from the U.S. and South Africa who lived in the Xinjiang or in mainland China for a decade or more said that while recent vlogs by foreigners “traveling” to Xinjiang appear to be simple and normal, government fixers are always on the other side of the camera, controlling what is said and recorded. “You’re gonna be approached by your agent or your middleman … who is a communicator between you and the management company, or as they call themselves, talent agencies,” said LeLe Farley, an American comedian and rap artist who lived in China for years and worked as an announcer for Chinese-language programs. “Those talent agencies get word directly from the government, like ‘we need foreign bloggers for white-washing Xinjiang; we need them to go there, and here’s the trip that we’ve prepared for them to go on. We’ll pay for the whole trip,’” he said. Josh Summers, who ran a popular blog known as “Far West China” as well as a YouTube channel, moved…

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