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Month: July 2022

During Manila visit, Wang Yi touts potential ‘golden era’ in Sino-Philippine ties

Editor07 mins

New President Ferdinand Marcos Jr.’s friendly policy toward Beijing promises to usher in a “golden era” in Sino-Philippine relations, China’s top diplomat said during a visit here Wednesday, only weeks after Manila filed another protest over Chinese boats intruding in territorial waters. Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi paid a courtesy call to Marcos after meeting with Philippine Foreign Affairs Secretary Enrique Manalo. Wang said the nations’ two-way relationship “overcame all sorts of difficulties” under previous Philippine leader Rodrigo Duterte, who handed the reins of government to Marcos on June 30.  However, as Duterte pursued closer ties with Beijing during his six years in power, bilateral tensions over the South China Sea persisted as senior officials from his administration complained about the unauthorized presence of Chinese ships within the Philippines’ exclusive economic zone (EEZ).    Given the “uncertain, unstable and complex regional and international dynamics, it is even more important for China and the Philippines, as two close neighbors, to join hands to further enhance mutual trust (and) expand mutually beneficial cooperation,” Wang said through an interpreter about his meeting with Manalo.  “This will not only serve the common interest of the two countries and two peoples but will also be our important contribution to peace and stability in our region,” he said, noting that cooperation during the previous administration brought “tangible benefits” to both countries.  Wang’s visit to Manila was his third stop on a five-nation tour of Southeast Asia. The Philippines, an archipelago in the middle of the disputed South China Sea, is one of the region’s oldest defense allies of China’s main superpower rival, the United States, whom Marcos’ father, the longtime Filipino dictator Ferdinand E. Marcos, staunchly supported during his rule from 1965 to 1986. Shortly after Duterte took office in mid-2016, an international arbitration court ruled in favor of Manila over Beijing after its ships refused to leave Scarborough Shoal, which lies within the Philippine EEZ.  Instead of confronting China, Duterte set aside the ruling in favor of investments and cooperation. The soft approach allowed Beijing to carry on with its expansionist moves in the maritime region, according to observers. With the election of Marcos, Beijing’s relationship with Manila has “turned a new page,” Wang said. “We highly appreciate President Marcos’ recent commitment to pursuing friendly policy toward China,” said Wang, whose government is seeking to blunt U.S. influence in Southeast Asia. “And we speak highly of his recent statements that have sent out very positive signals to the outside world.”  He quoted Marcos as saying that China “is the strongest partner of the Philippines” and that he hopes to fortify the relationship. China, in turn, is “ready to work toward the same direction,” Wang said. “And I am confident, with our two sides working together, we can surely open up a new golden era for the bilateral relationship.” After the meeting, Marcos posted a message on Twitter saying he was “grateful to Minister Wang Yi for extending the message of congratulations and support from President Xi Jinping. We also discussed agriculture, infrastructure, energy, and our commitment to maintaining the strong relationship between our peoples in the coming years.” The new president had previously said he would pursue close ties with China without necessarily giving away the country’s sovereignty.  On Tuesday, before Wang landed in Manila, Marcos said the visit was expected to boost ties with Beijing, including through military exchanges. “It’s essentially always trying to find ways to improve relationships. We would like for us to increase the scope. China and the Philippines should not only focus on the West Philippine Sea. Let’s do other things too and that way we will normalize our relationship,” Marcos said, referring to Philippine-claimed territories in the South China Sea. Beijing claims nearly all of the South China Sea including waters within the EEZs of Brunei, Malaysia, the Philippines, Vietnam and Taiwan. While Indonesia does not regard itself as a party to the maritime disputes, Beijing also claims historic rights to parts of the sea that overlap Indonesia’s EEZ. Last month, the Philippines announced that it had filed a new diplomatic protest against Beijing over a massive Chinese fleet operating “illegally” in April around Whitsun Reef. The complaint cited a 2016 landmark international court ruling that invalidated China’s sweeping claims to the waterway. Beijing has refused to recognize the decision by the Permanent Court of Arbitration in The Hague. BenarNews is an RFA-affiliated online news service.

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‘Diplomatic drama’ possible over Russian attendance at G20 meeting in Bali

Editor09 mins

Group of Twenty diplomats will gather in Bali this week for a meeting that analysts expect will turn into a “diplomatic drama” over the participation of Sergey Lavrov, foreign minister of Russia, which the West has ostracized for invading Ukraine. U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken and Chinese counterpart Wang Yi are scheduled to attend the G20 meeting, which is set to begin on Thursday, and hold talks on the sidelines the next day, but a bilateral meeting between America’s top diplomat and Lavrov is not on the cards, officials in Washington said. Still, analysts warned, divisions over Lavrov’s presence could sidetrack delegates at the Bali gathering hosted by Indonesia, this year’s G20 chair. “It is likely there will be a diplomatic drama, such as statements that criticize Russia,” Riza Noer Arfani, an international relations lecturer at Gadjah Mada University in Yogyakarta, told BenarNews. “If the foreign ministers engaged in a diplomatic drama, more substantial issues such as efforts to mitigate the impact of the [Russia-Ukraine] war could be left unaddressed and that would make the meeting fruitless.” Joko “Jokowi” Widodo, Indonesia’s president, has warned that a global food crisis caused by the war would send people in developing and poor countries into “the abyss of extreme poverty and hunger.” Since Russia launched its invasion on Feb. 24, its military forces have blocked all of Ukraine’s Black Sea ports and cut off access to almost all of that country’s exports – especially of grain – sparking fears of a global food crisis. However during a meeting in Moscow last week, Russian leader Vladimir Putin assured Jokowi that he would provide secure food and fertilizer supplies from his country and Ukraine, to avert a global food crisis.  While Western countries led by the U.S. have called on Russia to be disinvited from G20 meetings, other members of the grouping such as Indonesia and India refuse to do so and continue to maintain ties with Russia. During a stopover on Wednesday in Vietnam, a close Russian ally, Lavrov said he was not aware of any attempts to stop Russia from participating in G20 meetings. “We have Indonesia’s invitation to attend both a [G20] Foreign Ministers Meeting to open in Bali tomorrow, and a G20 summit there in November,” Russia’s TASS news agency quoted him as saying. “If there have been any such attempts, the Indonesian authorities might have ignored them,” he said. ‘Give us a reason to meet’ Meanwhile, there promises to be plenty of drama at the foreign ministers’ meeting in Bali. Lavrov’s Canadian counterpart has warned she would not shake his hand. German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock has promised some kind of response, saying “we will not simply let Russia take the stage of the meeting.” “We all have an interest in ensuring that international law is observed and respected,” she said in a statement before departing for Bali. “That is the common denominator.” Blinken plans to shun Lavrov as well. The U.S. State Department said Blinken would not meet Lavrov formally. “We would like to see the Russians be serious about diplomacy. We have not seen that yet,” State Department spokesman Ned Price told reporters during a briefing on Tuesday. “We would like to have the Russians give us a reason to meet on a bilateral basis with them, with foreign minister Lavrov, but the only thing we have seen emanate from Moscow is more brutality and aggression against the people and country of Ukraine,” he said. Meanwhile, Indonesian Foreign Minister Retno Marsudi said that all G20 member countries would be represented by their top diplomats. Indonesian Foreign Ministry spokesman Teuku Faizasyah declined to comment on possible tensions over Lavrov’s participation, but said:  “We as diplomats must anticipate all possibilities.” He said that the summary of the meeting’s outcome could be in the form of a chair’s statement from Indonesia. Vasyl Harmianin, the Ukrainian ambassador to Indonesia, said he hoped the meeting could spotlight what he called “the continued killing of civilians” in his home country. Preview of G20 summit Jakarta, which has been trying to mediate between Russia and Ukraine, said the meeting would discuss collective efforts to strengthen “multilateralism” and avert a looming food crisis caused by the war. “Rising commodity prices and disruption of global supply chains have had a huge impact on developing countries,” the foreign ministry said in a statement Wednesday. “For this reason, the G20 as an economic forum representing different regions of the world has the power to discuss these issues comprehensively to find sustainable socio-economic solutions.” This week’s meeting could set the tone for the G20 summit in November, according to Agus Haryanto, a professor of international relations at Jenderal Soedirman University in Purwokerta. “It will provide us with an idea of how the G20 summit will go. If the ministerial meeting is successful, it is likely that the summit will be attended by all heads of government,” Agus told BenarNews. The ministers should talk about how to bring peace to Ukraine after Jokowi’s visit to Kyiv and Moscow last week, a senior Indonesian diplomat, Sugeng Rahardjo, told the national news agency Antara. “The positive results from Jokowi’s trip deserve follow-up by G20 members at their meeting in Bali,” Sugeng told the national news agency Antara. BenarNews is an RFA-affiliated online news service.

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Jailed Chinese NGO worker ‘tortured’ in Hunan’s Chishan Prison, according to letters

Editor07 mins

Jailed Chinese NGO worker Cheng Yuan has been subjected to torture in a ‘high security’ sector of Hunan province’s Chishan Prison, according to his family. Cheng, who founded the Changsha Funeng NGO, was tried in secret at the Changsha Intermediate People’s Court in September 2020 for “subversion of state power” alongside two colleagues, after being held incommunicado for nearly 18 months, according to Cheng’s wife Shi Minglei, who arrived in the U.S. with the couple’s daughter on April 7, 2021. Since his transfer to Chishan Prison on Jan. 18, 2022, he has been detained in the high-security wing in a tiny cell and subjected to bright lights and chronic sleep deprivation, according to three handwritten letters received by Cheng’s family on July 5, Shi told RFA. “We’re talking about a tiny cell with room only for a single bed, no room to move around, and no windows, with very strong lights on 24 hours a day,” Shi said. “They don’t let you sleep under a quilt … and you’re not allowed to sleep on your side.” She cited Taiwanese democracy activist Lee Ming-cheh — who also served time in Chishan Prison — as saying that high-security detainees suffer from extreme constipation due to reduced rations. “We think it’s very likely that they are trying to get Cheng Yuan to implicate other people, but that he is very unwilling to do so,” Shi said. “So they used this very cruel form of torture to force him … locking him in there for three months.” Weight loss, white hair Shi said Cheng’s hair had turned white in prison, and he had lost a large amount of weight, reading out a section from one of the letters: “You may be sad and upset to see me: I have lost 12 pounds now, and my hair is nearly totally white,” she quoted Cheng’s letter as saying. “My husband used to weigh more than 120 pounds, so basically he’s a little over 100 pounds now … actually, very, very thin,” Shi said. “Our family all cried for a long time when they read those two sentences.” Patrick Poon, a visiting researcher at the Institute of Comparative Law at Japan’s Meiji University, believes that the confinement has likely caused significant physical and psychological harm to Cheng Yuan. “He can’t even see a lawyer, so they can’t help him file a complaint,” Poon said. “Being locked up in such conditions for several months will have long-term effects and cause damage to his mind and body.” Poon said Chinese law bans torture and cruel or degrading treatment of prisoners and detainees — in theory, at least. “In actual fact, [prisons] are able to get away without any regulation, basically,” Poon said. “It’s a very serious violation of detainees’ rights.” Lawyers fired Cheng, Liu Dazhi, and Wuge Jianxiong all stood trial sometime between Aug. 31 and Sept. 4, 2020, according to the overseas-based rights group Front Line Defenders. Their families weren’t informed of the trial, and were therefore unable to attend. Wu’s father, the Zhejiang-based lawyer Wu Youshui, said his son had been handed a three-year jail term, while Liu was sentenced to two years’ imprisonment in a judgment handed down on July 20, 2021. But there was no information given on the sentence handed down to Cheng, he said. The three defendants have been denied meetings with attorneys hired by their families since being detained on July 22, 2019. The lawyers were told in March 2020 that the defenders had “dismissed” them and that the government had assigned them government-funded lawyers. But the families said they believe that the lawyers were fired under duress, and said they have had no contact with the government-appointed lawyers. Changsha Funeng co-founder Yang Zhanqing, who now lives in the U.S., has previously said that the three men were targeted because their rights work had received overseas funding, which the ruling Chinese Communist Party (CCP) regards as “collusion with hostile foreign forces,” and a threat to its national security. In a statement co-signed by the Chinese Human Rights Defenders (CHRD) network, the International Service for Human Rights (ISHR) and the Rights Practice, Front Line Defenders said the three men had “advocated for the rights of marginalized groups and worked to protect the rights of the most vulnerable people in society.” Changsha Funeng sought to prevent discrimination and ensure equality in line with Chinese law by using the courts to strengthen protections for individuals living with disabilities and with HIV/AIDS and other communicable diseases, it said. Translated and edited by Luisetta Mudie.

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Hong Kong leader wants ‘more effective’ security laws, as soon as possible

Editor09 mins

Hong Kong’s chief executive John Lee vowed on Wednesday to press ahead with more “effective” security laws that could draw on security forces in mainland China to implement them. “The National Security Law for Hong Kong currently deals with the most pressing risks to national security,” Lee said of a law that has criminalized public criticism of the authorities anywhere in the world. But further laws will be need “to deal with any conceivable serious security risk … and the timing needs to be as soon as possible,” he told the city’s Legislative Council (LegCo). “The cities in the Greater Bay Area [of the Pearl River delta] are like brothers and sisters to us … so what kind of help will they provide, if we need it?” Lee said. “That’s what we need to figure out.” Lee’s comments to LegCo came after he reiterated his commitment to enacting further security laws under Article 23 of the city’s Basic Law, a move that prompted mass protests in 2003. “We will legislate as soon as possible, but … we must also consider whether the laws we make can really deal with the most serious national security risks we can imagine,” Lee said. Current affairs commentator Johnny Lau said the new laws are part of a package of four requirements given to Lee by ruling Chinese Communist Party (CCP) leader Xi Jinping when he visited the city last week to mark the 25th anniversary of its handover to Chinese rule. “Xi Jinping came to Hong Kong to put forward four requirements, the first of which was to improve governance,” Lau said. “I don’t think it will be long [before they act on Article 23].” “They want this legislation to cover anything and be infinitely expandable,” Lau said. “It will definitely be stricter than the initial draft [that was shelved] back in 2003.” Singapore as model? Current affairs commentator Sang Pu said Lee may be considering far tighter controls on the internet, looking to Singapore as a model. “Singapore passed a law last year that allows the government to order social media sites and Internet providers to disclose users’ personal data or block content they deem hostile or risky, which you could call [the power to] shut down the internet, and enhanced use of AI,” Sang told RFA. “It’s like 24/7 monitoring.” “As long as the government thinks there is hostile intent, and it has the absolute right to decide this, it can block something,” he said. Lee’s comments came as five speech therapists stood trial for “conspiracy to print, publish, distribute, display or reproduce seditious publications” in connection with a series of children’s books about a village of sheep defending itself against wolves. The defendants — all of whom are members of the Hong Kong Speech Therapists General Union — were arrested in connection with three children’s picture books titled “The Guardians of Sheep Village,” “The Garbage Collectors of Sheep Village” and “The 12 Heroes of Sheep Village.” Police said the sheep were intended to represent protesters who fought back against riot police in 2019, and depicted the authorities as wolves, “beautifying bad behavior” and “poisoning” children’s impressionable minds. One book characterizes the wolves as dirty and the sheep as clean, while another lauds the actions of heroic sheep who use their horns to fight back despite being naturally peaceful, police said at the time of the therapists’ arrests. The indictment alleges that the books were intended to “provoke hatred or contempt for, betrayal of, or to incite violence against the government … and judiciary.” The defense said its arguments would seek to disprove any violent or disruptive intent, and draw on the constitutional right to freedom of expression in the Basic Law. Back to pre-reform era Dozens of former members of the pro-democracy camp in LegCo have been arrested in recent months, either for public order offenses linked to peaceful protests during the 2019 anti-extradition and pro-democracy movement, or under the national security law. Observers have told RFA that changes to Hong Kong’s election system imposed on the city by the CCP since the law took effect have set the city’s political life back by decades, to the pre-reform colonial era in the mid-20th century. The rule changes mean that opposition candidates are highly unlikely to be allowed to run, but even when candidates make it into the race, they will now be chosen by a tiny number of voters compared with the previous system. Under the “one country, two systems” terms of the 1997 handover agreement, Hong Kong was promised the continuation of its traditional freedoms of speech, association, and expression, as well as progress towards fully democratic elections and a separate legal jurisdiction. But plans to allow extradition to mainland China sparked a city-wide mass movement in 2019 that broadened to demand fully democratic elections and an independent inquiry into police violence. Rights groups and foreign governments have hit out at the rapid deterioration of human rights protections since the national security law was imposed. Chinese and Hong Kong officials say the law was needed to deal with an attempt by foreign powers to foment a “color revolution” in Hong Kong. Its sweeping provisions allowed China’s feared state security police to set up a headquarters in Hong Kong, granted sweeping powers to police to search private property and require the deletion of public content, and criminalized criticism of the city government and the authorities in Beijing. Translated and edited by Luisetta Mudie.

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Tensions rise in Rakhine state after a five-day naval drill

Editor07 mins

Myanmar’s military staged a five-day show of strength, starting last Friday, with warships, helicopters and two submarines, leading to fears the military is preparing for a major battle with the Arakan Army (AA). The junta-run newspaper, Myanma Alin (New light of Myanmar), said on Wednesday that the military exercise was carried out in the Bay of Bengal 1,300 miles (2,080 kilometers) off the coast of Rakhine state. People’s Assembly member Pe Than, who is closely monitoring the military situation, said the exercise shows that the military is prepared to make full use of the navy if fighting breaks out with the AA in Rakhine. “It is impossible to prevent international hostilities with such a force and there is no country planning a war with this country either,” he said “This is just an exercise to allow the systematic use of the navy in the event of a battle in Rakhine. The main thing is that they can show their strength.” Military Council Chairman joins top brass to watch war games Sr. Gen. Min Aung Hlaing joins high ranking military staff to watch the exercise on Tuesday. CREDIT: DSINFO The drill was overseen by military council chairman Sr. Gen. Min Aung Hlaing. High-level members of the army, navy and air force attended on Tuesday. Min Aung Hlaing ordered the warships to be constantly prepared for combat, according to comments carried in Wednesday’s edition of the Myanmar Alin Newspaper. “The naval warships must be ready. Also weapons and weapons systems must be ready. The navy personnel must be ready. They also need to be constantly trained to be ready for battle, and these three levels of readiness must be maintained,” he said. Sea Shield 2022 aimed to cover the 12 nautical miles (22.2 kilometers/13.8 miles) of Myanmar’s territorial waters and protect the Myanmar Exclusive Economic Zone at sea, the junta chairman said. Myanmar’s exclusive economic zone is adjacent to its territorial waters and extends for 200 nautical miles (370.4 kilometers/230 miles) from the coastal baseline. One of the submarines used in the military drills, arrived in Kyaukphyu, Rakhine state, on May 31. Kyauk Phyu is home to some of China’s largest economic projects, and locals have criticized the military council for apparently preparing to protect Chinese businesses in the event of a battle with the AA. AA spokesman, Khing Thukha gave an online news conference on June 14, saying that the military council is expanding its forces and weapons in Rakhine to prepare for a full-scale attack in the event of a renewed fighting with the AA. Local residents said tensions have been further heightened due to arrests of AA members or sympathisers in retailiation for AA abductions of junta troops. Last June, the AA abducted more than 10 police and soldiers and the junta responded by arresting 40 civilians from the four townships of Sittwe, Kyauktaw, Ponna Kyun and Mrauk-U. The AA fought a fierce campaign against Myanmar’s military from December 2018 to November 2020, demanding autonomy for ethnic Arakanese. More than 300 civilians were killed and more than 700 injured during the fighting in Rakhine state according to figures compiled by RFA. The two sides agreed an informal ceasefire shortly before the coup on February 1, 2021 and an uneasy truce has held for more than a year. However, locals told RFA tensions have risen in the last two months, due to the arrests and the arrival of military reinforcements. Tensions are simmering even outside Rakhine state since the AA also has a presence in Chin, Kayin and Shan states. On Monday a military air strike killed six AA members and injured dozens when junta jets targeted a camp in Kayin (Karen) state near the Thailand-Myanmar border, a region controlled by AA allies the Karenni National Liberation Army. According to the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs nearly 78,000 people have been forced to flee their homes in Rakhine and Chin states as of March 6 this year due to fighting between junta forces and the AA.

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HH Dalai Lama

The struggle for a free Tibet and His Highness Dalai Lama

Editor321 mins

His Holiness Dalai Lama and the Tibetan Cause along with Panchen Lama and Tibet’s oppression is being investigated in this report at length. The 14th His Holiness Dalai Lama, Tenzin Gyatso, turns 87 on July 6th, 2022. He was Born on 6 July 1935, or in the Tibetan calendar, in the Wood-Pig Year, 5th month, 5th day. He is known as Gyalwa Rinpoche to the Tibetan people, is the current Dalai Lama, the highest spiritual leader and former head of state of Tibet….

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Russia’s Lavrov enjoys warm relations with Vietnam ahead of frosty reception in Bali

Editor010 mins

Sergey Lavrov is on a two-day visit to Russia’s closest ASEAN ally, Vietnam, before heading to the G20 foreign ministers’ meeting The Russian foreign minister is in Hanoi on a quick visit to Moscow’s main Southeast Asian partner before attending a G20 meeting in Bali, during which Lavrov’s Canadian counterpart has warned she would not shake his hand. Canada’s Foreign Affairs Minister Mélanie Joly told Canadian media she would instead “confront him with facts and expose Russia’s narrative for what it is: lies and disinformation” about the war in Ukraine. Canada, alongside a number of Western countries, has imposed sanctions on Moscow for its invasion of Ukraine, now in its fifth month. U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken is also expected to snub Lavrov in Bali, with the State Department saying “it cannot be business as usual with the Russian Federation.” Vietnam on the other hand has repeatedly refused to condemn the Russian war and also objected to a U.S.-led effort to suspend Russia from the U.N. Human Rights Council. Lavrov is the first Russian cabinet minister to visit Hanoi since President Vladimir Putin announced a “special military operation” against Ukraine in February. His visit is taking place as Hanoi and Moscow celebrate the 10th anniversary of the so-called “comprehensive strategic partnership” that Vietnam has forged with only three nations in the world. Besides Russia, the two other comprehensive strategic partners are China and India. ‘The most important partner’ The Russian foreign minister and his Vietnamese host Bui Thanh Son held a meeting on Wednesday morning, during which Foreign Affairs Minister Son was quoted by Russian state media as saying that he’d like to “reassure you that Russia will always be our most important partner and the main priority in Vietnam’s policy.” Son said he “deeply believed that with the high level of political trust and a long-term interest,” the Vietnam-Russia relationship would continue to develop. Moscow is Hanoi’s traditional ally and its biggest arms supplier. Most Vietnamese weaponry used by the navy and air force was bought from Russia, leading to a future dependence on Russian maintenance and spare parts, despite efforts to diversify arms supplies. Russian anti-submarine ship Marshal Shaposhnikov seen in a file photo. CREDIT: ITAR TASS A Russian presence in the South China Sea, where Beijing claims “historical rights” over almost 80 per cent, could also be seen as a counterweight for competing China-U.S. rivalry as well as keeping China’s aggression at bay, say analysts. On June 25-28, three warships of the Russian Navy’s Pacific Fleet, led by the Udaloy-class anti-submarine destroyer Marshal Shaposhnikov, visited Cam Ranh in central Vietnam  where Russia operated a major naval base until 2002. Lavrov was quoted as telling his Vietnamese counterpart on Wednesday that “in the context of current world affairs, once again we should unite and strive to maintain international laws, the principle of national sovereignty and non-interference in other countries’ internal affairs.” The full agenda of the Russian minister’s visit has not been disclosed but some analysts, such as Artyom Lukin, Deputy Director for Research at the School of Regional and International Studies at Russia’s Far Eastern Federal University, said boosting economic cooperation at a time when Moscow has been isolated and sanctioned would be one of the main topics. “The Kremlin should already be more or less satisfied with Hanoi’s position on the Ukraine crisis since Vietnam’s stance all along has been strictly neutral,” Lukin said. “Rather than securing Vietnam’s political neutrality, which is already there, Moscow needs to ensure that Vietnam continues, and expands, economic links with Russia.” Between a rock and a hard place “What is important for Russia now is how to restructure economic ties, trade, cooperation in industry and technologies with the non-Western world,” said Fyodor Lukyanov, Chairman of the Presidium of the Russian Council for Foreign and Defense Policy. “It is highly important for Russia to intensify all possible ties to find ways to avoid and bypass the economic warfare applied by the West,” said the Moscow-based analyst. Artyom Lukin from the Far Eastern Federal University in Vladivostok pointed out that “amid Western sanctions, Asia and the Middle East are replacing Europe as Russia’s main geo-economic partners.” “Vietnam is the only ASEAN country to have a Free Trade Agreement with Moscow and Vietnam’s economic significance for Russia will now grow substantially, both as a market in itself and as a gateway for Russia’s business interactions with Asia,” he added. Despite COVID-19, bilateral trade between Vietnam and Russia reached U.S.$5.54 billion in 2021, a 14-percent increase from the previous year, according to official statistics. Yet the Ukrainian crisis that severely disrupted the global supply chain of food, fertilizer and energy has put Hanoi in an uneasy position. Vietnam has established some important strategic links with foreign powers including the U.S. and Japan, both strongly opposed to the Russian war in Ukraine and both are considered supportive of Hanoi’s interests in the South China Sea. Being seen as too close to Moscow would give Hanoi a disadvantage unless it could act as a go-between to mediate Russia’s interactions with the West, said a Vietnamese expert who didn’t want to be named as they are not authorized to speak to foreign media. Vietnam also has to be watchful for Russia-China joint maritime activities that may hurt its interests in the South China Sea. On Monday Chinese and Russian warships were spotted just outside Japanese territorial waters around the disputed, Japan-administered Senkaku Islands in the East China Sea. Tokyo lodged a protest with Beijing about the incident that happened amid China’s growing maritime assertiveness and increasingly robust China-Russia military ties, Kyodo News reported. Chinese media responded that the Russian Navy’s recent military activities in the West Pacific are a warning to Japan amid Japanese sanctions on Russia over the Ukraine crisis.

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Police soon to wrap up investigation into Vietnamese Facebooker

Editor07 mins

A police probe into a well-known Vietnamese Facebook user will end soon with Bui Van Thuan facing anti-state propaganda charges. The case is being investigated by the Security Investigation Agency of Thanh Hoa provincial police who said they would charge him under Article 117 of the Criminal Code “Making, storing, spreading information, materials, items for the purpose of opposing the State of Socialist Republic of Vietnam.” If convicted he faces a sentence of five to 12 years. Two police investigators, Le Hong Ky and Mai Van Tinh, spoke to the political blogger’s wife on Tuesday morning according to a summons sent the previous day. Before his arrest in August last year, Bui Van Thuan was well known as a daily compiler of Vietnamese political news. His posts featured many of the political struggles going on between provincial officials, which he nicknamed the “dog fighting ring.” Thuan’s wife went to the Thanh Hoa Police station for two hours on Tuesday morning, during which the police told her that her husband would soon have his day in court. “They said that Thuan’s case is about to be finished with investigations nearly complete and they will bring him to trial this year,” she said. “They told me Thuan asked the police to return to me some belongings unrelated to the case [confiscated during a house search]. They said they would return them but I should pick them up another day.” Nhung told RFA the main reason she was summoned to the police station was to discuss posts she made on her Facebook page and that of her husband. The two investigators said she should not have posted the letter of summons and should not have posted the content of the meeting with security officers on Facebook because it was against the rules. Nhung said the two officers told her they were aware of her meetings with friends of her husband and wives of prisoners of conscience. Thuan was arrested on August 30, 2021, just days after the visit of US Vice President Kamala Harris to Hanoi. He has been kept in solitary confinement in a single room since then, unable to meet relatives and lawyers. His wife says Thuan’s health has deteriorated as a result of his detention. “In March, I received a letter from Thuan that had been written by the police,” she said. “It said his health was fine with the exception of pain in his legs but the medicine provided by the detention facility is not very effective. I asked to be allowed to provide some medicine but the police refused saying that the medicine provided by prison clinics should be sufficient.” Nhung said she bought liver and eye tonics to send to her husband, but the police did not allow it, saying a doctor’s prescription was needed in order to send medicine to a prisoner. She added that the police only allowed her to send food worth no more than VND60,000 (U.S.$2.70) on each visit, up to a maximum of three times a month. However, she was given a deposit of about VND1.6 million (U.S.68) per month so her husband could buy food and other essentials from the prison canteen. This is the second time Thanh Hoa police have summoned Nhung for interrogation related to her husband but the latest document, dated July 4, said it was the first summons. On March 17, during the first summons, the police threatened Nhung over her actions to defend her husband and told her she could be arrested at any time if she did not cooperate with the investigation into her husband’s activities. She was also asked repeatedly to confirm details of Thuan’s and her own Facebook accounts. Bui Van Thuan was born in 1981, and is an ethnic Muong. He graduated from Hanoi National University of Education and worked as a chemistry teacher for a while, before becoming a famous Facebooker in Vietnam with the nickname “Old Father of the Nation,” a reference to political propaganda which refers to Ho Chi Minh as the father of the nation.

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Uyghurs in exile mark anniversary of deadly 2009 Urumqi unrest

Editor09 mins

Uyghur exile groups around the world on Tuesday demanded that China end its persecution of Uyghurs and other Turkic Muslims in Xinjiang in a series of protests marking the 13th anniversary of deadly ethnic violence in the region’s capital. Uyghurs demonstrated in the capital cities of European Union countries, Turkey, Australia, Japan, and Canada, and in New York and Washington, D.C., to commemorate the crackdown in Urumqi, which became a catalyst for the Chinese government’s efforts to repress Uyghur culture, language and religion through a mass surveillance and internment campaign. “We gathered here to commemorate the massacre that occurred on July 5 in Urumqi and to remember the ongoing genocide taking place in East Turkestan today,” said Hidayetulla Oghuzhan, chairman of East Turkestan Organizational Alliance in Istanbul, using Uyghurs’ preferred name for the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region (XUAR). “We call upon the international community to not to remain silent and to take action against this genocide,” he said. In Paris, one protester told RFA that he lost many of his friends in the July 5 clash and that remembering that day was very important for him. Smaller demonstrations were held in other cities. About 15 members of the Australian Uyghur Tangritagh Women’s Association protested outside a mall in Adelaide to mark the anniversary of the massacre and demand that the Australian government ban the importation of goods made with Uyghur forced labor in the XUAR, according to India’s The Print online news service. Muslims in the Bangladeshi capital Dhaka and in Narayanganj district, about 16 kilometers (10 miles) southeast of the city, also staged protests against the Chinese government’s oppression of Uyghurs, according to the same news source. About 200 people died and 1,700 were injured in three days of violence between ethnic minority Uyghurs and Han Chinese that began on July 5, 2009, in Xinjiang’s largest city, Urumqi (in Chinese, Wulumuqi), according to China’s official figures. Uyghur rights groups say the numbers of dead and injured were much higher, however. The unrest was set off by a clash between Uyghur and Han Chinese toy factory workers in southern China’s Guangdong province in late June that year that left two Uyghurs dead. News of the deaths reached Uyghurs in Urumqi, sparking a peaceful protest the spiraled into beatings and killings of Chinese, with deaths occurring on both sides. Chinese mobs later staged revenge attacks on Uyghurs in the city’s streets with sticks and metal bars. ‘We mourn the past’ Dolkun Isa, president of Germany-based World Uyghur Congress (WUC), called July 5 a day of mourning. “We have to remember that day,” he told RFA on Tuesday. “That day is the turning point in from China’s ethnic segregation and discrimination policy to the beginning of the genocidal ethnic policy. 2009 is the starting point of the ongoing ethnic genocide since 2016.” In late 2016 and 2017, authorities ramped up their clampdown on Uyghurs and other Turkic minorities in the XUAR through abductions and arbitrary arrests and detentions in what China called “re-education” camps or prisons. An estimated 1.8 million members of these groups have been held in internment camps, where detainees who were later freed reported widespread maltreatment, including severe human rights abuses, torture, rape and forced labor. The U.S. and the parliaments of the EU have said the repression of Uyghurs in the XUAR is a genocide and crime against humanity. The Uyghur Human Rights Project (UHRP), based in Washington D.C., demanded the protection of Uyghur refugees and asylum seekers residing abroad. “Saving Uyghur refugees is the least that the world can do for Uyghurs, as we experience the 6th year of an ongoing genocide,” UHRP Executive Director Omer Kanat said in a statement. “It is urgent that all countries recognize the threat posed to Uyghurs abroad, and develop their own resettlement programs on an emergency basis.” Because China has sought the forcible return of some Uyghurs living abroad, UHRP said governments should immediately implement resettlement programs for those at risk of refoulement — forcing refugees to return to a country where they will likely face persecution. UHRP called on the U.S. Congress to pass the Uyghur Human Rights Protection Act, which would make Uyghurs and other persecuted Turkic peoples eligible for priority refugee processing by the U.N., designating them as “Priority 2” refugees of special humanitarian concern. The Washington, D.C-based Campaign for Uyghurs said the Urumqi Massacre was a reminder of the brutality of the Chinese government and the loss that Uyghurs have experienced in their fight for equality. “The world no longer believes China’s whitewashed tales stating the CCP [Chinese Communist Party] is innocent and a victim in the Urumqi massacre,” Rushan Abbas, the group’s executive director, said in a statement. “While we mourn the past, we continue to fight for the living, fight for the future of this free and democratic world. Justice is on our side reclaiming this correct history.” “We labor ensuring those who perished in 2009 will not have sacrificed their lives in vain,” she said. “With courage and hard work, justice shall prevail.” Translated by Mamatjan Juma for RFA Uyghur. Written in English by Roseanne Gerin.

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China calls for junta cooperation with Myanmar opposition to resolve crisis

Editor014 mins

Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi has called on Myanmar’s military regime to work with the opposition to resolve the country’s political crisis, days after an ASEAN envoy concluded a visit there without meeting any anti-junta stakeholders. According to a statement posted on the Chinese Foreign Ministry’s official website on Monday, Wang told the junta that Beijing wants to see “reconciliation” in Myanmar and that “all those involved in politics should hold a dialogue for the sake of the people.” Wang was in Mandalay region’s Bagan city on Sunday to attend the 7th Lancang-Mekong Cooperation Summit, co-chaired by China and Myanmar. China’s Foreign Ministry said Wang met with junta Foreign Minister Wunna Maung Lwin on Monday to discuss reconciliation in Myanmar and informed him that his country can only move forward when political and social stability are achieved. A statement from the junta following Monday’s meeting said the two sides “discussed ways to work more closely with the United Nations and the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN).” The statement did not address China’s call for cooperation with Myanmar’s opposition, and calls by RFA seeking comment from junta deputy information minister, Maj. Gen. Zaw Min Tun, went unanswered Tuesday. Myanmar-based political analyst Sai Kyi Zin Soe told RFA Burmese that the military regime is seeking legitimacy on the global stage with the help of China after drawing condemnation from its fellow member nations in ASEAN over its Feb. 1, 2021, coup and an ensuing crackdown that has caused the deaths of at least 2,065 civilians, according to Thailand’s Assistance Association for Political Prisoners. “They are aiming for international acceptance of what they are doing at home,” he said. But Sai Kyi Zin Soe said the junta cannot expect its status within ASEAN to change overnight, even with the help of China, and expects a power struggle will continue with the bloc. China’s Foreign Ministry has said it “supports the international community’s efforts to protect Myanmar’s interests and reputation,” according to a report by the state-run Xinhua news agency. A spokesman for the Pro-democracy Strike Committee (Dawei), an anti-junta group, told RFA that the junta is seeking Chinese help because of declining international support. “The junta has no international support at all … and so they must rely on China,” said the spokesman, speaking on condition of anonymity. “As China is a world power, the regime is relying on it to obtain international recognition.” Concern for investments Kyaw Zaw, a spokesman for the office of the president for Myanmar’s shadow National Unity Government (NUG), told RFA that Wang attended the Lancang-Mekong meeting in an attempt to “legitimize the junta,” and warned that doing so would be harmful to the country’s economy and development. “It would be detrimental to regional security, as it would lead to more instability in the area and there will be even more violence in Myanmar,” he said. “The situation would become an obstacle for economic development. The military’s actions are based on violence, and violence does not bring stability.” Kyaw Zaw said the NUG’s goals are aimed at achieving economic growth for the country and that the shadow government is committed to protecting genuine businesses, while the military is turning economic projects into “battlefields.” Since the coup, Myanmar’s armed opposition has targeted Chinese investment and development in the country, particularly projects that could earn the junta income it says is used to oppress the people. At least 77 clashes took place in the 42 townships where the China-Myanmar Economic Corridor project was to be implemented between July 2021 and April 2022, according to research group Institute for Strategy and Policy Myanmar. Political analyst Ye Tun said China is concerned about its investments in Myanmar as the conflict is unlikely to end any time soon. “Because of that, they are also concerned about their future investments in Myanmar and their security,” he said. “That’s why they are pushing for the implementation of the ASEAN agreement,” he added, referring to a Five-Point Consensus agreed to by Min Aung Hlaing at an emergency ASEAN meeting on the crisis in April 2021. Points agreed to during last year’s emergency ASEAN meeting included an immediate end to violence in the country, the distribution of humanitarian aid, dialogue among all parties, and the appointment of an ASEAN special envoy to Myanmar who would be permitted to meet with all stakeholders. The junta has yet to implement any of the points in the 14 months since the meeting, while continuing its violent crackdown on opponents. China has become the largest source of foreign investment in Myanmar since the withdrawal of Western businesses following the military coup. However, trade between the two countries dwindled to U.S. $4.3 billion in the 2021-2022 budget year, down from more than U.S. $5 billion a year earlier, according to figures from the junta’s Ministry of Commerce. ASEAN Special Envoy Prak Sokhonn and Snr. Gen. Min Aung Hlaing meet in Naypyidaw, June 30, 2022. Credit: Myanmar military ‘Sham effort’ Wang Yi’s comments came days after Prak Sokhonn, the Association of Southeast Asian Nations special envoy to Myanmar, concluded a June 29-July 2 trip to Myanmar, during which he met with junta chief Snr. Gen. Min Aung Hlaing, Foreign Minister Wunna Maung Lwin, and International Cooperation Minister Ko Ko Hlaing. He also met with seven ethnic armed groups — all signatories of a Nationwide Ceasefire Agreement with the government since 2015 — and seven political parties that won seats in Parliament in the country’s November 2020 election. A July 2 statement by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs for Cambodia, which hosts the rotating chair of ASEAN, said Sokhonn met with Min Aung Hlaing and Wunna Maung Lwin to find a way to work with the U.N.’s representative for Myanmar, stop the violence, release political prisoners, speak with civilians — including Suu Kyi — and access areas where humanitarian assistance is difficult to reach. The statement said he discussed how the U.N. and international NGOs should be involved in humanitarian assistance with…

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