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Month: July 2022

ICJ to rule on Myanmar’s objections to Rohingya genocide case this month

Editor07 mins

The International Court of Justice (ICJ) plans to deliver its judgement on Myanmar’s objections to the genocide case brought against it by The Gambia, on July 22. In a statement issued Monday the ICJ said a public sitting of the court will take place at 3 p.m. at the Peace Palace in the Dutch city of The Hague. The President of the Court, Judge Joan E. Donoghue, will read out the ICJ’s decision. A Rohingya Muslim in Buthidaung Township in northern Rakhine State, who was subjected to human rights abuses by the military, told RFA that the perpetrators should be brought to justice. “There is evidence of genocide against Rohingya Muslims by Myanmar’s army in 2017,” he said. “On-site inspection is available. The villages of Buthidaung and Maungdaw were destroyed. The residents fled to Bangladesh in fear of being killed by Myanmar’s army. No matter how much they deny it, we know our people suffered. Therefore, we want effective action against their genocide in accordance with the law.” The Gambia’s parliament approved the plan to bring genocide charges in July 2019, after the Organization of Islamic Countries (OIC) proposed to the West African Nation that it should prosecute Myanmar. It instituted proceedings in November of the same year alleging genocide through “acts adopted, taken and condoned by the Government of Myanmar against members of the Rohingya group.” The Gambia has not denied that it received funding for the legal action from the OIC. In the initial hearing The Gambia said that “from around October 2016 the Myanmar military and other Myanmar security forces began widespread and systematic ‘clearance operations’ … against the Rohingya group. The genocidal acts committed during these operations were intended to destroy the Rohingya as a group, in whole or in part, by the use of mass murder, rape and other forms of sexual violence, as well as the systematic destruction by fire of their villages, often with inhabitants locked inside burning houses. From August 2017 onwards, such genocidal acts continued with Myanmar’s resumption of ‘clearance operations’ on a more massive and wider geographical scale.” The military council’s delegation protested at a hearing on Feb. 25 this year, saying the ICJ has no right to hear the case. Christopher Staker, a lawyer hired by the military council, argued the international community should not be allowed to prosecute Myanmar and the court has no jurisdiction to hear the case.   Calls to the military council spokesman by RFA went unanswered Tuesday. Some local media outlets quoted an unnamed senior foreign ministry official as saying Myanmar’s delegation to the ICJ, led by the Military Council’s International Relations Minister Ko Ko Hlaing, plans to travel to The Hague to hear the ICJ’s judgment. The ICJ said the hearing at the Peace Palace will be closed to the public to observe Coronavirus restrictions. Only members of the Court and representatives of the States party to the case will be allowed to enter the Great hall of Justice. Members of diplomatic corps and the public will be able to follow the procedures on a live webcast on the Court’s website as well as UN Web TV. The Gambia has called on Myanmar to stop persecuting the Rohingya, punish those responsible for the genocide, offer reparations to the victims and provide guarantees that there would be no repeat of the crimes against the Rohingya. The ICJ is the principal judicial organ of the United Nations and was established in 1945 to settle disputes in accordance with international law through binding judgments with no right of appeal. The U.S. has also accused Myanmar of genocide against the Rohingya. Secretary of State Antony Blinken ruled in March this year that “Burma’s military committed genocide and crimes against humanity with the intent to destroy predominantly Muslim Rohingya in 2017.” That was the year the military cleared Rohingya communities in western Myanmar, killing, torturing and raping locals. The violent campaign forced more than 740,000 people to flee to squalid refugee camps in neighboring Bangladesh. The State Department said the military junta that seized power in the Feb. 2021 coup continues to oppress the Rohingya, putting 144,000 in internal displacement camps in Rakhine state by the end of last year. A State Department report last month noted that Rohingya also face travel restrictions within the country and the junta has made no effort to bring refugees back from Bangladesh.

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Refugees International: Thailand should allow delivery of humanitarian aid to Myanmar

Editor09 mins

Thailand should allow delivery of cross-border humanitarian aid into Myanmar and not push back people seeking refuge from threats to their life and freedom in that country, a U.S.-based NGO is urging in a new report. Thousands of Burmese have crossed into Thailand along the porous 2,400-km (1,500-mile) frontier to flee the conflict in the wake of a military coup that toppled an elected civilian-led government and installed a junta in Naypyidaw early last year. “The military junta has committed widespread atrocities and blocked international humanitarian groups from delivering aid to areas that desperately need it,” Refugees International, a Washington-based group, said in its report released Tuesday. “In the meantime, delivery of international aid through Myanmar’s neighbors, particularly through local groups active along the Thai-Myanmar border, presents an underutilized path for getting assistance to those in need.” The report comes two days after U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken, during a visit to Bangkok, urged Thailand, other members of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) and China to press the Burmese junta into ending violence against Myanmar’s people and moving that country back toward democracy. Led by Senior Gen. Min Aung Hlaing, Myanmar’s military toppled the democratically elected government in February 2021 and has thrown its civilian leaders in jail. Fighting between junta forces and opposition groups across the country has forced mass displacement amid growing humanitarian needs. “Thai authorities must also live up to their commitments to non-refoulement and refrain from pressuring people fleeing violence in Myanmar from returning before it is safe to do so,” Refugees International said. Thailand, long considered a linchpin in relations between ASEAN and member-state Myanmar, has been criticized as being relatively soft on the post-coup crisis that has divided the 10-member regional bloc. “Thailand is reluctant to do anything to incentivize more refugees coming into the country, but failure to allow cross-border aid – and thus allowing conditions for people across the border to deteriorate – could do just that,” Refugees International said. Myanmar refugees walk across the river to enter Thailand’s Mae Sot district, Jan. 15, 2022. Credit: AFP Myanmar crisis During the fighting inside Myanmar, the junta’s forces have detained more than 14,000 people, while more than 2,000 civilians have been killed, according to Thailand’s Assistance Association for Political Prisoners. About 1.1 million people have been displaced in Myanmar, including 758,500 forced to flee their homes as of June 20, according to the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR). An estimated 14.4 million people, or a quarter of the country’s population, need humanitarian assistance due to the conflict. In recent months, the most intense fighting has occurred in Chin, Sagaing and Magway states in northwestern Myanmar and in Karen and Karenni states in the southeast that borders Thailand. Junta forces have burned thousands of homes while fighting and airstrikes have caused more than 500,000 to flee their homes, said the U.N. Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA). For its part, Thailand has restricted cross-border aid, Refugees International said in the report, adding that the Burmese junta controls main roads and has allegedly seized or destroyed aid while attacking humanitarian workers. Similarly, Refugees International said, Myanmar’s rugged terrain limits informal aid for thousands who need humanitarian assistance in the interim and those living in areas not under junta control. Thailand-linked cross-border organizations have been providing some aid to residents in Karen and Karenni states. These groups have been operating since the 1990s when ethnic armed groups were fighting the Myanmar military. Myanmar refugees ride on a boat after receiving aid in Mae Sot, Thailand, Jan. 4, 2022. Credit: Reuters Aid barrier One of the Thai government’s main challenges in delivering aid across the border is Bangkok’s concern with its relationship with the junta, Refugees International said, alleging that officials are “seeking to balance economic and security interests” by refusing cross-border aid officially. The NGO called on the Thai and other governments to get involved. The “largest and most consistent barrier” to humanitarian assistance is the lack of funding, it said. “While a few governments are supporting local groups involved in aid efforts, donor countries should step up support for these underutilized and low-profile mechanisms,” it said. Because the report by Refugees International was embargoed for publication until Tuesday afternoon (Bangkok time), BenarNews could not immediately reach Thai officials to get a response. Refugees International also said Thailand should provide protection and rights to thousands of people who have crossed the border from Myanmar to seek temporary or long-term refuge since the coup. Salai Bawi, a research fellow at Chiang Mai University, said the Thai government had not taken the call for aid seriously because Thai people do not see the need to help the refugees as urgent. “For decades, the Thai government left the burden and responsibility of Myanmar refugees to international organizations, while it remained just a facilitator,” he told BenarNews. In the past, Thai authorities stressed that they had not forced refugees to return, adding that many had chosen to go back to Myanmar.  Local media, NGOs and human rights activists, on the other hand, have alleged that Thai authorities pressure displaced Myanmar people into returning to their country, Refugees International said. As of February 2022, the Thai government estimated that 17,000 Myanmar refugees had crossed into Thailand since the coup, but according to a report published by UNHCR in June, only 246 refugees remain in two Thai military-controlled sites where conditions are reported to be deplorable. BenarNews is an RFA-affiliated online news service. Kunnawut Boonreak in Chiang Mai, Thailand, contributed to this report.

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Vietnam cracks down on Coast Guard oil smuggling ring

Editor04 mins

The wife of a former Coast Guard regional commander has been prosecuted for accepting bribes for her husband’s role in smuggling oil from Singapore to Vietnam. The indictment from the Central Military Procuracy accused Phan Thi Xuan, wife of former commander of the 3rd Coast Guard Region Maj. Le Xuan Thanh, of receiving the equivalent of U.S.$80,000 from gasoline smuggler Phan Thanh Huu in 11 installments, state media said on Monday. On Tuesday the military court of Military Zone 7 was set to open a first-instance court hearing, to hear charges of smuggling, accepting bribes, and helping those involved flee abroad. The defendants include Le Van Minh, former commander of the Vietnam Coast Guard’s Fourth Region and former Third Region commander Le Xuan Thanh Others facing prosecution include Maj. Luu Duc The, former deputy head of Reconnaissance 2 at Coast Guard Command; Col. Nguyen The Anh, former commander of the Border Guard of Kien Giang Province; and Col. Pham Van Tren, former commander of the Border Guard of Tra Vinh province. All have been charged with accepting bribes. Col. Nguyen The Anh and one other person have also been charged with helping people flee Vietnam. Col. Phung Danh Thoai, former Head of the Petroleum Department’s Logistics Department at the Coast Guard Command was charged with smuggling. The charges date from between March 2020 and Feb. 2021 when the director of Phan Le Hoang Anh Trading, Phan Thanh Huu, and his accomplices smuggled about 200 million liters of gasoline, worth about U.S.$130 million, into Vietnam. Col. Phung Danh Thoai is said to have helped finance the operation and share in its profits to the tune of U.S.$941,000. Former commander Le Van Minh was accused of abusing his position and power to receive U.S.$295,000 paid by Phan Thanh Huu to his wife and children. Investigations into all the defendants recovered more than $1.5 million. The former commanders of Coast Guard Region 3 and Coast Guard Region 4 returned all the money they are accused of receiving. The Procuracy of Dong Nai province also recently cracked down on oil smugglers, issuing an indictment against Phan Thanh Huu and 72 accomplices. It prosecuted Cpt. Ngo Van Thuy of the Team 3 Anti-Smuggling and Investigation Department of the General Department of Customs for taking bribes. The case dates back to Sept. 2019 when Phan Thanh Huu and Ocean Hai Phong Director Dao Ngoc Vien conspired to smuggle petroleum from Singapore to Vietnam. Col. Phung Dah Thoai and his accomplices are said to have contributed $2.3 million to finance the operation.

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China’s deep space radar may have military uses

Editor06 mins

China has started building what it calls “the world’s most far-reaching radar” in the country’s southwest – a facility that could also have a military purpose, an analyst warned. Chinese broadcaster CGTN said the new high-definition deep-space active observation facility code-named “China Fuyan,” or “Facetted Eye” for its resemblance to an insect’s eye, is being built in Chongqing Municipality. The radar system would help “better safeguard Earth” by boosting “the country’s defense capabilities against near-Earth asteroids as well as its sensing capability for the Earth-Moon system,” the state-run broadcaster said. The Fuyan will have distributed radars with over 20 large antennas, capable of carrying out high-definition observation of asteroids within 150 million kilometers of Earth, according to CGTN. “If the radar is designed to observe asteroids, it would generally possess the basic capabilities for space surveillance, meaning, the ability to distinguish objects detected in space, and hence track them,” said Collin Koh, Research Fellow at the S. Rajaratnam School of International Studies in Singapore. “Where it comes to space, the lines between civilian and military applications can be blurred,” Koh said, adding that, given China’s predilection these days to go with civil-military fusion, “it’ll be of no surprise that the radar possesses both intended civilian and military applications.” Civil-military fusion The project is led by a team from the Beijing Institute of Technology (BTI), in cooperation with China’s National Astronomical Observatories under the China Academy of Sciences, Tsinghua University and Peking University. A China’s Defense Universities Tracker released by the International Cyber Policy Center at the Australian Strategic Policy Institute in 2019 listed the BTI as “one of the ‘Seven Sons of National Defence’,” and “a leading centre of military research and one of only fourteen institutions accredited to award doctorates in weapons science.” It is categorized as “very high risk” and “top secret,” with 34 designated defense research areas including missile technology, radar and weapon systems. Both Tsinghua University and Peking University are also listed in the Tracker as “very high risk” and “high risk”, respectively.  Long Teng, President of the Beijing Institute of Technology, was quoted by Chinese media as saying the Fuyan program will have three phases of construction and by the end of Phase 3 China will have “the world’s first deep-space radar with the capability to carry out 3D imaging and dynamic monitoring as well as active observation of celestial bodies throughout the inner solar system.” The first two radars are expected to become operational by September this year in Chongqing. Asian defense analyst Collin Koh said the project will add new weight to China-U.S. rivalry in space. “When we consider the current context, while there’s no overt clarion call for China to embark on a space militarization race with the West, especially the U.S., since it has a publicly-professed line of not engaging in one, it is nonetheless very much into the game,” he said. “And all the more so, given the broader military rivalry with the U.S., which has extended into cyber and space domains.” The U.S. established a Space Force in 2019, creating the first new branch of the armed services in 73 years. It resulted from what the Force said was “a widespread recognition that Space was a national security imperative.” China has been actively engaged in radar development projects. The commercial satellite imagery company Maxar Technologies released a satellite photo in February, believed to be of a new long-range, early-warning radar that can be used to detect ballistic missiles from thousands of miles away. The Large Phased Array Radar (LPAR) in Yiyuan County, Shandong Province, can cover Taiwan and all of Japan, according to U.S.-based Defense News. The paper said China also has other radar facilities enabling early warning coverage of the Korean Peninsula and India.

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China tells Southeast Asian states not to be pawns in big-power rivalries

Editor010 mins

The Chinese foreign minister urged ASEAN countries Monday against becoming pawns in rivalries between big powers, a day after his U.S. counterpart visited Bangkok as part of the Biden administration’s intense diplomacy to counter Beijing’s engagement in Southeast Asia. In a speech in Jakarta, Wang Yi appeared to position Beijing as being on the side of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations, a stance that critics have questioned over frequent Chinese incursions into Asian claimant states’ waters in the disputed South China Sea. “We should insulate this region from geopolitical calculations and the trap of the law of the jungle, from being used as chess pieces in major power rivalry, and from coercion by hegemony and bullying,” Wang said during his policy speech at the ASEAN Secretariat.  “The future of our region should be in our own hands.” Wang called on the region to reject attempts to divide it into “confrontational and exclusive groups,” an apparent reference to U.S.-led security initiatives such as the Quad and AUKUS. The Quadrilateral Security Dialogue, or Quad, comprises the United States, Japan, Australia and India. AUKUS is a security pact under which the United States and Britain will help Canberra build nuclear-powered submarines. “We should uphold true regional cooperation that unites countries within the region and remain open to countries outside, and reject the kind of fake regional cooperation that keeps a certain country out and targets certain side,” Wang said. But, critics say, alleged incursions by Chinese vessels in the exclusive economic zones of Indonesia, the Philippines and Malaysia in the South China Sea have threatened stability in Southeast Asia. China has never accepted a 2016 ruling by the Permanent Court of Arbitration in The Hague that found Beijing’s expansive “historical claims” in the South China Sea to have no legal basis. And for the Biden administration, Southeast Asia is a top priority, it has stressed time and again. It sees the area as crucial, and analysts said Washington scored a win in its efforts to counter Beijing’s influence by getting most members of the ASEAN bloc to join the new Indo-Pacific Economic Framework for Prosperity deal in May. Now, Wang is on a tour of the region to promote China’s Global Development Initiative, and the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI). On Monday he described the former as a solution to “the global peace deficit and security dilemma.” BRI is an estimated $1 trillion-plus infrastructure initiative to build a network of railways, ports and bridges across 70 countries, which critics say has led many countries into a debt trap, a charge Beijing has hotly denied.  Wang’s visit to Jakarta followed the G7 summit in Germany late last month, where leaders announced that their governments together would raise $600 billion funds over five years to finance infrastructure in developing nations to counter the BRI. On Saturday, Blinken said that Washington was not asking others to choose between the United States and China, “but giving them a choice, when it comes to things like investment in infrastructure and development systems.” “What we want to make sure is that we’re engaged in a race to the top, that we do things to the highest standards, not a race to the bottom where we do things to the lowest standards.” While in Thailand, Blinken and his Thai counterpart, Don Pramudwinai, signed the U.S.-Thailand Communiqué on Strategic Alliance and Partnership on Sunday. “Our countries share the same goals – the free, open, interconnected, prosperous, resilient and secure Indo-Pacific. In recent years, we worked together even more closely toward that vision,” Blinken said. According to Agus Haryanto, an analyst at Jenderal Soedirman University in Purwokerto, China is concerned about U.S. reengagement with Southeast Asia after being perceived as lacking interest in the region during the years of the Trump administration (2017-2021). “The United States under President Biden is paying attention again to Southeast Asia, including a focus on democracy issues in Myanmar and strengthening cooperation with Thailand,” Agus told BenarNews.   China ‘supported Russia in the UN’ On Sunday, Blinken urged ASEAN members and China to push Myanmar’s junta to end violence against its people and move back toward democracy. More than 2,065 civilians have been killed in Myanmar since the military overthrew the democratic government in February 2021, according to Thailand’s Assistance Association for Political Prisoners. Blinken also accused China of supporting Russia in its invasion of Ukraine, despite Beijing’s professed neutrality. “We are concerned about the PRC’s alignment with Russia,” Blinken told reporters after a meeting with Wang in Bali, where they had attended the G20 Foreign Ministers’ meeting. “I don’t think that China is in fact engaging in a way that suggests neutrality. It’s supported Russia in the U.N. It continues to do so. It’s amplified Russian propaganda,” he said. Meanwhile on Monday, Wang met with Indonesian President Joko “Jokowi” Widodo and praised Jakarta for its initiative to broker peace between Russia and Ukraine, Indonesian Foreign Minister Retno Marsudi said. “The PRC once again appreciates Indonesia’s various efforts to seek a peaceful settlement to ongoing situation in Ukraine, including specifically mentioning the President’s visits to Kyiv and Moscow,” Retno said in a statement released by Jokowi’s office. Retno said Wang and Jokowi discussed “priority projects,” including the China-backed Jakarta-Bandung high-speed railway, the country’s first, and part of the BRI projects. In a statement following a meeting between with Indonesia’s most senior minister Luhut Pandjaitan on Saturday, Wang said Beijing and Jakarta agreed on building a community “with a shared future” and forging “a new pattern of bilateral cooperation” covering the political, economic, cultural and maritime sectors.  “Indonesia supports and stands ready to actively participate in the Global Development Initiative and the Global Security Initiative, both put forward by President Xi Jinping,” the Chinese Foreign Ministry said in a statement. “China is ready to work with Indonesia to continue taking the lead in solidarity and cooperation among regional and developing countries, and forge an exemplary model of mutual benefit, win-win results and common development, as well as a vanguard of South-South cooperation, so as…

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Observers say inclusive dialogue unlikely in Myanmar without added pressure on junta

Editor09 mins

Myanmar’s junta is unlikely to sign off on an all-inclusive dialogue to resolve the country’s political crisis unless additional pressure is applied, observers said Monday, following calls by both the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) and China to allow all stakeholders to the negotiating table. But sources in Myanmar told RFA Burmese that even if all sides of the political spectrum were represented at talks, compromise would be difficult because of how far apart their views are on how the country should be governed. “It could happen if more international and domestic pressure mounted,” political analyst Than Soe Naing said of the likelihood of all-inclusive talks. “Under the present circumstances, when [the junta has] some control over the country, they do not seem interested.” Than Soe Naing noted that the junta is adamant about maintaining Myanmar’s 2008 Constitution, which grants the military 25 percent of parliamentary seats, giving it an effective veto on constitutional reform. The country’s shadow National Unity Government (NUG) and People’s Defense Force (PDF) paramilitary group say they will only negotiate with the junta if it completely withdraws from politics. “They would have to reconcile that and I don’t think it will be easy. So I think [all-inclusive talks are] unlikely at the moment,” he said. Additionally, Than Soe Naing said, there is nobody who can represent the deposed National League for Democracy (NLD) at negotiations with the junta because all of the party’s top officials were arrested in the aftermath of the military’s Feb. 1, 2021 coup. The military claims voter fraud led to a landslide victory for Aung San Suu Kyi’s NLD in the country’s November 2020 election. The junta has yet to provide evidence of its claims and has violently suppressed nationwide protests calling for a return to civilian rule, killing 2,076 people and arresting 14,544 over the last 17 months, according to the Bangkok-based Assistance Association for Political Prisoners. Junta chief Snr. Gen. Min Aung Hlaing agreed to pursue talks with all of Myanmar’s stakeholders following an emergency ASEAN meeting on the situation in the country in April 2021, but has yet to do so. Calls for such a dialogue were reiterated by ASEAN Special Envoy for Myanmar Prak Sokhonn during his June 29-July 2 trip to Myanmar and again, days later, by Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi during a meeting with his junta counterpart Wunna Maung Lwin. On Sunday, U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken Thailand along with ASEAN members and China to push the junta to end violence against its people and follow through on its pledge at last year’s ASEAN meeting, following a meeting in Bangkok with Prime Minister Prayuth Chan-o-cha. Protesters hold posters during a motorcycle rally demonstration against the military coup near the royal palace in Mandalay, Feb. 7, 2021. Credit: AFP ‘Up to the people’ Nai Than Shwe, a spokesman for the Mon Unity Party (MUP) who met with Sokhonn during his visit, told RFA on Monday that the junta must have a desire for dialogue if all-inclusive talks are to take place. “If the junta takes the initiative, anything is possible. But it’s up to the junta whether or not a dialogue will happen,” he said. An abbot of the Mandalay Sangha Union of Buddhist monks told RFA that ASEAN and China are advocating for all-inclusive talks in the hopes of a return to the status quo in Myanmar. “The dialogue that both ASEAN and China are pushing for is, in short, nothing more than a return to quasi-military rule we used to have before the coup,” he said, speaking on condition of anonymity. “However, the kind of negotiations called for by the NLD cannot end there. If they do, the people will not accept it.” He noted that the military, the NUG, and the PDF have all said they have no interest in negotiations, “so it is up to the people to make it happen.” A spokesman for the anti-junta People’s Defense Battalion No. 2 in Mon state’s Thaton township, who also declined to be named, echoed the abbot’s suggestion that the people of Myanmar must push for an all-inclusive dialogue. “Most of our PDF units … do not want discussions or negotiations with them,” he said. “Given our military momentum and the participation of the people, as well as growing international pressure, we have no reason to discuss anything with them at this time. They are actually looking for a way out … But if the people want us to do it, we will do it.” Junta Deputy Information Minister Maj. Gen. Zaw Min Tun had earlier told RFA that the junta would not hold talks with those facing trial or with the NUG and PDF, who it has labeled “terrorists.” However, following the visits of the ASEAN and Chinese envoys, he told the BBC in an interview that “nothing is politically impossible.” The NUG is adamant that it will not hold talks with the junta. Attempts by RFA to contact Kyaw Zaw, a spokesman for the office of NUG President Duwa Lashi La, for comment on the shadow government’s latest position went unanswered Monday. Translated by Khin Maung Nyane. Written in English by Joshua Lipes.

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Chinese use Muslim holiday for propaganda purposes, celebrating with Uyghurs

Editor08 mins

Authorities in Xinjiang sent local cadres to celebrate an Islamic holiday with Uyghurs in China’s far-western region amid ongoing repression of the predominantly Muslim minority group, in what Uyghur rights leaders said was a further effort to cover up the real situation there. Known as the Feast of Sacrifice, Eid al-Adha (Qurban Eid) is a major Islamic holiday that marks the end of the hajj pilgrimage to Mecca in Saudi Arabia. This year, the holiday began at sundown on July 8 and ended in the evening of July 9. China’s state media reported on huiju work teams of local cadres who “visited” Uyghurs bearing gifts of food and who helped them work in their fields in celebration of the holiday. State media also released a video of Uyghurs dancing in what some observers said were staged performances. A report on Tengritagh (Tianshan), the official website of the XUAR government told of how visitors spent the holiday celebrating with Uyghurs and delivering gifts of rice, noodles, cooking oil and milk. One huiju work team from the Jinghe County Water Conservancy Management Office organized a celebration with the theme “National Unity, One Family, and Eid al-Adha” in which people gathered to sing and dance at a farm in Jinghe county in Xinjiang’s Bortala Mongol Autonomous Prefecture (in Chinese, Bortala Menggu), the report said. “Everyone dressed in festive costumes and danced gracefully,” it said. “There are well-choreographed folk dances and modern dances, as well as poetry readings and calligraphy displays. Everyone actively participated in the national unity knowledge quiz, and the activity scene was filled with the passion of unity and progress.”  Another report on the Tengritagh website cited instances of Uyghurs expressing gratitude to the Chinese Communist Party on the holiday. A huiju team from the State Grid Kizilsu Kirgiz Autonomous Prefecture Power Supply Company in Shalatala village in Artush (Atushi) visited the homes of the poor and ‘went deep into the fields and helped the villagers to do farm work,’ the article said. An elderly villager named Ani Abriz expressed gratitude for the help the team offered and was quoted as saying, “Thanks to the party and the government for their care and concern for us. The first secretary also paid for the exterior wall of our house. Our whole family was very moved.” China’s attempts to deceive the international community by portraying ‘happy Uyghurs’ as part of its propaganda are becoming “evermore naked,” said Ilshat Hassan Kokbore, a political analyst based in the U.S. and vice chairman of the executive committee of the World Uyghur Congress. “It’s clear from its latest propaganda blitz featuring Uyghurs ‘happily’ celebrating the Qurban Eid under the watch of fang huiju officials,” he said, referring to the cadres dispatched by the regional government to monitor Uyghurs in their homes and report their activities to authorities. “Their job is to surveil, manipulate and even threaten the Uyghurs by forcing them to smile, look happy and perform for the state media to deceive the world,” Kokbore told RFA. “In fact, this is an intensive form of state repression that we’re witnessing. This inhuman treatment of Uyghurs is more than shocking, but pure evil.” Rushan Abbas, executive director of the U.S.-based Campaign for Uyghurs said that “China’s manipulation and orchestration of Uyghur happiness during the Eid” would not fool anyone. “The international community is fully aware that China has been committing an ongoing genocide against the Uyghur people and rooting out Uyghur people’s belief in Islam for the past six years,” she told RFA. “No amount of Chinese propaganda and manufactured happiness of Uyghurs will change the fact that China is actively destroying the very foundation of Uyghur people’s religious beliefs and practices,” she said. Earlier this year on Eid al-Fitr, a Muslim holiday marking the end of the fasting month of Ramadan, China portrayed Uyghurs in Xinjiang as enjoying religious freedom with public celebrations, contradicting documented reports by rights groups of state-backed human rights violations inside the region. Residents of Kashgar (Kashi) said authorities allegedly paid Muslim Uyghur men to dance outside the most famous mosque in Xinjiang to celebrate the May 1-2 holiday in a performance that was recorded and released by state media ahead of an anticipated visit by the United Nations human rights chief later that month. Since 2017, Chinese authorities have ramped up their repression of Uyghurs and other Turkic minorities throughout Xinjiang, detaining up to 1.8 million members of these groups in internment camps. The maltreatment also includes severe human rights abuses, torture and forced labor as well as the eradication of linguistic, cultural and religious traditions. Credible reports by rights groups and Western media documenting the widespread abuse and repression in the Xinjiang have prompted the U.S. and some parliaments in Western countries to declare that the Chinese government’s action amount to a genocide and crimes against humanity. Written in English by Roseanne Gerin.

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North Korea’s guidance department works to ensure loyalty of citizenry

Editor07 mins

North Korea’s Organization and Guidance Department, which spreads the directives and teachings of Kim Jong Un, is working to reaffirm loyalty to the dictator at a time of growing hardship for many citizens. Residents who heard news reports about a special lecture held by the department told RFA that the message came across as tone-deaf, given that the government has done little to improve the economic conditions in the country, which have worsened in the coronavirus pandemic. “Party members and residents were outraged when the content of a special lecture held … in Pyongyang from June 2nd to 6th was reported by the Korean Central Broadcasting Committee,” a resident of Musan County in the northeastern province of North Hamgyong told RFA on condition of anonymity for security reasons. “The lecture was for the officials of the Organization and Guidance Department … and was presided over directly by the highest dignity,” said the source, using an honorific term for Kim. “It focused on how they must establish a discipline in which all party members are absolutely obedient to the party’s sole leadership.” At a time when the economy is in shambles due to the closure of the border and suspension of trade with China, along with international nuclear sanctions, many North Koreans are focused on finding their next meal rather than proving their loyalty to Kim. “They criticize the authorities for their ignorance of the lives of the people,” the source said. “The authorities are not seeking measures to improve people’s lives but merely forcing the party members and residents to obey the party unconditionally.  “The officials of the Organization and Guidance Department already hold great power and were given even more authority to strengthen control over the thoughts and lives of party members. The intent is to suppress any divergence in public sentiment which has been aggravated by COVID-19. They will strengthen the autocratic powers of the party organization,” the source said. A resident of the South Pyongan province, north of Pyongyang, told RFA that people there are frustrated that the government is taking time for the special lectures when the rainy season is approaching, threatening crops. “That proves that the Central Committee [and Kim Jong Un] are not prioritizing the stability of our livelihoods and instead try to enhance and maintain his dictatorship,” said the second source, who requested anonymity to speak freely. “More and more members of the lowest organizations in the party, which support the Central Committee, are leaving the party. And a growing number of party members are absent from the weekly self-criticism sessions which are a required duty of a party member,” he said. Known as saenghwal chonghwa, the sessions are public meetings in which every citizen must individually confess their shortcomings to the party each week. “If you miss the party’s self-criticism session more than three times, you receive a warning. Failure to attend for more than six months will result in removal from the party,” the second source said. “The current situation in North Korea is similar to the situation in which residents openly criticized the authorities during the Arduous March,” the second source said, using the Korean term for the 1994-1998 North Korean famine that killed millions of people, possibly as much as 10 percent of the population. During the famine, the authorities were focused on controlling public opinion by dispatching officials to report on citizens, but now even the secretaries of local party cells are themselves experiencing hardships and are increasingly disillusioned with authorities, the second source said. “In the end, the special lecture held in Pyongyang showed the government’s intent to forcibly suppress and block the voices of dissatisfaction among party members and residents who defy them,” he said. “This is why they are strengthening the autocratic powers of the Central Committee. The people are outraged.” Translated by Claire Shinyoung O. Lee. Written in English by Eugene Whong.

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Vietnam ministry proposes ending stricter oversight of Formosa steel plant

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A Vietnamese government agency is proposing an end to a heightened level of oversight of a Taiwanese-owned steel plant responsible for the country’s worst-ever environmental disaster more than five years ago, despite ongoing concerns among local residents. The April 2016 release of toxic chemicals, including cyanide, polluted the coastline of four provinces over a total area of about 200 kilometers (124 miles), killing an estimated 115 tons of fish and harming the livelihoods of hundreds of thousands of Vietnamese, including fishermen and tourism industry workers. Taiwan-owned Formosa Plastics Group acknowledged the spill came from its massive steel plant located at a deep-water port in Ha Tinh province’s Ky Anh district. The company offered U.S. $500 million in compensation after a Vietnamese government investigation determined that incident caused considerable environmental damage. Though the funds were meant to cover the cleanup and to support people along the coasts whose livelihoods were destroyed, critics said the amount has not been adequate, and many of those affected have sought additional compensation through Taiwanese courts. The Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment last week proposed Prime Minister Phạm Minh Chính stop a special supervision mechanism for the Hung Nghiep Formosa Ha Tinh steel factory and switch to a normal monitoring arrangement. The ministry said it had determined that Formosa had addressed and repaired the detrimental impacts of the spill. Environmental experts and local residents are objecting to the plan, fearing additional environmental damage by the plant if the current level of oversight is diminished. A woman living near the plant told RFA that she does not understand the ministry’s recommendations, especially because fish and other marine life from the affected areas continue to show effects from the disaster. “After 2016 and until now, dead fish sometimes have washed ashore, especially when the waste is discharged, and the amount of live fish is less than before,” said the woman who declined to be named for security reasons. “It occurs a few times every years.” The woman said her family earned a decent income from fishing, but their lives were turned upside down after the environmental disaster. The woman, who said she served a jail sentence demonstrating against Formosa following the spill, said almost half of the villagers in the area where she lives have developed health ailments from inhaling smoke and foul-smelling gas emitted by the plant. But most residents do not dare to discuss the consequences for fear of being sent to jail, she said. Local authorities imprisoned many of the villagers who protested the factory after the spill. RFA attempted to contact the leaders of Ky Anh district and Ha Tinh province for comment, but officials there who answered the phone abruptly hung up. A former lecturer in public policy at the National Economics University in Vietnam’s capital Hanoi said that the special monitoring should continue. “Formosa has made a precedent of serious violations, causing a terrible environmental disaster that local people have to suffer for hundreds of years,” said the former academic, who declined to be named for fear of retribution. “After the disaster, Formosa Ha Tinh even blatantly challenged the public with the declaration of ‘whichever to be chosen: steel or fish.’ “Due to the impact of the sea disaster, many fishermen in Ky Anh have had to quit their jobs, and many have gone to other provinces and abroad to look for jobs,” he said. “The proposal to stop the special monitoring mechanism for Formosa Ha Tinh is a way to encourage it to commit more violations.” Nguyen Van Khai, an environmentalist and physicist, questioned why the government would want to stop the current monitoring system. “Why stop? Please announce publicly the monitoring results! Do invite people to come there and do measurement work publicly,” he said. “How is the air quality?” Khai, who has led successful industrial waste treatment projects, volunteered to measure air quality from gas and water discharged into the environment from the Formosa plant if called upon. Translated by RFA Vietnamese. Written in English by Roseanne Gerin.

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Cambodian opposition activists wait in pretrial detention longer than legal limit

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An attorney representing several jailed Cambodian opposition activists said his clients have been in pretrial detention for longer than is legally allowed, as he urged the court to quickly work to resolve their cases. More than 60 opposition activists, mostly with connections to the banned opposition Cambodia National Rescue Party (CNRP), have been detained for expressing their political rights. Most of them were arrested by the authorities in early 2020.  Many of the activists have been in pretrial detention longer than the 18-month legal limit, while others are close to reaching that limit, Sam Sokong, who represents nearly 10 detained activists, told RFA’s Khmer Service.      The legal limit is “six months, and it can be extended twice for six months, so that’s equal to 18 months,” he said. Sam Sokong’s clients include Kong Mas, who previously served an 18-month sentence that ended in 2020, and Khan Bun Pheng, a former commune chief detained since January 2020. Both are awaiting trial on conspiracy charges. Sam Sokong’s other clients include activists who were arrested by Thai authorities and repatriated in late 2021: Voeung Samnang and Voeun Vearn, whose alias is Prey Lang Rose Wood, who are both charged with “conspiracy and incitement;” Lahn Thavry, who is charged with “incitement;” and Mech Heang, who is charged with “insulting the government leadership.”  They have been in detention for more than eight months. Sam Sokong said that the court told him that their cases had already been sent to a trial judge, but he has yet to receive a court date. Voeung Samnang’s wife, Srey Teang Chenda, told RFA that the court has already summoned her husband from prison six times since his detention began eight months ago but has not yet taken him to trial. She said she expects the court to expedite the hearing soon and release her husband to reunite with his family because he is innocent. “It is unfair because he was not at fault. The authorities arrested him and did not prosecute,” she said.  “He has done nothing wrong and just keeping him in prison is making me suffer. I have to take care of my family alone and need to visit him at the prison [to bring him food] too,” Sreay Teang Chenda said.  RFA could not reach Phnom Penh Municipal Court spokesman Ey Rin for comment. Civil society groups say detaining suspects without a trial violates their right to due process and a speedy trial. The opposition activists’ cases are moving more slowly than others, Soeung Senkaruna, spokesperson for the Cambodian Human Rights and Development Association, told RFA. “In this case, we would like to see the same legal responsibility be implemented for the detained activists, by speeding up the trial process,” he said, explaining that prolonged pre-trial detention violates the rights of the accused. “Civil society organizations have consistently insisted on the court considering dropping the charges and granting detainees liberty,” Soeung Senkaruna said. The CNRP was dissolved by Cambodia’s Supreme Court in 2017, a move that paved the way for Hun Sen’s ruling Cambodian People’s Party to win every seat in the National Assembly in the 2018 general election. The dissolution of the CNRP kicked off a five-year crackdown on political opposition, with many of those affiliated with the party arrested and detained on charges like conspiracy, incitement, and treason. Translated by Sok Ry Sum. 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