August 2022 - Page 3 of 14 - Investigative Journalism Reportika

Vietnamese artist ‘shocked’ after being ordered to destroy 29 paintings

Editor2 years ago06 mins

Popular Vietnamese artist and poet Bui Quang Vien is vowing fight an order from authorities in Vietnam’s largest city to destroy 29 of his abstract paintings because he showed them in a gallery last month without a permit. The Ho Chi Minh City government on Aug. 9 fined Vien 25 million dong (about US $1,000) and, in an unprecedented move critics called a “step backward” even in a country known for heavy censorship, ordered the destruction of his work for a painting exhibition he held July 15-30 at Alpha Art Station. “I can’t find a word to express my shock,” the artist, who publishes poetry under the pen name Bui Chat. He called the order “unbelievable and unimaginable.” “I knew I would be given a fine because they had established an inspection group of 15-16 people who came and made a record that I had held the exhibition without a permit,” he told RFA Vietnamese in an interview. “I acknowledged that I had organized the exhibition without applying for a permit,” said Vien, who told RFA he was too busy organizing the show and had no idea that he needed to apply for a permit. “I was thinking they would only give me a fine,” he added. The administrative order–signed by Duong Anh Duc, vice chairman of the Ho Chi Minh City government–states that if Vien does not destroy his artwork, they will be forcefully destroyed, while interest will be charged if he pays the fine late. “Over the past year, many exhibitions took place at the same time as or a little bit earlier than mine, almost all in small galleries in Saigon that I know, did not apply for an exhibition permit,” he said. Saigon is the former name of Ho Chi Minh City. “They were held as usual and without any problems. However, my exhibition was punished for not having a permit,” added Vien. Vien, whose 29 paintings that have been targeted by authorities contained no political message or nudity, is no stranger to harassment by authorities in the one-party Communist state. In 2011, under his pen name Bui Chat, he won the International Publishers Association’s 2011 Freedom to Publish Award. However, after returning from a trip to Argentina to receive the prize, he was detained and grilled by the police for two days. Censorship of culture and literature has been a long-standing practice in Vietnam but experts said that censorship of paintings was a new thing. “Vietnam is known for destroying books. However, this is the first incident in the field of painting. Before I had never heard about a case in which a fine given to an exhibition came with the requirement to destroy paintings,” said Hoang Dung, a professor and member of the Vietnam Independent Literature Association’s Advocacy Committee “To put it bluntly, this is a step backwards in culture management. I believe that anyone with a normal conscience would be shocked by such a decision,” added Hoang. Vien told RFA that he would fight to protect his artworks and not easily give up. “The decision says that I can make a complaint or take legal proceedings. Therefore, I’ll see my lawyers to carry out procedures to file a complaint or lawsuit to protect my rights and interests,” he told RFA. “There is no way that I will destroy my artwork.” Translated by Anna Vu. Written by Paul Eckert.

High temperatures bring drought, power shortages to China’s Yangtze River delta

Editor2 years ago06 mins

A drought in China’s hydropower-dependent Yangtze River region is fueling growing power shortages, prompting Taiwan-owned Foxconn to suspend production in the southwestern province of Sichuan. The Sichuan provincial government suspended power to industrial customers from Aug. 15 through Aug. 20 amid a prolonged heat wave that has left water levels at their lowest levels in six decades. Foxconn, also known as Hon Hai, said it had suspended production at its Chengdu facility, which makes wearable technology, mobile and smart devices, including iPads for Apple. But the company said the power cuts wouldn’t have a huge impact if they ended as scheduled, Taiwan’s Central News Agency (CNA) reported. The cuts in Sichuan have echoed severe power shortages in the eastern provinces of Anhui, Jiangsu and Zhejiang, linked to water levels in the Yangtze river that are the lowest seen since 1961. Water levels in the massive Three Gorges hydropower plant stand at just 135 meters, 40 percent lower than for the same time in the previous four years. Local governments across the region have issued notices warning consumers to practice “orderly consumption” of electricity, with shortages reported in Sichuan at both peak and off-peak times. Authorities in Sichuan have switched to a three-tier alert system to ensure power supply, and strive to protect supplies needed for basic functioning. The Chongqing High-tech Zone issued a notice that it would stagger peak production times to ensure grid security, requiring enterprises to suspend production between the hours of 10:00 am and 2:00 am. Jiangsu-based current affairs commentator Zhang Jianping said the power shortages are directly connected to the ongoing drought. “The Yangtze River delta has never experienced such high temperatures since historical records began, and high temperatures like this are accompanied by drought,” Zhang told RFA. “The summer weather this year has been extreme. It should be the flood season, but there have been no typhoons,” he said. Prioritizing residential supply Zhang said governments appear to be prioritizing residential power supply, in a region that was already known for sweltering summers, and highly dependent on air-conditioning for life to continue as normal. “They are mostly restricting industrial power consumption … because they have to protect people’s quality of life by ensuring residential power supplies,” he said. “I think this is the right thing to do.” Temperatures of around 40C have been recorded across Anhui and Jiangsu, with some places recording much higher temperatures than that. The China meteorological bureau has warned that many cities and provinces in the delta have seen very little rainfall, with rainfall in the area 40 percent lower than in the same period last year. Water resources ministry spokesman Wang Zhangli said the government has set aside 51 major reservoirs in the middle and upper reaches of the Yangtze River as storage areas for drought relief, and to ensure water supplies downstream. According to a report on the Yicai Global news site, the drought has hit 644,667 hectares of farmland in six provinces, including Sichuan, Hubei and Jiangxi, affecting water supply to 830,000 people. Little rain is forecast amid ongoing high temperatures over the next 10 days, according to the national meteorological bureau. “Yicai Global learned that seven rivers and one reservoir in Chongqing had dried up because of the heatwave,” the report said. Meanwhile, the Chishui Danxia Great Waterfall scenic area in the southwestern province of Guizhou has been closed due to lack of water flow, it said. The ministries of finance and water resources set up a 200 million (U.S.$29.5 million) fund for eight provinces and autonomous regions on Aug. 12 to fund water conservancy efforts, drought-relief water transfers, the report said. Translated and edited by Luisetta Mudie.

Lao residents call for inspection of development projects to combat corruption

Editor2 years ago05 mins

Residents of a province in northern Laos are calling on the government to take a closer look at local development projects following revelations that state employees had profited illegally from contracts financing the work, Lao sources say. News that state employees and members of Laos’ ruling communist party were involved in corruption followed a 6-month review by Xayaburi province authorities of state development projects, local sources said. The identities of officials accused of wrongdoing were not made public, however, angering local residents who told RFA they want the names revealed. “There are a lot of corrupt state employees now,” one Xayaburi resident said, speaking on condition of anonymity for security reasons. “And if the government discovers who they are it should make their names public so that the people can be informed.” Central government authorities should do more now to protect the country’s development budget, another Xayaburi resident said. “All development projects, such as those for building infrastructure, should be thoroughly inspected,” the resident said, also declining to be named. “And if these are found to be substandard and not following proper guidelines, the contracts should be revoked, and the projects should be canceled and not allowed to continue,” he said. “The banks that allocate money for these projects will be upset if they find out that those projects are being investigated for crime,” a third provincial resident agreed. Xayaburi’s six-month review of state development projects in the province show that of 47 projects each supported by investments of 10 billion kip ($656,167) or more, 37 failed to follow proper rules of concession, leading to state losses of over 45 billion kip, according to state media reports. And of 233 projects invested at lower amounts, 79 were examined, with 17 showing losses to the state of 1.62 billion kip. More than 150 projects remain to be examined by the end of the year. Leakage from project budgets is found mostly in the education and health-care sectors, an official from Xayaburi’s inspection unit told RFA, also speaking on condition of anonymity for security reasons. “For example, when money is allocated to build toilets for schools, these are often not up to standard. The money has been used for something else, and the people who gave the money are not happy,” he said. Also speaking to RFA, a second provincial official said that though laws are in place to punish corruption, “we send the bigger cases to central authorities to deal with if we find we can’t handle them at lower levels of authority.” The Lao government has lost U.S. $767 million to corruption since 2016, with government development and investment projects such as road and bridge construction the leading source of the widespread graft, according to the country’s State Inspection Authority. However, despite the enactment of an anticorruption law that criminalizes the abuse of power, public sector fraud, embezzlement and bribery, Laos’ judiciary is weak and inefficient, and officials are rarely prosecuted. Berlin-based Transparency International 2021 Corruption Perceptions Index ranked Laos at 128 of 180 countries in the world. Laos received a score of 30 on a scale of 0-100, on which 0 means highly corrupt and 100 means very clean. Translated by Sidney Khotpanya for RFA Lao. Written in English by Richard Finney.

China slaps sanctions on 7 ‘diehard separatist’ Taiwan officials

Editor2 years ago09 mins

China announced sanctions against seven Taiwanese officials including Taiwan’s de facto ambassador to the United States Hsiao Bi-khim, labeling them “diehard separatists.” Other Taiwanese political figures on the list are Koo Li-hsiung, Tsai Chi-chang, Ker Chien-ming, Lin Fei-fan, Chen Jiau-hua and Wang Ting-yu, said a spokesperson of the Taiwan Affairs Office of the Chinese Communist Party’s Central Committee. All but one are from the ruling Democratic Progressive Party. The sanctioned politicians and their family members are banned from entering China’s mainland, Hong Kong and Macao. Their affiliated institutions and businesses are also prohibited from engaging in activities on the mainland. The named politicians “will be held to lifelong accountability according to law,” with further punitive measures to be decided, according to the announcement. Hsiao Bi-khim, who has been Taiwan’s representative to the U.S. since July 2020, was accused of helping push U.S. arms sales to the island and recently in advancing the visit of U.S. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi. Besides the seven, two other well-known Taiwanese political figures – President of the Taiwan Foundation for Democracy Huang Yu-lin and secretary general of the International Cooperation and Development Fund Timothy Hsiang – are also banned from entering the mainland, Hong Kong and Macau. Last November for the first time, China imposed an entry ban on Taiwan’s Prime Minister Su Tseng-chang, Legislative Speaker You Si-kun and Minister of Foreign Affairs Joseph Wu, saying they were part of “an extremely small minority of diehard Taiwanese separatists who caused extreme harm … to the fundamental interests of the Chinese race.” Map of Penghu Islands in the Taiwan Strait. Credit: Google Maps Sanctions list As the sanction list expanded to ten names, the Taiwan Office’s spokesperson was quoted by Xinhua as warning that it could grow further and “anyone who deliberately challenges the law will face severe punishment.” It’s unclear how the punitive measures will affect the Taiwanese politicians as they are not known to have traveled nor done business on China’s mainland. On Aug.5, Beijing announced sanctions against Nancy Pelosi and her immediate family in response to her visit to Taiwan which China condemned as an “egregious provocation.” When asked about the decision a few days later, Pelosi reportedly laughed it off saying: “Who cares?” “That is incidental to me, of no relevance whatsoever,” she said, according to Reuters. During Pelosi’s visit to Taipei, China imposed a no-entry ban on executives of four Taiwanese companies which had made donations to two foundations – the Taiwan Foundation for Democracy and the International Cooperation and Development Fund – that Beijing deemed as “aggressively engaging in pro-independence separatist activities.” The four companies are solar producer Speedtech Energy Co., Hyweb Technology Co., medical equipment producer Skyla, and cold chain vehicle fleet management company SkyEyes. They’re also not allowed to do business with any mainland companies. U.S. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi meets with Taiwan’s President Tsai Ing-wen in Taipei on Aug. 3, 2022. Credit: Taiwan Presidential Office China’s ‘information warfare’ In another development, Taiwan’s Ministry of National Defense has rejected claims by the Chinese military that its aircraft had flown over Penghu, one of Taiwan’s most important outlying islands, during a flight operation on Monday. The Eastern Theater Command of the People’s Liberation Army (PLA) on Monday published a video on WeChat purportedly showing Penghu Islands as seen from a military airplane at a relatively close proximity. Three types of aircraft were seen in the video: a Shaanxi Y-8 maritime patrol aircraft, a SU-30 and a J-16 fighter. Penghu Islands are situated on the eastern side of the Taiwan Strait, only 50 kilometers from Taiwan’s main island. The PLA sent 30 aircraft into Taiwan’s air defense identification zone (ADIZ) on Monday, half of them crossed the median line dividing the Strait, according to the Taiwanese defense ministry. Taiwan’s ministry said only four Chinese J-16 crossed the median line of the Taiwan Strait but they did not come close to Penghu Islands. No Shaanxi aircraft was deployed. The video released by the PLA Eastern Theater Command was clearly “Chinese cognitive warfare,” said Maj. Gen. Tung Pei-lun, Taiwan Air Force’s Vice Chief of Staff for Operations. “China used the exaggerated tricks of cognitive warfare to show how close it was to Penghu – which is not true,” Tung told reporters at a briefing in Taipei. Some Taiwanese military experts, such as Shen Ming-Shih, acting deputy chief executive officer at the Institute for National Defense and Security Research, said the PLA probably used a powerful camera lens to film Penghu from a long distance. “Penghu Islands are the most important islands in the Taiwan Strait,” said Shen. “If China managed to occupy Penghu, the PLA could launch an effective military operation against Taiwan.” But the Taiwanese military maintains a large air defense missile battery and a radar system on Penghu, the analyst said, adding that the Taiwanese air force and navy should be able to deter an invading Chinese force. China has recently stepped up its disinformation campaign and cyberattacks as part of cognitive operations to attack public morale and sow confusion in Taiwan.

North Korea lifts COVID restrictions after ‘maximum emergency’ ends

Editor2 years ago010 mins

North Korea lifted COVID-19 restrictions at bathhouses and restaurants nationwide after declaring victory over the virus and ending its “maximum emergency” order that had been in place since May. The country’s leader, Kim Jong Un, said last week during a speech at a nationally televised COVID review meeting that the country had stopped the spread of the disease, while adding that it had to maintain a “steel-strong anti-epidemic barrier and intensifying the anti-epidemic work until the end of the global health crisis,” state media reported. At the same meeting, Kim Jong Un’s sister, Kim Yo Jong, the vice department director in the Central Committee of the ruling Korean Workers’ Party, revealed in her own speech that her brother had contracted the disease. She vowed “deadly retaliation” against South Korea, which she accused of causing the outbreak. The lift on restrictions for restaurants and bathhouses began on Sunday, a resident in South Pyongan province, north of the capital Pyongyang, told RFA’s Korean Service on condition of anonymity for security reasons. “Starting today, large and small restaurants … in [the city of] Pyongsong have begun operating normally. This is because the maximum emergency epidemic prevention system has been officially lifted,” the source said. Prior to the pandemic, restaurants were open daily from 10 a.m. to 10 p.m., according to the source. The National Emergency Quarantine Command mandated that restaurants close at 6 p.m. in 2020 as a preventative measure against the spread of the virus. North Korea claimed to be virus free throughout all of 2020 and 2021, but finally acknowledged publicly that a major outbreak occurred as the result of a massive military parade in April 2022, and declared the national maximum emergency the following month. During the maximum emergency, restaurants were open only from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. They are now fully open, according to the source. “The authorities ordered each restaurant to dedicate a portion of its profit to the state from the end of this month,” the source said. In nearby Songchon county, bathhouses and swimming pools had all been ordered closed during the emergency, another South Pyongan source told RFA on condition of anonymity to speak freely. “However, with the end of the maximum emergency epidemic prevention system, the operating restrictions of the public bathhouses and swimming pools were also lifted,” the second source said, adding that a facility affiliated with the provincial government began 24-hour operations. She said that the 24-hour operation is not nationwide, however. But even though restaurants and bathhouses are open again, they will likely see fewer customers because few people can afford the expense due to the country’s poor economy, the second source said. In the city of Sinuiju, across the Yalu River border from China, normal business operations in restaurants resumed, a source there told RFA, but tables had to be 3 meters (9.8 feet) apart, and citizens with a high fever are barred from eating or drinking in restaurants. “In addition, there must be disinfectant liquid at the entrance to the restaurant, and restaurant staff must wear a mask to serve customers. Restaurants caught by the quarantine command for not following quarantine regulations will be fined 100,000 to 300,000 won ($12~36),” the third source said. This picture taken on August 10, 2022 and released from North Korea’s official Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) on August 14, 2022 shows Kim Yo Jong, the sister of North Korea’s leader Kim Jong Un, speaking at the National Emergency Prevention General Meeting in Pyongyang. Credit: KCNA via KNS/AFP Rare glimpses Last week’s national emergency quarantine review meeting was a nationally televised event, and citizens tuned in to catch a rare look at Kim Yo Jong as she accused South Korea of causing the coronavirus to spread in the North, a resident in the northwestern province of North Pyongan told RFA shortly after it was aired. “What matters is the fact that the South Korean puppets are still thrusting leaflets and dirty objects into our territory,” Kim Yo Jong said during her speech, referring to the practice of South Korean activist organizations flying anti-regime leaflets by hot air balloon into North Korean territory. South Korea passed a controversial anti-leaflet law in December 2020 that severely punishes offenders with steep fines and multiyear jail sentences. Even so, one activist group released millions of leaflets as recently as April. Kim implied during her speech that leaflets contaminated with COVID-19 caused the most recent outbreak. “We have already considered various counteraction plans but our countermeasure must be a deadly retaliatory one,” she said. South Korea’s Ministry of Unification dismissed North Korea’s claim that Seoul was the cause of the coronavirus in North Korea. “North Korea is repeating baseless and deterrent claims related to the source of the coronavirus at the national emergency quarantine review meeting. We express our deep regrets at the rude and threatening remarks about South Korea,” a ministry official told reporters last week. The North Pyongan source said people she knew who had watched the speech were disappointed that Kim did not mention any effort to improve the financial condition of North Koreans. “Her speech was full of words that only worsened the situation on the Korean peninsula. … Residents are complaining that if they have declared victory in the fight against the coronavirus, they should now discuss ways to solve the worsening living situation,” the second North Pyongan source said. “They are only concerned with instigating hostility to eradicate the South Korean authorities.” A group of viewers in South Pyongan were unimpressed by Kim Yo Jong, a third source there told RFA. “They were saying that Kim Yo Jong seemed to have low dignity, because she couldn’t take her eyes off of her written speech and read it in a trembling voice like a student.” Translated by Leejin J. Chung. Written in English by Eugene Whong.

Skyrocketing rice prices another hardship for Myanmar citizens

Editor2 years ago010 mins

The price of rice, a food staple in Southeast Asia, and other commodities has shot up as much as 50 percent over the last two months in Myanmar, another hardship for the country’s beleaguered citizens, many of whom have already had to flee their homes because of ongoing conflict, traders and consumers said. The average cost of basic food on average in Myanmar has risen by 35% in the past year, according to recent data compiled by the World Food Program. A 24-pyi (4.7-pound) bag of Shwebo Pawsan rice, considered locally to be the best quality rice, has gone up even more. A bag that sold for 66,000 kyats (U.S. $31) on July 1 now sells for 90,000 kyats (U.S. $42). In Yangon, traders said the price can spike to 100,000 kyats (U.S. $47) in retail markets. Prior to the Feb. 1, 2021, military coup that sparked the conflict, the price of a 24-pyi sack of the rice was 52,000 kyats (U.S. $25). The inflation has hit hard low-income people who now have difficulty affording even lower quality rice and are dealing with a shortage of jobs since the democratically elected government was ousted, sources said. Low-quality rice that used to cost 25,000 kyats (U.S. $12) is now selling for 45,000 kyats (U.S. $21), said a low-income Yangon resident. “Right now, it’s very hard for manual laborers to earn money,” he said. “Manual laborers need to get money first to have their meals, and then they can buy rice in the evening after work.” The price increases have made lives even harder for the 1.2 million internally displaced persons (IDPs) who have fled their homes due to the fighting, aid workers said. Most IDPs are living in areas where transportation is difficult. Meanwhile, military checkpoints have restricted the movement of food along major routes, pushing up the cost of supplies, they said. A member of the Mindat township IDP Camps Management Committee in western Myanmar’s Chin state, where fighting between military forces and opposition groups has been intense, said the cost of transporting goods is double what it is in other areas and rice has to be smuggled in. “In faraway places, the price reached almost 100,000 kyats when the cost of transportation, which is about 50,000 kyats, was added to the original price,” said the aid workers, who declined to be identified out of fear for his safety. “We haven’t had any donations for the IDPs for the last two months, so we can’t buy rice anymore,” he said. “We won’t have supplies for distribution for the rest of August or for September and October.” Ye Min Aung, chairman of the Myanmar Rice Federation, blamed the rising prices on COVID-19 virus outbreaks, the country’s political instability and the high costs of production. “COVID-19 issues, political issues and internal instability in central parts of Myanmar along with the rising costs of fertilizer and fuel in international markets are to blame,” he said. “Fertilizer prices have tripled,” he said. “Farmers have to use fertilizers and fuel and so their production costs have also risen. Moreover, rice mills have had to install generators due to the decrease in the electric power supply, resulting in an increase in production costs.” Buckets of rice are seen at a rice shop in Yangon, Myanmar, April 12, 2022. Credit: RFA ‘Fleeing for our lives’ Shwebo Pawson, the most expensive and popular rice in Myanmar, is usually grown in Shwebo, Kantbalu, Khin U, Ye U and Taze townships in northwestern Myanmar’s Sagaing region, where the fighting between military and opposition forces has been particularly intense. In an effort to clear the area, government troops have burned dozens of homes and other structures in recent weeks. Some farmers have been unable to plant rice or other crops this year, while others cannot properly care for their cultivated fields, said residents of the townships. A farmer in Shwebo township said he and other residents have not been able to work because they have been forced to run from Myanmar soldiers. “We have been fleeing for our lives to safety because of the military attacks, and many of the fields have been left unattended,” said the farmer who did not provide his name because of safety reasons. In the Ayeyarwady region, Myanmar’s rice bowl, farmers have been grappling with a drought amid what is supposed to be the rainy season. They say they are unable to make capital inputs and have had to cultivate fewer acres because of high production costs. Myanmar has more than 17 million acres of rice paddies in production, but the country’s agricultural targets have not yet been met, military junta leader Sr. Gen. Min Aung Hlaing said in the capital Naypyidaw on Aug. 8. He warned that officials may need to adjust how much rice is exported and how much is set aside for domestic consumption. But Myanmar still plans to export rice and green beans, he said. An economist, who declined to be named so as to speak freely, said that statement may mean the junta could seize rice stocks to generate revenue, further pushing up the price. “They themselves have announced that they are going to export rice and green beans,” he said. “If they do that, they will look for rice in any way they can get and will hoard it.” With the current shortage of hard currency in Myanmar, the junta appears to be eyeing up rice exports to get badly needed U.S. dollars, the economist said. “They seem to be planning to get dollars directly into their hands from exports,” he said. “The more they do that, the more the prices of commodities will rise, especially that of rice. Besides, traders will find it difficult to buy [rice] and will keep what they have, so that prices will rise even more.” Translated by Khin Maung Nyane for RFA Burmese. Written in English by Roseanne Gerin.

Aung San Suu Kyi sentenced to 6 more years in prison

Editor2 years ago2 years ago06 mins

A Myanmar military court on Monday sentenced former national leader Aung San Suu Kyi to six years in prison following her conviction on corruption charges that critics say are without merit. Suu Kyi, 77, now faces a total of 17 years in prison, with today’s 6-year term added to an 11 years already imposed following trials in other cases brought by Myanmar’s military leaders, who overthrew her democratically elected civilian government in a Feb. 1, 2021 coup. The three cases heard on Monday were tied to the acquisition of land in the capital Naypyidaw by the Daw Khin Kyi Foundation, which was named after Aung San Suu Kyi’s late mother, and to the construction of a building on that land and of foundation headquarters in Yangon. Naypyidaw Mayor Myo Aung, Deputy Mayor Ye Min Oo, and Naypyidaw Municipal Committee Member Min Oo, who were also charged in the cases, were each given 2-year terms. The sentences imposed by a prison court in Naypyidaw were themselves unlawful, however, as Myanmar’s now-ruling military had seized power illegally, Bo Bo Oo—a former Yangon lawmaker for the National League for Democracy. “This case has been all wrong right from the start,” said the former parliamentarian, whose party’s government was overthrown by Myanmar’s military last year. “To begin with, the military coup was carried out in violation of the law, so it’s silly for them to say that they are now on the side of the law. I don’t recognize their authority,” he said. Calls seeking comment from junta spokesman Maj. Gen. Zaw Min Tun received no response, but a veteran legal expert told IJ-reportika that Aung San Suu Kyi should not have been prosecuted on corruption charges for a project done for the country’s benefit. Junta allegations that national funds had been lost by the land’s sale at a low price should not have been filed. “When action is taken against nationally beneficial projects like the La Yaung Taw project just because they are connected to Aung San Suu Kyi, this will cause other projects to be stopped that could be helpful to citizens in the future,” he said. “This is just another example of how the junta deals with political problems in Myanmar not by using political means but through hatred and animosity,” agreed Arakan National Party chairman Tha Tun Hla. “People who are tied to political cases should not be punished and imprisoned,” he added. Aung San Suu Kyi now faces charges in 9 more cases, including a case brought under Section 3(1)[c] of the Official Secrets Act, that also carry long prison terms, sources say. ‘Methodical assault on human rights’ Myanmar political observer Than Soe Naing said that by arresting and jailing Aung San Suu Kyi, Myanmar’s military is carrying out its goal of removing her entirely from the country’s political life. “However, history will show that Daw Aung San Suu Kyi has never bribed anyone or committed financial fraud. Her virtue, integrity and dignity can never be damaged, even a little,” he said. Elaine Pearson, acting Asia director at Human Rights Watch, said on Monday that the Myanmar military junta’s conviction and sentencing of Aung San Suu Kyi is “part of its methodical assault on human rights around the country. “The junta’s fabricated trials, torture of detainees, and execution of activists highlights its broader disregard for the lives of Myanmar’s people. “The United Nations, Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN), European Union, United States, and other concerned governments should press for the release of Aung San Suu Kyi and all those wrongfully imprisoned,” Pearson said. “This verdict should push them to undertake urgent action against the junta to ensure there’s justice for its victims and a reckoning for its crimes.” Translated by Khin Maung Nyane. Written in English by Richard Finney.

Hong Kong exodus continues as rights groups pinpoint leaders’ overseas property

Editor2 years ago2 years ago09 mins

Hongkongers are continuing to leave the city in droves amid an ongoing crackdown on dissent under a draconian security law imposed by Beijing. Recent figures from the city’s census and statistics department showed the city’s population has fallen for the third year running, with net departures of permanent residents totaling 113,000 during 2022 alone, and around 121,000 compared with the same time last year. “This is pretty unprecedented,” Chinese University of Hong Kong business school researcher Simon Lee. “[Before this] we saw population growth for a long period.” “Many of these people leaving are young and strong, and it’s too early to tell whether they will come back or not,” Lee said. “This is a blow to our economic recovery in the short term, because fewer people means less economic activity and less consumption.” A social activist who gave only the nickname Peter said it is increasingly difficult for people in Hong Kong to get information about what is happening to those who leave. “There is less news out there, no more Apple Daily, Stand or Citizen News,” Peter said. “In one sense, to a certain extent the government … wants to force people to leave, so they can’t stand together.” Peter said he has started a letter-writing program to allow overseas Hongkongers to support people currently behind bars for their role in the 2019 protest movement or held as part of subsequent political crackdowns. “Everyone has to live their own lives, because it’s hard to even think about the [protest movement] if you don’t do that,” he said. “But while we’re doing that, we can use some of our leftover energy to reconnect [with everyone else].” “Whenever I have time to write a letter, I remind myself why I can’t go back to Hong Kong,” he said. “I can’t go home.” People lie in hospital beds with night-time temperatures falling outside the Caritas Medical Centre in Hong Kong on Feb. 16, 2022, as hospitals become overwhelmed with the city facing its worst COVID-19 wave to date. Credit: AFP Foreign property owners Peter’s initiative has seen letters pour in from the U.K., Norway, Germany, Belgium and the Netherlands, among other countries, and the democratic island of Taiwan, which has offered immigration options to Hongkongers fleeing the crackdown. The U.K.-based rights group Hong Kong Watch has also called on governments to step up sanctions on the city’s officials, many of whom own property overseas. The group said it had identified property belonging to four Hong Kong officials in the U.K., Canada, and Australia. Health secretary Lo Chung-Mau owns a flat in London, while non-official executive councilors Margaret Leung, Moses Cheng and Eliza Chan own property in Sydney, London and Toronto, the group said. “It beggars belief that Hong Kong officials who denounce Western countries so gleefully are destroying their fellow citizens’ basic freedoms and rights [and] continue to own property in the U.K., Australia, and Canada,” the group’s advocacy director Sam Goodman said. The group called on the governments of the U.K., Canada, and Australia to join the U.S. in introducing Magnitsky-style sanctions targeting the assets of Hong Kong officials who are “complicit in gross human rights violations.” Meanwhile, international arrivals have fallen sharply in Hong Kong amid the city’s COVID-19 quarantine restrictions. Passenger volumes have plummeted, with 18 times fewer passengers arriving in Hong Kong via the airport this summer — just over two million per month in July and August 2022 — compared with pre-pandemic figures. People lie in hospital beds with night-time temperatures falling outside the Caritas Medical Centre in Hong Kong on Feb. 16, 2022, as hospitals become overwhelmed with the city facing its worst COVID-19 wave to date. Credit: AFP Losing to Singapore Lee said the recent easing of quarantine requirements for inbound passengers was unlikely to improve things. “With regard to tourists, people won’t come unless they have to for business, because they have a lot of choices for leisure travel,” he said. “Why would they come to Hong Kong? They would only come if they like Hong Kong a lot.” While the government recently eased restrictions in a bid to kickstart the city’s flagging economy, the number of flights arriving in the city is still far lower than those destined for Singapore, which lifted quarantine requirements for arrivals in April. We counted 61 flights arriving at Hong Kong International Airport on Aug.12, compared with 289 flights arriving at Singapore’s Changi Airport, nearly five times as many. The Singapore Tourism Board estimates between four and six million visitors will arrive in the city this year for tourism purposes, with 543,000 inbound tourists in June compared with 418,000 in May, and the figures have been rising for five months in a row. Lee said Hong Kong’s COVID-19 policy had hit its status as an international aviation hub, and the city would struggle to catch up with its main competitor. “It is a short-term phenomenon, but other places returned to normal six months ago,” Lee said. He said the development would likely mean people get out of the habit of booking flights routed through the city. Translated and edited by Luisetta Mudie.

Police in China’s Chengdu raid Sunday meeting of banned church members, detain one

Editor2 years ago08 mins

Authorities in the southwestern Chinese province of Sichuan have once more raided a gathering of Early Rain Covenant Church members in the the provincial capital, Chengdu, detaining one of them, RFA has learned. Christian writer and translator Xing Hongwei was detained in Chengdu on Sunday after a teahouse gathering of church members was raided by around 30 uniformed officers and plainclothes state security police, church members said on Monday. The group of more than 50 church members was accused of holding an “illegal gathering” at a teahouse in Chengdu’s Wuhou district, and Xing was detained for allegedly “assaulting a police officer,” and is being held in criminal detention, they said. While the church’s premises were raided and forcible shut down during police raids in December 2018, the authorities have continued to target the church’s members, amid tightened restrictions on religious groups in recent years under ruling Chinese Communist Party (CCP) leader Xi Jinping. A church member surnamed Wang who was at the teahouse said police surrounded the group and took their personal details including ID card numbers, one by one. “About 50 brothers and sisters attended,” Wang said. “At around 10.30 a.m., about 22 or 23 uniformed police officers and about eight or nine plainclothes police surrounded us.” “They surrounded us in two circles; one circle around our group, and another around the entire [teahouse] courtyard,” he said. A second church member who declined to be named said the raid was led by the state security police chief for Wuhou district, who said the Chengdu police department was taking a “zero tolerance” approach to the gathering. Early Rain Covenant Church pastor Wang Yi and his wife are shown in an undated photo. Credit: Early Rain Covenant Church Violent police response Officers said the church was an “illegal organization,” that had already been banned, the church member said. “Brother Xing’s wife Zhao Qing and their daughter came yesterday, while he waited for them outside [due to ill-health],” the church member said. “The police went out to check his ID card too, and he asked them why he was being pulled into this as he wasn’t even at the meeting.” Xing’s questioning of the police was met with a violent response. “The police hit Xing Hongwei because he was unwilling to cooperate when asked for his personal details, and then there was a physical altercation,” a church member surnamed Li told RFA. “The police pushed Xing Hongwei to the ground saying he had assaulted a police officer and took him away,” Li said. “We later heard that Xing Hongwei had been detained on suspicion of assaulting a police officer.” Xing was taken to a different police station from the local one, and hadn’t emerged by 11.00 p.m. on Sunday. An employee who answered the phone at the Jitou police station in Wuhou district hung up the phone when contacted by RFA on Monday. Bob Fu, president of the U.S.-based Christian rights group ChinaAid, said the police raid had deprived the Early Rain church members of their religious rights. “Chengdu Early Rain Covenant Church was founded by Pastor Wang Yi, who gave a sermon from the pulpit calling on Xi Jinping to stop violating the Chinese constitution with the crackdown on religious freedom,” Fu said. “This raid on the Early Rain Sunday meeting was yet another serious form of persecution,” he said. Dangerous foreign import Wang Yi was jailed on Dec. 30, 2019 by the Chengdu Intermediate People’s Court, which found him guilty of “incitement to subvert state power” and of “running an illegal business” in a secret trial. Wang was detained by police in Sichuan’s provincial capital Chengdu on Dec. 14, 2018, alongside dozens of church members in a raid that prompted an international outcry. Some Early Rain Covenant Church members who were detained in raids on Dec. 9 and 10, 2018, and later released said the police had beaten them, and one detainee described being tied to a chair and deprived of water and food for 24 hours, rights groups reported at the time. The CCP under general secretary Xi regards Christianity as a dangerous foreign import, with party documents warning against the “infiltration of Western hostile forces” in the form of religion. The party, which embraces atheism, exercises tight controls over any form of religious practice among its citizens. State security police and religious affairs bureau officials frequently raid unofficial “house churches” that aren’t members of the CCP-backed Three-Self Patriotic Association, although member churches have also been targeted at times. China is home to an estimated 68 million Protestants, of whom 23 million worship in state-affiliated churches under the aegis of the Three-Self Patriotic Association, and some nine million Catholics, the majority of whom are in state-sponsored organizations. Translated and edited by Luisetta Mudie.

Four local fighters shot dead in Sagaing region’s Tabayin township

Editor2 years ago03 mins

Junta forces arrested five members of the People’s Defense Forces (PDFs) in Myanmar’s Sagaing region. They shot four of them, while the other is still missing, residents told RFA. Three of the dead were named as Zaw Oo, Khing Lin and Min Than, according to locals. The other man was not identified. They were shot by troops in Hpoke Tan Taw village. A local resident, who declined to be named for security reasons, told RFA a military column with nearly a hundred soldiers has been stationed in Hpoke Tan Taw village since last Tuesday. They arrested the PDF members who snuck into the village to assess the situation on Saturday evening “The four people who were shot were hit in their head and their heads were crushed. They were heavily tortured and finally shot in the mouth. When we entered the village this morning, we found dead bodies next to the entrance of the Shwe Gu Gyi pagoda. The four who died are estimated to be aged between 18 and 25,” a local told RFA. This morning, he said the military convoy returned to two villages northwest of Hpoke Tan Taw causing hundreds of residents to flee. More than 800 residents of Hpoke Tan Taw village, which as nearly 300 houses, fled to nearby villages and forests in the past week according to residents. RFA has not been able to independently verify the locals claims. Military columns with hundreds of soldiers have entered villages in Tabayin township since August 2, and arrested more than 50 residents, locals said.

Month: August 2022