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Year: 2022

North Korean soldiers spread COVID-19 during April 25 military parade

Editor06 mins

A massive military parade in North Korea has been identified as a COVID-19 super-spreader event, after several servicemen who marched in it tested positive for the virus, sources in the country told RFA. Held on April 25 to commemorate the guerilla operation  that started 90 years ago and grew into the country’s military, the parade brought together about 20,000 soldiers. At the time, North Korea was still claiming that it was 100% “virus free.” This week, Pyongyang finally confirmed its first cases of COVID-19 and at least one death from the disease. The country’s leader, Kim Jong Un, has since declared a “maximum emergency epidemic prevention system” is in effect.  Several soldiers stationed as border guards in the border city of Sinuiju, which lies across the Yalu River from China, began exhibiting symptoms of COVID-19 at the beginning of this month, a border security official in the northwestern province of North Pyongan told RFA’s Korean Service on condition of anonymity for security reasons. “They had high fevers and acute respiratory symptoms … and after testing by the health authorities, it was confirmed that they were infected with the Omicron variant,” the source said. “Most of the ones who tested positive are officers and soldiers who took part in the military parade …  on April 25. The health authorities reported the incident to the national emergency quarantine command, who in turn sent it in as a No. 1 report,” he said, referring to communications of the highest level, sent across the desk Kim Jong Un. The revelation that the border guards could have contracted the virus at the parade and may have spread it to others upon their return led authorities in North Pyongan to declare a state of emergency. “As a result, the border area has been further sealed up and traffic between the border guard units has been suspended,” the source said. “Soldiers in each battalion, company and platoon cannot enter or exit the barracks, and movement restrictions are in place to prevent even a single solder from joining or leaving a unit. They are even prohibiting private conversations between soldiers within the same unit,” he said. Another border security official, in nearby Uiju county, told RFA that soldiers there have been ordered to wear gas masks to prevent the virus from spreading. “No one is allowed to go outside the unit barracks except the soldiers on duty in outposts who work in shifts,” said the second source, who requested anonymity to speak freely. “The number of confirmed cases among the border guard soldiers stationed in Uiju County has been increasing since early this month,” he said. “Most of the sick soldiers took part in the military parade to commemorate the 90th anniversary of the founding of the Korean People’s Revolutionary Army in Pyongyang on April 25th.” If the soldiers indeed caught the virus during the parade, then it could have spread to all branches of the military in every part of the country, the second source said. “The military parade mobilized a large number of personnel. Not only the border guards, but also officers and soldiers selected from the army and marines, navy, and air force across the country participated. Therefore, it should be considered that the coronavirus has spread to every military base everywhere,” the second source said. “The authorities quickly … started up the maximum emergency quarantine system nationwide and began locking everything down,” he said. “But it is already too late.” Sources told RFA that people are angry an event purely for propaganda purposes may be the source widespread illness. According to a North Korean state media report on Friday, there are currently 187,800 people in quarantine in North Korea, and six people have died after showing COVID-19 symptoms. One of the dead was confirmed to be infected by the omicron variant of COVID-19. Translated by Leejin J. Chung. Written in English by Eugene Whong.

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Rights groups press UN ahead of trip to Xinjiang as detention camp list emerges

Editor011 mins

About 20 Uyghur, Tibetan and international human rights groups protested outside the United Nations compound in Geneva on Friday, calling on the U.N. human rights chief to release her report on abuses in Xinjiang and to consult internment camps survivors and other Chinese exiles ahead of her planned visit to China’s western region. The latest of numerous rallies by Uyghurs, Tibetans and other subjects of Chinese repression ahead an expected May visit by Michelle Bachelet, the U.N.’s high commissioner for human rights, came a day after the release on Thursday of a suspected police list with the names of more than 10,000 allegedly detained Uyghurs from one county in Xinjiang. Bachelet, a former Chilean president, is expected to visit the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region among other places in China this month, though the dates have yet to be disclosed. Bachelet first announced that her office sought an unfettered access to Xinjiang in September 2018, shortly after she took over her current role. But the trip has been delayed over questions about her freedom of movement through the region. “As the high commissioner and her team are preparing for a visit to East Turkistan, three and a half years after ‘unfettered access’ was requested, Uyghurs, Tibetans, Hong Kongers and other groups remain deeply concerned about the lack of transparency surrounding the terms of the visit, as well as the incomprehensible delay in publishing the high commissioner’s long-awaited report,” said a May 10 statement issued by the World Uyghur Congress, one of the groups that participated in the protest. During the protest, Uyghur groups sought to deliver a letter to the Office of the High Commissioner on Human Rights (OHCHR), specifying their demands for a credible visit, WUC said. “Today, we haven’t come before the U.N. to beg High Commissioner Michelle Bachelet,” said WUC president Dolkun Isa. “We have come here to hold her accountable. We have come here to remind her of her solemn duty. She has the inescapable duty to stop China’s genocide against Uyghurs.” China is accused of having incarcerated 1.8 million Uyghurs in mass detention camps. The United States and the legislatures of several Western countries have found that China’s mistreatment of the Uyghurs and other Muslim minorities in Xinjiang constitute genocide and crimes against humanity. China angrily rejects all such claims as politically motivated attacks on its security and development policies in the vast western region. Beijing has called for a “friendly” visit by the U.N. rights official, the kind that rights experts fear would help China whitewash the situation. ‘Fabricating malicious lies’ In a report to Congress, the U.S. State Department said it will increase pressure on Beijing over China’s maltreatment of the Uyghurs and other Turkic minorities in Xinjiang by raising concerns during meetings with other nations, multilateral institutions and the private sector, Bloomberg reported on Thursday. In response to a question about the report, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Zhao Lijian repeated his government’s contention that “the allegation of ‘genocide’ in Xinjiang is nothing but the lie of the century concocted by some people in the U.S. in total disregard of facts.” “The international community has a fair judgment as to who is truly guilty of genocide,” he said. “The U.S. also knows the answer very well itself. We hope the U.S. will do some earnest soul-searching regarding the 500,000 child laborers working on American farms and all those Native American lives lost to genocide over the past decades. We also urge the U.S. to stop meddling in China’s internal affairs and put an end to its sinister agenda of containing China by fabricating malicious lies.” Uyghur groups, international organizations and lawmakers attended a three-day conference this week in Brussels, where they discussed ways for governments and companies in the EU to avoid purchasing products made by Uyghur forced labor. The European Commission will consider draft legislation to restrict the entry of forced-labor goods into European markets in September. U.S. lawmakers last year banned imports from Xinjiang unless they are certified as not having been made with forced labor. The act will be implemented in June. ‘High time’ For Uyghurs living abroad, the release on Thursday of a suspected police list with the names of more than 10,000 allegedly detained Uyghurs from Xinjiang’s Kashgar Kona Sheher (Shufu) county underscores the importance of Bachelet’s upcoming visit. The list, which also contains birthdates, ethnicities, ID numbers, addresses, sentence lengths and prison locations of the Uyghurs, was obtained by authorities in Turkey, Agence France-Presse reported Thursday. AFP said it is not been possible to independently verify the authenticity of the database. Nursiman Abdureshid on Friday told RFA that she discovered that her brother, Mamateli Abdureshid, had been sentenced to nearly 16 years in prison in Xinjiang from information on the leaked list. Nursiman, who is from Saybagh village in Kashgar Kona Sheher’s Shor township, now lives in Turkey with her family. She is also the sister of an RFA reporter. Nursiman said she lost contact with Mamateli in June 2017, the year that China stepped up its crackdown on Uyghurs. “I learned about the imprisonment of my brother in Aksu (in Chinese, Akesu) from this list,” she said. “The reason for his sentencing, the length of the sentence, his home address and ID are listed on it.” Mamateli was charged with “disrupting social stability” and “potential to join terrorist activities,” the same reasons the Chinese Embassy in Ankara gave her in 2020, Nursiman said. “I asked for the reason for his sentence, whether there was a trial, and where he was imprisoned, but got no response,” she said. More than 100 people on the list are from the same township, said Nursiman, who identified seven people she knew. “The genocide has been ongoing for the last five years,” she said. “The U.N. has failed to hold China accountable in spite of the recognition of the Uyghur genocide by the U.S.-led Western democracies, preponderance of evidence of genocide, testimonies of camp survivors and many lists of Uyghurs being…

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27 charred bodies discovered in Sagaing after Myanmar junta’s latest arson attack

Editor03 mins

Villagers found 27 charred bodies inside burnt homes yesterday in northwestern Myanmar’s Sagaing region, where the ruling military junta has for months conducted an arson campaign targeting rural villages, burning hundreds of homes, and leaving thousands displaced.  The villagers told RFA that the bodies were found in the Mon Dai Pin and Inbin villages of Ye Oo township. While there was no fighting in their area, the villagers said, soldiers arrived during a military operation and spent a night in the village.  “Most of the villagers fled to safety, [but] some were unable to escape,” one villager said. RFA has not been able to confirm the incident and attempts to contact junta spokesperson Maj. Gen. Zaw Min Tun went unanswered.  A military column from nearby Taze township raided Mon Dai Pin on May 9 and set fire to about 30 houses, villagers said.  In addition to the charred bodies, villagers said three monks from the village monastery were taken away by the military. Of the 27 bodies, 17 were found in Mon Dai Pin and the other 10 were found in Inbin.  Some of the bodies were found on the street, and villagers said some of them had gunshot wounds. The victims were identified as local residents in their 40s. The villagers said that since the fire has not fully died down, they could not search all the homes. RFA previously reported on the junta’s burning of 500 homes in Sagaing in only three days, with the military cutting off internet access in 27 of the region’s 37 townships in early March. The information blackout has left villagers in the dark about the campaign as the military moves from village to village in a crackdown on opponents of its Feb. 1, 2021 coup.  Soldiers had destroyed around 200 and 70 homes in Mingin’s Thanbauk and Zinkale villages, respectively, on April 25, some 220 homes in Khin Oo’s Thanboh village the following day, and an unconfirmed number of homes in Shwebo’s Malar and Makhauk villages on the evening of April 27, RFA’s investigation found.

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Bridge in disputed territory between China and India sparks concern

Editor06 mins

A bridge being built by China across Pangong Lake in a disputed section of northwest India could further inflame tensions between the two countries, experts on the border dispute said. The bridge, which spans about 500 meters (1,640 feet), is situated south of a position occupied by China’s People’s Liberation Army (PLA) on the north bank of the lake in Ladakh, an area that India contends China has illegally occupied since 1962. The area has been the site of clashes between the countries, as has the so-called Line of Actual Control in eastern Ladakh that separates Indian-controlled territory from Chinese-controlled territory. The bridge will cut the travel distance between the PLA position and a military base in Rutog (in Chinese, Ritu) county, Ngari prefecture, in far-western Tibet Autonomous Region by about 150 kilometers (93 miles), making it easier for Chinese troops to counter Indian forces if future flare-ups arise. A black dot marks the site of the new bridge over Pangong Lake on the border with India and China. Credit: RFA graphic/Datawrapper In January, geo-intelligence expert Damien Symon first used satellite imagery to show that China was building a bridge across Pangong Lake the eastern Ladakh territory it controls. Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Wang Wenbin that month said the construction would safeguard China’s security. “China building bridge over Pangong Lake is a key area for the Indian border,” said Brahma Chellaney, a professor of strategic studies at the Centre for Policy Research in New Delhi. “Despite land agreements between the two, China has been carrying out military activities in the border area. The bridge will make it easier for Chinese troops to access the region.” Sana Hashmi, a visiting fellow at the Taiwan-Asia Exchange Foundation in Taipei whose research focuses on China’s foreign policy and territorial disputes, said that the border dispute will be at the forefront of China-India relations going forward. “This only shows that China has no real intention of resolving the dispute and that the tensions are only going to grow,” she told RFA in a written statement. India is responding to the bridge construction by boosting its defense capabilities and seeking cooperation with like-minded countries, Sana Hashmi said. This satellite image with a detail inset shows China’s bridge over Pangong Lake on the border with India and China, April 24, 2022. Credit: EO Browser, Sinergise Ltd. Kunchok Tenzin, a councilor from the Pangong Lake area, said the bridge’s construction has raised concern among locals, who fear they could be hurt if a clash between India and China breaks out. “The Indian government should make the development of border areas a priority and ensure the safety of the local residents,” he said. Monk Kunchok Rigchok from Pangong Monastery said that people know the bridge may pose a threat in the future. “Though there is no fear as we have lived here our whole lives, but the Indian government must remain on alert because China has illegally occupied land in the region,” he said. “They may target our place soon.” Tenzin Lhundup, a Pangong Lake resident who lives by the border, said he was born in the area and intends to live there until he dies. “We are not scared of the Chinese, as they have been visiting this area even during the pandemic lockdown,” he said. Translated by Tenzin Dickyi for RFA’s Tibetan Service. Written in English by Roseanne Gerin.

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Economics and hotspots Myanmar and Ukraine on agenda of US-ASEAN Summit final day

Editor011 mins

Vice President Kamala Harris offered Southeast Asian leaders maritime security assistance to address “threats to international rules and norms” as the top U.S. diplomat sought deeper ties with regional heavyweight Indonesia and budding partner Vietnam on Friday, the final day of a U.S.-ASEAN Special Summit. Hosting the leaders of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations for a working lunch, Harris stressed the security concerns many of the countries share over aggressive Chinese actions in the South China Sea, where several of the 10 ASEAN states have territorial disputes with Beijing. “Our administration recognizes the vital strategic importance of your region, a role that will only grow with time. And we recognize ASEAN’s centrality in the region’s architecture,” she told the gathering at the State Department in Washington. “As an Indo-Pacific nation, the United States will be present and continue to be engaged in Southeast Asia for generations to come,” Harris said, adding that with a shared vision for the region, “together we will guard against threats to international rules and norms.” “We stand with our allies and partners in defending the maritime rules-based order which includes freedom of navigation and international law,” she said, without mentioning China. To underscore U.S. commitment, Harris said the U.S. will provide $60 million in new regional maritime security assistance led by the U.S. Coast Guard, and will deploy a cutter as a training platform and will send technical experts to help build capacity in the region. That offer followed President Joe Biden commitment at the summit’s opening dinner Thursday to spend U.S. $150 million on COVID-19 prevention, security, and infrastructure in Southeast Asia as part of a package his administration hopes will counter China’s extensive influence in the region. A U.S. Coast Guard ship will also be deployed to the region to patrol waters ASEAN nations say are illegally fished by Chinese vessels. In bilateral meetings Friday with Indonesia and Vietnam, ASEAN’s most populous nations, Secretary of State Antony Blinken stressed deepening partnership in security and stronger economic ties. The second U.S.-ASEAN summit to be held in the United States, following an inaugural gathering in California in 2016, “puts an emphasis on the great importance that we attach, the United States attaches to ASEAN, our relationship, ASEAN centrality,” Blinken told Indonesian Foreign Minister Retno Marsudi. “We are working together across the board to advance a shared vision of a free and open Indo-Pacific region.  We’re working to strengthen economic ties among countries in the region,” he said at the State Department. U.S. President Joe Biden (L) and leaders from the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) arrive for a group photo on the South Lawn of the White House in Washington, DC, May 12, 2022. Credit: AFP. ‘Dreadful humanitarian crisis’ in Ukraine Retno welcomed “intensified communication and cooperation between our two countries,” and said “we should use this strategic partnership also to contribute to the peace, stability, and prosperity in the Indo-Pacific.” Departing with a general reticence about discussing the war in Ukraine among of ASEAN states–which include Russia-friendly Laos, Myanmar and Vietnam–the Indonesia minister said: “Our hope is to see the war in Ukraine stop as soon as possible.” Retro’s remarks echoed those made to U.S. lawmakers Thursday by Indonesia’s President Joko Widodo, who noted the Ukraine war’s impact on the global economy, including food and energy price surges. “The Ukrainian war has led to a dreadful humanitarian crisis that affects the global economy,” he said, according to remarks released by his cabinet. Blinken told Vietnamese Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh that Washington and Hanoi are “now the strongest of partners, with a shared vision for security in the region we share and for the strongest possible economic ties.” The crisis following the February 2021 military coup in Myanmar, which was a top focus of Thursday’s meetings on the sidelines of the ASEAN summit, was at the fore of Blinken’s meeting with Cambodia Foreign Minister Prak Sokhonn, who also serves as ASEAN’s special envoy to Myanmar. “We’re working very closely together as partners to try to advance a shared vision for the region, including regional security,” said Blinken. Cambodia is this year’s rotating ASEAN chair. “And of course, we welcome the leadership role that you’re playing at ASEAN on a number of issues, including hopefully working to restore the democratic path of Myanmar,” Blinken added. Absent but high on the agenda Myanmar was one of only two ASEAN countries whose rulers were not at the summit. The Philippines is being represented by its foreign minister as it wraps up a presidential election this week, while Myanmar’s junta chief, Senior Gen. Min Aung Hlaing, was barred from the summit amid a brutal crackdown on opponents of his military regime that rights groups say has claimed the lives of at least 1,835 civilians. While absent in Washington, the country the U.S. still officially calls Burma was much on the agenda of its fellow ASEAN members Thursday. Malaysian Foreign Minister Saifuddin Abdullah called out junta officials in a series of tweets for failing to honor their commitment to end violence in the country, while U.S. Deputy Secretary of State Wendy Sherman held a meeting with Zin Mar Aung, the foreign minister of the shadow National Unity Government in Myanmar. “The deputy secretary highlighted that the United States would continue to work closely with ASEAN and other partners in pressing for a just and peaceful resolution to the crisis in Burma,” according to a statement by State Department spokesperson Ned Price. “They also condemned the escalating regime violence that has led to a humanitarian crisis and called for unhindered humanitarian access to assist all those in need in Burma.” In Naypyidaw, RFA’s Myanmar Service asked military junta spokesman Maj Gen Zaw Min Tun for comments but he did not respond. But the head of a think tank made up of former military officers who often reflects the regime’s hardline views called the U.S. meeting with the parallel administration “unethical.” “To put it bluntly, it’s an unethical act…

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Chinese censors go after ‘last generation’ references on social media platforms

Editor08 mins

Censors backed by the ruling Chinese Communist Party (CCP) have deleted references to a viral video that spawned the “last generation” meme, which emerged as a form of protest over ongoing lockdowns, mass incarcerations and compulsory testing under its zero-COVID policy. In the video, PPE-clad police officials turn up outside someone’s apartment and tries to force them to go to an isolation camp even though he had recently tested negative for coronovirus. “We’re negative. You have no right to take us away,” the man says, before a police officer steps forward wagging a finger and says: “You know that we will punish you, right? And when that happens, it will have a bad effect on your family for three generations.” “Sorry. We’re the last generation,” the man replies in the video which began circulating on Chinese social media platforms from May 11, garnering huge numbers of views and comments. Searches for the video or the keywords “last generation” yielded no results on Thursday. The meme has apparently fed in to a culture of passive resistance begun with the “lying down” movement of 2021. Some have joked online that the era from 1966 onwards was all about the innocence of revolution and justified rebellion, while the 1989 pro-democracy movement felt it was their “duty” to protest. By contrast, the youth of 2022 are shutting up shop before their lives have properly begun, by referring to themselves as the “last generation.” A related meme talks about the study of “run,” a Chinese character that echoes the English word “run,” meaning finding ways to leave the country. The memes come at a time when the CCP is hoping to get people to have more children amid concerns over a rapidly aging and dwindling population. But even before the “last generation” meme emerged, Shanghai officials had announced that the city’s birth rate fell below the rate of 1 needed for the population to replace itself, to just 0.73. Anger over zero-COVID policies Ye Yaoyuan, head of the Department of International Studies and Contemporary Linguistics at St. Thomas in the United States, said the phrase highlights huge popular anger over the zero-COVID policies, likening it to a pressure cooker. “In the years between 1989 to 2022, the CCP has developed an incomparable array of tools for controlling the population,” Ye told RFA. “They are now trying to monitor [public opinion] because they fear the emergence of collective action and resistance” “Back in 1989 [before the mass pro-democracy movement on Tiananmen Square and across China], they didn’t actually have that capability.” The stated refusal to toe the line and produce another generation is a deep and disturbing form of dissent for the CCP and leader Xi Jinping, who wants to project an image of self-confidence in China’s authoritarian form of government, in a bid to show the world its superiority over Western-style liberal democracy. Xi has also presided over a blanket ban on private tuition and other measures aimed at making child-rearing less stressful and expensive for parents, while his government has raised the maximum number of children per couple from two to three. Yi Fuxian, a researcher at the University of Wisconsin who follows China’s population policy and family planning controls, said prosperity is a key driver of birth rates. “What the government should do is create a better environment and lifestyle, so that people are willing to have children,” Yi told RFA. “This is the government’s obligation and responsibility.” ‘You can’t stop them at all’ A man who gave only the surname Chen said he understood the feelings of powerless engendered by the Shanghai lockdown, saying he too is fighting to remain in his hotel quarantine room, despite testing negative for COVID-19. Chen said he wants to save his cat 14sky from being bludgeoned to death or poisoned by officials if he is forced to go to an isolation camp. “These people who have power can do any crazy thing they want, and you can’t stop them at all,” Chen said, adding that he plans to stay single with his cat. “No matter what you do, you will have a strong sense of powerlessness, because you have no control over anything,” Chen said. “Sometimes you just want to be a person. It’s very difficult, very desperate.” Ming Juzheng, an honorary professor of politics at National Taiwan University, said the CCP likely fears that if it relaxes restrictions now, there will be a resurgence of COVID-19 just in time for the 20th party congress later this year. “This would be an unacceptable challenge [for Xi], whose entire ideological line would be thrown into question, and his regime overthrown,” Ming said. He added: “The CCP has a pathological attachment to power.” Taiwan political commentator Ren Sung-lin said the zero-COVID policy more of a political campaign than a public health policy, and the Shanghai lockdown is a part of Xi’s need to show he can bring the city — an internationally connected economic powerhouse — to heel. Translated and edited by Luisetta Mudie.

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In Myanmar, daily commute gets tougher

Editor01 mins

Residents of Dala, a township on the southern banks of Myanmar’s Yangon River, rely on an extensive ship and motorboat system to reach the country’s largest city, Yangon, on the other side of the water. More than 180,000 people live in Dala, and half of them commute to Yangon for work each day. But since the military seized power last year, the price of fuel has skyrocketed across the country, and people in the township are finding it difficult to afford the cost of the boat trips. Operators are also considering raising the price of the trips, which currently stands at 200 kyats, around $0.12 USD. Many residents have also lost their jobs in the city amid the economic downturn that has followed the coup and the COVID-19 pandemic.

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China slams planned US economic framework as Biden hosts SE Asian leaders

Editor011 mins

Beijing has slammed the U.S.-proposed Indo-Pacific Economic Framework (IPEF), calling it an attempt by Washington to lure Southeast Asian countries to “decouple from China.” U.S. President Joe Biden has been hosting a special two-day summit with leaders from the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) that ends Friday. At the summit, it’s expected that the U.S. will share more details of the framework, which is likely to get its official launch later this month when Biden visits South Korea and Japan. It’s not a free trade pact in the mold of the Trans-Pacific Partnership that the Obama administration championed and negotiated for years as part of its foreign policy ‘pivot’ to Asia, only to see the Trump administration ditch it. An iteration of the same deal was later adopted by other Pacific Rim nations. But the IPEF does seeks to foster ties with economic partners in the Indo-Pacific by setting trade rules and building a supply chain, without China. In the words of President Biden at the East Asia Summit last year, the IPEF involves “trade facilitation, standards for the digital economy and technology, supply chain resiliency, decarbonization and clean energy, infrastructure, worker standards, and other areas of shared interest.” On Thursday, Beijing warned Washington that the Asia-Pacific is “not a chessboard for geopolitical contest” and any regional cooperation framework should “follow the principle of respecting others’ sovereignty and non-interference in others’ internal affairs.” The Chinese Foreign Ministry’s spokesperson Zhao Lijian said China rejects “Cold War mentality” when it comes to regional groupings. The People’s Daily, the mouthpiece of China’s Communist Party, said in an editorial that the IPEF is designed to “make up for the shortcomings of Washington’s previous engagement with Southeast Asia, which focused only on security and ignored the economy.” “The U.S. holds profound political and strategic objectives aimed at forcing countries to decouple from China,” the paper quoted some analysts as saying. The gathering in Washington is the second U.S.-ASEAN special summit since 2016, when then-President Barack Obama hosted leaders of the bloc in Sunnylands, California. ASEAN leaders, minus Myanmar and the Philippines, attended a White House dinner with Biden on Thursday and met with a host of U.S. political and business leaders, but had no bilateral meetings with the U.S. president. Leaders were meeting with Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris on Friday at the State Department. There are 10 ASEAN member states but Myanmar’s junta was not invited to the summit and the Philippines, which held a presidential election last weekend, only sent its foreign minister. ASEAN’s cautiousness Singapore Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong was the first ASEAN leader to welcome the IPEF. Speaking at an engagement with the U.S.-ASEAN Business Council and the U.S. Chamber of Commerce on Thursday, Lee said that the IPEF “needs to be inclusive and provide tangible benefits to encourage wider participation.” “We encourage greater ASEAN participation in the IPEF and we hope the U.S. will directly invite and engage ASEAN member states in this endeavor,” he said. Singapore’s Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong listens to a translation of remarks during a meeting with ASEAN leaders and U.S. business representatives as part of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) U.S.-ASEAN Special Summit, in Washington, U.S., May 12, 2022. (REUTERS) At present, it’s understood that only two of the 10 ASEAN countries – Singapore and the Philippines – are expected to be among the initial group of counties to sign up for the negotiations under IPEF. “Most ASEAN members have remained hesitant to voice support for Biden’s IPEF, which is, to their perceptions, a counterweight against China’s Belt and Road Initiative in specific and Beijing’s economic coercion in general,” said Huynh Tam Sang, a lecturer at Ho Chi Minh City University of Social Sciences and Humanities (USSH) in Vietnam. “Given the economic proximity to China, ASEAN member states have sought to avoid provoking Beijing, let alone getting embedded in the Sino-U.S. competition,” Sang said. Yet judging from prepared statements and initial feedback from ASEAN leaders on the prospects of ASEAN-U.S. economic cooperation and the IPEF, “they do not only value the substance of the relationship but are eager to see it grow,” according to Thomas Daniel, a senior fellow at Malaysia’s Institute of Strategic and International Studies. “Unfortunately, Washington is still unable to fully grasp or address the desire in Southeast Asia for practical dimensions that will bring an immediate and tangible benefit to local economies and communities,” he said. On Thursday, Malaysian Prime Minister Ismail Sabri Yaakob urged the U.S. to adopt a more active trade and investment agenda with ASEAN countries. He pointed to the Chinese-backed Regional Economic Comprehensive Partnership, which took effect this year, as an important tool to invigorate regional business and economic activity through reduced trade barriers. Seeking to offer concrete benefits at the summit, Biden offered US$150 million for ASEAN infrastructure, security, pandemic preparedness and other efforts. More division in the bloc? Details of the IPEF remain vague but policymakers in Washington have said that they’re designing a framework to prioritize flexibility and inclusion, with a pick-and-choose arrangement for participating countries, allowing them to select the individual areas where they want to make more specific commitments. The IPEF looks to foster economic cooperation by establishing trade rules across “four pillars” – trade resiliency, infrastructure, decarbonization and anti-corruption. Containers sit stacked at the Manila North Harbour Port, Inc. in Manila, Philippines on Oct. 19, 2021. (AP Photo) An analysis by the Washington-based Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS) said while the IPEF holds promise, “it will need to be well engineered and managed.” “Wherever possible, the framework should seek to advance binding rules and hard commitments that go beyond broad principles and goals,” the CSIS said. At the same time, “the Biden administration will need to offer tangible benefits to regional partners, especially less-developed ones,” according to the analysis. There are warnings that the proposed framework, if not carefully considered, may even create a bigger gap between countries in the Southeast Asian…

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China sets up local law enforcement militias to boost ‘stability maintenance’

Editor08 mins

Judicial authorities across China are setting up “people’s legal struggle militias” to aid law enforcement, recruiting lawyers 18-45 “in good physical condition,” according to official notices posted online. A notice issued by bureaus of justice in Shanghai, Guangdong, Hubei and other locations said the militias would be formed in support of “our online forces.” “Plans are under way to set up legal struggle militia and report to the armed forces department of municipal government before the end of May,” the notice said. “We are recruiting … lawyers or paralegals from city law firms. Recruitment criteria: Aged 18-45 years old, in good physical condition. [Ruling] Chinese Communist Party (CCP) members, veterans preferred,” it said. Chinese criminal lawyer Mo Shaoping said he had never heard any mention of “legal struggle” in his career. “It seems like a coined expression; I’ve never heard it before,” Mo told RFA. “I haven’t seen any definition of ‘legal struggle’ in any legal dictionary.” Current affairs commentator Zha Jianguo said the use of the word “struggle,” which has roots in the political “struggle sessions” of the post-1949 era and the kangaroo courts of the Cultural Revolution (1966-1976), suggested a move away from the rule of law and judicial channels. “It means a kind of intense conflict and tension between people,” Zha said. “It’s a neologism, which means they want to fight, but to use the law as a weapon, but without any specific legal basis.” “It’s about cloaking artificial ‘struggles’ … in a legal veneer.” An angry Chinese (striped T-shirt) is heckled in Beijing by a plain-clothes militiaman (facing camera) while trying to roll out and paste his hand-written placard or dazibao on the “dazibao wall” in front of the Municipal Revolutionary Committee of Beijing, July 23, 1974. Credit: AFP Dangerous indicator Political scientist Guo Wenhao said the creation of militias is a dangerous indicator of what is to come, now that the power to “enforce the law” has been delegated beyond government departments and law enforcement agencies. China empowered local officials at township, village, and neighborhood level to enforce the law under an amended administrative punishment law that took effect in July 2021, as well as operating a vastly extended “grid management” system of social control in rural and urban areas alike. “[Officials at] township, village and neighborhood [level] shall be given administrative law enforcement powers … while existing law enforcement powers and resources shall be integrated,” according to a high-level opinion document dating from April, but not published by state news agency Xinhua until July 11. Government will be based on a “grid” system of management, a system of social control that harks back to imperial times, and which will allow the authorities even closer control over citizens’ lives, the opinion document issued jointly by the ruling Chinese Communist Party (CCP) central committee and the country’s State Council said. According to directives sent out in 2018, the grid system carves up neighborhoods into a grid pattern with 15-20 households per square, with each grid given a dedicated monitor who reports back on residents’ affairs to local committees. Neighborhood committees in China have long been tasked with monitoring the activities of ordinary people in urban areas, but the grid management system turbo-charges the capacity of officials even in rural areas to monitor what local people are doing, saying, and thinking. “Now that the power of law enforcement has been delegated to townships and sub-districts, and institutions without any legal knowledge or powers of law enforcement have been given the power to enforce the law, there will be widespread abuse of this power of law enforcement,” Guo said. “And such phenomena have a tendency to intensify.” Cultural Revolution enforcement style He said the militias suggest that China is indeed heading towards a Cultural Revolution enforcement style where the government no longer has a monopoly on political violence. “I get the impression that a completely absurd system has emerged, outside of traditional personnel structures,” Guo said. “The government allows them to do bad things, then they can deny [doing them].” Gansu scholar Zhang Ping said the militias will be under the command of local government militias, in a manner similar to the grassroots militias of the Cultural Revolution. “Granting the militia a lot of law enforcement power is tantamount to having an armed reserve outside of the military and police force, with greater freedom than the police or armed police,” Zhang told RFA. “This is to prevent a so-called popular revolt … it’s about social control.” A version of the directive issued by authorities in Gansu’s Pingliang city on April 28 said the plan aimed to “strengthen stability maintenance on a wartime footing” a nationwide system of surveillance and coercion that aims to prevent protests and petitions before they occur. Translated and edited by Luisetta Mudie.

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Czech venue pushes back against pressure from China to cancel Badiucao’s cartoons

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Organizers of an exhibition by dissident cartoonist Badiucao in the Czech Republic have refused to cancel the event despite pressure from the Chinese embassy, who said his work “slanders Chinese leaders and hurts the feelings of the Chinese people.” Badiucao’s exhibit, which is touring the world under the title “MADe IN CHINA,” opened as planned on Thursday at the DOX Contemporary Art Center in Prague It includes works referencing the 1989 Tiananmen massacre, the 2019 protest movement in Hong Kong, Chinese support for the Russian invasion of Ukraine, the Chinese Communist Party (CCP)’s genocidal policies targeting Uyghurs and the ongoing COVID-19 lockdowns under CCP leader Xi Jinping’s zero-COVID policy. One work merges the faces of Xi and outgoing Hong Kong leader Carrie Lam, to express the erosion of Hong Kong’s freedoms under the CCP, while another merges Xi’s face with that of Russian president Vladimir Putin, the first work visitors see entering the exhibit. The works have clearly ruffled feathers in Beijing. On the afternoon of May 11, DOX Contemporary Art Center project director Michaela Šilpochová suddenly received a call from Hao Hong, a cultural affairs department official at the Chinese embassy, to her private cell phone. Hao Hong said they were calling on the order of the Chinese embassy, and accused Badiucao’s work of “smearing the image of China’s leaders” and “hurting the feelings of the Chinese people” and warned that the exhibition would “destroy the relationship between the two countries.” Šilpochová responded that the center wouldn’t cancel the show, with DOX Contemporary Art Center chief Leoš Válka saying that the Chinese embassy had tried to put pressure on him in the past, and his lack of cooperation was likely why they hadn’t called him again. He said DOX Art Center refused to tolerate “intimidation and threats.” Hao Hong confirmed she had made the call when contacted by RFA. “I expressed serious concern about this exhibition on behalf of the embassy, and told Šilpochová that they shouldn’t be putting on an exhibition that hurts the feelings of the Chinese people,” Hao said. “I heard that this exhibition had already been held in Italy, so we knew the content of this exhibition.” “So we just had to express our opposition,” she said, accusing Badiucao of using politics to attract attention to himself. “Do artists have to express their political views and become famous by hurting this country and its leaders? I think it may be in order to attract the attention of people who are less friendly to China, and to use art to achieve a political goal,” Hao told RFA. Badiucao said he was no stranger to Beijing’s ire. “The Chinese government regards all criticisms as smears,” he told RFA. “But all that stuff about hurt feelings and smears is just a pretext for them to avoid criticism and oversight.” “My exhibition criticizes the Chinese government, and also praises the resistance of Chinese people faced with political dilemmas,” he said, citing late whistleblowing doctor Li Wenliang and late Nobel Peace laureate Liu Xiaobo. “I am a Chinese person myself, and I have never discriminated against Chinese people or wanted to hurt the Chinese people’s feelings,” he said. “But this government doesn’t represent the people or speak for them, because it’s not democratically elected.” He said politics and art mix well together. “Art should intervene in politics,” he said. “I would rather a society where art interferes in politics than one where politics interferes with art.” He hit out at the attempts by the CCP to silence him overseas. “Stifling expression, censorship, and threats against artists are ridiculous in a democratic country,” Badiucao said. “The Czechs once also lived in an authoritarian society, and the memory of being censored is very strong for them. In doing this, the Chinese government is reactivating painful memories of their history,” He said the exhibit was more likely to encourage more people to understand contemporary China, and arouse empathy for the Chinese people, than to smear China. Zhou Fengsuo, chairman of Humanitarian China, was present during the phone call between Hao and Šilpochová. “The Chinese embassy in the Czech Republic had a strong response, saying that it would endanger the relationship between China and the Czech Republic,” he said. “I heard the same thing when a statue of Liu Xiaobo was erected here three years ago.” “On the one hand it is ridiculous, on the other hand it is hateful. The CCP is afraid of Badiucao’s work and tries to silence opposition anywhere in the world … but the Czech Republic has a tradition of supporting free expression and opposing authoritarian rule.” Known as “China’s Banksy, Badiucao, 36, emigrated to Australia in 2009, where he has continued to produce political cartoons taking aim at the CCP’s human rights record. Translated and edited by Luisetta Mudie.

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