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Year: 2024

Chinese police harass family members of US-based content creators

Editor07 mins

Chinese authorities are stepping up pressure on the family members of U.S.-based YouTubers and other creative professionals in a bid to censor the content they make on American soil, according to recent video statements and interviews. “I really never imagined the police would come after me because I migrated along with my entire family,” YouTuber Qiqi, who goes by one name, said in a video posted to her channel on April 25. “But now the police have gone and gotten in touch with relatives on my mother’s side of the family.” “They couldn’t get a hold of me, so they went after my mother instead, which is the same thing,” she said, adding that the order to find her relatives had come down from the provincial level of government. “I’m not going to say exactly who because the police are probably watching this.” Qiqi’s video comes amid growing concern over Beijing’s “long-arm” law enforcement targeting overseas activists and students, as well as YouTubers who post content that is critical of the Chinese Communist Party and its leader Xi Jinping. “They kept calling my mother in the middle of the night, harassing her, calling again and again,” Qiqi said. She said the police — who want her to shut down her YouTube channel and delete all of her videos — needn’t bother calling any more. A cyclist prepares to be checked by police officers at a checkpoint near Tiananmen Square in Beijing, June 4, 2020. (Ng Han Guan/AP) “A big part of the reason I left China was that I wouldn’t be able to speak freely until I got out,” she said. “So why do you think I’ll listen when you try to pursue me overseas?” Repeated attempts to contact Qiqi online went unanswered by the time of writing. Common problem Veteran U.S.-based journalist and YouTuber Wang Jian said the Chinese authorities often pursue and harass Chinese migrants overseas, or put pressure on their relatives back home. “Actually, it’s not just YouTubers, but journalists, dissidents, human rights lawyers and anyone critical of the Chinese authorities have this problem,” Wang said. “But YouTubers are more likely to get to the critical point where someone [in the Chinese government] feels hurt by what they do.” He said the aim in contacting people’s relatives was to show them that they aren’t free from possible reprisals, even if they live overseas. A woman looks at a propaganda cartoon warning local residents about foreign spies, in an alley in Beijing on May 23, 2017. (Greg Baker/AFP) “[It means] you have a weakness, so be careful what you say,” Wang said. “You can’t express your thoughts freely — the Communist Party has been doing this since it was founded.” One of the videos police wanted Qiqi to take down was a Jan. 14 upload in which she discussed whether President Xi Jinping really would give the order to invade Taiwan. Complaints from people operating as part of Beijing’s United Front overseas influence campaign are believed to have been behind the removal of at least two satirical YouTube channels taking aim at Xi in recent years. ‘Drink tea’ Meanwhile, a group of rights activists who are currently making a small-budget satirical film taking aim at the Chinese government in Los Angeles said police back in China have hauled in a number of their family members back home to “drink tea,” a euphemism for questioning or a dressing-down. Wang Han, who is directing the movie “The Emperor Vs. the Three Evils,” said the police had managed to track down family members of all of the crew. “The police kept on calling the home of [one actor], telling [his parents] not to let him take part in this,” Wang said. “The police keep trying to contact me as well.” Wang said freedom of expression should be a universal human right that he and the rest of the crew aren’t willing to let go, however. “People in China should have the right to express themselves freely, but if we can’t do that in China, then at least we should get to do that in the United States,” he said. Translated by Luisetta Mudie. Edited by Malcolm Foster.

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Episode 6: Songs, (alleged) spies, and the curious case of Wang Shujun

Editor04 mins

“It’s go time!” says Amy as she tries her best impression of Eugene to start off the show. Podcast Free Asia We answered our first listener comment from a youtube user who took issue with our account of an Asia Fact Check Lab story about U.S. President Jimmy Carter discussing the One China policy, which recognizes China but only acknowledges China’s stance on Taiwan. This was way back in episode 1! We welcome all feedback, even negative feedback… and of course, we made our rebuttal. The Rundown This episode’s rundown was music themed! The Vietnamese Service reported about Vietnamese pop singer Dam Vinh Hung, who got in hot water for wearing a military-themed costume accentuated with medals that looked like those issued by the South Vietnamese during the Vietnam War, the faction that lost and was considered the enemy of the faction that won and set up the current government. Hung revealed that the medal in question had the words “HIGH QUALITY GARMENT” on it and therefore was obviously not a replica of any South Vietnamese medal, but another medal he wore said “Marine Semper Fi,” which is the motto of the U.S. Marines. Whoops. Hung did however say that he would never wear this costume again, so as not to offend anyone. The Korean Service reported about a new music video in North Korea that praises leader Kim Jong Un as the country’s “Friendly Father.”  Eugene revealed that he is a stan of the vocalist Kim Ryu Kyong, even if she is singing an over the top propaganda song. The video is also over the top with so many dolled-up apparently average North Koreans singing Kim’s praises that it has entertainment value for reasons its makers perhaps did not anticipate. Another interesting aspect of the video is that it contains some expensive musical instruments and equipment that may be violations of sanctions. So it is possible that part of the purpose of this video is for North Korea to thumb its nose at the world, showing that it can get around sanctions. How It’s Made We talked to Tara McKelvey and Jane Tang from RFA’s Investigative team about a their report on Wang Shujun, a pro-democracy activist from New York who is accused of spying for China. Wang allegedly met with Chinese intelligence agents and passed them information about Chinese dissidents located in the U.S. Through the discussion we learn that Wang is a very interesting character and that this case could serve as a precedent for other so-called “disposable assets” who may have been unwittingly serving as spies, possibly without their own knowledge. BACK TO MAIN

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Myanmar junta bombs rebel meeting, killing 16 including child

Editor03 mins

Myanmar junta airstrikes on a gathering of opponents of military rule killed 16 people, including a child, and injured 25, residents and an anti-junta militia member said on Friday. The anti-military activists were meeting in a Buddhist monastery in Magway region when the aircraft attacked, said a resident of the area who identified himself as Ko Lin. A child was among the dead in the Thursday morning attack in Ah Kyi Pan Pa Lun village in Saw township, he said. “The monastery was hit with firebombs. Eleven or 12 people were caught in the fire,” he told Radio Free Asia. The dead had been cremated and the wounded were being treated, according to groups helping the  victims. RFA tried to contact the junta’s spokesperson, Maj. Gen. Zaw Min Tun, by telephone for more details but he did not answer. Myanmar’s central dry zone, made up of the Sagaing, Magway and Mandalay regions, has become a hotbed of opposition to military rule from the majority ethnic Burman community. Pro-democracy activists took up arms after the military overthrew an elected government in 2021, forming militias known as People’s Defense Forces (PDF) and allied with ethnic minority insurgent groups that have been battling for self-determination in border regions for decades. The anti-junta forces have been on the offensive since late last year, making significant gains in several areas. The junta has used heavy firepower in its battles against PDF fighters in central Myanmar, at times leveling villages and killing numerous civilians, survivors have said.  A member of Saw township’s PDF said the jets attacked from an air base in Tada-U in Mandalay Division. “It seems that the members were being targeted when they were meeting in the monastery, but civilians were also there,” said the militia member, who declined to be identified. He said a jet made three attack runs over the village, dropping six bombs in all. Thursday’s attack on Ah Kyi Pan Pa Lun was the most deadly in the district since the war began, residents said. Translated by RFA Burmese. Edited by Kiana Duncan and Mike Firn. 

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Police arrest 3 Cambodian opposition party members

Editor06 mins

Cambodian authorities arrested three opposition party members on Thursday — one leader from a new party and two members of an older party — ahead of a range of elections on May 26, activists told Radio Free Asia. Sun Chanthy, 44, president of the National Power Party, formed last year, was questioned by police after being arrested at Phnom Penh International Airport upon his return from Japan, where he addressed Cambodian supporters. Charged with incitement, he was detained at Phnom Penh Municipal Police headquarters.  Chea Mony, vice president of the National Power Party, traveled with Sun Chanthy to Japan and witnessed the arrest, saying it had to do with upcoming provincial, municipal, district and Khan council elections. Chea Mony said that during the visit to Japan, Sun Chanthy did not make political statements that would have disrupted Cambodia’s social order or national security. “There was no effect on national security according to accusations by the court,” Chea Mony told Radio Free Asia. “The council election is coming. We don’t need to explain, [but] this is a threat ahead of the election.” “This is a repeated action to scare the pro-democrats,” he said. “The party doesn’t have any plans to incite anyone.” New party The National Power Party was formed in 2023 by breakaway members of the Candlelight Party, the main political organization opposing the government under the ruling Cambodian People’s Party, or CPP.  The CPP has ruled the country since 1979, often arresting political opposition members on politically motivated charges ahead of elections to ensure its own politicians retain power or win new seats in contested areas. In response to the arrest, the National Power Party issued a statement calling on the government of Prime Minister Hun Manet to release Sun Chanthy without any conditions and to restore political space so that the party can participate in the democratic process. Adhoc staffers Ny Sokha, (foreground, C), Yi Soksan, (rear C) and Nay Vanda arrive at an appeals court in Phnom Penh, Cambodia, June 13, 2016. (Heng Sinith/AP) In the arrest warrant issued on May 7, Chreng Khmao, prosecutor of the Phnom Penh Municipal Court, ordered police to bring Sun Chanthy to the internal security office of the Phnom Penh Municipal Police before May 23 for questioning on the “incitement” charge. But the warrant didn’t mention what Sun Chanthy said during his Japan visit that brought about the charge. The Ministry of Justice issued a statement saying authorities arrested Sun Chanthy for incitement to provoke social chaos because he blamed the government of being biased and discriminatory with the distribution of poverty cards for the poor and that he twisted information.  Candlelight Party members arrested Also on Thursday, police arrested two members of the Candlelight Party in Kampong Cham province — Dum Khun, second deputy head of Ampil commune in Kampong Siem district in Kampong Cham province, and Sim Sam On, commune councilor of Ampil — said former Candlelight Party leader Ly Kim Heang. They are being detained by Kampong Cham provincial police, she said, adding that authorities have not yet told their families the reasons for their arrest and have not allowed them to see the two men. The Candlelight Party issued a statement saying that the arrests constituted a threat aimed at eliminating legitimate political activities, and called for their release. Since the beginning of 2024, more than 10 members of the Candlelight Party have been detained by authorities, including six officials from Kampong Cham province.  Ny Sokha, president of Adhoc, Cambodia’s oldest human rights group, warned that the government’s reputation would deteriorate and that it would face more pressure from the international community if it continued to arrest opposition party members.  “This will affect the government’s reputation on the world stage,” he said. Translated by Yun Samean for RFA Khmer. Edited by Roseanne Gerin and Malcolm Foster.

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China’s third aircraft carrier completes first sea trial

Editor06 mins

Satellite imagery shows China’s third aircraft carrier Fujian has returned to Shanghai Jiangnan Shipyard after completing an eight-day maiden sea trial. In a Planet Labs image from May 9, 2024, obtained by Radio Free Asia, the Fujian was seen moving back to its berth at Jiangnan, where it was built and fitted out over the last six years. During the sea trial that began on May 1, the carrier tested its propulsion and electrical systems and other equipment, and “achieved the expected results,” according to China Military Online. It will conduct follow-up tests according to established plans, the People’s Liberation Army’s news outlet said. “If previous experience is any guide, we can expect three to five months of sea trials to ensure the integrity of the hull and propulsion systems,” said Robert Farley, a senior lecturer at the University of Kentucky. “If everything goes well, Fujian could begin flight operations this year,” Farley said, adding that it could take a year or more for the aircraft carrier to “actually be operational.” Sailors assigned to China’s third aircraft carrier Fujian conduct maiden sea trial in an undated photo. (China Military Online) Fujian will likely host Shenyang J-15 fighters, as well as the next generation J-35s, JL-10 trainer jets and the new Xian KJ-600 fixed-wing AEWC (airborne early warning and control) aircraft. The airplanes would be launched from the carrier’s deck by a modern system called Catapult Assisted Take-Off Barrier Arrested Recovery (CATOBAR) that so far has only been used by the U.S. and French navies. It is the first Chinese aircraft carrier equipped with CATOBAR. China’s first two flattops – Liaoning and Shandong – use a ski jump-style launch system. The CATOBAR system is able to launch more and heavier aircraft than the ski jump system. At 80,000 tons, Fujian is of the same size as a U.S. Nimitz-class carrier but smaller than the new Gerald R. Ford carrier of 100,000 tons.  “Even after commissioning the Chinese will still have lots to learn, so we can expect Fujian to operate at a slower pace than a U.S. supercarrier, even given the differences in size,” said Farley. However, at the end of this process China will have “a very advanced carrier, probably more advanced and capable than the carriers currently operated by France or the United Kingdom,” the maritime affairs expert told RFA. Strategic platform The Chinese navy released a number of photographs and a nearly eight-minute video showing the Fujian’s movements during the sea trial. Chinese experts were quoted by the Global Times as saying that the successful maiden voyage “has laid a solid foundation for future test voyages, and marks a concrete step toward its commissioning” into the navy. The fleet of three aircraft carriers would boost the navy’s combat capability and serve as strategic platforms to safeguard China’s sovereignty, they said. China’s third aircraft carrier moving back to berth at Jiangnan Shipyard, Shanghai, on May 9, 2024. (Planet Labs) China already has numerically the largest navy in the world with an overall battle force of over 370 ships and submarines, compared with the U.S.’s 293 ships and submarines. It also has the largest coast guard fleet in the world, besides a powerful maritime militia. A report by the U.S. think-tank Center for Strategic and Budgetary Assessments said that in addition to its three aircraft carriers, China may build another two in the next 10 years. “No one would ever go through the process of learning CATOBAR operations just to build one carrier, so I expect that we’ll see at least one more ship of Fujian’s type,” Farley said. Edited by Mike Firn.

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Facebook page administrator sentenced to 8 years for ‘anti-state’ posts

Editor07 mins

Vietnam has sentenced another administrator of the popular “Diary of Patriots” Facebook page to eight years for posting content that criticized the government, a verdict that his family felt was not constitutional, they told Radio Free Asia. In addition to the eight years, Phan Tat Thanh must serve three years probation during which he would be under the supervision of authorities. The sentence is identical to that of the other administrator of the page, Nguyen Van Lam which the court handed down in March. The “Diary of Patriots” is a democracy advocacy page with 800,000 followers, and both administrators were found to have violated Article 117 of Vietnam’s penal code that prohibits “anti-state propaganda.” Rights groups say the law has been written to be intentionally vague so that it can be used as a tool by Hanoi to stifle dissent. Thanh’s father Phan Tat Chi, who was present at the trial, strongly disagreed with the verdict, which exceeds the five to seven years recommended by prosecutors. “Such an unfair and unreasonable verdict,” he said. “Today’s trial and verdict trampled on the Constitution and suppressed ordinary people.” He said that his son’s actions fall under Article 25 of the constitution which provides that Vietnamese citizens have the right to freedom of speech, press freedom, access to information, and freedom of assembly, association and demonstration. Multiple profiles According to the indictment, the Ministry of Public Security’s Department of Cyber Security and High-tech Crime Prevention discovered that the private Facebook account “Chu Tuấn” and Facebook page ‘‘Văn Toàn’’ had posted, shared and live-streamed illegal content. The agency reported it to the Security Investigation Agency of Ho Chi Minh City Police for their handling in accordance with the law.In mid-April 2023, authorities discovered that Phan Tat Thanh had been managing the ‘‘Văn Toàn’’ Facebook page with several different profiles, ‘‘Black Aaron,’’ ‘‘Chu Tuấn,’’ ‘‘Huỳnh Heo,’’ and ‘‘Mít Huỳnh.’’ They found that he had posted seven stories and images that were problematic because they criticized the draft law on Special Economic Zones, characterized the government as a totalitarian regime, and criticized many of its socio-economic policies. The posts also called for civil disobedience. Thanh allegedly shared the Facebook accounts with a user having a Facebook profile named “Thao Nguyen” to create and post false stories with content defaming government officers’ honor and dignity. Authorities notably were not able to identify who had been operating that profile. According to Thanh’s father, during the trial, Thanh and his defense attorneys Tran Dinh Dung and Nguyen Minh Canh, all affirmed that despite creating the Facebook profiles, he had not used them nor posted the stories. It was “Thao Nguyen” who used the profiles and posted the stories, they said.Additionally, the page was still active during the time Thanh was in custody with several new posts appearing during this time. Beaten and tortured However, the presiding judge, Bui Duc Nam, did not accept the argument that Thanh was not behind the offending posts. In the trial, Thanh also said that he had been beaten, tortured and forced to give testimonies by investigators during custody and detention periods.According to Thanh’s father, when he was allowed to say his final words at the trial, Thanh still pleaded innocent, attributing the investigation results to coerced statements. However, the Presiding judge stopped him, saying “This [the trial] is not a forum [for you] to say whatever you want to say.” In a media release issued one day before the trial, Ms. Patricia Gossman, Deputy Director of the Human Rights Watch’s Asian Division, said that the government of Vietnam tries to claim that it does not have any political prisoners, and that it only imprisons those who violate the law. “What Vietnamese leaders refuse to acknowledge is that article 117 of the penal code is a clear violation of freedom of expression, one of the most basic rights enshrined in the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights which Vietnam has ratified,” she said. “Vietnam should repeal its rights-abusing laws instead of punishing its citizens for speaking their minds and expressing their views.” Translated by Anna Vu. Edited by Eugene Whong and Malcolm Foster.

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Myanmar insurgents accused of recruiting Rohingya in Bangladesh camps

Editor05 mins

Myanmar Muslim insurgents have pressed about 500 Rohingya refugees in camps in Bangladesh to join the war in their homeland where fighting between rival factions has intensified sharply in recent weeks, refugees told Radio Free Asia.   Members of the Arakan Rohingya Salvation Army (ARSA) and the smaller Rohingya Solidarity Organization have taken their fellow Muslim Rohingya refugees from the camps for military training, said people living in the world’s largest camp in southeast Bangladesh. RFA could not reach either of the insurgent groups for comment nor authorities responsible for the camps in Bangladesh. The reports, if confirmed, could herald intensifying conflict in western Myanmar’s Rakhine State where residents say the Myanmar junta has been pressing members of the persecuted Rohingya minority to help battle one of Myanmar most powerful insurgent forces, the Arakan Army, which draws it support from the state’s majority ethnic Rakhine Buddhist community. “Everyone is running from the camp,” said one Rohingya refugee who declined to be identified fearing for his safety. “Children under the age of 18 are being caught and sold to those groups … it’s said they are being sent to the Burma side to reinforce in the battles but I don’t know who they’re fighting against.” The refugees had been detained in the camps between April 29 and May 8, most of them between the ages of 14 and 30, said the refugee, who complained that Bangladesh authorities were doing nothing to stop the abductions, which averaged at about one young man per household. ARSA fighters attacked a string of Myanmar government border posts in 2017, triggering a sweeping crackdown by the Myanmar army that sent some one million Rohingya villagers fleeing to safety in Bangladesh. The rebel force, which is seeking self-determination in the state, surged in strength in the wake of that violence and is now one of Myanmar’s main groups fighting junta forces to end military rule.  “These are terrorist organizations,” another refugee said of the two groups whose members he said came at night to press-gang people. “Even 12 or 14-year-old children were among those arrested.” Rohingya villagers still living in Myanmar appear increasingly at risk as the junta army and the Arakan insurgents battle it out. Since the Arakan Army stepped up its attacks on the military in November, both sides have been accused of recruiting or killing Rohingya from camps for internally displaced people in Rakhine State. The ARSA has in the past been accused of violence against its own members living in Bangladesh and of faith-based massacres on Hindu villagers. Nearly one million refugees live in the camps in Bangladesh’s Cox’s Bazar district, according to the latest U.N. figures.  Translated by RFA Burmese. Edited by Kiana Duncan and Mike Firn.

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Women account for 1 in 5 deaths in Myanmar since coup

Editor09 mins

Myanmar’s junta has killed more than 900 women and arrested nearly 5,000 others in just over three years since the military seized power in a coup d’etat, a political prisoner watchdog group said Tuesday. Shortly after the Feb. 1, 2021, coup, tens of thousands of civilians took to the streets of Myanmar to protest – many of whom were women. The junta responded with violent and sometimes deadly force, before launching a scorched earth offensive against rebel groups around the country. On Tuesday, Thailand’s Assistance Association of Political Prisoners (Burma), or AAPP, said in a statement that it had documented the junta’s killing of at least 929 women between the coup and May 6, 2024, accounting for nearly one in five of the 4,973 people killed since the takeover. The AAPP said that the junta arrested at least 4,778 women over the same period, making up 18% of the total 26,631 people arrested since the coup. Of the women arrested, at least 781 have been sentenced to prison, Naw Khin San Htwe, the secretary general of the Burmese Women’s Union, told RFA Burmese. In March last year, Myanmar’s shadow National Unity Government said that the junta had killed 483 women in the 25 months since the coup and detained 3,125 others. The AAPP said Tuesday that the number of those killed and arrested is “likely much higher,” noting that it only tallied the deaths and arrests it had been able to verify. One woman’s case In one of the latest examples of women arrested and sentenced since the coup, a junta court last month found Lwin Cho Myint, the former general secretary of the Student Union of the University of Technology in Sagaing region, guilty of violating the country’s anti-terrorism law and ordered that she spend 17 years in prison. A family member called her arrest and imprisonment “arbitrary” in an interview with RFA. “The junta is unjustly detaining and imprisoning anyone who dissents against them, fabricating charges to justify their actions,” said the family member, who spoke on condition of anonymity due to security concerns. “Such imprisonment under false pretenses amounts to oppression,” the family member said. “The more repression, the stronger the revolution. If the repression increases, there will be uprisings all over the country.” In a more high profile case, on Jan. 10, a court in Yangon region’s notorious Insein Prison sentenced documentary filmmaker Shin Daewe to life in prison after finding her guilty on two counts of terrorism. Heavy punishments for dissenters Zu Zu May Yoon, the founder of the AAPP, told RFA that the junta regularly imposes heavy punishments on anyone who opposes its rule. “Following the coup, there were instances of political prisoners being condemned to death without anything made public,” she said, noting that even minor infractions under martial law incur a minimum sentence of 10 years in prison. “During my time there [in prison], people sentenced to death, life imprisonment, or lengthy terms were all confined within the same penitentiary,” she said. “They were isolated from contact with anyone else and endured severe living conditions.” A woman touches a bus carrying prisoners being released from Insein prison for the Buddhist New Year, in Yangon on April 17, 2024. (AFP) AAPP said it had documented several young women who were shot dead during peaceful protests in the aftermath of the coup or died under suspicious circumstances while in custody. Among those killed during peaceful protests were Kyal Sin and Mya Thwet Thwet Khaing, aged between 19 and 20, who were shot dead by junta police at demonstrations in Mandalay and Naypyidaw in February 2021. Nobel Aye, a former political prisoner who was arrested and held at a detention center in eastern Bago region, was shot and killed by junta soldiers on the pretext that she had escaped from the courthouse in Waw township on Feb. 8, 2024. Nobel Aye’s brother Chan Myae said that he wanted justice for the killing. “We want to regain our lost human rights and get justice for the torture and killings,” he said. “I strongly protest the widespread violation of women’s rights in Myanmar, encompassing not only my sister but all women, by the [junta] forces that have seized power.” Violent deaths on the rise for women The Burmese Women’s Union’s Naw Khin San Htwe, told RFA that since the coup, women in Myanmar have been killed in increasingly violent ways. “If you look at the circumstances of the deaths, most of them died due to airstrikes, landmines, and heavy weaponry,” she said. “In addition, some were raped and murdered. Moreover, women have succumbed during interrogations, while others have been fatally shot in wartime conflicts.” Released prisoners are welcomed by family members and colleagues after they were released from Insein Prison Wednesday, April 17, 2024, in Yangon. (Thein Zaw/AP) RFA has documented several cases of women taking up arms alongside men on the frontlines of the war against the junta, saying they could no longer tolerate the unlawful killings and arrests of their gender. One former nurse who joined the Civil Disobedience Movement of civil servants boycotting the junta now provides medical aid to injured rebels on the frontline. The former nurse, who also declined to be named citing fear of reprisal, told RFA that women are regularly subjected to sexual violence in detention, even if it does not escalate to rape. “They [the junta] transgress numerous human rights against women, perpetrating relentless violence,” she said. “Thus, I am compelled to persevere until the very end, aspiring to be the final torchbearer of resistance for my generation. My commitment remains steadfast to eradicate this scourge from our midst.” Translated by Kalyar Lwin. Edited by Joshua Lipes and Malcolm Foster.

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Myanmar helicopter crash ends in shootout, killing pilot, anti-junta group says

Editor04 mins

An insurgent group in eastern Myanmar said on Tuesday it shot down a junta military helicopter and killed its pilot then clashed with junta forces on the ground. The Karenni Nationalities Defense Force insurgent group said they opened fire on two helicopters delivering reinforcements and rations to a junta base in the town of Hpasawng in Kayah State on Monday. One helicopter was hit and came down in Bawlake township, an insurgent officer told Radio Free Asia. “The helicopter blew smoke and crashed after it was hit,” said the officer, who declined to be identified for security reasons. “The pilot was killed when we opened fire.” RFA has not been able to independently confirm the officer’s account.  The Kayah State-based news site Kantarawaddy Times reported that two pilots had been killed. The junta did not release any information about such an incident and Kayah State’s junta spokesperson, Zar Ni Maung, did not answer his telephone when RFA tried to call for information. Junta spokesmen have in the past dismissed claims by insurgent forces of shooting down aircraft, which they have now done eight times since the latest round of war in Myanmar began after the army overthrew an elected government in early 2021. Karenni Nationalities Defense Force members near Than Lwin Bridge in Hpasawng city on May 6, 2024. (Karenni Nationalities Defense Force) The Karenni officer said at least 10 soldiers in the second helicopter had parachuted to the ground after the first helicopter was hit, and battled Karenni forces. Though junta forces have the advantage of air power, the insurgents have been making gains in several different parts of the country since late last year, including in Kayah State, on the Thai border. As of Tuesday morning, allied insurgents were monitoring the crash site but there had been no further reports of casualties, said a Karenni Nationalities Defense Force news and information official. The junta and Karenni forces have been battling since the rebels launched an offensive to capture two infantry battalion positions near Hpasawng on Saturday. The junta’s army has launched more than 20 airstrikes in its defense of Hpasawng, a Karenni officer said. Anti-junta forces have claimed responsibility for shooting down a total of eight junta aircraft, including a transport helicopter and fighter jets, in Kachin, Kayah, Kayin, and Rakhine states, since 2021, according to data compiled by RFA. Kayah State, home to various insurgent factions battling to take territory from junta forces, has seen escalating violence in recent months, with landmines claiming more victims and accusations of rights abuses leveled against junta forces. Translated by RFA Burmese. Edited by Kiana Duncan and Mike Firn. 

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Fake images of US college protests circulate in China

Editor06 mins

Pro-Palestinian protests on U.S. college campuses have gotten attention on Chinese social media, but some of these posts show unrelated demonstrations that happened months or even years earlier. One aerial video showing a massive gathering of thousands of people packed together – purported to be at Columbia University in New York – is actually a demonstration in January in Hamburg, Germany, against a far-right political group. Another photo claimed to show a protester holding up a famous Mao Zedong quote in Chinese, “Political power grows out of the barrel of a gun.” But Asia Fact Check Lab found this to be from a pro-gun rally held in Virginia in 2020.  As the Israeli-Hamas conflict drags into its seventh month, student demonstrations supporting the Palestininans and calling for a cease-fire have spread across dozens of U.S. university campuses. The aerial video of thousands gathered in public was shared on the popular Chinese social media platform Weibo on April 28, with the breathless caption: “U.S. university demonstration: Pro-Palestinian protest at Columbia University is majestic!”  Chinese netizens claimed that a video posted on Weibo shows a pro-Palestinian demonstration in April, but in reality it wasn’t. (Screenshot/Weibo and TikTok) But a reverse image search found the video, shared on TikTok  Jan. 21, 2024, actually depicted 80,000 people in Hamburg, Germany, protesting against the far-right Alternative for Germany, or AfD, party “since their ‘secret meeting’ with the fascist Identitarian Movement was revealed. Keyword searches including “AfD” found the Hamburg demonstrations were one amongst a series of protests to break out against the party after a news report surfaced that the group had considered a plan to expel all people of “non-German backgrounds” from the country, including immigrants who have already obtained residency at a meeting with influential leaders. Video of demonstrations against the AfD released by German media and government agencies match the purported footage of pro-Palestianian demonstrations at Columbia University spread on Weibo. (Screenshots/YouTube) In another case, a number of Weibo influencers and X accounts also recently claimed that one protester at an unspecified college campus held up a poster with the Mao quote, “Political power grows out of the barrel of a gun.”  But this is false. The photo is from a pro-gun rally held in Virginia in 2020, and has nothing to do with any pro-Palestine demonstration.  The photo of a purported April protest recently spread on Weibo has actually been circulated online since 2020. (Screenshot/Sina Military and Weibo) A reserve image search reveals that a version of the same image shown in a larger frame was published in an article published on the Chinese military news blog Sina Military in 2020 Keyword searches using visual clues from the photo, including a banner that reads Constitutional Conservatives, found that it shows a rally held by pro-gun advocates from all across the U.S. in Richmond in 2020.  A closer look at the image also shows a street sign reading “N. 9th St.” at the top of the frame. A search in Google Maps found that this was a street in Richmond and not part of the university campus.  A person uploaded a photo of the pro-gun rally to Google Maps in January 2020 in real time as it was happening. (Screenshot/Google Maps) Translated by Shen Ke. Edited by Shen Ke, Taejun Kang and Malcolm Foster. Asia Fact Check Lab (AFCL) was established to counter disinformation in today’s complex media environment. We publish fact-checks, media-watches and in-depth reports that aim to sharpen and deepen our readers’ understanding of current affairs and public issues. If you like our content, you can also follow us on Facebook, Instagram and X.

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