2024 - Page 8 of 36 - Investigative Journalism Reportika

Myanmar rebels claim junta outpost on Bangladesh border

An ethnic minority insurgent group has captured a junta base on Myanmar’s border with Bangladesh, sources close to the rebel group told Radio Free Asia on Friday. The Arakan Army, or AA, which resumed its battle against the junta for territory in Myanmar’s west in November, controls nine townships in Rakhine state and one in Chin state. In January, the AA turned its focus to Maungdaw, a strategic township for border relations with Bangladesh. On Thursday, AA troops captured junta Border Guard Station No. 6 in Inn Din village. Nearly 600 soldiers were stationed at the guard post, said one resident who wished to remain anonymous for security reasons. “The border guards, combined with forces from other outposts, were stationed in that camp,” he said. “A junta division commander was also posted there. There are many casualties from the junta side and some soldiers ran away.” In late May, junta airstrikes killed one civilian and wounded nearly a dozen in Maungdaw township. The AA launched an unsuccessful offensive against the same border post on Jan. 5, but were held back by the junta’s combined navy, air force and army. RFA tried to contact AA spokesperson Khaing Thukha and Rakhine state’s junta spokesperson Hla Thein, but neither responded by the time of publication. Junta troops built the post in 2017 after destroying a predominantly ethnic minority Rohingya village that was located there, residents told RFA. The AA is also attacking Maungdaw’s Myin Hlut-based Border Guard Station No. 9. The insurgent group captured Maungdaw’s Border Police Command Office No. 1, which is the largest junta camp in Maungdaw township, residents said, adding that only five junta-occupied border guard posts remain in the township. Rebels are maintaining attacks on Ann, Thandwe and Maungdaw townships, where the junta’s Western Regional Military Headquarters for Rakhine state is based. A ceasefire between the AA and the military broke down in November, at the same time that other ethnic minority and pro-democracy insurgents launched attacks that have put forces of the junta that seized power in 2021 under unprecedented pressure. Translated by RFA Burmese. Edited by Kiana Duncan and Mike Firn.

Australian journalist Vicky Xu starts a new life in Taiwan

Editor1 month ago1 month ago013 mins

Vicky Xu, a Chinese-born Australian journalist who was the target of a widespread campaign of online abuse by agents and supporters of Beijing after she exposed forced labor in Xinjiang, is fighting back against Chinese Communist Party propaganda by living her best life in democratic Taiwan, she told RFA Mandarin in a recent interview. Xu, 29, has been learning martial arts and living a quiet life in Taiwan after quitting social media in the wake of trolling by pro-China accounts, who labeled her “anti-China” and “a traitor” as well as circulating fake nude photos of her. “It’s not I who’s the traitor,” Xu said indignantly. “It’s the Chinese Communist Party.” She said the government, who criticized her via state media in the wake of her expose of forced labor in Xinjiang, was betraying its own people. Vicky Xu in Taipei, June 6, 2024.(Lee Tsung-han/RFA) Xu co-authored a report on forced labor in the region that was published by the Australian Strategic Policy Institute, or ASPI, in 2021. Xu has previously also written for both the Australian Broadcasting Corporation and The New York Times. Xu has since reopened some social media accounts, and was drawn to Taiwan because she is unable to go back to China now, and regards it as a relatively safe place from which to stand and face her demons, the traumatic legacy of the online abuse campaign. Since being followed and stalked in Australia in the wake of the ASPI report, Xu said she now reacts with fear when she encounters people of East Asian appearance while out and about, and wanted to live for a while in Taiwan to overcome that phobia. “My main impression since I’ve been living here is that people can live decently, and with dignity,” Xu said, adding that part of the draw was being able to speak Mandarin and eat Chinese food. “It feels like a parallel universe, another China,” she said. “It’s a great place, and people who know me and know what I do respect me, or are even proud of me,” she said. Vicky Xu plays the violin in an undated photo. (Courtesy of Vicky Xu) “There are so many issues in China where the government doesn’t treat people like human beings, and then the people themselves don’t treat each other as human beings,” Xu said. “The situation is very serious, and I think it needs to change.” “Even if people abuse me in China, I still care about their interests, and about their safety,” Xu said. “For me, as a journalist, telling the truth is the most important thing. There’s no point otherwise; I don’t want to waste my life.” ‘Betrayed’ Xu was once a staunch supporter of the Chinese Communist Party, getting the five stars from China’s national flag tattooed on her ankle and posing on Tiananmen Square as a young woman from a small city in the western province of Gansu, a stop on the high-speed railway linking Xinjiang with the northwestern city of Lanzhou. Vicky Xu shows off her tattoo of the five stars from the Chinese national flag in Beijing’s Tiananmen Square. (Courtesy of Vicky Xu) She studied English-language broadcasting at Beijing’s Communications University, before accidentally finding out the truth about the 1989 Tiananmen Square massacre on a trip to Australia, which she describes as a “betrayal” for the young patriot she once was. “I was so shocked because it was a huge example of how the Chinese Communist Party betrayed its own people,” she said. “June 4, 1989, was a huge stain on the history of Communist Party rule.” “The Chinese people are educated to be loyal to the party, and to love the party, but that’s not possible for a normal and logical person … because the party doesn’t love you,” she said. “It just wants to suppress everything, including the concentration camps in Xinjiang and all kinds of human rights abuses.” For Xu, who once bought the party line that the massacre was CIA propaganda, the revelation was a turning point. Vicky Xu testifies on transnational repression by Beijing at the Czech Parliament. Undated. (Courtesy of Vicky Xu) “[It] was the starting point for my political enlightenment, and for my doubts about the legitimacy of Communist Party rule,” she said. She said she secretly visited a number of survivors, family members of victims and former police officers in a bid to understand more about what happened that summer. Xi ruling through his own trauma Eventually, Xu dropped out of her broadcasting degree and went to Australia to study politics instead. Since then, she has come to an understanding of the Communist Party under Xi Jinping as the product of multiple generations of trauma. Vicky Xu entertains guests with her stand-up comedy routine. (Courtesy of Vicky Xu) “I really think Xi Jinping is ruling the country through his trauma, because very controlling people are usually acting from a deep sense of fear,” Xu said. “During the Cultural Revolution, his father was put in prison and his step-sister committed suicide, while Xi was ostracized by the rest of the offspring of party leaders and locked up in the party school.” “When he escaped and ran back home to get something to eat from his own family kitchen, his own mother reported him to the authorities,” she said. Xi should be getting psychotherapy, she said, but that nobody would dare to offer it to him. Xu has even made these ideas into a stand-up comedy routine about “giving Xi Jinping a hug,” that she performs from time to time. Death threats Yet Xu still has times when she feels isolated, and remains vigilant for any sign of surveillance or harassment from supporters of Beijing, following her experiences elsewhere. “I have received threats of death and sexual violence,” she said. “I had people standing guard in front of my home, and even intruding into the house to take pictures for no reason.” Vicky Xu speaks to RFA Mandarin, June 6, 2024.(Lee Tsung-han/RFA) “When…

Conscription in Myanmar drives insurgent recruits: civilian government

Editor1 month ago1 month ago04 mins

Nearly 1,000 people eligible for conscription into the Myanmar military’s ranks are instead seeking training from the shadow civilian government’s armed forces, the group announced. The junta, which seized power in 2021 and has since faced increasing desertions and military losses nationwide, announced the implementation of the People’s Military Service Law in February. The military has since recruited about 9,000 people through two rounds of conscription based on a lottery system. Many young people have fled the country out of fear that they may be drafted. Recruitment by junta soldiers has involved coercing young people, including minors, threatening violence or property destruction and most recently, threats and heavy fines for parents of draft dodgers as a third round of conscription approaches, residents say. About 960 people have chosen to seek training under the civilian National Unity Government’s People’s Defense Forces, or militias opposing the junta, the group’s southern military office said in a statement on Wednesday. The statement included photos of a recent graduation. The N.U.G. was formed by members of the civilian administration ousted in the February 2021 coup. A 28-year-old man eligible for military conscription under the junta in central Myanmar’s Mandalay Division told RFA he initially planned on going abroad, like many people already have, but he was now aiming to join anti-junta forces. “At first I was hesitant to put my family at risk but now I canceled my preparations to go abroad and work and have decided to take up arms. Now I am preparing and am still trying to connect with the training group,” he said, asking to remain anonymous for security reasons. “I can’t take it anymore, mainly because of the [junta’s] injustice, the way they are killing and torturing people. Most young people would make the same decision. This is the only way left for us to root out the military dictatorship.” The National Unity Government’s Southern Military Headquarters No. 3 began accepting trainees to undergo basic military courses in April and May, it said in its statement. RFA phoned the headquarters for more information, but it could not be contacted due to limited telecommunications access. Translated by RFA Burmese. Edited by Kiana Duncan and Mike Firn.

China sends glacial water from Tibet to the Maldives, raising concerns

Editor1 month ago1 month ago08 mins

China gifted 3,000 metric tons of Tibet’s glacial water to the island nation of the Maldives in two separate batches in March and May — the same months it unveiled and implemented water conservation regulations at home. The Water Conservation Regulations set limits on water usage within administrative regions and prioritize water conversation work in Tibet and other parts of China. They were issued by China’s State Council on March 20, a week before it sent the first delivery of 1,500 metric tons of water in jugs to the Maldives, which is experiencing a scarcity of fresh water. The regulations then went into effect on May 1, weeks before China donated the second batch of water jugs. China finalized the deal with the Maldives during a November 2023 visit by Yan Jinhai, chairman of the Tibet Autonomous Region, to the low-lying archipelago threatened by rising sea levels. The Maldives has forged strong bilateral relations with China and is a beneficiary of the Belt and Road Initiative, under which it has borrowed more than US$1 billion from Chinese banks in the past decade, according to Western think tanks. Maldivian President Mohamed Muizzu signed 20 agreements, including one for financial and military assistance, with Beijing during his inaugural state visit to China in January 2024. The Maldives thanked the people of Tibet for their “generous donation,” which it expects will greatly support its island communities. Its freshwater resources are affected by erratic rainfall patterns and rising sea levels. Water shortages in Tibet But Tibetans inside Tibet said they face water shortages themselves because Chinese authorities have implemented systematic water conservation and management campaigns across various Tibetan villages and towns for over a decade. This has occurred while authorities have restricted the availability of water and set limits on water usage at the local level. “I have heard that China is donating bottled water from Tibet to other parts of the world for free for political gain,” said one source from the Tibet Autonomous Region, where Chinese authorities have carried out water conservation campaigns for over a decade. “However, in Tibet, the local Tibetans do not have enough drinking water,” he said. “At times there isn’t enough water to even brush our teeth.” On March 27, the same day the Maldives said it received the first batch of water, the Water Conservancy Bureau of Ngari Prefecture, or Ali in Chinese, the birthplace of key South Asian rivers, began a series of year-long events for the general public to promote water conservation. In Nyingtri city, or Linzhi in Chinese, authorities have implemented the strictest water resources management system over the past several years and boast of its effectiveness. “The water used to wash rice and vegetables can be used to mop the floor and water the flowers. … Nowadays, water-saving behaviors like this have become a conscious action of many citizens,” said a 2023 announcement by the city government. Meanwhile, Tibetans who have grown up on their ancestral land in Gangkar township in Dingri county, called Tingri in Chinese, are being forced to relocate to make way for the expansion of China’s water bottling facilities and industry, two sources said. “Gangkar is known for its fertile pastureland and significant water resources from glaciers with 15 water springs in the region, which the local Tibetans have always relied on for their livelihoods,” said the first source. Chinese authorities plan to move about 430 residents to take control of the water resources from the land, he said. Weaponizing water China’s move signals it is engaging in “water politics” and playing the long game for geopolitical gains in South Asia, experts said. The Chinese government has projects underway to extract clean, clear and mineral-rich water to support the expansion of its premium mineral bottled water industry, they said. Beijing also wants to control water flows to lower riparian states such as India, Nepal, Bhutan, Bangladesh, Thailand, Vietnam, Cambodia, and Laos, to further its own aspiration of regional dominance, experts said. “The imperative to address the threat of China weaponizing water in Tibet cannot be overstated,” wrote scholars Neeraj Singh Manhas and Rahul Lad in a March report titled “China’s Weaponization of Water in Tibet A Lesson for the Lower Riparian States” in the Journal of Indo-Pacific Affairs. With approximately 87,000 dams built, China poses a historic threat, having already dammed most internal rivers, they add, while calling for proactive measures to implement enduring policies to protect these vital Tibet’s water resources. Tibet is at the forefront of China’s “water wars” in the region, said Anushka Saxena, a research analyst at the Takshashila Institution, a public policy think tank in India. Tibet’s eight major transboundary river systems have the capacity to turn China into “Asia’s water hegemon,” given that their water can be used for both domestic economic and foreign policy-related interests, as well as can be weaponized to cause harm to lower riparian states, she said. “In that light, China’s moves vis-à-vis export of water to Maldives cannot be isolated from the larger approach China is adopting to using Tibet’s water resources,” she added.

Five dead, 20 missing in Myanmar landslide

Editor1 month ago04 mins

Updated June 5, 2024, 06:18 a.m. ET. Rescue workers in northern Myanmar recovered the bodies of five mine workers, including one Chinese national, on Wednesday and were searching for missing victims of a landslide at a rare earths mine, residents told Radio Free Asia. The landslide in Kachin State’s Chipwi township trapped 25 people in a shaft early on Tuesday, they said. Resource-rich Kachin State, which has rare earth and jade mines, has been the site of of a surge in clashes between the junta and an ethnic minority insurgent force, the Kachin Independence Army, since early this year. The landslide occurred during regular operations at the rare earth mine near Chinese Border Post No. 3, about eight km (five miles) from Pang War village, said one witness who declined to be identified for security reasons. “There was a landslide when I was working and around 20 people were in there, including a Chinese site manager,” he said. “These landslides are a continuous problem lately because it is rainy season.” Rescue officials were searching for 20 people still missing, residents and mine workers said. Three Chinese nationals were believed to be among the missing, the witness said, adding that junta forces had tightened security at the site and forbidden photographs, threatening a fine of 5,000 Chinese yuan (US$ 703) for anyone taking a picture. RFA telephoned Kachin State’s junta spokesperson, Moe Min Thein, for more information but calls went unanswered. The Chinese embassy did not respond to an emailed request for comment by the time of publication. Rescue operations had been complicated because the land was still collapsing at the mine, said another resident, who asked to remain anonymous because of the junta’s media blackout. A woman aged 19 who had been selling things at the mine was among the missing, said the resident. “The rest are all men,” he said. “It’s difficult to search even now because the mountain is still collapsing.” Two landslides occurred in a nearby rare earth mine near Pang War village on May 27 and 29, killing two workers, he said. The environmental group Global Witness said in a report last month that rare earth mining production increased by 40% in Pang War between 2021 and 2023. The area is under the control of junta-led militias and pro-junta border guards, and more than 300 mining sites have been developed there since the military seized power in a coup in early 2021, Global Witness said. Translated by RFA Burmese. Edited by Kiana Duncan and Mike Firn. Updates number of missing.

Animal welfare group calls for end to dog and cat meat trade in Vietnam

Editor1 month ago1 month ago04 mins

A global animal welfare organization has begun a campaign in three major Vietnamese cities, calling for an end to the trade of dog and cat meat for human consumption, according to state media reports. The Vienna, Austria-based group, Four Paws, says the animals are killed cruelly and that the meat poses health risks from rabies and other diseases. Calling its campaign “Journey of Love,” the group is organizing educational activities in Ho Chi Minh City, Danang and Hanoi to raise people’s awareness about the negative aspects of the dog and cat meat business. “We believe now is the time to take immediate action against dog and cat meat trading activities, especially given the increasing incidence of diseases and epidemics,” Phan Thanh Dung, an officer from Four Paws’ Companion Animal Campaign, was quoted as saying by the Vietnam Law Newspaper. Every year, about 6 million dogs and cats are caught, transported and slaughtered for their meat in Vietnam, according to Four Paws. Most of them are stolen from communities or strays taken from the streets. Vendors in wet markets openly sell dead dogs and cats alongside live ones crammed into cages and waiting to be killed for human consumption, according to an August 2022 report by We Animal Media, an animal photojournalism agency that documents stories of animals used for human purposes. While the sale and consumption of dog meat is legal in Vietnam, the government banned the consumption of cats in 1998 but then canceled the directive in 2020, the report said. Those who eat dog and cat meat run the risk of infection from potentially deadly bacterial diseases and parasites such as E. coli and salmonella, which are commonly found in contaminated meats, the report said. Animal rights groups and Vietnamese activists have been working to end the practices of selling and consuming dog and cat meat, given the poor conditions in which the animals are kept and the killing process conducted in view of other animals. In late 2023, Four Paws and the People’s Committee of Hoi An, whose ancient town in central Vietnam is a UNESCO World Heritage Site, closed one of the municipality’s last remaining dog meat restaurants. A survey conducted by Four Paws in Vietnam in early 2021 indicated that 91% of people believed the government should ban the dog and cat meat trade. Also, 95% of respondents said they believed that eating dog and cat meat was not part of Vietnamese culture, and therefore supported ending the trade. Translated by Anna Vu for RFA Vietnamese. Edited by Roseanne Gerin and Malcolm Foster.

US Defense Secretary visits Cambodia amid concern about China

Editor1 month ago09 mins

U.S. Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin arrived in Phnom Penh on Tuesday for a brief visit, days after Cambodia and China wrapped up their biggest ever military exercise. During his one-day visit, Austin will meet top Cambodian officials “to discuss defense issues with the new Cambodian leadership,” the U.S. Embassy in Phnom Penh said in a statement. “This is the first bilateral visit by a U.S. Secretary of Defense, and it is the second for Secretary Austin following his attendance at the ASEAN Defense Ministers Meeting-Plus in November 2022,” it said. Austin arrived in Cambodia from Singapore where he attended the annual Shangri-La Dialogue security forum. During the conference, the secretary sought to reassure U.S. allies of Washington’s “iron-clad” commitment in the region in the face of growing rivalry with China. China and Cambodia have just held a 15-day military exercise, both on land and at sea, with the participation of three Chinese warships, two of which have been in Cambodia for six months at the Ream naval base. The two corvettes were still seen docked at the base in Sihanoukville on Monday. The U.S government has said it has “serious concerns” about China’s plans for exclusive control over portions of the Ream Naval Base. Cambodia has repeatedly denied handing the base over to China. U.S.-Cambodian relations have become strained during the past decade partly over U.S. concerns about the suppression of Cambodia’s political opposition. In 2017, the Cambodian government suspended the joint Angkor Sentinel exercises between the two militaries and in 2018, the U.S. government suspended military assistance to Cambodia in response to its suppression of the opposition. Cambodia under veteran leader Hun Sen rejected U.S. criticism of its domestic political conditions and built closer relations with China. Hun Sen stepped down as prime minister last year with his son, Hun Manet, taking over Turning a new page? Soon after arriving in Phnom Penh, Austin paid a courtesy call on Hun Sen, who is now president of the Senate. Hun Sen was accompanied by former defense minister Tea Banh in the meeting. Austin also met Prime Minister Hun Manet, a West Point military academy graduate, and Defense Minister Tea Seiha. Hun Manet and Tea Seiha are Hun Sen’s and Tea Banh’s sons, respectively. Chhengpor Aun, research fellow at The Future Forum, a Cambodian think-tank, said Austin’s visit gave Cambodia’s new leaders the opportunity to highlight more balance in their country’s diplomacy. “Secretary Austin will be much welcomed in Phnom Penh in general because his presence will help back up the Cambodian government’s attempt to prove it is still on the course of its promised neutrality in foreign relations,” said Chhengpor Aun. “The Ream naval base, the ever-growing Sino-Cambodian defense relations, and strained military-to-military ties between Phnom Penh and Washington will highly likely dominate Secretary Austin’s meetings with senior Cambodian officials.” Sailors stand guard near petrol boats at the Cambodian Ream Naval Base in Sihanoukville, Cambodia, July 26, 2019. (Reuters/Samrang Pring) Another analyst – Nguyen Khac Giang, visiting fellow at Singapore’s ISEAS-Yusof Ishak Institute – said that Austin’s decision to visit Cambodia instead of the close ally the Philippines or newly elevated strategic comprehensive partner Vietnam, “reflects the U.S.’s attempt to reconcile deteriorating U.S.-Cambodia relations.” “With Phnom Penh successfully transitioning leadership from Hun Sen to his son Hun Manet, Washington likely views this as a good moment for rapprochement,” Giang told Radio Free Asia, adding that while sensitive topics such as Chinese influence and the Ream naval base are likely be discussed, he thinks both sides “will focus more on potential cooperation and common interests, particularly as Cambodia will serve as the coordinator of the U.S.-ASEAN Dialogue Relations from 2024 to 2027.” The state-aligned Khmer Times newspaper said that with Hun Manet’s “outward-looking policies,” there’s a unique prospect to recalibrate any misunderstanding and to start a new chapter in the two countries’ relationship, provided that both sides “are genuinely sincere with each other.” The article by Pou Sothirak, senior advisor to the Cambodian Center for Regional Studies, and Him Raksmey, executive director of the Cambodian Center for Regional Studies suggested that the first thing for the U.S. to do wais to rethink its policy of targeted sanctions on Cambodian officials and members of the business elite, and restrictions on trade preferences “which are ineffective and counterproductive, compelling Cambodia deeper into economic reliance on China.” The Future Forum’s Chhengpor Aun agreed that the new generation of Cambodian leaders “presents a window of opportunities for improvement of U.S. relations” as Cambodia wants to secure a stable state of relations with the U.S., now its biggest export destination. Cambodia sold US$8.89 billion worth of goods to the U.S. in 2023, about 40% of its total exports, according to the Cambodian General Department of Customs and Excise. However, “if the visit aims to woo Cambodia away from China or to push political reforms in Phnom Penh, Secretary Austin can be disappointed,” said Chhengpor Aun. “Sino-Cambodian ties are important for Phnom Penh political elites – be it the old guards or the new princeling generation – in terms of political and regime security,” he said. Edited by Mike Firn.

Myanmar democracy champion Thura Tin Oo, dead at 98

Editor1 month ago08 mins

Thura Tin Oo, the patron of Myanmar’s National League for Democracy party, which was overthrown by the military in a 2021 coup d’etat, has died at the age of 98, according to family and party members. He was admitted to Yangon Hospital’s cardiac care unit on May 29 due to deteriorating health and later transferred to the hospital’s intensive care unit, where he passed away on Saturday morning, his grandson Thet Thut Oo told RFA Burmese. “We will be keeping grandpa at Windermere House No. 30 for the next five days” for funeral proceedings, Thet Thut Oo said, referring to the family’s estate. Sai Nyunt Lwin, another champion of democracy and the chairman of the Shan Nationalities League for Democracy Party, told RFA that he and Thura Tin Oo had “shared a strong bond.” “We knew each other since our early days working in the NLD,” he said, using an acronym for the National League for Democracy. “His passing on a day when the NLD is facing significant challenges adds to our grief.” Born on March 12, 1927, in Ayeyarwady region’s Pathein township, Thura Tin Oo served as the fourth Commander-in-Chief of the Myanmar army from 1974-1976, and was awarded the country’s prestigious Zayya Kyawhtin and Thura Medals. He joined the NLD party in 1988 at its inception, alongside former state counsellor and democracy icon Aung San Suu Kyi, who was jailed by the junta along with other party leaders in the aftermath of the military’s Feb. 1, 2021 coup. The junta refused to allow Aung San Suu Kyi to attend Thura Tin Oo’s funeral, although she was permitted to send flowers via junta officials, NLD members told RFA. Suu Kyi, 78, was initially sentenced by the junta to 33 years on 19 charges, a sentence that was later reduced to 27 years. The Nobel Peace Prize laureate is believed to be in solitary confinement in Naypyidaw Prison, in the capital, but her exact whereabouts are unknown. A previous junta imprisoned Thura Tin Oo for eight months and kept him under house arrest for five years following the Depayin massacre in May 2003, when a junta-backed mob killed dozens of NLD members in Sagaing region. He suffered a stroke in 2017 after falling at his home and had difficulty speaking because of his condition. Dedicated to serving others But writer Htin Lin Oo, who cared for Thura Tin Oo during his hospitalization, said that despite his health problems, the politician had remained dedicated to serving others up until his passing. “If we were to liken him to cranes that risk their lives for the survival of their descendants, then Thura Tin Oo was a crane that flew relentlessly from the front lines until his last breath,” he said. Myanmar’s pro-democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi, right, flanked by vice-chairmen Tin Oo, left, of the National League for Democracy, makes her weekend speech to her supporters from her residential gate in Yangon Sunday, July 7, 1996. (Richard Vogel/AP) NLD members told RFA that the junta refused to allow Aung San Suu Kyi to attend Thura Tin Oo’s funeral, although she was permitted to send flowers via junta officials. Suu Kyi, 78, was initially sentenced by the junta to 33 years on 19 charges, a sentence that was later reduced to 27 years. The Nobel Peace Prize laureate is believed to be in solitary confinement in Naypyidaw Prison, in the capital, but her exact whereabouts are unknown. Nay Phone Latt, the spokesperson of the Prime Minister’s Office of Myanmar’s shadow National Unity Government, or NUG, expressed sadness that Thura Tin Oo had died before the junta was removed from power. “During a period when there is significant potential to completely eliminate the military dictatorship, we want leaders like Thura Tin Oo to remain with us until the rebellion’s conclusion,” he said. “It saddens me deeply that he passed away before reaching the end of the journey, as he was instrumental in leading the struggle for democracy.” The NLD also suffered the loss of Nyan Win, a top party official and former advisor to Suu Kyi, when he died from COVID-19 in prison in July 2021. A resident of Yangon told RFA that the loss of leaders like Thura Tin Oo and Nyan Win is “truly disheartening” for the country. “Thura Tin Oo made significant sacrifices for the country throughout his life,” said the resident, who spoke on condition of anonymity due to security concerns. “Losing such an esteemed patron is akin to Suu Kyi losing one of her pillars of support … My sole concern now is for Suu Kyi’s well-being.” Translated by Kalyar Lwin. Edited by Joshua Lipes and Malcolm Foster.

South Korea to suspend inter-Korean military pact over trash balloons

Editor1 month ago04 mins

South Korea decided on Monday to suspend a 2018 inter-Korean tension reduction pact until “mutual trust is restored” in a response to North Korea’s sending of nearly 1,000 trash-filled balloons to the South. The 9/19 Comprehensive Military Agreement, signed on Sept. 19, 2018, aimed at defusing tension and avoiding war, was implemented after a meeting between South Korea’s then-president Moon Jae-in and North Korean leader Kim Jong Un. The presidential National Security Council held a meeting to evaluate North Korea’s recent behavior and agreed to propose a motion suspending the agreement at a Cabinet meeting on Tuesday. “The attendees decided to submit a proposal to suspend the entire effectiveness of the September 19 Military Agreement until mutual trust between the two Koreas is restored,” the presidential office said in a release. North Korea has sent waves of trash-filled balloons into the South since Thursday in what it said was a tit-for-tat campaign against South Korean activists sending balloons carrying propaganda material denouncing the North’s regime. South Korea’s National Security Adviser Chang Ho-jin said on Sunday the government would take “unbearable” measures against the North in response to its balloons and its jamming of GPS signals last week. The anger over the balloons has raised speculation that South Korea might resume propaganda campaigns via loudspeakers along the border. The loudspeakers used to air criticism of the Kim Jong Un regime’s human rights abuses, as well as news and K-pop songs, to the fury of the North. To resume the front-line broadcasts, it would be necessary to nullify the 2018 inter-Korean military agreement. Hours after South Korea’s warning, North Korea said it would suspend its cross-border balloon campaign, though it also threatened to resume it if anti-Pyongyang leaflets were sent from South Korea. The North said its balloon campaign was launched purely in response to leaflets sent by South Korean activists. Fighters for a Free North Korea, a Seoul-based organization that floated anti-Pyongyang balloons over the North last month, said on Monday that it would consider stopping sending leaflets only if the North apologized for sending its trash-bearing balloons to the South. “We send facts, loves, medications, one-dollar bills, dramas and trot music to the North, but how come they send us waste and trash?” the organization said in a statement, referring to a type of Korean music. “North Korea leader Kim Jong Un should immediately apologize.” Edited by Mike Firn.

Tiananmen – 35 years later

Editor1 month ago01 mins

Download the poster here June 4 marks the 35th anniversary of the Tiananmen massacre, in which the People’s Liberation Army killed hundreds, possibly thousands of civilians, stamping out weeks of protests in the heart of China’s capital. The government still suppresses mention and memorializing of the 1989 killings in Beijing.

Year: 2024