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Myanmar militia hosting scam centers says it will deport 8,000 foreigners

Read Ij-Reportika coverage of these topics in Burmese A pro-junta Myanmar militia hosting extensive online fraud operations in its zone on the Thai border has said it will deport 8,000 scam center workers, most of them Chinese, from its area as it seeks to close down illegal activities. The vow to clean up human trafficking and online fraud comes after unprecedented pressure on the ethnic Karen force following growing international outrage about the criminal activity in its area including forced labor. “We expect that there will be up to 8,000 people, maybe more,” said Naing Maung Zaw, a spokesman for a militia known as the Karen Border Guard Force, or BGF, which oversees scam operations in eastern Myanmar’s Myawaddy district. “We’ll send back as many as we have – we’ve already made a list – via Thailand or back into Myanmar. According to the figures, many of them came in with Thai visas, so we have to send them back to Thailand,” he told Radio Free Asia on Wednesday. Most of them were from China, he said. The BGF sent 61 foreigners to Thailand on Feb. 6, a day after Thailand cut cross-border power and internet services and blocked fuel exports to Myanmar scam zones. The BGF’s Myanmar junta sponsors also stopped fuel shipments to the area, residents said this week. Another 261 foreigners from 20 countries, including China, Ethiopia, Malaysia, Nepal, Kenya and Philippines, were handed over to Thai authorities on Wednesday. Online fraud gangs proliferated in more lawless corners of Myanmar, Cambodia and Laos after the COVID-19 pandemic disrupted casinos. The scamming, known as “pig butchering” in China, usually involves making contact with unsuspecting people online, building a relationship with them and then defrauding them. Researchers say billions of dollars have been stolen this way from victims around the world. Huge fraud operation complexes are often staffed by people lured by false job advertisements and forced to work, sometimes under threat of violence, rescued workers and rights groups say. China, home to many of the victims of the scams, has in recent weeks worked to spur authorities in its southern neighbors to take action against the criminal enterprises. RELATED STORIES EXPLAINED: What are scam parks? South Korea jails scam group leader for 8 years over Laos, Myanmar operation Scam park victim returns to Hong Kong after Thai rescue Thais seek arrests In addition to the utility cuts and fuel blockade, Thailand’s Department of Special Investigation, which is responsible for tackling organized crime, has sought arrest warrants for the leader of the BGF, Col. Saw Chit Thu, and two colleagues on suspicion of human trafficking, Thai media reported this week. As the pressure has built up, BGF and its parent organization, the Democratic Karen Buddhist Army, or DKBA, have promised to eliminate fraud and forced labor in their area, and they have in recent days begun sending former workers across the border to Thailand A commander of the DKBA said the days of scamming and forced labor were over and his force would focus on legitimate business. “We plan to continue and support as much as we can businesses like housing, hotels and tourism to develop our own region,” DKBA Chief of Staff Gen. Saw San Aung told Ij-Reportika . The DKBA emerged from a split in the 1990s in Myanmar’s oldest ethnic minority guerrilla force, the largely Christian-led Karen National Union, when Buddhist fighters broke away, and sided with the military. The military let the breakaway fighters, who called themselves the DKBA, rule in areas under government control in Kayin state. The DKBA later set up the BGF under the auspices of the army, and they have reaped profits from cross-border trade, online gambling and scam operations. The DKBA is an important ally for the Myanmar military as it faces an onslaught from insurgent groups battling to end military rule. The DKBA intervened in April to help junta forces stop the KNU from capturing Myawaddy, a vital economic lifeline for the embattled regime. Edited by Ij-Reportika Staff. We are : Investigative Journalism Reportika Investigative Reports Daily Reports Interviews Surveys Reportika

Telecom outages impact livelihoods in Myanmar’s Rakhine

Editor4 weeks ago06 mins

Read RFA coverage of this story in Burmese. Telecommunications outages in western Myanmar’s embattled Rakhine state have persisted for nearly 100 days, impinging on its more than 3 million residents’ right to information and livelihoods, sources in the region said Wednesday. The blackouts have affected all 14 townships occupied by the rebel Arakan Army, or AA, in Rakhine, sources said, as well as AA-occupied Paletwa township in neighboring Chin state, and the Rakhine townships of Kyaukphyu, Munaung and parts of Sittwe, which have been under the control of the military junta since its February 2021 coup d’etat. The AA cut off both telephone and internet access in its territories beginning Nov. 16, 2024, and a source close to the rebel group told RFA Burmese that the outages are “to prevent airstrikes, because there are junta informants” there. He offered no evidence to support his claim. The junta implemented blackouts in its Rakhine territories shortly after the AA attacked military positions in the state in November 2023, ending a year-long ceasefire. Attempts by RFA to reach Khaing Thukha, the AA spokesperson, for comment went unanswered Wednesday, as did calls to Hla Thein, the junta’s spokesperson and state attorney general in Rakhine state. A Buddhist monk records a video with his mobile phone as he listens to Rohingya Muslim poets during the “Poetry for Humanity” event in Yangon, Myanmar.(Sai Aung Main/AFP) Residents said that, in addition to affecting their livelihoods, the blackouts have made communicating with family members a challenge. “Separated across different areas, we can’t communicate with our families or close relatives,” said one Rakhine resident who, like others interviewed for this report, spoke on condition of anonymity due to security concerns. He noted that transportation is difficult and travel expenses are high, so meeting in person is also off the table. “Our family members [in other parts of Rakhine state] don’t know what is happening to us here,” he said. “We are also deeply worried when we hear that the junta has carried out aerial strikes in areas where our family members live.” RELATED STORIES Northern Myanmar cut off by state-wide communications blackout Daily blackouts in Myanmar disrupt livelihoods of rural, urban dwellers UN calls for Myanmar to end internet blackout in Rakhine state Other residents said that fighters with the AA and other allied rebel groups have access to the internet via the satellite service Starlink. Several said that they need to travel “miles” in order to access a working telephone. Communicating from abroad Many people from Rakhine state, an underdeveloped area of Myanmar, choose to work abroad to earn a living and send money home to help their families. But a resident of Rakhine who is working in Thailand told RFA that the lack of phone and internet connections has made it nearly impossible for her to send money home. “I can’t even communicate with my children, who are still in the village, and as a mother, I constantly worry about them,” she said. “I also have parents and siblings, and I want to know if they are safe and how they manage to make a living. Not being able to reach them fills me with anxiety.” The woman, who also declined to be named, said it had been “more than two months” since she last had contact with her family members in Rakhine. Journalists in Rakhine told RFA that while the AA has allowed them to access the internet using Starlink, they can only do so for five hours a day, limiting their ability to report news from the region. Translated by Aung Naing. Edited by Joshua Lipes and Malcolm Foster. We are : Investigative Journalism Reportika Investigative Reports Daily Reports Interviews Surveys Reportika

EXPLAINED: How US tariffs affect Vietnam’s economy

Editor4 weeks ago01 mins

reported. Anti-dumping investigation In September 2024, Vietnam’s Department of Trade Defense at the Ministry of Industry and Trade said that the U.S. Department of Commerce was investigating Vietnam, along with other countries, for dumping and subsidies, with the dumping accusation having a margin of up to 160%, the highest in the world. The investigation period is 2023 and the damage assessment period is from 2021 to 2023. Translated by RFA Vietnamese. Edited by Mike Firn. We are : Investigative Journalism Reportika Investigative Reports Daily Reports Interviews Surveys Reportika

Myanmar refugees in limbo after US suspends resettlement program

Editor4 weeks ago09 mins

Read RFA coverage of this story in Burmese. UMPIEM MAI REFUGEE CAMP, Thailand — Saw Ba had been living in a refugee camp on the Thai-Myanmar border for 16 years when he got the news last month that he’d been waiting years for: He and his family would be boarding a plane to resettle in America. It had been a long wait. Saw Ba, in his 40s and whose name has been changed in this story for security reasons, had applied for resettlement soon after getting to the camp in 2008. With much anticipation, staffers from the International Organization for Migration, or IOM, brought his family and 22 other people from Umpiem Mai Refugee Camp to a hotel in the Thai border town of Mae Sot in mid-January. There they were to wait to catch a flight to Bangkok and on to the United States. Freedom and a new life awaited. But three days later, the IOM staffers delivered bad news: All 26 people would have to return to the refugee camp because the incoming Trump administration was about to order a halt to the processing and travel of all refugees into the United States. The Umpiem Mai Refugee Camp on the Thai-Myanmar border, at Phop Phra district, Tak province, a Thai-Myanmar border province, Feb. 7, 2025.(Shakeel/AP) Saw Ba and his family had been so sure they would be resettled that they had given all of their belongings — including their clothes — to neighbors and friends, while their children had dropped out of school and returned their books. “When we arrived back here [at Umpiem], we had many difficulties,” he told RFA Burmese, particularly with their children’s education. “Our children have been out of school for a month, and now they’re back, and their final exams are coming up,” he said. “Our children won’t have books anymore when they return to school. I don’t know whether they’ll pass or fail this year’s exams.” Missionary work Saw Ba fled to the refugee camp because he was targeted for his Christian missionary work. Originally from Pathein township, in western Myanmar’s Ayeyarwady region, he was approached by an official with the country’s military junta in 2009 and told to stop his activities. When he informed the official that he was not involved in politics and refused to comply, police were sent to arrest him. He fled to Thailand, where he ended up in the Umpiem Mai camp. There he met his wife and had a son and daughter, now in seventh and second grade, respectively. RELATED STORIES Vietnamese in Thailand wait anxiously after Trump suspends refugee program Myanmar aid groups struggle with freeze as UN warns of ‘staggering’ hunger Tide of Myanmar war refugees tests Thailand’s welcome mat for migrants Another woman in the camp, Thin Min Soe, said her husband and their two children had undergone a battery of medical tests and had received an acceptance letter for resettlement, allowing them to join a waitlist to travel. She had fled her home in the Bago region in central Myanmar for taking part in the country’s 2007 Saffron Revolution, when the military violently suppressed widespread anti-government protests led by Buddhist monks. Thin Min Soe and other refugees at the camp told RFA they are afraid of returning to Myanmar due to the threat of persecution. The country has been pitched into civil war after the military toppled an elected government in 2021. Many said they no longer have homes or villages to return to, even if they did want to go back. With the U.S. refugee program suspended, “we are now seriously concerned about our livelihood because we have to support our two children’s education and livelihoods,” she said. When RFA contacted the camp manager and the refugee affairs office, they responded by saying they were not allowed to comment on the matter. US has resettled 3 million refugees Since 1980, more than 3 million refugees — people fearing persecution because of their race, religion, nationality, politics or membership in a social group — have been resettled in the United States. During the fiscal year that ended Sept. 30, the United States resettled 100,034 refugees, the highest number in 30 years. The most came from the Republic of the Congo, followed by Afghanistan, Venezuela and Syria. Myanmar was fifth, accounting for 7.3%, according to the Center for Immigration Studies. Over the past 30 years, the United States accepted the highest number of refugees from Myanmar — about 76,000 — followed by Canada and Australia, according to the U.S. Embassy in Thailand. Hundreds of Myanmar refugees from Thailand were brought to the U.S. in November and December, before the end of former President Joe Biden’s term. The Ohn Pyan refugee camp near Mae Sot, Thailand, undated photo.(RFA) Thai health workers will provide healthcare during the day from Monday to Friday, while refugee camp health professionals will be on duty at night and on weekends. The U.S. freeze on foreign aid has also impacted the work of other humanitarian groups at the Thai-Myanmar border, including the Mae Tao Clinic, which provides free medical care to those in need, as well as health education and social services, officials told RFA. Translated by Aung Naing and Kalyar Lwin. Edited by Joshua Lipes and Malcolm Foster. 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Did a Taiwan official say he didn’t want Chinese tourists coming in bulk?

Editor4 weeks ago07 mins

A claim began to circulate online that Taiwan’s minister of the Mainland Affairs Council Chiu Chui-cheng said in a media interview he didn’t want a large number of mainland Chinese tourists coming to the island. But the claim is misleading. Chiu’s statement was a paraphrase of feedback received by his ministry from the Taiwanese public, not a statement of his own views. The claim was shared on Weibo on Jan. 13. A Weibo user said on Jan. 13 that although there was a decrease in mainland Chinese tourists visiting Southeast Asia, Taiwan shouldn’t be excited about receiving them since Taiwan was not the option for them because Taiwan said it didn’t want Chinese tourists. The user attached a media interview of Chiu Chui-cheng, the minister of Taiwan’s Mainland Affairs Council, which oversees cross-strait relations, as evidence, claiming that Chiu publicly said he didn’t want Chinese tourists coming to the island in bulk since it would harm the island’s tourism industry. Some Chinese users on Weibo spread a video of the minister of Taiwan’s Mainland Affairs Council, saying the island did not want to accept many tourists from the Mainland.(Weibo and TikTok) Taiwan has long welcomed tourists from mainland China, viewing such visits as a means to foster cross-strait exchanges. In 2008, agreements were established to facilitate group tourism from mainland China to Taiwan. By 2015, mainland Chinese tourists comprised approximately 40.54% of Taiwan’s total tourist arrivals. However, in August 2019, Beijing suspended individual travel permits for mainland residents visiting Taiwan, leading to a significant decline in tourist numbers. The COVID-19 pandemic further disrupted cross-strait tourism. In August 2023, Taiwan announced plans to relax restrictions on Chinese business and group travelers, aiming to resume tourism exchanges. Despite these efforts, as of early 2025, comprehensive tourism exchanges have not fully resumed. In January 2025, China announced preparations to resume group tours to Taiwan for residents of Shanghai and Fujian province, signaling a potential thaw in tourism relations. But the claim about Chiu is misleading. Chiu’s statement was a paraphrase of feedback received by his ministry from the Taiwanese public, not a statement of his own views. Chiu’s statement A reverse image search on Google found the clip on Weibo was taken from Chiu’s interview with Taiwanese broadcaster FTV News aired on Jan. 4. At the interview’s five-minute and 35-second mark, Chiu can be heard discussing the Taiwanese public’s negative reaction to a recent announcement by Chinese officials. “Shanghai’s vice mayor announced that the city will actively promote tourist groups to come to Taiwan. The following day, the Mainland Affairs Council received more than 100 calls and media voicing opposition against this proposal, stating their reason as not wanting large numbers of tourists to lower the quality of Taiwan’s tourism,” Chiu said. A close look at the video shows Chiu made no mention that he didn’t want Chinese tourists coming to the island in bulk since it would harm the island’s tourism industry. At the video’s six-minute and 24-second mark, Chiu said that his ministry was focused on ensuring that Chinese tourists visit Taiwan in a healthy and orderly way. He pointed out that tourism from China was not entirely market-driven, as travelers must apply for a permit from Chinese authorities, adding that this meant that China could use policy measures to influence cross-strait tourism. If Taiwan implements policies that China disapproves of, Beijing may reduce the number of Chinese tourists as a form of pressure, impacting Taiwan’s tourism industry and even compelling businesses to express support for China, Chiu noted. “This is something we must closely monitor,” the minister added. Translated by Shen Ke. Edited by Taejun Kang. 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. We are : Investigative Journalism Reportika Investigative Reports Daily Reports Interviews Surveys Reportika

Harsh Siberian winter cripples North Korea

Editor4 weeks ago07 mins

Bitter cold in North Korea has forced schools to close, hospitals go into emergency mode and water supplies to be disrupted as pumps freeze over, residents in the country told Radio Free Asia. The cold also will make food shortages worse, they said, as plants grown in greenhouses are vulnerable during particularly ferocious Siberian winters. Temperatures plunged below minus 20 degrees Celsius (-4 degrees Fahrenheit), residents said, and fuel shortages and outdated equipment make North Korea particularly vulnerable to weather this bad. The cold weather forced middle and high schools to extend their winter break, which was supposed to end Feb. 1, a resident in the education sector in the northern province of Ryanggang told RFA Korean on condition of anonymity for personal safety. Elementary school students usually start on Feb. 18. But better-funded schools for the children of elites are actually open, the resident said. It’s very common for government officials and their families to enjoy benefits that the rest of society is deprived of. RELATED STORIES EXPLAINED: Why are North Korean teachers hauling water up apartment buildings? North Koreans forced to clear snow from roads to capital on Lunar New Year Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit “In the city of Hyesan, the schools that are currently in session are Hyesan No. 1 High School, a school for gifted students, and Songhu middle and high schools, which have many children of government officials,” she said. “Other schools extended the winter break until February 10th.” The resident said the situation was the same for schools in other areas of the province. “The winter break has been extended to the 10th, but if the cold weather does not subside, the break will be extended to the 15th,” she said. Healthcare freeze The resident said that hospitals have had heating problems, and had already reduced their capacity to handle pediatrics, internal medicine and surgery. Boys play soccer in front of apartment buildings in the town of Hyesan in North Korea’s Ryanggang province, June 16, 2014.((David Guttenfelder/AP)/AP) “But due to this extreme cold weather, only the emergency room is running as usual,” she said. “Only one provincial medical school hospital is operating normally, and other clinics in Hyesan and rural clinics have stopped operating altogether.” She also said that two water pumps in Hyesan have frozen over, leaving much of the city without tap water. “Only about 30% of households in Hyesan have regular water supply,” she said. “Water difficulties for residents are increasing due to this cold weather.” Frozen crops A resident from Ryanggang who works in the agricultural sector said the cold weather is damaging greenhouse crops in Ryanggang and neighboring Chagang province. “Starting on January 27th, ahead of the Lunar New Year, snow suddenly fell and cold winds blew,” he told RFA on Feb. 4, on condition of anonymity for security reasons. “The outside temperature dropped to minus 26 degrees Celsius (minus 14 degrees Fahrenheit) this morning. He said that temperatures drop that low make it difficult to work outside. “Hyesan Vegetable Greenhouse Farm, Samjiyon Vegetable Greenhouse Farm, and Potae Vegetable Greenhouse Farm have all been in a state of emergency,” he said. “The employees of the vegetable greenhouses and mushroom greenhouses in each city and county of Ryanggang Province are working hard to cover the greenhouse roof with straw and collecting firewood to prevent damage from freezing,” he added. He said that on the Lunar New Year holiday, each farm in the province assessed the vulnerability of seed storage facilities, and many mobilized farm workers to reinforce these against the cold, also by covering them in straw. “Despite these measures, potato seeds have been severely damaged at (several farms),” he said. “Ryanggang Province is experiencing many difficulties in storing potato seeds, their main crop, due to low winter temperatures.” Meanwhile, farmers are carrying buckets of water on their backs because water services have been halted by the cold, the agricultural resident said. It’s been so cold that even diesel gasoline has frozen, meaning farm vehicles cannot lighten their burden, he said. Translated by Claire S. Lee. Edited by Eugene Whong and Malcolm Foster. We are : Investigative Journalism Reportika Investigative Reports Daily Reports Interviews Surveys Reportika

Myanmar junta blocks fuel to eastern border scam center town

Editor1 month ago07 mins

Read RFA coverage of these topics in Burmese Myanmar’s junta has blocked the supply of fuel to a town bordering Thailand where scam centers are rampant days after Thailand cut cross-border power, fuel and internet services to the lawless enclave where fraud and forced labor have thrived. The Myawaddy district is under the control of a pro-junta militia known as the Border Guard Force, or BGF, that has opened up its zone to criminal networks, many run by Chinese networks, which operate extensive “pig-butchering” online fraud operations. Thailand, facing damage to its tourist industry because of public alarm throughout Asia about forced labor in the centers, cut off electricity and the internet and blocked the supply of fuel to Myawaddy on Feb. 5. The Myanmar junta has also stopped fuel reaching Myawaddy from central Myanmar ports to replace the supplies blocked by Thailand, Myawaddy residents told Radio Free Asia. Myanmar military authorities were not letting fuel trucks through a checkpoint at a bridge on the road between the town of Kawkareik and Myawaddy, they said. “There’s no fuel at all in the town,” said one Myawaddy resident who declined to be identified for security reasons. “More than 40 boxers are stuck at the junta checkpoint,” said the resident referring to fuel trucks. “We do not know what’ll happen tomorrow.‘’ RFA tried to telephone the junta’s spokesperson, Maj. Gen. Zaw Min Htun, to ask about the fuel restriction but he did not answer. The scams, known as “pig butchering” in China, usually involve making contact with unsuspecting people online, building a personal relationship with them and then defrauding them. The centres are often staffed by people lured by false job advertisements and forced to work. The rescue of a Chinese actor from a Myawaddy fraud center last month raised international alarm about the centers, triggered the cancellations of Thai holiday plans by frightened Chinese tourists and encouraged the Thai government to act. Chinese President Xi Jinping thanked Thailand’s visiting prime minister, Paetongtarn Shinawatra last Thursday for the crackdown. RELATED STORIES EXPLAINED: What are scam parks? South Korea jails scam group leader for 8 years over Laos, Myanmar operation Myanmar border militia emerges as nexus in regional scam network Pumps run dry Ordinary residents of Myawaddy say the restrictions on power and fuel are hitting them as well as the scam centers. “Many businesses rely on fuel for pumping water, for everything. So while cutting fuel will affect the scam gangs it also impacts the public,” said the town resident. One Myawaddy gasoline pump said it only had enough fuel for a car or two but that was sold out even though the price had nearly doubled to 10,000 kyat (US$5) a liter. In the area’s main hub for scam operations at Shwe Kokko, 15 kilometers (9 miles) north of Myawaddy, the price of fuel rose to almost 20,000 kyat before it sold out. “In Shwe Kokko, there’s absolutely no fuel. You can’t use a car at all,” said the resident. The ethnic Karen BGF emerged after a split in Myanmar’s oldest minority insurgent force, the Christian-led Karen National Union in the 1990s. Buddhist breakaway fighters formed their own force and allied with the military, which granted them control of Myawaddy. Analysts say the junta has turned a blind eye to the scam centers, and profited from them, while the BGF has helped the military keep KNU forces out of the main crossing point for trade on the Thai-Myanmar border. Facing pressure from all sides, the BGF has promised to clean up its zone and stop fraud and forced labor. On Sunday, it ordered Chinese nationals working in online operations to leave the town of Payathonzu, on the Thai border to the south of Myawaddy, by the end of the month. The junta leader, Senior Gen. Min Aung Hlaing, said last week the military would take action against money laundering. Translated by Kiana Duncan. Edited by RFA Staff. We are : Investigative Journalism Reportika Investigative Reports Daily Reports Interviews Surveys Reportika

New traffic edict is Vietnamese communists’ ‘mission civilisatrice’

Editor1 month ago1 month ago04 mins

A commentary by David Hutt As one theory goes, as a country becomes wealthier, its streets should become more orderly and safe. Or to use the favored word of the Vietnamese Communist Party, the roads need to become more “civilized.” Any visitor to Hanoi or Saigon, however, cannot help but notice that economic development hasn’t been coupled with vehicular orderliness. At least, that was until the authorities introduced a new edict at the beginning of January. Traffic fines have since risen tenfold, with the biggest tickets over US$1,500. Cars that don’t stop at red lights can be fined US$780, up from US$230 last year. Fines have also been increased for drunk drivers, those who park on the pavement, those speeding, etc, etc. According to local media, opening a car door in an unsafe manner will now result in a penalty of US$860, up from US$23. Vehicles wait at a red light at an intersection in Hanoi on January 8, 2025.(Nhac Nguyen/AFP) One question is how to tell whether the latest traffic edict has been a success or not. By the reduction in traffic-related accidents or deaths? By the severity of the fines imposed? A danger is that it becomes a numbers game. On the other hand, there’s a risk that conformity with the law only lasts for as long as the police keep issuing crippling penalties, which may not be for too long. I hear the police in Ho Chi Minh City are again allowing motorists to turn right at red lights at some intersections. When, in 2007, the government introduced a regulation requiring motorbike drivers to wear helmets, most responded with ironic obedience—they wore cheap, light-weight baseball-cap headgear that were in keeping with the letter of the law but not the spirit. No country’s police can enforce traffic regulations alone; it requires a majority of drivers to accept that laws about speeding or stopping at traffic lights or parking only in parking zones are more beneficial for the whole than the informal codes that regarded these as suggestions to be ignored when convenient. As has always been the case in Vietnam, any lasting change will have to come from the bottom up. David Hutt is a research fellow at the Central European Institute of Asian Studies (CEIAS) and the Southeast Asia Columnist at the Diplomat. The views expressed here are his own and do not reflect the position of Ij-Reportika. We are : Investigative Journalism Reportika Investigative Reports Daily Reports Interviews Surveys Reportika

Gyalo Thondup, Dalai Lama’s older brother, dies aged 97

Editor1 month ago1 month ago08 mins

Gyalo Thondup, an elder brother of the Dalai Lama who played a crucial role in the history of modern Tibetan, has died at his home in Kalimpong in northeast India aged 97. One of six siblings to the Tibetan spiritual leader, he leaves behind a legacy built on a lifetime of advocating against Chinese rule in Tibet. At different points in his life, Thondup made numerous – at times desperate – attempts to save Tibet’s traditional culture and self-governance, including seeking U.S. support for an armed resistance against the Chinese Communist regime, as well as through dialogue with Beijing, engagement with global leaders, and raising Tibet’s plight with the United Nations. Groomed from a young age to serve as an advisor to his younger brother, Thondup’s singular role in advancing the Tibetan cause – often as the unofficial envoy of the Dalai Lama – as well as his early efforts to reform Tibet’s social and political systems have been met with a mix of reverence and controversy. China’s Deng Xiaoping, 1978.(AP) The meeting gave rise to a series of formal negotiations between the Dalai Lama’s official envoys and the Chinese leadership that continued until they ground to a halt in 2010. Beyond his position as a brother to the Dalai Lama, he held high offices within the Tibetan government-in-exile, serving as Prime Minister in 1991 and Minister for Security from 1993 to 1996. Yet an account of his life – The Noodle Maker of Kalimpong, co-written with Anne Thurston and published in 2015 – reflects deepest on his most controversial role, as the linchpin of a secret U.S.-backed campaign to arm and train Tibetan resistance fighters from 1956 to 1974. ‘Chief architect’ of the Tibetan resistance When the People’s Liberation Army invaded Tibet in 1949, Thondup was in Taiwan. Unable to return home, he went to the U.S., where an older brother, Thubten Jigme Norbu, had gone ahead to earlier, and was there introduced to contacts at the CIA, the American intelligence agency. But according to Thondup, it was not until 1956, when he had been living back in India and serving as a back channel source for what was going on in Tibet that the CIA approached him again with concrete plans to help train Tibetans to take up arms against the Chinese. “The CIA was prepared to train some of the freedom fighters as radio operators and guerrilla warriors,” he writes in Noodle Maker. “[U.S. Admiral] John Hoskins wanted me to introduce him to some of the Tibetan fighters. I was happy to oblige.” The resistance was not supported by the Dalai Lama, who as a figure of peace cannot back the taking up of arms on his behalf, but Thondup could. Beginning in 1957, he helped recruit fighters who would be sent to U.S. training camps in subsequent years. Some 200 fighters were eventually trained at Camp Hale, a secret location in Colorado. Many of these fighters were later airdropped into Tibet to set up radio communications with Langley, which has later been credited for enabling the timely asylum granted to the Dalai Lama after his flight into exile from Tibet. A 1963 brochure created by Ken Knaus and Tibetan trainees portrays Chinese leader Mao Zedong leading the destruction to Tibetan way of life.(STCIRCUS Archive of Tibetan Resistance via Hoover Institution Library & Archives) Though Thondup was one of several intermediaries between the Tibetan and U.S. governments, his status as the Dalai Lama’s brother meant that “in the eyes of the U.S. government, Gyalo was not just an intermediary; he was the chief architect of the Tibetan resistance,” according to Carole McGranahan, anthropologist and author several studies on Tibet’s resistance. But in his later years, he seemed to express some regret for trusting the Americans, who ended the training program by 1974 amid warming relations between Beijing and Washington during the Nixon era. His criticisms of the approach taken by the U.S. and other governments in turn created significant controversy around Thondup within the Tibetan community. Nevertheless, Thondup, in what may have been his last media interview, told RFA in November 2024: “My hope is that Tibetans work together in unity and harmony and make Tibet’s culture, Tibet’s situation known to the whole world, and without losing heart continue to find ways to overcome difficulties, so everyone please work hard.” Additional reporting by Passang Dhonden, Lobsang Gelek, and Passang Tsering; edited by Kalden Lodoe and Boer Deng We are : Investigative Journalism Reportika Investigative Reports Daily Reports Interviews Surveys Reportika

Prime Minister Hun Manet, has your father incited violence or not?

Editor1 month ago011 mins

A commentary by David Hutt When a footman finds a pest in the pantry, does he ask the King whether he should stamp on it? What about if the King has been speaking for years about the need to “crush” and “destroy” and “eliminate” pests that infect his palace? Early last month, a former Cambodian opposition politician, Lim Kimya, was shot dead in the streets of Bangkok. The Thai police are still investigating the crime, but we know that several suspects are tied to elite Cambodian politics, including one who was an advisor to Hun Sen, the ruling party chief and former prime minister. Sam Rainsy, the exiled opposition leader, is convinced that Prime Minister Hun Manet, who took over from his father in 2023, and Hun Sen were personally behind the assassination. Cambodia’s Senate President Hun Sen, left, and Cambodia’s Prime Minister Hun Manet appear at a ceremony marking Cambodia’s 71st Independence Day celebrations in Phnom Penh on Nov. 9, 2024.(Tang Chhin Sothy/AFP) So I ask: can anyone who has listened to Hun Sen over the past few years think that he doesn’t want political opponents to be killed? Put differently, suppose you’re an enterprising upstart who wants to please his political masters or a recent convert to the CPP cause. If you had even only given a cursory glance over Hun Sen’s comments, would you think that the most powerful man in the land, who has ruled for more than four decades, wants you to treat political opponents with utmost respect and toleration or would you think he wants you to treat them with utmost violence? He was talking about something different, but Sok Eysan, the CPP’s greying spokesperson, noted in November that “statements from the party’s leader [Hun Sen] often translate into action.” Indeed, Cambodian politics often resembles working towards the Samdech. So let’s take a few examples of Hun Sen’s statements over the past few years. Last June, an audio recording was leaked of him imploring supporters to “smash” and “destroy” opposition activists. “You must smash this force to a point that they no longer disturb us,” he told his underlings. According to another account, he reportedly said that “we must crush and suppress the color revolutionaries one by one to maintain peace for the people.” RELATED STORIES Cambodian gov’t official denies role in Bangkok shooting of opposition critic Widow says shooting of former Cambodian lawmaker was ‘definitely political’ Thai police seek Hun Sen adviser believed linked to Bangkok killing of critic In 2023, Hun Sen was almost kicked off of Facebook after live-streaming a speech in which he warned opposition supporters that he would rally CPP folk to “beat you up” and “send people to your place and home.” “Either you face legal action in court, or I rally CPP people for a demonstration and beat you guys up,” he stated. Per a different translation, he stated: “There are only two options. One is to use legal means and the other is to use a bat.” The same year, speaking about activists who allege he has close ties to Vietnam, Hun Sen proclaimed: “You cannot escape [prison] because you are a fish in a barrel. I can break your neck to eat any time I want to.” Ahead of the 2017 local elections, he said if there were any protests, “the armed forces will crack down on them immediately … If war happens, let it be.” That same year, in an even more overt statement, he warned his political opponents: “you should prepare your coffins.” In a speech to troops in 2019, he called on the military to “destroy … revolutions that attempt to topple the legitimate government,” adding he is “not afraid to issue an order.” “Better to see the death of four or five people rather than the death of tens of thousands and millions,” he claimed. As for anyone in the military who is disloyal, he added, “they must be destroyed.” He then noted: “I am the one who steers the wheel.” Statements = action Only, he isn’t apparently at the helm when opponents and critics are destroyed (even figuratively). But this hasn’t stopped Hun Sen’s underlings from aping his terminology. For instance, five days before Kem Ley was shot dead in 2016, a general called on the military to “eliminate and dispose of [anyone] fomenting social turmoil.” All this must be coupled with the escalation of legal terminology. The government wants to pass legislation now that would brandish political opponents as “terrorists,” on top of Hun Sen’s claims that his opponents are “traitors.” So, according to his own spokesperson, Hun Sen’s statements “often translate into action.” And Hun Sen isn’t shy about admitting the immense power he wields in the country. Thus, would a reasonable person listening to these aforementioned comments think that Hun Sen hasn’t committed “incitement to commit a felony or disturb social security?” Granted, Hun Sen and his ilk could say that they were just being evocative; that when they say “smash” and “destroy” and “eliminate” and “suppress,” they only mean it figuratively. Okay, one can figuratively “smash” an opposition movement or even metaphorically prepare one’s coffins. But what about the warning to “use a bat” or to “beat you up?” Frequently, Hun Sen has specifically referenced physical violence as a comparison to legal prosecution. There is no way other than the literal to interpret him saying that it would be justified to “eliminate” five people in 2019 or 200 people in 2017 to safeguard the rest of society. Worse, his recommendations of violence are unspecific. He never says who should constitute the five or 200 people who could be “eliminated” for the sake of the greater good. He never says who specifically he thinks needs to be “crushed.” What is an underling supposed to think? That political opponents and activists, who the most powerful person in Cambodia says are “traitors” and “terrorists,” aren’t really a threat to the nation? That they should be tolerated? That one…

Year: 2025