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Category: Americas
Experts raise concern about implementation of US law on Uyghur forced labor
A U.S. law that bans the importation of products from Xinjiang in China in response to allegations that Uyghurs in the region are being used as forced labor took effect this week, but the tough new prohibitions could prove difficult to enforce, experts said Wednesday. The Uyghur Forced Labor Prevention Act (UFLPA) created what is referred to as a “rebuttable presumption” that assumes goods made in the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region (XUAR) are produced with forced labor and thus banned under the U.S. 1930 Tariff Act. The law requires U.S. companies that import goods from the region to prove that they have not been manufactured at any stage with Uyghur forced labor. In previous U.S. investigations of imports from China, cotton used in major clothing brands, tomatoes and polysilicon for solar panels have been linked to forced labor in the XUAR. The U.S. and several Western parliaments have said that China’s action in Xinjiang constitute a genocide and crimes against humanity. China denies that it has persecuted Uyghurs or other ethnic minority groups in the region. The new forced labor law passed with overwhelming bipartisan support in Congress and was signed into law by President Biden on Dec. 23, 2021. But Douglas Barry, vice president of communications and publications for the U.S.-China Business Council, said the law is unclear about how companies can definitively prove that no forced labor was involved in the goods they import from China. Several Chinese companies are already on the U.S. government’s Entity List, which forbids American firms from doing business with them unless they obtain special licenses, Barry said. Beyond that, the UFLPA places the onus on the U.S. firms to provide evidence that no forced labor was involved in the production of imported goods. “That’s a challenge because of the lack of independent third party auditors on the ground in China,” he said. “At the end of the day our member companies are fanatical about working in their supply chains to make sure there is no forced labor involved,” he said. “We hope that when enforcement issues arise in the coming days, the government agencies will work with the business community to resolve the issue as quickly as possible adjusting enforcement of tactics as the facts on the ground require.” ‘Challenging but doable’ Jessica Rifkin, an attorney who leads the customs, trade and litigation team at Benjamin L. England & Associates, said that exporters could get around the law by shipping their products to another country before they arrive in the U.S. “[Y]ou have a good that’s subject to certain legal requirements based on its manufacture in one country, but then is shipped to another country, and then shipped through there to the U.S. in order to potentially evade those requirements,” she said. These types of transactions could still happen under the new law, although Rifkin said that U.S. customs officials have ways to identify those goods. U.S. companies could also divide their supply chains to get around the new requirement, presenting a major challenge to enforcement, said Peter Irwin, senior program officer for advocacy and communications at the Washington, D.C.-based Uyghur Human Rights Project. “You have one supply chain that is for the U.S. market to comply with the law, and then maybe they’ll bifurcate their supply chain and have another supply chain that doesn’t necessarily need to follow this law,” he told RFA. Since 2017, Chinese authorities have allegedly ramped up their repression of predominantly Muslim Uyghurs and other Turkic minorities in the XUAR, detaining up to 1.8 million members of these groups in internment camps. The maltreatment also includes severe human rights abuses, torture and forced labor. Sophie Richardson, China director at New York-based Human Rights Watch, said the law’s implementation will be difficult but not impossible. “Some of the most complex challenges may be for companies that have, for example, taken a semi-finished product and sent it to the Uyghur region for finishing, and then sent it someplace else, and then sent it on into the United States,” she said. “Tracking the actual trajectory of the full supply chain is going to be challenging, but it is doable,” Richardson added. “Over time, hopefully what will happen is that companies will be do a better job of keeping records and sharing information about how things were produced and how they reached the U.S.” Holding China to account Rushan Abbas, executive director of the Washington, D.C.-based Campaign for Uyghurs, said called U.S. Customs and Border Protection should release data about any violations to the new law it finds. “Data should be released on the Customs and Border Protection’s website on a regular basis about the goods it holds, re-exports, excludes, and seizes, including information on the company importing the banned goods, their nature, value, and why the action was taken,” Abbas said in a statement issued on Wednesday. At a regular news conference in Beijing on Wednesday, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Wang Wenbin called the allegations of forced labor in the XUAR “a huge lie made up by anti-China forces to denigrate China.” “It is the complete opposite of the reality Xinjiang, where cotton and other industries rely on large-scale mechanized production and the rights of workers of all ethnic groups in Xinjiang are duly protected,” he said. “The U.S.’s Uyghur Forced Labor Prevention Act is built on a lie and designed to impose sanctions on relevant entities and individuals in Xinjiang,” said Wang. “This move is the furtherance of that lie and an escalation of U.S. suppression on China under the pretext of human rights. Moreover, the act is solid evidence of U.S.’s arbitrariness in undermining international economic and trade rules and global industrial and supply chains.” The U.S. government has taken measures to promote accountability in the XUAR, including visa restrictions, financial sanctions, export controls and import restrictions, U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken said in a statement on Wednesday. In July 2021, multiple U.S. agencies released an updated business advisory on Xinjiang warning of the legal risks…
Tortured dissident Xu Zhiyong stands trial in China’s Shandong for ‘subversion’
Rights groups called for the release of Chinese dissident Xu Zhiyong, who has reported being tortured in detention, as his trial for “subversion” went ahead behind closed doors on Wednesday. “The hearing ended,” Xu’s lawyer Zhang Lei said in comments reported by the Chinese Human Rights Defenders (CHRD) network on Twitter. “Once it was decided that in the name of the law that they announced the trial would be non-public, a lawyer can just be a witness, to witness that [Xu] doesn’t just enter darkness,” Zhang said. CHRD said police had also harassed Xu’s sister who traveled to attend the trial at Linshu County People’s Court in Linyi city, Shandong province, raiding her hotel room in the middle of the night and forcing her to leave. “Is there any humanity left in the [ruling Chinese Communist Party (CCP)] totalitarian state?” Xu’s U.S.-based wife Luo Shengchun said via Twitter. “Not only was she unable to attend her brother’s trial; she wasn’t even allowed to stay in the area,” Luo tweeted. “Does this darkness mean that dawn is coming soon? I hope so!” Luo said the trial had been moved to Linshu county to keep it out of the public spotlight. “In order to prevent witnesses from testifying in court, they put them all under house arrest; in order to prevent the media from reporting it, they kept proceedings secret and forced lawyers to sign non-disclosure agreements,” Luo wrote. “They tortured to extract confessions, fabricated evidence and lies, and I will carry on exposing them to the rest of the world!” she tweeted. Xu’s trial on charges of “subversion of state power” has been widely criticized by rights activists as resulting from a trumped-up charge. “The Chinese government is making a grave and shameful mistake by proceeding with the trial of Xu Zhiyong,” Liesl Gerntholtz, director of the PEN/Barbey Freedom to Write Center at PEN America said in a statement. She added: “Xu has not committed a crime. He is a leading public intellectual using his words to try to hold the Chinese government accountable to Chinese citizens.” Rights groups say Xu’s case has been marred with due process violations, including torture and incommunicado detention for nearly two-and-a-half years. “We call on the Chinese government to immediately drop all charges against Xu and release him from detention. We also urge an independent review of the harrowing reports that Xu has been tortured,” American PEN said. CHRD has echoed calls for the release of Xu and rights lawyer Ding Jiaxi, whose trial is scheduled for June 24. “CHRD urges the Chinese government to immediately and unconditionally release the two human rights defenders,” the group said in a recent statement. “The Chinese government must heed the opinions of UN experts who found that Xu and Ding are being arbitrarily detained in violation of international law.” The trials come ahead of the United Nations International Day in Support of Victims of Torture, CHRD said, adding that Ding had also reported being tortured while in detention. The entire case against Xu and Ding stemmed from the men’s “peaceful advocacy,” the group said. It cited Ding’s wife Luo Shengchun as saying that neither man’s lawyers have been allowed to meet with them during the past three months, and had been barred from making copies of the case files. “Not allowing lawyers to make copies means that lawyers may have to read and take notes on hundreds of pages of case files at one fixed time in an office, which obviously impairs their capacity to adequately prepare for a legal defense,” CHRD said. Ding’s lawyers say he was restrained in a “tiger chair” between April 1 and 8, 2020, and interrogated for 21 hours a day, subjected to sleep deprivation and limited food and water. Ding and Luo have both filed applications to exclude the evidence against him as having been obtained illegally, under torture, but with no success. Xu has told his lawyer that he was subjected to similar treatment in the “tiger chair” while detained in Shandong’s Yantai city. Xu, who has already served jail time for launching the New Citizens’ Movement for greater official accountability, was detained in early 2020 and held on suspicion of “subversion of state power” alongside Ding and other activists who held a dinner gathering in the southeastern port city of Xiamen on Dec. 13, 2019. Both men were held incommunicado, denied permission to meet with either family members or a lawyer for two years, under “residential surveillance at a designated location” (RSDL) and criminal detention. They haven’t been seen or heard from since their indictments in August 2021. Activists and rights lawyers say Xu has never advocated violence, and has paid a very heavy price for advocating for his personal ideals. They say the charges against those who attended the Xiamen dinner are a form of political persecution by the ruling Chinese Communist Party (CCP). Translated and edited by Luisetta Mudie.
Cambodian American activist Theary Seng transferred to remote prison
Authorities in Cambodia have transferred Cambodian American democracy activist Theary Seng to a remote prison, a move that her lawyer said will isolate her from her family and legal counsel. Theary Seng was arrested on Tuesday while she protested a mass trial that convicted her and more than 50 other democracy advocates on charges related to their association with the banned opposition Cambodian National Rescue Party (CNRP). She began serving her six-year sentence for treason the same day at Prey Sar prison in the capital Phnom Penh. But prison authorities have confirmed to RFA that Theary Seng has since been transferred to Preah Vihear Prison in the country’s far north. “We have foreseen risks in keeping her in Phnom Penh, and for the sake of ensuring her security and to maintain public order, we transferred her to a higher security prison,” Nuth Savna, spokesman for the General Prison Department, told RFA’s Khmer Service on Friday. Theary Seng’s lawyer, Choung Chou Ngy, told RFA that the move could complicate an appeal, which would be reviewed by a court in Phnom Penh. “The prison didn’t tell me why they transferred her. I don’t know the reason. … The transfer affects my rights to defend her because I lose opportunity to see her. She has the right to appeal, so I need to see her to explain to her about the process and her right to appeal,” he said. “If she decides to appeal, I will prepare a case for her,” Choung Chou Ngy said. “It is difficult for a lawyer to defend her while she is so far away and the court will have a problem because it has to transport her from Preah Vihear.” Choung Chou Ngy said that he was unable to see his client while she was held at Prey Sar, which he said was a violation of her rights. Marady Seng, Theary’s brother, told RFA that he was also unable to meet his sister while she was detained at the Phnom Penh prison. Officials cited COVID-19 restrictions as the reason, he said. “Since June 14, we have no new information. I have been concerned since her arrest I don’t have any information about her health or whether she was harmed. This is not justice,” he said. “What the government has done is too much. I urge the government to release her immediately.” Am Sam Ath of the Cambodian League for the Promotion and Defense of Human Rights told RFA that Theary Seng’s detention is another example of Prime Minister Hun Sen pressuring human rights advocates. “Putting her away from her family and friends will isolate her and impact her emotionally,” Am Sam Ath said. He noted that the government has used similar tactics to isolate incarcerated other opposition politicians and activists. Theary Seng and the other convicted activists were all in some way connected to the Cambodian National Rescue Party (CNRP) before the country’s Supreme Court dissolved the party five years ago, a decision that paved the way for Hun Sen to tighten his grip on the country and squash criticism of his government. The treason charges against the activists stem from abortive efforts in 2019 to bring about the return to Cambodia of CNRP leader Sam Rainsy, who has been in exile in France to avoid what his supporters say are politicized charges against him. Translated by Samean Yun. Written in English by Eugene Whong.
Taiwan boosts advanced chip plans, warns of high-tech fallout if China invades
Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co. (TSMC) said on Friday it would join the race to make next-generation 2-nanometer chips by 2025, amid growing saber-rattling from China. The company said it would start volume production of the low-energy advanced chips within the next three years. Samsung and Intel have made similar announcements in recent months. “We are living in a rapidly changing, supercharged, digital world where demand for computational power and energy efficiency is growing faster than ever before, creating unprecedented opportunities and challenges for the semiconductor industry,” TSMC CEO C.C. Wei told the North America Technology Symposium. TSMC launched the 5nm process in 2020 and is scheduled to start commercial production of the 3nm process later this year in Tainan. The first 2-nm plant will be built in Hsinchu, with production to expand later to Taichung, the island’s Central News Agency reported on Friday. The announcement came after Taiwan’s chief trade negotiator John Deng warned that a potential Chinese invasion — increasingly threatened by the ruling Chinese Communist Party (CCP) — would lead to a global shortage of semiconductor chips. “The disruption to international supply chains; disruption on the international economic order; and the chance to grow would be much, much (more) significant than [the current shortage],” Deng told Reuters at a World Trade Organization (WTO) meeting in Geneva this week. “There would be a worldwide shortage of supply.” ‘Special operation’ fears Taiwan dominates the global market for the most advanced chips, with exports totaling U.S.$118 billion last year, Reuters reported, quoting Deng as saying he hopes to decrease the 40 percent share of the island’s exports that are currently being sold to China. While Taiwan has never been governed by the CCP, nor formed part of the People’s Republic of China, and its 23 million people have no wish to give up their sovereignty or democratic way of life, Beijing insists the island is part of its territory. Taiwan has raised its alert level since Russia invaded Ukraine, amid concerns that CCP leader Xi Jinping could use an invasion of the democratic island to boost flagging political support that has been dented by growing confrontation with the United States and draconian zero-COVID restrictions at home. Xi recently signed a directive allowing “non-war” uses of the military, prompting concerns that Beijing may be gearing up to invade the democratic island of Taiwan under the guise of a “special operation” not classified as war. “One interpretation is that, in doing this, Xi Jinping is copying Putin’s designation of the Ukraine war as a ‘special military operation’,” U.S.-based current affairs commentator Xia Yeliang told RFA. “Xi Jinping … wants to surpass Mao Zedong, and in doing that, he doesn’t think anyone is as good as him, not even Deng Xiaoping,” Xia said. Collective leadership He said Xi is under huge political pressure from within party ranks, citing media reports and credible rumors from high-ranking sources within the CCP.”How’s he going to do that? Economically, the situation is already better than under Mao. So he means to liberate Taiwan, and fulfill Mao’s wish, the task that he was unable to complete himself.” “A lot of people don’t trust Xi and worry that he’s going to get China into trouble … they could replace him with a system of collective leadership. So what does Xi do in response? He tries to create an atmosphere of fear, threatening to go to war, that if the U.S. does this or that, we’ll make our move,” Xia said. “Xi Jinping wants to manufacture an external crisis; a sense that if we don’t invade Taiwan now, then the opportunity will be lost, so we have to move now. He wants everyone to support him as chairman of the Central Military Commission [ahead of] the CCP 20th National Congress,” he said. Tseng Chih-Chao, deputy secretary-general of Taiwan’s Chung-hwa Institution for Economic Research, said global shortages of a particular kind of chip have already put a spanner in the works of automakers around the world, and that TSMC currently holds a 90-percent global market share in advanced chips. “When we look at their main customers like Apple’s Nvidia chips, they are the most advanced chip manufacturers in the world,” Tseng said. “Without TSMC, the entire high-tech industry around the world would cease to function, including all of the chips that go into iPhones or Apple computers,” he said. “Most importantly, there are no alternative suppliers who can make these chips anywhere in the world right now.” “If China launched an attack, it could cause serious damage in a very short period of time, that would be very difficult to rebuild, especially after the [likely] loss of technology, equipment and talent,” Tseng said. “So of course [Deng] was going to say this to the United States and other Western countries.” Taiwan’s foreign ministry spokeswoman Joanne Ou said the island welcomed U.S. support, but stood ready to defend itself. “In the face continued military expansion and provocation from China, Taiwan has a high degree of determination and capability to defend itself,” Ou said on June 16. “[Our] government will continue to strengthen self-defense capabilities and asymmetric combat capabilities, maintain national security with solid national defense, and deepen Taiwan-US ties.” Translated and edited by Luisetta Mudie.
Split between opposition leaders could solidify Hun Sen’s rule in Cambodia
The split between Cambodian opposition leaders Kem Sokha and Sam Rainsy could help Prime Minister Hun Sen and his ruling Cambodian People’s Party (CPP) hold power, sources in the country told RFA. Kem Sokha, while on trial Wednesday on unsubstantiated charges of treason, declared that his alliance with his Cambodia National Rescue Party (CNRP) co-founder Sam Rainsy was over, seemingly confirming rumors that the country’s top opposition partnership of the past decade had ended. Sam Rainsy, who has been living in self-imposed exile in France since 2015, attributed Kem Sokha’s statement to the legal pressure he faces and said that there was no change in their relationship. Such a split, if genuine, could help the CPP in general elections next year, and all but ensure a smooth transition of power from Hun Sen to his son, Han Manet, exiled political analyst Kim Sok told RFA’s Khmer Service. Hun Sen has ruled the country since 1985. “Hun Sen will transfer power to his son because he has seen sign of split between the opposition leaders,” he said. Mey Chandara, coordinator for the Phnom Penh-based Cambodia Youth Network, told RFA that the split will cause a rift in supporters of the opposition at a time when they should be unified to challenge the ruling party. “We don’t want to see them separate. We want the opposition’s voices to demand justice in the upcoming election,” he said. Sam Rainsy founded the Candlelight Party under a different name in 1995. In 2012, supporters from his party and Kem Sokha’s Human Rights party merged to form the CNRP, which was dissolved by Cambodia’s Supreme Court five years later after it performed well in the country’s 2017 communal elections. Candlelight, as a separate party from the CNRP, was technically not affected by the ban and has risen to become the largest opposition party in the country. Sam Rainsy has thrown his support behind Candlelight, whereas Kem Sokha believes that its participation in what he viewed as a compromised election earlier this month only serves the CPP and its claims of winning the elections in a landslide. Seng Sary, a political analyst, said the divide between the two opposition leaders was real, and not initiated for strategic purposes. He said that the split was initiated by Kem Sokha, who did not support the opposition Candlelight Party in this year’s local commune elections. CPP spokesman Chhim Phalvorun dismissed the idea that the CPP would benefit from the split between Sam Rainsy and Kem Sokha. CPP will stay in power because it has the support of the people, he said. “When a wife and husband get a divorce, it is their issue. It has nothing to do with outsiders,” he said. If the rift in the opposition can be described as a divorce, it is not an amicable one, at least as far as Kem Sokha’s daughter, Kem Monovithya, is concerned. She wrote scathing criticism of Sam Rainsy on her Facebook account, accusing him of allowing Hun Sen and the CCP to use him to attack her father. “We think the ruling party wants to destroy the opposition party as a whole, especially the [Cambodia] National Rescue Party,” she wrote. “[The CPP] is doing two things. It is destroying Sam Rainsy through threats to arrest him, so he fled. At the same time, it is destroying Kem Sokha by using Sam Rainsy’s hands to attack him because he hasn’t fled,” Kem Monovithya wrote. “We think the ruling party and Sam Rainsy’s faction think that if Kem Sokha dares to defend himself or express any different ideas [from Sam Rainsy’s], his popularity will decline,” she said. Kem Sokha is now more popular than when he started the Human Rights Party in 2007, Kem Monovithya added. “Kem Sokha has been the main leader since 2007, so we will continue our courage and speak the truth, even if the truth hurts Sam Rainsy’s faction or the ruling party,” she said. “In simple language, we will fight both.” Activist yet to meet lawyer Cambodian American activist Theary Seng, who on Tuesday was arrested while she protested a mass trial that convicted her and more than 50 other democracy advocates for their associations with the CNRP, has still not been allowed to meet with her lawyer in prison. By forbidding him to meet with his client, the lawyer, Choung Choy Ngy, told RFA that Phnom Penh’s Prey Sar Prison was breaking Cambodian law, which specify that prisoners be allowed to meet with legal counsel to discuss appeals. He said he was preparing a complaint to the Ministry of Interior, seeking intervention from Minister Sar Keng to allow him to meet Theary Seng. “Theary Seng wasn’t at the announcement of the court verdict, so she doesn’t [officially] know what the verdict is, so my intention was to inform her and explain her rights to appeal,” Choung Choy Ngy said. “I am sad that prison officials didn’t allow me to meet her.” Prison Department spokesman Nuth Savna told RFA that officials have designated her as a special case, so they have worked to ensure her safety, so for the time being the prison will not allow visitors. “We didn’t allow the visit due to safety and security factors,” he said, adding that prison officials received information that there is a plan by Theary Seng supporters to protest in front of the prison. The prison should allow her to meet with her lawyer, otherwise it is a violation of Theary Seng’s rights, Am Sam Ath of the Cambodian League for the Promotion and Defense of Human Rights told RFA. The U.S. State Department said it was “deeply concerned” about Tuesday’s verdict in a statement published Wednesday evening. “The sentencing of these opposition activists, many of whom are associated with the disbanded Cambodia National Rescue Party, is the latest instance in an alarming pattern of threats, intimidation, and persecution of opposition political leaders and parties. These actions undermine multiparty democracy and the rule of law,” department…
UN member states criticize China over Uyghurs at Human Rights Council session
Nearly 50 United Nations member states on Wednesday issued a joint statement criticizing China’s atrocities against Uyghurs and calling on the U.N. human rights chief to release a long-overdue report on abuses in Xinjiang. Paul Bekkers, the permanent representative of the Netherlands to the U.N. office in Geneva, delivered the statement on behalf of 47 countries, saying the member states continued to be “gravely concerned” about the human rights situation in the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region (XUAR). Bekkers cited well-researched and credible reports of the detention of more than 1.8 million Uyghurs and other Turkic minorities in the region, along with widespread surveillance, discrimination, and severe restrictions on culture and freedom of religion that these groups face there. “We are also concerned about reports of torture and other cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment, forced sterilization, sexual and gender-based violence, forced labor, and forced separation of children from their parents by authorities,” he said. Bekkers also said the member states continued to be “gravely concerned” about deteriorating human rights situations in Hong Kong and Tibet. In the statement, the nations urged China to respect for the rule of law, to protect human rights, to provide unfettered access for independent observers to Xinjiang, and to respect the principle of non-refoulement, which prevents people who have the right to be recognized as refugees from being forcefully returned to countries where they could be harmed. The statement from the member states came more than two weeks after Michelle Bachelet, a former Chilean president who has served as the U.N. high commissioner for human rights since 2018, wrapped up a six-day visit to China in May, including stops in its far-western region Xinjiang. At a news briefing following the visit, Bachelet, 70, said she was not in China for an official investigation of the situation in Xinjiang, though she said she had “unsupervised” access to sources that the U.N. had arranged to meet there. Uyghur rights groups demanded her resignation after they said she repeated Chinese talking points and said she had been unable to assess the full scale of what Beijing calls “vocational education and training centers” in Xinjiang, but which the human rights community and scholars call internment camps. Bekkers said Beijing should stop arbitrary detentions and immediately release those held, end travel restrictions, and begin impartial investigations into allegations of racial, ethnic and ethno-religious profiling, which were among the eight recommendations relating to Xinjiang issued in August 2018 by the Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination within Bachelet’s office. Bekkers also called on Bachelet to disclose more information about her visit to China. “We are interested in more detailed observations, including on the restrictions the Chinese authorities imposed on the visit as well as on your access to members of civil society and to places of your choice,” he said. As for the overdue report on abuses in Xinjiang, Bachelet informed the Human Rights Council in September 2021 that her office was finalizing its assessment of information on allegations of rights violations. Three months later, a spokesperson said the report would be issued in a matter of weeks, but it was not released. Support is growing The World Uyghur Congress (WUC) praised the issuance of the statement, saying it was pleased to see many countries from Latin America and the Pacific sign onto it, though the effort was bittersweet. “However, like last time, there is no single Muslim nation among them. It is very tragic,” said Semet Abla, vice chairman of WUC’s Executive Committee. But WUC president Dolkun Isa pointed out that the number of U.N. member states supporting the Uyghurs has been steadily growing with 47 backing Wednesday’s statement, compared to 43 showing support for Uyghur issues in 2021, and 14 in 2018. “Even Israel was one of the signatories of the statement,” he said. “Even though Turkey did not sign the statement, it issued a strong condemnation and rebuke of the Chinese concentration camps.” On Monday, Bachelet told officials attending the Human Rights Council session that she raised concerns about the human rights situation concerning Uyghurs and other predominantly Muslim minorities in Xinjiang during her trip. “My office’s assessment of the human rights situation in Xinjiang is being updated,” she said in an oral update at the session. “It will be shared with the government for factual comments before publication.” Bachelet also said that her office and the Chinese government agreed to hold an annual senior meeting on human rights and to continue exchanges on human rights issues of concern. “We are now elaborating concrete steps to put the agreements into action,” she said. Sophie Richardson, China director of New York-based Human Rights Watch, noted that Bachelet now has said that she will release the report before the end of her term ends in August or September. “And we certainly hope that she follows through on that,” she told RFA. “We are a bit skeptical, but nevertheless still think that it is extremely important to hear the United Nations Human Rights Office offer up its assessment based on remote monitoring of what Human Rights Watch deems crimes against humanity targeting Uyghurs and other Turkic communities,” Richardson said. Bachelet also said Monday that she would not seek a second term for personal reasons, but later told reporters her decision was not connected to criticism over her China trip. “As my term as high commissioner draws to a close, this council’s milestone 50th session will be the last which I brief,” she said. Translated by Mamatjan Juma for RFA Uyghur. Written in English by Roseanne Gerin.
Interview: ‘I am a powerless Pakistani citizen’ who ‘raised my voice for you’
Muhammad Usman Asad, a 22-year-old Pakistani student at the National University of Sciences & Technology in Islamabad, donned a doppa — a Central Asian skullcap — and clutched the sky blue flag of East Turkestan during a solitary sit-in to protest China’s repressive policies against Uyghurs and other Muslim minorities in the country’s far-western Xinjiang region. Asad staged his peaceful protest on June 10 during a campus celebration of China’s Dragon Boat Festival. Nong Rong, China’s ambassador to Pakistan, and other Chinese officials involved in the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor — a collection of multibillion-dollar infrastructure projects built in Pakistan since 2013 under China’s Belt and Road Initiative — attended the event, organized by the university’s China Study Centre and Centre for International Peace and Stability. Asad, who said he learned about China’s abusive policies targeting Muslims in Xinjiang while surfing online, was shocked to learn that Pakistan, a predominantly Muslim country, was not helping the Uyghurs, but instead siding with its ally China. Reporter Gulchehra Hoja of RFA Uyghur talked to Asad about why he staged the protest on the Chinese holiday and how others responded. The interview has been edited for clarity and length. RFA: How did you learn about Uyghur situation? Asad: When I was a child, I only knew that there was a province in China which is predominantly Muslim. I didn’t have much knowledge about the history or the culture or know anything about the genocide that is currently going on. When I started growing up, I used to spend a lot of time on the internet and reading about a lot of issues. I didn’t have enough knowledge or enough sources when I was back home, but when I lived in other cities where we had free internet service, we started using Facebook and other social media platforms like YouTube. From there, I started researching the topic. I [watched] many documentaries, and there was so much clear evidence that I couldn’t stop myself from sympathizing with the Uyghur issue or denying the fact that the genocide is currently going on. I then critiqued it within my own mind, comparing the Kashmir issue with the Uyghur issue, and I came to the conclusion that the Uyghur issue was more fundamental and more devastating and that the situation is very harmful for the Muslim community there. RFA: Have you been in touch with any Uyghur activist groups or activists in Pakistan? Asad: About one year ago, I came across a VICE News documentary. From that point on, I came to know about the … Uyghur community living here in Pakistan. When this event was being organized inside our university, about three or four days before, I was thinking about the university saying that there was a big billboard [for it]. So, I thought that I should do something about it in relation to protesting the Uyghur issue. I didn’t have any access to anything, so I started researching on the internet and found the Omar Uyghur Trust in Pakistan (a Uyghur language and cultural organization) and [contacted] Omar Khan (the group’s cofounder). We had a meeting just two days before the protest at the university. We discussed everything [about the issue], and he gave me the cap as well as a flag. I was preparing for my exams as I was preparing to do the protest. RFA: Did you reach out to your friends or other students to join your protest? Asad: I tried reaching people, but they were busy with their exams. They promised to support it, but when they got to the campus, there were fewer people present there. RFA: Did anybody try to stop you from protesting? Asad: When I entered the event, two people were sitting right beside me, and they were scaring off all the people I asked to take my picture. They told them that the authorities would come for them and they would be kicked out of the university. One person who took one of my pictures went out for some water, and the security team went up to him and ordered him not to sit beside me. The person did not agree with it. All they wanted to do was get all the images that I had taken during the whole event. … I said that if I just went outside the building and held this flag, it wouldn’t bother them and wouldn’t mean anything to either of them. …. [With] all the high Chinese cultural representatives here and all the different Pakistanis present, I said to myself, “OK, this will work.” RFA: Did anything happen to you after the protest? Asad: I haven’t received any threats either from the university or from the disciplinary committee. RFA: Have you been in contact with any Pakistani journalists at local news organizations? Asad: I am a student, so I don’t have connections with a lot of media persons — radio persons who are very influential. They are mostly controlled by the Pakistani establishment, so even if you go and speak to them, they will still need a green light from [officials]. Even if any of the media in Pakistan wanted to cover the issue, all the Chinese would need to do is place one call to the authority that regulates electronic media, and all the content would be taken off. RFA: Are you now concerned about your safety or are you being pressured by authorities? Asad: I have been following different stories of human rights activists within Pakistan, and our conditions are not very great. At the same time, I thought that the university could do something with having a disciplinary committee. I was having a lot of tension, and I was thinking again and again about how I should do the protest in such a way that my own studies and my own career [would not be affected] and that I would not get sued by the government. I thought that they would take me away for one or…
Cambodian American lawyer gets 6 years for ‘treason’ in mass sentencing of opposition
Police in Phnom Penh on Tuesday arrested a Cambodian American lawyer and activist dressed as the Statue of Liberty outside a courthouse, where minutes before a mass trial ended by convicting her and more than 50 other opposition figures of treason. Theary Seng was a high-ranking member of the Cambodian National Rescue Party (CNRP) before the country’s Supreme Court dissolved the party five years ago, a decision that paved the way for Prime Minister Hun Sen to tighten his grip on the country and squash criticism of his longstanding government. Wearing a copper-patina hued flowing gown and speckled in glitter, Theary Seng stood holding the torch of liberty in one hand and a tablet reading “Paris Peace Accord, 23 October 1991” in the other, a reference to the agreement that ended civil war in Cambodia and established the Southeast Asian nation as a fledgling democracy. “I am ready for the sham verdict that will be announced this morning which will be a guilty verdict. I am ready and prepared to go to the notorious Cambodian prison for my political opinions, for my beliefs, for my belief in democracy,” she told reporters prior to the conviction. “This regime will not let me go free. It will be an unfair and unjust verdict, because I am innocent, the others charged with me are innocent. But we are living in a dictatorship, we are living in a regime that suppresses and represses its own people, that punishes, that uses the law as a weapon against its own people,” Theary Seng said. She also said that she would not enter the court during the trial. If the authorities wanted to arrest her, they would have to do it publicly, she said. Theary Seng was sentenced to six years in prison, while the others received sentences ranging from five to eight years. Among the other activists on trial Tuesday, 27 were tried in absentia, according to New York-based Human Rights Watch. The treason charges against the activists stem from abortive efforts in 2019 to bring about the return to Cambodia of CNRP leader Sam Rainsy, who has been in exile in France to avoid what his supporters say are politicized charges against him. Following the verdict, authorities obliged Theary Seng’s request for a public arrest — two police officers grabbed her and rushed her into a waiting truck, a video shows. Chhoeun Daravy, an activist who witnessed the arrest, told RFA the police truck drove her to prison. “We are deeply troubled by today’s unjust verdicts against Theary Seng and others,” the U.S. Embassy in Cambodia said in a statement posted to Facebook. “Freedom of expression and association, and tolerance of dissenting views, are vital components of democracy. “We call on Cambodian authorities to release her and other human rights activists from unjust imprisonment.” The Cambodian government’s spokesperson, Phay Siphan, told RFA’s Khmer Service that Theary Seng’s courtside demonstration had nothing to do with the verdict, and tried to dispel the idea that her conviction could damage relations with Washington. “The court’s measures are based on the law,” he said. “Cambodia and the U.S relationship is important … more important than just one person,” Phay Siphan said. Because Theary Seng is a dual citizen of Cambodia and the United States, the embassy can request that she serve her sentence in the U.S., Phay Siphan said. He also said she had the option to appeal and could also seek amnesty from Cambodia’s king after serving two-thirds, or four years, of her sentence. Theary Seng’s lawyer, Choung Chou Ngy, told RFA that he will appeal the court’s verdict. Meanwhile, the prison department refused to allow him to see her, which he said violated the law. The court’s verdicts today show a double standard, Ny Sokha of the Cambodian Human Rights and Development Association told RFA. He said that former CNRP officials who agreed to defect to the ruling Cambodian People’s Party have seen their sentences suspended or the charges they faced dropped. “The court’s decision is more about politics rather than the law. If the culture of the dialogue still existed, no one would have been prosecuted. The problem stemmed from political conflict,” he said. In an interview with RFA, Sam Rainsy said he would return to Cambodia to face charges if Hun Sen dropped all charges against former CNRP officials, including Theary Seng. “Hun Sen has targeted me. Hun Sen is afraid of my presence. Why is Hun Sen is afraid of me?” he said. “Release all the prisoners. I volunteer to stay in jail since they [the court] accused me of being the ring leader.” During the mass trial in Phnom Penh Tuesday, Sam Rainsy was given an additional eight years in absentia–adding to the 47 years he has received in recent years. “Hun Sen is afraid of democracy. About 61 were prosecuted but millions of people won’t be intimidated. Wipe your tears and continue,” he said, adding that Theary Seng would be a bone that Hun Sen would have to swallow. Jared Genser, who is providing pro bono counsel to Theary Seng, condemned the court’s decision. “By detaining Theary on plainly fabricated national security charges, Hun Sen has violated a litany of her rights — and dealt yet another blow to Cambodia’s civic space,” said Genser. “It is clear that Hun Sen feels greatly threatened by this courageous woman who speaks truth to power.” Phil Robertson, deputy Asia director at Human Rights Watch, called Tuesday’s proceedings a “show trial” and said they “expose the Hun Sen government’s fear of any vestige of democracy in Cambodia.” “The mass trials against political opposition members are really about preventing any electoral challenge to Prime Minister Hun Sen’s rule, but they have also come to symbolize the death of Cambodia’s democracy,” Robertson said. “By creating a political dynamic that relies on intimidation and persecution of government critics, Hun Sen demonstrates his total disregard for democratic rights,” he said. The convictions draw to a close a trial that began in 2020…
Chinese leader Xi Jinping signs new rules governing ‘non-war’ military operations
Chinese leader Xi Jinping has signed a directive allowing ‘non-war’ uses of the military, prompting concerns that Beijing may be gearing up to invade the democratic island of Taiwan under the guise of a “special operation” not classified as war. While Taiwan has never been governed by the Chinese Communist Party (CCP), nor formed part of the People’s Republic of China, and its 23 million people have no wish to give up their sovereignty or democratic way of life, Beijing insists the island is part of its territory. Xi signed an order which takes effect June 15, state media reported, without printing the the order in full. “It mainly systematically regulates basic principles, organization and command, types of operations, operational support, and political work, and their implementation by the troops,” state news agency Xinhua said in a in brief report on Monday. “[It] provides a legal basis for non-war military operation,” it said. Among the six-chapter document’s stated aims are “maintaining national sovereignty … regional stability and regulating the organization and implementation of non-war military operations,” it said. The report came after Ukraine president Volodymyr Zelensky called for a diplomatic solution to the threat of military action in the Taiwan Strait. Speaking via video link at the Shangri-La Dialogue security forum in Singapore, Zelensky used Ukraine as an example, calling on the world to “always support any preventive action,” and called for diplomatic solutions to prevent war. Japanese prime minister Fumio Kishida warned on Friday that “Ukraine today may be East Asia tomorrow,” Soldiers stand on deck of the ambitious transport dock Yimen Shan of the Chinese People’s Liberation Army (PLA) Navy as it participates in a naval parade to commemorate the 70th anniversary of the founding of China’s PLA Navy in the sea near Qingdao in eastern China’s Shandong province, April 23, 2019. Credit: AFP Changing attitudes after Ukraine Beijing-based political commentator Wu Qiang said Zelenskyy appears to be aligning himself with U.S. policy goals in the Asia-Pacific. “All countries are making these comparisons, but Zelenskyy is making a point of making them,” Wu said. “I believe he is reciprocating [in return for U.S. support]; he is supporting the strategic goals of the United States in the Indo-Pacific region.” “During the past few months, U.S. President Joe Biden and Secretary of State Antony Blinken have continued to emphasize that the long-term competitor of the U.S. in future will be China,” he said. He said Zelenskyy’s comments are also representative of a change of attitude in Eastern Europe and the EU to Taiwan, in the wake of the Russian invasion of Ukraine. “It’s more appropriate for him to represent this change in the EU’s position,” Wu said of Zelenskyy. Chen Chi-chieh, associate professor of political science at Taiwan’s National Sun Yat-Sen University, said Zelenskyy has been fairly careful to avoid provoking Beijing, however. “He is smart enough not to want to provoke China, so he can’t speak out very clearly on the Taiwan question, so he had to answer it in a subtle way,” Chen told RFA. He said there are many areas in which Ukraine relies on Chinese assistance, and will likely rely on it for post-war reconstruction. “Ukraine’s relationship with Taiwan isn’t that close, so he doesn’t need to sacrifice the relationship between Ukraine and China to support Taiwan, at least not very clearly,” Chen said. Austin also made it clear that the United States is still committed to maintaining the status quo across the Taiwan Strait, as well as its commitment under the Taiwan Relations Act, which requires Washington to help Taiwan to defend itself. The war in Ukraine featured prominently during sessions at the Shangri-La Dialogue. U.S. Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin told participants that the invasion of Ukraine “indefensible,” and “a preview of a possible world of chaos and turmoil.” China’s Defense Minister Wei Fenghe delivered scathing remarks about the U.S. Indo-Pacific strategy in a speech in Singapore on Sunday, calling it an attempt to form a clique to contain China. In his speech on “China’s vision for regional order” at the Shangri-La Dialogue security forum he hit back at Austin’s remarks a day earlier, saying China firmly rejects America’s accusations and threats. Wei said the Indo-Pacific strategy was “an attempt to build an exclusive small group to hijack countries in our region” to target one specific country – China. “It is a strategy to create conflict and confrontation to contain and encircle others,” said the minister, who is also a general in China’s People’s Liberation Army (PLA). Chen said Wei is trying to prevent the U.S. from being too good an ally to Taiwan. “[Beijing] wants to deter Taiwan from getting too close to the United States, and also hopes that the United States will stop selling arms to Taiwan, especially advanced weaponry,” Chen said. “That’s why they are using such harsh words.” But Wu said Wei doesn’t hold a very powerful position in the Chinese military establishment. “Wei Fenghe is not even a member of the CCP’s Politburo, but plays quite a secondary role,” Wu said, adding that bilateral dialogue between Wei and Austin at the Shangri-La Dialogue could yield little of substance because it wasn’t a meeting of equals or counterparts. Translated and edited by Luisetta Mudie.
ASEAN states unlikely to choose sides between US and China, say officials and experts
When Cambodia’s Minister of National Defense General Tea Banh was seen taking a leisurely dip in the Gulf of Thailand with Chinese Ambassador Wang Wentian after a ribbon-cutting ceremony for a Cambodian naval base being built with China’s help earlier this month, no one in the region batted an eyelid. As U.S.-China friction is getting more intense, Phnom Penh seems to have tilted towards its big neighbour, which has been offering cash and assistance to not only Cambodia but other nations in Southeast Asia. “Cambodia and China aren’t good at hiding their relationship,” said Virak Ou, President of Future Forum, a Cambodian think tank. “It’s obvious that we are choosing sides,” he said. Yet most countries in the region so far remain reluctant to pick sides, and analysts say it is crucial that Washington realize the need to engage Southeast Asian nations in its Indo-Pacific strategy, or risk losing out to Beijing. Cambodian Minister of Defense Tea Banh and Chinese Ambassador Wang Wentian are seen swimming following Ream Base groundbreaking ceremony in Sihanoukville. Credit: Tea Banh’s Facebook page. Right to decide own destiny At the Shangri-La Dialogue security forum in Singapore, Tea Banh lashed out at what he called “baseless and problematic accusations” against the Cambodian government in relation to a naval base that Phnom Penh is developing in Ream, Sihanouk Province, with help from Beijing. The Ream Naval Base provoked much controversy after the U.S. media reported that Hun Sen’s government was prepared to give China exclusive use of part of the base. It would be China’s first naval facility in mainland Southeast Asia and would allow the Chinese military to expand patrols across the region. “Unfortunately, Cambodia is constantly accused of giving an exclusive right to a foreign country to use the base,” the minister said, adding that this is “a complete insult” to his country. Cambodia, he said, is a state that is “independent, sovereign, and has the full right to decide its destiny.” As usual, the Cambodian defense chief refrained from naming countries involved but it is clear that both the U.S. and China are vying for influence over the ten-nation Southeast Asian grouping. U.S. Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin in his remarks at the Shangri-La forum stated that “the Indo-Pacific is our center of strategic gravity” and “our priority theater of operations.” But questions remain on where smaller Southeast Asian nations feature in that grand strategy of the United States. US Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin (L) stands with Vietnam’s Defense Minister Phan Van Giang during a bilateral meeting ahead of the Shangri-La Dialogue summit in Singapore, June 10, 2022. Credit: AFP Lopsided cooperation The region, noted Indonesia’s Minister of Defense Prabowo Subianto, “has been for many centuries the crossroad of imperialism, big power domination and exploitation.” “We understand the rivalry between the established world power and the rising world power,” he said, implying the United States and China. Prabowo, who joined the military in the thick of the Vietnam War and retired at the rank of Lieutenant General, told the audience at the Shangri-La Dialogue that Southeast Asian countries are “the most affected by big powers’ competition.” Despite divisions and differences between member countries, “we’ve come to our own ASEAN way of resolving challenges,” he said. It may seem that “we’re sitting on the fence,” Prabowo said, but this seeming inaction reflects an effort of preserving neutrality by ASEAN countries. “Indonesia opted to be not engaged in any military alliance,” the minister said. The same stance has been adopted by another ASEAN player – Vietnam– whose White Paper on defense policy stated “three nos” including no military alliances, no basing of foreign troops in the country and no explicit alliances with one country against another. Yet it’s unlikely that Hanoi, often seen as anti-China as Vietnam has experienced Chinese aggression at many occasions in history, will embrace the U.S. to counter Beijing. “It’s better to nurture a relationship with a close neighbor rather than relying on a distant sibling,” Vietnamese Defense Minister Phan Van Giang explained, quoting a Vietnamese proverb. Two of ten ASEAN nations – the Philippines and Thailand – are U.S. treaty allies. But even in Manila and Bangkok, there have been signs of expanded cooperation with China. “Southeast Asia and China are neighbors thanks to the geography, and their cooperation is natural,” said Collin Koh, Research Fellow at the S. Rajaratnam School of International Studies in Singapore. Koh suggested that in order to maintain the foothold in the region, “the U.S. need to embrace and appreciate local cultures and not try to force regime changes.” “The cooperation between the U.S. and the region has been too one-dimensional and lopsided, too security focused, and needs to expand,” he said. China’s Defence Minister Wei Fenghe attends the opening reception at the Shangri-La Dialogue summit in Singapore, June 10, 2022. Credit: AFP Limited leverage “Southeast Asia is a difficult region for the U.S. to grasp,” said Blake Herzinger, a Singapore-based defense policy specialist. “The region needs to foster ties with China and Washington needs to accept and work with that,” Herzinger said, adding that it’s time to recognize that “U.S. leverage is limited in a competitive region where the opposite number is China.” According to Southeast Asia analyst Koh, “it’s not too late for the U.S. to adjust its policy towards Southeast Asia.” “There are still demands for an American presence here and a reservoir of goodwill that the U.S. has built over the past,” Koh said, but warned that “this may risk running dry if Washington doesn’t truly recognize the importance of engagement in the region.” The U.S. and allies should also bear in mind regional geopolitical calculations, he said. “Southeast Asian countries don’t want to pick sides but they find themselves being sucked into the super power competition and being pragmatic as they are, some of them are making efforts to try to benefit from it,” Koh said. “I think the Biden administration has done a good job in relation to Southeast Asia…
