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Hong Kong leader wants ‘more effective’ security laws, as soon as possible

Editor2 years ago09 mins

Hong Kong’s chief executive John Lee vowed on Wednesday to press ahead with more “effective” security laws that could draw on security forces in mainland China to implement them. “The National Security Law for Hong Kong currently deals with the most pressing risks to national security,” Lee said of a law that has criminalized public criticism of the authorities anywhere in the world. But further laws will be need “to deal with any conceivable serious security risk … and the timing needs to be as soon as possible,” he told the city’s Legislative Council (LegCo). “The cities in the Greater Bay Area [of the Pearl River delta] are like brothers and sisters to us … so what kind of help will they provide, if we need it?” Lee said. “That’s what we need to figure out.” Lee’s comments to LegCo came after he reiterated his commitment to enacting further security laws under Article 23 of the city’s Basic Law, a move that prompted mass protests in 2003. “We will legislate as soon as possible, but … we must also consider whether the laws we make can really deal with the most serious national security risks we can imagine,” Lee said. Current affairs commentator Johnny Lau said the new laws are part of a package of four requirements given to Lee by ruling Chinese Communist Party (CCP) leader Xi Jinping when he visited the city last week to mark the 25th anniversary of its handover to Chinese rule. “Xi Jinping came to Hong Kong to put forward four requirements, the first of which was to improve governance,” Lau said. “I don’t think it will be long [before they act on Article 23].” “They want this legislation to cover anything and be infinitely expandable,” Lau said. “It will definitely be stricter than the initial draft [that was shelved] back in 2003.” Singapore as model? Current affairs commentator Sang Pu said Lee may be considering far tighter controls on the internet, looking to Singapore as a model. “Singapore passed a law last year that allows the government to order social media sites and Internet providers to disclose users’ personal data or block content they deem hostile or risky, which you could call [the power to] shut down the internet, and enhanced use of AI,” Sang told RFA. “It’s like 24/7 monitoring.” “As long as the government thinks there is hostile intent, and it has the absolute right to decide this, it can block something,” he said. Lee’s comments came as five speech therapists stood trial for “conspiracy to print, publish, distribute, display or reproduce seditious publications” in connection with a series of children’s books about a village of sheep defending itself against wolves. The defendants — all of whom are members of the Hong Kong Speech Therapists General Union — were arrested in connection with three children’s picture books titled “The Guardians of Sheep Village,” “The Garbage Collectors of Sheep Village” and “The 12 Heroes of Sheep Village.” Police said the sheep were intended to represent protesters who fought back against riot police in 2019, and depicted the authorities as wolves, “beautifying bad behavior” and “poisoning” children’s impressionable minds. One book characterizes the wolves as dirty and the sheep as clean, while another lauds the actions of heroic sheep who use their horns to fight back despite being naturally peaceful, police said at the time of the therapists’ arrests. The indictment alleges that the books were intended to “provoke hatred or contempt for, betrayal of, or to incite violence against the government … and judiciary.” The defense said its arguments would seek to disprove any violent or disruptive intent, and draw on the constitutional right to freedom of expression in the Basic Law. Back to pre-reform era Dozens of former members of the pro-democracy camp in LegCo have been arrested in recent months, either for public order offenses linked to peaceful protests during the 2019 anti-extradition and pro-democracy movement, or under the national security law. Observers have told RFA that changes to Hong Kong’s election system imposed on the city by the CCP since the law took effect have set the city’s political life back by decades, to the pre-reform colonial era in the mid-20th century. The rule changes mean that opposition candidates are highly unlikely to be allowed to run, but even when candidates make it into the race, they will now be chosen by a tiny number of voters compared with the previous system. Under the “one country, two systems” terms of the 1997 handover agreement, Hong Kong was promised the continuation of its traditional freedoms of speech, association, and expression, as well as progress towards fully democratic elections and a separate legal jurisdiction. But plans to allow extradition to mainland China sparked a city-wide mass movement in 2019 that broadened to demand fully democratic elections and an independent inquiry into police violence. Rights groups and foreign governments have hit out at the rapid deterioration of human rights protections since the national security law was imposed. Chinese and Hong Kong officials say the law was needed to deal with an attempt by foreign powers to foment a “color revolution” in Hong Kong. Its sweeping provisions allowed China’s feared state security police to set up a headquarters in Hong Kong, granted sweeping powers to police to search private property and require the deletion of public content, and criminalized criticism of the city government and the authorities in Beijing. Translated and edited by Luisetta Mudie.

Tensions rise in Rakhine state after a five-day naval drill

Editor2 years ago07 mins

Myanmar’s military staged a five-day show of strength, starting last Friday, with warships, helicopters and two submarines, leading to fears the military is preparing for a major battle with the Arakan Army (AA). The junta-run newspaper, Myanma Alin (New light of Myanmar), said on Wednesday that the military exercise was carried out in the Bay of Bengal 1,300 miles (2,080 kilometers) off the coast of Rakhine state. People’s Assembly member Pe Than, who is closely monitoring the military situation, said the exercise shows that the military is prepared to make full use of the navy if fighting breaks out with the AA in Rakhine. “It is impossible to prevent international hostilities with such a force and there is no country planning a war with this country either,” he said “This is just an exercise to allow the systematic use of the navy in the event of a battle in Rakhine. The main thing is that they can show their strength.” Military Council Chairman joins top brass to watch war games Sr. Gen. Min Aung Hlaing joins high ranking military staff to watch the exercise on Tuesday. CREDIT: DSINFO The drill was overseen by military council chairman Sr. Gen. Min Aung Hlaing. High-level members of the army, navy and air force attended on Tuesday. Min Aung Hlaing ordered the warships to be constantly prepared for combat, according to comments carried in Wednesday’s edition of the Myanmar Alin Newspaper. “The naval warships must be ready. Also weapons and weapons systems must be ready. The navy personnel must be ready. They also need to be constantly trained to be ready for battle, and these three levels of readiness must be maintained,” he said. Sea Shield 2022 aimed to cover the 12 nautical miles (22.2 kilometers/13.8 miles) of Myanmar’s territorial waters and protect the Myanmar Exclusive Economic Zone at sea, the junta chairman said. Myanmar’s exclusive economic zone is adjacent to its territorial waters and extends for 200 nautical miles (370.4 kilometers/230 miles) from the coastal baseline. One of the submarines used in the military drills, arrived in Kyaukphyu, Rakhine state, on May 31. Kyauk Phyu is home to some of China’s largest economic projects, and locals have criticized the military council for apparently preparing to protect Chinese businesses in the event of a battle with the AA. AA spokesman, Khing Thukha gave an online news conference on June 14, saying that the military council is expanding its forces and weapons in Rakhine to prepare for a full-scale attack in the event of a renewed fighting with the AA. Local residents said tensions have been further heightened due to arrests of AA members or sympathisers in retailiation for AA abductions of junta troops. Last June, the AA abducted more than 10 police and soldiers and the junta responded by arresting 40 civilians from the four townships of Sittwe, Kyauktaw, Ponna Kyun and Mrauk-U. The AA fought a fierce campaign against Myanmar’s military from December 2018 to November 2020, demanding autonomy for ethnic Arakanese. More than 300 civilians were killed and more than 700 injured during the fighting in Rakhine state according to figures compiled by RFA. The two sides agreed an informal ceasefire shortly before the coup on February 1, 2021 and an uneasy truce has held for more than a year. However, locals told RFA tensions have risen in the last two months, due to the arrests and the arrival of military reinforcements. Tensions are simmering even outside Rakhine state since the AA also has a presence in Chin, Kayin and Shan states. On Monday a military air strike killed six AA members and injured dozens when junta jets targeted a camp in Kayin (Karen) state near the Thailand-Myanmar border, a region controlled by AA allies the Karenni National Liberation Army. According to the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs nearly 78,000 people have been forced to flee their homes in Rakhine and Chin states as of March 6 this year due to fighting between junta forces and the AA.

Russia’s Lavrov enjoys warm relations with Vietnam ahead of frosty reception in Bali

Editor2 years ago010 mins

Sergey Lavrov is on a two-day visit to Russia’s closest ASEAN ally, Vietnam, before heading to the G20 foreign ministers’ meeting The Russian foreign minister is in Hanoi on a quick visit to Moscow’s main Southeast Asian partner before attending a G20 meeting in Bali, during which Lavrov’s Canadian counterpart has warned she would not shake his hand. Canada’s Foreign Affairs Minister Mélanie Joly told Canadian media she would instead “confront him with facts and expose Russia’s narrative for what it is: lies and disinformation” about the war in Ukraine. Canada, alongside a number of Western countries, has imposed sanctions on Moscow for its invasion of Ukraine, now in its fifth month. U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken is also expected to snub Lavrov in Bali, with the State Department saying “it cannot be business as usual with the Russian Federation.” Vietnam on the other hand has repeatedly refused to condemn the Russian war and also objected to a U.S.-led effort to suspend Russia from the U.N. Human Rights Council. Lavrov is the first Russian cabinet minister to visit Hanoi since President Vladimir Putin announced a “special military operation” against Ukraine in February. His visit is taking place as Hanoi and Moscow celebrate the 10th anniversary of the so-called “comprehensive strategic partnership” that Vietnam has forged with only three nations in the world. Besides Russia, the two other comprehensive strategic partners are China and India. ‘The most important partner’ The Russian foreign minister and his Vietnamese host Bui Thanh Son held a meeting on Wednesday morning, during which Foreign Affairs Minister Son was quoted by Russian state media as saying that he’d like to “reassure you that Russia will always be our most important partner and the main priority in Vietnam’s policy.” Son said he “deeply believed that with the high level of political trust and a long-term interest,” the Vietnam-Russia relationship would continue to develop. Moscow is Hanoi’s traditional ally and its biggest arms supplier. Most Vietnamese weaponry used by the navy and air force was bought from Russia, leading to a future dependence on Russian maintenance and spare parts, despite efforts to diversify arms supplies. Russian anti-submarine ship Marshal Shaposhnikov seen in a file photo. CREDIT: ITAR TASS A Russian presence in the South China Sea, where Beijing claims “historical rights” over almost 80 per cent, could also be seen as a counterweight for competing China-U.S. rivalry as well as keeping China’s aggression at bay, say analysts. On June 25-28, three warships of the Russian Navy’s Pacific Fleet, led by the Udaloy-class anti-submarine destroyer Marshal Shaposhnikov, visited Cam Ranh in central Vietnam where Russia operated a major naval base until 2002. Lavrov was quoted as telling his Vietnamese counterpart on Wednesday that “in the context of current world affairs, once again we should unite and strive to maintain international laws, the principle of national sovereignty and non-interference in other countries’ internal affairs.” The full agenda of the Russian minister’s visit has not been disclosed but some analysts, such as Artyom Lukin, Deputy Director for Research at the School of Regional and International Studies at Russia’s Far Eastern Federal University, said boosting economic cooperation at a time when Moscow has been isolated and sanctioned would be one of the main topics. “The Kremlin should already be more or less satisfied with Hanoi’s position on the Ukraine crisis since Vietnam’s stance all along has been strictly neutral,” Lukin said. “Rather than securing Vietnam’s political neutrality, which is already there, Moscow needs to ensure that Vietnam continues, and expands, economic links with Russia.” Between a rock and a hard place “What is important for Russia now is how to restructure economic ties, trade, cooperation in industry and technologies with the non-Western world,” said Fyodor Lukyanov, Chairman of the Presidium of the Russian Council for Foreign and Defense Policy. “It is highly important for Russia to intensify all possible ties to find ways to avoid and bypass the economic warfare applied by the West,” said the Moscow-based analyst. Artyom Lukin from the Far Eastern Federal University in Vladivostok pointed out that “amid Western sanctions, Asia and the Middle East are replacing Europe as Russia’s main geo-economic partners.” “Vietnam is the only ASEAN country to have a Free Trade Agreement with Moscow and Vietnam’s economic significance for Russia will now grow substantially, both as a market in itself and as a gateway for Russia’s business interactions with Asia,” he added. Despite COVID-19, bilateral trade between Vietnam and Russia reached U.S.$5.54 billion in 2021, a 14-percent increase from the previous year, according to official statistics. Yet the Ukrainian crisis that severely disrupted the global supply chain of food, fertilizer and energy has put Hanoi in an uneasy position. Vietnam has established some important strategic links with foreign powers including the U.S. and Japan, both strongly opposed to the Russian war in Ukraine and both are considered supportive of Hanoi’s interests in the South China Sea. Being seen as too close to Moscow would give Hanoi a disadvantage unless it could act as a go-between to mediate Russia’s interactions with the West, said a Vietnamese expert who didn’t want to be named as they are not authorized to speak to foreign media. Vietnam also has to be watchful for Russia-China joint maritime activities that may hurt its interests in the South China Sea. On Monday Chinese and Russian warships were spotted just outside Japanese territorial waters around the disputed, Japan-administered Senkaku Islands in the East China Sea. Tokyo lodged a protest with Beijing about the incident that happened amid China’s growing maritime assertiveness and increasingly robust China-Russia military ties, Kyodo News reported. Chinese media responded that the Russian Navy’s recent military activities in the West Pacific are a warning to Japan amid Japanese sanctions on Russia over the Ukraine crisis.

Police soon to wrap up investigation into Vietnamese Facebooker

Editor2 years ago07 mins

A police probe into a well-known Vietnamese Facebook user will end soon with Bui Van Thuan facing anti-state propaganda charges. The case is being investigated by the Security Investigation Agency of Thanh Hoa provincial police who said they would charge him under Article 117 of the Criminal Code “Making, storing, spreading information, materials, items for the purpose of opposing the State of Socialist Republic of Vietnam.” If convicted he faces a sentence of five to 12 years. Two police investigators, Le Hong Ky and Mai Van Tinh, spoke to the political blogger’s wife on Tuesday morning according to a summons sent the previous day. Before his arrest in August last year, Bui Van Thuan was well known as a daily compiler of Vietnamese political news. His posts featured many of the political struggles going on between provincial officials, which he nicknamed the “dog fighting ring.” Thuan’s wife went to the Thanh Hoa Police station for two hours on Tuesday morning, during which the police told her that her husband would soon have his day in court. “They said that Thuan’s case is about to be finished with investigations nearly complete and they will bring him to trial this year,” she said. “They told me Thuan asked the police to return to me some belongings unrelated to the case [confiscated during a house search]. They said they would return them but I should pick them up another day.” Nhung told RFA the main reason she was summoned to the police station was to discuss posts she made on her Facebook page and that of her husband. The two investigators said she should not have posted the letter of summons and should not have posted the content of the meeting with security officers on Facebook because it was against the rules. Nhung said the two officers told her they were aware of her meetings with friends of her husband and wives of prisoners of conscience. Thuan was arrested on August 30, 2021, just days after the visit of US Vice President Kamala Harris to Hanoi. He has been kept in solitary confinement in a single room since then, unable to meet relatives and lawyers. His wife says Thuan’s health has deteriorated as a result of his detention. “In March, I received a letter from Thuan that had been written by the police,” she said. “It said his health was fine with the exception of pain in his legs but the medicine provided by the detention facility is not very effective. I asked to be allowed to provide some medicine but the police refused saying that the medicine provided by prison clinics should be sufficient.” Nhung said she bought liver and eye tonics to send to her husband, but the police did not allow it, saying a doctor’s prescription was needed in order to send medicine to a prisoner. She added that the police only allowed her to send food worth no more than VND60,000 (U.S.$2.70) on each visit, up to a maximum of three times a month. However, she was given a deposit of about VND1.6 million (U.S.68) per month so her husband could buy food and other essentials from the prison canteen. This is the second time Thanh Hoa police have summoned Nhung for interrogation related to her husband but the latest document, dated July 4, said it was the first summons. On March 17, during the first summons, the police threatened Nhung over her actions to defend her husband and told her she could be arrested at any time if she did not cooperate with the investigation into her husband’s activities. She was also asked repeatedly to confirm details of Thuan’s and her own Facebook accounts. Bui Van Thuan was born in 1981, and is an ethnic Muong. He graduated from Hanoi National University of Education and worked as a chemistry teacher for a while, before becoming a famous Facebooker in Vietnam with the nickname “Old Father of the Nation,” a reference to political propaganda which refers to Ho Chi Minh as the father of the nation.

China calls for junta cooperation with Myanmar opposition to resolve crisis

Editor2 years ago014 mins

Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi has called on Myanmar’s military regime to work with the opposition to resolve the country’s political crisis, days after an ASEAN envoy concluded a visit there without meeting any anti-junta stakeholders. According to a statement posted on the Chinese Foreign Ministry’s official website on Monday, Wang told the junta that Beijing wants to see “reconciliation” in Myanmar and that “all those involved in politics should hold a dialogue for the sake of the people.” Wang was in Mandalay region’s Bagan city on Sunday to attend the 7th Lancang-Mekong Cooperation Summit, co-chaired by China and Myanmar. China’s Foreign Ministry said Wang met with junta Foreign Minister Wunna Maung Lwin on Monday to discuss reconciliation in Myanmar and informed him that his country can only move forward when political and social stability are achieved. A statement from the junta following Monday’s meeting said the two sides “discussed ways to work more closely with the United Nations and the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN).” The statement did not address China’s call for cooperation with Myanmar’s opposition, and calls by RFA seeking comment from junta deputy information minister, Maj. Gen. Zaw Min Tun, went unanswered Tuesday. Myanmar-based political analyst Sai Kyi Zin Soe told RFA Burmese that the military regime is seeking legitimacy on the global stage with the help of China after drawing condemnation from its fellow member nations in ASEAN over its Feb. 1, 2021, coup and an ensuing crackdown that has caused the deaths of at least 2,065 civilians, according to Thailand’s Assistance Association for Political Prisoners. “They are aiming for international acceptance of what they are doing at home,” he said. But Sai Kyi Zin Soe said the junta cannot expect its status within ASEAN to change overnight, even with the help of China, and expects a power struggle will continue with the bloc. China’s Foreign Ministry has said it “supports the international community’s efforts to protect Myanmar’s interests and reputation,” according to a report by the state-run Xinhua news agency. A spokesman for the Pro-democracy Strike Committee (Dawei), an anti-junta group, told RFA that the junta is seeking Chinese help because of declining international support. “The junta has no international support at all … and so they must rely on China,” said the spokesman, speaking on condition of anonymity. “As China is a world power, the regime is relying on it to obtain international recognition.” Concern for investments Kyaw Zaw, a spokesman for the office of the president for Myanmar’s shadow National Unity Government (NUG), told RFA that Wang attended the Lancang-Mekong meeting in an attempt to “legitimize the junta,” and warned that doing so would be harmful to the country’s economy and development. “It would be detrimental to regional security, as it would lead to more instability in the area and there will be even more violence in Myanmar,” he said. “The situation would become an obstacle for economic development. The military’s actions are based on violence, and violence does not bring stability.” Kyaw Zaw said the NUG’s goals are aimed at achieving economic growth for the country and that the shadow government is committed to protecting genuine businesses, while the military is turning economic projects into “battlefields.” Since the coup, Myanmar’s armed opposition has targeted Chinese investment and development in the country, particularly projects that could earn the junta income it says is used to oppress the people. At least 77 clashes took place in the 42 townships where the China-Myanmar Economic Corridor project was to be implemented between July 2021 and April 2022, according to research group Institute for Strategy and Policy Myanmar. Political analyst Ye Tun said China is concerned about its investments in Myanmar as the conflict is unlikely to end any time soon. “Because of that, they are also concerned about their future investments in Myanmar and their security,” he said. “That’s why they are pushing for the implementation of the ASEAN agreement,” he added, referring to a Five-Point Consensus agreed to by Min Aung Hlaing at an emergency ASEAN meeting on the crisis in April 2021. Points agreed to during last year’s emergency ASEAN meeting included an immediate end to violence in the country, the distribution of humanitarian aid, dialogue among all parties, and the appointment of an ASEAN special envoy to Myanmar who would be permitted to meet with all stakeholders. The junta has yet to implement any of the points in the 14 months since the meeting, while continuing its violent crackdown on opponents. China has become the largest source of foreign investment in Myanmar since the withdrawal of Western businesses following the military coup. However, trade between the two countries dwindled to U.S. $4.3 billion in the 2021-2022 budget year, down from more than U.S. $5 billion a year earlier, according to figures from the junta’s Ministry of Commerce. ASEAN Special Envoy Prak Sokhonn and Snr. Gen. Min Aung Hlaing meet in Naypyidaw, June 30, 2022. Credit: Myanmar military ‘Sham effort’ Wang Yi’s comments came days after Prak Sokhonn, the Association of Southeast Asian Nations special envoy to Myanmar, concluded a June 29-July 2 trip to Myanmar, during which he met with junta chief Snr. Gen. Min Aung Hlaing, Foreign Minister Wunna Maung Lwin, and International Cooperation Minister Ko Ko Hlaing. He also met with seven ethnic armed groups — all signatories of a Nationwide Ceasefire Agreement with the government since 2015 — and seven political parties that won seats in Parliament in the country’s November 2020 election. A July 2 statement by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs for Cambodia, which hosts the rotating chair of ASEAN, said Sokhonn met with Min Aung Hlaing and Wunna Maung Lwin to find a way to work with the U.N.’s representative for Myanmar, stop the violence, release political prisoners, speak with civilians — including Suu Kyi — and access areas where humanitarian assistance is difficult to reach. The statement said he discussed how the U.N. and international NGOs should be involved in humanitarian assistance with…

Cambodia’s opposition party cries foul after governor likens them to ‘social plague’

Editor2 years ago08 mins

Cambodia’s opposition Candlelight Party is once again urging government officials to stop harassing its members after a provincial governor from Prime Minister Hun Sen’s ruling party compared Candlelight members recently elected to local offices to a “social plague,” sources in the country told RFA. The complaint comes as members of the Candlelight prepare to meet with other minority parties to consider forming an alliance and to make recommendations to improve Cambodia’s elections process. The Candlelight Party won roughly 19 percent of the country’s 11,622 open commune council seats in the June 5 election, establishing itself as the main opposition to the ruling Cambodian People’s Party (CPP), which took more than 80 percent of the vote. Prior to the election, the Candlelight Party candidates reported harassment and intimidation by members of the CPP and its supporters, including government officials. Unless the government acts, the discrimination against Candlelight and other opposition party members will grow, Candlelight officials fear. At a post-election ceremony in the western province of Pailin, provincial Gov. Ban Sreymom threatened the newly elected councilors affiliated with the Candlelight Party, saying they were a “plague we need to get rid of.” “We don’t teach people to be rude and provoke a social toxin or plague. We don’t let them stay. They are a plague, they will be removed or be sprayed with insecticide to kill it,” Ban Sreymom said during the ceremony. The comment will make it harder for the commune councils with representatives from both political parties to operate, the Candlelight Party’s chief for the province, Khem Monykosal, told RFA’s Khmer Service. “We haven’t even started our jobs, but there has been a threat already. This comment shouldn’t be used and they should respect the people’s votes. The comment is a major offense to our councilors,” he said. RFA was unable to reach the governor for comment Tuesday. Interior Minister Khieu Sopheak was also not available. Bun Sreymom’s comments were not discriminatory, asserted the CPP spokesperson Sok Ey San. “We empower the provincial governors to advise commune councilors, so I don’t believe they use the events to attack [the Candlelight Party],” he said. Government officials should not use their offices to discriminate against their political rivals, Kang Savang, a monitor with the Committee for Free and Fair Elections in Cambodia NGO, told RFA. He urged the Ministry of Interior to investigate the case and to punish officials if they are in breach of the law. “Senior government officials should not use terms like that in public because it is against their duties as authorities,” he said. Candlelight Party Vice President Thach Setha said the Ministry of Interior must issue strict measures to prevent such comments in the future. He hopes that the party’s newly elected commune councilors will be able to serve their constituents unhindered so that they can develop their communities. “We want the Ministry of Interior to take tough measures and punish [CPP councilors] who don’t share responsibilities with [opposition party] councilors,” he said. Opposition alliance Five political parties including the Candlelight Party will meet Wednesday to discuss a possible alliance. The four smaller parties — the Grassroots Democratic Party, the Cambodian Reform Party, the Khmer Will Party and the Kampucheanimym Party — will along with Candlelight also make recommendations to Cambodia’s government on improving the election process. “We are advocating progress on improvement to elections to the NEC [National Election Commission], and we all have plenty of work to do on the same path,” Yang Saing Koma, founder of the Grassroots Democratic Party, told RFA. The ruling party is not concerned about the alliance, CPP spokesperson Sok Ey San told RFA. “They all split from the big party,” he said, referring to the Cambodia National Rescue Party (CNRP), which was dissolved in 2017 by Cambodia’s Supreme Court, paving the way for Hun Sen’s CPP to win all of the seats in the National Assembly in general elections the following year. Many of the former CNRP members who were barred from engaging in political activities as members of that party are now members of Candlelight. “Now they want to reunite, but the party lost election to the CPP already,” Sok Ey San said, referring to the CPP’s dominance in this year’s commune elections. Exiled political analyst Kim Sok said the parties should merge in order to compete with the CPP by creating a new political force. “We can’t say we are united and still support different parties,” he said. “If we don’t merge there is no significant benefit.” Translated by Samean Yun. Written in English by Eugene Whong.

Vietnamese blogger arrested on ‘propaganda’ charge

Editor2 years ago05 mins

Vietnamese police on Tuesday arrested a prominent political activist and blogger on a charge of spreading anti-state “propaganda,” as authorities continue to crack down on dissenting voices in the one-party communist country. Nguyen Lan Thang, a contributor to RFA’s Vietnamese Service since 2013, was taken into custody at around 8 a.m. while on his way to a coffee shop in Thinh Quang ward in the capital Hanoi, family sources said. He now faces a charge of “making, storing, spreading or propagating anti-State information, documents, items and publications opposing the Socialist Republic of Vietnam.” Speaking to RFA, fellow activist Thai Van Duong called Nguyen Lan Thang a “fighter in the pro-democracy movement,” saying the two had participated together in anti-China protests in Hanoi. Thang was an activist not only in his social media postings but also in his daily life, Duong said. “Both I and my friends and the international media know that Thang has an excellent character, unlike the descriptions given of him by opponents of the pro-democracy movement. “Only those who have interacted with Nguyen Lan Thang can understand his personality and the way he performs his activities,” Duong said. Phil Robertson — deputy director of the Asia division of Human Rights Watch — told RFA by email that Nguyen Lan Thang had “peacefully campaigned for democratic reform and justice, so he should be respected and listened to rather than face this kind of unjustified repression. “Vietnam’s excessive and unacceptable crackdown on freedom of expression has just snared another victim who will invariably face a kangaroo court trial and years in prison for speaking his mind,” Robertson said. “Governments around the world should demand Nguyen Lan Thang’s immediate and unconditional release, and pressure Hanoi to stop this wave of abuse.” Thang, who comes from a family of scholars in Hanoi, has a Facebook following of more than 152,000. He has taken part in protests defending Vietnam’s sovereignty in disputed areas of the South China Sea and worked to help people affected by floods and storms in the country’s Central Highlands. In 2013, he was detained and interrogated at Noi Bai Airport in Hanoi after returning from Thailand and the Philippines, where he had met with U.N. human rights officials to report on human rights abuses in Vietnam. A year later he was barred from leaving the country to attend a World Press Freedom Day event organized by UNICEF in the United States. According to RFA reports, Vietnam has arrested at least 18 dissidents since the beginning of the year, most of them charged with “conducting propaganda against the state” under Article 88 of the 1999 Penal Code and Article 117 of the 2015 Penal Code. Both laws have been criticized by activists and rights groups as measures used to stifle voices of dissent in Vietnam. Translated by Anna Vu for RFA Vietnamese. Written in English by Richard Finney.

Six killed as junta jets target Arakan army base

Editor2 years ago04 mins

The Arakan Army (AA) said an attack by two military fighter jets on Monday killed six of its members and left scores injured. The bombing also damaged a hospital, a clinic and a garment factory in the area near the Thai border, controlled by AA ally the Karenni National Liberation army Witnesses said the jets flew into Thai airspace after the bombings. The dead were identified as Kyaw Oo Hlaing, Kyaw San Htay, Tun Lin, Bo Than Kyaw, Nay Zaw Oo, and Zar Ni Win, aged between 20 and 31. Rakhine residents have been posting messages on Facebook mourning those killed in Monday’s air strike. Calls to the military council spokesman by RFA went unanswered. AA spokesman Khing Thukha told local media outlets that his troops were not fighting with junta forces in the area. He said the airstrike was unprovoked and the AA plans to retaliate. Pe Than, a former People’s Assembly member from Rakhine State, said that the junta’s bombing of the AA account could lead to renewed fighting. “We all know who lives there and whose camp is this,” he said. “That means this was a deliberate attack. [The junta] have to attack these camps because of the situation in Karen State. [In spite of a ceasefire] the military sees the AA as the enemy, so the lull in fighting during the ceasefire is unlikely to last.” The military council and the AA agreed a ceasefire, which has largely held for more than a year. The AA operates primarily in Rakhine State, where it is seeking autonomy from the ethnic Rakhines, but also operates in other states, including Kayin (Karen) state. It has been a long and bitter conflict. On November 19, 2014, 23 cadets from the Ta’ang National Liberation Army (TNLA), Chin National Front (CNF), All Burma Students Democratic Front (ABSDF), and eight cadets from the AA died when the military shelled their training academy in Laiza, Kachin state. Myanmar’s shadow National Unity Government (NUG) has invited the AA to join an alliance of regional armies to fight the military, which could also lead to an escalation in violence. The AA has so far ignored the NUG’s overtures and instead focused on its own territorial ambitions. ICG said the group now controls between half and three quarters of Rakhine state.

U.S. aircraft carrier to visit Vietnam as Western allies stage war games

Editor2 years ago08 mins

The aircraft carrier USS Ronald Reagan is to visit Vietnam in the second half of July, the first U.S. carrier to stop in a port there in more than a year, two local sources said. The last visit was the USS Theodore Roosevelt in March 2020 when all 5,000 crew had to test for COVID-19 upon visiting Danang. The supercarrier was conducting exercise in the Philippine Sea at the weekend after leaving Guam late June. Vietnam has now fully opened to foreign visitors as the government adopts a policy of “living with COVID”. RFA contacted the U.S. Indo-Pacific Command for information but has yet to receive a reply. If confirmed, this will be only the third U.S. navy aircraft carrier to visit the country since the end of the Vietnam War in 1975. The first carrier to make a port call in Vietnam was the USS Carl Vinson, in March 2018. There were talks about a planned visit by the USS Abraham Lincoln in May but it didn’t materialize. The Abraham Lincoln is now taking part in the biennial Rim of the Pacific (RIMPAC) naval exercise near Hawaii. The USS Ronald Reagan (CVN 76), named after the 40th U.S. President, is a Nimitz-class, nuclear-powered supercarrier, homeported in Yokosuka, Japan. It too suffered a COVID outbreak in March 2020 when in the West Pacific, prompting a lockdown at the Yokosuka Naval Base, home of the U.S. 7th Fleet. By the end of March 2020, the U.S. Navy reported a total of 134 personnel had contracted COVID without naming their specific ships. Caption: An F/A-18F Super Hornet launches from the flight deck of the U.S. Navy aircraft carrier USS Theodore Roosevelt in the Philippine Sea (March 2020). CREDIT: U.S. Navy ‘Free and Open Indo-Pacific’ The shipping and maritime sources close to the Vietnamese Navy said the USS Ronald Reagan, carrying 90 aircraft including a number of F/A-18E Super Hornets and sophisticated missile systems, will pay a five-day visit to Danang in central Vietnam “sometime in the next two weeks.” All visits by foreign warships are carefully regulated by the Vietnamese military which doesn’t want to be seen as siding with any world power. In recent years, however, former enemies Hanoi and Washington have made big strides towards a strategic partnership amid China’s assertive moves in the South China Sea, over which Vietnam and five other nations hold competing territorial claims. Since the U.S. lifted an arms embargo on Vietnam in 2016, during the Obama administration, Vietnam has started acquiring U.S. military hardware including vessels for its growing coast guard force. The U.S. accuses China of militarizing the sea and regularly despatches naval ships to perform so-called freedom of navigation operations (FONOPs), to much protest from Beijing. In June 2016, before an international tribunal requested by the Philippines delivered an historic ruling against China’s excessive and illegal claims in the South China Sea, the Ronald Reagan was deployed to the region in a mission largely seen as a show of support for the case. In the latest development, the world’s largest naval exercise, Rim of the Pacific (RIMPAC) 2022, led by the United States, is underway until Aug. 4 to showcase the maritime might of the U.S. and allies. Five countries bordering the South China Sea – Brunei, Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines and Singapore – are amongst the 26 participating nations with 25,000 personnel. China’s English-language official mouthpiece China Daily has published a scathing editorial calling the “display of navy clout” a “show of intimidation.” This political clout “is aimed at ensuring an ‘Indo-Pacific’ that is subject to the dictates of the U.S. rather than one that is truly ‘free and open’,” it said. The paper warned that with “the rise of its national strength, China has developed the capacity to defend its core interests, sovereignty and territorial integrity in a broader scope in the Asia-Pacific region and beyond.” China launched its third aircraft carrier, developed and built entirely in the country, on June 17. The Liaoning is an 80,000 tonner vessel equipped with high tech equipment such as electromagnetic catapults for launching aircraft. It is the first aircraft carrier wholly designed and built in China. The first carrier, the Liaoning, was bought from Ukraine and repurposed. The second, the Shandong, was based on the Liaoning’s design. China now has three carriers, compared to U.S.’s eleven. The Chinese Defense Ministry has said the country would develop more aircraft carriers depending on “national security needs.” Credit: U.S. Navy

Arrests of Vietnam environmentalists clash with carbon cutting goals

Editor2 years ago2 years ago012 mins

The arrest and sentencing of prominent environmentalist Nguy Thi Khanh and other rights defenders in Vietnam are in conflict with the country’s commitment to reducing its considerable carbon emissions to combat climate change, human rights and environmental groups said. Nguy Thi Khanh, an ardent opponent of Vietnam’s reliance on coal power and winner of the Goldman Environmental Prize in 2018, was arrested in January for failing to pay a 10% tax on her U.S. $200,000 prize money, equivalent to about 4.65 billion Vietnamese dong. The executive director of the environmental NGO Green Innovation and Development Centre was sentenced on June 17 in Hanoi. The Oil Change International (OIC), the International Federation for Human Rights (FIDH) and the Observatory for the Protection of Human Rights Defenders criticized the arrest and demanded Khanh’s release. “Earlier this month, Nguy Thi Khanh was sentenced to prison on trumped up tax evasion charges, which have widely been condemned as an attempt to silence Vietnam’s most influential environmental activist,” OIC said in a statement issued Tuesday. “Her arrest is the latest in a string of efforts to repress activists in Vietnam.” Khanh had been active in pointing out the negative effects of coal-fired plants and calling for clean energy use. Vietnam is the ninth-largest coal user in the world, but Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh vowed that the country would stop building new coal-fired power plants and work to reduce greenhouse gas emissions to net-zero by 2050. In October 2021, Khanh and representatives from other NGOs told Pham that Vietnam needed to revise a national power development plan for 2021-2030 to meet its goals, according to the Observatory for the Protection of Human Rights Defenders. Two years earlier, she joined a dozen NGOs in signing the “Hanoi Statement,” demanding that the government stop funding coal-fired power plants. Khanh is the fourth environmental rights defender to be arrested this year on a tax evasion charges, the Observatory said in a statement issued on June 24. On Jan. 11, 2022, Mai Phan Loi, founder and director of the Center for Media in Educating Community (MEC), was sentenced to four years in jail, while Bach Hung Duong, MEC’s former director, received a two-year, six-month sentence. Nearly two weeks later, Dang Dinh Bach, director of the Law and Policy of Sustainability Development Research Center (LPSD), was sentenced to five years in prison. Though nonprofit organizations are exempt from paying corporate taxes in Vietnam, the tax law pertaining to NGOs receiving funds from international donors are particularly vague and restrictive, according to the Observatory. The organizations of the activists and the Vietnam Committee on Human Rights believe that the arrests were triggered by their promotion of civil society’s role in monitoring the European Union-Vietnam Free Trade Agreement that came into force in 2021, the Observatory said. Both Loi and Bach were executive board members of VNGO-EVFTA Network, a group of seven development and environmental CSOs set up in November 2020 to raise awareness about the FTA and its civil society element, known as the Vietnam Domestic Advisory Group. After the organizations, including MEC and LPSD, submitted applications for membership in the advisory group, Loi and Bach were arrested in early July 2021. The Observatory, a partnership of the FIDH and the World Organisation Against Torture, called on Vietnamese authorities to guarantee the well-being of Khanh and the other activists, and to immediately and unconditionally release them. “The Observatory strongly condemns the judicial harassment and arbitrary detention of Nguy Thi Khanh, Dang Dinh Bach, Bach Hung Duong, and Mai Phan Loi, as it seems to be only aimed at punishing them for their legitimate environmental and human rights activities,” the organization’s statement said. The organization also demanded that authorities stop harassing activists and human rights defenders in Vietnam, including through the court system, and ensure they can exercise their rights as citizens without any fear of reprisal. A man works in a coal yard in Hanoi, Vietnam, Nov. 9, 2021. Credit: AFP ‘Silencing those who dare to speak’ The charges against the four environmental rights defenders have raised questions about the Vietnamese government’s commitment to protect the environment at the United Nations Conference of the Parties to the United Nations Climate Change Conference in Glasgow, Scotland, in November 2021. U.S. Special Presidential Climate Envoy John Kerry and his European Union counterpart, Frans Timmermans, have also called for the release of Nguy Thi Khanh and the other climate activists. A Politico report on June 26 said those calls risk derailing a deal to shift Vietnam off coal, but doing nothing would risk criticism from civil society groups that oppose helping finance climate action in countries that jail activists. In April, the Group of Seven, a political forum that includes, the U.S., Canada, the United Kingdom, France, Germany, Italy and Japan, agreed on a plan to help Vietnam, the world’s ninth largest coal-consuming nation, reach its carbon emission goals. The Politico article quoted Saskia Bricmont, a Belgian member of the European Parliament, as saying that the tax evasion allegations against the activists were “not credible” and were “clearly a deception.” Vietnam’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Vietnam said at a regular press briefing on June 23 that Khanh had been investigated and prosecuted for economic crimes, specifically violating the provisions of the law on tax administration, and that she admitted to tax evasion. “Some speculations that Nguy Thi Khanh is being criminally handled for her activities and opinions related to climate change are baseless and not true to the nature of the case,” a spokesman said. Responding to the ministry’s statements, a person who used to work with the Alliance for the Prevention of Non-Communicable Diseases of Vietnam — a group to which the NGOs affiliated with the sentenced activists belonged — said the environmentalists had been wrongly imprisoned. “The arrest of environmental activists aims at silencing those who dare to speak out and stands in the way of the authorities,” said the source who declined to be named for safety…

Category: ASEAN