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Category: East Asia

Pro-China newspaper denounces Hong Kong journalists’ union as ‘anti-China’

Editor08 mins

A newspaper backed by the ruling Chinese Communist Party (CCP) has called on a prominent journalists’ association in Hong Kong to disband, as the city’s foreign correspondents’ club said it had axed a prestigious award for journalists reporting on human rights issues. Writing in the Wen Wei Po newspaper, pro-Beijing lawmaker Edward Leung called the Hong Kong Journalists’ Association (HKJA) “a suspected anti-China organization that disrupts Hong Kong,” saying it was a political organization in the guise of a press organization. “The HKJA is … fighting against the reality of Chinese rule in Hong Kong,” Leung wrote, saying it had “incited fake journalists to spread rumors and incite violence.” “Just like the Professional Teachers’ Union and the Confederation of Trade Unions and other anti-China, trouble-making organizations in Hong Kong, they must be held responsible for the damage they have caused,” Leung wrote. Meanwhile, the pro-CCP Ta Kung Pao published an opinion article titled “dissolution is the only solution for the HKJA.” “If the HKJA thinks that it can continue to destroy Hong Kong with the support of foreign forces, then it’s on a fool’s errand,” the paper said. The association has previously been a vocal critic of police restrictions on journalists, particularly during the 2019 protest movement, which culminated in the police force refusing to tolerate the presence of anyone it decided was a “fake journalist.” Leung said city officials have demanded the HKJA “provide relevant information on activities not conforming to its articles of association,” but the organization hadn’t immediately complied, suggesting it had “ghosts” it was avoiding. Chairperson of the Hong Kong Journalists Association Ronson Chan (L) and Chris Yeung, chief editor of the organization’s annual report “Freedom in Tatters.” in Hong Kong, July 15, 2021. Credit: AFP Dwindling freedom HKJA president Ronson Chan told RFA that the organization hasn’t yet decided whether or not to dissolve, as many trade unions and civil organizations have since the CCP imposed a draconian national security law on Hong Kong from July 1, 2020, saying that was a decision for its members. “I am disappointed in that article,” Chan said. “The issues [around the articles of association] have been clarified, and I have said this many times, but their argument is still the same.” “It doesn’t only reflect the views of the pro-establishment media, but also the views of the powerful establishment behind it,” he said. “But whether we continue to exist is a matter … for our members to decide.” The national security law ushered in a citywide crackdown on public dissent and criticism of the authorities that has seen several senior journalists, pro-democracy media magnate Jimmy Lai and 47 former lawmakers and democracy activists charged with offenses from “collusion with a foreign power” to “subversion.” Journalists laid off after the folding of a number of outspoken news organizations since the law took effect have told RFA they face an uncertain future amid dwindling freedom of expression in Hong Kong. “National security education” — which is being tailored to all age-groups from kindergarten to university — is also mandatory under the law, while student unions and other civil society groups have disbanded, with some of their leaders arrested in recent months. An online meeting of the HKJA on Saturday did discuss the possibility of disbanding, and whether or not it should change its articles of association, Chan said, adding that the HKJA will continue to exist “for the forseeable future.” The organization sent an email out to members on April 22 informing them that its executive committee are considering the organization’s position, and calling for comments in a consultation exercise. Any motion to disband must win the support of at least five-sixths of voting members in a secret ballot. Pro-CCP hires Meanwhile, the Foreign Correspondents’ Club (FCC) announced it was axing the prestigious Human Rights Press Awards this year, citing legal risks. “Over the last two years, journalists in Hong Kong have been operating under new ‘red lines’ on what is and is not permissible, but there remain significant areas of uncertainty and we do not wish unintentionally to violate the law,” FCC president Keith Richburg said in a letter to members posted to the FCC website. “We explored a variety of other options, but could not find a feasible way forward. It is particularly painful coming less than two weeks before May 3, World Press Freedom Day, when we normally announce the HRPA winners and celebrate their journalism,” he said. Former Hong Kong Baptist University journalism professor To Yiu-ming said political affiliation is now the most important thing when media organizations in Hong Kong hire journalists, especially the most senior ones, not professionalism. He cited the recent hiring of pro-CCP media figures to senior editorial role, including that of Chan Tit Piu as director of NowTV news. “The fact that these people can get directly hired to positions like that has to do with political considerations,” To told RFA. “It’s a bit problematic.” “Why don’t they emphasize professionalism [when hiring]?” Translated and edited by Luisetta Mudie.

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Viral Shanghai lockdown video-maker deletes own work amid rumors of detention

Editor09 mins

The creator of a viral video about the Shanghai lockdown has said he has deleted it, and that rumors of his detention were untrue, as shoppers poured into stores in Beijing amid rising COVID-19 cases. The montage-style video “April Voices” puts together audio clips, video and still photos of the past few weeks of life under the ruling Chinese Communist Party (CCP)’s zero-COVID policy. “Shanghai is not under lockdown, and doesn’t need to be,” an official voice is heard saying at the start, followed by images of deserted streets and soundbites about overcrowded hospitals and ambulances that never come and deleted complaints posted to social media. It continues with audio of crying babies, complaints about undelivered groceries, rotting vegetables by the roadside, the scarcity of basic foodstuffs and water, wails and shouts from the windows of high-rise apartment buildings demanding officials hand out basic supplies. In the middle is a tearful clip of an exhausted neighborhood committee official who laments the lack of sensible policies or even explanations about why some 25 million people have been confined to their homes since late March and forced to submit to round after round of mass COVID-19 testing, before either being sent to overcrowded and under-resourced quarantine facilities or walled up in their own buildings and apartments, often with welded metal barriers. “Are they going to kill it? Oh my God!” says one woman, apparently witnessing officials dispatching a pet whose owners have been taken away after testing positive. “Some nice police officers brought us food, because we hadn’t eaten in several foods,” a man’s voice says, while another man talks about being unable to get admitted for urgent treatment in hospital owing to stringent testing requirements. “People might not be dying of the virus, but they’re starving to death,” says a man’s voice. “They haven’t even put up beds so we’re sleeping on the floor,” a woman’s voice says. “Are you locking the door?” shouts a woman. “What if there’s a fire?” a man demands to know. “I’m sorry to disturb you ma’am but my kid has a fever!” yells another woman. The blogger and video-maker Strawberry Fields, who described themselves as “Shanghai born and bred,” said via QQ.com that the video had now been deleted. “There were online comments today about the maker of the video being taken away, and a lot of people have been asking what happened, so I need to clarify things,” the blogger wrote. “My family and I are all fine, at home as usual, and no officials have contacted me.” “I felt that perhaps the meaning given to the video had been extended by its audience, and it spread far further and faster than is normal, so I deleted it myself at around 3 p.m. today,” they wrote. “I don’t want any more misunderstandings.” The video’s disappearance came as residents of Pudong and Huangpu protested at officials who had come to seal them into their buildings with steel barriers and fences, which are springing up across the city, sometimes cutting off entire districts from each other by blocking main thoroughfares. Shanghai authorities reported 51 deaths from COVID-19 in the past day, with 2,680 newly confirmed symptomatic cases and more than 17,000 asymptomatic cases. A resident of Beijing queues up for nucleic acid testing, April 25, 2022. Credit: Reuters Beijing preparing for closure Meanwhile, shoppers flooded stores and supermarkets in Beijing amid rising COVID-19 cases, as the authorities sealed off a number of residential districts in Chaoyang district. Store shelves were rapidly emptying of basic foodstuffs, fresh fruit and vegetables, sanitary supplies and Coca-Cola, as people scrambled to lay in stores for prolonged restrictions on their freedom of movement. Pork, steak and burgers, onion, ginger and coriander were among the first to go, as online posts suggested buying a second refrigerator or freezer to store food in for the long haul. Chaoyang district has launched a program of district-wide mass COVID-19 testing, to be repeated three times over the next week, a local resident surnamed Sun told RFA. “There was an infection source traced to Chuiyangliu in Chaoyang district,” he said. “All staff will undergo PCR testing today, and again on Wednesday and Friday, three times in all,” Sun said. “A lot of people are now buying food.” Another resident said many store shelves now stand empty. “Residents rushed to buy food at various supermarkets in Beijing yesterday, all the food is gone, and the shelves are empty,” the resident said. Current affairs commentator Li Ang said the authorities have shown in their handling of the Shanghai lockdown that they are less concerned about COVID-19 than they are about potential social unrest. “The main point is to strengthen their control of society in an all-round way, to prevent trouble, any unexpected incidents from happening,” Li said. “The first thing they consider is the stability of the regime, and the second is the security of the regime.” “That is the top priority, and nothing else is seen as a problem.” Lockdowns were imposed on 14 areas in Chaoyang at the time of writing, with another 14 areas subject to less stringent restrictions on people’s movements. Translated and edited by Luisetta Mudie.

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Tibetan village leaders told to ‘Speak in Chinese’

Editor07 mins

Chinese officials in rural areas of Tibet are forcing village leaders to speak in Chinese, as authorities move forward with campaigns aimed at restricting the use by Tibetans of their native language, RFA has learned. Workshops launched at the end of last year now order local administrators to conduct business only in Chinese, telling them they must support language policies mandated by Beijing and lead the Tibetan public “by example,” according to a source living in Tibet. “A 10-day workshop was held for local leaders in Kongpo in central-eastern Tibet to promote Chinese, both written and spoken, as their main language of communication,” RFA’s source said, speaking on condition of anonymity for security reasons. Six workshops have now already been held in Kongpo’s Gyamda (in Chinese, Gongbujiangda) county, with others conducted in many other regions of Tibet, the source said, adding, “And Tibetan village employees are being required to speak and communicate in Chinese at all times.” Speaking to RFA, Tibetan researchers living in exile called the move a further push by China to weaken the Tibetan people’s ties to their national culture and identity. Pema Gyal, a researcher at London-based Tibet Watch, said that recent years have seen China’s government impose the use of Mandarin Chinese in Tibetan schools and religious institutions. “But now these policies are being enforced on all Tibetans.” “This is an attempt to Sinicize Tibet’s language and culture,” Gyal said. China’s programs mandating the use of the Chinese language in Tibet’s cities have already taken hold, added Nyiwoe, a researcher at the Dharamsala, India-based Tibetan Centre for Human Rights and Democracy. “So now they are going to implement these policies in the villages and rural areas,” he said. A new program supported by China’s 5G network has meanwhile been launched to “improve” education in Tibet by the use of Mandarin Chinese in online teaching, research, and communications between schools, according to a Chinese state media report on April 8. “This program using the 5G network is aimed at expediting and expanding the already harsh ongoing policies of the Chinese government to Sinicize the Tibetan language inside Tibet,” commented Kunga Tashi, an analyst of Tibetan and Chinese affairs now living in New York. Teaching opportunities Despite Chinese government policies restricting Tibetan children from learning their own language, many parents in Tibet are now creating teaching opportunities outside the schools, a Tibetan living in Tibet’s regional capital Lhasa said. “We now have small childcare centers in Lhasa where the children are taught the Tibetan language and Tibetan dances and songs, and where they are encouraged to wear Tibetan clothing,” RFA’s source said, also declining to be named. “No specific subjects are taught in Tibetan, though, because the Chinese government has imposed very tight restrictions on teaching in Tibetan. At least teaching these children Tibetan songs and dances will help to preserve our culture and language,” he added. Also speaking to RFA, another Lhasa resident said he has been teaching his child to read and write in Tibetan and also to recite Tibetan prayers. “He can recite his prayers very well now, and he also has very good Tibetan handwriting.” “I would like to take this opportunity to ask all Tibetans living in exile to preserve our language and to always speak in Tibetan with your children. Without our own language, we will have no identity,” he added. Chinese Communist Party efforts to supplant local language education with teaching in Chinese have raised anger not only among Tibetans, but also in the Turkic-language-speaking Uyghur community of Xinjiang and in northern China’s Inner Mongolia. Plans to end the use of the Mongolian language in ethnic Mongolian schools sparked weeks of class boycotts, street protests, and a region-wide crackdown by riot squads and state security police in the fall of 2020, in a process described by ethnic Mongolians as “cultural genocide.” Formerly an independent nation, Tibet was invaded and incorporated into China by force more than 70 years ago. Language rights have become a particular focus for Tibetan efforts to assert national identity in recent years, with informally organized language courses in the monasteries and towns deemed “illegal associations” and teachers subject to detention and arrest, sources say. Translated by Tenzin Dickyi for RFA’s Tibetan Service. Written in English by Richard Finney.

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Vietnam says it discussed army games with Russia, not military drills

Editor05 mins

The Vietnamese Defense Ministry says that a meeting this month with Russia did not discuss a joint military exercise as reported Russian state media but an international military competition. Vietnam’s version of events published in the official military newspaper Sunday could be intended to distance Vietnam from bilateral military activities with Russia amid international condemnation of the war in Ukraine. Quan Doi Nhan Dan, the official mouthpiece of Vietnam’s armed forces, reported that on April 15 a Vietnamese delegation led by Maj. Gen. Do Dinh Thanh, commander of Vietnam Army’s Tank Force and Armored Warfare, took part in a virtual meeting with the Russian side to discuss Vietnam’s participation in the Army Games 2022. The International Army Games, dubbed the War Olympics, is an annual military competition hosted by Russia since 2015, usually at the end of summer. Participating armies compete in different events such as “tank biathlon,” infantry, anti-aircraft artillery and troop intelligence. China has been a regular participant of the games while Vietnam began taking part in 2018 together with nearly 30 other countries. Analysts say the Army Games aims to showcase the military prowess of Russia and other countries, as well as promote Russian weapons and technologies to prospective buyers. The report in Quan Doi Nhan Dan said the Vietnamese general had requested that his tank team be allowed to arrive early for training and familiarization “if the Army Games are to take place” this year. Bilateral military activities Russia is waging a full-scale war in Ukraine after invading its neighbor on Feb. 24. The invasion, widely condemned by the international community, has caused the largest refugee crisis in Europe since World War II. On April 19, Russia’s state media reported that Russia and Vietnam were planning to hold a joint military training exercise. The move was described by analysts as “inappropriate” and likely to “raise eyebrows” in the rest of the region. Russian state-run news agency RIA Novosti said the initial planning meeting for the military training exercise was held virtually between the leaders of Russia’s Eastern Military District and the Vietnamese army. The news came as the U.S. announced a May 12-13 summit in Washington with the Association of Southeast Asian Nations, including Vietnam. Vietnam considers Russia a traditional ally and a “comprehensive strategic partner,” and has been supportive of Moscow despite international outrage over Russia’s aggression in Ukraine. Earlier this month, Vietnam voted against a U.S.-led resolution to remove Russia from the U.N. Human Rights Council. Before that, Hanoi abstained from voting to condemn Russia’s invasion of Ukraine at the U.N. General Assembly. Vietnamese army officials are usually very tight-lipped about international affairs, and the report in the official army newspaper could be viewed as a denial of involvement in bilateral military activities with Russia.

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China calls on public to submit ‘opinions’ to ruling party ahead of top meeting

Editor011 mins

The ruling Chinese Communist Party (CCP) is calling for ‘opinions’ from citizens ahead of a crucial political meeting later this year, amid growing public anger over CCP leader Xi Jinping’s COVID-19 policy, that has seen millions confined in grueling lockdowns across the country in recent months. The “call for public submissions” comes ahead of the CCP’s 20th Party Congress, scheduled for late 2022, the Global Times newspaper cited state news agency Xinhua as saying. From April 15 through May 16, the anniversary of the start of the Cultural Revolution (1966-1967) when late supreme leader Mao Zedong began a purge of his political rivals within party ranks, people can submit their “opinions and suggestions” online, including via the CCP’s official People’s Daily newspaper, Xinhua and the China Media Group, it said. “Opinions expressed online will be collected, analyzed and then provided as a reference to the drafting of the report of the 20th national congress, and some of the common problems raised by netizens will be dealt with immediately or assigned to responsible departments for further research,” the paper said, citing “analysts.” The move is intended to boost the CCP’ public image as confident, open, honest and innovative, it said. The People’s Daily said it received more than 10,000 submissions within the first 12 hours of launching the page. Submissions must be made under eight categories, many of which are ideological rather than factual, and include subjects like “developing the people’s whole-process democracy,” a Xi Jinping buzzword for public consultation under an authoritarian system, as well as “improving people’s livelihoods,” and “strengthening and upholding party leadership.” China’s President Xi Jinping (front) appears for the closing session of the National People’s Congress (NPC) at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing, March 11, 2022. Credit: AFP Strict limits Deng Yuwen, a former newspaper editor for a CCP party school publication, said calls for public consultation aren’t uncommon in China’s political system, but that there are strict, unwritten rules about what kind of opinions are acceptable. General political points are particularly unwelcome, he said. “You can only talk about things that related to your personal situation, such as raising retirement benefits a little,” Deng said. “[These are the] so-called vital interests.” “Other topics can’t be raised at all and people know not to mention them,” he said, adding: “Asking for some opinions online doesn’t represent a particularly noteworthy change.” According to the submission page on the People’s Daily website seen by RFA on April 21, people submitting comments and suggestions must supply their real names, their employer’s name, their rank or job title, political status, age and geographical location. Mobile numbers must also be supplied, so that submissions can be verified with an SMS code, meaning that anonymous submissions aren’t an option. The submissions already visible on the People’s Daily page tended to point in the same direction as published government policy, rather than challenging anything. ‘ Petitioners are escorted out of a park by police and security personnel before being loaded on buses and driven away in Beijing as hundreds of police swarmed the streets of Beijing’s financial district to quash a rally by angry peer-to-peer lenders, Aug. 6, 2018. Credit: AFP Marginal, mundane and innocuous issues’ Chen Kuide, executive chairman of the Princeton Chinese Society in the United States, said all submissions will be subject to strict review, and that critical or challenging comments would never make it as far as Xi himself. “The authorities can only tolerate opinions on fairly marginal, mundane and innocuous issues,” Chen told RFA. “But when it comes to issues linked to Xi Jinping’s political survival, like the zero-COVID policy, China’s relationship with Russia and the U.S. or Taiwan, there can be no opinions opposing CCP policy or Xi Jinping’s own view.” Wang Dan, a former leader of the 1989 student-led democracy movement in China and the founder of the Dialogue China think-tank, said the zero-COVID strategy alone could mean there is a political crisis brewing for Xi, who will seek an unprecedented third term in office at the 20th Party Congress. “The disease control strategy will have a psychological impact on all Chinese people, but it will have a greater psychological impact on the middle classes; those who have gained some benefit from past economic development,” Wang said in a commentary broadcast by RFA’s Mandarin Service. “Shanghai, where life became unbearable overnight, will make many people see the grim reality, [people] who used to go about thinking they could live a peaceful life without getting involved in politics,” Wang said. “When this crisis happened, they will realize that politics will come to you.” “People are facing the risk of starvation, or arrests and beatings, even in the richest districts of Shanghai,” he said. “All of this … will make the middle classes — once the biggest supporters of CCP policies — totally lose any confidence in China’s future.” He said most of Generation Z in China will likely feel abandoned both by society and the economy in the aftermath of the pandemic. “Once they wake up to this, the sense of resistance will be very strong … [and] that kind of crisis will be far more deadly to the CCP than the pandemic,” Wang said. ‘Full of pseudoscience’ Veteran Democracy Wall dissident Wei Jingsheng agreed, adding that Xi’s political ideology is unlikely to give way easily in the face of anger and resentment, as his thinking was molded by the chaotic factional strife of the Cultural Revolution (1966-1976). “Comrade Xi Jinping grew up in that era, and his basic notions were formed then: his head was full of pseudoscience, his thinking full of arrogance, superstition, violence and other absurdities,” Wei wrote in a recent commentary. “This is the ideological source of his insistence on the absurd zero-COVID policy today.” Wei said Xi would have been regularly exposed to violent propaganda in his youth, and had likely developed a taste for violent oppression, which Wei said was akin to Stockholm Syndrome. Wei warned that it would be hard to…

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Junta chief offers Myanmar’s ethnic armies rare in-person peace talks

Editor010 mins

Myanmar junta chief, Snr. Gen. Min Aung Hlaing, on Friday offered to meet with leaders of armed ethnic groups to end conflict in the country’s remote border regions but was met with a mixed response from the armies, who said the military has broken vows in the past and needs to deliver on promises of peace. The offer also was not extended to representatives of the country’s ousted, democratically elected government and the prodemocracy People’s Defense Forces that sprang up in an effort to return it to power. “I have said that 2022 is the year of peace and that we will work for an end to all armed conflict in the country,” he said in a speech broadcast on state-run television. “I call on the leaders of the ethnic armed groups to meet and negotiate, as peace needs to be implemented in practice. I will meet all the groups in person and later talks could be held with a delegation made up of members of the [junta].” Min Aung Hlaing proposed that the meeting include the heads of each ethnic army and two of their lieutenants — the names of whom should be submitted by May 9. He said a date would be set for full talks after the initial meeting. Junta deputy information minister, Maj. Gen. Zaw Min Tun, told RFA’s Myanmar Service that the military regime would assume responsibility for the safety of those attending the event. “We fully guarantee the safety of the people who will be attending the talks, and the [junta] will pick them up wherever they feel comfortable … and bring them in [for the meeting].” He said China had also agreed to help broker the peace process and that the junta is willing to work with all stakeholders. Col. Khun Okkar, the leader of the Pa-O National Liberation Organization (PNLO), told RFA he believes the junta is determined to work for peace in the run-up to a general election, and suggested Min Aung Hlaing proposed the meeting to “find a way to stabilize the country.” At the time of Myanmar’s Feb. 1, 2021, coup, Min Aung Hlaing promised elections within a year, but he has since pushed the date back to August 2023. More recently, the junta has said elections would only be held if there is “stability” in the country. Khun Okkar said that by proposing the talks on television, Min Aung Hlaing was likely trying to bypass the red tape required to get talks started. “There’s too much centralization. … There are a lot of steps and sometimes things don’t get to the point in time,” he said. “It seems he wanted to be more effective when he said he would take charge himself. Time is running out … and as he needs time to prepare for the elections, I think he wanted to have the talks as quickly as possible.” Padoh Saw Tawney, foreign affairs officer for the Karen National Union (KNU), said past experiences with the peace process have raised doubts within his group about the military’s tactics. “We have never rejected peace, but peace cannot be achieved with words only. So, we need them to show us real facts and actions that can lead to peace,” he said. “Without these, we cannot accept any offers — even if he meets with us personally. … We have taken part [in previous peace talks] and we know every little trick they use. So, there cannot be peace talks without accepting our conditions,” he added, without providing details. Ethnic minority Karen troops approach a Myanmar army outpost near the Thai border, which is seen from the Thai side on the Thanlwin, also known as Salween, riverbank in Mae Hong Son province, Thailand, April 28, 2021. Credit: Reuters Political ‘act’ in response to pressure Sai Kyi Zin Soe, a Myanmar-based political analyst, called Min Aung Hlaing’s call for peace “useless” and suggested it was a political act to alleviate international pressure over the junta’s brutal repression of its opponents. According to rights groups, security forces have killed 1,782 civilians and arrested nearly 103,000 since the coup, mostly during peaceful anti-junta protests. Proper peace talks cannot be held without all stakeholders, Sai Kyi Zin Soe said, and must also include the country’s shadow National Unity Government (NUG), prodemocracy People’s Defense Force (PDF) paramilitaries, and other opposition forces. The junta has ruled out talks with the groups, which it accuses of terrorism. “The path he is taking and the work he is doing is just a figurative demonstration of a desire for real political stability,” he said. “[Failing to include groups beyond the ethnic armies] shows he’s making the offer because of pressure from China or ASEAN amid international criticism, rather than out of a genuine desire for real peace.” Ye Tun, a former member of parliament with the deposed National League for Democracy (NLD), said he believes Min Aung Hlaing may be trying to “keep the ethnic armed groups in check” until he can eliminate the PDF and other armed opposition groups. Ethnic armies have been fighting against Myanmar’s military since the country’s 1948 independence. In the aftermath of the coup, several groups have thrown their support behind anti-junta resistance fighters, while others are joining forces with the local PDF branches to fight the military. Only 10 ethnic armies have signed a Nationwide Ceasefire Agreement with the government since 2015, when the document was inked in the presence of international observers and Myanmar’s highest legislature. The 10 groups have suggested that the deal remains in place, despite an already flailing peace process that was all but destroyed by the unpopular junta’s coup. However, they say they will not pursue talks with the military, which they view as having stolen power from the country’s democratically elected government. While the junta has made peace overtures to the ethnic armies in the past, Friday marked the first time Min Aung Hlaing offered to meet with them in person. Translated by Khin Maung Nyane. Written…

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In North Korea, a soldier’s biggest threat may be the censor

Editor08 mins

The North Korean military is harshly punishing soldiers for divulging “sensitive” information —including their location or unit’s size — in letters back home, sources in the military told RFA. In most of the world’s militaries, especially during wartime, soldiers are typically forbidden from relaying certain facts about their deployment. But in secretive North Korea, which is still technically at war with South Korea, even honest mistakes can bring consequences that last a lifetime. One soldier was recently punished when censors found that a letter he wrote revealed where the unit was located and the name of the battleship he served on, a military source from Sinpo, a city in the eastern province of South Hamgyong, told RFA’s Korean Service on condition of anonymity for security reasons. “The soldier was arrested and interrogated by the State Security Department for nearly two months and was eventually separated from the service with a dishonorable discharge,” he said. “If you fail to fulfil your military service time and are punished and discharged this way, that’s the end of any prospect for a good life.” Every North Korean male serves about seven years in the armed forces, according to South Korean intelligence. All the mail that they write is read and censored. Soldiers are supposed to use military postcards to write to their families or sweethearts to make it easier for censors to identify offending passages. But postcard supplies are down, so soldiers are sending more letters written on ordinary paper, in makeshift envelopes, according to the source. That affords more opportunities for mistakes. “Military mail takes more than a month or two for the letters to come and go, and the soldiers are never able to write down everything they want to say on the postcard,” the source said. If letters containing sensitive information are caught by censors, the person who delivered the letter to the post office can be punished alongside the sender, he said. “Earlier this month, an East Coast squadron naval unit in the city of Sinpo held an educational session on how not to divulge military secrets in letters,” the military source said. “The session pointed out how soldiers have been sending letters to civilian addresses with confidential information that the public should not know. The soldiers were warned not to reveal the location of troops, details about combat missions and troop movements. These are acts of treason and in violation of the military oath,” he said. Another soldier who was caught by censors was sent to work in a coal mine, a resident of the South Hamgyong province told RFA on condition of anonymity to speak freely. “My friend’s younger brother, who enlisted to the army, was punished and separated from the military with a dishonorable discharge earlier this year. He bragged about his unit’s arms equipment in a letter to a friend at home who couldn’t join the military due to his physical condition, and this was caught in postal censorship,” said the second source. “My friend’s brother was then deployed as a coal miner in a rural county. If you are discharged from the military for a mistake, you are placed in the most difficult areas of society and will be excluded from all personnel appointments. This includes membership in the Workers’ Party, commendations and university recommendations,” she said. Party membership unlocks certain privileges like better education, housing and food rations — perks no longer available to the former soldier. “Mining work is difficult and dangerous, so my friend’s parents tried to get their son out of the mine any way they could, but it didn’t work,” the second source said. “My friend’s parents found out that there was a note in their son’s discharge document, saying ‘He must be assigned as a coal mine worker at the toughest coal mine. He should never be transferred to another company,’” she said. Though a market economy has begun to emerge in recent years, North Koreans still must report to their government-assigned jobs. Toiling away in the mine provides no opportunity for the former soldier to earn money on the side. “What I know about my friend’s younger brother is that he was bright and active. Now he is quiet and rarely speaks. He doesn’t meet his friends and he is very lonely. His parents are so sad,” she said. “It seems excessive to impose a lifetime of punishment on young soldiers for inadvertently bragging about information related to military secrets. The fact that every letter we send and receive is inspected by the state security department is also terrifying,” she said. Translated by Claire Lee and Leejin Jun. Written in English by Eugene Whong.

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China military PR video hints at 3rd aircraft carrier launch

Editor09 mins

A newly released military propaganda video suggests that the third aircraft carrier of the People’s Liberation Army (PLA) could be launched soon, Chinese media and experts said. A six-minute video, produced by the PLA Navy Political Publicity Bureau and the army broadcaster, was posted on Friday. It provides a glimpse into China’s aircraft carrier program and how the PLA carriers and personnel operate. China already has two aircraft carriers in operation, named Liaoning and Shandong. The third is being built and the promotional video seems to give a hint that its launch is imminent. At the end of the video, timed for China’s Navy Day which falls on Saturday, an officer is shown taking a call from his mother who appears to urge him to have “the third child,” to which the man replies: “That’s being arranged.”  The camera then moves to two photos of a carrier’s flight deck – an apparent reference to the first two aircraft carriers – before shifting to a blank screen and closing credits. This bizarre hint nevertheless got some Chinese media excited. The state-run tabloid Global Times wrote: “This is a very clear implication that the country’s third aircraft carrier is coming soon.” The Global Times quoted Song Zhongping, a Chinese military expert and TV commentator, as saying that the third carrier, known as Type 003, could be launched “in the second half of 2022.” The paper said the carrier may be named Jiangsu, after the province in eastern China. A file photo showing China’s aircraft carrier Liaoning taking part in a military drill of Chinese People’s Liberation Army (PLA) Navy in the western Pacific Ocean, April 18, 2018. Credit: Reuters. Covid lockdown “From the video, it does seem that the third Chinese carrier would be launched in the near future,” said Sheu Jyh-Shyang, a military expert at the Taiwan’s Institute for National Defence and Security Research (INDSR). The U.S. think tank Center for Strategic and International Studies said in a report last November that the launch “could be as soon as February 2022” but it has been delayed several times as China is struggling with the Covid pandemic. Recently severe lockdown measures have been imposed in Shanghai, home of the Jiangnan Shipyard where the Type 003 is being constructed – and where the Covid situation has disrupted shipping and may have caused delays in arrival of components for the vessel. Compared to the first two carriers, the Type 003 appears to be larger, and it has some new important components including catapult systems, used for launching aircraft from the ship.  “It is the first CATOBAR (Catapult Assisted Take-Off Barrier Arrested Recovery) carrier that China has,” said Sheu from INDSR. “CATOBAR carriers have much better capabilities, but they still need to have enough operating experience,” he added. The CSIS report last November also said that after launch, it would still be years before the Type 003 is commissioned into the PLA Navy and achieves initial operating capability. China already has the biggest naval fleet in the world, according to the US Office of Naval Intelligence. But the U.S. has far more aircraft carriers: 11 compared to China’s two. A screengrab from a video to mark China’s Navy Day on April 23, 2022, jointly produced by the Propaganda Bureau of PLA Navy’s Political Department and the official Weibo and WeChat accounts of the Chinese military. Credit: Global Times. Vulnerable as the ‘Moskova’ Taiwan’s Ministry of National Defense, which is watching China’s military developments closely, said in a report published earlier this year that the Type 003 would enable the PLA Navy to project power past the “first island chain.” The first island chain, conceptualized during the Cold War, commonly refers to the major archipelagos that lie off the East Asian mainland coast. The chain stretches from the Kamchatka Peninsula in the northeast to the Malay Peninsula in the southwest, and includes the territory of U.S. allies Taiwan and the Philippines. Taiwanese observers also pay attention to the PLA’s plan to procure new warplanes for the Type 003. “The first two (aircraft carriers) have only J-15 fighters and maybe some helicopters but the third one may have some airborne early warning and control (AEW&C) KJ-600 aircraft,” military analyst Sheu said. The Xian KJ-600 is said to accurately detect and track other airplanes and so greatly increases the effectiveness of carrier-based combat aircraft. Meanwhile, Taiwanese media have been looking at the sinking of Russia’s flagship “Moskva,” reportedly by Ukrainian Neptune missiles, last week. Russia said it was damaged in an unexplained fire. The missile cruiser Moskva was built in the same Black Sea Shipyard Mykolaiv in Ukraine as China’s first aircraft carrier back in the Soviet days. Beijing bought the ship, then called Varyag, and renamed it to Liaoning. The Liaoning regularly patrols the Taiwan Strait and may be deployed in the event of armed conflict with the self-governing island. China considers Taiwan a breakaway province that shall be united with the mainland. Taiwanese newspaper Liberty Times quoted an analyst as saying that “Taiwan has a bigger and more powerful anti-ship missile arsenal than Ukraine.” The Chinese aircraft carriers could be “as vulnerable as the ‘Moskva’ to Taiwan’s anti-ship missile,” it said.

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Uyghur lecturer sentenced to 13 years, allegedly for writings, foreign connections

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A Uyghur academic who studied in Germany has been sentenced to 13 years in prison in northwestern China’s Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region, according to a security officer at a university where the man worked. The officer who spoke with RFA did not give the reason for the imprisonment of Ababekri Abdureshid, a lecturer at Xinjiang Normal University in Urumqi (in Chinese, Wulumuqi). “He was sentenced for 13 years in prison, I believe,” the security officer said, adding that Abdureshid’s family would know the reasons behind his arrest and imprisonment. “We don’t know anything about this man’s case,” he said. The scholar, who studied for a year as a visiting scholar in Germany in 2012, was apprehended in early 2018 after returning to Xinjiang, according to his friend and former colleague, Husenjan, who now lives in exile in Norway. Husenjan said he heard through social media from sources in Xinjiang that Abdureshid had been sentenced. “I got the news from a very close colleague of Ababekri Abdureshid that he was sentenced to over 10 years in prison,” Husenjan told RFA. “[He] published academic articles on Uyghur culture and literature in both regional and national magazines.” Abdureshid, a university lecturer on philology, the study of languages, faced a difficult choice between staying in Germany or returning to Xinjiang. He decided to return home even though Uyghur higher education had been deteriorating, Husenjan said. When RFA contacted officials at Xinjiang’s Education Bureau for information about Abdureshid’s incarceration, they suggested calling judicial authorities. In an earlier report, RFA confirmed Abdureshid, who had been missing since 2018, was in captivity, although it was unknown whether he had been sentenced to prison. Abdureshid was born in 1981 in Qaraqash (Moyu) county, Hotan (Hetian) prefecture, the second-largest county in Xinjiang by population with more than half a million Uyghurs. He was admitted to the Xinjiang University in 2006 to pursue a master’s degree in modern Uyghur literature. From 2009 to 2012, Abdureshid studied for a doctorate at Minzu University of China in Beijing. During this time, he was a visiting scholar in Germany for a year. While in Germany, Abdureshid once visited Turkey and met with colleagues there to exchange views on research topics, according to Husenjan, who added that the scholar’s connections to colleagues and friends in Germany and Turkey were a further reason for his detention by authorities in Xinjiang. Officials at Xinjiang Normal University have consistently refused to comment on Abdureshid’s imprisonment when contacted by RFA. But a Chinese judicial official in Korla (Kuerle), capital of Bayin’gholin Mongol (Bayinguoleng Menggu) Autonomous Prefecture, told RFA that the Chinese government had sent people who returned from studies in foreign countries to “re-education centers.” After he had returned to Xinjiang, Abdureshid married and began working at the university in 2013. He was interrogated by Chinese police multiple times for refusing to drink alcohol. Chinese authorities have arrested numerous Uyghur intellectuals, businessmen, and cultural and religious figures in Xinjiang as part of a campaign to control members of the mostly Muslim minority group and, purportedly, to prevent religious extremism and terrorist activities. More than 1.8 million Uyghurs and other Turkic minorities are believed to have been held in a network of detention camps in Xinjiang since 2017. Beijing has said that the camps are vocational training centers and has denied widespread and documented allegations that it has mistreated Muslims living in in the region. The purges are among the abusive and repressive Chinese government policies that have been determined by the United States and some legislatures of Western countries as constituting genocide and crimes against humanity against the Uyghurs. Translated by RFA’s Uyghur Service. Written in English by Roseanne Gerin.

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Hong Kong’s Chinese University evicts student media as PolyU cuts ties with union

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A Hong Kong university has evicted a student newspaper and radio station, after another cut ties with its student union, amid an ongoing crackdown on freedom of speech on university campuses in the city. The student newspaper and radio station at the Chinese University of Hong Kong (CUHK), which cut ties with the student union last year after it played a key role in recent pro-democracy protests, “CUHK Campus Radio moved out of Room 302 of the Benjamin Franklin Centre on April 20,” the radio station said in an announcement on its Facebook page on Thursday. “[We] started broadcasting in 1999, 23 years ago, and now we have reached the end,” the statement said. Students running the CUHK Student Press were also told to move out of the club room by university management on the same day, so repairs could be carried out. Asked if they could return after the work was completed, management declined to reply. The newspaper had been running since 1969, and hosted a huge archive of former news and features produced by students, the more historically valuable of which were sifted out and removed by student journalists before they vacated the space, local media reported. No mention was made of the eviction on the paper’s Facebook page, and no stories had been posted since April 20, when the paper reported on a compulsory vaccination program for students. The evictions came after the Hong Kong Polytechnic University (PolyU) cut ties with its student union. CUHK Campus Radio, which has been evicted by the Chinese University of Hong Kong, is the latest casualty in an ongoing crackdown on freedom of speech on university campuses in the city under a draconian national security law imposed by Beijing. Credit: CUHK Campus Radio. Campus protests Both CUHK and PolyU were besieged by riot police during the 2019 protest movement, and saw days of pitched battles between protesters and riot police in November of that year. Rights groups hit out at the Hong Kong police for ‘fanning the flames’ of violence, as desperate protesters were trapped for several days inside the PolyU campus, while hundreds more waged pitched battles with riot police on the streets of Kowloon. The U.S.-based group Human Rights in China condemned police action in and around Poly U as “trapping students, journalists, and first aiders, and reportedly handcuffing the latter group.” “[We] received an email from the Student Affairs Office on the evening of [April] 14 … [in which] the union was officially ordered to drop Hong Kong Polytechnic University from its name,” the Poly U student union said in a Facebook post. “All organizations linked to the union are required to move out of the PolyU campus on or before July 15, 2022,” it said. “The union has been trying to negotiate … with the university for years, but has been unable to reach a consensus,” the statement said. “The university will stop providing all venues and other support [previously] provided to the student union.” The April 15 post called on students to pay attention to the move. “A student union is not just a student organization, but also an expression of collective consciousness,” it said. “We hope PolyU students won’t give up their right to protect themselves.” Meanwhile, the Law Society of Hong Kong served notice on a prominent human rights law firm, which will be forced to close in June after representing an 18-year-old woman who accused several police officers of gang-rape during the 2019 protest movement. Vidler & Co. also represented Indonesian reporter Veby Mega Indah, who lost vision in one eye after being hit by a non-lethal projectile fired by police while covering the protests, although she later terminated her instruction of the firm. Firm founder and senior partner Michael Vidler told RFA he wouldn’t be able to comment on the reasons for the Law Society’s order to cease practicing until June 3, owing to a legal injunction in force until that date. Vidler has also worked with other high-profile Hong Kong dissidents including Joshua Wong, and in 2013 assisted a trans woman — in W V. Registrar of Marriages — to win the right for any transgender person in the city to marry as their affirmed gender. In January, the Education University of Hong Kong became the latest of the city’s universities to cut its student union loose, amid an ongoing clampdown on public speech, under a draconian national security law imposed on the city by the ruling Chinese Communist Party (CCP). The university said it hadn’t “authorized” the union. Hong Kong student unions have provided various types of activities and benefits for students for decades, receiving funding and premises to do so, as well as participating in the formulation of policy by sending elected representatives to sit on university committees. But since the national security law took effect on July 1, 2020, they have been increasingly criticized by officials and denounced in the CCP-backed media, often a harbinger of official reprisals. Media reports said the University of Hong Kong (HKU), CUHK, City University, Polytechnic University, Lingnan University and Baptist University have all stopped collecting student union dues since the start of the current academic year. Translated and edited by Luisetta Mudie.

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