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Category: East Asia
Number of Chinese nationals seeking asylum grows tenfold under Xi Jinping
The number of Chinese nationals seeking political asylum overseas has skyrocketed under ruling Chinese Communist Party (CCP) leader Xi Jinping, according to a recent report. Figures released by the United Nations’ refugee agency UNHCR showed that while around 12,000 Chinese nationals sought asylum overseas in 2012, the year that Xi took office as CCP general secretary, that number had rising to nearly 120,000 by 2021. “Year by year since Xi Jinping came to power, in lockstep with a more oppressive system of governance, the number of asylum-seekers from China has continued to grow at an alarming rate,” the overseas-based rights group Safeguard Defenders reported on its website. “In 2020, and now with new figures just released for 2021, it shows continued growth despite COVID restrictions,” it said. In total, around 730,000 Chinese nationals have sought asylum since 2012, with more than 170,000 living outside China under refugee status, the report said. “Seeking asylum is for many a desperate act, reserved for those with few other options, which does not apply to the great many Chinese who have moved, and continue to do so, to the U.S, Australia, and beyond, often via naturalization, work visas or property purchases,” Safeguard Defenders said. The U.S. remains the most popular destination, accepting 88,722 applicants from mainland China last year. Australia took 15,774 asylum-seekers in the same year, the figures showed. Thousands also apply for asylum in Canada, Brazil, South Korea, and the U.K. Transnational repression The group warned of a growing risk of transnational repression, including the use of involuntary returns, now that a growing number of Chinese nationals have fled the country. Safeguard Defenders researcher Jing-jie Chen said the data also reflect the impact of Xi’s zero-COVID policy, that has led to grueling lockdowns and draconian restrictions of people’s movements under the guise of disease control and prevention. “China has basically been in a state of lockdown during the past couple of years that these data are from, and it is actually very difficult for asylum seekers to go abroad,” Chen told RFA. “Yet we can see that the number has reached a new high … with the number of asylum seekers rising every year over the past three years.” The figures don’t include Hong Kong, where a draconian crackdown on public dissent and peaceful political opposition has been under way under a national security law imposed by Beijing since July 1, 2020. Chen said many more people are voting with their feet and opting to emigrate from China, either through overseas study or investment visas and residency cards. World Uyghur Congress spokesman Dilxat Raxit said many of the asylum-seekers are Uyghurs fleeing a network of concentration camps and technological totalitarianism in the northwestern region of Xinjiang. He said overseas Uyghurs remain at risk from the Chinese authorities. “Uyghurs in exile are constantly at risk from China putting pressure on their countries of residence to detain and forcibly return them,” Dilxat Raxit said. “We call on the international community to continue to take measures to provide Uyghurs at risk with adequate protection,” he said, adding that many Uyghur asylum-seekers had been unable to renew expired passports and sometimes had trouble documenting the oppression they suffered back home. Foxhunt and Skynet Chen said the CCP has a coordinated international operation called “Operation Foxhunt” to force Chinese nationals to return home. “Since Xi Jinping took office, he has brought the ‘foxhunt’ plan for the global oppression of dissidents that extends internationally,” Chen said. “If you only have a simple immigrant residency status, you may not be able to actually be protected in some countries,” he said. “Sometimes, asylum and refugee status application can offer more protection.” The CCCP’s law enforcement agencies routinely track, harass, threaten and repatriate people who flee the country, many of them Turkic-speaking Uyghurs, under its SkyNet surveillance program that reaches far beyond China’s borders, using a variety of means to have them forcibly repatriated. Beijing often relies on pliant allies to circumvent criminal justice processes and ensure political refugees and Muslims are sent back. China will target ethnic groups like the Uyghurs, but also political dissidents, rights activists, journalists and former officials using its overseas networks, according to a 2021 report by Safeguard Defenders. Between the launch of the SkyNet program in 2014 and June 2021, China repatriated nearly 10,000 people from 120 countries and regions, the report said. Yet according to Safeguard Defenders, just one percent are brought back to China using judicial procedures; more than 60 percent are just put on a plane against their will. Translated and edited by Luisetta Mudie.
Social media comments express ‘shock’ over Tangshan police’s treatment of reporters
Authorities in the northern Chinese city of Tangshan have been obstructing state media journalists after they tried to follow up on a crackdown on organized crime in the city, sparked by thugs beating up women at a barbecue restaurant earlier this month, social media reports said. In one video on Weibo, a woman faces the camera in the style of a news anchor and introduces a video clip of a Guizhou journalist who tried to cover the anti-gangs campaign in Tangshan, known as Operation Thunderstorm. “I am a reporter,” the woman says. “According to the Regulations on News Reporters, journalists who carry a press card are protected by law when carrying out their reporting duties. Individuals and organizations are prohibited from interfering or harassing a reporter or a news organization in carrying out legal reporting activities.” “Despite this, journalists who go to Tangshan to cover the campaign against organized crime, are running into obstructions at the hands of the campaign itself.” In the video clip, the Guizhou journalist said he was shoved around and manhandled by police. “A police officer yelled at me, twisted my neck, roughly pressed my hair, told me to kneel, and put my hands behind my back,” the man says in the video clip. “Four or five police officers surrounded me and searched me.” “They confiscated my cell phone, power bank and other items.” He added: “When I showed my press card a policeman came into the interrogation room where they were holding me and yelled at me … calling me unqualified … and ignorant.” Reporter targeted Weibo user @Brother_He,_Shaanxi commented that such behavior was more appropriate when “catching criminals.” “But sadly, the police in Tangshan did not target the underworld forces this time, but a reporter who had a press card,” the user wrote. “According to various media reports … it is very difficult to enter Tangshan now. When you arrive at Tangshan Station, you cannot move around freely. You need to take a designated vehicle, and you must take a photo with the car before leaving,” the post said. The woman in the video also cited a Phoenix news reporter as saying that authorities in Tangshan had deleted all of his video footage, claiming he was there to “make money.” “What’s even more shocking is that you might think that they would take a bit more care of [state broadcaster] CCTV, but that several CCTV news vehicles have been smashed up,” she says. “Yes, that’s right. CCTV news vehicles. Pretty outrageous, huh?” @Albert_Qiang commented: “Tangshan is rebelling!” while @Cai_Xukun’s_mother-in-law wrote: “Isn’t it a bit of a joke asking the police to go after criminal gangs? They are a criminal gang.” “Operation Thunderstorm is blocking the news with its thunder,” user @Hongru_hrh quipped, while @JOHN-976 added: “If you can’t solve the problem, then go after the people asking about the problem.” The reports prompted criticism of the journalists from professor Liu Qingyue of the media studies department of Beimin University in the central province of Hubei, who wrote on the ruling Chinese Communist Party (CCP)-backed account Jinri Toutiao that “a press card isn’t an access-all-areas pass.” Social media backlash Liu said the journalists should reflect on their own behavior in traveling to a sensitive area, prompting an angry backlash on social media. Veteran journalist Cheng Yizhong, who edited the once cutting-edge Southern Metropolis Daily newspaper, said Liu was just acting as a “mouthpiece” for what is CCP policy. “What this professor said strikes exactly the same tone as the CCP propaganda department,” Cheng told RFA. “She is just a mouthpiece.” “The CCP has already eradicated all … possibility of freedom of the press in China … and journalism departments in universities have been brought totally in line [with the government],” he said. Cheng said all news stories are seen as political in the eyes of the CCP. “After an incident like Tangshan happens, local news agencies will receive a ban from the local authorities, usually communicated by phone call or verbally, warning news organizations not to do any reporting on their own, but to rely on approved copy circulated by the centrally controlled news media,” Cheng said. Current affairs commentator Johnny Lau, who once worked as a journalist in Beijing, said the reactions to Liu’s comments indicate growing public dissatisfaction with official controls on free speech. “The CCP controls the media and public speech, not only through its machinery of suppression, but also through its public opinion management … which means that it controls a group of people who will endorse official policy,” Lau told RFA. “The backlash [against Liu’s comments] is part of public dissatisfaction with the entire CCP public opinion industry,” he said. Translated and edited by Luisetta Mudie.
Hong Kong’s new leadership to keep up hard line on dissent, political opposition
Hong Kong’s new leadership-in-waiting will continue to focus on a “national security” crackdown when it takes office on July 1 under incoming leader John Lee, whose cabinet were confirmed by the ruling Chinese Communist Party (CCP) in Beijing at the weekend. Lee, a former high-ranking policeman and government security chief, has said the ongoing crackdown on dissent under the national security law will be his “fundamental mission” when he takes over from chief executive Carrie Lam. Lee, who was the only candidate in an “election” for the city’s top job held earlier this year, has pledged to keep up the hard-line approach to dissent, which has led to the closure of civic groups including labor unions, pro-democracy newspapers and an organization that once organized annual candlelight vigils for the victims of the 1989 Tiananmen massacre. More than 10,000 people have been arrested and the 2,800 prosecuted under the national security law, which was imposed on the city by the ruling Chinese Communist Party (CCP) from July 1, 2020. Among them are 47 former pro-democracy politicians and activists awaiting trial for “subversion” after they took part in a democratic primary election in July 2020. The government later postponed the Legislative Council elections the primary was preparing for and changed the electoral system so that pro-democracy candidates couldn’t run. His incoming chief secretary Eric Chan, security chief Chris Tang and secretary for constitutional and mainland affairs Erick Tsang all have backgrounds in either the security or disciplinary services, and have been sanctioned by the U.S. government for their role in the crackdown. Lee’s cabinet received the nod from Beijing amid growing indications that CCP leader Xi Jinping may be planning to visit Hong Kong to mark the 25th anniversary of the city’s handover to Chinese rule. The South China Morning Post newspaper and the HK01.com news website said Lee and his team will immediately go into a “closed-loop” quarantine bubble, to ensure they are free from COVID-19 ahead of the ceremony, while the Ming Pao reported that some schools have been told to bring students for “pick-up and drop-off” ceremonies at the airport on June 30 and July 1. Funds from mainland China have been pouring into the Hong Kong stockmarket in recent weeks, boosting the Hang Seng Index ahead of a Xi visit that many think is likely based on his visit on the 20th anniversary of the handover. Hong Kong Chief Executive-elect John Lee (L) poses for photos with Chief Executive Carrie Lam during their meeting at the Central Government Complex ahead of a press conference in Hong Kong, May 9, 2022. Credit: AFP Disapproval of Lam Current affairs commentator Johnny Lau said this visit will be far more important to Xi than his 2017 trip. “This time will be very different from 2017, because it’s the 25th anniversary, which is half of the 50 years [China promised to maintain Hong Kong’s way of life],” Lau told RFA. “China will seize this opportunity to vigorously publicize the feasibility and success of its one country, two systems concept … even if they haven’t reached zero-COVID,” he said. “Also, the international community is also concerned about what will happen to Hong Kong in the future,” Lau said. “If Xi Jinping visits Hong Kong, it will show that Hong Kong is still a place you can make a profit … as the Chinese economy is in great difficulty, and Hong Kong is still the main bridge for foreign capital to enter China.” “Focusing on the economy and less on politics and security is good for Hong Kong in terms of atmosphere,” he said, adding that the trip should boost Xi’s image ahead of the 20th CCP National Congress later this year, when Xi is expected to seek an unprecedented third term in office. Lam is leaving her post under a cloud of disapproval after the 2019 protest movement that sparked Beijing’s crackdown on the city. The movement started with a mass protest that blockaded Hong Kong’s Legislative Council (LegCo) on June 12, preventing lawmakers from getting into the chamber to pass the hugely unpopular legal amendment that would have allowed the extradition of alleged criminal suspects to mainland China. However, Lam refused to withdraw the amendment until several months later, by which time the protest movement’s demands had broadened to include fully democratic elections and official accountability for the handling of the protests, as well as an amnesty for political prisoners. The protest was the first of many to be quelled that year by widespread police violence that saw the firing of tear gas and rubber bullets on an unarmed and peaceful crowd, many of whom were unable to flee, as well as mass arrests and physical beatings of mostly young people. “For us, the damage she did to Hong Kong during her time in office is beyond words,” former pro-democracy politician Clara Cheung told RFA in a recent interview. “Shame on her for not apologizing, as if it had nothing to do with her, for not admitting that damage, nor her responsibility for it.” Hardline leadership Cheung and fellow pro-democracy activists in exile in the U.K. have written an open letter refusing to recognize John Lee as chief executive. “John Lee was one of the main forces behind the [crackdown] on the anti-extradition movement of 2019,” Cheung said. “He coordinated the crackdown, which used very cruel methods to suppress protesting citizens.” “On the one hand we feel angry, but we are also worried that things will get worse and worse in Hong Kong under his hardline leadership,” she said. The letter said that, under the new electoral rules that followed the democratic primary, only the 1,461 members of the Election Committee have any meaningful vote, out of the city’s population of 7.4 million people, and described Lee as a “puppet chief executive” appointed by Beijing with scant popular support. U.K.-based activist Finn Lau said it was significant that Lee would assume office on the 25th anniversary. “This year happens to mark the 25th anniversary of the handover, which is…
North Korean marketplaces go from bustling to empty during pandemic
In the photo of Sinpo Market in Sinuiju, taken on November 2019 (top), the market was crowded with merchants and customers, but in March 2021 (middle) the market seems noticeably quieter after blockade of the NK-China border. / Source: Google Earth. On the other hand, the satellite image that was taken on May 30th 2022 (bottom) shows no vehicles or people around the market due to full lockdown to prevent the spread of Covid. / Source: Planet Labs PBC Commerce in North Korea’s once bustling marketplaces has slowed to a trickle thanks to the COVID-19 pandemic, raising questions about the long-term prospects for Kim Jong Un’s experimental effort to give citizens a bit more economic freedom. Marketplaces, called jangmadang in Korean, had dramatically expanded under the watchful eye of the North Korean dictator, who has sought to kick start the beginnings of a market economy in the communist country. But those plans took a hit when Beijing and Pyongyang closed the Sino-Korean border and suspended all trade in January 2020 in response to the pandemic. The lack of imported goods to trade meant fewer things to sell at markets. The border closure has devastated the country’s economy, which had already suffered under international sanctions aimed at depriving Pyongyang of resources it could funnel into nuclear and missile programs. While a resumption of rail freight with China earlier this year had brought on hopes of recovery, the “maximum emergency” declared by Pyongyang after officials announced that the virus was spreading among participants of a massive April military parade killed activity at the markets altogether, satellite images show. ‘Chaeha Market’ in Sinuiju, North Pyongan Province, North Korea. In the photo taken on October 7, 2016 (above), cars were parked in the parking lot, but in the photo taken on March 17, 2021 (below), the parking lot is empty and there is no activity./ Google Earth Jacob Bogle, curator of the Access DPRK blog, which uses satellite imagery in its analysis of North Korea, told RFA’s Korean Service that the markets have seen a massive downturn since the pandemic. According to Bogle, an analysis of satellite images shows that there are at least 477 markets in North Korea, of which 457 are official markets recognized by North Korean authorities. Markets have continued to grow in North Korea since Kim Jong Un came to power. At least 39 markets have opened and 114 markets have expanded since 2011, Bogle said. But the growth stopped once the pandemic hit, he said. The chart shows the total area of the new markets constructed each year. / Source: Jacob Bogle (AccessDPRK.com) “In 2019, there was over 23,000 square meters of new market space built around the country. By 2021, it was only 630 square meters of new space,” Bogle said. “I think there’s a clear connection with market activity and the impacts of COVID and shutting down trade that it greatly impacted the economy,” he said. The import ban had its biggest impact on those markets near the border, Joung Eunlee of the Seoul-based Korea Institute for National Unification told RFA. “It seems that the market has contracted more because supply has decreased a lot due to the COVID-19 situation, “ Joung said. The border closure did not completely kill off the markets, though. Most were able to continue in some capacity with domestically made products. The coronavirus outbreak has taken a “decisive blow” on the North Korean economy, Lim Eul Chul, a professor at the Institute for Far Eastern Studies at Kyungnam University in South Korea’s southeast. Markets in North Korea / Source: Jacob Bogle (AccessDPRK.com) “Mobility must be guaranteed for a market to a certain extent, but since mobility is not guaranteed, the market inevitably shrinks. Second, raw materials, fuel, and various subsidiary materials must be smoothly supplied from China,” Lim said. “Without these, market activities shrink. North Korea under COVID-19 is in an environment that is difficult to control. The situation itself can only result in a shrinking market,” he said. The apparent end of the emerging free market in North Korea may be permanent, Jiro Ishimaru, the founder and editor-in-chief of the Osaka-based Asia Press news outlet that specializes in North Korea, told RFA. “At the start of the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020, controls rapidly tightened. First of all, they continued to put pressure on food sales, and gradually introduced a system to sell food through state-run food vendors,” he said. “It was then that people started saying that they felt like the era of free trade and free economic activity in the market is coming to an end,” Ishimaru said. Ishimaru said that the state could be using the pandemic to assert more control over the economy and the people. At the 8th Party Congress in January 2021, Kim Jong Un emphasized that the country and the people would have to get through the pandemic and its accompanying economic crisis through strict adherence to the principle of self-reliance, harkening to the country’s founding Juche ideology. Lim said this was the beginning of the state exerting more control on the market. “The national self-reliance is a more orderly self-reliance, that is, the market will also be led by the state. It aims for marketization that is managed and led by the state. As a result, the market is bound to contract,” he said. North Korea’s Tongil Market / AP Even with a market contraction and policy changes, North Koreans still want to conduct business, a North Korean refugee who now lives in Seoul, identified by the pseudonym Kim Hye Young, told RFA. Kim was a trade worker in North Korea prior to her escape. She says that a middle class used to higher living standards has developed in the country. “The demographic composition of North Korea has also changed to favor the jangmadang generation,” she said, referring to the generation that came of age after the marketplaces had become entrenched — in other words, millennials. “The younger generations are doing things that…
Charges against Chinese citizens’ movement leader Xu Zhiyong ‘trumped up’: lawyers
Detained democracy activist Xu Zhiyong will stand trial for subversion in the eastern Chinese province of Shandong on June 22, lawyers and a rights group said on Friday. “Linyi Intermediate People’s Court has decided that Xu Zhiyong’s case will be heard in Courtroom No. 3 of the Linshu County People’s Court at 9:00 am next Wednesday,” the Chinese Human Rights Defenders (CHRD) network said via its website and Twitter account, citing defense attorney Zhang Lei. Xu, who has already served jail time for launching the New Citizens’ Movement for greater official accountability, was detained in early 2020 and held on suspicion of “subversion of state power” alongside Ding and other activists who held a dinner gathering in the southeastern port city of Xiamen on Dec. 13, 2019. Xu’s pretrial conference was held on Friday, with that of human rights lawyer Ding Jiaxi scheduled for Monday, lawyers told RFA, citing a document issued by Shandong’s Linyi Intermediate People’s Court. Both men were held incommunicado, denied permission to meet with either family members or a lawyer for two years, under “residential surveillance at a designated location” (RSDL) and criminal detention. They haven’t been seen or heard from since their indictments in August 2021. Trumped-up charges U.S.-based rights lawyer Wu Shaoping said the court has indicated that Xu and Ding will be tried separately. “According to the provisions of the Criminal Procedure Law, the two cases should be tried together, because they both resulted from the defendants attending the Xiamen gathering,” Wu told RFA. “I believe that most of the evidence in their cases is the same,” he said, questioning whether the two men would receive a fair trial, saying that the defense attorneys had been pressured into removing large amounts of “illegal” evidence from their case files in an impossibly short amount of time. “Really, the authorities just want to go through the motions and push this complicated case through a quick trial,” Wu said. Rights lawyer Wang Yu said Xu and Ding are being tried on trumped-up charges. “These are trumped-up charges, and … a lot of people in China want to hear the facts of the case … but the facts will only be established if there is a joint trial,” she said. CHRD had earlier called for Xu and Ding’s immediate and unconditional release, and for an independent investigation into their accounts of torture while in detention. “Xu and Ding have told their lawyers that Chinese authorities subjected them to torture and other ill-treatment,” the group said in a statement on its website. “CHRD reiterates its appeal to the UN experts to urge the [Chinese] government … to launch a prompt and impartial investigation of police officers and/or other state actors accused of subjecting Xu Zhiyong, Ding Jiaxi, and others to torture, and prosecute any individuals who have been found to have violated Chinese law and international law,” it said. Torture details Meanwhile, the Linyi municipal prosecutor’s office has moved ahead with the trial of Xu’s partner, the rights activist Li Qiaochu for “incitement to subvert state power.” The case against Li rests on claims that she wrote and edited Xu’s personal blog and uploaded articles he wrote there. Li, who was recently given the Cao Shunli Memorial Award for her rights activism, was initially detained on Feb. 6, 2021 on suspicion of “subversion of state power,” and held at the Linyi Detention Center, then at a psychiatric facility. Her detention came after she posted details of torture allegations by Xu and Ding. U.S.-based lawyer Teng Biao said that a documentary about Xu’s political activism, made by fellow activist and poet Chen Jiaping, will soon be available outside China. “It documents the whole of Xu Zhiyong’s civil rights protection movement … including many activities before he was imprisoned in 2013 and an interview after he was released from prison in 2017,” Teng told RFA. “Chen Jiaping, the director of the film, was arrested by the Chinese police for a period of time because of the film.” “Given that Xu Zhiyong’s pretrial conference is today, we wanted to let more people know what Xu Zhiyong did,” he said. Teng added: “Xu Zhiyong is a human rights lawyer and a legal scholar who played a very, very important role in the Chinese human rights movement by civil society. He was sentenced to 4 years in prison from 2013 to 2017. Now he is facing trial.” “A lot of citizens have come together in a very difficult and dangerous situation to campaign for basic human rights and the rule of law in China,” Teng said. Xu has never advocated violence, and has paid a very heavy price for advocating for his personal ideals, he said. “This current charge of subversion of state power is totally a case of political persecution … he didn’t commit any crime at all, of course he didn’t,” Teng said. “He is respected and followed by many people.” Translated and edited by Luisetta Mudie.
Taiwan boosts advanced chip plans, warns of high-tech fallout if China invades
Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co. (TSMC) said on Friday it would join the race to make next-generation 2-nanometer chips by 2025, amid growing saber-rattling from China. The company said it would start volume production of the low-energy advanced chips within the next three years. Samsung and Intel have made similar announcements in recent months. “We are living in a rapidly changing, supercharged, digital world where demand for computational power and energy efficiency is growing faster than ever before, creating unprecedented opportunities and challenges for the semiconductor industry,” TSMC CEO C.C. Wei told the North America Technology Symposium. TSMC launched the 5nm process in 2020 and is scheduled to start commercial production of the 3nm process later this year in Tainan. The first 2-nm plant will be built in Hsinchu, with production to expand later to Taichung, the island’s Central News Agency reported on Friday. The announcement came after Taiwan’s chief trade negotiator John Deng warned that a potential Chinese invasion — increasingly threatened by the ruling Chinese Communist Party (CCP) — would lead to a global shortage of semiconductor chips. “The disruption to international supply chains; disruption on the international economic order; and the chance to grow would be much, much (more) significant than [the current shortage],” Deng told Reuters at a World Trade Organization (WTO) meeting in Geneva this week. “There would be a worldwide shortage of supply.” ‘Special operation’ fears Taiwan dominates the global market for the most advanced chips, with exports totaling U.S.$118 billion last year, Reuters reported, quoting Deng as saying he hopes to decrease the 40 percent share of the island’s exports that are currently being sold to China. While Taiwan has never been governed by the CCP, nor formed part of the People’s Republic of China, and its 23 million people have no wish to give up their sovereignty or democratic way of life, Beijing insists the island is part of its territory. Taiwan has raised its alert level since Russia invaded Ukraine, amid concerns that CCP leader Xi Jinping could use an invasion of the democratic island to boost flagging political support that has been dented by growing confrontation with the United States and draconian zero-COVID restrictions at home. Xi recently signed a directive allowing “non-war” uses of the military, prompting concerns that Beijing may be gearing up to invade the democratic island of Taiwan under the guise of a “special operation” not classified as war. “One interpretation is that, in doing this, Xi Jinping is copying Putin’s designation of the Ukraine war as a ‘special military operation’,” U.S.-based current affairs commentator Xia Yeliang told RFA. “Xi Jinping … wants to surpass Mao Zedong, and in doing that, he doesn’t think anyone is as good as him, not even Deng Xiaoping,” Xia said. Collective leadership He said Xi is under huge political pressure from within party ranks, citing media reports and credible rumors from high-ranking sources within the CCP.”How’s he going to do that? Economically, the situation is already better than under Mao. So he means to liberate Taiwan, and fulfill Mao’s wish, the task that he was unable to complete himself.” “A lot of people don’t trust Xi and worry that he’s going to get China into trouble … they could replace him with a system of collective leadership. So what does Xi do in response? He tries to create an atmosphere of fear, threatening to go to war, that if the U.S. does this or that, we’ll make our move,” Xia said. “Xi Jinping wants to manufacture an external crisis; a sense that if we don’t invade Taiwan now, then the opportunity will be lost, so we have to move now. He wants everyone to support him as chairman of the Central Military Commission [ahead of] the CCP 20th National Congress,” he said. Tseng Chih-Chao, deputy secretary-general of Taiwan’s Chung-hwa Institution for Economic Research, said global shortages of a particular kind of chip have already put a spanner in the works of automakers around the world, and that TSMC currently holds a 90-percent global market share in advanced chips. “When we look at their main customers like Apple’s Nvidia chips, they are the most advanced chip manufacturers in the world,” Tseng said. “Without TSMC, the entire high-tech industry around the world would cease to function, including all of the chips that go into iPhones or Apple computers,” he said. “Most importantly, there are no alternative suppliers who can make these chips anywhere in the world right now.” “If China launched an attack, it could cause serious damage in a very short period of time, that would be very difficult to rebuild, especially after the [likely] loss of technology, equipment and talent,” Tseng said. “So of course [Deng] was going to say this to the United States and other Western countries.” Taiwan’s foreign ministry spokeswoman Joanne Ou said the island welcomed U.S. support, but stood ready to defend itself. “In the face continued military expansion and provocation from China, Taiwan has a high degree of determination and capability to defend itself,” Ou said on June 16. “[Our] government will continue to strengthen self-defense capabilities and asymmetric combat capabilities, maintain national security with solid national defense, and deepen Taiwan-US ties.” Translated and edited by Luisetta Mudie.
UK investigates Vietnamese billionaire’s funding of Oxford University college
The British government is investigating a £155 million (U.S.$191 million) grant to Oxford University’s Linacre college by a Vietnamese billionaire. Education Minister Michelle Donelan told the House of Commons that the ministry would give an update in the next few days after looking into the grant from VietJet founder Nguyen Thi Phuong Thao. Donelan’s comments came in response to questions from a fellow Tory MP as the House of Commons considered the Higher Education (Freedom of Speech) Bill on Monday, British media reported. Conservative MP Julian Lewis asked Donelan whether she was concerned at conditions set by the Vietnamese billionaire such as renaming Linacre ‘Thao College,’ considering Vietnam is a country where people seldom enjoy freedom of speech Dr. Nguyen Quang A, co-founder and former director of Vietnam’s Institute of Development Studies, told RFA businesses that want to prosper in countries such as Vietnam need to have a good relationship with the government. “In Vietnam and China officials use political power to make money from citizens and business owners. The relationship between businesses and the government is the crystallization of corruption. One party uses money to gain political influence and to enrich themselves while the official uses his power to enrich himself. That is corruption. This relationship is reciprocal,” he said. Responding to RFA’s questions by text, human rights activist Nguyen Thi Hai Hieu, a fifth-year student studying in the UK, said the British government’s suspicions were completely justified. She said she agreed with the decision to investigate the donation, adding that she suspects it to be a money-laundering case involving the Vietnamese government. Hieu said she believed that investing in colleges or supporting scholarships for Vietnamese students was a good idea but not necessary even though she considered the British education system to be better than Vietnam’s. She said Vietnam should prioritize investment in its own education system because there are many disadvantaged areas in the country, where equipment and facilities in schools are still limited. Thao signed a Memorandum of Understanding with Linacre College on October 31, 2021. After signing the MoU and receiving the first £50 million of the agreed funding, Linacre College said it would approach the Privy Council, a group of politicians who advise the Queen, to ask to change the school’s name to Thao College. Critics say that changing the school’s name would lose the history of the collage, named after Thomas Linacre, a British scholar, humanities researcher and physician. Linacre used to treat ‘Utopia’ author Sir Thomas More, along with Cardinal Wolsey, chief advisor to King Henry VIII.
Britain investigates Vietnamese billionaire’s funding of Oxford University college
The British government is investigating a £155 million (U.S.$191 million) grant to Oxford University’s Linacre college by a Vietnamese billionaire. Education Minister Michelle Donelan told the House of Commons that the ministry would give an update in the next few days after looking into the grant from VietJet founder Nguyen Thi Phuong Thao. Donelan’s comments came in response to questions from a fellow Tory MP as the House of Commons considered the Higher Education (Freedom of Speech) Bill on Monday, British media reported. Conservative MP Julian Lewis asked Donelan whether she was concerned at conditions set by the Vietnamese billionaire such as renaming Linacre ‘Thao College,’ considering Vietnam is a country where people seldom enjoy freedom of speech Dr. Nguyen Quang A, co-founder and former director of Vietnam’s Institute of Development Studies, told RFA businesses that want to prosper in countries such as Vietnam need to have a good relationship with the government. “In Vietnam and China officials use political power to make money from citizens and business owners. The relationship between businesses and the government is the crystallization of corruption. One party uses money to gain political influence and to enrich themselves while the official uses his power to enrich himself. That is corruption. This relationship is reciprocal,” he said. Responding to RFA’s questions by text, human rights activist Nguyen Thi Hai Hieu, a fifth-year student studying in the UK, said the British government’s suspicions were completely justified. She said she agreed with the decision to investigate the donation, adding that she suspects it to be a money-laundering case involving the Vietnamese government. Hieu said she believed that investing in colleges or supporting scholarships for Vietnamese students was a good idea but not necessary even though she considered the British education system to be better than Vietnam’s. She said Vietnam should prioritize investment in its own education system because there are many disadvantaged areas in the country, where equipment and facilities in schools are still limited. Thao signed a Memorandum of Understanding with Linacre College on October 31, 2021. After signing the MoU and receiving the first £50 million of the agreed funding, Linacre College said it would approach the Privy Council, a group of politicians who advise the Queen, to ask to change the school’s name to Thao College. Critics say that changing the school’s name would lose the history of the collage, named after Thomas Linacre, a British scholar, humanities researcher and physician. Linacre used to treat ‘Utopia’ author Sir Thomas More, along with Cardinal Wolsey, chief advisor to King Henry VIII.
Family of young Tibetan still in the dark 6 months after his arbitrary arrest
Chinese authorities arrested a young Tibetan language activist six months ago, and his whereabouts remain unknown, even to his family, sources in Tibet told RFA. Lodoe, son of Rigzin, is a university graduate in his 30s from Seshul county (in Chinese Shiqu), part of the Garze (Ganzi) Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture in Sichuan province. As he is fluent in both Chinese and Tibetan, the government offered him a job, which he turned down to advocate for the preservation of the Tibetan language. “Lodoe was arrested unexpectedly by the Chinese authorities six months ago from Seshul County and taken to Chengdu, [Sichuan’s capital],” a Tibetan source in Tibet told RFA’s Tibetan Service, on condition of anonymity for security reasons. “Since then, his whereabouts and condition are unknown. His family has learned from some sources that he will be convicted soon, but they still don’t know where exactly he is being detained at the moment — whether in a prison or a detention center,” the source said. The arrest of Lodoe is part of a larger crackdown by the Chinese government on Tibetan writers, intellectuals and cultural leaders. Authorities arbitrarily imprison them for long periods of time in undisclosed locations, without revealing the exact charges or the dates of their sentences to their families, sources said. “Usually officials from a respective county will come and take individuals away to detention,” the source said. “However, this time Chinese officials from Sichuan province came to arrest Lodoe. Many believe that Lodoe was arrested for having communicated with people in exile and also for advocating for Tibetan language rights. Chinese officials have still not cited any reasons for his arrest,” the source added. “We still don’t know the exact month and date of his arrest [either].” Chinese authorities have frequently detained Tibetan writers and artists who promote Tibetan national identity and culture — with many sentenced to lengthy prison terms — following region-wide protests of Chinese rule that swept Tibet and Tibetan areas in western provinces of China in 2008. Language rights have become a particular focus for Tibetan efforts to assert national identity in recent years, with informally organized language courses typically deemed “illegal associations” and teachers subject to detention and arrest, sources say. Translated by Tenzin Dickyi. Written in English by Eugene Whong.
China nationalizes private schools in ongoing reform of education sector
Authorities across China have begun nationalizing private schools, amid ongoing reforms aimed at bringing all educational institutions under the direct control of the ruling Chinese Communist Party (CCP). Thirty-eight private primary and secondary schools across more than 10 districts were forced back into public ownership in the northern city of Xi’an, the municipal education bureau announced on Tuesday. Meanwhile, the Shanghai municipal government said it had “bought out” around 20,000 places at the city’s private schools, effectively turning at least 30 private schools into free education providers. Former teacher Jia Minling said Shanghai’s government had previously welcomed private education in the city, and the number of private schools had mushroomed, many of them offering extremely high standards of teaching and facilities. “If they are taking back [the private sector] in this way, then it means education will be completely in the hands of the government,” Jia said. “Private schools make efforts to compete for enrollments, and the teachers are very responsible and really serious about improving the children’s grades.” Provincial authorities in the central province of Hunan, eastern province of Jiangsu and the southwestern province of Sichuan have recently all announced they are moving to ensure that private schooling accounts for no more than five percent of the education sector in their province. An education insider in Shanghai who gave only the surname Pan said the nationalization program appears to be gathering momentum across China. “They are gradually bringing them back into the public sector, although they can’t do that all in one go,” Pan said. “Now there are targets being set for each district.” “A lot of Shanghai private schools have reduced their fees … so now, not only do they not make money, they can’t even operate. They call it delisting.” The government has bought out some of the places at private schools, in order to enable students to pay no fees, according to reports, while imposing lower or zero fees on others. More than 17,000 school places have been forcibly bought out by the government, across 87 schools, with 30 schools now charging no fees at all. Eradicating private education Jia said the government was “interfering” with the schools’ private operations. “Private schools are responsible for their own profits and losses,” Jia said. “What right do they have to interfere with that?” “If the tuition is too high, they will not be able to recruit students. They are restricted by the market economy,” he said. “[The government] are building public schools with taxpayer money.” “Private schools are private enterprises that didn’t ask the government to invest a cent when they built their schools, nor were their teachers paid by the education bureau,” he said. “Now they want to take them back into public ownership when they see them doing well.” The ministry of education announced in August 2021 that there will be no more private education in China by August 2023. On June 15, 2021 the ministry set up a new department to monitor off-campus education and training provisions and to implement “reforms to the off-campus education and training sector,” and the CCP leadership then signaled on July 30 that it would crack down on private tuition schools and other measures aimed at slashing homework and out-of-hours educational activities. Training institutions were banned from offering subject-based tutoring on national statutory holidays, rest days, or winter and summer vacations. More than 75 percent of students in primary and secondary education attended after-school tutoring in 2016, the most recent industry figures showed, and the need to hothouse children privately to get them into the best schools was criticized by CCP leader Xi Jinping in March as a barrier to boosting birth rates. Translated and edited by Luisetta Mudie.
