East Asia Archives - Page 119 of 120 - Investigative Journalism Reportika

Indonesian foreign minister calls on Russia to stop war with Ukraine

Editor2 years ago08 mins

During a meeting with her Russian counterpart in China this week, Indonesian Foreign Minister Retno Marsudi said she pressed Moscow to end its war with Ukraine, citing the urgent humanitarian situation and the conflict’s ripple effects on the world economy. Her Wednesday talk with Sergey Lavrov on the sidelines of an international meeting to discuss the situation in another country scarred by war – Afghanistan – focused on the war in Ukraine, Retno told reporters on Thursday. “Indonesia conveyed the importance of ending the war immediately because of its tremendous humanitarian impact, not to mention its impact on global economic recovery,” Retno told a virtual news conference from China. “I reiterated Indonesia’s consistent position, including respect for international law and the principles of the United Nations Charter such as sovereignty and territorial integrity,” she said. Retno said that, during a separate meeting on Wednesday, she also asked Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi to support efforts to end the Russian invasion. “I conveyed the importance of all parties, including China, to push for an immediate end to the war so that the humanitarian crisis does not get worse,” Retno said of her meeting with Wang. Retno talked with Lavrov and Wang on the sidelines of a dialogue between Taliban-ruled Afghanistan and its neighboring Chinese district of Tunxi. The dialogue sought to stabilize Afghanistan, which is known today as an Islamic emirate after the Taliban took over following the withdrawal of U.S. forces last year. Regarding Ukraine, Indonesian officials hope negotiations between Moscow and Kyiv could be positive, she said. “Flexibility is needed so that negotiations can produce good results. And all parties must strive to end the war immediately to avoid the worsening of the humanitarian situation,” she said. During peace talks in Istanbul on Tuesday, Russian negotiators agreed to “fundamentally” cut back operations near the Ukrainian capital Kyiv and the northern city of Chernihiv, news agencies reported. Alexander Fomin, Russia’s deputy defense minister, said the move was meant “to increase trust and create conditions for further negotiations.” Despite those statements, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy on Wednesday dismissed Russia’s pledge, saying his army was getting ready for clashes in the east, Agence France-Presse reported. “We don’t believe anyone, not a single beautiful phrase,” Zelenskyy said in a video address to his nation. “We will not give anything away. We will fight for every meter of our territory.” Since Russia invaded Ukraine on Feb. 24, more than 4 million Ukrainians have fled their country, according to a United Nations report. Shuttle diplomacy Hikmahanto Juwana, an international law professor at the University of Indonesia, said Jakarta should maintain communication with all parties in the Ukraine conflict. “Indonesia can also send its foreign ministers or a special envoy to engage in shuttle diplomacy to discuss solutions [on ending the war],” he told BenarNews. He noted that Indonesia will be hosting the G-20 summit of the world’s leading economies in October, and that could be spurring the nation’s interest in seeing fighting end in Ukraine. “Indonesia through the Ministry of Foreign Affairs must act immediately to make the G-20 summit a success and ensure that all heads of government and heads of state are present,” he said. Indonesia has sent invitations to all member countries, including Russia, foreign ministry official Dian Triansyah Djani said earlier. Russia’s ambassador to Indonesia has said that Putin planned to attend G-20 summit in Bali despite attempts by Western governments to oust Moscow from the grouping. Ukraine, which is not a G-20 member, had previously urged Indonesia to include discussions on the invasion during the summit. But Teuku Faizasyah, spokesman for Indonesia’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs, had said Jakarta’s stance was “that the G-20 summit should focus on global economic issues.” Afghanistan While attending the gathering of Afghanistan and other countries during the China dialogue, Retno said she stressed the need for the ruling Taliban to open education to all children. In his own message to dialogue attendees, Chinese President Xi Jinping pledged his nation’s support for Afghanistan but without mentioning the Taliban’s alleged human rights abuses, the Associated Press reported. Meanwhile on March 26, Indonesian and Qatari officials signed a letter of intent to provide scholarships and skills training for teen girls in Afghanistan, Retno said. “I expressed my hope that the ban on schooling for Afghan girls at the secondary school level can be reviewed,” she said of her statement at the dialogue. “As the largest Muslim country, Indonesia is ready to contribute to helping the people of Afghanistan, including in the field of education,” she said. The Taliban, which returned to power in Afghanistan in August 2021, had planned to allow teen girls to attend secondary schools, but dropped the plan last week over concerns about uniforms and the dress-code for schoolgirls. Girls can attend school up to grade six. She said it was important that the Taliban make good on its promises. “The Taliban needs to prepare a road map with concrete steps and timelines for fulfilling promises,” Retno said. BenarNews is an RFA-affiliated online news service.

Struggling North Koreans say they are in no mood to celebrate missile launch

Editor2 years ago07 mins

Following North Korea’s intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM) launch last week, its first since 2017, the country’s media has been lauding it as evidence of Kim Jong Un’s leadership and bravery, sources in the country told RFA. But citizens and soldiers alike are beginning to resent the use of missile launches to praise Kim Jong Un, who is reverently referred to as the “Highest Dignity,” and would rather the government pay more attention to issues like food and supply shortages. Though it was initially believed that North Korea launched the Hwasong-17 ICBM on March 24, South Korean military authorities reported Tuesday that it was in fact the older Hwasong-15. The Hwasong-17 was involved in a failed launch on March 16 and exploded over Pyongyang, they said. “Today, while I was reading the news report in the Rodong Sinmun newspaper app on my smartphone, there was a report saying the Highest Dignity signed an order to launch an ICBM and I was skeptical whether our leader is the right person,” an official of Ryongchon county, in the northwestern province of North Pyongan, told RFA’s Korean Service. “This year, the authorities insist that the food problem should be solved by decisively increasing agricultural production. Cooperative farms are struggling because they do not have fertilizer and other materials that are desperately needed for farming preparations, but the authorities do not provide any funds,” said the source, who requested anonymity for security reasons. He said that the money the government is using for nuclear and missile development could be better used to boost the agricultural sector, but the government keeps launching missiles, so farm officials are angry. In the city of Chongju in the south of the province, government loudspeakers have been broadcasting propaganda about the missile test. “It says the Highest Dignity directly guided the launch of an ICBM that could stand up to a long-term confrontation with the United States,” a resident of the city told RFA. “This is the 13th missile they launched this year alone. They are acting like kids playing war games. Is this something we should be proud of? “The authorities’ propagandize that the launch of the ICBM was carried by the handwritten order of the Highest Dignity, which said to ‘launch bravely for the great dignity and honor of the country and people’. The residents find it absurd … expressing anger at authorities who turn a blind eye to their livelihoods,” the second source said on condition of anonymity for safety reasons. Soldiers in the military also see through the propaganda, griping that authorities are telling to sacrifice their lives for the nation, just as the soldiers who launched the missile are somehow sacrificing themselves to fulfill the orders of Kim Jong Un. The soldiers and officers have been attending daily “mental education classes” where they learn that the Red Flag Company, which launched the ICBM, are elite fighters who follow through on Kim Jong Un’s orders. “The ideological education emphasizes that the Red Flag Company is a family that shares joy and suffering with the Supreme Leader. They say the Red Flag Company are dedicating themselves to defending him,” the military source said. “They are told the Red Flag Company are warriors prepared to sacrifice their lives for the Supreme Commander by following the spirit of defending the leader. “However, the soldiers who listened to the instructor’s lecture continued to have expressionless faces as if they did not know what they were willing to sacrifice their lives for. The soldiers griped about the military authorities, who were forcing them to listen to this propaganda when they needed time to rest after their grueling winter training,” the third source said. Another military source, in North Pyongan, told RFA that the officers there are not buying the propaganda. “They know that another intercontinental ballistic missile launch failed on the 16th, so they are wondering how much money was wasted again for this launch,” the fourth source said. “Rather than focusing on the development of missiles, officers believe that it is urgent for the authorities to improve the poor supply situation in order to increase the morale of the soldiers. This would also increase the actual combat power of the military,” he said. Translated by Leejin Jun. Written in English by Eugene Whong.

Critics see ‘scary reality’ as China touts Xinjiang police high case clearance rates

Editor2 years ago010 mins

Police in China’s far-western Xinjiang region ranked first in the country in 2021 for solving all homicide cases, while the region’s High People’s Court was hailed as a model for concluding the greatest number of cases last year, according to a Chinese state media report that prompted political and legal analysts outside the country to raise questions about the results. Xinjiang’s Public Security Bureau achieved a 100% resolution rate in current murder cases for six consecutive years, ranking first in the country, while the region’s High People’s Court handled 17,600 cases related to people’s livelihoods in 2021, the highest number in all of China, said the March 25 report by the China News Service in Urumqi (in Chinese, Wulumuqi), Xinjiang’s capital. “For six consecutive years, the police detection of number of homicides in Xinjiang has increased to 100%, with the number of homicides in Xinjiang falling to its lowest level in history, with the highest number of homicides detected in the history,” the report said. The Xinjiang Public Security Bureau (PSB) has in recent years launched a mechanism of average people “collectively assisting the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region [XUAR] public security bureau’s criminal investigation team in investigating major cases,” it said. The report also stated that the PSB had implemented a “one file per case” standard, and through gathering complete past records of crimes, were able to find murderers from cases dating back 20 years. Xinjiang police have been using a “one tactic per person, one plan per person, one measure per person” system for detecting criminals by using advanced technology and information, and identifying and analyzing suspicious activities, the report said. Ilshat Hassan Kokbore, a political analyst based in U.S., said that such Chinese reports are unreliable because the Chinese police’s handling of cases is “completely obscure.” “We cannot just trust the numbers provided by the Chinese government in their reports,” he told RFA. “This is always the case because Chinese police statistics or figures are unreliable.” “Second, they don’t disclose their records,” said Kokbore, who is also vice chairman of the Executive Committee of the World Uyghur Congress. “They always keep it all the evidence undisclosed. No one can question the credibility of their findings or evidence. To sum up they detect their cases in the dark, not in the open.” Chinese human rights activist and lawyer Teng Biao said that while the Chinese police in Xinjiang did not disclose the number of cases they have detected, the fact that they ranked first in the country is concerning. “[Xinjiang police] saying that in six years they have raised the case clearance rate to 100% and reduced the crime rate to its historic low has a scary reality behind it,” he told RFA. Setting up internment camps and installing high-tech surveillance cameras everywhere has helped in authorities’ efforts to expose “crimes” and to reduce the crime rate, Teng said. “In the Chinese judiciary, on the other hand, the power of the police is greater than the power of the judge and the prosecutor,” he said. “If the police suspect someone, the judge and prosecutor will also convict him.” Teng noted that the Xinjiang police were able to report a 100% case clearance rate and rank first in China because police routinely use torture to obtain confessions, which then are included in court verdicts. “In China, the law enforcement agencies have a lot of power, the judiciary is not independent, and there are a lot of wrongdoing and murder cases that have been suppressed because of the lack of freedom of the press,” Teng said. ‘Justice in today’s world’ Speaking about the Xinjiang High People’s Court’s achievement, Teng told RFA that judicial standards should be fair, and pursuing speedy outcomes should not be priority. “Chasing speed is a sign that China has turned its own judicial system into something else. It is incompatible with the idea of justice in today’s world,” he said. Officials have conducted a major shakeup of judges and prosecutors who work in the Xinjiang judiciary, according to a March 28 report by the Bingtuan News Network, run by the Xinjiang Production and Construction Corps (XPCC). A state-owned economic and paramilitary organization, the XPCC, also known as the Bingtuan, has been sanctioned by the U.S. for its involvement in human rights violations against Uyghurs. On Monday, the Standing Committee of the XUAR’s People’s Congress issued a list of more than 120 officials who have been dismissed or appointed to serve in the region’s courts. Experts say that it is rare for so many judges and prosecutors to be replaced in Xinjiang at the same time, but that the Chinese government is likely refreshing the judiciary and prosecutors as it prepares for an upcoming visit by a U.N. delegation led by Michelle Bachelet, the U.N. high commissioner for human rights, to Xinjiang. Bachelet announced earlier in March that she had reached an agreement with the Chinese government for a visit “foreseen to take place in May” to China, including the turbulent Xinjiang region. Her office is under pressure from rights activists to issue an overdue report on serious rights violations by Chinese authorities targeting Uyghurs and other Turkic communities in the XUAR. Up to 1.8 million Uyghurs and others have been held in a vast network of internment camps operated by the Chinese government under the pretext of preventing religious extremism and terrorism among the mostly Muslim groups. “In preparation for the U.N. rights chief visit in the region, the Chinese government may have removed the politically unreliable judges and prosecutors and replaced them with judges and prosecutors loyal to the Chinese Communist Party,” Teng said. Reported and Translated by RFA’s Uyghur Service. Written in English by Roseanne Gerin.

Tibet man attempts self-immolation near monastery in Qinghai

Editor2 years ago04 mins

A Tibetan man set himself on fire near a police station in a Tibetan region of northwestern China’s Qinghai province and was immediately taken away by authorities with no word on his condition, sources in India said Thursday, a day after the incident. The man, known only as Tsering Samdup, or Tsering, self-immolated on Wednesday afternoon in front of a Chinese police station near a Buddhist monastery in Kyegudo (in Chinese, Jiegu), in Yushul (Yushu) Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture in Qinghai, a Tibetan exile source in India told RFA’s Tibetan Service. “The Tibetan who self-immolated is a very well-educated person. He was immediately taken away by the Chinese police and no one is allowed to meet or inquire about the self-immolator,” the source told RFA. “There are no particular restrictions in place in Kyegudo at the moment by the Chinese authorities, in order to present a very normal ambience,” the source added. A report by the Central Tibetan Administration, the Tibetan government in exile in Dharamsala, India, confirmed the time and place of the incident, but added: “verifiable information on the name and background detail of the self-immolator is not available.” With Wednesday’s incident, 159 Tibetans are confirmed to have set themselves on fire since 2009, mostly to protest Chinese rule in Tibetan areas, and another eight have taken their lives in Nepal and India, home to large exile populations. The previous known self-immolation took place on Feb. 25, when popular contemporary singer Tsewang Norbu, 25, shouted slogans and set himself on fire in a protest in front of the iconic Potala Palace in the Tibet regional capital Lhasa. Tsering’s attempt is the first one in Yushul since a spate of six self-immolations by men aged 22 to 62 in 2012. A region of nomads and monasteries that was part of Tibet’s traditional Kham province, Yushul lies at an altitude of 3,700 m (12,100 ft) in the mountainous eastern edge of the Tibetan plateau. Sporadic demonstrations challenging Beijing’s rule over what was an independent nation until China’s invasion in 1950 have continued in Tibetan-populated areas of China since widespread protests swept the region in the run-up to the 2008 Beijing Olympics. High-technology controls on phone and online communications in Tibetan areas often prevent news of Tibetan protests and arrests from reaching the outside world, and sharing news of self-immolations outside China can lead to jail sentences. Chinese authorities maintain a tight grip on the Himalayan region, restricting Tibetans’ political activities and peaceful expression of ethnic and religious identity, and subjecting Tibetans to persecution, torture, imprisonment, and extrajudicial killings. Translated by Tenzin Dickyi for RFA’s Tibetan Service. Written in English by Paul Eckert.

‘Spying’ trial of Australian national, state TV anchor Cheng Lei held in secret

Editor2 years ago08 mins

Australian national and Chinese state TV anchor Cheng Lei stood trial behind closed doors at a Beijing court on Thursday for alleged breaches of the national security law. Cheng was detained on suspicion of “spying” in August 2020, and has been held incommunicado for more than 18 months since. She stood trial at the Beijing No. 2 Intermediate People’s Court on Thursday, amid tight security, but accompanied by a lawyer, according to an Australian diplomat at the scene. Australian ambassador to China Graham Fletcher said he was denied permission to sit in the public gallery for the trial, on the grounds that the case “involved state secrets.” The refusal came despite a public request from Australian foreign minister Marise Payne, who called on Beijing to allow diplomats to observe the trial and observe basic standards of fairness, procedural justice and humane treatment. Fletcher told reporters he was concerned about the outcome for Cheng. Beijing-based criminal lawyer Zhang Dongshuo said the harshness of Cheng’s sentence — Chinese courts rarely acquit defendants outright — would likely depend on how sensitive the “secrets” involved were deemed to be. “If it is a question of more than one instance, for example, sentencing would be very different if there were more than 10 or less than 10 instances,” Zhang said. “Whether it involved the highest-level of classified information, what they call ‘top secret,’ or a lower level [also affects the outcome].” He said Cheng’s Australian passport is unlikely to help her much. “Nationality and identity are generally not considered in sentencing, but in some special cases, it could be affected by matters of national defense, foreign affairs and other matters, and special consideration may be given by the court,” Zhang said. Currently, sentencing for those found guilty of “illegally providing state secrets overseas” ranges between five and 10 years’ imprisonment, but lighter sentences have also been given, he said. If Cheng was seen as “cooperative,” for example, if she “confessed” to the charges and pleaded guilty, she could be released soon after the trial. “This possibility certainly exists,” Zhang said. “If the number and level of state secrets in Cheng Lei’s case aren’t high, then she could receive a fairly light sentence with time already served deducted.” But he said there was no guarantee, in the absence of further information about the charges faced by Cheng. Feng Chongyi, a professor of political science at the University of Technology Sydney, said the existence of any “confession” was the most important factor, however. “This is very important,” Feng said. “This is the scary part of the Chinese criminal law. It requires the person to plead guilty, and it depends on your attitude in making a confession.” “Cheng Lei is a mother of two children. That would make it easier to negotiate with the Chinese authorities and to reach a compromise,” he said. Bloomberg employee Meanwhile, little has been heard of Bloomberg News employee Haze Fan, who was taken away by state security police in December 2020 on suspicion of “endangering national security.” Chinese authorities have only said that investigation into her case is still ongoing. Both Fan and Cheng had been friends, helping to collect donations of medical supplies to aid front-line medical workers in the early days of the COVID-19 pandemic in Wuhan, according to information publicly available on Facebook. The New York-based Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) has called for Fan’s immediate and unconditional release, saying the allegations against her have no credibility. Cheng, 47, was born in Hunan and moved to Australia with her parents as a child. She once worked as an anchor on China Global Television News (CGTN), the international arm of CCTV. She was detained in August 2020 and formally arrested in February 2021. Cheng’s detention came amid increasingly strained ties between Beijing and Canberra, which is taking steps to limit the Chinese Communist Party (CCP)’s propaganda outreach in the country, and which has barred Chinese telecoms giant Huawei from bidding for 5G mobile contracts. Risks of reporting While foreign journalists have long faced challenging conditions under CCP rule, now they are also dealing with growing hostility and intimidation, including online stalking, smear campaigns, hacking and visa denials, the Foreign Correspondents’ Club of China (FCCC) said in its annual report in February 2022. More than 60 percent of respondents had been obstructed by police or officials last year, while almost all journalists who went to Xinjiang were visible followed throughout their trips, while more than a quarter said their sources had been detained, harassed or questioned more than once following interviews. There is also a growing legal threat for journalists working in China, with the authorities encouraging a spate of lawsuits or the threat of legal action against foreign journalists, typically filed by sources long after they have explicitly agreed to be interviewed, the report said. It said “state-backed attacks” including online trolling of foreign journalists is also on the increase. Translated and edited by Luisetta Mudie.

Women in China’s Leadership

Editor2 years ago2 years ago04 mins

Women in China’s Leadership Staggering data about the status of women in leadership roles in China has been released as the Women in China’s Leadership report by the U.S.-China Economic and Security Review Commission. Women make up almost half of China’s 1.4 billion population. Of the approximately 92 million CCP members, there are about 28 million women or roughly 30% of the CCP’s total. Women have limited representation and voice across the top echelons of China’s political system. Historically, female representatives have rarely constituted more than 10% of the roughly 300-member CCP Central Committee. Only six women have ever served in the 25-member Politburo, and three of those were wives of other top leaders. No woman has ever served on the Politburo Standing Committee or held any of the top three positions in China’s political system: CCP General Secretary, Chairman of the Central Military Commission (CMC), and State President. Female representation in key government roles such as ministries and provincial governorships is also extremely low. The percentage of People’s Liberation Army (PLA) service members who are female is not publicly available, but China Military Online, an official publication of the PLA, estimated in 2015 that approximately 5% or less are women. Currently, no women hold senior command or political commissar positions. The highest rank a woman in the PLA has ever achieved is Lieutenant General, with one woman promoted to Lieutenant General in 1993 and a second in 2010. Other Key Findings of the report are: According to United Nations data from 2021, China’s population comprises approximately 703.8 million females and 740.4 million males. Although they represent roughly 48.7% of the population, women occupy less than 8% of senior leadership positions. The absence of diversity is noteworthy given the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) leadership’s stated commitment to equal opportunity. The absence of women in Party leadership parallels low female representation within the group of Chinese nationals holding leadership positions in international organizations. Of the 31 Chinese nationals serving in top leadership positions in key international organizations, only 4 are women Table 1: Female Representation in Chinese Communist Party Leadership Table: Female Representation in Government Leadership Table 3. Female Representation in Military Leadership Credits : https://www.uscc.gov/sites/default/files/2022-03/Women_in_Chinas_Leadership.pdf

Solomons ready to sign security pact, denies pressure for China base

Editor2 years ago2 years ago07 mins

The Solomon Islands prime minister has told lawmakers that a controversial security agreement with China is “ready for signing” without revealing the details, saying only that his government had not been pressured to let China build a naval base in the country. Prime Minister Manasseh Sogavare made the remarks to Parliament late Tuesday, according to multiple news reports. Neighboring powers have expressed concern over the pact that China has defended as normal cooperation with Pacific island nation. “We are not pressured in any way by our new friends and there is no intention whatsoever to ask China to build a military base in the Solomon Islands,” Sogavare was quoted as saying. A draft agreement leaked online last week would allow Beijing to set up bases and deploy troops in the Solomon Islands, which lies about 1,700 kilometers (1,050 miles) from the northeastern coast of Australia. The document provoked fears in the region’s traditional powers, Australia and New Zealand, with the New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern saying that her country sees the pact as “gravely concerning.” It is unclear whether the leaked draft differs from the final agreement. Sogavare told Parliament that in order to achieve the nation’s security needs, “it is clear that we need to diversify the country’s relationship with other countries” but existing security arrangements with Australia would remain. His policy of “diversification” was evident last November when Sogavare asked Australia, and after that China, to send police forces to help him quell violent riots that rocked the capital, Honiara. Alexander Vuving, a professor with the Hawaii-based Daniel K. Inouye Asia-Pacific Center for Security Studies, said Sogavare’s strategy is not unusual for leaders of small Pacific island states who are “willing to play the major powers off against each other, thus bloating their states’ values to the major powers.” A Chinese Foreign Ministry’s spokesman said on Tuesday that “normal law enforcement and security cooperation between China and Solomon Islands … is consistent with international law and customary international practice.” “We hope relevant countries will earnestly respect Solomon Islands’ sovereignty and its independent decisions instead of deciding what others should and should not do in a condescending manner,” spokesman Wang Wenbin said. A file photo showing sailors stand on deck of the guided-missile destroyer Taiyuan of the Chinese People’s Liberation Army Navy as during commemorations of the 70th anniversary of the founding of the navy near Qingdao in eastern China’s Shandong province, April 23, 2019. Credit: AP China’s growing presence in the Pacific Beijing doesn’t hide its ambition to set up military bases in the region. Some Chinese analysts, such as Qi Huaigao, an associate professor at Fudan University, suggested that in order to compete with the United States in the Western Pacific, China needs to have bases in Solomon Islands, Samoa and Vanuatu for commercial and military supply purposes. In 2018, media reports about China’s plan to build a base in Vanuatu prompted a stern warning from the then Australian Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull. David Capie, director of the Centre for Strategic Studies at the Victoria University of Wellington in New Zealand, told RFA earlier this week that China “wants to be able to operate its rapidly growing navy out in the wider Pacific, complicating U.S. plans in the event of a future conflict.” “A base in the Pacific would let People’s Liberation Army Navy vessels operate far away from their home ports for longer and in the future might also be used for intelligence gathering and surveillance,” he said. It would greatly boost China’s capabilities in intelligence-collecting which is alleged to have often been done by marine research vessels. Data provided by the ship-tracking website MarineTraffic show that China’s spacecraft-tracking ship Yuanwang-5 is currently operating in the Western Pacific, not far from the Solomon Islands. Yuanwang-class ships are “multi-purpose signals and technical intelligence gathering platforms,” said Paul Buchanan, director of the Auckland, New Zealand-based 36th Parallel Assessments risk consultancy. The Yuanwang-5’s presence is normal but “it would not be surprising if it makes a port visit to Honiara as part of the deployment in order to register the seriousness of China’s intent in the region,” Buchanan said.

Top British judges quit Hong Kong final appeal court, citing national security law

Editor2 years ago2 years ago07 mins

Two U.K. Supreme Court judges resigned from Hong Kong’s Court of Final Appeal (CFA) on Wednesday, citing a recent crackdown on dissent under a draconian national security law imposed on the city by Beijing. Non-permanent CFA judges Lord Reed and Lord Hodge had sat on the court “for many years” under an agreement governing the 1997 handover of Hong Kong to Chinese rule, Reed said in a statement. “I have been closely monitoring and assessing developments in Hong Kong, in discussion with the government,” Reed wrote. “However, since the introduction of the Hong Kong national security law in 2020, this position has become increasingly finely balanced.” “The judges of the Supreme Court cannot continue to sit in Hong Kong without appearing to endorse an administration which has departed from values of political freedom, and freedom of expression, to which the Justices of the Supreme Court are deeply committed,” the statement said. U.K. foreign secretary Liz Truss said the government supported the decision. “The Foreign Secretary supports the withdrawal of serving UK judges from the Hong Kong Court of Final Appeal, following discussions with the Deputy Prime Minister and Lord Chancellor and the President of the Supreme Court,” said in a brief statement, which was signed by Truss and deputy prime minister Dominic Raab. Ruling Conservative Party rights activist Benedict Rogers, who heads the U.K.-based rights group Hong Kong Watch, said the move was the correct one. “Today’s news reflects the sad reality that the national security law has torn apart the human rights and constitutional safeguards which made Hong Kong meaningfully autonomous,” Rogers said. “The British judges’ ongoing presence was providing a veneer of legitimacy for a fundamentally compromised system, and the British government is right to have taken steps to recall them,” he said. The Law Society of Hong Kong, which represents solicitors in the city, called on the judges to reverse their decision. “Unfair and unfounded accusations … against the judicial system of Hong Kong have no place in the discussion about rule of law,” president C.M. Chan said in a letter to news editors. “I sincerely appeal to the U.K. judges to reverse course.” Hong Kong Chief Justice Andrew Cheung noted the resignations “with regret.” Men in white T-shirts with poles are seen in Yuen Long after attacking anti-extradition bill demonstrators at a train station in Hong Kong, July 22, 2019. Credit: Reuters Documentary on attacks The resignations came as internet service providers in Hong Kong appeared to have blocked a 30-minute documentary by Vice News on YouTube detailing the involvement of triad criminal gangs in bloody attacks on passengers at the Yuen Long MTR station on July 21, 2019, amid a mass protest movement sparked by plans to allow the extradition of alleged criminal suspects to face trial in mainland China. The documentary explored in depth the attacks by men wielding sticks and wearing white clothing. “For many, the violence was shocking and symbolized the death of Hong Kong’s democracy,” the platform said in its introduction to the video on YouTube. “It is tragic how a Hong Kong citizen like me had to use a VPN in order to watch this,” YouTube user Dayton Ling commented under the video. “It saddens me that Hong Kong has gone from a first class financial centre to a third world police state.” Several other users commented that the journalist interviewed for the film is currently behind bars, awaiting trial under the national security law. Hong Kong’s national security police recently wrote to Benedict Rogers ordering him to take down the group’s website, which was highly critical of the ruling Chinese Communist Party (CCP)’s rights record in Hong Kong. The U.K., along with Australia, Canada, Germany, New Zealand and the United States have suspended their extradition agreements with Hong Kong. However, extradition agreements remain active between Hong Kong and the Czech Republic, India, Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines, Portugal, Singapore, South Africa, South Korea and Sri Lanka, putting anyone traveling to those countries at potential risk of arrest if they are targeted by the law. 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.” Translated and edited by Luisetta Mudie.

Philippines lodges new diplomatic protest against China over close encounter at sea

Editor2 years ago2 years ago09 mins

The Philippines lodged a new diplomatic protest against China after a Chinese coast guard ship maneuvered dangerously close to a Filipino vessel in the disputed Scarborough Shoal in early March, a senior official said Tuesday. China’s foreign ministry, meanwhile, insisted that it was within its rights when its ship allegedly engaged in what the Philippine Coast Guard described as a “close distance maneuvering” in South China Sea waters. “It’s done, we’ve filed a diplomatic protest regarding that,” National Security Adviser Hermogenes Esperon Jr. told reporters on Samar Island in the central Philippines, where he was attending a government event. Similar incidents could occur over contending claims in Scarborough Shoal, he warned. Esperon heads the national taskforce for the West Philippine Sea, the Philippine name for territory claimed by Manila in the South China Sea. On Sunday, the Philippine Coast Guard reported that a China Coast Guard ship had sailed within 21 meters (69 feet) of the BRP Malabrigo during a routine patrol on March 2. That was the fourth time since May 2021 that Chinese Coast Guard ships had made that type of maneuver against Philippine vessels, Philippine officials said. “It can always happen that vessels of the different countries, especially from the Philippines, Vietnam, Malaysia and other claimant countries and China, will get into close encounters simply because we have conflicting claims,” Esperon said. “There may be counter-claims but we, as a nation, will stand by our established sovereign rights and sovereignty over the area.” He said Manila had been increasing its presence in the region through the Philippine Coast Guard and Bureau of Fisheries and Aquatic Resources. Esperon also said there were fresh reports about other claimants to the potentially mineral rich sea region improving facilities on islands they occupy. “That’s the situation there, just be aware of it. And Vietnam has 21 positions, we have nine stations, [while] China has seven strong positions,” he said. Manila, which claims nine islands in the South China Sea, the biggest of which is the 92-acre Pag-asa Island (known internationally as Thitu Island), has been improving its facilities in the region in recent years “in the same manner that Vietnam is doing a lot of improvement” to theirs, Esperon said. The national security adviser said the government would continue to assert its claims through “diplomatic channels and through the international community.” “Can we afford to go to war? Not now or not in this instance. … [I]n general we want peaceful settlements of the conflicts in the area,” he said. ‘Earnestly respect China’s sovereignty’ Manila issued the protest a day after Chinese foreign ministry spokesman Wang Wenbin insisted that China had sovereign rights over the shoal. “China has sovereignty over Huangyan Dao and its adjacent waters as well as sovereign rights and jurisdiction over relevant waters,” Wang said, using the Chinese name for Scarborough Shoal. “We hope that Philippine ships will earnestly respect China’s sovereignty and rights and interests, abide by China’s domestic law and international law, and avoid interfering with the patrol and law enforcement of the China Coast Guard in the above-mentioned waters,” he said during a media briefing on Monday. Also known as Bajo de Masinloc, Scarborough Shoal lies 120 nautical miles west of Luzon Island – well within the Philippines’ 200-mile exclusive economic zone (EEZ). For years, the shoal has been a traditional fishing ground for Filipinos but since 2012 it has been under virtual control by China, which has maintained a constant coast guard presence. After a tense standoff, Manila said the United States brokered a deal for both sides to pull out of the shoal but China reneged on it. In 2016, an international court ruled in favor of the Philippines in a South China Sea territorial dispute. Instead of moving to enforce the internationally accepted deal, President Rodrigo Duterte moved to appease Chinese leader Xi Jinping in exchange for cordial ties and billions in Chinese investments. Apart from China and the Philippines, other claimants to South China Sea territories are Vietnam, Brunei, Malaysia and Taiwan. Indonesia is locked in a separate dispute with China which claims parts of the sea that is within Jakarta’s EEZ. ‘Shared responsibility’ Also on Tuesday, Malaysia Defense Minister Hishamuddin Hussein said that the South China Sea “is ultimately a region of shared responsibility, a region which we in ASEAN are collectively responsible for,” referring to the Association of Southeast Asian Nations. “Issues around the South China Sea have always made headlines. As much as strongly worded statements are likely to grab attention, we must strive to ensure that cooler heads prevail,” Hussein said during the Putrajaya Forum, a security conference organized by the Malaysian Institute of Defense and Security and the Malaysian Defense Ministry. “Though we are in the business of defense and security, de-escalating a high-stakes situation is a task in itself. A task that we must all put above all else lest we risk compromising the peace and stability in the region,” he said. Hussein told those at the conference that tensions between nations must be diffused “through all available means. “Due to the complexity and sensitivity of the issue, through established international laws and conventions, all parties must work together to increase efforts to build, maintain and enhance mutual trust and confidence so that we can maintain peace, security and stability in the South China Sea.” Nisha David in Kuala Lumpur contributed to this report by BenarNews, an RFA-affiliated online news service.

East Asia

Uyghur woman who escaped forced abortion said to have died in prison

Editor2 years ago2 years ago06 mins

A Uyghur woman who escaped from a hospital in northwestern China’s Xinjiang region to avoid a forced abortion in 2014 has died in prison, a Uyghur who lives in exile and a village police officer said. Authorities ordered Zeynebhan Memtimin to terminate her pregnancy, but she fled the hospital in Keriye (in Chinese Yutian) county in Hotan (Hetian) prefecture where the procedure was to take place. In 2014, a Uyghur from the county who was then living in exile told RFA that authorities took Zeynebhan from Arish village to a hospital for a forced abortion. RFA later determined through interviews with sources in Xinjiang that Zeynebhan had escaped from the hospital to save her unborn child. When the child turned three in 2017, authorities detained Zeynebhan in an internment camp along with her husband, Metqurban Abdulla, who had helped her escape from the hospital, on charges of “disturbing the social order” and “religious extremism” for avoiding the abortion, the Uyghur in exile told RFA last week. Both were sentenced to 10 years in prison, the source said. The Uyghur source said that contacts in the region and a former neighbor confirmed last week that Zeynebhan died in 2020. The woman’s funeral was conducted under heavy supervision by Chinese officials, who did not disclose the reason for her death to her family and didn’t provide any information on her detained husband, the Uyghur source said. Chinese authorities in Keriye county contacted by RFA declined to comment on the matter. A police officer in Arish village confirmed to RFA that Zeynebhan and Metqurban had been sentenced to 10 years, but he didn’t provide any information on what happened to their four children after they had been incarcerated. “They were sentenced to 10 years in prison and were serving their terms in Keriye Prison,” he told RFA. He also said that Zeynebhan was 40 years old when she died in prison from an illness caused by having multiple births, and that she had been jailed for violating family planning policies. “Since she had multiple births, it’s natural that she died from illness,” he said. RFA’s Uyghur Service reported in 2014 that Metqurban agreed to pay a fine for Zeynebhan to have a fourth child in violation of China’s family planning policy for ethnic minorities, which limited families to two children. But instead, authorities tried to force her to terminate the pregnancy. At that time, the Uyghur Service aired a series of eight reports on authorities forcing women in Keriye county’s Lenger, Arish and Siyek villages to have abortions. Of the 70% of Uyghurs in Arish village who were arrested and detained in 2017 for allegedly engaging in illegal religious activities about 10% were being held because they violated family planning policies, according to the Uyghur source in exile. Uyghur activists say Chinese authorities in Xinjiang often arrest Uyghurs accused of violating family planning policies as a pretext for meeting their arrest quotas. The Chinese government implemented population control measures for Uyghurs, including forced sterilizations and abortions as part of the crackdown that began in 2017. Muslim Uyghur and other Turkic minority women who have been detained in Xinjiang’s vast network of internment camps but later released have reported being raped, tortured and forced to undergo sterilization surgery. Such population control measures, among other repressive policies in Xinjiang, were cited by some Western parliaments and the United States as evidence that China is committing genocide against the Uyghurs. Translated by RFA’s Uyghur Service. Written in English by Roseanne Gerin.

Category: East Asia