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Category: East Asia
Hong Kong migrants to UK suffer widespread trauma, depressive symptoms: report
Nearly one in four Hongkongers who fled an ongoing crackdown by the ruling Chinese Communist Party (CCP) say they still suffer from symptoms of post-traumatic stress syndrome (PTSD) linked to the violent crackdown on the 2019 protests and the subsequent fear engendered by the national security law, according to a recent survey. A survey of recently arrived migrants by the Hongkongers in Britain group found that 23.8 percent of respondents reported symptoms of PTSD linked to the 2019 protests and subsequent political crackdown. Nearly 19 percent reported symptoms of depression, while 25.8 percent reported symptoms of anxiety disorders, it said. The survey found that issues with English, jobhunting and newfound tensions with family members were among the most commonly reported problems affecting the mental health of recently arrived Hongkongers. “Mental health issues … included perceived fear of retribution for discussing politics and worry for people still back in Hong Kong,” the report said. “Perceptions around political forces continue to prevent Hongkongers from speaking freely about their mental health experiences,” it said. University of Cambridge mental health expert and survey author Mark Liang said the majority appeared reluctant to seek professional help, however, preferring to talk to friends and family, whom they trusted, amid fears of retaliation against loved ones who stayed behind. “[Even Hong Kong mental health professionals in the UK] stated that it’s very difficult to get people to come in as patients,” Liang told a news conference presenting the report. “They said that even after developing trust … even after talking about things that weren’t related to PTSD, like about coming into the country and immigration, when they started probing questions like where were you in 2019, a lot of Hongkongers wanted to just freeze up.” “That has to do … with this perception that we believe Hongkongers have of the political situation … it’s choking out many Hongkongers from speaking honestly and freely about their experiences, which is very important in the healing process,” Liang said. Drastic drop in freedom Since the CCP imposed a draconian national security law on Hong Kong, saying it was necessary to prevent a “color revolution” instigated by “hostile foreign forces,” freedom of expression has declined sharply, with dozens of former opposition politicians arrested for subversion, several pro-democracy media outlets forced to close, rights groups forced to disband and student unions ousted from university campuses. After the law took effect on July 1, 2020, national security police set up a hotline to encourage people to inform on people “suspected” of having breached its sweeping bans and prohibitions, which include protest slogans, commemorating the 1989 Tiananmen massacre and any other form of peaceful criticism of the authorities. The U.K. rolled out a new pathway to citizenship for some three million holders of its BNO passport and their families, and more than 97,000 applications have so far been successful, the Home Office said in March 2022. Migrants from Hong Kong are suffering from the emotional upheaval of moving, sometimes at short notice, to an entirely new country with their families, and cited problems helping their kids to settle in new schools as a major issue affecting their mental health, Liang said. There is also the feeling that an essential part of their identity has been lost. “A part of myself is not there when I do not speak Cantonese… even though English is my better [academic] language,” one respondent told the survey. Others cited “survivor’s guilt” as weighing heavily on their emotional state, while others felt the pain of being exiled from their home for reasons beyond their control. “I hate to think [I] cannot travel back to [my] homeland freely, no one wants to be exiled or named fugitive,” the report quoted another respondent as saying. University of Cambridge mental health expert and survey author Mark Liang. Credit: Hongkongers in Britain Asylum seekers’ quandary But asylum-seekers are even more vulnerable than BNO passport-holders, given the high degree of uncertainty that comes with applying for refugee status, Liang said. “Asylum seekers coming into this country have a much, much different experience than BNO passport-holders. They are required to present information that suggests they are a refugee who would be at political risk if they went back to their country of origin,” Liang said. “They are not given the same freedoms as in the right to study, to work, to live as a BNO holder, and that of course is very impactful on one’s mental health, just having that uncertainty … asylum cases in the U.K. right now are backlogged by months,” he said. “One asylum-seeker [described it as] political and social limbo.” But the report also said that the majority of respondents to the survey had reported an improvement in their mental health since leaving Hong Kong, despite the difficulties. And those who were struggling were more likely to seek out friends or family. “There are … other reasons, outside forces besides culture that are preventing people from seeing mental health providers in the U.K.,” Liang said. Meanwhile, a court in Hong Kong jailed a 26-year-old man accused of being the admin of the SUCK Telegram channel, to six-and-a-half years’ imprisonment. IT worker Ng Man-ho was found guilty of allowing posts to the channel from October 2019 to June 2020 that allegedly taught people how to make home-made explosives, set up barricades and encouraging people to take part in the student defense of the Chinese University of Hong Kong (CUHK), which was hit by around 1,000 tear gas rounds from Nov. 11-15, 2019. During the siege, students set up barricades to prevent riot police from entering the campus, as President Rocky Tuan and other senior members of staff tried to negotiate with police to defuse the standoff by standing down. As tensions worsened, officers opened fire with tear gas and rubber bullets towards Tuan, staff members and a large group of students surrounding them, saying he should leave if he had no control over the black-clad protesters guarding the bridge with barricades, fires and by lobbing petrol bombs…
Schools close as pandemic rages in North Korea
As COVID-19 cases dramatically increase in North Korea’s military academies and secondary schools, the government has ordered students to begin remote learning, a daunting proposal in a land where most homes lack consistent supplies of electricity, much less online capabilities, sources in the country told RFA. After more than two years of denying anyone in the country had contracted the coronavirus, North Korea finally announced its first cases and deaths last week, saying the disease had begun to spread among participants of a large-scale military parade in late April. Sources in the capital Pyongyang told RFA’s Korean Service that confirmed cases were identified at two premier military academies in the city, both of which sent participants to the parade. “At the beginning of last week there were only five university students who were confirmed to be infected with COVID-19 at Kim Jong Il University of Military Politics, but now that number has increased to dozens,” a source from the city told RFA Tuesday on condition of anonymity for security reasons. “The National Emergency Quarantine Command is conducting testing on university students who have symptoms like a severely high fever and shortness of breath. The students who test positive are immediately taken by ambulance to an isolation facility on the outskirts of Pyongyang,” he said. The roughly 300 students from Kim Jong Il University who participated in the military parade are being quarantined at a single dormitory, according to the source. “The students’ temperatures are being checked every day and they are given fever reducers when necessary,” said the source. The authorities have closed areas surrounding the university and have ordered students to stay in their dormitories, even if they were not part of the military parade, the source said. Authorities also tested parade participants from the city’s other major military university, Kim Il Sung Military University, another source in the city told RFA on condition of anonymity to speak freely. “A friend of mine who attends the university told me over the phone that more than 30 students that were classified as confirmed cases are being quarantined in isolation facilities at the outskirts of Pyongyang,” the second source said. The 300 students from Kim Il Sung Military University who participated in the parade were also put in quarantine and are undergoing daily testing. “The area around Kim Il Sung Military University is currently restricted. The school is closed and all students and faculty must not leave their dormitories until the end of the month,” the second source said. Sources reported that the Central Committee is adequately supplying medicines and masks, including fever-reducing medicines, to students quarantined at both universities, where confirmed cases are rising. The virus is affecting more than the military’s educational institutions. Authorities ordered all schools nationwide to begin distance learning. “All students in Pyongyang have stopped going to school for in-person classes and are participating in distance learning at home,” an official from Pyongyang told RFA Tuesday on condition of anonymity for safety reasons. “The frequent power outages and hiccups in the intranet network are causing difficulties, though.” North Korea does not allow its citizens to connect to the global Internet, but the government operates an intranet where citizens fortunate to have devices capable of logging on are able to visit government-approved websites, all of which are hosted within the country. “On May 2nd, there was a commotion when five out of 23 students of a class at a middle school in Moranbong district showed symptoms of high fever and coughing,” the official said. “Other students in different classes showed the same symptoms of high fever and coughing, so the school immediately stopped classes and had all students return home under the direction of the National Emergency Quarantine Command,” he said. On May 11th the Ministry of Education ordered all schools in the capital to stop in-person learning and change to distance learning, the official said. “The [authorities] confirmed that the first middle school students to show symptoms were those who had been mobilized to participate in the parade as spectators in the crowd,” the source said. The orders to begin distance learning were sent all over the country, but a resident who lives north of Pyongyang in South Pyongan province told RFA that few students have the resources necessary for remote classes. “In general, only 2-3% of students have computers at home, so distance learning is meaningless, unless they are elite students of No. 1. high schools,” she said. Aid reluctance North Korean authorities have not responded to a South Korean proposal to cooperate in efforts to combat the pandemic. Observers said Pyongyang is unlikely to accept humanitarian aid from the international community, because it would be an admission of the country’s leader Kim Jong Un’s failure to control the virus. North Korea may be unwilling to work closely with South Korea in particular because of a change in administration in Seoul earlier this month, Hong Min, the director of the North Korea Research Division at the Seoul-based Korea Institute for National Unification, told RFA. President Yoon Seok-yeol is expected to take a harder line in respect to North Korea than predecessor Moon Jae-in, who advocated engagement with the North. Accepting help from other countries would be a bad look for Kim Jong Un, Ho Hong Kim of the Washington-based Institute for National Security Strategy told RFA. “If North Korea immediately accepts the international community’s support, it would be like North Korea is admitting that the quarantine policies promoted by Kim Jong Un have failed,” he said. “So North Korea is probably trying to solve [the COVID-19 situation] on its own as much as possible.” Kim said that North Korea may be capable of resolving some of its problems with help from China, including the provision of the emergency medicines North Korea desperately needs. Between January and March, North Korea imported U.S. $183,000 worth of facemasks and $3 million worth of mask making materials, such as nonwoven fabrics and thermoplastics, data released Wednesday by the…
Myanmar junta gets effective diplomatic downgrade as a result of military coup
Myanmar’s 15-month-old military junta is suffering a diplomatic downgrade as Western and some Southeast Asian neighbors are withholding ambassadorial appointments to the country and increasingly meeting with elected officials overthrown by the army early last year, diplomats said. The trend of posting a number two in missions comes as the junta has been shunned by the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN), which held a summit last week with the U.S. in Washington, where Myanmar was represented by an empty chair symbolizing rejection of the February 2021 coup. The Australian Foreign Ministry said in a statement on May 16 that Australia has appointed a senior official to replace its ambassador in Myanmar, Andrea Faulkner, who completed her tenure last month. Britain likewise downgraded its ties with Myanmar from ambassadorial level to chargé d’affaires level in August 2021. The junta found that unacceptable and the British Ambassador, Pete Vowles, who went abroad on business, was barred from re-entering the country in February 2022. “The UK has a longstanding policy and practice of recognizing states, not governments,” Stephen Small, the embassy’s liaison officer, wrote in an emailed reply to RFA’s Myanmar Service. “We are engaging with the junta only where strictly necessary to deliver our political, development and humanitarian objectives and [for] the functioning of our embassy,” he added. “Changing the status of our head of mission ensures we can continue our role supporting the people of Myanmar without giving the military credibility by presenting our credentials to the Commander-in-Chief,” said Small. Vowles arrived in Myanmar in August 2021, seven months after the coup, and refused to hand over his credentials to the junta. In April the military regime told the embassy it would not accept him as ambassador any longer, the spokesman said. London did not recall Vowles, but decided to let him head the mission at a lower level and he is waiting for a new visa and entry permit for Myanmar, said Small. Police stand guard near the US embassy during a demonstration by protesters against the military coup in Yangon, Feb. 22, 2021. Credit: AFP Shunning an ‘unethical group’ Germany has likewise downgraded its representation in Myanmar, said embassy press officer Markus Lubawinski. “I can confirm that the German Embassy in Yangon, where we continue with our embassy work, is headed by a chargé d’affaires,” he wrote in an email to RFA. “The reduction from ambassadorial level to charge d’affaires, is, in layman’s terms, degrading,” said Kyaw Swa Tun, the third secretary at the Myanmar Embassy in Washington who joined the opposition after the coup. “It’s like saying we don’t need to pay attention to an unethical group,” he told RFA. “At present, most countries, including Europeans, have lowered their statuses in dealing with the regime. It also shows that they are not recognizing the junta and thus, the junta’s role is downgraded,” added Kyaw Swa Tun. Min Zaw Oo, executive director of the Myanmar Institute for Peace and Security said countries lowered the level of their diplomatic representation to avoid the poor optics of recognizing the junta. The regime is estimated to have killed at least 5,600 civilians in nearly 16 months since the coup. “When an ambassador comes in, he has to be officially recognized by the head of state. So, they do not want a big blaring photograph in the newspapers showing the current junta leader accepting their new ambassadors,” he said. Diplomatic sources in Yangon say Denmark, Italy, Israel and South Korea are considering following Britain, Germany and Australia in downgrading their level of representation. The U.S., European Union and Japan, however, are maintaining ambassadors at their embassies in Yangon. Hiram J. Ríos Hernández, spokesman for the U.S embassy in Yangon told RFA in an email that the US will continue to put pressure on the junta to return to the path of democracy in Myanmar. “Amb. Thomas Vajda presented his credentials to democratically elected President U Win Myint on January 19, 2021,” he told RFA by email. “The U.S. will continue to press the military regime to cease its violence, release all those unjustly detained, provide unhindered humanitarian access, and restore Burma’s path to democracy.” Zin Mar Aung, foreign minister of the National Unity Government, speaking with RFA during her visit to Washington May, 12, 2022. Credit: RFA Outreach to the NUG The European Union (EU) embassy in Yangon has said it will not change its current ambassadorial post, a spokesperson told RFA on behalf of Amb. Ranieri Sabatucci. “The EU does not envisage any change to my accreditation for the time being. The movements in the diplomatic sphere do not have any effect on our dealings with the military council,” he said, using a shorthand for the junta. Germany and Britain, the colonial ruler of what was formerly called Burma, and the EU have held meetings with representative of the country’s National Unity Government (NUG), a parallel administration made up of former lawmakers and officials of the government of leader Aung San Suu Kyi. “The federal government in Germany has spoken to individual members of the NUG. These exchanges have been made public,” said Lubawinski. “The U.K. sees the NUG as an important stakeholder for resolving the crisis,” said Small of the British Embassy. “The EU is having informal exchanges with the NUG. These are entertained by and from a number of interlocutors including our HQ in Brussels, the EU Mission to ASEAN and the EU Mission to the UN in New York,” said the EU mission in Yangon. “The EU retains the right to entertain relationships with any relevant party in Myanmar, including the NUG,” the statement issued on behalf of Sabatucci. Analyst Kyaw Swa Tun said that although the NUG has not yet been officially accepted by the international community, these contacts can been as a sign the group in increasingly being recognized as a legitimate government. Zin Mar Aung, who represents the NUG on the world stage, held key meetings on the sidelines of the U.S.-ASEAN summit in Washington last week with Wendy…
Top US official meets in India with Tibet’s Dalai Lama
The top U.S. official responsible for Tibetan issues met on Thursday morning with Tibet’s Dalai Lama at the exiled spiritual leader’s residence in Dharamsala, India. The meeting came on the second day of an official visit to the seat of Tibet’s government in exile, the Central Tibetan Administration, and drew a quick rebuke from China’s Foreign Ministry. Uzra Zeya, the State Department’s special coordinator for Tibetan issues, spoke with the Dalai Lama for more than an hour in the meeting, which was also attended by exile government leader Penpa Tsering, who accompanied Zeya and her delegation, and by Namgyal Choedup, representative of the Dalai Lama at the Office of Tibet in Washington D.C. “I am President Biden’s special coordinator for Tibetan issues, and it is my greatest honor to be received by you,” Zeya said, addressing the Dalai Lama at their meeting. “I bring greetings from our president and the American people and best wishes for your good health and gratitude for your message of peace for the world.” The Dalai Lama in turn expressed his happiness at meeting the U.S. diplomat, who was named to her post in December 2021. Speaking to reporters following the meeting, Sikyong Penpa Tsering — the democratically elected political leader of Tibet’s exile government — confirmed the meeting and said that Zeya and the Dalai Lama had discussed U.S. efforts “to preserve Tibet’s religion, language and culture to protect Tibet’s identity.” Formerly an independent nation, Tibet was invaded and incorporated into China by force more than 70 years ago, and Tibetans frequently complain of discrimination and human rights abuses by Chinese authorities and policies they say are aimed at eradicating their national identity and culture. At a May 19 press conference, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Zhao Lijian denounced Zeya’s meeting with the Dalai Lama, calling Tibet’s exile government an illegal organization and the Dalai Lama himself “a political exile disguised as a religious figure.” “The appointment of the so-called ‘US Special Coordinator for Tibetan Issues’ constitutes an interference in China’s internal affairs. China is firmly opposed to this and has never acknowledged it,” Zhao said. In the debate over how best to advance the rights of the 6.3 million Tibetans living in China, some Tibetans call for a restoration of the independence lost when Chinese troops marched into Tibet in 1950. The CTA and the Dalai Lama, however, have adopted a policy approach called the Middle Way, which accepts Tibet’s status as a part of China but urges greater cultural and religious freedom, including strengthened language rights, for Tibetans living under Beijing’s rule. Nine rounds of talks were previously held between envoys of the Dalai Lama and high-level Chinese officials beginning in 2002, but stalled in 2010 and were never resumed. Translated by Tenzin Dickyi for RFA’s Tibetan Service. Written in English by Richard Finney.
US investigators indict exiled Chinese pro-democracy activist on spying charges
A prominent Chinese democracy activist in exile has been indicted on spying charges in the United States alongside four intelligence officers, suggesting successful infiltration of exile groups by China’s state security police. Wang Shujun, 73, a U.S. citizen resident of Queens, New York, was accused in an indictment of taking part in “an espionage and transnational repression scheme in the U.S. and abroad,” according to a statement on the Department of Justice’s official website. Wang was indicted along with People’s Republic of China (PRC) intelligence officers He Feng, Ji Jie, Li Ming and Lu Keqing and arrested on March 16, while his co-defendants remain at large, the statement said. “We will not tolerate efforts by the PRC or any authoritarian government to export repressive measures to our country,” Assistant Attorney General Matthew G. Olsen said. Olsen said the accused had sought to “suppress dissenting voices within the United States and to prevent our residents from exercising their lawful rights.” Wang, who had been known as an elder of the pro-democracy movement in exile, was a Chinese Communist Party (CCP) mole in that movement, “spying on and reporting sensitive information on prominent pro-democracy activists and organizations to his co-defendants, who are members of the Chinese government’s Ministry of State Security,” U.S. Attorney Breon Peace said. He said the operation had been threatening the safety and freedom of PRC nationals in the U.S., targeting them for their pro-democracy beliefs. According to the indictment, Wang was turned in 2011, after which he started covertly collecting information about prominent activists, including advocates for independence for Taiwan, a Uyghur state of East Turkestan, and Tibet, and giving it to Beijing. Police perform a stop and search on a group of people outside the High Court in Hong Kong, July 30, 2021. Credit: AFP ‘Transnational repression’ Alan E. Kohler Jr., Acting Executive Assistant Director of the FBI’s National Security Branch, said the CCP’s intelligence operations now reach far beyond the borders of the PRC. “The PRC is targeting people in the United States and around the world,” Kohler said, adding that the FBI would continue to fight “transnational repression.” Wang had communicated with He, Ji, Li and Lu using encrypted messaging apps and emails, as well as during face-to-face meetings in the PRC. Wang recorded details of his conversations with activists in around 163 draft email entries in accounts that were also being accessed by the state security police, it said. Wang is also accused of transferring telephone numbers and contact information belonging to Chinese dissidents to his handlers, as well as making materially false statements to federal law enforcement about such contacts, court documents said. All defendants are presumed innocent until proven guilty beyond a reasonable doubt in a court of law, it said. ‘An attack by the enemy within’ U.S.-based activist Zeng Jianyuan said that Wang Shujun was very active in the U.S.-based pro-democracy movement. “Wang Shujun was very active in those circles. I had no contact with him, but I know him,” Zeng told RFA. “Many of us do. Nobody had fears or suspicions … I wasn’t wary of him.” “This was an attack by the enemy within,” he said. “He was at the heart of this circle, and could get intelligence first hand, which is why the CCP turned him.” Among the conversations Wang may have reported to state security police was one with former Hong Kong Democratic Party chairman Albert Ho, who also led the now-disbanded Hong Kong Alliance in Support of Democratic Patriotic Movements of China, as well as the names and contact details for several Hong Kong activists who have since been arrested for their involvement in the 2019 protest movement. The 32-year-old Alliance now stands accused of acting as the agent of a foreign power, with leaders Chow Hang-tung, Albert Ho, and Lee Cheuk-yan arrested on suspicion of “incitement to subvert state power,” and the group’s assets frozen. Current affairs commentator Sang Pu said the indictment shows that the CCP has fully and successfully taken control of Hong Kong. “There are at least three kinds of infiltration practiced by the CCP,” Sang said. “One is red, in the case of the Democratic Alliance for the Betterment and Progress of Hong Kong (DAB) and the Federation of Trade Unions.” “Another is gray, and uses a variety of methods and hiding places, so people think it’s harmless: that could take the form of a person, an ordinary businessman,” he said. “The third is embedded in [the pro-democracy] camp: that could take the form of someone who is the yellowest in the yellow [Hong Kong pro-democracy] camp, or the greenest in the green [Taiwan’s Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) and allies] camp, who can spy on them from within.” “These three systems are all in operation at the same time,” Sang said. Translated and edited by Luisetta Mudie.
Escape from Beijing: how a young man fled China’s zero-COVID policy
A Chinese citizen and former resident of Beijing who gave only the nickname Joseph took one look at the newly emerging COVID-19 restrictions in the Chinese capital, and decided he wanted no part of another lockdown like the one still under way in Shanghai. He spoke to RFA’s Mandarin Service about his roller-coaster exit from China. RFA: Did you feel you were on the run? Joseph: Of course I was on the run. I just escaped from Beijing. The Beijing authorities announced an eight-point rule on May 10, which seemed to imply that if a single person tested positive on your street, you and everyone else will immediately be barred from leaving town. When I saw that, I panicked, and said ‘that’s it. I’m running away’. RFA: You had already postponed a planned trip to New Zealand — how hard was it to leave? Joseph: I thought at first I could perhaps get on a flight on May 11, so I arrived in Shanghai on May 10. But I was wrong. The flight never left. I eventually took a flight on May 13. RFA: So even though you’d bought the ticket, you still didn’t know if you’d be able to get on the plane? Joseph: Everyone has to just guess. I could see the daily departures and arrivals on an app, which showed that Pudong, Hongqiao, and Guangzhou airports, the hardest-hit areas. You can tell from looking at it that the departure rate [for scheduled flights] is less than one percent, so it’s a guessing game that you can’t win. RFA: What did you do when your flight was canceled at Pudong International Airport? Joseph: I had brought some food, some cooked food, as well as crackers and the like. I was ready for a bit of hardship. I looked for a place to spend the night, but these airports all have marble floors. I had brought a sleeping bag, but I wasn’t well prepared because the floor was cold. I was OK, but cold. I made it through the nights. RFA: Was there no way to go anywhere else? You just had to stay at the airport? Joseph: Yes, all of the routes were cut off, so it’s basically an island there. There was an old lady in her 70s who flew to New Zealand on the same plane as me. New Zealand required the PCR test results in English, so we took the bus together for her to get the English test results. The bus was a bit late getting back. She’d done a PCR test but the results weren’t back yet, and it had been more than 48 hours after her earlier test. She was stopped and prevented from entering the terminal building. She begged them, saying her luggage and food were inside, and that she would starve, but she wasn’t allowed in. I tried to put in a word for her, and they nearly dragged me away. University student He Siyuan, who had to stay at Shanghai’s Pudong International Airport for 40 days because of the city’s strict COVID-19 lockdown. He took a PCR test every other day at the airport, and tested negative every time. Credit: Joseph RFA: Were there other people in your situation? Joseph: There was a college student next to me, a guy called He Siyuan who made the news a couple of days ago. It was broadcast on CCTV, and he slept next to me. The guy was very kind and very honest. He had been there more than 40 days, and I asked him how he was feeling. He said that it was quite bad at first, but that he had gradually gotten used to it. He said that he was worried at first, but now he is fine. He was barred from going back home by his neighborhood committee in Beijing, so he had no choice. He did a PCR test every two days at the airport, and every time it was negative. It was incredible all the people in Area A of Terminal 2. There was a gentleman from Zhejiang who was in Wuhan during the lockdown. When that ended, he went to Shanghai, where he was caught up in the lockdown there. He got there on April, like the college student. He had wanted to fly to Wuhan, but couldn’t, so he was stranded [at the airport]. I was touched by what he did. He started picking up the moisture-proof mats and sleeping bags left by the passengers from April 1, and used them to built a platform that could sleep more than 20 people along one of the walls in Area A. He surrounded it with luggage carts, leaving an exit, making a temporary shelter. He didn’t charge people to go in and sleep there. He would let you in if you asked him, as long as there was a spot. RFA: Where there any domestic flights leaving? Joseph: Yes, but sometimes only one, and sometimes none. Nobody knew exactly where they would be flying too, and they’d often be canceled. There was only the bus to Hongqiao or downtown Shanghai, but none to other provinces. There was the high-speed rail, but it was very, very hard to get tickets for it, so hard that it wasn’t worth bothering. RFA: What about international flights? Joseph: If there were eight flights a day, seven would be international and only one domestic. Maybe it’s because there would be diplomatic incidents if you cut off international flights and left foreigners in China for longer than they were supposed to be there. There were still international flights leaving Pudong and Guangzhou Baiyun airports. RFA: But people couldn’t actually get to Pudong Airport from Shanghai, could they? Some people were walking for 10 hours to get there. Joseph: Because there are almost no buses, and the buses that were running were on odd schedules. RFA: Didn’t you say that there was a bus from the airport to the city? Joseph: Yes, but only going to…
Missiles over medicine
North Korean leader Kim Jong Un has mobilized military forces to distribute vaccines, as the reclusive country departed from official denial and acknowledged a widening outbreak of COVID-19. Many of the country’s nearly 26 million people have weakened immune systems from chronic malnourishment and a lack of medical supplies – the result critics say of Kim’s spending most of his revenue on weapons systems that destabilize the region.
Uyghur lecturer said to be detained for not signing allegiance oath to CCP
A computer teacher from a university in the Xinjiang region has been detained by Chinese authorities since 2017 for failing to sign an oath of allegiance to the Chinese Communist Party (CCP), a Uyghur source in the town of Ghulja and local officials told RFA. Abdureshid Hamit, who worked at Ili Pedagogical University in Ghulja (in Chinese, Yining), was arrested and later charged with failing to make clear statements against what the Chinese government terms the “three evils” — separatism, extremism and terrorism — in the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region (XUAR) and failing to sign the oath of allegiance, said a source in the city who has knowledge of the situation. Hamit is among a group of more than 20 educators at the university that an earlier RFA report said have been detained. Not all of the names of the educators have been publicly released. Chinese authorities have purged Uyghur society of intellectuals, prominent businessmen, and cultural and religious figures, imprisoning many of them in a vast network of internment camps, as part of what Beijing says is a campaign to prevent religious extremism and terrorist activities. The U.S. and the parliaments of other Western countries, however, have declared that such actions constitute genocide and crimes against humanity. The computer instructor is the son of Hamit Qadirghoja, a former university dean, and he grew up on the school campus. Hamit enrolled in Xinjiang University in 1995 and graduated in 2000 with a bachelor’s degree in computer science. Besides Uyghur and Chinese, he is fluent in English, the source with knowledge of the situation said As a lecturer at the university’s Institute of Information Technology in 2000, Hamit was known for his professionalism and strict moral code, the person said. He regularly expressed his dissatisfaction with what he saw as the unequal treatment of Uyghur and Kazakh students and the disparity in teacher salaries to school administrators, the source said. As a result, Hamit became an unofficial representative for Uyghur and Kazakh teachers at the school. At the time, the university’s Chinese leaders said his character was “quarrelsome,” and in 2017 he was accused of “ethnic separatism” and “being a two-faced person” —accusations that were the basis for his arrest, the source said. When RFA called the university to inquire about Hamit’s fate, an official in the Education Department said that the educator was not currently on the school’s list of teachers and was likely detained. “He was more socially active among Uyghurs,” the official said. “It’s been five years since he was arrested. We don’t know where he is in captivity.” Another official at the school said Hamit was in detention but provided no further details. “His case was concluded three years ago,” she said. “I don’t know his imprisonment information.” A former classmate of Hamit who now lives in exile told RFA by email that the lecturer did not sign the oath of loyalty to the CCP. Nor, the source said, did Hamit swear to be against the “three evils” in a document prepared by the university’s Political Department in 2016, when the Chinese government sought to get Uyghurs in the XUAR to profess an allegiance to the CCP. His refusal prompted an official investigation later the same year, the former classmate said. The university’s Disciplinary Committee repeated Hamit’s previous disagreements with school administrators and charged him with political “crimes,” such as “creating a sense of ethnic hatred” and “inciting ethnic divisions” at the school, he said. Hamit’s case was then referred to judicial authorities. Investigators found that Hamit used a virtual private network, or VPN, to circumvent Chinese government censorship of internet sites and to contact foreigners online. Authorities charged him with harboring separatist sentiments. A disciplinary officer at Ili Pedagogical University told RFA that Hamit was arrested in 2017, but he did not know the length of his prison term or where he was incarcerated. Hamit, whose parents are Uyghur and Kazakh, traveled to Kazakhstan in 2010 to visit his Kazakh relatives, the source with knowledge of the situation said. During his second visit to the Central Asian country, he also visited Turkey and met with computer professionals there. Chinese authorities later cited these foreign visits as evidence of his connections with “separatist organizations and individuals” and used them as a basis to charge Hamit with the crime of “trying to separate the country,” the source said. Translated by RFA’s Uyghur Service. Written in English by Roseanne Gerin.
US government’s special coordinator for Tibetan issues to meet with Dalai Lama
A top U.S. official on Tibet will meet with the Dalai Lama on Thursday morning during a two-day official visit to Dharamsala, India, the headquarters of the Tibetan government-in-exile. Uzra Zeya, who was appointed as the State Department’s special coordinator for Tibetan issues in December 2021, will make the stop during trips to India and Nepal on May 17–22 to “deepen cooperation on human rights and democratic governance goals, and to advance humanitarian priorities,” the department said Monday. Zeya, who is also the undersecretary for civilian security, democracy and human rights, arrived with her delegation at the seat of the Central Tibetan Administration (CTA) on Wednesday and will meet the Tibetan Buddhist spiritual leader at his residence the following day. The visit comes at a time when the Chinese government is stepping up repressive measures on some minority groups in the country, including Tibetans and Uyghurs in Xinjiang. The U.S. State Department’s 2022 human rights report, which covers 2021, cited significant human rights issues in Tibet perpetrated by authorities, including: arbitrary arrests; extrajudicial killings; torture and cases of cruel, inhuman and degrading treatment; and severe restrictions on religious freedom. Zeya is working to promote a substantive dialogue without preconditions between Beijing and the Dalai Lama and his representatives, or with democratically elected Tibetan leaders. She is also working to protect Tibetans’ linguistic, cultural and religious heritage. During the visit, Zeya plans to tour the Tibetan Children’s Villages school, the Tibetan Institute of Performing Arts, the Tibet Museum, the Library of Tibetan Works and Archives, and a number of monasteries. Sikyong Penpa Tsering, the elected leader of Tibet’s exile government, welcomed Zeya upon her arrival in what is the first high-level contact between the U.S. and the Tibetan leadership during the Biden administration. “The Biden administration’s immediate appointment of the special coordinator after taking office is itself is a huge honor, and during her visit here in the Dharamsala she will be briefed on different management and the overall Tibetan administration, where she will also meet with the Dalai Lama,” said CTA spokesman Tenzin Lekshey. “So, this visit will facilitate the U.S. government to understand and further strengthen support for Tibet.” Khenpo Sonam Tenphel, speaker of the Tibetan Parliament-in-exile, said the special coordinator’s visit to Dharamsala “sends a strong political message to China” of the need to work toward a negotiated agreement on Tibet. Bhuchung Tsering, interim president of International Campaign for Tibet, an advocacy group that promotes democratic freedoms for Tibetans, told RFA that Zeya’s meeting with CTA leaders is significant in two respects. “First, China has been under scrutiny lately with regard to various concerns, and Tibet is one of the most crucial, so we believe that this meeting with our Tibetan leaders is crucial for the Tibetan issue globally,” he said. Second, while campaigning in September 2020, President Biden and his administration promised to take a strong stand against China’s human rights abuses in Tibet and to support Tibetans’ cultural and religious rights, he said. “The special coordinator’s visit to India signifies his promise and his administration’s initiative to draw support for Tibet,” Tsering said. During his first official visit to the U.S. after being elected CTA leader, Tsering met with Zeya in Washington in April and with Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi and other congressional leaders. In January 2000, Julia Taft, the late former U.S. assistant secretary of state for population, refugees, and migration, became the first special coordinator for Tibetan issues to visit Dharamasala. Sarah Sewell, former undersecretary for civilian security, democracy and human rights, visited the city in 2014 and 2016 when she held the special coordinator position. At the time of Zeya’s appointment to the role in December 2021, U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken said in a statement that her designation demonstrated the Biden administration’s “commitment to advance the human rights of Tibetans, help preserve their distinct heritage, address their humanitarian needs, and meet environmental and water resource challenges of the Tibetan plateau.” Translated by Tenzin Dickyi for RFA’s Tibetan Service. Written in English by Roseanne Gerin.
Hong Kong could move to block Telegram app, citing ‘privacy violations’
Authorities in Hong Kong could move to block the popular Telegram messaging app, amid fears that the city could gradually be moving towards mainland China-style internet censorship. Privacy Commissioner Ada Chung told a Legislative Council (LegCo) committee on Monday that the government remains concerned about doxxing and other violations of personal data privacy, and that her office is looking at blocking Telegram to address the issue. Chung’s office issued 227 takedown orders to 12 online platforms between Oct. 8, 2021 and Dec. 31, 2021, requesting the removal of posts that revealed people’s personal details, something that was criminalized in an amended Privacy Ordinance last October. She said around 80 percent of the 1,111 posts had been removed. Chung said her office had also been involved in having people arrested for posting information about LegCo members — all of whom were elected from a slate of candidates strictly vetted for their loyalty to the ruling Chinese Communist Party (CCP) — and their family members online. Such information, if it led to knowledge of lawmakers’ business interests and political connections, might be considered in the public interest elsewhere. Chung said her office was fighting an ongoing battle to prevent personal information being posted online, as people often repost the information after the takedown order has been implemented. She said it was much harder to enforce the law when it came to online platforms headquartered overseas. Chung said the newly amended law gives her office the power to restrict access to platforms that don’t comply with the city’s privacy laws, adding that her officials are compiling a blacklist of non-compliant platforms. Forum for social activism The pro-China Singtao Daily newspaper identified Telegram — which was widely used to coordinate civil disobedience and other actions during the 2019 protest movement — as the chief area of concern for the government. “Since 2019, the Privacy Commissioner has noticed that many of the messages that originated in Hong Kong were sent from a few groups on Telegram, and that most of them were political in nature, or involved the continuation of social activism,” the paper said. “Those targeted included government officials, LegCo members and even regular citizens.” Telegram said on Wednesday it was “surprised” by the claims of doxxing made by Hong Kong officials. “Doxxing content is forbidden on Telegram and our moderators routinely remove such content from around the world,” spokesperson Remi Vaughn said in a statement emailed to RFA. It said that while doxxing, illegal pornography or calls to violence would be deleted, the company wouldn’t carry out political censorship. “Any requests related to political censorship or limiting human rights such as the rights to free speech or assembly are not and will not be considered,” the statement said. Meanwhile, exiled Hongkongers in the U.K. are using public spaces to evade political censorship that would be meted out to them at home under a draconion national security law imposed on Hong Kong by the CCP, banning public dissent and political opposition. Art curator and former pro-democracy district councilor Clara Cheung moved to the U.K. with her family after it became clear that opposition politicians were increasingly being targeted under the national security law, which took effect from July 1, 2020. Now in Manchester, Cheung has put together an exhibit titled “The 24901-mile-wide Red Line,” showcasing works from Hong Kong artists that can no longer be publicly displayed in their home city. Milk Tea Alliance She also invited artists from Thailand and Myanmar, whose own protest movements were supported by Hong Kong protesters as part of the Milk Tea Alliance, to exhibit. The 24,901 miles refers to the earth’s circumference, and Beijing’s attempts to extend censorship far beyond China’s borders to the entire planet. Many of the works in the show would have been entirely unproblematic in Hong Kong just a few years ago, Cheung said. She said the exhibit was intended to encourage Hong Kong artists to keep testing the limits of government censorship. “Otherwise, the creative space will get smaller and smaller, and the red line will be more and more entrenched,” Cheung said. “Everyone will get squeezed tighter and tighter by the white terror,” she said, using a term that originated in Taiwan to describe political crackdowns on dissent under the authoritarian rule of the Kuomintang, which ended in the 1990s. “The people in charge of Hong Kong are giving us the impression … that curbs are actually more severe than those in mainland China,” Cheung said. “It’s as if the different departments in the Hong Kong government, like the state security police, prosecution service, etc, are fighting among themselves to see who is more loyal [to Beijing].” A Hongkonger viewing the exhibit who gave only the nickname A Chin said dissidents in Myanmar appear to have it still worse, however. “One artist in Myanmar died after being tortured for 12 hours … I don’t even know what to say to that; it weighs heavily on me,” A Chin said. “But it’s important for those of us who are still alive to see what we can do … you can’t stay in the pain of the past forever.” Translated and edited by Luisetta Mudie.
