- ijrepjournalism@gmail.com
- contact@ij-reportika.com
Category: East Asia
Zero-covid costs spread
Chinese leader Xi Jinping’s decision to stick with a zero-covid policy that worked in 2020 but has not stopped the spread of the Omicron variant has brought lockdowns in Shanghai, Shenzhen and Beijing among 45 mainland cities, affecting nearly 400 million people. The economic damage to China is now spilling over to U.S., Europe, Japan and others in a global economy struggling with shortages, inflation and the Ukraine conflict.
China’s Politburo promises stimulus, employment measures to boost COVID-hit economy
The ruling Chinese Communist Party (CCP) on Friday promised a slew of measures to help the country’s COVID-battered economy. The CCP’s Politburo met on Friday to discuss economic growth, which is targeted to reach 5.5 percent this year, an unlikely target in the absence of further stimulus given the supply-chain havoc caused by the pandemic and risks linked to the war in Ukraine. “The COVID-19 pandemic and the Ukraine crisis have led to increased risks and challenges, increasing the complexity, severity and uncertainty of our country’s economic development, and posing new challenges to stable growth, employment, and prices,” the meeting, chaired by CCP leader Xi Jinping, said in a communique summarized by state news agency Xinhua. Beijing’s dynamic clearance, zero-COVID policy would continue, but measures would be taken to “keep the economy operating within a reasonable range,” the summary said. Measures will include a boost to infrastructure construction and other stimuli to boost domestic demand and jobs, as well as tax rebates, tax and fee cuts and “monetary policy tools,” it said. Measures should “stabilize and expand employment” and “maintain overall social stability,” as well as a national strategy to restore the country’s domestic supply chains and logistics industry, which has been left fragmented by COVID-19 restrictions in major cities and ports, particularly Shanghai. Care should be taken to prevent rare and unexpected “black swan” incidents, as well as more predictable “gray rhino” developments from gathering momentum and getting out of hand, the report said, using buzzwords associated with Xi’s personal brand of political ideology. Reuters quoted a person with knowledge of the matter as saying that the government would be meeting with internet platforms next month. People line up to be tested for Covid-19 coronavirus outside a supermarket in Beijing on April 26, 2022, the day the Chinese capital launched mass coronavirus testing for nearly all its 21 million people. Credit: AFP Outflow of foreign capital Nomura’s chief China economist Ting Lu said he predicts an economic growth rate of just 1.8 percent in the second quarter of this year, with annual GDP growth of 3.9 percent for the whole of this year. The move comes after a U.S.$8 billion selloff of Chinese government bonds by foreign investors in March, with foreign capital outflows of U.S.$17.5 billion in the same month. Foreign investment in Chinese funds fell by 70 percent in the first quarter of 2022, compared with the previous quarter, while the yuan hit a six-month low against the dollar and China’s foreign exchange reserves fell by U.S.$25.8 billion between the end of February and the end of March. Online comments were skeptical that the Politburo could do much to affect the mass outflow of foreign capital. “The higher-ups shout their slogans, while the in-betweens have no policy to implement them, and the lower ranks are just cashing in,” according to one comment seen by RFA on Friday. Others said little would change economically while the CCP’s zero-COVID policy was still in place. The meeting came after the Wall Street Journal quoted a number of people as saying that Xi is insisting that China’s economic growth must exceed that of the U.S. this year. The U.S. posted a 5.7 percent GDP growth rate in 2021. Downward revision Zhu Chengzhi, chairman of Wanbao Investment Consulting, said said four percent GDP growth would be a good achievement for China this year. “[Zero-COVID] must have caused a significant downward revision [in GDP growth forecasts], a very serious downward revision,” Zhu told RFA. “The real estate sector is stuck, and they’ll have to rely on money supply [to boost] domestic demand.” “China’s economy is based on value-added manufacturing, but global prices for raw materials are on the rise around the world, squeezing profits in that sector, so that will also hurt GDP,” Zhu said. In a commentary for RFA, commentator Wang Dan said recent moves by the CCP to regulate entire sectors of the economy by limiting private-sector involvement had affected the labor market, where 11 million new entrants are expected this year. Wang said Xi will likely solve these structural problems by ordering up the results he wants to see. “Why do I say he can still manage it? Because companies in China … do as he tells them,” he said. “This has to do with Xi Jinping’s status and his bid for [a third term] at the 20th party congress.” He said the likelihood is that Xi regards his COVID-19 policy as a crucial part of attempts to demonstrate the superiority of China’s political system to the rest of the world. “But if he elevates his disease control and prevention policy to be a part of that attempt, he will be forcing himself to ride a tiger,” Wang warned. ‘Common prosperity’ Zhu said stock markets in China, even pre-pandemic, had been dealt a huge blow by Xi’s insistence on the “common prosperity” model, which saw a nationwide ban on the highly lucrative private education and tutoring sector. “During the past five years, mainland China and Hong Kong have been the only places where stockmarkets are falling, which is not a good sign,” Zhu said. “Xi Jinping is trying to introduce some bullish sentiment with certain remarks, but it’s just a brief respite.” “It’s not so easy to correct mainland Chinese markets when they are this weak,” he said, adding that GDP figures are already likely artificially inflated, or shares would be performing better. The meeting came as authorities in Beijing shut down more businesses and placed more residential compounds under lockdown on Friday, while extending contact-tracing. Meanwhile, video clips of people banging pots and pans from Shanghai apartments in protest at the ongoing lockdown have been circulating on social media. Translated and edited by Luisetta Mudie.
Canadian, UK lawmakers advance measures on China’s repression of Uyghurs in Xinjiang
A Canadian parliamentary committee advanced a motion to offer special immigration procedures now granted to Ukrainian refugees to Uyghurs and other ethnic minorities fleeing persecution in Xinjiang, while lawmakers in the United Kingdom moved to ban medical imports from the region in western China. Members of the Standing Committee on Immigration and Citizenship in Canada’s House of Commons unanimously approved a motion on Thursday that includes the issuance of temporary resident permits and single journey travel documents to people without a passport. This measure would allow displaced Uyghurs who face risk of detention and deportation back to China to seek refuge in Canada. Last month Canada said it would introduce new immigration policies, including a Canada-Ukraine Authorization for Emergency Travel, for Ukrainians who want to come to Canada. The government is obligated to respond to the committee’s motion within 30 days, in a process that is expected to later involve a debate in the House of Commons and a vote on the motion, said conservative lawmaker Garnett Genuis, a committee member. Genuis said the motion reaffirms a recognition of the ongoing genocide of the Uyghur and other Turkic Muslims in China and calls for recognition of the vulnerability of refugees from Xinjiang. “We’re seeing a situation in which the Chinese Communist Party is trying to extend its influence beyond its borders and threaten the security of Uyghurs who have already sought asylum in other places,” he told RFA. “So, it [the motion] calls on the government of Canada to work to support Uyghur refugees and create pathways that recognizes particular challenges.” Canada’s Parliament, along with some other Western legislatures, including the one in the U.K., have declared that China’s policies targeting Uyghurs constitute genocide and crimes against humanity. The U.S. government also has declared likewise. In March 2021, the Canada, the U.S., U.K. and European Union announced sanctions against Chinese officials and companies over human rights violations in Xinjiang, bringing swift condemnation of their actions by Beijing along with threats of retaliation. Memet Tohti, executive director of Uyghur Rights Advocacy Project in Canada, said his group lobbied with committee and parliament members to press the demand that Ottawa “treat the Uyghur refugees fleeing the Chinese genocide just like the Ukrainian refugees fleeing the war.” Thursday’s passage of the motion with the support four parties means “they now have unanimous consensus in the Parliament on resetting Uyghur refugees in Canada,” he said. No more blind eyes This week, lawmakers in the U.K. passed an amendment banning the government from purchasing health goods made in the Xinjiang region where China has been accused of forced-labor abuses. The Modern Slavery Amendment was incorporated into a larger health bill to prevent the country’s National Health Service from buying products tainted by modern slavery, including anything made with Uyghur forced labor. A year ago, U.K. lawmakers approved a nonbinding parliamentary motion declaring that crimes against humanity and genocide were being committed against Uyghurs and other mostly Muslim ethnic minorities in Xinjiang. Conservative MP Iain Duncan Smith, who spearheaded the amendment’s passage, said he welcomed the move by government health officials to outlaw the purchase of goods and services that come from companies and countries where there is slave labor. With the advance of the amendment, “the government has signaled that they will no longer turn a blind eye to forced labor in U.K. supply chains,” he said. Rahima Mahmut, U.K. director of the World Uyghur Congress, said the Uyghur activist group has campaigned for years for the government to take meaningful action against Beijing’s genocide in Xinjiang. “This amendment is the most significant piece of U.K. legislation addressing the Uyghur crisis so far,” she told RFA. “Once the bill comes into law, the Chinese government will no longer be rewarded with million-pound contracts for Uyghur slave-made healthcare products, as they have done throughout the COVID-19 pandemic.” Translated by Alim Seytoff for RFA’s Uyghur Service. Written in English by Roseanne Gerin.
China says Taiwan ‘playing with fire’ over alleged Taiping Island plans
China has reacted strongly against Taiwan’s alleged plans to extend a runway on the contested Taiping Island in the South China Sea, saying it was “playing with fire.” Taiwanese media reported last week that the island’s military is planning to lengthen the existing 1,150-meter-long airstrip by 350 meters so that it will be able to accommodate F-16 jet fighters and P-3C anti-submarine aircraft. Taiwanese officials have yet to confirm the plans, reported by United Daily News, a conservative Taiwanese newspaper. But recent satellite imagery suggests some kind of changes on the ground at the western tip of Taiping, which is located in the north-western part of the Spratly islands. Taiping, also known as Itu Aba, is the biggest natural feature in the Spratly islands. It is currently occupied by Taiwan but is also claimed by China, the Philippines and Vietnam. On Wednesday, Ma Xiaoguang, spokesman for Beijing’s Taiwan Affairs Office, warned Taipei of “playing with fire” with the Taiping extension plan. “Any attempt to collude with external forces and betray the interests of the Chinese nation is playing with fire and will surely be punished by both sides of the [Taiwan] Strait,” Ma was quoted by the state-run China News Service (CNS) as saying. “It will be rejected by the people and punished by history,” he said. The island, officially considered a “rock” under the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea, is named after the warship “Taiping” that China sent to take over the island after Japan surrendered at the end of World War II. It has been under Taiwan’s control since 1956. ‘Inherent territory’ Ma Xiaoguang was quoted as saying that “the Nansha Islands (Spratly Islands), including Taiping Island, are China’s inherent territory, and China has indisputable sovereignty over the Nansha Islands and its adjacent waters.” Taiwan’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs on Thursday rejected China’s statement, saying that the islands in the South China Sea belong to the Republic of China (ROC or Taiwan), and “the Taiwanese government’s determination to defend the sovereignty of the islands in the South China Sea has never wavered,” the island’s news agency CNA reported. The ministry however did not confirm nor deny the alleged runway extension. Taiwan’s air force earlier declined to comment. Taiwan, Brunei, China, Malaysia, the Philippines and Vietnam, are all claimants of the South China Sea, but China holds the most extensive claim of nearly 90 percent of the sea, demarcated by the so-called nine-dash line. The U-shaped demarcation line was actually first introduced in 1947 by the ROC and it is now being used by both Taiwan and the People’s Republic of China (PRC or China) to back their claims in the South China Sea. An international tribunal in the case brought against China by the Philippines in 2016 rejected the Chinese “historical claims” in the South China Sea and invalidated the U-shaped line. Both Taiwan and the PRC refused to accept the ruling. Taiwan was not party to the case but its claims in the South China Sea are similar to those of China. Satellite photos Satellite imagery taken on March 24 and April 23, 2022, appears to show topographical changes at the western end of Taiping Island over the past month. Credit: EO Browser, Sinergise Ltd. Taiping is located in the north-western part of the Spratly islands, 1,500 kilometers (930 miles) from Taiwan and 850 kilometers (530 miles) from the Philippines. It is under the administration of Kaohsiung Municipality. The current runway was only built in 2008. Proposed plans to develop the infrastructure on Taiping Island were criticized by the other two claimants – the Philippines and Vietnam – as stoking tensions in the disputed South China Sea. Last week, a Beijing-based Chinese think-tank said it had obtained new evidence of the runway extension plan. The South China Sea Probing Initiative (SCSPI) said satellite imagery obtained via the satellite data provider Sentinel Hub shows that reclamation work has begun on the western tip of Taiping Island, supporting the news about the island’s intention of extending the existing airstrip to 1,500 meters. Satellite photos from Sentinel taken on March 24 and April 23 and seen by RFA show noticeable differences in the topography of the western areas of the island. The Taiwanese Ministry of Defense declined to comment when asked by RFA. In March, the Taiwanese Defense Minister Chiu Kuo-Cheng said that Taiwan had no intention of militarizing Taiping despite reports that China had completed building military facilities on three artificial islands nearby.
Guangdong tainted milk parent-activist denied compensation for wrongful conviction
Tainted milk parent-turned-campaigner Guo Li has been denied compensation for wrongful imprisonment by the Supreme People’s Court RFA has learned. In 2017, a court in the southern province of Guangdong retrospectively acquitted Guo after he served a five-year jail term for demanding compensation after his infant daughter was sickened by the 2008 melamine-tainted milk scandal. The simultaneous interpreter was handed the five-year sentence by a court in Guangdong’s Chaozhou in 2010 for “extortion” linked to his campaign for compensation from Guangzhou-based infant formula maker Scient after his child became ill with kidney stones. Following his release, Guo then lodged an appeal with the Guangdong Provincial High Court, which found that the facts of the case were unclear, that there was insufficient evidence, that the court of first instance had breached due process on two occasions, and that the case was inconclusive. Guo later took his appeal to the Supreme People’s Court in Beijing, learning on April 10 that his attempt to win redress had been unsuccessful, he told RFA in a recent interview. He said his claim for state compensation was ruled “inadmissible” because a time limit had expired. “The court found that no compensation should be paid, and my appeal application was rejected,” Guo said. “I was advised to deal with the matter through other means.” Guo said the ruling was itself in breach of regulations governing state compensation claims. “I think this is a shameful and ridiculous ruling,” he said. “I will continue to pursue those responsible for compensation in the Guangdong Provincial People’s High Court, via the prison service, and through the detention center system.” Beijing-based lawyer Mo Shaoping said the two-year limitation does exist, but that the court should have ignored it. “If the judicial system has wronged a person and that person is eventually acquitted, they it should take the initiative to compensate them,” Mo told RFA. Tainted milk scandal Guo’s daughter was one of 300,000 made ill by infant formula milk laced with the industrial chemical melamine, which saw a total of 21 people convicted for their roles in the scandal, two of whom were executed. The government said after the 2008 scandal that it had destroyed all tainted milk powder, but reports of melamine-laced products have occasionally re-emerged. Guo has previously described three years of harsh treatment, including beatings and solitary confinement, during his prison sentence, as the authorities put pressure on him to “admit to his crimes.” Held in a cell measuring little more than one meter (3.3 feet) wide and deprived of adequate food and water, Guo was given moldy food and dirty ditch-water instead. Campaigners say promises from then-premier Wen Jiabao that the government would foot the medical bills for all of the children affected by melamine-tainted milk haven’t been kept. Instead, the scandal has led major health insurance companies in China to start excluding kidney-related diseases from policies, owing to the huge medical bills racked up following the scandal. Translated and edited by Luisetta Mudie.
Son of Dalian Wanda billionaire banned from Weibo after criticism of COVID-19 policy
Government censors have banned the son of Dalian Wanda billionaire tycoon Wang Jianlin from posting on a major social media platform after he cast aspersions on a traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) formula currently being distributed to homes around the country to treat COVID-19, state media reported. Online influencer Wang Sicong was banned for life from Weibo on Tuesday for “violating relevant laws and regulations,” the Global Times newspaper, which has close ties to ruling Chinese Communist Party (CCP) paper the People’s Daily, reported. It said the ban came after Wang’s “controversial remarks on Weibo about Chinese herbal medicine Lianhua Qingwen,” and that the comments have now been deleted. The last post to remain visible on Wang’s account is dated April 14, and takes issue with the popular belief that Lianhua Qingwen has been recommended by the World Health Organization (WHO) for the treatment of COVID-19, the Global Times said. “The post also raised doubts about the efficacy of Lianhua Qingwen, claiming that its producer Yiling Pharmaceutical should come under scrutiny from related authorities,” it said. The paper said Wang had also called on the China Securities Regulatory Commission investigate the medicine’s makers, Yiling Pharmaceutical, but later deleted the remark. “Lianhua Qingwen has been widely used to treat COVID-19 patients in China and is currently being distributed to almost every household in Shanghai,” it said, adding that some 15 billion yuan was wiped from Yiling Pharmaceutical share prices after Wang’s post appeared. Wang, 34, is the only son of Wang Jianlin, one of the richest people in China. Residents play table tennis at a residential area under lockdown to curb the spread of the Covid-19 coronavirus in Panjiayuan, Chaoyang district, in Beijing, April 27, 2022. Credit: AFP Challenging official narrative YouTuber and current affairs commentator Yue Ge said Wang’s privileged background likely led him to believe he could challenge the official CCP narrative on social media, something that has resulted in expulsion from the party and even prison sentences for outspoken members of the elite under CCP leader Xi Jinping. “He mainly studied in the UK, and he was admitted to some prestigious schools, and went to University College London, which cultivates subversive thinking,” Yue Ge said. “Western education has no qualms about cultivating critical minds.” “The second generation of super-rich has a lot of wealth, but also operates outside of the [political] system, with not much in the way of official curbs,” Yue Ge said. He said Wang had also been highly critical in online comments of the lockdowns in Shanghai that have left people struggling to get enough to eat amid stringent restrictions on the movement of trucks and delivery personnel. “What Wang Sicong said about any lack of access to food in the 21st century being due to politics … can be understood as a criticism of the CCP’s disease prevention policies,” he said. “Some even thought he was questioning the legitimacy of CCP rule.” Current affairs commentator Wei Xin said Wang was likely voicing simmering public discontent over lockdowns in Shanghai. “Wang Sicong’s comments weren’t just a form of personal expression, but also a form of political protest,” Wei said. “What may have been a casual comment on Weibo actually reflects deep discontent among Chinese capitalists.” “Wang Sicong was the kid who shouted out that the emperor wasn’t wearing any clothes.” Financial elite no longer safe Wei said the move to silence Wang comes after the CCP under Xi has rolled back privileges for the financial elite, imposing CCP committees at boardroom level and intervening in labor disputes likely to cause social unrest. “The second generation of capitalists, represented here by Wang Sicong, is currently at a very delicate crossroads,” he said. “They are eager for political recognition, and even if that’s hard for them to achieve under the current system, it will inevitably mean further conflicts in future.” Chinese Twitter users reported on April 27 that Shanghai police had arrested Wang on suspicion of “picking quarrels and stirring up trouble.” RFA was unable to verify the content of those tweets. Meanwhile, residents of Shanghai are continuing to report a spike in suicides by people jumping from buildings, as the ongoing lockdown is enforced with steel-link fences and panels, and amid continuing complaints about lack of food. Video clips showed one person falling from a building in Xizang Road, and a mother hugging the body of a dead child in Qingpu, Pudong New District. Meanwhile, residents banged pots and pans to express dissatisfaction during a visit by the Huangpu district party secretary and mayor to Datong secondary school on Quxi Road, according to another clip. Many others have been left homeless or with no access to life-saving medical treatment by the lockdown. “Right now I have hydronephrosis, so I want to get surgery as soon as possible,” a woman from Anhui who has been living on the streets since being discharged from an isolation facility, told RFA. “But the hospital told me that most Shanghai hospitals are closed, their operating rooms not fully operational, and medical resources are very limited, so I have to wait for two weeks,” the woman, who gave only a nickname Anna, said. “My hydronephrosis is getting worse, and quite painful now, and I need to get treatment as soon as possible,” she said. Challenges for Xi Media reports from NetEase Finance and Phoenix Satellite TV aired a video clip from someone in the northern province of Hebei saying they had been ordered to put their front door keys outside for officials to hold, or face detention by local police, prompting online criticism over the safety implications. Beijing-based rights lawyer Mo Shaoping local officials have no legal right to lock residents in their homes: ” I personally think that they have no legal basis for doing this,” Mo told RFA. Veteran Democracy Wall dissident Wei Jingsheng said CCP leader Xi Jinping is currently in a difficult situation. “Just as he thought he’d been successful in eliminating dissidents from party ranks and in controlling public speech, the virus…
Tibetan schoolteacher released from jail in Qinghai
Authorities in China’s Qinghai province have freed a Tibetan schoolteacher after holding her in jail since last year, when her school for Tibetan students was closed for teaching classes in their own language, RFA has learned. Rinchen Kyi, 42, was released on Aug. 24 at about 8:00 p.m. local time and taken to her family home in Qinghai’s Darlag (in Chinese, Dali) county without advance word given to family members, a Tibetan living in exile told RFA this week, citing local sources. “Two cars carrying security personnel arrived that evening at the door of Rinchen Kyi’s family home,” RFA’s source said, speaking on condition of anonymity for security reasons. “A few neighbors came out to see what was happening and saw Rinchen Kyi get out of one the cars and immediately enter her house.” “Police prevented people from getting too close to her, so no one was able to learn where she had been held all this time,” the source added. Kyi was a teacher of 2nd and 3rd grade students at the Golog Sengdruk Taktse School in Darlag when it was closed on July 8, 2021 amid a regionwide clampdown on schools offering instruction in the Tibetan language, sources told RFA in an earlier report. Authorities took her to a hospital on Aug. 1 citing an alleged mental illness, and she was later charged with inciting separatism and arrested at her home, with no word given to her family concerning her whereabouts or condition of health. Separatism is a charge frequently used by Chinese authorities against Tibetans promoting the preservation of Tibet’s language and culture in the face of domination by China’s majority Han population. Pema Gyal, a researcher at London-based Tibet Watch, confirmed Kyi’s release from jail. “We need to know now where she was detained and what kind of reeducation program she may have been subjected to,” Gyal added. Tibetan students at the Sengdruk Taktse School in Qinghai’s Darlag county are shown in an undated photo. Photo: From Tibet. Darlag-area students at Sengdruk were divided into different sections when the school closed and were sent to study at separate schools, while students who had come to Sengdruk from areas in neighboring Sichuan province had trouble at first finding schools to take them in, sources told RFA in earlier reports. Authorities in Sichuan have meanwhile also closed down private Tibetan schools offering classes taught in the Tibetan language, forcing students to go instead to government-run schools where they are taught entirely in Chinese. The move is being pushed in the name of providing uniformity in the use of textbooks and instructional materials, but parents of the affected children and other local Tibetans have expressed concern over the imposed restrictions, saying that keeping young Tibetans away from their culture and language will have severe negative consequences for the future. Language rights have become a particular focus for Tibetan efforts to assert national identity in recent years, with informally organized language courses in the monasteries and towns deemed “illegal associations” and teachers subject to detention and arrest, sources say. Translated by Rigdhen Dolma for RFA’s Tibetan Service. Written in English by Richard Finney.
Low interest in events hailing North Korea’s warm relationship with Russia
While much of the Western world views Russia as a pariah state over its invasion of Ukraine, North Korea’s autocratic government called on its people to focus on the Cold War comradeship it shared with its powerful neighbor and sponsor. As part of the celebration to commemorate the 110th birth holiday on April 15 of Kim Il Sung (1912-1994), the country’s founder, North Korea published a photo book promoting solidarity with Russia and its lost Soviet Union empire. “The Great Years of North Korea and Russia” encourages readers to relive the relationship much like a family photo album does, only in this case the focus is on Kim Il Sung’s friendship with Soviet dictator Josef Stalin. “The photobook emphasizes North Korea’s friendship with Russia,” an official from Pyongyang told RFA’s Korean Service April 18 on condition of anonymity for security reasons. “The book was displayed at the exhibition halls for the Day of the Sun celebration in Pyongyang from April 8th to the 18th. … It is a photo book of 219 pages of propaganda.” Kim Il Sung, the grandfather of current leader Kim Jong Un, was born on April 15, a major holiday now known as the “Day of the Sun.” The book was on display at three exhibition halls in Pyongyang, including the one that hosted the celebration’s opening ceremony, according to the source. But North Koreans, many of whom are struggling under dire economic circumstances largely due to trade restrictions related to COVID, did not seem interested in reliving past glories, even as they were forced to attend celebratory events, sources said. “Only the officials from the Propaganda and Agitation Department, and workers from the publishing house attended the opening ceremony the first day. But the exhibition hall was quiet because the number of visitors was small from the next day,” the source said. “Only a few copies of the booklets were displayed, and copies were distributed as e-books instead, so that reduced the effectiveness of the propaganda,” the source said. Authorities encouraged state-run organizations, universities and factories to send employees to the exhibition halls, but the people were less than enthusiastic about attending, he said. “Residents who reluctantly visited the exhibition hall under the direction of their affiliated supervisors complained, questioning the intent in emphasizing the friendship between North Korea and Russia at this time,” the source said. A resident of the city told RFA that authorities forced people to attend exhibitions that glorified Kim Il Sung, including the photobook exhibition, but actual turnout was lean because companies and organizations reported more attendees than they actually sent. “The authorities are trying to emphasize the blood alliance with Russia and focus on promoting long-standing friendly ties,” he said. “The Pyongyang citizens had no choice but to visit the exhibition emphasizing our friendship with Russia, but that does not change the people’s opinion on Russia’s invasion of Ukraine,” this source said. The Kim Dynasty owes its early legitimacy to Soviet backing. Kim Il Sung led guerilla campaigns in and around the Korean peninsula against the occupying Japanese in the 1930s and 1940s, eventually earning the rank of major in the Soviet Army. When Japan surrendered at the end of World War II, Stalin installed Kim as first secretary of the Korean Communist Party north of the 38th parallel, a position that enabled him to consolidate power and wage war on the South in 1950, largely with Soviet military equipment. Soviet aid played a huge role in propping up the North Korean economy up until its collapse in 1991. The sudden cutoff of aid to the country, along with Kim’s death in 1994, resulted in a famine that killed millions of North Koreans. Translated by Claire Lee and Leejin J. Chung. Written in English by Eugene Whonng.
Unfavorable US views of China ‘at new high’: report
Negative views of China are growing among U.S. citizens, with around two-thirds of those surveyed in a recent poll considering China’s rising power and influence in the world a “major threat,” according to a new report released on Thursday. A survey conducted at the end of March by the Washington-based Pew Research Center shows increasing levels of U.S. concern on a wide range of issues, including China’s economic relationship with the United States, China’s partnership with Russia, and growing tensions across the Taiwan Strait. Unfavorable opinions of China rose in the U.S. during the last year, with around 8 out of 10, or 82%, of the 3,581 adults surveyed reporting negative views, 40% of whom reported holding views described as “very unfavorable.” “[This was] a 6-point increase in negative views from 2021 and a new high since the center began asking this question on its American Trends Panel in 2020,” Pew said in its report. Most Americans still see China as a competitor rather than an enemy, by a 62% to 25% margin. Another 10% call China a U.S. partner, the survey said. On economic issues, the United States should take “a tougher stance” against China rather than “strengthening the relationship,” more than half of the survey’s respondents said. Only 28% said the U.S. should “prioritize the economic relationship, even if it means ignoring human rights issues,” according to the report. “These views have changed little in the last year,” Pew said. Police stand at attention while a Chinese national flag is lowered at sunset at Tiananmen Square in Beijing in a file photo. Photo: AP Seven out of 10 respondents to the poll said the U.S. remains the world’s strongest military power, with only two-in-10 saying China now holds the lead. “Still, the share who say China is the highest since the question was first asked in 2016 and has more than tripled from 6% who held that view in 2020. “Americans have [also] become more concerned about the relationship between China and Taiwan,” the report said. “While 28% saw the tensions as very serious in 2021, 35% now consider cross-strait tensions a very grave concern.” Of special concern to Americans responding to this year’s poll was China’s partnership with Russia, now fighting a war against its neighbor Ukraine. “About six-in-10 say the relationship poses a very serious problem — 15 percentage points higher than the next highest response,” Pew said, noting that China recently voted against expelling Russia, which has been accused of serious war crimes in Ukraine, from the United Nations Human Rights Council.
Another Mekong River dam in Laos begins review process
Lao officials will soon submit plans for the Phou Ngoy Dam and hydropower plant to the Mekong River Commission for review, but villagers whose livelihoods would be hurt by the construction worry they will be left out of the process. “We can’t tell you what day or when exactly we’re going to do that,” said an official at the Ministry of Energy and Mines, who declined to be named to speak freely. “We think we’ll do it at the end of this year. Right now, we’re preparing the paperwork.” The 728-megawatt Phou Ngoy Dam in southern Laos’ Champassak province will be the seventh of nine existing or planned large-scale hydropower projects on the Mekong River mainstream. Thailand’s Charoen Energy and Water Asia Co. Ltd. is the lead developer of the U.S. $2.4 billion hydropower dam project, whose power is anticipated will be sold to Thailand. The hydropower dam would be built by two South Korean construction companies: Korea Western Power Co., Ltd. and Doosan Heavy Industries & Construction Co., Ltd. It is slated to be completed in 2029. A power purchase agreement has not yet been signed. Laos’ government believes that it came greatly boost the country’s economy by becoming the battery of Southeast Asia by selling power generated by dams along the Mekong to its neighbors. But villagers whose lives have been disrupted by the plans say they haven’t been fairly compensated for being forced to move to make way for the progress. The Mekong River Commission (MRC) is an intergovernmental organization that works with the governments of Cambodia, Laos, Thailand and Vietnam to jointly manage the Mekong. The Phou Ngoy Dam will be located about 18 kilometers north of Pakse, the capital of Champassak province, and 50 kilometers from confluence of the Mekong River and Mun River, a tributary of the Mekong that flows through northern Thailand. During the MRC’s consultation process, states and other stakeholders will discuss and review the benefits and risks of proposed water-use projects that may have potential significant cross-border impacts on water flow, water quality and a host of other environmental and socioeconomic conditions. Surasri Kidtimonton, secretary-general of Thailand’s Office of National Water Resources, told RFA that the consultation depends on all MRC members. “As for Thailand, we’re right now looking at a lot of documents about the Phou Ngoy Dam project,” he said. “We’re doing our best to protect our interest,” he told the National News Bureau of Thailand. The map shows existing and planned hydropower dams along the Mekong River in Laos. Credit: RFA graphic ‘The losers are the local people’ A representative of the Love Chiang Khong Group, a Thai NGO, expressed concern that project investors and Lao authorities will exclude communities that will be affected by the dam from the ongoing review. “The Lao government keeps pushing many projects forward, and the investors keep looking for more benefits. The losers are the local people,” the source, who requested anonymity so as to speak freely, said. The investors and the Lao government have not paid any attention to past studies on the project’s impact and did not allow locals to participate in the decision-making process, he said. “The Phou Ngoy Dam is being built not for the benefit of the locals in the area, but for the benefit of the investors,” the person said. “This large dam will block the Mekong River, which is the international mainstream river that goes through many countries. It’ll destroy our livelihoods, our jobs and our ecosystem.” An official at the Lao Ministry of the Information, Culture and Tourism said he was worried in particular about the dam’s impact on Vat Phou, a ruined Khmer Hindu temple complex at the base of a mountain about six kilometers (3.7 miles) from the Mekong River in Champassak province, which is a UNESCO World Heritage Site. Though the Phou Ngoy Dam is more than 30 kilometers from the city of Pakse, capital of Champassak province, it could have an impact on the Phou Phaphin area close to Vat Phou, he said. “If the Lao government and the Phou Ngoy Dam developer really want to build this dam, they’ll have to do the Heritage Impact Assessment, similar to the one for the Luang Prabang Dam Project that has been submitted to UNESCO,” he said. Plans for the Phou Ngoy Dam and hydropower plant have also sparked concern among residents of Khonken village in Champassak province, who fear they may get a raw deal from Lao authorities and the project developer when it comes to compensation for lost land and forced resettlement in other communities. The project will affect 88 villages, including 57 villages above the dam, and 31 villages below the dam. About 800 residents in more than 140 households in Khonken village are expected to be the most heavily affected by the project. Most of the villagers are farmers who grow rice and vegetables and raise livestock, while others run small businesses like restaurants and guesthouses to accommodate growing numbers of Thai tourists to the area. One resident told RFA in late December 2021 that local Lao authorities and the dam developer had conducted a survey asking villagers about their property, shops and fruit trees. Since then, however, they have not heard anything more about the impending relocation. “We don’t want to be relocated,” he said. “We don’t know where to move to. We’ve been here for years, and we believe that this is our permanent home.” Another villager said he wants the Lao government to reconsider building the dam. “Yes, the government builds dams for business, but this dam will destroy the natural beauty and our property.” Pak Beng Dam MOU Meanwhile, two investors in another hydropower project on the mainstream Mekong signed a tariff memorandum of understanding for the Pak Beng Dam, Laos’ Vientiane Times reported on Wednesday. China Datang Overseas Investment Co., Ltd. and Gulf Energy Development Public Co., Ltd. as project cosponsor inked the deal with the Electricity Generating Authority of Thailand (EGAT)…
