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Category: East Asia
Authorities free 3 Tibetans jailed for running ‘illegal’ land rights group
Authorities in China’s Qinghai province have released three of the nine Tibetans who received prison terms in 2018 for running an “illegal organization” promoting land rights. Three more from the group are due to be released in June, according to Tibetan sources in exile. Sonam Gyal and two others, who were not immediately identified, completed their terms and were freed earlier this year, a source living in India told RFA’s Tibetan Service, speaking on condition of anonymity. “In January this year, Sonam Gyal and two others were released after serving their prison term,” said the source. “Tashi Tsering and two others are scheduled to be released in June, also after completing their prison terms,” the source added. The names of the other two who are expected to be freed are also unconfirmed. While the source said that the terms of the second trio are set to expire in June, “it is also uncertain if [they] will be released accordingly.” According to the source, the remaining three had their cases “sent back for retrial and were sentenced to seven years again.” “The prison time they had already served until now was invalidated,” they said. In April 2019, RFA reported that the nine Tibetans, all residents of Horgyal village in Qinghai’s Rebgong (in Chinese, Tongren) county, were handed terms of from three to seven years by the County People’s Court for running an “illegal organization,” citing information from the Dharamsala, India-based Tibetan Centre for Human Rights and Democracy (TCHRD). Authorities had additionally accused the men — Gendun Soepa, Drukbum Tsering, Bende Dorje, Tashi Tsering, Sonam Gyal, Dargye, Shawo Tsering, Khajam Gyal and Choesang — of usurping the duties of already established village committees, “extortion,” and “gathering people to disturb social order,” the group said at the time. Detained in July 2018, the nine men were formally arrested in August, and were serving their sentences at a large prison facility in Rebgong, a second Tibetan source in exile told RFA. “Though the prison is very close to Horgyal village, their families and relatives were never allowed to meet them over the last several years,” said the source, who also declined to be named. “Sonam Gyal’s health was not in a good state for a long time while in prison, but we don’t know much about his current health status, even though he is released. … People in the region were all too scared to talk about it and tried to avoid the conversation.” The second source said that the health conditions of the six still in prison are also uncertain. Petition to reclaim land In a petition signed on Feb, 21, 2017, the nine, part of a larger group of 24, had mobilized village support to demand the return of Horgyal village land handed over for use by three brick factories in exchange for lease payments to the village that ended when the works were closed down by government order in 2011. For the next seven years, authorities compensated the factories annually for their loss of business, though payments to the Horgyal village government then stopped, TCHRD said in its statement at the time of their sentencing, adding that villagers had called since then for the land’s return. Two years before, a Tibetan monastery in Rebgong had appealed for the return of property formerly leased to a teacher’s college but seized by local officials as the college moved to a new location, Tibetan sources told RFA in an earlier report. The property, comprising one third of the total estate of Rongwo monastery, was confiscated in 2016, and monks had petitioned ever since for its return, sources said. Chinese development projects in Tibetan areas have led to frequent standoffs with Tibetans, who accuse Chinese firms and local officials of improperly seizing land and disrupting the lives of local people. Many projects result in violent suppression, the detention of protest organizers, and intense pressure on the local population to comply with the government’s wishes. Translated by Tenzin Dickyi. Written in English by Joshua Lipes.
Hong Kong says voters only have one option in ‘elections’ for city’s next leader
The Hong Kong government on Monday said only one valid candidate has been approved to run in a forthcoming “election” for the city’s top job, naming former police officer and security chief John Lee. “The name of the one validly nominated candidate for the sixth-term Chief Executive Election was gazetted today (April 18),” the government said in a statement on Sunday. The move comes after dozens of pro-democracy politicians and activists were arrested amid a citywide crackdown on public dissent and political opposition under a draconian national security law imposed on Hong Kong from July 1, 2020. The ruling Chinese Communist Party (CCP) had also pushed through changes to Hong Kong’s electoral system that effectively ensure that only “patriots” backed by a slew of CCP-backed committees and the national security police could make the slate. Now, even the appearance of choice appears to have been dispensed with. The government’s Candidate Eligibility Review Committee, chaired by financial secretary Paul Chan said the 786 nominations garnered by Lee from the 1,500-strong Election Committee were valid. The announcement came as a well-known figure from the 2019 protest movement calling for fully democratic elections was convicted of “organizing an illegal assembly” in a court in Eastern District. David Li, a protester known by his nickname Brother Lunch, after he appeared in Eastern Magistrate’s Court in Hong Kong and was found guilty of “organizing an illegal assembly” and released on bail pending a social services report, April 19, 2022. Credit: RFA. Brother Lunch David Li, known by his protest nickname Brother Lunch, appeared in Eastern Magistrate’s Court on Tuesday, was found guilty and released on bail pending a social services report. The court found that Li had repeatedly shouted slogans and made hand gestures at the International Financial Center, signaling the “five demands, not one less” of the protest movement which included universal suffrage and no limits on candidacy, as well as greater police accountability and an amnesty for political prisoners. The fact that others joined in, and that Li appeared to be looking to see the effects of his demonstration on others, meant he had organized an assembly, despite the fact that he had stuck to a requirement for 1.5 social distancing in place at the time. The defense said Li is autistic and has a diagnosis of ADHD, and called for his young age and rehabilitation to be taken into account. Li was a regular participant in the “lunch with you” gatherings during the 2019 campaign to prevent legal amendments allowing the extradition of alleged criminal suspects to face trial in mainland China, which later broadened to include calls for full democracy and official accountability. His conviction came as the creator of a banned sculpture commemorating the 1989 Tiananmen massacre said he was unable to move his work out of Hong Kong, because at least 12 logistics companies had refused to take on the job. The Pillar of Shame memorial to victims of the 1989 Tiananmen Square massacre in Beijing is shown at the University of Hong Kong in a May 2021 photo. Credit: AFP. NSL scares shippers Danish artist Jens Galschiøt said he has been working with the Danish foreign ministry in a bid to get the sculpture out of Hong Kong, but that no removal company would move it from its current location to a cargo terminal at Hong Kong’s airport. Galschiøt said he has been turned down by at least 12 companies, who said they feared that moving the sculpture would put them in breach of the national security law. He said there appears to be a greatly diminished trust in the city’s judicial system since the law took effect. Galschiøt revealed plans for smaller replicas of the sculpture to be placed in universities around the world, to serve as a focus for commemorating the dead of Tiananmen Square. He said the statue had been cut into two parts by University of Hong Kong management at the time of its removal on Dec. 23, 2021. The statue was placed on the university campus by the now disbanded Hong Kong Alliance in Support of Democratic Patriotic Movements of China, which had it on loan from Galschiøt. 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. The group was one of a number of civil society groups that disbanded following investigation by national security police. The annual Tiananmen massacre vigils the Alliance hosted on June 4 often attracted more than 100,000 people, but the gatherings have been banned since 2020, with the authorities citing coronavirus restrictions. China’s Hong Kong and Macau Affairs Office had previously accused the organization of inciting hostility and hatred against the CCP and the central government. Translated and edited by Luisetta Mudie.
Dalai Lama to visit Ladakh in first trip since pandemic’s start
Tibetan spiritual leader the Dalai Lama will visit India’s northwestern territory of Ladakh later this year in his first trip away from his residence since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic two years ago, sources said this week. The visit, which will take place between July and August, was made at the invitation of a high-level delegation from Ladakh, a strategically sensitive area where thousands of Indian and Chinese troops clashed in June 2020, with deaths reported by both sides in the fighting. News of the trip was announced on Monday by delegation members Thiksey Rinpoche, a former member of the Indian parliament’s upper house, and Thupten Tsewang, also a former Indian MP and now president of the Ladakh Buddhist Association. “We made the request during our special audience with His Holiness the Dalai Lama, and he agreed to visit and bless devotees in Ladakh this summer,” Thiksey Rinpoche said following an April 18 meeting at the spiritual leader’s residence in Dharamsala, India, the seat of Tibet’s exile government, the Central Tibetan Administration. The Dalai Lama, who last visited Ladakh in 2018 and spent 19 days there, had been unable to visit again in recent years because of the COVID-19 pandemic, said Thupten Tsewang, also a member of the delegation. “Now, the people of Ladakh will be very happy to hear this news, and we are all very delighted,” Tsewang added. Banned by Chinese authorities in Tibet, celebrations of the Dalai Lama’s July 6 birthday have been held by large gatherings in Ladakh in recent years, sources say. Concerns have been raised over the advancing age of the now 86-year-old spiritual leader, with Beijing claiming the right to name a successor after he dies, and the Dalai Lama himself — the 14th in his line — saying he will be reborn outside of areas controlled by China. Formerly an independent nation, Tibet was invaded and incorporated into China by force more than 70 years ago, and the Dalai Lama and thousands of his followers later fled into exile in India and other countries around the world following a failed 1959 national uprising against China’s rule. Tibetans living in Tibet frequently complain of discrimination and human rights abuses by Chinese authorities and policies they say are aimed at eradicating their national and cultural identity. Translated by Tenzin Dickyi for RFA’s Tibetan Service. Written in English by Richard Finney.
Shanghai police warn bereaved families of elderly COVID-19 patients not to speak out
Authorities in Shanghai are warning the families of elderly people who have died of COVID-19 not to talk to the media, as the omicron outbreak rips through at least one hospital in the city, causing an unknown number of deaths. At least 27 elderly people in Donghai Hospital in Shanghai’s Pudong New District have died of COVID-19, with many more deaths suspected as a result of an outbreak among staff and patients. Some families have refused to have their loved ones’ remains cremated, and have been warned not to talk to foreign media by police, a person who has spoken to the families told RFA. “A person identifying as a police officer told me that they are conveying a message to families from the internet police in Pudong; it’s not the hospitals that are contacting them,” Yue Ge, a Chinese YouTuber who has been following the outbreak among the elderly closely, told RFA. “[This person] said they would let it go as understandable if they spoke to Chinese media, but that they mustn’t talk to foreign media, on pain of legal consequences,” Yue said. The warning comes after several families of elderly people who died in the Donghai Hospital after being admitted for COVID-19 claimed that the hospital had under-reported the number of patients who have died of the disease. “The families counted and found [references to] 27 bodies, which basically means that there were 27 dead bodies that tested positive for COVID-19,” Yue said. “Some of the Donghai families are saying that the Donghai Hospital has totally failed to contain an outbreak [of nosocomial infections] that started in mid-April,” he said. “According to their account, deaths are still happening there,” he said. ‘No means of controlling it’ Yue said the hospital is understaffed, with at least 80 percent of its staff dispatched elsewhere for disease control and prevention work, and elderly people admitted there aren’t being properly cared for or treated. He said the figure of 27 deaths didn’t include people who had died there due to other causes than COVID-19. Yue said large numbers of elderly patients with the virus are also being sent to temporary field hospitals or designated hospitals, with fears that some may even have died due to neglect or starvation. “In the two weeks or more since the start of April, there have been four staff changes among the nurses on the ward where [some of the elderly patients] are,” Yue said. “Three of them were due to the fact that the nurses tested positive.” “The fourth just got there … but the family fear that transmission is still occurring,” he said. “It seems they have no effective means of controlling it.” “The nursing staff are already in full PPE, but transmission is still taking place; they can’t stop it, and the new nurses aren’t paying full attention to taking care of the elderly because they’re afraid of getting infected too,” Yue said. Yue said there are also concerns that the hospital will start editing death certificates to suggest that COVID-19 wasn’t the primary cause of death, and that the patients had died “with” it rather than “of” it. “They got the feeling that there is a certain amount of embellishment or editing of medical records going on after the event,” Yue said. “The official response is that the charts have to be written up after attempts to resuscitate someone.” In this image taken from video provided by Beibei, who asked to be identified only by her given name, residents take a rest at Shanghai’s National Exhibition and Convention Center, which converted to a quarantine facility set up for people who tested positive but have few or no symptoms, April 15, 2022. Credit: Beibei via AP ‘Who are people supposed to talk to?’ Wuhan-based activist Zhang Hai, who has campaigned for redress after his father died in the early days of the pandemic, said the government is suppressing a huge amount of information about the current outbreak. “We don’t have a free press in China, so there are no reasonable channels available for us to tell the rest of the world what’s happening to ordinary people,” Zhang said. “This is because our domestic media organizations are all controlled by the government.” “Who are people supposed to talk to, if not foreign media? Their loved ones have been treated unfairly and lost their lives,” he said. “Anyone with a bit of courage would find it impossible not to speak out,” Zhang said. Meanwhile, some residents of Shanghai have been posting notices in their doors and windows refusing to take any more PCR tests after many rounds of citywide mass testing. “No PCR tests: negative antigen self tests,” read one notice, a photo of which was sent to RFA. “Negative all along,” read another card. The notices are an indicator of growing public anger at the citywide lockdown, which comes after the city’s leaders were repeatedly told to pursue the ruling Chinese Communist Party (CCP)’s zero-COVID strategy, regardless of how hard it was to keep 26 million people stuck at home amid lack of resources and food shortages. Dozens of residents of one residential community responded with “we don’t want to,” after their neighborhood committee told them to line up downstairs for yet another round of PCR testing. Many are unclear why they need to be repeatedly tested if they haven’t been outside their homes for weeks, according to Zheng Jianming, a resident of Jiading district. “We have done more than 20 PCR tests, so what else is there left to do?” Zheng said. “We are all negative, we can’t go out, so we can’t get infected.” “And getting a PCR test could put you at risk; we think it’s now the biggest source of potential infection,” he said. “We’ve all stopped going for PCR tests in the past few days; fewer and fewer people are doing them.” Compulsory PCR testing Current affairs commentator Zhang Jianping said the repeated rounds of PCR testing was “bizarre.”…
Russia says military drills planned with Vietnam
As fighting rages across Ukraine, Russia and Vietnam are planning to hold a joint military training exercise, Russian state media reported Tuesday, a move that analysts described as “inappropriate” and likely to “raise eyebrows” in the rest of the region. It comes amid international outrage over Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and the mounting civilian death toll there. It also coincides with U.S. preparations to host a May 12-13 summit in Washington with the Association of Southeast Asian Nations, including Vietnam. Russian state-run news agency RIA Novosti said the initial planning meeting for the military training exercise was held virtually between the leaders of Russia’s Eastern Military District and the Vietnamese army. The two sides “agreed on the subject of the upcoming drills, specified the dates and venue for them” and “discussed issues of medical and logistic support, cultural and sports programs,” the news agency reported without giving further details. Col. Ivan Taraev, head of the International Military Cooperation Department at the Eastern Military District, was quoted as saying that the joint exercise aims “to improve practical skills of commanders and staffs in organizing combat training operations and managing units in a difficult tactical situation, as well as developing unconventional solutions when performing tasks.” The two sides also discussed what to call the joint exercise. One of the proposed names is “Continental Alliance – 2022.” Russian Defense Minister Sergey Shoigu, right, and his then-Vietnamese counterpart Ngo Xuan Lich, left, reviewing an honor guard in Hanoi, Vietnam, Tuesday, Jan. 23, 2018. Shoigu was on a visit to Vietnam to boost military ties between the two countries. Credit: AP ‘Inappropriate decision’ Vietnamese media haven’t reported on the meeting, nor the proposed exercise. Vietnamese officials were not available for comment. “This is a totally inappropriate decision on Vietnam’s part,” said Carlyle Thayer, professor emeritus at the New South Wales University in Australia and a veteran Vietnam watcher. “The U.S. is hosting a special summit with Southeast Asian leaders in May,” Thayer said. “How will the Vietnamese leader be able to look Biden in the eye given the U.S. clear stance on the Ukrainian war and the Russian invasion?” “This is not how you deal with the world’s superpower,” he said. Earlier this month, Vietnam voted against a U.S.-led resolution to remove Russia from the U.N. Human Rights Council. Before that, Hanoi abstained from voting to condemn Russia’s invasion of Ukraine at the U.N. General Assembly. “As Russia’s closest partner in the region, Vietnam wants to demonstrate that it still has a firm friend in Southeast Asia,” said Ian Storey, senior fellow at the ISEAS-Yusof Ishak Institute in Singapore. “But this joint exercise is likely to raise eyebrows in the rest of the region,” Storey said. Vietnam and Russia have a long-established historical relationship that goes back to the Soviet era. Russia is Vietnam’s first strategic partner, and one of its three so-called “comprehensive strategic partners,” alongside China and India. Moscow was also Hanoi’s biggest donor until the collapse of the Soviet Union and the Eastern Bloc. “Vietnam’s nuanced approach to the Russia-Ukraine war and its refusal to single out Russia’s invasion suggest introspection in Hanoi over its foreign and defense policy calculations,” wrote Hoang Thi Ha, a Vietnamese scholar at the ISEAS – Yusof Ishak Institute. The Russia-led war in Ukraine “presented a hard choice for Hanoi between preserving the fundamental principle of respect for a sovereign nation’s independence and territorial integrity and maintaining its good relations with Russia — a key arms supplier and a major oil and gas exploration partner in the South China Sea,” Ha said. Political message That explains Vietnam’s moves but there are distinctions between casting votes at the U.N. and holding joint military activities. The latter would send a wrong message about Vietnam’s intention to work with the West and raise its profile among the international community, analysts said. In particular, the past decade or more has seen a notable growth in ties between the U.S. and Vietnam, which share a concern over China’s assertive behavior in the South China Sea. Details of the proposed Russia-Vietnam exercise have yet to be made public, and already some observers are expressing doubts that it would take place. A Vietnamese analyst who wished to stay anonymous as he is not authorized to speak to foreign media said the Russian side announced similar exercises in the past which didn’t materialize. The Press Service of Russia’s Eastern Military District also said back in 2015 that the first bilateral military drill between Russia and Vietnam would take place in 2016 in Vietnamese territory. The supposed drill was rescheduled to 2017 but in the end didn’t happen at all. Vietnam has, however, taken part in a number of multilateral military exercises with Russia. The latest was the first joint naval exercise between Russia and countries of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations last December. The Eastern Military District, headquartered in Khabarovsk, is one of the five operational strategic commands of the Russian Armed Forces, responsible for the Far East region of the country. The district was formed by a presidential decree, signed by the then-President Dmitry Medvedev in September 2010.
North Korea’s weapons system test seen as boosting short-range nuclear capabilities
North Korea said it tested a new “tactical-guided weapon” on Saturday designed to bolster its nuclear capabilities, although experts questioned how big of a military advance the launch represents when Pyongyang has no miniature warheads. The state-run Korea Central News Agency said the test was successful and the new weapons system “is of great significance in drastically improving the firepower of the frontline long-range artillery units and enhancing the efficiency in the operation of tactical nukes of the DPRK and diversification of their firepower missions.” The launch came days before the U.S. and South Korea on Monday began annual joint military exercises, which the North says threatens its sovereignty. The new weapons system, though classified as long-range artillery by North Korea, is not different from guided missiles, Jeffery Lewis of the California-based Middlebury Institute of International Studies’ East Asia Nonproliferation Project, told RFA’s Korean Service Monday. “North Korea uses the phrase ‘Hwasong artillery’ to refer to its long-range ballistic missiles. This is probably what the U.S. government calls a ‘close-range ballistic missile’ that is apparently capable of delivering a nuclear warhead about 100 km,” Lewis said. Photos of the tested weapon appear to show “some kind of heavy rocket artillery or close-range ballistic missile,” Ian Williams of the Center for Strategic International Studies (CSIS) in Washington told RFA. Williams likened the projectile to the KN-25, a tactical ballistic missile North Korea first tested in July 2019. “The rhetoric about nuclear fighting capability could be North Korea signaling this rocket is meant to deliver a tactical nuclear weapon. However, we have not seen evidence that North Korea has been able to miniaturize its nuclear weapons to this extent,” he said. The Pentagon’s description of the new weapon as a “long-range artillery system” was one of many choices, said Ankit Panda of the Washington-based Carnegie Endowment for International Peace. “Tactical-ballistic missile, close-range ballistic missile, and even long-range artillery system are all reasonable ways of defining this new ‘tactical-guided weapon,’” he told RFA by email “The main significance of this weapon is its presumptive nuclear weapons delivery role,” said Panda. The Rand Corporation’s Bruce Benet said having built-in guidance makes a rocket a missile, “so these apparently guided artillery rockets are actually guided artillery missiles.” Benet also expressed doubts North Korea’s claim that the new missile could carry a nuclear weapon. “Even if the new missiles did, the North could always have used its KN-23 and other larger missiles to deliver nuclear weapons close to the battlefield, so this new type of missile appears to have more political impact than military impact,” he said. Though he didn’t know what type of weapon was actually fired, David Maxwell of the Foundation for Defense of Democracies in Washington said the weapon was a means for Pyongyang to further its geopolitical strategy. “This is likely in support of the regime’s political warfare strategy and blackmail diplomacy to use threats, increased tensions and provocations to gain political and economic concessions,” he told RFA. “In the context of the regime’s objective to dominate the peninsula, this weapons test supports the development of advanced military capabilities to support warfighting to eventually use force to achieve unification under the rule of the Guerrilla Dynasty and Gulag State. This test serves two purposes: support to blackmail diplomacy and support to warfighting,” Maxwell said. The U.S. remains open to engagement with North Korea, U.S. State Department spokesperson Ned Price said at a news briefing. “We have … sought to make very clear to the DPRK that the door to diplomacy is not closed, that it does remain open, but that the DPRK needs to cease its destabilizing actions and instead choose the path of engagement, something it has not yet done,” said Price. “Unfortunately, it is the DPRK that has failed to respond to our invitations, and instead they’ve engaged in this series of provocations, including the ICBM launches in recent weeks,” he said. The U.S. Department of Defense declined to release intelligence assessments but confirmed the weapons test and reaffirmed Washington’s commitment to the defense of its allies in the region.
Former Vietnamese coast guard leadership charged with embezzlement
Authorities in Vietnam have arrested seven coast guard officers, including the former commander and the top Communist Party leader, for allegedly embezzling the military branch’s funds in the country’s latest high-profile corruption case, media reports said. In mid-April arrests announced on Monday included former coast guard commander of the, Lt. Gen. Nguyen Van Son, and the former political commissar, Lt. Gen. Hoang Van Dong. Both men had previously been confined to their homes after being dismissed from the coast guard and all other party positions in October 2021 during a review of the coast guard’s Vietnamese Communist Party leadership The review found that between 2015 and 2020 the leadership “lacked responsibility, leadership, direction, examination and monitoring.” It reported serious violations in financial management, the procurement of technical equipment, and the prevention and control of smuggling. Also charged with embezzlement after being dismissed after the review were the former deputy commander and chief of staff, Maj. Gen. Pham Kim Hau; the former deputy commander, Maj. Gen. Bui Trung Dung; the former deputy political commissar, Maj. Gen. Doan Bao Quyet; and the former deputy commander, Full Col. Nguyen Van Hung; and the deputy head of the Finance Department, Sen. Col. Bui Van Hoe. The Vietnamese Coast Guard is a young force. It was established in 1998 but has grown rapidly. Amid rising tensions in the South China Sea, Vietnam has prioritized maritime security, and the Vietnamese navy and coastguard have received large investments from the government budget. However, observers say that big money and the lack of transparency has led to rampant corruption in the system. The sacking of the coast guard generals could serve as a warning signal for authorities to tighten control over government funds invested in law enforcement, analysts say. The Ministry of Defense’s Criminal Investigation Agency, meanwhile, has been conducting another investigation related to oil and gas management violations. The agency has prosecuted 14 people for taking bribes, including Maj. Gen. Le Xuan Thanh and Maj. Gen. Le Van Minh. Translated by Anna Vu. Written in English by Eugene Whong.
Chinese censors, police go after list of Shanghai dead, zero-COVID critics
Ruling Chinese Communist Party (CCP)-backed censors have deleted an online list of people who died as a result of the Shanghai lockdown, and blocked the URL after internet users saved it to a blockchain-based site. “They did not die of COVID-19, but because of it,” the introduction to the list on the Airtable collaboration platform — which uses blockchain technology — said. “They should neither be ignored, nor forgotten.” The site showed “incomplete numbers” of more than 152 people whose deaths were believed to be directly linked to the CCP’s zero-COVID policy and stringent lockdowns that have dragged on in Shanghai for weeks. Searches for the list yielded no results on Weibo on Monday, with one repost of the Airtable URL to the social media platform yielding a notice that read: “This content cannot be viewed at this time.” Among dozens of others, the list names Qian Wenxiong, a former official at the Hongkou district maternal and child health center, as having committed suicide; Zhou Shengni, a nurse at the Dongfang Hospital, as having died of an asthma attack; Wei Guiguo, vice president of Netcom Securities, as having died of a cerebral hemorrhage; and “Captain Zhao,” a security guard at the Changning Hongkang Phase III residential community, as having died of overwork. Several suicides are recorded in the list, many as a result of people jumping from tall buildings. “Someone put the list of the dead onto the blockchain now, because the authorities deleted the post titled ‘Shanghai’s Dead’ yesterday,” internet user Zhou Ni told RFA. “It can’t be deleted, but the website has been blocked in China, so people there can no longer see it.” “Anyone in China will have to circumvent the Great Firewall to see it,” Zhou said. Meanwhile, Shanghai-based rapper Fang Lue, known by his stage name ASTRO, said he had taken down a video of a song he wrote about lockdown titled “New Slave.” “I am very grateful yet nervous that my song “New Slave” has been getting a lot of attention in recent days,” Fang wrote in a statement posted to his YouTube channel. “I had essentially hoped to use this song to call for more reflection and debate about the particular time we are living through and the problems we are having,” he said. “It was never my intention to bring up unfounded criticisms.” “I was told that there have been some reposts and appropriations of my song on other social platforms, alongside messages that are a long way from what I wanted, so I have deleted my public video of New Slave on YouTube,” Fang wrote. The song’s lyrics included the lines “When freedom of thought and will are imprisoned by power … when people who aren’t sick are locked up at home and treated as if they are sick, yet those who are truly sick can’t get into a hospital … it stinks; the stench of rotting souls fills the air.” “Open your mind, just open your mind,” Fang sings. “How much guilt and pain does the prosperity of skyscrapers cover up?” Before it was deleted, “New Slave” had gone viral on China’s tightly controlled internet, with commentators saying this kind of social commentary was exactly what rap should be doing, and supporting Fang to carry on writing and performing. The CCP has banned hip-hop from social media since the beginning of the year, and its propaganda and cultural officials have ordered entertainment platforms to avoid any “non-mainstream” cultural performances characterized as “decadent” by its directives. Protest slogans have also been popping up on the streets of Shanghai in recent days, according to photos posted to Twitter, one of which riffs on a common notice left in place of deleted content by censors: “This content can’t be viewed due to violations [of relevant laws and regulations].” Others have simply complained that “People are dying,” or referenced the “list of the dead.” Meanwhile, vice premier Sun Chunlan was found to have filmed some of her reported “visit” to Shanghai on the roof of the headquarters of a state-owned enterprise, rather than in Menghua Street, as claimed in the official footage. And rights activist Liu Feiyue was summoned by local police for questioning after he criticized COVID-19 restrictions in Suizhou. Liu was suspected of “violating supervision and management regulations,” according to the Zengdu branch of the Suizhou municipal police department, according to a copy of the summons uploaded to Twitter. He was ordered to go to the Dongcheng police station at 9.00 a.m. Monday local time for questioning. Liu Feiyue, who founded the Civil Rights and Livelihood Watch website, was convicted of “incitement to subvert state power” on Jan. 29, 2017 after giving interviews to foreign media. He was sentenced to five years in prison, deprived of political rights for three years, and had 1.01 million yuan of personal assets confiscated. He was awarded the 9th Liu Xiaobo Writers of Courage Award in November of the same year, as well as the 13th Writers in Prison Award from the Independent Chinese PEN Association. Translated and edited by Luisetta Mudie.
Foreign students ‘taken from Shanghai’ as teachers resign from international schools
The Shanghai lockdown has prompted an exodus of foreign students and teaching staff, as the city reported its first deaths from COVID-19. Foreign residents of the city, many of whom were working in the education sector, are being evacuated, with many consulates arranging for evacuation of their nationals back home, according to social media posts. “It’s not just in Shanghai; teachers at the best international school in China have left,” Fudan University graduate Li Min told RFA. “They sent out a letter saying that while they have more than 100 years of history as an international school, the lockdowns have left them feeling hopeless in just a short period of time.” “A large number of teachers [in Shanghai] have [also] resigned, because they can’t guarantee normal food and drink supplies there.” One announcement from an international school in Shanghai seen by RFA said in a letter to parents: “Currently, 28 teachers have indicated that they may leave Shanghai by June 2, and 24 of them are expected to return to Shanghai in time for the next academic year.” It said the school would move to distance learning until then. “We must create an environment that retains our top teachers, rather than forcing them to resign or to hesitate about their responsibilities,” the letter said. The South Korean consulate meanwhile wrote to Fudan University calling on university authorities to release the remaining South Korean students still locked down on campus. “Last week, half of the international students in China were evacuated by plane,” the letter said. “There are still [South] Korean students in various schools.” “The Korean consulate wrote to Fudan University because the school wasn’t cooperating … and refused to allow them to leave.” The letter described the students as “extremely panicked and helpless.” A December 2019 file photo showing a sign of Fudan University , One of China’s top universities, on the campus in Shanghai. Credit: AFP. 40,000 Japanese nationals A Shanghai resident surnamed Sun said Fudan’s foreign students have been transported out of Shanghai to isolation facilities in Zhejiang, Jiangsu and other provinces. “The foreign students at Fudan are no longer in Shanghai and have been moved to Zhejiang and Jiangsu,” Sun said. “They got taken away when the temporary hospitals no longer had enough space.” The Consulate General of Japan in Shanghai has also written to the local authorities to ask how long the lockdown will continue. In a letter to deputy mayor Zong Ming, it said that around 40,000 Japanese nationals are currently living in Shanghai, and are “facing an unprecedented and difficult situation.” It said some 11,000 Japanese-invested companies had been unable to operate normally for more than a month. “The impact on the business activities of enterprises has become increasingly serious,” it said. A Shanghai-based scholar surnamed Fan said the letter was a thinly veiled warning that Japanese companies could relocate, if the situation doesn’t improve soon. Three official deaths Health officials said on Monday that just three people have died from Covid-19 in Shanghai since the citywide lockdown began last month, although hundreds of thousands of cases of omicron have been recorded. Public anger among Shanghai’s 26 million residents over the ongoing restrictions is growing, amid ongoing complaints of food shortages, substandard and unsafe accommodation in isolation facilities and heavy-handed enforcement by officials. A Shanghai resident surnamed Lu said more than 20 million are totally confined to their homes, without external help for domestic chores like emptying septic tanks, fixing broken plumbing or water heating systems, as well as being barred from seeking hospital treatment without a negative PCR test, which can arrive too late for those in urgent need of care. “There are new issues starting to emerge,” Lu said. “For example, a friend of mine’s Wifi has been down for the past two weeks, so it’s been tough on them, staying at home.” “Yesterday, a friend’s water heater broke down, and another friend’s refrigerator the day before that, and another’s gas stove,” she said. “No-one came out to repair these things because the whole of Shanghai is shut down.” Online complaints have also pointed to garbage piling up in residential areas and overflowing septic tanks, while frail and elderly people have been forced to wait out the lockdown at home, alone. CCP leader Xi Jinping has repeatedly insisted on a zero-COVID approach, despite the ongoing outbreak, with officials warning that allowing the virus to rage unchecked through an under-resourced healthcare system and a sparsely vaccinated elderly age group could cause millions of deaths. But political commentators say Xi, who is seeking approval from party ranks for an unprecedented third term in office later this year, has staked his political reputation on the policy, and is unable to back down without admitting personal and political failure. Translated and edited by Luisetta Mudie.
Report: Taiwan plans upgrade of runway on disputed island
The Taiwanese military plans to extend a runway on a contested island in the South China Sea to accommodate fighter jets, local media reported on Monday, in a move that would likely trigger protests from other claimants. Taiwan’s government has previously pushed back against suggestions it might militarize the island, Taiping. Taiwan’s air force declined Monday to comment on the report. 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. United Daily News, a conservative newspaper in Taiwan, quoted an unnamed source as saying that the military is planning to finish another round of renovation works on Taiping this year, with an extension of the existing 1,150-meter-long airstrip by 350 meters. A 1,500-meter runway would be able to accommodate F-16 jet fighters and P-3C anti-submarine aircraft. Air force spokesperson Chen Guo-hua told RFA Mandarin Service that he was not aware of media reports and had no comment. If confirmed the news could provoke strong reactions from other claimants of the island. 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. Runway extension Taiwanese media had reported in the past about proposed plans to develop the infrastructure on Taiping Island including the runway extension. The plans were criticized by the Philippines and Vietnam as stoking tensions in the disputed South China Sea. Taiping is located in the north-western part of the Spratly islands, 1,500 kilometers (930 miles) from Taiwan and 853 kilometers (530 miles) from the Philippines. It is under the administration of Kaohsiung Municipality. It has been under Taiwan’s control since 1956 but the current runway was only built in 2008. According to a report on the website of the Asia Maritime Transparency Initiative at the Washington-based Center for Strategic and International Studies, “Beijing sees Taiwan’s development work on Taiping Island as a long-term strategic asset.” “China considers Taiwan to be a part of China and the runway or piers built on Taiping Island may be used by mainland China in the future after reunification of the two sides,” it said. The international tribunal in the case brought against China by the Philippines in 2016 however ruled that Taiping is a “rock” under the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea and therefore not entitled to a 200 nautical mile exclusive economic zone and continental shelf. Both Taiwan and the People’s Republic of China rejected this ruling. RFA Mandarin journalist Xia Xiao-hua in Taipei contributed to this report.
