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Category: East Asia
Chinese journalist sentenced in Hainan for smearing reputation of CCP heroes
Authorities in the southern province of Hainan have jailed a former journalist for “impeaching the reputation of heroes and martyrs” after he commented online about the portrayal of China’s role in the Korean War (1950-1953) in a ruling Chinese Communist Party (CCP) propaganda movie. Luo Changping was sentenced to seven months’ imprisonment by a court in the resort city of Sanya, which found him guilty of the charge in connection with his comments on “The Battle at Lake Changjin.” He was also ordered to make a public apology. Critics of the movie outside China say it never mentions that the Korean War was triggered by the North’s invasion of the South, and make it appear that the landing of U.S. forces at Incheon was an invasion out of the blue. Soldiers in the film are led to believe that they are ultimately fighting to protect China from a U.S. invasion, and Luo made fun of them as “stupid” in a social media post commenting on the movie. Luo was initially detained by police in Sanya in October 2021. The court found that while Luo deleted his post and apologized shortly afterwards, it had already been widely seen by other internet users, and “caused strong public indignation.” “Luo Changping’s remarks negated core socialist values and the spirit of resisting U.S. aggression and aiding Korea, disrupted social order and harmed the public interest, to a very serious degree,” the judgment said. However, it said the sentencing had been mitigated by Luo’s turning himself in, his guilty plea and acceptance of his punishment, as well as his willingness to pay 80,000 yuan (U.S. $12,000) in compensation to public welfare funds. The trial was reported in state media, but no footage of Luo’s guilty plea was used. Friends of Luo’s told RFA he will likely be released soon, as the sentence was equal to time already served in pretrial detention. But calls to Luo’s cell phone resulted in a shut down signal on Friday, while his accounts on WeChat and Weibo remained suspended. ‘Kill the chickens to frighten the monkeys’ U.S.-based legal scholar Teng Biao said the crime Luo was convicted of is in itself a violation of Chinese citizens’ constitutional right to freedom of expression. “The authorities like to use cases like this to kill the chickens to frighten the monkeys,” Teng told RFA. “The fact that even Luo Changping, who is a relatively well-known journalist, can still get arrested and sentenced to jail will make the deterrent even more effective.” “Even if others say similar things, the government can arrest them too, in their dozens, hundreds or even thousands, and jail them too,” Teng said. “The environment for freedom of speech and expression in China is getting worse and worse.” “The CCP uses … evil laws like ‘impeaching the honor of heroes and martyrs’ to deprive citizens of their basic rights and control them,” he said. A human rights lawyer who gave only the surname He agreed that such laws are problematic. “The whole concept is absurd,” He said. “How do you define a hero and what constitutes an insult?” “If you insulted [World War II hero] Sun Liren and called him a butcher, I think you’d be fine, because he was in the Kuomintang [the CCP’s political rivals],” he said. “But if you speak ill of a certain CCP general during the war against Japan, you could be guilty of this crime.” A fellow rights attorney surnamed Zhang said the CCP’s “defamation” law works similarly, as it has been used to prevent public criticism of officials. A resident looks out through a gap in the barrier at a residential area during a COVID-19 lockdown in Shanghai, China, May 6, 2022. Credit: Reuters Lockdown anthem arrest Meanwhile, authorities in Shanghai have hauled a man in for questioning after he sang the Internationale, an anthem of global communism, from his apartment during lockdown. “Arise, slaves to hunger and cold,” the Chinese version of The Internationale begins. “Arise, all those who suffer around the world.” In a video clip uploaded to social media, four police officers in full PPE are shown at the door of the man’s apartment. “We heard the Internationale. Please cooperate with our investigation,” one of them tells the couple. “We will investigate this and may issue a summons. Please cooperate.” The clip sparked intense discussion on Weibo, with many comments expressing incredulity that a communist anthem is deemed illegal in a communist country, particularly on the birthday of late supreme CCP leader Mao Zedong. “So we can’t even play the Internationale in socialist countries now?” one person commented, while another added: “What’s wrong with playing it on Mao’s birthday?” Veteran Beijing political journalist Gao Yu said the song likely cut too close to the bone for the authorities amid ongoing public anger at CCP leader Xi Jinping’s zero-COVID policy. The people of Shanghai are currently in the same situation as those slaves to hunger and cold in the Internationale, Gao told RFA. “It’s because it has that line about ‘slave to cold and hunger’ in it,” Gao said. “Slaves have no personal freedom, and they’re all in lockdown.” “They are living through cold and hunger right now,” she said. Former 1989 student leader Wu Jianmin said the CCP typically views expressions of public anger as an attempt to cause trouble for the regime. “The police didn’t just issue a reprimand; no, they will charge you with a crime straight away if you oppose Chinese government policy, Xi Jinping or the CCP, so many people don’t dare to oppose them openly,” Wu told RFA. “But they still need to vent their feelings, and they have found something to express their mood in the lyrics of The Internationale,” he said. “That’s why they won’t let people sing it during lockdown, because they think they are disrupting public order.” Gao said the CCP usually sings the anthem during its five-yearly national party congresses, the next of which is slated for later this…
Xinjiang officials said to pay Uyghurs to perform dance at Kashgar mosque
Authorities in Kashgar allegedly paid Muslim Uyghur men to dance outside the most famous mosque in northwestern China’s Xinjiang region to celebrate the end of Ramadan, a performance that was filmed and released by state media ahead of an anticipated visit by the United Nations human rights chief later this month. Kashgar locals told RFA that people were not allowed to pray at Id Kah Mosque but instead were organized to dance on Eid al-Fitr on May 3, as shown in a YouTube video posted by China News Service (Zhongxinwang) on Tuesday. Chinese tourists can been seen observing the dancing and taking photos in the square. A police officer from the city’s Kumdarwaza police station told RFA that prayers have not been allowed at the Id Kah Mosque since 2016. The dance was organized by residential committees, Chinese Communist Party organizations that oversee neighborhood units in cities and towns across China, he said. “Several of our colleagues went to the square and met residential committee officials, and they told them that they had brought people to perform Sama,” the officer, who did not provide his name, said. The Muztagh and Donghu residential committees sent about 500-600 people to perform the Sama, the officer added. “Several weeks before the festival, the residential committees created a list with the names of those who would attend the Sama,” he said. “On one list, I saw there were four to five people I knew on one floor of our building.” The U.S. and other countries have accused China of waging a campaign of genocide against the Uyghurs and other Turkic communities in Xinjiang through draconian policies designed to wipe away native cultures and traditions in the region, allegations the Chinese government has angrily disputed. The filmed dance may be the country’s latest effort to show all is well ahead of the visit from U.N. human rights chief Michelle Bachelet. Uyghur rights groups have pressed Bachelet to visit the region and release an overdue report on well-documented allegations of torture, forced labor and other severe rights abuses against the local population. The Donghu residential committee paid 120-150 yuan (U.S. $18-23) to those who went to Kashgar to perform the dance because it would take them at least half a day, the police officer said. A typical worker in Kashgar earns about 250-300 yuan a day. The Muztagh residential committee did not pay the Uyghurs, who comprise 90% of the residents in the community, to dance, he said. “No one can reject the demands of the residential committees, especially in the communities where Uyghurs live,” the officer said “I watched the video, and I guess some people missed the Sama dance because they haven’t danced it for six years,” he said. “Some people try to show themselves as being alive and happy — that’s what the residential committees want. “Moreover, after 2017, people became worried about approaching the mosque,” he added. “There is no such thing as running to Sama now. That’s why they paid them.” ‘Forced to attend’ In 2017, Chinese officials ratcheted up a crackdown on Uyghurs and other Turkic minorities, detaining hundreds of thousands in a network of government-run detention camps that China says are vocational training centers meant to prevent religious extremism and terrorism. Zumrat Dawut, a former Uyghur internment camp detainee who has said she was forcibly sterilized by government officials, said that if residential committee members sent notices to people via phone to appear at a particular place, they had to go to the site within 20 minutes. “There is sometimes a payment for those who participate in organized activities when investigators arrive,” said Dawut, who now lives in the U.S. “For example, when my father went to the mosque, he was paid 100 yuan for a day’s stay in the mosque.” Mamattohti Emin, a Uyghur who lives overseas, said he learned from acquaintances in Xinjiang that some of the Uyghurs who performed the Sama were paid by residential committees. “Some of them were family members of Uyghurs in captivity,” he said. “They were forced to attend and warned that otherwise they would no longer be able to see their relatives onscreen.” Ilshat Hassan Kokbore, a Uyghur political observer who lives in the U.S., posted a video clip of mostly men dancing in the square outside the historic mosque. A few women who appear to be Chinese tourists also are dancing. “Carefully observe a group of young people in uniform French style in front of the camera, not only do they not know how to dance Sama, but they also look around, obviously they are arranged actors!” Kokbore tweeted in Chinese. “The United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights has not yet set foot on the land of East Turkestan, the performance of ‘Made in China’ has begun!” the tweet says. “If the High Commissioner for Human Rights can finally make the trip, they will see a group of Uyghurs dancing with the wind, with tears of happiness, drinking the northwest wind, singing praises, and thanking the party-state!” Kokbore tweeted. In May 2021, the Xinjiang regional government invited foreign diplomats from more than 15 countries to observe live-streamed Eid al-Fitr festivities at several mosques in Xinjiang, including the Id Kah Mosque, the state-run Global Times reported. “This is the first time that the Xinjiang regional government held such a reception for Eid al-Fitr and invited foreign diplomats to observe — a move, officials and observers said, that showed the region’s sincerity and openness amid outside slander, as Xinjiang has nothing to hide,” the report said. Translated by Mamatjan Juma for RFA’s Uyghur Service. Written in English by Roseanne Gerin.
North Koreans roll their eyes during May Day lectures about socialism’s superiority
Workers in North Korea ridiculed their government’s May Day propaganda which touted the superiority of socialism at a time when most of the people are struggling to put enough food on the table, sources in the country told RFA. May Day, or International Workers’ Day, is an annual celebration of the fight for labor rights and an important holiday in communist countries. The North Korean government held special lectures for factory workers ahead of the holiday, where they emphasized the evils of capitalism to show why North Korean socialism is better. At one such lecture at the Chongjin Steel Factory in the northeastern province of North Hamgyong, workers were not buying the party official’s argument. “They gathered workers into conference rooms, pointing out the problems of capitalism for a whole hour, and then rambled on and on about socialism and how it is superior,” a source working in the factory told RFA’s Korean Service on condition of anonymity for security reasons. “The workers scoffed at the message, saying that nothing could be further from the truth,” he said. They even openly objected while the lecturer was speaking. “When he said that all the workers under the socialist system live happily and receive many benefits from their government, the workers cried out, ‘How can he tell such a lie with a straight face, knowing all the hardships we are facing right now?’” the worker said. “This kind of propaganda that reinforces the superiority of socialism is offending the workers, and we can remain silent no more,” he said. In the northern province of Ryanggang, the subject of the lecture was how workers’ independence has been trampled in capitalist countries and they are not treated like people, a worker at a factory there told RFA on condition of anonymity to speak freely. “Most of the workers are well aware that the lecture was unrealistic,” he said. “These days, we all know about how the capitalist countries are the richest, and we know about the rights that workers have from foreign and South Korean movies and TV shows, and from overseas radio broadcasts,” the second source said. The workers therefore ignored the lecture completely. “The reality is that no matter how much the speaker stresses that workers are exploited, pressured, subjugated and repressed under the capitalist system, his words are not being heard,” the second source said. “In the past, during these kinds of lectures, there would be many who actually agree, but these days we just don’t respond to these empty words that declare this as the ideal society in which our independent rights are guaranteed and we are all equal under the socialist system. “Most workers feel like they are at a dead end in terms of their livelihoods, and they express their dissatisfaction by agreeing just for appearances sake.” Translated by Claire Lee and Leejin J. Chung. Written in English by Eugene Whong.
Tibetan political prisoner in poor health said to be released from jail
Chinese authorities have released Tibetan political prisoner Norzin Wangmo, who was arrested in 2020 and sentenced to three years in prison for sharing information about Tibetans who self-immolated in protest of China’s repressive policies, a Tibetan living in exile told RFA on Thursday. “Norzin Wangmo was unexpectedly released on May 2 from a prison in Kyegudo, where she was serving a three-year term,” said the Tibetan, who declined to be identified for safety reasons. “Because of severe torture and ill treatment in prison, she can barely stand up on her feet. “She is currently being treated at her home because she is not allowed to visit hospitals for treatment,” said the source. “She is still closely monitored by the Chinese government.” Wangmo from Kham Kyegudo in Yushul (in Chinese, Yushu) Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture in Qinghai province was accused of sharing information about Tenzin Sherab who self-immolated in the prefecture’s Chumarleb, (Qumalai) county in May 2013. The woman, who is married and has young three children, was sentenced in May 2020 after a secret trial. Her family was not allowed to visit her while she was in prison despite frequent requests to do so. Due to strict restrictions and harsh policies in Tibet imposed by Chinese government, Wangmo’s case did not reach the Tibetan exile community until 20 months after her arrest. “Before her arrest, she had been interrogated for about 20 hours by local police,” said another Tibetan who lives in exile and has knowledge of the matter. “Her hands and feet were both shackled, and her family was allowed to see her only for a few minutes before she was taken into the prison,” the source said. “The clothes and other goods that her family brought for her were also returned.” Translated by Tenzin Dickyi for RFA’s Tibetan Service. Written in English by Roseanne Gerin.
High cost likely to derail Taiwan purchase of US helicopters
Days after Taiwan confirmed its plan to acquire American-made howitzers has been delayed because of the war in Ukraine, the island’s military is facing another snag in acquiring the U.S. defense equipment – this time because of cost. Defense Minister Chiu Kuo-cheng told a legislative session on Thursday that the asking price for the procurement of anti-submarine helicopters from the United States was “too high and beyond our capability,” local media reported. The Taiwanese Navy originally set aside a budget of U.S. $1.15 billion to purchase 12 MH-60R Seahawk anti-submarine warfare helicopters made by the aerospace giant Lockheed Martin but the choppers’ price is understood to have increased. Chiu did not indicate how much more expensive it became but a U.S. Defense Security Cooperation Agency’s statement on March 15 said Spain had been cleared to purchase eight MH-60R Seahawk helicopters, plus support and related equipment, for an estimated U.S. $950 million. That means 12 choppers would come with a price tag of at least U.S. $1.425 billion. Lockheed Martin said the MH-60R is “the most capable naval helicopter available today designed to operate from frigates, destroyers, cruisers and aircraft carriers.” There are currently more than 300 units in operation worldwide. Missiles delivery’s possible delay On Monday, Taiwan’s Defense Ministry confirmed that the first batch of U.S.-made M109A6 “Paladin” self-propelled howitzers will not be delivered in 2023 as planned as the production capacity of the U.S. arms industry has been affected by the ongoing Ukrainian war. Taiwan reached a deal last August to buy 40 M109A6 howitzers and related equipment at an estimated cost of U.S. $750 million. On Tuesday, the ministry said another procurement contract of U.S.- made portable Stinger missile launchers may also be delayed. Taiwan ordered 250 Stingers, made by Raytheon Technologies, with deliveries to be completed by the end of March 2026 but since Stingers and other hand-held missile systems are now in demand by the Ukrainian military, the completion date seems unlikely. Although Washington and Taipei do not have formal diplomatic ties, the U.S. is committed by law to help provide Taiwan with the means to defend itself. Those arms sales have long been an irritant in relations between Washington and Beijing which regards the island as part of China, although Taiwan governs itself. A file photo of a Y-8 Chinese military plane flying IN airspace between Okinawa prefecture’s main island and the smaller Miyako island in southern Japan, taken Oct. 27, 2013, by the Japan Air Self-Defence Force. This week, Taiwan said that Chinese Y-8 anti-submarine warfare aircraft have been put back on maritime patrol near island after one airplane reportedly crashed two months ago in the South China Sea. The Taiwanese Defense Ministry said in a statement that on Tuesday, a Y-8 entered Taiwan’s southwest air defense identification zone (ADIZ). An ADIZ is an area where foreign aircraft are tracked and identified before further entering into a country’s airspace. In March, the island’s intelligence agency said a Y-8 military aircraft crashed in the Gulf of Tonkin, prompting the People’s Liberation Army to set up a navigation exclusion zone in the adjacent waters to carry out search-and-rescue, and also military training. The alleged crash has not been confirmed by China.
Interview: ‘There was no overall logic to anything’
A Belgian national of Taiwanese descent has described living through the bureaucratic hell of the Shanghai lockdown, which left the city’s 26 million people confined to homes or makeshift hospitals for weeks on end with scant access to food, basic supplies and live-saving medical treatment for some. The woman, who gave only the surname Chang, told RFA her experiences after arriving back in the city where she currently works just as the lockdowns under the ruling Chinese Communist Party (CCP)’s zero-COVID policy were beginning: “The Shanghai I was seeing on [Chinese state] TV was quiet, with large numbers of volunteers, no shortage of supplies. The weather was good and everyone was full of confidence. There were no visible problems, so I wondered why my residential community was different from the rest. The Shanghai authorities put out a lot of information. We would check every morning how many people in our compound were infected. The city government would publish figures every few hours, and everyone in our [WeChat] friends circle would also communicate with each other, so we found out what was going on in other districts, too, if they were doing PCR testing. Gradually, we discovered that nobody could find anything to eat. One person said they had a single potato left in their home. Initially, we thought the lockdown would be for four days, so that’s what we had prepared ourselves for, mentally, psychologically. That is totally different from being locked down for a month. I really experienced that feeling of the days and nights merging into one. We had no way of knowing that they would keep postponing lifting the lockdown, again and again. We couldn’t trust our leaders … and we had no idea when it would end. My father is in hospital right now in Taiwan. If he had been in Shanghai, he wouldn’t have been able to go to hospital at all. Because to get into a Shanghai hospital, regardless of how seriously ill you are, no matter if it’s an emergency, you have to get a negative PCR test first. There are so many PCR tests getting done in Shanghai right now that you need to wait 12-48 hours for the result to come back. All I can say is, I’m glad my family wasn’t in Shanghai too. [Errors with names and results of PCR tests] were also happening to people around me. Someone would get their PCR test result on their mobile phone, then somebody would call them up and tell them that the result was wrong. So if you had gotten a negative result, you could be told by your neighborhood committee that it was actually positive, and that they had decided to haul you off to a makeshift hospital [for isolation]. Some people were hauled off to makeshift hospitals after waiting so long for a test result that they were already negative again. Just imagine what that’s like if there’s an error with your test result. You don’t know whom to turn to, to sort it out. Nobody knew what would happen from one day to the next. The people in charge didn’t know either. It felt like PCR testing was the only thing confirming my existing. And yet, I didn’t see the CDC taking any other [anti-COVID] measures apart from testing. Everyone was telling each other not to go get a PCR test if they had tested positive on a rapid antigen test [at home]. People were willing to cooperate. If they didn’t test, then they’d be recorded as not having it. The more people they tested, the more people would be found to have it. And all the time we were forced to buy [food and supplies] in groups, or putting pressure on the delivery guys [to bring food]. They had to cheat the system too, because they had to have a negative PCR to be allowed to work. The absurdities of that kind were unbelievable. I really don’t understand a country that can advance and progress so fast in space, military, weapons, and various areas of scientific research … and yet, two years in, in April 2022, they still don’t seem to have any understanding of this virus, and they don’t seem to have any vaccines against it. [The official rhetoric was all about] keeping their eyes on the prize of zero-COVID, tackling important nodes, taking faster and more effective action and measures, and winning the air-defense war against the pandemic as soon as possible. But they could have been talking about the war on pornography or corruption. There wasn’t much in [the Shanghai disease control and prevention] report about the actual virus. This was the official guidance. On April 26, it was all about keeping up the spirit of zero-COVID, on April 27, it was about fully implementing CCP general secretary Xi Jinping’s instructions. I couldn’t see any difference between the statements … they could equally well have been about fighting pornography or corruption. They were all the same. [Even after lockdown lifted, I heard about someone who] tried to leave the residential compound, where they checked all his papers, and he had everything, so he got as far as the highway, where there was a police roadblock, and the highway police wouldn’t let him through. They said he didn’t have a pass. He said he did, with his name on it. They said it should have his license plate on it, too, and that he should go back to his residential committee to ask for it. So he got off the highway, by which time all the roads back to his residential compound were blocked, and he couldn’t get back there. It took him five minutes to get to the highway, but an hour or two to get back to his compound. When he got there, the police in the compound told him they were only allowed to let people leave, but they weren’t allowed to let anyone back in again. It was the same everywhere. Everyone was…
Hong Kong pollster ‘had no choice’ but to leave city amid crackdown on dissent
An outspoken public opinion researcher who recently left Hong Kong for the U.K. did so after being questioned under the national security law, which has sparked a city-wide crackdown on public dissent and political opposition to the ruling Chinese Communist Party (CCP). Chung Kim-wah, deputy chief executive of Hong Kong’s Public Opinion Research Institute (PORI), announced he had left the city on April 24, to “live for a while in the U.K.,” he said in a Facebook post at the time. He told the Ming Pao newspaper at the time that he had been “invited for a chat” by the authorities in connection with a draconian national security law imposed on Hong Kong by the CCP from July 1, 2020. “It wasn’t just one time, either,” he told the paper. “People were telling me that I was in a lot of danger, if they were even going after Allan Au.” Au, a former TVB News producer and former RTHK radio show host who also wrote columns in Stand News and the Ming Pao, was taken away from his home in Kwai Chung on April 11 on suspicion of “sedition” under colonial-era laws. Au’s arrest for “conspiring to publish seditious material” came after his sacking from RTHK in June 2021 as the government moved to exert editorial control over the broadcaster. In a Facebook post announcing his departure, Chung said he didn’t want to “desert” his home city, but “had no other option.” Sources told RFA that Chung was initially interviewed by the authorities early in December 2021, as the authorities geared up to run the first-ever elections for the Legislative Council (LegCo) to exclude pro-democracy candidates in a system that ensures only “patriots” loyal to Beijing can stand. Followed at the airport Chung’s questioning came after he was criticized by pro-CCP figures for including a question about whether voters intended to cast blank ballots in the election, which they said could amount to “incitement” to subvert the voting system under the national security law. Simon Peh, commissioner of the Independent Commission Against Corruption (ICAC), said at the time that the agency was “looking into” whether or not HKPORI had broken the law. Chung later said he suspected he was being followed at the airport as he boarded a plane to leave the city. “There was a guy sitting in the corner the whole time who I had also seen at the front of the main entrance hall … and there were people [by the boarding gate] who weren’t passengers checking their phones and sending messages,” Chung wrote on his Facebook page after arriving in the U.K. “It was clear that they were all from the same troop … I don’t know who they were, maybe scouts or spies,” he wrote. “Members of the same species were all over the place.” Chung described a near-deserted airport full of empty waiting rooms, with only around 10 out of around 80 boarding gates in Terminals 1 and 2 in visible use. The CCP-backed Ta Kung Pao and Wen Wei Po news site described Chung’s departure in an April 25 report as “fleeing Hong Kong for fear of his crimes.” It once more referred to PORI’s question about blank ballots, as well as the fact that Chung was questioned by police in connection with a 2020 democratic primary that later resulted in the arrests of 47 former lawmakers and pro-democracy activists for “subversion.” The Hong Kong police responded that they didn’t comment on individual cases when contacted by RFA last week, but that action would be taken “in accordance with the law.” Questions remain over the fate of PORI in Chung’s absence. ‘Only lies are permitted’ Chung served as assistant professor in the Department of Applied Social Sciences at the Hong Kong Polytechnic University for more than 10 years, retiring in 2020 to devote himself to public opinion research work at PORI. He has always been an outspoken commentator on current affairs, social and public policy. “In Hong Kong today, there is no room for sincere speech. Only lies are permitted,” he wrote after his departure on Facebook. “Hong Kong may no longer be free from intimidation for [some of us], no longer a place where we can live a normal life.” Chung also expresses anger “at the constant intimidation and oppression of many of my elders and peers” and sadness over “so many younger people going to jail for daring to resist” during the 2019 protest movement and in protests over the national security law. He vowed to keep working on behalf of Hong Kong, and said the ultimate goal is to “find a way to go back home.” Since Chung left, former pro-democracy lawmaker and veteran social welfare activist Fernando Cheung has migrated with his family to Canada, according to media reports and Chung’s Facebook page. “I wish my esteemed friend Fernando Cheung and his family a happy life in Canada,” Chung wrote on his Facebook page on May 4. According to the South China Morning Post newspaper, Cheung responded by saying he needed to focus on taking care of his disabled daughter. “I am not yet in a stable situation now, but at least it is safe, and my basic freedoms no longer need to be granted by those in power,” it quoted Cheung as saying. Former pro-democracy lawmaker Bottle Shiu also confirmed Cheung’s departure, the paper said. “This was what I told him when he boarded the plane: Thank you for fighting for Hong Kong until the last moment. Stay safe and take care of yourself. Fer, with countless vivid memories – in the classroom, on the streets, in Legco, courtroom and prison – goodbye to you,” it quoted Shiu as saying. Cheung, 65, was born in Macau and moved to Hong Kong at the age of seven, where he later graduated with a social work degree from Hong Kong Baptist University. His grown daughter suffers from a rare disease, and Cheung has been a staunch advocate for the…
Myanmar Bank missive suggests junta seeks more than financial ties with Russia
Recent moves by the Central Bank of Myanmar to promote cooperation between military-owned lenders and their Russian counterparts suggest the junta is seeking more than financial ties to the Kremlin and may be brokering a back channel for arms deals, analysts said Wednesday. In an April 25 letter, the Central Bank of Myanmar told the Myanmar Banking Association that five Russian banks will hold talks this month with local lenders, including the military backed Innwa and Myawaddy banks. The letter, which did not say which banks would be involved in the talks, may signal that the two junta-linked lenders plan to act as conduits for military purchases of Russian weaponry, economic and political analysts said. A Myanmar-based economist, who spoke on condition of anonymity citing security concerns, told RFA’s Myanmar Service the junta’s plan to link with Russian banks was part of a bid to show that its ties to Russia run “beyond economic ones.” He said establishing political and military ties to other larger nations is key to the junta’s survival at a time when the military leadership is being ostracized by the international community over its Feb. 1, 2021, coup and subsequent violent repression of opponents to its rule. According to the Bangkok-based Assistance Association for Political Prisoners, security forces have killed at least 1,821 civilians and arrested 10,526 more in the 15 months since the military seized power from the democratically elected National League for Democracy government, mostly during peaceful anti-coup protests. An arrangement to procure arms via the two banks stands to benefit both Russia, which has been increasingly cut off from the global financial system in the wake of its invasion of Ukraine, and the junta, whose arms suppliers have faced criticism for providing the regime with weaponry used to repress opponents to its rule. In March, the rights group Justice For Myanmar said in a statement that as a major supplier of arms and dual use goods to Myanmar’s military, Russia is “aiding and abetting the military’s genocide, war crimes and crimes against humanity,” and called for international action to stop the trade. It called for sanctions against 19 companies that it said have supplied Myanmar since 2018, including multiple subsidiaries of the Russian state-owned arms giant, Rostec, as well as manufacturers of missile systems, radar and police equipment. The group said many of the companies it identified have exported to Myanmar since the coup. A branch of the Myawaddy Bank in Yangon’s Yanken township, in a file photo. Credit: RFA ‘Boosting trade’ When asked for comment, junta deputy minister of information, Maj. Gen. Zaw Min Tun, told RFA that last week’s letter to the Myanmar Banking Association was related to boosting trade between Russia and Myanmar and had “nothing to do with arms.” “Russia wants to increase links in the trade and energy sectors, and [cooperation in] other sectors will follow,” he said. “[Myanmar’s] banking sector must be upgraded so businesses can grow. Foreign currency is not based on U.S. dollars alone.” Zaw Min Tun noted that recent inter-governmental initiatives between Beijing and Naypyidaw had established a system for trade through the direct exchange of Chinese yuan for Myanmar kyats. He said the junta is working to create a comparable system for trade with Myanmar’s neighbors Thailand and India. “Similarly, we are now working to facilitate trade between [Russia and Myanmar] with a direct exchange of the ruble and the kyat,” he said. The minister said that all purchases of arms are made on a government-to-government basis, adding that the need to establish banking links stems from junta plans to purchase energy from Russia, as well as import fertilizer from and export agricultural products to its Republic of Tatarstan. An official with a private bank in Myanmar, who declined to be named, told RFA that the Central Bank’s letter could indicate a strategy shift in line with Zaw Min Tun’s stated goals for the junta. “Before this Russian issue, there was the China Initiative … and you can now transfer money to China by going to the nearest Myanmar bank,” they said. “Now they are planning the same thing with Russia for a direct exchange between kyats and rubles. … So, there will be more countries that can use rubles as well as Myanmar’s currency. There will be more channels for all countries close to China and Russia to make their monetary system easier.” In October 2021, a delegation of the Russia-Myanmar Friendship and Cooperation Association visited Myanmar and met with Than Nyein, the governor of the Central Bank of Myanmar. Observers have said that the meeting could set the stage for linking the two countries’ banking systems as part of a bid by the junta to improve Myanmar’s banking sector. Ties beyond banking However, another official with a private lender in Myanmar, who also spoke anonymously, said that the junta is better off looking for other countries to work with, both because of Russia’s relatively poor economy and the stigma associated with its invasion of Ukraine. “I don’t think any private banks will get involved in this [initiative]. Myawaddy and Innwa are half-owned by the government, so I think only those banks will be involved,” they said. “Linking with these Russian banks is not going to bring much benefit. Other countries would have already done so if that was the case.” Myanmar-based businessman Nay Lin Zin told RFA that, despite Zaw Min Tun’s comments, he believes the Central Bank’s letter is about more than building links between banking systems. “I don’t think Innwa and Myawaddy Banks can accomplish much just by opening an account in Russia, but it might benefit them if they could open branch offices there or the Russians opened a branch office here,” he said. “There may be other purposes at play. Of course, it is better to have more channels to choose from than to rely on [the U.S. dollar] alone. But we can’t just ignore the dollar, which is accepted all over the world. We can’t demote…
Seven teachers from high school in China’s Xinjiang confirmed imprisoned
At least seven educators from a high school in the third-largest city in the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region (XUAR) have been imprisoned by Chinese authorities, a local police officer and school employees said. The seven imprisoned are among more than 10 teachers from the No. 8 High School in Ghulja (in Chinese, Yining) arrested in recent years amid an intensification of a crackdown on Uyghurs in the turbulent region that began in 2017, the sources said. RFA reported in April that Dilmurat Abdurehim, the school’s former principal who went missing nearly a year ago, was being detained in the city, according to municipal education officials and a Uyghur living in exile who provided information on the man’s disappearance. The Uyghur in exile, who requested anonymity for fear of reprisal by the Chinese government, told RFA that he found out that at least 10 other teachers from the high school had been arrested by authorities and provided the names of Abdurehim along with two others — Nighmet and Shohret. Through calls to local police and school employees, RFA confirmed that at least seven of the 10 were currently in prison. When RFA called a local police station located in the same area as the high school, a police officer said that around 20 to 30 teachers had been taken to “re-education centers” and seven or eight of them had been sentenced to prison. He also said that the other two who were imprisoned were Elshat and Nighmet. “There were 29 teachers [who were arrested or detained],” he said. Around 20 have been released so far.” “Around seven or eight [were arrested],” he said. “One’s name is Elshat. He is around 40 to 50 years old. The other one is Nighmet.” Ghulja’s No. 8 High School has about 4,000 students, about half of whom are ethnic Uyghurs and the other half Han Chinese, and 200 staff members, including Uyghur, Kazakh and Chinese teachers. It has provided what it calls “bilingual education” since 2010, requiring Mandarin to be used as the primary language of instruction in schools, with the Uyghur language and literature taught as subjects. A school official contacted by RFA acknowledged that some teachers had been detained by authorities but said that he did not know them and could not provide details because it was a “state secret.” He said the school’s human resources department would have more information about the imprisoned educators. When asked if Abdurehim, Nighmet and Shohret were among those arrested, he told RFA to contact municipal education officials. “I can’t tell you this,” he said. “This is definitely a state secret. If you insist on knowing know, you can ask the city education bureau.” An employee in the school’s human resources department said she could not provide information about the arrested teachers since she was fairly new to her position there, but she did not deny that some educators had been arrested by Chinese authorities. “If I knew all the names and details, I would tell you, but since I am new, I don’t have those details,” she said. A school security official told RFA that three Kazakh teachers had been taken to “re-education camps” but later were released and continued to work at the high school “There are some Kazakh teachers who were taken to re-education. Qemer, Nurjan and Ewzel were taken to re-education and came back later,” he said. Founded in 1934, the No. 8 High School was one of only two high schools in Ghulja at the time. After 1949, the school was renamed after Ehmetjan Qasimi, president of the Republic of East Turkistan which was established in the northern part of what is now the XUAR by Uyghurs and other Turkic ethnic groups in 1944 with help from the former Soviet Union. Qasimi and other republic leaders died in a mysterious airplane crash while flying to Beijing for a political consultation with the then Communist leaders of People’s Republic of China in 1949. Authorities have targeted teachers and intellectuals in Xinjiang because they are the brains of Uyghur society and the most significant means of passing on Uyghur culture and identity, Abdureshid Niyaz, an independent Uyghur researcher based in Turkey, told RFA in a 2021 report. More than 1.8 million Uyghurs and other Turkic minorities are believed to have been held in a network of detention camps in Xinjiang since 2017. Beijing has said that the camps are vocational training centers and has denied widespread and documented allegations that it has violated the human rights of Muslims living in in the region. The purges are among the abusive and repressive Chinese government policies that have been determined by the United States and some legislatures of Western countries as constituting genocide and crimes against humanity against the Uyghurs. Translated by RFA’s Uyghur Service. Written in English by Roseanne Gerin.
China casts its ‘SkyNet’ far and wide, pursuing tens of thousands who flee overseas
The Chinese Communist Party (CCP)’s law enforcement agencies routinely track, harass, threaten and repatriate people who flee the country, many of them Turkic-speaking Uyghurs, under its SkyNet surveillance program that reaches far beyond China’s borders, using a variety of means to have them forcibly repatriated. A video clip of a Uyghur mother and her 13-year-old daughter crying for help after being detained in Saudi Arabia and told they would be sent to China recently surfaced on social media, highlighting China’s use of pliant allies to circumvent criminal justice processes and ensure political refugees and Muslims are sent back. The Safeguard Defenders rights group has called on the Saudi authorities to release Abla Buhelchem and her daughter Babure Miremet immediately, as well as two other Uyghur men being held without charge by Saudi police. “We call on Saudi authorities to immediately release four Uyghurs – including a 13-year-old girl and her mother – who are at grave risk of enforced disappearance, torture and forced separation if sent back to China,” the group said in a statement on its website. Abla Buhelchem and her daughter were detained near Mecca and told by police they would be sent back to China along with Abla Buhelchem’s ex-husband Nurmemet Rozi and Hemdulla Weli, both of whom have been detained without charge since November 2020. Rozi and Weli were both in Saudi Arabian on pilgrimage, an act that the CCP deems “extremist” along with many other required expressions of Islamic faith, and were detained at the request of the Chinese embassy. It said the two men were moved from the detention center where they were being held in March 2022, and their whereabouts are currently unknown. Abla Buhelchem (L) and her 13-year-old daughter Babure Miremet (R), who have been detained in Saudi Arabia and told they would be sent to China. Credit: Uyghur Human Rights Project. ‘ Gross, flagrant or mass violations of human rights’ On Friday, April 1, United Nations legal experts said the four should on no account be sent to China. “The prohibition of refoulement is absolute and non-derogable under international human rights and refugee law,” the statement said. “States are obliged not to remove any individual from their territory when there are substantial grounds for believing that the person could be subjected to serious human rights violations in the State of destination, including, where applicable, the existence in the State concerned of a consistent pattern of gross, flagrant or mass violations of human rights.” Norway-based Uyghur scholar Abdul Ayup, said he last heard from Abla Buhelchem on April 9. “At that time, she had already arrived at the detention center in Riyadh,” Ayup said. “She said she was waiting for the Chinese embassy personnel. She said that she was told that she would be deported in three hours. She kept crying.” Abduweli, a person familiar with the situation, said all four were still in detention in Saudi Arabia as of April 28. He said he had tried to warn Abla Buhelchem of the danger, and advised her to leave the country, but she wanted to stay and tell her ex-husband’s story to the international community, fearing he would disappear and be forgotten about. “My friends who work in the Saudi government told me privately that Uyghurs shouldn’t come to Saudi Arabia.” “As far as I know, there has been no clear accusation until now, and the officials have not explained why they were arbitrarily arrested without any documentation,” Abduweli said. “This is very strange.” Lynn Maalouf, Amnesty International secretary-general for the Middle East and North Africa, said the forcible repatriation of the four Uyghurs was “unconscionable,” and a violation of Saudi Arabia’s obligations in international law. “In China, they will be arbitrarily detained, persecuted, and possibly tortured,” Maalouf said. Nurmemet Rozi (L)m Abla Buhelchem’s ex-husband, and Hemdulla Weli, who have been detained without charge in Saudi Arabia since November 2020. Credit: Safeguard Defenders Arab world repatriations In 2020, Saudi Arabia and 45 other countries signed a letter in support of China’s mass detention camps in Xinjiang, marking a “turning point” for Saudi foreign policy, according to Bradley Jardine, fellow at the Kissinger Institute for U.S.-China Relations. At least five other governments in the Arab world — Egypt, Morocco, Qatar, Syria and the United Arab Emirates — have detained, extradited, or participated in cross-border repression of Uyghurs at China’s request. And the problem isn’t confined to the Middle East. “It is very difficult for Uyghur advocates to travel to Central Asia now,” Omer Kanat, chairman of the executive committee of the World Uyghur Congress told RFA after being sent back to Turkey from Kazakhstan. “I was stopped by border officials while visiting Kazakhstan. I was interrogated by Kazakh security officers at the airport, who asked me why I came to Central Asia.” Beijing’s allies among Central Asian nations are grouped under its Shanghai Cooperation Organization initiative. “They told me that no member of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization is going to let me in, then they sent me back to Turkey,” Omer Kanat said. According to statistics from the Uyghur Human Rights Project and the Oxus Society for Central Asian Affairs, the Chinese government has detained, deported or extradited more than 1,300 Uyghurs since China’s “war on terrorism” began in 2014, most of the them from Muslim-majority countries. U.S.-based Freedom House has described in a recent report several key features of China’s transnational crackdown. Political dissidents, activists also sent back China will target ethnic groups like the Uyghurs, but also political dissidents, rights activists, journalists and former officials using its overseas networks. Between the launch of the SkyNet program in 2014 and June 2021, China repatriated nearly 10,000 people from 120 countries and regions, the report said. Yet according to Safeguard Defenders, just one percent are brought back to China using judicial procedures; more than 60 percent are just put on a plane against their will. “The diversity of the CCP’s so-called ‘extradition’ is something that worries us,” Chen Yanting of Safeguard Defenders told RFA. “For example, the Interpol red…
