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Category: East Asia
China deletes WHO chief’s criticism of zero-COVID policy from social media platforms
Ruling Chinese Communist Party (CCP) censors rushed to delete comments by the head of the World Health Organization (WHO) criticizing its zero-COVID policy as unsustainable from social media platforms in China on Wednesday. WHO chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus called on China to change its approach, saying CCP leader Xi Jinping’s favored policy “will not be sustainable” in the face of new fast-spreading variants of the virus. Tedros’ comments were deleted from Weibo and ignored by China’s tightly controlled state media. But foreign ministry spokesman Zhao Lijian hit back at a news conference on Wednesday. “We hope the relevant individual can view Chinese COVID policy objectively and rationally and know the facts, instead of making irresponsible remarks,” Zhao said. CCP commentator Hu Xijin said Tedros should “respect China.” “When he speaks specifically about China, he should think whether his words will have a positive effect on promoting solidarity in the fight against COVID-19 in China,” Hu, a former editor-in-chief of the CCP-backed Global Times, said via his Twitter account. Keyword searches on Weibo for “Tedros” in Chinese, as well as the equivalent abbreviation to WHO yielded no results on Wednesday, while users were unable to share an article about his comments from an official U.N. account, Agence France-Presse reported. Prior to their deletion, Tedros’ comments had drawn a number of positive responses, with people wanting to know if the government would listen. The censorship came as the majority of Shanghai’s 26 million residents remained under a grueling lockdown, walled into their apartment buildings and homes with steel fencing, with major transportation routes and services shut down, as many still struggled to access food, essential supplies and urgently needed medical treatment. China insists that its zero-COVID strategy is the only way to prevent a massive death toll from COVID, as has been seen in other countries. Researchers at Shanghai’s Fudan University published a paper in the scientific journal Nature on Tuesday saying that allowing the omicron variant to tear through the population would likely result in 1.6 million deaths and the collapse of rural healthcare systems. A worker disinfects the queue area of a swab test collection site for Covid-19 coronavirus in Beijing, May 11, 2022. Credit: AFP. Distancing from China But critics say the policy is the result of Xi wanting to boost his domestic image as a leader who can succeed by doing things differently from liberal democracies ahead of the CCP’s 20th National Congress later this year. Lee Lung-teng, a high-ranking health minister in Taiwan’s government during the 2003 SARS epidemic, said Tedros appeared to be distancing himself from his previously cozy relationship with Beijing. “He had been helping them clean up their image and acting as if they were doing it right, but maybe he is coming under pressure from someone else, who could be threatening to withdraw their support for him if he continues to be so biased in favor of China,” Lee told RFA. “Maybe he can’t bear [not to speak out] any longer.” “Everywhere else is gradually opening up, so isn’t it a bit strange that they are still talking about zero-COVID … when a situation with no infections would be impossible,” he said. Ren Ruihong, former head of the medical assistance department at the Chinese Red Cross, said Xi is keen to tout his “victory” over the COVID-19 pandemic when he seeks an unprecedented third term in office at the 20th party congress. “The 20th CCP National Congress is happening soon,” Ren said. “International focus is on whether or not Xi Jinping can get another term in office.” “If he abandons the zero-COVID policy now, it will be tantamount to abandoning his own political platform … basically everyone understands that it’s a political necessity [for Xi].” A Shanghai resident surnamed Ma agreed, saying the city’s officials seem to be constantly changing how they implement the zero-COVID directives from higher up. “The decrees are changing daily, sometimes twice a day,” Ma said. “Different instructions are coming from different leaders.” “Nobody can figure out the rules. There aren’t any,” she said. “First they said we have to do a PCR test every five days, then it was seven.” “We were supposed to be out of lockdown by May 1, but now it’s mid-May and we’re still not out of it; nobody knows when it will end now,” Ma said. Losing patience in Shanghai Shanghai residents are increasingly unwilling to toe the line on mass testing amid a string of false positives reported on social media. “People aren’t scared of the virus at all now, but the rule of law has been completely destroyed,” Ma said. “The law is what the officials say it is.” “There’s no humanity, even if you’re sick or elderly: I think it’s worse than during the Cultural Revolution,” she said. In one video clip uploaded to social media, residents of Beicai township in Shanghai’s Pudong New District yell at officials for trying to get them to go to a makeshift “hospital” that was actually rows of tents. “Is this a place to house human beings?” one person shouts. “These tents would blow over in a strong wind.” Social media reports said private taxis are currently charging 3,000 yuan per pickup; 12,000 for airport transfers, after the city’s subway network was shut down. People also posted video showing officials in full PPE removing food from a large refrigerator in an apartment they had allegedly come to “disinfect.” Many social media accounts have been shut down permanently during the Shanghai lockdown. Retired Shanghai teacher Gu Guoping said several of his accounts have been shut down after he criticized the government. “My WeChat account has been blocked by the internet police and Tencent six or seven times, even after I changed my phone number,” Gu told RFA. “This means that I have been cut of from various sources of information, and I have very limited access to information that is local to Shanghai,” he said. The shutdowns came as the Shanghai Cyberspace Administration repeated calls for social media content users…
Uyghur secretary of Marxism Institute at Xinjiang University confirmed detained
About 20 Uyghur teachers from a university in northwestern China’s Xinjiang region have been arrested, including the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) secretary of the school’s Marxism Institute, a Uyghur source in the town of Ghulja and local authorities told RFA. Six of the educators from Ili Pedagogical University in Ghulja (in Chinese, Yining) are being held in detention, including Abdullah Ismail of the Marxism Institute. He was abducted in 2018 and charged with being “two-faced,” the sources said. The CCP uses the term to describe an official or party member who is either corrupt or ideologically disloyal to the party. The source in Ghulja, who has knowledge of the situation, sent RFA the names and phone numbers of two people who had worked closely with the school on Abdullah Ismail’s case. When RFA called one of them, a staff member in the school’s Education Department, reluctantly acknowledged that she knew him but refrained from commenting on his situation. Parhat Kadir, Abdullah Ismail’s former high school classmate who now lives in the Netherlands and is the former chairman of the Dutch East Turkistan Uyghur Union, said Ismail was well-liked in high school, where he was a top student and a skilled soccer player. “Abdullah was my classmate from first to 10th grade,” he told RFA. “He was an honest and hardworking kid.” Abdullah Ismail, who was born in 1962 in Ghulja’s Suidong township, was admitted to the Literature Department of the Ili Pedagogical University in 1981, Kadir said. After he graduated four years later, he began teaching at the school. As secretary of the Marxism Institute, Ismail published research papers on Marxist theory in a number of newspapers and magazines, including the Ili Gazette, the source said. Ismail later was included on the list of suspicious persons in the school in 2017 when China stepped up its crackdown on Uyghurs by detaining them in “re-education” camps, and had been interrogated intermittently, the source from Ghulja said. He was charged with several criminal charges, though the source did not name them. The preliminary questioning was conducted by the School Discipline Commission, according to the source who provided the phone number of a disciplinary officer in charge of the investigation that year. The disciplinary officer confirmed that Ismail had been a member of school administration and was abducted in 2018. He also said he met the teacher four or five years ago and had sent material he collected during his investigation to the relevant authorities. “It was in 2017 that I was asked to collect and give his material to the school disciplinary committee,” he told RFA. “He was charged with being a two-faced person. “He was a member of school administration before being CCP secretary of the Marxism Institute at Ili Pedagogical University,” the disciplinary officer said. “He was the secretary when he was arrested. Nobody knows or nobody told us how many years he was sentenced to [following arrest] in 2018.” Behtiyar Nasir, deputy inspector general of the World Uyghur Congress, said he attended Ili Pedagogical University in the late 1980s when Ismail was a teacher there. He said Ismail had received a doctorate in philosophy from a university in Beijing. Translated by RFA’s Uyghur Service. Written in English by Roseanne Gerin.
US warship sails through Taiwan Strait after China drills
A U.S. warship has sailed through the Taiwan Strait, the second such transit in two weeks and only two days after a large Chinese military live-fire exercise, signaling increased tension in the strait. The U.S. Navy’s 7th Fleet said that its Ticonderoga-class guided-missile cruiser USS Port Royal “conducted a routine Taiwan Strait transit on May 10 (Tuesday) through international waters in accordance with international law.” “The ship transited through a corridor in the Strait that is beyond the territorial sea of any coastal State,” it said, adding that the transit “demonstrates the United States’ commitment to a free and open Indo-Pacific.” Exactly two weeks ago on April 26, the Arleigh Burke-class guided-missile destroyer USS Sampson, also from the 7th Fleet, made a similar transit. On both occasions, the Chinese People’s Liberation Army (PLA) “sent troops to track and monitor the U.S. warship’s passage,” according to a statement from the PLA Eastern Theater Command. Snr. Col. Shi Yi, spokesperson for the command, said China “firmly opposes” what he called “provocative acts” by the U.S. that sent “wrong signals” to Taiwan. The Taiwanese Ministry of National Defense, meanwhile, said Wednesday that the Taiwanese military closely monitored movements at sea and in the air around Taiwan as the U.S. warship sailed northwards in the strait and “the situation was normal.” Prior to that it warned that on the same day as the U.S. ship’s transit, a Z-10 attack helicopter and two Ka-28 anti-submarine warfare helicopters of the PLA entered Taiwan’s air defense identification zone (ADIZ). The Z-10 attack helicopter crossed the median line in the Taiwan Strait, apparently a step up from the PLA incursions that occur almost daily at present. This was only the second time this year a Chinese aircraft has crossed the median line, with the first occurring on Jan. 31. Imminent attack on Taiwan? Over the weekend, the PLA conducted three days of live-fire drills around Taiwan with the participation of “naval, air and conventional missile forces,” according to its website. The Liaoning carrier group, led by the PLA first aircraft carrier, has been operating in the area and conducted training with live munitions in the Philippine Sea, east of Taiwan and south of Japan from May 3 to at least May 9. A J-15 jet fighter takes off from China’s Liaoning aircraft carrier during military drills over the weekend. (Japan Ministry of Defense) The threat of a military action against Taiwan between now and 2030 is “acute,” U.S. Director of National Intelligence Avril Haines said during a hearing at the Senate Armed Services Committee on Tuesday. “It’s our view that (China is) working hard to effectively put themselves into a position in which their military is capable of taking Taiwan over our intervention,” she said without elaborating further. Haines and Defense Intelligence Agency Director Scott Berrier said that events in the Ukrainian war and how Beijing construes them could impact China’s timeline and approach to Taiwan but they believe that China prefers to avoid a military conflict over the island if possible. Grant Newsham, a retired U.S. Marine colonel turned political analyst, said that by his own estimate a PLA attack on Taiwan could happen “anytime from 2023 onwards.” “It much depends on the United States. If America is distracted by domestic turmoil, is having financial troubles, and is focused on a war in Ukraine, I think Beijing just might make its move,” Newsham told RFA. “China has indeed been building a military force and capability designed to attack and subjugate Taiwan. They have probably had the capability to move an assault force across the Strait since at least 10 years ago,” the analyst added. “We are in a dangerous time. “ China considers Taiwan a province of China and has repeatedly said that the democratic island of 23 million people will eventually be united with the mainland, by force if necessary. ‘One-China’ Policy On Tuesday, China reacted angrily after the U.S State Department updated its page on U.S.-Taiwan relations on May 5 and removed wordings such as “Taiwan is part of China” and “The United States does not support Taiwan independence.” China’s foreign ministry spokesperson Zhao Lijian speaks during a news conference in Beijing, China March 18, 2022. (Reuters) Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Zhao Lijian told reporters in Beijing that the U.S. modification of the fact sheet “is a trick to obscure and hollow out the one-China principle.” “Such political manipulation of the Taiwan question and the attempt to change the status quo across the Taiwan Strait will hurt the U.S. itself,” Zhao warned. “There is only one China in the world. Taiwan is an inalienable part of the Chinese territory,” the spokesman said. “The U.S. has made solemn commitments on the Taiwan question and the one-China principle in the three China-U.S. joint communiqués,” he said, adding that Washington should abide by them. The U.S. State Department responded that “there’s been no change in our policy.” “All we have done is update a fact sheet, and that’s something that we routinely do with our relationships around the world,” spokesman Ned Price told a press briefing on Tuesday, pointing out that the fact sheet has not been updated for several years. “When it comes to Taiwan, our policy remains guided by the Taiwan Relations Act, the Three Joint Communiques and Six Assurances, as that very fact sheet notes,” Price said. The spokesman reconfirmed “our rock-solid, unofficial relationship with Taiwan,” and said the U.S. calls upon China to “behave responsibly and to not manufacture pretenses to increase pressure on Taiwan.” Under the U.S. policy, Washington has formal diplomatic relations with Beijing but retains a “robust unofficial relationship” with Taipei and is committed by law to make available to the island the means to defend itself.
Struggling businesses ready to welcome tourists again as Laos reopens
Laos fully reopened its borders to foreign visitors Monday after more than two years of coronavirus restrictions, a move applauded by business owners who rely on tourism to the landlocked Southeast Asian nation. Laos’ economy is likely to still feel the effects of the pandemic, however, as China, a major economic partner, is keeping its borders closed after a resurgence of the virus in many of the country’s major cities. The Lao Prime Minister’s Office issued a notice May 7 indicating that it would lift nearly all restrictions, including reopening all international border checkpoints and entertainment venues in the country. Everyone aged 12 and over who is not vaccinated, including Lao citizens, have to show negative COVID-19 tests within 48 hours of their departure for Laos. But they do not need to submit to tests following their arrival, and vaccinated people do not have to be tested at all, the notice said. “As the notice indicated, we’re now wide open,” an official of the Information Culture and Tourism Department of the Lao capital Vientiane told RFA’s Lao service Monday on condition of anonymity for security reasons. “All the Lao-Thai friendship bridges are open and everybody is free to enter or exit Laos and can travel all over the country,” the official said. A Thai immigration officer at a bridge between Laos’ Savannakhet province and Thailand’s Mukdahan province told RFA on Monday that traffic has already picked up. “They’re required to have only their passport and a proof of vaccination,” the Thai officer said. “Many Thais and Laotians have crossed the bridge today.” That is welcome news to many Laotians who have struggled to keep businesses afloat without the benefit of tourism. “We’re happy because we’ve been struggling for more than two years,” a restaurant owner in Vang Vieng, a popular tourist town in Vientiane province, told RFA. “We all hope that the tourists come to our town and our country soon, so that we can have some badly needed income.” That sentiment was shared by a hotel employee in Vientiane. “I’m happy that we have the opportunity to receive more foreign tourists,” the source said. “The country is completely open like before the pandemic, and I am happy to return to my job and see all the night clubs and karaoke bars open again.” Laos relies heavily on its tourism industry: the 4.8 million foreign visitors it welcomed in 2019 accounted for 5.9% of its gross national product (GNP). Tourism fell off a cliff in 2020 when the pandemic hit. Only 886,400 visitors arrived in Laos that year, the latest data from the World Tourism Organization, generating just 1.2% of GNP. Tourism from Thailand is especially important to Laos, accounting for more than 2 million of the 2019 visits. But more than 1 million Chinese also visited Laos that year, and until China relaxes its border restrictions, tourism is unlikely to reach pre-pandemic levels. Exports to China will also remain limited, further delaying a full economic recovery. “We’ve been open since yesterday, but the Chinese side hasn’t opened yet because China hasn’t lifted their COVID-19 restrictions,” a Lao border official stationed at Boten, the main crossing point between China and Laos in Luang Namtha province, told RFA on Tuesday. “They are only allowing a maximum of 300 trucks a day into their country.” Trucks from Laos must wait more than a week to get into China, a Lao trucker said. “They’re not open. It’s getting more difficult to get into China and it takes at least seven days to cross the border,” he told RFA. An official at Luang Namtha’s Public Works and Transport Department told RFA that the Chinese authorities are overly strict. “When are they going to open their border? The answer is ‘I don’t know,’ because the number of COVID-19 cases in China is still on the rise, several thousand a day,” the source said. In the most recent outbreak, newly confirmed daily cases in China peaked in late April at more than 30,000. But major cities across the country remain under strict lockdowns as part of the country’s zero-COVID policy. The number of active COVID-19 cases in Laos is in decline, with only 110 new cases on Monday. About 67 percent of the country’s population of 7.2 million are fully vaccinated. Since the beginning of the pandemic, the country confirmed 208,535 cases and 749 deaths, according to statistics from the health ministry. Translated by Max Avary. Written in English by Eugene Whong.
Chinese border police ‘clipping’ passports of citizens as they arrive back home
Border police in Guangzhou have stepped up controls on incoming Chinese citizens, questioning them about their overseas activities and confiscating passports, amid ongoing controls on people leaving the country. Passengers arriving in Guangzhou aboard China Southern flight CZ3082 from Bangkok on Sunday morning were all questioned individually by immigration officials at the airport, according to a social media post from one of the passengers. Border guards wanted to know what they had been doing in the countries they were returning from, why they were coming back to China, and whether they planned to leave the country again, the post said. Some passengers had their passport corners clipped, invalidating them for further travel, the post said. The report came days after the National Immigration Administration held a news conference announcing “strict reviews” of travel documents and visas, and calling on Chinese nationals not to leave the country unless absolutely necessary. Spokesman Chen Jie said immigration authorities were “continuing to maintain the highest level of prevention and control,” resulting in “low levels” of outbound passengers at border crossings and airports. A Chinese national surnamed Zhang said border guards often use passport-clipping as a way to prevent people from leaving the country, and anyone hoping to leave must first get an exit permit, signed by their local police station. “My passport was clipped two or three years ago now,” Zhang said. “There has been a strict requirement for exit permits for two years, and basically the border guards don’t want people to leave on Chinese passports.” Students blocked from travel Reports continue to surface on social media of people leaving China for foreign study having their passports clipped as they tried to board a plane, and also from people who had been denied passports when they applied for them. “There have been a lot of posts saying that people are being rejected when they apply for passports, or when they try to renew them,” a current affairs commentator surnamed Lu told RFA. “It shows that the Chinese government is trying to reduce the number of Chinese people leaving the country,” he said. “They are worried that if they do, they’ll find out what the situation is in the rest of the world.” An employee at an overseas study consultancy surnamed Huang said the government has suspended permission for minors in primary and secondary school to study abroad. “The government has said that nobody should leave the country unless it’s absolutely necessary,” Huang told RFA. “Parents aren’t allowed to send their children overseas too young either.” “Before, parents could send their kids to secondary school in Thailand or the U.K., but they’ve stopped allowing that now,” she said. “They’re only allowed to go overseas at university level.” “What does this have to do with the pandemic? They just don’t want so many people leaving,” Huang said. She said the government is concerned that children will be inculcated with “Western values” overseas. “Then, they’ll be less easy to control after they get back,” Huang said. “The more they know, the more ideas they get; they don’t need them to know much, just be a simple worker. Too many ideas and they raise objections to every suggestion: how is that manageable?” Huang said she expects the restrictions to stay in place even after zero-COVID controls have lifted. ‘Illegal entry and exit’ The immigration authorities said a crackdown on “illegal entry and exit” was under way. “The police have … strengthened full-time and all-region patrols, controls and investigations, closely cooperating with law enforcement in neighboring countries to crack down hard on illegal entry and exit activities,” the agency’s Chen said at the April 27 news conference. “People are coming in and out through illegal channels,” Chen said. “Border guards at land, sea and air checkpoints … are taking measures appropriate to local conditions and circumstances.” But Chen didn’t explain which “illegal channels” were being used. Police in the central province of Hunan in April confirmed to RFA that that residents had been ordered to hand over their passports to police, promising to return them “when the pandemic is over,” amid a massive surge in people looking for ways to leave China or obtain overseas immigration status. A March 31 notice from the Baisha police department in the central province of Hunan posted to social media ordered employers to hand over the passports of all employees and family members to police, “to be returned after the pandemic.” An officer told RFA that the order would be rolled out nationwide. China’s zero-COVID policy of mass compulsory testing, stringent lockdowns and digital health codes has sparked an emigration wave fueled by “shocked” middle-classes fed up with food shortages, confinement at home, and amid broader safety concerns. The number of keyword searches on social media platform WeChat and search engine Baidu for “criteria for emigrating to Canada” has skyrocketed by nearly 3,000 percent in the past month, with most queries clustered in cities and provinces under tough, zero-COVID restrictions, including Shanghai, Jiangsu, Guangdong, and Beijing. Immigration consultancies have seen a huge spike in emigration inquiries in recent weeks, with clients looking to apply for overseas passports or green cards, while holding onto their Chinese passports, they said in April. Translated and edited by Luisetta Mudie.
Philippines’ Marcos Jr. will likely seek closer ties with Beijing: analysts
Philippines’ president-elect Ferdinand Marcos Jr., will likely seek to turn the country to an ally of China, despite lingering anti-Beijing sentiment, analysts said following his landslide election victory on Tuesday. “Bongbong” Marcos, the son of long-ruling dictator Ferdinand Marcos, garnered more than 30.8 million votes by an unofficial count on Monday, and looks likely to take office in June. Sara Duterte-Carpio, daughter of incumbent Rodrigo Duterte, is expected to serve as his vice president. Marcos has already said he wants to pursue closer ties with China, including disregarding a 2016 ruling from The Hague invalidating China’s massive territorial claims to the South China Sea. Marcos has sought to distance himself from the ruling, which has been rejected by the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) in Beijing, and said he will likely continue to develop Duterte’s policy of closer ties with China. Zhuang Jiaying, associate professor of politics at Singapore’s National University, said Marcos’ election is a milestone in the political life of the Philippines. “There are several reasons why this Philippine presidential election is more important [than previous ones],” Zhuang told RFA. “During the campaign, Marcos continued to whitewash his family’s unrestrained abuse of power during authoritarian rule.” “There was also a campaign of harassment targeting supporters of rival candidates, … raising questions about whether democracy is taking a backward step, and whether [Marcos] will continue the current wave of authoritarian leadership.” “[Marcos’] comments seem to favor a more pro-China stance, but whether those ideas can be realized in terms of policy is another matter,” Zhuang said. “When Duterte came to power, China promised a lot of investment, but it didn’t live up to expectations.” “That gap caused disappointment in the Philippines, whose defense and security forces have become more suspicious of China because of its unrelenting pressure regarding the South China Sea dispute,” he said. “Even if Marcos himself wants a good relationship with China, he will meet with a certain amount of doubt and resistance.” U.S. ties run deep Jeremy Chiang of the Taiwan-Asia Exchange Foundation said there had been a certain amount of popular support for the Marcos regime among Filipinos, despite the former dictator’s ouster by a “people-power” revolution. “When Marcos fell, not all Filipinos opposed him,” Chiang said. “In particular, the Marcos family had a positive image in their political heartland, and also in the popular imagination, and some still miss being part of a strong nation and economy at that time.” “This image has been fed to young people via social media, so young people have a fairly good impression of Marcos,” he said. Chiang said Marcos had only narrowly lost the last presidential race six years ago to Duterte, and had hung onto his supporter base since then. However, he said it could be hard for Marcos to wean his country off military and security reliance on the United States. “Military cooperation between the Philippines and the United States has evolved into a long-term strategy, with many people in the Philippines military and diplomatic service cherishing that relationship,” Chiang said. “That kind of relationship with such a solid foundation was hard to shake off during Duterte’s term, despite the fact that China had [offered] more financial resources and aid programs,” he said. Analysts have also cited anti-Chinese government sentiment among much of the Philippine population who see their fishermen’s livelihoods being threatened and lives being endangered by alleged harassment on the part of Chinese navy and coast guard ships. Manila is Washington’s biggest ally in Southeast Asia, where an increasingly assertive China is encroaching on other claimant nations’ exclusive economic zones in the disputed South China Sea. During his term, Duterte tested the U.S.-Philippines relationship, threatening to drop one of many bilateral security agreements and vowing never to set foot in the United States while president. Domestically, the Philippine economy is just recovering after being in one of the world’s longest lockdowns due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Translated and edited by Luisetta Mudie.
Imagery shows China still building on Subi Reef in South China Sea
Recent satellite imagery shows that China is continuing to actively develop its facilities on the disputed Subi Reef in the South China Sea, two months after a top U.S. commander said Beijing had “fully militarized” it. Simularity Inc., a U.S. geospatial intelligence company, said that an analysis of satellite imagery from May 5 has revealed new structures and seven active construction sites on Subi, the coral reef occupied by China since 1988 but also claimed by the Philippines, Taiwan and Vietnam. In March, the U.S. Indo-Pacific commander Adm. John C. Aquilino said that the construction of missile arsenals, aircraft hangars, radar systems and other military facilities at Subi Reef, as well as Mischief Reef and Fiery Cross “appeared to have been completed.” Subi is one of several major bases that China built during a massive dredging and artificial island-building campaign in the Spratlys that began in 2013, creating 3,200 acres of new land and giving it a new strategic foothold in the South China Sea. In its natural state, Subi is what is known as a low-tide elevation and an international tribunal in 2016 ruled that as it is submerged at high tide, Subi is not an island but considered “sea bed” and the People’s Republic of China’s (PRC’s) constructions on the reef are illegal. China rejected the ruling. Until now, China has reclaimed 976 acres on Subi, according to the Asia Maritime Initiative (AMTI) at the Washington-based Center for Strategic and International Studies. The seven active construction sites are located in the northern and southern parts of the reef, with visible presence of trucks, construction equipment and material, Simularity said. “A significant amount of sand” is seen at the sites, indicating new roads and structures are being built. At one site in the south, there are new walls and parking lots, Simularity said, without drawing further conclusions about the possible function of the sites under construction. Extensive development Subi (Zamora in the Philippines) Reef lies just 12 nautical miles from the Philippine-administered Thitu Island, which is the second largest natural feature in the Spratlys after Taiping (Itu Aba) Island, occupied by Taiwan. China has developed it into a military base that can accommodate a garrison of 200 troops and a helipad, according to Philippine officials. AMTI says there are a number of important structures on Subi, including a large lighthouse, five hangers that each can accommodate 20 combat aircraft, and an over 3,000-meter airstrip, completed in early 2016. A satellite image of Subi Reef, taken May 6, 2022. Credit: EO Browser, Sinergise Ltd. Aquilino said in March that the function of China’s artificial islands is “to expand the offensive capability of the PRC … They can fly fighters, bombers plus all those offensive capabilities of missile systems.” “They threaten all nations who operate in the vicinity and all the international sea and airspace,” he added. China’s Civil Aviation Authority said it successfully tested a civilian flight on Subi in July 2016, using a Boeing 737 airplane, “further enhancing its capability to provide public services as a responsible player in the region.” The Philippines and Vietnam both protested against the test flight which is not known to have become regularly scheduled.
PDF clashes with junta troops guarding mines in Myanmar’s Sagaing region
Prodemocracy People’s Defense Force (PDF) paramilitaries clashed with junta security forces guarding two Chinese-owned copper mine projects over the weekend in the country’s war-torn Sagaing region after the military attacked two villages in the area, PDF fighters said Monday. The fighting broke out on Sunday when junta troops, who had been sent to defend the mines following threats by local PDF groups, entered the villages of Shwe Pan Khaing and Thedaw Gyi in Sagaing’s Yinmarbin township, Myaunk Yamar PDF spokesman Ko Khant told RFA’s Myanmar Service. “It was a military security column guarding the Yangtse and Wanbao projects,” he said, referring to the Chinese companies that operate the two mines in collaboration with the military’s Myanmar Economic Holdings Limited (MEHL) company. “They left from Yinmarbin township on May 5 and spent the night in Wadan village and Tal Bin Kan village, in [neighboring] Salingyi township. They then started an offensive against Shwe Pan Khaing and Thedaw Gyi villages on the Yinmarbin township side.” Ko Khant said that the PDF did not attack the troops guarding the copper mine projects and only engaged with them after they began raiding the villages, adding that the fighting had lasted for around four hours. Last week, the junta vowed to defend the suspended copper mines, seen as a key source of revenue for the military regime, after the PDF threatened to destroy them if owners resume operations. Following the military’s Feb. 1, 2021, coup, employees walked off the job to join the anti-junta Civil Disobedience Movement (CDM), reducing the mines’ operating capacity by more than 80 percent. In early April, junta Foreign Minister Wunna Maung Lwin met with his Chinese counterpart Wang Yi in eastern China’s Anhui province in what analysts said signaled Myanmar’s desire for deeper economic ties to its northern ally. Not long after the trip, residents of Salingyi reported that workers were being called back to the mines to restart the projects after more than a year of downtime, prompting threats from the PDF. Sit Naing, spokesman for the Salingyi PDF, told RFA that his and other PDF groups “will not attack them if they do not resume the projects.” “We didn’t start the fight in this incident – they began using weapons to threaten residents of nearby villages, telling them not to come close to the projects. It appears that the projects are being restarted, given this kind of action.” Sit Naing said that around 200 troops have been deployed to guard each project. At the Wanbao mine, machine guns were positioned around the project targeting the villages, he added. “They have even fired 120-millimeter guns into the villages,” he said. “Tensions between the junta troops and the PDF have been high for three days. The junta forces fired three artillery shells at villages in Yinmarbin township last night.” Sit Naing said the three shells had set fire to several houses and caused residents to flee, but no one was hurt. Heavy artillery shelling was reported in other villages on Monday, he said. No official statement was released by the junta in connection with the clashes. Attempts by RFA to contact junta Deputy Minister of Information Maj. Gen. Zaw Min Tun about the clashes went unanswered on Monday. Residents of the area where the copper projects are located have held daily protests demanding that Beijing respect the wishes of the people of Myanmar by shutting them down, and on April 25, nearly 560 prodemocracy groups sent an open letter to Chinese President Xi Jinping urging him to stop supporting the junta through the mines and other China-backed development projects. According to Myanmar’s Institute for Policy and Strategic Studies, 32 Chinese garment factories were set on fire in the early months of the coup, while PDF attacks on Chinese projects have damaged the water supply pipeline to one of the mines in Sagaing, as well as a gas pipeline and nickel plant in Mandalay region. Translated by Kyaw Min Htun. Written in English by Joshua Lipes.
North Korea enlists office workers to carry water to fields in battle to save crops
Local officials in North Korea are forcing office workers into the fields to help water plants due to a shortage of working water pumps, as the government struggles to combat a widespread drought, sources in the country told RFA. North Korea frequently drafts ordinary citizens whenever it needs manpower for public projects, a practice that has drawn complaints from a population struggling to make ends meet. Forced labor is often used for construction, road maintenance and agriculture. But sources told RFA that mobilizing people to do the work of water pumps was essentially meaningless. An agricultural source from the city of Chongju in the northwestern province of North Pyongan told RFA’s Korean Service that city and county irrigation management office managers across the country were told by the Central Committee in Pyongyang to what they had to do to prevent crop damage. “The Provincial Rural Economic Management Committee gathered the irrigation management office managers from each city and county, and the officials in charge of overall supervision and management of agricultural technology,” said the source, who requested anonymity out of security concerns. “The authorities emphasized the supply of agricultural water to the irrigation management officials because there was so little snow in the winter and no rain during the spring, and this could cause great damage to crops already planted,” said the source. But the efforts to mitigate the worst effects of the dry weather have been complicated by a shortage of working water pumps in the country, in part due to the suspension of trade with China in January 2020 due to the pandemic. Rail freight finally resumed almost two years later, but a resurgence of the pandemic in China led officials to close the border again this month. “Currently, most of the water pumps and electric motors from each working group under the Chongju Irrigation Management Office are broken … and the parts for the machines are not available on the market because the border has been closed due to COVID-19,” the source said. “The irrigation management officials are pursuing a plan to smuggle used water pumps and electric motors from China in order to carry out the Central Committee’s order,” the source said. Pumps typically cost between U.S. $800 and $1,000, although used ones can be bought for about half that price, the source said. Authorities in some areas are trying to solve their pump problems by forcing people to manually water the planted crops, a source in South Pyongan province, north of the capital Pyongyang, told RFA on condition of anonymity to speak freely. “Officials and clerks, not only from the agricultural sector, but also from organizations in the province and neighboring Pyongyang, and workers from state-owned enterprises are being mobilized,” the South Pyongan source said. “Nationwide, the temperature in April was more than 2 degrees Celsius higher than usual, and precipitation was less than half of most years, and hot and dry weather is expected to continue in May. In the case of Chungsan county in our province, workers from various central organizations, such as the Ministry of Forestry, the Ministry of Commerce, the Maritime Administration Bureau, and the Literature and Arts Publishing House, provided support for three days in a row,” the South Pyongan source said. But regardless of how many able bodies are on hand to render assistance, they desperately need water pumps to properly irrigate the crops, the South Pyongan source said. “The state is unable to provide this, so it recklessly mobilizes large numbers of people,” the South Pyongan source said. A source in North Pyongan’s Ryongchon county told RFA that the authorities are rushing to save the crops that have already been damaged before the water-intensive rice-planting season. “The irrigation management office under the Farm Management Committee of Ryongchon county used to operate six water pumps to supply water to every cooperative farm. Due to the frequent power outages last year, only three water pumps are currently in operation following motor failure,” this source said. “The three water pumps are currently concentrated in wheat fields that are severely damaged by drought, so there are no water pumps to supply water to the rice paddies where rice planting will be carried out. Coil wires and insulation materials are essential to repair the broken water pumps, but there is no support at all from the government,” he said. Another agricultural source, in the northeastern province of South Hamgyong, reported to RFA that office workers there were also mobilized to water the crops, some of them forced to carry water on their backs. “I am more concerned about rice planting. There is a lot of work to do, such as bed management, watering the rice fields, and harrowing. You can’t just make the farmers water wheat and barley fields,” the source said. “If the rice seedlings that have just been sown don’t have enough moisture, they will not germinate properly. Also, without enough water, the wheat and barley yields may drop,” the source said. Translated by Claire Lee and Leejin Jun Chung. Written in English by Eugene Whong.
Lao central bank blames depreciating kip on currency converter manipulation
Laos’ central bank is blaming the depreciation of the country’s kip currency on money exchange businesses colluding to manipulate the market, but a lack of foreign reserves and an import-export imbalance appear to be the true causes, sources in the country told RFA. According to Asia News Network, the kip depreciated by six percent against the U.S. dollar between Jan. 4 and April 8. At the same time, prices for imported household goods rose by 15-50 percent between April and January, the Vientiane Times reported. A report from the Bank of Laos (BOL) acknowledged the decline, saying that from February this year, the kip entered a period in which it set records for decreases in valuation relative to the U.S. dollar and the Thai baht. The central bank claimed that the currency was depreciating as a direct result of manipulation by illegal currency conversion shops, but sources who operate those businesses deny that they are to blame. “We exchange money based on a free-market mechanism and the banks cannot control anything. … The depreciation of the Lao kip is because imports exceed exports. We import more and more,” a money changer and gold seller in the central province of Borikhamxay told RFA’s Lao Service. “For example, there are many businesspeople who import all kinds of products ranging from fertilizer, seafood and snacks from Thailand and they need a large amount of baht or U.S. dollars to do this. They cannot get foreign currency at the banks, even though the banks set the exchange rate very low. They have to use our service to get foreign currency to continue their businesses,” the moneychanger said on condition of anonymity for security reasons. Because the moneychangers must buy foreign currency at a high rate, they must also sell it for an even higher rate to remain in business, the moneychanger said. The economic police from the Ministry of Public Security and officials from the BOL last month raided illegal money exchange shops as part of a broad crackdown, state media reported. The intent was to stop the kip’s depreciation against the baht and the dollar. It would have worked if there was actual collusion between the moneychangers, rather than the simple result of supply and demand, the Borikhamxay moneychanger said. Under normal circumstances, business owners would rather deal with the banks, but the banks have few reserves, forcing the owners to go to moneychangers, both legal and illegal. “We cannot exchange our kip for baht or dollars at any bank. Even if we could, they would limit the amount of money we can have, and this wouldn’t meet our needs,” the moneychanger said. Another moneychanger told RFA that depreciation feeds on itself. Fewer people want the kip as it falls further in value. “Many people do not want to hold the kip and it is losing value very fast. Thus, many people are scrambling to get foreign currency in their pockets and wallets,” the second moneychanger said. A trade expert in the southern province of Savannakhet, who asked not to be identified, said the fact that a trade deficit with Thailand has had a destabilizing effect on the kip. In 2021, Laos recorded a trade surplus of about $1 billion according to the Chinese news outlet Xinhua, but this included a trade deficit of $813 million with Thailand, data from the Lao Trade Portal showed. The most recent data from trade portal, from March, indicated a $100 million surplus, but with a $162 million deficit with Thailand. Banks withholding Thai baht forces prices higher and higher. “Even when people try to withdraw baht from their baht-denominated accounts, they can only get out 200,000 baht, or $6,000 per each account per day. For the big enterprise owners and business people, this policy makes everything difficult. The only thing they can do is to go to the exchange shops and accept their high exchange rates,” the expert said. Another expert, who declined to be identified, told RFA that a crackdown on illegal moneychangers would do little to stabilize the kip. “It would be far better to promote the exports to be stronger, and finally the kip will become strong itself under the free market,” he said. He said Laos’ lack of foreign currency reserves were the main reason why the kip is weak against its trading partners’ currencies. “Countries like China and Thailand have a much larger amount of foreign exchange reserves that would last several months. If the BOL wants to solve the problem of the depreciation of the kip, it would be better to let the exchange rate be based the free market, … or try to increase the foreign exchange reserves or get more foreign currency to meet the market needs, which is very challenging,” he said. A BOL official agreed that most banks do not have enough foreign currency to sell to consumers, although there are some that could sell foreign currency on a limited basis. “Anyone who wishes to exchange kip for foreign currencies has to be a legal entity, for example, a company, enterprise, or organization declaring to make payment in foreign currencies to companies overseas. The exchange will also have limitation and not everyone will get the amount he or she wants,” the official told RFA, on condition of anonymity for privacy reasons. According to the the Banque pour le Commerce Exterieur Lao Public, the official exchange rate for the kip was 12,666 kip per dollar on May 6. A Vientiane moneychanger told RFA that the free market rate on the same day was 14,050 kip per dollar. Translated by RFA’s Lao Service. Written in English by Eugene Whong.
