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Category: East Asia
Japan PM begins SE Asia trip, urges open seas, response on Ukraine
Japan’s leader made a veiled but strong statement against Chinese assertiveness as he met Indonesia’s president on Friday at the start of a trip to Southeast Asia and Europe to promote a free and open Indo-Pacific and rally a regional response to the Ukrainian crisis. Tokyo is also considering giving Indonesia patrol boats so its coast guard could strengthen maritime security, Prime Minister Fumio Kishida said, amid Chinese pressure on Jakarta over its oil and gas drilling operations in its own exclusive economic zone in the South China Sea. “I expressed a strong sense of protest against efforts to change the status quo unilaterally and economic pressures in the East China Sea and South China Sea,” Kishida said, after meeting with President Joko “Jokowi” Widodo in Jakarta. The Japanese premier’s remarks were a pointed reference to concern over Chinese activities in the region. Kishida’s eight-day tour will see him visiting “strategic ASEAN partners,” including Vietnam and Thailand. The prime minister will then proceed to Europe, with stops in Italy and the United Kingdom, both members of the G7 grouping of industrialized countries that also comprises Japan. Before embarking from Tokyo on his trip, Kishida said at the airport that he would like to “exchange frank opinions on the situation in Ukraine with each of the leaders and confirm their cooperation.” Indonesia is host of this year’s Group of 20 summit in November, an engagement that has placed Jakarta in a diplomatic bind, amid opposition to the participation of Russia because of its invasion of Ukraine and alleged war crimes there. On Friday, Jokowi confirmed that Indonesia had invited Ukraine’s president as a guest to the G-20 summit in Bali and that Russian leader Vladimir Putin would also attend. Kishida said he and Jokowi “exchanged views openly” on the Russian invasion, “which is a clear violation of international law and which we say has shaken the foundations of the international order, including Asia, and must be strongly condemned.” “Keeping in mind the U.N. resolutions agreed upon by the two countries, I and the president discussed this issue. We have one understanding that a military attack on Ukraine is unacceptable. In any area, sovereignty and territorial integrity should not be interfered with by military force or intimidation,” the Japanese leader said. Jokowi, for his part, called for all countries to respect sovereignty and territorial integrity. “The Ukraine war must be stopped immediately,” he said. A regional ‘reluctance to take sides’ The war in Ukraine has been a divisive issue among members of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations, or ASEAN. “Across the region there is a reluctance to take sides and an ambivalence about the concert of democracies lining up in support of Ukraine,” said Jeff Kingston, a professor and director of Asian Studies at Temple University in Tokyo. Most Southeast Asian countries – Singapore being an exception – have been hesitant to condemn Russia or join international sanctions against Moscow. Japan hopes to consolidate their responses during the prime minister’s visit. “Kishida will [also] seek to gain understanding of what is at stake and the potential implications for Asia in terms of China’s hegemonic aspirations,” Kingston said. China’s increasing assertiveness in the East China and South China seas will be high on the agenda, and Kishida said he would discuss with Southeast Asian leaders further cooperation “toward realizing a free and open Indo-Pacific,” and maintaining peace and order. Stops in Hanoi, Bangkok In Vietnam, where Kishida will spend less than 24 hours over the weekend, he will meet with both the Vietnamese prime minister and president. Bilateral talks will focus on post-COVID-19 and security cooperation, Vietnamese media said. Vietnam shares interests with Japan in safeguarding maritime security in the South China Sea where China holds expansive claims and has been militarizing reclaimed islands. In Thailand, Kishida will hold talks with Thai Prime Minister Prayuth Chan-o-cha. Thailand is the host of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) forum summit in November. Bangkok and Tokyo are celebrating the 135th anniversary of diplomatic ties this year, and the two sides are seeking to sign an agreement on the transfer of defense equipment and technology to strengthen cooperation in the security field, according to the Bangkok Post. Government spokesman Thanakorn Wangboonkongchana said it would be the first official visit of a Japanese prime minister to Thailand since 2013. In March, Kishida visited India and Cambodia, his first bilateral trips since taking office in October 2021. Later in May, he will host a visit by U.S. President Joe Biden and a summit of the Quadrilateral Security Dialogue, or Quad. The White House announced on Wednesday that President Biden would visit South Korea and Japan May 20-24 to advance a “commitment to a free and open Indo-Pacific and to U.S. treaty alliances” with the two countries. The trip will be Biden’s first one to Asia as president. “In Tokyo, President Biden will also meet with the leaders of the Quad grouping of Australia, Japan, India, and the United States,” the statement said without disclosing the date. The Quad is widely seen as countering China’s weight in the region. China has been sneering at the formation of the Quad, calling it one of the “exclusive cliques detrimental to mutual trust and cooperation among regional countries.” On Thursday, Chinese Foreign Ministry’s spokesman Wang Wenbin said that the Quad “is steeped in the obsolete Cold War and zero sum mentality and reeks of military confrontation.” “It runs counter to the trend of the times and is doomed to be rejected,” he said. Dandy Koswaraputra in Jakarta contributed to this report for BenarNews, an RFA-affiliated online news service.
Vietnam unveils world’s longest glass-bottom bridge
The world’s longest glass-bottom bridge opened in Vietnam this month – suspended at a stunning height of 150 meters (490 feet) and spanning over 600 meters (1,970 feet) in length. The Bach Long bridge – meaning “white dragon” in Vietnamese – is a pedestrian bridge and tourist attraction that bends around a large valley centered between two peaks. Inspectors from the Guiness Book of World Records are expected to verify the bridge’s status next month. For now, the official longest glass-bottom bridge is in Guangdong, China. After over two years of COVID-19 shutdowns, Vietnam is eager to woo tourists back to the country after ending mandatory quarantines for international visitors in mid-March. It also resumed 15 days of visa-free travel for citizens from 13 countries. Credit: AFP
Rights groups call on China to release Taiwanese man who attended Hong Kong protests
Human rights groups have hit out at China over ongoing restrictions being imposed on Taiwan businessman Lee Meng-chu, also known as Morrison Lee, following his release from jail. Lee “disappeared” in the southern Chinese city of Shenzhen after taking photos of troops gathering near the border during the 2019 Hong Kong protest movement and sending them back to contacts in Taiwan. He later appeared making a “confession” on Chinese state television, before being sentenced to one year and 10 months’ imprisonment and two years’ deprivation of political rights. Although Lee was recently released from prison at the end of his jail term, the authorities are preventing him from going home to loved ones on the democratic island of Taiwan, saying his “punishment” hasn’t been completed, as the two years’ deprivation of political rights has yet to expire. “The Chinese government’s deprivation of political rights [sentencing] is in breach of international human rights law,” Eeling Chiu, secretary-general of Amnesty International’s Taiwan branch, said in a statement on the group’s website. “No prisoner should be deprived of their right to freedom of speech, let alone those who have served out their sentences.” Chiu said Lee’s trial had been full of procedural flaws and hadn’t met international requirements to be judged a fair trial. “The Chinese government should return Mr. Lee Meng-chu to Taiwan as soon as possible, and end its serious violations of his right to freedom of thought, expression, assembly and association,” Chiu said. The rights group Safeguard Defenders said Lee had been held in a “secret jail” system known as Residential Surveillance at a Designated Location (RSDL) from August 2019 after taking part in the 2019 Hong Kong protest movement, which began as a mass protest against plans to allow extradition of alleged criminal suspects to face trial in mainland Chinese, and broadened to include calls for fully democratic elections. Politically motivated It said Lee’s prosecution was politically motivated, and that the same rules regarding deprivation of political rights hadn’t been applied to a more prominent Taiwanese activist, Lee Ming-cheh, who was allowed to leave China as soon as his jail term ended. It said there are at least three other Taiwanese nationals currently in Chinese jails on “spying” charges: Shih Cheng-ping; Tsai Chin-shu and Cheng Yu-chin. According to the Exit and Entry Administration Law of the People’s Republic of China (Article 12-2), Chinese nationals sentenced to criminal punishment are banned from leaving the country if the punishment has not been completed. Taiwan has never been ruled by the Chinese Communist Party (CCP), nor formed part of the People’s Republic of China, but its nationals are regarded as Chinese citizens under another administration by Beijing. The majority of Taiwan’s 23 million people say they have no wish to give up their country’s sovereignty or lose their democratic way of life under Chinese rule. “By not allowing Morrison Lee to leave, Beijing is … violating the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR), which it signed in 1998, although not yet ratified,” Safeguard Defenders said in a statement. “Safeguard Defenders urges China to respect its own laws and international rights norms and allow Morrison Lee, who has served his time, to go home and reunite with his family,” it said. It added: “China also manipulates deprivation of political rights to prevent Chinese rights defenders from freely going home after release from jail, instead subjecting them to weeks, months, even years of continued illegal detention.” No ‘political rights’ Ma Xiaoguang, spokesman for China’s Taiwan Affairs Office, told a news conference on Wednesday that Lee is currently serving “an additional sentence,” in a reference to the two years’ deprivation of political rights. Shih Yi-hsiang, head of the Taiwan Association for Human Rights, said Lee Meng-chu would likely not even be able to exercise “political rights” in China, so the exit ban made no sense. “The Taiwan Association for Human Rights believes that, in any case, Lee Meng-chu is not a Chinese citizen, but a Taiwanese citizen,” Shih said. “It is meaningless to insist on some additional sentence now.” “We think this is ridiculous; the Chinese government has no reason to force Lee to stay in China, and we advocate his safe return to Taiwan,” Shih told RFA. Yang Sen-hong, president of the Taiwan Association for China Human Rights, said the CCP makes a habit of arbitrarily arresting people. “You have to be very strong when standing up to the CCP regime,” Yang said. “I hope that the Taiwanese government and its Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) will actively move to rescue Lee Meng-chu.” The MAC declined to comment, saying it was respecting the stated wishes of Lee and his family. Translated and edited by Luisetta Mudie.
Tibetan exile leader wraps up first official visit to Washington
Tibetan exile leader Penpa Tsering has wrapped up his first official visit to Washington D.C. with a meeting on Thursday with House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and other congressional leaders and public talks scheduled for Friday evening. Tsering — the Sikyong or elected head of Tibet’s India-based exile government the Central Tibetan Administration — began his visit on Tuesday with talks held with Uzra Zeya, the State Department’s Special Coordinator for Tibetan Issues. The Department also hosted a lunch for Tsering attended by ambassadors from the Czech Republic, Denmark, Canada, the United Kingdom and other countries. Participating in Tsering’s meeting on Thursday with Pelosi were International Campaign for Tibet (ICT) board chairman Richard Gere and acting president Bhuchung Tsering; Zeegyab Rinpoche, abbot of the India-based branch of Tibet’s Tashilhunpo monastery; U.S. congressman Jim McGovern; and Namgyal Choedup, representative of exiled Tibetan spiritual leader the Dalai Lama. Speaking to RFA after the meeting, Choedup noted this week’s visit to Washington was the first by Tsering, a former speaker of Tibet’s exile parliament in Dharamsala, India, who won a closely fought April 11, 2021 election to become Sikyong held in Tibetan communities worldwide. Choedup described Thursday’s talks as “decisive and constructive,” calling Tibetans grateful for Pelosi’s continued support. “The meeting also discussed collective decisions on future courses of action regarding how to resolve the Sino-Tibetan conflict,” Choedup said. Formerly an independent nation, Tibet was invaded and incorporated into China by force more than 70 years ago, and Tibetans frequently complain of discrimination and human rights abuses by Chinese authorities and policies they say are aimed at eradicating their national and cultural identity. U.S. congressman Michael McCaul, ICT board chairman Richard Gere, and Sikyong Penpa Tsering are shown left to right. Photo: RFA “We are trying to burst the myths or narratives that the Chinese government has been presenting for many decades about Tibet being a part of China, which is not true,” said ICT board chairman Richard Gere, also speaking to RFA on Thursday. “And we are trying to push for a genuine dialogue [between China] and His Holiness the Dalai Lama,” Gere added. The Dalai Lama and Tibet’s India-based exile government the Central Tibetan Administration have proposed a “Middle Way” approach to talks with Beijing that now accepts Tibet’s status as a part of China but urges greater freedoms for Tibetan language, religious, and cultural rights. Nine rounds of talks were previously held between envoys of exiled spiritual leader the Dalai Lama and high-level Chinese officials beginning in 2002, but stalled in 2010 and were never resumed. Congressional supporters of the Dalai Lama “would love to have the Dalai Lama address a joint session of the U.S. Congress by video,” said representative from Texas Michael McCaul, a ranking member of the House Foreign Affairs Committee. ”The American people stand with the Tibetan people and with the Dalai Lama, who is one of the greatest spiritual leaders of our time,” McCaul said. Penpa Tsering ends his Washington visit Friday evening with a panel discussion held at George Washington University on the Tibet-China dialogue and a public talk with the D.C.-area Tibetan community. He will then visit Tibet communities in Philadelphia and New York before moving on to meetings in Canada. Translated by Tenzin Dickyi for RFA’s Tibetan Service. Written in English by Richard Finney.
Zero-covid costs spread
Chinese leader Xi Jinping’s decision to stick with a zero-covid policy that worked in 2020 but has not stopped the spread of the Omicron variant has brought lockdowns in Shanghai, Shenzhen and Beijing among 45 mainland cities, affecting nearly 400 million people. The economic damage to China is now spilling over to U.S., Europe, Japan and others in a global economy struggling with shortages, inflation and the Ukraine conflict.
China’s Politburo promises stimulus, employment measures to boost COVID-hit economy
The ruling Chinese Communist Party (CCP) on Friday promised a slew of measures to help the country’s COVID-battered economy. The CCP’s Politburo met on Friday to discuss economic growth, which is targeted to reach 5.5 percent this year, an unlikely target in the absence of further stimulus given the supply-chain havoc caused by the pandemic and risks linked to the war in Ukraine. “The COVID-19 pandemic and the Ukraine crisis have led to increased risks and challenges, increasing the complexity, severity and uncertainty of our country’s economic development, and posing new challenges to stable growth, employment, and prices,” the meeting, chaired by CCP leader Xi Jinping, said in a communique summarized by state news agency Xinhua. Beijing’s dynamic clearance, zero-COVID policy would continue, but measures would be taken to “keep the economy operating within a reasonable range,” the summary said. Measures will include a boost to infrastructure construction and other stimuli to boost domestic demand and jobs, as well as tax rebates, tax and fee cuts and “monetary policy tools,” it said. Measures should “stabilize and expand employment” and “maintain overall social stability,” as well as a national strategy to restore the country’s domestic supply chains and logistics industry, which has been left fragmented by COVID-19 restrictions in major cities and ports, particularly Shanghai. Care should be taken to prevent rare and unexpected “black swan” incidents, as well as more predictable “gray rhino” developments from gathering momentum and getting out of hand, the report said, using buzzwords associated with Xi’s personal brand of political ideology. Reuters quoted a person with knowledge of the matter as saying that the government would be meeting with internet platforms next month. People line up to be tested for Covid-19 coronavirus outside a supermarket in Beijing on April 26, 2022, the day the Chinese capital launched mass coronavirus testing for nearly all its 21 million people. Credit: AFP Outflow of foreign capital Nomura’s chief China economist Ting Lu said he predicts an economic growth rate of just 1.8 percent in the second quarter of this year, with annual GDP growth of 3.9 percent for the whole of this year. The move comes after a U.S.$8 billion selloff of Chinese government bonds by foreign investors in March, with foreign capital outflows of U.S.$17.5 billion in the same month. Foreign investment in Chinese funds fell by 70 percent in the first quarter of 2022, compared with the previous quarter, while the yuan hit a six-month low against the dollar and China’s foreign exchange reserves fell by U.S.$25.8 billion between the end of February and the end of March. Online comments were skeptical that the Politburo could do much to affect the mass outflow of foreign capital. “The higher-ups shout their slogans, while the in-betweens have no policy to implement them, and the lower ranks are just cashing in,” according to one comment seen by RFA on Friday. Others said little would change economically while the CCP’s zero-COVID policy was still in place. The meeting came after the Wall Street Journal quoted a number of people as saying that Xi is insisting that China’s economic growth must exceed that of the U.S. this year. The U.S. posted a 5.7 percent GDP growth rate in 2021. Downward revision Zhu Chengzhi, chairman of Wanbao Investment Consulting, said said four percent GDP growth would be a good achievement for China this year. “[Zero-COVID] must have caused a significant downward revision [in GDP growth forecasts], a very serious downward revision,” Zhu told RFA. “The real estate sector is stuck, and they’ll have to rely on money supply [to boost] domestic demand.” “China’s economy is based on value-added manufacturing, but global prices for raw materials are on the rise around the world, squeezing profits in that sector, so that will also hurt GDP,” Zhu said. In a commentary for RFA, commentator Wang Dan said recent moves by the CCP to regulate entire sectors of the economy by limiting private-sector involvement had affected the labor market, where 11 million new entrants are expected this year. Wang said Xi will likely solve these structural problems by ordering up the results he wants to see. “Why do I say he can still manage it? Because companies in China … do as he tells them,” he said. “This has to do with Xi Jinping’s status and his bid for [a third term] at the 20th party congress.” He said the likelihood is that Xi regards his COVID-19 policy as a crucial part of attempts to demonstrate the superiority of China’s political system to the rest of the world. “But if he elevates his disease control and prevention policy to be a part of that attempt, he will be forcing himself to ride a tiger,” Wang warned. ‘Common prosperity’ Zhu said stock markets in China, even pre-pandemic, had been dealt a huge blow by Xi’s insistence on the “common prosperity” model, which saw a nationwide ban on the highly lucrative private education and tutoring sector. “During the past five years, mainland China and Hong Kong have been the only places where stockmarkets are falling, which is not a good sign,” Zhu said. “Xi Jinping is trying to introduce some bullish sentiment with certain remarks, but it’s just a brief respite.” “It’s not so easy to correct mainland Chinese markets when they are this weak,” he said, adding that GDP figures are already likely artificially inflated, or shares would be performing better. The meeting came as authorities in Beijing shut down more businesses and placed more residential compounds under lockdown on Friday, while extending contact-tracing. Meanwhile, video clips of people banging pots and pans from Shanghai apartments in protest at the ongoing lockdown have been circulating on social media. Translated and edited by Luisetta Mudie.
Canadian, UK lawmakers advance measures on China’s repression of Uyghurs in Xinjiang
A Canadian parliamentary committee advanced a motion to offer special immigration procedures now granted to Ukrainian refugees to Uyghurs and other ethnic minorities fleeing persecution in Xinjiang, while lawmakers in the United Kingdom moved to ban medical imports from the region in western China. Members of the Standing Committee on Immigration and Citizenship in Canada’s House of Commons unanimously approved a motion on Thursday that includes the issuance of temporary resident permits and single journey travel documents to people without a passport. This measure would allow displaced Uyghurs who face risk of detention and deportation back to China to seek refuge in Canada. Last month Canada said it would introduce new immigration policies, including a Canada-Ukraine Authorization for Emergency Travel, for Ukrainians who want to come to Canada. The government is obligated to respond to the committee’s motion within 30 days, in a process that is expected to later involve a debate in the House of Commons and a vote on the motion, said conservative lawmaker Garnett Genuis, a committee member. Genuis said the motion reaffirms a recognition of the ongoing genocide of the Uyghur and other Turkic Muslims in China and calls for recognition of the vulnerability of refugees from Xinjiang. “We’re seeing a situation in which the Chinese Communist Party is trying to extend its influence beyond its borders and threaten the security of Uyghurs who have already sought asylum in other places,” he told RFA. “So, it [the motion] calls on the government of Canada to work to support Uyghur refugees and create pathways that recognizes particular challenges.” Canada’s Parliament, along with some other Western legislatures, including the one in the U.K., have declared that China’s policies targeting Uyghurs constitute genocide and crimes against humanity. The U.S. government also has declared likewise. In March 2021, the Canada, the U.S., U.K. and European Union announced sanctions against Chinese officials and companies over human rights violations in Xinjiang, bringing swift condemnation of their actions by Beijing along with threats of retaliation. Memet Tohti, executive director of Uyghur Rights Advocacy Project in Canada, said his group lobbied with committee and parliament members to press the demand that Ottawa “treat the Uyghur refugees fleeing the Chinese genocide just like the Ukrainian refugees fleeing the war.” Thursday’s passage of the motion with the support four parties means “they now have unanimous consensus in the Parliament on resetting Uyghur refugees in Canada,” he said. No more blind eyes This week, lawmakers in the U.K. passed an amendment banning the government from purchasing health goods made in the Xinjiang region where China has been accused of forced-labor abuses. The Modern Slavery Amendment was incorporated into a larger health bill to prevent the country’s National Health Service from buying products tainted by modern slavery, including anything made with Uyghur forced labor. A year ago, U.K. lawmakers approved a nonbinding parliamentary motion declaring that crimes against humanity and genocide were being committed against Uyghurs and other mostly Muslim ethnic minorities in Xinjiang. Conservative MP Iain Duncan Smith, who spearheaded the amendment’s passage, said he welcomed the move by government health officials to outlaw the purchase of goods and services that come from companies and countries where there is slave labor. With the advance of the amendment, “the government has signaled that they will no longer turn a blind eye to forced labor in U.K. supply chains,” he said. Rahima Mahmut, U.K. director of the World Uyghur Congress, said the Uyghur activist group has campaigned for years for the government to take meaningful action against Beijing’s genocide in Xinjiang. “This amendment is the most significant piece of U.K. legislation addressing the Uyghur crisis so far,” she told RFA. “Once the bill comes into law, the Chinese government will no longer be rewarded with million-pound contracts for Uyghur slave-made healthcare products, as they have done throughout the COVID-19 pandemic.” Translated by Alim Seytoff for RFA’s Uyghur Service. Written in English by Roseanne Gerin.
China says Taiwan ‘playing with fire’ over alleged Taiping Island plans
China has reacted strongly against Taiwan’s alleged plans to extend a runway on the contested Taiping Island in the South China Sea, saying it was “playing with fire.” Taiwanese media reported last week that the island’s military is planning to lengthen the existing 1,150-meter-long airstrip by 350 meters so that it will be able to accommodate F-16 jet fighters and P-3C anti-submarine aircraft. Taiwanese officials have yet to confirm the plans, reported by United Daily News, a conservative Taiwanese newspaper. But recent satellite imagery suggests some kind of changes on the ground at the western tip of Taiping, which is located in the north-western part of the Spratly islands. Taiping, also known as Itu Aba, is the biggest natural feature in the Spratly islands. It is currently occupied by Taiwan but is also claimed by China, the Philippines and Vietnam. On Wednesday, Ma Xiaoguang, spokesman for Beijing’s Taiwan Affairs Office, warned Taipei of “playing with fire” with the Taiping extension plan. “Any attempt to collude with external forces and betray the interests of the Chinese nation is playing with fire and will surely be punished by both sides of the [Taiwan] Strait,” Ma was quoted by the state-run China News Service (CNS) as saying. “It will be rejected by the people and punished by history,” he said. The island, officially considered a “rock” under the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea, is named after the warship “Taiping” that China sent to take over the island after Japan surrendered at the end of World War II. It has been under Taiwan’s control since 1956. ‘Inherent territory’ Ma Xiaoguang was quoted as saying that “the Nansha Islands (Spratly Islands), including Taiping Island, are China’s inherent territory, and China has indisputable sovereignty over the Nansha Islands and its adjacent waters.” Taiwan’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs on Thursday rejected China’s statement, saying that the islands in the South China Sea belong to the Republic of China (ROC or Taiwan), and “the Taiwanese government’s determination to defend the sovereignty of the islands in the South China Sea has never wavered,” the island’s news agency CNA reported. The ministry however did not confirm nor deny the alleged runway extension. Taiwan’s air force earlier declined to comment. Taiwan, Brunei, China, Malaysia, the Philippines and Vietnam, are all claimants of the South China Sea, but China holds the most extensive claim of nearly 90 percent of the sea, demarcated by the so-called nine-dash line. The U-shaped demarcation line was actually first introduced in 1947 by the ROC and it is now being used by both Taiwan and the People’s Republic of China (PRC or China) to back their claims in the South China Sea. An international tribunal in the case brought against China by the Philippines in 2016 rejected the Chinese “historical claims” in the South China Sea and invalidated the U-shaped line. Both Taiwan and the PRC refused to accept the ruling. Taiwan was not party to the case but its claims in the South China Sea are similar to those of China. Satellite photos Satellite imagery taken on March 24 and April 23, 2022, appears to show topographical changes at the western end of Taiping Island over the past month. Credit: EO Browser, Sinergise Ltd. Taiping is located in the north-western part of the Spratly islands, 1,500 kilometers (930 miles) from Taiwan and 850 kilometers (530 miles) from the Philippines. It is under the administration of Kaohsiung Municipality. The current runway was only built in 2008. Proposed plans to develop the infrastructure on Taiping Island were criticized by the other two claimants – the Philippines and Vietnam – as stoking tensions in the disputed South China Sea. Last week, a Beijing-based Chinese think-tank said it had obtained new evidence of the runway extension plan. The South China Sea Probing Initiative (SCSPI) said satellite imagery obtained via the satellite data provider Sentinel Hub shows that reclamation work has begun on the western tip of Taiping Island, supporting the news about the island’s intention of extending the existing airstrip to 1,500 meters. Satellite photos from Sentinel taken on March 24 and April 23 and seen by RFA show noticeable differences in the topography of the western areas of the island. The Taiwanese Ministry of Defense declined to comment when asked by RFA. In March, the Taiwanese Defense Minister Chiu Kuo-Cheng said that Taiwan had no intention of militarizing Taiping despite reports that China had completed building military facilities on three artificial islands nearby.
Guangdong tainted milk parent-activist denied compensation for wrongful conviction
Tainted milk parent-turned-campaigner Guo Li has been denied compensation for wrongful imprisonment by the Supreme People’s Court RFA has learned. In 2017, a court in the southern province of Guangdong retrospectively acquitted Guo after he served a five-year jail term for demanding compensation after his infant daughter was sickened by the 2008 melamine-tainted milk scandal. The simultaneous interpreter was handed the five-year sentence by a court in Guangdong’s Chaozhou in 2010 for “extortion” linked to his campaign for compensation from Guangzhou-based infant formula maker Scient after his child became ill with kidney stones. Following his release, Guo then lodged an appeal with the Guangdong Provincial High Court, which found that the facts of the case were unclear, that there was insufficient evidence, that the court of first instance had breached due process on two occasions, and that the case was inconclusive. Guo later took his appeal to the Supreme People’s Court in Beijing, learning on April 10 that his attempt to win redress had been unsuccessful, he told RFA in a recent interview. He said his claim for state compensation was ruled “inadmissible” because a time limit had expired. “The court found that no compensation should be paid, and my appeal application was rejected,” Guo said. “I was advised to deal with the matter through other means.” Guo said the ruling was itself in breach of regulations governing state compensation claims. “I think this is a shameful and ridiculous ruling,” he said. “I will continue to pursue those responsible for compensation in the Guangdong Provincial People’s High Court, via the prison service, and through the detention center system.” Beijing-based lawyer Mo Shaoping said the two-year limitation does exist, but that the court should have ignored it. “If the judicial system has wronged a person and that person is eventually acquitted, they it should take the initiative to compensate them,” Mo told RFA. Tainted milk scandal Guo’s daughter was one of 300,000 made ill by infant formula milk laced with the industrial chemical melamine, which saw a total of 21 people convicted for their roles in the scandal, two of whom were executed. The government said after the 2008 scandal that it had destroyed all tainted milk powder, but reports of melamine-laced products have occasionally re-emerged. Guo has previously described three years of harsh treatment, including beatings and solitary confinement, during his prison sentence, as the authorities put pressure on him to “admit to his crimes.” Held in a cell measuring little more than one meter (3.3 feet) wide and deprived of adequate food and water, Guo was given moldy food and dirty ditch-water instead. Campaigners say promises from then-premier Wen Jiabao that the government would foot the medical bills for all of the children affected by melamine-tainted milk haven’t been kept. Instead, the scandal has led major health insurance companies in China to start excluding kidney-related diseases from policies, owing to the huge medical bills racked up following the scandal. Translated and edited by Luisetta Mudie.
Son of Dalian Wanda billionaire banned from Weibo after criticism of COVID-19 policy
Government censors have banned the son of Dalian Wanda billionaire tycoon Wang Jianlin from posting on a major social media platform after he cast aspersions on a traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) formula currently being distributed to homes around the country to treat COVID-19, state media reported. Online influencer Wang Sicong was banned for life from Weibo on Tuesday for “violating relevant laws and regulations,” the Global Times newspaper, which has close ties to ruling Chinese Communist Party (CCP) paper the People’s Daily, reported. It said the ban came after Wang’s “controversial remarks on Weibo about Chinese herbal medicine Lianhua Qingwen,” and that the comments have now been deleted. The last post to remain visible on Wang’s account is dated April 14, and takes issue with the popular belief that Lianhua Qingwen has been recommended by the World Health Organization (WHO) for the treatment of COVID-19, the Global Times said. “The post also raised doubts about the efficacy of Lianhua Qingwen, claiming that its producer Yiling Pharmaceutical should come under scrutiny from related authorities,” it said. The paper said Wang had also called on the China Securities Regulatory Commission investigate the medicine’s makers, Yiling Pharmaceutical, but later deleted the remark. “Lianhua Qingwen has been widely used to treat COVID-19 patients in China and is currently being distributed to almost every household in Shanghai,” it said, adding that some 15 billion yuan was wiped from Yiling Pharmaceutical share prices after Wang’s post appeared. Wang, 34, is the only son of Wang Jianlin, one of the richest people in China. Residents play table tennis at a residential area under lockdown to curb the spread of the Covid-19 coronavirus in Panjiayuan, Chaoyang district, in Beijing, April 27, 2022. Credit: AFP Challenging official narrative YouTuber and current affairs commentator Yue Ge said Wang’s privileged background likely led him to believe he could challenge the official CCP narrative on social media, something that has resulted in expulsion from the party and even prison sentences for outspoken members of the elite under CCP leader Xi Jinping. “He mainly studied in the UK, and he was admitted to some prestigious schools, and went to University College London, which cultivates subversive thinking,” Yue Ge said. “Western education has no qualms about cultivating critical minds.” “The second generation of super-rich has a lot of wealth, but also operates outside of the [political] system, with not much in the way of official curbs,” Yue Ge said. He said Wang had also been highly critical in online comments of the lockdowns in Shanghai that have left people struggling to get enough to eat amid stringent restrictions on the movement of trucks and delivery personnel. “What Wang Sicong said about any lack of access to food in the 21st century being due to politics … can be understood as a criticism of the CCP’s disease prevention policies,” he said. “Some even thought he was questioning the legitimacy of CCP rule.” Current affairs commentator Wei Xin said Wang was likely voicing simmering public discontent over lockdowns in Shanghai. “Wang Sicong’s comments weren’t just a form of personal expression, but also a form of political protest,” Wei said. “What may have been a casual comment on Weibo actually reflects deep discontent among Chinese capitalists.” “Wang Sicong was the kid who shouted out that the emperor wasn’t wearing any clothes.” Financial elite no longer safe Wei said the move to silence Wang comes after the CCP under Xi has rolled back privileges for the financial elite, imposing CCP committees at boardroom level and intervening in labor disputes likely to cause social unrest. “The second generation of capitalists, represented here by Wang Sicong, is currently at a very delicate crossroads,” he said. “They are eager for political recognition, and even if that’s hard for them to achieve under the current system, it will inevitably mean further conflicts in future.” Chinese Twitter users reported on April 27 that Shanghai police had arrested Wang on suspicion of “picking quarrels and stirring up trouble.” RFA was unable to verify the content of those tweets. Meanwhile, residents of Shanghai are continuing to report a spike in suicides by people jumping from buildings, as the ongoing lockdown is enforced with steel-link fences and panels, and amid continuing complaints about lack of food. Video clips showed one person falling from a building in Xizang Road, and a mother hugging the body of a dead child in Qingpu, Pudong New District. Meanwhile, residents banged pots and pans to express dissatisfaction during a visit by the Huangpu district party secretary and mayor to Datong secondary school on Quxi Road, according to another clip. Many others have been left homeless or with no access to life-saving medical treatment by the lockdown. “Right now I have hydronephrosis, so I want to get surgery as soon as possible,” a woman from Anhui who has been living on the streets since being discharged from an isolation facility, told RFA. “But the hospital told me that most Shanghai hospitals are closed, their operating rooms not fully operational, and medical resources are very limited, so I have to wait for two weeks,” the woman, who gave only a nickname Anna, said. “My hydronephrosis is getting worse, and quite painful now, and I need to get treatment as soon as possible,” she said. Challenges for Xi Media reports from NetEase Finance and Phoenix Satellite TV aired a video clip from someone in the northern province of Hebei saying they had been ordered to put their front door keys outside for officials to hold, or face detention by local police, prompting online criticism over the safety implications. Beijing-based rights lawyer Mo Shaoping local officials have no legal right to lock residents in their homes: ” I personally think that they have no legal basis for doing this,” Mo told RFA. Veteran Democracy Wall dissident Wei Jingsheng said CCP leader Xi Jinping is currently in a difficult situation. “Just as he thought he’d been successful in eliminating dissidents from party ranks and in controlling public speech, the virus…
