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Category: East Asia
North Korea orders wartime readiness during joint U.S.-South Korean military drills
North Korea put its military in a wartime posture–mobilizing troops and stepping up army political indoctrination– in response to the semi-annual U.S.-South Korean joint military exercises that began this week, sources in the country told RFA. The exercises are mostly computer simulations and involve cooperation between alliance command posts. But North Korea still views the exercises as a threat to its sovereignty, and its General Political Bureau has ordered the military to be ready for war. “Artillery and other important mission units were instructed to maintain a high state of readiness and conduct frequent inspections on their combat equipment so they could enter battle immediately in the event of a crisis,” a military source in the northwestern province of North Pyongan told RFA’s Korean Service Tuesday on condition of anonymity for security reasons. “During the South Korea-U.S. joint military exercises, commanders must not leave the areas under their jurisdiction. Soldiers in the units are prepared to mobilize in a ready state, day or night,” he said. But soldiers are exhausted, having just finished their grueling “winter training” sessions, where they toil as essentially free labor for the government on the premise of training, and coming off a major holiday full of political events, the source said. “They are angered by the authorities’ orders to immediately mobilize at a time when they lack fuel and materials, and they say the situation is not realistic,” he said. Authorities want soldiers not only to be ready on the physical battlefield, but also on the ideological battlefield, a military source in the northeastern province of North Hamgyong told RFA on condition of anonymity to speak freely. “From the 19th, political departments in all units were urged to use ideological education classes for high-ranking officials this coming Saturday, and daily mental education hours for soldiers, so that they can propagandize the tension of the current political situation, and confirm their determination to defend our supreme leader,” he said, referring to the country’s leader Kim Jong Un. “The General Political Bureau has ordered the Korean People’s Army newspapers, telecommunications, and the third broadcast within the military to put out intensive propaganda that shows the party and the military’s resolve, and our principled and ruthlessly super-hardline stance,” the second soruce said. Third broadcast refers to government-controlled loudspeakers that transmit messages or instructions to everyone they can reach. “The propaganda must emphasize the need to show the will of tens of millions of people to respond to the U.S.-South Korean war provocations with military action and not just words,” the second source said. “In response to the orders … high-ranking officials and the soldiers below them complain that they are already tired from winter training and the various different political events concentrated in April. They wonder whether it makes sense to ‘arm soldiers with the 1950 spirit of defending the motherland…’ when what they want the most right now is adequate rest and enough food to eat,” he said. The source said the propaganda is essentially meaningless. “If you listen to the third broadcast inside the Korean People’s Army, you will only hear songs on the theme of defending our leader. All day long,” he said. “These songs include ‘I will defend Gen. Kim Jong Un with my life,’ ‘Our weapons don’t forgive,’ and ‘Leader, just give us an order.’ I don’t understand why the authorities are obsessed with ideological education when the joint military exercises between South Korea and the United States happen every year.” The joint exercises will run through Friday, then break for the weekend, resuming April 25 and ending April 28, according to South Korea’s Joint Chiefs of Staff. Hostilities in the 1950-1953 Korean War ended with an armistice agreement, but North and South Korea are technically still at war as no peace treaty has ever been signed. Translated by Claire Lee and Leejin Jun. Written in English by Eugene Whong.
Chinese police order residents to hand over passports ‘until after the pandemic’
Police in the central Chinese province of Hunan have ordered local residents 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 who answered the phone at the Baisha police department confirmed the report, and said the measure is being rolled out nationwide. “According to official requirements, [passports] must be handed over because of the pandemic,” the officer said. “It’s everywhere, not just Hunan. It’s across the whole country,” they said. “Anyone with a passport has to hand it over, not just people who have an employer.” “If people don’t hand them over … then they have to expect to be investigated,” the officer said. 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 in Shanghai confirmed they have also been seeing a huge spike in emigration inquiries in recent weeks. Many clients are now looking for “a green card from a big country and a passport from a small country” to supplement their Chinese passports, a consultant who gave only the surname Liu told RFA. “Some clients also need a favorable exchange rate [with their destination country],” he said. “We have had nearly four times as many inquiries this year as this time last year.” He said most people are looking for a one-step process to achieve permanent residency, and don’t mind spending more of their savings to achieve it. “There are many who are applying to Turkey, because [you need to] buy a house for at least U.S. $250,000, which is between one and two million yuan,” Liu said. “There are rumors this will go up to U.S. $400,000 in May, so a lot of people are trying jump aboard the last bus before the price hike.” A Shanghai-based immigration consultant surnamed Shen said more and more people are applying now, as there is scant sign that the government will ease up on the zero-COVID policy. “You could maybe start by applying for permanent residency of another country, in case this escalates in future,” Shen said, referring to the order to hand over passports. Mao Runzhi The wave of interest in leaving the country has sparked memes around the Chinese characters “runzhi,” a satirical reference both to late supreme leader Mao Zedong and the English word “run.” “Mao Zedong’s [birth] name was Mao Runzhi, and he ran away at the most critical moment,” Xia Ming, professor of political science at New York’s City University, told RFA. “There is also the word run in English, as in run away.” Xia sees the current exodus as the peak of a wave of migration that began around five years ago, and cited recent news events like the woman found chained by the neck in the eastern province of Jiangsu as catalysts, along with the pandemic. “There are constantly cases of abduction and trafficking and missing persons,” Xia said. “Anyone could become that chained woman; it’s so random.” “Women and children are kidnapped and sold as sex slaves or for organ donations, and this has had a big impact on China’s middle classes,” he said. He said the Shanghai lockdown had also come as a huge shock to some of the most privileged people in Chinese society. “These people who used to live more comfortable lives than everyone else suddenly found themselves facing starvation overnight, and lost any sense of personal dignity,” Xia said. “This was a huge shock to the quietly successful middle class.” Taiwan-based Hong Kong commentator Sang Pu said people from Shanghai aren’t fleeing COVID-19 so much as their government’s draconian disease control restrictions. “Emigration is being driven by the CCP’s authoritarian approach to disease control and prevention, not by the virus,” Sang said. “The reason is a political one.” “But do their politics accord with those of the countries they are moving to? Not necessarily,” he said. “These people aren’t just refugees; they are looking for some kind of paradise where they can live freely, but they bring with them the legacy of authoritarian rule. We should stay vigilant.” He said if rich Chinese businesspeople and senior officials are allowed to flee overseas with money, this would effectively set up a tried-and-tested channel for money-laundering, as well as providing the CCP with a growing foothold overseas. Translated and edited by Luisetta Mudie.
I’ll never let go, Vlad
The sinking of the Moskva, Russia’s Black Sea fleet flagship, was the biggest wartime loss of a naval ship in 40 years. Despite the major embarrassment for Vladimir Putin and the vaunted Russian military, China’s Xi Jinping has maintained his embrace of his fellow strongman. Beyond the reputational damage to China from his alliance with Putin, analysts question whether Xi is getting accurate information about Russian battlefield failures, which may offer lessons for China’s military.
China, Solomon Islands confirm they have signed security pact
China and the Solomon Islands have both confirmed they signed a controversial security pact that has sparked concerns about China’s rising influence in the Pacific region. The confirmation came as a U.S. delegation led by the National Security Council Indo-Pacific coordinator Kurt Campbell was heading to Honiara to discuss regional security issues. Solomon Islands Prime Minister Manasseh Sogavare told parliament on Wednesday that the agreement with China was to help with the country’s “internal security situation,” referring to recent unrest that saw businesses and buildings burned and looted. The prime minister said the decision “will not adversely impact or undermine the peace and harmony of our region.” Hours before that, a Chinese government spokesman said that the pact is “part of normal exchanges and cooperation between two sovereign and independent countries” and does not target any third party. Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Wang Wenbin told reporters in Beijing that Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi and his Solomon Islands counterpart Jeremiah Manele officially signed the document “the other day.” China did not offer an explanation about whether the signed document is the final agreement. Neither party has revealed any details of the deal, with Sogavare saying it would be disclosed after a “process.” Kurt M. Campbell, the Biden administration’s coordinator for the Indo-Pacific, pictured official at the China Development Forum in Beijing, China March 23, 2019. At the time, Campbell was chairman and CEO of a consultancy, the Asia Group. Credit: Reuters. Lack of transparency Solomon Islands’ neighbors Australia and New Zealand have repeatedly voiced concerns since a copy of the draft agreement was leaked online in March. On Tuesday, Australian Foreign Minister Marise Payne and Pacific Minister Zed Seselja issued a joint statement saying “Australia is deeply disappointed by the signing” of the pact. “We are concerned about the lack of transparency with which this agreement has been developed, noting its potential to undermine stability in our region,” the statement reads. Seselja traveled to Honiara last week to urge the Solomon Islands prime Mminister not to sign the deal with Beijing, without success. New Zealand’s Foreign Minister Nanaia Mahuta said her country was “saddened” that the Solomon Islands had made the pact. The U.S. also expressed concern over “the lack of transparency” in China’s security pact with the Solomon Islands, calling it part of a pattern of Beijing offering “shadowy” deals to countries, Reuters news agency reported. Two top U.S. officials for the Indo-Pacific region – Kurt Campbell and Daniel Kritenbrink, the assistant secretary of state for East Asian and Pacific affairs – are currently in Fiji before traveling to Honiara to meet with the island nation’s leaders. Campbell said in January that the U.S. has “enormous moral, strategic, historical interests” in the Pacific but had not done enough to assist the region. Their trip has been criticized by China as having “ulterior motives.” “Several senior U.S. officials now fancy a visit to some Pacific island countries all of a sudden after all these years,” said Chinese Foreign Ministry’s Wang Wenbin, pointing out that the U.S. Embassy in Solomon Islands has been closed for 29 years. This February, U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken traveled to Fiji to meet with Pacific island leaders, and announced that the embassy in Honiara would be reopened. The Chinese national flag flies outside the Chinese Embassy in Honiara, Solomon Islands, April 1, 2022. Credit: AP. Military presence China has maintained that Pacific island countries need to diversify their cooperation with other countries and “have the right to independently choose their cooperation partners.” “China is always a builder of peace and a promoter of stability in the South Pacific region,” Wang said. A draft copy of the security pact leaked onto social media in late March suggested there would be Chinese logistical hubs or bases in the island nation. One of the clauses says: “China may, according to its own needs and with the consent of Solomon Islands, make ship visits to, carry out logistical replenishment in, and have stopover and transition in Solomon Islands.” David Capie, director of the Centre for Strategic Studies at the Victoria University of Wellington in New Zealand, told RFA that the security pact would allow Beijing to set up military bases and deploy troops in the Pacific island nation, “marking the start of a much sharper military competition than anything we’ve seen in the region for decades.” Capie said that the agreement “would allow the People’s Republic of China to deploy police and military personnel to Solomon Islands with the consent of the host government, and potentially provide for refueling and support of Chinese ships.” U.S. State Department Spokesperson Ned Price said earlier this week that the U.S. is concerned that the agreement “leaves the door open for the deployment of Chinese forces on the Solomon Islands.” “We believe that signing such an agreement could increase destabilization within the Solomon Islands and will set a concerning precedent for the wider Pacific island region,” Price added. Analysts say a presence of Chinese troops in the Solomon Islands could raise the risk of confrontation between China and the U.S. and its allies, as well as challenge the U.S.-led vision of a “Free and Open Indo-Pacific.”
Authorities free 3 Tibetans jailed for running ‘illegal’ land rights group
Authorities in China’s Qinghai province have released three of the nine Tibetans who received prison terms in 2018 for running an “illegal organization” promoting land rights. Three more from the group are due to be released in June, according to Tibetan sources in exile. Sonam Gyal and two others, who were not immediately identified, completed their terms and were freed earlier this year, a source living in India told RFA’s Tibetan Service, speaking on condition of anonymity. “In January this year, Sonam Gyal and two others were released after serving their prison term,” said the source. “Tashi Tsering and two others are scheduled to be released in June, also after completing their prison terms,” the source added. The names of the other two who are expected to be freed are also unconfirmed. While the source said that the terms of the second trio are set to expire in June, “it is also uncertain if [they] will be released accordingly.” According to the source, the remaining three had their cases “sent back for retrial and were sentenced to seven years again.” “The prison time they had already served until now was invalidated,” they said. In April 2019, RFA reported that the nine Tibetans, all residents of Horgyal village in Qinghai’s Rebgong (in Chinese, Tongren) county, were handed terms of from three to seven years by the County People’s Court for running an “illegal organization,” citing information from the Dharamsala, India-based Tibetan Centre for Human Rights and Democracy (TCHRD). Authorities had additionally accused the men — Gendun Soepa, Drukbum Tsering, Bende Dorje, Tashi Tsering, Sonam Gyal, Dargye, Shawo Tsering, Khajam Gyal and Choesang — of usurping the duties of already established village committees, “extortion,” and “gathering people to disturb social order,” the group said at the time. Detained in July 2018, the nine men were formally arrested in August, and were serving their sentences at a large prison facility in Rebgong, a second Tibetan source in exile told RFA. “Though the prison is very close to Horgyal village, their families and relatives were never allowed to meet them over the last several years,” said the source, who also declined to be named. “Sonam Gyal’s health was not in a good state for a long time while in prison, but we don’t know much about his current health status, even though he is released. … People in the region were all too scared to talk about it and tried to avoid the conversation.” The second source said that the health conditions of the six still in prison are also uncertain. Petition to reclaim land In a petition signed on Feb, 21, 2017, the nine, part of a larger group of 24, had mobilized village support to demand the return of Horgyal village land handed over for use by three brick factories in exchange for lease payments to the village that ended when the works were closed down by government order in 2011. For the next seven years, authorities compensated the factories annually for their loss of business, though payments to the Horgyal village government then stopped, TCHRD said in its statement at the time of their sentencing, adding that villagers had called since then for the land’s return. Two years before, a Tibetan monastery in Rebgong had appealed for the return of property formerly leased to a teacher’s college but seized by local officials as the college moved to a new location, Tibetan sources told RFA in an earlier report. The property, comprising one third of the total estate of Rongwo monastery, was confiscated in 2016, and monks had petitioned ever since for its return, sources said. Chinese development projects in Tibetan areas have led to frequent standoffs with Tibetans, who accuse Chinese firms and local officials of improperly seizing land and disrupting the lives of local people. Many projects result in violent suppression, the detention of protest organizers, and intense pressure on the local population to comply with the government’s wishes. Translated by Tenzin Dickyi. Written in English by Joshua Lipes.
North Korea stops public transit for 3 days on founder’s birth holiday
North Korea ordered all public transportation to stop for three days in observance of the April 15 birth anniversary of the country’s late founder, angering some citizens who rely on buses and other services to get around and conduct business, sources in North Korea told RFA. “From the day before the Day of the Sun through yesterday, authorities in Unsan county completely restricted the operation of state-owned transportation, including buses, taxis and motorcycles,” a resident of South Pyongan province, north of the capital Pyongyang, told RFA’s Korean Service on condition of anonymity for security reasons. “With every major national anniversary, the authorities will do things like strengthening security and holding political events and lectures, but this is the first time they are trying to control the people by shutting off public transit,” she said. Kim Il Sung (1912-1994), the grandfather of current leader Kim Jong Un, was born on April 15, and his birthday is celebrated every year as a major holiday called the “Day of the Sun.” Kim Il Sung’s son and successor, Kim Jong Il (1942-2011), was born on Feb. 16, the “Day of the Shining Star.” The two holidays solidify the cult of personality surrounding the Kim family, which has now ruled North Korea for three generations. April 15 this year would have been Kim Il Sung’s 110th birthday, and authorities stopped all buses and taxis nationwide for three days to try to encourage citizens to attend political events to celebrate the day, sources said. Authorities wanted to push residents to attend a people’s rally to show support for the party ideology and to rededicate their loyalty to the leadership, but North Koreans have responded coolly to the measure, the source said. “Public transportation services completely stopped for political events to commemorate the Day of the Sun, but the merchants who rely on public transit to transport goods from one market to another had no avenue to complain about their difficulties,” she said. The stoppage of public transit in the northwestern province of North Pyongan was designed to reduce the risks anyone would attempt to disrupt political events there, a resident of the province told RFA on condition of anonymity to speak freely. “Residents who are unable to travel for three days had no choice but to go to the political events, starting with the special assembly on the day before the Day of the Sun,” she said. On the Day of the Sun, the people laid flowers in offering to Kim Il Sung at the Tower of Eternal Life, a landmark in the border city of Sinuiju, after which they celebrated with a public dance ceremony, the second source said. The following day, they attended a political event where they rededicated their allegiance to Kim Jong Un. “The people were exhausted from going to these events, and it took them away from their jobs, which they need to put food on the table,” she said. In addition to turning off public transit, authorities cut civilian phone communications between North Pyongan and the capital Pyongyang during the three-day period, the second source said. She tried to call the cell phone of her acquaintance in Pyongyang, but could not get through until April 17. Translated by Claire Lee and Leejin Jun. Written in English by Eugene Whong.
Hong Kong says voters only have one option in ‘elections’ for city’s next leader
The Hong Kong government on Monday said only one valid candidate has been approved to run in a forthcoming “election” for the city’s top job, naming former police officer and security chief John Lee. “The name of the one validly nominated candidate for the sixth-term Chief Executive Election was gazetted today (April 18),” the government said in a statement on Sunday. The move comes after dozens of pro-democracy politicians and activists were arrested amid a citywide crackdown on public dissent and political opposition under a draconian national security law imposed on Hong Kong from July 1, 2020. The ruling Chinese Communist Party (CCP) had also pushed through changes to Hong Kong’s electoral system that effectively ensure that only “patriots” backed by a slew of CCP-backed committees and the national security police could make the slate. Now, even the appearance of choice appears to have been dispensed with. The government’s Candidate Eligibility Review Committee, chaired by financial secretary Paul Chan said the 786 nominations garnered by Lee from the 1,500-strong Election Committee were valid. The announcement came as a well-known figure from the 2019 protest movement calling for fully democratic elections was convicted of “organizing an illegal assembly” in a court in Eastern District. David Li, a protester known by his nickname Brother Lunch, after he appeared in Eastern Magistrate’s Court in Hong Kong and was found guilty of “organizing an illegal assembly” and released on bail pending a social services report, April 19, 2022. Credit: RFA. Brother Lunch David Li, known by his protest nickname Brother Lunch, appeared in Eastern Magistrate’s Court on Tuesday, was found guilty and released on bail pending a social services report. The court found that Li had repeatedly shouted slogans and made hand gestures at the International Financial Center, signaling the “five demands, not one less” of the protest movement which included universal suffrage and no limits on candidacy, as well as greater police accountability and an amnesty for political prisoners. The fact that others joined in, and that Li appeared to be looking to see the effects of his demonstration on others, meant he had organized an assembly, despite the fact that he had stuck to a requirement for 1.5 social distancing in place at the time. The defense said Li is autistic and has a diagnosis of ADHD, and called for his young age and rehabilitation to be taken into account. Li was a regular participant in the “lunch with you” gatherings during the 2019 campaign to prevent legal amendments allowing the extradition of alleged criminal suspects to face trial in mainland China, which later broadened to include calls for full democracy and official accountability. His conviction came as the creator of a banned sculpture commemorating the 1989 Tiananmen massacre said he was unable to move his work out of Hong Kong, because at least 12 logistics companies had refused to take on the job. The Pillar of Shame memorial to victims of the 1989 Tiananmen Square massacre in Beijing is shown at the University of Hong Kong in a May 2021 photo. Credit: AFP. NSL scares shippers Danish artist Jens Galschiøt said he has been working with the Danish foreign ministry in a bid to get the sculpture out of Hong Kong, but that no removal company would move it from its current location to a cargo terminal at Hong Kong’s airport. Galschiøt said he has been turned down by at least 12 companies, who said they feared that moving the sculpture would put them in breach of the national security law. He said there appears to be a greatly diminished trust in the city’s judicial system since the law took effect. Galschiøt revealed plans for smaller replicas of the sculpture to be placed in universities around the world, to serve as a focus for commemorating the dead of Tiananmen Square. He said the statue had been cut into two parts by University of Hong Kong management at the time of its removal on Dec. 23, 2021. The statue was placed on the university campus by the now disbanded Hong Kong Alliance in Support of Democratic Patriotic Movements of China, which had it on loan from Galschiøt. The 32-year-old Alliance now stands accused of acting as the agent of a foreign power, with leaders Chow Hang-tung, Albert Ho, and Lee Cheuk-yan arrested on suspicion of “incitement to subvert state power,” and the group’s assets frozen. The group was one of a number of civil society groups that disbanded following investigation by national security police. The annual Tiananmen massacre vigils the Alliance hosted on June 4 often attracted more than 100,000 people, but the gatherings have been banned since 2020, with the authorities citing coronavirus restrictions. China’s Hong Kong and Macau Affairs Office had previously accused the organization of inciting hostility and hatred against the CCP and the central government. Translated and edited by Luisetta Mudie.
Dalai Lama to visit Ladakh in first trip since pandemic’s start
Tibetan spiritual leader the Dalai Lama will visit India’s northwestern territory of Ladakh later this year in his first trip away from his residence since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic two years ago, sources said this week. The visit, which will take place between July and August, was made at the invitation of a high-level delegation from Ladakh, a strategically sensitive area where thousands of Indian and Chinese troops clashed in June 2020, with deaths reported by both sides in the fighting. News of the trip was announced on Monday by delegation members Thiksey Rinpoche, a former member of the Indian parliament’s upper house, and Thupten Tsewang, also a former Indian MP and now president of the Ladakh Buddhist Association. “We made the request during our special audience with His Holiness the Dalai Lama, and he agreed to visit and bless devotees in Ladakh this summer,” Thiksey Rinpoche said following an April 18 meeting at the spiritual leader’s residence in Dharamsala, India, the seat of Tibet’s exile government, the Central Tibetan Administration. The Dalai Lama, who last visited Ladakh in 2018 and spent 19 days there, had been unable to visit again in recent years because of the COVID-19 pandemic, said Thupten Tsewang, also a member of the delegation. “Now, the people of Ladakh will be very happy to hear this news, and we are all very delighted,” Tsewang added. Banned by Chinese authorities in Tibet, celebrations of the Dalai Lama’s July 6 birthday have been held by large gatherings in Ladakh in recent years, sources say. Concerns have been raised over the advancing age of the now 86-year-old spiritual leader, with Beijing claiming the right to name a successor after he dies, and the Dalai Lama himself — the 14th in his line — saying he will be reborn outside of areas controlled by China. Formerly an independent nation, Tibet was invaded and incorporated into China by force more than 70 years ago, and the Dalai Lama and thousands of his followers later fled into exile in India and other countries around the world following a failed 1959 national uprising against China’s rule. Tibetans living in Tibet frequently complain of discrimination and human rights abuses by Chinese authorities and policies they say are aimed at eradicating their national and cultural identity. Translated by Tenzin Dickyi for RFA’s Tibetan Service. Written in English by Richard Finney.
Shanghai police warn bereaved families of elderly COVID-19 patients not to speak out
Authorities in Shanghai are warning the families of elderly people who have died of COVID-19 not to talk to the media, as the omicron outbreak rips through at least one hospital in the city, causing an unknown number of deaths. At least 27 elderly people in Donghai Hospital in Shanghai’s Pudong New District have died of COVID-19, with many more deaths suspected as a result of an outbreak among staff and patients. Some families have refused to have their loved ones’ remains cremated, and have been warned not to talk to foreign media by police, a person who has spoken to the families told RFA. “A person identifying as a police officer told me that they are conveying a message to families from the internet police in Pudong; it’s not the hospitals that are contacting them,” Yue Ge, a Chinese YouTuber who has been following the outbreak among the elderly closely, told RFA. “[This person] said they would let it go as understandable if they spoke to Chinese media, but that they mustn’t talk to foreign media, on pain of legal consequences,” Yue said. The warning comes after several families of elderly people who died in the Donghai Hospital after being admitted for COVID-19 claimed that the hospital had under-reported the number of patients who have died of the disease. “The families counted and found [references to] 27 bodies, which basically means that there were 27 dead bodies that tested positive for COVID-19,” Yue said. “Some of the Donghai families are saying that the Donghai Hospital has totally failed to contain an outbreak [of nosocomial infections] that started in mid-April,” he said. “According to their account, deaths are still happening there,” he said. ‘No means of controlling it’ Yue said the hospital is understaffed, with at least 80 percent of its staff dispatched elsewhere for disease control and prevention work, and elderly people admitted there aren’t being properly cared for or treated. He said the figure of 27 deaths didn’t include people who had died there due to other causes than COVID-19. Yue said large numbers of elderly patients with the virus are also being sent to temporary field hospitals or designated hospitals, with fears that some may even have died due to neglect or starvation. “In the two weeks or more since the start of April, there have been four staff changes among the nurses on the ward where [some of the elderly patients] are,” Yue said. “Three of them were due to the fact that the nurses tested positive.” “The fourth just got there … but the family fear that transmission is still occurring,” he said. “It seems they have no effective means of controlling it.” “The nursing staff are already in full PPE, but transmission is still taking place; they can’t stop it, and the new nurses aren’t paying full attention to taking care of the elderly because they’re afraid of getting infected too,” Yue said. Yue said there are also concerns that the hospital will start editing death certificates to suggest that COVID-19 wasn’t the primary cause of death, and that the patients had died “with” it rather than “of” it. “They got the feeling that there is a certain amount of embellishment or editing of medical records going on after the event,” Yue said. “The official response is that the charts have to be written up after attempts to resuscitate someone.” In this image taken from video provided by Beibei, who asked to be identified only by her given name, residents take a rest at Shanghai’s National Exhibition and Convention Center, which converted to a quarantine facility set up for people who tested positive but have few or no symptoms, April 15, 2022. Credit: Beibei via AP ‘Who are people supposed to talk to?’ Wuhan-based activist Zhang Hai, who has campaigned for redress after his father died in the early days of the pandemic, said the government is suppressing a huge amount of information about the current outbreak. “We don’t have a free press in China, so there are no reasonable channels available for us to tell the rest of the world what’s happening to ordinary people,” Zhang said. “This is because our domestic media organizations are all controlled by the government.” “Who are people supposed to talk to, if not foreign media? Their loved ones have been treated unfairly and lost their lives,” he said. “Anyone with a bit of courage would find it impossible not to speak out,” Zhang said. Meanwhile, some residents of Shanghai have been posting notices in their doors and windows refusing to take any more PCR tests after many rounds of citywide mass testing. “No PCR tests: negative antigen self tests,” read one notice, a photo of which was sent to RFA. “Negative all along,” read another card. The notices are an indicator of growing public anger at the citywide lockdown, which comes after the city’s leaders were repeatedly told to pursue the ruling Chinese Communist Party (CCP)’s zero-COVID strategy, regardless of how hard it was to keep 26 million people stuck at home amid lack of resources and food shortages. Dozens of residents of one residential community responded with “we don’t want to,” after their neighborhood committee told them to line up downstairs for yet another round of PCR testing. Many are unclear why they need to be repeatedly tested if they haven’t been outside their homes for weeks, according to Zheng Jianming, a resident of Jiading district. “We have done more than 20 PCR tests, so what else is there left to do?” Zheng said. “We are all negative, we can’t go out, so we can’t get infected.” “And getting a PCR test could put you at risk; we think it’s now the biggest source of potential infection,” he said. “We’ve all stopped going for PCR tests in the past few days; fewer and fewer people are doing them.” Compulsory PCR testing Current affairs commentator Zhang Jianping said the repeated rounds of PCR testing was “bizarre.”…
Russia says military drills planned with Vietnam
As fighting rages across Ukraine, Russia and Vietnam are planning to hold a joint military training exercise, Russian state media reported Tuesday, a move that analysts described as “inappropriate” and likely to “raise eyebrows” in the rest of the region. It comes amid international outrage over Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and the mounting civilian death toll there. It also coincides with U.S. preparations to host a May 12-13 summit in Washington with the Association of Southeast Asian Nations, including Vietnam. Russian state-run news agency RIA Novosti said the initial planning meeting for the military training exercise was held virtually between the leaders of Russia’s Eastern Military District and the Vietnamese army. The two sides “agreed on the subject of the upcoming drills, specified the dates and venue for them” and “discussed issues of medical and logistic support, cultural and sports programs,” the news agency reported without giving further details. Col. Ivan Taraev, head of the International Military Cooperation Department at the Eastern Military District, was quoted as saying that the joint exercise aims “to improve practical skills of commanders and staffs in organizing combat training operations and managing units in a difficult tactical situation, as well as developing unconventional solutions when performing tasks.” The two sides also discussed what to call the joint exercise. One of the proposed names is “Continental Alliance – 2022.” Russian Defense Minister Sergey Shoigu, right, and his then-Vietnamese counterpart Ngo Xuan Lich, left, reviewing an honor guard in Hanoi, Vietnam, Tuesday, Jan. 23, 2018. Shoigu was on a visit to Vietnam to boost military ties between the two countries. Credit: AP ‘Inappropriate decision’ Vietnamese media haven’t reported on the meeting, nor the proposed exercise. Vietnamese officials were not available for comment. “This is a totally inappropriate decision on Vietnam’s part,” said Carlyle Thayer, professor emeritus at the New South Wales University in Australia and a veteran Vietnam watcher. “The U.S. is hosting a special summit with Southeast Asian leaders in May,” Thayer said. “How will the Vietnamese leader be able to look Biden in the eye given the U.S. clear stance on the Ukrainian war and the Russian invasion?” “This is not how you deal with the world’s superpower,” he said. Earlier this month, Vietnam voted against a U.S.-led resolution to remove Russia from the U.N. Human Rights Council. Before that, Hanoi abstained from voting to condemn Russia’s invasion of Ukraine at the U.N. General Assembly. “As Russia’s closest partner in the region, Vietnam wants to demonstrate that it still has a firm friend in Southeast Asia,” said Ian Storey, senior fellow at the ISEAS-Yusof Ishak Institute in Singapore. “But this joint exercise is likely to raise eyebrows in the rest of the region,” Storey said. Vietnam and Russia have a long-established historical relationship that goes back to the Soviet era. Russia is Vietnam’s first strategic partner, and one of its three so-called “comprehensive strategic partners,” alongside China and India. Moscow was also Hanoi’s biggest donor until the collapse of the Soviet Union and the Eastern Bloc. “Vietnam’s nuanced approach to the Russia-Ukraine war and its refusal to single out Russia’s invasion suggest introspection in Hanoi over its foreign and defense policy calculations,” wrote Hoang Thi Ha, a Vietnamese scholar at the ISEAS – Yusof Ishak Institute. The Russia-led war in Ukraine “presented a hard choice for Hanoi between preserving the fundamental principle of respect for a sovereign nation’s independence and territorial integrity and maintaining its good relations with Russia — a key arms supplier and a major oil and gas exploration partner in the South China Sea,” Ha said. Political message That explains Vietnam’s moves but there are distinctions between casting votes at the U.N. and holding joint military activities. The latter would send a wrong message about Vietnam’s intention to work with the West and raise its profile among the international community, analysts said. In particular, the past decade or more has seen a notable growth in ties between the U.S. and Vietnam, which share a concern over China’s assertive behavior in the South China Sea. Details of the proposed Russia-Vietnam exercise have yet to be made public, and already some observers are expressing doubts that it would take place. A Vietnamese analyst who wished to stay anonymous as he is not authorized to speak to foreign media said the Russian side announced similar exercises in the past which didn’t materialize. The Press Service of Russia’s Eastern Military District also said back in 2015 that the first bilateral military drill between Russia and Vietnam would take place in 2016 in Vietnamese territory. The supposed drill was rescheduled to 2017 but in the end didn’t happen at all. Vietnam has, however, taken part in a number of multilateral military exercises with Russia. The latest was the first joint naval exercise between Russia and countries of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations last December. The Eastern Military District, headquartered in Khabarovsk, is one of the five operational strategic commands of the Russian Armed Forces, responsible for the Far East region of the country. The district was formed by a presidential decree, signed by the then-President Dmitry Medvedev in September 2010.
